FF7: Rebirth Continues A Final Fantasy Sequel Tradition (But Will It Work?)

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is taking cues from previous sequels. But even to begin with, sequels are few and far between. Since each series entry distinguishes itself so well from what comes before and after, very few of them have such direct sequels as has. While it's not totally unheard of, this is the first game to get a direct sequel in over a decade, and probably the first ever to be planned from the beginning as a trilogy.

was the first game in the series to earn a sequel: 2003's. Its success led to a spate of other, at first retroactive sequels and prequels: in 2006, in 2007, in 2008, and finally, the trilogy of between 2009 and 2013. For better or worse, each of these attempted to build on the mechanics of the game that came before it, and each met with varying degrees of success. But is taking on a game with a much longer, storied legacy now — will its changes make it a worthy follow-up?

As many sequels have done before, will add new features and concepts to the core combat mechanic introduced in . Combat changes will come in the form of new characters and a new mechanic: Synergy Abilities. How new characters in will add to combat is fairly self-explanatory. Each character, both in the original and in, has their own unique battle mechanic, from Barret's long-range ballistic arm to Tifa's tiered martial arts combos. Since includes at least four new playable characters, simply including them in the mix means four new strategies to learn and countless new party comps to test out.

The new mechanic is a bit different. At certain times, certain combinations of playable characters will be able to execute super-powered moves known as Synergy Abilities. This is a fairly standard feature in RPGs, going all the way back to 's Double and Triple