Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Relationship guide: How to Romance right to pick your Gold Saucer Date
In a narrative that’s full of iconic moments, there’s one particular tentpole sequence that Final Fantasy VII Rebirth puts a huge emphasis on recreating and expanding - the Gold Saucer Date sequence. What was just a couple of minutes based on a handful of player choices in the original game now is larger, with the choices spanning a whole game - and this FF7 Rebirth relationship guide is here to guide you through the dating sequence, explaining exactly how to manipulate the game to get your desired date and romance of choice.
- FF7 Rebirth: Relationship & Romance explained
- How to get your date of choice by improving your relationships
FF7 Rebirth Relationship guide: Dating & Romance explained
The first thing to note is to set out the gate is that the relationship mechanic in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth mirrors that of the original FF7 - which is to say that this is not a major mechanic that has a significant impact on the game's story in a wholesale fashion. This isn't Persona or Mass Effect. There's not really full relationships or romances in the sense that many games have them. You can play through the game 'naturally', without worrying about your relationship changes with your party, and it'll make next to no difference.
Ultimately, your relationship status with the members of your party in FF7 Rebirth changes just two scenes in the whole game - two dates that take place around halfway through the game's story, adn then right before the final few chapters.
FF7 Rebirth features two visits to the Gold Saucer, and each has sequences where your companion will be determined by your relationship status and the amount of affinity and affection each character has for Cloud. That affection status is determined by your in-game actions.
Your relationship is different to your party level, and your relationship with each character also has no bearing on unlocking Synergy Attacks or anytthing else related to the core gameplay. In short, the relationship tracking with Tifa, Aerith, Barret, Red XIII, and Yuffie exists only to determine who Cloud gets to go on a date with.
The Chapter 8 Mini Date
In Chapter 8, whichever character you’re closest to at that point in the game will accompany you on a mini-date where you take a tour of the Gold Saucer. This is a great check-in to see where you're at as the main date approaches.
The following characters can be met for this date:
- Tifa
- Aerith
- Barret
- Red XIII
- Yuffie
The Chapter 12 Skywheel Date
Then, in Chapter 12 you’ll experience the full ‘date’ sequence, depicted as it was in Final Fantasy VII originally, but with more detail and in an overall lengthier sequence. Again, your date will be determined by your actions throughout the game.
This has multiple variations for each character - an intimate version and a standard version. Which you’ll see is determined, as you’d expect, by the closeness of your relationship. One character will simply turn up at Cloud's hotel room to take him out. These are the options:
- Tifa
- Aerith
- Barret
- Red XIII
- Yuffie
- Cait Sith, Vincent, & Cid (as a group)
While that last group doesn't have a relationship stat to speak of, their date exists as a sort of tiebreaker resolution - if you don't have a clear lead with any of the others, Cloud will enjoy a 'boys night' with that trio.
How to see All Dates in the FF7 Rebirth Postgame
When you finish FF7 Rebirth, you’ll unlock Chapter Select - and a big feature of that mode is the ability to manually select which companions you see when you replay Chapters 8 and 12.
To access this option, once you’ve finished the game go to System > Extra Settings and choose your date in the menu. Then choose to replay the Chapter in question from Chapter Select, also found in the System menu.
As part of the post-game New Game Plus package, FF7 Rebirth also adds relationship-based items to the Play Log, which is also found in the System Menu.
The Play Log has tabs for Barret, Tifa, Aerith, Yuffie, and Red - each detailing your relationship status with that character. This lets you see exactly where you stand and why you got the date you did in your main play through.
All of these options also work when replaying chapters on Hard Mode.
How to choose your Gold Saucer Date by maxing out relationships
As previously mentioned, your choice of Gold Saucer Date is determined by a few actions that you’ll take over the course of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. All you need to do is be careful about what you say, what you do, and how you do it - but thankfully, this guide is here to help you to do that. Here’s what you need to be aware of:
Dialogue Choices with Characters
There’s a surprising amount of role-playing within the story scenes of FF7 Rebirth, where the game hands off control to you to decide what Cloud says in any given situation.
Whenever a dialogue option like this pops up when you’re chatting to one of the dateable party members, look sharp: what you say will impact your relationship status and therefore your chances of getting a date.
When you say something, you’ll always get an option that says “Your relationship with [CHARACTER] has changed.” But how much it changes is hidden from you, unless you use a guide. Thankfully, we have a full list of
As a broad rule, you need to be nice to characters you want to date of course and a little less nice to those that you don’t - but if you want to get into the nitty gritty, we’ve got a full FF7 Rebirth choices guide to all dialogue options, revealing the best and worst options for every single Dialogue Choice in the game.
Side Quests lead to closer Relationships
here’s over 35 side quests in FF7 Rebirth, and all but the very last one is attached to a specific party member. You can even see this in the quests menu, where the quest list features an icon of the character it relates to in the bottom right corner of each quest’s entry.
You’ll also be able to tell who a quest relates to, as it’ll be them who appears in all cutscenes relating to the quest. If Yuffie is present for the scenes of a quest, for instance, that’s a ‘Yuffie Quest’. Completing that quest will grant an affection bonus with Yuffie. The same is true for the other quests you’ll see, all of which will be tagged with Tifa, Barret, Aerith, Red, or Yuffie.
Some quests have slightly different outcomes depending on choices, or how successful you are, and better outcomes will always lead to a better gain with the quest’s designated party member.
It goes without saying, if you skip the side quests of characters you don’t want to date and complete the quests of those you do, you’ll end up with a significant relationship affection point value in favor of those you want to date. This is an easy way to ensure you get the date of your choice - but it does involve skipping side quests, which you might not want to do.
If you go for a completionist attitude, all dateable characters have seven side quests each, which means that if you do everything, the gains will cancel each other out - leaving you with the same balance as if you’d done no quests.
Side quest status can be reset or retained for each chapter once you unlock Chapter Select.
Team up with Synergy Attacks
New to FF7 Rebirth are Synergy Attacks - special attacks that pair two characters together in the style of Chrono Trigger’s dual techs. They’re a cool chance to dish out a huge amount of damage while also seeing great unique animations that showcase the personalities and bonds between each character.
While Synergy Attacks exist between all possible pairings of party members, for the purposes of this dating guide we’re only interested in Synergy Attacks that pair Cloud with one of the dateable characters.
For these attacks, the first time that you use each Synergy Attack will add a little bonus to your date and romance affinity with the character Cloud is pairing with. This is a one-time bonus for each synergy attack or synergy skill, triggering on first use - so spamming these moves won’t help.
Don’t forget this doesn't just count Synergy Abilities (triggered from the menu), but also the Synergy Skills that get attached to the Face Buttons while guard/blocking.
You obtain new Synergy Attacks and skills by customizing your books at Maghnata Books or the associated vending machine. This gives you access to the skill tree where SP can be spent on unlocks, including the Synergy Skills.
Make careful choices in certain story events
Finally, it’s worth noting that there are a handful of choices that impact your Gold Saucer date options which aren’t actually obviously romance and date-related choices at all - and these are scattered throughout the game’s story.
Keep an eye out for these events, and be safe in the knowledge that your actions around them will impact Cloud’s Gold Saucer date. The consequences of each choice are covered in more detail and in chapter order in our
- Inauguration Parade Results: If you get the Audience Vote, the President’s Commendation, or both in Chapter 5’s parade, you’ll get a relationship boost with Tifa and Aerith. We've got a guide to the Parade Formation and how to win, if you need an assist.
- Queen’s Blood with Red XIII: In Chapter 5, beating Red will give you more points with him
- Taste in Beachwear: In Chapter 6 you can unlock beachwear for Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith. If you put them in appropriately-matching beachwear, the characters who match will get an affinity bonus.
- Battle on the Beach: In Chapter 6, when there’s combat on the beach, you’ll have to choose a pair of characters to assist first. Whichever pair you choose gets a bonus to their relationship status with Cloud.
- Minecart Mayhem: In Chapter 7, Cloud gets to choose which route to send the mine cart on. Yuffie prefers the calmer route, on the right, while Barret prefers the more exciting one on the left. Whichever you choose gets a relationship bonus.
- Battle with Dio: In Chapter 8’s arrival to the Gold Saucer, Cloud has to fight Dio in the 3D Brawler mini game. Winning gives a bonus to your relationship with Red XIII.
- Buggy Blaster: At the end of Chapter 8, there’s a story sequence mini game where you shoot Barret’s cannon from the back of a moving vehicle. If you do well in this game, affinity with Barret rises.
- Ninja Showdown: Early on in Chapter 12, you can face Yuffie in the 3D Brawler minigame at the Gold Saucer. Beating her nets a relationship boost.
- Red Rematch: In a very small window of Chapter 12, Red XIII can be re-challenged in Queen’s Blood. Like Chapter 5, winning gives an affinity bonus.