Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s highly anticipated release is drawing ever closer, and Square Enix has, as Square Enix does, flooded that pre-launch period with new details about the game. Over recent days, we’ve spent plenty of time hungrily poring over those details, but there’s a lot more yet that we haven’t spoken about. To that end, here, we’re going to talk about a few key details that you should know about Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
REGIONS OF THE WORLD
The gates of Final Fantasy 7’s world are going to be blown wide open with Rebirth, which is set to adopt a massive, open world structure, and naturally, you can expect plenty of variety in the locales that you’ll be visiting throughout the course of the game. Several of these, which will be familiar to fans of the original game, have been detailed. There’s Gold Saucer, of course, a gaudy and decadent amusement park that serves as a tourist attracted for people from all over the world, and uses massive amounts of Mako to power its many attractions. Then there are the Grasslands, a vast, lush expanse full of greenery; Junon, once a proud city that, under Shinra’s leadership, has been turned into a fortified stronghold; and Under Junon, remnants of the old capital, and now little more than a desolate fishing village.
MORE LOCATIONS
In addition to the aforementioned familiar locations, several more will also be coming back in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. There is, of course, the town of Kalm, which is going to be a location Cloud and company will visit pretty early on in the game. Standing on cliffs in close vicinity to Midgar, the town is protected from the outside world by sturdy walls, and is a fairly peaceful locale in an otherwise volatile world. Meanwhile, players will also be exploring the Mythril Mines, a network of mines and caverns that connects the Grasslands to the city of Junon, and now lies abandoned and brimming with monsters.
MISSING LOCATIONS
The vast majority of locations in Final Fantasy 7’s world map will be recreated and expanded upon in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, though some locations will be missing. Creative director Tetsuya Nomura has previously confirmed that in the remake trilogy, Cloud and co won’t be visiting locations in the exact same order they did in the original game, which means there will be some areas that have been cut from Rebirth and instead been moved over to its sequel. Nomura said, “The order in which you can explore the locations is not the same as the original Final Fantasy 7, and there are some shifts in the order. For example, Wutai, one of the major locations, is not part of the route in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and will be visited in the next one.”
NEW CHARACTERS
Throughout the course of their journey in Rebirth, Cloud and the party will be crossing paths with plenty of characters, several of whom have been detailed in the lead-up to the game’s launch. In Kalm, players will meet Broden, the owner and operator of the town’s inn, and a man with a grudge against Shinra, which leads him to form an alliance with the party. Meanwhile, in Under Junon, you’ll meet its mayor and sheriff Rhonda, as well as a young girl named Priscilla, who fears for the safety of the dolphins who live in the waters surrounding the city. There’s also Billy, the grandson of a chocobo ranch owner in the Grasslands, and Chloe, his sister, who operates the ranch’s shop.
RED XIII’S ABILITIES
Red XIII is set to join the party as a fully playable character in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and in addition to his Vengeance Mode (which we’ve previously spoken about), he will also come with an exciting suite of abilities. There’s Sidewinder, which will see him leaping into the air to unleash a vicious attack from above; Stardust Ray, an AoE attack that will consume two chunks of his ATB bar; Crescent Claw, a hard-hitting melee attack that will become even more devastating when used in Vengeance Mode; and Sentinel Stance, which, in addition to letting Red XIII guard against incoming attacks and increasing his Vengeance gauge buildup, will also give you opportunities to counter-attack against incoming blows.
RED XIII’S LIMIT BREAKS
On top of his ATB and Vengeance-consuming abilities, Red XIII will, of course, also have Limit Breaks at his disposal, and by the looks of it, they’re going to be quite useful. The Bloodfang Limit Break, for instance, will allow him to unleash heavy attacks on foes in an animalistic rage, while also restoring HP and MP in the process. Meanwhile, Howling Moon will grant Red XIII a longer-lasting Vengeance Mode.
RED XIII’S SYNERGY ABILITIES
Let’s stick with Red XIII for a while longer- more specifically, his Synergy attacks, which, as we’ve discussed in previous features, is a new mechanic in Rebirth that will see two characters unleashing combo attacks. The ones that have been revealed for Red XIII so far paint an interesting picture. His Synergy attack with Cloud, called Savage Assault, will simultaneously deal damage while also raising their Limit levels. Red XIII and Barret’s Synergy attack, called Overfang, will see the latter hurling the former at enemies to deal great damage, while, again, raising both characters’ Limit levels. With Aerith, meanwhile, Red XIII will unleash the Planetary Roar ability, where Aerith will channel her magical abilities through Red XIII for an AoE attack- and yes, both characters’ Limit levels will also be raised.
MORE SYNERGY COMBOS
Sticking with Synergy abilities but switching focus to other characters, what can we expect from Cloud’s combos with party members? With Aerith, he will be able to use the Spell Blade ability, where the two will charge up a magical attack and unleash it through Cloud’s sword, while with Tifa, he’ll get access to Relentless Rush, which will see both characters attacking foes together to deal high damage. Meanwhile, Cloud and Barret’s Synergy attack, Mad Rush, will see the duo charging headlong towards foes while guarding against incoming attacks to dole out a three-hit combo.
KUJATA
Summons will be an important part of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s combat, to no one’s surprise, and Kujata is looking like one of the more intriguing summons in the game. The bovine monstrosity will have access to lightning, ice, and fire attacks, and in addition to using them from range, will also deal significant up-close damage to enemies thanks to its enormous horns. Before leaving the battlefield, Kujata will unleash the Tri-Buster attack, which is described as “a powerful wide-range attack imbued with the powers of fire, ice, and lightning.”
CHOCOBO RANCHES
While exploring Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s massive world, players will come across plenty of areas of interest and landmarks even outside of cities, though for those looking for a place to let their hair down, chocobo ranches will be worth keeping an eye out for. Each region of the world will have a ranch of its own, where, in exchange for golden plumes, players will be able to buy new gear for their chocobo, which, in turn, can be used to improve your performance in chocobo races.
ITEM TRANSMUTER
It wouldn’t be an RPG without crafting, and in FF7 Rebirth, crafting will come in the form of the transmuter, an item that will allow you to fuse different resources together to create new things. The more items you craft, the more transmuter XP you get, thus unlocking more new formulae for even more powerful items to craft.
COMBAT ASSIGNMENTS
Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s Chadley will be returning in Rebirth, and though his primary purpose will be to create new Materia for you, he will also provide a list of specific combat challenges for players to take on. These challenges will task you with seeking out dangerous monsters in the game’s world and defeating them with a variety of different conditions, including beating enemies within certain time limits. The more assignments you complete, the more challenges you’ll unlock, so for those looking for combat-driven side content, Chadley should be your go-to guy.
EXCAVATION SITES
While you’re out in the open world and prancing about on a chocobo, you’ll still find opportunities to find rare or hidden items in the open world. These will come in the form of excavation sites. Anytime your chocobo is in close vicinity of one of these, a question mark will appear above its head, letting you know that following that scent could lead to you discovering anything from a new item to even new formulae for the item transmuter.
VEHICLES
Given how large Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s world is going to be, you’d expect plenty of methods of traversal, and Square Enix has indeed confirmed several of these, even on top of the aforementioned chocobos. There is, for instance, the two-wheeled wheelie, which you’ll be able to take for a spin when you visit Costa Del Sol, while it’s been confirmed that Cid’s Tiny Bronco plane will be returning as well (to no one’s surprise). On top of that, players will also be able to drive a full-fledged motor vehicle in the form of a buggy.
SIDE CONTENT AVAILABILITY
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is placing quite a bit of emphasis on its optional content offerings, which we’ve spoken about at great length in previous features, and while the level of quality the developer is promising for the game is obviously exciting, something else that’s intriguing is how much freedom the game will afford players in how and when to tackle the side content. In a nutshell, making progress in the story will never prevent you from going back and doing older side quests.
Speaking in an interview published by Square Enix, director Naoki Hamaguchi said, “Unlike the previous title, which had new content made available to the player following developments in the story, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has been designed to allow the player to freely select what order to play much of its content in.
“Accordingly, it has also been structured so that none of the side content becomes cut-off and you never lose the opportunity to go back and play it, regardless of how far you progress in the story. That means that you can always take a detour and explore the expansive and vibrant world whenever the mood takes you.”