Final Fantasy VII Remake won't include all of the playable characters from Final Fantasy VII, including one that many people expected to make the cut, as Red XIII won't be playable in the game.
Final Fantasy VII Remake is the first part of a series, rather than being a full remake of the first game. The story will expand upon the Midgar section of Final Fantasy VII and turn it into a full game. As such, characters like Cait Sith, Cid, Vincent Valentine, and Yuffie won't be playable, as they are not encountered until after the party leaves Midgar.
It seems that another character won't be playable in Final Fantasy VII Remake, despite having a role in the story. Final Fantasy VII Remake co-director Naoki Hamaguchi told VG247 that Red XIII will only be a guest character in the game and won't be playable. Red XIII will fight alongside the party during the Shinra Headquarters section of the game and will use his familiar moves, but the player won't be able to control him.
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 not really enough time to do that. 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,” Hamaguchi elaborated. “He’ll be using all of his old really nostalgic moves, and you’ll see that. We felt that 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.
It makes sense that Red XIII won't be playable, considering how late he enters the Midgar storyline. Red XIII is also a very different character than the members of AVALANCHE, being a four-legged cat creature, which means that a lot more work has to go into his moves than the majority of the party.
All is not lost for the Red XIII fans of the world, as Final Fantasy VII Remake is just one game in a longer series. Red XIII remains a main character throughout the rest of Final Fantasy VII, so he will almost certainly become playable in the later entries in the series. His small role in the Midgar section of the story means that it's understandable for the developers not to put too much time and effort into his combat attributes, but they'll have plenty of time in the sequels.
Final Fantasy VII Remake will be released for PlayStation 4 on April 10, 2020. The demo for the game is available now on the PlayStation Store.
Source: VG247