Here's how Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth players will catch chocobo in the wild

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth will task players with catching chocobo in real-time out in the wild.

Of course, catching chocobo is nothing new for the series, but a new social post on X (formerly Twitter) from the game's official account shows how it'll work in Rebirth for the first time, with a video of Cloud catching one of the iconic yellow birds.

The method actually looks similar to Breath of the Wild, with Cloud sneaking through foliage (and some conveniently spiky yellow flowers) and throwing out some greens as a distraction before mounting the bird.

FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH Release Date Announce Trailer

In the original game players encountered chocobo during battles, where they needed to distract them while fighting enemies. With the open world of Rebirth, we now know it'll work a little differently.

The latest trailer shown at the recent PlayStation State of Play (above) also included different coloured chocobo with different abilities - flight for instance - though it's unclear how they'll be acquired. Will they be discovered in the open world, or will we once again need to breed them in a lengthy and laborious minigame?

Chocobo will certainly be important in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. I went hands-on with the game and not only rode a chocobo myself, but sniffed out treasure, customised them in the Chocoboutique, and followed a chocobo chick to a nearby bus stop used for fast travel.

The recent trailer also showed off the revamped chocobo racing in the Gold Saucer, which is sure to be a major distraction (for me at least).

Speaking of minigames, a fresh blog post from Square Enix has revealed new minigames in Rebirth.

First up, Cloud will be able to play piano by collecting sheet music and sitting down at instruments around the world. The music will be taken directly from the game, though players can improvise in free play mode too.

Next there's card game Queen's Blood. The Final Fantasy series is known for its card games - Triple Triad especially - so it's exciting to see a new twist in Rebirth. Hopefully there'll be sidequests attached to the game to acquire new cards.

Lastly there's Moogle Mischief, in which players will bring "mischievous Moogle kids back to their mogstools". I presume this will take the place of the Mog House minigame in the original's Gold Saucer - it was always a bit crap.

The blog post reveals a couple of other details too. Players can activate Remnawave Towers in each region to "open up new research opportunities". Is this how the map will open up, in typical open world style?

There's also some extra detail on the new item crafting mechanic. Players will use an item transmuter to craft items from materials gathered in the world - the more this is done, the higher the craftsmanship which unlocks new formulae to obtain rare items.

In further news, producer Yoshinori Kitase has confirmed a "tentative first draft" of the third (and final) Final Fantasy 7 remake game exists, but the team is awaiting reactions and feedback from Rebirth before it's finalised.

Members of the development team were present at a Samsung livestream during the Tokyo Game Show, with their chat translated by Shinra Archaeology Department on X.

"I guess you could say that between myself, Tetsuya Nomura, and Mr Nojima, we have a tentative first draft for the scenario, and it's in a finished state, so things have gotten started," said Kitase. "That said, although we've gotten some work done, there will still be parts we create by combining players' responses and reactions and going over that feedback."

Of course, you could argue that draft could just be the original game, and it's no surprise the team is already working on what's yet to come. But what changes could be made in that final third? And will Rebirth already be a significant departure from the original narrative?

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is due out on PlayStation 5 on 29th February next year.