JJThaJuiceman

2y

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (2024)

Played on PlayStation 5

Like many others, I love FFVII. It’s a legendary JRPG that wrote itself into history as being one of the most influential and iconic video games of all time. Even after all the changes FF has gone through since then, it’s still recognized as the “best one” by most. When Square announced they were remaking it with a new vision utilizing the power of modern technology and design, I was very excited (and yet cautious) about revisiting the world of FFVII. Remake came out in 2020 with mostly positive feedback, but with how its narrative raised some questions, many were even more nervous about its sequel. And that’s where we are at now.

Midgar in the original FF7 is a very straightforward, linear experience. Remake captured that excellently, but there still remained the challenge of recapturing the open world aspect of post-Midgar for Rebirth. And to be honest, I think they do a good job in redesigning the scope. Each region is MASSIVE, and to see the map fully realized and implemented in comparison to the original is breathtaking. Whether you are riding a chocobo, driving a buggy, flying in the air, or sailing coast to coast, you get to experience it all in one gigantic map with a plethora of side content.

As far as the side content goes though, it’s full of the most uninteresting busywork I’ve seen in a while (The hike you gotta do to get Gilgamesh, or the slap in the face you get for completing Johnny’s collection are good examples). Annoying fetch quests and tedious mission structure that’s over saturated with dumb mini-games sums up more than half of all side content in the game. And if you want to get a certain date to the Gold Saucer, the side content is an integral part to build the likeness meter with your party members. I was completing every region up until Chapter 12 where the game goes “Yes, you’ve completed every region so far, but now we are giving you more side content to complete whee you have to go back to areas you finished already with more repetitive tasks. I checked out, and just focused on story from that point on.

Unfortunately, much of the tediousness of the side content bleeds into the main story as well. There were sections of the game that get stretched out for far way too long. Usually these areas would introduce a new mini-game with some of new gimmick that’s only used for that story bit. Drawn out sequences plagued this game, way more than Remake did.

As far as the actual plot of the game though, it’s pretty spot on to the original FF7. More than Remake actually. Which is very decisive considering Remake was so against playing each story beat 1:1, and leaning towards a new adventure. Rebirth does have some new story elements, but they really don’t amount to much in the grand scheme of things. Maybe some of these questions will be answered in Part 3, but I don’t even know if the writing team knows where to take this story. If it’s going to really deviate from the OG, or just fall in line like this game did. I won’t talk about the ending too much, but let’s just say it goes on way longer than needed, seriously.

All the negatives aside, there’s so much that’s great here. The character interactions, the combat, Queens Blood, the general scope of the world, Gold Saucer, story beats that are masterfully recreated and so much more. It’s gigantic and grand with so much to love. There’s bombastic boss fights, beautiful looking set pieces, and the personalities remain true to the characters. This is Final Fantasy at its core.

If you love the lore and characters of FF7, this was definitely worth the wait as there’s mountains of content to digest. As a piece of media that you interact and play though, it can feel like a slog to get through even if you are just playing the story. I want to love Rebirth, but there’s so much fat that could have been trimmed for a much better overall experience. I just love Remake more.

6/10

redtruth

2y

Good review, I regret never discussing FF7 Rebirth so I'm taking this opportunity to do so lmao.

I need to preface this by saying that I am not a fan of open-world games because many of the issues I have with the game are influenced by open-world design.

The mini-games didn't bother me as much as you mentioned in this review, instead what bothered me a lot was the existence of Chadley. I thought it was disappointing how a lot of the world-building in this game was done through Chadley; you do any open-world activity and Chadley would call up the party and congratulate you on how climbing tower X has aided in his research. The way they used Chadley as an excuse to justify towers and some of the other tedious s*** in this game felt extremely soulless.

I don't see this mentioned much and this is kind of a footnote but whilst the new Synergy combat system is pretty cool the combat in this game has a lot less weight when compared to Remake. Character movement in this game can also feel pretty clunky (I am mostly referring to the movement in the open world, when Cloud is running up a slope or jumping down from one there is a very stiff animation which sticks out a lot) I can understand that some of these changes to movement were made to make traversing the open world better but I felt like the execution was a bit off

As for the story... I just thought it was underwhelming. No risks were taken with the story, I have no attachment to the original FF7 and I actually prefer Remake over the original, the ending to Remake made it seem like they are willing to take risks and take the story in a whole new original direction but as you said, the story in this is almost 1:1 with the original game. They could have done something very cool here but I feel like they pussied out after people were so upset with how 7 Remake ended that they made a story that doesn't really please OG FF7 purists or the people that were looking forward to the new direction that they could have took the story.

Remake set such a beautiful foundation where this FF7 Remake project could have been a lot more than just a "remake" but instead Rebirth completely wasted it.

Anyway, my feelings towards this game are a bit similar to yours, I liked the game but I feel like Remake was just a more cohesive experience, that being said this game has so much personality that I can somewhat forgive a lot of its shortcomings because games that ooze out personality are a rarity these days.

Tranquility

2y

Neon White - 10/10

Probably my favourite game of all time from a strictly gameplay perspective. I know some people complain about the writing but I thought it was incredibly charming - it's cringe, but it's purposely cringe. Insane soundtrack.

Fallout: New Vegas - 6/10

As a general rule of thumb I don't play games with mods the first time around. Good game, but I'm docking points due to its technical performance this thing runs like a piece of s***.

CrossCode - 6/10

I didn't expect them to make me care about a "silent" protagonist and their relationships so much but they somehow pulled it off. The whole shtick of the game taking place in a MMORPG is actually really charming when you see all the other "players" running around the map going about their business. The combat is fun but I actually find the puzzles to be the star of the show here. I'm glad that if anything they put in more puzzles than combat scenarios. One major problem with the game is that the way is conveys depth is terrible, which is a major detriment when there is so much platforming in the game.

Seven

2y

Your rule of thumb includes bug fixes and performance mods?

https://vivanewvegas.moddinglinked.com/

PIMP

2y

Currently starting the witcher 3

I missed out on this, looks to be a great game I just never played it

Gloseph

2y

MVC2 - 8/10 I played this game when it was up for sale in the ps3 store but didn't get into it, playing it now with a ps2 emulator cuz im currently reading the x-men comics. The chaotic 3v3 tag system and the amount of characters are still amazing to this day. The downsides to this are lack of quality modes you'd get into today games, and some of the worse stages i've ever seen in a fighting game. like god damn EVERY stage is ugly af, bland, and does not fit the game AT ALL. This game has a very huge lack of identity compared to every other Capcom vs game, with its only saving grace being the drawn characters by bengus. Gameplay however is so good and generational that i can ignore these issues

PIMP

2y

This is a banger :

I missed out on this thinking it's annoying

There's so much content, the side quests are not boring at all this is how its supposed to be

JJThaJuiceman

2y

MVC2 is one of the most half-assed, s*** just thrown together, held together by dental floss fighting games ever, and it’s saving grace is the gameplay.

MVC1 and the other marvel games Capcom made have way more love put into them lmaooooo

EchiTwigs

2y

This game is gonna hit you like crack

Gloseph

2y

MVC2 - 8/10 I played this game when it was up for sale in the ps3 store but didn't get into it, playing it now with a ps2 emulator cuz im currently reading the x-men comics. The chaotic 3v3 tag system and the amount of characters are still amazing to this day. The downsides to this are lack of quality modes you'd get into today games, and some of the worse stages i've ever seen in a fighting game. like god damn EVERY stage is ugly af, bland, and does not fit the game AT ALL. This game has a very huge lack of identity compared to every other Capcom vs game, with its only saving grace being the drawn characters by bengus. Gameplay however is so good and generational that i can ignore these issues

Gloseph

2y

MVC2 - 8/10 I played this game when it was up for sale in the ps3 store but didn't get into it, playing it now with a ps2 emulator cuz im currently reading the x-men comics. The chaotic 3v3 tag system and the amount of characters are still amazing to this day. The downsides to this are lack of quality modes you'd get into today games, and some of the worse stages i've ever seen in a fighting game. like god damn EVERY stage is ugly af, bland, and does not fit the game AT ALL. This game has a very huge lack of identity compared to every other Capcom vs game, with its only saving grace being the drawn characters by bengus. Gameplay however is so good and generational that i can ignore these issues

PUFF SHENRON

2y

you gotta download mugen and customize a roster and add your own backgrounds

thebham

2y

just finished a replay of doom 3 running this game at 10W 120 fps on the rog ally was quite the experience

big pump

2y

I kinda wanna play sims 1. It was so cool as a kid. Vibes were off the charts. Should I do it