Final Fantasy VII Part 3 adds Vincent, Cid

Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 3 just answered one of the most obvious fan questions left hanging after Rebirth: yes, Vincent and Cid are going to be playable. That was always the expectation if Square Enix wanted the remake trilogy to end with the full classic party intact — but now director Naoki Hamaguchi has said it out loud. The bigger takeaway is not just roster completion. It’s that Square is finally talking about how the last game is being shaped, what it is prioritizing, and what it is willing to leave for later. (thegamer.com) ### Why was this still a question? Rebirth let Vincent Valentine and Cid Highwind join the story, but it stopped short of turning them into fully controllable party members. That left a weird gap. They were present, important, and clearly being saved for something — but fans still didn’t have confirmation that Part 3 would finish the job instead of handling them in some more limited way. Hamaguchi’s new comments basically close that loophole. (thegamer.com) ### What exactly did Hamaguchi say? In interviews published this week, Hamaguchi said that in the final game, both Vincent and Cid have been designed with “incredibly appealing combat capabilities,” and that he can’t wait for players to try them. That wording matters. He didn’t just say they appear, or that they have bigger roles. He talked specifically about their combat design — wh(thegamer.com)sists or cutscene-only additions. (gonintendo.com) ### Why do Vincent and Cid matter so much? Because they are the last missing pieces of the original FF7 battle lineup. Cloud, Tifa, Barret, Aerith, Red XIII, Yuffie, and Cait Sith have all already gotten remake-era combat systems. Vincent and Cid are the two iconic holdouts. Vincent brings the obvious wild-card energy — guns, transf(gonintendo.com)crucial late in FF7’s story. Adding them is not fan service glued on top. It is structural. (thegamer.com) ### What else did he tease? Hamaguchi also pointed at two huge FF7 legacy set pieces he knows fans are waiting for — Knights of the Round and Sephiroth’s Supernova. He didn’t give mechanical details, but just naming them tells you Part 3 is moving into the section of the story where Square has to cash in on the biggest, weirdest, most mythic imagery from the original game. That raise(thegamer.com)es in reimagining the endgame. (wccftech.com) ### Is Part 3 still on track? Right now, yes. Hamaguchi said development is progressing on schedule and that the team is in the fine-tuning phase. He also said Square is still considering the best release schedule and format for players and for the franchise as a whole. That sounds a little vague, but the simple read is that the game’s direction is set and the studio is now thinking hard about rollout strategy, not scrambling to figure out what the game is. (gonintendo.com) ### Why is DLC part of this conversation? Because Rebirth didn’t get any story DLC, and fans noticed. Hamaguchi explained that Square considered it, but decided running Rebirth DLC in parallel with Part 3 would hurt the third game’s schedule and quality. Basically — they picked the finale over an extra side chapter. But he also left(gonintendo.com) expand it. (videogameschronicle.com) ### What does the sales talk change? It softens the anxiety around whether Rebirth underperformed badly enough to affect the finale. Hamaguchi said last year that Rebirth had been doing very well on PS5 and PC and reassured fans that Square would be able to deliver a proper third installment. That doesn’t magic(videogameschronicle.com)t defending a retreat. (automaton-media.com) ### Bottom line The news is simple, but it lands hard: Part 3 is where FF7 Remake finally becomes the full party game people expected. Vincent and Cid are in your hands now — not just on the sidelines — and Square is making it pretty clear that everything else, including DLC, comes after sticking that ending. (gonintendo.com)