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[Bernardougf]

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

Your post explains exactly why I hate this game ... big fan of the the original FFs and this dogshit remakes were definitely not made for me. But good that you and so many new "fans" enjoyed.

 

[rofif]

Good game. Even great except for terrible bloat, nonsense open world stuff and anything cait seath. He is terrible and his level is amongst worst ever in video games.

 

[Hector Hall]

It's a forum: either provide compelling arguments to the contrary or shut the hell up. This isn't a place to start shaking your pompoms for the corporates. You have Resetera for that.

Frankly, when someone starts arguing with nonsenses like "the world is too alive for the thematic of dying world" and rethoric nonsenses as "shallow", "convoluted" etc, it's wise not too waste too much time. To argue at that level you have only to say the contrary, and then he can say the same again with more emphasis.

Fact is game has a 92/93 in Metacritic, has received some 40 GOTY awards, has top notch production values, tons of content both in game and post game, and playability is a joy. That's the reality, then there are the delusions of some haters.

 

[RagnarokIV]

Magical. It takes incredible black magic to combine the worse of MCU and Ubisoft and ruin a legendary game's legacy with it.

 

[calico]

I don't think 9/10 is unreasonable for the part of the game which reviewers will have actually bothered playing (the mainline content). It's the 60% of the game they won't have bothered playing -the Ubislop content- which drags it down.

 

[BbMajor7th]

Frankly, when someone starts arguing with nonsenses like "the world is too alive for the thematic of dying world" and rethoric nonsenses as "shallow", "convoluted" etc, it's wise not too waste too much time. To argue at that level you have only to say the contrary, and then he can say the same again with more emphasis.

Fact is game has a 92/93 in Metacritic, has received some 40 GOTY awards, has top notch production values, tons of content both in game and post game, and playability is a joy. That's the reality, then there are the delusions of some haters.

Critical consensus doesn't discredit anything I've said. 'Shallow' and 'convoluted' are just words, but I never used either of them, so I don't know why you're bringing them up.

My biggest issue with the game is that is borrows iconography and mascot characters from the original and dots them around an 'FFVII-style them park, where each themed zone has a couple of big roller coasters (the story bits) and a shit load light distractions (Towers, Mog Houses, Treasure Hunts, etc.). The world is teeming with 'stuff', but never feels alive because it never attempts to feel like a real place. Most of all, in the character presentation. The original was forced to use exaggerated animations due to being very low on actual detail - Rebirth has more than enough polygons to render things in a more subtle and true-to-life way. Instead, they amp up the exaggeration and make the characters even more hyper-realised and one-note than in the original, reinterpreting them as mascots rather than actual characters with their own thoughts and motivations.

Add to that all the stuffing and padding that attempts to transform two or three pre-rendered backdrops into enormous hour-long dungeon crawls and you have the recipe for something which feels cynical - engaged with the iconography and enduring appeal of the IP rather than with the individual struggles of the characters, the changing relevance of the core themes or the myriad ways one might expand the scope of the game with modern technology. Instead, it's just bigger, prettier, and more closely aligned with popular modern design trends. Designed to be immediately recognisable (both in its characters and its mechanics) for the sake of repackaging and reselling something that already has a built-in audience. It's scummy and manipulative and cynical and am I shocked that the games media gushed uncontrollably at the latest dross pumped out of the corporate slop grinder? Not in the least.

 

[saintjules]

 

[DenchDeckard]

I need to get back to it...I fell off on my way to the mountain due to so many mini games and things but I will go back. Im a fan of them I just got a little burnt out and wanted to play expedition 33.

 

[Crayon]

It's fucking awesome. Gameplay, music, hugeness, and a faithful reproduction.

 

[Crayon]

It's somewhat faithful to the original I guess but I still hated it. They effectively kill off the Red character and replace him with a totally different character.

Oh yes, this. Hate it. It's my only serious complaint. It's so jaring and not how I would interpret the original.

 

[FoxMcChief]

I think FF7 Rebirth is no different from Disneys lame attempts to make their cartoons into live action movies. Just cash ins that are crap compared to the original.

 

[asdasdasdbb]

It's so jaring and not how I would interpret the original.

I have to disagree on this one. I think the lack of VO in the original probably hurt the intention there.

 

[Crayon]

I have to disagree on this one. I think the lack of VO in the original probably hurt the intention there.

I'm really interested in that, then. I know tim Rogers does a let's play where he translates the Japanese one. Maybe I'll check that.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Frankly, when someone starts arguing with nonsenses like "the world is too alive for the thematic of dying world" and rethoric nonsenses as "shallow", "convoluted" etc, it's wise not too waste too much time. To argue at that level you have only to say the contrary, and then he can say the same again with more emphasis.

It's called worldbuilding. If your brain cant grasp simple concepts, don't blame the concept or other people. It's just your own fault.

Fact is game has a 92/93 in Metacritic, has received some 40 GOTY awards,

These aren't facts, but opinions.



Said this, I like the game very much, but dismissing legit criticism with this kind of comments is not a good look.

 

[Hector Hall]

It's called worldbuilding. If your brain cant grasp simple concepts, don't blame the concept or other people. It's just your own fault.





These aren't facts, but opinions.



Said this, I like the game very much, but dismissing legit criticism with this kind of comments is not a good look.

If you think legit criticism is something that applied to all video games would see them falling apart..

And no, that the game has won 40 GOTY awards and has a 92 in metacritic is not my opinion, it's a fact.

 

[flying_sq]

FF7 Remake trilogy is going to be the last weabo game I play. It's so wooden and janky, but also when it works, it really is something special.

 

[Illyrius]

The game is a cynical, corporate cash grab, cobbled together from lifeless iconography and worn design tropes.

The story adds nothing, the world feels smaller while the game feels more of a slog, and the entire experience plays out like a big ol' theme park.

Assets and side content are copy-pasted from one place to the next, making everything feel artificial and indistinct. The art direction is entirely at odds with the lore, rendering a version of this sombre, tired world (from which the life is literally being drained) as teeming biosphere, chocked with excitement at every turn; while down-at-heel towns buzz like small scale cities.

When the art direction isn't cocking it up, focused -tested design is - adding ridiculous vertical highways for your mountain chocobo to climb, with massive fucking arrows in case any poor gamer might to stop and think a minute...

And they would: they'd have to wonder who the fuck was building and maintaining chocobo highways in a place where only one spiky-hair fuck is bothering to use them and why the fuck they wouldn't just build these highways for the regular bikes and cars that everyone seems to have.

And like I'm just scraping the surface. Game is a miserable 5/10 experience and I hate that corporate slop has managed to lower the bar so much that a cynical merchandising ploy from a bloated corporate entity like SE can be taken seriously.

This really says it all, as well as it can be said.

 

[Baemono]

I am nearing the end of the game, and I will say it is a better game overall than Remake, but Remake was more entertaining (and the boss fights made a bit more sense).

 

[SkylineRKR]

The game is a cynical, corporate cash grab, cobbled together from lifeless iconography and worn design tropes.

The story adds nothing, the world feels smaller while the game feels more of a slog, and the entire experience plays out like a big ol' theme park.

Assets and side content are copy-pasted from one place to the next, making everything feel artificial and indistinct. The art direction is entirely at odds with the lore, rendering a version of this sombre, tired world (from which the life is literally being drained) as teeming biosphere, chocked with excitement at every turn; while down-at-heel towns buzz like small scale cities.

When the art direction isn't cocking it up, focused -tested design is - adding ridiculous vertical highways for your mountain chocobo to climb, with massive fucking arrows in case any poor gamer might to stop and think a minute...

And they would: they'd have to wonder who the fuck was building and maintaining chocobo highways in a place where only one spiky-hair fuck is bothering to use them and why the fuck they wouldn't just build these highways for the regular bikes and cars that everyone seems to have.

And like I'm just scraping the surface. Game is a miserable 5/10 experience and I hate that corporate slop has managed to lower the bar so much that a cynical merchandising ploy from a bloated corporate entity like SE can be taken seriously.

Yep. It heavily banks on nostalgia which does work at certain spots, like how would it be to walk through Kalm in a 3D world. But there is so much filler and so much layers of bullshit that there isn't much left of the charm. Its filled with minigames and chatter with an android. This is nothing like the original in which the party isn't connected to outside sources but has to find their own way through the landscapes in a sort of decaying world.

You get sidetracked by so many minigames here, that by the time you hit Gold Saucer chances are you are sick of playing any other. And literally every single new NPC doesn't work out, that annoying girl from the Slums, or Roche, or Leslie, or whatever. Every map has the exact same checklist and a new boring choboco gimmick. Junon has the scripted climbing, Cosmo Canyon the horrible air geysers and Gongaga the stupid jump pads. Who actually enjoys this? This doesn't feel like real traversal, but just arbitrary trial and error platform gameplay. And like the checklist, this is repeated in each zone.

And the minigames, as if there weren't enough, even side stories like the protorelic quests (which do hold some interesting lore) have one off minigames. And I hated every one of them. They butchered Fort Condor (even compared to Intermission), but the robot minigame and the cactuar smashing are far from what I would call fun as well. Just a waste of resources really. Gongaga has another batch of VR Arena bouts because you know, the VR missions, Shinra building, Gold Saucer and Prison arenas wasn't enough. And yes, most of these are required to progress the game. And a legit question; who actually enjoyed the moogle houses?

I had a hard time wanting to explore after the Grasslands. Its the same copy paste in each zone.

Square is copying trends western studios came up with about 15 years ago with the influx of open world games mainly by Ubisoft. They mixed it with archaic traversal gameplay that feels worse and far more limited than an 8 year old Horizon does.

 

[Hudo]

 

[tamago84]

botw and totk will be the goat open world level to compare to. Rebirth felt cut asset paste asset while the zelda actually felt like exploration

 

[cireza]

Rebirth felt cut asset paste asset while the zelda actually felt like exploration

Exploration to find the 89th copy/pasted sanctuary or the 543th poop though.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

I am nearing the end of the game, and I will say it is a better game overall than Remake, but Remake was more entertaining (and the boss fights made a bit more sense).

Main grip with the game for me is the minigames, specially near the end of the game. My god those chocobo races that never ended...

 

[Griffon]

The open world was shit, the side quests where shit with shit minigames and the main story was the shit version of a better game.

The battle system is a good foundation, but when everything else is bad, not even that can save a game.

 

[Kenneth Haight]

Really is a stunning game, I am playing through my first time on pro now and it's beautiful.... and that soundtrack........ bringing the nostalgia baby

 

[BbMajor7th]

Yep. It heavily banks on nostalgia which does work at certain spots, like how would it be to walk through Kalm in a 3D world. But there is so much filler and so much layers of bullshit that there isn't much left of the charm. Its filled with minigames and chatter with an android. This is nothing like the original in which the party isn't connected to outside sources but has to find their own way through the landscapes in a sort of decaying world.

You get sidetracked by so many minigames here, that by the time you hit Gold Saucer chances are you are sick of playing any other. And literally every single new NPC doesn't work out, that annoying girl from the Slums, or Roche, or Leslie, or whatever. Every map has the exact same checklist and a new boring choboco gimmick. Junon has the scripted climbing, Cosmo Canyon the horrible air geysers and Gongaga the stupid jump pads. Who actually enjoys this? This doesn't feel like real traversal, but just arbitrary trial and error platform gameplay. And like the checklist, this is repeated in each zone.

And the minigames, as if there weren't enough, even side stories like the protorelic quests (which do hold some interesting lore) have one off minigames. And I hated every one of them. They butchered Fort Condor (even compared to Intermission), but the robot minigame and the cactuar smashing are far from what I would call fun as well. Just a waste of resources really. Gongaga has another batch of VR Arena bouts because you know, the VR missions, Shinra building, Gold Saucer and Prison arenas wasn't enough. And yes, most of these are required to progress the game. And a legit question; who actually enjoyed the moogle houses?

I had a hard time wanting to explore after the Grasslands. Its the same copy paste in each zone.

Square is copying trends western studios came up with about 15 years ago with the influx of open world games mainly by Ubisoft. They mixed it with archaic traversal gameplay that feels worse and far more limited than an 8 year old Horizon does.

Can't disagree with any of this. If ever any project could have benefited from the wisdom of 'less is more', it's Rebirth. There's a constant neediness permeating every facet of the game. Every character has to be larger-than-life, every location cluttered and busy, every side activity sign-posted in bright colours and checkmarks, every story beat rail-roaded and over-dramatised. It is, above all else, a desperately insecure game - desperate to wow and impress, to pander and entertain, to show you every little thing it has to offer.

Whereas great games feel effortless in execution, Rebirth feels like it's straining with every muscle to hold your attention and be liked by its audience. It's sad and grim and painful to be around.