With only a few days until the launch of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Square Enix is making it clear that it wants everyone to go ahead and buy a PlayStation 5 to play the game.
A week ago, Square leaned heavily into a certain subset of the franchise’s fanbase with the release of a beach scene showing off Tifa’s breasts looking plumper than usual.
Although everyone in the party, including Aerith, is out soaking in the sun and wearing beach-appropriate swimwear in the footage, it’s clear that Tifa was the highlight. But it appears that Square is pulling off a sneaky trick ahead of FF7 Rebirth‘s release.
Days after the footage was uploaded online by Famitsu, Square released a patch for the first game in the trilogy, Final Fantasy 7 Remake. The nearly 5GB surprise patch for FF7 Remake adds, among other things, a link that lets you purchase FF7 Rebirth within the game. In addition to this, fans have noticed that Square made Tifa’s outfit during the Nibelheim incident shown in FF7 Remake less NSFW by adding a black undershirt under her cowboy outfit.
It’s worth mentioning that Tifa was in her teens during the brief Nibelheim flashback in FF7 Remake, so it’s understandable why she’d wear something more appropriate for her age. This is further reflected in how Tifa is depicted in FF7 Rebirth in the first demo of the game, which is effectively the prologue, and Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion, a prequel to the upcoming trilogy and the original 1997 classic.
Square probably thought it could sneak in this subtle change to the female heroine as part of a last-minute update for FF7 Remake but alas, nothing escapes the ever-watchful eyes of the internet, especially not after marketing Tifa heavily the way they have in recent years.
Hopefully, Tifa will remain exactly the way she is when Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth releases on PlayStation 5 on February 29.
Speaking of Tifa, her popularity extends outside of the Final Fantasy fanbase. It’s come to the point that Tekken 8’s director has had to figure out a more creative way to tell fans off for constantly demanding her to be added to the fighting game.
