Naoki Hamaguchi, director of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, has said, "As someone who plays games on PC, I sometimes use mods myself," and added that "I see it as a positive thing myself." Which is why I expect there to be absolutely no complaints about the coming influx of mods that make the more boring parts of Cloud's Big Adventure easier to rush through on your way to the next game of Queen's Blood.
Modder LordGregory is responsible for this one, Easy Chocobo Catch, which means you won't have to replay any of the auto-fail stealth sequences where you sneak up on that region's chocobo. Normally these are something you need to cross off your bottomless checklist of tasks before you can use a region's Chocobo Stops as fast-travel points, and given that some chocobos have special traversal moves, may need to be completed before you can access parts of each map.
Where normally you'd have to sneak up on the head chocobo, bypassing their guards by hiding behind mine carts or whatever, with Easy Chocobo Catch the birds won't see you even if you crouch-walk right in front of them. It also triples your speed for good measure. Catching chocobos isn't the most difficult challenge in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, but it's yet another point of slowdown and friction in a game with so much friction it can feel like wading through dry sand.
- Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's director says 'I respect the modding community' and uses mods himself, though he still thinks we shouldn't use ones that 'detract from the intended game experience'
- Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director asks modders to avoid making anything 'offensive or inappropriate,' Final Fantasy 7 modding community says 'yeah sure'
While you're browsing Nexus Mods, have a look at Most Combative Team Members, which makes your party members more likely to attack while you're not controlling them, and Silent Chadley and Mai in the Open World, which casts Shushaga on your talkative cyborg friends. Now if only there was a mod to get rid of the autofail stealth bit in the protorelic quest. Or give the game a satisfying ending.
