FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH - Tips for Beginners

This guide is SPOILER FREE

Important Stuff

If you're too lazy to read the rest, take note of AT LEAST the following:

1. It’s not a marathon, it’s a trip

Take. Your. Time. This is not a game you’re meant to marathon in one sitting. Think of it as a “finish it in six months” type of adventure. I even took a 2-month-long break during my first run after hitting 80+ hours, halfway through the game.

2. Pick one: have fun or do your chores

This is perhaps the one, single, most important tip I can give you and wish I knew: Trying to 100% this game on your first run might absolutely ruin the story experience, as there’s simply too much to absorb. Therefore, this is a red pill blue pill moment: Either choose to have a good time and enjoy the ride as an experience, or choose to be a completionist and tackle this as a giant puzzle. You can’t have both, believe me.

3. Master Every Character

We all have our favorites. But, for spoiler-y reasons, don’t neglect x, y, or z companion. Get comfortable playing with everyone from your party. The game will inevitably force you to switch between them, so knowing each one’s ins and outs is crucial for a good experience.

4. Admit you’re a lil’ wuss

This is NOT an easy game like FF16. So, jokes aside, if a particular segment is giving you grief, feel free to dial the difficulty down. You can always bump it back up again later.

5. Minigames are just minigames

Minigames won’t reward you any unique or important items. If you’re not enjoying them, feel free to skip them without being afraid of missing something important.

Quest Related

Let’s talk a bit about quests. These tips are pretty objective, so feel free to take them at their word.

1. So many quests. Which ones should you do?

This game has an overwhelming amount of side content. So, lemme help you sorting out what to do and when. I highly recommend actually doing and prioritizing Summon Quests and the Protorelic Quests. Then, if you're into it, whatever VR battles and side quests you feel like doing. Then, only if you have the time, Expedition and Battle Intels, as they errrr might hold a few surprises, but meh. The tower quests, lastly, are more of a “nice-to-have” than essential, so feel free to skip them.

2. Don’t Swat over Corel’s Protomateria

When you get to the Corel region you’ll possibly have trouble finding the third or fourth protomateria. Don’t sweat it, they’re scripted to appear later in the story, so you’ll have another chance to grab them.

3. Casual Gold Saucer Dating

When you get to the Gold Saucer date part, don’t try too hard to get the good outcome. Just play through the content naturally and save any extra attention for your next playthrough. The experience is meant to be enjoyed without added pressure.

4. Side Content Is Optional in FF7RB

Remember that side content is just that—side content. It’s not mandatory to complete it all, so don’t stress over every optional quest or activity. Main quests are what drive the core story. Sure, unlike Minigames, some side quests mighhhhhhhhht give you one or another decent item, but nothing absolutely irreplaceable. Don’t feel bad leaving some, if not most, undone. Trust me.

5. Chicken side quest

Except for this one. Whenever you hear something about a chicken side quest, do it asap.

Exploration and Menus

There were so many hidden and untold tips regarding the game menus and shortcuts, I felt they deserved their own section.

1. Buried Treasures and Bunny Clusters.

While exploring the world, keep an eye out for groups of bunnies. They signal buried items.

2. Chasing Baby Chocobos for Valuable Stops.

Follow every baby chocobo you come across. They’ll lead you to chocobo stops, which turn out to be extremely valuable and not exactly abundant.

3. Chocobo Stop Repairs on the Fly.

You can repair chocobo stops while still riding your chocobo. I only realized this way later on.

4. Party Swapping Shortcut.

You can hotswap between the three battle parties while you’re out in the field without diving into the menu with X -> L1/R1.

5. Multi-Use Items Shortcut.

When you’re out in the field, simply hold L1 while using items to activate their multi-use functionality.

6. Materia Overview Shortcut.

Finally, an option that might not be immediately obvious: if you’re playing with a PlayStation controller, press the touchpad in the Equipment menu to see your entire party’s materia at once (not the individual materia menu for a single character).

General Tips

Now, on to the bulk of the guide.

1. Talking to Chadley gets old FAST

I’m gonna start out with this one because Jesus Christ… If you know who this kid is, you’ll value this tip. If it’s your first time, well, just remember this: You can hold triangle to skip Chadley's Intel interrupts (also Remna Tower cutscenes). Use it whenever you get a chance.

2. When things get rough, call in Tifa

From the beginning to the end of the game, she’s your stagger-filler (stagger is like posture breaking here). She ramps up stagger percentage ridiculously faster than anyone else, without expending ATB. Investing in her stagger skills from the get-go and using her will save you hours of time spent in-battle by the end of the game.

3. Don’t Sleep on Yuffie

Yuffie is even more broken than previously thought. She’s arguably the best character in the game. Don’t hesitate to experiment with her.

4. Enemy Analysis is Smart?

Always have the Assess Materia equipped on someone and use it to analyze new enemies. The info can really, REALLY turn the tide of a difficult encounter and quicken an otherwise long battle.

5. Enemy Analysis is Stupid?

But won’t the Assess Materia pretty much waste a Materia slot? Yup. Won’t I have to quickload a game to before the battle to switch up the Assess materia to whatever weakness the enemy has? Well, here's some tough love: Regardless, you should always find a way to carry all 4 elements around somehow. I had a whole paragraph explaining this, but frig it, the guide would be too long. Just trust me. The wasted slot from the Assess Materia must not be a problem.

6. Elemental Skills

Speaking of elements, prioritize unlocking "elemental" skills for all characters as soon as possible.

7. Invest in Chakra and Steadfast Block

As soon as you can, level up Chakra and Steadfast Block. They’re universally useful and only become more valuable as you advance further into the game. Definitely not early-game-only skills.

8. Don’t Underestimate the Item Transmuter

The Item Transmuter is a hidden gem. Stronger Mist-Potions created through it can be incredibly helpful.

9. Pause for Gold Saucer Battles

In the Gold Saucer Virtual Battles—especially for the two final/secret opponents—learn to pause the game as your enemy winds up a punch. This may sound like gibberish if you don’t know what I’m talking about, but HOLY MOLY it’ll make all the difference when you get to it. They should’ve blackened the pause screen, BUT DIDN’T. Just remember to check back at this guide when you get to it.

10. Adjusting Mini-Game Difficulty

The overall game difficulty also impacts mini-games and Queen’s Blood (this game's card game). If you’re stuck, consider temporarily lowering the difficulty to Easy. This change won’t affect your achievements unless you’re playing Hardcore.

Some hard mode tips:

11. Materia Slots

Consider playing on Hard after finishing the game on normal. Also, most importantly, after already having all enemies already assessed. That one extra Materia Slot will make all the difference.

12. Don’t rely on items

If you’re planning to tackle Hard mode at some point, don’t lean too heavily on items. Learn to rely more on healing spells.

13. MP Restoration on Cushions

In hard mode, you can use cushions to restore MP.

Combat and Abilities

Let’s start talking a bit about combat. The next sections will also, in one way or another, relate to battles.

1. Don't (always) Save Your LIMIT Breaks

You can go through the entire game using limit breaks wrong. Sure, most are meant to be a damage bomb. But some of them have staggering (posture breaking) as their main purpose. Read what each one does, and don’t feel obliged to save them exclusively for staggered enemies.

2. In-Battle Enemy Scouting.

If you're playing on a Playstation Controller, by pressing the touchpad in battle, you can access vital enemy information. This feature is great for checking if you’ve properly assessed your foe or need a quick stat reminder mid-fight.

3. Switch Party Compositions on the Fly.

You can change your party MIDFIGHT by pressing the square button (on the dualsense). I only discovered this halfway through my journey, as it isn’t mentioned anywhere in the game.

4. ‘Alpha’ Spells aren’t what you think.

Don’t be fooled by mistranslations: the so-called “alpha” spells do not imbue your weapon with an element. Instead, they grant you a buff that, when you execute a Perfect Block, releases a small elemental counter burst for a bit of extra damage. I'm not sure they fixed this in the Steam version, but better to mention it than to omit it.

ATB Tips

ATB is the “cooldown” of the game skills. Check out these tips:

1. ATB Buildup.

Synergy skills are a fantastic resource for building up your ATB gauge at no cost. Use them whenever you’re in a pinch—they can be surprisingly potent, sometimes even teleporting characters out of danger. It’s a trick I wish I’d used more often! Speaking of which...

2. ATB Refunds.

This tip will have a lot of confusing words, but it’s worth it. Stick with me. So, it turns out that certain ATB actions like Mug and Disorder refund part of their ATB cost upon hitting, even though they don’t generate Synergy Points. These moves can be paired with Plasma Discharge—which boasts an infinite duration and automatically triggers a free AoE lightning blast every time your ATB bar fills. Repeatedly using Mug or Disorder under this buff unleashes a barrage of lightning blasts capable of dealing phenomenal damage in early and mid game. This is borderline game-breaking. Make use of it.

3. ATB Refunds (more).

It’s also worth mentioning, several skills will refund your ATB if timed to dodge an attack successfully.

Materias and Builds

Materias are the game’s “magic spells.” They level up individually and can be swapped between party members.

1. Self-Destruct Immunity.

This one is a game changer for some nasty bosses: Equipping a mastered Warding Materia or Safety Bit prevents Self-Destruct from insta-killing you. Instead, you’ll be left with 1 HP.

2. teadfast Block and your AI.

Here’s a general tip I suspect might be under the radar: Steadfast Block Materia (the one that fills the ATB gauge faster when guarding) appears to work for AI party members as well. Coupled with Tifa’s ATB Assist, you might find them wrecking house on their own.

3. Materia Linking is B-R-O-K-E-N.

Lmao get a load of this... You can link multiple copies of the same materia with various blue materia to create powerful, multi-faceted effects. For instance, linking Fire with HP Absorb, MP Absorb, Magnify, Magic Focus, Swiftcast, and Magic Efficiency allows a single fire spell to absorb HP and MP, hit as an AoE, and boast increased potency, faster casting, plus reduced MP cost. Naturally, this setup calls for multiple copies of the necessary green materia.

4. Enemies are Just as Spongy as You’re Lazy.

This one will make a difference between a boss fight lasting 2 minutes or 15 minutes: Don’t just mash the square button through the entire game. If you’re having trouble with a boss, it’s likely because you’re playing it dumb and not paying attention to its attack patterns. Use the Assess materia to gather crucial intel and don’t be afraid to switch up your loadouts or party members. You don’t need any sort of ridiculously complex build for Dynamic or Normal difficulty, but a little intentional planning can make tougher fights a whole lot smoother and faster.

Character-Specific Tips

⚠️⚠️⚠️ATTENTION⚠️⚠️⚠️

I strongly recommend reading these only after you’ve already familiarized yourself with the game. There’ll be a whole bunch of skill names and advanced mechanics that might confuse a newcomer. I’ll try to be brief in order to keep it short, but feel free to jump to the last section of the guide and come back later if you’re just starting out.

1. Cloud’s Blade Beam and Tifa’s Chi Trap Scaling.

Both Blade Beam and Chi Trap scale with your Magic Attack stat. Investing in Magic Attack will enhance the potency of these abilities, making them more effective against tougher enemies.

2. Aerith is NOT Just a White Mage

Don’t write off Aerith just because her dodge is slow. Midgame/Late game-wise, with the right setup, she can deal massive damage.

3. Aerith’s Enhanced Dodge with Radiant Ward

Radiant Ward doesn’t just boost Aerith’s magic—it also revamps her dodge.

4. Aerith’s Radiant Ward Boosts her ATB

Aerith starts with the lowest Speed attribute, making her passive ATB insufferably slow. However, her Radiant Ward skill secretly boosts her Speed while she’s standing on it—bringing her charge rate closer to that of Yuffie or Red XIII. On top of that, using Fleeting Familiar after a Tempest will further buff her ATB Speed for 25 seconds at base.

5. Aerith’s Radiant Wards

When playing as Aerith, always keep Radiant Ward active.

6. Barrett’s Quick Reload

Barrett now benefits from a quick reload on nearly everything—spells, items, and materia abilities alike.

7. Cait Sith’s Run’ Gun

When mounted on the Moogle, Cait Sith can cast magic while moving.

8. Cait Sith’s High-Damage Combo

Combine Cait Sith’s Lady Luck + Moogle Kaboom + Dodge n’ Dive for INSANE damage.

9. Cait Sith’s ATB Refund

Cait Sith’s Let’s Ride and Dodge n’ Dive both refund some ATB when hitting targets. This stacks the more enemies you hit, being a potentially ATB-POSITIVE skill.

10. Cait Sith’s Invincible Dodge

Cait Sith boasts the only fully invincible dodge in the game (flick the left stick in either direction while mounted). Because of this, always keep the Moogle summoned.

11. Red XIII’s Limit Break + Vengeance Mode

If you notice that Stardust Ray sometimes explodes at the end and other times doesn’t, it’s all about vengeance mode. Several of his abilities, including Sidewinder and Reaper Touch, receive unlisted buffs in vengeance mode.

12. Tifa’s ATB Generation

Abilities like Unbridled Strength and Unfettered Fury generate ATB through their triangle attacks. Pairing this with the ATB Assist materia allows you to break the game’s combat, performing rapid Unfettered Fury attacks.

13. Yuffie and Aerith are a must-have combo

Yuffie’s Doppelganger replicates about 20–30% of her output—including skills like Soothing Breeze. When she’s standing on an Aerith’s Arcane Ward, she even quad-casts her spells (although the Doppelganger casts are somewhat weaker). Combining Doppelganger with Mind Blast creates an impressive stagger effect. For just 2 ATB and once per fight, it almost guarantees a stagger on all but the most formidable foes.

14. Yuffie’s Animation Cancel

Yuffie’s Blindside ATB ability functions as an animation cancel. Abuse this.

Overall Experience

These are mostly my personal tips and takes regarding how you should tackle the gameplay. These represent how I would’ve wanted to have played it back then, at least. Feel free to suggest counterpoints or suggestions in the comments!

1. A little bit of this and a little bit of that

Mix up your play style by sprinkling in some exploration as you progress through the story. If you still have the itch to explore after finishing the main narrative, you can always circle back, but forcing it might take the fun out of it.

2. Don’t Exhaust Yourself Region by Region.

Avoid the trap of achieving 100% in each region before moving on. The game is stupid enormous; it was NOT meant for that. You’ll have the opportunity to clean (most) sidequests after beating the game. Keep the experience fun, not a chore.

3. World Intel and Battle Sims.

Similar to the minigames, you aren’t obligated to complete every world intel quest or battle simulation. Skip what isn’t fun for you—the core game stands strong without every little extra.

4. Completionists, BEWARE.

I wanna address the completionists here: if minigames aren’t your cup of tea, think really, really hard whether you should 100% this game. The grind is absolutely relentless and might take away from your enjoyment. They’re designed to challenge your patience, and, believe me, THEY ACCOMPLISH THAT.

5. Social Media Blackout.

Last, but not least, steer clear of the Steam Community tab, Discussions and whatever social media chatter until you finish the game. The game is packed with a lot of surprises and plot twists that you’ll appreciate even more if you experience them firsthand without spoilers.