Once you beat this game ask yourself if there is a single change in the story that you prefer over the original. I get that isnt the point of the game at all but i cant stand this modernization and re-imagining shit that theyre doing
For the first 10 hours I was screaming “hell yeah!” because i do genuinely love these characters and i don’t think ill ever get bored of seeing them interact with each other, on top of that seeing the remade locations from the original and hearing the music from the best soundtrack ever remade in stunning orchestrations is as phenomenal as it is nostalgic, however a good 60% of the time it either feels like ive played this game 40 times before or i just hate it.
I could go on for days about why the gameplay, strictly the combat, is amazing and easily the best action based system in the series (even though the bar is nonexistent), though it stops being as impactful when all im doing is grinding out the uneventful and unneeded filler main story quests that are there just to make the game 30 hours longer to get to the fun combat. Push object A to point B then climb a yellow wall while following a map marker that shows you exactly where to go at all times I LOVE CONSUMING SLOP😋 Of course this also heavily applies to the mundane and surprisingly small “open world” which is cool for the first 30 minutes and then quickly becomes boring as you realize there’s really nothing to do in it aside from fight enemies and do occasional QTE sequences. It’s not the worst thing in the world, it’s just very generic.
The story is just fan service and while some elements are cool its actual slop and that’s alright because sometimes it’s ok to treat yourself to some junk food (shit like this game) after eating healthy greens (the original game) there was another joke i wanted to make but i can’t even remember i think im developing alzheimers something something cell degradation
Once you beat this game ask yourself if there is a single change in the story that you prefer over the original. I get that isnt the point of the game at all and that this is supposed to be its own thing or whatever, but i cant stand this modernization and re-imagining shit that theyre doing because they’re doing it so horribly wrong
For the first 10 hours I was screaming “hell yeah!” because i do genuinely love these characters and i don’t think ill ever get bored of seeing them interact with each other. That very well could be the best part about this game, because there wasn’t a point where I got bored of the character writing, and honestly it was one of the few things getting me through the boring ass story aside from seeing the remade locations and music, however a good 60% of the time it either feels like I’ve played this game 40 times before or I just hate it.
I could go on for days about why the gameplay, strictly the combat, is amazing and easily the best action based system in the series (even though the bar is nonexistent), though it stops being as impactful when all im doing is grinding out the uneventful and unneeded filler story that are there just to make the game 30 hours longer to get to the fun combat. Push object A to point B then climb a yellow wall while following a map marker that shows you exactly where to go at all times I LOVE CONSUMING SLOP😋and of course this also heavily applies to the mundane and surprisingly small “open world” which is cool for the first 30 minutes and then quickly becomes boring as you realize there’s really nothing to do in it aside from fight enemies and do occasional QTE sequences. I want to make it clear that im not one of those console warrior people who care about the world size and loading screens because i really could give less of a shit but I am a firm believer in quality over quantity and like most open slop games this doesn’t follow that mantra. It’s not the worst thing in the world, it’s just very, very generic. Also Charley or whatever that assholes name is has to shut the fuck up
The best way I can summarize my thoughts on the story is that it’s just fan service for really hardcore final fantasy 7 super fans who either dont know how to read between the lines or read between the lines too much. Like I’ve said about pretty much everything in this game… it’s cool…. But its just slop… and that’s alright because sometimes it’s ok to treat yourself to some junk food (shit like this game) after eating healthy greens (the original game) there was another joke i wanted to make but i can’t even remember i think im developing alzheimers something something cell degradation
I think what it comes down to is that this game is always either way too scared to do anything impactful during key story sequences or when it’s somewhat impactful it completely fumbles by doing some weird multiverse bullshit that shouldn’t have even a suggestion. I have not been a fan of anything they’ve done with FF7 and its characters since the original game and i guess crisis core and this is a key reason why. That being said, am i going to buy Final fantasy vii: reborn? Of course. I love slop💕😋 and i love final fantasy
For the first 10 hours I was screaming “hell yeah!” because i do genuinely love these characters and i don’t think ill ever get bored of seeing them interact with each other, on top of that seeing the remade locations from the original and hearing the music from the best soundtrack ever remade in stunning orchestrations is as phenomenal as it is nostalgic, however a good 60% of the time it either feels like ive played this game 40 times before or i just hate it.
I could go on for days about why the gameplay, strictly the combat, is amazing and easily the best action based system in the series (even though the bar is nonexistent), though it stops being as impactful when all im doing is grinding out the uneventful and unneeded filler main story quests that are there just to make the game 30 hours longer to get to the fun combat. Push object A to point B then climb a yellow wall while following a map marker that shows you exactly where to go at all times I LOVE CONSUMING SLOP😋 Of course this also heavily applies to the mundane and surprisingly small “open world” which is cool for the first 30 minutes and then quickly becomes boring as you realize there’s really nothing to do in it aside from fight enemies and do occasional QTE sequences. It’s not the worst thing in the world, it’s just very generic.
The story is just fan service and while some elements are cool its actual slop and that’s alright because sometimes it’s ok to treat yourself to some junk food (shit like this game) after eating healthy greens (the original game) there was another joke i wanted to make but i can’t even remember i think im developing alzheimers something something cell degradation
Once you beat this game ask yourself if there is a single change in the story that you prefer over the original. I get that isnt the point of the game at all and that this is supposed to be its own thing or whatever, but i cant stand this modernization and re-imagining shit that theyre doing because they’re doing it so horribly wrong
For the first 10 hours I was screaming “hell yeah!” because i do genuinely love these characters and i don’t think ill ever get bored of seeing them interact with each other. That very well could be the best part about this game, because there wasn’t a point where I got bored of the character writing, and honestly it was one of the few things getting me through the boring ass story aside from seeing the remade locations and music, however a good 60% of the time it either feels like I’ve played this game 40 times before or I just hate it.
I could go on for days about why the gameplay, strictly the combat, is amazing and easily the best action based system in the series (even though the bar is nonexistent), though it stops being as impactful when all im doing is grinding out the uneventful and unneeded filler story that are there just to make the game 30 hours longer to get to the fun combat. Push object A to point B then climb a yellow wall while following a map marker that shows you exactly where to go at all times I LOVE CONSUMING SLOP😋and of course this also heavily applies to the mundane and surprisingly small “open world” which is cool for the first 30 minutes and then quickly becomes boring as you realize there’s really nothing to do in it aside from fight enemies and do occasional QTE sequences. I want to make it clear that im not one of those console warrior people who care about the world size and loading screens because i really could give less of a shit but I am a firm believer in quality over quantity and like most open slop games this doesn’t follow that mantra. It’s not the worst thing in the world, it’s just very, very generic. Also Charley or whatever that assholes name is has to shut the fuck up
The best way I can summarize my thoughts on the story is that it’s just fan service for really hardcore final fantasy 7 super fans who either dont know how to read between the lines or read between the lines too much. Like I’ve said about pretty much everything in this game… it’s cool…. But its just slop… and that’s alright because sometimes it’s ok to treat yourself to some junk food (shit like this game) after eating healthy greens (the original game) there was another joke i wanted to make but i can’t even remember i think im developing alzheimers something something cell degradation
I think what it comes down to is that this game is always either way too scared to do anything impactful during key story sequences or when it’s somewhat impactful it completely fumbles by doing some weird multiverse bullshit that shouldn’t have even a suggestion. I have not been a fan of anything they’ve done with FF7 and its characters since the original game and i guess crisis core and this is a key reason why. That being said, am i going to buy Final fantasy vii: reborn? Of course. I love slop💕😋 and i love final fantasy
Took me 40 hours over 4 days of focusing the main story to beat the game. All the characters are top tier. Barely understood the ending but I will play anything these characters are in, they're that charming.
Okay, real review. Padding is there but less egregious than the first game. I enjoy most of the minigames (Queen's Blood is amazing), but whoever designed the vacuum things and getting the chocobos should be fired out of a cannon into the sun. Who thought they should be that slow, it's actually insane. As said, characters are great, and this is possibly my favorite party of any game. People probably won't like the story changes but I don't really mind, I'll just go along with it and see where it ends up. I personally just didn't really understand the ending and I'll need FF loremasters to explain half the stuff that happened in the last chapter. Music is great, as usual. Combat is fun but bosses are inconsistent. The final boss was... interesting. On the line of fair-hard and bullshit-hard, it really pushes the envelope.
Okay, real review. Padding is there but less egregious than the first game. I enjoy most of the minigames (Queen's Blood is amazing), but whoever designed the vacuum things and getting the chocobos should be fired out of a cannon into the sun. Who thought they should be that slow, it's actually insane. As said, characters are great, and this is possibly my favorite party of any game. People probably won't like the story changes but I don't really mind, I'll just go along with it and see where it ends up. I personally just didn't really understand the ending and I'll need FF loremasters to explain half the stuff that happened in the last chapter. Music is great, as usual. Combat is fun but bosses are inconsistent. The final boss was... interesting. On the line of fair-hard and bullshit-hard, it really pushes the envelope.
Given FF7 reb another try, thanx to my frnds save file I played Newgame plus mode skipped all the filler side shit, and open world shit, and there’s no level gatting this time around just focused on main path and story had a good and at the same time frustratingly bad experience especially fuck boring ass puzzle design and bad chapter 13.
The story is slow but characters goofy and cute moments carried it for me, the ending wise namura strikes again with Kingdom heart convoluted shit lol, overall it just feels like a filler episode where nothing important happened apart from some good moments here and there, wish the base game didn’t have any OW bs, and just linear more story heavy but it is what it is old review is right below no need to retread old grounds. same score as before don't recommend the game
OLD REVIEW
It truly pains me to write this but this is my exp my opinions and criticism which in my eyes is pretty fair.
The game is fabulous when it's like remake focusing on combat, story (cutscene and goofy character interactions), linear levels and town areas (like remake stuff), and boss fights, and other stuff, also have to mention there are good improvements over remakes when it comes to remake and linear level design and I do love queens blood card game.
At the same time game is abysmal when its forces(cuz of level gatting) you to do OW bottom-of-the-barrel stuff(we talkin about towers, digging shit, scanning shit, combat challenges and other stuff) OW stuff could've been digestible if the traversal was fine but this shit sucks ass, God forbid if u move away from the main pathways( which btw u more often then not move away cuz the main pathways are not clear) u keep on getting stuck on rocks and overall animation system is very annoying, the jankines make the whole OW exp 10x worse.
and what is surprising is that I don't see no reviewer mention these below-average movements and OW stuff, while these are the same folks that tear a new asshole to SpiderMan or other OW games for having ok OW which is optional btw and the movement of SM so fun that those OW stuff become fun.
In short i loved every second is not spent in OW and dread every second that is in the OW.
It truly hurts me to drop this game as FF7remake is my top 10 games of all time but sadly this ow which lack of better word, is “Pathetic”, and I am happy that many folks are enjoying this game but also sad that I can’t be one of them.
if I have to score my 10 hours I have to give it a 6/10 as it do have great parts and story moments in those 10 hours, but it also was making me depress cuz to get to great moment I have to swim through shit.
The story is slow but characters goofy and cute moments carried it for me, the ending wise namura strikes again with Kingdom heart convoluted shit lol, overall it just feels like a filler episode where nothing important happened apart from some good moments here and there, wish the base game didn’t have any OW bs, and just linear more story heavy but it is what it is old review is right below no need to retread old grounds. same score as before don't recommend the game
OLD REVIEW
It truly pains me to write this but this is my exp my opinions and criticism which in my eyes is pretty fair.
The game is fabulous when it's like remake focusing on combat, story (cutscene and goofy character interactions), linear levels and town areas (like remake stuff), and boss fights, and other stuff, also have to mention there are good improvements over remakes when it comes to remake and linear level design and I do love queens blood card game.
At the same time game is abysmal when its forces(cuz of level gatting) you to do OW bottom-of-the-barrel stuff(we talkin about towers, digging shit, scanning shit, combat challenges and other stuff) OW stuff could've been digestible if the traversal was fine but this shit sucks ass, God forbid if u move away from the main pathways( which btw u more often then not move away cuz the main pathways are not clear) u keep on getting stuck on rocks and overall animation system is very annoying, the jankines make the whole OW exp 10x worse.
and what is surprising is that I don't see no reviewer mention these below-average movements and OW stuff, while these are the same folks that tear a new asshole to SpiderMan or other OW games for having ok OW which is optional btw and the movement of SM so fun that those OW stuff become fun.
In short i loved every second is not spent in OW and dread every second that is in the OW.
It truly hurts me to drop this game as FF7remake is my top 10 games of all time but sadly this ow which lack of better word, is “Pathetic”, and I am happy that many folks are enjoying this game but also sad that I can’t be one of them.
if I have to score my 10 hours I have to give it a 6/10 as it do have great parts and story moments in those 10 hours, but it also was making me depress cuz to get to great moment I have to swim through shit.
Yeah it’s peak, yeah it’s awesome. This was something I had been awaiting for a long while, and I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that I've never been more excited for a piece of fiction more than I was for this, so it is bittersweet to be done with the game, but it’s a wonderful experience. As the OG is my favourite game of all time..seeing the world and characters and moments fleshed out so much more was surreal, and maybe my greatest gaming experience ever, second only to the original FF7.
I could gush on and on about how special not only this game is to me, but the FF7 world is as a whole, it’s impactful to me in a way I don’t think anything else could replicate. There’s a reason I would play this game for at least 8 hours per day, and it was never boring.
SPOILERS
Not to sound like a purist, but I do think the Zack stuff is pretty unnecessary, doesn’t really add anything good to the story as of yet. The game I feel is at its best when it’s following the beats of the original story, and whenever it moved to a Zack segment I sorta just groaned, especially when it’d happen after arriving at the Gold Saucer, like cmon man, let me enjoy my minigames. That’s a minor nitpick though, and all of his segments were rather short, so it's not a dealbreaker yet, but I really hate multiverses and alternate universes in storytelling.
Aerith's death was also kinda handled weirdly, but I see what they’re going for with it. I feel like having like fucking 9 different boss fights after her death was a really fucking weird thing, like I couldn’t feel emotional, because Sephiroth would move through like 6 different forms, and it felt like it took away from the moment, there’s a reason it was so simple yet effective in the original. Aerith's death scene itself lacked all the really emotional and hardhitting stuff that the original had, although I understand that we're seeing it from Cloud's perspective, and he has blocked all that out in his mind, but not having us experience that heartbreak in that moment like we did in the original was a miss in my opinion.
That doesn’t take away from the game as a whole for me though, like I said, this was something special, and something that won’t be replicated by anything until Part 3 comes out, hope to god I'm alive to see it. 🤞
I could gush on and on about how special not only this game is to me, but the FF7 world is as a whole, it’s impactful to me in a way I don’t think anything else could replicate. There’s a reason I would play this game for at least 8 hours per day, and it was never boring.
SPOILERS
Not to sound like a purist, but I do think the Zack stuff is pretty unnecessary, doesn’t really add anything good to the story as of yet. The game I feel is at its best when it’s following the beats of the original story, and whenever it moved to a Zack segment I sorta just groaned, especially when it’d happen after arriving at the Gold Saucer, like cmon man, let me enjoy my minigames. That’s a minor nitpick though, and all of his segments were rather short, so it's not a dealbreaker yet, but I really hate multiverses and alternate universes in storytelling.
Aerith's death was also kinda handled weirdly, but I see what they’re going for with it. I feel like having like fucking 9 different boss fights after her death was a really fucking weird thing, like I couldn’t feel emotional, because Sephiroth would move through like 6 different forms, and it felt like it took away from the moment, there’s a reason it was so simple yet effective in the original. Aerith's death scene itself lacked all the really emotional and hardhitting stuff that the original had, although I understand that we're seeing it from Cloud's perspective, and he has blocked all that out in his mind, but not having us experience that heartbreak in that moment like we did in the original was a miss in my opinion.
That doesn’t take away from the game as a whole for me though, like I said, this was something special, and something that won’t be replicated by anything until Part 3 comes out, hope to god I'm alive to see it. 🤞
ai to passando mal
This review contains spoilers
This is a companion to my initial thoughts on Rebirth, and if you're like me and just kind of mindlessly click on things that are spoiler tagged, consider this your warning that I will be talking about the game's ending and many other elements unique to Rebirth's narrative. But first, I'm gonna start off by going over some stuff I missed in that first review: side quests are overall higher quality and hold a lot more intrinsic value (i.e. they're actually kinda rewarding on their own merit and not just for the rewards themselves; i love the one with the puppy and the one with the cats don't remember da rest tbh), however there's way more of them so numerically speaking there's a lot more stinkers and personally I'm just not a huuuge fan of gameifying progression within relationships -- the bright side of that is the relationship system isn't really that strict, and I think you get more relationship boosts for just playing the main scenario and using synergy abilities than you'd expect. Didn't really annoy me as much as other AAA games, but I'd say I prefer just having relationships form naturally through the narrative (or have the progression be invisible like the original, at least until new game plus, which they did partially do).
On that note, I really loved the chapter 12 visit to the Gold Saucer; Final Fantasy VII finally has its 90s love ballad and I think compared to its PSX Final Fantasy theme song brethren it's my new favorite (still fucking love Eyes on Me and Melodies of Life tho). Highly recommend aiming for the Tifa date, it's really awkward how non-present she is in the Loveless sequence compared to other characters when you go for Aerith being the princess in the Loveless play, and her little words of encouragement to Aerith before she sings is so cute (me when I see a girl being nice to another girl in a piece of media: she's literally me). I'm happy it's pretty easy to go back and see different variations of the date in new game plus though. Also Cloud and Tifa in the ferris wheel was pretty cute, and he wasn't a butthole for once, which like god damn he fucking SUCKS in this game it kinda rules.
I think my one major gripe is that they added a new sequence to the Gongaga Reactor portion where Cloud essentially puts Tifa in mortal peril, but nobody feels as upset about it as they should? Like maybe I'm just reading the scenes wrong, and it does fit into Tifa's character at this point in the narrative that she would forgive him given some time, but kinda felt like there needed to be a little more exploration on the emotional and physical implications of Cloud's mental degradation and the potential danger the people he cares about face because of that. It's a very cool sequence regardless, which tbh I think is me being biased cuz 50% of it has Tifa as the temporary party leader.
There's other things that I think people are gonna bitch about that I kinda see the value in adding, like Yuffie's presidential assassination attempt is pretty fucking cool imo, very based of her. Roche's little side plot is extremely Final Fantasy and I'm here for it, mostly for the homoeroticism. I love how often Tifa and Aerith have to bitch at Cloud for being a creep/weirdo/insecure prick, it rules. I love how much the characters suck in this game while still feeling like they're just trying their best to do the right thing. Really wish they were more okay with wanton murder of Shinra employees and the other unamibiguously evil wastes of breath that exist in this game's world, but I guess this ain't that kinda story so I'll take what I can get.
So uh, the multiverse, huh? Yeah, it's a tough thing to unpack considering it's not actually all that present within the core narrative, mostly showing up between major events and culminating in the finale. I wanna say first off, I fucking hate multiverse shit; most of the time it's utilized when a story has nowhere else to go or to cheaply introduce fan service. And I won't say that Rebirth's utilization of multiverse theory isn't at least partly the latter, but it's definitely more complicated than that, because like the wisps in Remake, the utilization of alternate "timelines" (I believe they're referred to as worlds in the game itself) due to Sephiroth and Aerith's meddling with the built-in defense mechanisms of the planet that maintained a specific planetary determinism had actual consequences. It's, extremely heady to say the least, but that's Final Fantasy, baby!
I honestly expected that the Zack sections of the game would take up like 30% of the game or something, but I'd estimate it's somewhere closer to between 1% and 5%. And like, another preface here to show how meaningful it is that these sequences mostly worked for me: I do not like Crisis Core. I think it's stinky, it's bad, and I don't really hate Zack as much as I found his story to be really pointless and centered around needless fan service; like if they made a whole game about FF6 Locke's ex-gf or something and the intro involved the magitek armors going to Narshe while Terra's theme played for some reason. But it's whatever I'm over its whole existence, and I kinda like Zack he's a fun little guy, hard to hate him really, and outside of the context of Crisis Core I learned to appreciate him. And while my initial reaction to the ending was, "well, what was the fucking point of the multiverse shit then", it eventually sunk in for me what they were going for by adapting it in this way.
It's a bit of a mystery box, but unlike most mystery boxes (like Lost if it it was only a little bit stupid and not completely stupid), people were able to kind of predict this one correctly! Aerith doesn't die! And I mean, she does die, but I'm kind of cautiously really fucking down with what they're doing by placing Cloud's consciousness between two different worlds essentially, one where he saved Aerith and his actual reality where Aerith dies, and how that specifically adds to both his visible mental degradation and an even deeper inability to cope with the loss of Aerith. At least that's my interpretation since they go out of their way to show that Aerith's "spirit" was noticed by Nanaki in the final scene and that it wasn't an outright hallucination on Cloud's part, which I would've preferred, but I can see what they're cooking here.
I mean, really, I would've preferred none of this extra shit, and the way the leads devs talk about the "shock value" of it all is definitely off-putting, but I think... I think it kinda works? I'm pretty sure Aerith died in the original for pretty similar developmental reasons, and while I def need even more time to really figure out why it ended up working, it definitely left me in kind of malaise that not many other games since like, the ending of Drakengard 3 or something have made me feel for days on end.
But what's especially interesting is that my initial reaction to Aerith's death scene was outright confusion and frustration as it was extremely difficult to parse if she was actually alive or not until I beat the final boss -- but I believe that's kind of the point. Both Cloud and the player are in denial, how much of what happens in the final sequence is real and how much of it is a "fever dream", as Sephiroth puts it, is up to player interpretation. There's some physically established reality to the multiverse shit ofc, but thematically speaking, making the two characters that show up for Cloud in these dream-like sequences be Zack and Aerith fits so fucking well into Cloud's inability to process loss that I feel that was more the intention than simply fan service. Also Biggs and Zack being buddies is kinda cute, but from a utilitarian perspective these sequences help to prove that the dying worlds are indeed really happening, and not necessarily just "Aerith's dreams" or purely in Cloud's mind, even if functionally that's kind of what they end up being since I think (?) they're connected through the lifestream, which up to this point only really Sephiroth and Aerith have been able to navigate.
Again, not really the direction I would've personally chosen, and there are some aspects lost in terms of impact in Aerith's death scene, particularly Cloud's speech (which is more implied by voiceless cutaways within the "Aerith dies" universe) and the individual reactions each character once had are no longer there, which makes sense when you consider there like 7 other dudes there now when last time you just had two other characters in your party during that scene. But it'd be remiss if I didn't mention that a lot has been gained: both Barret and Tifa's reactions are so visceral that it's difficult to outright dismiss this iteration, at least until you're thrown into a 10 phase boss battle, which if that loses you after that point, I guess I can't blame you. I don't think the reality of it all is fully lost in the end though, the game takes ample time to linger on the loss of the party's beloved flower girl, in such a way that I can't really stop thinking about it, even days after completing the game for the first time. The original scene makes me cry every time without fail, but there's something to be said for how much feels truly lost this time, how much more Aerith means to the party and to the player this time around is much more "real" in a way that the original game was only able to suggest in key moments.
Basically, the multiverse is there for fan service to a certain degree, but a) it's not some annoying MCU bullshit like people are gonna inevitably strawman it as, and b) it's more there to create a physical representation of Cloud's grief, and while I think it significantly detracts from the force of nature that Sephiroth could feel like in the original, there's something going on here that feels unabashedly Final Fantasy VII, and not even in the shitty ass Compilation way, just the way it chose to expand on the emotional core of the original without necessarily stepping too far out of the game's already somewhat flimsy physical rules. Like seriously, the reason we love Final Fantasy VII in the first place is because there is no place the game was afraid to go. Not perfect, but it feels special all the same. Also Tifa's reaction to Aerith's death is so fucking raw, and Cloud just smiling away because he has a ghost gf now is just, absolutely fucking gutwrenching, I love it man. I'm glad at least Nanaki is comforting Tifa in the final scene or else I think I'd be emotionally ruined probably. Can't wait for Cloud to be absolutely unbearable for the first 30 hours of part 3!!!
And on that note, Part 3 is probably gonna be the weakest of the trilogy, both in terms of narrative and gameplay, so I'm not too gutted about having to wait 4 years for the finale, but I'm excited nonetheless. I'm not really sure what they're gonna do for the areas you're expected to return to though? Either way, I hope the open world shit is toned a bit overall, more condensed regions similar to Nibelheim and Junon would be nice. There's lots of hints of extra shit that didn't exist in the original's disc 2 and 3, and that kinda makes sense when you stop and consider just how empty disc 2 kinda feels towards the end, particularly compared to disc 1. Really excited for part 3 to have a Sonic Adventure 2-esque opening where Cloud snowboards away from his troubles...
Idk man, maybe I'm being too lenient, but it's just Final Fantasy in the end; if people can love the endings to games like FF8 and FF10, then FF7 Rebirth is like easy mode compared to those two games' fucking insane stories. 10 years from now it'll maybe still hold some level of controversy within broader gaming culture, mostly by people who were told to be mad about it by the internet, but I feel like the consensus will turn out to be mostly positive. I think back to the first time I played the original Final Fantasy VII, there are so many aspects of that game that I found to be really fucking stupid back then, that now I deeply cherish -- I wouldn't have them any other way, in their own right, of course.
At the same time though, I get it if it didn't work for you, cuz it almost didn't work for me, and I might have just gaslit myself into loving it as a coping mechanism (kinda meta when you think about it...). Also why does Chadley talk like he's presenting a Nintendo Direct and why is he a horrible misogynist to his vtuber pokedex daughter, she didn't do anything wrong besides infodump about her special interests...... :(
edit: after reading details from the Rebirth Ultimania that just released and also after rewatching the final scenes several times after the past month, i think the vagueness is intentional from a thematic sense since so much is unclear to cloud himself, the player surrogate
i feel like soooo much "theorycrafting" misses the like
thematic point of a lot of these things. whether the aerith we're seeing at various points in the finale are lifestream aerith or sephiroth hallucination aerith doesn't ultimately matter because it serves two points:
a) to demonstrate's clouds mental and emotional degradation, he is at his lowest point yet. he can't even see what's right in front of him -- aerith has died and tifa desperately needs his support. he is failing himself and the people around him. the only productive thing he ultimately does is pointing out where to go next (but we all know what happens when he gets to northern crater with the black materia in-hand)
b) i think they really did want to give aerith a more meaningful goodbye, even if the rest of the party can't see it. she's made the ultimate sacrifice, and it allows the player to really understand the weight of what she's lost in allowing herself to perish to save the world
also it's not multiverses :) it's just other worlds existing in the lifestream shit, which is cool, and was mostly already clear in retrospect, i think gamer discourse jargon is destroying meaningful art discussion at times. once again, it's final fantasy baby!!
On that note, I really loved the chapter 12 visit to the Gold Saucer; Final Fantasy VII finally has its 90s love ballad and I think compared to its PSX Final Fantasy theme song brethren it's my new favorite (still fucking love Eyes on Me and Melodies of Life tho). Highly recommend aiming for the Tifa date, it's really awkward how non-present she is in the Loveless sequence compared to other characters when you go for Aerith being the princess in the Loveless play, and her little words of encouragement to Aerith before she sings is so cute (me when I see a girl being nice to another girl in a piece of media: she's literally me). I'm happy it's pretty easy to go back and see different variations of the date in new game plus though. Also Cloud and Tifa in the ferris wheel was pretty cute, and he wasn't a butthole for once, which like god damn he fucking SUCKS in this game it kinda rules.
I think my one major gripe is that they added a new sequence to the Gongaga Reactor portion where Cloud essentially puts Tifa in mortal peril, but nobody feels as upset about it as they should? Like maybe I'm just reading the scenes wrong, and it does fit into Tifa's character at this point in the narrative that she would forgive him given some time, but kinda felt like there needed to be a little more exploration on the emotional and physical implications of Cloud's mental degradation and the potential danger the people he cares about face because of that. It's a very cool sequence regardless, which tbh I think is me being biased cuz 50% of it has Tifa as the temporary party leader.
There's other things that I think people are gonna bitch about that I kinda see the value in adding, like Yuffie's presidential assassination attempt is pretty fucking cool imo, very based of her. Roche's little side plot is extremely Final Fantasy and I'm here for it, mostly for the homoeroticism. I love how often Tifa and Aerith have to bitch at Cloud for being a creep/weirdo/insecure prick, it rules. I love how much the characters suck in this game while still feeling like they're just trying their best to do the right thing. Really wish they were more okay with wanton murder of Shinra employees and the other unamibiguously evil wastes of breath that exist in this game's world, but I guess this ain't that kinda story so I'll take what I can get.
So uh, the multiverse, huh? Yeah, it's a tough thing to unpack considering it's not actually all that present within the core narrative, mostly showing up between major events and culminating in the finale. I wanna say first off, I fucking hate multiverse shit; most of the time it's utilized when a story has nowhere else to go or to cheaply introduce fan service. And I won't say that Rebirth's utilization of multiverse theory isn't at least partly the latter, but it's definitely more complicated than that, because like the wisps in Remake, the utilization of alternate "timelines" (I believe they're referred to as worlds in the game itself) due to Sephiroth and Aerith's meddling with the built-in defense mechanisms of the planet that maintained a specific planetary determinism had actual consequences. It's, extremely heady to say the least, but that's Final Fantasy, baby!
I honestly expected that the Zack sections of the game would take up like 30% of the game or something, but I'd estimate it's somewhere closer to between 1% and 5%. And like, another preface here to show how meaningful it is that these sequences mostly worked for me: I do not like Crisis Core. I think it's stinky, it's bad, and I don't really hate Zack as much as I found his story to be really pointless and centered around needless fan service; like if they made a whole game about FF6 Locke's ex-gf or something and the intro involved the magitek armors going to Narshe while Terra's theme played for some reason. But it's whatever I'm over its whole existence, and I kinda like Zack he's a fun little guy, hard to hate him really, and outside of the context of Crisis Core I learned to appreciate him. And while my initial reaction to the ending was, "well, what was the fucking point of the multiverse shit then", it eventually sunk in for me what they were going for by adapting it in this way.
It's a bit of a mystery box, but unlike most mystery boxes (like Lost if it it was only a little bit stupid and not completely stupid), people were able to kind of predict this one correctly! Aerith doesn't die! And I mean, she does die, but I'm kind of cautiously really fucking down with what they're doing by placing Cloud's consciousness between two different worlds essentially, one where he saved Aerith and his actual reality where Aerith dies, and how that specifically adds to both his visible mental degradation and an even deeper inability to cope with the loss of Aerith. At least that's my interpretation since they go out of their way to show that Aerith's "spirit" was noticed by Nanaki in the final scene and that it wasn't an outright hallucination on Cloud's part, which I would've preferred, but I can see what they're cooking here.
I mean, really, I would've preferred none of this extra shit, and the way the leads devs talk about the "shock value" of it all is definitely off-putting, but I think... I think it kinda works? I'm pretty sure Aerith died in the original for pretty similar developmental reasons, and while I def need even more time to really figure out why it ended up working, it definitely left me in kind of malaise that not many other games since like, the ending of Drakengard 3 or something have made me feel for days on end.
But what's especially interesting is that my initial reaction to Aerith's death scene was outright confusion and frustration as it was extremely difficult to parse if she was actually alive or not until I beat the final boss -- but I believe that's kind of the point. Both Cloud and the player are in denial, how much of what happens in the final sequence is real and how much of it is a "fever dream", as Sephiroth puts it, is up to player interpretation. There's some physically established reality to the multiverse shit ofc, but thematically speaking, making the two characters that show up for Cloud in these dream-like sequences be Zack and Aerith fits so fucking well into Cloud's inability to process loss that I feel that was more the intention than simply fan service. Also Biggs and Zack being buddies is kinda cute, but from a utilitarian perspective these sequences help to prove that the dying worlds are indeed really happening, and not necessarily just "Aerith's dreams" or purely in Cloud's mind, even if functionally that's kind of what they end up being since I think (?) they're connected through the lifestream, which up to this point only really Sephiroth and Aerith have been able to navigate.
Again, not really the direction I would've personally chosen, and there are some aspects lost in terms of impact in Aerith's death scene, particularly Cloud's speech (which is more implied by voiceless cutaways within the "Aerith dies" universe) and the individual reactions each character once had are no longer there, which makes sense when you consider there like 7 other dudes there now when last time you just had two other characters in your party during that scene. But it'd be remiss if I didn't mention that a lot has been gained: both Barret and Tifa's reactions are so visceral that it's difficult to outright dismiss this iteration, at least until you're thrown into a 10 phase boss battle, which if that loses you after that point, I guess I can't blame you. I don't think the reality of it all is fully lost in the end though, the game takes ample time to linger on the loss of the party's beloved flower girl, in such a way that I can't really stop thinking about it, even days after completing the game for the first time. The original scene makes me cry every time without fail, but there's something to be said for how much feels truly lost this time, how much more Aerith means to the party and to the player this time around is much more "real" in a way that the original game was only able to suggest in key moments.
Basically, the multiverse is there for fan service to a certain degree, but a) it's not some annoying MCU bullshit like people are gonna inevitably strawman it as, and b) it's more there to create a physical representation of Cloud's grief, and while I think it significantly detracts from the force of nature that Sephiroth could feel like in the original, there's something going on here that feels unabashedly Final Fantasy VII, and not even in the shitty ass Compilation way, just the way it chose to expand on the emotional core of the original without necessarily stepping too far out of the game's already somewhat flimsy physical rules. Like seriously, the reason we love Final Fantasy VII in the first place is because there is no place the game was afraid to go. Not perfect, but it feels special all the same. Also Tifa's reaction to Aerith's death is so fucking raw, and Cloud just smiling away because he has a ghost gf now is just, absolutely fucking gutwrenching, I love it man. I'm glad at least Nanaki is comforting Tifa in the final scene or else I think I'd be emotionally ruined probably. Can't wait for Cloud to be absolutely unbearable for the first 30 hours of part 3!!!
And on that note, Part 3 is probably gonna be the weakest of the trilogy, both in terms of narrative and gameplay, so I'm not too gutted about having to wait 4 years for the finale, but I'm excited nonetheless. I'm not really sure what they're gonna do for the areas you're expected to return to though? Either way, I hope the open world shit is toned a bit overall, more condensed regions similar to Nibelheim and Junon would be nice. There's lots of hints of extra shit that didn't exist in the original's disc 2 and 3, and that kinda makes sense when you stop and consider just how empty disc 2 kinda feels towards the end, particularly compared to disc 1. Really excited for part 3 to have a Sonic Adventure 2-esque opening where Cloud snowboards away from his troubles...
Idk man, maybe I'm being too lenient, but it's just Final Fantasy in the end; if people can love the endings to games like FF8 and FF10, then FF7 Rebirth is like easy mode compared to those two games' fucking insane stories. 10 years from now it'll maybe still hold some level of controversy within broader gaming culture, mostly by people who were told to be mad about it by the internet, but I feel like the consensus will turn out to be mostly positive. I think back to the first time I played the original Final Fantasy VII, there are so many aspects of that game that I found to be really fucking stupid back then, that now I deeply cherish -- I wouldn't have them any other way, in their own right, of course.
At the same time though, I get it if it didn't work for you, cuz it almost didn't work for me, and I might have just gaslit myself into loving it as a coping mechanism (kinda meta when you think about it...). Also why does Chadley talk like he's presenting a Nintendo Direct and why is he a horrible misogynist to his vtuber pokedex daughter, she didn't do anything wrong besides infodump about her special interests...... :(
edit: after reading details from the Rebirth Ultimania that just released and also after rewatching the final scenes several times after the past month, i think the vagueness is intentional from a thematic sense since so much is unclear to cloud himself, the player surrogate
i feel like soooo much "theorycrafting" misses the like
thematic point of a lot of these things. whether the aerith we're seeing at various points in the finale are lifestream aerith or sephiroth hallucination aerith doesn't ultimately matter because it serves two points:
a) to demonstrate's clouds mental and emotional degradation, he is at his lowest point yet. he can't even see what's right in front of him -- aerith has died and tifa desperately needs his support. he is failing himself and the people around him. the only productive thing he ultimately does is pointing out where to go next (but we all know what happens when he gets to northern crater with the black materia in-hand)
b) i think they really did want to give aerith a more meaningful goodbye, even if the rest of the party can't see it. she's made the ultimate sacrifice, and it allows the player to really understand the weight of what she's lost in allowing herself to perish to save the world
also it's not multiverses :) it's just other worlds existing in the lifestream shit, which is cool, and was mostly already clear in retrospect, i think gamer discourse jargon is destroying meaningful art discussion at times. once again, it's final fantasy baby!!
Qlq défauts évidents mais je suis passé outre tellement c'est extraordinaire vrmt un de mes jeux préférés de tt les temps, l'hommage de malade
This is probably gonna be one of my longer review since i have alot of mixed feelings on this game and its sad that i cant put this game any higher. I was waiting for this game as long as any other ff7 fan with high expectations, and i spent 100 dollars on this shit so this game leaving me with unsatisfactory rlly bothers me.
I want to start with the positives cuz dont get me wrong its not a BAD game by any means.
First, rebirth is one of the most visually beautiful games you will ever see, cutscenes, areas, land, characters all look better than it ever was compared to prior ff games and im glad to see how attractive the game looks, similar to OG, rebirth does a great job at getting comfortable and enjoying all the characters in the cast giving them individual dungeons, focus in the story and the constant back n forth between one half of a party to another allowing the player to have a chance to explore and play as each and every character. The combat is a big stepup from remake, with the addition of synergy attacks and vast combinations of abilities.
I am a little mixed(or confused)on the story but the one thing im satisfied the most is cloud and sephiroth as they have a huge stepup narratively compared to OG, i like how rebirth focuses more on the degration of a soldiers body and particularly how clouds psyche is affected+with sephiroth interference. Rebirth emphasizes on how powerful sephiroth is by manipulating clouds mind to doing things without a conscious such as when the visions he sees and his impact to attack other people such as when he attacks the sephiroth clones constantly or to the extent of attacking tifa, or he when he retrieves the black materia from aerith. rebirth rlly shows us how messed up and unreliable cloud truly is and that what looks like is going to be the main focus of next game has me hooked.
Now the positives of this game is unfortunately cut short as square enix still suffers from making an engaging open world game, mission layouts and pacing for when it comes to ff7. I never rlly had the love other ff fans when it comes to 7 and unfortunately its the same for rebirth as it continues to make this game feel like a chore, now to specifically what im complaining about is:
The open world, one of if not my biggest concern when starting this game was if square enix was able to create a fresh, unique and engaging open world that allows players to freely explore the unknown without some kid calling you every time you discover something or when you open up the map and dont see a whole checklist that makes up the exploration.
Oh well to no surprise im talking about rebirth, Now i full cleared the first three regions before i got absolutely bored of the other and half assed them and holy shit man this game did not change a SINGLE thing in each region, its the same thing every region, get chocobo,find towers, investigate summons,scan that crystal shit who even knows what that does, and do some battle challenges maybe a mini boss thats not rlly challenging and side quests which as per usual arent good. the open world is very limited and the only thing that is not marked on the map are chocobo stations but they are impossible to miss when a big ass chocobo is leading you to it.
this is like assassins creed type of open world, which are also not good, this was by far the biggest disappointment and it was sad that i didnt have the motivation to continue to explore the world by like chapter 8.
Another thing that bothered me is the unusual amount of mandatory mini games during the main chapters, there should never EVER be like 4-5 chapters where minigames take up majority of the chapter, like what type of bullshit was square enix on? Excluding the last 2 chapters, im sure there is more mandatory minigames than main bosses fought, and like 75% of the minigames werent even good and all the good ones were locked in late game where i was alrdy drained out and tired of rebirth.
Dont get me wrong i dont hate games that have 1 or 2 mandatory sections of minigames, i was even enjoying it in rebirth early in the game with minigames such as queens blood. But when u have filler chapters every other chapter it not only slows down the pacing but it makes the game (for me at least) disengaging, and its not like the dungeons are that good that it kept me going cuz even those were pretty boring and basic dungeons, the pure motivation to finish this game was cloud/sephiroth and the 100 dollars i potentially wasted.
I do wanna leave off a positive point of rebirth because i do think this game is more good than bad, as for example the last 2 chapters of this game was the first time i was like “i might’ve gotten my money worth” since it actually looked like square enix put effort and time intos the final dungeon and ofc the iconic scene and sephiroth boss fights. It sucks cuz the ending hooked me like the remake did and i know im gonna buy the next game, i jus hope that some of these problems are fixed/improved.
I do really want to like this game, i like the cast and the concept in ff7, and it sucks cuz probably im the only ff7 player who feels this way about this game because this is not the first time i have these mixed feelings about ff7, its every single ff7 game ;from og to crisis core to remake and now rebirth, where I enjoy the story but the gameplay keeps it from the score i want to put it at.
it’s unfortunate this game didnt live to the expectations not only i put on it but as well as square enix did and the only thing i can hope is it grows on me or the next game whenever it is, makes up for it but this time i should probably keep my expectations a bit lower.
I want to start with the positives cuz dont get me wrong its not a BAD game by any means.
First, rebirth is one of the most visually beautiful games you will ever see, cutscenes, areas, land, characters all look better than it ever was compared to prior ff games and im glad to see how attractive the game looks, similar to OG, rebirth does a great job at getting comfortable and enjoying all the characters in the cast giving them individual dungeons, focus in the story and the constant back n forth between one half of a party to another allowing the player to have a chance to explore and play as each and every character. The combat is a big stepup from remake, with the addition of synergy attacks and vast combinations of abilities.
I am a little mixed(or confused)on the story but the one thing im satisfied the most is cloud and sephiroth as they have a huge stepup narratively compared to OG, i like how rebirth focuses more on the degration of a soldiers body and particularly how clouds psyche is affected+with sephiroth interference. Rebirth emphasizes on how powerful sephiroth is by manipulating clouds mind to doing things without a conscious such as when the visions he sees and his impact to attack other people such as when he attacks the sephiroth clones constantly or to the extent of attacking tifa, or he when he retrieves the black materia from aerith. rebirth rlly shows us how messed up and unreliable cloud truly is and that what looks like is going to be the main focus of next game has me hooked.
Now the positives of this game is unfortunately cut short as square enix still suffers from making an engaging open world game, mission layouts and pacing for when it comes to ff7. I never rlly had the love other ff fans when it comes to 7 and unfortunately its the same for rebirth as it continues to make this game feel like a chore, now to specifically what im complaining about is:
The open world, one of if not my biggest concern when starting this game was if square enix was able to create a fresh, unique and engaging open world that allows players to freely explore the unknown without some kid calling you every time you discover something or when you open up the map and dont see a whole checklist that makes up the exploration.
Oh well to no surprise im talking about rebirth, Now i full cleared the first three regions before i got absolutely bored of the other and half assed them and holy shit man this game did not change a SINGLE thing in each region, its the same thing every region, get chocobo,find towers, investigate summons,scan that crystal shit who even knows what that does, and do some battle challenges maybe a mini boss thats not rlly challenging and side quests which as per usual arent good. the open world is very limited and the only thing that is not marked on the map are chocobo stations but they are impossible to miss when a big ass chocobo is leading you to it.
this is like assassins creed type of open world, which are also not good, this was by far the biggest disappointment and it was sad that i didnt have the motivation to continue to explore the world by like chapter 8.
Another thing that bothered me is the unusual amount of mandatory mini games during the main chapters, there should never EVER be like 4-5 chapters where minigames take up majority of the chapter, like what type of bullshit was square enix on? Excluding the last 2 chapters, im sure there is more mandatory minigames than main bosses fought, and like 75% of the minigames werent even good and all the good ones were locked in late game where i was alrdy drained out and tired of rebirth.
Dont get me wrong i dont hate games that have 1 or 2 mandatory sections of minigames, i was even enjoying it in rebirth early in the game with minigames such as queens blood. But when u have filler chapters every other chapter it not only slows down the pacing but it makes the game (for me at least) disengaging, and its not like the dungeons are that good that it kept me going cuz even those were pretty boring and basic dungeons, the pure motivation to finish this game was cloud/sephiroth and the 100 dollars i potentially wasted.
I do wanna leave off a positive point of rebirth because i do think this game is more good than bad, as for example the last 2 chapters of this game was the first time i was like “i might’ve gotten my money worth” since it actually looked like square enix put effort and time intos the final dungeon and ofc the iconic scene and sephiroth boss fights. It sucks cuz the ending hooked me like the remake did and i know im gonna buy the next game, i jus hope that some of these problems are fixed/improved.
I do really want to like this game, i like the cast and the concept in ff7, and it sucks cuz probably im the only ff7 player who feels this way about this game because this is not the first time i have these mixed feelings about ff7, its every single ff7 game ;from og to crisis core to remake and now rebirth, where I enjoy the story but the gameplay keeps it from the score i want to put it at.
it’s unfortunate this game didnt live to the expectations not only i put on it but as well as square enix did and the only thing i can hope is it grows on me or the next game whenever it is, makes up for it but this time i should probably keep my expectations a bit lower.
Now normally I would make a little preamble, going into history & whatnot but I don’t think I need to go in depth about what makes Final Fantasy VII so beloved. It’s one of the most critically acclaimed JRPGs ever made. It’s revolutionary in more ways than one & it’s a very important game in the genre for several reasons which I would just be repeating what everyone else has said about it.
Though I can talk about my own personal experience. I first played FFVII Remake back in 2020 & I found it be really enjoyable even if I did play it before the original game which I do not recommend since I see it as more of a pseudo sequel if anything. Two years later, I actually played FFVII for the first time & while I do find it to be a great game, I think it is a tad overrated by fans (I would honestly say I prefer FFIX personally) & then when I got my PS5, I decided to replay FFVII Remake & found myself appreciating it a lot more because of my experience with the original game. So many more moments just hit harder because of that prior knowledge that I now had & while Remake certainly had its flaws, I really really do love Final Fantasy VII Integrade, especially with the added on DLC called Intermission with Yuffie. So after three years, was Final Fantasy VII Rebirth worth waiting for? In short. Yeah. It absolutely was.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is everything that I wanted it to be & more. I find it really difficult to put my thoughts into words for this game. It took everything that I loved about Remake & improved on that & the things that I didn’t really like as well. If you’re wondering if you can play this before the others, yeah no do not do that. There is a recap of the events of Remake but I would highly advise playing it first if not the original as well as was stated before to get the most out of Rebirth as a whole. I do not recommend starting with this one so please for your own sake play the other games that came prior.
So let’s talk about that story shall we? The narrative is excellent. It very closely follows the original much like Remake did for the Midgar portion of the story with some minor tweaks here & there. A lot of people found the pacing in Remake to have been a issue (mainly because it was a six hour section in the original game stretched out to 25-30 hours) though I will say I enjoyed how Remake expanded on Midgar even if I will agree it did drag on a little too much. However with that being said, the pacing for Rebirth is immaculate. It never felt too slow or too fast, to me it was just right mostly. Though I will admit there were some sections that I found to be a little worse than others, there was never a moment in the story where I felt it dragged on too much. I felt a lot of emotions throughout this game & seeing moments from the original felt so much more impactful because of the incredible performances of the cast.
Oh & the main cast for this game, I love them. All of them. Cloud, Tifa, Barrett & Aerith are still fantastic but I have to give a special shout-out to Red XII, Yuffie & Cait Sith also who have so much more personality to them now mainly thanks to their stellar performances & are implemented into the game so wonderfully with their story arcs. Especially Yuffie who was optional in the original game but this time I found that her inclusion felt so much more natural & I really enjoyed the dynamic she had with the rest of the party to the point she’s one of my favourite FF characters now. Cait Sith I didn’t care too much for in the original game but Rebirth made me love the silly little cat & I found him to be so charming & a lot of fun. And Red XII who was already one of my favourite party members is now even more endearing thanks to this game. It really is impressive how not a single character of this cast I dislike, they are all so loveable & full of life now & that makes me very happy.
Away from the main story though, each region on the map is expansive & filled with so much to do. I was actually impressed with just how massive each of them were & the amount of content that was packed into each area made it feel like one of the most rewarding open worlds I’ve ever experienced in a JRPG. And just comparing them to the original, seeing locations with so much detail like Junon, Cosmo Canyon & Nibelheim gave me so much serotonin it can’t even be described. Oh & there are SO many mini games. My personal favourite being the new card game Queen’s Blood which I would be fully on board with Square making it into a full game because it was just that addicting & I swear anytime I got the chance to play it, I always made sure to search for new players in towns & cities.
Also this game is absolutely gorgeous. And what’s even more impressive to me is even with how big these areas are, I saw absolutely no pop in whatsoever. That is truly incredible for a game of this magnitude (really putting that massive 145GB file size to good use Square Enix) the attention to detail is just immaculate & it’s one of the most beautiful games I’ve ever played on the PS5.
The combat in this game is once again incredible. It’s pretty similar to Remake but with a number of quality of life improvements & gameplay tweaks which make it a lot more fun. You have synergy skills now where you & another party member can pull off a special team move whether it’s a power attack or a buff to increase your ATB gauges. Each character has their own defining gameplay style & it definitely is good to experiment with different team combinations so you can play to their strengths & weaknesses. Other than that though there’s not a whole lot new but as they say “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” & I think this is one of my favourite battle systems when it comes to combining strategy & action combat.
And of course I have to mention the soundtrack for this game cause it is once again absolutely fantastic. Misuto Suzuki & Masahashi Hamazu knock it out the park once again with their score & I loved hearing tracks from the original game with a much more modern feel to them, it truly put a huge smile on my face. I also really loved how each region of the map had its own unique battle theme, I don’t know things like that are just really fun to me & it makes the world feel so much more alive as I said.
Honestly FFVII Rebirth really is special. I didn’t think for one second this game would be anything short of amazing & yet it still managed to surpass all of my expectations. Even if I do have my issues in places, I can’t deny for one second that I wasn’t having a good time with Rebirth for a majority of my 60+ hour playtime.
I’m very much looking forward to seeing what they cook up for part 3 in this trilogy because I feel like after this game, we’re gonna be in for an absolute rollercoaster. And I’m gonna be on board for it all the way to the finish. Play FFVII. It’s well worth your time.
Final score: 9/10
Though I can talk about my own personal experience. I first played FFVII Remake back in 2020 & I found it be really enjoyable even if I did play it before the original game which I do not recommend since I see it as more of a pseudo sequel if anything. Two years later, I actually played FFVII for the first time & while I do find it to be a great game, I think it is a tad overrated by fans (I would honestly say I prefer FFIX personally) & then when I got my PS5, I decided to replay FFVII Remake & found myself appreciating it a lot more because of my experience with the original game. So many more moments just hit harder because of that prior knowledge that I now had & while Remake certainly had its flaws, I really really do love Final Fantasy VII Integrade, especially with the added on DLC called Intermission with Yuffie. So after three years, was Final Fantasy VII Rebirth worth waiting for? In short. Yeah. It absolutely was.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is everything that I wanted it to be & more. I find it really difficult to put my thoughts into words for this game. It took everything that I loved about Remake & improved on that & the things that I didn’t really like as well. If you’re wondering if you can play this before the others, yeah no do not do that. There is a recap of the events of Remake but I would highly advise playing it first if not the original as well as was stated before to get the most out of Rebirth as a whole. I do not recommend starting with this one so please for your own sake play the other games that came prior.
So let’s talk about that story shall we? The narrative is excellent. It very closely follows the original much like Remake did for the Midgar portion of the story with some minor tweaks here & there. A lot of people found the pacing in Remake to have been a issue (mainly because it was a six hour section in the original game stretched out to 25-30 hours) though I will say I enjoyed how Remake expanded on Midgar even if I will agree it did drag on a little too much. However with that being said, the pacing for Rebirth is immaculate. It never felt too slow or too fast, to me it was just right mostly. Though I will admit there were some sections that I found to be a little worse than others, there was never a moment in the story where I felt it dragged on too much. I felt a lot of emotions throughout this game & seeing moments from the original felt so much more impactful because of the incredible performances of the cast.
Oh & the main cast for this game, I love them. All of them. Cloud, Tifa, Barrett & Aerith are still fantastic but I have to give a special shout-out to Red XII, Yuffie & Cait Sith also who have so much more personality to them now mainly thanks to their stellar performances & are implemented into the game so wonderfully with their story arcs. Especially Yuffie who was optional in the original game but this time I found that her inclusion felt so much more natural & I really enjoyed the dynamic she had with the rest of the party to the point she’s one of my favourite FF characters now. Cait Sith I didn’t care too much for in the original game but Rebirth made me love the silly little cat & I found him to be so charming & a lot of fun. And Red XII who was already one of my favourite party members is now even more endearing thanks to this game. It really is impressive how not a single character of this cast I dislike, they are all so loveable & full of life now & that makes me very happy.
Away from the main story though, each region on the map is expansive & filled with so much to do. I was actually impressed with just how massive each of them were & the amount of content that was packed into each area made it feel like one of the most rewarding open worlds I’ve ever experienced in a JRPG. And just comparing them to the original, seeing locations with so much detail like Junon, Cosmo Canyon & Nibelheim gave me so much serotonin it can’t even be described. Oh & there are SO many mini games. My personal favourite being the new card game Queen’s Blood which I would be fully on board with Square making it into a full game because it was just that addicting & I swear anytime I got the chance to play it, I always made sure to search for new players in towns & cities.
Also this game is absolutely gorgeous. And what’s even more impressive to me is even with how big these areas are, I saw absolutely no pop in whatsoever. That is truly incredible for a game of this magnitude (really putting that massive 145GB file size to good use Square Enix) the attention to detail is just immaculate & it’s one of the most beautiful games I’ve ever played on the PS5.
The combat in this game is once again incredible. It’s pretty similar to Remake but with a number of quality of life improvements & gameplay tweaks which make it a lot more fun. You have synergy skills now where you & another party member can pull off a special team move whether it’s a power attack or a buff to increase your ATB gauges. Each character has their own defining gameplay style & it definitely is good to experiment with different team combinations so you can play to their strengths & weaknesses. Other than that though there’s not a whole lot new but as they say “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” & I think this is one of my favourite battle systems when it comes to combining strategy & action combat.
And of course I have to mention the soundtrack for this game cause it is once again absolutely fantastic. Misuto Suzuki & Masahashi Hamazu knock it out the park once again with their score & I loved hearing tracks from the original game with a much more modern feel to them, it truly put a huge smile on my face. I also really loved how each region of the map had its own unique battle theme, I don’t know things like that are just really fun to me & it makes the world feel so much more alive as I said.
Honestly FFVII Rebirth really is special. I didn’t think for one second this game would be anything short of amazing & yet it still managed to surpass all of my expectations. Even if I do have my issues in places, I can’t deny for one second that I wasn’t having a good time with Rebirth for a majority of my 60+ hour playtime.
I’m very much looking forward to seeing what they cook up for part 3 in this trilogy because I feel like after this game, we’re gonna be in for an absolute rollercoaster. And I’m gonna be on board for it all the way to the finish. Play FFVII. It’s well worth your time.
Final score: 9/10
I am in minigame hell… wait… on second thought, this twink is kinda badass and the dog is kinda like Scooby Doo actually
I am a total slut for queen's blood
Cloud gets flirted with by men and women for 50 hours and can’t take the hint.
Nenhuma promessa nos aguarda
this game could learn a thing or two from genshin impact about how to design an open world, and a few things from honkai star rail on how to make good graphics.
at least the music is serviceable i guess.
at least the music is serviceable i guess.
This review contains spoilers
"Wait, how are they supposed to call Part 3 Reunion if they already used that on the Crisis Core Remaster-"
At the core of this game, or should I say most of it, is a game that is leaps and bounds ahead of FF7 Remake in almost every way. I'll go into detail about that other stuff later but holy fuck this game is a fucking MIRACLE to play. The game looks and sounds mind-blowing with an easy Best Score and Music-winning soundtrack. Even though some of it is reused from Remake, the many MANY new tracks all sound amazing. It's also, like I said, graphically mind-blowing. Some of the shit that happens in this game is a technical achievement that 90% of other games would kill to get.
But it's not just the aesthetics, the game's combat is also noticeably improved from Remake. Instead of adding so many new major mechanics on top of Remake's system which would bloat the combat, instead it's mostly done through the new Synergy Skills, the new party members, and a bunch of little changes that fit so naturally into the combat style of Remake, that I bet that game is going to have the Breath of the Wild effect of "how did I ever play it like this" come in. Also for what it's worth I actually quite like how fun this game is compared to remake. There's a mission where you help a dog and then the song goes "Bow wow wow Bow wow wow" even while you fight enemies. It's a good year for doggies in JRPGs. And Queensblood is actually very addicting and I had to stop myself at a certain point so I could continue the narrative.
So, this game seems like the best Square Enix game since NieR Automata. So... why is it ranked LOWER than Remake for me? Well, there are two problems I have related to major parts of the game that I have some issues with. First, the open world. Yes, I love a bunch of the side quests I did do, but a lot of other aspects of this world feel very Ubisoft-y. Unlike most games with open-world elements, I just stopped exploring the world after a while. Even though they give you some incentive to explore it, it just wasn't all that fun and part of me wishes that they handled it a little differently. Because I had issues with the world design of FFXVI last year as well.
And speaking of FFXVI, one of my biggest complaints there was with how blah the story is. Well, I am pleased to report that FFVII Rebirth is actually incredibly strong in the story department. Sure they do have some pacing issues, and sure Cait Sith is one of the most annoying characters I've had the displeasure of experiencing in a while, but for the most part the cast's interactions, the narrative twists, and the emotional beats all hit leading to an incredibly satisfying narrative experience.
And then the game ends. Holy FUCK. I read early reviews criticizing the ending for going completely off the rails, and I had NO CLUE it would be this bad. It leaves an insanely bad taste in my mouth, which sucks because this is an otherwise incredible game. It's one thing if Fire Emblem Engage's ending is bad because the whole story is bad. But when you have a story and an experience as amazing as Rebirth and then hit us with Multiverse bullshit and an awkward retooling of Aerith's death, and Cloud going even more coo-coo than in the original, and I just wasn't a huge fan of it at all.
Even after over 30 hours of some of the best Final Fantasy gameplay I've ever played, this one fucking ending (along with the problems I have with the pacing) makes me look at this game a lot less fondly than Remake. When that ended, I was confused, sure, but I was overall intrigued to see where they take this. Now, I just have no clue how they're possibly going to stick the landing. It's mostly dependent on how Part 3 is done, but man this is so fucking awkward now.
However, it is still a great game because bow wow wow bow wow wow.
At the core of this game, or should I say most of it, is a game that is leaps and bounds ahead of FF7 Remake in almost every way. I'll go into detail about that other stuff later but holy fuck this game is a fucking MIRACLE to play. The game looks and sounds mind-blowing with an easy Best Score and Music-winning soundtrack. Even though some of it is reused from Remake, the many MANY new tracks all sound amazing. It's also, like I said, graphically mind-blowing. Some of the shit that happens in this game is a technical achievement that 90% of other games would kill to get.
But it's not just the aesthetics, the game's combat is also noticeably improved from Remake. Instead of adding so many new major mechanics on top of Remake's system which would bloat the combat, instead it's mostly done through the new Synergy Skills, the new party members, and a bunch of little changes that fit so naturally into the combat style of Remake, that I bet that game is going to have the Breath of the Wild effect of "how did I ever play it like this" come in. Also for what it's worth I actually quite like how fun this game is compared to remake. There's a mission where you help a dog and then the song goes "Bow wow wow Bow wow wow" even while you fight enemies. It's a good year for doggies in JRPGs. And Queensblood is actually very addicting and I had to stop myself at a certain point so I could continue the narrative.
So, this game seems like the best Square Enix game since NieR Automata. So... why is it ranked LOWER than Remake for me? Well, there are two problems I have related to major parts of the game that I have some issues with. First, the open world. Yes, I love a bunch of the side quests I did do, but a lot of other aspects of this world feel very Ubisoft-y. Unlike most games with open-world elements, I just stopped exploring the world after a while. Even though they give you some incentive to explore it, it just wasn't all that fun and part of me wishes that they handled it a little differently. Because I had issues with the world design of FFXVI last year as well.
And speaking of FFXVI, one of my biggest complaints there was with how blah the story is. Well, I am pleased to report that FFVII Rebirth is actually incredibly strong in the story department. Sure they do have some pacing issues, and sure Cait Sith is one of the most annoying characters I've had the displeasure of experiencing in a while, but for the most part the cast's interactions, the narrative twists, and the emotional beats all hit leading to an incredibly satisfying narrative experience.
And then the game ends. Holy FUCK. I read early reviews criticizing the ending for going completely off the rails, and I had NO CLUE it would be this bad. It leaves an insanely bad taste in my mouth, which sucks because this is an otherwise incredible game. It's one thing if Fire Emblem Engage's ending is bad because the whole story is bad. But when you have a story and an experience as amazing as Rebirth and then hit us with Multiverse bullshit and an awkward retooling of Aerith's death, and Cloud going even more coo-coo than in the original, and I just wasn't a huge fan of it at all.
Even after over 30 hours of some of the best Final Fantasy gameplay I've ever played, this one fucking ending (along with the problems I have with the pacing) makes me look at this game a lot less fondly than Remake. When that ended, I was confused, sure, but I was overall intrigued to see where they take this. Now, I just have no clue how they're possibly going to stick the landing. It's mostly dependent on how Part 3 is done, but man this is so fucking awkward now.
However, it is still a great game because bow wow wow bow wow wow.
Great game overall. I hope they cut down on some of the minigames in the next installment.
I'm at an absolute lost for words in regards to my experience with Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth. I thought Remake was phenomenal, Intermission was even better, and then, somehow, someway.... Rebirth ended up being in a league of it's own. From the story, to the gameplay, there was never a moment where I didn't have a smile on my face seeing how it unfolded.
What a wonderful gem. I only wish I had the time to sink 200+ hours into it.
What a wonderful gem. I only wish I had the time to sink 200+ hours into it.
i spent more time on this one-third of final fantasy 7 than i did on final fantasy 7 and two-thirds of that one-third were just the final boss
why is this one of the best looking games of all time wtf
Absolute masterpiece but what’s up with all the one shot boss attacks? Hm?
5.5/10
An improvement on Remake in most ways bar its needlessly convoluted, mostly unexplained plot and its extraordinarily bloated finale
Need a PHD to comprehend the ending
both the remake and rebirth have so many issues but god when they get good, they’re literally the most fun gaming experiences I’ll ever have. This game knocked it out of the ballpark with how much detail everything has now from the original and while I love reliving a lot of these fun moments from my literal favorite game, the reason why I’d give it an 8 is mostly because they’re games I’d say that compliment the original, not replace it and I feel like the themes of the original game don’t really matter as much since the story of the remake series of games is going for something new, not something I’m totally against but it’s personally why I can’t put them above the original game. But god, I haven’t loved an experience with a game this much in a while and I gotta commend square that. Phenomenal game and probably the only reason to get a PS5.
EDIT NVM IM GIVING IT A 9 IT WAS SO MUCH FUN
EDIT NVM IM GIVING IT A 9 IT WAS SO MUCH FUN
Please use this elevator. Hold up, push this slow ass cart to vacuum up all the mako before you can access it. Exit this cave. Hold up, move this slow ass cart that's blocking the exit. Reach this ledge. Hold up, the ladder is broken, so you'll have to push this slow ass cart all the way there to use as a platform. Hold up, the path is blocked, so have Barret shoot at this boulder for several seconds so that you can continue pushing your slow ass cart. Great job, now it's time run across an empty field to go activate your 6th Ubisoft tower.
There's no limits to the glaze review edition:
Absolutely incredible. I knew it was gonna be the greatest Final Fantasy to my eyes and be up there with my favorite game but man it truly was and even exceeded my high expectations.
Og FFVII to my eyes is the pinnacle of the frnachise and I feel the same way about this one. Truly feels like all the entries in the end led to this one and experiencing filled me with pure glee.
It's mind melting to see how they reimagined and expanded on things from the og to this. It was crazy in remake but this man was a whole another level. The world is incredible and every region is distinct and massive in scale, none of it felt exhausting. The story is great too, its really character focused and they're all just great and a joy to journey alongside with. The whole story had me on my toes and they did the suspense aspect insanely well. All the emotional parts were on point, the main quest design was an upgrade from remake and has less dragging parts (There are like 2 but not r that bad imo) The world is charming too the whole game just felt like a dream man I was constantly going "This game is not real." Exploration so good it made me say welcome back xenoblade chronicles 3: Future Redeemed.
The gameplay too a real creamer, just fixed my issues with remake's and its incredible, so much fun and I r liked that in the story missions they make you get a good feel for all the characters. I usually don't take parts where the party is divided too kindly but how the game executed is very fucking good. Boss fights were always a high fukin point w remake and rebirth is no exception this is real gaming. Minigames are fun too.
Soundtrack is WILD perfect mix of remixes and new tracks just like remake only issue is that it gets overbearing and the audio mixing isnt not on point. Tweaking w the settings does make it better. Questing I feel like is worse than remake because the materia segment is like the 2nd thing for some reason so its annoying just cos of that. Regardless the quality of this game is just unreal I creamed and cried at the end, Side quests are r solid too.
Just yeah this game isnt even like my dream FF game just better than that its insane. Truly a once in a lifetime experience and part 3 has an insane responsibility to follow up with this one but I have the same complete faith I had with rebirth. One of SE's finest (also funniest) titles to date. Game of the life.
Absolutely incredible. I knew it was gonna be the greatest Final Fantasy to my eyes and be up there with my favorite game but man it truly was and even exceeded my high expectations.
Og FFVII to my eyes is the pinnacle of the frnachise and I feel the same way about this one. Truly feels like all the entries in the end led to this one and experiencing filled me with pure glee.
It's mind melting to see how they reimagined and expanded on things from the og to this. It was crazy in remake but this man was a whole another level. The world is incredible and every region is distinct and massive in scale, none of it felt exhausting. The story is great too, its really character focused and they're all just great and a joy to journey alongside with. The whole story had me on my toes and they did the suspense aspect insanely well. All the emotional parts were on point, the main quest design was an upgrade from remake and has less dragging parts (There are like 2 but not r that bad imo) The world is charming too the whole game just felt like a dream man I was constantly going "This game is not real." Exploration so good it made me say welcome back xenoblade chronicles 3: Future Redeemed.
The gameplay too a real creamer, just fixed my issues with remake's and its incredible, so much fun and I r liked that in the story missions they make you get a good feel for all the characters. I usually don't take parts where the party is divided too kindly but how the game executed is very fucking good. Boss fights were always a high fukin point w remake and rebirth is no exception this is real gaming. Minigames are fun too.
Soundtrack is WILD perfect mix of remixes and new tracks just like remake only issue is that it gets overbearing and the audio mixing isnt not on point. Tweaking w the settings does make it better. Questing I feel like is worse than remake because the materia segment is like the 2nd thing for some reason so its annoying just cos of that. Regardless the quality of this game is just unreal I creamed and cried at the end, Side quests are r solid too.
Just yeah this game isnt even like my dream FF game just better than that its insane. Truly a once in a lifetime experience and part 3 has an insane responsibility to follow up with this one but I have the same complete faith I had with rebirth. One of SE's finest (also funniest) titles to date. Game of the life.
This review contains spoilers
The game I played had four expectations that I was eagerly anticipating. Firstly, I wanted to experience a sense of adventure with the party and explore each new location outside of midgar. Secondly, I wanted to relive some of my favourite moments from the original game. Thirdly, I wanted to witness an expansion of the characters and their individual story arcs. Lastly, I wanted to examine the changes made in the last game.
The game surpassed my expectations with an incredible adaptation of Nibelheim that left me in awe. Subsequently, the game opened up to an overwhelming, yet exhilarating open-world environment. The various locations the game offered were stunning and fulfilled my desire to see the characters interact with each other. I was particularly curious about how Yuffie would fit into the group dynamics, and I was pleasantly surprised with her sweet and charming relationship with Barret and Aerith. Likewise, Nanaki's introduction as the newest member of the crew and his interactions with the entire crew leading to the reveal of his real voice was both hilarious and endearing. Kappei Yamaguchi's voice fit his character perfectly, and Johnny's antics in Costa del Sol were hilarious.
The game did an excellent job in recreating some of my favourite moments from the original game, such as the Seto reveal, which brought me to tears. However, I wish that the scene had more time to breathe. The Aerith scene at the end was also puzzling as it went straight into a boss battle without giving the audience ample time to process the emotional weight of the moment. Other than these two scenes, the game elevated every scene it adapted and transformed it into something far greater.
I had a fear that with such a large party, some characters could feel neglected, underdeveloped, or underexplored. However, the game proved me wrong as each main member of the party received more than enough screen time to shine.
The twist involving Zack at the end of the last game left me with an insatiable curiosity about his role in these games. This change was a significant departure from the original continuity, and I was not disappointed. Instead, I eagerly waited for more scenes featuring Zack throughout the game. The game slowly expanded on his role, which was incredible. Bringing back Zack was a risky move that could have potentially undermined his amazing ending in Crisis Core. However, the game managed to build upon those ideas and elevate Zack for me, increasing the sense of tension and excitement.
The game did far more than just meet my expectations. It redefined how storytelling in video games can be approached, at least for me. The game's visuals were stunning, managing to surpass its predecessor. The spectacle was jaw-dropping and even hilarious at times. The new mini-games were mind-blowing, especially as someone who is usually not into them.
The game expanded on several locations in interesting ways, such as Junon, which was once independent, and putting a face to one of the cloaked men, which was haunting and gave more credibility to Cloud's anxiety that he could become one of them.
In my opinion, the two standout characters of this game are Tifa and Aerith. Tifa's role in the game has been expanded, and her character is depicted as having a complex relationship with Cloud. The tension between them arises from their mutual distrust of each other, which stems from the mismatch of their memories and the influence of Sephiroth on Cloud. Despite this, their interactions are engaging and thought-provoking, culminating in a moment that definitely left an impact on me.
Aerith, on the other hand, continues her role from the previous game, and her performance is nothing short of amazing. Her scenes in Midgar are both charming and sorrowful, showcasing her multifaceted personality. She adds a sense of hope to the game while also evoking feelings of sadness and loss. All in all, both Tifa and Aerith are indispensable to the game's narrative.
The game surpassed my expectations with an incredible adaptation of Nibelheim that left me in awe. Subsequently, the game opened up to an overwhelming, yet exhilarating open-world environment. The various locations the game offered were stunning and fulfilled my desire to see the characters interact with each other. I was particularly curious about how Yuffie would fit into the group dynamics, and I was pleasantly surprised with her sweet and charming relationship with Barret and Aerith. Likewise, Nanaki's introduction as the newest member of the crew and his interactions with the entire crew leading to the reveal of his real voice was both hilarious and endearing. Kappei Yamaguchi's voice fit his character perfectly, and Johnny's antics in Costa del Sol were hilarious.
The game did an excellent job in recreating some of my favourite moments from the original game, such as the Seto reveal, which brought me to tears. However, I wish that the scene had more time to breathe. The Aerith scene at the end was also puzzling as it went straight into a boss battle without giving the audience ample time to process the emotional weight of the moment. Other than these two scenes, the game elevated every scene it adapted and transformed it into something far greater.
I had a fear that with such a large party, some characters could feel neglected, underdeveloped, or underexplored. However, the game proved me wrong as each main member of the party received more than enough screen time to shine.
The twist involving Zack at the end of the last game left me with an insatiable curiosity about his role in these games. This change was a significant departure from the original continuity, and I was not disappointed. Instead, I eagerly waited for more scenes featuring Zack throughout the game. The game slowly expanded on his role, which was incredible. Bringing back Zack was a risky move that could have potentially undermined his amazing ending in Crisis Core. However, the game managed to build upon those ideas and elevate Zack for me, increasing the sense of tension and excitement.
The game did far more than just meet my expectations. It redefined how storytelling in video games can be approached, at least for me. The game's visuals were stunning, managing to surpass its predecessor. The spectacle was jaw-dropping and even hilarious at times. The new mini-games were mind-blowing, especially as someone who is usually not into them.
The game expanded on several locations in interesting ways, such as Junon, which was once independent, and putting a face to one of the cloaked men, which was haunting and gave more credibility to Cloud's anxiety that he could become one of them.
In my opinion, the two standout characters of this game are Tifa and Aerith. Tifa's role in the game has been expanded, and her character is depicted as having a complex relationship with Cloud. The tension between them arises from their mutual distrust of each other, which stems from the mismatch of their memories and the influence of Sephiroth on Cloud. Despite this, their interactions are engaging and thought-provoking, culminating in a moment that definitely left an impact on me.
Aerith, on the other hand, continues her role from the previous game, and her performance is nothing short of amazing. Her scenes in Midgar are both charming and sorrowful, showcasing her multifaceted personality. She adds a sense of hope to the game while also evoking feelings of sadness and loss. All in all, both Tifa and Aerith are indispensable to the game's narrative.
I will never forgive Sony for Sony-ifying FF7
I will never forgive myself for having tons of fun with it
GooeyScale: 9/10
I will never forgive myself for having tons of fun with it
GooeyScale: 9/10
Oh my fucking god
I am dead and Square Enix killed me.
I might have a new favorite game of all time.
I might have a new favorite game of all time.