Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
The long bloated review part one (no spoilers)
Final Fantasy VII (from here on referred to as FF7) is for a lot of people a watershed moment in gaming. It defined an era, a console even a genre and broke ground. For many, it is a gold standard, and from all I’ve seen it has good merit. For years rumors have come and gone of a remake or redo of the original with prettier graphics. Those wishes were finally granted in 2020’s Final Fantasy VII Remake. Well partly, it was going to be a trilogy of games because of the size and scope involved and also wanting to add things they could not in the original. By all accounts, the first game in this series stuck the landing, and many like myself, have been waiting for the next part ever since.
Those were once more answered back in February on leap day nevertheless. We got the next chapter, and how did it fair? Did it shatter the world, did it perhaps give us hope in these dark times? Well…I can say with certainty, it kept me busy…
The Stats:
Bought: Amazon
Price: I got the collectors/deluxe edition which was about 100 dollars. I had a gift card and instead, really paid 34 for it.
Played: 78 (WHAT THE FUCK!) Hours, and finished the main story and a good chunk of side stuff.
Platform: PlayStation 5
TL:DR: There is a very good game here, but it is held back by the sheer amount of mini-games and useless padding. But, it’ll be worth your price of admission for the amount of stuff to do.
Deluxe edition & Perks from the last game:
So we kind of have to talk about the edition I got first, if nothing else if you are a person who wants to see a visual size of what you are getting into. Look no further, this picture will show you as it is next to the first game deluxe edition.
What comes inside?
1. The game (duh)
2. A steel book which I’ll admit looks very nice
3. An art book, also for its size is packed with lots of stuff
4. Sampler CD of the soundtrack
5. DLC Voucher for stuff in the game
It’s not a bad little collection of stuff, the box is nice and also the stuff inside for the price is justifiable. I don't know what it is currently going for, but I’m going to guess it will still able to be found for a reasonable price. But I’d pounce soon, time goes on these tend to go up in worth, and I wouldn’t pay more than a hundred for it.
So one of the things we were all wondering is would your stats and equipment and other things carry over to the next time? Sadly this is not Mass Effect style so no you are starting at a level and going from there. The reason from the developers was if you came in as you did from Remake you’d be overpowered beyond belief. To compensate/reward you, if you got save files from the original (inter-grade or PS4 imported save) and also completed the DLC mission with Yuffie and have played the demo, you get some summon Materia. Is it the greatest, well I mean we do get Shiva and Ramuh, so those two were used throughout most of my play through. But play styles will naturally vary by person, this is probably the best we were gonna get as if we did not get anything I feel more people would have been pissed.
Gameplay:
A lot of people did not like the mix of real-time and turn-based that started in FF15, if you are one of those well it’s still here. I for one honestly love it, it is the best of both worlds and it is executed well. Much of the gameplay from the 2020 remake is here with some twists, the biggest being the introduction of synergy abilities. These moves are not tied to your limit and ATB gauge, using moves or having a good synch with other members results in these being used. Timed right these can apply major pressure onto an enemy to enable stagger, which can when timed with it allow you upgraded limit attacks. Or can be used when the target is staggered for extra damage.
You also are now able to use characters such as Cait Sith, and Yuffie along with a fully playable Red XIII. Red XIII is a good mid-range fighter, and Caith Sith while I didn’t use that much has some unique abilities that can play into your style and maybe save your but at times. The biggest addition was Yuffie in my mind. The girl is a tiny powerhouse. When I needed to put the final blow and lost a boss battle I’d swap out someone for her and crush.
Along with these new characters in this world also come side quests that can be done to strengthen a bond with a character which can unlock more skills and powers to use with them in sync and also affinity towards Cloud. This is where the characters are given some time to shine and also you learn a bit more about their personality or past. Other side quests also help add depth and lore to the world. A lot of the side quests follow the tired and true open-world blueprint. But I always felt a drive to explore and wander around. It is a lovely world and also doing these can yield perks from Chadley. Who in this game is your unofficial side-quest log book, finishing these will net you points that you can spend on Materia, or if you have to fight a summon make the fight easier.
When it comes to day-to-day combat stuff, it works and keeps you coming back, along with this is an item analyzer thing that takes stuff from around the world and turns it into an item you need like potions or phoenix downs. If you can get enough material early on phoenix downs are no longer an issue as they can be at times quite expensive. This can save you on some of the magic use you’ll be using as element combat is again a major factor in common to advanced battles. Boss battles will vary but it will also become pretty obvious. The only downside to the analyzer is once you get to the level to do key items in some side quests it pretty much outlives any use, by then if you have been doing a lot of side quest stuff, cash should no longer be an issue at all.
Another little quirk I noticed is the inns are now free, which in my brain flies counter to what I learned about RPGs. You would often have to have some petty cash to rest up, either cause it became redundant or they just did not care that is not the case here. By no means is this a game-breaking thing I just wanted to point it out as it stood out oddly.
The pace of the game is, well hard to describe, the thing with this game is it is big, like big mclarge huge big. Look at my playtime and it should make sense, the thing is yes there is so much to do but a good chunk of it involves mini-games. At first, it is fine, but as the game moves forward and you move to Costa Del Soul you have to do more mini-games to move to the next plot point. You go through the mountains and some banging music and a very, VERY brief stop in Barret’s home town and you go to the gold saucer for more mini-games…
I learned through some looking around online that yes FF7 had a lot of mini-games in the original, I will point out that if you did not see my post about FF7 I really did not play it. Mini-games are fine to a point but it became slowly as the game developed more and more of a grind. Even some side quests turned into mini-games that managed to kill the fun I was having. I don’t need to play the game of beat the shit out of Cactuar for points three times, especially if it’s swapping between Aerith and Yuffie (honestly, if you just made it Yuffie I’d of breezed through it rather quickly and not been nearly as annoyed). Perhaps if they made a lot of these mini-games more optional than mandatory for the story I’d of been cool with them and maybe even wandered back. By the end of the game though, I just had my fill with the forced distractions and set my mind to “We’re finishing this stupid thing!”
This brings us to another problem that does not become so bad until the end game areas: Boss Rushes. Again I know A LOT is going on in this game and there is a checklist we have to run through for some points. That’s fine, but locking us into almost hour-long to at the end depending on how frustrated you get almost three hours of boss gauntlet situations happening. Well it, begins to take its toll on the gamer. I finished one battle and was getting my ass kicked in another part, knowing I was flustered I saved and turned it off. I came back a few days later to learn “Nope you’re starting this at the pretty much start of this.” (The situation in question was more of a mid-way point, as you before this sequence fought a 4 boss gauntlet before this one!) When this happened, I instantly cursed and in my brain for half a second almost thought to turn it off and remove the game as by this point I was in the mid-sixties and just wanted to get this damned thing over with!
That is where the devil is in the details, there is a good story, there is good gameplay and hey I’ll even contradict myself and say some of these boss rush sequences were fun. But the game overloads on so much stuff that the pacing and story are set aside to cram as much shit in as possible that you get tired of the same things. You’re so sick of everything at the end that you just push the pedal down and go “FUCK IT, WE’RE ENDING THIS!” Which is exactly what I did, my wife watched me start playing the final leg of the game in the afternoon, a break for dinner and we finished it at 8:30 at night!
If some of the mini-game stuff was less in the way of the main story, and also maybe more optional and the game was allowed to expand its story more instead of in the parts it’s allowed, this game may come off a lot better. Instead, you get so annoyed with everything you just want to get it done look at the game as the credits roll and go “HA, FUCK YOU I DID IT!” I dunno if it’s just me or not but from what I’ve seen of others I don’t feel I am in the minority here. However, I also would recommend this game if nothing else if you are on a budget. This game will keep you going for a long, long, long time on its base. You do get your full money’s worth out of this product so if it’s something you value, well hell I can’t say play it.
At the end of it all, will I finish the story if you will, and play the third game? Yes, because when the story hit I got invested, and when the game was allowed to focus on its core and not be padded out this was a fun time. I hope Square-Enix learns the lesson or maybe even the back half of the game is less mini-game insane and the plot is allowed to move forward again. If you let this thing do its talking and strutting its an amazing game, the proof is in the remake. But the bloat on this game makes all of it wear out its welcome by the end and you just feel compelled to finish it out of a work mentality rather than having a good time seeing it through. This is a misstep but an easily corrected one also.
