If you need me, I play piano in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

Playable instruments in video games are one of the medium’s greatest traditions, a recognition that the word “play” has more than one meaning, all of which are equally fun. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time’The titular ocarina, the city tunes in Animal Crossing games, and the range of instruments you can play along Guild Wars 2 – all very bad ways to get around copyright law and stick it to the man by letting Link play”Freak on the line.”

In 1997, Final Fantasy VII was one of the pioneers of in-game instruments, with playable pianos found in-game. And, like the demo before Final Fantasy VII Rebirth showcases, this is just one of the many things that the sorta remake has revisited and made better than ever.

Following on from the original game, during the Nibelheim flashback you can go to Tifa’s room (a bit rudely, as the game will tell you) and play her piano, which will open an interface terribly equivalent to The Last of Us Part 2‘s guitar-playing mini-game. The pair of radians allows you to play notes and/or chords with your controller’s thumbsticks, with each stick representing one of Cloud’s hands.

Like with The last of usthis is a terribly good way to intuitively play some simple tunes, albeit a little less gracefully – mimicking a piano on a gamepad is difficult and it makes the guitar simulation of that game even more impressive. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t made for it excellent meme fodder or serious renditions of other Final Fantasy songs:

Personally, I lingered in Tifa’s room long enough to pull out the notes for the chapter Final Fantasy VII theme, and smile at my sense of achievement. I’m sure I’ll be back, Tifa’s privacy be damned. There could be a snowstorm coming; Maybe I’ll decant a bottle of wine and spend a few hours making Cloud Strife play Britney’s “Everytime” like this one scene in Spring breakers.