Early Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Gameplay Reveals Players Won’t Start Back At Level 1

Square Enix revealed that Final Fantasy VII Rebirth won’t start players back at level 1. Still, they won’t have all of their powers & gear from FF7 Remake either.

FF7 Rebirth is the second game of a planned trilogy, with FF7 Remake before it and an unnamed game acting as a finale. This raises questions about how the trilogy will handle progression, as it’s possible to max out the character level in FF7 Remake and acquire the secret summons, but will these be ignored when starting FF7 Rebirth?

Related: FF7 Rebirth: Everything New in the Latest Trailer

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s Party Won’t Start At Level 1

An answer about character progression in FF7 Rebirth was finally given by the Shinra Archaeology Department Twitter account, following a preview at the Thailand Game Show. Fortunately, players won’t start at level 1 in FF7 Rebirth, but there’s no full save progression from FF7 Remake. This means there won’t be a Castlevania: Symphony of the Night situation where the developers need to concoct a reason for the characters to be weak again.

According to the previews, players will start at a level in the early twenties, which is about what most players finished FF7 Remake at. This means there’s no going into the game with maxed-out levels or top-tier equipment.

There are rewards for players who have completed FF7 Remake; however, Square Enix has confirmed that FF7 Rebirth will have save bonus summons. Those with FF7 Remake save data will start with Leviathan, while those with INTERmission DLC save data will have access to Ramuh, giving the player two amazing summons right off the bat.

Related: FF7 Ever Crisis Is Repeating The Same Mistakes As The First Soldier

It makes sense that the developers would make this decision, as full save data progression would lead to a serious difficulty disparity, with the Platinum Trophy crowd blasting through Sephiroth with Bahamut and maxed-out stats. It’s a lot easier to just put everyone on the same level, with few bonuses available for the people who played the original.