Kalm is far less sleepy these days than its name suggests. No longer a mere rest stop on the path from Midgar, it’s a thriving town. In a single corner off the main square, a jazz duo busks, a young couple takes holiday snaps, and a stall owner beckons us to try chocobo ice-cream (not actually made from chocobos, we hope). It’s a microcosm of the bustle all around. If there was any doubt that Square Enix could maintain its maximalist approach to rebuilding Final Fantasy VII beyond the confines of Remake, here’s our answer. Not even Kalm can stay low key.
So it goes, from this beginning to the climax of an epic journey. Scenes are now sequences, conversations character studies, and rest stops hubs of activity. Is it excessive? Sometimes, yes. Gaps once filled by our imaginations have been painted over. Some weak branches should have been pruned. But then, precisely because of the excess, Rebirth is exactly what it should be – an unabashed celebration of Final Fantasy. Beneath the noise is a buzz of adventure we barely felt with XIII, XV and XVI, and the nous to wrangle a thousand ideas.
Not that it’s instantly apparent. Before Kalm comes the storm of Nibelheim, a flashback in which Cloud and Tifa relate their past with Sephiroth to Aerith, Barret and Red XIII, and initial impressions are that Square Enix has spread its talents a little thinly. It doesn’t help that this opening lacks the rolling start of Remake’s reactor bombing, but it’s also marred by smudgy textures, looping NPC barks, and lighting that swings between extremes. The iconic Nibelheim theme music has its work cut out to inject the necessary emotion.