Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth takes a lot of flak for the amount of mini-games it has that distract you from the main objective. Queen’s Blood, Fort Condor, Chocobo Racing, Galactic Survivors, Pirate’s Rampage, Queen’s Blood… oh, god, Queen’s Blood. (I suck at Queen’s Blood because I lack the attention span to learn.)
Anyway, I don’t much care for all of Final Fantasy Rebirth’s mini-games, but I’m not upset that they exist. Even in the rare occasion I’m forced to interact with them, it’s usually a nice, brief break from the main quest that makes me slow down and appreciate the depth of the game’s world. That’s just me, and there are plenty of JRPG fans who are vocally against the amount of mini-games in Rebirth, and indeed, the conversation has grown loud enough that it’s officially become capital-D Discourse. Final Fantasy 7 Revelation director Naoki Hamaguchi, who also helmed Rebirth, isn’t having any of it.
“I often see debates about whether it’s better to have more minigames or fewer,” says Hamaguchi in the latest issue of Edge Magazine. “However, I don’t think that discussion really gets to the heart of the matter. What I consider first is what kind of gaming experience is best suited to a particular title. In that sense, the overarching policy that ‘the FF7 remakes would offer a gaming experience as rich in minigames as the original’ was my decision as director, and I believe that responsibility is mine to bear.”
Not only is Hamaguchi taking direct ownership of the decision to stay true to the spirit of the original game with a ton of goofy mini-games, he’s also saying people who focus on the amount of mini-games are missing the whole point. It’s about quality and quantity, he seems to suggest.
“I believe we should continuously improve aspects such as whether the game is easy to engage with and whether players can enjoy it without unnecessary stress,” says Hamaguchi. “We prioritised ensuring that players engage with the minigames because they want to, rather than feeling like they’re being made to play them. I believe that how we can deliver that gaming experience is more important than whether to increase or reduce the number of minigames.”
The mini-games in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth are definitely, for the most part, thoroughly fleshed out compared to their 1997 counterparts, but for the most part they’re entirely optional. Or at least, the ones that require a lot of concentration or skill aren’t necessary to the critical path, from what I remember. I don’t know, I think I’m picking up what Hamaguchi is putting down here. When there are bigger issues to discuss like Square Enix’s “inevitable” embrace of multiplatform availability and the lack of a true physical disc version of Revelation, whether or not there are too many mini-games seems pretty inconsequential.