They have outdone themselves

Rebirth makes the original remake look like a demo LOL. I am simply blown away with this game by every aspect of it and crave to continue to play more even after finishing the story to clear up side stuff I missed. It is hard for me to comprehend how anyone can play this title and dislike it even if you are not a fan of certain story changes.

STORY

THERE WILL BE NO SPOILERS ABOUT ANYTHING.

This is where most fans divide with rebirth. To explain I will not talk about anything within the story but I will simply state my opinion quickly before moving on. To put it simply, when the story is the original it's as amazing as you remembered but when the story is rebirth’s you may or may not like it. Personally I love what is being done here with the expansion of characters and the world but I can also understand why hardcore fans of the original may not be a fan of it. Just enjoy it for what it is and come to your conclusion when we get the final game as everything will most likely be answered with that game. For me it's silly to blindly hate when we do not have the completed story in our hands. All in all I loved the story and certain changes that were done.


Graphics

The games world is simply breathtaking and honestly hosts some of the best town visuals I have seen period in gaming. You can move to literally any spot , look out in the distance and have art worthy of a picture. One thing that blew me away was how NOTHING would load in as if you were on a highpoint of an area you can literally look out to the distance to places you were just at or areas you may not have been to that you want to go to. Its things like this that take the immersion to a whole new level with this game that makes you cherish every moment you move around the world. However, there are some short fallings as some ground textures looked horrendous and a few textures that didn’t seem correct but overall the game is gorgeous. I played in performance mode to get that 60FPS boost so I did lose some visual performance but the game still looked amazing.


Characters

You love them all like I love them all.... Unless if you are Chadley.


Gameplay

Besides the sheer hugenous of the game what also caught me off guard was the amount of content thrown at you that was good. To explain, with open world titles side content can feel like a drag as it sometimes doesn’t offer enough to really keep you entertained enough to want to do it. With FF7 rebirth you will WANT to do everything as the side content is insanely addicting. Side quests can be hit or miss but mostly were a hit and all the mini games were very well done and fun to play. Each time you hit a new area of the game you most likely will want to do everything the map has to offer before continuing the story and I would highly recommend it as its very fun content and will give you lots of items to use for the next story portion. Furthermore, combat is just as fun with many synergies , spells and unlocks to mess around with making you want to change things up constantly. The biggest surprise for me was Queen’s blood as I fell in love with the mini game. It's a very simple card game that turns pretty complex with specific deck builds as you progress the story for it but Queens blood is insanely addicting and makes me really want an online mode for it. Finally, the combat simulation is back as just as challenging as the original remake but very fun to fight against summons. They really knocked it out of the park with its content and gameplay that almost makes you think this game isn’t real.

My only real complaint

Chadley is in the game.


In the end


FF7 Rebirth IMO is a masterpiece that should be played by all FF fans. While some story elements may not sit well with you there is no denying the masterfully crafted game they have created here. FF7 rebirth is an almost dream-like game that doesn’t happen often. I can only hope you all enjoy it as much as I did. There is a lot I didn’t get into as I really didn’t want to get into ANYTHING specific since for me seeing all the new content the game was throwing my way not knowing what it was going to be was such a blast so I wanted to refrain from talking about WHAT mini games and side stuff were here besides queens blood which you most likely have heard of by now.


THIS IS A MUST BUY AND 200% WORTH THE ASKING PRICE.

When nostalgia hits you like a truck…. For the wrong reasons.

There will always be games you remember from your childhood that you never got to play. Maybe because of a trailer you saw or because the cover art is so ingrained in your head for whatever reason. Dead to rights was always that game for me even though I don’t really find the cover art that crazy for some reason always popped up in my head every once in a while. A while back I bought 1-2 and they were just sitting on the shelf so I thought it was finally time to throw down with these games that I never grew up with. Sadly that is where the fun memories end because this game does not hold up well.

Fun but flawed

I want to start off by saying I played the Xbox version which on paper shouldn’t really mean much HOWEVER idk how true this is but I heard this version was way more difficult then the others. Obviously I haven’t played the PS2, Gamecube versions so I can’t fully say but I will say I can believe due to how frustrating this game got at certain points. To begin, this is a max payne clone through and through and that doesn’t have to mean anything bad because in general the formula for Max Payne is immensely fun so I wouldn’t mind more clones. Dead to rights gets this aspect right enough to make a fun enough experience but lord does it get frustrating. To explain, I like the gunplay honestly but whoever thought of the melee aspects should never touch a game again. Not only is the Melee in this game horrible but they had the bright idea of making a WHOLE LEVEL BASED AROUND IT on top of MULTIPLE BOSS FIGHTS THAT ARE MELEE only. The hand to hand combat makes ZERO sense and will make you want to throw your controller across the room. It seems simple on paper with punch , kick , grab and block and yet they somehow make it the most mundane thing ever. When you fight enemies sometimes they will power through your punches , will block and instantly punish you in which you can do NOTHING about it. The grabbing is somehow even more annoying because you can break out of a grab but if you do not press the button within .5 seconds you will get thrown and SO MUCH of your HP will be gone. Honestly I wouldn’t ramble about Melee if it wasn’t shoved in your face as much as it was in this game because it was really that annoying. Luckily the gun sections which do take up most of the game's runtime are fun and will keep you entertained enough. You have a decent amount of gun selection in the game in which you pick up from the enemies once you defeat them. And how can we forget about the best boi Shadow who is not only a good doggo but also VERY helpful during annoying segments. During the game Shadow can be used to instantly kill an enemy if you are within range in which he will grab their weapon to give to you. Using Shadow is insanely important as he will lower the enemy count on top of giving you weapons / ammo from them.


Why?

Oh boy oh boy here we get to the fun part of this review in which I will complain about everything. To begin, the damage counter makes zero sense with weapons because some pistols do piss poor damage while others do a lot. Snipers in particular do literally NO damage and it got to the point where I thought I was doing something wrong. In which game do you know a sniper to be the weakest weapon? Using a sniper should make you feel powerful when you land shots but in Dead to rights you mine as well be using a nerf gun if you pick up a sniper. This only escalates even more annoyingly since enemies from what I can tell have the most OP versions of these guns and will mow you down with the same exact gun you pick up and shoot green pea bullets with. Furthermore , the lock on system gets insanely annoying with it flinging to everyone around you but the one person you want to aim at making you slowly cycle through them until you aim at the one you wanted to aim at. When you dive into slow down the lock on system will sometimes just straight up not work even though you literally are right next to enemies. You can actually free aim in this game but why in the world you will freely use it I will never know because it's terrible lol. Furthermore , this game's difficulty only brought out the more terrible aspects of this game to me. There were certain segments where the game clearly wants you to try stealth killing some enemies but the issue is enemies will almost instantly catch you. On top of spotting you instantly everyone in this game apparently is a trained gold medalist for disc shooting because EVERYONE will laser aim at you and sometimes will even shoot you through the tiniest hole in a wall. I understand shooters from this era usually had laser aim enemies but when you mix it with the BS difficulty this game has it will not make you feel good. In addition , the bosses were all underwhelming and the final boss was insanely annoying until you figured out what you had to do. Cover mechanics are present in the game but I almost found them pointless since the moment you pop out the enemies will instantly beam in your direction thus having you struggle to get out of cover. Weirdly enough this game isn’t super long but I still felt like the ending portions of the game dragged out making me believe they could have cut 30 mins to an hour of the game out. Story is very basic but it will get the job done for the most part. LAST BUT NOT LEAST as it's been brought up throughout this review let's get into the difficulty. To put it simply it is outrageous imo since there isn’t even any difficulty option so you are just stuck with one option which will put you through pain. Certain level segments are set up to have you instantly get showered with bullets and if you have no armor your HP will instantly DRAIN. It gets so bad to the point you almost can softlock yourself during a level if you load into a segment with little HP where enemies instantly shoot at you from every direction. This actually almost happened to me when I got to a part where you walk up some stairs and are greeted by 3 snipers + a buttload of enemies with NO armor to pick up. I am not sure why the xbox version is so much more difficult than the other console versions and it made me want to actually try the versions just to see how much of a difference it is.


In the end

Honestly this game isn’t the worst thing ever, it just simply doesn’t hold up well and maybe the other console versions are a bit better. This game runs for cheap so honestly I still say give it a spin and see for yourself since it won’t break the wallet and may provide you some fun. I do recommend staying away from the Xbox version and going for the PS2, gamecube version but I would not expect anything out of this game for the most part. I wonder how the sequels will be!


I just realized even in what should have been the positive section that I was rambling about the bad more LOOOL

A cozy feeling that continues in its sequel

Honestly this is just an overall good follow up to a very good first title which saw some improvements. The first title really put my mind at ease with its great setting, OST, characters and great dialogue that can sometimes get very thoughtful and deep. I simply couldn’t have asked for much more with the sequel and in every way they simply did what I think more games should do with its sequel. Don’t fix what isn’t broken just simply add onto it and improve and that is what you get with its sequel.

What is different and what is good?

Of course with this being a VN you ask yourself “what in the world can they change” which is a simple answer. The core loop of Coffee Talk EP1 has you creating drinks for your customers as you listen to their story. In EP2 you now have even more ingredients to use for your tasty looking drinks opening up how many possible combinations you can make. In addition there is a new side mechanic in which customers will sometimes forget items or give you items for you to give to someone else. This serves as a way for potential story changes for characters as you have to remember to give specific items to specific people. It's a neat mechanic which however does lead into a small issue I have that I will get more into in my negative portion of the review. What would be a good VN without good dialogue? Luckily I am happy to say this game continues the trend of great storylines with sometimes really thoughtful dialogue that can really hit home for some people if you are in the field of creating. In addition, the new cast of characters were great and all fit in very well to the story quickly making you care very deeply for these pixels. It's funny because I almost felt terrible when I had to go through my bad end run because I genuinely did not want to see these characters fail LOL.

A way to calm

I want to give this a little section on its own because I really want to drive home how comfy this game feels. They really created such a cozy atmosphere that I really adore and wish I could have in real life. The OST is just as great and the setting is once again just as great, really making you feel like you have gone back home. I really recommend this game just for this alone if you want something that will help you put yourself at ease while getting a fix of great stories and world building.

Some negatives

Luckily while I do have some negatives it isn’t anything game breaking that will push anyone away it's just annoyances for a specific group of people. To explain , remember how I mentioned the new item mechanic ? you get items from characters and pick up forgotten items from characters to give to another character or back to the person who lost it. It's a simple yet cool addition that can lead into some VERY frustrating routes if you do not want to guide. On top of having to get drinks right you have to remember to give items to specific people and if you forget anything you will ruin a run. This becomes an issue because this game is insanely confusing when it comes to 100% YOU WILL HAVE TO GUIDE THIS GAME. Going for a 100% playthrough without guiding will make you pull your hair out as it is so damn specific of what is needed from you. In general you will have to go through this game multiple times to see everything and this time around the dialogue skipping button feels slower due to the game pausing every time characters expression changes or anything. This will slow down the process a bit but not to an annoying degree.

In the end

While going for the true ending is annoying I will say I DO recommend it as it is one of the most heartfelt endings that I have seen in a while put into a game in recent times. It really elevated the experience for me and just really showed how close the team who made this game was. What is to come from this series is unknown ( to my knowledge ) but I am VERY happy to have picked up and read both titles.