Initially was 4 and a half stars but the late game filler bumped it down to 4. Rebirth for me both exceeded my wildest dreams yet doubled down on the biggest problems of Remake, specially the padding sections, the uninspired level design and puzzles, and an interesting but convoluted ending. Chapter 3, Chapter 7 and most of Chapter 11 in particular had me wanting to tear my hair out, this is Square at its absolute worst tendencies. Cait Sith’s throwing boxes area, with his awful control scheme, his slow Moogle and the game mechanics that feel so buggy and rushed, was the low point of the game for me.

The narrative redeems the game though, if it we just cutscenes and battles this game would be one of the most engaging I’ve ever played, especially when it come to the cutscene direction, choreography, voice acting and the music, which are the best, most harmoniously blended I’ve ever seen in a video game. Which is why it hurts that this game has such terrible… well… game elements. That’s why it took me over two months to beat this game, even though I only took 36 hours to beat it. By comparison it took half the time to beat Persona 3 Reload, which took me 72 hours.

Rebirth is a great game but it’s in spite of its borderline crippling flaws. Play it, totally, but do it for the story, cinematics and the combat, not everything in between.