"Wait, how are they supposed to call Part 3 Reunion if they already used that on the Crisis Core Remaster-"

At the core of this game, or should I say most of it, is a game that is leaps and bounds ahead of FF7 Remake in almost every way. I'll go into detail about that other stuff later but holy fuck this game is a fucking MIRACLE to play. The game looks and sounds mind-blowing with an easy Best Score and Music-winning soundtrack. Even though some of it is reused from Remake, the many MANY new tracks all sound amazing. It's also, like I said, graphically mind-blowing. Some of the shit that happens in this game is a technical achievement that 90% of other games would kill to get.

But it's not just the aesthetics, the game's combat is also noticeably improved from Remake. Instead of adding so many new major mechanics on top of Remake's system which would bloat the combat, instead it's mostly done through the new Synergy Skills, the new party members, and a bunch of little changes that fit so naturally into the combat style of Remake, that I bet that game is going to have the Breath of the Wild effect of "how did I ever play it like this" come in. Also for what it's worth I actually quite like how fun this game is compared to remake. There's a mission where you help a dog and then the song goes "Bow wow wow Bow wow wow" even while you fight enemies. It's a good year for doggies in JRPGs. And Queensblood is actually very addicting and I had to stop myself at a certain point so I could continue the narrative.

So, this game seems like the best Square Enix game since NieR Automata. So... why is it ranked LOWER than Remake for me? Well, there are two problems I have related to major parts of the game that I have some issues with. First, the open world. Yes, I love a bunch of the side quests I did do, but a lot of other aspects of this world feel very Ubisoft-y. Unlike most games with open-world elements, I just stopped exploring the world after a while. Even though they give you some incentive to explore it, it just wasn't all that fun and part of me wishes that they handled it a little differently. Because I had issues with the world design of FFXVI last year as well.

And speaking of FFXVI, one of my biggest complaints there was with how blah the story is. Well, I am pleased to report that FFVII Rebirth is actually incredibly strong in the story department. Sure they do have some pacing issues, and sure Cait Sith is one of the most annoying characters I've had the displeasure of experiencing in a while, but for the most part the cast's interactions, the narrative twists, and the emotional beats all hit leading to an incredibly satisfying narrative experience.

And then the game ends. Holy FUCK. I read early reviews criticizing the ending for going completely off the rails, and I had NO CLUE it would be this bad. It leaves an insanely bad taste in my mouth, which sucks because this is an otherwise incredible game. It's one thing if Fire Emblem Engage's ending is bad because the whole story is bad. But when you have a story and an experience as amazing as Rebirth and then hit us with Multiverse bullshit and an awkward retooling of Aerith's death, and Cloud going even more coo-coo than in the original, and I just wasn't a huge fan of it at all.

Even after over 30 hours of some of the best Final Fantasy gameplay I've ever played, this one fucking ending (along with the problems I have with the pacing) makes me look at this game a lot less fondly than Remake. When that ended, I was confused, sure, but I was overall intrigued to see where they take this. Now, I just have no clue how they're possibly going to stick the landing. It's mostly dependent on how Part 3 is done, but man this is so fucking awkward now.

However, it is still a great game because bow wow wow bow wow wow.

I have not played the original game.
P3R's story is an engaging experience. It does feature a compelling storyline, and (mostly) great side characters. I understand the appeal of the persona system that adds a lot strategy to this game however I personally decided to just brute-force it in easy mode because Tartarus was starting to feel repetitive, my choice, my fault, but it still felt great and fun to do thanks to the amazing soundtrack, like damn, I couldn't stop singing it in my head.

Despite its many strengths, P3R felt to me like it was sometimes wasting my time. The game's pacing, particularly in the social links part, sometimes feels slow and drawn out, with I would consider to be a bloated amount of social link options that are not always the most engaging. While the emphasis on daily life activities can add depth to the experience, it felt to me that it detracted from the sense of urgency of MSQ. What I'm trying to say here is that waiting 30 days for a full moon is TOO much.

I will say that the game does pick up in pace around September (but at this point you have 30+ hours in the game) until the very end of December. It drops this engaging twist that really made me want to play 'til the end. Again, the story of this game is GREAT. I love it. Cried a few times. January still felt boring. January 31st is great. That is the pattern.