This is the second entry in Square Enix's remake trilogy, not the 1997 original and not Remake, and it reached PC on 23 January 2025. It picks up as the party leaves Midgar and runs through open regions from the Grasslands to the Forgotten Capital, with nine playable characters across the story. Combat keeps the ATB and stagger system from Remake and adds per character Folio skill trees, paired team attacks and a card game deep enough to swallow entire evenings.
Starting FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH can feel overwhelming. This guide tells you exactly what to focus on during your first hours so you don't waste time on things that don't matter yet. For the full progression path, see our walkthrough.
What Kind of Game Is This?
FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH is a rpg game built around ATB gauges and staggering and Folio skill trees and SP. The core loop involves mastering these systems to progress through increasingly challenging content.
What to expect: Time investment in learning mechanics, experimentation, and gradual mastery. The game rewards patience and knowledge.
Choosing Your First Build
| Build | Beginner Rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Barret | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Tifa | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Aerith | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Red XIII | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
Our recommendation: Start with Barret. It offers the most forgiving experience while teaching core mechanics.
Avoid Red XIII as your first pick. It requires deep knowledge of game systems to use effectively. Once you're ready, check our classes guide for all options.
First Session Step-by-Step
Step 1: Learn ATB gauges and staggering
Basic attacks and blocks charge ATB bars that pay for abilities, spells and items, and pressuring an enemy fills its stagger gauge. A staggered enemy takes a damage multiplier that the party can push higher with the right abilities, which is where most boss damage actually comes from.
This is the foundation. Spend your first 15-30 minutes getting comfortable with how ATB gauges and staggering works before worrying about anything else. Our combat guide breaks this down further.
Step 2: Head to Grasslands
The first open region after Midgar, centred on Kalm and the chocobo ranch. It teaches the World Intel loop: activate Remnawave towers, follow the revealed markers to Lifesprings and Fiend Intel, and use the region chocobo to reach what walking cannot.
Clear the main content here before moving on. Everything teaches fundamentals you'll need later. See our maps guide for all locations.
Step 3: Get Your First Upgrade
Look for Kaiser Knuckles: it's the most accessible early upgrade. One of Tifa's knuckle options, and knuckles are the fastest weapon class in the party. Speed matters more than raw damage on Tifa because her job is stacking stagger multipliers before the window opens.
Step 4: Understand Folio skill trees and SP
Each character has a Folio, a board of skill cores bought with SP earned from levelling and from manuscripts found in the world. Cores hand out stat boosts, passives, new abilities, the paired two character attacks and eventually that character's level 3 limit break.
This is the system most new players overlook. Invest time here early. It pays off throughout the entire game.
Step 5: Push to Junon Region
Coastal cliffs and beaches around Junon itself, with a mountain chocobo that climbs surfaces the standard bird cannot. The vertical terrain hides more intel markers than the Grasslands does, so towers matter more here.
Essential Mechanics Explained
ATB gauges and staggering
Basic attacks and blocks charge ATB bars that pay for abilities, spells and items, and pressuring an enemy fills its stagger gauge. A staggered enemy takes a damage multiplier that the party can push higher with the right abilities, which is where most boss damage actually comes from.
Folio skill trees and SP
Each character has a Folio, a board of skill cores bought with SP earned from levelling and from manuscripts found in the world. Cores hand out stat boosts, passives, new abilities, the paired two character attacks and eventually that character's level 3 limit break.
Weapon abilities and proficiency
Every weapon carries an ability that is usable only while that weapon is equipped, and repeated use raises its proficiency. Once proficiency maxes, the character keeps the ability permanently and can swap the weapon out, which is why cycling weapons early pays off later.
Materia across five colours
Materia comes in five types: green Magic, blue Support, yellow Command, purple Complete and red Summon. Linked slots pair a Support materia with the one beside it, so Magnify on a healing spell turns a single target cure into a party wide one at reduced potency.
World Intel and summon shrines
Chadley's checklist covers Remnawave towers, Lifesprings, Fiend Intel, protorelics, Moogle houses and Divine Intel. Each region holds three summon shrines that strengthen that region's summon and make its Combat Simulator fight less punishing, and upgrading every summon is what unlocks Gilgamesh as the last red materia.
Common Beginner Mistakes
1. Playing it like an action game, dodging constantly and never generating enough ATB to use abilities
2. Sticking with one weapon per character and reaching the late chapters with almost no permanently learned weapon abilities
3. Dumping limit breaks the moment an enemy staggers instead of raising the stagger multiplier first
4. Skipping the summon shrines and then losing the Combat Simulator fights the shrines were meant to soften
5. Treating Queen's Blood as optional and missing card rewards from opponents who leave with the story
First 5 Hours Checklist
- Understand ATB gauges and staggering and Folio skill trees and SP
- Choose Barret as starting build
- Clear Grasslands main content
- Acquire Kaiser Knuckles or equivalent upgrade
- Reach Junon Region
- Blocking charges ATB and running away does not. Against bosses that combo, holding guard through the sequence generates more resources than dodging out of range and waiting, which is the single biggest habit change from action games.
- Cycle weapons deliberately in early chapters. Weapon abilities become permanent once their proficiency maxes, so a character who rotated through four weapons in the Grasslands enters Junon with four abilities available from any loadout.
Tips for New Players
- Blocking charges ATB and running away does not. Against bosses that combo, holding guard through the sequence generates more resources than dodging out of range and waiting, which is the single biggest habit change from action games.
- Cycle weapons deliberately in early chapters. Weapon abilities become permanent once their proficiency maxes, so a character who rotated through four weapons in the Grasslands enters Junon with four abilities available from any loadout.
- Spend SP as soon as you earn it instead of hoarding for a late Folio node. Manuscripts found in the world keep topping the pool up, and an unspent point does nothing for the fight in front of you.
- Push stagger before you spend your big abilities. Hitting a staggered enemy with Tifa's upgraded chain first raises the damage multiplier, so the same limit break lands for considerably more afterwards.
- Complete all three summon shrines in a region before attempting that region's Combat Simulator summon fight. Each shrine strengthens the summon and lowers the fight's intensity, and the last upgrade grants extra abilities.
- Link Magnify to a healing materia on Aerith rather than to an attack spell. Party wide healing at reduced potency solves far more encounters than a slightly wider fire spell.
- Aerith's Arcane Ward doubles spells cast from inside it, so the whole party plan should be about keeping her in it. Use Barret to take aggro rather than moving her every time something looks threatening.
- Play Queen's Blood as you travel rather than saving it. There are 145 cards in total, some opponents disappear once the story moves on, and the rewards feed directly back into combat power.
- Use Yuffie to identify weaknesses when you have no information about an enemy. Her Ninjutsu switches element on demand, which is faster than rebuilding another character's materia to test one at a time.
- Hard mode disables items entirely and stops MP recovering at benches, so it is a materia and Folio test rather than a reflex test. Do not start it until your Folios are close to complete and your healing runs on Prayer style abilities rather than potions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this the 1997 Final Fantasy VII?
No. This is the second game in the remake trilogy, following Final Fantasy VII Remake, and it covers the journey after Midgar up to the Forgotten Capital. The 1997 original is a separate release.
Do I need to play Remake first?
Yes, in practice. Rebirth begins immediately after Remake's ending, assumes you know the party and the changes Remake made to the plot, and does not re-explain them.
When did it come to PC?
23 January 2025, on Steam and the Epic Games Store, roughly eleven months after the console release.
How many characters are playable?
Nine across the whole story. The regular party is Cloud, Barret, Tifa, Aerith, Red XIII, Yuffie and Cait Sith, with Zack and Sephiroth playable in specific sections.
How do I get Gilgamesh?
By fully upgrading every other summon through Chadley. Each region holds three summon shrines, and completing all of them across all regions is what makes the final red materia available.
More FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH Guides
- FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH Overview
- FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH Best Builds
- FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH Tier List
- FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH Walkthrough
- FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH Tips & Tricks
- FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH Weapons Guide
- FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH Combat Guide
- FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH Boss Guide
- FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH Maps & Locations
- FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH Crafting Guide
- FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH Classes & Characters
Similar Games
If you enjoy FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH, check out these related guides:
- Elden Ring Beginner's Guide: rpg game with similar mechanics
- Baldur's Gate 3 Beginner's Guide: rpg game with similar mechanics
- Cyberpunk 2077 Beginner's Guide: rpg game with similar mechanics
