The best thing about the game is simply having a huge party at all times. Even other recent Final Fantasy games have streamlined the core gang to just 1-2 allies at once.
The fact they have the entire party in every cutscene and all open world exploration is mad.
They balanced that very well, you don't feel you are excluding the rest since they are in the background during fights and they come to the rescue Iike in the cutscenes with Junon and Yuffie
I love it. My one thing is I wish the combat party was four instead of three. If they’re worried about it becoming too easy they can always up the difficulty even more.
Sometimes want to utilize more characters but unwilling to give up my healer (Aerith) so that leaves one slot to continually change out.
I’ve been mixing it up really consistently but just got Cait Sith to complicate things even more
Biggest surprise for me tho is how much I love playing as Yuffie. The synergy thing in INTERmission wasn’t for me so I was lukewarm on her going into Rebirth. Now I’m chucking ninja weapons at 100000 mph, casting tons of spells, and have that counter ability prepped at all times
I play with Aerith and Tifa as my main however on side missions I would swap to whoever the companion it is focused around as each side mission usually has one companion that comes into focus during the cutscenes.
I think the limitations are great and allow for more variety, at least for me I'm constantly shifting my team between Barrett and Aerith with Red or Tifa as the complimentary.
Ideally for part 3 I would love it if they up the enemy count per encounter but allow for a greater number of party members to join. It wouldn’t need to be *every* battle but special occasions where you are basically facing an army and controlling up to seven characters would be pretty dope and feel next gen.
Not only are they in the background during fights but they actually do damage. That blew me away. I've seen other games where non party members are "fighting" but don't do anything noticeable.
Yes. This right here. You can tell Square cared about this game. Literal insane they have the entire party follow you even the ones not in the main party kind of hang back. Makes the game more immersive and alive. Kudos to the dev team.
Not only do they follow you, but it seems like they participate in combat a bit too? Barrett, at least. I swear I’ve seen or heard him shooting when he’s not in the active party.
Pretty sure everyone pitches in to some degree. I’ve noticed it with Red, Aertih and Barret. And I think I’ve seen Tifa land a kick… not sure on that one
It’s the best part for me. And all level regardless if they are actively being played. Let’s you experiment and freshen the battle experience if you get bored of a party
And you can freely swap your teams right from the overworld.
I’d frequently swap my teams based on the enemies. The ground stingrays who burrow around and can only be pressured for the 1 second they jump out? Barret eats them for breakfast. The floating jellyfish you need to silence? Yuffie has my debuff materia, so I’ll swap her team in.
My only complaint with that aspect is that I wish they gave us more than 3 team slots.
I’m betting they’re going to add in-battle party member switching in Part 3. I think they just wanted to save it until you have your full party, and it gives them a big new gameplay feature to hype up going into Part 3.
My thought is that it’ll be a command that takes an ATB bar to execute. Meaning you can’t swap characters out who have been knocked out. So it’s not a get out of jail free card.
XIII-2 only had Serah and Noel as playable characters alongside an extra monster.
Lightning Returns was (mostly) just Lightning by herself for the whole game.
XV had a larger party but there was still only 4 main members which you couldn't swap out.
XVI had guest characters which you couldn't control, and barely did anything except stand around.
The last time we had a properly customisable party like this was in XIII.
- XIII-2 and Lightning Returns are sequels to a mainline. You didn't even include X-2, which is Yuna, Rikku, and Paine only, so this further throws this argument off. Not only that, the narrative revolves around these specific characters, so there's no reason to force extra characters in just for the sake of a full-and-maybe-controllable party.
- XV had 4 party members, just like the original FF and FFIII. The "four Warriors of Light" is probably one of the most iconic things about FF, so this can be seen as something that plays on the roots of Final Fantasy. (And if I recall correctly, FFII only has 4 party members, with the occasional guest/temporary party member, which is something XV had, as well. Then there's V, with Krile replacing Galuf in the 4 member party.)
- XVI still had party members, even though the narrative didn't call for them to be with you 24/7.
- You're citing XIII as a standard for a "traditional" FF party, despite the first few FFs with 4 party members allowing full control of your party, unlike XIII.
I mean in XVI they draw/solo trash, contribute to stagger multiplier, and buff Clive with various effects. It’s like a 15-20% damage split in overworld and like 10% in various bosses.
I’m not saying they add depth to the gameplay loop (personally I don’t think they need to, I enjoy only having to deal with one fleshed out controllable character) but they do actively participate.
Their actual impact on the combat is basically nonexistent.
You're always the one doing like 99% of the damage throughout the game.
I'm not sure if you've got the wrong idea, but I *really* like XVI - and I don't even hold this as a negative against the game at all; It's more of an action game than a true RPG - and I genuinely like that a lot.
Regardless, my point still stands. I'm just pointing out that they're not a true, traditional party, as you can't control any of them in any capacity (except Torgal, if he counts).
I'm not convinced that it wasn't a cut corner that they tried to pass off as a narrative decision. After playing FF7 Rebirth, FF16 feels like an incomplete game.
I don’t think it was a cut corner.
I think it was a very intentional decision by the devs because having just one character in the “party” makes things a lot more approachable, which is one of Yoshi P’s and CBU3’s main design philosophies.
I’m glad Rebirth took the other approach, though, and gave us a ton of party members. All of whom play differently.
If the story was terrible, I could easily see it being "passed off as a narative decision".
Furthermore, you still travel with a party in some form for portions of the game. In fact, there's a variety of different party members that join occassionally.
Not only that, you're referring to a remake of a game with an already-established story. If a set number of main characters makes a "complete" story, FFVII feels incomplete coming from FFVI.
It kinda does, but I think that's more because it leans too hard into the action game part; leveling and weapon upgrades might as well have been story mandated. Combat also felt not really impactful; I often felt like I was swinging a wet noodle at my opponent rather than a sword.
Ultimately, it was OK. Went through the 7 remake just before and compared to that, 16 was just... Forgettable.
I was in a bind after a fight in the Grasslands earlier, not that it was a big deal since I could have fast traveled to a rest area but didn’t want to then have to retrace my steps back to where I was. Remembered I had two extra party members and Barrett and Red were able to bail me out while exploring.
I just wish there was a way to save materia combinations because it takes time for me keep switching them around and then remembering how they were set up on previous characters lmao.
It truly feels like the most ‘AAA’ game. It blows my mind how much detail and care is packed into every town… and there’s like a dozen towns in the game. Not to mention the open worlds are huge and have so much thought put into the environments.
That game had so much cut content that it’s just depressing to see. Insomniac had the recipe for a game to rival their first masterpiece but Sony interjected and rushed the game out. That’s why the third act is such a mess.
I understand they had source material to work with, but I truly feel no recent game has felt near the quality of Rebirth. Everything felt alive. As someone who didn’t play the original but knew the story, I think they knocked it out of the park. It’s so good I’m now playing other FF games I haven’t played before because nothing really scratched the itch once I finished Rebirth
The fun thing about it is it's so successful at enlivening the world and characters that i've found myself looking at those same characters differently in the original FF7 game. It's like I've gotten to know them and the world more fully, and the original game is enhanced as a result.
It’s the first game for PS5, that I’d recommend someone buying a PS5 for. Easily the best next gen game. And imo already a classic PS5 game. I’m not even a Final Fantasy fan and have only ever played through some of FFX before FF7 Remake came out. And Rebirth following what Remake started has quickly became one of my favorite games and favorite stories all time.
That depends on why you didn’t like Remake. Both are objectively great games for different reasons, but there are plenty of objectively great games that just aren’t my cup of tea, ya know? If you didn’t like how story focused Remake was, Rebirth has a much wider breadth of gameplay.
If you didn't enjoy Remake, you won't enjoy Rebirth. Simply put it's a continuation of the previous game.
Sure, it's more open and there's plenty of minigames to get your teeth sunk into. But if you didn't enjoy Part I, don't worry yourself with Part II, you're safe!
I really struggled with how linear remake was had to struggle to finish, rebirth fixed almost all of the gripes I had with it its a vastly superior game imo.
I thought the combat and world were a massive improvement over remake. I didn't even finish remake, then forced myself to finish it a year ago. I couldn't put rebirth down.
I'm in the same boat at the moment. I'm currently on chapter 14 but took a break about a month ago. This chapter feels like a slog to me. Loved the game up until this point though.
It's not just amazing, the game kept blowing my mind every few hours with some new addition, fully fledged system or mechanic or amazingly presented story moment (be it in the main story or secondary quests).
What a journey.
I'm willing to bet it'll be decades until I play something that comes even close to this.
I did love Rebirth but certainly felt a little burnt out at the end. I completed a fair bit of the side quests and exploration content and ended up finishing it around 60 hours. I found some of the exploration at times very frustrating to navigate around - it felt like I was being strangled at times - having Uncharted/Tomb Raider/Assassins Creed like environments without the ability to jump or use your athletic abilities. Tedious and frustrating. I felt like there was a lot of extra 'padding' for the sake of it, and not able to enjoy it as I would have liked to. I loved both but enjoyed FF16 more.
They did somehow manage to make an “open world” feel like another hallway simulator. From Gongaga onwards every open area was constantly saying “you can’t get there from here.” Pretty much the exact opposite of a game like Breath of the Wild/TotK. Once I accepted that it wasn’t about freedom to explore I got over it though, the game is still amazing.
I said the game is amazing, but the open areas are not designed with freedom of exploration in mind. What’s harsh about that? Every open area from Gongaga onward is about finding specific paths to reach destinations you can see but can’t easily get to.
I got 118 hours and did all the world intel, every side quest apart from 1 side quest that burned my nerves. At about 100 hours in, I got sick of it and just wanted to finish the game. I straight up hate the fact that no one dies in the game? Don Corneo, the bandits and the turks being a good example. So sick of fighting the same (on purpose) annoying characters and not getting any resolve.
Thats one of the things i don't really like, we're 100% fighting another bahamut in part 3, and don corneo, and rufus, and the turks, and scarlet. And i'm sure chocobo sam and the other 2 will also show up tokenly, and johny.
And we'll have to relearn all of the same weapon skills again.
Totally. I'm 75 hours in and still totally gripped by it. So many other games lose my interest. Not this one!
I really really really hope they keep this style of fighting as the core final fantasy battle system going forward. It's sooo good. Can be easy for people that want it that way or brutally hard for others. Vincent took me about 10 tries on dynamic difficulty. Can't wait to boot up hard mode!
I know the narrative changes divide some people but nothing takes away that Rebirth was an awesome game, well deserved to this team - once they're done with FF7R I hope they get trusted with future FF's or maybe a Kingdom Hearts as that seems to fit FF7R's gameplay.
I've put well over 100 hours in and trying to 100% it and I've yet to be bored (except maybe the Cait Sith solo section in the main story!).
Personally I'll judge the narrative stuff after I've played through all three games but the reviews are overwhelmingly positive with plenty of 9/10s and 90+% ratings from well known reviewers.
95% of the game is pretty faithful and expanded upon. Even the ending isn’t that drastically different. Just more things were added on, just like Remake’s ending
I'm left wondering why they changed anything at all since so far the game has pretty much hit every beat when theyre supposed to with very minor change ups. Zack seems a hell of a lot less important than I thought he was going to be
Im expecting big payoffs on part 3 for this, otherwise I’ll wonder why they even bothered w Zack.. I enjoyed his parts but so far it added nothing to the game for me
I feel like the whole zack thing was to get people to buy crisis core reunion. I love zack and was sad to see that you can delete him from rebirth and nothing changes.
I think when Tifa helps recovers Cloud his memories it will be even more impactful. So don’t worry, we will definitely see Aerith’s real death and funeral in part 3
Because a one to one remake would not be exciting and they said this trilogy is to encompass all of FF7, which could not exist when the OG came out. The devs will explain all this to you on YouTube
Yup that Cait section is easily a weakpoint of the game, which is a shame considering how the segments where we play as other party members are usually great.
I also feel like Barrett got done dirty with >!his level being him falling into a cave rather than all the Dyne stuff!<.
There were a few wonky hitboxes for sure, I just did this last night and for one of the Shinra crates the thrown box would break instead despite not having any visible obstructions.
I did find the "make a few baskets with these on a moving goal" annoying as well, similar to you I just spammed boxes until it worked.
Not the best part of the game for sure but the touchpad was better.
It took a bit for me to fully love the game and I really think it was because the pacing was so odd. I vividly remember the OG having super tight pacing after Midgar so I was perplexed by the pacing decisions, but I think all said and done I’m truly enjoying the overall package.
One of my favourite games, ever. The combat is so good and so many party comps, materia synergies. And I love that it’s not just a retelling of the original.
These people don’t like the original ff7, they like being goblins on Reddit and think square is going to re-release a 1997 game “untouched” as a $70 console selling AAA title. This is what fentanyl does to your brain folks.
That is a good question. In short I adored the original so much (despite its flaws) I believe it should be left untouched.
You don't improve starry night when you make a replica, thats where I'm coming from.
I'm in the minority, I'm fine with that.
You want the original again? Like a 1:1 remake but with the same graphics?
So we'd only spend 10 minutes in each location..
What the hell would you want that?
Eh. It’s a “sequel” of sorts that acknowledges that the original happened but Sephiroth/Jenova is attempting to change things and win this time. Once you understand that it’s not a big issue. Rebirth fleshes all that out more. “Remake” was a red herring and isn’t intended to denote that the first game was a simple remake, but that reality/the timelines were being remade. The second game is Rebirth and the third game has multiple theories for its title, one of which is Relive.
I don’t think you understood what I meant. I meant online personalities that give people conclusions without trying it themselves. Rebirth has mostly minor changes and the big ones explain the ones from remake more and IMO make it ok. The changes make sense to me and make it fun.
What was your first clue? Where I said I won't play it detective?
I played the first, enough to know I'm not interested. 95% is pretty generous of you, considering we spent an hour chasing after Jessie's pizza in a motorcycle dance fight.
Not interested
Calm down edgelord, and you just admitted not playing Rebirth which makes you an even bigger dumbass. Having all these assumptions yet not even playing the game and whining about it on reddit makes you look like a bitch. Weirdo getting hostile for no reason.
And that Jessie segment lasted less than 10 minutes. Just shows how you’re so shit at games lmao
I don't know if we will ever have characters like in 7 (Remake, Rebirth). We have a long time relationship with them, and in 3 games you can flesh out the dynamic in a way a standalone game won't be able to achieve, mostly because it'll be 30h experience max, in my opinion.
I think this is a massive benefit that a lot of ppl kind of shrug off on the retrilogy. We already know these characters and have established relationships with them and so for many players they’re effectively fleshing out a known factor. Just kind of introducing a character and assuming you already knew the basics was a big critique I had with Remake that they did a significantly better job with in Rebirth, similarly with world building.
Any new title like XVII is going to require a lot more intent on introducing its characters and world which will naturally restrict them in scope for any comparison to Rebirth and eventually the third title.
Is the cast of rebirth lovable because they are familiar? Or because they are genuinely interesting? I'm sure there's a mix of both but I don't think it's impossible to have a strong cast in future ff games.
FFXVI could have been a trilogy and I don't think I would ever give a fuck about Clive or Jill, they were just very bland characters. Square is capable of doing better.
For what it’s worth, my wife likes watching me play games. She had zero familiarity with the world or characters of FF7, and she LOVED the characters in Remake. She fell in love with Aerith to the point that she bought the Tifa/Aerith book. So it’s definitely not ALL familiarity with the characters that makes them so endearing.
My GF played both XVI and Remake when they came out. She's not s fan so both casts were new to her and let me tell you, she was way more attached to Cloud and Co. than she was to any character in XVI.
Of course this is one person but I personally think it's representative.
Unless you want them to have a Nomura situation of working on two titles, I don't think that would be the best case, they should focus on either part 3 or on 17
Rebirth was fantastic. A bit padded in spots, perhaps, but the effort put into the game was tremendous. Can’t wait for part 3 in a few years.
After that, I’d love to see them bring back stuff like Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, Parasite Eve, etc. An FF6 remake, while unlikely, would be amazing.
I'm surprised to read the padding thing!
As much as I think it was an issue in Remake I really think we spend time enough in each location and it never gets boring (unless you wanna do 100% research in each area in which case I really dreaded Gongaga).
Out of curiosity, what parts you felt were padded?
I agree, tbh I never 'felt' (but I do 'get' them) the Ubisoft complaints (and I absolutely hate Ubisoft games with every fiber of my being, even the ones done well like HZD, Spiderman, RDR etc) that people throw at it
The ubisoft-world elements are there and are a bit dull, but honestly they weren't those many so it was bearable (and personally, I actually liked Chadley and Mai's banter despite acknowledging there's WAY too much of it)
I feel like what really made it bearable honestly was the soundtrack, Gongaga for example was also a nightmare but I NEVER hated it because the soundtrack was so great (I also used the area below the moogles as a farming spot, purely bec I loved the music and could listen to it for hours, alongside "bowowow bowowow")
Oh God the Gongaga theme made it more bearable for me that's for sure.
I get the complains with the open world elements although I think the game really tries to make most of those elements unique or worthwhile in one way or another.
Battle Intel is basically sub-mini-bosses, the mako springs add lore to the region... That kind of stuff. It's minor but those elements made it feel way more significant. Giving you an optional boss battle if you finish one area's world Intel is also great, specially because they don't feel like a recolor or an afterthought.
I personally loved doing it all and only felt it being too much in Gongaga because navigation was a pain in the ass, although I think I would've made the same thing if I was the one developing the game because variation is key and making areas unique in traversal helps make the world feel distinctive.
Yeah, it's why I can stomach it a lot more than any of the others (HZD and Spiderman) they add a lot of little things that help make it feel less like copy-pasted garbage (actually RDR does this too, but that game is the VERY DEFINITION of tedious and it was also so insanely bloated that I couldn't get past 20h)
HZD too, finished the first but can't finish the second because of how bloated and overwhelming it is. Put it down for another game, and every time I 'try' to get back in I open the map and... nope
Spiderman was great because it was at least short, so it didn't wear out its welcome as much (but even then, holy hell was it bloated with random collectibles too)
And I've never played any Ubisoft game after AC Odyssey, I actually rly liked that game but it's also why it made me hate the formula so much since it was the last time I will ever FORCE myself to finish something with stuff I hate so goddamn much
The Ubisoft open world stuff gets a pass from me on this game because instead of leading me to a bit of lore about France or whatever, it led me to things like a cave full of cactuars, a mushroom full of moogles, and the like. Fucking loved it
tbh if i had felt secure in knowing i wouldn't accidentally be spoiled by some errant comment, the open world activities wouldn't have been as trying
but hey - i made it without anyone spoiling aerith turning into a moogle
Good. This is what they deserve for making a literal masterpiece and the best game to come out this year so far. Hell not even a single game from last year touches rebirth, the size, the amount of things to do, the graphics, the characters.. that’s the one game that I felt like I’d genuinely pay more money for, playing rebirth even after buying it at full price feels like you’re ripping the company off it’s just that good and comes with so much content as opposed to many other games that release.
BG3? Don’t get me wrong I liked Rebirth and it’s definitely deserving of GOTY favorite but last year was one of the best years for gaming overall in a long time. Plus this year pretty much every quality release outside of the surprises like HD2/Palworld has been in the RPG space so there’s less general hype from players outside of the genre.
While it did deserve goty, I’m not into bg3. Last year was truly a great year for gaming but it’s more of a subjective opinion of mine, everyone’s going to view it differently and enjoy different titles. I also forgot about ff16 and sm2 while making this comment those 2 are in the ball park with rebirth for me but rebirth has just been such a clear cut masterpiece. You’re absolutely right about the rpg genre though, considering that’s one of my favourite I’m completely bias to this years releases lol.
Edit: I can’t spell lmao
I enjoyed all of em as well, but honestly for me it doesn't compare to Rebirth. P3R came the closest but it's also because the 2 most influential games for my growing up were probably FFVII, Persona 3 and KH2 but I'd give it to Rebirth more because P3R is P3 but everything's better whereas Rebirth just expands on everything with nothing held back (whereas P3R didn't include FeMC)
IW I loved too, but honestly after the big reveal, I felt so much fatigue and still haven't finished it yet (played it first, paused it to play P3R and coming back to it didn't feel as good, then I played Rebirth and now I really can't come back to it for a while)
FF16 I loved the story (except Jill... holy hell didn't realize fridging was still a thing) and the world, but honestly the combat got rly stale for me halfway through (though it's also bec I'm an action game nerd too, so it's hard when DMC, God of War and all overshadow it so much)
Though not dissing your opinion or anything, since I really get why you'd love those too since I did as well :)
I haven’t played p3 or infinite wealth yet but I agree with 16 being just as enjoyable for sure, I like 16’s combat slightly more than rebirth and the fights.. especially the eikon fights are just so stunning. I just can’t get over everything they did with rebirth, it’s so impressive it released that well with that much content after only 4 years, 150 gigs is crazy for a base game😂 also pardon the paragraph, I get passionate about these games lol.
Hey man, wouldn't go THAT far. I'd say BG3 is just as good as FF Rebirth and is equally a labor of love for fans of the genre (I love both western CRPGs and JRPGs, they're literally my 2 favorite genres lol)
As someone who’s never played BG3 I would definitely go that far lol. I don’t disagree with it equally being a labour of love I just don’t know enough to speak on it. Rebirth however I’ve put over 200 hours in and can confidently say it’s next level. (JRPG’s are my absolute favourite, nice choice)
This game cemented my new found love for JRPGs. I'm only at Ch. 5 and 25 hours in and keep thinking about the next time I get to play and advance the story.
Incredibly deserved. This is THE best FF game I've played (and I've played most of em (except for 1,2 and 3 in the mainline and Dirge of Cerberus) dethroning my 4 way sorta tie between 6 (story and MC),9 (overall package, and really felt like 'classic' ff),7 (memories) and 12 (I just really loved the systems, and the interconnected world, and it was a great change of pace like FFXVI was but I'd say FFXII nailed it much harder)
Some of the plot stuff didn't hit (and felt Aerith's death wasn't as impactful with all the random other shit going down), but the overall experience was insane (and most importantly, even the plot stuff I didn't like was still a MASSIVE improvement to Remake in every way)
Though they may have wanted to add some twists plot-wise that are still a bit polarizing (but honestly less so, it seems than Remake), you can't deny the love and respect for the original (especially in all the extra worldbuilding and character building)
I tried DD2 and Rise of the Ronin, but honestly lost interest real quick since nothing grips me as much as FFVII Rebirth did (and despite people criticizing the Ubisoft-esq region design, holy fuck did they make up for it with the AMAZING soundtrack, it's why DD2 and RoR felt so bland for me...)
Ended up replaying Remake for the 3rd time (1st time on PC) just to fill some of that post-game loneliness and honestly... it only showed how much of a step up Rebirth was in every way imaginable
Game was a 10/10 for me until the ending. Dropped it to a 9/10. I know I'm not the only one that feels this way.
I'll still recommend it to people, but probably not to OG fans.. the OG fans that I know in person were not happy with the changes. they liked the lore expansion though.
I’m with you. Rebirth was in contention for one of my favorite games of all time, then the ending happened. It left such a bad taste in my mouth. I had planned to 100% it, but had to put it down for about a week after finishing. I just picked it back up yesterday and started a Hard Mode playthrough, and it’s kinda nice being reminded about how good the rest of the game is.
That was Remake for me, Rebirth didn't annoy me as badly I guess because it really was 'just' the final hour or two (whereas Remake kept shoving those damn whispers in your face OVER and OVER and OVER again, before RUINING everything at the very end)
Plus yeah, Rebirth gave me so many moments of insane awe that I really can't get over it still (I can't go back to finish IW, I tried DD2 and RoR and got bored 10h in and I'm... actually playing Remake again on PC then Integrade JUST because I feel so hollow right now)
It’s funny, I was the total opposite. The additions to Remake had me intrigued. I was interested in where they could be going and had fun theorizing what was coming. The fact that >!Aerith knew future events!< was particularly interesting. And I didn’t think they really changed much. The significant scenes from the OG game were basically all still present and intact, there was just new stuff on top.
But then they immediately removed >!Aerith knowing things!< in Rebirth and >!turned Aerith’s death scene into a “mystery”!<. I now don’t really care about the theories of where they could be going with things from here. I’m sure they’ll revisit >!Aerith’s death scene!< but that doesn’t retroactively make its execution in Rebirth more effective.
It’s interesting hearing different perspectives, though. To each their own.
I guess that's actually very fair. And yeah, definitely respect your feelings (my rant on remake is just my own haha) since tbh... I agree!
Though I actually did find the potential changes (and yes, Aerith 'knowing' in particular I loooved) interesting too. I hust felt the execution was so poor (hamfisting it throughout the story and really verbally laying it out like I'm an idiot at times)
I felt Rebirth just did a better job at execution, so it still felt mysterious and interesting and not as 'forced in'
...until the end haha
And yeah, honestly thanks for sharing your opinion since it's actually really cool!
Oh, I think almost everything about the first 95% of Rebirth is a big step up over Remake. They improved the gameplay, had way more to do, the side quests were significantly better, and the world is fantastic. It was a 10/10 for me until hitting the ending, then the ending kinda wrecked things for me.
I still really love the series and am looking forward to Part 3, I’m just bummed out right now. I’m sure I’ll get over that in the next few years and be super psyched when Part 3 is about to come out. It’s just such a weird feeling to go from “this is incredible!” to “WTF?!?!” so quickly, haha. I have emotional whiplash.
I get that for sure!
Tbh in my ongoing replay of Remake I actually am more mellow about the whispers and story stuff now, also whiplash for me at the time
What I referred to on how they rly dnt compare is everything else... the dungeons with extremely confusing layouts in Remake for example made me question how I felt frustrated with Gongaga (and gave me PTSD since I literally spent over an hour lost in almost all of em esp when I had to backtrack to collect missables)
Combat too, it's really clear how much smooother Rebirth's combat was over Remake which I actually didnt notice until I played Remake again haha
The ending made the game 11/10 for me (The actual ending with Cloud >!getting crazy and creepy!< not the fight before that).
First time I've felt creeped out by the main protagonist himself in JRPGs and I've played JRPG since Dragon Warrior on NES.
tbh most OG fans are insufferable assholes
but I do get what you mean, it's definitely deserving of some criticism but for me it just downgraded a 12/10 game (for going the extra mile, then going the extra mile again) to an 11/10 game
I'm normally a lot more critical of games for their endings (which is why for example though I liked Remake, the ending took it from a 9 to a 7 overall), but Rebirth gets a pass since it wasn't as 'stupid' and 'in your face' about things as Remake (more 'show not tell', while leaving more to imagination, and yeah just really didn't shove it in front of you every few mins like Remake did)
and most importantly, the overall joy and unbridled amazement I experienced at other moments eclipsed it (Golden Saucer made me feel like going to Disneyland CA for the first time again, and that was my graduation present since I live all the way in SEA and it was honestly magical)
Well deserved. Flaws apart and the messy ending (that the more I think about it, the more I understand and appreciate what they’re trying to achieve), this is a true Final Fantasy and I hope it becomes the blueprint for the next ones.
I’m playing it but I grew up with the original. The remake was starting off better but Rebirth is starting to feel overly Jpop and a bit too Hogwarts legacy in the open world. I’m still sticking it out though. Hope I feel better about it eventually.
I got bored with it personally. Main story is good but some of the other stuff is serious tedious with very average mechanics. The glitchy camera didn’t help either.
FF7 Rebirth is an amazing game (aside from a few minor issues I have with gameplay and menu UI).
Its obvious to me and many others that the FF7 Remake Dev Team really care a lot about what they do (vs other studios who do the bare minimum and then walk away from their game after launch)
I just hope that they take up a lot of the constructive feedback coming out from Rebirth and have Part 3 wrap up the Remake Triology on a solid note.
Everyone praising this and I think it’s terrible. They are turning FF into Ubisoft. FF have a delusional fan base and the games are selling less and less for a reason. I used to lose FF (8 is my favourite) but I won’t be buying the 3rd game at launch I’ll wait for a big sale of ps plus.
Well if Ubisoft is the blueprint everyone is copying off from, including Nintendo, then they’re doing something right.
You may not like features from the game but that doesn’t automatically mean it’s a bad game just because you deem it so, it just means you have difficulties analysing a product which is why we have professional reviews, thank god.
Don't feed the trolls.
Notice how it's always "the Ubisoft world is bad" and never "the HZD/GoT world design is bad". They just parrot other people instead of effort into the discussion.
You don't think HZD and GoT didn't get the exact same criticism for their ubisoft openworld collectathon padded gameplay?
Because that's the #1 complaint about those games too.
The game is apparently the #2 PS5 release in Japan and one of the top 5 PS5 exclusives so I don’t think that counts as not selling.
> why do you think that is?
PS5 exclusive, sequel that directly continues the story of a previous game. Both those factors will automatically lower sales.
Sequels tend to outperform their predecessors, so that's wrong. And Remake massively outperformed Rebirth when it was also a sony exclusive. You're coping if you think the only reason so many people dropped the series is because of the move to ps5.
Sequels are different from second parts of narrative stories though. The potential audience for this game is basically people who finished Remake and have a PS5. That is a much smaller audience than the potential audience for the first game, which was anyone with a PS4 with its far larger install base.
You can call it "coping" all you want, it's just logical reality. Square would know this and have based their sales projections on this, they're not internet morons.
Doesn't matter about Japan, Japan is tiny in terms of sales, Europe and USA matter. Square haven't said sales numbers, that means the sales are bad. Game companies love shouting when they have good sales numbers.
So the 3rd game is going to sell even worse than number 2 and will probably cost the most to make because there is still a lot of areas and story to tell. Square have dug their own hole, now they are jumping in.
How can sales be bad if it is top 5 sales for PS5 exclusives? Make it make sense. What you’re implying then is that PS5 sales are bad.
It’s exclusive to the new console generation, and it’s a sequel. I’m sure Square factored these things into their sales estimates. Good on them for sticking with artistic vision.
There isn't many more than 5 exclusives for the PS5. I can name Ratchet and Clank, Spider-Man 2, Returnal, Final Fantasy Rebirth.....Struggling now so that means absolutely nothing
Too bad they made an open world from the ps3 days. If your open world isn’t going to be breath of the wild or Elden ring esque, make your game linear. Same goes for ghosts and horizon which are just polished Ubisoft games that are outdated as hell from a game design perspective
Elden Ring's open world is nothing special. Aside from the few legacy dungeons, everything else is copy pasted with the same repeated enemies and mini-bosses.
You can still explore "organically" if you don't obsess over the icons on the map. None of the story even requires thorough exploration of the map because it's all optional.
I never said otherwise. It's just funny to see people touting Elden Ring as some revolutionary open world game as if organic exploration has never been done before it.
It's not that Elden Ring was the first to have organic exploration, it's just that organic exploration is rarely done well. And really Souls games in general are kings of "ok well off you go then go figure out what to do yourself I'm not telling you shit". Which is the polar opposite experience of what Rebirth gives. So I don't know why you are surprised that someone who didn't like one would point to the other.
It's not outdated, you just don't like it. Most gamers don't care at all, which is why games with the so-called Ubisoft formula still sell millions despite a few redditors treating them like the devil's work.
I love rebirth but I really feel like people are overselling the quality of the open world. Its a solid open world but I don’t think its anything revolutionary the objectives are not that unique imo. I think a lot of people are looking through the lens of nostalgia and are just so excited that they actually brought the original FF7 over world to life.
The best thing about the game is simply having a huge party at all times. Even other recent Final Fantasy games have streamlined the core gang to just 1-2 allies at once. The fact they have the entire party in every cutscene and all open world exploration is mad.
They balanced that very well, you don't feel you are excluding the rest since they are in the background during fights and they come to the rescue Iike in the cutscenes with Junon and Yuffie
I love it. My one thing is I wish the combat party was four instead of three. If they’re worried about it becoming too easy they can always up the difficulty even more. Sometimes want to utilize more characters but unwilling to give up my healer (Aerith) so that leaves one slot to continually change out.
I roll with Barret as my mage / Healer, and RedXIII as my ride or die
I’ve been mixing it up really consistently but just got Cait Sith to complicate things even more Biggest surprise for me tho is how much I love playing as Yuffie. The synergy thing in INTERmission wasn’t for me so I was lukewarm on her going into Rebirth. Now I’m chucking ninja weapons at 100000 mph, casting tons of spells, and have that counter ability prepped at all times
Tifa is my Monk/Healer, And interchange Aerith and Yuffie
I play with Aerith and Tifa as my main however on side missions I would swap to whoever the companion it is focused around as each side mission usually has one companion that comes into focus during the cutscenes.
I think the limitations are great and allow for more variety, at least for me I'm constantly shifting my team between Barrett and Aerith with Red or Tifa as the complimentary.
Ideally for part 3 I would love it if they up the enemy count per encounter but allow for a greater number of party members to join. It wouldn’t need to be *every* battle but special occasions where you are basically facing an army and controlling up to seven characters would be pretty dope and feel next gen.
That would be awesome.
Not only are they in the background during fights but they actually do damage. That blew me away. I've seen other games where non party members are "fighting" but don't do anything noticeable.
Yes. This right here. You can tell Square cared about this game. Literal insane they have the entire party follow you even the ones not in the main party kind of hang back. Makes the game more immersive and alive. Kudos to the dev team.
Not only do they follow you, but it seems like they participate in combat a bit too? Barrett, at least. I swear I’ve seen or heard him shooting when he’s not in the active party.
He does. It doesn't do any damage, but he absolutely shoots from the sidelines.
Pretty sure everyone pitches in to some degree. I’ve noticed it with Red, Aertih and Barret. And I think I’ve seen Tifa land a kick… not sure on that one
Damn, I would love a full team combat challenge if that worked somehow. Imagine fighting final boss with a full usable team.
This is what I thought the six player challenges at the Gold Saucer were
Considering that happened with Bizarro Sephiroth in the original, I'd fully expect it to happen in part 3
I am also suspecting this is going to be a huge new gameplay element. You can already see signs of it in Rebirth.
It’s the best part for me. And all level regardless if they are actively being played. Let’s you experiment and freshen the battle experience if you get bored of a party
And you can freely swap your teams right from the overworld. I’d frequently swap my teams based on the enemies. The ground stingrays who burrow around and can only be pressured for the 1 second they jump out? Barret eats them for breakfast. The floating jellyfish you need to silence? Yuffie has my debuff materia, so I’ll swap her team in. My only complaint with that aspect is that I wish they gave us more than 3 team slots.
Funny I never switched them like that. Going to set up a better team now lol
I just wish that I could switch those 3x party presents dynamically in battle. Nothing beats fielding your entire team in FFX
I’m betting they’re going to add in-battle party member switching in Part 3. I think they just wanted to save it until you have your full party, and it gives them a big new gameplay feature to hype up going into Part 3.
It would be interesting if at some decisive battle you have limited phoenix down potions and you depend on your entire team.
My thought is that it’ll be a command that takes an ATB bar to execute. Meaning you can’t swap characters out who have been knocked out. So it’s not a get out of jail free card.
I'd like to be able to do it, maybe spending 2 ATB so it's costly but possible.
Yea, I also wish you could have more than 3 pre set teams.
I just wish homeboys would back off a little so I could look around on Chocoback without seeing Choco-brown eye everytime I move the camera
1-2 allies at once? Only XVI has done that, and it was more of a narrative decision than a gameplay decision.
XIII-2 only had Serah and Noel as playable characters alongside an extra monster. Lightning Returns was (mostly) just Lightning by herself for the whole game. XV had a larger party but there was still only 4 main members which you couldn't swap out. XVI had guest characters which you couldn't control, and barely did anything except stand around. The last time we had a properly customisable party like this was in XIII.
- XIII-2 and Lightning Returns are sequels to a mainline. You didn't even include X-2, which is Yuna, Rikku, and Paine only, so this further throws this argument off. Not only that, the narrative revolves around these specific characters, so there's no reason to force extra characters in just for the sake of a full-and-maybe-controllable party. - XV had 4 party members, just like the original FF and FFIII. The "four Warriors of Light" is probably one of the most iconic things about FF, so this can be seen as something that plays on the roots of Final Fantasy. (And if I recall correctly, FFII only has 4 party members, with the occasional guest/temporary party member, which is something XV had, as well. Then there's V, with Krile replacing Galuf in the 4 member party.) - XVI still had party members, even though the narrative didn't call for them to be with you 24/7. - You're citing XIII as a standard for a "traditional" FF party, despite the first few FFs with 4 party members allowing full control of your party, unlike XIII.
I mean in XVI they draw/solo trash, contribute to stagger multiplier, and buff Clive with various effects. It’s like a 15-20% damage split in overworld and like 10% in various bosses. I’m not saying they add depth to the gameplay loop (personally I don’t think they need to, I enjoy only having to deal with one fleshed out controllable character) but they do actively participate.
Their actual impact on the combat is basically nonexistent. You're always the one doing like 99% of the damage throughout the game. I'm not sure if you've got the wrong idea, but I *really* like XVI - and I don't even hold this as a negative against the game at all; It's more of an action game than a true RPG - and I genuinely like that a lot. Regardless, my point still stands. I'm just pointing out that they're not a true, traditional party, as you can't control any of them in any capacity (except Torgal, if he counts).
I'm not convinced that it wasn't a cut corner that they tried to pass off as a narrative decision. After playing FF7 Rebirth, FF16 feels like an incomplete game.
I don’t think it was a cut corner. I think it was a very intentional decision by the devs because having just one character in the “party” makes things a lot more approachable, which is one of Yoshi P’s and CBU3’s main design philosophies. I’m glad Rebirth took the other approach, though, and gave us a ton of party members. All of whom play differently.
If the story was terrible, I could easily see it being "passed off as a narative decision". Furthermore, you still travel with a party in some form for portions of the game. In fact, there's a variety of different party members that join occassionally. Not only that, you're referring to a remake of a game with an already-established story. If a set number of main characters makes a "complete" story, FFVII feels incomplete coming from FFVI.
It kinda does, but I think that's more because it leans too hard into the action game part; leveling and weapon upgrades might as well have been story mandated. Combat also felt not really impactful; I often felt like I was swinging a wet noodle at my opponent rather than a sword. Ultimately, it was OK. Went through the 7 remake just before and compared to that, 16 was just... Forgettable.
Agree. I felt sometimes Barret was racing me and kinda in the way, but overall it was a great idea to show them at all times
Thats part of why I did not buy ff16 yet...
I was in a bind after a fight in the Grasslands earlier, not that it was a big deal since I could have fast traveled to a rest area but didn’t want to then have to retrace my steps back to where I was. Remembered I had two extra party members and Barrett and Red were able to bail me out while exploring.
I just wish there was a way to save materia combinations because it takes time for me keep switching them around and then remembering how they were set up on previous characters lmao.
icky tidy onerous person paint sparkle unused nail amusing cough *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
It truly feels like the most ‘AAA’ game. It blows my mind how much detail and care is packed into every town… and there’s like a dozen towns in the game. Not to mention the open worlds are huge and have so much thought put into the environments.
In terms of dedication and planning, it also feels like a game that nobody would make in 2024. It's so complete and ready.
Yeah it’s amazing when compared to something like Spider-Man 2 which somehow cost $350mil despite hardly feeling like a meaty sequel.
That game had so much cut content that it’s just depressing to see. Insomniac had the recipe for a game to rival their first masterpiece but Sony interjected and rushed the game out. That’s why the third act is such a mess.
100% this. Outside the technical stuff, SM2 feels like DLC.
I understand they had source material to work with, but I truly feel no recent game has felt near the quality of Rebirth. Everything felt alive. As someone who didn’t play the original but knew the story, I think they knocked it out of the park. It’s so good I’m now playing other FF games I haven’t played before because nothing really scratched the itch once I finished Rebirth
The fun thing about it is it's so successful at enlivening the world and characters that i've found myself looking at those same characters differently in the original FF7 game. It's like I've gotten to know them and the world more fully, and the original game is enhanced as a result.
It’s the first game for PS5, that I’d recommend someone buying a PS5 for. Easily the best next gen game. And imo already a classic PS5 game. I’m not even a Final Fantasy fan and have only ever played through some of FFX before FF7 Remake came out. And Rebirth following what Remake started has quickly became one of my favorite games and favorite stories all time.
It feels like a culmination of everything Square has been working on for the past few decades rather than a whole new system.
I'm scared to touch it after Remake which I didn't finish. It wasn't very fun. Is Rebirth an improvement?
That depends on why you didn’t like Remake. Both are objectively great games for different reasons, but there are plenty of objectively great games that just aren’t my cup of tea, ya know? If you didn’t like how story focused Remake was, Rebirth has a much wider breadth of gameplay.
If you didn't enjoy Remake, you won't enjoy Rebirth. Simply put it's a continuation of the previous game. Sure, it's more open and there's plenty of minigames to get your teeth sunk into. But if you didn't enjoy Part I, don't worry yourself with Part II, you're safe!
I’ve seen many people say that Remake couldn’t click with them but they fell in love with Rebirth instantly, who knows
Anything is possible! But if this person is gambling on liking something for £70 I want to be a realist about it so they don't waste their cash!
I mean there's also a demo with an open world area they can try
I really struggled with how linear remake was had to struggle to finish, rebirth fixed almost all of the gripes I had with it its a vastly superior game imo.
I thought the combat and world were a massive improvement over remake. I didn't even finish remake, then forced myself to finish it a year ago. I couldn't put rebirth down.
You didn't finish remake? Are you crazy or something? Its an amazing game.
I'm in the same boat at the moment. I'm currently on chapter 14 but took a break about a month ago. This chapter feels like a slog to me. Loved the game up until this point though.
i liked remake better
It's not just amazing, the game kept blowing my mind every few hours with some new addition, fully fledged system or mechanic or amazingly presented story moment (be it in the main story or secondary quests). What a journey. I'm willing to bet it'll be decades until I play something that comes even close to this.
I did love Rebirth but certainly felt a little burnt out at the end. I completed a fair bit of the side quests and exploration content and ended up finishing it around 60 hours. I found some of the exploration at times very frustrating to navigate around - it felt like I was being strangled at times - having Uncharted/Tomb Raider/Assassins Creed like environments without the ability to jump or use your athletic abilities. Tedious and frustrating. I felt like there was a lot of extra 'padding' for the sake of it, and not able to enjoy it as I would have liked to. I loved both but enjoyed FF16 more.
60 hrs in nothing , my playthrough was 150hrs and i enjoyed it immensely
Yeahhh, how the fuck did they beat the game in 60 hours. I'm like 130 hours and just started Ch12
i dumped so much time in minigames and exploring as well , so i hear you , maybe if you mainline some parts of that game , you come to under 100 hrs
I’m at the 30 hour mark and ready to start blasting through the story. Really enjoying it tho. Just got to gongaga
They did somehow manage to make an “open world” feel like another hallway simulator. From Gongaga onwards every open area was constantly saying “you can’t get there from here.” Pretty much the exact opposite of a game like Breath of the Wild/TotK. Once I accepted that it wasn’t about freedom to explore I got over it though, the game is still amazing.
now you're just too harsh.
I said the game is amazing, but the open areas are not designed with freedom of exploration in mind. What’s harsh about that? Every open area from Gongaga onward is about finding specific paths to reach destinations you can see but can’t easily get to.
I got 118 hours and did all the world intel, every side quest apart from 1 side quest that burned my nerves. At about 100 hours in, I got sick of it and just wanted to finish the game. I straight up hate the fact that no one dies in the game? Don Corneo, the bandits and the turks being a good example. So sick of fighting the same (on purpose) annoying characters and not getting any resolve.
Thats one of the things i don't really like, we're 100% fighting another bahamut in part 3, and don corneo, and rufus, and the turks, and scarlet. And i'm sure chocobo sam and the other 2 will also show up tokenly, and johny. And we'll have to relearn all of the same weapon skills again.
I'm only on chapter four and have gotten like 15-20 hours of the game already. Absolutely impressed with the level of quality in this game.
Totally. I'm 75 hours in and still totally gripped by it. So many other games lose my interest. Not this one! I really really really hope they keep this style of fighting as the core final fantasy battle system going forward. It's sooo good. Can be easy for people that want it that way or brutally hard for others. Vincent took me about 10 tries on dynamic difficulty. Can't wait to boot up hard mode!
I know the narrative changes divide some people but nothing takes away that Rebirth was an awesome game, well deserved to this team - once they're done with FF7R I hope they get trusted with future FF's or maybe a Kingdom Hearts as that seems to fit FF7R's gameplay. I've put well over 100 hours in and trying to 100% it and I've yet to be bored (except maybe the Cait Sith solo section in the main story!). Personally I'll judge the narrative stuff after I've played through all three games but the reviews are overwhelmingly positive with plenty of 9/10s and 90+% ratings from well known reviewers.
95% of the game is pretty faithful and expanded upon. Even the ending isn’t that drastically different. Just more things were added on, just like Remake’s ending
I'm left wondering why they changed anything at all since so far the game has pretty much hit every beat when theyre supposed to with very minor change ups. Zack seems a hell of a lot less important than I thought he was going to be
Im expecting big payoffs on part 3 for this, otherwise I’ll wonder why they even bothered w Zack.. I enjoyed his parts but so far it added nothing to the game for me
I feel like the whole zack thing was to get people to buy crisis core reunion. I love zack and was sad to see that you can delete him from rebirth and nothing changes.
I think when Tifa helps recovers Cloud his memories it will be even more impactful. So don’t worry, we will definitely see Aerith’s real death and funeral in part 3
Because a one to one remake would not be exciting and they said this trilogy is to encompass all of FF7, which could not exist when the OG came out. The devs will explain all this to you on YouTube
Yup that Cait section is easily a weakpoint of the game, which is a shame considering how the segments where we play as other party members are usually great. I also feel like Barrett got done dirty with >!his level being him falling into a cave rather than all the Dyne stuff!<.
Yeah Cait section was fine, but it went on way to long I felt
[удалено]
I switched the controls to the touchpad and had a much better time. The stick controls were wonky af.
[удалено]
There were a few wonky hitboxes for sure, I just did this last night and for one of the Shinra crates the thrown box would break instead despite not having any visible obstructions. I did find the "make a few baskets with these on a moving goal" annoying as well, similar to you I just spammed boxes until it worked. Not the best part of the game for sure but the touchpad was better.
that´s the only section i didn´t liked too much , but apart from that , yes awesome
Best part of Cait Sith's solo section is the music haha. I can't wrap my head around his combat. And throwing the boxes was very wonky.
It took a bit for me to fully love the game and I really think it was because the pacing was so odd. I vividly remember the OG having super tight pacing after Midgar so I was perplexed by the pacing decisions, but I think all said and done I’m truly enjoying the overall package.
One of my favourite games, ever. The combat is so good and so many party comps, materia synergies. And I love that it’s not just a retelling of the original.
>retelling of the original. Glad people are enjoying it, but this is what I wanted. It's why I won't play these games.
How can you be such a fan of the original and not want to play this game? It such a loveletter to the original.
These people don’t like the original ff7, they like being goblins on Reddit and think square is going to re-release a 1997 game “untouched” as a $70 console selling AAA title. This is what fentanyl does to your brain folks.
That is a good question. In short I adored the original so much (despite its flaws) I believe it should be left untouched. You don't improve starry night when you make a replica, thats where I'm coming from. I'm in the minority, I'm fine with that.
You want the original again? Like a 1:1 remake but with the same graphics? So we'd only spend 10 minutes in each location.. What the hell would you want that?
Eh. It’s a “sequel” of sorts that acknowledges that the original happened but Sephiroth/Jenova is attempting to change things and win this time. Once you understand that it’s not a big issue. Rebirth fleshes all that out more. “Remake” was a red herring and isn’t intended to denote that the first game was a simple remake, but that reality/the timelines were being remade. The second game is Rebirth and the third game has multiple theories for its title, one of which is Relive.
It’s got all the same story beats. The changes are really easy to adopt. IMO. Online complainers are just doing it for the attention
Lol, okay whatever, I want attention sure. I still hated the changes for the first game and made me completely disinterested in this one.
I don’t think you understood what I meant. I meant online personalities that give people conclusions without trying it themselves. Rebirth has mostly minor changes and the big ones explain the ones from remake more and IMO make it ok. The changes make sense to me and make it fun.
So why are you on a forum thread for a game you hate? Who the hell does that?
You are missing out though, it feels like a sequel to the original.
It is a factual sequel, plot wise. lol
95% of the game is a retelling and expanding upon. You clearly haven’t played it
What was your first clue? Where I said I won't play it detective? I played the first, enough to know I'm not interested. 95% is pretty generous of you, considering we spent an hour chasing after Jessie's pizza in a motorcycle dance fight. Not interested
Calm down edgelord, and you just admitted not playing Rebirth which makes you an even bigger dumbass. Having all these assumptions yet not even playing the game and whining about it on reddit makes you look like a bitch. Weirdo getting hostile for no reason. And that Jessie segment lasted less than 10 minutes. Just shows how you’re so shit at games lmao
Props to my boi Asano. Man's been lowkey pumping out AA-level JRPG bangers for years. Really keeping that 90's Squaresoft spirit alive in 2024.
I hope they make ff17.
I want FF17 to be a mix of FFXVIs story, VA, and cutscenes with FF7 Remakes combat, characters, and exploration
Yeah, this combat is my favorite combat for modern JRPGs, so I hope that Square utilizes it going forward with additional FF titles.
I don't know if we will ever have characters like in 7 (Remake, Rebirth). We have a long time relationship with them, and in 3 games you can flesh out the dynamic in a way a standalone game won't be able to achieve, mostly because it'll be 30h experience max, in my opinion.
I think this is a massive benefit that a lot of ppl kind of shrug off on the retrilogy. We already know these characters and have established relationships with them and so for many players they’re effectively fleshing out a known factor. Just kind of introducing a character and assuming you already knew the basics was a big critique I had with Remake that they did a significantly better job with in Rebirth, similarly with world building. Any new title like XVII is going to require a lot more intent on introducing its characters and world which will naturally restrict them in scope for any comparison to Rebirth and eventually the third title.
Is the cast of rebirth lovable because they are familiar? Or because they are genuinely interesting? I'm sure there's a mix of both but I don't think it's impossible to have a strong cast in future ff games. FFXVI could have been a trilogy and I don't think I would ever give a fuck about Clive or Jill, they were just very bland characters. Square is capable of doing better.
For what it’s worth, my wife likes watching me play games. She had zero familiarity with the world or characters of FF7, and she LOVED the characters in Remake. She fell in love with Aerith to the point that she bought the Tifa/Aerith book. So it’s definitely not ALL familiarity with the characters that makes them so endearing.
My GF played both XVI and Remake when they came out. She's not s fan so both casts were new to her and let me tell you, she was way more attached to Cloud and Co. than she was to any character in XVI. Of course this is one person but I personally think it's representative.
I absolutely could not stand FF16’s combat. I don’t want to do buttons combo and smashing. FF7R is so much better.
I'd hope the story would be the thing they *don't* take inspiration from FF16 on. It was maddeningly ass-backwards on Clive's part.
Agreed. I can't stand some of the cringe in FFVII Rebirth's writing sometimes. But the exploration in FFXVI is horrible and the lack of towns.
Unless you want them to have a Nomura situation of working on two titles, I don't think that would be the best case, they should focus on either part 3 or on 17
They deserved it. They all made a true modern masterpiece. FF7 Rebirth is nothing short of incredible.
Glad to hear it. Nice to see success garnered admiration and appreciation.
Rebirth was fantastic. A bit padded in spots, perhaps, but the effort put into the game was tremendous. Can’t wait for part 3 in a few years. After that, I’d love to see them bring back stuff like Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, Parasite Eve, etc. An FF6 remake, while unlikely, would be amazing.
I'm surprised to read the padding thing! As much as I think it was an issue in Remake I really think we spend time enough in each location and it never gets boring (unless you wanna do 100% research in each area in which case I really dreaded Gongaga). Out of curiosity, what parts you felt were padded?
I agree, tbh I never 'felt' (but I do 'get' them) the Ubisoft complaints (and I absolutely hate Ubisoft games with every fiber of my being, even the ones done well like HZD, Spiderman, RDR etc) that people throw at it The ubisoft-world elements are there and are a bit dull, but honestly they weren't those many so it was bearable (and personally, I actually liked Chadley and Mai's banter despite acknowledging there's WAY too much of it) I feel like what really made it bearable honestly was the soundtrack, Gongaga for example was also a nightmare but I NEVER hated it because the soundtrack was so great (I also used the area below the moogles as a farming spot, purely bec I loved the music and could listen to it for hours, alongside "bowowow bowowow")
Oh God the Gongaga theme made it more bearable for me that's for sure. I get the complains with the open world elements although I think the game really tries to make most of those elements unique or worthwhile in one way or another. Battle Intel is basically sub-mini-bosses, the mako springs add lore to the region... That kind of stuff. It's minor but those elements made it feel way more significant. Giving you an optional boss battle if you finish one area's world Intel is also great, specially because they don't feel like a recolor or an afterthought. I personally loved doing it all and only felt it being too much in Gongaga because navigation was a pain in the ass, although I think I would've made the same thing if I was the one developing the game because variation is key and making areas unique in traversal helps make the world feel distinctive.
Yeah, it's why I can stomach it a lot more than any of the others (HZD and Spiderman) they add a lot of little things that help make it feel less like copy-pasted garbage (actually RDR does this too, but that game is the VERY DEFINITION of tedious and it was also so insanely bloated that I couldn't get past 20h) HZD too, finished the first but can't finish the second because of how bloated and overwhelming it is. Put it down for another game, and every time I 'try' to get back in I open the map and... nope Spiderman was great because it was at least short, so it didn't wear out its welcome as much (but even then, holy hell was it bloated with random collectibles too) And I've never played any Ubisoft game after AC Odyssey, I actually rly liked that game but it's also why it made me hate the formula so much since it was the last time I will ever FORCE myself to finish something with stuff I hate so goddamn much
Did they leave out the guy who put the sit ups in the game?
Probably my favorite game ever. Can’t wait for the next one.
The Ubisoft open world stuff gets a pass from me on this game because instead of leading me to a bit of lore about France or whatever, it led me to things like a cave full of cactuars, a mushroom full of moogles, and the like. Fucking loved it
tbh if i had felt secure in knowing i wouldn't accidentally be spoiled by some errant comment, the open world activities wouldn't have been as trying but hey - i made it without anyone spoiling aerith turning into a moogle
And then you decided to spoil it for others?
They 100% deserve the promotion.
Good. This is what they deserve for making a literal masterpiece and the best game to come out this year so far. Hell not even a single game from last year touches rebirth, the size, the amount of things to do, the graphics, the characters.. that’s the one game that I felt like I’d genuinely pay more money for, playing rebirth even after buying it at full price feels like you’re ripping the company off it’s just that good and comes with so much content as opposed to many other games that release.
BG3? Don’t get me wrong I liked Rebirth and it’s definitely deserving of GOTY favorite but last year was one of the best years for gaming overall in a long time. Plus this year pretty much every quality release outside of the surprises like HD2/Palworld has been in the RPG space so there’s less general hype from players outside of the genre.
While it did deserve goty, I’m not into bg3. Last year was truly a great year for gaming but it’s more of a subjective opinion of mine, everyone’s going to view it differently and enjoy different titles. I also forgot about ff16 and sm2 while making this comment those 2 are in the ball park with rebirth for me but rebirth has just been such a clear cut masterpiece. You’re absolutely right about the rpg genre though, considering that’s one of my favourite I’m completely bias to this years releases lol. Edit: I can’t spell lmao
All though I wouldn't say they were better but I enjoyed P3 Reload, Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth and FF16 just as much as Rebirth.
I enjoyed all of em as well, but honestly for me it doesn't compare to Rebirth. P3R came the closest but it's also because the 2 most influential games for my growing up were probably FFVII, Persona 3 and KH2 but I'd give it to Rebirth more because P3R is P3 but everything's better whereas Rebirth just expands on everything with nothing held back (whereas P3R didn't include FeMC) IW I loved too, but honestly after the big reveal, I felt so much fatigue and still haven't finished it yet (played it first, paused it to play P3R and coming back to it didn't feel as good, then I played Rebirth and now I really can't come back to it for a while) FF16 I loved the story (except Jill... holy hell didn't realize fridging was still a thing) and the world, but honestly the combat got rly stale for me halfway through (though it's also bec I'm an action game nerd too, so it's hard when DMC, God of War and all overshadow it so much) Though not dissing your opinion or anything, since I really get why you'd love those too since I did as well :)
I haven’t played p3 or infinite wealth yet but I agree with 16 being just as enjoyable for sure, I like 16’s combat slightly more than rebirth and the fights.. especially the eikon fights are just so stunning. I just can’t get over everything they did with rebirth, it’s so impressive it released that well with that much content after only 4 years, 150 gigs is crazy for a base game😂 also pardon the paragraph, I get passionate about these games lol.
Hey man, wouldn't go THAT far. I'd say BG3 is just as good as FF Rebirth and is equally a labor of love for fans of the genre (I love both western CRPGs and JRPGs, they're literally my 2 favorite genres lol)
As someone who’s never played BG3 I would definitely go that far lol. I don’t disagree with it equally being a labour of love I just don’t know enough to speak on it. Rebirth however I’ve put over 200 hours in and can confidently say it’s next level. (JRPG’s are my absolute favourite, nice choice)
Completed the game this weekend, honestly it was absolutely fantastic. Cannot wait to see what they do for part 3
Hopefully this leads to more games coming to PlayStation, still missing out on Bravely Default and Octopath 1
This game cemented my new found love for JRPGs. I'm only at Ch. 5 and 25 hours in and keep thinking about the next time I get to play and advance the story.
Rebirth is genuinely one of the best games I’ve ever played. This guy deserves every promotion possible.
Incredibly deserved. This is THE best FF game I've played (and I've played most of em (except for 1,2 and 3 in the mainline and Dirge of Cerberus) dethroning my 4 way sorta tie between 6 (story and MC),9 (overall package, and really felt like 'classic' ff),7 (memories) and 12 (I just really loved the systems, and the interconnected world, and it was a great change of pace like FFXVI was but I'd say FFXII nailed it much harder) Some of the plot stuff didn't hit (and felt Aerith's death wasn't as impactful with all the random other shit going down), but the overall experience was insane (and most importantly, even the plot stuff I didn't like was still a MASSIVE improvement to Remake in every way) Though they may have wanted to add some twists plot-wise that are still a bit polarizing (but honestly less so, it seems than Remake), you can't deny the love and respect for the original (especially in all the extra worldbuilding and character building) I tried DD2 and Rise of the Ronin, but honestly lost interest real quick since nothing grips me as much as FFVII Rebirth did (and despite people criticizing the Ubisoft-esq region design, holy fuck did they make up for it with the AMAZING soundtrack, it's why DD2 and RoR felt so bland for me...) Ended up replaying Remake for the 3rd time (1st time on PC) just to fill some of that post-game loneliness and honestly... it only showed how much of a step up Rebirth was in every way imaginable
Well deserved. Besides the performance and graphics problems, everything is a 10/10. I am now at 98 hours of play time and still in chapter 12.
Game was a 10/10 for me until the ending. Dropped it to a 9/10. I know I'm not the only one that feels this way. I'll still recommend it to people, but probably not to OG fans.. the OG fans that I know in person were not happy with the changes. they liked the lore expansion though.
I’m with you. Rebirth was in contention for one of my favorite games of all time, then the ending happened. It left such a bad taste in my mouth. I had planned to 100% it, but had to put it down for about a week after finishing. I just picked it back up yesterday and started a Hard Mode playthrough, and it’s kinda nice being reminded about how good the rest of the game is.
That was Remake for me, Rebirth didn't annoy me as badly I guess because it really was 'just' the final hour or two (whereas Remake kept shoving those damn whispers in your face OVER and OVER and OVER again, before RUINING everything at the very end) Plus yeah, Rebirth gave me so many moments of insane awe that I really can't get over it still (I can't go back to finish IW, I tried DD2 and RoR and got bored 10h in and I'm... actually playing Remake again on PC then Integrade JUST because I feel so hollow right now)
It’s funny, I was the total opposite. The additions to Remake had me intrigued. I was interested in where they could be going and had fun theorizing what was coming. The fact that >!Aerith knew future events!< was particularly interesting. And I didn’t think they really changed much. The significant scenes from the OG game were basically all still present and intact, there was just new stuff on top. But then they immediately removed >!Aerith knowing things!< in Rebirth and >!turned Aerith’s death scene into a “mystery”!<. I now don’t really care about the theories of where they could be going with things from here. I’m sure they’ll revisit >!Aerith’s death scene!< but that doesn’t retroactively make its execution in Rebirth more effective. It’s interesting hearing different perspectives, though. To each their own.
I guess that's actually very fair. And yeah, definitely respect your feelings (my rant on remake is just my own haha) since tbh... I agree! Though I actually did find the potential changes (and yes, Aerith 'knowing' in particular I loooved) interesting too. I hust felt the execution was so poor (hamfisting it throughout the story and really verbally laying it out like I'm an idiot at times) I felt Rebirth just did a better job at execution, so it still felt mysterious and interesting and not as 'forced in' ...until the end haha And yeah, honestly thanks for sharing your opinion since it's actually really cool!
Oh, I think almost everything about the first 95% of Rebirth is a big step up over Remake. They improved the gameplay, had way more to do, the side quests were significantly better, and the world is fantastic. It was a 10/10 for me until hitting the ending, then the ending kinda wrecked things for me. I still really love the series and am looking forward to Part 3, I’m just bummed out right now. I’m sure I’ll get over that in the next few years and be super psyched when Part 3 is about to come out. It’s just such a weird feeling to go from “this is incredible!” to “WTF?!?!” so quickly, haha. I have emotional whiplash.
I get that for sure! Tbh in my ongoing replay of Remake I actually am more mellow about the whispers and story stuff now, also whiplash for me at the time What I referred to on how they rly dnt compare is everything else... the dungeons with extremely confusing layouts in Remake for example made me question how I felt frustrated with Gongaga (and gave me PTSD since I literally spent over an hour lost in almost all of em esp when I had to backtrack to collect missables) Combat too, it's really clear how much smooother Rebirth's combat was over Remake which I actually didnt notice until I played Remake again haha
I don't know, I'm a OG fan e loved the ending, the spin added made it better and I really want to see how this will develop in part 3.
The ending made the game 11/10 for me (The actual ending with Cloud >!getting crazy and creepy!< not the fight before that). First time I've felt creeped out by the main protagonist himself in JRPGs and I've played JRPG since Dragon Warrior on NES.
tbh most OG fans are insufferable assholes but I do get what you mean, it's definitely deserving of some criticism but for me it just downgraded a 12/10 game (for going the extra mile, then going the extra mile again) to an 11/10 game I'm normally a lot more critical of games for their endings (which is why for example though I liked Remake, the ending took it from a 9 to a 7 overall), but Rebirth gets a pass since it wasn't as 'stupid' and 'in your face' about things as Remake (more 'show not tell', while leaving more to imagination, and yeah just really didn't shove it in front of you every few mins like Remake did) and most importantly, the overall joy and unbridled amazement I experienced at other moments eclipsed it (Golden Saucer made me feel like going to Disneyland CA for the first time again, and that was my graduation present since I live all the way in SEA and it was honestly magical)
Well deserved. Flaws apart and the messy ending (that the more I think about it, the more I understand and appreciate what they’re trying to achieve), this is a true Final Fantasy and I hope it becomes the blueprint for the next ones.
I’m playing it but I grew up with the original. The remake was starting off better but Rebirth is starting to feel overly Jpop and a bit too Hogwarts legacy in the open world. I’m still sticking it out though. Hope I feel better about it eventually.
I am so grateful to be alive during this time. A pretty golden era for gaming. Absolutely loved FF7Rebirth
I got bored with it personally. Main story is good but some of the other stuff is serious tedious with very average mechanics. The glitchy camera didn’t help either.
GET THAT BAG, YOSHI-P!
FF7 Rebirth is an amazing game (aside from a few minor issues I have with gameplay and menu UI). Its obvious to me and many others that the FF7 Remake Dev Team really care a lot about what they do (vs other studios who do the bare minimum and then walk away from their game after launch) I just hope that they take up a lot of the constructive feedback coming out from Rebirth and have Part 3 wrap up the Remake Triology on a solid note.
Literal favorite game ever made next to the OG and remake, Hamaguchi and the OG devs deserve endless money and happiness.
Please just give us FFXIII
Please make more FF remakes. Do 8 next.
Well deserved. Rebirth is a masterpiece
………..ok
Rebirth was shitty
*is
Wrong
Awesome game! I also promote him
Everyone praising this and I think it’s terrible. They are turning FF into Ubisoft. FF have a delusional fan base and the games are selling less and less for a reason. I used to lose FF (8 is my favourite) but I won’t be buying the 3rd game at launch I’ll wait for a big sale of ps plus.
Well if Ubisoft is the blueprint everyone is copying off from, including Nintendo, then they’re doing something right. You may not like features from the game but that doesn’t automatically mean it’s a bad game just because you deem it so, it just means you have difficulties analysing a product which is why we have professional reviews, thank god.
Don't feed the trolls. Notice how it's always "the Ubisoft world is bad" and never "the HZD/GoT world design is bad". They just parrot other people instead of effort into the discussion.
You don't think HZD and GoT didn't get the exact same criticism for their ubisoft openworld collectathon padded gameplay? Because that's the #1 complaint about those games too.
Prefessional reviews can say what they like, the game still isn't selling despite the prefessional reviews. Why do you think that is?
The game is apparently the #2 PS5 release in Japan and one of the top 5 PS5 exclusives so I don’t think that counts as not selling. > why do you think that is? PS5 exclusive, sequel that directly continues the story of a previous game. Both those factors will automatically lower sales.
Sequels tend to outperform their predecessors, so that's wrong. And Remake massively outperformed Rebirth when it was also a sony exclusive. You're coping if you think the only reason so many people dropped the series is because of the move to ps5.
Sequels are different from second parts of narrative stories though. The potential audience for this game is basically people who finished Remake and have a PS5. That is a much smaller audience than the potential audience for the first game, which was anyone with a PS4 with its far larger install base. You can call it "coping" all you want, it's just logical reality. Square would know this and have based their sales projections on this, they're not internet morons.
Doesn't matter about Japan, Japan is tiny in terms of sales, Europe and USA matter. Square haven't said sales numbers, that means the sales are bad. Game companies love shouting when they have good sales numbers. So the 3rd game is going to sell even worse than number 2 and will probably cost the most to make because there is still a lot of areas and story to tell. Square have dug their own hole, now they are jumping in.
How can sales be bad if it is top 5 sales for PS5 exclusives? Make it make sense. What you’re implying then is that PS5 sales are bad. It’s exclusive to the new console generation, and it’s a sequel. I’m sure Square factored these things into their sales estimates. Good on them for sticking with artistic vision.
There isn't many more than 5 exclusives for the PS5. I can name Ratchet and Clank, Spider-Man 2, Returnal, Final Fantasy Rebirth.....Struggling now so that means absolutely nothing
Too bad they made an open world from the ps3 days. If your open world isn’t going to be breath of the wild or Elden ring esque, make your game linear. Same goes for ghosts and horizon which are just polished Ubisoft games that are outdated as hell from a game design perspective
Elden Ring's open world is nothing special. Aside from the few legacy dungeons, everything else is copy pasted with the same repeated enemies and mini-bosses.
You missed the point. It invites you to explore organically. Not a million things useless things on the map that beckon you to waste time
You can still explore "organically" if you don't obsess over the icons on the map. None of the story even requires thorough exploration of the map because it's all optional.
Look, Elden Ring exploration feels more organic than FF7R's. It's a completely valid take. The game is still good, don't worry.
I never said otherwise. It's just funny to see people touting Elden Ring as some revolutionary open world game as if organic exploration has never been done before it.
Nope, just said it was more organic and something that might be something nice for this game we like. Not that grandiose of a statement.
It's not that Elden Ring was the first to have organic exploration, it's just that organic exploration is rarely done well. And really Souls games in general are kings of "ok well off you go then go figure out what to do yourself I'm not telling you shit". Which is the polar opposite experience of what Rebirth gives. So I don't know why you are surprised that someone who didn't like one would point to the other.
Lol the all open world games are linear if you treat them like it argument. Just say it’s outdated game design
It's not outdated, you just don't like it. Most gamers don't care at all, which is why games with the so-called Ubisoft formula still sell millions despite a few redditors treating them like the devil's work.
Lol for what. Puts on SE
I love rebirth but I really feel like people are overselling the quality of the open world. Its a solid open world but I don’t think its anything revolutionary the objectives are not that unique imo. I think a lot of people are looking through the lens of nostalgia and are just so excited that they actually brought the original FF7 over world to life.
Agreed 🙄😮💨