FFVII Remake Part 3 Needs to Improve Party Member Bonds
One of the best parts of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is how it greatly expanded upon the friendship and romance system from the original FFVII. In the original PS1 JRPG, players could complete certain actions to allow them to “romance” party members like Aerith, Tifa, and Barret in the Gold Saucer. This bonds feature needs to return in FFVII Remake Part 3 and be even better. How the friendship system worked in Rebirth was players could complete certain quests and make choices that would raise your bond with various party members. If you could reach a certain level of friendship, you would be able to check out exclusive scenes in the Gold Saucer with that particular person. And if you maxed out that friendship, you could even see more special versions of those date scenes, including some surprisingly romantic ones. Screenshot by Siliconera While I really appreciated these scenes, there were some quirks about them that I wasn’t a fan of. For one, you can only go on a date at the Gold Saucer with one person in your playthrough. Sure, that does allow you to stake your claim in the eternal waifu war of Aerith vs. Tifa, but it prevents you from seeing moments with others like Red XIII and Barret. To Rebirth’s credit, it does alleviate this issue in New Game+. Once you beat the main story, you can do chapter select. This allows you to see all of the date scenes with every character. It is a shame, though, that you have to complete the game to be able to enjoy this. With Part 3 in this trilogy, it doesn’t have the shackles of the original to hold it back. Since the Gold Saucer is now behind the party, the bonds system can return in a grander way. For this, I look to how other JRPGs like Persona 5 handle party member friendships. In those games, you are able to build your friendship with each character independently of one another. For instance, you might have rank 3 bond with Barret and rank 4 with Aerith. The important part of this is your bond scenes aren’t tied to certain story beats. Instead, reaching level 5 friendship with Tifa might allow you to see an optional scene. This doesn’t prevent you from doing the same once you reach rank 5 with Yuffie. These scenes are all available so long as you take the time to raise your friendship levels. Screenshot by Siliconera This way, you won’t have to rely on NG+ or anything like that. You can just seek out side quests and other content that raise your friendship levels as you go. It feels like a more complete system and it would be fitting, too, for this grand finale. There could be the option to learn more about the backstory of characters like Vincent Valentine in the process. You could even help the characters to learn to move past certain issues as well. For example, you could help Tifa move further past the trauma of losing family and her town. However, this doesn’t mean you miss out on those more “exclusive” parts that were in Rebirth’s Gold Saucer. Like Persona, I would like to see the bonds system in FFVII Remake Part 3 to have optional romance as well. Perhaps you could deepen your bond enough to make choices to romance someone like Tifa if you want or just keep a platonic friendship. This would still allow players to have some sort of agency in determining how Cloud’s story goes. The point of the FFVII Remake Part 3 friendship and romance system should be much more flexible and free. It should allow you to get to know the party members like Cait Sith and Cid on a deeper level without the restrictions featured in Rebirth. This would be the best way to cap off this wonderful Remake trilogy in a special and meaningful way. Final Fantasy VII Remake and Rebirth are available right now for PS5 and PC. The post FFVII Remake Part 3 Needs to Improve Party Member Bonds appeared first on Siliconera.
One of the best parts of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is how it greatly expanded upon the friendship and romance system from the original FFVII. In the original PS1 JRPG, players could complete certain actions to allow them to “romance” party members like Aerith, Tifa, and Barret in the Gold Saucer. This bonds feature needs to return in FFVII Remake Part 3 and be even better.
How the friendship system worked in Rebirth was players could complete certain quests and make choices that would raise your bond with various party members. If you could reach a certain level of friendship, you would be able to check out exclusive scenes in the Gold Saucer with that particular person. And if you maxed out that friendship, you could even see more special versions of those date scenes, including some surprisingly romantic ones.
While I really appreciated these scenes, there were some quirks about them that I wasn’t a fan of. For one, you can only go on a date at the Gold Saucer with one person in your playthrough. Sure, that does allow you to stake your claim in the eternal waifu war of Aerith vs. Tifa, but it prevents you from seeing moments with others like Red XIII and Barret.
To Rebirth’s credit, it does alleviate this issue in New Game+. Once you beat the main story, you can do chapter select. This allows you to see all of the date scenes with every character. It is a shame, though, that you have to complete the game to be able to enjoy this. With Part 3 in this trilogy, it doesn’t have the shackles of the original to hold it back.
Since the Gold Saucer is now behind the party, the bonds system can return in a grander way. For this, I look to how other JRPGs like Persona 5 handle party member friendships. In those games, you are able to build your friendship with each character independently of one another. For instance, you might have rank 3 bond with Barret and rank 4 with Aerith.
The important part of this is your bond scenes aren’t tied to certain story beats. Instead, reaching level 5 friendship with Tifa might allow you to see an optional scene. This doesn’t prevent you from doing the same once you reach rank 5 with Yuffie. These scenes are all available so long as you take the time to raise your friendship levels.
This way, you won’t have to rely on NG+ or anything like that. You can just seek out side quests and other content that raise your friendship levels as you go. It feels like a more complete system and it would be fitting, too, for this grand finale. There could be the option to learn more about the backstory of characters like Vincent Valentine in the process.
You could even help the characters to learn to move past certain issues as well. For example, you could help Tifa move further past the trauma of losing family and her town. However, this doesn’t mean you miss out on those more “exclusive” parts that were in Rebirth’s Gold Saucer.
Like Persona, I would like to see the bonds system in FFVII Remake Part 3 to have optional romance as well. Perhaps you could deepen your bond enough to make choices to romance someone like Tifa if you want or just keep a platonic friendship. This would still allow players to have some sort of agency in determining how Cloud’s story goes.
The point of the FFVII Remake Part 3 friendship and romance system should be much more flexible and free. It should allow you to get to know the party members like Cait Sith and Cid on a deeper level without the restrictions featured in Rebirth. This would be the best way to cap off this wonderful Remake trilogy in a special and meaningful way.
Final Fantasy VII Remake and Rebirth are available right now for PS5 and PC.
The post FFVII Remake Part 3 Needs to Improve Party Member Bonds appeared first on Siliconera.
