Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

released on Feb 29, 2024

A remake of Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is the new story in the Final Fantasy VII remake project, a reimagining of the iconic original game into three standalone titles by its original creators. In this game, players will enjoy various new elements as the story unfolds, culminating in the midpoint from the original Final Fantasy VII.


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"it's not death - it's a reunion" I said after I plunged 4 and a half magazines worth of rounds into people that don't love this game

This review contains spoilers

So I actually finished this game about a week ago and I was ready to immediately post a review right after finishing it since I had this Notes app note all ready on my phone that I would update as I continued to play which had a bunch of points about what I liked about the game (a lot) and what I didn’t like (just a few pet peeves), but it was honestly super messy and super lengthy that I needed a little bit of time to get my thoughts in order since I made a note for every little moment of the game so there’s a lot to cover lmao I kid U not I sunk every minute of free time I had into playing this game like as soon as I got off work I’d keep playing til like 3AM, pass out, go to work, then continue playing and I repeated this cycle for over three weeks this game was so fucking fun and immersive and just GREAT.

To preface (I think that’s the right word) I’ve never actually played the original FF7 and my first time even knowing who tf Cloud is was seeing him fuck it up w Sora in KH2 but I played a bit of Part I a few years ago when it was free on PS Plus (I think 2021) and it’s been a while so I needed a bit of a refresher when jumping into this next one. (Pro tip: The game’s own recap is ASS go to YouTube for this one mama) Needless to say, it was super comforting being able to see these characters interact again like hey girl..it’s been a while let’s get back into it..

Okay let’s actually talk about my experience with this game the open world was really great, it wasn’t a complete open world of course, you still had the invisible walls and specific rocks that you just couldn’t jump over but I honestly didn’t mind like every area of the game just felt so intentional and it was so rich with content and stuff to do and it made exploration feel less daunting and more fun since everywhere I was led to had a purpose. Even when there were areas where it seemed like there was nothing to do, I knew that I’d probably have to drag my ass back there either for story purposes or for something relating to a side quest/world intel.

In 2015 I was FF15’s biggest supporter (in denial) like wow now THIS is an open world amazing game so much to explore! …Yeah it definitely wasn’t like I had my fun with it but it didn’t lead on as much as it promised (let’s ignore the part where it went through development hell) BUT—I have a point to make with this I promise—with Rebirth it felt like a redemption of that modern open world concept where there were so many unique biomes, sometimes even within the same region that had large towns that actually had things to do and weren’t just pretty little set dressing. The world, although limited, actually felt expansive and had a grand scale that I was traveling across the world without feeling too empty and lifeless, it still felt like this was a real world that these people lived in.

A little thing that FF15 had over Rebirth though was that characters were interacting with each other even outside of battle. I kinda wish the party weren’t just silent little puppets following you around when you weren’t doing anything story relevant. Not to say that that they didn’t interact enough though, this game had plenty of story cutscenes and side moments that made up for it but that was just a little thing that I’m hoping they’ll improve on for Part 3.

Combat was fun, it was quick and fast paced but still allowed for an opportunity to think and strategize for battles without just endless button mashing..though in some cases I still ended up doing that lol. Battles were challenging and enemies had enough variety that you could approach them in all sorts of different ways. Another little side note though, I enjoy playing games but I am no expert gamer! Sometimes the harder bosses would be kicking my ass like a bitch since I’m not good with precision blocking but I don’t have any pride for this sort of thing IDGAF I’ll put it on Easy Mode for an easy beating (Odin).

In some parts of the game though, controls did feel a little janky though I feel like that might have been partially my fault since I refused to do performance mode for most of the game, I kept it in graphics mode so the game was mostly locked at 30fps and made responsiveness feel a little delayed which was a little annoying in certain mini games that wanted more precise inputs (that fucking piano man..)

Speaking of mini games, there are a SHIT ton in this game. It was getting to a point where they were sometimes being blatantly thrown into the main story which threw me off a bit like damn we’re really taking this kinda serious moment and turning it into a mini game huh. You weren’t completely forced into playing these mini games (I think..I never skipped any I played all of them lol), if you’re just focused on the story then the game allowed for an opportunity to just not participate and skip certain sections with no penalty and all you’d really be missing out on is some gear or materials that you could probably get through other means later on in the story anyway.

Mini games were fun for the most part but not all were made equal. Some just weren’t my taste or just frustrating to play like Fort Condor, Gears and Gambits, and 3D Brawler GOD I fucking hated 3D Brawler. They weren’t REQUIRED per se but I wanted to at least wrap up all the Protorelic Phenomenons of the region before moving on and I wasn’t a fan of having to play some of the less fun mini games to complete it. On the topic of less fun mini games I had a love-hate relationship with the piano mini game it took me a while to really get a hang of the controls and it started getting easy after that but GODDDD was it hard as fuck to master. I was stuck to that fucking piano chair for an hour just trying to perfect combo certain songs and I think I just gave up when for the Chocobo song. Toward the end game, mini games starting getting ridiculously difficult where it wasn’t even challenging, just annoying and I’m no completionist gamer by any means I’m not gonna try to perfect clear everything when it starts getting frustrating so once I felt like I had my fill and did my time I just abandoned that shit like I don’t care about a platinum trophy bro or some special gear like if it’s not a weapon and the rewards aren’t really all that deep I really don’t give enough of a shit to play the mini game again.

I did try to make an effort during my play through to clear all of the side quests but once I got to the final stage of the Protorelic quest and I had to fight two summons at the same time I gave up like beating these bitches by themselves was a pain in the ass now I gotta fight TWO of them at the same time?!?!!? I like a good challenge occasionally but late game challenges just felt unnecessarily unfair and felt like a cheap way to pad out the hours in this game.

But honestly even if I didn’t get sucked in to do any of the side quests or any mini games and only focused on doing the main story I still feel like I would have gotten my money’s worth out of this game, the story was seriously so immersive and lengthy with lots of good quality voiced dialogue that even some of the more absurd parts of the story didn’t feel out of place. I honestly don’t think there was a section of the game that didn’t have voiced dialogue they really turned it out. Not really much to else to say about the side quests though, they were mostly just cute little ways to expand regional lore and meet some new characters along the way but in terms of overall plot they’re nothing special like maybe I don’t actually care about this Chocobo rancher’s backstory idk.

Okay now we can talk about main story stuff, I know this review is marked as having spoilers but for the most part I’ll be trying to keep it vague. Like I mentioned, I’ve never played the original so I don’t really have anything to directly compare it to but I could tell that the game made an effort to really flesh out not only main party’s backstories and relationships but even side characters and antagonists. I especially loved the little details of the party’s relationship like although it wasn’t quite shown enough for my liking, I love Tifa and Aerith’s close friendship.

Now towards the end of the game..it gets a little messy. The game’s story has pretty solid steady pacing at first but they love to just bomb everything at you all at once in the final acts with a bunch of information without really going fully into depth into the reasoning.

The actual finale gets even messier it’s like they were tiptoeing around this concept of merging worlds then just jumble it all together at the end for the sake of a cool Sephiroth Final Boss and a shot of Cloud and Zach fighting together. I was definitely leaving this game with more questions than answers.

Okay so I’m also gonna talk about the Thing that happens to Aerith..I still don’t really get it myself but I’m pretty sure she still died and I was pissed that they gave me that fake out that Cloud saved her only for her to still end up being stabbed they were fucked for that omg! I completely understand the reasonings for this decision and why it had to happen for not only the story but for character development but it almost feels like a waste to have to set up this entire concept of “changing the course of fate” from Part I only to back out by still having Aerith die anyway. Even though a little part of me knew it was still gonna happen, I was sobbing like a bitch like DAMN..I really liked playing as her now they’re gonna fuck me up for Part 3?! Who’s gonna be my slayful magical girl healer?! Not to mention we’re down one tolerable girl in the party now Tifa’s stuck having to bond with annoying ass Yuffie I’m gonna be sick…Anyways, I’m pretty sure she’s dead but the game is trying to hold onto this little bit of hope by not outright saying that she’s gone forever and opening the possibility that she could maybe come back, though I seriously doubt it.

I’m not quite sure what to expect for Part 3 when it comes out in 2050 but I’m excited of course..I’m one of those people that likes my endings wrapped up in a pretty bow so although unlikely, I honestly do hope they take the final part as an opportunity to have everyone live and be happy lol. I can’t believe we’re this early into the year and I’ve already played another Game of All Time™.

This review contains spoilers

It has quite a few flaws and the ending is extremely up its own ass (though I like that). But any game that makes me smile and choke up this much is probably doing something right, even if it's leaning all the way into nostalgia and being a metacommentary on remakes, fan expectations, and wish fulfillment. I think they pretty much nailed it.

It’s rare for a game, especially an RPG, to be top-tier in everything they do, but Final Fantasy VII Rebirth still managed to do it. From the side content to the main story, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with every aspect of this game. After taking 112 hours to beat the game, I still find myself constantly thinking about it and itching to go back to the world of Gaia.

In terms of story, this isn’t the most insane plot due to this only being part two of three, but this still contains some very powerful and hard-hitting moments. The segments from the original game that are covered here are more impactful than ever. There are certain changes that I was unsure of at first, but slowly grew to like them and I trust in part three to utilize them in satisfying ways. The overall story isn’t a major focus of this part, but it instead is centered around the characters. This completely pays off, as all members of the main cast are fantastic and are some of the best-written characters I’ve ever seen.

Remake’s combat was already fantastic, but Rebirth adds even more layers and options to it, making it all that much better. Even Aerith, a character that I didn’t particularly enjoy playing as in Remake, feels a lot better to control with her new abilities. On top of the combat, there are plenty of other things to do. Side quests are really well done, as they have interesting character interactions and often involve unique content such as mini-dungeons. Also, I’m not usually a big fan of minigames in games like this, but I found a majority of the minigames here to be pretty fun (and there are a lot of them). Queen’s Blood in particular proved to be extremely addicting. I would buy an entire spinoff based on it.

One of the biggest changes in Rebirth compared to Remake is that it is a lot more open, with multiple expansive areas. They’re fun to explore, but I like that there are also markers for areas of interest to help you find important things without too much work. It’s also nice that there are linear segments spread throughout the game, providing a lot of variety to keep things fresh.

It’s been nearly a week since I beat Rebirth, but I still find myself unconsciously thinking about how much I adore this game. It truly is an extraordinary adventure, one of the best I've had the pleasure of experiencing, and I cannot wait to see what the final part of this series has in store.

This review contains spoilers

Suffers a bit from open world bloat but it at least doesn't throw it all at you at once (looking at you Cyberpunk 2077). Story got me emotional on more than one occasion but the ending still left a lot of things unclear, some things that'll no doubt be cleared up in the final game but others are just the usual Nomura fuckery. Combat is a definite improvement over Remake. Rufus fight still sucks ass though, wasn't very happy that they made us do that again. Still can't believe Chadley (who may as well have been elevated to main cast for most of the game) programmed a wife he could berate. Now to wait another 3-4 years for the final game of the trilogy.