Final Fantasy VII Remake is available for public demo for the first time at PAX West this weekend and players are getting their first taste of the new and improved combat system in the game. While taking inspiration from it's turn-based origins, the new fighting style of FFVII is such an incredible breath of fresh air, it needs to be used for the next Kingdom Hearts.
While a new Kingdom Hearts hasn't officially been announced (and the DLC expansion for Kingdom Hearts 3 called Re:Mind is still several months away) it's safe to assume to best selling serious will continue on well into the future. It's not secret that Kingdom Hearts 3 has some problem with combat, and FFVII might have exactly what the franchise needs to give it a revitalizing boost.
FFVII Remake has a combat system that's easy to pick up but hard to master. It's intuitive, tactical, and creates opportunities for stunning cinematic moments, the exact kind that Kingdom Hearts is known for. The FFVII characters each have an AP bar that slowly fills over time, but fills faster when doing basic attacks. Once even a single segment of the bar is filled, pressing X slows time down to a near stand-still and brings up the command menu.
From the command menu, players will be able to execute abilities (if the character has enough AP) cast spells (if the character has enough MP) use items, and use limits. The combat in FFVII is all about managing spacing and timing on the battlefield while simultaneously managing AP, MP, and health to efficiently destroy enemies.
On top of that, each character in the party can be controlled individually by switching between them in real-time, or sent commands using the shoulder buttons. This means that while playing Cloud, you'll be blocking, dodging, attacking, and using abilities when the meter fills, but ALSO keeping an eye on Barret's meters in order to command him to use his abilities when the time is right.
It's an elegant system that feels both intuitive and nuanced, and would be a perfect fit for the next Kingdom Hearts. The combat took a noticeable turn towards pure spectacle in Kingdom Hearts 3, and is widely considered the easiest (and most basic) of the series. Adopting this time-stop battle management system to give commands to Sora, Donald, and Goofy would fit perfectly in the series, and would have the added benefit of making Donald actually use cure when you need it. There's still plenty of opportunity for cool combos and cinematic moments with this system. It could be just what Kingdom Hearts 4 needs.