Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

loved the original game one of my favorites at the time what something like 25-30 years ago damn how time moves i was a kid when i played the original in the 90’s like 97ish i think it came out. they talked about doing this for years glad to see it finally saw the light of day.

overall they put a sizable amount of effort into the game. they reworked the story improved the characters interactions with each other and added depth to the personal experiences of the characters. even did an excellent job of adding emotion and complex interactions.

i liked the upgrade to the active battle system made it fresh. i just finished the game. I had almost done everything a couple quests were not completed and some special items were not accounted for. i had roughly 120 hrs of playtime in. the first remake i had over 100hrs as well so pretty big games as far as paly time.

if you are a fan of the game as i was i think you would be pleased. if you had never played this or ff games you may find the combat repetitive. the first game (original) kind of made you work it a little to advance in certain ways – like using a ribbon to nullify poison in a specific boss battle or adjusting stats through Materia optimization to get a little edge to come out on top in a difficult battle. there were elements of that in this game less so than the original maybe. this game incorporated synergy attacks and teamwork commands i thought were cool and added dynamic to the combat ( alot more you could do).

they did a better job of explaining the story in this one but left out some things the original had. i played the original twice to try and figure out the story and was still confused on some things. i looked up an explanation on Jenova and sephiroth and read about the inspiring and pararellism to gnostic idea’s/equivalent and really always liked the depth and comparisons of the story elements in that regard. things like the demi urge and the absolute interwoven in the narrative was something that gave me interest in the square soft games.

good game if you want to check it out its pretty good. ill be anxious to play the 3rd(next one)

Sequel to Final Fantasy Remake. Reccomend you play the first game before jumping into this one.

There is way more expanded story, characters and lore compared PS1 original (I’ll list some after the of review). Even more than FFVII Remake as it leans into a multiverse scenario

Don’t expect a flashy spectacle throughout. It’s not really a bingeable game for me personally compared to the first game. There are some slow segments with forced immersion via mini-games/side quests that had me put down the game several times. But they do make the lore, story and characters more relatable by the end. It’s the culmination of the events that make it great rather than individual moments of the game

Personal interactions between characters/traversal dialogue is really good. Especially with Yuffie and Barret

You switch up are party more in this game. A lot of party splitting throughout

Gamplay remains relatively the same as the first game, except you get 3 new characters (2 if you count Yuffie in Intergrade DLC) to play with who have their own unique playstyle/move list. The synergize mechanic from the first game’s DLC return in Rebirth where two party members team up to do a strong attack or give buffs to each other. Its like limit break meter but focused on 2 of 3 characters active in battle. Meter fills faster if you switch party members during combat

More open world than the first game. You can ride chocobos after taming wild ones. Disappointed that they are region specific and there’s no one chocobo that follows you through your journey. You do get to ride a 8 wheeler dune buggy in the desert which is nice

There are new traversal mechanics like grapple hooks and climbing sections

There’s a relationship dialogue mechanic which have you build up to gain enough affection to ask someone out at the Golden Saucer. There isn’t multiple stages/events to the relationship like in Persona series for example, just an single date end goal like in original

Locations are much larger with more buildings and events going on. For example: Kalm has at least 3x as many buildings, costa del sol is a large vacation destination where you use segways to get around, and Golden Saucers actually feels like an amusement park you can walk around in.

Speaking of locations; story beats we won’t be visiting in Part 2/Rebirth will be covered in permanent fog of war on your map, or blocked by debris and roadblocks like Midgar and Fort Condor . Don’t expect to visit every area in entire trilogy in this game, or look at the map mid-game and think you have 100s of more hours to go. Game is only comprised of 15 chapters

Music is really good. I like how some music tracks transitions into another by fading in instead of skipping making the game more immersive

-Final Take:

Despite the pacing issues at times; the overall story and gameplay is very good and one of best in the franchise. Can’t wait for the last game in the trilogy

-List of Story Changes (spoilers ahead):

Has a lot of scenes with Zack (from crisis core) sprinkled throughout the game. Cloud and Zack team up at the end due to multiverse convergence event and fight sephiroth together. Cissnei makes an appearance but she’s basically a plot progression cameo in one of the villages you pass through

Roche is one of the main antagonist in this game

You meet the Planet Weapons earlier

You fight the snake boss in swamp instead of outrun it

Instead of saving Priscillia from fish sea monster, you save Yuffie

Yuffie and Vincent (not playable, most likely in part 3 of series to keep gameplay fresh) is main stay on your team instead of optional. You must face Vincent in a boss battle

Cloud is disguised as a solider during the parade in original. This time; Cloud, Tifa and Aerith dress up as soldiers and you are the captain in charge of parade march

Shrina boat is now a huge cruise ship. There’s a Queens Blood (card game) tournament held on ship
Barrett gone missing in this one and you must play chocoboo race first to get into area to find Barett

Dine dies of Shinra shootout instead of suicide

Gongaga is a required destination for plot progression (where you meet Cissnei)

You meet Cid earlier since you need a plane to reach Cosmo Canon

Keystone whereabout location is not a scavenger hunt this time to get info. Cait Sith just tell you where it is. You must fight Don Corno to get keystone

The on-stage play in original at Golden Saucer is now a theatrical VR experience

Ancient Temple is a long series of puzzles and boss battles instead of a maze

Temple contain room of trails where you get tragic backstory for each playable character

Aerith doesn’t die (?) or she’s a least a force ghost

Sephiroth end goal is not to just destroy the earth, but every universe in the multiverse