Summary
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthis a bigger game than its predecessor while still feeling like the next natural progression in this remake trilogy. The first part focused solely on Midgar as the story was expanded upon to give the gigantic city a more prominent role. In this sequel, the world is now open with smaller cities planted along the journey, such as Junon.
The variety is through the roof, meaning that there are a lot of mechanics inFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth. It might not click for everyone right away or fully until the end credits start to roll. Let’s try and fix some basic issues that shouldn’t be a problem in the first place.
1Nothing Carries Over From Cloud’s Past
It’s Not Worth Exploring
Thefirst chapter ofFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirthfocuses on Cloud telling the party about his past with Sephiroth. It’s almost identical to the PS1 version albeit with a lot more details filled in and the mountain environment being wider. Also, Sephiroth is directly controllable, which he wasn’t in the original. It’s a big chunk to explore, which was good for the demo but players shouldn’t waste time in this first chapter in the main game whether they played the demo or not.
Nothing carries over intoFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth’spresent from weaponsto items to Materia and even EXP. This section will become explorable later on in the game, so that’s when players should really do a deep dive. There’s a lot to this game, so it’s best to get to the good stuff as fast as possible and not make this mistake.
2Wasting Time In The Open World
Everything Opens Up At Bill’s Ranch
There is another section of the game players shouldn’t explore.Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’ssecond chapterwill open in Kalm wherein players can talk to NPCs and party members, shop for goods, and play a few rounds of Queen’s Blood, which is a card game. After this, the open-world environment will open up, technically, as players can run around and collect materials or fight monsters. While exploring, players may come across Mako wellsprings, radio towers, caves filled with crystals, and so on.
None of these things can be interacted with and players may waste time trying to trigger something or think there is a glitch. There isn’t. These things are part of a quest Chadley will unlock once players reach the Chocobo Ranch. It’s best then to make a beeline for the ranch which is located south of Kalm if players follow the road and its many signs.
3Assessing Enemies
Data Carries Over Between Battles
The original game had a Materia called Sense that allowed players to check enemy data like weaknesses and HP. In the remake, that was replaced with Assess, which returns inFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth. It’s an invaluable Materia that can even unlock quests for Chadley, so it’s best to scan every enemy, even human targets. That alone is a good tip some may not catch right away but the biggest one concerns the actual data.
Players may not realize that hitting thetouchpad on the PS5will bring up all enemies on the screen and pause the combat. This includes enemies that have and have not been scanned yet. So, once players scan an enemy once, they don’t have to do it again. It’s an easy-to-miss mechanic and this will save a lot of time in battle along with mastering the Assess Materia, which will scan all enemies on the battlefield once upgraded.
4Favoring Defense And Power Over Materia
Going Against RPG Basics
RPGs are an easy genre to understand because it’s a numbers game more than anything else. Getting new equipment will make numbers increase for stats like attack power and defense. Players are trained to follow unlocking the best of the best, which is not a bad strategy. However, it’s best to avoid playing the numbers game outside boss battles.
Weapons and armor haveMateria slots inFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirthjust like in the original game. The more slots players have, the more Materia they can level up simultaneously. It takes a long time for some, like HP Up Materia, so it’s best to get everything going all at once. Also, be sure to equip everyone in the party with Materia, even background characters. It’s not well documented but they will earn AP too.
5Misunderstanding Synergy Abilities
Mastering Shortcuts
One thing the original game set the high bar on was Limit Breaks. The more characters were damaged, the faster this meter would build up so that they could unleash devastating attacks like Cloud’s Cross Slash. They return inFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirthalong withnew Synergy Abilities. If players don’t pay attention to tutorials, they may miss out on how these duo-based attacks work.
When a character uses their ATB for abilities or magic, a tack will be slotted into a bar below HP. Synergy Abilities require a certain amount of slots between both characters for them to be used and players may mistakingly think that they build up like Limit Breaks. Also worth noting is that players may not realize they can make shortcuts in the menu for both abilities and spells so that they don’t have to pause the game and navigate through a menu every time. Knowing both of these things should make battles much easier.
6Making Crafting Harder Than It Needs To Be
The To-Do List
There is another new mechanic inFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirththat allows players to gather materialsin the open world. From herbs to stones, these materials can be used in the menu to make items and gear. They can even improve gear purchased at a shop. The more players use this mechanic, the more it will level up and thus unlock new recipes in the game.
Unless players read the small notes in this menu, they may not realize there is a way to put items on a bounty system called the To-Do List. Let’s say players want to make a Potion, so they put it on the To-Do List. Once those materials have been gathered in the field, a purple highlighted note will appear on the right side of the screen. It’s a handy way to not have to constantly look at the item crafting menu.
