With Final Fantasy VII Rebirth finally launching on PlayStation 5, many players may be curious about what to expect from the massive JRPG. Here are nine things you should know before starting Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and how to prepare for the changes that were made from Remake.
New FF7 Rebirth features that weren’t in Remake
Before we dive into this, it should be noted that some of the features on this list are an update or improvement over mechanics in 2020’s Final Fantasy VII Remake. While most of the features in FF7 Rebirth are massive new changes to the franchise, a few expand on previous ideas. The overall purpose of this guide is to give players a general idea of what to expect to get the best experience when playing the much-anticipated JRPG.
Rebirth has open world regions
The first major change players will experience in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is the new open-world regions. While Final Fantasy VII Remake had some semi-open sections, most of the game comprised linear sections of Midgar. That is not the case in the sequel. Early in FF7 Rebirth, players are introduced to the game’s open-world regions. These map sections are absolutely massive.
More importantly, the entire campaign is split between these six regions. There are linear chapters that are more story-focused on a specific location, but players will spend a lot of time exploring the open-world map. If you aren’t a fan of open-world exploration, you can just progress the main story. However, you will miss opportunities to level up, new weapons, and important side quests.
Improved Chocobo mount system
With the game having large open-world sections, it makes sense to have mounts, right? In Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Chocobo are given a major overhaul. Now Cloud and his party can instantly hop on these mounts with the push of a button. However, the new mount system is more complex than that. Whenever players enter a new region, they must obtain a new mount by catching one in the wild. Even neater is that every region has a special Chocobo with unique abilities.
I don’t want to get into story spoilers, so I’ll just leave it at that. Finally, players can find tiny baby Chocobo wandering around the map. You will not want to ignore these, as following them will lead to Chocobo stops. Fixing these Chocobo stops will unlock a new fast travel point, allowing you to warp around the world instantly. While Final Fantasy VII Remake did have Chocobos, Rebirth really expands on the beloved characters in a big way.
The Affinity system changes the story
Perhaps one of the biggest changes from Remake is the new Affinity system. In FF7 Rebirth, the Affinity system allows players to change the way other characters feel towards Cloud. This is mainly presented through special dialogue moments where players are given multiple-choice answers.
If you choose the best response, a character like Tifa will gain positive points about her relationship with Cloud. The game also has special side quests specifically tied to a specific character. Completing these will not only give you more insight into the character’s background but also raise their Affinity by finishing these quests.
Multiple choice story moments
As mentioned in the Affinity section above, players are now given more freedom in the story than Remake. However, throughout the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth campaign, there are also multiple-choice story moments as well! Without getting into spoilers, the plot will have opportunities where Cloud can positively increase the characters’ feelings based on his decisions.
This not only creates a more dynamic campaign, but the new Final Fantasy VII Rebirth feature also gives players more agency to shape the story to their own experience. There is also a practical impact with Affinity. The more positive characters feel towards Cloud, the more your Party Level goes up. And in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, your Party Level gives you access to new abilities in the skill tree.
Rebirth has character-specific sections with platforming
Speaking of side characters, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth has chapter sections that are character-specific. As an example that doesn’t contain spoilers, you will play as a character that isn’t Cloud. This character will have a unique ability that lets them traverse around the world.
These sections have a lot of depth to them, and players will be surprised at how much diversity FF7 Rebirth has in terms of gameplay. However, compared to Remake, players should prepare to dive into “puzzles” and even “platforming” to get through the main story. If you are nervous about this, don’t be. While these sections are a big departure from the main chapters, they are a lot of fun.
New weapon system
Another major change from Final Fantasy VII Remake is how you obtain new weapons. In Remake, characters could unlock new weapons by completing certain side quests. However, in Rebirth, weapons are actually obtained by opening rare purple chests in each new chapter and region.
So essentially, weapons are unlocked by progressing the story in FF7 Rebirth. If you accidentally miss a chest while exploring a dungeon or key area in the campaign, do not sweat it! Because stores will actually sell any weapon that you missed. Again, what’s key here is progressing the main story.
Extensive Post-Game
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is massive. I mean it; it’s REALLY beefy. Fans of traditional JRPGs will have a lot to love here, as the sequel to Remake is filled to the brim with side quests, hidden items, and extra content. I recommend that you don’t try to complete every region in one go. Instead, complete a handful of side content in each region before moving on in the main story.
Because once you reach a certain late-game chapter, new quests will actually be added to regions you had previously visited. FF7 Rebirth has a really good post-game mode that will let you instantly fast-travel anywhere in the world to clean up any missing side quests or items. And, like I said, the story of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is fairly lengthy, so you don’t want to get burnt out.
Queen’s Blood
One of the best features in FF7 Rebirth is the new Trading Card Game, Queen’s Blood. You may be tempted to skip this after finishing the tutorial in the game’s second chapter. However, it’s absolutely worth learning and mastering the game’s addictingly fun mechanics. Queen’s Blood not only has hundreds of cards for you to unlock, but it also has its own extensive campaign. And by the campaign, I mean there is a really interesting story tied to Queen’s Blood that you unlock by progressing through the card game’s ranks.
As you travel to each region, do not skip the Queen’s Blood NPC battles on the map. The TCG’s difficulty slowly scales up as you rank up, so taking the time to play it in each town will prepare you for the late-game mechanics. Also, make sure to stop off in every town’s Queen’s Blood store, as you can buy booster packs that will give you access to powerful units. Finally, you can score rare cards by defeating NPCs on the map. So make sure you are going back and defeating everyone.
Improved Summon Materia system
Finally, FF7 Rebirth has an improved Summon Materia system compared to Remake. Like the previous game, you unlock Summon Materia by completing battles in Chadley’s Combat Simulator. However, in Rebirth, you can massively lower the difficulty of Summons by collecting “Summon Crystals” throughout each region’s map.
So, for example, you will get demolished taking on Titan when you first meet Chadley at the start of the game. But by traveling around the Grasslands, you can lower its difficulty level by discovering his Crystals in Sanctuaries on the map. This not only gives you an incentive to explore each region, but it also makes Summon Materia a lot more accessible this time around.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is now available on PlayStation 5.
