Vincent Valentine, everyone’s favorite and mysterious character from the Final Fantasy franchise, will accompany you on your journey in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, as confirmed this week by Square Enix. However, to the dismay of many, he will not be a playable character.
While everyone has their favorite characters from the Final Fantasy franchise, Vincent Valentine is among the most popular and beloved. So much so that he even got his own spinoff game, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy 7, and players have been hoping that he will return as a playable character in Rebirth.
Unfortunately, during a Sept. 21 interview with IGN, FF7 Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi mentioned that Vincent would not be a playable character like in Final Fantasy 7. Instead, he will be an accompanying character, meaning he will join your group and will fight alongside you, but you won’t be able to control him.
This isn’t the first time the folks at Final Fantasy have done this, as Red 13 was also an accompanying character in Final Fantasy 7 Remake, where he was a part of your team but was uncontrollable.
Hamaguchi mentioned that in Remake, players couldn’t change Red 13’s equipment even though he was in your party. So, if Vincent works the same, he will hopefully be added to your party later in the game because, at least then, his equipment will be maxed out. If he is added at the start, and if his equipment doesn’t automatically scale, he won’t be helpful in the long run and might be a hindrance.
It will also be interesting to see if FF7 Rebirth follows a similar storyline as FF7, where we must rescue Vincent from a basement, and whether he will possess the same weapons and abilities as he has previously.
But until Rebirth launches in February 2024, we’ll have to wait and see.