The size and scale of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth cannot be understated, and it’s going to be a long journey. To set you on the right path, here are our best FF7 Rebirth beginner tips.
After another long wait, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has us setting foot on sacred ground once more. Only this time, you’re not confined to just Midgar; there’s a whole world to explore. More monsters, more minigames, more Summons, and so much more to learn. It doesn’t matter if you bypassed the 2020 remake completely. This beginner’s guide is filled with top tips designed to charter a useful path through the many chapters of FF7 Rebirth—and beyond.
9 best tips for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Claim your loyalty bonuses
Before you even start Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, check to see if you’re eligible for any additional bonus content before you begin.
As well as a bunch of pre-order bonuses you may need to redeem, there are also two Summon Materia tied to playing previous FF7 content: Ramuh and Leviathan.
Your Combat Style and difficulty settings can be changed
At the beginning of Rebirth, you will be asked to choose between the Active and Classic Combat Styles. Not only that, but there are also several difficulty settings to agonize over.
You don’t need to fret though, as these settings aren’t permanent. You can test each Combat Style out to see which one you prefer, as well as adjust the gameplay toughness to suit your preferences as you move along in your adventure.
Learn how different Materia works
Younger Andrew in his preadolescence (yes, I was playing FF7 when I was that age, don’t lecture me) was quite happy to stick to offensive Materia, and was peacefully and blissfully unaware of the importance of Support Materia, and any Command Materia that wasn’t Sense—now known as Access.
I wholeheartedly encourage you to acquire as much Materia as you can, thoroughly investigate what it does and what it can evolve into, and use it to see if it complements your way of playing.
Change your accessories and equipment regularly
It can become so easy to become complacent and just keep reeling off one battle after another in FF7. Before you know it, you’re infected with a case of “one more quest” syndrome, and several hours have now passed since you last checked your gear.
What’s that? You have four new weapons, superior bracelets with more Materia slots, strength-boosting accessories, and a partridge in a pear tree. Diligently check your inventory often to ensure your party is performing at its peak and making combat easier.
Still More Fighting
Take every opportunity you can to battle. If the remakes are your first exposure to FF7, then count your lucky stars, as veterans will hunch over you with a croaky voice and regale you with how battles used to randomly appear out of nowhere—now where’s my walking stick?
Battles may now be optional as you can physically see the enemy, but I implore you to fight often. You need to raise your player level and level up your Materia fast. If you do, you will become more attuned to your way of approaching and engaging in combat. After all, you learn by experience.
Pick up all resources
As you’re running around in the Grasslands, Junon, or even the sandy terrain of Mt. Corel, you should be going out of your way to obtain any resource you see. One of the game’s coolest features is Transmutation—allowing you to craft items without needing to sacrifice your hard-earned Gil for them.
Increasing your Transmutation level expands your roster of templates, allowing you to create rarer items as the game goes on. You can save a silly amount of Gil by doing this, and you certainly need to forage for ultra-rare resources if you want to sport some of Rebirth’s best gear.
Smash all Shinra boxes
A mechanic that carried over from both the Final Fantasy 7 and Crisis Core remakes is the ability to obliterate a pile of Shinra boxes. With one swift swipe of Cloud’s mighty blade, or whichever FF7 Rebirth character you’re controlling, you can regain HP, MP, or earn many different free rewards.
From basic Potions to Moogle Medals, these Boxes contain all manner of handy tidbits and gameplay-enhancing extras.
Simply, explore
It pays to go off of the beaten path in FF7 Rebirth, and why wouldn’t you? This is a staggering open world rife with detailed biomes, interesting side quests, and an array of activities that you may otherwise miss out on.
Complete Chadley‘s Intel missions to learn more about the world, find and prevail in new Queen’s Blood encounters you come across to add new cards to your deck, and make use of your Chocobo to see what Square Enix has been up to for the last four years.
Seek comfort in your best party
Now and again, your party will be dictated by the central narrative, taking manual selections out of your Mako-covered hands and choosing members for you. However, when you’re not constricted by Rebirth’s character stranglehold, the onus is on you to choose the right members for the job.
I’ve already explained who I think the best party is in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, but everyone is different and we all enjoy things in our own way. Aside from Vincent Valentine, of course, you can take everyone for a spin and see who synergizes with your philosophy of combat better.
