I cannot believe how accurately a remake this is of the first open world portion of Final Fantasy VII. Effortlessly it made me sink hours upon hours in what I would dismiss in other games as nice to have's. I did EVERYTHING and 95% felt like an absolute delight. Remake's side quests were tedious, mostly uninteresting and filler content of which I also did every one, but would advice no-one to do the same. That's not the case for this sequel. I'm genuinely baffled by how the devs adressed almost every single complaint I had about Remake (which I also loved, I may only be 21, but my parents played Final Fantasy VII with me when I was a child so it was quite the formative experience).
Rebirth is not perfect, but almost perfectly what I wanted out of it. It feels like it was cut out of a dream of mine. And for that I will eternally love it. It's smart, it's beautifully detailed and crafted and equally if not more challenging than Remake was with it's ending. It is definitely not what you expect if you know and love VII, but it invites you to get the fuck over it and embrace passionately what these geniuses crafted. How much original music is in this, that are full tracks used for 3 minutes of a side quest is stunning. The love and care that has been put in all the distraction along the journey are mind-bending and so are the stories the devs are telling. For me personally it feels like one of the smartest meta-stories I'll ever have the pleasure of experiencing. And part of the magic is the waiting, the theory-crafting, the debates that break out in the culture surrounding the playerbase, which is directly and indirectly addressed through the games narrative. The fact they were able to one-up the ending of Remake and it getting better and better the more I think about it is magical.
I don't really feel the need to talk about the main story outside of that, because all that's relevant is how much it sparked joy and broke me at the same time. All of the events right before the ending hit me like a truck and are so so SO well done. The creators REALLY understand their characters and portray them all beautifully.
I don't regret a single hour spent in this world, cried more than 3 times and wish I could experience this again for the first time.
Rebirth is not perfect, but almost perfectly what I wanted out of it. It feels like it was cut out of a dream of mine. And for that I will eternally love it. It's smart, it's beautifully detailed and crafted and equally if not more challenging than Remake was with it's ending. It is definitely not what you expect if you know and love VII, but it invites you to get the fuck over it and embrace passionately what these geniuses crafted. How much original music is in this, that are full tracks used for 3 minutes of a side quest is stunning. The love and care that has been put in all the distraction along the journey are mind-bending and so are the stories the devs are telling. For me personally it feels like one of the smartest meta-stories I'll ever have the pleasure of experiencing. And part of the magic is the waiting, the theory-crafting, the debates that break out in the culture surrounding the playerbase, which is directly and indirectly addressed through the games narrative. The fact they were able to one-up the ending of Remake and it getting better and better the more I think about it is magical.
I don't really feel the need to talk about the main story outside of that, because all that's relevant is how much it sparked joy and broke me at the same time. All of the events right before the ending hit me like a truck and are so so SO well done. The creators REALLY understand their characters and portray them all beautifully.
I don't regret a single hour spent in this world, cried more than 3 times and wish I could experience this again for the first time.