Red XIII, a fixture in many parties in the original Final Fantasy VII, will be a bit different in the upcoming remake. And it turns out that a lot of fans will be disappointed by the news surrounding the big red dog. Square Enix has revealed that Red XIII won’t be playable in Final Fantasy VII Remake.
The character is returning from the original game, but will feature later in the game as a guest character, rather than a full party member. The change will no doubt make some players angry, but the choice was made based on how late the character is added to the game as a member of the adventuring group.
“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.
“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 last part of the story there.” This means that Red XIII will appear around the same time as he does in the first version of the game, but his appearance isn’t permanent. This is one of many changes coming in the remake, with Square Enix updating not only the visual look of the classic RPG, but also the flow of the gameplay and its impact on the story.
It’s possible that this change along with other issues is what prompted the month-long delay from March 3 to April 10 as the new release date for Final Fantasy VII Remake, although this is not confirmed.
