Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthlets you turn the whole gang into frogs. Frogs! Why wasn’t this the leading headline from every news outlet in the world, gaming or otherwise? It’s probably in part because, I’m reliably informed, we could also turn into frogs inFinal Fantasy 7 Remake. I rinsed every inch of that game for its various activities, and even in a year as stacked as 2020 was, had it as my game of the year, but I have no memory of this amphibious adventure. Make no mistake, I won’t forget about it in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
I’m not sure why I find this so exciting. Clearly, there are more spectacular events inFinal Fantasy 7. You race motorbikes, blow up reactor cores, meet a talking cat and another talking cat who might instead be a talking dog, and in true JRPG fashion, you get to punch God in the face. These are the real draw of Final Fantasy 7, right? But in my 17 hours with the game so far, I have never had as big a smile on my face as when we turned into frogs.
Check Out This Froggy Goodness
This starts with a mysterious quest in Junon that mentions frogs and uses the word ‘ribbit’ a lot, but you’re not given much context other than that. If you head to the quest marker, you’ll enter a mysterious fog which transforms you and the gang into frogs, before you chat with some other humans turned frogs. Here you’ll do a brief bit of combat using your extremely limited frog abilities, and from there the real fun starts.
Maybe if I’d remembered it from the first game, I’d have all the context I needed.
As you fight, your options are basically to hit things with your tongue, jump really high, or blow bubbles. It’s not exactly inspirational combat, but you’re aware that it’s supposed to be a short experience where the most interesting mechanics are taken away from you. That, in turn, makes the combat interesting. Much like when you’re turned into frogs outside this quest, the act of being ‘frogified’ never feels annoying.
But after you win this fight, next up is aFall Guys-style challenge where you and the gang must leap over rotating beams while staying on falling platforms. It’s gloriously chaotic and perfectly fits the tone of the frog transformation, especially when you get socked across the ocean like a loose fastball.
My favourite thing about this is we aren’t just frogs. Each member of the gang gets their own specific frog. Cloud carries his Buster Sword on his back. Red XIII’s frog has just one eye. Barret is much bigger, more like a toad, and wears strapping on his front leg where his gun would be. Tifa’s just gets a colour scheme and a skirt which is a little disappointing, but most impressive is Aerith. to match up with Cloud’s true love (deal with it), her frog gets a darling pink bow that flops around as she leaps over the obstacles or expertly swats enemies with her tongue.
Transforming into animals for a gag is nothing new -Persona 5famously turns you into rats during the game’s most notoriously drawn-out dungeon. And it’s not like Final Fantasy 7 doesn’tmix in constant humour with its action sequences, as the game’s best known moment is probably Cloud cross-dressing. There’s just something delightfully silly about the frogs, and they’re the most charming things I’ve seen in the game so far.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
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Final Fantasy Rebirth is the second part of the FF7 Remake project. It continues the story of Cloud Strife, a former SOLDIER turned mercenary who joins Avalanche, a group of eco-terrorists seeking to save the planet from the malevolent Sephiroth. As the party pushes out of Midgar, leaving the Shinra Corporation devastated, where will their paths take them?
