FF7 Rebirth: Should You Skip Nibelheim (& Will You Miss Out On Items)?

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One of the earliest choices to make in involves whether to skip the Nibelheim flashback that makes up the majority of the game's first chapter. The Nibelheim chapter was part of the game's playable demo, alongside a longer section that allowed players to openly explore the Junon region of . But where the Junon half of the demo is separate, and taken out of context, the Nibelheim half effectively grants players early access to the opening hours of the game.

In an effort to streamline demo players' early hours with the full game, allows anyone who's finished that part of the demo to skip most of the Nibelheim flashback chapter. They'll still have to play through the introductory sequence and explore the town. But once Cloud, Sephiroth, and Tifa step out the back gate of Nibelheim and make for the mountain reactor, the player will see a pop-up asking them whether they'd like to skip the remainder of the chapter.

Yes, players should skip the Nibelheim section of 's Chapter One if they've already played the demo. In short, there's really no reason someone would play the Nibelheim section a second time. Skipping this part of the chapter doesn't gloss over any important story events: it cuts out once the characters and location have been introduced, and picks right back up with the terrible discovery that sets the events of in motion. All players are effectively skipping when they bypass this demo is a few rounds of combat.

Don't expect to find anything different from the demo in the final version of the Nibelheim chapter, either. The demo of is careful to warn players that things might differ in the full game. There may be some slight tweaks to the performance of , and the Junon section has certainly been streamlined for the demo, but no part of the Nibelheim section is meaningfully different in the full game. Anyone who's played through it in the demo has seen everything it has to offer.

Of course, if it's been a while since they tried the demo, some players may want