A Glitch in the PS4 Port of Final Fantasy VII Affects the 'Best Bromance' Trophy

The PlayStation 4 version of Final Fantasy VII, a port of the earlier PC release, launched on December 5, 2015, bringing with it a full list of trophies for players to earn. Shortly after its release, players began reporting a significant glitch related to the “Best Bromance” trophy. This trophy is awarded for having Cloud Strife go on a date with Barret Wallace at the Gold Saucer. Reports on community forums, including PlayStation Trophies, indicated that even when players successfully triggered the date scene with Barret, the corresponding trophy would sometimes fail to unlock.

The Gold Saucer Date Mechanic

One of Final Fantasy VII’s most well-known secrets is its dating mechanic, which determines which character accompanies Cloud during a pivotal scene at the Gold Saucer amusement park. The potential dates are Aerith, Tifa, Yuffie, and Barret. The outcome is decided by a hidden affection system that tracks Cloud’s dialogue choices and actions throughout the first part of the game. Each major character has an affinity value that increases or decreases based on how Cloud interacts with them. The character with the highest affinity score when the party first visits the Gold Saucer will be the one who joins Cloud for the date.

Securing a date with Barret for the “Best Bromance” trophy requires a specific series of choices. Players must consistently select dialogue options that favor Barret over the other potential partners. This involves being kind to him, agreeing with his viewpoints, and taking him in the party for certain key events. Earning the date with him is considered one of the more difficult social outcomes to achieve through normal play, leading many trophy hunters to seek out ways to guarantee the result.

An Affinity Exploit and Its Unintended Consequences

The source of the trophy glitch was traced to a specific exploit in Cosmo Canyon. During a conversation with Barret about the history of Avalanche, players found a dialogue loop that could be used to generate a nearly infinite amount of affinity points with him. By repeatedly choosing the dialogue options “Go on,” followed by “Yeah, whatever…,” players could max out Barret’s affection value with minimal effort, ensuring he would be the character to appear for the Gold Saucer date.

However, players who used this method discovered the counter-intuitive bug. While the exploit successfully triggered the date scene with Barret, it seemed that increasing his affinity score beyond a certain hidden threshold caused the game’s trophy trigger to fail. The very method used to guarantee the date was preventing the reward from being unlocked. This left players in a frustrating position, having met the in-game requirement but being locked out of the achievement.

Community Workaround

For players concerned about encountering the glitch, the community consensus was to avoid the Cosmo Canyon exploit entirely. The most reliable way to earn the “Best Bromance” trophy was to do it through legitimate gameplay. This involves carefully managing dialogue choices from the beginning of the game to raise Barret’s affinity naturally. While this path requires more attention to detail and following a guide for optimal choices, it was found to be the only certain method to ensure the trophy unlocked correctly upon viewing the date scene. The port did not receive an immediate patch to address the issue, leaving players to rely on this manual workaround.