Red XIII, the highly intelligent dog-cat from Final Fantasy VII, will not be a playable character in the upcoming Final Fantasy VII Remake. Despite being seen on the battlefield in a previous trailer, you won't be able to take direct control of Red during combat -- he's apparently just a guest character who'll help you out during certain fights. We assume that he'll get his chance to shine in future instalments.
It's a bit of a shame given that Final Fantasy VII Remake -- the first game, at least -- is all about fleshing out the Midgar story arc as much as possible. In the original release, Red XIII joins the party just as they're about to escape the city, but it's still a bit of a bummer that things haven't been slightly rejigged so that he's included a little more.
"We felt the point at which Red XIII joins the party in the story is very late on so we thought okay, if we’re gonna have him as a full character and try and get the player to enjoy his character development arc and growth as a character through that, it’s not really enough time to do that," co-director Naoki Hamaguchi told VG247.
Hamaguchi continues: "We thought that the best way to have him involved was as a guest character. Normally throughout the game you’ll be playing as a three-man party, but you will have him as a guest character that fights alongside you during the the last part of the story. He’ll be using all of his old really nostalgic moves, and you’ll see that. We felt that was the best way of showing him off as a character and who he is. That’s why we felt that was the best way to include him."
So that means Final Fantasy VII Remake will have a total of four characters that you can switch between: Cloud, Barrett, Tifa, and Aerith. And based on what we've seen of the title so far, each party member has a decent amount of depth to their fighting style, topped off with a lot of opportunities to customise their abilities through materia and skill trees.
Still, are you disappointed that Red XIII won't be playable? Feel free to growl in the comments section below.
[source vg247.com]
Comments 21
"We felt the point at which Red XIII joins the party in the story is very late on so we thought okay, if we’re gonna have him as a full character and try and get the player to enjoy his character development arc and growth as a character through that, it’s not really enough time to do that,"
makes sense to me, he will be fully playable in part 2 i imagine
Makes total sense though..
I expected this. I mean, he joins you about 20 minutes before you get to the world map. Yet they couldn't not put him in at all as he does join within the Midgar part.
Kinda stinks, but it makes sense since the first game is set to end almost immediately after he joins up. Expecting salt from the nostalgia fanboys though.
I feel the game will be just fine with Cloud, Barrett, Tifa and Aerith in Part 1. Interested to see if we'll get the rest of the cast playable in Part 2.
It makes sense, as gutting as it is.
Thing is, he wasn't "playable" in the original. I mean, you controlled him during battle (as you do here) but it's not like you ran around as him. So I guess if there isn't a lot of opportunities before the end of the game to fill out a big skill tree etc. it makes sense to just have him with some preset abilities and be usable during some battles.
I did think they could have reworked how you obtained him though, to get him much earlier in the story.
But then I guess we get summons in Midgar this time round, so you win some and you lose some.
Aww, I do love my favourite doggo but it does make sense. This means only Cloud out of my usual FF7 party will be playable in this game! I usually go Cloud, Barrett, Red until I get Vincent then he gets switched out for Barrett. Magic bois basically.
@nessisonett I go Cloud, Tifa, Aeris. Then wild card once Aeris....goes away.
@nessisonett i tend to switch it around a bit because i know at certain points you need certain characters but by the end game i tend to fall back into the original 3. Cloud, Tifa and Barrett
Make sense....shrugs shoulders
Not much else to really say.
I'm not surprised. I've been wondering for a while now how they'd justify getting a fully playable character that late in the game for a while now. It makes more sense to make him playable in the next game.
Caallleeedd it. Seen him running around Cloud/Aerith/Tifa in the glimpse of the Jenova fight. Thought he was just gona be throwing potions at you and the like. Hopefully playable in part 2!
"We thought that the best way to have him involved was as a guest character"
Outrageous! Although makes perfect sense 🙂 So long as he can be used in the second game
I'm dying to see what they are going to do with Vincent too.
Not to mention, Cid, cait, yuffie as well... but mostly Vincent,
@curriemonster at the very least, i reckon Vincent and Yuffie will no longer be missable characters
Disappointment ? Pushsquare, what about you too ? LOL! Makes sense to me. End of story. Move on!
It makes sense to release the entire game in one package too lol. Game is just average after playing the demo. Not bad, but not great and nothing special. Don't see anything that would prevent them from putting it all on one disc. The scale was pretty small. Felt like there were missed opportunities for new mechanics and character features. Camera made me naseuos so I had to turn it off for now. Felt like I was watching more than playing. Perfect game for watching on YouTube instead of playing.
Does that mean Yuffie, Cait Sith and Cid will not be playable too, they joined the team after REd XIII... I find it a stupid excuse to not include him as a playable character, maybe they just weren't able to make a good fighting system for him!!
I was thinking if $60 will be justified for one episode (how long it will be) now we have less character to play as!!
Imagine if they add it later as paid DLC!
@NB-DanTE In my opinion, from everything we've seen, from the production values, to the story, to the combat, this game definitely seems to warrant a full priced release. There is no way they would be able to cram the entirety of VII into one remade game like this. It would be much less fleshed out than what this game is going to be.
@NinjaWaddleDee Hopefully it's not just cut scenes.. FF7 is a pretty short game. hopefully every episodehas enough playing time for that $60..
Also those journos need to change the click bait title of their articles.
RED XIII is not playable only in the first episode!
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