Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will feature four new party members, but not all of them will be a part of the combat system in this title.
According to a report by IGN, the new characters Cid and Vincent Valentine will not be playable or feature as AI companions in battle. The two characters join late in the game’s story, and Vincent was previously confirmed not to be playable, but there was still a possibility that they would be featured as guest characters like Red XIII in the previous game.
“Both Cid and Vincent are accompanying the party on their journey and they do help out, but they aren’t actually featuring in battle as guest characters,” director Naoki Hamaguchi told IGN. “They’re going to appear in various parts of the story and scenarios where they play a role or they’ll help you out or assist you in some way, but they’re not actually fighting as guest characters in that sense.”
The two are being left out entirely from combat as a way to preserve new content for the final game in the trilogy, similarly to Red XIII in Remake.
“If we used up all of the playable characters in the second part, then we would lose out on quite a lot of new surprises and new experiences for the player in the third game,” Hamaguchi said.
The two will still play a large role in the game’s story, even if they will not be fighting alongside the main party. Each of them will have side quests dedicated to them to explore their characters.
Though Cid and Vincent will not be a part of battles, three new characters will be fully playable. Red XIII has been upgraded from an Ai-controlled guest character, while Yuffie and Cait Sith are completely new to the second game.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is set to release Feb. 29, 2024 for the PlayStation 5. A demo is currently available.