This was my most anticipated game of 2024, and it absolutely lived up to my expectations. As someone whose first introduction to the franchise was Remake in 2020, and who has a passing knowledge of the overall plot of the original FF7, I was so intrigued and excited to see where they would take the story in this game, and I was not disappointed. The story was full of charm and character, with moments of laugther, shock and of course, sadness, and this momentum followed through right up to the end. I absolutely adore the combat in this game. It feels to me like the perfect blend of tactics and action and was so rewarding to master. Rebirth is chock-full of side content, but unlike how other open-world games can end up feeling, every piece of side content, from every tower to every minigame, feels so meaningful, all connecting back in on each other creating a web of worthwhile story moments and bonuses to uncover. I also want Queen's Blood to become it's own thing so more people can just play it because good gosh I haven't enjoyed a card game that much in a long time. Now that I've completed the main story, I plan to go back and finish all of the side content I missed (when I saw I was in the final stretch, I rushed to see the ending out of excitement oops). The two major downsides that come to mind are 1) No Materia Loadouts and 2) The moogles are cursed, but aside from that, this game was phenomenal. PLAY THIS GAME!!!