Impressions after 30 hours (Chapters 1-3 complete)
Going above and beyond to right any wrongs and evolve far beyond its predecessor, after about 30 hours and only around a quarter of the way through the story – there’s a lot to do(!) – Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is a game brimming with variety, depth and evolutions that go so far, they're actually a bit overwhelming. Despite that however, the quality of the offerings thus far is hard to ignore, and for only four-or-so years of development time, this is a title that is continuously leaving me in awe with nearly every passing hour of playtime.
There's a lot to be said about just how much this game shakes everything up. It's most definitely a sequel through and through, and probably the strongest and most evolved one I've seen in quite a long time. For as different as the game feels, it retains the core essence of Remake, now packaged in a sprawling open world setting that's nailing the map size, biome changes, and all the content contained therein. Rebirth sports a far-improved level design that suits the narrative progression of the title whilst delivering plenty to go out and do, all of which is of a high quality and variety, so far without feeling throwaway or mundane.
Some side content is light on story – in particular, the small checklist-style activities dotted around the map – however, many others are deeper and more involved than that. Whether that's introducing a fun mini-game, unique mechanic, or extra lore about the world or a set of characters, all of it feels rewarding in a multitude of ways, and very much worth completing.
Often it's also building on Remake and the current state of the world here in Rebirth. I heard somewhere that the developers said the side quests were improved upon from the previous game, and they certainly weren't wrong. They’re so good in fact, they might be some of the most inventive and fun I've seen in any game to-date. Despite the time investment thus far, the game continues to surprise and delight on the regular.
If I had one critique, it would probably be in regards to how the game has so much, it can actually feel a bit overwhelming. Throwing you into the deep end much faster than Remake, there are a lot of systems and features offloaded very fast, and that can be a bit much at first, especially when nearly every returning system is different and there's a bunch of new ones too. I'm also finding certain aspects of items not the most clear or effective – for example, an ability that says it ‘imbues’ attacks with an element that has a visual change to denote it, yet doesn’t seem to register consistently on enemies weak to said element. Maybe it is applying bonus damage, but further testing is needed to figure this one out.
These are very minor gripes however, and they're pretty easy to ignore because the rest of the game has been so good. The RPG systems are more complex, combat is deeper, more fluid and dynamic, and as far as I can tell, pretty much every issue Remake had is not present here. There's basically nothing I can really point to as a negative right now, and in many ways, this is feeling about as close as you can get to a perfect game. It’s a title that honours the legacy of the original, and video games as a whole with an extensively-diversified set of content that’s constantly surprising, executed in a way that only video games can do.
We'll see how it all shakes out as I play more, but for now, it's been a blast, and I've been very much looking forward to playing more every single day.
Going above and beyond to right any wrongs and evolve far beyond its predecessor, after about 30 hours and only around a quarter of the way through the story – there’s a lot to do(!) – Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is a game brimming with variety, depth and evolutions that go so far, they're actually a bit overwhelming. Despite that however, the quality of the offerings thus far is hard to ignore, and for only four-or-so years of development time, this is a title that is continuously leaving me in awe with nearly every passing hour of playtime.
There's a lot to be said about just how much this game shakes everything up. It's most definitely a sequel through and through, and probably the strongest and most evolved one I've seen in quite a long time. For as different as the game feels, it retains the core essence of Remake, now packaged in a sprawling open world setting that's nailing the map size, biome changes, and all the content contained therein. Rebirth sports a far-improved level design that suits the narrative progression of the title whilst delivering plenty to go out and do, all of which is of a high quality and variety, so far without feeling throwaway or mundane.
Some side content is light on story – in particular, the small checklist-style activities dotted around the map – however, many others are deeper and more involved than that. Whether that's introducing a fun mini-game, unique mechanic, or extra lore about the world or a set of characters, all of it feels rewarding in a multitude of ways, and very much worth completing.
Often it's also building on Remake and the current state of the world here in Rebirth. I heard somewhere that the developers said the side quests were improved upon from the previous game, and they certainly weren't wrong. They’re so good in fact, they might be some of the most inventive and fun I've seen in any game to-date. Despite the time investment thus far, the game continues to surprise and delight on the regular.
If I had one critique, it would probably be in regards to how the game has so much, it can actually feel a bit overwhelming. Throwing you into the deep end much faster than Remake, there are a lot of systems and features offloaded very fast, and that can be a bit much at first, especially when nearly every returning system is different and there's a bunch of new ones too. I'm also finding certain aspects of items not the most clear or effective – for example, an ability that says it ‘imbues’ attacks with an element that has a visual change to denote it, yet doesn’t seem to register consistently on enemies weak to said element. Maybe it is applying bonus damage, but further testing is needed to figure this one out.
These are very minor gripes however, and they're pretty easy to ignore because the rest of the game has been so good. The RPG systems are more complex, combat is deeper, more fluid and dynamic, and as far as I can tell, pretty much every issue Remake had is not present here. There's basically nothing I can really point to as a negative right now, and in many ways, this is feeling about as close as you can get to a perfect game. It’s a title that honours the legacy of the original, and video games as a whole with an extensively-diversified set of content that’s constantly surprising, executed in a way that only video games can do.
We'll see how it all shakes out as I play more, but for now, it's been a blast, and I've been very much looking forward to playing more every single day.