This review contains spoilers
I tried 3 times to pick up and play this game.
The first time when it released and I was blown away. I hated this game, I thought they completely fucked it up. The second time I tried again in like 2022 and I got about halfway and I still hated the game. The third time this year I played it to the finish after finishing ff16. I still hate this game, but I hate it less. Square came into this one with a few good maybe even great ideas. The combat for instance is a real highlight. I did not like it my first few tries but after playing ff16 I started to see and get an appreciation for square’s modern vision of how combat is supposed to work for final fantasy. This game however is not as fleshed out a vision as ff16. The pace is too broken up by having to control 3 characters at the same time. A problem which I feel would have been alieviated by utilizing final fantasy 12’s gambit system. Apparently rebirth is implementing some version of this, if done properly it could be amazing, we will wait and see.
Story wise, holy shit this is where the problems start cooking. This is not a remake, this is something or a sequel in a strange way. I love the idea but hate the execution. My theory is that all the events of the original have occurred in a previous looped universe, sephiroth has memories from this previous universe and I believe aerith does too. An interesting idea but why is it executed so strangely. Most of the changes to the canon do not feel as interesting or inspired as the original(for instance the scene with the shinra president is not as impactful as the original). I don’t like all the foreskin ghosts running around everywhere I feel like it could have been done in a more interesting way. The foreskin ghosts are called whispers and apparently they appear when the timeline is diverging(this is the crux of my theory that the events have already occurred and it was caused by sephiroth because who else would cause it). The handling of sephiroth is also a sore point for me. The excuse they gave for having him appear so much is because players are familiar with him already. What made him so impactful in the original is that he’s got like 7 minutes of screen time aside from his boss fights. What is the point of ruining all the mystery just so you can throw him on screen. They killed all the drama around it, miserable.
I don’t like the music, I don’t like how the environment looks. This is supposed to be a gritty steampunk world, why do we have a high def orchestra and extremely pristine rendered environments. The Lofi synthesizers worked so well in the original, made it feel desolate and hollow, eerie and liminal. Having a blown out orchestra is just a different kind of vibe. Also like there was a kind of charm to the original pre rendered backgrounds that is lost here.
Also whose idea was it to only have the game take place in Midgar and why did they stretch out the different sections of the game. Like the train graveyard is like 3 hours long and in the original I feel like it was 30 min or so.
Chapter 17 is the worst part of this game. Whoever had any hand in designing that should be sent to prison. Why do they keep splitting up the party, why do I have to unlock a bunch of doors, why is it so long, why is it so repetitive, why why why.
One thing I speculate about this game is that it is going to be a very bad time to play as a single game by playing all three of them back to back. Why? Because ff7 has a complete arc inside of itself, you have the build up to a climax and then a conclusion and is that going to happen again at the end of rebirth??? How many climaxes we gonna have? 3? There is a reason we don’t write stories like this. Sephiroth’s impact is gonna be ruined by this game having him as the last boss of it. Please square do better with rebirth.
Just want to say here first they aren’t killing aerith in the next one. I got 5 bucks on it.
The first time when it released and I was blown away. I hated this game, I thought they completely fucked it up. The second time I tried again in like 2022 and I got about halfway and I still hated the game. The third time this year I played it to the finish after finishing ff16. I still hate this game, but I hate it less. Square came into this one with a few good maybe even great ideas. The combat for instance is a real highlight. I did not like it my first few tries but after playing ff16 I started to see and get an appreciation for square’s modern vision of how combat is supposed to work for final fantasy. This game however is not as fleshed out a vision as ff16. The pace is too broken up by having to control 3 characters at the same time. A problem which I feel would have been alieviated by utilizing final fantasy 12’s gambit system. Apparently rebirth is implementing some version of this, if done properly it could be amazing, we will wait and see.
Story wise, holy shit this is where the problems start cooking. This is not a remake, this is something or a sequel in a strange way. I love the idea but hate the execution. My theory is that all the events of the original have occurred in a previous looped universe, sephiroth has memories from this previous universe and I believe aerith does too. An interesting idea but why is it executed so strangely. Most of the changes to the canon do not feel as interesting or inspired as the original(for instance the scene with the shinra president is not as impactful as the original). I don’t like all the foreskin ghosts running around everywhere I feel like it could have been done in a more interesting way. The foreskin ghosts are called whispers and apparently they appear when the timeline is diverging(this is the crux of my theory that the events have already occurred and it was caused by sephiroth because who else would cause it). The handling of sephiroth is also a sore point for me. The excuse they gave for having him appear so much is because players are familiar with him already. What made him so impactful in the original is that he’s got like 7 minutes of screen time aside from his boss fights. What is the point of ruining all the mystery just so you can throw him on screen. They killed all the drama around it, miserable.
I don’t like the music, I don’t like how the environment looks. This is supposed to be a gritty steampunk world, why do we have a high def orchestra and extremely pristine rendered environments. The Lofi synthesizers worked so well in the original, made it feel desolate and hollow, eerie and liminal. Having a blown out orchestra is just a different kind of vibe. Also like there was a kind of charm to the original pre rendered backgrounds that is lost here.
Also whose idea was it to only have the game take place in Midgar and why did they stretch out the different sections of the game. Like the train graveyard is like 3 hours long and in the original I feel like it was 30 min or so.
Chapter 17 is the worst part of this game. Whoever had any hand in designing that should be sent to prison. Why do they keep splitting up the party, why do I have to unlock a bunch of doors, why is it so long, why is it so repetitive, why why why.
One thing I speculate about this game is that it is going to be a very bad time to play as a single game by playing all three of them back to back. Why? Because ff7 has a complete arc inside of itself, you have the build up to a climax and then a conclusion and is that going to happen again at the end of rebirth??? How many climaxes we gonna have? 3? There is a reason we don’t write stories like this. Sephiroth’s impact is gonna be ruined by this game having him as the last boss of it. Please square do better with rebirth.
Just want to say here first they aren’t killing aerith in the next one. I got 5 bucks on it.
Kurogawa
3 months ago