Red XIII explains that the mysterious ghosts that have intermittently been helping or barring their advance are called Whispers, arbiters of fate and beings sent out by the planet itself to enforce a fixed future. Aerith hesitates over defying destiny, but tells the others that Sephiroth is more dangerous to the planet than Shinra and must be stopped.

Upon hearing the party has been hunting the Huge Materia, Cloud joins the fray. When they storm the launch of Cid's rocket, they end up trapped inside as it takes off. Cid discovers he had been wrong in admonishing his assistant, Shera, for ruining his dreams of space flight, and the party returns to the planet on an escape pod.

Apathetic to the cause, Cloud initially fights for personal gain, and for the promise he made to childhood friend Tifa Lockhart. Cloud eventually joins forces with many others to save the planet, which is threatened by Shinra and Cloud's nemesis Sephiroth, and discovers a reason to fight for a cause other than his own.

Today's new trailer asks the question, "What is fact and what is fiction?" This points toward some of the larger narrative changes featured in the remake of the beloved 1997 JRPG.

Yuffie Kisaragi takes center stage in this additional episode, which takes place concurrently with the main game.

To aim for a new take on the classic concepts that the original Final Fantasy VII is known for, the development team revamped the ATB system with an evolution of that which yields a fast action paced experience, yet retains tactical control. Characters can now be moved freely during battles and can use basic attacks (

Materia can also provide enhancements when combined with other Materia, or simply provide support abilities on their own.

Time magazine listed Final Fantasy VII Remake as one of the best games of 2020, saying "It's not shocking that Square Enix would make this game, but it is shocking that the results are so fantastic".

There are five other examples of audible vocalization in the game: in the FMV sequence when Midgar's Sector 7 plate is collapsing onto the slum underneath, the slum's residents give a frightened scream. At the end of this sequence, President Shinra observes the chaos below from his final fantasy vii top floor office in Shinra Tower listening to opera music. The sound of pilots and/or air traffic control can be heard communicating when Cloud first arrives in Upper Junon airport.

Aeris Gainsborough, a flower girl from the Sector 5 Slums who befriends Cloud. Cloud's resemblance to someone she used to know mystifies Aeris, and she joins him and AVALANCHE on their quest to discover more about her heritage.

Tifa awakes in Junon seven days later and finds a world in chaos: a meteorite looms over the sky, a sign of the impending end of the world. Sephiroth has surrounded the North Crater with a barrier preventing either Shinra or the Weapons from attacking his true body, and the creatures have taken to attacking Shinra's sites of power instead.

Cloud, Barret, and Tifa make their way through the collapsed Sector 7 plate and reach the Shinra Building. While Barret is eager to charge in through the front door guns blazing, Cloud suggests they use Shinra trucks to infiltrate the parking garage. They jump onto a truck and get inside, but when the truck leaves the checkpoint, they fall and have to fight their way in.

There are four Limit levels, which determine how much damage a character must sustain before their Limit Break gauge fills. There are usually two Limits in each level except the fourth, which provides a single Limit, but requires a Limit item acquired from a short sidequest. Additionally, each character has an ultimate weapon that calculates damage in a unique way to that weapon based on different factors.

Later on, they are tricked into inflicting major casualties on Sector Eight and the surrounding area. From then onwards Avalanche gradually takes on a more serious mood.