As a massive RPG, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth has an extraordinary number of ways to grow and customize your characters. One of Rebirth’s newest additions to character building is the Character Folio, a network of abilities and stat boosts that make your characters even more powerful as you invest points in them.

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Replacing the “weapon upgrade” system in Remake through which you could increase characters’ stats and abilities by upgrading the weapons they wield, Character Folios are a visual representation of how your character grows over time. They’re not too dissimilar from systems like the Sphere Grid in Final Fantasy X or the Crystarium in Final Fantasy XIII, and learning how to fill them out, and which abilities to choose first, is an essential part of growing in power in Rebirth.

This guide will demystify the Folios and offer some tips on how to best work with them.

Character Folios are Rebirth’s skill trees

 

 

 

 

 

Rebirth’s “Folios” are a fancy word for what we’d otherwise call a “skill tree” in just about any other RPG. Essentially you have various nodes, or “Skill Cores,” connected together. Each Skill Core unlocks a new ability or raises a character stat. As you unlock more Skill Cores, you’ll gain access to more, eventually filling out the whole skill tree, or Folio.

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You’ll unlock each Skill Core in the Folio by spending Skill Points, which are earned both from combat (much like experience points) as well as from Manuscripts. Each character has their own manuscript for you to search out:

• The Art of Swordplay: Cloud
• Sharpshooter’s Companion: Barret
• Way of the Fist: Tifa
• Telluric Scriptures: Aerith
• Tale of the Red Warrior: Red XIII
• Fortunes Untold: Cait Sith

You’ll come across Manuscripts by completing quests as well checking local shop inventories.

Folios are connected to your Party Level

Every character in Rebirth has their own level (with a cap of 70), but there’s also a Party Level governing everyone, and that has a a cap of 10. As your Party Level grows, so do your Folios, with more abilities and stat bonuses to unlock with Skill Points.

Grow your Folios at Maghnata Books vendors and Magnata Automat vending machines

To unlock a Skill Core in your Folio, you’ll need to either visit a Maghnata Books vendor (indicated on the mini map by a book icon) or a Maghnata Automat, which you can find next to every item vending machine and Rest Spot (commonly found at chocobo ranches, and before major story moments and boss fights).

Which Skill Cores should you unlock first?

 

 

 

 

 

Generally speaking, there’s nothing wrong with just hitting L1/R1 to select the nearest purchasable Skill Core and grabbing it each time you visit either a bookstore or Automat machine—especially if the Folio system is overwhelming at first.

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I do recommend unlocking the elemental magic attacks like Cloud’s Wildfire, which both lets Cloud cast an MP-free fire magic attack and also boosts his use of fire materia.

That said, you’ll rarely have more than a handful of Skill Cores to unlock at a time (unless you’re hoarding Skill Points, which I don’t recommend). So it’s worth taking the time to page through available Skill Cores with L1/R1 to see what’s available and then making a choice then.

Base your choices on your needs: Are you finding a particular character is lacking in HP? Prioritize Stat Boosts for them that increase it. The same goes for Stat Boosts that up MP or damage dealt. Sometimes the choices are clear: 200 HP might be way more valuable than an MP boost of 3 points.

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And don’t forget that by hitting square on each character’s folio, you can reset all of the Skill Points and reassign them as you please. It’s hard to screw up a build in a Folio, but this reset option means you should feel free to unlock whatever you want, whenever you want.

Folios also play into character relationships

Since Folios are where you’ll unlock Synergy Skills, which improve your relationships with party members after their use in combat, if you’re hoping to take a specific character out on the game’s date night in chapter 12, you should prioritize unlocking Synergy Skills for them which share a partnership with Cloud.

Folios also have extra Limit Breaks

Though they don’t become available until your Party Level is quite high, you’ll eventually be able to unlock Limit Breaks in the Folio, like Cloud’s Finishing Touch. Folios aren’t just about Synergy Abilities, Stat Boosts, and elemental attacks.

In the original Final Fantasy VII, characters get their abilities almost exclusively from materia. Rebirth’s ability and skill system is far more sophisticated. While just dumping Skill Points into your Folios isn’t a terrible way to improve your characters, taking the time to review what’s on offer is an important part of building them up and exploring what they can do, both individually and together via the Synergy mechanics.