FF7 Rebirth's 10 Most Important Side Quests, Ranked By Story Impact

One of the earliest choices to make in involves whether to skip the Nibelheim flashback that makes up the majority of the game's first chapter. The Nibelheim chapter was part of the game's playable demo, alongside a longer section that allowed players to openly explore the Junon region of . But where the Junon half of the demo is separate, and taken out of context, the Nibelheim half effectively grants players early access to the opening hours of the game.

has all kinds of crucial interactions between characters peppered across the story, but there's one essential piece that can easily get passed over in a playthrough. As an expansion and modification of the original story, one of the main things that does with its vastly extended runtime is offer more memorable moments involving Cloud and his party. Although some can be minor or even questionable additions, others flesh out emotional beats and deep relationships in meaningful ways that help make the game a worthy successor.

Yuffie pops up several times throughout the earlier parts of , but she can't actually join the party until Costa del Sol, where the party is presented with a choice regarding the Materia-obsessed ninja. Here, she challenges Cloud to a fight to prove who should be the leader of the party, to which the mercenary can respond with either "" or " Unlike most decisions, this one can be a bit intimidating, as the implied possibility of failing to gain Yuffie as a party member could be disappointing.

A dataminer has revealed some surprising cut content around one of its most tragic characters. Time and time again, it's become apparent that the devil is in the details of . From major spoilers hidden in unassuming plain sight, to huge lore drops in unassuming flavor text, to backups upon backups that most players were never supposed to see, the attention to detail in goes impossibly deep. And hidden within the game's code, one player has revealed something groundbreaking, if not unprecedented.

Protorelic quests might not seem like critical content to play in , but there's one in particular that's well worth completing. As unique objectives that make up a part of the World Intel checklists found throughout the game, Protorelic quests task Cloud and company with tracking down pieces of ancient armor. Although this can lead to unlocking a powerful summon and gear late in the game, anyone uninterested in committing to the long haul could easily decide to ignore all the quests in favor of focusing on the main story.

Costa del Sol is home to a wide variety of minigames in , and there's no way to make it through the area without playing at least some of them. As a tropical beach getaway, it's not surprising that Costa del Sol has a lot to do, even if the original didn't pack as much into the area. As is the case with most side content, however, not every entertainment option in Costa del Sol is equal.

's latest hotfix resolves a major issue, but players still aren't totally satisfied. It's no secret that has its fair share of issues, whether they're related to bugs, boredom, or baffling design choices. It finally got its first major patch, update 1.10.31, earlier this March — but that didn't solve all its problems. Between questionable new features and a whole host of unresolved issues, the update didn't quite meet expectations.

Finishing the wrong quest too early in can put an end to an entire playthrough. Although has a large map and its fair share of side quests, its main story is relatively short. It also has an abrupt ending, after which there's not much left to do but start over on New Game Plus.

has its fair share of unusual challenges, but one side quest that has caused a particularly notable amount of frustration doesn't necessarily have to be all that hard. Like many RPGs, focuses on delivering a consistently manageable main story experience while packing more difficult tasks into the optional content. The big difference, however, is that a lot of the hardest trials aren't based around combat at all, instead following in the original 's tradition of relying on unique mechanics that shake up the general course of gameplay through minigames or random challenges.

Of 's four game modes, Hard is the most difficult, and provides a distinct experience from the base game. After completing a single game on one of the base modes (Easy, Normal, or 's new Dynamic Difficulty), Hard Mode becomes available on the difficulty select screen. It provides a far greater challenge than any of the other modes, and comes with some significant rule changes to keep the experience interesting.

There are 14 summons in , and all of them vary in terms of both strength and cool factor. Throughout the series, summons (or Eikons, as they're occasionally called) encompass some of the most powerful offensive options. Most summons recur from game to game, with iconic Eikons like Titan, Ifrit, Bahamut, Shiva, and Odin featuring in almost every single mainline entry. In, summons are unlocked by many different means.

Protorelic quests are a big part of 's side content, but they're definitely not all equal in quality. These side objectives task Cloud and company with tracking down pieces of armor associated with Gilgamesh, a recurring character who started out as an villain. Completing every quest can be rewarding, but the road there is often rocky.