Review - Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (with spoilers)
No Promises Await at Journey's End
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Square Enix, Business Unit 1
Tetsuya Nomura, Motomu Toriyama, Naoki Hamaguchi, Yoshinori Kitase
February 29, 2024
PS5
THIS REVIEW WILL HAVE SPOILERS
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is the second part of a trilogy that makes up a remake / re-telling of the iconic Final Fantasy VII. Things got interesting for the series after Remake ended with some characters and events that were supposed to die staying alive. Our characters took on entities known as Whispers, and by taking them on, they messed with fate and destiny. I’m a little iffy on this part of the trilogy, as you had to have played the original 1997 game to understand many of the easter eggs and hints of different timelines that these modern games explore. For this review, I’m going to do things a little differently, and I will talk about spoilers as I need to in order to address certain things. So, one more time, SPOILER WARNING.
Plot and Characters
Final Fantasy VII has some of the most famous characters in gaming history. Cloud has become one of the symbols of the Final Fantasy franchise and Sephiroth will make every top ten list of greatest video game villains. The side characters are still incredible, each adding layers to their backstories. While the game gives you romantic options, the game pushes Cloud more in the direction of Tifa, who has always been seen by many as his most likely option, as the original game teases a love triangle between him, Tifa, and Aerith. Barret and Red XIII expand on their stories and give you more reason to care about them.
Newcomers Yuffie and Caith Sith are welcomed additions, especially to fans of the original. However, I found Yuffie a bit unlikable at times, but I think that was just because her personality is a bit too much at times. Cid and Vincent Valentine appear but are not playable. I’m sure many fans are begging to play as Vincent, but that will come in the third and final part. Overall, all these characters and their stories are used well, and I was reminded of how iconic and memorable this world and its lore are.
The biggest plot point of the game is the ending, which all gamers knew would come and questioned whether they would still do it. The game ends at the part of the original plot when the infamous Aerith death scene takes place. I myself was wondering if, due to the first Remake ending with Cloud defeating whispers to change fate, Aerith would survive. For the most part, I was hoping they wouldn’t change it, as Aerith’s death is an iconic and important moment in video game history. Well, when we got there, they did a fake-out that took me by surprise. They made you think you saved her, only for Sephiroth to show he did get through, and we get the infamous scene.
Some people were practically heartbroken at this scene. After watching several reactions on YouTube, I realized the developers deserve credit and why this is a great example of a video game as art. I think many people had the idea of saving someone they knew would die, changing the past. But the game subverted expectations and still had her die. It gets a human emotion out that sometimes you can’t change what’s happened, including tragedy. Those who played the original know Cloud’s mind is messed up as he’s subconsciously hiding the trauma associated with his past, and Aerith’s death is shown to do the same to him at the end when he still thinks she’s still alive. Now, there are several theories on Part 3, making many confusing elements of the remake trilogy make sense, and I have my own, but we will have to wait and see how it all wraps up in the end.
Gameplay and Fun Factor
The game plays pretty much the same as the first part, so it should have pickup-and-play accessibility from the get-go. There are a bunch of new things added to your gameplay sessions, though. First, the game has several regions with big sandbox-style open-world aspects. These regions have a good amount of side quests and things to do for those who want as much time as possible with the game. Personally, I was trying to do everything, but after a certain point, it started to get the usual open-world bloat feeling, so I decided only to do necessary side quests as I wanted to make sure I got a date near the end of the game with Tifa (more on that soon).
Throughout your play session, you bump into a lot of mini-games, and I do mean a lot. Some of these play as basically their own separate games. There’s a virtual tower defense game, a virtual motorbike game, a whole chocobo racing event that could’ve been a separate game, and the Queen’s Blood card game that a lot of people seemed to love. Not all of these are that bad, but I was getting annoyed with the amount of mini-games, and I was equally annoyed with how forced they are on you. These were the moments I disliked the most about the game. Even Queen’s Blood and the Chocobo racing event, which I liked, had their annoying moments because they played slowly. In the end, I think everything outside of the main campaign does feel forced and bloated. Some are going to like it, and some are not. I was more in the middle.
I’m a sucker for this, so I loved the new option for relationships in the game. If you have a high enough relationship with either Tifa, Yuffie, or Aerith; Cloud can get on a romantic date near the end of the game. These relationship goals make sense for every character and even expand Cloud’s friendship with characters like Barret and Red XIII. The problem I found with them is how the leveling up of the relationship is done. You get a smiley face above each character, and it slowly changes color. When you are given dialogue options to help further your relationship, it gives you a completely unnecessary timer that can rush you. I also almost screwed up getting a date because Red XIII was higher in the relationship, and I was forced to delay finishing the game to get Tifa higher than him, mostly due to how confusing it can be to see who is your top relationship. It felt like they needed the old Mass Effect team to come in and show Square how to do this properly. But, once you get the hang of it, it’s a cool addition to the plot lines.
Overall, I thought the game was a lot of fun to play, but there is so much side stuff that’s either a hit or a massive miss. That being said, I think if you are a hardcore fan of this world, you are in for a massive treat. The endgame is even peppered with new ocean-faring options to look for pirate treasure, and you could easily get lost in this world. But for someone like me on limited time, I gave up on all that 2/3 of the way in and just mainline it.
Soundtrack and Score
Final Fantasy VII has always had one of the best soundtracks in all of gaming and it shows in this installment. The game adds an interesting mechanic where you can collect music sheets and play some of the more popular character themes on a piano. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the biggest fan on how playing the piano works and there is yet another forced mini-game type of aspect to it, but it gets the job done. Listening to the score and soundtrack made me realize that the music for Final Fantasy VII in general is easily in my top ten favorite. Every character theme is its own memory and fits the characters well. Plus, no matter how may times you hear it, Sephiroth’s theme in the final boss fight just always hits right.
Verdict
Plot & Characters ( A )
Gameplay & Fun Factor ( A )
Soundtrack & Score ( S )
Highly Recommended
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is everything a followup to a great game should be. It expands upon the mechanics and feels like a bigger and better version of the first. I would highly recommend this game to all types of gamers, although I will say if you are a massive fan of the 7th Final Fantasy installment, this game is going to be a dream come true for you and a must play masterpiece. For me, it fell a bit short from hitting that, but it delivered and continued the re-telling of one gaming’s greatest experiences. Now we wait for the reunion.