Understand the end game

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is already among us and brings with it high expectations for how the story of the classic 1997 RPG will be told, especially after the end of Final Fantasy VII Remakethe previous game in the trilogy, creates a new perspective for those who know the original game.

The game’s ending touches on the core mysteries created by the Remake, and while it leaves more questions than answers, it resolves some of the points left by the previous game. This is a narrative designed to confuse, so let’s (try to) explain in this article what happens at the end of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

Of course, it should be noted that if you don’t want to know more, spoiler warningboth from Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and the original 1997 game From the following image. let’s talk about the events of these games in detail.

And if you don’t remember or don’t know the events leading up to Rebirth, read our article explaining the ending of Final Fantasy VII Remake.

A new target for Sephiroth

Right off the bat, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth confirms one of the major theories left by the Remake: that there is a multiverse with multiple parallel realities.

The first scenes of the game show Zack in a reality in which he was not killed by the Shinra army and managed to enter Midgar with an unconscious Cloud on his back. This reality is the same as in one of the game’s trailers, in which members of the original group, such as Barrett, Tifa, and Red XIII, died in the battle against the Murmurs at the end of the Remake. Zack manages to rescue Aerith from Shinra’s clutches and takes her safely to his home in Sector 5.

In this same world, it can be seen that there is a rift in the sky, indicating that this reality coexists with the main Rebirth timeline, in which Cloud, Aerith, Tifa, and others have escaped Midgar and are in search of Sephiroth. , partially repeating the events of the 1997 game.

Moreover, throughout the game Marms reappear throughout the Rebirth storyline. These hooded creatures in the Remake sought to keep the events of this new reality exactly as they were in the original 1997 game. Now they reappear in new forms: first, we have black noises that glow from their hoods. which appear to be controlled by Sephiroth. On the other hand, we also have white murms, also with a glow coming out of the hood, who seem to be fighting for the Planet.

As in the original game, Sephiroth is after dark matter, but this time the villain doesn’t seem just interested in using it to cause a world-destroying meteor. As he himself says, in the Temple of the Ancients, the item protected under the Cetra lock is “the key to access the rift between the two worlds.”

Cloud in the multiverse

The closure of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth also increases the number of characters that know about her various universes. This group, which in the Remake was limited to Sephiroth and Aerith, was joined by Cloud and Zack Feyre.

The multiverse mayhem begins when Sephiroth confronts Cloud and Aerith in the final segment of the Temple of the Ancients. The two heroes fall from a platform and simultaneously wake up in the reality that Zack is playing for several moments in the game. There, they have a meeting that culminates in one of the scenes shown in the trailers, in which Aerith, who already knows her fate, tells Cloud that he doesn’t need to worry about her.

(Actually, it’s safe to assume that in one universe Cloud and Aerith died in this installment, as the scenes with Zack diverted several times from how he and Biggs, another character who dies in the original story, got “the other Aerith herself calls Cloud when they both “returned” to this reality—the same term Sephiroth uses when he’s about to take someone’s life.)

The multiverse concept ends up being reinforced in several different ways, with new universes being “formed” with each decision Zack makes in the final segments of the game, leading to different outcomes: one of which has Shinra killing Biggs soldiers and Zack escaping. In another, he’s looking for Hojo to make Cloud and Aerith wake up.

Sephiroth himself is also shown to be aware of these multiple realities when he appears in Sector 5 in search of Cloud and Aerith. However, he confronts Zack and tries to banish him from this universe. He carelessly throws the main character of Crisis Core into a hanging place… until the hero is saved by the White Whisperer and also learns about the multiverse.

We then return to the Remake/Rebirth reality, which follows the events of the original game in the Forgotten Capital, including the famous rock scene involving Aerith. From there, the universes collide again, and we once again encounter the Threshold of Creation, the cosmic location in which Sephiroth tells Cloud that “there are seven seconds left.”

The game’s final battle is split into multiple realities, with Cloud, his friends, Zack, and even Aerith coming together to confront Sephiroth. There, the villain also suggests that one of his goals is to merge all of these realities into one. This intention is revealed in several of his lines, such as when he invites Cloud to “see the true face of reality”, or that “when the limits of fate are exceeded, new worlds are born”.

Analyzing the final boss, Sephiroth Reborn, a monster whose design resembles Sephiroth Bizarro from the original game, we get the following description: he is “a resurrected being who now boasts unimaginable power and controls the guardians of destiny. He seeks to transcend all levels of existence and unite fragmented realities to rule the planet and create eternity.”

Mysteries

The game ends in a similar fashion to the 1997 classic, with Cloud and the others tracking Sephiroth to the North Crater, where in the original game he summons a meteor to end the Planet.

When the final battle ends, Zack returns to a parallel reality. However, he is aware of the multiverse, saying that “worlds have parted ways, but who’s to say they won’t come together again?”, suggesting we’ll see more of Cloud’s friend in the project’s third game.

Likewise, Aerith’s consciousness seems to still be alive in Cloud, who can see her and speak to her in the final moments of the game. As Aerith has also been shown to be capable of sending people between universes, as shown by her appearance in the final showdown with Sephiroth at the threshold of creation, this also suggests that we may see more of the character in the third game.

However, some mysteries remain. The largest of them concerns White Matter.

White matter

In the original game, White Materia was the opposite of Dark Materia. She possesses a great deal of holy power and was at Aerith’s disposal. However, the item was lost when she was killed by Sephiroth by falling into a lake in the Forgotten Capital.

In Rebirth, we see the White Matter in the opening moments of the adventure, when Aerith sees that her radiance is gone. In the reality played by Zack, Aerith also has White Matter that still retains its luster. In the final moments of the game, she hands it over to Cloud.

However, in the final scene of the game, Cloud takes the White Matter he received from Aerith and realizes that it is actually translucent. She then turns into Dark Matter and Cloud returns to Sephiroth’s will (just like in the original game).

The next game should also reveal why White Matter lost its luster and what consequences this will have for the future of the planet (and other realities). There is also the anticipation of finding out Sephiroth’s true intentions and why he wants to merge all these realities into one.

We’ll find out in the coming years when the third and final game in the Final Fantasy VII remake project is released.

Launch

29.02.2024

Publisher

Square Enix

The developer

Square Enix

Censorship

14 years old

gender

Adventure/RPG

Checked on

PlayStation 5

Platforms

PlayStation 5