10 Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Moments That Feel Much More Emotional Than Players Expected

Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth was always going to be the sad one in the trilogy for many reasons, and while I'd argue that the biggest one didn't exactly stick the landing, there were plenty of other moments that felt surprisingly emotional.

These can be moments that happened in the original game, or ones that are entirely new and specific to the Remake trilogy. Part of what makes them more emotional is due to full voice acting, but also the realistic character models go a long way in selling the moments to the player as well.

We're going to check out some moments that pulled on the heartstrings while playing Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth.

10 Red XIII's True Colors

Just a Kid

Red XIII is one of the more interesting characters in Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, and he starts the game as a wise, old-sounding animal, but that's not how he finishes the game. It turns out that the voice and disposition he presents throughout much of the game was nothing but a ruse, and this gets revealed after visiting Cosmo Canyon, where his home is. His real self is that of a child, and while the original game also has this moment, it's not truly communicated in the same way.

The reason is that here, we get to hear the change in Red XIII's personality rather than just read it. And his voice completely changes to that of a young child, and it makes his trials up until that point feel all the more tragic, especially those from when he was experimented on by Hojo. Now, shortly after, you'll wish his voice would go back to the way it was because I thought the voice acting was way too over the top, but it's still a powerful moment that felt right to include in the Remake trilogy.

9 Roche Falls

Your Number One Fan

Roche is one of the new additions to the Remake trilogy, and I think he was a solid one, despite the mixed reception he's gotten as a character. That's mainly because his boss fights are just awesome to take on, and his over-the-top anime-style character is on full display during these fights.

You take him on multiple times in Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, but it's the final encounter that hits the hardest. While you knew he had to fall eventually, the way it happened is chilling. He doesn't die, but rather, succumbs to the will of the Reunion, and these Genova cells turn him into another follower of Sephiroth's. Seeing this exuberant man reduced to a groaning zombie of a human is something surprisingly tragic to see. Almost as if death would've been an easier sendoff for him.

8 Nanaki's Speech

Makes a Stone Dad Cry

Red XIII has one of the more developed character arcs in Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth. The culmination of that arc comes when he reveals his true self, and then caps it all off with an epic speech. This comes after the shocking reveal that Seto is the Watcher, and it's a powerful moment for Red XIII to become Nanaki, his true name, which Barrett makes sure to call him after this scene.

He takes up the mantle that his father tried to take up before him, and the rousing soundtrack and Nanaki's steadfast commitment to the scene is all the more powerful with voice acting backing it up. The cherry on top of this amazing scene is when Seto, who has been petrified permanently, sheds a tear at his son's speech, showing that he's still alive in there somewhere and proud of his son.

7 Zack and Cloud Team Up

Brothers in Arms

Multiverse be damned, this fight really hit me in the feels. Having played Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core: Reunion recently, and the original as well, I knew the fate of Zack, despite all the trickery that Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth pulled to bring him back. However, this fight made all of his segments in the game leading up to it completely worth it.

Seeing the SOLDIER brothers stand side by side against the ultimate enemy, with freaking Meteor looming in the background, complete with the epic music, a whole new moveset for Zack and everything surrounding it, this was just an incredible moment. It's also a tragic one, because you know that Zack is actually dead in your world. He's alive in the Lifestream multiverse nonsense somewhere, but just like Aerith's appearance in this battle, you know it's only a temporary time to spend with these characters, and it's what makes it so impactful.

6 Barret's Story Revealed

We Get Why He's Angry Now

We knew Barret was a single father in Final Fantasy VII: Remake, but it wouldn't be until the sequel that we found out why. The flashback sequence showing Shinra soldiers gunning down a town full of people and Barret's wife, who we see for the first time, getting gunned down in the ensuing chaos is about as tragic as it gets and a moment that really lets the incredible graphics and realistic style flex its muscles.

There finally is no question about why Barret is so angry all the time or why he hates Shinra so much. It's all there. They destroyed his and his friends' and family's lives. Murdered indiscriminately and, worst of all, got away with it consequence-free. It's no wonder he's been on a warpath from day one, and seeing him crawl over to his dying wife in Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth is just a soul-crushing moment.

5 Barret and Dyne

A Mind Shattered

Barret does not have a good time in Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, and you'd think that after being impaled by Sephiroth in the first game, he might get some moments of reprieve, but that's far from the case. The most heartbreaking moment of his character arc is when he finds his dear friend Dyne, who has gone completely insane.

Complicating this all the more is the fact that Dyne is the real father of Marlene, Barret's daughter, whom he's been protecting since the attack on their town. Despite Barret's desperate attempts to get him to come out of his murderous stupor, he fails and has no choice but to fight the last real friend he had in the world. After that, he protects him from the onslaught of Shinra bullets, and Dyne seems to become his real self just one final moment before he passes away. It's a brutal moment and one that shows off Barret's incredible range as a character. We felt this one right alongside him.

4 Aeirth's Trial

She Searched All Around and Found Nothing

While I definitely have some problems with the pacing of Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, one thing its bloated nature allows is for scenes that didn't exist in the original game, and while some of those are time wasters, there are a handful that increase the experience thoroughly. First and foremost being the trials segment of the game.

Aerith's hits the hardest as it puts you in the role of Aerith as a child who is desperately trying to find a cure for her dying mother. It's got no combat, and really is just you running around interacting with different NPCs. The gameplay isn't anything to write home about, but the story playing out is so brutal. Playing as a younger Aerith, fruitlessly trying to find a cure for her mother, it's a brutal sequence to play through, and the result of it being her being forced to say goodbye to her mother makes it all the more difficult to play through.

3 Sephiroth's Humanity

Once Human

This might seem like an emotional moment, but putting the sequence of Cloud and Sephiroth working together at Nibelheim into the greater picture is genuinely affecting. The reason is that Sephiroth is in his hero mode persona here. Which is who he was. He was Superman. The one that everyone celebrated and relied on to save the day. Long before Homelander did it, Sephiroth was the ultimate "what if Superman was evil" idea.

And in this sequence, you see his humanity. He's a great teammate, he has feelings, he even starts to talk about his family before thinking better about it. He's a person. And he would have been a great person had he not learned the truth. He wasn't evil to start. He was just a person manipulated by people far worse until the point that he gave up on humanity completely and chose Jenova instead. It's a really illuminating sequence that not only shows off his impressive combat skill, but who he could've been in another timeline. And maybe we'll see that other timeline play out in the third game.

2 Jessie's Starring Role

She Could've Been a Star

Jessie is arguably the character that got the biggest glow-up in Final Fantasy VII: Remake, and while her role ended there in the wreckage of the plate destruction, she makes a very meaningful cameo in Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth. You see a picture of her on the wall in the Golden Saucer before going into the virtual performance where she stars in the play.

Cloud and Tifa talk about her and specifically how she wanted to be an actress before joining AVALANCHE. It's a touching scene and one that really hits hard because of how great of a character she was in the first game. It's something that the original game didn't really build for, and Jessie's expansion as a character in the Remake trilogy is one of the huge triumphs of the first two games so far.

1 Sephiroth's Coup de Grâce

The Most Famous Death in Video Game History

I don't think it can be argued that, as far as pushing the gaming medium into an art form goes, Sephiroth killing Aerith in Final Fantasy VII was the moment the world started to take video games seriously. It's a death that is still discussed today, so Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth had a lot to live up to. I don't think they nailed it due to the whole multiverse shenanigans being involved in the scene for some reason, but it still hits mighty hard.

This time, Square Enix decided to twist the knife even further by letting you think for a brief moment that Cloud blocks the blade from piercing Aerith's back, but really, that happened in another world. Or...something. It's far from clear, but regardless, it ends up with everyone's favorite Aerith dying in Cloud's arms, and it's every bit as tragic as the original game had, except now it's even more messed up because Cloud is seeing the other Aerith and is refusing to believe reality. It sprinkles some fun PTSD psychological trauma on top of the most famous death scene ever, and while it's a bit much, it still is absolutely heartbreaking to play through.