3 days before Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth launches, its 4-year-old predecessor makes a confusing change to Aerith's final line and no one knows why

Three days before Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth releases, a patch has suddenly tweaked some elements of Final Fantasy 7 Remake.

The patch for the 2020 game was released yesterday, February 26, without any fanfare whatsoever from Square Enix. Perhaps most curiously, the patch slightly tweaks Aerith's final line, so whereas before it read, "I miss it, the steel sky," it now reads as "This sky... I don't like it."

There's no shortage of theories as to why the line was changed. One theory points to this interview with Final Fantasy 7 series creative director Tetsuya Nomura, where the lead clarified the meaning of Aerith's original line was not that she missed Midgar itself (the "steel sky") but that she dislikes the open sky because it's a reminder of those she lost.

There's also no shortage of players complaining about the line change. Some just plain don't like the new line because they held the "steel sky" passage in high reverence, while others claim Aerith's new line is now "closer" to the Japanese version of the same line. 

Additionally, Tifa's cowboy outfit for Final Fantasy 7 Remake's prequel section involving her and Cloud has also been changed in the new patch. The new outfit now has a black undershirt, bringing it closer to Rebirth's version of the same outfit.

If you just happened to be replaying Final Fantasy 7 Remake before Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth launches later this week on February 29, you've now got a brand new patch to download, whether that's on PC or PS5. Read on for our Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth review to see what we made of Square Enix's action-RPG sequel. 

You can also check out our full upcoming PS5 games guide for a look over all the other exclusives coming to Sony's console this year.