Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth brings back Yuffie Kisaragi in the best way

Yuffie Kisaragi is the fiery engine behind the main cast in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Whether it’s sprinting off alone to search for her beloved materia or attempting high-profile assassination in front of the entire world, she simply cannot be deterred. The warrior from Wutai previously appeared as an optional character in the original version of the game. Now, she’s included as part of the main story from pretty early on, and her addition is one of my favorite ways that Rebirth alters the story from the original game.

Yuffie first appeared as an optional playable character in the original Final Fantasy 7. To go get her, players had to adventure to her homeland of Wutai and complete her related quest. In that game, unlocking her was a completely elective part of the game, but now she plays a large role in the new trilogy of games reimagining the original story. She has now starred as the protagonist in her own story in Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s DLC, Intergrade. There, she helped Avalanche infiltrate a Shinra facility and steal a special materia. Now, in Rebirth, we get to see her link up with Cloud Strife and the main party of characters as the group ventures out to save the world from Sephiroth.

As one of the youngest members of Avalanche and resident goofball, it could be easy to disregard Yuffie. At several points, she seems to have a one-track mind set on collecting her shiny, precious materia. Still, the young warrior harbors lofty ambitions to help her homeland and defeat Shinra. There’s a lot more to her than meets the eye, and the developers have found ways to let her personality shine in every instance. The way they do this is by, well, letting Yuffie be Yuffie.

Everything is over the top with Yuffie. It’s not just about what she looks like or says, but how we see her move throughout the world. In cutscenes, Yuffie often expresses herself with exaggerated movements where she’ll pump her arms as she runs or make a face by pulling her lips wide and sticking out her tongue. Then there’s the fact that she cannot ride a car or plane without coming close to throwing up. The development team at Square Enix has clearly put so much thought into each detail of her character and imbued her with a unique, youthful physicality.

Yuffie consistently imbues small moments of joy and whimsy into the proceedings. We get to see her face scrunch up in disapproval during conversations or watch her pester Barret with fake punches on a short walk. At one point in the mainline quest, her English voice actor, Suzie Yeung, sings an entire original song about materia while lounging around on a couch. She’s a bored teen, and, well, moments like that show it.

She’s also just great to have along for the adventure. As far as combat goes, she has one of the most enjoyable and versatile fighting styles and excels in both distance and close-range combat using her giant shuriken. In the story, she’s kind of a loose cannon who can bring excitement to any situation. This might look like her immaturely running ahead and causing trouble, or even moments where one of her rash interventions threatens the whole world order’s stability.

To me, Yuffie’s portrayal embodies the best parts of Rebirth. Although it has its fair share of bloat, the game really shines when it captures the quirks and emotions of the original game and its characters, rendering those moments in stunning detail. Obviously Yuffie was always a goofy girl dead set on finding materia, but now the developers get to show us way more of what that girl is actually like.