Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthis largely considered one of the best RPGs ever made, and for good reason. Not only does its excellent character work, visual flair, cinematic storytelling, and riveting combat coalesce to create a dynamic and consistently exciting experience throughout, but its pacing and open-world activities, while not for everyone, prove to be a unique twist on a formula we’ve all grown a little tired of. While it isn’t quite as revolutionary asBreath of the Wild,Rebirth’sopen-world innovations are nevertheless refreshing.
Importantly, these innovations led toFF7 Rebirth’sfantastic reviews, which swayed newcomers and veterans of the series to give it a try. As such, it would be a great shame to see its best features locked away behind this singular experience. They should be shared with the rest of the gaming world and inspire future developers to create better works of art. Crucially,one feature inFF7 Rebirthshould be copied in practically every open-world RPG, as it is not only amazing but fixes a huge problem they’ve suffered from for years.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s Protorelic Side Quests Are Genius
They’re One Of The Best Parts Of The Game
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthhas a number of side activities for the player to complete as they’re bounding around the world, putting a stop to Sephiroth’s antics, or, perhaps more aptly, getting distracted by literally everything at every possible moment.By far thebest side activity inRebirthis the Protorelic quests, a series of interconnected missions tied together by a mysterythat unfolds the more players complete. These are genius for a number of key reasons, the most important of which is the way they are implemented to simultaneously deepen the lore and tell an overarching narrative.
Whilesome Protorelic quests are worsethan others,they’re all largely impressive, offering a detailed and thoroughly engaging insight into the world ofFinal Fantasy 7. For example, one Protorelic quest chain sees players undergo Turk training led by none other than Tseng himself. This not only explores the moral code of the Turks and what it means to join their organization, but it’s also a frankly rather engrossing insight into how they’re trained to become the extremely powerful bosses you fight throughout.
However, as aforementioned,each Protorelic quest is also a part of a wider narrative that doesn’t really unfold until the very end. Bybeating each Protorelic quest, players will unlock the titular relic, which shows Cloud a vision of an enigmatic and often hilarious unnamed warrior. The mystery of who the warrior is and the bizarre kingdom they reside in is enough to keep players entertained until the epic reveal and phenomenal reward at the very end. The Protorelic quests even manage to tie in the summons you’ve been unlocking throughout, giving them even more purpose beyond being mere unlocks.
It is no small feat to not only offer genuinely meaningful side missions that are memorable in their own right, and tie them into a larger narrativethat is sustained throughout the entire game.Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’swriting team executed it perfectly, resulting in me and many others still fondly remembering the final climax of the Protorelic questline a year later. Of course, when a developer does something so great, it absolutely needs to be adopted by others, as it would be a genuine shame to see this style of quest design be trapped to a singular experience.
Interconnected Side Quests Are Better For Open-World RPGs
They Keep Players Invested & Are More Memorable
Unfortunately,open-world RPGs have long suffered from meaningless side content. It really is the worst part of a lot of open-world games, including the likes ofBreath of the Wild, which, while excellent in almost every regard, still succumbs to pointless side missions that offer little beyond something else to do. That’s not to say that there are nogreatBOTWside quests, but rather that among the slew of quests to complete, the majority of them feel meaningless. A big part of the problem is that a lot of these quests are short and over once you beat them.
This can lead to a sense of fatigue, especially in an open-world environment with dozens, if not 50+, quests to complete. While they can be good at introducing players to certain characters or gameplay elements, or even, as is the case with the aforementionedBreath of the Wild, delve into the game’s lore,unless their stories are extremely dramatic, over-the-top, emotional, or have some element that stands out, it’s all too easy to forget them. That isn’t so much the case with interconnected quests.
Interconnected quests likeFF7 Rebirth’samazing Protorelic missions help to not only give a purpose to each quest in the chain, but also a secondary narrative that can run parallel to the main story.
Interconnected quests likeFF7 Rebirth’samazing Protorelic missionshelp to not only give a purpose to each quest in the chain, but also a secondary narrative that can run parallel to the main story.It is a more meaningful distraction, something that players can invest in if they want to, but that isn’t so overbearingthat it detracts from the main plot. Another great example of this is inHogwarts Legacy’sdarkest questline, which many argue is even better than the base game’s narrative. Sebastian Sallow’s quests unfold across the entire game and result in a truly harrowing finale.
More RPGs Should Copy FF7 Rebirth’s Protorelic Quests
They Should Be The Blueprint For Side Quest Design
More RPGs would absolutely benefit from this style of quest design. Of course, it isn’t applicable all of the time, and evenFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirthsupplements its Protorelic quests with a handful of more generic side quests. Additionally, side quests don’t need to be interconnected to be good, as games likeCyberpunk 2077andThe Witcher 3, among many others, have proven time and time again. However,the inclusion of interconnected questlines, especially ones that last the entire game, in more open-world RPGs would fix the problem of content fatigue.
A quest chain that not only incorporates unique characters, worldbuilding, fun and diverse activities, but also elements that perhaps seem disparate at first allows developers and writers to tie together everything they’ve been building towards throughout a game’s runtime, and both contextualize and give meaning to the dozens, if not hundreds of hours players have sunk into the experience.Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthdid this perfectly, and I don’t see why other open-world RPGs can’t incorporate this, even if it is to a somewhat lesser degree, in the future.
