Final Fantasy VII Rebirth arrived on February 29, 2024, and it’s been a pretty great time ever since. Today, March 21, 2024, sees Rebirth get a new patch, packing some features you should try and some fixes to character abilities, including new options that’ll make certain mini-games much easier to play.
This guide will go over all the tweaked areas and aspects of the game you should check out. Some elements of the patch, like general bug fixes, are a bit harder to “test out” exactly, but there are some new options here you should definitely mess with.
And no, sorry, Chadley is still in this game despite a new patch that could’ve dealt with that problem (you can skip his calls though!).
Try out the new graphics mode options
Ever since the demo hit the digital shelves of the PlayStation store, Rebirth’s graphics have been a topic of conversation. In my review of the game, I lamented that performance mode was simply too soft and blurry, making the slower framerate of “Graphics” mode preferable. Of course, combat is much easier to read and play with a higher framerate.
Read More: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: The Kotaku Review
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I’ll be testing out the new visual options to see if my opinion on this has changed at all. Stay tuned to our guide on the graphics options for an update.
The patch notes also list general visual improvements as well as a more stable framerate across the board. So if you’re like me and aren’t hellaciously offended by a 30-frames-per-second framerate, graphics mode might end up looking that much prettier to you anyway.
Red XIII got some combat buffs
The new patch highlights two Red XIII abilities, “Supernal Fervor” and “Watcher’s Spirit,” as being too easily canceled out by enemy attacks previously. These should now be easier to activate following the patch.
Read More: 15 Essential Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Side-Quests
Red can acquire these two abilities from the Amethyst and Mystic Collars, respectively. You can find the first in the Old South Corel mine in Chapter 7 of Rebirth, while the Mystic Collar is found in the Hall of Diversion in the Cave of the Gi.
For a complete list of all of Rebirth’s weapons, check out our guide on the topic here.
Enemies might put up a greater fight
If you’ve played as much Rebirth as I have, you might’ve noticed that enemies sometimes exhibit a weird tendency to just not fraking do anything. For me, this was most apparent in the solo battle arena underneath Corel Prison.
The new patch addresses “specific conditions that would cause enemies to freeze.” So yeah, some fights might be more consistently tougher—just in time for most folks to get ready for a Hard Mode run!
Try out new difficulty options in Fort Condor and Gears and Gambits
Fort Condor and Gears and Gambits (which are very similar strategy combat games) have been known to be a little tough for players. Today’s patch adds difficulty options to these two games so you can get through them a bit more easily if they put up too much of a fight.
Also, if you’re completely lost on Gears and Gambits, check out our guide on this mini-game here.
Thank god: Inverted camera controls carry over to mini-games
If you’re an inverted Y-axis camera girl like me (or guy, or nb), then you were undoubtedly frustrated by the fact that Pirate’s Rampage and Glide de Chocobo ignored your camera control configurations.
That’s no longer the case. Now, Pirate’s Rampage and Glide de Chocobo will properly recognize your correctly inverted camera controls.
Today’s patch notes also detail various bug fixes such as correcting some in-game text issues, though not, it seems, the super-confusing Retry Battle screen (we have a guide for that too here). Apparently it was also possible to soft-lock yourself out of certain sections. All parts of the main story should now proceed without much issue.
