Though Red XIII has been revealed for Final Fantasy VII Remake, players will not be able to take control of him as a playable character during battle. Since he will be introduced into the story rather late in the game, he will act as a guest character in combat.
“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 really not enough time to do that,” Final Fantasy VII Remake co-director Naoki Hamaguchi told VG247.
“We thought that the best way to have him involved was as a guest character. 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. He’ll be using all of his old really nostalgic moves, and you’ll see that. We felt that this was the best way of showing him off as a character and who he is. That’s why we felt that was the best way to include him.”
Guest characters in battle are not something new to Final Fantasy. In many of the games, a character would be added to the player’s party for a short amount of time. This includes Sephiroth in the original Final Fantasy VII, Seifer in Final Fantasy VIII, and Seymour in Final Fantasy X.
Since Red XIII will not be playable, Final Fantasy VII Remake will feature four characters for players to control: Cloud, Barret, Tifa, and Aerith. Each character will come with their playstyle and move set.
Final Fantasy VII Remake will release on April 10 on the PlayStation 4, with a demo having recently been released.
