Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Remake pt.2)

Fionn1952

Cosmo Canyon Theme...for me, that would've been enough to redeem it even if it was a heap of sh*te of a game.

It'll never reach the heights of what the original was for me, but I've greatly preferred it to Remake, even if the mini games were a bit OTT

RedXIV

I am making progress! I'm just about to explore the gold saucer and have to say Upper Junon was a particular good variation on the original, I am a sucker for mini games and enjoyed costa del sol. Corel was good too and I think well needed after a third round of world intel. I am about 45 hours into it now and really enjoy some of the more tricky challenges. The full might summons are always a fun distraction for a bit and I'm petty enough to want do things like get the stars on the piano challenges.

There are enough tweaks and changes to the plot too to keep me on my toes which I'm enjoying also. Only thing I'm aware of is the game is so massive, I reckon I'll want to pack it away for years after playing it, unlike remake which I played through a few times.

Vicxas

Finished the game last night and have some thoughts on the ending.

Spoiler Warning

I thought they weren't gonna kill Aerith off and when Cloud blocked Sephiroth's blade I was fuming, then i saw the blood and thought that it was a clever bait and switch.

Aerith saying goodbye to everyone in the final cutscene was genuinely sad, i didnt think it would still hit me knowing that she dies for the last twenty odd years, but i thought they did that REALLY well.

Whispers are still shite though.

Underground

So I’m finished this now. 72 hours play time all in. I generally enjoyed my time with this but like Remake I also can’t see myself playing through this again. The padding is simply too much for me. Thoughts on the ending:

Spoiler Warning

Having read a bit about negative fan reaction to the ending I was expecting something big to happen. More than once they hinted at making big changes, for a while I thought they’d kill off Cloud and make Zack the main character in part 3. There was another part after the Temple of the Ancients where as Cloud they make you chase Aerith down for the black materia. I thought they were going to do a “not only does Cloud kill Aerith but we’re going to put you in control while he does it”, which would have been very interesting and I’d have understanded fan backlash if so, but it’s not what we got.

In the end I found the ending a little bit nothingey, which is probably par for the course really if we’re talking about the middle game in a trilogy. It’s a bit disappointing as I thought the ending to Remake was so interesting and promised a whole new adventure with an “unknown journey” but it’s not really what we got here. I think they’ve played it a little bit safe after all the talk of flipping the script in the Remake.

Hard to score this one objectively as a FF7 nut as I loved the visuals and the music in this. If I take the rose tinted glasses of on this I think it’s hard for me to give this anything higher than say a 6.5/10.

El Gato De Negocios

Been playing this since last night, about 5 hours or so. I'm absolutely in love with it. Have spent the bulk of my time wandering around in chapter 2 collecting plants and opening up the map. For a game that is as expansive as this, the visuals are truly breathtaking and feel properly next gen. Queens Blood seems to be fairly straightforward and fun, the transmutor is a neat little feature and some of the combat combo pieces are cool.

Early doors of course but it's on track to be my favourite FF of all time (currently that spot is held by 12 / 10, depending on the day)

RedXIV

I know you're all way ahead of me in here but I just need to say the gongaga jungle theme music is amazing. I never appreciated how well bagpipes could fit into a soundtrack….. That honestly sounds like a pisstake but I'm being serious!

Underground

Yeah the sound track is class in general but that one was a highlight alright.

Retr0gamer

I love Nobuo Uematsu but the talent square is using for their soundtracks since he left have been phenomenal. The only company matching them for soundtracks is Atlus or possibly Matsuno when he isn't phone it in.

Necro

Soundtrack is awesome alright but the mono tones of FFVI are still my fave. I may have them on my Spotify list🤣

brady12

Soundtrack unreal but more so the first 50% the game .

I've started to get really annoyed by the bloat now in chapter 13 . I had intended to go back and play some side stuff i'd left but now this chapter is really taking the p**s . It's going on forever . I can't remember was it chapter 11 or 12 where you were firing boxes at moving objects and I was like wtf are we doing here square enix!!??? Taking piss out my time now . I've dropped it down to easy now and try and finish it because I'm loving Dragons dogma 2 .

Creamy Goodness

Generally love the soundtrack too, however there's a few tracks that are a bit meh, the Junon region and the Mt. Corel trail music just had that "new" FF feel to it, I can't describe it but just feels off imho. Rest of the tracks are great, especially when they mix/weave two tracks together subtly like in Mt. Nibel.

Kiith

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121966310#Comment_121966310

Imagine the FF6 soundtrack getting this sort of treatment?

Also, how long till we get a full remake of 6? Will definitely happen at some stage.

Necro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121978651#Comment_121978651

I think the rumours are FF9 is next up but a full remake of 6 would be amazing. Probably my second fave FF game ever.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121978651#Comment_121978651

The pixel remaster soundtrack could be counted as remade.

As far as I'm aware the FF creators are a bit weird about remaking games that they didn't directly have a hand in. It's why there's so many FF4 remakes, the director of that game is still at square. Same with the saga games and ff2 as kawazu is an exec there. The FF4 director has said he wouldn't feel right about FF games he hasn't worked on and the directors of the likes of ff6 have moved on from square.

Of course that could change if money is to be made.

lee_baby_simms

I finished my first play though of remake last week. Started rebirth today. Pure joy.

I remember buying FFVII on day one in EB on Dawson St in 1997 and it almost cost me my leaving cert. I haven’t replayed it since

Square Enix have done a serious job here. The music in particular is stunning.

El Gato De Negocios

About 33 hours played and in the middle of Chapter 7. Really enjoying it so far but its not without flaws.

It really irks me that you automatically jump onto a chocobo rather than having to hit a button to do so. Ive lost count of the number of times Ive hopped off only to hop straight back up again.

Movement slow down eg when entering a story section or moving away from the direct path when the mission involves following someone.

The volume of minigames. Ive basically given up playing queensblood and doing the piano pieces. The rewards vs the time required to get them right do not stack up imo.

The skills tree is pretty crap. Im around level 30 and the bulk of the skills are synergy related which i nearly never use.

Other than those minor gripes its a super game.

RedXIV

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121991352#Comment_121991352

I'm about 85 hours in on chapter 11 and fully getting stuck into all the challenges etc. My brother is playing at the same time and finds himself more like you where he's just trying to plow through the story. He seems to be really enjoying it more since realizing that is the way he wants to play. So by all means embrace it.

I believe the synergy skills etc are really going to come into their own in hard mode if that's your cup of tea. I found with remake it was similar, the combat really excelled and you got fully into tuning your set up and maximising the use of all your abilities to get through that playthrough, but for the normal playthrough in the beginning, I'll admit the synergy skills have been largely ignored (except on combat missions when you need them)

HopingforNewZ

Finished it this week. Really enjoyed it and its an improvement on Remake. Ending:

Spoiler Warning

I thought they played it very safe with the ending; a lot of nothing (new) happened and the adventure continues through the multiverse. I wonder were they apprehensive to do anything too extreme.

one armed dwarf

Not selling so well apparently

https://www.eurogamer.net/final-fantasy-7-rebirth-is-underperforming-says-industry-analyst

Underground

I guess that’s the risk you take when you carve one game up into three. Hype was way higher for Remake and people were stuck at home with lockdown too.

DeSelby83

One platform at launch doesn't help either. I know it'll come to steam eventually but you would imagine that sales won't be as high as they would had they launched day 1

johnny_ultimate

No lockdown, smaller console install base, busy launch period etc… would all account for lower sales quite easily. But yeah you’re also by the nature of the project not expanding much beyond the audience who played Remake in the first place - and you’ll inevitably have lost some percentage of those (*puts my own hand up*) along the way too.

brianregan09

Finished it the weekend and wow definitely had an effect on me never properly played the og but knew the story beats (the major ones) but wow it had me emotional in a way I haven't been from a game in years , still processing it a few days later amazing game worth every penney I paid for it

Dave0301

About halfway through and just about to head up Mt Corel. Have enjoyed it so far and beat Jules in the sit-up competition last night. So satisfying.

I get the mini game fatigue issue, although I am happy to give it a pass as I have such nostalgic memories of the original. Combat is decent and I would say dynamic difficulty gives you more of a challenge than normal.

I do think that the side quest element is weak.

Underground

I do wonder is it worth gaming media (maybe independent media) doing a revisit of this to look at the wider topic of game hype and the media role in it.

This game was being billed as a masterpiece on release by mainstream (92 on Metacritic, really?) and Youtube reviewers alike. I think it's telling that 6 months after release this seems game seems to have been somewhat forgotten about, whereas an actual modern day masterpiece, something like Bloodborne, has stood the test of time.

There never seems to be any mea culpa or cold light of day reflection, particularly from the (in theory) independent outlets on Youtube. It's just on to hype the next product and start the cycle all over again.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122513910#Comment_122513910

It you go on Twitter the Final Fantasy fans give away that this and FF16 have issues. It's just constant reinforcement with their audience that the games are perfect and masterpieces and it weirdly just comes across as them trying to self vindicate their position of the game. Just from them saying this over and over I get the feeling that both games have major issues.

There will definitely be essays about it but you'll have to give it time. Took a while for it to happen to BioShock Infinite.

johnny_ultimate

I listen to several gaming podcasts where the hosts have spent months trying to finish this, and every time they talk about it it generally sounds like they’ve pulling out their own teeth - like getting to the end has been a monumental chore. They tend to say the combat is the main factor that pushes them on, but as someone who already felt the first overstayed its welcome to an extreme extent, absolutely nothing I’ve heard about this inspires confidence that this’ll change my mind. I continue to wait for a deep discount until I even venture a try.

Dave0301

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122515746#Comment_122515746

I am really enjoying it but I suspect that without the nostalgia for the original game I would not be as invested. The combat is good, and the use of Dynamic mode was a nice idea. I still think that combat only shines in Hard mode though which is when you really have to engage with it. Until then, you can button mash most of the time.

A lot of the side content can be skipped, and I think it is harsh to use that as a stick to beat it with. It is a decent game, but has its flaws.

Zero-Cool

This has been a really bizarre one for me.i played at launch Ava loved going around chapter 2 cleaning out the map. PSA, i loved Remake so much that i instantly started a 2nd playthrough on hard and got the platinum.

With this, like a switch flipped and i lost all interest to even finish chapter 2. I played a couple of other things for a few months and finally went back telling myself i wouldn't do why now busy work. Turned out, i was right before the boss so beat him and started chapter 3 and then went playing something else and haven't gone back.

The original is my favorite game of all time and i couldn't wait for this to see the story retold but it's like i have a mental block with the game.

one armed dwarf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122515746#Comment_122515746

I won't launch into a defense of the Chadley-ificiation of FFVII. But I will say I've listened to a lot of these pods and I'm always kinda surprised by the 'gotta do everything' mentality people take to games like these. There is a huge checklist of stuff in Rebirth, but while playing it I never saw it as an obligation to check it all off. In fact I think the reason the game has a 'dynamic' difficulty setting with level scaling is to indicate that it's all up for grabs whenever you wish to do it, not to complete an area before moving on. The game's narrative has issues with urgency but imo the game design sort of tries to lean into it a bit and justify itself as a game all about hanging out in its world, and I think if players would adjust their habits a bit they might not have this grinding experience with it as much

The reason I liked this game so much is it had this almost bento box variety to the number of activities you could do in it, something which is completely lacking in a lot of modern titles due to the inordinate expense of their production. But if you try and do all of it then I think you unfortunately just played the game wrong. I recognise this is a sort of ridiculous statement to make, but my energy for the game didn't evaporate until like 150 hours cause I kept changing what I was doing in it. I beat the game around the 75 hour mark, I watched Nextlander beat it and Vinny had slogged for 120 hours before crawling across the finish line.

IMO, you have to know when to move on from an area and maybe save it for later. My best recommendation to people would be to just do the activities in an area until it begins to feel a bit repetitive, and then move on. This is what I did and it made Rebirth the most diverse feeling RPG I can remember playing since the PS1 era and I say that as someone who generally found Remake profoundly disappointing. I found Remake a drag but loved this game, at least until its extremely stupid and overwritten ending. Even with that ending, it gave me much more what I wanted and hoped for from FFVII Remake

Again there's some things I really wish they would change, I wish that the materia wasn't something you just buy in a menu for doing checklist stuff. It's just a bit too gamified and inorganic, but the things it does well make up for the things that are rubbish and it's the most I've enjoyed FF since VIII but I really think you have to just know when to move on from the Hinterlands with it, if anyone gets that reference

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122524565#Comment_122524565

The main concern I have from listening to the podcasts (Remap and Nextlander chief among them) is that the game still sounded like a chore long after the hosts had learned to ignore the Chadley checklist side of things. It just kept dragging on for weeks and weeks, the motivation to carry on clearly fading with each new region. Even progressing through the main quest sounded like it can be quite a slog. I do think there’s also an argument that a game being overflowing with worthless time-wasting checklist stuff is a bit of a failure of game design, even if it is ultimately optional.

But again, I’m only relaying other opinions here - I can’t express any opinion of my own until I’ve tried it myself. Totally respect your very positive take on it and there’s unquestionably aspects of this game that sound significantly more interesting and varied than its predecessor, hence why I haven’t totally written off trying it at some point. But then I hear another story of someone struggling over weeks to make it to the finish line, even when focusing a lot more on ‘core’ story and quests… and, given my already strong distaste for Remake, I really, really struggle to build up the motivation to pick this up. TBH, there’s a chance I never will.

one armed dwarf

I don't think the problem is with the checklist stuff really, the problem is the way the UI for it is integrated via Chadley. There's no real sense of discovery there, no sense of friction.

But I also think the quantity is the quality here as well, personally speaking. There's a Fort Condor RTS game, a tower defense game that reimagines the gambit system from FFXII. A easy, relaxing clone of Mario Kart. A really fun sort of puzzle-based card game. The chocobo world traversal 'puzzles' sort of operate as a necessary 'come down' after the MCU-flavored sugar rush of a main story mission. There's a high degree of kitsch to the presentation that makes it feel like a theme park of the original game, where in the 90s they sort of partitioned development of it in an odd way and kinda integrated it all together in a pastiche of strange minigames and gimmicks.

IMO, that aspect of the original FFVII is something that contributed to how big it felt at the time, and is something that sort of got optimised out of its numbered sequels, especially across generations. That ability to take a break from the (excellent) materia systems and fighting to just do some choco racing or card games or whatever, then feel refreshed for some of the more combat driven story stuff later

Speaking personally again, I don't think this game would be as good without the time-wasting stuff cause imo it is sort of supposed to be a game about time wasting. There's a review in EDGE that kinda articulates better what I'm trying to say so if you can read their review I'd recommend it. There's a tweet here also by Kat Bailey, I don't know how she landed on the end of the game but this feeling of 'fullness' is what I'm trying to describe

https://x.com/The_Katbot/status/1763243994493149410

It's all fairly subjective, I don't doubt that a lot of what I'm describing is precisely what people don't like about Rebirth. But I just disagree that it's a failure of design when the design is precisely this embracing of excess. Between the diversity in activities, the hugely inventive combat mechanics for each character (Cait Sith in particular), I just think it's in the top 3 for me along with original VII and Zodiac XII

McFly85

Like many, I hit a brick wall with this and had to put it down about mid way through. Picked it back up last weekend and I’m close to the end and enjoying it again.

There’s so much the game gets right, the combat, the characters, music, mini-games, side quests, locations are all generally great.

Where the game can fall down are the story missions, and it’s the same major issue as the first, taking sections that aren’t that long and mercilessly padding the shít out of them, and not in an interesting way. When you think you’re near the end there’s more dumpsters to pull, boxes to throw or yellow ledges to climb. When you beat a boss there’s another boss after it. The game frequently splits your party up so that they have separate things to get though making the section longer again.

Exploration can be checklisty, but still enjoyable and is mostly optional.

Overall I would still recommend it because the good absolutely outweighs the bad, it’s just not a game that will consume you from start to finish and benefits from taking a break for a while.

McFly85

Finished this over the weekend, some thoughts below

Spoiler Warning

As others have said, the ending wasn’t changed as extremely as was perhaps expected. Aerith is still dead for all intents and purposes, and they march on to(presumably) the icicle inn.

The multiverse stuff is complete nonsense though, and just a reason to have Zack back. It sounds like he’s going to be a more permanent fixture in the last game. What that means for Cloud and his rehabilitation and acceptance as himself, who knows. I would hope that they’re not trying to get an ending that manages to have everyone alive.

Also, just as remake, the final boss is Sephiroth and beating him doesn’t have any affect on him whatsoever. You beat him yet he still continues on with his plan like nothing has happened. Hes not really even a character anymore, just a malevolent force that exists for no other reason than the heroes to defeat him.

It’ll be interesting again to see what locations come back for the third one, considering most of the planet has been shown already. The northern cave and surrounds and Wutai are certainties, but not so sure about smaller locations like Mideel or Rocket Town. I would presume also that the entire map we have will still be accessible for thr most part.