WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD! Get a taste of FF7 Rebirth with a demo covering the “Fall of a Hero in Nibelheim” chapter where you get to play Sephiroth.
The launch of Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth draws near as many fans eagerly await the continuation of their adventure post-Midgard. For those of you who cannot wait for the Feb. 29 release date, Square Enix has got you covered with a two-part demo. The first and accessible FF7 Rebirth demo covers the "Fall of a Hero in Nibelheim" chapter where Cloud recalls his past.
In this chapter, Cloud shares with his friends the story of when he conducted a mission with Sephiroth back in his hometown, Nibelheim. Story aside, this is the part of the demo where you get to play Sephiroth and experience his combat system.
You also get to try out the new piano mini game that everyone has been raving about! This demo takes about a maximum of two hours to complete. Here's everything you need to know about the FF7 rebirth demo.
How Sephiroth combat works
Sephiroth's combat system may seem daunting at first as he plays like a character from a fighting game such as Tekken or Street Fighter.
Successive inputs between the "Square" and "Triangle" buttons will allow Sephiroth to perform various branching finishers with his Masamune. You can also hold the square button to shoot a magic projectile for a ranged attack.
Sephiroth's special attacks or branching finishers
- Aura Charge - This is the default phase of your special attack and is of no use. You need to fill it up with your attacks before you get to use Sephiroth's finishers. You have to start over if you take damage
- Pierce - Once you have filled up your Aura Charge, the first finisher you can use is Pierce. This move has Sephiroth lunging toward the enemy, similar to Cloud's "Focused Thrust"
- Sword Dance - The second finisher which takes two initial attacks. Sephiroth does a backward flip after slashing the enemy. It helps create distance between the enemy
- Telluric Fury - This is the final combination which requires three initial attacks and a triangle. This move deals massive damage as you ravage the enemy with relentless slices
- Shift Slash - A special attack you can use right after you use your "circle" or dodge button, similar to Deadly Dodge from FF7 Remake. Keep in mind that Sephiroth's dodge actually warps himself toward the enemy
- Skyshatter - A special attack move which is only executable while you are on the air. This move allows Sephiroth to smash his enemies down onto the ground.
Retaliation Stance: Sephiroth is also able to defend himself by pressing the R1 button to change into the Retaliation Stance. Now, instead of his normal attacks, Sephiroth can attack and parry at the same time until an enemy breaks his stance or until he reverts back. If an enemy attack connects with his parry, press triangle to follow-up with Counter, then once more for Retaliation.
Sephiroth's abilities and synergy skills
Sephiroth also comes with two abilities: Zanshin and Hell's Gate. Zanshin is a ranged slash attack while Hell's Gate is a downward smash that is basically a stronger Skyshatter. Once again, you can follow-up with a "Triangle" to unleash an even stronger version of your abilities.
- Zanshin Rising - Launches additional rending waves of slashes at your enemies which you can do even while on the air
- Infernal Gate - Creates a huge explosion around you after smashing down with Hell's Gate, dealing massive damage
In addition, both Sephiroth and Cloud have their own sets of Synergy Skills to coordinate powerful attacks against the enemy together. Each skill has its own distinctive function:
- Dualblade Dance - Sephiroth teams up with his partner to unleash up to three consecutive close-ranged physical attacks
- Voidshatter - Hold the button for Cloud to gather strength, then release to unleash a powerful physical attack. Significantly increases stagger
- Counterfire - Cloud teams up with his partner to nullify a ranged attack and deliver a counterstrike
Finally, the Synergy Ability, Double Helix, is Sephiroth's and Cloud's ultimate finisher, which inflicts a lot of damage to the enemy while rapidly increases its stagger bar. After using this ability, Cloud gains an additional point to his Limit Gauge while Sephiroth temporarily gains unlimited MP.
Playing the piano in the FF7 Rebirth demo
Outside of combat, one of the things you can do in this part of FF7 Rebirth demo is you get to explore Cloud's hometown in Nibelheim. The most exciting aspect is probably visiting the Lockhart residence, home to Cloud's childhood friend, Tifa. There are a number of things that you can interact with at her home. So be sure to check them all out for some interesting dialogues!
That said, the one that you cannot miss is playing the piano. You can find the piano on the second floor inside Tifa's room. There, you will pick up a music sheet, which is the first of many, to learn how to play Tifa's theme with automated guidance. However, if you are a musical genius, you can try playing the piano manually. Some have already attempted to do so and are pretty good at it!
FF7 Rebirth demo introduces new materia
This part of the FF7 Rebirth demo also introduces you to a number of new materia which wasn't around previously in FF7 Remake such as:
- Empowerment Materia - Allows you to use Bravery and Faith to increase physical and magical attack
- Comet Materia - Allows you to use the celestial spell Comet or Cometeor
- Level Boost Materia - Increases the level of a linked materia by one
- Auto-cast Materia - Allows an ally to automatically use the spell linked to this materia
- Precision Defense Focus Materia - Increases the timing window to parry enemy attacks
And that is it for this part of the FF7 Rebirth demo on the "Fall of a Hero in Nibelheim" chapter. The second part will be out soon on Feb. 21 where you get to explore the highly anticipated FF7 open world experiencing focusing on the story at Junon.
Look forward to more FF7 Rebirth demo guides and updates only on esports.gg
