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For no fewer than 11 ofFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s 14 chapters, plus the vast majority of its side quests, the game dangles the Affinity System in front of players. You’ll periodically be shown circles over Aerith’s, Tifa’s, Barret’s, Red XIII’s, and Yuffie’s heads, and the color and fullness of the circles broadly indicates the character’s affection ranking toward Cloud at any given time.
The payoff - a date sequence in Chapter 12 at the Gold Saucer - is well worth the hassle of keeping track, so in this guide, we’ll chart every chance you’ll get to increase affinity with your preferred candidate.
What Is Affinity In Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth?
Absent in FF7 Remake but a huge part of FF7 Rebirth,the Affinity Systemgives players a chance todeepen Cloud’s relationships with most of the playable cast. The culmination isthe game determining which character serves as Cloud’s ‘date’in Chapter 12.
We put date in quotation marks, because the romantic vibes only truly pop in a couple of them - and you can probably predict which ones. Butthey’re all quite special, and well worth seeing.
There are a couple ofkey ways to increase affinityover the course of the earlier 11 chapters.
You won’t be able to see which character will contribute to a given side quest ahead of time, but once you do,make it a point to complete the side quest with the best result. Cloud’s Affinity with them will go up more per great results.
Side quests often offer dialogue choicesfor the character outside the main story’s scattered moments.
Conversely,you will need to make a choice to speak with themat times in order to trigger dialogue choices that won’t occur automatically in the obligatory script bits.
Dialogue choices range from bad, average, to good.This is our own rating system, however - it’s more accurate to say thatyou will get one, two, or three points toward Affnitywith your reply depending on whether it’s the best, the middle, or the worst selection.
How To Raise Aerith’s Affinity
It might surprise you to know, butneither Aerith nor Tifa have especially more affinity-elevating opportunities than the rest of the party. For as much weight as can be lended to the likelihood that folks will aim for one or the other,you’ll have to work just as hard.
Side Quests Which Raise Aerith’s Affinity
The following side quests are great for raising Aerith’s affinity towards Cloud. Per our testing, we’re fairly certain thatoptimal outcomes will produce better ‘affinity yields’, so follow those directions to the letter!
Flowers from the Hill
Stuck in a Rut
Absence of a Sign
Gongaga
Dialogue Options Which Raise Aerith’s Affinity
The following dialogue choices areconfirmed to help raise Aerith’s Affinityto varying degrees.
“Want to climb the clock tower together?”
“Sure, let’s.”
2
“Do you remember the first time we met?”
“You shoved a flower at me.”
4
Junon
“I start thinking things so dark and ugly that it scares me.”
“They’re just thoughts.”
6
“Waltzing in there, stirring up memories…”
“You’re too hard on yourself.”
9
(What will you do?)
10
“You never came up here hopin’ she’d wave?”
“Sounds like something I’d do.”
11
Nibelheim
More Ways To Raise Aerith’s Affinity
There are a fewone-time boosts to Aerith’s affinityrating. We apologize if we’ve missed any, but we’ll keep tabs and update if so!
How To Raise Tifa’s Affinity
Plenty of players will prefer to see Cloud hook up with Tifa during the Chapter 12 date, and yes,the romantic undertones are here in full forcefor the pair. Here’s how to make the magic happen.
Bodybuilders in a Bind
Gold Cup or Bust
Sand and Circuses
Corel
Dialogue Options Which Raise Tifa’s Affinity
Speak love into the air by picking these best-in-class dialogue options between Cloud and Tifa:
“This tank remind you of anything?”
“The place I made that promise to you.”
“Do you remember a guy named Emilio?”
“Only person from the village I remember is you.”
“Feels like it’s been ages since Seventh Heaven.”
“Lot’s happened since then.”
“What sort of thing would you go for?”
“Gotta go with pot roast.”
“Did I sound as awkward as I felt?”
“You did good.”
“It was taking a toll… and then you showed up.”
“Have I helped you get through it all?”
More Ways To Raise Tifa’s Affinity
Similar to Aerith,we’ve spotted three one-time waysto raise affinity with Tifa. They are, in fact, the same three ways as Aerith’s:
Amusingly enough, you cangain affinity with both AerithandTifaif you haveall three characters select the top or bottom rowsfor their swimwear picks.
How To Raise Barret’s Affinity
Let’s say you’d rather not see Cloud share some tender moments with AerithorTifa. Don’t count out the rest of the gang.Barret’s ‘date’ sequence with Cloud is actually quite sweet, and it shows a cool side of our favorite gunarm-toting resistance fighter.
Hustle and Grind
Lament of the Damned
Chapter
Location
“Not gonna have a drop till Seventh Heaven’s back up and running.”
“First one’s on me.”
“What do you think Yuffie wants with us?”
“Your autograph.”
“I couldn’t do a damn thing for those poor bastards.”
“You tried. That’s all you can do.”
“Wonder what kind of stuff we’d end up growin'.”
“So, what - we sit here and ‘theorize’?”
“No, we fight.”
“We gotta do something, right?”
“Hell yeah, you’re right. Screw them.”
More Ways To Raise Barret’s Affinity
At a few points in themain story,you will have a chance toraise Barret’s affinity with Cloudby doing things just so:
How To Raise Red XIII’s Affinity
Red XIII, Nanaki, labratdog - call him what you like, butRed XIII has plenty of affinity opportunitiesin Rebirth. In fact, heck,we’ve heard multiple cases of folks accidentally ending up with Red. This can happen if several party members are high up;Red has plenty of chances!
Of Robed Men and Ransoms
“One can never be too careful with Shinra.”
“I knew I could count on you.”
“I doubt I’ll smell Shinra till it’s too late.”
“We’ll manage.”
“I know I should strive to maintain my composure around him. But…”
“Don’t sweat it.”
“Just forget I said anything.”
“I’ll lend an ear.”
“No one wants to hear people badmouth their hometown.”
“This isn’t my hometown.”
More Ways To Raise Red XIII’s Affinity
There’s a few more ways to get that affinity going with Red:
How To Raise Yuffie’s Affinity
Yuffie’s pseudo-date is, as might be expected,pretty darn funny. It’s vintage Yuffie, after all. But much like the rest of the characters,there’s some insight into Yuffie that you can’t quite find elsewhere. It’s surely worth looking up online if nothing else!
Tides of War and Worry
More Ways To Raise Yuffie’s Affinity
Even though she joins later than the other candidates, there are still some keen ways to give this ninja a fighting chance:
Synergy Abilities Raise Everyone’s Affinity
Last but not least, considerSynergy Abilitieswhen aiming for a certain affinity boost.The first time Cloud activates a new Synergy Ability with someone, their affinity rating increases, which actually means you canwork to prevent certain pairings by not using these.
Don’t let that stop you from doing so - Synergy Abilities are great! - but it’s something to consider if you feel likeyou’re very close with multiple candidates. There’s no way to view the specific rating, since FF7 Rebirth prefers toleave a bit of mystery to the result!
Chapter Select Lets You Pick Your Partner
As a sweet perk for completing the game, theunlockable Chapter Selectincludes the option topick which character you want to see with Cloudat the Gold Saucer date when youboot up Chapter 12from the menu.
There is a bit of a catch:the character must have a fairly high affinity rating with Cloudin order to be eligible for this quick pick.
But honestly,there are so many affinity-boosting side questsin FF7 Rebirth thatyou’ll need to skip lots of content not to have everyone pretty high up alreadyheading into Chapter 12.
