Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: developer interview reveals fresh gameplay details as new trailer debuts at State of Play

blog.playstation.com:

Today’s State of Play included a brand-new look at Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. The trailer surely will delight both long-term FFVII fans as well as players eager to know what happens after the conclusion of Final Fantasy VII Remake, as Cloud and company embark on a journey that takes them to the world outside Midgar. In the trailer we caught glimpses of new party members, sprawling open areas to explore and the reimagining of some iconic moments from the original game.

Rather than leave you speculating, key staff on the game joined us to share not only more insight into the trailer, but also additional gameplay details about the game. That roundtable includes Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Producer Yoshinori Kitase, Creative Director Tetsuya Nomura, Director Naoki Hamaguchi and Music Supervisor Keiji Kawamori.

Can you explain what we’re seeing of the combat system here? Has it remained untouched since Final Fantasy VII Remake or have you altered anything for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth?

Hamaguchi: I want to highlight the new synergy moves most from the battle system. This new mechanic allows the player to use synergy commands and abilities freely at any time by using up a gauge charge in a similar manner to Limit Breaks. So through the battles, players will feel the relationships and bonds that have developed between the characters even more so than in the previous game. We’ve also added skill trees as a new element of character growth. You can unlock synergy abilities through the skill trees, too. Many new Materia with new abilities not seen in the first game are available as well, so players will have even more options to customize and build character loadouts to their own taste.

Viewers got a glimpse of Red XIII in combat