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After more than 80 hours of slaying fiends and swapping materia, we’ve finished Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth — and now we have to tell you all about it. Rebirth is exponentially bigger and more complex than the previous game in the remake series, with lots of new features that left us scratching our heads for way too long. If you’re new to the series or a returning playing coming back after a long hiatus and need a refresher, we’ve got 10 beginner tips we wish we knew way, way earlier.
#1. Never Stop Assessing
Assess is your most important materia in all of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Equipping this orb gives you the Assess ability, which reveals all of an enemy’s weaknesses and resistances. Even more importantly, it reveals how to Pressure an enemy. Pressure and Stagger are the most important mechanics in the game. Every enemy can be Pressured, which fills a meter under their health bar until they’re put in a Staggered state. When Staggered, enemies and bosses are completely stunned and all attacks deal more damage. Fans of Final Fantasy 7 Remake will know all about these mechanics, but Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth adds a few new wrinkles to combat.
First, enemy weaknesses are much more complex here. Guessing how to pressure an enemy can be impossible in this game, and boss mechanics can be even more confusing. Always have a character equipped with the Assess Materia and Assess every single enemy, especially bosses. Assess is also important when exploring the field. You’ll want to use Assess on as many enemies in each region as you can. The more enemies you use Assess on, the more bonus battles will unlock in Chadley’s Combat Simulator. The Combat Simulator has unique Materia you can unlock early, so you’ll want to finish these extra battles as soon as they unlock.
#2. Unlock All The Synergy Abilities
A totally new mechanic in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth are Synergy Abilities and Synergy Skills. As you level up your characters will earn SP. You’ll be able to spend SP at book stores and book vending machines. These allow you to customize your characters and unlock Stat Boosts and Synergies. Synergies are some of the best skills in the game and can make your battles so much easier. We slept on Synergies for far too long.
Aim to unlock Synergies with characters you use the most. You’ll earn one blue tick for each ATB ability you use in battle. To earn more Synergy, use ATB commands in battle all the time – you don’t have to swap to characters and use them directly, but it helps. Once you fill up those ticks, you’ll be able to use Synergy Abilities from the Command Menu or Synergy Skills when blocking. Synergy Abilities don’t just deal damage when you unleash them on fiends. They unlock valuable bonuses like unlimited MP for a short time, extra ATB charges, or increase your Limit Break level. This is the only way to increase the Limit Break level we’ve found. Seriously, if you’re struggling and don’t know why the game is so difficult in the early Chapters, it’s probably because you’re not using Synergy Abilities.
#3. Don’t Miss Free Weapons
Weapons don’t just give your characters stat boosts or more Materia Slots. Each Weapon has something called a Weapon Ability that you can unlock by filling that weapon’s Proficiency Meter. By using the Weapon Ability over and over, you’ll eventually unlock the Weapon Ability permanently. That’s the only way to unlock new Abilities. Basically, don’t skip weapons – even the worst weapons can have an incredibly good Weapon Ability. Use them until the Weapon Ability is unlocked.
And you don’t have to buy your weapons. Weapons drop from Purple Chests in the game world, and every weapon is available for free. While progressing through story-specific areas or dungeons, always look for purple chests. Weapons chests almost never spawn in the open-world environment, so there’s really no reason to search every corner of the regions – only look for weapons when you’re in the thick of the story. And if you miss a weapon chest, you’ll eventually be able to purchase the missed weapons from Weapon Vendors in later chapters. Just expect to pay thousands of gil for the opportunity to unlock another ability.
Very rarely, weapons can be earned by completing mini-games, so check the rewards to see if there’s a weapon to unlock. They’re always worth the effort.
#4. Complete Divine Intel To Unlock Summons
Summons are killer materia that you can start using as early as Chapter 2. Each region has a unique Summon, and the only way to unlock new Summon Materia for most of the game is by defeating it in Chadley’s Combat Simulator. Normally, these battles are way too difficult to complete on your first attempt. To make Summon battles easier and make the Summon Materia more powerful, you’ll need to find Divine Intel.
Unlock all the Remnawave Towers on the map to find Sanctuary locations – they’re marked as Divine Intel on the map. You’ll find glowing crystals near Divine Intel that will lead you to the Sanctuary when you smash them. The mini-game can be annoying, but you do seriously need to complete these. There are three Sanctuaries in each region, and for each Sanctuary you complete, the Summon Combat Simulator battle gets easier. Not only is the boss battle easier, this also upgrades the Summon materia. Summons can be upgraded three times — and even if you beat the Summon Combat Simulator battle, you should still finish those Sanctuaries to squeeze the most power out of your summon.
#5. How To Unlock New Transmuter Recipes
Summons are killer materia that you can start using as early as Chapter 2 in Final Fantasy Rebirth. Each region has a unique Summon, and the only way to unlock new Summon Materia for most of the game is by defeating the Summon in Chadley’s Combat Simulator. Normally, these battles are way too difficult to complete. To make the battles easier and level up the materia, you’ll need to find Divine Intel.
Divine Intel are hidden sanctuary locations. Unlock all the Remnawave Towers on the map to find Sanctuary locations, then complete the mini-game. There are three Sanctuaries in each region, and for each Sanctuary you complete, the Summon Combat Simulator battle will get easier. Not only is the boss battle easier, this also upgrades the materia itself. Summons can be upgraded three times — and even if you can beat the Summon Combat Simulator battle, you should still finish those Sanctuaries to squeeze the most power out of your summon.
#6. And How To Collect Lots of Resources
Another totally new feature is the Item Transmuter. In your main menu, you can craft items by combining materials in the Transmuter. Normally, you’ll unlock recipes just by leveling up the Transmuters — this is done by crafting items you’ve never crafted before, earning Transmuter XP. But, you can also unlock hidden recipes and armor or accessory upgrades.
To do that, you need to find Lifesprings. Lifesprings are Mako Crystals all over the region world map. There are six Lifesprings in each region, and they’ll always appear on your map if you activate all the towers. When you’re close to a Lifespring, a hooting owl will fly and show you the way. Activate the Lifesprings — if you complete two linked Lifesprings, you’ll unlock an Excavation Intel mission on your map.
Excavation Intel missions are scavenger hunts that require a Chocobo mount. Completing this small quest will get you two or three new sets of Transmuter recipes. Often this will include Key Items required for quests, so you’ll want to finish all the Lifesprings and Excavations early.
#7. Tifa Is Still The Best
Just like in Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Tifa is one of the best characters in the game when it comes to pressuring and staggering enemies. Unlock the Kaiser Knuckles in Chapter 5 by opening the purple chest in the 1st Freight Room or purchase later and unlock the Overpower Weapon Ability. Later, she can also learn Chi Trap from the Tiger Fangs weapon, unlocked in Chapter 9 in the Abandoned Reactor. Find it in the Outpost Regulation section of the map. These two skills are incredibly good for pressuring and staggering enemies.
Overpower specifically is used to pressure enemies. Combine with Unbridled Strength and her powerful physical combos to deal fast pressure damage to almost any enemy. When staggered, drop a Chi Trap to deal constant damage while using her combo finishers to increase the Stagger damage bonus from 150% to 200% or more. Even without Chi Trap, Overpower is one of the best skills in the game and you’ll want to unlock it permanently early.
8. Yuffie Is Also Amazing
Yuffie returns from the Intergrade DLC and she’s just as amazing in this game as she was in those bonus chapters. Yuffie’s true strength is in her ability to instantly swap from long-range to short-range. If you want to earn ATB, you can throw her ninja star. Unlock Elemental Ninjutsu with her starting weapon, the 4-Point Shuriken, to deal elemental damage with her throwing star. This is a great way to pressure enemies – and she becomes even better when you gain the Doppelganger Weapon Ability.
Get the Bird of Prey weapon from the leader’s house in Gongaga Village in Chapter 9. This unlocks the Doppelganger ability, which summons a clone of Yuffie that copies all of her actions. Use Art of War to buff yourself and deal high damage with Yuffie’s Doppelganger. Even better, this power can be enhanced to Supreme Art of War. Yuffie is an impressive character with these abilities alone – don’t sleep on her skills.
9. Getting The Best Queen’s Blood Cards
While the card game Queen’s Blood is a totally optional mini-game, you’ll want to start playing right away — Queen’s Blood is actually tied into the main story. In Chapter 5, you’ll face off against a series of unofficial Queen’s Blood matches. If you choose to skip these matches, you’ll miss a completely absurd and wonderful cutscene. Later in Chapter 8 you’ll be able to progress the story quicker if you can defeat three Queen’s Blood players. There are more examples just like this. So don’t be left unprepared. Start playing early!
Some of the best Queen’s Blood cards are available from the GP vendors in the Gold Saucer. You can also unlock great cards as early as Chapter 2. Complete the ‘A Rare Card’ quest in the village of Kalm to unlock a Queen’s Blood shop in the Grasslands. Buy the Titan card and complete the quest to earn the Moogle & Chocobo card. Later in Chapter 8 you’ll want to grab the Chocobo Jockey card from the Chocobo Square vendor. This is easily one of the best cards in the game.
10. Getting Extra SP
SP are the points you’ll need to unlock Synergies and other Stat Boosts in your character folios. And earning more SP is very valuable. Leveling up always gives your characters a set amount of SP, but you can also earn extra by finding books. SP Books are common rewards for completing quests, but you can also get them by ranking up the Moogle Merchant.
Every region map has at least one Moogle Merchant. By completing their mini-game and retrieving the lost Mooglets, you’ll rank up the merchant shop. The shop sells rare items like Ether and Elixir, but the most valuable items for my money are the SP books. The more you rank up the Moogle Shop, the more books you’ll be able to buy. These shops only trade in Moogle Medals, so be on the lookout while exploring regions and follow Chocobo’s nose to track down any of those buried treasures. You might find a load of Moogle Medals.
And that’s 10 quick tips we wish we knew way earlier. There’s so much more to discover in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, but we’re sticking to the basics for now — even if the basics might take you 30 hours or more to reach. This is a massive game, and we’ve got too much coverage coming to count.
