Without Final Fantasy 15, we wouldn't have Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

Last week, when I booted up Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth for the first time, I already knew I was going to like it at the very least. I loved Remake, and unless something went seriously wrong I had no reason to believe that would be any different for Rebirth. And you know what? It's a bit of a stunner, isn't it? The combat feels even better than the first game, there's silly mini-games galore, and it's gorgeous too. Most surprisingly of all, though, is the character relationships.

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In Remake, depending on the amount of sidequests you do, there's a particular cutscene that will turn out differently towards the end of the game, but for the most part you don't need to put any work into developing relationships with the cast of characters - the game does it for you. That's completely different in Rebirth, though, as various actions like dialogue choices, sidequests, and even certain combat abilities can change how everyone feels about you (or Cloud, to be more precise).

It encourages you to really get involved with what the full crew is doing, from a narrative and gameplay perspective, and it works excellently well thanks to some stellar character writing. And I don't think it would be so good if Final Fantasy 15 didn't exist.

Please, please, put down your pitchforks, I know people have feelings about Final Fantasy 15 - so do I - but as much as you might love Rebirth's characters, 15 kind of did it first. You see, 15 is a road trip game, following four beautiful anime men as they drive across the land of Lucis, doing bro things like hunting monsters and eating Cup Noodle. They each have their own interests too; Noctis likes to fish, Ignis is the chef of the group, Prompto is a snap-happy photographer, and Gladio is a survivalist (meaning he collects herbs or whatever, he was always kind of the weakest).

You can spend time, as Noctis, with each member of the group, doing the things they enjoy doing, normally getting some experience points or items while you do it. It really pushes the story forward, but it does flesh out the main cast in ways reminiscent of 24-episode seasons of television - not every episode is important, but it tells you more about the people you're watching.

These small ways that the characters are put on display is honestly the best part of 15, and I think is a big part of why the game has so much longevity. As Noctis bonds with his friends, you do too, and it makes those sadder moments hit all the harder. And now, in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, we're seeing some of 15's DNA crop up again.

Cloud building relationships with the rest of the group doesn't work exactly as it does in 15. In Rebirth, pretty often what you'll find when you enter a new town is that everyone goes off and does their own thing, and you can go and find them and have a chat. These chats are often where dialogue choices come into things, affecting how close you are to the character in question.

Once again, this does sort of affect the story, much like in Remake, as certain scenes will be different depending on who you're closest to. That's not really what I love about it, though, it's again more about what it says about the character. Sometimes you'll find Yuffie singing a silly song, other times Aerith might need reassurance about something.

Often they're small, quiet moments – but they're just so consistently successful at selling you these characters. They're so believable as companions and friends, and it builds so wonderfully off of the foundations that Remake laid out. But I also just don't think it would work so well if 15 had never existed. It's these dynamics that I felt were sorely missing from 16, which I personally feel struggled to ever define its characters all that well, but Remake and Rebirth feel like they're picking up where 15 left off.

I love 15 for all its flaws, and I'm sure by the end of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake project I'll feel much the same way, because a flawed but bold project will always be more appealing to me than a refined, safe one. Rebirth too has problems, but I don't care. I just love watching Cloud make a fool of himself in front of his friends too much.