Currently shaping up to be the RPG to beat this year, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is out just over five weeks from now on PS5, and we are counting down the days to the anticipated sequel. Director Naoki Hamaguchi is helping keep our expectations in check in the meantime, confirming the tonal whiplash of the 1997 original's legendary snowboarding sequence will have to wait for the next game. That awkward CPR bit that pops up once has been confirmed, though, so it's not all doom and gloom.
In an incredibly fun interview with Game Informer, Hamaguchi answers 129 rapid-fire Final Fantasy Rebirth questions across a swathe of topics with great editing and comedic timing. There are no follow-ups, so each response is short but illuminating. When asked if the iconic sequence would take place within the bounds of Rebirth, Hamaguchi said: "In Rebirth, there is no snowboarding."
Without spoilers, it would be pretty weird if there were, quite honestly, because, in the original, a very dramatic event precedes the minigame and would logically serve as a better ending point for the game. As the snowboarding sequence takes place almost immediately afterwards, expect the opening hours of the third game to include an alpine adventure, with Cloud and company bombing the slope of the Great Glacier.
The debatably unnecessary CPR minigame, however, has been confirmed. When asked about that hot-button issue, Hamaguchi said: "We changed it slightly, so please stay tuned".