With Tokyo Game Show having given us a closer look at Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth (part 2 of the Remake Trilogy), we’ve gathered all information available and confirmed so far for the upcoming FFVII midquel. There is now a mountain of details and reveals for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and we’ve run the rule over every single FF7 Rebirth character ability known to exist, climbed a limb of the game’s skill tree, and read Mogs travel guide to get a sense of the world ahead of Rebirth’s 2024 release.
Character Abilities/Customisation
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has already had many of its character abilities and details on its customisation revealed. This includes details on various mechanics and part of the game’s skill tree.
New Synergy Battle Mechanic
Synergy Battle abilities are powerful team attacks in which two characters join forces in an all-out attack to turn the tide of battle. Similar to Limit Breaks, the Synergy mechanic has its own charge gauge.
As your party level increases, more of these abilities become available. In a sense, this is a way to numerically express how deeply your party have bonded with one another.
Several vague examples of these abilities are:
- Cloud and Sephiroth’s Double Helix: Sephiroth unleashes an elegant flurry of strikes, and Cloud does his best to follow suit.
- Yuffie & Barret’s Ninja Carbine: Barret and Yuffie lean into their shared prowess and unleash a ranged attack.
- Aerith & Cait Sith’s Kitty Cannonade: Aerith imbues Cait Sith’s moogle with magical energy and unleashes a ranged attack.
So far, these are the only abilities which have been revealed, but you can expect to discover many more in the final product. Additionally, because this is so fundamental to the core gameplay of Rebirth, the battle mechanics have been updated to reflect this new style of play.
New Skill Tree
This time around, skill trees have been implemented to give players greater control over how they want their party members to grow. In here, you’ll also find many new and exciting Synergy Abilities to obtain.
Read More: Final Fantasy XIV: From 1.0 to A Realm Reborn – A Retrospective
New Materia
Coming as no surprise, you’ll find new materia unique to Rebirth, including the new Summon materia; Alexander and Odin, which both look spectacular.
In addition, several summons in Remake will be making a return, along with new unannounced summon materia and extended side content based on a summon not featured in the very original Final Fantasy VII.
New Ways to Traverse the Environment
Chocobo’s
While Chocobo breeding won’t be in Rebirth, you’ll still be able to ride these oversized, feathered friends, reaching hidden areas otherwise inaccessible by normal means.
Mountain Chocobo’s and Sky Chocobo’s have already been confirmed, but those of you with a keen eye may have spotted potential River/Sea Chocobo’s in the latest Tokyo Game Show footage.
To acquire a Chocobo travel companion, you simply need to catch one in the wild, where you can then call one at any time to aid in traversing its home terrain. You can also customise your Chocobo’s equipment to create a steed better suited to your needs.
A Matter of Time
Having played the original Final Fantasy VII back when it first released on PC, this will undoubtedly save gamers a lot of time (trust me, Chocobo breeding was a long and arduous process), but I can’t help feeling it’s a little too linear an approach.
The main appeal of breeding Chocobo’s was to explore every corner of the world, in search of treasure in the form of rare items, exclusive equipment and hidden materia. So going by the wording above, it implies you’ll only be able to ride each type of Chocobo in the areas you obtain them. Ideally we’d be able to summon Mountain Chocobo’s to any mountainous region across the map, so being localised could possibly dampen the experience.
Vehicles
In addition to Chocobo’s, there are many other ways to get from place to place, such as the Buggy and the Wheelie.
The Buggy can be driven across sand, through shallow water and is going to be one of the fastest methods of transport (outside of fast travelling).The Wheelie however (a renamed Segway), can be used to travel around the Costa del Sol seaside resort at your own leisure as you take in the surroundings.
Experience, Abilities and Gear will not carry over from Remake into Rebirth
Back before Remakes release, I would discuss with friends how many parts FF7 Remake would have, and remained completely adamant that it’d be 3 games to represent the 3 disks the original game was on.
This turned out to be true, so when I discovered that the level cap would be 50 and not 33, all I could think was we’d be getting less experience in the following two games to bring us up to the originals level cap of 99.
I have a feeling this was decided either late in the development of Remake, or is something that has only come about in the development of Rebirth, because otherwise why halve the level cap at all, outside of it perhaps being easier to balance the game to level 50 instead of 99?
Remake Mistake
It’s a bit of a kick in the teeth, but what does it mean? Well, for starters, those of us who 100 percented every challenge FF7 Remake had to offer will now only have the bragging rights. Pivotal gear such as the Götterdämmerung (which constantly charged and maxed your Limit gauge for the start of every battle) won’t be coming with your party into Rebirth.
As overpowered as the Götterdämmerung was, you had to be very good at the game to even unlock it in the first place, so removing that as an option for players who want a more chilled experience seems like a bit of a step back. It also doesn’t make sense from a narrative perspective that you just end up losing gear from one game to the next.
While I personally wouldn’t be using such an item for my playthrough of Rebirth, knowing all of my progress from Remake has now been rendered obsolete still leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.
Still, it’s not the end of the world and there’s still some value to our old save files.
Previous Save File Rewards
If you have a PS4/PS5 save file of Final Fantasy VII Remake, you’ll unlock the ‘Leviathan’ Summon Materia.
If you have a save file of Final Fantasy VII Remake Episode Intermission, you’ll unlock the ‘Ramuh’ Summon Materia.
So, if you have both save files, you’ll unlock Leviathan and Ramuh, but these save files must be on your PS5 system at the time of booting up Rebirth.
New Playable Characters Exclusive to Rebirth
With returning characters Cloud, Barret, Tifa, Aerith and Yuffie, the roster of party members only continues to grow, as the following characters will now make their playable debut:
Cait Sith
A wisecracking, feline-shaped robot often seen poised atop his giant, moogle plush battle-bot pal. One of the Gold Saucer’s most popular mascots, he’s well loved for his fortune telling – a service he also offers to Cloud and friends.
His adorable appearance also belies access to a surprising amount of insider intel on Shinra.
Red XIII
A victim of one of Professor Hojo’s many science experiments, Red is a cat-like creature with a flaming tail, crimson fur, deadly claws, and the ability to speak.
His species is known for their long life spans, and he is no exception. As this Cosmo Canyon native is the eldest member of the party, he offers words of wisdom from time to time and is now fully playable in Rebirth.
With his very own unique combat mechanic, any attack Red guards against will feed and fuel his Vengeance gauge, enabling him to set upon foes with an unrelenting assault of beastly ferocity.
Sephiroth
A former SOLDIER: 1st class of legendary renown, Sephiroth is said to have died in the line of duty in Nibelheim five years ago. This is proven untrue when he appears at the Shinra Building and absconds with a research specimen known as “Jenova.”
He now toys with Cloud at every opportunity, seeking to change the course of destiny and rule the planet.
If you’ve played the original, you’ll know that Sephiroth is fully playable during a certain flashback (no spoilers). And so, remaining true to the original, the same has been confirmed for Rebirth.
Zack Fair
It also looks like fans of Crisis Core can look forward to playing as fan-favourite Zack once more, as he has an entire episode dedicated to him in Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth. While it isn’t outright stated that he’ll be playable, it is very strongly implied.
Other characters:
While both Vincent Valentine and Cid Highwind have been confirmed to appear in Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, it’s been stated that Vincent will only be accompanying the party when it fits the story, and won’t be controlled directly.
It appears this is the case for Cid also, and while this may be disappointing to some. However, this is exactly how Red XIII was handled in Remake and I think Square did well.
Mini-Games of Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth
Those of you who played the original Final Fantasy VII will already be aware of The Golden Saucer – an amusement park full of rides, mini-games and even a sprinkle of romance.
Being such a memorable location, its return was practically inevitable for multiple reasons which I won’t go into. No spoilers.
I will say that Chocobo Racing, G-Bike and even the 3D Brawler are all making a glorious return. And, as with Remake, Rebirth is going bigger and bolder than ever before, with Director Naoki Hamaguchi stating they’ve created a huge amount of mini-games for Rebirth. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself neglecting story progress for all of the side content on offer. There’s even a brand new card game exclusive to this version of Final Fantasy VII.
Did You Know? That the Golden Saucer Chocobo races were so popular that Square released a racing title for the PS1 in 1999 named Chocobo Racing.
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth – Other Details And Reveals So Far
- Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth is much bigger than Remake.
- A larger soundtrack has been created to reflect this.
- The Junon infiltration mission has been greatly expanded.
- Chadley is making a return.
- Wutai, a prominent location featured early in the original FF7 will not be present in Rebirth, but will be featured in Part 3, whenever that releases.
- While the events of the Remake Trilogy take place outside of the pre-established order of events, Rebirth will extend up to the climactic end of “The Forgotten Capital”.
Final Fantasy VII Remake Trilogy will link up to Advent Children
Yoshinori Kitase and Tetsuya Nomura remain tight-lipped on what story changes we should expect from Rebirth. However, Nomura revealed Advent Children fans will be well catered for. Nomura said: “If you play right through to the end, the Remake Trilogy will link up to Advent Children”.
This is interesting. There was a lot of speculation on who the three whispers were at the end of Remake.
At the time, many gamers thought they were reflections of the playable party. But a good friend of mine said he believed them to be the primal versions of Yazoo, Kadaj and Loz – the three primary antagonists in Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children.
This to me seems to be the most likely case, especially considering what Nomura said above. At this stage, only time will tell.
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth will be released for the PlayStation 5 worldwide on 29 Feb 2024 across two discs. For the list of pre-order options, along with the goodies exclusive to each version, scroll to the bottom of Square’s blog post.