As excitement surrounding Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s imminent launch continues to build, an increasing amount of details are being revealed about the action RPG, with Square Enix consistently offering details on everything from its story and its world to its playable characters and much more. Over the last few weeks and across multiple features, we’ve covered a great many of these details- but there’s plenty that we haven’t covered yet, and with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s launch now right around the corner, here, that’s exactly what we’ll be doing.
SEPHIROTH’S COMBAT
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is set to feature a number of playable characters, but though some will be permanent party members, others will be playable in specific sections of the game. In that latter group, Sephiroth is obviously the most prominent, who’ll be playable in the game’s Nibelheim flashback section (which we now know is going to be the first chapter). And what exactly can we expect from his combat mechanics? Square Enix describes Sephiroth as “strong, extremely skilled, and highly experienced.” His basic attacks will see him dishing out powerful, aggressive combos, while holding down the Square button will also let you use basic ranged attacks. Pressing the Triangle button, meanwhile, will let you unleash powerful finishers, which, incidentally, will vary depending on how many hits you doled out in the preceding combo. Finally, entering Retaliation Mode will allow Sephiroth to parry and counter incoming blows with in place of basic attacks.
SEPHIROTH’S ABILITIES
Square Enix has revealed two of the abilities that Sephiroth will have access to, which, of course, will require your ATB bars to be filled up. First, there’s Zanshin, which will see him “send rending waves of energy at his foes”, as Square Enix puts it. The second ability, Hell’s Gate, will see him leaping into the air and descending down at his foe with an impaling attack- a move that may give fans of the original Final Fantasy 7 some distressing flashbacks…
SEPHIROTH’S LIMIT BREAK
Like all playable characters in the game, Sephiroth will, of course, have a Limit Break as well. Dubbed Octaslash, Sephiroth’s Limit Break will see him unleashing a furious flurry of eight deadly swipes of his weapon at an enemy. This is an attack that will be quite familiar to you if you’ve played Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7, where it was a usable move, or even Final Fantasy 7 Remake, where Sephiroth uses Octaslash against Cloud and co. during the final boss fight.
SEPHIROTH’S SYNERGIES
Synergies are a major new combat mechanic being introduced in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and Sephiroth is going to get his slice of the pie here as well. His Synergy Ability is Double Helix, where not only will he and Cloud unleash significant damage on enemies together, but will also benefit themselves in different ways, with Cloud’s Limit level being raised and Sephiroth gaining unlimited MP. Meanwhile the less powerful, more regular Synergy skill, called Dualblade Dance, will allow Sephiroth and his partner to team up and dole out three successive close-ranged attacks.
MORE SYNERGIES
Let’s move on from Sephiroth and speak a little but more about other characters in the game- specifically, a few of the many Synergy Ability combos that Square Enix has revealed so far. There’s Firework Blade, Cloud and Aerith’s Synergy Ability, where Aerith charges up magic, which Cloud then uses to fire off a ranged attack. Then there’s Moogle Dunk Shot, which involves Tifa and – you guessed it – Cait Sith. As its name suggests, with this ability, Tifa will grab Cait Sith’s Moogle partner and smash it into an enemy.
MORE DETAILS ON SUMMONS
Square Enix has promised a wide variety of summons in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and though we don’t know every single one that will be in the game, quite a few have been confirmed (and briefly detailed). There’s Titan, for instance, who’ll be able to use area-of-effect attacks like Boulder Hurl, which does exactly what its name suggests, and Earthen Fury, where Titan summons massive pillars of rock up through the earth to attack foes. The massive red dragon, Bahamut Arisen, meanwhile, is a particularly agile summon who can shoot out explosive bomb-like magic using Umbral Bombardment to attack a wide range of foes, or, of course, good old Gigaflare. Then there’s Phoenix, who can fly about the battlefield, heal you and your companions using abilities like Arise, or scorch enemies to a crisp with something like Rebirth Flame.
AFFINITY SYSTEM
The bonds between its key characters were a big part of the original Final Fantasy 7, and true to that, Rebirth will feature an affinity system that will determine Cloud’s bond with each individual character. From engaging in certain special activities with characters to picking the right dialogue choices at certain times, there will be several ways to strengthen Cloud’s bonds with his friends, and how far you advance on that front with each of them will determine which of them will accompany Cloud during a special sequence at the Gold Saucer that fans of the original will remember very well. Additional characters who weren’t available as options in this scene have also been added in in Rebirth, Square Enix has confirmed.
CID
Cid Highwind may have sat out Final Fantasy 7 Remake, but he’ll be entering the fray when its sequel rolls around- though unlike in the original game, he isn’t going to be a full party member (for now, at least). Players will encounter Cid later in the game, but he isn’t going to be a playable character, nor will he be an AI-controlled fighter during combat as Red XIII was in the first game. Cid will, however, accompany the party after he encounters them, but the aid he will provide will come mostly in the form of flying them around in his plane, the Tiny Bronco.
BIGGS
Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s story deviated from the original game’s continuity in a number of key ways, with one of them being that Biggs ended up surviving Shinra’s attack on the Sector 7 plate in Midgar, even though that was where he died in the original FF7. In Rebirth, Biggs will return, and though we have no clue what to expect from him and how heavily he will be involved in the story, based on the brief details given out by Square Enix, he’s going to be hellbent on getting his revenge against Shinra.
MORE CHARACTERS
Cloud and company will be crossing paths with a number of other key characters throughout their journey. Dyne, one of Barret’s closest and oldest allies, will be introduced. Now a wanted man and having a gun for an arm (similar to Barret), he will come hand-in-hand with major revelations about Barret’s past. Then there’s Dio, the mustachioed and muscular owner of the Gold Saucer, Solemn Gus, the flamboyant and smooth-talking kingpin of Corel Prison, and Sheiran, a doctor who runs a clinic in North Corel, where he’s been treating black-robed figures who have all fallen victim to a mysterious illness (though FF7 fans can probably guess what that illness is).
REMNAWAVE TOWERS
With Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth embracing an open world structure, it is also embracing a popular design trope in the form of towers. Dubbed Remnawave Towers, you’ll find one of these in each region, and activating them will not only give you a wide view of the area around you, it will also mark a number of side activities, quests, and research activities on the map that you can take on to further assist Chadley with his research.
CHOCOBO STOPS
While traversing the world of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, you’ll often come across stray chocobo chicks who’ll beckon you to follow them. If you do that, they’ll lead you to broken chocobo stops, fixing which will not only get you a golden plume from the chocobo as a reward, but will also unlock the stop as a fast travel point for you to use whenever you want.
NO DLC PLANS
Final Fantasy 7 Remake got a new post-launch story episode in the form of FF7 Remake Intergrade’s Episode INTERmission, but it doesn’t look like Square Enix has any plans to stick to that trend with Rebirth, as confirmed by creative director Tetsuya Nomura in an interview with Vandal. While plans could change down the line, as it stands, it looks like the development team will be moving straight to the remake trilogy’s final instalment after Rebirth is out the gate.