- Primary Subject: Final Fantasy 7 Revelation’s evolving combat system and the introduction of FITS
- Key Idea: Why even “near-perfect” systems should still be questioned, refined, and expanded rather than preserved unchanged
- Status: Opinion
- Last Verified: July 28, 2026
- Quick Answer: The piece argues that Square Enix is taking a healthy design risk by not treating Rebirth’s combat as untouchable, instead introducing the FITS system to loosen rigid party roles and improve player flexibility, showing that even highly acclaimed systems can still have meaningful room for refinement rather than being left static out of fear of change.
When Final Fantasy 7 Revelation director Naoki Hamaguchi described Rebirth's hybrid combat as having reached a "perfected state," I was interested in seeing what exactly was lacking ahead of Revelation.
Fortunately, Square Enix isn't resting on its laurels. In an interview with Eurogamer, Hamaguchi explained that simply carrying Rebirth's combat system into Revelation unchanged would make it feel stale, which is why the team introduced the new FITS system.
Rather than overhauling Rebirth's hybrid combat, FITS reshuffles character roles through outfit changes, giving party composition far more elasticity without sacrificing its strongest ideas.
The mechanic is only half the conversation; the philosophy behind it is where things get genuinely interesting. That's exactly why Revelation's approach intrigues me.
In an industry where successful sequels too often settle into comfortable habits, I appreciate that Square Enix is embracing an idea more developers should: even the closest thing to perfect shouldn't be beyond improvement.
Why Are So Many Great Sequels Afraid To Change?
I've always believed there's a fine line between respecting a successful formula and becoming trapped by it.
Too many modern sequels mistake "don't fix what isn't broken" for "don't touch anything at all." We end up with bigger maps, prettier graphics, more abilities, and longer campaigns, but beneath all that, we're often playing the same game with a fresh coat of paint.
That's why I appreciate Hamaguchi calling Rebirth's combat "perfect." Not because I think perfection is objectively possible (it isn't), but because he's immediately willing to question that conclusion.
Rebirth's combat is probably my favorite action RPG system Square Enix has ever made.
The balance between real-time action and tactical decision-making felt incredibly natural, every party member had a distinct role, and constantly swapping between characters kept battles engaging from beginning to end. It was spectacular without becoming cluttered, tactical without feeling laborious, and frenetic without sacrificing clarity. That's an incredibly difficult balance to strike.
Personally, I've always thought Rebirth's combat was about as close to perfect as a modern action RPG can realistically get. Not flawless (no combat system ever is), but remarkably difficult to improve in any meaningful way.
That's what makes Hamaguchi's comments so interesting to me. But as much as I loved it, I also understood the limitation Hamaguchi was talking about. Each character's identity was so clearly defined that I rarely felt completely free to bring whichever party I wanted.
Certain encounters naturally nudged me toward particular characters because they simply fit the situation better. That's not necessarily bad design in fact, it helped give every party member a purpose - but it did mean freedom occasionally took a back seat to optimization.
To me, that's exactly the kind of problem a sequel should be trying to solve. What impresses me isn't that Square Enix expanded the combat - it's that the team identified the tiny compromise woven into one of its strongest ideas.
That's much harder to do because success has a habit of convincing studios that every decision they made was the right one. The more celebrated an idea becomes, the harder it is to question.
I think that's one of the biggest reasons so many AAA sequels end up feeling familiar. Developers become afraid of breaking what players already love, so they settle for expanding it instead. More content replaces more creativity.
From what I've seen so far, FITS doesn't reinvent Rebirth's combat; it removes the invisible guardrails around it. Instead of throwing away the hybrid system that worked so well, Revelation seems more interested in untangling the subtle compromises hidden beneath it, giving players greater freedom without unraveling what made it special.
That's a much more interesting design goal than simply adding another layer of complexity for the sake of marketing bullet points. Of course, whether FITS actually succeeds is another conversation entirely.
We've barely seen enough of the system to know how transformative these outfit-based roles will really be. If they're little more than stat adjustments dressed up as costumes, then the idea probably won't justify itself.
But if they genuinely let players reshape how characters function without erasing their personalities, then I think Square Enix might be addressing one of Rebirth's few genuine limitations.
That's the sort of design philosophy I find genuinely reassuring. It would have been incredibly easy for Square Enix to release "more Rebirth" and call it a day.
Most players probably would've been happy enough. Instead, the developers are risking criticism by changing something that was already widely celebrated. That's exactly how you avoid becoming stale.
The best sequels don't obsess over whether the previous game was perfect. They ask whether perfection has quietly become a limitation.
Whether FITS ultimately delivers on that promise remains to be seen, but I already like the mindset behind it.
If Revelation ends up being a better game than Rebirth, I don't think it'll be because Square Enix abandoned one of the best combat systems it's ever made. I think it'll be because the studio refused to believe that its best ideas couldn't get even better.
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