Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth: Biggest Changes From The Original

When Final Fantasy 7 Remake launched in 2020, fans were greeted with a complete overhaul of the legendary Final Fantasy 7. It received general praise from both critics and fans, and the game saw Cloud and his companions navigating through the slums of Midgar in an attempt to topple the oppressive and wasteful Shinra.

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Upon the canon shifting events of the conclusion of Remake, fans eagerly awaited the sequel: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. With the sequel, fans were given many answers to the questions they harbored, but the final product of Rebirth was filled with much more than nuanced story changes and development. It is chock-full of updates and upgrades that make it massive in comparison to its predecessor and the original.

10 Customizable Chocobos

What Is Different?

• Fully customizable color palettes can be utilized on each piece of Chocobo gear Cloud chooses to put on his Chocobo.
• Cloud can wrangle many different Chocobos on his adventures, which allows him to traverse various terrains.

While Chocobo Sam really saved Cloud on his travels within Midgar, Chocobo Bill and his family provided Cloud with his own Chocobo whistle early on in chapter two of Rebirth. Having enough Chocobos for Cloud’s party is vital to exploring the expansive open world, as traveling from one end of the first region to the other on foot can be daunting enough. After Cloud recovers Billy’s missing Chocobo and earns a whistle and the option to customize gear for the new bird becomes available.

There are only a few pieces available at the start of the game, but Cloud can purchase more as the game progresses. Each piece is color-customizable, too, with a wide palette to meet each user’s taste. Additionally, Cloud can ride Chocobos of differing colors, hailing back to the days of Chocobo breeding in the original (though Chocobo breeding is not present in Rebirth).

9 Finding Weapons

What Is Different?

• Finding new gear in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is more difficult than in Remake.
• Opening purple weapon chests will yield many weapons Cloud cannot purchase in-store.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake and the original equipped Cloud and his party with a wide range of weapons. In Rebirth, acquiring weapons is a bit more restricted. While Cloud’s first new sword can be acquired from the weapon store (though the party has little gil to afford it at first), most weapons will only be found in purple weapon chests.

Some vendors may sell the weapons scattered throughout the world, but finding the gear in chests is the new norm. It is perhaps one of the least enjoyable new aspects of the game, but new weapons and esthetics are available, which make up a bit for the pain in collecting them.

8 Upgraded Combat

What Is Different?

• Previously introduced Synergy attacks have been updated from INTERgrade to Rebirth.
• A plethora of new attack combinations and a new sphere grid-like skill point screen allow for heavy combat customization.

One of the first things players are likely to notice when diving into Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is its emphasis on Synergy and partner attacks, as showcased by Cloud and Sephiroth’s slick moves during the Nibelheim flashback.

Once back in control of Cloud and his friends during the present, players will be given access to an entire skill point system that, in essence, is dedicated to strengthening Synergy and partner attacks alongside more traditional upgrades. Not only does this offer players more in-depth ways to strategize engagements, but it also adds a sleek cinematic feel to many lengthier battles that were sorely missing from the original.

7 Affinity System

What Is Different?

• Cloud’s decisions and actions have an impact on the way his party companions feel about him.
• Pivotal points in the game allow Cloud to make more impactful decisions that can improve his relationships with his friends.

Much like in the original Final Fantasy 7, Cloud’s decisions will have an impact on the relationships he has with his comrades. During Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Cloud’s decisions were lost in the greater narrative, as he rarely spent time with his entire party. From the beginning of Rebirth, Cloud is burdened with decisions that will ultimately impact his relationships with all of his companions and have romantic implications, too.

This level of responsibility should be handled carefully, as Cloud will often only get to choose to increase his bond with one character at a time. In any case, the return of such a system is a welcome inclusion, as it was always entertaining to see whom Cloud would take on a date when they inevitably arrived at the Gold Saucer. Rebirth offers a deeper dive into the relationship Cloud grows with his friends and potential romantic interests, leaving it as the best version of itself.

6 Wide Open World

What Is Different?

• Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth catapults players into a massive open world.
• The world feels to scale, so traversing each region fully will take quite some time.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s world is massive. It is sprawling, expansive, and immense. Once Cloud takes his first few steps outside of Kalm and peers along the horizon, the sheer scale of the world is immediately evident. Final Fantasy 7 Remake masterfully kept Cloud and his party busy while working through the slums of Midgar and the Shinra tower, confined within the walls of the slimy underbelly of Shinra’s metropolis.

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There was plenty to do, and if players were on the hunt for the platinum trophy, the game could take a solid 75 hours to fully complete. Impressively, Square-Enix kicked down the walls of Remake to allow players to explore the grandeur of Cloud’s world firsthand. Heck, the first area alone could take upwards of 10 hours to fully explore – and that is before ever crossing the swamp and encountering the Midgardsormr.

5 Much Deeper Side Quest Content

What Is Different?

• The transition to open-world content created the need for countless overworld missions, each important and rewarding for Cloud and his party to complete.
• Side quests are still present and impactful, but the game expands on extra content material a thousandfold.

Final Fantasy 7 contained a wide range of side questions and extra content for players to work their way through, adding plenty of context to the story while rewarding players for completing each piece. This worked extremely well for Remake, and it pleasantly surprised many critics and gamers with its depth. After all, any fan of Final Fantasy 7 knows that Midgar served, essentially, as a lengthy prologue.

The original did not open up until the party escaped the Shinra tower, unto which they stepped into an open world. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth takes that notion and expands upon it with an open world to brag about. Within that open world are quests and activities galore, ranging from repairing radar towers for Chadley to chasing down protorelic pieces to engaging in timed combat trials for Mai. Rebirth could easily span over 100 hours to complete every objective, and it is a glorious upgrade from Remake.

4 A More Eclectic Soundtrack

What Is Different?

• Classics from Final Fantasy 7 return, as they did in Remake, but the selection of original music is vastly different.
• Remake focused a lot on re-imagining classic Final Fantasy 7 compositions. While Rebirth does this, it also infuses some wild new pieces.

There was a moment while exploring the first region in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth when the music struck an overwhelmingly 80s style synth wave extravaganza. It felt both so out of place and perfect that the experience was genuinely intriguing. Sure, there were some original pieces in Remake, but nothing felt quite as noticeable as the new soundtrack in Rebirth.

Where games like Crisis Core excelled by modernizing Nobuo Uematsu’s masterful original soundtrack, Rebirth excels at creating truly unique pieces. It is hard to explain the feeling, but the soundtrack feels ‘right’. In a game like Final Fantasy 7, that perfect feeling instilled by a soundtrack is both vital and the core of another solid Final Fantasy experience.

3 Perspective Shifts & Character Stories

What Is Different?

• Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth shares perspectives between many characters, which becomes clearer as the story progresses.
• Character ‘episodes’ add to character development that some may have felt lacked in Remake.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake rightfully centered around Cloud and followed him through the entirety of the game. While control of the party leader could be shifted between characters in the active party, Cloud pushed through the narrative as its lead, and that never really changed.

In Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, perspectives shift throughout the unfolding story. In addition to this, Cloud and his friends experience character ‘episodes’, which follow certain characters and provide the player with some nice character-building opportunities. If Cloud’s overwhelming aloofness becomes burdensome, these shorter breaks should offer some respite.

games“>2 Queen’s Blood (And Other Mini-games)

What Is Different?

• Rebirth is full of what seems like endless mini-games and other fun activities.
• Queen’s Blood is the new card game in a long line of Final Fantasy card games and features strategic but enjoyable matches.

What is a Final Fantasy game without an attached and addicting card game? Sometimes, they are not always instant classics, and sometimes they are Triple Triad (a masterpiece). Queen’s Blood falls toward the latter, and it is such a terrific addition to Final Fantasy 7.

There is, of course, plenty to enjoy about Remake, but Rebirth really takes Queen’s Blood to new levels with its integration into everything. From side quests to finding strangers to duel, Queen’s Blood will usurp hours of playtime. The best part is that it is not a simple game mastered in minutes. It may not be the most complex of card games, but it provides enough of a challenge to make strategizing decks worth it, at least in the early hours of the game.

1 Dynamic Difficulty

What Is Different?

• Perhaps controversial, dynamic difficulty allows Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth to match the player’s skill as they grow, making the difficulty sync with their current ability.
• Offers a heavier challenge than traditional ‘normal’ modes.

Going back to the days of Final Fantasy 8 with its controversial level sync, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth offers a dynamic difficulty mode. While not an exact copy of 8’s level sync, which leveled up enemies alongside Squall and his party, the dynamic difficulty will ultimately increase the difficulty of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

The game matches a player’s current ability, meaning each battle should, in theory, be evenly matched. Battles will become extended slug matches, and boss battles can take quite a bit of extra time. Choosing dynamic difficulty depends on the player at hand and their preferences, but the mode itself offers a very intriguing means of playing Final Fantasy Rebirth that was not available in Remake or the original.

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