Final Fantasy VII Revelation is the third and final entry in Square Enix’s remake project, following Final Fantasy VII Remake and Rebirth. It is designed to be the largest game in the trilogy, combining a fully explorable world with a real-time combat system expanded by the FITS job-class mechanic.
That broader design also gives the new game room to rearrange major story beats, party roles, summons and optional content from the 1997 PlayStation classic. Here are eight confirmed or strongly indicated changes to expect.
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1. The Highwind will not unlock everything immediately
Revelation is expected to offer a true open world from the beginning of its final chapter. As in the third disc of the original game, the Highwind will provide aerial travel across the world map. The difference is that access will be managed more gradually.
In the 1997 release, obtaining the Highwind effectively opened the entire world. The remake will instead use restrictions such as weather conditions and closed airspace to prevent access to some areas until the story is ready for them.
2. Snowboarding may no longer be the required next step
In the original, Cloud heads through Corel Valley Cave towards Icicle Town after the events at the Forgotten City. A snowboarding sequence then leads into the next section of the adventure.
Hands-on previews suggest that Revelation will separate those events. Snowboarding, Icicle Inn and the hypothermia minigame are all expected to appear, but not necessarily in the familiar order or as a mandatory part of that immediate progression.
3. Yuffie and Vincent will be part of the main story
Yuffie Kisaragi and Vincent Valentine were optional party members in the original Final Fantasy VII. Players had to take extra steps to find both characters, and their personal stories sat outside the central campaign.
That arrangement changes in Revelation. The game will incorporate their stories into the main narrative, including a visit to Wutai and a deeper look at Vincent’s history as a member of the Turks.
4. Vincent’s Galian Beast form becomes a standard ability
Vincent’s original Limit Break transformed him into the Galian Beast. In the new combat system, that transformation will instead form part of his regular fighting style, making it a more consistent part of his playability.
In an interview with IGN, battle director Teruki Endo identified the transformation as one of his favourite elements of Vincent’s design. Other forms from the 1997 game may be reserved for Vincent’s Limit Break abilities in Revelation.
5. Master Materia is being left behind
The original game’s Master materia provided an enormous range of abilities through a single materia: all spells, every command ability or every summon, depending on the type. That system suited the original turn-based battle design, but its unrestricted power would be difficult to balance in a real-time action game.
When Wccftech asked director Naoki Hamaguchi about Master materia, his answer was direct:
“No, there aren’t. Master materia would break the game.”
6. Several summons are changing location and role
Summon encounters will not always happen where they did in the original. Typhoon, the wind summon found in the Ancient Forest in 1997, has moved to Mideel.
Hades is receiving a much larger change. Rather than appearing in the underwater dungeon reached by submarine near the route associated with Emerald Weapon, Hades will become Wutai’s patron deity and take Leviathan’s former place.
7. Leviathan appears to have an upgraded form
The original game gave Bahamut three distinct versions. Early hands-on information suggests Leviathan may receive a comparable upgrade in Revelation.
During a PAX West demonstration, YouTuber Schrodingersbabyseal noticed a silhouetted summon in the Icicle Inn regional quest menu that appeared to depict an enhanced Leviathan. The form has not been fully detailed, but its inclusion points to another revision of the summon system.
8. Knights of the Round becomes a major boss challenge
Knights of the Round was the original game’s ultimate summon, famous for its long 80-second attack animation. In Revelation, it is expected to become one of the game’s most demanding optional encounters, potentially serving as its superboss.
The developers have said the battle needed to be rebuilt after an initial version was judged insufficiently difficult. They held an emergency meeting to redesign the encounter from scratch.
Obtaining Knights of the Round in the original required breeding the ultimate chocobo, then using it to reach the remote island containing the materia. With chocobo breeding absent this time, the reward will instead be tied to a substantial questline. Hamaguchi compared that structure to the multi-part Gilgamesh quest from Rebirth, with Cloud and the party following the summon’s story across several stages.
These changes show that Revelation is not simply reproducing the final disc of the PlayStation original. It is reshaping exploration, party progression and endgame challenges around the remake trilogy’s real-time systems. Readers interested in classic game hardware can also browse RETROCADE’s arcade machine collection or use the arcade machine buying guide.
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