Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: Tips for Beginners

After several years of waiting, it’s finally here! Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is the newest, biggest entry in the beloved Final Fantasy franchise, with many players well underway on their journey beyond the confines of Midgar. If you’re just starting out (or still considering a purchase) we have some tips and tricks you might want to utilize before hitting the Chocobo trail and chasing after Sephiroth.

Ready to go? All right, let’s mosey. 

First Off, Smell The Flowers

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is a (very) big game. While its open-world design might initially seem overwhelming, a few considerations can help you break up the massive to-do list. Thankfully, Rebirth is more of a “zonal” game, meaning that instead of having a single enormous map to cover, the game is broken up into segmented areas with their own monsters, weapons, quests, and more. 

While the game is reportedly well over 100 hours long (if you’re a completionist), that doesn’t mean you have to do everything immediately. The developers filled the game with plenty of content, including addictive minigames, rare monster fights, and plenty of discoveries. That doesn’t mean you need to treat the game like a grocery list—if you’re shaken by the sheer amount of things to do, save them for later. The story is what’s most important, and you don’t want to give up before the end just because you just had to play one more game of Fort Condor.

Do The Combat Tutorials

Chadley is back from Final Fantasy VII Remake, with a few new tricks up his sleeve. While you can first find him in Kalm, players will be forced to notice him at Bill’s Chocobo Ranch, where he imparts some wisdom about his new Shinra battle simulator.

Alongside rewarding battles for Summon Materia and interesting rehashes of unique fiend battles, Chadley offers combat tutorials for each of the starting party members, where you can learn the basics of their unique playing styles. Savvy Final Fantasy VII Remake players might remember (or think they remember) how to control Cloud and the gang, but there’s no harm in brushing up on the basics—Rebirth’s combat is deeper than ever, and you’ll be doing a lot of it.

Those Who Fight Further Do Better

While Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s flashy combat might appear to be action-oriented, there is an immense amount of strategy and traditionalism just under the surface. As in Remake, regularly swapping between party members is the key to success. Think of Rebirth’s combat as a more technical iteration of the series’ traditional ATB system—once a party member’s ATB bar has filled and you’ve used one of their Spells or Abilities, it’s time to swap to the next character and repeat.

Success in combat is all about utilizing your entire party. Enemies love to attack whatever character is being controlled, so there’s good reason to consistently switch them up!

Assess Your Surroundings, And Your Enemies

You might notice that one of the first Materia your party has access to is the Assess Materia. While not only extremely useful in sussing out an enemy or boss’s weaknesses, the Assess skill also gives you a bit of additional lore information. Not only that, it builds toward one of Chadley’s easily overlooked VR combat courses—the one that gives you access to new Enemy Materia skills. 

By Assessing as many enemies and bosses as possible in each region as you find them, you’ll save yourself the headache of having to hunt them down later!

Have Chocobo, Will (Fast) Travel

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth starts strong, with the lengthy Nibelheim backstory segment and a lot of drama in Kalm. Once the game kicks you out into the overworld proper and you can take in the grand vistas of the Grasslands, you might be initially tempted to run around and start exploring.

But wait! If you make a beeline for Bill’s Ranch and get access to your Chocobo and fast travel options, exploration becomes much less of a headache. Plus, each region has its own Chocobo you need to collect—it’s a great idea to start there, and then begin all of your questing.

There are so many things you can do to get the most out of your Final Fantasy VII Rebirth experience, and we want you to enjoy your time in the lands beyond Midgar. Let us know if there are any tips or tricks you’ve picked up while chasing down that One-Winged Angel, Sephiroth!