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FF7 Rebirth’s in-game manual is host to a lot of juicy information. It’s easily accessible from the main menu, and it’s broken up into sections that make it convenient for brushing up on specific mechanics. That’s all well and good, but what it won’t tell you are the game’s little quirks. Honestly, I wish I knew these things before playing Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. The opening chapters would undoubtedly been a little smoother.
Steal Materia Is Next to Useless
If you’ve played the original FFVII or even the Remake, having at least one party member with the Steal Materia was incredibly useful. You could nab some pretty good items early, but that’s not the case with FF7 Rebirth.
In fact, the Steal Materia is downright useless. For starters, no one really has anything worthwhile to steal, not even weapons and armor. The most use you’ll get out of it is stealing an Elixir from Roche or farming Celeris to make some easy Gil. Otherwise, you can save yourself a Materia slot and ignore it.
Don’t Forget to Assess Everything
Yellow Materia that isn’t useless is the Assess Materia, and it goes beyond just giving you the details on an enemy’s weakness. You get information on health, resistances, immunities, as well as how to stagger and pressure, which is incredibly helpful for completing Fiend Intel. Assessing monsters also counts towards unlocking scenarios in Chadley’s Battle Simulator.
Now, you don’t need to go crazy with Assess. Once you’ve assessed a monster, that information can always be recalled by pressing the touchpad. Furthermore, you only ever need to use Assess once in a battle since it’ll scan every enemy in combat.
Side Quests and World Intel Are Important, If Not Essential
Normally, I’d suggest taking your time with side content in FF7 Rebirth, and you certainly can. Even when you venture into Junon from the Grasslands, you’re welcome to fast travel back to previous areas. However, I’d argue the sooner you get it done, the better.
It’s less about the experience and Gil and more about the Materia you can earn from completing said side quests and world intel. Additionally, during side quests, one of your party members will take front stage in the story, like Aerith during Stuck in a Rut. Upon completion, you’ll deepen the relationship between the characters, unlocking useful perks like more Synergy abilities.
Mai and Chadley Can Be Silenced
Mai and Chadley’s incessant dialogue is grating, especially Mai, when you’re trying to complete Fiend Intel. You can’t disable Mai, nor can you send Chadley straight to voicemail. However, you can silence them for good by adjusting the speaker on your controller.
- Go into System > Options > Audio & Vibrations.
- Set Transmission Dialogue Playback Device to Controller Speaker.
- Tap the PlayStation button and select the Sound option.
- Set the volume of the Controller Speaker to zero.
You’ll see Mai and Chadley’s lips flapping, but you won’t hear a thing. One thing to note is that you’ll still hear Chadley if you speak with him in person. This is definitely near the top of my personal list of things I wish I had known before playing Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
Sell Your Excess Crafting Materials
Gil is seemingly tough to come by, especially early on, but the crafting materials you pick up can be an easy way to get some quick cash. Not necessarily all of it, but some crafting materials are found in abundance like Timber, Mellow Oak, Laurel, and Lea Titanium.
You see, you can only hold a limited number of a single material—99, to be specific. Any you pick up after that are discarded. So, naturally, if you’re getting close to the maximum, sell off any excess materials.
You Can Track Craftable Items
Speaking of crafting, you can create some pretty powerful items. Not only potions, mind you, but armor and accessories, too. It’s a great idea to craft as often as possible, especially new items to improve your crafting level, though you only get experience for crafting an item once.
To make your life easier, highlighting an item in the crafting menu and pressing Square will add that item to a to-do list. Whenever you’ve gathered all the materials you need, you’ll get a notification on the right-hand side that you can craft an item on your list!
Switch Up Your Party Frequently
While each party member has their strengths and weaknesses, you can usually shore that latter up with the right gear and Materia. But here’s the deal: each character brings something unique to the party beyond the Materia they’re equipped with. You’re gimping yourself if you don’t change up your strategy and inadvertently weakening your team as a whole.
For starters, some fights feel a lot smoother with the right teammates. For example, defeating the Terror of the Deep is a lot easier when Aerith is on your team. Her Arcane Ward lets her cast spells twice, meaning you can double-tap the fishy Fiend with lightning.
Equally important are the weapon skills. Each weapon grants a special weapon ability, right? You can learn that ability permanently by carrying out specific tasks. However, they do not get credit if they aren’t an active member of your group.
Your Folio Offers a Wealth of Useful Abilities
Seeing as you can’t access your Folio from the menu except at rest stops, it’s easy to forget about. Do try to make a habit of keeping it up to date because it’s the only way you’ll learn new Synergy abilities and unlock Limit Breaks, in addition to stat bonuses and MP-free magic attacks like Icy Impulse.
More paths open up as you level up your weapon skill and level up the team as a whole. Try out different core skills and paths; you can reset your Folio as many times as you want, free of charge.
Change the Combo Targeting Setting
Whenever you mash your basic attack, you’re unintentionally locking yourself into an animation until that combo is over. If a fiend dies while you’re in the middle of a combo, those remaining attacks are wasted. You can dodge to cancel, but there’s a much better way: changing the combo targeting setting.
It’s a simple yet effective change. You’ll find it in the Gameplay menu under Combat Targeting. It’s set to Fixed by default, so you’ll want to change that bad boy to Free. What that does is let you enable your attacks to move freely between targets, even mid-combo, using your analog stick.
Keep an Eye Out for Purple Chests
With Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth being open world, it’s a heck of a lot easier to miss items. Points of interest are especially nice since you’ll actually be told how many chests are in the area. It’s like a cure for FOMO!
You’ll frequently find chests containing items and materials, but the most valuable ones are glowing purple. Those chests contain weapons, which means you save a ton on upgrades and gain access to new skills.
