Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - A magical experience

The_Observer

The_Observer

Member
I just finished Rebirth and I needed to share my thoughts about it because I'm not sure it gets enough praise. It's kind of a stream of consciousness post, sorry for that. Initially I only wanted to write about Rebirth but it's more about both Remake and Rebirth.

I'm someone who never understood the fandom and love regarding the original game. I tried to play it but I never liked turn-based combat in games so the max I got to is blowing up the reactor but I just couldn't enjoy it. And I also thought the characters rendered during gameplay on ps1 were far from serious looking. But I always found the pre-rendered cutscenes awesome in FFs and was always dreaming of playing games that look like that.

Fast forward to remake reveal and seeing the modern version with real-time combat and graphics looking like the old prerendered cutscenes I was immediately interested and was curiously waiting to play it, at least to get a sense why is it one of the most important parts of videogame history. Also really loved XV so I liked all I saw in these trailers.

After I finished the remake I was really hooked into it, I liked all the characters and I understood why the original game was so close to many hearts. I couldn't wait to continue their story. The game was really solid in every way and I think it was one of the most technically impressive games on lastgen, delivering what I always wanted, to have visuals in gameplay that (in many ways) match the quality of those old pre-rendered cutscenes. To sum it up, I loved that game and never expected the sequel to be this much better, because it was already among the top games the industry could offer.

But Rebirth is much, much better and more. An unbelievable game that captured that magical feeling that is missing in most of modern games, that is hard to describe but those who have been gaming for a long time know well. So many unique parts, details, animations, everything. It always throws something new in your way. There is just so much unique content in every way that it seems like it was made by machines not people.

This is a true nextgen game in my opinion, the visuals are insane. Remake was already one of the best-looking games and they provide that level and more in open-world, which is quite an achievement. It's not obvious from trailers at first glance but finishing the game convinced me that this is something that would not be possible on lastgen in this form. Many times during cutscenes I was wondering if what I'm seeing is real-time or pre-rendered and was looking for graphical issues to see. For me this is an amazing feeling, that I got to experience real-time graphics that in some ways look even better than those old pre-rendered cutscenes.

The music is also beautiful, it's among the best videogame soundtracks I have ever heard. And it also has so many of these tracks and they are a joy to listen to.

The English voice cast is also superb, they really gave life to these characters.

So many unique enemies, I think more than 200? So many unique models and animations It's insane how much content there is.

The combat system is so deep with many characters which you can control that I don't think I have ever played anything like this.

Most of the side quests were also unique and added a lot to the characters and their relationships.

So I'm now also part of the fans it seems. I can't wait to continue this story and see where these characters go.

TLDR: I never liked the original game, but I became a fan because of the modern versions. Rebirth is a game that every videogame fan should try IMO
 
Its a great game. I think its a bit cringe at times with certain dialogues and cutscenes but in general is a very well done game and I am looking forward to play the next one and see how the story ends
 
Thank you for expressing your joy for the game. We should all remember that enjoyment is what drives us as gamers, and we should be more appreciative for all the work that developers put in to making these things we often take for granted.
 
play playstation GIF
 
Still not to sure if I should play these remakes. I played the original recently and it was unbelievably bad/uninteresting, overall. Felt like a rushed job of putting things one after another without any consistency. An unbelievable step back compared to what we played on 16 bits. Even the music was awfully low quality (and often bad/irritating).

But I have to say, with how absurd the story and the characters are, beyond ridiculous scenes, and the totally illogical way the world is built (hey there is one big city but the rest of the world is empty!) and how the places are connected one to another (basically a corridor made exactly for your adventure), I am really curious how you can turn this into an ambitious game without having all of these flaws becoming gigantic and even more visible in the end.
 
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cireza said:
Still not to sure if I should play these remakes. I played the original recently and it was unbelievably bad/uninteresting, overall. Felt like a rushed job of putting things one after another without any consistency. An unbelievable step back compared to what we played on 16 bits. Even the music was awfully low quality (and often bad/irritating).

But I have to say, with how absurd the story and the characters are, beyond ridiculous scenes, and the totally illogical way the world is built and how the places are connected one to another (basically a corridor made exactly for your adventure), I am really curious how you can turn this into an ambitious game without having all of these flaws becoming gigantic and even more visible in the end.
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Like I said, I didn't like the original game either, but love these remakes. I say give them a chance, they demos as well
 
cireza said:
Still not to sure if I should play these remakes. I played the original recently and it was unbelievably bad/uninteresting, overall. Felt like a rushed job of putting things one after another without any consistency.

But I have to say, with how absurd the story and the characters are, beyond ridiculous scenes, and the totally illogical way the world is built and how the places are connected one to another (basically a corridor made exactly for your adventure), I am really curious how you can turn this into an ambitious game without having all of these flaws becoming gigantic and even more visible in the end.
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You probably won't like them.

Nomura took the original story and added some additional nonsense to make you question whether these are actually remakes, a sequel, or an original story. But then all the same plot beats are getting hit at the same points, because they're afraid to commit to a decision. They have one game left and they still haven't decided what they want these games to be.
 
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I'm on chapter 11 and i'm with you...but the 3 flaws for me so far are incredibly jarring and annoying. Like ...who designed the Gongaga and Corel regions?! And i'm on a Caith Sith section where you have to throw crates to progress...omg? This is incredibly bad. No one in development said "this is trash and boring"? Did they test this with gamers and no red flags were raised by anyone?

Why did i mention these 3 points? Because without them the game would be a better experience. And the level design of those 2 parts i mentioned, they last for hours and take all the fun of the game and exploration of those open world sections.

Besides these 3 things, so far it's one of the best games i played since TLOU2 back in 2020 for sure. Without these flaws i mentioned? We could've been looking at of of the best games since like 2010 for me.
 
Tiago Rodrigues said:
I'm on chapter 11 and i'm with you...but the 3 flaws for me so far are incredibly jarring and annoying. Like ...who designed the Gongaga and Corel regions?! And i'm on a Caith Sith section where you have to throw crates to progress...omg? This is incredibly bad. No one in development said "this is trash and boring"? Did they test this with gamers and no red flags were raised by anyone?

Why did i mention these 3 points? Because without them the game would be a better experience. And the level design of those 2 parts i mentioned, they last for hours and take all the fun of the game and exploration of those open world sections.

Besides these 3 things, so far it's one of the best games i played since TLOU2 back in 2020 for sure. Without these flaws i mentioned? We could've been looking at of of the best games since like 2010 for me.
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Funny, I agree, these were the parts I didn't like either. Corel wasn't too bad I think but Gongaga was really bad traversal-wise.
 
cireza said:
Still not to sure if I should play these remakes. I played the original recently and it was unbelievably bad/uninteresting, overall. Felt like a rushed job of putting things one after another without any consistency. An unbelievable step back compared to what we played on 16 bits. Even the music was awfully low quality (and often bad/irritating).

But I have to say, with how absurd the story and the characters are, beyond ridiculous scenes, and the totally illogical way the world is built (hey there is one big city but the rest of the world is empty!) and how the places are connected one to another (basically a corridor made exactly for your adventure), I am really curious how you can turn this into an ambitious game without having all of these flaws becoming gigantic and even more visible in the end.
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Rebirth is nothing like that. It is huge and ambitious hence the three different releases.
 
I could go for another playthrough. This thread is getting me kinda hyped.
I'll probably wait until they announce the third game though.
 
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game is fucking insane, honestly one of the best
 
I'm only 20 hours into it but I love it. I've seen pushback from fans that literally just wanted FFVII with prettier graphics and dislike the multiple entry approach to the remake and dislike the story not being a 1:1 remake, I get all of that, but I like the multiple entry approach and love what they're doing with the story. I think Rebirth maybe leans a little too much into tried and true open world gaming cliche, but I can't judge them too harshly for that. So much of the game is incredible. I think it's arguably the best game they've made and I think it's too bad it didn't sell as well as it deserved.
 
Yes.

And even though I found it 20 hours longer than it needed to be, after the credits I already started missing it...

Unbelievable it was made in 3 years.

Also the Gongaga music is what dreams are made of.
 
cireza said:
Still not to sure if I should play these remakes. I played the original recently and it was unbelievably bad/uninteresting, overall. Felt like a rushed job of putting things one after another without any consistency. An unbelievable step back compared to what we played on 16 bits.
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It's definitely jarring that in the OG you spend the first third of the game in Midgar, and then head out to the overworld for pretty much the rest of the game. But the overworld concept is pretty much how the earlier games in the franchise worked.
 
Still havent finished the game because i'm busy with Expediton 33, but the game is pretty good, the only thing i dont like is the relationship mechanic. Luckilt i got to romance Tifa at my first try.
 
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I'm a massive fan of Final Fantasy. The original release of FFVII is what got me into the series and RPGs altogether.

I'm currently on chapter 8 of Rebirth and feel like I've done next to nothing in the game even though I've played for over 20 hours.

It hasn't hooked me yet for some reason and feels like it's lacking something that made the original, and even Remake (which I finished in a couple of days) special.

I'm still going to get through it and hoping it all comes together at some point.
 
I agree with you for the most part, except for Chapter 11 (the Cait Sith puzzles), really made me want to give up on the game
 
p_xavier said:
What's wrong with you PAL.

Anyways, the Dyne section is so emotional, couldn't have been done better.
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tell that to the fuck heads who made it seem like the whole scene was awful just because the guy didn't commit fucking suicide
 
nikos said:
I'm a massive fan of Final Fantasy. The original release of FFVII is what got me into the series and RPGs altogether.

I'm currently on chapter 8 of Rebirth and feel like I've done next to nothing in the game even though I've played for over 20 hours.
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That's one of the ... uh... interesting parts of the Part 2 story arc. If you had played the OG you would know that Not Much Happens story wise until the end.

I think they handled that as well as could have hoped.
 
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asdasdasdbb said:
That's one of the ... uh... interesting parts of the Part 2 story arc. If you had played the OG you would know that Not Much Happens story wise until the end.

I think they handled that as well as could have hoped.
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That could explain why I don't remember a large chunk of the original, on top of not having played since it released.
 
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Signalis said:
Get the platinum trophy and then you'll realise there's nothing magical.
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I learned a long time ago not to care about trophies at all, just enjoy the game and only get as much out of it as I like, not more. If I went for the platinum I would hate it for sure.
 
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I restarted my playthrough on PC. The amount of cut scenes was rough the first time, but they give you a fast-forward button now. Which I think is them acknowledging that there's a bit too much.
 
Not touching it until they can sell me a complete game. So I'll join the conversation sometime after 2030 when I can get my hands on the ultimate-complete edition in a sale for $59.99.
 
SomeNorseGuy said:
Not touching it until they can sell me a complete game. So I'll join the conversation sometime after 2030 when I can get my hands on the ultimate-complete edition in a sale for $59.99.
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I dunno, neither of them felt incomplete to me. Sure, it's incomplete in the sense that it doesn't have the full story as the original game but they are not different than other franchises, like the Mass Effect games for example.
 
An excellent 50 hour game vandalised into a mid 120 hour game. I hope part 3 drops the Ubislop regions and reverts to an overworld, but that is probably unlikely.

As for what they're doing with the (misleadingly named) Remake trilogy's story, the jury's still out for me. I approved of them taking the risk of trying something different, but increasingly I feel like they don't really know where they're going with the new meta elements. They already turned one of the most iconic scenes in gaming into a confusing mess in service of those elements- the final payoff has to be pretty great to justify that.

It's still possible part three will resolve the new elements in a satisfactory manner, but I think there's a high degree of risk it will become another Lost or Game of Thrones.
 
Imo its a really overrated game, its 7/10 imo, really bloated Ubisoft trash open World with good lore hiden behind awfull side content.

OG is a classic.
 
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The_Observer said:
I dunno, neither of them felt incomplete to me. Sure, it's incomplete in the sense that it doesn't have the full story as the original game but they are not different than other franchises, like the Mass Effect games for example.
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I have no doubt that each episode/part is it's own thing with an overarching story. And I know that it's expensive and time consuming thing to re-imagine this story in 3D with up to date graphics.

But still, I'm not paying $70x3 to experience a remake of a game I already own and love. But I don't harbour any hate for the remakes either and happy that people are enjoying their journey through them.

Luckily, if the game is as good as some people claim, it will be just as good in 2030. 😁

One question - How are you finding the open world design of part 2? I'm a bit allergic to the busywork modern games fill these with to pad content. I've heard some negative feedback of this. What's your experience? Does it feel meaningful?
 
It's an absolute masterpiece.

It's sad to hear some people trying to nitpick or saying the game is bad because some minor nonsense, such bad taste this days..
 
The middle of the game was a real slog. So slow and filled with annoying mini games / actions left and right.
 
If you already know you're not a fan of Ubislop filler content, I would honestly consider getting a completed save, playing Ng+ and mainlining the game.

Remake is the better game simply by virtue of having a much lower proportion of its content be filler.
 
Yeah it's definitely one of the best games I have played and I also adored the original. Hopefully it will sell better on switch 2 cuz this game deserves it. It was 10 times better than 16 imo.
 
Its always funny when people complain about the mini games and I just sitting here wanting to play more fort condor, queens blood and gears and gambits. These could all be games on their own. Plus a lot of the other games are still fun if you are not trying to rush through the game. I sometimes feel this is the bigger problem. As someone who wants to take his time with a game I like, I want this side content to immerse myself more the world. But of course if you just want to rush through it get to the next game and consume ever more, then yeah, mini games are in the way of possible future enjoyment (that might or might not be better).

Anyway, a little thing I never see brought up is the stellar camera when just walking around. Its far enough behind and wide angle enough to always also show you companions, which makes it feel like you are really traveling with your party.
I just played Clair Obscure and love the game, but the camera is so close to you that the only way to see your comrades is to turn the camera around. It always feels like you are walking alone and not as a group. Its a small thing, so I wanted to point it out, because for me it is still sometimes unreal seeing Aerith, Tifa, Red and Yuffie walking along side me. Crazy times.
 
I find Remake to be much better

Much more focused, much better pacing, and it was fresh in 2020

Didnt like the open world in Rebirth, personally

Still have to go back to it. Stoped playing it pretty early on.
 
Multiverse nonsense and shitty anime voice acting the only things I disliked. Everything else made it a contender for my goty. Special mention for the incredible soundtrack
 
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