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Bunny-masked Ariana Grande will appear in ‘Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius’

By Gabe Gurwin January 3, 2017

FINAL FANTASY BRAVE EXVIUS Trailer(English)

The Final Fantasy series has plenty of characters that will go down as gaming history as all-time greats. Sephiroth, Cloud, Kefka, and Squall are still discussed nearly two decades after they were first introduced, and it appears that Square Enix has found its next classic hero: Ariana Grande.

Yes, that Ariana Grande. The pop singer and former Nickelodeon star shared the news on her Instagram page, which included a photo of Grande surrounded by a group of Square Enix employees discussing her character’s inclusion in the mobile game Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius.

“I’m so excited to finally share that I’ll be featured in Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius,” Grande said. “Check out my character in the game. It’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life and I’m so excited and in love with it [that] I cannot contain myself.”

Grande refers to the character as “DW” on her Twitter account. Unfortunately, this likely isn’t Arthur’s sassy aardvark sister, but rather the “Dangerous Woman” persona that Grande has used since the release of her most recent album. The character sports an S&M-inspired bunny mask, and her in-game sprite appears to have multiple magical abilities. In addition to a charged-up energy attack, Grande can shoot musical notes at her enemies and break into an impromptu song-and-dance number.

Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius originally launched in 2016 for mobile devices. Using the pixel art that made the first six games in the series famous, Brave Exvius was designed specifically for touchscreens in mind, delivering an easy to use, swipe and tap-based gameplay system.

It isn’t the first title in the series designed for mobile, however. The similarly named Final Fantasy: All the Bravest was released in 2013 to scathing reviews, criticizing its gameplay and egregious implementation of microtransactions. Though reviews for Brave Exvius aren’t glowing, the game has been received considerably better than its predecessor.

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Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

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The best ways to farm Gil in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

Cait Sith dances in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

Some say it's the Lifestream that makes the world go round in Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, but we all know the real answer is Gil. Cloud may be on a quest to save the world from Sephiroth, but he's still a merc who wants to get paid for his efforts. Plus, there are a ton of expensive items to gather up on your journey, such as Materia, Accessories, Armor, and Queen's Blood cards. You'll need some very deep pockets if you want to buy everything that catches your eye, but Gil isn't the easiest thing to come by. We've done all the odd jobs and activities around Gaia to give you the best ways to grind for Gil in Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth.
Best ways to farm Gil
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth introduces a ton of new activities, minigames, and quests that didn't exist in Remake. That means there are a lot more ways to earn Gil than ever before, but also a lot that are a waste of time compared to others.
Get your steps in

Even when you get yourself a Chocobo to ride around on, there's no getting around how much running you will be doing. Whether it's in one of the dungeons or towns where you can't take your mount, part of a quest that keeps you on foot, or if you just like exploring the old-fashioned way, Cloud will be getting more than his fair share of steps in. So why not get paid for your efforts? The Pedometer Pin is an accessory that automatically pays you 1 Gil for every 100 steps taken. Now, that doesn't sound like a lot, but that number will build up fast when running around. Plus, it's free money you'd otherwise be leaving on the table. The best part is you don't need to sacrifice a valuable accessory slot on Cloud, or even anyone in your active party, to get the benefits. So long as the person who has it equipped is available to be in your party, not necessarily currently in it, you reap the rewards.
Sword for hire
Sidequests pay well in Rebirth for the most part. There aren't a ton of them compared to most open world games, so they all tend to be worth your while in one way or another. Visit every new town's notice board and snag all the requests whenever possible. You won't know exactly what reward you're going to get until it's said and done, but you should expect at least a couple thousand Gil for your efforts in most cases.
Get crafty

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Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth: Queen’s Blood tips and tricks

Queen's Blood

After Fort Condor arrived in Final Fantasy 7: Remake Intergrade, you may not have expected an entirely new minigame to be introduced in Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth. However, after the opening hours, when you're let loose in Kalm, you will automatically be given your very first deck of Queen's Blood cards. While this minigame is entirely optional after you play your first game to learn the basics, you would be missing out on a ton of content and secrets, let alone fun, by ignoring it. Still, we understand if you feel you didn't sign up for a strange new card game in your Final Fantasy adventure. Plus, there is a lot more depth to the game than is properly explained. If you want to rise up the ranks and be a Queen's Blood champion, but are unsure how to start, we'll show you the ropes.
The basics

The tutorial for Queen's Blood does a decent job explaining the basic rules of Queen's Blood, but it goes by rather quickly and may leave some things a little unclear until you play a few rounds.

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PSA: Don’t burn yourself out on Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s open-world activities

Cloud from FFVII

I'm normally a completionist when it comes to games, but I wish I had told myself to push that mindset to the side before I started Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

I get the desire to do it all, I really do. In the critically acclaimed sequel, we're finally let loose outside of Midgar. Square Enix has laid a huge, lush set of biomes to stretch our legs in after being stuck in the cramped hallways and tunnels of the drab city. Despite most of the world activities in Rebirth being standard open-world fare (activating towers, scanning points of interest, and hunting down specific monsters), there's an undeniable novelty to doing it with Cloud and the rest of Avalanche. What I wish I had known before starting was just how easy it was to burn out on that feeling.