FF7 Rebirth Fixed Its Impossible Quest, But You Still Might Not Be Able To Beat It

Summary Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth fixed a key bug, but progressing past the quest is still difficult.

"Can't Stop Won't Stop" includes tough minigames and a ferocious combat gauntlet.

FF7 Rebirth throws all of its hardest fights right before the final parts of the story.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has addressed a key bug that made completing a particular side quest impossible, but even with that out of the way, actually progressing past this particular bottleneck is far from simple. Although FF7 Rebirth released in a generally polished state, some mostly minor problems have been addressed in several post-launch patches. The biggest FF7 Rebirth bug was actually introduced in one of these updates rather than being present at the launch, forcing those with physical discs to reinstall and complete a quest on the 1.0 version to tick the box and leaving digital players up the creek.

The problem occurred in a particularly late-game side quest that unlocks after returning to the Gold Saucer, an event that occurs in Chapter 12. After completing both the story events there and the game's other side quests, a new challenge sponsored by the recurring character of the Shinra middle manager appears. While the issue was active, the game wouldn't register completion of one of the middle manager's objectives, ironically grinding to a halt in a side quest called "Can't Stop Won't Stop."

Related FF7 Rebirth: When Is The Point Of No Return For Side Quests? FF7 Rebirth has no shortage of side quests, but it eventually reaches a point where it's impossible to finish up any that haven't been completed.

Can't Stop Won't Stop Has FF7 Rebirth's Hardest Fights

A Combat Gauntlet Is Harder Than FF7 Rebirth's Biggest Fights

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It makes sense that FF7 Rebirth's final side quest would be its most challenging, but just how difficult it is can still come as a surprise. "Can't Stop Won't Stop" seems like a casual affair, tasking Cloud with out-competing the Shinra middle manager at FF7 Rebirth 's Gold Saucer minigames to win the title of the Ultimate Party Animal. In challenges like G-Bike, where the bug occurred, Cloud simply has to clear slightly higher bars than the scores required for general mastery of the games. Without the bug, this part and most others are relatively easy to handle.

What isn't as simple is the combat challenge, which drags Cloud back to the Gold Saucer's Battle Square for a series of high-level fights. The Shinra Middle Manager's gauntlet consists of five battles that can be tackled by any choice of three party members, and it follows the general arena rules of excluding items from play. Each successive battle heals the party by 50% and restores 30% of MP at the start, but failing one will mean restarting the whole sequence.

Related FF7 Rebirth: When Can You Return & Do The Dates At The Gold Saucer? The first trip to the Gold Saucer in FF7 Rebirth gets cut unfortunately short, but that isn't the end for Cloud's chances at an amusement park date.

Several of these five fights would be intense challenges on their own, and in a gauntlet, the combat challenge can quickly become frustrating. The first round gets off to an aggressive start with two Gigantaurs who are all too happy to spam the arena with needles, and the second deploys a veritable army of Tonberries, whose humble appearance belies their devastating attacks. The fourth round is where things get ridiculous, with two Jokers and a Gigantoad, which all have troublesome attacks and can be difficult to stagger.

Equipping Safety Bits that can stop instant kill moves will make the Tonberry round easy, although at the cost of any other advantages that can be equipped in the accessory slot.

FF7 Rebirth Side Quest Difficulty Can Be Cheap

Quantity Over Quality Makes Encounters Less Fun

Surviving this gauntlet is significantly tougher than taking on any previous fights in FF7 Rebirth, which would be fine if it didn't feel a bit cheap in its design. There's a weird disconnect between the difficulty of the fights with multiple enemies and the ones focused on single foes, as the focused duels of the third and fifth battles don't pose any challenge to write home about. Evading telegraphed attacks from major bosses is a straightforward thrill while trying to keep party members out of harm's way in arenas filled with enemies spamming high-level attacks can quickly become a headache.

It's certainly possible to overcome the battle challenge in "Can't Stop Won't Stop," even without optimizing FF7 Rebirth materia loadouts or expending weapon skill points, but it can grind progress to a halt for a bit just as the party is getting ready to dive into climactic story material. Those who skipped the quest because of the bug might have ended up saving themselves a good chunk of time, albeit at the cost of the randomizing Gambler materia and a side quest completion achievement.

Related Changing One FF7 Rebirth Setting Makes Combat So Much Easier There are more ways to tweak FF7 Rebirth's combat experience than just changing the difficulty, and some might even make it more fun to play.

FF7 Rebirth's Hardest Challenges Keep Going

There's More To Master Before Facing Sephiroth

After triumphing in Battle Square, the Shinra middle manager has one last devious challenge to lay before the party, and it once again has the power to slow things to a crawl. Cloud has to face the manager in a 3D Brawler bout, which requires mastering dodging briefly telegraphed moves. Although it isn't that hard in terms of basic mechanics, the rapid pace makes it exceptionally difficult not to make mistakes, and just a few errors can cost Cloud the contest.

It's not exactly aboveboard, but pausing and unpausing while the middle manager readies his strikes makes it easier to keep up with his moves.

Triumphing over the Shinra middle manager in the 3D Brawler game is luckily the end of "Can't Stop Won't Stop," although it isn't the end of FF7 Rebirth's sudden interest in difficulty that emerges at this point. Finishing the side quest unlocks yet another optional 3D Brawler bout for further prizes, and unsurprisingly, this one doesn't offer any more grace than the last.

Even more intimidating is the finale to the Protorelic quests that also awaits as optional content before starting on the final story events, which features a series of battles equally committed to the idea of throwing multiple powerful enemies at the party simultaneously. In this case, FF7 Rebirth doubles up on powerful Summons as opponents, which can be nightmarish thanks to powerful moves that essentially operate on a ticking clock basis.

Related There's One FF7 Rebirth Protorelic Quest You Have To Do Of all the Protorelic quests available in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, there's only one that adds enough to the story to be considered an imperative.

Having the option to tackle more challenging content than anything that appeared in FF7 Remake helps incentivize true mastery of combat in Rebirth, so it's definitely something worth appreciating on some level. When the Shinra middle manager is up to his antics, however, it's easy to linger on more negative feelings toward his absurd demands. Fighting Sephiroth can be a challenge, but the most gruelling foes of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth are the ones that lurk on the sidelines.