Previously, we went over how to get Cloud to go out with Tifa, Aerith, or an ensemble of Cait Sith, Vincent and Cid for a fun boy’s night out. In this guide, we’ll go over how to date the alternative characters, namely Barret, Red XIII, and Yuffie in your first run through of the game. In Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the sequel to 2020’s hit Final Fantasy VII Remake, Cloud makes choices and says things throughout the game that affect his standing with his party members. At the end of Chapter 12, the party member that Cloud has built the most rapport with throughout the game via his choices shows up to Cloud’s doorstep and asks him out on a date that ends with an intimate moment on Gold Saucer’s couple’s sky wheel. This guide will show you how you can ensure that you either romance Barret, Red XIII, or Yuffie.
Here’s a summary of things you must do if you want to romance a specific character:
- Go on the appropriate side quests for the character while ignoring the side missions that involve others.
- Choose the correct dialogue option when prompted during conversations with the party member. To better your chances, you can skip all optional dialogue that doesn’t involve the character you’re trying to romance.
- Have the character as a member of your three-member combat party and use every synergy skill and synergy ability you can with them at least once.
If these steps are taken properly, it’s all but guaranteed that you get the character you desire when the time comes. However keep in mind that if you’ve already beaten the game, there is a much simpler way to do this, and that is to go to the chapter select option, choose Chapter 12, and then simply choose the character you desire to date.
If you’d like to check out more tips and tricks related to the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, check out these other pieces at KeenGamer:
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth | The Best Spot for Grinding EXP and AP
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth | How to Beat the 3D Brawler Mini-Game on Hard Mode
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth | How to Defeat Odin
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth | How to Romance Tifa
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth | How to Romance Cait Sith
Dialogue Choices That Help You Romance Barret, Red XIII, and Yuffie
It is imperative you choose every single one of the best dialogue options available for the character you want to romance. To ensure you get the person you want, skip out on talking to other party members during these key scenes. This will lower your standing with them.
Barret
Barret’s dialogue options in Gongaga.
The answers you must give Barret when prompted are:
- During Chapter 2, in Kalm, Barret will state to Cloud “Not gonna have a drop till Seventh Heaven’s back up and runnin’.” The best response you can give is “First one’s on me.”
- During Chapter 4, in Junon, Barret will ask Cloud “What do you think Yuffie wants with us?” The strongest response you can give is “Your autograph.”
- During Chapter 6, in Costa Del Sol, Barret will state to Cloud “I couldn’t do a damn thing for those poor bastards.” The optimal response you can give is “You tried. That’s all that matters.”
- During Chapter 9, in Gongaga, Barret will state to Cloud “Wonder what kind stuff we’d end up growin’.” The most favored response you can give is “Mushrooms.”
- During Chapter 10, in Cosmo Canyon, Barret will ask Cloud “So what? We just sit here and theorize?” The top response you can give is “No, we fight.”
- During Chapter 11, in Nibleheim, Barret will ask Cloud “We have to do something, right!?” The appropriate response is “Hell yeah, you’re right. Screw them.”
Red XIII
Red XIII’s dialogue options in Cosmo Canyon.
The answers you must give Red XIII when prompted are:
- During Chapter 2, in Kalm, Red XIII will state to Cloud “One can never be too careful with Shinra.” The best response you can give is “I knew I could count on you.”
- During Chapter 4, in Junon, Red XIII will ask Cloud “I doubt I’ll smell Shrina till it’s too late.”” The strongest response you can give is “Huh? Not good.”
- During Chapter 6, in Costa Del Sol, Red XIII will state to Cloud “I know I should strive to maintain my composure around him, but…” The optimal response you can give is “Don’t sweat it.”
- During Chapter 9, in Gongaga, Red XIII will ask Cloud to pick which patch of mushrooms he believes are Gongaga mushrooms. The correct choice is to pick the patch of mushrooms on the right.
- During Chapter 10, in Cosmo Canyon, Red XIII will state to Cloud “Forget I said anything.” The top-ranked response you can give is “I’ll lend an ear.”
- During Chapter 11, in Nibleheim, Red XIII will state to Cloud “No one wants to hear people badmouth their hometown.” The favorable response you can give is “This isn’t my hometown.”
Yuffie
Yuffie’s dialogue options in Gongaga.
Costal Del Sol
The answers you must give Yuffie when prompted are:
- Yuffie will state to Cloud “You’re obviously captivated by my bodacious beach bod.” The best response you can give is “Yeah, obviously.”
- Yuffie will urge Cloud to let her spar her and let her join the party and ask him “Whaddya say?” The optimal response you can give is “Beat it.”
- Yuffie will ask Cloud “Afraid you’re going to catch a beatdown?” The favored response possible is “Kinda.” Yuffie will ask Cloud “Bet you’re thrilled, huh?” The top response you can give is “Hardly.”
- Yuffie will ask Cloud “You don’t want me around to save your butts?” The appropriate response is “…You can come with.”
Other Yuffie Dialogue
- During Chapter 9, in Gongaga, Yuffie will state to Cloud “I am so, so bored… Bored right out of my name.” The strongest response is “Nice song. Funny too.”
- During Chapter 10, in Cosmo Canyon, Yuffie will state to Cloud “Once you die, that’s it.” The best response is “Pretty much.”
- During Chapter 11, in Nibleheim, Yuffie will ask Cloud “What about, say, oh…materia?” The favored response is “Yup.”
Side Quests to Help You Romance Barret, Red XIII, and Yuffie
Before we list the side quests you need to complete, I must stress this one point: if you’re trying to guarantee that you date a specific character, you must ONLY do the list of side quests related to them while ignoring all others. This will essentially guarantee that this character will hold Cloud to a higher regard compared to the rest. You can get away with doing a few side missions of the characters you want, just make sure you do ALL of the ones for the character that you do want!
Barret
Here is the list of side missions you must complete if you want to go on a date with Barret:
- “Lifeline in Peril” in the Grasslands region during Chapter 2.
- “Hustle and Grind” in the Junon region during Chapter 4.
- “When Words Won’t Do” in the Junon region during Chapter 4.
- “Missing Ms. Birdie” in the Corel region during Chapter 6.
- “The Pursuit of Perfection” in the Gongaga region during Chapter 9.
- “Escape from Endless Writer’s Block” in the Gongaga region during Chapter 9.
- “Lament of the Demand” in the Nibelheim region during Chapter 11.
Red XIII
Here is the list of side quests you need to finish to ensure that Red XIII goes on the sky wheel with you:
- “Livestock’s Bane” in the Grasslands region during Chapter 2.
- “Where the Wind Blows” in the Grasslands region during Chapter 2.
- “The Hardest Sell” in the Junon region during Chapter 4.
- “Of Robed Men and Ransoms” in the Corel region during Chapter 6.
- “Oh Chicken, Where Art Thou?” in the Gongaga region during Chapter 9.
- “From Whence Life Flows” in the Cosmo Canyon region during Chapter 10.
- “Promises to Keep” in the Cosmo Canyon region during Chapter 10.
Yuffie
If you want Yuffie to accompany you in the Gold Saucer scene during Chapter 12, here are the side missions you must complete: “
- Tides of War and Worry” in the Junon region during Chapter 4.
- “The Saga of the Seaside Inn” in the Corel region during Chapter 6.
- “Trouble in Paradise” in the Corel region during Chapter 6.
- “Teach Me, Great Warrior” in the Gongaga region during Chapter 9.
- “Bonds of Trust” in the Cosmo Canyon region during Chapter 10.
- “Victim of Circumstance” in the Cosmo Canyon region during Chapter 10.
- “Esoteric Secrets of the Elders” in the Nibelheim region during Chapter 11.
In addition to the above, one bonus way you can raise your standing with Yuffie is by beating her in the 3D Brawler mini-game at the Gold Saucer. However, to unlock her, you need to have already reached Chapter 12. Then all you’d need to do is go to Wonderment Square and challenge her to a bout. Be forewarned however – she is a formidable foe in this battle!
Synergy Abilities and Skills That Help You Romance Barret, Red XIII, and Yuffie
To maximize your chances of getting the party member you want, you need to have them in your three-person combat group as often as possible and you need to use every synergy skill and ability with them available at least once. For bonus points, ONLY use these synergy skills and abilities and ignore using them with the characters you’re not interested in. If you want to neuter Cloud’s standing with his other teammates even further, make sure to rotate each party member out of the combat group from time to time except the person you’re trying to romance.
To keep tabs on how each party members’ attitude toward Cloud, you can scope out the “bonds of friendship” meter, which is the colored smiley face above their heads. If a character is in dark blue or light blue, it means they favor Cloud heavily, so that’s the color you’re aiming for the party member you want to romance to end up with. Those colors also indicate which version of the date with the character you get. So if you notice a character you don’t want climbing the Cloud-liking leaderboards, yank them from your party indefinitely and watch that meter drop. Furthermore, the dark blue (weak) and light blue (strong) smiley face indicates whether you obtain the normal date or the special “intimate” one. For the purposes of this guide, we’re aiming for the latter.
The synergy mechanics that Cloud has available that will help him romance Barret, Red XIII, and Yuffie are:
- Mad Dash (Barret)
- Iron Defense (Barret and Red XIII)
- United Refocus (Barret)
- Ninja Bazooka (Yuffie)
- Shuriken Sync (Yuffie)
- Halcyon Descent (Yuffie)
- Wild Charge (Red XIII)
- Phantom Fang (Red XIII)
- Savage Assault (Red XIII) [Visualized above in video]
The Date
Barret
Cloud and Barret on the sky wheel.
On the date, Barret tells Cloud his story about meeting his once wife, Myrna. He says that when he was about Cloud’s age, 21 years old, he stopped working in the Corel mines to go and enjoy his life as a single youth – but then he met Myrna, who rejected him at first. However, he ended up earning her heart but when the Corel Mako reactor blew up – a central event in Barret’s backstory – she ended up dying. Barret ultimately ended up hating himself, being hated by everyone at Corel, and leaving his hometown. Barret concludes his lesson by telling Cloud that “once you find your soulmate, you never let them go.”
Red XIII
Cloud and Red XIII on the sky wheel.
In Cloud’s date with Red XIII, Nanaki reveals to him that when he and Aerith were in Midgar, they could see the future due to the connection with the lifestream. However, he reveals that once they left the city, they lost that power because the whispers took it from them. Cloud then tells Red XIII that the future isn’t set in stone and that worrying about fate is useless as sentient beings have the power to decide their own futures. The date ends with Red XIII disclosing to Cloud that there is one thing he vaguely remembers from the future and that it is imperative that Cloud keeps Aerith safe.
Yuffie
Cloud and Yuffie on the sky wheel.
During Cloud’s date with Yuffie on the sky wheel, she reveals to Cloud that Tifa once had a huge crush on him and talks about her own past crush on someone she says “could be a SOLDIER.” However when the fireworks go off, Yuffie innocently kisses Cloud on the cheek which creates an awkward moment when Cloud sits there silently and doesn’t say anything. The tension is then broken by Yuffie play-punching Cloud and Cloud reacting as if he got hurt, causing the ninja to burst out in laughter.
