Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director explains how The Witcher 3, his favorite RPG, served as a "baseline" for what comes next

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s director has cited The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt as a “baseline” for the upcoming JRPG.

Co-director Motomu Toriyama was asked about his favorite role-playing games, outside of the Final Fantasy series, in an interview published in the Game Informer Magazine, and he supposedly named CD Projekt Red’s seminal fantasy game without a second thought. Though Geralt’s third adventure isn’t just a personal favorite for Toriyama - it apparently influenced Rebirth’s whole approach to side quests. 

"Regarding titles like The Witcher 3, which has that open-world role-playing type element, we did some extensive research into these types of titles,” Toriyama explains. The Witcher 3 was then studied “as a baseline” and Rebirth aims to “stand alongside it and have the type of content that would be satisfying to its players.” 

The Witcher 3 has influenced countless open-world, action-RPG extravaganzas since its debut eight years ago, mainly because the seemingly little vignettes you randomly stumble upon are just as impactful as the main quest. With Rebirth’s pivot into a wider play space, it’s no surprise that Square Enix would want to flesh out meaningful side quests, especially since that was a main criticism of Final Fantasy 16. 

How does that actually manifest in Rebirth? Well, the team has already discussed the returning world map from the original 1997 classic and the big bad Sephiroth is reportedly showing up in a bigger way throughout the environment. The remake/sequel is also adding whole new cities that never made an appearance in the original. The extra space should, at least, come in handy when hunting for cards in the all-new deck-building minigame, à la Gwent. 

See what else is on the horizon with our upcoming games of 2024 and beyond guide.