Dress mechanics (VII Remake)

Final Fantasy VII Remake includes mechanics for dresses that alter the dresses worn by Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockhart, and Aerith Gainsborough in Chapter 9, "The Town That Never Sleeps". Based on player actions during and before this chapter, Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith will wear one of three dresses each in Wall Market. The player cannot partake in battles while wearing the dresses under normal circumstances.
The dress mechanics resemble those of the original Final Fantasy VII, in which collecting items by completing objectives throughout Wall Market in "To Corneo Hall" alters whom Don Corneo will pick as his "bride"; getting the best dress for Cloud resulted in him being picked.
Obtaining three of the dresses unlocks the bronze trophy Snappy Dresser, and obtaining all nine unlocks the silver trophy Dressed to the Nines.
==Overview==
Each of the three characters' dress outcome is determined during a different chapter in the game. Tifa's dress is determined by actions taken in Chapter 3, "Home Sweet Slum", while Aerith's dress is decided in Chapter 8, "Budding Bodyguard", and Cloud's is decided in Chapter 9, "The Town That Never Sleeps". After the first playthrough, to change the dress, the player will need to select a prior chapter, save after completing it, and then select "The Town That Never Sleeps" to see the options change.
Many of the decisions regarding the dresses Tifa and Aerith wear also alter affection mechanics, and players can complete both objectives at once.
==Decisions==
===Tifa's dress===
Tifa's three dresses are "refined", "sporty", and "exotic". The refined dress, her default, is a violet minidress with matching heels and large golden moon earrings, similar to the dress she wore in the original game (which also came with matching heels, though this pair has ankle-straps that were not on the original). The sporty dress is a black leopard print cheongsam with her hair up in "odango" buns, while the exotic dress is a short black kimono-style dress with various flowery accessories.
To choose the sporty or exotic dress, the player must complete all Odd Jobs in Chapter 3, "Home Sweet Slum", to unlock the quest "Alone at Last", in which Cloud speaks to Tifa in her apartment. She will ask Cloud what type of dress she should wear for their night out later, and the options are "Something refined", "Something... sporty?", or "Something exotic?" Aside from selecting the refined dress when given the choice, the game will default to assigning Tifa that dress should the player skip all the sidequests, or skip "Alone at Last".
Tifa refined dress from FFVII Remake render.png|Refined dress.
Tifa sporty dress from FFVII Remake render.png|Sporty dress.
Tifa exotic dress from FFVII Remake render.png|Exotic dress.
Tifa refined dress from FFVII Remake concept art.png|Refined dress artwork.
Tifa sporty dress from FFVII Remake concept art.png|Sporty dress artwork.
Tifa exotic dress from FFVII Remake concept art.png|Exotic dress artwork.
FFVIIR Tifa dress 2.jpg|Indigo dress.
===Aerith's dress===
Aerith's dresses include a long layered red dress with numerous red flowers in her hair, similar to what she wore in the original Final Fantasy VII (though swapping the original's red pumps for white sandals), a pink dress, and a basic pink dress. Which dress she wears depends on how many Odd Jobs in Chapter 8, "Budding Bodyguard", were completed. Completing all six will give Aerith the long red dress, completing at least three will give her the pink dress, and completing fewer than three will give her the basic pink dress.
In "Budding Bodyguard", some sidequests are quicker to complete than others. If the player only wishes to complete three on replaying the game, "The Mysterious Moogle Merchant", "Kids on Patrol", and "A Verified Hero" are possibly the easiest to complete.
Aerith dress 1 from FFVII Remake render.png|Aerith's first dress.
Aerith dress 2 from FFVII Remake render.png|Aerith's second dress.
Aerith dress 3 from FFVII Remake render.png|Aerith's third dress.
Aerith dress 1 from FFVII Remake concept art.png|Concept art of Aerith's first dress.
Aerith dress 2 from FFVII Remake concept art.png|Concept art of of Aerith's second dress.
Aerith dress 3 from FFVII Remake concept art.png|Concept art of Aerith's third dress.
FFVIIR Aerith dress 4.jpg|Red dress.
Aerith's 2nd Dress from FFVII Remake.jpg|Pink dress.
===Cloud's dress===
Cloud's dress depends on the sidequests completed in Chapter 9, "The Town That Never Sleeps". He can either wear a black and blue dress, a lavender dress, or a simple black dress.
The simple black dress is the easiest, and is unlocked by skipping all sidequests. The other two are unlocked depending on which sidequest path is completed, which in turn depends on dialogue choices made during the chapter.
If the player completes "The Party Never Stops", "A Dynamite Body", and "Burning Thighs", Cloud will wear the black and dark blue dress. If "The Price of Thievery", "Shears' Counterattack", and "Burning Thighs" are completed, Cloud will wear the lavender dress.
Cloud will also wear special earrings if the player does well in the Honeybee Inn rhythm minigame.
Cloud dress 1 from FFVII Remake render.png|Cloud's first dress.
Cloud dress 2 from FFVII Remake render.png|Cloud's second dress.
Cloud dress 3 from FFVII Remake render.png|Cloud's third dress.
Cloud dress 1 from FFVII Remake concept art.png|Concept art of Cloud's first dress.
Cloud dress 2 from FFVII Remake concept art.png|Concept art of Cloud's second dress.
Cloud dress 3 from FFVII Remake concept art.png|Concept art of Cloud's third dress.
Andrea's Earrings artwork for Final Fantasy VII Remake.png|Andrea's earrings.
==Obtaining all dresses==
After a first playthrough, chapter selection will allow the player to see all three dresses for each character. It is only required to select and replay chapters 3, 8, and 9, meaning after completing a chapter and saving, the choices are then updated for all subsequent chapters. The chapter must be completed entirely for this to work, after which, the player can switch to the next relevant chapter to alter the outcomes.
It is possible to see all three dresses for each character by only completing three playthroughs of each chapter. In two of these playthroughs, the player must complete all of Chapter 3, "Home Sweet Slum"'s sidequests, selecting a different choice for Tifa's dress, and complete all of Chapter 9, "The Town That Never Sleeps"'s sidequests, selecting a different choice from Madam M to alter Cloud's dress each time. On one playthrough of each chapter, the player can forego sidequests entirely to get the default options.
==Behind the scenes==
===Development===
After the concept of using the sidequests to delve into the lives of the slum dwellers was decided on in the middle phase of development, the team then had the idea of using sidequests in the Sector 7 and Sector 5 slums to allow players to obtain Tifa and Aerith's different dresses respectively. One sub scenario that was planned as part of development but which did not make it to the final game was Marle helping Tifa pick a dress for her Don Corneo infiltration mission, and how Tifa prepared for the mission before getting on Sam's chocobo carriage. The scenario was in the game until the latter half of development, but was cut due to time constraints.
Roberto Ferrari designed the dresses for each of the characters, re-designing them based on the original game. His goal was to maintain the distinctive color palette for each character and add different pieces and subtle decoration. Before sending any final designs to Tetsuya Nomura, he was particular about sending over the details first; with Tifa's purple dress, he sent Nomura several different hues of purple to consider and asked him to pick a favorite. Original ideas for Tifa's outfit included a dancer, maid, police-style dress, and a chocobo bikini.
Aerith's red dress was designed to look like a tango and flamenco dress, whereas the light pink dress was drawn to look cheap. Roberto Ferrari stated that the pink long dress was his personal favorite. For Tifa's alternate Wall Market dresses, the developers chose the Chinese-style and kimono dress to provide a cultural flair. Other ideas included a dancer outfit, maid outfit, police uniform, or a chocobo bikini.
===Tifa's earring===
Tifa wears a crescent moon charm accessory for an earring in her "refined" dress for Wall Market. A moon earring was already part of her design in the original Final Fantasy VII. 
===Reception===
Among the dresses that players received, players reported that Cloud's second dress (dark blue) was his most frequently obtained at 60%, followed by his third dress (light blue) at 35%, while 5% of players got his first dress. Among Tifa's dresses, her first (refined dress) was the most frequently obtained at 51%, followed by her third (exotic) dress at 31%, and her second (sporty) dress at 18%. For Aerith, her best dress was far and away most frequently received at 93%, followed by her second dress at 4%, and her basic dress at 3%.
Cloud's usage of braided hair extensions in his first two dresses has been compared to American pop star Britney Spears as she appeared in the music video for her 1998 debut single, "...Baby One More Time".
===Merchandise===
Aerith has a Play Arts -Kai- version with her Wall Market red dress.
Aerith Wall Market dress Play Arts Kai for FFVII Remake.jpeg
==Notes==
==Citations==
Category:Gameplay in Final Fantasy VII Remake