Final Fantasy VII Remake is an action RPG which gives every character unique abilities in battle, such as Cloud Strife's slow, but powerful "Punisher" mode that lets him perform counterattacks, or Aerith's ability to conjure a powerful lighting attack with her Tempest ability.

Final Fantasy VII Remake only covers the Midgar section of the original story, which means that many of the playable characters from the original game don't appear in the flesh. These characters will almost certainly be playable in later entries in the series, but those games might not be released for a while and we could be well into the PlayStation 5/Xbox Series X generation before we see them again. The next entries in the Final Fantasy VII Remake series might be a long way off, but after playing the first game, we have an idea of how the combat system can be improved in later titles and how the upcoming playable characters could work in future games.

Related: Final Fantasy VII Remake Review: The Train Came Back

Cait Sith

via: finalfantasy.wikia.com

If Cait Sith retains its horrible Scottish accent from Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus, then it's likely that no one will use it willingly in the later Final Fantasy VII Remake games. For the times when the player is forced to use it, he will need an alternate mode.

Cait Sith's abilities were based on chance. The Dice Limit Break would be pretty boring if it was spammed repeatedly, while the Slots would be too chaotic in their original form, due to their ability to instakill the party/enemies. Cait Sith would need a different version of Slots that isn't as overpowered/suicidal. One idea is to give it something similar to Zack's DMW in Crisis Core, with slots that are always running, but the player has to manually stop to activate them, leaving Cait Sith vulnerable to attack and interrupts.

Cid Highwind

Cid's combat ability is similar to that of the dragoons from other Final Fantasy titles, so his alternate mode could involve jumping. There are enemies in Final Fantasy VII Remake that already use a jump attack, so it would be easy to repurpose this attack for Cid.

Cid's Jump command could allow him to perform an incredibly powerful attack, with the caveat that it takes him out of the fight for a couple of seconds, leaves him vulnerable to being interrupted by long-range attacks, and has significant end lag after he strikes the ground.

Red XIII

Red XIII FInal Fantasy VII Remake

Red XIII appears in Final Fantasy VII Remake as a guest party member, but he's not a playable character. This is due to the fact that he's introduced near the end of the game and the developers didn't want to half-bake his role in the party. As such, he helps out the other characters, but he won't be playable until the later entries in the series.

There are doglike enemies in Final Fantasy VII Remake with the ability to pin the player characters to the ground, dealing a ton of damage and taking them out of the fight. Red XIII could have a similar effect on humanoid enemies, such as Shinra troops. His leaping attack could have a long start/end lag, making it a risky move, but one that can pay off when it hits.

Vincent Valentine

Via: YouTube.com - Gamer's Little Playground

Vincent's alternate modes are almost a given. In Final Fantasy VII, Vincent has the ability to transform into monsters through the use of his Limit Break. The fact that he uses a pistol and is incredibly agile in his base form means that he can be a swift character with long-range attacks. Vincent's alternate mode could let him transform into a Galian Beast, Death Gigas, or Hellmasker, which could possess incredible physical durability and strength, at the cost of speed and range. Vincent's Chaos form could be saved for his Limit Break.

Yuffie Kisaragi

The Last Ability We Mention Has A Very Minor Final Fantasy VII Remake Spoiler!

Yuffie has a couple of options available to her for alternate modes. Her giant shuriken allows her to fill the role of someone who can switch between short-range and long-range modes, at the cost of being weaker than characters who only use one style.

Yuffie's ultimate weapon in Final Fantasy VII increased her ability to transform an enemy into a rare item with the Morph command. This could be Yuffie's niche in Final Fantasy VII Remake, with her potentially turning enemies into items if she can kill them at low health with a weak attack.

This next style has a Minor Spoiler From Final Fantasy VII Remake Regarding Materia so turn away now if you want to remain unspoiled. The Steal Materia doesn't have the Mug ability anymore, so Yuffie's niche could be stealing from enemies while dealing damage. 

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Final Fantasy VII Remake is available for PlayStation 4 on April 10, 2020.