Square Enix streamed two shows during TGS2023: CRITIKANO HIT and a FFVIIR stage show at the venue. The streams revealed new gameplay footage for both Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth and Foamstars. Read to learn about the revealed gameplay and mechanics.
When is the Tokyo Game Show 2023 Square Enix Livestream?
EIKO KANO’S CRITIKANO HIT TGS Special Episode (Sept. 22, 2023, 8:00 a.m. EDT, 5:00 a.m. PDT)
Square Enix released a special episode of EIKO KANO’S CRITIKANO HIT, the Square Enix YouTube channel's game-centric variety program.
It premiered on the TGS 2023 official YouTube channel on Sept. 22, 2023, at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, and 5:00 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time.
FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH at TGS 2023! (Sept. 23, 2023, 12 a.m. EDT, Sept 22, 2023 9 p.m. PDT)
Square Enix hosted a stage show at the Tokyo Stage Show venue in the Makuhari Messe. The stage show specifically focused on showing FFVII Rebirth.
It premiered on the Square Enix official YouTube channel on Sept 23, 2023 at 12 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, and Sept. 22, 2023 9 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time
Everything Announced at the Square Enix Tokyo Game Show 2023 Live Stream
Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth Gameplay Footage
The first half of the stream focused on Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, the sequel to the critically acclaimed Final Fantasy VII Remake. It features a brand new retelling of the original game’s story as well as greatly enhanced graphics. The game will be released on February 29, 2024.
The stream showcased two missions that should be familiar to players of the original Final Fantasy VII. The first mission is the flashback of when Cloud, Sephiroth, and Tifa were in Nibelheim to investigate the Mako reactor near the town. It features the fight against the Materia Keeper, showing off Cloud and Sephiroth in cinematic combat, as well as the in-combat renders.
The second mission features Cloud and the gang in Junon helping a baby chocobo repair the Chocobo stops around the area. After fulfilling the mission objectives, they were able to trade items for some Chocobo Gear to change their chocobo’s armor appearance.
Playable Sephiroth and Red XIII, Synergy Attacks, and Returning Mechanics
The showcase displayed multiple battles featuring Cloud and Sephiroth, in combat together as allies instead of enemies. During the boss battle with the Materia Keeper, the host, Eiko Kano, was able to switch to Sephiroth during combat to showcase his attacks and magic abilities.
A new mechanic called “Synergy Ability,” which can be used to deal burst damage to enemies, was also featured during combat. The second mission featured a playable Red XIII, who wasn’t a playable character in the previous game. Eiko Kano was able to use Bio, a magic ability that applies poison and damage to the burst gauge, to fulfill the combat objectives.
The gameplay remains largely the same, with the return of the Active Time Battle Gauge and the use of abilities and magic. Another returning function is the Burst meter, which lets you deal more damage to enemies when you max their gauge. Equippable Materia is still included in the game, and can still influence a character’s stats, equipped magic or abilities, similar to its predecessor.
Foamstars Eiko Team vs Dev Team Showcase Gameplay and Mechanics
Eiko Kano introduced the Foamstars’ dev team in the second half of the stream to showcase the game. Foamstars is Square Enix’s new upcoming online four-vs-four arena shooter game. A cast of eight playable characters, called the "Foamstars," were introduced. Each Foamstar uses their own unique foam gun and three different skills – two skills that have different functions, impacting the character’s playstyle, and an ultimate ability called "Super Star Skill".
The general gameplay will involve teamwork and the proper use of your skills to help your team win. Players can be creative around the arena, as foam can be used to create terrain and give you the high ground to help you shoot enemies better. They’ll also move faster around the arena using the slide mechanic. The slide can also be used as a knockout blow against enemy players after an opponent is "foamed up," or when their life bar is depleted.
Smash the Star Game Mode
Smash the Star is the featured game mode played by Eiko Kano’s team and the Foamstars dev team. The objective of the game mode is to "chill"(meaning eliminate or kill) seven members of the opposing team, wherein a "Star Player" will be selected afterwards. The team must chill the opposing Star Player to win the game.
Happy Bath Survival Game Mode
Happy Bath Survival is another game mode where two selected players from each team will battle it out inside the arena, while another pair can disrupt the opposing team by creating foam and damaging them from outside. The game mode is played in a Best of 3 match. Both players of the opposing team inside the arena must be chilled to win. Players who get chilled in the middle of battle can respawn after a set time, which means a team’s odds would improve if the surviving player can stay alive until then.
It has been announced that an open beta for Foamstars will be set live for PS5 players from September 20, 2023 (opens at 9:00AM PDT) to October 1, 2023 (closes at 11:59PM PDT).
Everything Announced at the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth TGS 2023 Stage Show
Square Enix also held a stage show specifically for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth on September 23, 2023, 12AM EDT, unveiling new details on its upcoming RPG.
FF7 Rebirth New Features Revealed: Mog House, Card Game, Piano Minigame
Second Installment of FF7 Remake to Take Players Across World of Gaia
Square Enix revealed on Saturday several features in the upcoming JRPG Final Fantasy 7 - including minigames ranging from a card game to a remake of the mini-game "Mog House."
At the gameplay demonstration, producer Yoshinori Kitase, director Naoki Hamaguchi, and creative director Tetsuya Nomura, showed never-before-seen footage of the various minigames. The first of these games was a remake of Mog House. In the 1997 version of Final Fantasy 7, the game had you feeding Kupo Nuts to a Moogle named Mog to help him find a mate. Here, it appears that the minigame has been vastly expanded to include not only other moogles, but has your player character participating in the game to dodge various projectiles.
Square Enix also showed gameplay for what it said was a card game that would be featured in FF7 Rebirth. The card game is called "Queen’s Blood" and, in an earlier interview released by Square Enix, game director Naoki Hamaguchi said that it would have its own quest line within Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. From what we’ve seen so far, it’s a bit similar to GWENT, the card game from The Witcher RPG franchise.
Finally, the developers showed footage of Cloud playing the piano as part of FF7 Rebirth’s piano-playing minigame. With the use of analog sticks, players will have to nudge their sticks in the correct direction to play various tracks including the theme for FF7 character Aerith. It appears that famous songs from the game will be featured, and each song will have its own difficulty level.
Other features shown during the gameplay demonstration include riding and customizing Chocobos, Chocobo racing, as well as taking various quests from both NPC quest givers as well as bulletin boards.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is the second installment in Square Enix’s three-party remake of the famous 1997 RPG. Set directly after the events of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, FF7 Rebirth will take players on an open-world journey with Cloud and his companions across the planet of Gaia.
So far, locations seen in the original 1997 video game brought over to the remake include the town of Kalm, the Chocobo Ranch, as well as what could be the land of Wutai, the home of FF7 character Yuffie based on Japan and China. The sprawling amusement park Gold Saucer may also be featured in FF7 Rebirth, along with other iconic locations.
As mention earlier, FF7 Rebirth is set to release on February 29, 2024.
FF7 Rebirth on Square Enix’s Official Website
