This review contains spoilers
Final Fantasy VII is a sensational RPG perhaps like no other JRPG in existence. Its acknowledgement has breached mainsteam pop-culture to a degree unseen by any other individual JRPG- let alone game in the Final Fantasy franchise. It should be no secret to anyone that loves FFVII that Square Enix milks the nostalgic love people have for this game until it results in the disappointing mess that is the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy.
Before I dive into what made me hurl about this game, I would like to note and stress that there are a number of things this game attempts to achieve and is tantalisingly close to getting right. For one, I think the exploration being more reliant on Chocobos is an excellent idea- they've been neglected as a means of traversal since Final Fantasy IX; though the sloppy execution in every area nix Junon and Nibel leaves the concept rather lacking in a number of aspects. To add onto this, I think the utilisation of the Tiny Bronco was a touch that was much needed towards the end of the game to actually make the regions feel connected in a way they largely did not before Chapter 12.
The Combat system, just like Remake, is probably where this game shines best. Each character feels very distinct and is uniquely enjoyable to play as if you give them the time to unlock their weapon skills and abuse them to their fullest potential. Red XIII is their greatest accomplishment by far- I think Nanaki may just be the most powerful and ergo- the most enjoyable member to play as in the cast. In some ways I'm looking forward to how they portray Cid and Vincent in the final game.
Furthermore, when the game is trying to be Final Fantasy VII and not some half-assed attempt at creating a FFVII Compilation Omnibus, it captures the essence that I sorely want to see in an actual remake of this game. I think no scene better encompasses what I mean than Barret's Corel flashback. When this game is committed to getting its characters right, it really gets it right. Similarly said, I think that the focus on Cloud's SOLDIER cells degrading leading to his mental breakdown throughout the course of the story of the first disc.
Finally, the minigames. I'm so glad that they were here in abundance, and if the game featured more of them, I think I would genuinely bump up my rating to something higher than it currently sits at. Being homages to other FF games (such as "Gears & Gambits" taking the "Gambit" system from FFXII) was a real treat. Some don't hit quite as well (for example, I'm not an enormous fan of how the Chocobos control in Chocobo Racing,) but not all of them need to be amazing. Minigames- both good and bad, are a part of FFVII's identity. Queen's Blood especially was a real treat.
The negatives are where this game really gets to shine, though.
First and foremost I would like to come out swinging by stating that basing your overworld exploration on The Witcher III of all games was a terrible decision. That game itself has far too many side-objectives that take away from its core strength of compelling story-writing, which is what Rebirth also suffers from (except it also fumbles in the story-writing department, which I will dive into later.) Chadley commenting on every other small thing that you do was grating from the get-go and having no option to turn him off is frustrating beyond belief. He's a meaningless addition to the cast that feels forced and unnatural in the worst way- and their attempts to redeem his annoyance through glimpses into his real identity in the latter half of the game do no service towards how incessant comments. The objectives themselves are also repetitive after the first area. Painfully so. The Protorelics are the highlights of each area, except when they're just tied to combat. I couldn't even be bothered with the final Protorelic on Gilgamesh island because it was just more of the same detritus-- and as someone who generally loves completing games, this naturally leads myself onto the point that there are far too many objectives.
Nibel is by far the best area because it is not only the smallest, but also happens to have the Chocobo capable of the most efficient form of travel. If all areas were the size of Nibel and were easy to navigate as it is, I may have bothered completing the game. As it stands, though? Between Remake and Rebirth, stretching out the first disc to roughly 120 hours of content is an extreme test of one's patience, especially if you aren't fond of its design sensibilities, as I am.
No sugarcoating: the new storytelling is awful and they've completely butchered some of their most lovable characters. I think if you genuinely believe that the Remake trilogy is doing a better job at telling the stories of its entire cast, you need to seriously re-examine what they're doing. The worst offender in Remake was Sephiroth- and this carries over in Rebirth, though Cid and Aerith can also be added to that list quite easily.
The quest to make Sephiroth this less ambiguous villain is ultimately doing him no favours- and honestly, there is no real tension or menacing presence maintained by his on-screen presence because they're far too focused on either delivering the audience blockbuster-esque eye candy or feeding fanfic writers with toxic yaoi material by having him treat Cloud like a trained dog. Advent Children also made the mistake that has transferred over to Remake in changing Sephiroth's theme to One Winged Angel, as opposed to Those Chosen by The Planet. TCbTP is a track that is meant to emanate tension by its mere presence, whereas OWA was composed to serve as a boss theme. In many ways, the change of theme is symbolic of his transition from an ambiguous entity to an ever-present "boss" entity that the party has to face.
Aerith too is now suffering from a similar issue to Sephiroth, wherein she is being played as part of a meta-plot about timelines and alternate universes, rather than her original allegory as that of a Messiah. The final boss fight in particular reeked and soured my opinion even further regarding the portrayals of both of their characters, including and not limited to their choice in music excluding Birth of A God in favour of One Winged Angel.. again.
I ended up getting Red XIII on my second Gold Saucer date, and as soon as he seized the opportunity to talk about Aerith's oncoming death in the Skywheel, I audibly sighed.
Cid is shockingly one I'm not seeing people complain about, though. He's an entirely different character. Removing Rocket Town from disc one in favour of the Gongaga plot solely to wave Cissnei in the face of the audience... who largely probably doesn't even know who she is, is a choice I find shockingly baffling. At the minute, he's just being played as a "nice guy" that's helping out the party because he fights for the republic as an independent flyer. His pearly white teeth are reflective of his "reimagined" personality: he's been cleaned up to a degree I find completely unacceptable, and truth be told? I was genuinely looking forward to hearing him be the rudest person in the party. It's so sad.
In conclusion- between the release of this game and a far more genuinely faithful remake releasing earlier in the year in the form of Persona 3 Reload, I find myself wondering why I even bother with the FFVII Compilation anymore. It's poor attempt at creating a new story and playing its audience by baiting them with beloved characters is a charade I find most appalling; and I'd rather them take story-telling risks with a new cast of characters as FFXVI did than whatever this bloated mess of a game actually is.
Before I dive into what made me hurl about this game, I would like to note and stress that there are a number of things this game attempts to achieve and is tantalisingly close to getting right. For one, I think the exploration being more reliant on Chocobos is an excellent idea- they've been neglected as a means of traversal since Final Fantasy IX; though the sloppy execution in every area nix Junon and Nibel leaves the concept rather lacking in a number of aspects. To add onto this, I think the utilisation of the Tiny Bronco was a touch that was much needed towards the end of the game to actually make the regions feel connected in a way they largely did not before Chapter 12.
The Combat system, just like Remake, is probably where this game shines best. Each character feels very distinct and is uniquely enjoyable to play as if you give them the time to unlock their weapon skills and abuse them to their fullest potential. Red XIII is their greatest accomplishment by far- I think Nanaki may just be the most powerful and ergo- the most enjoyable member to play as in the cast. In some ways I'm looking forward to how they portray Cid and Vincent in the final game.
Furthermore, when the game is trying to be Final Fantasy VII and not some half-assed attempt at creating a FFVII Compilation Omnibus, it captures the essence that I sorely want to see in an actual remake of this game. I think no scene better encompasses what I mean than Barret's Corel flashback. When this game is committed to getting its characters right, it really gets it right. Similarly said, I think that the focus on Cloud's SOLDIER cells degrading leading to his mental breakdown throughout the course of the story of the first disc.
Finally, the minigames. I'm so glad that they were here in abundance, and if the game featured more of them, I think I would genuinely bump up my rating to something higher than it currently sits at. Being homages to other FF games (such as "Gears & Gambits" taking the "Gambit" system from FFXII) was a real treat. Some don't hit quite as well (for example, I'm not an enormous fan of how the Chocobos control in Chocobo Racing,) but not all of them need to be amazing. Minigames- both good and bad, are a part of FFVII's identity. Queen's Blood especially was a real treat.
The negatives are where this game really gets to shine, though.
First and foremost I would like to come out swinging by stating that basing your overworld exploration on The Witcher III of all games was a terrible decision. That game itself has far too many side-objectives that take away from its core strength of compelling story-writing, which is what Rebirth also suffers from (except it also fumbles in the story-writing department, which I will dive into later.) Chadley commenting on every other small thing that you do was grating from the get-go and having no option to turn him off is frustrating beyond belief. He's a meaningless addition to the cast that feels forced and unnatural in the worst way- and their attempts to redeem his annoyance through glimpses into his real identity in the latter half of the game do no service towards how incessant comments. The objectives themselves are also repetitive after the first area. Painfully so. The Protorelics are the highlights of each area, except when they're just tied to combat. I couldn't even be bothered with the final Protorelic on Gilgamesh island because it was just more of the same detritus-- and as someone who generally loves completing games, this naturally leads myself onto the point that there are far too many objectives.
Nibel is by far the best area because it is not only the smallest, but also happens to have the Chocobo capable of the most efficient form of travel. If all areas were the size of Nibel and were easy to navigate as it is, I may have bothered completing the game. As it stands, though? Between Remake and Rebirth, stretching out the first disc to roughly 120 hours of content is an extreme test of one's patience, especially if you aren't fond of its design sensibilities, as I am.
No sugarcoating: the new storytelling is awful and they've completely butchered some of their most lovable characters. I think if you genuinely believe that the Remake trilogy is doing a better job at telling the stories of its entire cast, you need to seriously re-examine what they're doing. The worst offender in Remake was Sephiroth- and this carries over in Rebirth, though Cid and Aerith can also be added to that list quite easily.
The quest to make Sephiroth this less ambiguous villain is ultimately doing him no favours- and honestly, there is no real tension or menacing presence maintained by his on-screen presence because they're far too focused on either delivering the audience blockbuster-esque eye candy or feeding fanfic writers with toxic yaoi material by having him treat Cloud like a trained dog. Advent Children also made the mistake that has transferred over to Remake in changing Sephiroth's theme to One Winged Angel, as opposed to Those Chosen by The Planet. TCbTP is a track that is meant to emanate tension by its mere presence, whereas OWA was composed to serve as a boss theme. In many ways, the change of theme is symbolic of his transition from an ambiguous entity to an ever-present "boss" entity that the party has to face.
Aerith too is now suffering from a similar issue to Sephiroth, wherein she is being played as part of a meta-plot about timelines and alternate universes, rather than her original allegory as that of a Messiah. The final boss fight in particular reeked and soured my opinion even further regarding the portrayals of both of their characters, including and not limited to their choice in music excluding Birth of A God in favour of One Winged Angel.. again.
I ended up getting Red XIII on my second Gold Saucer date, and as soon as he seized the opportunity to talk about Aerith's oncoming death in the Skywheel, I audibly sighed.
Cid is shockingly one I'm not seeing people complain about, though. He's an entirely different character. Removing Rocket Town from disc one in favour of the Gongaga plot solely to wave Cissnei in the face of the audience... who largely probably doesn't even know who she is, is a choice I find shockingly baffling. At the minute, he's just being played as a "nice guy" that's helping out the party because he fights for the republic as an independent flyer. His pearly white teeth are reflective of his "reimagined" personality: he's been cleaned up to a degree I find completely unacceptable, and truth be told? I was genuinely looking forward to hearing him be the rudest person in the party. It's so sad.
In conclusion- between the release of this game and a far more genuinely faithful remake releasing earlier in the year in the form of Persona 3 Reload, I find myself wondering why I even bother with the FFVII Compilation anymore. It's poor attempt at creating a new story and playing its audience by baiting them with beloved characters is a charade I find most appalling; and I'd rather them take story-telling risks with a new cast of characters as FFXVI did than whatever this bloated mess of a game actually is.