One Hidden FF7 Rebirth Feature Will Let You Know Which Characters Love You

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.

There's an easy way to get advance access to new content, but it's only available for a limited time. Still technically in early access, has already gotten a few updates. However, these are mostly minor, usually consisting of bug fixes or other small-scale changes. Every single one of these is necessary for quality-of-life, but as a whole, they're not terribly exciting.

In , Fort Condor’s Hard Mode is optional — but that doesn't mean completing it will go unrewarded. Fort Condor is a recurring (if greatly expanded) mini-game from the original . It's a real-time strategy tower defense game in which a variety of units are placed on a two-laned battlefield. The end goal is to destroy the enemy's headquarters, or to run out the clock with more towers remaining. Finer points of strategy come from calculated unit placement, and a rock-paper-scissors system of strengths and weaknesses.

Johnny's Treasure Trove is one of the most expansive side activities in — considering the laundry list of tasks it involves, a good reward seems almost inevitable. Unlike most side quests and mini-games in , Johnny's Treasure Trove isn't focused on a single activity. Instead, it's more of a dressed-up completion list akin to 's Curiosities. In order to complete Johnny's Treasure Trove, players will have to complete chocobo races, win Queen's Blood Tournaments, and find all the buried PLAY ARTS figures in .

's map isn't truly open-world; it's divided into regions, and further areas are unlocked as the player progresses through the story. The regions themselves are pretty wide open, though. Each one comprises a significant bit of real estate on ’s larger Gaia map, and they’re all interconnected, even if players can only travel between them after reaching certain milestones in the story.

Fans of the series should pay special attention to 's Protorelic quests. Technically labeled as Phenomenon Intel on the map, these quests are better known by the names of the mysterious artifacts they're centered around: the so-called Protorelics. These technological antiques are highly sought after, especially by resident expert Chadley, who can reverse engineer them into useful items. Completing Protorelic quests also contributes to the gang's overall Party Level in FF7 Rebirth.

A strange scene in has Aerith speaking to someone with an unfamiliar voice through a half-closed door in the Junon Inn. The party first visits the seaside village of Junon in Chapter Four, having trekked through the Grasslands outside Kalm and the monster-infested Mythril Mine in pursuit of Sephiroth. It's there that they initially meet Yuffie in , but, exhausted after rescuing her from a hungry sea monster, they decide to take a break.

[Warning: This article contains spoilers for the ending of FF7 Rebirth.]

The biggest threat to democracy in isn't bugs or Automatons — sometimes, it's other players. Despite being a relatively new game, has already developed a devoted community. That largely stems from its co-op gameplay, which encourages, if not requires, concentrated teamwork. It's not always perfect — selfishness isn't unheard of in . Still, players soldier on, working to get more players invested in the effort to spread democracy through the universe.

doesn't explain all its systems perfectly. It leaves many things open for players to explore and discover on their own. Sometimes, these things are fun to experiment with, like 's Skill Cores and the new Folio system of progression. Other times, they seem like unintended omissions.

's biggest change to Red XIII might seem jarring, but there's a perfectly good reason for it. The second chapter in the remake trilogy makes a lot of changes to the original 's story, not least of which are the changes to its characters. Although Red XIII debuted near the end of, he's playable for the first time in . The sequel also delves more deeply into the Shinra lab rat-dog's backstory, just as the equivalent section of the original does.