At Tokyo Game Show, Square Enix showed off the latest look at Final Fantasy VII G-Bike, an upcoming smartphone game based on the Final Fantasy VII’s bike racing mini-game. Here are some of the highlights from their presentation for the game.
The footage Final Fantasy VII G-Bike footage begins at the 18:00 mark, starting with the latest trailer for the game. As you can see for yourself, the game isn’t as simple as the mini-game in Final Fantasy VII’s Gold Saucer, but it has all kinds of new features.
While riding and fighting, you’ll get to use Materia to pull off magic attacks. There are timers for them on the bottom-left, while the upper-right part of the screen has a Limit Break Gauge, which can also be used once it fills up.
The reason CyberConnect 2 added those two features is because they felt that they needed to make G-Bike a game that could bring back the sensation of Final Fantasy VII in just one minute. Additionally, Summons, monsters, and allies like Tifa are some of the other Final Fantasy VII features that will be in the game. Square Enix plan on adding a bunch of other characters besides Tifa as well.
Next, we see some footage from the first build of the game at the 21:57 mark of the video. The goal in this mission is to defeat 20 Bombs before time runs out. You can control Cloud by either tilting your smartphone or using the touchscreen to move him around.
As far as attacks are concerned, Cloud will automatically attack once you get close enough, as the developers want players to be able to focus on controlling the bike. Like the original game, weapons will have Materia slots, so you’ll be able to insert them to your liking.
It was also revealed that Limit Breaks will mainly be used in boss fights, and there’s a scene of Tifa who follows up with an attack of her own, but the extra attack will require a certain unspecified condition, in order to be executed.
Next, we see a little Q&A session with fans. Here are some of the notable points covered:
Q: Will Midgar be the only playable stage?
A: It’s all we’ve shown for now, but we’re working on plenty of other courses.
Q: Can we use other characters besides Cloud? And what about characters from other series?
A: Other characters will appear, but G-Bike is a game with Cloud riding, so we want him to be the main character. However, we will have other things prepared. As far as characters from other Final Fantasy games like Tidus from X are concerned, we haven’t given thought to that, but we’d like to keep this within [the realm of] Final Fantasy VII.
Q: Can people who aren’t great at action games still enjoy this game?
A: I’m good at making action games, but personally not great at playing them. I’ve created guidelines regarding this, so that even the company president can easily play [G-Bike]. The game has been designed so that it can be played in a laid back manner, so don’t worry if you’re not the best at action games.
Q: Will there be bike customizations and other features that weren’t available in the original game?
A: Yes, there will be [other features]. And there will also be some bike customization. We’ve shown a number of bike designs to Tetsuya Nomura, so there will be plenty of content in addition to stuff that wasn’t in the original game, so please look forward to that.
Q: I’m curious about how the Materia system works.
A: As shown in the trailer, you’ll get Materia like Fire and Blizzard, which can be attached to the slots in different types of weapons you’ll get. However, there’s more to it, as you’ll be able to do things like add the Support Materia “All” to them as well.
Q: Are there any new attacks (Limit Breaks)?
A: You’ll start out with the Buster Sword, but as you acquire new weapons, you’ll also get new Limit Breaks with them. [At the 34:33 mark, they give us a little demonstration of how it’ll work.]
Q: Will there be any costume changing?
A: Yes there will be. Final Fantasy VII series had Cloud in various appearances, so we’d like to keep that in mind as well. There will also be some original costumes. [Square and CC2 showed off the new costume designed by Tetsuya Nomura, as a teaser, at this point.]
Final Fantasy VII G-Bike will be released on iOS and Android.
