An ambitious and impressive game with a scope that is at times too big for its own good.

The combat system here is among my favourite RPG systems ever. It builds upon Remake while adding new elements like Synergy Skills and removes some of the annoyances of its predecessor. I love turn based RPGs but Remake/Rebirth are so good that if Square Enix uses this as the base for FF17 onwards I am fine with turn based never coming back to mainline FF.

Without going into spoilers I think the plot mostly works. There’s some messy scenes and moments where the game will leave you questioning what happened but I think that’s intentional. The characterization of the party is so good though. I’ve always liked the cast of 7 but the updated script and especially the performances bring these characters to a new level. Absolutely loved them.

The problem with Rebirth is that it’s too big and the open world sections fall into a very defined formula. Some maps are annoying to navigate, Chadley doesn’t shut up and MAI is insane, and not all of the side activities work. Look, I love Queen’s Blood and would legitimately play a stand alone client of it, but herding Chocobos and climbing Ubisoft towers aren’t working for me. When I was doing my 4th proto relic side quest and Gears and Gambits was introduced my eyes glazed over. Thank god they had an auto program option. Remake was a lot tighter in this regard and I really hope the next game reins it in a bit.

So scoring this for me is difficult. I think the combat is much improved, the story and characters are fantastic, music is amazing etc. Some of the side activities work for me and others don’t. I think I just hate open world busy work and my completionist brain worked against me. But when the game is doing its linear, main story line missions it absolutely rules. I’ve seen a lot of commentary online saying that this is the best Final Fantasy since the PS2 days, and if you don’t play 14 I’d have to say that’s accurate. Easy GOTY contender.

I feel like my head is overwhelmed with a ton of different feelings and thoughts on this game, 99% of those thoughts extremely positive and 1% of those thoughts, nitpicky small things that I don't really care about right now because I just loved this game with my entire heart.

The story is for sure a bit Nomura poisoned but I still had a really good time with it, I'm starting with it because I don't have a ton to say partially because spoilers and partially because it's confusing and insane and I'm not qualified to deep dive into all of the differences and what everything means. It's for sure much more well done and interesting than a Kingdom Hearts story but I get a similar feeling where I'm mostly just along for the ride and willing to let there be some bullshit.

The main thing about the narrative and writing that continues to blow me away with these remakes absolutely is the characters and all of the various interactions and moments they all get. I went from knowing and not particularly caring about most of these characters to all of them becoming one of my favorite casts of characters in all of gaming! I don't dislike anyone here, even characters I was a bit worried about being annoyed with like Yuffie or Cait Sith ended up being absolutely wonderful, Yuffie especially ended up being one of my favorites. I have nothing but absurdly positive things to say about each and everyone here, capped off with wonderful performances! I do find it can get a bit on the anime melodramatic on the voice acting side of things but as someone who usually doesn't love that stuff it didn't really bother me at all, again probably because I just love these characters so darn much. It's rare a game can juggle around so many characters and make me feel so intensely attached to all of them! Obviously I have favorites, but I don't think anyone is so far and away above anyone else and that's because they're all so insanely likable and interesting. I could talk for days about how I love all the little aspects of each character and all of the various dynamics like Barrett interacting with Yuffie, Red, or Cait Sith and how it always was a highlight or Tifa and Aerith's genuine friendship or Red XIIIs big character moment I won't spoil, or even Cloud and Yuffie's sibling dynamic but if I get into anymore detail I might never stop. I love all of these guys and even if the story can be a bit convoluted and overwhelming this is some of my favorite character writing in any game ever, it was something I already loved about Remake but it's tenfold here.

Gameplay wise it's even more fun than Remake which was already a pretty amazing Action RPG. It's not too different all things considered, but some new Materia, Synergy Attacks/Commands, and most of all the brand new characters in Red XIII and Cait Sith (not to mention some short really fun playable versions of a couple other characters) all come together to make an already astounding combat system that much better. Synergy Attacks/Commands were probably the biggest thing I kinda refused to learn until I realized they're really fucking good and fun as hell! They generally follow a couple guidelines but are extremely useful and a lot more powerful than I was giving them credit for. There's also a ton of returning and new weapon abilities that are a ton of fun to mess with. Finding a new weapon is always exciting even if the stats aren't great because it means you'll at least get a new attack to unlock and they're all pretty fun and worthwhile. The two new characters are a ton of fun as well! Red XIII pretty instantly clicked with me, but Cait Sith felt a bit awkward for a while. It wasn't until a section where you're forced to be only him did I actually put some time into learning him and end up finding him really cool! Still on the lower end for sure but once you get used to him he's also a ton of fun. Exploration was solid! Each region looks absolutely gorgeous and it's fun to do all the little tasks in each place. I can see someone finding them tedious but they all have an absurd Final Fantasy charm that I never really got bored. I'm also the kind of guy that just loves ticking away at a checklist and this game does it great. Control/Movement during exploration is pretty average, I think I would have preferred a Jump button cause it can feel a bit awkward but I understand why there isn't one. The various Chocobo and their gimmicks are fun to use and the giant monster truck thing you get is silly and fun to use. If I had one complaint it would be that Chadley won't ever shut the fuck up! It's a pretty annoying pace breaker the amount of times he stops you from playing to tell you that you got some good data and to keep up the good work. I wish it was kept to walking conversations or something, I actually like the idea of Chadley and your exploration fueling his research and working towards new materia and such but he stops you so much and it's pretty fucking annoying.

The other big aspect of the gameplay is the sheer amount of mini-games here. I'm a guy that absolutely LOVES stupid little mini-games and changing up the main gameplay here and there and this game does it a TON. It's almost all great too, I love how often they have you do a silly little mini-game like shooting boxes on a mine cart ride, a punch-out style fighting game with low poly OG FF7 models, a pretty fun Piano Rhythm game, Chocobo Racing which feels way more satisfying to control than it has any right to, and a ton other I could go on and on about. The two big consistent ones are the returning Fort Condor which is still lots of fun and I like the more offense-oriented changes they made and it also uses the great low poly FF7 models. The new one is Queen's Blood which is an insanely in-depth card game that's a ton of fun! There's over 100 cards and there's a good amount of variance in what they all do. It's pretty fun to make new decks and I always went to do all the new Queen's Blood matches available whenever I got to a new town because I liked it so much. I'm really excited to go back post main story and grind all of these mini-games cause they're genuinely so fun and there's way more than I would have expected.

The music is also WONDERFUL which like, obviously. It's a bit unfair having one the greatest OSTs as a base and a ton of it is pretty new to me but it's just so beautiful. I don't think I emotionally connect with Video Game soundtracks much, there's a ton I love and think are great but they don't grab me emotionally as much as I just think they're sick. This entire soundtrack felt so emotional, I don't know if I'll ever hear Tifa or Aerith's themes again without feeling a bit emotional. The way they weave character themes into the important moments for each character is so insanely beautiful. There's also obviously iconic songs like the battle theme which I'll never get sick of and the insanely beautiful town themes. It'd be pretty tough to find a video game OST on the level of this and it's one that'll stick with me for a long time.

I can't believe this game exists and it feels as large a step above the first game in the remake trilogy which was already a game that really surprised me with my love for it. Direct sequels pretty often end up amazing before later games try a bit too hard to be different and crazy so it shouldn't surprise me as much as it does, but fuck man it's a beautiful feeling to have a sequel absolutely crush it like this game does. For my tastes and opinions there's been a few of those the last few years and it's just so sick. I'm incredibly excited for the third game, it's gonna be tough to live up to this but no matter what I just can't wait to have more experiences with these characters. I could go on for way too long absolutely gushing about this game but I'll leave it at this already way too long review and say I'm so glad these remakes exist and got me into the FF7 universe.

Bom, terminei o FF7 Rebirth com 95 horas, tendo feito todos os informes, side quests, e desenvolvido todas as matérias.

Sinto que aproveitei tudo que o jogo pode me oferecer na primeira run, claro que há mais desafios como o próprio modo dificil no NG, ou os simuladores de combates + desafios no Gold Saucer.

Mas, para uma primeira experimentada no rebirth já estou 100% satisfeito, pretendo retornar para o Remake + Rebirth próximo do lançamento da próxima parte.

Mas, isoladametne o Rebirth é uma obra prima completa!
A forma com que expandiram o original e mesmo assim respeitando muito a obra é invejável para qualquer remake. Não tem jeito Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth é Must Play completamente!

Nota: 10/10

The direction of this game is amazing. Taking every memorable moment from the original and recreating them in imaginative and yet familiar ways is so fun.

I though the open world stuff was fine. It's kinda weird to me how people instantly make the comparison to Ubisoft games because it has "towers" I dunno. I guess I just don't consider the concept of touching a button to make other important spot appear on the map to be inherently good or bad? The reason I dislike Ubisoft games is that they're incredibly boring to me, they rarely have compelling characters, the writing is generally dogshit and they pad the hell out of the map with a billion activity icons.

In FFVII Rebirth when you touch a "tower" it reveals a maximum of three icons, often less. The open world is not a giant map, it's 6 relatively small maps seperated by more cutscene heavy setpiece chapters. I think that structure helps with the pace a lot.

The combat system is genuinely the most fun I've had in an RPG in recent years. They greatly expanded the range of gameplay styles. The materia system is really fun to figure out and the character action aspect is top notch.

I loved all the minigames. I think it's fun that most quest aren't just "go at map location and interact with thing". A lot have creative interactions attached to them. They all make you hang out with a member of your party and learn more about them.

I dunno I just don't have anything bad to say about it. When I streamed the game I tried to express all the things that annoyed or disappointed me but in the end they're all just tiny nitpicks about specific moments. I've seen a lot of complaint about the ending being way too "kingdom hearts" like in part 1 and, I don't know how to tell you this but Final Fantasy has been doing this stuff since the NES. I think it might feel weird here because those moments weren't originally meant to be endings within a trilogy.

Maybe it's all nostalgia hitting me very hard. I don't really know what this game feels like for someone who's never played the original but at the end of the day I had fun the entire time and I never put the game down until I was 100% finished. I think the game as a whole is fantastic and I cannot wait for part 3.

I’ve been sitting on making this review for a long time. I wanted to give it enough time to not be written by recency bias. So here we go-

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth feels difficult to review because…there’s not really much else that feels like it for better or worse. A sequel to a remake that was only the first slice of the game it was remaking. As well as not just an entirely different genre from the original, but even a pretty dramatic new direction from its predecessor alone. All on top of telling an ambitious story that tries to balance a remake with a new meta narrative at the backdrop. This game is…big. Overwhelmingly so at times. It’s difficult to compose my feelings.

As the 4 and a half star rating may spoil you, I like this game. Heck, I love it. I don’t love everything about this game though. There’s some stuff I actively dislike…yet there’s so so so much I love too. If you think this is going to be a mindless glazing session, then I urge you to read the rest of what I have to say. I’m not going to pretend this is a perfect absolutely flawless game. It’s not. Just because I rate the game this high does not mean I am blind to some of its critical flaws or never developed things I disliked about it of my own. I will be very honest and critical in this review. Hear me out. But if you’re expecting some essay to fuel your own hatred for the game because you watched a video essay on YouTube designed to specifically show the game at its worst moments, you aren’t going to find that here either. I think there’s healthy discussion to be had about what the game does right and wrong and not immediately let one side dominate the other just because one moment you really loved or the other you really hated.

I’ll start with something I think people would agree on the most. Rebirth’s presentation is absolutely stunning, and I mean that in a lot of ways. The set pieces, the music, the cutscene direction, just wow. I think a lot of the reason some other AAA games feel so boring is that they just have this stiff, artificial vibe to them. There’s a lot that goes into making them look pretty but rarely as much anything that makes them feel pretty. Rebirth never feels like it has this problem. The incredibly dynamic camera and very animated movements during cutscenes make them feel so alive. Extremely creative, inspired shots are frequent. Like seriously, I think this has some of the most inspired cutscene direction of any game I’ve played in the last few years. There is never a dull looking moment. All enhanced by the very grand soundtrack. There’s many times where the music and its classic motifs are timed with moments in the cutscenes as well as new songs that remix older songs into them. I absolutely adore this. That kind of extra work really boosts the production value of the game. Also as mentioned, the set pieces are stunning. Classic locations have been recreated beautifully. It’s stunning how they’ve transitioned these places from their pre rendered backgrounds to fully explorable environments. The Remake series so far has done a really great job at having these larger than life locations finally be fully realized. The amount of detail packed into these places just makes me speechless sometimes. A lot of this just kinda goes without saying since Final Fantasy is known to deliver on the spectacle, but they still managed to outdo themselves here. It’s a constant feast to the eyes and ears.

But what about the world? Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s immediate big draw compared to Remake is that it has a fully explorable open world as opposed to the linear design of Remake’s Midgar. A modern evolution of the OG FF7 opening up to its world map at this point in the story. The open world is…a mixed bag, although I found myself enjoying it enough. Despite all the evolutions we’ve had in open world gaming, Rebirth’s world design feels a bit archaic compared to its peers. That’s not to say it’s bad by any means though it is to say that there’s an occasional clunkiness to it and a lack of super engaging side content other than your usual open world 101. It’s nothing special, but I also find it pretty inoffensive. The game’s approach to side content is a high number of quick content rather than few but high commitment content. Not that it makes any of the side content any more remarkable, but the fact they usually take no more than a couple minutes at a time still incentivizes me to do them. Sure maybe I don’t think what the open world has to offer is excellent game design, but it was enough to have me keep playing and enjoy my progression. So I still say it does its job even if never excelling in it. The sheer variety and quantity offered in this side content just helps it to feel fresh and addictive. I’m not ashamed to say I was having fun. Also a big thing is just…an open world of this scale in a Final Fantasy game just feels fun. I like running around these beautiful landscapes with these characters, getting to hear their banter, and especially getting into seamless combat encounters with the game’s combat system. It just feels grand and beautiful, and getting to see a fully realized version of FF7’s world is breathtaking. I still would’ve appreciated if they got a little more inspired with the possibilities in the world as opposed to well…frankly the bare minimum, but it’s enjoyable enough and very far from the weakest one I’ve seen. It’s probably right in the middle, but the sheer quantity of things you can do helps it to feel slightly above average. That’s from a more critical lens though because as I had just mentioned, I think even at the bare minimum getting to have this large, beautiful sandbox to run around in a Final Fantasy game is just so enjoyable to me. I think what’s extremely important to emphasize though is that you still can play the game in a largely linear fashion. If you’re dreading the idea of having an open world you don’t want to engage with eating up all your time…well, you don’t really have to engage with it at all. The story still takes up Remake’s chapter structure, meaning the story is still 99% confined to linear set pieces and will have you going from point A to point B. That may be another reason why I don’t particularly mind some of the unremarkable open world content since close to none of it actually interrupts the main game. I think it’s great that you pretty much get a choice on how you would like to play.

There’s not too much I can say about combat, given its obviously following Remake’s combat which I’ve already talked about. I was already a big fan of Remake’s approach to combat, albeit with some minor complaints. I love the blend of action and RPG elements. The fast paced and quick switching nature of the action combat while having a series of more strategic commands you can choose from whilst time slows felt like a match made in heaven for an action RPG, at least in my opinion. Rebirth doubles down on this gameplay and polishes out some of the critiques I had whilst adding additional mechanics that add an even deeper layer to the flow of combat. There’s been notable tweaks to enemy behavior as well as the speed your characters move and execute attacks. Rebirth’s combat speed is faster than Remake’s. This helps characters feel way more versatile without too much heaviness slowing them down but not feeling overly floaty either. The most notable addition to the combat is synergy attacks. These are team up abilities that can range from small defensive abilities and quick attacks, all the way to these powerful limit break-type attacks that grant a special status effect. This encourages you to interact with your party even more during battle. With that and all the smaller tweaks they made, I didn’t know how much they could improve Remake’s combat until they did. The new playable characters in this game also feature their own extremely unique and fun play styles. Combat is just…such a blast in this game. Aside from a couple bosses I didn’t really enjoy, there was rarely a time I wasn’t locked in during fights. Probably one of my personal favorite combat systems in a game. It hits all the right notes, and that’s pretty important for a game where combat will be a large chunk of the experience.

Now…the big point of contention: the story. Remake made the bold subversion of expectations to not do a traditional remake and instead do a sort of meta remake that acknowledges its own existence of having already happened. This is largely what separates those who love Remake and those who hate it. The same case can be said for Rebirth, however I feel the case is…slightly different this time. Now I would consider myself indifferent towards the plot direction of Remake. It’s not what I wanted, sure…yet I was still very intrigued. It was an ambitious choice I didn’t expect and although it’s not what I would have asked for, I firmly believed that there was potential for an interesting story to be told. If the directors, writers had faith in the story they wanted to tell I didn’t really see any reason I should immediately oppose the idea. There’s been plenty of times where things we didn’t think of or ask for turned out to be great, so I figured I should let the ideas ride out before I drew any conclusions. Remake was really but a tease for these ideas, so it was too early to tell. So how did Rebirth follow up these ideas? I’m shocked to say that…they didn’t really follow them up at all? Like, I think it would be generous to say that the new plot elements take up even 5% of the story. It made me realize that they want to tell a new story but are too afraid to stop being a remake. Which at that point…I have to start wondering who the direction of this plot is even for? Like, anyone who was super engaged in the new plot will be disappointed to find that there’s maybe a little over an hour total of new story that only raises more questions instead of answers. And those who wanted a 1:1 remake will still just be upset that the 5% of new plot even exists in the first place. Rebirth is scared to commit to both ideas and in the end, it doesn’t fully commit to either. I hope it all comes together in the third game, but the fact we don’t get any answers until the very end feels…really disappointing and concerns me that the third game may feel very rushed.

But what about the rest of the story? I mean, if 95% of it is still a remake does it still do a good job at being a remake? I’m very thrilled to say mostly yeah! Emphasis on mostly. I feel that most moments have been translated beautifully. The presentation is always firing on all cylinders. The visuals, music, voice acting, really brings this story to life in a new way. It made me on the edge of my seat in a story where I already know everything that happens. I don’t want to get too deep into specifics for the sake of keeping this spoiler free, but things like Sephiroth’s influence over Cloud is one of many things that takes center stage here and thanks to the cutscene direction and voice acting, it’s twice as chilling here in ways that simply were not possible in the OG. This can similarly be said with moments like the Nibelheim story which for the same reasons feels far more of a convincing and haunting tragedy than it already was. I think there’s a ton of positive and negative discussion to be had about changes to classic moments and new moments altogether but when this game is adapting moments exactly as they were in the original, it adapts them excellently. Emphasis on excellent when adapting moments exactly as they were because some moments do have details changed for the worse. I’m not an huge fan, even dislike some of the tweaks they made to some scenes. I don’t think some critical scenes carry the same impact and that’s a shame. Whether this is due to actual changes or poor pacing. I don’t think this happens often…but it definitely stings pretty hard when it does. That being said, there’s also a decent amount of story tweaks that I found to be quite interesting, even beneficial. Some have additions that enhance the scenes, but I guess additions are in a different boat than actual changes. I found that most additions to classic scenes worked while actual outright changes did not. I think story changes here are a gamble. Sometimes they swing and miss, but sometimes they hit and gave me a deeper perspective on some characters and moments. There’s also a decent amount of entirely new scenes that I enjoy. Notably the many new scenes that explore Cloud and Tifa’s dynamic. Even the kind of stuff that involved Roche was pretty cool. But anyway. Honestly, I’m shocked and happy to say that Rebirth keeps so much of the goofier side of FFVII in tact! I feel too many remakes are trying so hard to be melodramatic to compensate for attempts at modernization, but Rebirth is never ashamed to embrace the fun, silly nature of a lot of characters and moments. This helps to keep the world and story feel so alive. Rebirth’s biggest strength in writing is by far its characters. The party feels at their best here. Their deep personalities all shine here in ways that even the OG just couldn’t beat. Rebirth solidifies them as one of the most genuine feeling casts I’ve ever seen, and brings a deeper bond to these classic characters that I and millions of others have resonated with over the years. Rebirth also makes a gigantic effort to give party members stronger bonds with each other as opposed to just their bond with the party as a whole. I loved seeing Red XIII grow a strong bond with Barret and Aerith. I liked seeing Yuffie and Barret tease each other. It’s these smaller moments that were severely lacking in the OG that Rebirth brings in full swing. I have nitpicks with certain scenes being changed in ways that drain some of the impact, but…I think it would be a shame if I let a specific few things I didn’t like completely dominate and overshadow my view on everything else this game does well. It just has so much heart. It was always making me smile, laugh, cry…and I think it’s an achievement if a game can resonate with you like that. And that’s the biggest thing of all. Rebirth resonated with me.

The best thing about Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is that through its best and even in its worst moments, its heart never leaves. There was rarely a moment where I did not feel the sheer passion of this project shining through every aspect. No matter how much you and I may not like certain things about the game, I feel it’d be a downright lie to say these people don’t care about Final Fantasy VII. Everything about it is still designed with heart and honestly that’s more than I can say about many other AAA games released as of late. When the story, characters, gameplay, music, etc etc all feel at their best which is pretty often…it brought me a joy I don’t think I felt in a while, and no complaints about the ending or this or that is going to take that away from me. The fun I was having here felt so special. Like, not just any kind of fun. I felt personally moved with how much I enjoyed this game overall. Maybe because the world of FFVII has become something comforting for me over the years…but there’s a reason why that is, and Rebirth often reminds me why I care about this game(s) so much. Some of the open world stuff wasn’t too inspired. So what? I had a blast doing it. There’s story moments I wasn’t a huge fan of, some I even hated. So what? There was so many I loved. This game is just far too big to let certain things really bring my opinion down that much. It may not be a masterclass, but it’s pretty spectacular just how much this game has to offer around every corner all packed with an endless amount of genuine heart. It’s a grand adventure worth your time, and absolutely worth the wait in my eyes. It’s such a genuine drastic leap in scale from Remake that it almost makes Remake feel like a teaser in retrospect. No matter how you or I feel about it stacked against the original…it’s still Final Fantasy VII, and it largely preserves the spirit of why it’s special to me and so many others while providing monumental ambition of its own.

The more of this I play, the more I realize this is an un-reviewable video game.

The emotional equivalent of the coolest, nicest, hottest people you know asking you to help them move and paying you with pizza. Rebirth has some of the most satisfying real time RPG combat with one of the best ensembles in video game history-- all shoved into a bizarrely designed approximation of a "modern" open-world game.

Reflecting on FF7's world map, the openness was more of a feeling than literal design. It wasn't until you got the Highwind near the finale of the original game that you could actually go anywhere you wanted.

Rebirth, ironically, is best when it's on the rails. There are some fun side quests here and there, but there is so much fluff that it genuinely feels like half of the world map activities were designed out of spite.

Ultimately, I am such an unabashed FF7 fan that even if part three is complete garbage, I will still be grateful that this remake trilogy exists. The characters all feel like fully realized versions of themselves, and there are moments of Rebirth that are high points for Final Fantasy overall. It's just a shame that somewhere within Square Enix they felt that a 10/10 story-driven linear action game needed to be shoved into another genre that doesn't feel built around Rebirth's strengths.

Tras el éxito de Final Fantasy VII Remake venía con muchas ganas de jugar a su secuela, y debo decir que ha cumplido mis expectativas con creces. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth es la continuación de una fantástica aventura que nos transporta al planeta de Gaia, donde la energía del planeta está siendo explotada y consumida por una empresa que gobierna la sociedad y nuestro grupo protagonista busca pararle los pies a la misma y al villano principal: Sefirot. A pesar de que la historia no tiene un hilo principal sobre el que tirar al principio del juego, conforme va avanzando la trama mejora sustancialmente. Lo mejor de este apartado son sus personajes, cada uno con una personalidad muy definida y arcos muy interesantes, permitiéndonos empatizar y encariñarse de ellos. A esto le sumamos un lore complejo y ampliado, que le otorga al mundo mucho más contexto e inmersión. La historia, que me ha durado unas 68 horas habiendo hecho parte del contenido secundario, viene acompañada por un apartado audiovisual excelso, llegando a una calidad gráfica pocas veces vista y escenas y animaciones espectaculares; con una magnífica banda sonora y a mí parecer una de las mejores de toda la historia. Desafortunadamente tuve que jugar al juego a 30 FPS en modo calidad porque el modo rendimiento perdía mucha resolución. La jugabilidad sigue siendo muy divertida, al igual que en el Remake, pero con adiciones y cambios que le han otorgado un enfoque distinto y mejora con respecto al anterior. Los combates son entretenidos y la estructura de mundo abierto le sienta como anillo al dedo. Los encargos y misiones secundarias suelen ser de mucha calidad, con algunas excepciones de algunas misiones tediosas de hacer o exceso de encargos en algunas ocasiones. Hay una cantidad inimaginable de minijuegos, todos ellos con sus mecánicas únicas y que dan un soplo de aire fresco a la jugabilidad. Mención especial al juego de cartas, probablemente de los minijuegos más divertidos y adictivos que he jugado nunca. En resumen, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth mejora a su juego anterior y consigue estar a la altura de lo esperado, consiguiendo una aventura emocionante e imprescindible para cualquier fan de la saga.
9,5/10
(05/2024)

FFVII Rebirth is the follow up to one of my all-time favorite remakes/soft reboots ever made, and an excellent reimagining of the classic RPG, Final Fantasy VII. Not only does Square Enix offer a HUGE world to explore and a plethora of minigames to experience, the main storyline allows you to spend a vast amount of time with your favorite characters and deepen your relationship with them. Combat is silky smooth, the Materia builds are intriguing to discover and implement, writing and performances (and the soundtrack) are strong across the board.

Some caveats and negatives would be that the ending stretches out perhaps a bit too long and can be confusing in a variety of ways, probably purposefully as theory-crafting is a popular past-time among the fandom. Some of the minigames felt super annoying and unbalanced and honestly affected my enjoyment of the game itself.

Overall, though, an absolutely worthwhile game to play and a contender for Game of the Year 2024.

This is one of the best action JRPGs ever made and nobody will ever forget it. The story is retold in a deeply engaging way. Every character is treated with so much love and care and they're all much more fully realized than they were in the 1997 OG. The world is gorgeous and beautifully realized. The added content to literally every part of the game transcends padding or fluff. The voice acting, both Japanese and English, are phenomenally done. There is so much depth added to various story beats and I openly sobbed during one segment.
This game has flaws; far too many mini-games, some of which were infuriating. Some of the story beats were told slightly better in og, which I can't get into without spoiling. And some sidequests were just not engaging. However, everything else in this game is just so good, I can't subtract points for these negatives. This is my favorite game in probably twenty years and I'm never going to forget it.