"It's not death. It's a homecoming."

In storytelling, the second act of a trilogy often brings high expectations. They are intended to build upon what's been introduced prior, leading to a climax that sets the main plot towards its finale. But with 2020's Final Fantasy VII Remake setting off an unexpected chain of events by Tetsuya Nomura, one that sees a convergence between the familiar and the unknown of a timeline branched from the fated, it brings much ambition and risk for the remainder of the project. (Yes I know Nomura didn't fully direct this one, but his elements introduced in the previous entry do follow-up here.)
Many were going into Final Fantasy VII Rebirth expecting an "Empire Strikes Back", grandiose and beyond evolving its predecessor, and I can surely see many leaving with that impression as well. But what I see here is more of "The Last Jedi", a second act so important that it can leave a massive impact on what's to come, and yet may leave tons of the audience conflicted. Needless to say, this is a headshaking work of art on a scale that we rarely see in the AAA space; a next step through one of the greatest remakes ever presented to us in the history of video games.

To start off with the good and often great: scale and scope. This is what I'd imagine a Xenoblade game would look like on actual current-generation hardware, sharing familiar designs in both its length and its transition to open-world segments, from the relationships you can build with party members, down to collecting materials that randomly spawn within these maps. And while I still personally enjoyed the linear nature of Remake's world, I still found the jump in parallel to the original's second act is incredibly impressive. Sections and locations recalled from that 1997 PS1 game look absolutely stunning in Rebirth, while also being filled with an abundance of content for the player to discover. It all overwhelmed me at first for sure, shortly before deciding to just mainline through the story about halfway through, but I can't help but be in awe at everything this team managed to throw in here within just 4 years of development. And of course, to no surprise after the previous entry, the overall audio-visual production here is simply phenomenal. One such section that really stood out to me was the Junon parade, which presented itself as a news broadcast throughout the whole QTE game, really immersing itself with incredible cinematic flair. (We'll talk more about the mini-games later, though.)
Another thing that I was actually really surprised by was how combat evolved as well. The lack of fluidity that I wanted out of Remake is definitely here now, and with full force, granting much more customization with how your party is controlled in combat. I also appreciate the game's encouragement to play as every single character, whether through forced story sections or use of synergy abilities. I had a much more enjoyable combat experience, this time around.

Now, for what I believe this game isn't too good at: pacing and narrative. Clearly, with the open nature and grand scope of the second act, I expected to mainline Rebirth in a much lengthier time than Remake, and I'm glad the content is there. However, much like how I felt with something like God of War Ragnarök, there's just too much unnecessary fluff here, which can break the pacing even more-so than certain sections of the previous game did. The thing about the original Final Fantasy VII is that I recall way more of the locations than I do of the story beats, so with Rebirth, whether it be same or different plot points, most of it felt more like the typical filler you'd find in anime that's meant to attach you to the characters as they develop. Hell, in a few months time, I'll probably remember more moments from Remake than I do from Rebirth, just because of the pure lack of importance these elements felt prior to the culmination of everything. Certain moments further establish pieces of convoluted lore than the original game ever did sure, but those are few and far between. I want to know more about this side-story with Zack, but we only ever see that progress after every 6-8 hours of the main story. There's just a lot here that could've been gutted, or at the very least been optional. It's such a damn shame too, because these characters are entertainingly-written, specifically the Turks, and there certainly are moments in the story that had me leaning forward in my seat, but the flow of it can often be fluctuating.
And speaking of pacing, part of that should be blamed on the inclusion of mini-games and side content. I can tolerate the open-world markers and tasks that Chadley assigns to you when exploring, as they allow you to unlock more challenges and materia. What really irked me were the mini-games though, some of which felt necessary to throw in during even the most action-packed chapters of the game. Yes, I know the original Final Fantasy VII was filled with mini-games, especially at the Gold Saucer (which, mind you, is executed beautifully in Rebirth), but like... why am I throwing boxes when navigating through a facility? Who thought it was a good idea to have a dolphin racing segment to get an elevator moving? It's just a little too much at times, and it's part of why I think the mainline quest can drag on for as long as it does.
Shoutout to Queen's Blood, though. What a game.

I don't think Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is necessarily downgraded by all my critiques of it, but I personally still found Remake to be a more enjoyable experience than this. But then again, I find myself to be somewhat sensitive to video games that are longer than they need to be, so I'm sure in the minority here. To its credit though, keeping the comparison I previously stated, I enjoyed my 40 hours of time with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth more than I enjoyed by 50+ hours of time with Xenoblade Chronicles, which gives it even more merit to the overall production. In true Tetsuya Nomura fashion though, it's an fun, dark, heartfelt adventure that may leave the audience either crying from character moments, cheering when plot theories begin to reveal their intentions, or confused by the bait of its bizarre director. And as I said, it's just a one-in-a-lifetime event to get to experience a project of this caliber unfolding; a massive retelling of arguably one of the most important stories ever crafted in video games. (God only knows the chaos that Kingdom Hearts IV will bring after this.)

Let us embrace whatever it brings.