Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is finally here, and those who embark on the journey will find a bevy of things to keep them busy throughout the adventure. Cloud, Aerith, Barrett, Tifa, Red XIII unite to take the battle to Shinra after the events of Final Fantasy VII Remake, but there have been some changes and welcome additions in the move from Remake to Rebirth. There’s a lot to see and do in Rebirth, and to make the adventure as fun and rewarding as possible, we’ve compiled a list of 8 tips to help you get started and hit the ground running. Whether you’re just exploring the world or throwing down in combat, these tips will help you get the most out of what Rebirth has to offer.
ComicBook.com’s Evan Valentine reviewed Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and came away immensely impressed with the size of the world and all of the things you can discover if you take a minute to explore. In his review, Valentine highlighted the variety of things to do, writing “There’s simply so much to do in this world, that is far larger than what came before it as when Cloud and company leave MIdgar behind, the vast regions of this new overworld demand to be explored. In my playtime, I spent a good deal of time taking on side quests, collecting elements for my ‘Item Transfuser’, taming wild chocobos, attempting to learn more from the Earth about familiar Summons, and more additional activities than I can count. The amount of options you have as a player is simply intimidating, but it never feels repetitive. Rebirth’s world is your oyster and diving in feels like a treat each time you boot up the game.”
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“Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth improves on nearly every aspect of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake, pushing the PlayStation 5 to the limit and creating a jaw-dropping experience in the process. Improving on both the Remake and the original version of the game seemed like a nigh impossible task, but somehow, Square Enix was able to do just that. Clear your ‘2024 Game of The Year’ lists, because Rebirth might just have it in the bag,” Valentine wrote. You can find the game’s official description below.
“FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH is the highly anticipated new story in the FINAL FANTASY VII remake project, a reimagining of the iconic original game into three standalone titles by its original creators. In this game, players will enjoy various new elements as the story unfolds, culminating in the party’s journey to “The Forgotten Capital” from the original FINAL FANTASY VII.”
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is now available on PlayStation 5, and you can find all of our tips and tricks on the next slide. You can also talk all things Final Fantasy with me on Threads @mattaguilarcb!
Assess Is Your Friend
Assess Materia is your friend, just as it was in Remake, but it feels even more important in Rebirth. Due to the increased importance of Pressure and Stagger, knowing what an enemy’s weakness is becomes all the more important. That said, it’s not just about weaknesses, as Assess will also tell you what their attack style is and if they have any specific patterns in their attack that you can avoid or take advantage of.
This is also why you should invest in more than one Assess materia. Cloud automatically comes with it, but you should pick up another from stores early if you can. Depending on your strategy you might need Cloud to focus on something else and not use up a vital bar to Assess, and if you have someone else equipped with it that shouldn’t be a problem. There are also times later on when you will have to split up, so having an Assess Materia equipped on multiple characters (at least two) will be incredibly handy.
Save Your MP With Elemental Abilities
Another shift in Rebirth from Remake is the increased importance of MP. Ethers aren’t as readily available as Potions in Rebirth, and until you have the level and resources to Transmute them in abundance, it’s a great idea to use abilities that don’t require it. You are able to do this by upgrading your Folios, which allows you to add elemental abilities that still hit those weaknesses without drawing on MP.
While it will be tempting to just focus on some of the bigger team-up abilities or ones that increase overall damage, I would recommend balancing that out with some elemental abilities. Even just having one or two of these in the arsenal will come in handy during battles, saving your precious MP for support spells and healing, which you will be using a lot early on since you won’t have as many options to craft items yet.
Transmute Early and Often
After some time in the City of Kalm, you will get the ability to Transmute items, which takes items you’ve collected along the way from monster battles and turns them into valuable support items. You can create healing items like potions and hi-potions, armor accessories like bulletproof vests and new bangles, and quest-specific items, and the more you craft the higher your craftsmanship level rises.
While repeating the same item will raise the level a bit, it’s really crafting new items for the first time that raises that level significantly, so even if you see something you might not use right away or at all, go ahead and craft it to raise your level. The higher-level items you unlock to craft will be more than worth it in the end, and if you have an abundance of resources from battles anyway, it never hurts to have a host of potions and other healing items on hand.
Make Defeating Summons Easier With Sanctuaries
Chadley is back in Rebirth, but his impact on the world has greatly increased thanks to more open-world activities to participate in. One element that has carried over is Summons, and as you move into new areas and complete assignments, you will have the opportunity to add a new Summon to your arsenal by defeating them in combat. These battles can understandably be challenging, but there’s an easy way to control the difficulty of the fight.
As part of Chadley’s Intel quests, there are Sanctuaries all over dedicated to specific Summons. If you discover them and lock in the specified pattern, you unlock a new tier in that battle that will make the fight easier. There will be three Sanctuaries that allow you to do this, so if you just want to unlock the Summon quickly the best bet is to hit all three to gain direct control over the difficulty in conquering them and adding them to your team.
Get Weapon Abilities Out Of The Way Early
It’s easy to forget that each of your weapons has a special ability, and after a certain amount of uses, these abilities will be mastered and then can be accessed regardless of which weapon is equipped. It’s a bummer to pick up a new weapon only to find that you haven’t mastered your current weapon’s special ability yet, so it’s best to get these out of the way early.
When you get a new weapon, that’s a perfect excuse to put that character into your party and knock out some quests in the open world. You’ll come across enough enemies that mastering an ability should be a relatively painless process as you make your way across the map, and this will also allow you to get a feel for the ability and the best time to use it. When someone else gets an upgraded weapon, you just do the same thing, and that way you can always have the best equipment armed and ready for the battles that really count.
Side Quests Directly Affect Affinity
After early events in the game, Cloud starts at below-average affinity with each of the other characters, and you’ll raise this by certain actions in the world and decisions you make along the way. The other major way to raise Affinity is through side quests, which will significantly raise Affinity with one particular character, and this will become even more important further into the game.
To that end, there’s an easy way to figure out which quests will directly affect one particular relationship. In the Quests section of the game menu, you can see your accepted quests and completed ones, all separated by Region. You can also see a picture of the character whose Affinity with Cloud will be affected, so if there’s one person you really need or just want to raise your Affinity level with, this gives you a direct roadmap to making that happen.
Follow the Adorable Chocobos
During your journey through the more open areas, you’ll occasionally see an adorable little Chocobo, who will start to run if you get near them. If you follow them they will guide you to a broken-down Chocobo Stop, and all you need to do is lift the sign back up (by holding Triangle) to make it operational again and add it to your fast travel options. Plus, you can rest at these stops as long as you have a cushion in your inventory.
Learn to Maximize Your Synergies
Synergies are the big addition to Rebirth’s combat, and they make a huge difference when you have a feel for what they bring to battle. Synergy abilities allow two characters to team up and deliver a powerful move during a battle, and while they pack a punch in terms of straight-up damage, they also typically include other buffs for the team that can either help close out a battle or help bring you back from the edge of defeat.
Each team-up is unique and is maximized in specific scenarios, so it’s worth it to test out all of them and find the ones that benefit your playstyle and approach most. There’s also one other major benefit to Synergies, as when Cloud activates a synergy with a character for the first time, their Affinity level goes up.
There are also Synergy Skills to take advantage of, and these are team-ups that occur when blocking. These skills can give you a chance to breathe and regroup, and each combination is unique, so you’ll want to test these out as well.
