rebornshadows
62 reviews liked by rebornshadows
This review contains spoilers
Recreating such an iconic game as Final Fantasy VII is a herculean task. Square managed to nail Midgar with Remake, and now they've somehow topped that scope and story with Rebirth. No game is perfect, but this one is damn near perfection in every way.
The world of Final Fantasy VII is one of my favorites besides Alrest in Xenoblade 2. The thing I was most excited to see was how they would change and expand upon things like in Remake. They do it consistently with every area of the game. Whether it's Junon and learning about the history of the republic that was once there and the people who live under the large base, or the vastly expanded Gongaga region and the whole dungeon at its reactor, every area has something going on that's either expanding upon the original game or adding something completely new that compliments it. The world is really brought to life. The only thing I'd like to see added in part 3 is just being able to change the time of day. Seeing places like the grasslands and corel desert at sunset was amazing. I'd like to be able to experience areas at different times whenever.
The gameplay is absolutely a step up from Remake. The combat there was already great, but could've used some more fine-tuning for certain situations where you just had to sit and let your ATB fill up. We saw the addition of two person moves in Intermission and sure enough they made that a focal point in Rebirth now. Since you have a big party you can do all sorts of awesome attacks that utilize 2 specific characters. I adore the synergy moves that don't cost anything to use. This fixed the issue of not knowing what to do to get ATB in some situations, and some of the attacks are powerful enough to fill an entire bar on their own which is great. This has to be one of the best combat systems I've seen and I really don't even know what to expand upon for part 3. Outside of combat there's so much to do I don't even wanna try to list it all. I overall loved the world Intel as it's completely optional and doesn't affect the story, but gives you so much more lore and is worth seeing through. The summon crystals powering up your summons and making them easier to obtain through the simulator, the lifesprings giving more info on the regions, the protorelics being completely unique scenarios that lead to great character moments, etc. There's so much game that you don't have to experience. But just like the original skipping out feels like a mistake. This variety is what 16 could've used to keep things fresh. I love all the different activities this game gives you to do.
Rebirth contains a large chunk of story from 7's narrative. You visit many places and a lot happens. The big thing everyone has been waiting on though is Aerith's death and what Sephiroth intends to do leading up to that. I was surprised by the fact that most of the game plays out exactly as you would expect. The way Remake ended had me thinking we could see a lot more new stuff happening or have locations/events taking place out of order even. Yet the story goes as you think it will, and we don't see anything out of Zack (outside of the opening) until pretty far into the game. If there's one thing I wish they did, it was to start hinting or feeding info to us over time. Because of the way they decide to reveal the many timelines and throw a ton of info at you after Aerith's supposed death… you end up feeling confused and maybe even frustrated because they're actively taking away from a huge moment of emotion. I think about how they could've still left us wondering (since most people didn't even understand what they were seeing at first in the endgame anyway) while giving us these little info bits over the course of the chapters. Stuff like Cloud getting flashes of future events or other timelines, or Sephiroth starting to slowly reveal things even though the player and Cloud wouldn't be able to fully understand yet. I just wish it wasn't all at once. But I still have faith in this deviation in the story. Everything they've been doing has been intentional and meant to subvert expectations. If they're going the route I think they are where Cloud can't accept Aerith's death and still thinks she's alive… I'm super invested to see his descent into madness. We won't know for sure what's happening for a few years. But even if we learn more and things don't look promising I'm just invested to see this through. This project has been insane and if they pull it off all the way through I will be extremely happy.
Plenty of people will be able to say it better than I have in this review… but this game is amazing in every way. Almost every area and activity had some new mini game or mechanic. Many quests have unique field and battle themes which is crazy to me(and man is the OST in general fantastic). The characters are all fun to play as and have great arcs and interactions. Rebirth has brought back the feeling and emotions of original Final Fantasy VII in so many ways it doesn’t feel real. The lines I always think back to as a way to describe this remake project perfectly are from the original reveal.
“The reunion at hand may bring joy… it may bring fear… but let us embrace whatever it brings. For they are coming back. At last the promise has been made.”
And contrasting that with the line at the ending of this game I think paints a clear picture that big changes are coming. And I couldn't be more ready to see it…
“No promises await at journey's end”
The world of Final Fantasy VII is one of my favorites besides Alrest in Xenoblade 2. The thing I was most excited to see was how they would change and expand upon things like in Remake. They do it consistently with every area of the game. Whether it's Junon and learning about the history of the republic that was once there and the people who live under the large base, or the vastly expanded Gongaga region and the whole dungeon at its reactor, every area has something going on that's either expanding upon the original game or adding something completely new that compliments it. The world is really brought to life. The only thing I'd like to see added in part 3 is just being able to change the time of day. Seeing places like the grasslands and corel desert at sunset was amazing. I'd like to be able to experience areas at different times whenever.
The gameplay is absolutely a step up from Remake. The combat there was already great, but could've used some more fine-tuning for certain situations where you just had to sit and let your ATB fill up. We saw the addition of two person moves in Intermission and sure enough they made that a focal point in Rebirth now. Since you have a big party you can do all sorts of awesome attacks that utilize 2 specific characters. I adore the synergy moves that don't cost anything to use. This fixed the issue of not knowing what to do to get ATB in some situations, and some of the attacks are powerful enough to fill an entire bar on their own which is great. This has to be one of the best combat systems I've seen and I really don't even know what to expand upon for part 3. Outside of combat there's so much to do I don't even wanna try to list it all. I overall loved the world Intel as it's completely optional and doesn't affect the story, but gives you so much more lore and is worth seeing through. The summon crystals powering up your summons and making them easier to obtain through the simulator, the lifesprings giving more info on the regions, the protorelics being completely unique scenarios that lead to great character moments, etc. There's so much game that you don't have to experience. But just like the original skipping out feels like a mistake. This variety is what 16 could've used to keep things fresh. I love all the different activities this game gives you to do.
Rebirth contains a large chunk of story from 7's narrative. You visit many places and a lot happens. The big thing everyone has been waiting on though is Aerith's death and what Sephiroth intends to do leading up to that. I was surprised by the fact that most of the game plays out exactly as you would expect. The way Remake ended had me thinking we could see a lot more new stuff happening or have locations/events taking place out of order even. Yet the story goes as you think it will, and we don't see anything out of Zack (outside of the opening) until pretty far into the game. If there's one thing I wish they did, it was to start hinting or feeding info to us over time. Because of the way they decide to reveal the many timelines and throw a ton of info at you after Aerith's supposed death… you end up feeling confused and maybe even frustrated because they're actively taking away from a huge moment of emotion. I think about how they could've still left us wondering (since most people didn't even understand what they were seeing at first in the endgame anyway) while giving us these little info bits over the course of the chapters. Stuff like Cloud getting flashes of future events or other timelines, or Sephiroth starting to slowly reveal things even though the player and Cloud wouldn't be able to fully understand yet. I just wish it wasn't all at once. But I still have faith in this deviation in the story. Everything they've been doing has been intentional and meant to subvert expectations. If they're going the route I think they are where Cloud can't accept Aerith's death and still thinks she's alive… I'm super invested to see his descent into madness. We won't know for sure what's happening for a few years. But even if we learn more and things don't look promising I'm just invested to see this through. This project has been insane and if they pull it off all the way through I will be extremely happy.
Plenty of people will be able to say it better than I have in this review… but this game is amazing in every way. Almost every area and activity had some new mini game or mechanic. Many quests have unique field and battle themes which is crazy to me(and man is the OST in general fantastic). The characters are all fun to play as and have great arcs and interactions. Rebirth has brought back the feeling and emotions of original Final Fantasy VII in so many ways it doesn’t feel real. The lines I always think back to as a way to describe this remake project perfectly are from the original reveal.
“The reunion at hand may bring joy… it may bring fear… but let us embrace whatever it brings. For they are coming back. At last the promise has been made.”
And contrasting that with the line at the ending of this game I think paints a clear picture that big changes are coming. And I couldn't be more ready to see it…
“No promises await at journey's end”
Doom Eternal
2020
This game is masterful I don’t have any complaints on it. It has some of the best platforming and gunplay in gaming. It fr has better platforming than a lot of Mario games! I just wanna say that I disagree with the two common complaints about this game, the first being that it’s somehow not good on controller. I played 2016 on joycons and loved it. I played this game on an Xbox controller and it was even more amazing. Thinking this game is bad on controller is lowkey a skill issue. It’s amazing regardless of how you play it. Another common complaint I disagree with is that this game overstays it’s welcome. I thought the length of the game was great and I honestly wouldn’t have minded if it was longer. I guess that’s what the dlc is for. Amazing game 9/10 😁
Grand Theft Auto V
2013
It's honestly just one of the most fun games of all time. It doesn't necessarily have the deepest story but it feels like it's going for a different story structure, slice of life kind of vibe. And in that sense it just works. Mission variety is great and I loved all 3 protagonists. I can definitely see myself trying Online honestly. Also what a great ending.
Final Fantasy VII
1997
Unsure of what my score would be, because in terms of as a game, this game is probably an 8, but as a story, as a journey, this is easily one of the best games of all time.
But what I look for in gaming is the marriage of both, this doesn't QUITE get there because of how it's aged. And to be fair to it, that isn't its fault. What is its fault, however, is the horrible minigames and often confusing expectation for you to know where tf you're supposed to go in the middle section.
I've landed on the middle ground, a 9. The story and characters and that journey are genuinely so perfect that I can definitely overlook some of my issues, just not enough to go all the way there and proclaim it as a new favourite game of mine.
But what I look for in gaming is the marriage of both, this doesn't QUITE get there because of how it's aged. And to be fair to it, that isn't its fault. What is its fault, however, is the horrible minigames and often confusing expectation for you to know where tf you're supposed to go in the middle section.
I've landed on the middle ground, a 9. The story and characters and that journey are genuinely so perfect that I can definitely overlook some of my issues, just not enough to go all the way there and proclaim it as a new favourite game of mine.
Starfield
2023
The good: Story, cast, gunplay, worlds, space combat, immense sense of freedom
The bad: Space feels like a glorified level select screen, no flying from planet to planet, no spacewalks, no taking off from planet to space, npcs are dumb
Great game overall can’t wait for the dlc next year and future titles in this franchise. I expect many of my issues to be inevitably fixed in a sequel. Would recommend to anybody who is subscribed to gamepass!
The bad: Space feels like a glorified level select screen, no flying from planet to planet, no spacewalks, no taking off from planet to space, npcs are dumb
Great game overall can’t wait for the dlc next year and future titles in this franchise. I expect many of my issues to be inevitably fixed in a sequel. Would recommend to anybody who is subscribed to gamepass!
God of War Ragnarök
2022
God of War Ragnarok is essentially an improvement on the 2018 game in every single conceivable way, and yet in hindsight it just strengthens the original. The absolute patience and genius storytelling at play is just mind-blowing and Ragnarok takes everything 2018 was building towards and delivers in spades. Everything here is top notch. Beyond the portrayals of characters like Thor and Odin, this really delves deep into Kratos' psyche and his relationship with Atreus which I found really good. Characters such as Brok and Sindri which seem auxiliary in the first game are promoted to actually impactful characters with arcs. And Freya is just a huge step up here. Love the additional weapon added. The world just feels better to explore with interesting puzzles too. It all leads to one of the best final stretches of any game I've played. Thematic masterpiece of a duology. I'll definitely play whatever the next God of War is.
Persona 4 Golden
2012
Persona 4 Golden is the definitive edition of Persona 4, and the preluding game in the Persona franchise before Persona 5. As someone who played and absolutely adored everything about Persona 5 Royal, I was eager to jump into the also highly acclaimed Persona 3 and Persona 4 games. However I couldn't, until they released ports to all consoles and so I got my hands on Persona 4 Golden for the Nintendo Switch!
I started this game a while ago, it was at probably a bad time, I was busy. But I got back into this game a couple months later and really fell back into the Persona Experience. That ever-so-addictive balance of real life and dungeon crawling.
Persona 4 Golden's setting, characters and general premise for its story are all top tier. Putting our main character out into a small town called Inaba for the school year, the main character stays with his uncle and little cousin for the year. However, not long after his arrival a series of murders take place, which suddenly correlate with a weird TV channel that plays at midnight when it rains. Along with his new friend Yosuke, the main character and Yosuke enter the TV.
Inaba has immaculate small town vibes. Loved the bustling city of Tokyo from Persona 5 but the small scale homely vibes are simply unmatched here, gorgeous locations always.
As for characters, these were truly a group of friends. Like Christ, this group was so tight it's much better as a dynamic than Persona 5. That's helped by this game having a much lighter and funnier tone compared to at least Persona 5. So we get countless hilarious moments. Oh but don't worry, this game will also absolutely break you too, in the late game especially. It finds the perfect balance as you'll enjoy spending time and just vibing before the game moves into the next dungeon.
Of the cast, I'd say Yukiko, Kanji, Nanako, Dojima and Naoto were highlights. I was dating Yukiko, but I found her arc and personality to both work extremely well. Kanji and Naoto both bring so much flavour to the cast as well as having really interesting and unique arcs, also being staples in my party (along with Yukiko).
Nanako and Dojima are absolutely the emotional core of the story and man do they sell you on it. There's never been a cuter character than Nanako.
As for characters I wasn't too fond of. I like Yosuke but I also don't like Yosuke. He's great when he's not actively being homophobic or a pervert but unfortunately the writers don't really allow him to be neither many times and so it leaves me feeling like I can't really truly like him, but I guess the headcannon being that he's closeted helps. Teddie also suffers from being too much of a pervert and being kinda annoying but I actually liked his arc in the end, he has good moments. No problems with Chie but she doesn't do anything really.
As for the mystery, what a thrilling one. Unfortunately I did know who the killer was since before I played -- the memes are unavoidable -- but the impact of it was still absolutely felt. And while to get the true ending is sorta annoying since you need to do very specific and not obvious things to get it, it fits so well into the themes of the game that I loved the way the game explored its themes.
The themes of this game being accepting who you are and not accepting a false perception of life. Using TV and fog to represent this was actually so smart and just a perfect metaphor, I loved it. And the added Golden content with Marie fits so naturally I can't imagine playing Persona 4 and that arc or character not even being in it.
Persona 4 Golden strives in its slice of life and its incredible cast, and genuinely incredible story, but how about gameplay? Well the dungeons aren't really the best of the series. But I actually really enjoyed them in the end. They're not really designed they're just hallways with chests and enemies until you reach the top and fight a boss, but I will say I did find that dungeon crawling element almost more addictive than designed dungeons so it balances out (but designed dungeons are better don't get me wrong). The combat is also not as good as Persona 5 but it's still very fun regardless.
But it feels unfair to compare an older game to a newer game. They improved lots of P4G's issues with P5, but it aged so very well in my opinion it doesn't affect my enjoyment at all. I didn't want my journey to end. I just wish it wasn't so damn perverted and homophobic lmao.
I started this game a while ago, it was at probably a bad time, I was busy. But I got back into this game a couple months later and really fell back into the Persona Experience. That ever-so-addictive balance of real life and dungeon crawling.
Persona 4 Golden's setting, characters and general premise for its story are all top tier. Putting our main character out into a small town called Inaba for the school year, the main character stays with his uncle and little cousin for the year. However, not long after his arrival a series of murders take place, which suddenly correlate with a weird TV channel that plays at midnight when it rains. Along with his new friend Yosuke, the main character and Yosuke enter the TV.
Inaba has immaculate small town vibes. Loved the bustling city of Tokyo from Persona 5 but the small scale homely vibes are simply unmatched here, gorgeous locations always.
As for characters, these were truly a group of friends. Like Christ, this group was so tight it's much better as a dynamic than Persona 5. That's helped by this game having a much lighter and funnier tone compared to at least Persona 5. So we get countless hilarious moments. Oh but don't worry, this game will also absolutely break you too, in the late game especially. It finds the perfect balance as you'll enjoy spending time and just vibing before the game moves into the next dungeon.
Of the cast, I'd say Yukiko, Kanji, Nanako, Dojima and Naoto were highlights. I was dating Yukiko, but I found her arc and personality to both work extremely well. Kanji and Naoto both bring so much flavour to the cast as well as having really interesting and unique arcs, also being staples in my party (along with Yukiko).
Nanako and Dojima are absolutely the emotional core of the story and man do they sell you on it. There's never been a cuter character than Nanako.
As for characters I wasn't too fond of. I like Yosuke but I also don't like Yosuke. He's great when he's not actively being homophobic or a pervert but unfortunately the writers don't really allow him to be neither many times and so it leaves me feeling like I can't really truly like him, but I guess the headcannon being that he's closeted helps. Teddie also suffers from being too much of a pervert and being kinda annoying but I actually liked his arc in the end, he has good moments. No problems with Chie but she doesn't do anything really.
As for the mystery, what a thrilling one. Unfortunately I did know who the killer was since before I played -- the memes are unavoidable -- but the impact of it was still absolutely felt. And while to get the true ending is sorta annoying since you need to do very specific and not obvious things to get it, it fits so well into the themes of the game that I loved the way the game explored its themes.
The themes of this game being accepting who you are and not accepting a false perception of life. Using TV and fog to represent this was actually so smart and just a perfect metaphor, I loved it. And the added Golden content with Marie fits so naturally I can't imagine playing Persona 4 and that arc or character not even being in it.
Persona 4 Golden strives in its slice of life and its incredible cast, and genuinely incredible story, but how about gameplay? Well the dungeons aren't really the best of the series. But I actually really enjoyed them in the end. They're not really designed they're just hallways with chests and enemies until you reach the top and fight a boss, but I will say I did find that dungeon crawling element almost more addictive than designed dungeons so it balances out (but designed dungeons are better don't get me wrong). The combat is also not as good as Persona 5 but it's still very fun regardless.
But it feels unfair to compare an older game to a newer game. They improved lots of P4G's issues with P5, but it aged so very well in my opinion it doesn't affect my enjoyment at all. I didn't want my journey to end. I just wish it wasn't so damn perverted and homophobic lmao.
God of War
2018
This game is really good! Although it never fully captured my attention, the story was good enough to have me continuously coming back to it. As of late I haven’t been too fond of story driven games so that means a lot. The combat is for sure the weakest part of the game but it’s decent enough to get you through the amazing journey/story this game tells. The presentation and graphics of GoW are unmatched. Looking forward to seeing how the sequel (hopefully) pushes the envelope further
Horizon Zero Dawn was already a great game, but this improves on what the first game did in nearly every way. It had me hooked for such a long time.
Combat in this game is very fun, and with the variety of machines, it rarely felt repetitive or tedious. My only complaint with the combat is that it can be rather easy to get stun-locked in fights with many enemies, which is luckily usually easy to avoid.
The world may not have the best level design to make me want to explore it all, but there were still points of interest and things to do all over the map, so I ended up going nearly everywhere anyways. Things like the relic ruins were always a highlight because they provided some short but enjoyable puzzles that were a nice break from the action.
Also, this is easily the most visually impressive game I have ever played. I often found myself admiring the view or stopping to stare at the sunset and take a picture. The amount of visual variety in the areas made it so that not even staring out at the horizon ever felt repetitive.
Combat in this game is very fun, and with the variety of machines, it rarely felt repetitive or tedious. My only complaint with the combat is that it can be rather easy to get stun-locked in fights with many enemies, which is luckily usually easy to avoid.
The world may not have the best level design to make me want to explore it all, but there were still points of interest and things to do all over the map, so I ended up going nearly everywhere anyways. Things like the relic ruins were always a highlight because they provided some short but enjoyable puzzles that were a nice break from the action.
Also, this is easily the most visually impressive game I have ever played. I often found myself admiring the view or stopping to stare at the sunset and take a picture. The amount of visual variety in the areas made it so that not even staring out at the horizon ever felt repetitive.
Fire Emblem Engage
2023
Simply incredible. The gameplay was some of the most fun I’ve had with a Switch title in years. With such an extensive lineup of unique characters, swapping through them each chapter never got repetitive. There’s something extremely rewarding about clearing a chapter and watching closely as your units become more and more powerful. I knew I was untouchable once Merrin was avoiding nearly every attack and hitting a critical almost every turn. That satisfaction continued to be engaging until the final moments. While the story isn’t the greatest written narrative in gaming, its overall messages were clear and captivating. I thoroughly enjoyed watching over Alear and the rest of the cast and look forward to seeing what the DLC adds to this installment.
May 9th: I updated my score. Roughly two months later and the flaws are starting to come back to me. Not that the game is bad, it’s still very good and one I would recommend to any SRPG fan, but the gameplay being the sole carrier of an RPG is not a good look. Hopefully since this was supposed to be more of an anniversary title it was meant to be lighter on everything else, but we need the next game to outshine in every single way.
May 9th: I updated my score. Roughly two months later and the flaws are starting to come back to me. Not that the game is bad, it’s still very good and one I would recommend to any SRPG fan, but the gameplay being the sole carrier of an RPG is not a good look. Hopefully since this was supposed to be more of an anniversary title it was meant to be lighter on everything else, but we need the next game to outshine in every single way.
