Final Fantasy’s creator teams up with Square Enix, but won’t revisit the series

By Carli Velocci July 3, 2024

A woman with purple hair and bluish-green eyes staring into the camera in Fantasian Neo Dimension. — Square Enix

While Final Fantasy series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi is back working with Square Enix again after two decades, he says he won’t be revisiting his older games, instead focusing on games he enjoys as a player.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Sakaguchi said that he specifically doesn’t want to go back to any Final Fantasy games because he doesn’t want it to ruin Final Fantasy XIV for him. “If I take on the Final Fantasy brand again, I don’t know if I’ll be able to genuinely enjoy Final Fantasy XIV as much,” he said.

Sakaguchi starting playing the online MMO to do research for an event he was invited to, but then became enamored with the game. “It started off as a courtesy,” he said. “Now I almost live in Final Fantasy XIV.” It’s a sentiment that a lot of people agree with.

Yes, that might be a silly answer, but in all seriousness, what he meant is that he wants to approach game design as a “consumer rather than a creator.” He still engages with new Final Fantasy games, going so far as to call Final Fantasy XV his favorite game of 2016 in an interview with 4Gamer. He’s also quite famous among Final Fantasy XIV players, and said in 2023 that Final Fantasy XVI “truly made me feel that this is Final Fantasy” due to its sense of adventure.

The interview comes ahead of the release of Fantasian Neo Dimension, an “enhanced” version of his RPG Fantasian, which was an Apple Arcade exclusive when it launched in 2021. Neo Dimension, which was made in partnership with Square Enix and his company Mistwalker, will be out later this year on PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.

The move came as a surprise since Sakaguchi and Square Enix haven’t worked together in a number of years. While Sakaguchi began his game development career at the studio, working on games like Dragon Quest before making the first Final Fantasy and staying on until Final Fantasy X-2. After that, he founded Mistwalker, which developed games like Lost Odyssey and Terra Battle.

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Carli is a technology, culture, and games editor and journalist. They were the Gaming Lead and Copy Chief at Windows Central…

Gaming

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth: all piano sheet music locations and rewards

Cloud playing the piano in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

While there's no shortage of ways to distract yourself while playing Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, one of the most unexpected minigames is the surprisingly deep piano system. In most of the major hub towns you encounter across the expansive world, Cloud can find a piano to sit down at and tickle the keys. You're free to play any song you want in free play, but you can turn this system into a full-on rhythm game, almost like Guitar Hero, by collecting sheet music of some of the game's most iconic tracks. There's even an NPC near each piano who will reward you if you get a high enough rank on each song. Cloud may not be the most expressive in his words, but he can sure play the piano with heart. Here is where you can find all the sheet music and what rewards await if you can master them.
Where to find all sheet music

Sheet music, thankfully, isn't hidden away in chests or has to be purchased for crazy amounts of Gil, but a few do have some hidden requirements. Each new composition is found on a piano in the world and is free to snag once you sit down. Even if you don't feel like playing right then and there, make sure you always at least grab the music to add to your collection so you don't have to backtrack later and get it. There are eight in total to find, and some will only come later in the story, but none are missable once you open up fast travel back to previous areas. This is the natural order you can collect them.
On Our Way
Our first piece of music can be picked up once you hit Chapter 4. During this section, go to the Crow's Nest town in the Junon region, which you can only enter by doing the "When Words Won't Do" side quest. Once you complete this quest and can freely enter the town, hit up the bar and grab this tune.
Tifa's Theme
After a rather exciting cruise to Costa del Sol in Chapter 6, you can add this piece to your collection by making a quick stop at the fancy Royal Crown Hotel.
Barret's Theme
Not much further into the game in Chapter 7 you will visit Barret's old hometown of Corel. The Rock Bottom Bar is waiting with his song.
Cinco de Chocobo
Chapter 9 takes you through the town of Gongaga. Even a town way out in the forest has a piano, which means yet another song to snag.
Two Legs? Nothin' to it
One chapter later, in Chapter 10, you need to do a little exploring in Cosmo Canyon to find your way to the piano, but the icon on your map won't lead you astray.
Aerith's Theme
Perhaps the most iconic song in the entire game, if not the franchise, is hidden behind a completely optional side quest. Once you reach Chapter 11, return to Nibelheim and do the "White-Haired Angel" side quest. It may seem totally irrelevant, but the quest ends with you playing and collecting this song.
Let the Battles Begin!
Once you prove your skills and get an A rank or better on all prior songs, you will get this new one as a reward from the NPC Dorian next to all pianos.
One-Winged Angel
We're not sure if fighting Sephiroth or getting this song is harder. If you want to play this terrifying arrangement, you need to donate all 88 Treasure Trove items to Johnny. This more or less requires you to 100% the entire game
All song rewards
For every song you A rank, Dorian will give you a prize when you talk to him. Here's everything you can get:

Gaming

Like the best RPGs, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth gets sidequests right

The mayor of Under Junon in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

Among its many highlights, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth makes simple sidequests a lot more engaging than I had expected. Take an early-game sidequest called When Words Won’t Do. On a surface level, it’s a simple escort mission where players must get a dog from Under Junon to Crow’s Nest unscathed. I did not initially have high hopes for this sidequest due to the poor reputation of escort missions; thankfully, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth defied that fate. To make this optional content more worthwhile, Square Enix gave it a strong narrative backbone.

When Words Won’t Do is actually a story about parents struggling to let go of their kids. Under Junon’s mayor sends players on this quest to help her son and unborn grandchild, and Barrett wonders if he’ll ever be able to let Marlene go during the mission. That’s thematically fitting for an escort mission where you can’t keep something out of your sight.

Gaming

How long is Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth?

Cloud and his friends overlook a scenic field.

By expanding the Midgar section of Final Fantasy 7 into an entire game, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth finally takes us beyond the walls into the world beyond. This much larger swath of land to explore begs the question of just how big this game will be. Between all the open-world tasks, sidequests, and minigames awaiting in the Gold Saucer, could this game really be a 100-hour experience as was claimed? What if you just tried to focus on the main story to see what has or hasn't changed? We've played through the entirety of Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth and can give you a good idea of just how long it will take you to reach this chapter's conclusion.

Note: We will not be spoiling any story details, but will list how many chapters there are.
How long is Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth?