• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

*SPOILERS* I need to whine about Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth. Especially in regard to its writing.

I think I’ve had enough time to digest my experience with the game. I’ll eventually replay it, but after my first playthrough, my thoughts on the game lean negatively. I feel like I played a different game from a lot of people.


1. You can tell that the writers are making things up as they go along. I’ll get to this later.

2. The game was way too silly, every NPC comes across like they just overdosed on party drugs. We already have Yuffie who never shuts up, a talking robot Scottish cat who rides a fat moogle, and a talking dog. So why is every NPC super eccentric? Why did Gilgamesh get like literally HALF AN HOUR of cutscenes dedicated to him?

3. The ending was a disgrace. Make a decision and stick to it. And at this point can someone PLEASE tell this team to stop it with the “endings written to generate theory discussions”? We all know by now that these endings largely mean absolutely nothing and lots of loose threads or ideas will be thrown out the window by the next game. Nomura-directed games are the most guilty of this, but CBU1 in general is guilty of this (see: XIII-2, Remake, Intergrade).

If anything was very silly about OG VII, the writers were faithful to it.

Anything involving Sephiroth clones was impossible to take seriously. Like why is this something that they chose to be faithful about? I mean it’s absolutely silly that they were able to board the ship to Costa Del Sol.

Zack and anything involving the other “world/dimension/etc.” amounted to cheap fanservice because of course.


The whispers were changed to fit into this new vision they had for the story post-Remake, because of course.

The alternate dimensions are written in a way where the writers can easily write themselves out of a corner no matter what direction they choose to go in with Part 3 (because they definitely did not decide in advance) because they are hacks and cowards.

I’m pretty sure there was even an interview stating that they’ll decide what direction to go in in Part 3 based on the feedback of Part 2 but don’t quote me on that.

4. Outside of the writing, the open world tasks were repetitive and didn’t feel organic whatsoever. I personally got very burnt out of the open world stuff once I got to Cosmo Canyon, but luckily Nibelheim’s short and sweet open world section was IMO the best in the game.

Also, Cloud’s movement in the overworld felt very stiff and robotic. But I’ve seen practically no one mention this. It doesn’t feel good.

Materia customization is still cumbersome.

I would have to revisit the game and probably be very selective with what silly sidequests I decide to complete, but I feel like I played a different game from everyone else.

Is there a lot of variety in the gameplay? Yeah. Did I find some of the mini games actually really well-made and fun? Yeah. But the writing was god awful and it actively made me angry and the game was way too long and bloated and the open world wasn’t fun to traverse and did not feel organic whatsoever.


Also please stop with the non-skippable mid-battle cutscenes.

There were lots of great and beautiful moments, but the ending was kind of the straw that broke the camel’s back for me.

I’m just so upset with the direction they’ve gone in for this Remake series. I was all aboard the “unknown journey” train (despite the last couple of chapters in Remake being pretty sloppy) only for them to backtrack like total cowards in the sloppiest way.

I don’t have faith in them magically course correcting and ending things in a well-written fashion in Part 3, because there’s no indication from prior installments that they’re capable of doing so.


Thank you
 
Last edited:

Kumomeme

Member
compared to FFXVI, FFVII Rebirth is full of anime-ish or japan-ish stuff. probably more than XIV itself. the dialogue, acting etc. would be jarring if not used to that kind of things and play on other language than japanese IMO. Rebirth basically anime in 3D.

the whispers complaint is something that people been voicing out since Remake. most of people complained about the ending too. multiverse idea is cool but execution is not. not suprise if it is unanimous general consensus among fans.
 
Last edited:

Kenneth Haight

Gold Member
idc laughing GIF
 

Neolombax

Member
Not really a fan of the remakes. They play great, the new battle system is good, but I generally found the story very confusing. I regret buying it at full price when it came out. I preferred FFXVI over Rebirth.
 

Lambogenie

Member
Agree with alot, especially burn out, unskippable damn cutscenes/every boss being multiple phase, repetitive things and theory crafting style ending, but I enjoyed it.

I hope they will just make a clear story for part 3. The multiverse trend is dumb (not every franchise, especially FFVII needs it).

It's an anime game, and I feel the localisation tried to pretend it wasn't. Both parts are frustrating to play reading the English dubtitles and hearing different lines and delivery in Japanese. This is probably my top 3 gripe.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
FFVII Rebirth kind of came and went. It didn't leave a mark like the original did. Ofcourse there is also much more alternatives to play nowadays.

But yeah, it feels like a fanservice game and at times its very corny. The original was corny too, but at the same time sort of dark and somber. FFVII Rebirth has some more graphic things going on, such as Cloud going on a rampage, but overall its very corny with way too edgy NPC. Areas are like carnivals, and they completely lack any kind of exploration. You'll be directed to the main goal, and left and right side missions keep popping up. Not to mention that fuck contacting you on the radio every minute. To me the open fields felt artificial and absolutely not immersive. I would actually prefer a more empty world with hidden items, caves and enemies for you to find.

S-E should also take cues from MCU though I do understand this trilogy was in development for about a decade. Multiverse sucks and no one likes it.
 

Bernardougf

Member
I think I’ve had enough time to digest my experience with the game. I’ll eventually replay it, but after my first playthrough, my thoughts on the game lean negatively. I feel like I played a different game from a lot of people.


1. You can tell that the writers are making things up as they go along. I’ll get to this later.

2. The game was way too silly, every NPC comes across like they just overdosed on party drugs. We already have Yuffie who never shuts up, a talking robot Scottish cat who rides a fat moogle, and a talking dog. So why is every NPC super eccentric? Why did Gilgamesh get like literally HALF AN HOUR of cutscenes dedicated to him?

3. The ending was a disgrace. Make a decision and stick to it. And at this point can someone PLEASE tell this team to stop it with the “endings written to generate theory discussions”? We all know by now that these endings largely mean absolutely nothing and lots of loose threads or ideas will be thrown out the window by the next game. Nomura-directed games are the most guilty of this, but CBU1 in general is guilty of this (see: XIII-2, Remake, Intergrade).

If anything was very silly about OG VII, the writers were faithful to it.

Anything involving Sephiroth clones was impossible to take seriously. Like why is this something that they chose to be faithful about? I mean it’s absolutely silly that they were able to board the ship to Costa Del Sol.

Zack and anything involving the other “world/dimension/etc.” amounted to cheap fanservice because of course.


The whispers were changed to fit into this new vision they had for the story post-Remake, because of course.

The alternate dimensions are written in a way where the writers can easily write themselves out of a corner no matter what direction they choose to go in with Part 3 (because they definitely did not decide in advance) because they are hacks and cowards.

I’m pretty sure there was even an interview stating that they’ll decide what direction to go in in Part 3 based on the feedback of Part 2 but don’t quote me on that.

4. Outside of the writing, the open world tasks were repetitive and didn’t feel organic whatsoever. I personally got very burnt out of the open world stuff once I got to Cosmo Canyon, but luckily Nibelheim’s short and sweet open world section was IMO the best in the game.

Also, Cloud’s movement in the overworld felt very stiff and robotic. But I’ve seen practically no one mention this. It doesn’t feel good.

Materia customization is still cumbersome.

I would have to revisit the game and probably be very selective with what silly sidequests I decide to complete, but I feel like I played a different game from everyone else.

Is there a lot of variety in the gameplay? Yeah. Did I find some of the mini games actually really well-made and fun? Yeah. But the writing was god awful and it actively made me angry and the game was way too long and bloated and the open world wasn’t fun to traverse and did not feel organic whatsoever.


Also please stop with the non-skippable mid-battle cutscenes.

There were lots of great and beautiful moments, but the ending was kind of the straw that broke the camel’s back for me.

I’m just so upset with the direction they’ve gone in for this Remake series. I was all aboard the “unknown journey” train (despite the last couple of chapters in Remake being pretty sloppy) only for them to backtrack like total cowards in the sloppiest way.

I don’t have faith in them magically course correcting and ending things in a well-written fashion in Part 3, because there’s no indication from prior installments that they’re capable of doing so.


Thank you
Game sucked... FFXV was godawfull ... Remake was meh ... FFXVI is not FF... and Rebirth sucks ... it will take a fking miracle for EE to make a really good new FF game
 

Killjoy-NL

Member
Some stuff is overdone, I suppose, but I think this is exactly how FFVII was intended.

The issue with characters like Yuffie and Caith Sith is that now everything is happening in real-time, so their hyperactive/annoying personalities stand out much more.

All the Zack was pure nonsense and detracted from the game, imo.

Anyway, apart from some pacing issues and needless padding, I think Rebirth is quite true to the source material.
 

sigmaZ

Member
I think I’ve had enough time to digest my experience with the game. I’ll eventually replay it, but after my first playthrough, my thoughts on the game lean negatively. I feel like I played a different game from a lot of people.


1. You can tell that the writers are making things up as they go along. I’ll get to this later.
Yeah, there is quite a bit of this.
2. The game was way too silly, every NPC comes across like they just overdosed on party drugs. We already have Yuffie who never shuts up, a talking robot Scottish cat who rides a fat moogle, and a talking dog. So why is every NPC super eccentric? Why did Gilgamesh get like literally HALF AN HOUR of cutscenes dedicated to him?
Did you play with the dubbed? I played in Japanese natively and then saw the dubbed for key scenes online to see how they handled things and there is a HUGE unnatural tonal difference in many places. That's not to say the Japanese didn't have some of that, but a lot of it is pretty standard fare and there are far wackier anime out there. In Japanese, for me at least, they really nailed a lot of of the party banter (too bad the audio was so bad I missed a lot of it) and the key love/emotional scenes. There was a lot of good push and pull tension in those.
3. The ending was a disgrace. Make a decision and stick to it. And at this point can someone PLEASE tell this team to stop it with the “endings written to generate theory discussions”? We all know by now that these endings largely mean absolutely nothing and lots of loose threads or ideas will be thrown out the window by the next game. Nomura-directed games are the most guilty of this, but CBU1 in general is guilty of this (see: XIII-2, Remake, Intergrade).
Definitely agree here. Disgrace is an apt way to describe the ending. It feels like they didn't know how to end it so they did everything. I especially don't like how Sephiroth is already a god and the last battle in this game he's more godlike than his final forms in the last battle in the OG. I don't think the writers did a good job on his progression as a villain. In the original, Jenova works to fill in the gaps to build tension until the final battle with Sephiroth. I have little faith things will be much different in the last one.
4. Outside of the writing, the open world tasks were repetitive and didn’t feel organic whatsoever. I personally got very burnt out of the open world stuff once I got to Cosmo Canyon, but luckily Nibelheim’s short and sweet open world section was IMO the best in the game.
Same. I was okay with them at first, but when they started to make the terrain even harder to navigate, I just started feeling like what was the point. Yeah, Nibelheim was a bit of a reprieve (though lol it bothered me how the hooded guys were able to magically teleport up cliffsides etc.)
Also, Cloud’s movement in the overworld felt very stiff and robotic. But I’ve seen practically no one mention this. It doesn’t feel good.
Yeah, I felt the way it felt against the terrain was off for sure. I personally don't like how ruff the terrain was most of the time. Didn't really add anything for me and made navigation unnecessary cumbersome.
Materia customization is still cumbersome.
Yeah. Materia felt mostly optional and useless. I was really disappointed with this. After a while I didn't even bother to use that much non-free magic.

Is there a lot of variety in the gameplay? Yeah. Did I find some of the mini games actually really well-made and fun? Yeah. But the writing was god awful and it actively made me angry and the game was way too long and bloated and the open world wasn’t fun to traverse and did not feel organic whatsoever.
Yeah. I agree for the most part. I knew it wasn't gonna be perfect from the first open area when every place I explored wasn't accessible yet. I was like, why allow the player to go there before the content is ready. That just makes them have to waste time back tracking. I also wish the side content was more well-integrated and straight forward without the whole Chadley aspect. Cancelling his coms every single time was such a pain. I also didn't like that every area had the same activities like the Mog House. I think it would've been better to have things region specific, but they obvious were trying to pad things out.

Also please stop with the non-skippable mid-battle cutscenes.
Yeah.
Thank you
You're welcome.
 
As someone that haven't played Remake and Rebirth yet, threads like this are endlessly interesting to me.

Some people consider this game (Rebirth) really bad, some even say that it openly shits on FF 7, and others consider it literally one of the best games of all time.
It's confusing that it's interesting.

I still wonder if I should play it or not, OG is one of my favorites.
I don't mind the changes, but I do mind the supposed bad dialogue. I heard is like Kingdom Hearts level bad.

Which is fine in KH, but I definitely mind that in FF 7.

remilk part 1
😂😂😂 remilk
Just saw a Yuffie introduction cut scene.

Decided never to touch this.
Curious here, when it comes to Yuffie did they ramp up her quirky and "lol random" side from Dirge of Cerberus, but forgot the funny and genuinely endearing side from the OG FF 7?
 

Killjoy-NL

Member
Curious here, when it comes to Yuffie did they ramp up her quirky and "lol random" side from Dirge of Cerberus, but forgot the funny and genuinely endearing side from the OG FF 7?
Haven't played DoC, but imo Yuffie is just Yuffie:
And overly energetic and overconfident teen with a materia obsession.

She's exactly how I pictured she would be.

I think she was a great character in Rebirth.
Tbh, I think they did the entire main cast justice.
 
What this "remake" tries do is like 15 years to late. If not more. It's not 1996 anymore, yet this trilogy acts like the industry still revolves around FF7. The new story feels like it aims solely to please and mess with weebs on gamefaqs in 2005. No new player is gonna understand anything, not to mention be intimidated by the sheer size and production time of this remake project.

The crazy thing about Rebirth is that the base game feels basically like the biggest and most elaborate traditional JRPG ever, literally turning a couple of prerendered 4:3 screens into gigantic "realistic" looking maps with tons of content. Yet it is wasted on weird fanfiction that no newcomer will understand.
 
Last edited:

Euler007

Member
I need to whine because Odin held off on casting Temporal Emprisonment for like a minute last night, ruining my BoF run with an Aeroga's worth of hp left. If I ever meet the guys that designed those challenges, I'm buttting heads.
 
Curious here, when it comes to Yuffie did they ramp up her quirky and "lol random" side from Dirge of Cerberus, but forgot the funny and genuinely endearing side from the OG FF 7?
Am not that well versed with FF7 universe. Just the OG FF7 game, which I think is amazing.

Just saw a couple of her videos, that was enough for me.

Also saw another Cait Sith cutscene. I don’t think i can take this.
 

StueyDuck

Member
The problem with yuffie is that if you didn't grow up as a weeb. But played the OG ff7, you wouldn't have her tone of voice or "attitude" when reading the texts.

Anime wasn't a thing for me as a kid and games were the closest thing to it that I consumed.

So in retrospect yuffie is still basically the same character, it's just in my head when I originally played the game she wasn't "teehee uWu, ditsy poopies".

Does it affect ff7 rebirth for me... nah. There's so much weeb crap in modern media that it's kind of inoffensive at this point. I just turn my brain off when her , or characters like her speak
 

wvnative

Member
What is with all the haters here. I am a huge fan of the original, but absolutely love Rebirth as well. If you don’t like it’s okay, but you don’t have to make a new thread to complain about it. If everyone would start to make threats to write about a game they don’t like, we should close this forum…
Welcome to being an FF fan. It's exhausting. Series attracts the bitchiest whiners on the net.

I think I'm the only one who preferred remake over rebirth, but I don't go into threads poo pooing it to the tons of people who loved it. and i still had a lot of fun with it. Series is best enjoyed solo unfortunately. Unless It's FF14, 14 fans are a little TOO chill.
 

ssringo

Member
Agreed OP. I only gave it a chance because of overwhelming positivity about how it was better than remake. Waste of money and not a chance I repeat that mistake with the third part.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Yep, the writing and dialogue is terrible, Forspoken caliber.

The days when Square wrote and scripted games like FF12 are long fucking gone.
 
Last edited:
Am not that well versed with FF7 universe. Just the OG FF7 game, which I think is amazing.

Just saw a couple of her videos, that was enough for me.
If you could bear Yuffie in the OG but not in the Remake, then she's definitely a worst version there.
Also saw another Cait Sith cutscene. I don’t think i can take this.
Forgot about him... In the OG you at least had the choice to completely not use him (Besides a few required parts).
If he is always there in Rebirth, I doubt I can get through that game at all...
He is up there with Steve from Resident Evil CV, when it comes to character I can't even bare to listen to them speak...
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
The shit writing was already on the wall with the remilk part 1, why did you expected anything different from the sequel?

This trash is now on kingdom hearts level of buffonery.
The writing is shockingly bad. Not just how braindead stupid it is, but also how excessive. Characters just fucking yap on and on forever talking in circles and pointing out obvious things. Every conversation is like 3x as long as it needs to be. Plus the constant grunting and sighing that make it sound like a gay porno.

Even the worst Marvel movie is like Shakespeare compared to Remake’s writing. I just couldn’t bring myself to play Rebirth.
 

Three

Member
The crazy thing about Rebirth is that the base game feels basically like the biggest and most elaborate traditional JRPG ever, literally turning a couple of prerendered 4:3 screens into gigantic "realistic" looking maps with tons of content. Yet it is wasted on weird fanfiction that no newcomer will understand.


I don't want new focus group tested nonsense created for newcomers. I want a game created for FF fans.
 
Welcome to being an FF fan. It's exhausting. Series attracts the bitchiest whiners on the net.

I think I'm the only one who preferred remake over rebirth, but I don't go into threads poo pooing it to the tons of people who loved it. and i still had a lot of fun with it. Series is best enjoyed solo unfortunately. Unless It's FF14, 14 fans are a little TOO chill.
Yeah, I grew up with Final Fantasy and somehow loved them all until the PS3 came out. XIII was really bad, XV I enjoyed although the story was so rushed especially after act 1. XVI I finished and tried to enjoy, but somehow couldn’t, it was not really a Final Fantasy Game, but more a Game of Thrones copy.

Remake was such a pleasant surprise for me, but I enjoyed Rebirth even more because I could spend so much more time with these characters.

14 unfortunately I will never touch. I played long hours World of Warcraft when I was in university and the game was still new. I swore to myself at that time that I never touch a MMORPG in my life again, because I considered a waste of my time after so many hours. Not that I have as a 42 year old man with 2 children still so much time to play games. And the little that I have unwilling spend on singleplayer only games.
 

sigmaZ

Member
What is with all the haters here. I am a huge fan of the original, but absolutely love Rebirth as well. If you don’t like it’s okay, but you don’t have to make a new thread to complain about it. If everyone would start to make threats to write about a game they don’t like, we should close this forum…

The writing is shockingly bad. Not just how braindead stupid it is, but also how excessive. Characters just fucking yap on and on forever talking in circles and pointing out obvious things. Every conversation is like 3x as long as it needs to be. Plus the constant grunting and sighing that make it sound like a gay porno.

Even the worst Marvel movie is like Shakespeare compared to Remake’s writing. I just couldn’t bring myself to play Rebirth.
Got confused. Thought this was a Xenoblade thread for a second.
 

Loomy

Thinks Microaggressions are Real
The internet figuring out FF7 has always been overrated. Sakaguchi aside, this led by the same team that made the OG game.
 

BbMajor7th

Member
Yeah, the writing is dismal. Complexity is not the same as finesse. Every character is a desperately overwritten, one-note archetype and the plotting lacks any meaningful sense of direction.

The most frustrating part is that the ending of Remake left the story wide open for them to make huge changes in Rebirth, but the thirty or hours I played it followed the original to damn the letter. The big changes they do make get almost immediately retconned so they can go back to the original script. The whole game feels like a giant FFVII amusement park, filled with inconsequential and trivial distractions. It's not a game, it's a merchanising project.
 

cireza

Gold Member
Base game wasn't exactly great anyway. Square Enix really suck with their recent FF games.
 

Katajx

Member
I really enjoyed it, but it wasn’t without its issues. Initially I was playing through focusing on the story until I saw my son do some of the proto relic quests.

I think the endings are always going to be the weakest in these games because where they cut off. It gets me to a point where I want to go a little further where you could in the original, and then it gets weird and just stops.
 
Everything else aside, the biggest issue is that we're on the second game now, and they still haven't decided if they want this to be a remake or a sequel.

They're waivering on commiting to one or the other, and so it's the worst of both worlds. They keep hinting that things are going to be different, but then everything still plays out the same. So then it's like, what's the point of adding all this new confusing shit if it doesn't matter?

Even by the ending of Rebirth, they still couldn't decide on what they wanted to do, so all we got was, "It's all the same! ...Or is it?" Just pick a lane already, damn.
 
Last edited:

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
Hating on Yuffie means insta-block from me
 

Saiyan-Rox

Member
Playing with my emotions at the end and then robbing us of the water burial was enough to anger me.

Why they had to fuck about with timelines and shit I don't understand....it's always messy and feels like throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks.

Not to mention the amount of random mini games everywhere.
 

sigmaZ

Member
Playing with my emotions at the end and then robbing us of the water burial was enough to anger me.

Why they had to fuck about with timelines and shit I don't understand....it's always messy and feels like throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks.

Not to mention the amount of random mini games everywhere.
Yeah. They pretty much had carte blanche, so there was no one to cull back or edit their decisions.
 

Dynasty8

Member
I loved the game personally, but OP is 100% right.

The sillyness and shitty writing and forced multiverse shit absolutely affected my overall enjoyment. They need to dial that way back for the future.
 
What is with all the haters here. I am a huge fan of the original, but absolutely love Rebirth as well. If you don’t like it’s okay, but you don’t have to make a new thread to complain about it. If everyone would start to make threats to write about a game they don’t like, we should close this forum…
Welcome to being an FF fan. It's exhausting. Series attracts the bitchiest whiners on the net.

I think I'm the only one who preferred remake over rebirth, but I don't go into threads poo pooing it to the tons of people who loved it. and i still had a lot of fun with it. Series is best enjoyed solo unfortunately. Unless It's FF14, 14 fans are a little TOO chill.
Both of you are actually the most immature and insecure people I have seen on this forum.

"Bitchiest whiners"
"Poo pooing it to the tons of people who loved it"

Negative opinions can coexist with positive opinions, in places where adults are a part of. Nobody is attacking you for liking the game, but you are attacking people for not liking it.

And if both of you weren't humongous, whining, insecure pussies, someone "poo pooing" your darling, wouldn't at all bother you. It would just be a new perspective, that you disagree with, that nobody is forcing you to agree with.

In this same thread, there are people agreeing with OP, and people sharing their POSITIVE opinion on the game. Which should be okay, and you can discuss with these people.

And if you believe fans of a certain series should always lick the ground that a studio walks on, and always love everything that comes out, and not be open about their negative feelings on a piece of SUBJECTIVE ART, you are not a fan, you are a loyalist.

A really immature one at that.
 

Variahunter

Member
I haven’t played the game but got interested in reading diverse opinions about it.

I feel like most of the complaints are legitimate (open world padding, anime fan service and writing, too much mini games…).

I BET for part 3, they will launch the entire collection while remaking part 1 and 2.

They will redo the part in part 1 and 2 that were criticized : so less padding, skippable mid bosses cutscenes, less mandatory mini games.
Basically trim the fat from those first 2 parts and redo the progression system entirely, so you can start from the beginning and experience the entire FF7 story in one game.

That’s why I haven’t bought any of the remakes.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
LOL I imagine this how they chose to get through all the noises people randomly make in Japanese.
The funniest part is they made the grunts and sighs louder and more obnoxious in the English dub compared to the original Japanese.

Someone was like “these grunts and sighs might sound weird to the western audience, we need to really crank them up to 11 otherwise the subtlety might be lost on gaijin ears”
 
Top Bottom