Summary
- Vincent Valentine will return in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, but will not be a playable character and will instead be controlled through AI commands.
- Fans suspected that the second chapter of Final Fantasy 7 Remake would feature Vincent and the recent trailer confirmed this, with Matthew Mercer as the voice actor.
- Vincent won't be the only AI-controlled character, as Cid Highwind will also be featured in the same manner. However, Red XIII is expected to be fully playable in Rebirth.
Vincent Valentine will finally return in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, but not as a fully playable party member. The vampire-like mutant and former Turk was introduced as an optional teammate in the original Final Fantasy 7, where players had to unlock him by completing a difficult padlock minigame and defeating a bonus boss named Lost Number. Although it was possible to play through the entire game without so much as meeting him, Vincent is one of Final Fantasy 7’s most popular characters, so much so that he received a starring role in the 2006 PlayStation 2 spin-off Final Fantasy 7: Dirge of Cerberus.
Since Final Fantasy 7 Remake left off with Cloud Strife and his friends escaping Midgar in search of the dreaded Sephiroth, many fans suspected that its second chapter would take players to the doomed village of Nibelheim and the Shinra Manor where Vincent Valentine is sealed away. Sure enough, the most recent Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth trailer featured Vincent emerging from his coffin-like prison, and it is believed that Critical Role gamemaster and noted voice actor Matthew Mercer will lend his gravelly tone to the brooding warrior with tragic ties to Shinra’s darkest conspiracies.
While fans are excited to see Vincent Valentine wield his trademark pistol again in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, there is a catch - Vincent won’t be playable. Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi confirmed this in a recent interview with IGN, stating that Vincent will be controlled purely through AI like Red XIII was in Final Fantasy 7 Remake. “In terms of whether or not Vincent will be a playable character, he will be more of an accompanying character to the party in terms of Rebirth,” Hamaguchi said when asked what role the dark vampiric warrior will play in Square Enix’s upcoming sequel.
Vincent Valentine won’t be the only AI-controlled teammate in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, as creative director Tetsuya Nomura revealed that Cid Highwind will be featured in this same manner. Final Fantasy 7 Remake had Red XIII as a computer-controlled ally that the player couldn’t command directly due to him being introduced late in that game’s story. With Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth reportedly containing over 100 hours of content, Vincent or Cid could either appear toward the end or appear in small bursts after they are introduced.
This development might come as a disappointment to fans hoping that Vincent Valentine would be fully playable in FF7 Rebirth following his absence in Remake, but the fact remains that Vincent will only assist the player through automatic AI commands rather than be a fully-fledged party member. On the bright side, Red XIII is expected to be fully playable in Rebirth, so chances are that fans will be able to control Vincent directly in the third Final Fantasy 7 Remake game.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth launches on February 29, 2024 for PS5.
Source: IGN