Heading into Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, there was little doubt in anyone’s mind that the game would make some pretty significant changes to the original FF7, based on how the remake trilogy’s first game did things. And sure enough, Rebirth does make a lot of very notable changes. The larger story beats of the original game are, by and large, preserved, but there are several additions, changes, expansions, and what have you on top of that, with the end result being something that feels like its treading its own path. From overarching story changes to the lore being further fleshed out in some sections, from how some characters are introduced to major new events that happen to others, there’s plenty of instances throughout FF7 Rebirth where it diverges from the prescribed path, and here, we’re going to speak about some of the biggest ones.
NOTE: There are major spoilers ahead for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
THE MULTIVERSE
Let’s start off with the biggest and most obvious change to the story here, which is the confirmation that the story does indeed now encompass multiple different timelines. Zack’s surprise survival at the end of Remake obviously very strongly hinted at that, but Rebirth has now outright confirmed it, with Sephiroth revealing to Cloud and the others that when they defeated the Whispers at the end of the first game, they inadvertently caused the creation of many different worlds where things aren’t necessarily panning out in a way that you might be familiar with.
REUNION
The existence of the Final Fantasy 7 multiverse obviously brings plenty of other major changes with it- like Sephiroth’s overarching plans, which are now so much more elaborate than what they were in even the original game (which is saying something). The revival of Jenova and destroying the planet with the Meteor spell are still high priorities for Sephiroth, but even higher on that list is bringing all the alternate realities together and ruling over all of them, rather than just a single version of the planet- lending an entirely new meaning to reunion.
ZACK
The Final Fantasy 7 multiverse also brings with it a timeline in which Zack Fair managed to survive, and as you’d imagine, things are wildly different in this world to what fans of FF7 might be used to. Cloud is mako-poisoned and unconscious, Aerith is in a coma, Biggs is alive, and Barret, Tifa, and Red XIII are dead. And Zack, of course, is at the center of it all, and by the time the game comes to a close, having discovered that there are other worlds beyond his own, he decides that he’s going to try and find a way back to Cloud. How exactly that will play out in Part 3 remains to be seen.
AERITH
The big change that many expected Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth to make to Aerith’s story hasn’t been made. She still dies at the forgotten capital at Sephiroth’s hands- though the game does make some changes around that nonetheless. While the original game certainly implied that Aerith had a part to play in using the White Materia to summon Holy even after her death, in Rebirth, that’s much more overt. Her spirit has lingered on, and she’s able to fully converse with Cloud even in this form, even if no one else in the party can see her (though Red XIII seems to be at least faintly aware of her presence).
THE GI
The GI had a very tiny role to play in the original Final Fantasy 7, one that, in the grand scheme of things, was almost insignificant. In Rebirth, they take on a significantly expanded role. After landing on the planet thousands of years ago, the extraterrestrial tribe known as the Gi fought against the Cetra, and during that conflict, they were the ones who created the Black Materia by pouring all of their hate and malice into a single concentrated orb. With the Gi not being of the planet, upon their deaths, they were unable to return to the Lifestream, and their intention is now to use the Black Materia so they can destroy the planet with Meteor, which in turn will finally free them of their endless purgatory.
YUFFIE AND CID’S INTROS
Originally an optional character in FF7, in Rebirth, Yuffie is a full-fledged member of the main cast (which comes as no surprise after Episode INTERmission), and with her taking on a larger role, the way she’s introduced is also different. The party first meets her in Junon, where she intends to assassinate Rufus Shinra during the parade- something that she certainly tries to do, but not quite successfully. Following that, she continues to drop in and out of the story, before finally joining the party in Costa del Sol.
Similarly, Cid’s introduction has been changed as well. In the original FF7, the party traveled to Rocket Town after meeting Vincent Valentine in Nibelheim, and it was there that they met the pilot and engineer Cid Highwind, who joined ranks with the party after butting heads with Rufus Shinra over the canning of his coveted Space Program. In Rebirth, meanwhile, Cid enters a little earlier, this time as a for-hire pilot who flies the party from Gongaga to Nibelheim.
TIFA AND THE LIFESTREAM
Though it was an optional area in the original FF7, in Rebirth, Gongaga is a much larger and more baked in part of the main story, which in turn brings several changes. One of the biggest ones is what happens with Tifa. Cloud, under the effects of Sephiroth’s influence and his own cellular degradation, attacks Tifa and throws her into a pool of Mako in the destroyed Gongaga reactor, believing the real Tifa to be long dead, and her to be to an imposter. Upon feeling into the pool, she’s swallowed whole by a Weapon, after which she finds herself in the Lifestream, where not only does she witness several memories of her past, but also sees different Whispers battling against each other, with many even attacking the Weapons. At the end of it all, the Weapon breaches above the surface of the Mako pool again lets Tifa, who is still alive, leave.
GLENN LODBROK
You’d be forgiven for having no idea who Glenn Lodbrok is, seeing as he’s only ever appeared in the mobile game Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis, and free-to-play mobile battle royale The First Soldier. Given that, it’s surprising how big his role in Rebirth is. The former SOLDIER is now the de facto leader of the Wutai government, but behind the scenes, he’s in cahoots with Rufus Shinra, and together they’re trying to spark another war between Shinra and Wutai. They succeed in doing that, of course, while right at the end of the game, it’s also revealed that not only is Lodbrok one of Sephiroth’s minions, but also has powers that no one other than Sephiroth has- like being able to possess the black robed Sephiroth clones scattered throughout the world. We’re going to have to wait until the third game to find out how exactly he’s able to do that.
ROCHE
Roche was one of Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s more prominent new additions, and of course, he continues to have a role to play in Rebirth as well. By definition, everything that happens to and around him is entirely new to the story. There are a couple of boss fights against him in Rebirth that obviously didn’t exist in the original game, while later on in the story, he also voluntarily agrees to let Professor Hojo turn him into a Sephiroth clone. By the end of the game, he’s in very different (i.e. much worse) shape than we’ve usually seen him in. He’s not riding his bike around anymore, we can tell you that much.
CISSNEI
Fans of Crisis Core will be very familiar with Cissnei as a character, and now she’s been integrated into the main FF7’s story as well. This is another one of the changes to the story that we see in Gongaga, with the Turk having been assigned to the region, where she’s gone on to become something of a caretaker for the locals as the leader of the Gongaga Youth Coalition. Obviously, unlike the other stuff we’ve talked about in this feature, Cissnei’s addition isn’t as intrinsically tied to the main story and its most crucial beats, but she does still end up being a pretty prominent secondary character while you’re in the Gongaga region.