In the days leading up to the official release of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, many players returned to the first part to revisit the story. However, controversy arose when the community discovered that the design of one of the most popular characters had been modified.
Although the Japanese role-playing game debuted in 2020 for PlayStation 4 and in 2022 for PC, it received a new surprise patch at the beginning of last week, which, according to Square Enix, only fixed minor errors; however, fans discovered more changes.
Players noticed that the 1.003 update for Final Fantasy VII Remake replaced a line of dialogue in the final scene and slightly modified the cowboy outfit worn by Tifa Lockhart during the Nibelheim flashback.
The character now wears a black T-shirt under her white blouse. Although it is highly likely that the change is intended to make the cowboy outfit match the one seen in FF VII Rebirth, many players claimed that the developers censored the design.
Related video: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: Breaking barriers from Midgar to new horizons
Modder Restores Tifas Original Outfit in Final Fantasy VII Remake
Although the true reasons for Square Enix changing Tifa Lockharts outfit are unknown, a modder took matters into their own hands to reverse the situation.
Just 24 hours after the release of the latest JRPG patch, a user known as Tifabro created a PC mod that restores the characters original outfit. Apparently, they only replaced the video file where the scene in question appears with a previous version.
Controversy ensued when the unofficial project was removed from Nexus Mods, one of the largest modding platforms on the internet. In a Discord message, the author confirmed that the websites administrators took down their modification.
According to Tifabro, the community manager of Nexus Mods informed them that they did not want to host a mod that features a design that developers deem no longer appropriate. Apparently, Tifas age was the main factor behind this controversial decision.
This is not the first time the platform has taken action against a project that may be considered offensive. In 2022, administrators removed a mod that hid LGBTQIA+ flags in Marvel’s Spider-Man, while in 2023, a modification that removed pronoun options in Starfield was also taken down.
But tell us, what is your opinion on this controversy?