So much to unpack, it's impossible to give this a proper breakdown. Especially with an emotionally complicated ending that's bound to stir discourse like Remake did, with the scale of this ambitious three-part project either failing or succeeding being the highest it's ever been, yet I don't think I could have it any other way. While I don't believe Final Fantasy VII Rebirth proves this trilogy succeeds as a self-contained narrative for newcomers to fully enjoy alongside the old, I think this does a remarkable job of pulling interest in a way I rarely see games do anymore for me.
Now, I don't care for remakes the same way I don't normally care for many adaptations. Because ultimately, no matter how well-made they are in their own right, they are unnecessary so long as the original exists in some capacity. I recognize remakes, remasters, and revivals have, especially in recent years, become an industry of themselves. So, it's all just a matter of personal preference here, and personally I prefer having new experiences than reliving old ones that's often repackaged at current MSRP. I've also seen a lot of the arguments in favor of remakes; that they're necessary to gauge consumer interest in reviving a dormant franchise, they're a compromise for the original's lack of availability, or that it's an opportunity to take a broken concept and do it proper justice -- I don't buy into much of these. I find it more worthwhile to spend creative talent and labor on a direct sequel (or spiritual one) than waste it on retreading old ground. One-to-one remakes don't interest me whatsoever because I see missed opportunities. I understand availability being an issue, but that lands more on companies making excuses for not porting the original to modern platforms. While I believe there are games that fall into the camp of "needs a remake because this just didn't work at all based on the circumstances it was developed within" (Epic Mickey is a golden example here, but I'll save that for another time), too often I find the ones pushed for one feel like whitewashing the past for little gain. Also, I emulateand pirate when necessary because have you seen the economy we live in nowadays so remakes mean nothing to me.
Final Fantasy VII Remake changed that. I still hold the opinion that it's flawed in design, not helped at all by what Rebirth massively improved in direct comparison, but I respect the ambition Squeenix aimed at pushing the boundaries of what a remake can accomplish. This wasn't made to correct or overwrite the original Final Fantasy VII and the statement it proudly made in 1997, one that stood the test of time like a monolith. No, it was made to re-examine the impact of its characters, setting, story and ideas left on the medium. To peel back decades of cultural osmosis, which ironically speaking, clouded everyone's memories and perception about what the game is. But this was simply the promise Remake's controversial ending made for the sequel to test. To see if this three-part project, as a completed whole, can not necessarily "surpass" the original, but stand beside it as though it's the missing other half we never knew we needed.
Rebirth doesn't even come close to outclassing the original, if we'rereally going there, but it eclipses Remake in how it complements yet alternates. While Remake was reimagining the opening 5 hours of a 60-hour-long game into a 10-hour-long game that for some reason got ballooned to at least 30 hours, it was very restrictive in its design and had to work within limitations. This lends to some opportunities in fleshing out Midgar to unreal (engine) possibilities, including the crux of the plot that'll get rolling, but you can see the cracks in how difficult this was to make into its own full-fledged game. The side quests are frankly terrible and don't even do an interesting job fleshing out Midgar. The attempt at a semi-open world Midgar really doesn't work when it's limited to just a few hub areas that's laid out linearly to progress. It's a good proof of concept for things like the core gameplay and combat, but it leaves so much needed room to breathe. I was surprised how much Rebirth took my major criticisms with Remake seriously and flipped it around. Due to it covering the middle stretch of the original, where the overworld opened up, and the plot takes the characters through so many locations, this is a very side content driven game. I have no problem with this! It's a remarkable achievement in how they took a PS1 overworld map and reimagined it in high graphical fidelity that feels like it geographically makes sense! The gang defeated the manifestation of destiny itself, and now they’re free on this unknown journey that’ll take them to who knows where, other than reliving trauma, burdens, unresolved memories, and minigames galore where they can goof off. It was a no-brainer, but still a clever choice to use a Xenoblade approach when reimagining FFVII’s overworld to follow an open-world format. Almost every major location has been expanded into its own open-world map, with 8th Gen towers and side content to fill it up. I’d have a problem sticking with… less than ideal open-world tropes, but Rebirth makes it mostly work exceedingly well. Some maps, I think, are strangely reimagined to become a large pool for exploration and content grinding, but this is mainly by comparison to other maps in the game that I think are handled perfectly. The combat is fantastically done, thanks to having a larger cast to experiment with, finally proving itself to be an excellent compromise between real-time action gameplay and the strategic ATB turn-based combat from the original.
What really brings everything together as my certified GOTY, and a personal favorite, is the focus on the characters. It’s not just main story stuff, though the ones who get spotlighted throughout are elevated and faithfully to the spirit of their characterization from the original, but even small stuff like exploring environments and having party banter, or taking surprising charge in a random side quest that develops Cloud’s relationship with everyone and why they’ll stick together to the end. Final Fantasy VII isn’t really my favorite entry in the franchise, it’s still close up there as a runner-up but not number one, but Rebirth spends so much time reminding me how at one point it really still could’ve. The thing it undeniably proved to me, however, was this is still hands down the most well-rounded Final Fantasy party. Anyone who I wasn’t super strong on before has now risen in the character rankings thanks to what Rebirth achieved. I can’t really speak more on the ending other than I know for sure it’s causing discourse, but minor spoiler territory gripes aside, it made me incredibly excited about how Part 3 is going to pay off everything Kitase, Nomura, Nojima, and Hamaguchi have been cooking. It’s going to either be a beautifully reflective counterpart to the original FFVII that makes its own powerful statement to shake the medium, or it’s going to completely collapse and fail in honoring its legacy. No video game has made me this conflicted on which way it’ll go, and I adore not knowing what unknown fate is ahead here.
Now, I don't care for remakes the same way I don't normally care for many adaptations. Because ultimately, no matter how well-made they are in their own right, they are unnecessary so long as the original exists in some capacity. I recognize remakes, remasters, and revivals have, especially in recent years, become an industry of themselves. So, it's all just a matter of personal preference here, and personally I prefer having new experiences than reliving old ones that's often repackaged at current MSRP. I've also seen a lot of the arguments in favor of remakes; that they're necessary to gauge consumer interest in reviving a dormant franchise, they're a compromise for the original's lack of availability, or that it's an opportunity to take a broken concept and do it proper justice -- I don't buy into much of these. I find it more worthwhile to spend creative talent and labor on a direct sequel (or spiritual one) than waste it on retreading old ground. One-to-one remakes don't interest me whatsoever because I see missed opportunities. I understand availability being an issue, but that lands more on companies making excuses for not porting the original to modern platforms. While I believe there are games that fall into the camp of "needs a remake because this just didn't work at all based on the circumstances it was developed within" (Epic Mickey is a golden example here, but I'll save that for another time), too often I find the ones pushed for one feel like whitewashing the past for little gain. Also, I emulate
Final Fantasy VII Remake changed that. I still hold the opinion that it's flawed in design, not helped at all by what Rebirth massively improved in direct comparison, but I respect the ambition Squeenix aimed at pushing the boundaries of what a remake can accomplish. This wasn't made to correct or overwrite the original Final Fantasy VII and the statement it proudly made in 1997, one that stood the test of time like a monolith. No, it was made to re-examine the impact of its characters, setting, story and ideas left on the medium. To peel back decades of cultural osmosis, which ironically speaking, clouded everyone's memories and perception about what the game is. But this was simply the promise Remake's controversial ending made for the sequel to test. To see if this three-part project, as a completed whole, can not necessarily "surpass" the original, but stand beside it as though it's the missing other half we never knew we needed.
Rebirth doesn't even come close to outclassing the original, if we'rereally going there, but it eclipses Remake in how it complements yet alternates. While Remake was reimagining the opening 5 hours of a 60-hour-long game into a 10-hour-long game that for some reason got ballooned to at least 30 hours, it was very restrictive in its design and had to work within limitations. This lends to some opportunities in fleshing out Midgar to unreal (engine) possibilities, including the crux of the plot that'll get rolling, but you can see the cracks in how difficult this was to make into its own full-fledged game. The side quests are frankly terrible and don't even do an interesting job fleshing out Midgar. The attempt at a semi-open world Midgar really doesn't work when it's limited to just a few hub areas that's laid out linearly to progress. It's a good proof of concept for things like the core gameplay and combat, but it leaves so much needed room to breathe. I was surprised how much Rebirth took my major criticisms with Remake seriously and flipped it around. Due to it covering the middle stretch of the original, where the overworld opened up, and the plot takes the characters through so many locations, this is a very side content driven game. I have no problem with this! It's a remarkable achievement in how they took a PS1 overworld map and reimagined it in high graphical fidelity that feels like it geographically makes sense! The gang defeated the manifestation of destiny itself, and now they’re free on this unknown journey that’ll take them to who knows where, other than reliving trauma, burdens, unresolved memories, and minigames galore where they can goof off. It was a no-brainer, but still a clever choice to use a Xenoblade approach when reimagining FFVII’s overworld to follow an open-world format. Almost every major location has been expanded into its own open-world map, with 8th Gen towers and side content to fill it up. I’d have a problem sticking with… less than ideal open-world tropes, but Rebirth makes it mostly work exceedingly well. Some maps, I think, are strangely reimagined to become a large pool for exploration and content grinding, but this is mainly by comparison to other maps in the game that I think are handled perfectly. The combat is fantastically done, thanks to having a larger cast to experiment with, finally proving itself to be an excellent compromise between real-time action gameplay and the strategic ATB turn-based combat from the original.
What really brings everything together as my certified GOTY, and a personal favorite, is the focus on the characters. It’s not just main story stuff, though the ones who get spotlighted throughout are elevated and faithfully to the spirit of their characterization from the original, but even small stuff like exploring environments and having party banter, or taking surprising charge in a random side quest that develops Cloud’s relationship with everyone and why they’ll stick together to the end. Final Fantasy VII isn’t really my favorite entry in the franchise, it’s still close up there as a runner-up but not number one, but Rebirth spends so much time reminding me how at one point it really still could’ve. The thing it undeniably proved to me, however, was this is still hands down the most well-rounded Final Fantasy party. Anyone who I wasn’t super strong on before has now risen in the character rankings thanks to what Rebirth achieved. I can’t really speak more on the ending other than I know for sure it’s causing discourse, but minor spoiler territory gripes aside, it made me incredibly excited about how Part 3 is going to pay off everything Kitase, Nomura, Nojima, and Hamaguchi have been cooking. It’s going to either be a beautifully reflective counterpart to the original FFVII that makes its own powerful statement to shake the medium, or it’s going to completely collapse and fail in honoring its legacy. No video game has made me this conflicted on which way it’ll go, and I adore not knowing what unknown fate is ahead here.