Introduction to Final Fantasy 7 Characters

Final Fantasy 7 and its compilation media have introduced some of my favorite video game characters. There’s Cloud Strife, the emotionally cagey but endlessly awkward dude who just wants to be cool. His childhood friend, a sullen-eyed Tifa, brings a sense of kindness and warmth to the most dire of situations. Even the villains have their own charm. I wouldn’t want to be a generic Shinra lapdog, but maybe I’d go and be one for Rufus, whose cutting-edge sense of style somehow makes me forget he’s the CEO of an evil company.

Introduction to Chadley in Final Fantasy 7 Remake

Then there’s Chadley, an unfortunate character whose design looks like if you combined 9S from Nier: Automata with a Boy Scout.

Chadley made his series debut in Final Fantasy 7 Remake when he recruited Cloud to collect battle intel by undertaking virtual fighting challenges. As we learned in Remake, Chadley is a humanoid robot created by Shinra’s Professor Hojo. Although he worked for that evil and cruel scientist, Chadley seemed harmless enough, and Cloud could actually help free him from Hojo’s programming toward the end of Remake, turning him into a fully independent being. Now, he’s back in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and ready to help Cloud and Avalanche’s cause.

Chadley’s Role in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

In Remake, Chadley served as a character to talk to occasionally. However, in Rebirth, he plays a bigger role in the world and gameplay. He tasks Cloud with surveying each region by visiting different geographic locations and scanning them with a device to collect data. This forces players to interact with Chadley frequently, hearing his chatter along the way.

Chadley’s Role as a Living Encyclopedia

The scanning device Chadley gives Cloud doubles as a communications device that he can call Cloud on at any moment. Chadley shares random knowledge about the regions Cloud visits, providing background information on mythology or regional phenomena. While Chadley functions as a living encyclopedia, his constant chatter may not be the most helpful in exploring the world.

Managing Chadley in the Game

To lower the overall Chadley levels in the game, players can mute the built-in speaker on the PlayStation 5 controller through game settings. While this minimizes any potential Chadley jump scares through the controller, he still communicates through the screen.

Conclusion

Although Chadley contributes to learning more about the game’s larger world, some players may find him unnecessary. With a plethora of other interesting characters in the game, the constant stream of lore from Chadley may not be as compelling. Players may prefer hearing insights from characters like Red XIII or Barret instead of receiving encyclopedia-like entries from Chadley.