For no fewer than 11 of '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 affini𓆉ty 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 System gives players a chance to deepen Cloud's relationships with most of the playable cast. The culmination is the 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. But they're all quite special, and well worth seeing.

There are a couple of key ways to increase affinity over the course of the earlier 11 chapters.

• Engaging in side quests starring specific party members. Finishing them will notify you that 'Your relationship with [character] has changed'.
• Answering dialogue choices in ways which please the party member in question.

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 res𓆉ults.

Side quests often offer dialogue choices for the ꦫcharacter outside the main ♔story's scattered moments.

Conversely, you will need to make a choice to speak with them at times in 𓆏order to trigger dialogue choices that won't occur automatically iꦏn 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 that you will get one, two, or three points toward Affnity with your reply depending on whether it's the be💯st, the middle, or the worst sele𓂃ction.

How To Raise Aerith's Affinity

It might surprise you to know, but neither 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 that optimal outcomes will produce better 'affinity yields', so follow those directions to the letter!

Dialogue Options Which Raise Aerith's Affinity

The following dialogue choices are confirmed to help raise Aerith's Affinity to varying degrees.

More Ways To Raise Aerith's Affinity

There are a few one-time boosts to Aerith's affinity ratingᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ. We apolog📖ize if we've missed any, but we'll keep tabs and update if so!

• Performing well during the Junon Parade sequence in Chapter 4.
• Choosing beach attire that 'matches Aerith's taste in swimwear' in Costa del Sol in Chapter 6. This is done by picking the same row (top choice or bottom choice) for Cloud and Aerith for both pieces.
• Costa del Sol: When choiced between either Tifa and Red XIII or Aerith and Barret, pick Barret and Aerith.

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 force for tꦬheꩲ pair. Here's how to make the magic happen.

Side Quests Which Raise Tifa's Affinity

Dialogue Options Which Raise Tifa's Affinity

Speak love into the air 𝓡by picking these best-in-class dialogue options between Cloud and Tifa:

More Ways To Raise Tifa's Affinity

Similar to Aerith, we've spotted three one-time ways to raise affinity with Tifa. They are, in fact, the sa♛me three ways a💟s Aerith's:

• Performing well during the Junon Parade sequence in Chapter 4.
• Choosing beach attire that 'matches Tifa's taste in swimwear' in Costa del Sol in Chapter 6. This is done by picking the same row (top choice or bottom choice) for Cloud and Tifa for both pieces.
• Costa del Sol: When choiced between either Tifa and Red XIII or Aerith and Barret, pick Tifa and Red XIII.

Amusingly enough, you can gain affinity with both Aerith and Tifa if you have all three characters select the top or bottom rows for their swimwear picks.

How To Raise Barret's Affinity

Let's say you'd rather not see Cloud share some tender moments with Aerith or Tifa. 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-toti꧂ng resistance fighter.

Side Quests Which Raise Barret's Affinity

Dialogue Options Which Raise Barret's Affinity

More Ways To Raise Barret's Affinity

At a few points in the main story, you will have a chance to raise Barret's affinity with Cloud by doing things just so:

• Costa del Sol: When choiced between either Tifa and Red XIII or Aerith and Barret, pick Barret and Aerith.
• Mount Corel: During the mine cart mini-game, you're given an option to alter the track to either Barret's taste or Yuffie's. Pick Barret's.
• Corel Prison: The turret-like mini-game on the back of the buggy has Barret fend off Shinra forces. Perform well enough for a boost.

How To Raise Red XIII's Affinity

Red XIII, Nanaki, labratdog - call him what you like, but Red XIII has plenty of affinity opportunities in 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!

Side Quests Which Raise Red XIII's Affinity

Dialogue Options Which Raise Red XIII's Affinity

More Ways To Raise Red XIII's Affinity

There's a few more ways to get that affinity go🐎i🍌ng with Red:

• Duel him at Queen's Blood in Chapter 5.
• Costa del Sol: When choiced between either Tifa and Red XIII or Aerith and Barret, pick Barret and Aerith.
• Win the brawl with Dio upon first entry to the Gold Saucer.

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!

Side Quests Which Raise Yuffie's Affinity

Dialogue Options Which Raise Yuffie's Affinity

More Ways To Raise Yuffie's Affinity

Even though she joins later than the other candidates, ther🍎e are still some keen ways to 💖give this ninja a fighting chance:

• Tell Yuffie you like her beach attire in Costa del Sol, prior to her joining up. You can find her at the ice cream truck.
• Mount Corel: During the mine cart mini-game, you're given an option to alter the track to either Barret's taste or Yuffie's. Pick Yuffie's.

Synergy Abilities Raise Everyone's Affinity

Last but not least, consider Synergy Abilities when 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 can work 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 like you're very close with multiple candidates. There's no way to view the specific rating, since FF7 Rebirth prefers to leave a bit of mystery to the result!

Chapter Select Lets You Pick Your Partner

As a sweet perk for completing the game, the unlockable Chapter Select includes the option to pick which character you want to see with Cloud at the Gold Saucer date when you boot up Chapter 12 from the menu.

There is a bit of a catch: the character must have a fairly high affinity rating with Cloud in order to be eligible for this quick pick.

But honestly, there are so many affinity-boosting side quests in FF7 Rebirth that you'll need to skip lots of content not to have everyone pretty high up already heading into Chapter 12.