My Review of FFVII Rebirth

[arthur]

Bottom Line

We all mocked Ubisoft when they claimed that Skull and Bones was the world’s first AAAA experience. Rebirth may be the first game I’ve played that actually could justify that designation. It is a maximalist, decadent, baroque experience. Some people see its sheer excess as gaudy and self-indulgent, I couldn’t get enough of it.

I truly believe that if this game didn’t have the baggage of being the middle third of a remake trilogy that it would have been as lauded as games like Elden Ring and Baldur’s Gate 3. One of Rebirth’s biggest accomplishments is proving wrong the notion that there is not enough content in the original FFVII to stretch over a trilogy. This game is absolutely massive and still manages to feel satisfyingly narrative dense.

By the end of the game, you will look back on your journey and realize that the story hasn't really moved very far from where it started. Some people may be bothered by the lack of progression, but if you're like me it won't matter. This game fully embodies the cliche "it's not the destination, it's the journey". This game is all about an epic odyssey undertaken by a group of friends, and it executes that vision perfectly.

The most common criticisms of Rebirth you'll find by far are relating to the open world activities and the minigames. Please do not let these criticisms dissuade you from trying the game. Even if you completely ignore the open world (which is very easy to do), and only play the required minigames (there are less than 10 total and they're all easy), the game is still >50hours. Unless you are a compulsive collectionist who can't help but do all the side content even when you're not enjoying it, I promise it's not as big of a deal as it may seem.

Rebirth is one of the greatest games I have ever played. It is easily the best Final Fantasy since FFX, and it is without a doubt a contender for the best Final Fantasy game period. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Perspective

I have never played the original FFVII, it was before my time, so nostalgia for this particular IP is not a factor in my evaluation of Rebirth. I did grow up playing Final Fantasy. X and XII were some of the best gaming experiences of my childhood.

I have already played and beaten FFVII Rebirth on PS5. In all likelihood I will beat it again here on Steam when I have the time. So ignore my playtime. I am writing this review before the game launches on PC. I’m assuming there will be technical issues, but I really hope those problems (should they exist) don’t permanently color your perception of this all-time great game.

I am well past the honey moon phase with Rebirth. These thoughts have been stewing with me for nine months now. My fondness for the game has only grown greater with retrospection.

Who is this game for?

Did you like Remake?

I think the vast majority of players agree that Rebirth is just a straight upgrade in every way over Remake. Note that there is a small contingent of players who prefer the more linear nature and shorter overall runtime of Remake. Despite the much longer runtime of Rebirth, I came away feeling like there was less filler and padding than Remake. The side quests in particular are a massive improvement. There wasn’t a single side quest that I didn’t enjoy. Even if the tasks the side quests have you doing are mundane (they usually aren’t), the dialogue you have with your party along the way makes the experience feel worthwhile. Not a single moment is wasted in terms of building the relationship between the main cast of characters. Whether you’re exploring the open world ticking off those Ubisoft-esque map objectives or doing a fetch quest, the bond you and the main cast is constantly being built upon which makes those somewhat tired gameplay devices feel not so tired at all.

Do you like the Yakuza or Like a Dragon games?

Rebirth leans heavily into the goofy and campy tone. It also has immense gameplay variety that reminds me of those games.

Do you love mini-games?

This game was literally made for you.

Are you a completionist that loves a challenge?

A 100% run through will take the average player 150-200 hours and it’s not easy. This, like many other aspects of the game, is a return to form for Square Enix who in the past have been successful at creating compelling end game content.

Are you a huge RPG or JRPG fan that loves having a fully realized world to immerse yourself in and compelling characters to relate to?

One of Rebirth’s greatest strengths is that its developers have had 30 years for the world of Midgar and its characters to stew in their mind. The result is that the world they’ve created this time around feels immensely detailed and lived in and filled with characters that feel real.

Do you love maximalist media?

If I had to describe Rebirth in one word it would be ‘maximalist’. It is over the top in every way imaginable. The amount of effort that had to be put into this game to get it out the door in just about 3 years must be monumental. Case in point, the game has something like 400 unique music tracks! (speaking of which, the OST is one of the greatest of all time)

Do you like deep hybrid-Action/ATB battle systems?

This game is 100% for you. I never came close to being tired of playing around with the battle system. In a game filled to the brim with highlights, this stands out.

There are seven controllable characters, each with their own weapons, abilities, strengths/weakness, and playstyles. You pair these seven characters up into groups of three that go into battle together, which means there are a LOT of possible combinations of characters to fight with.

This iteration introduces synergy abilities between party members, so cloud and tifa can team up to perform an attack or a block or a dodge. Speaking of, blocking and dodging is significantly improved in this iteration. A big complaint many had with Remake is that damage often feels unavoidable, enemies lock onto you and it can be very hard to dodge their attacks. Rebirth introduces perfect parries, somewhat similar to XVI but less forgiving in their timing, and I never felt like the dodge was as useless as it was in Remake.

It's not required, but the level of depth and customization of the RPG elements may have you spending an hour or two at a time in the menu playing around with materia and synergies and equipment. Again, it's definitely not required, you can have fun with the game even if you only want to engage with those elements at a surface level, but the depth is nice for people who crave it.

Who is this game not for?

Are you a compulsive completionist who gets frustrated when there are too many things to do?

Completionists I think will find this game a pleasure. Compulsive completionists, who do so not out of a desire to get the most out of the experience but out of a sense of obligation to check every box before moving on to the next set of boxes, will potentially get frustrated after the first few open world areas. The game can start to feel repetitive if you push yourself to do all of the open world content in one sitting.

Do you prefer a pure, distilled, or minimalistic experience?

Rebirth sometimes feels like it has ADHD. The number of short gameplay diversions that you experience once and then never again is pretty crazy. Some players might get frustrated with these experiences and just want to fight things. If that sounds like you, I would hesitate to recommend Rebirth.

Do you hate mini games?

Leave now and never look back. In all seriousness, there are only a handful of mandatory mini games and of that handful they are all easy and short. If you’re a compulsive completionist, some of the more difficult optional mini games will potentially leave a bad taste in your mouth.

Are you a purist who wants a 1-to-1 retelling of the original game?

You’ve probably already made up your mind as to whether you’ll give this game a shot

Are you a cynic who thinks the decision to split the remake into three parts was little more than a greedy money-grab?

I would hope that you would give the game a shot, because it more than proves that this project is anything but cynical. This game is one of those once in a generation games where you can practically feel the passion of the developers washing over you as you play. There is more than enough content here to justify the full price tag. There’s more good to great content in this game than in probably 95% of triple a games. The cynical view doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. But likely if you choose to take that view, you’ve already made up your mind.

[Lionheartwolf]

It's ironic that you open with the mocking of Ubisoft, but don't get into how FFVII has devolved into the Ubisoft cookie-cutter open world formula.

No game that follows the open world template that has been overused for the last decade should be lauded as a AAAA game. Heck, the term "AAA" has become so perverted since the PS2 era that it basically just means big budget slop. In this way, yes, FFVII is AAA.

FF games earned their title as a AAA title in the past for defining the genre for (console) generations, not because it was copying Ubisoft's notes from the worst part of the companies history, but because people were copying them. It would be like MGS coming back as a Fortnite clone, or if SIlent Hill made a return as a mascot horror and calling them AAAA experiences because you either dont understand what genre defining is, or are just so caught up in modern trends that anything that fits the mold must be considered a masterpiece experience.

With that said, I don't necessarily hate FFVII Rebirth, I like the new direction it is taking by playing on the audience's expectations. I truly dreaded every moment hanging out with Avalanche knowing the pillar was coming, I legitimately didn't know what would happen to Aerith/Aeris and Zack despite knowing for decades what would happen. I think the game does that well.

Where I feel like it stumbles, is it's over reliance on modern anime/gaming/cultural tropes. It's overuse of specific and non-important characters, and repetitive and overused gameplay elements. (Im willing to bet that you know what I am talking about here despite me being nonspecific and vague as possible. That is exactly my point.)

Basically it's exactly when this game is trying to be anything other than FFVII and trying so hard to be something we have already seen a million times already it's doing a poor job.

I sincerely hope in the next game they figure out how to right the ship, but I dont have any high expectations. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Yuffie and Chadley become the main protagonists bv the end of this series who have an anthropomorphic mascot sidekick who get up to highjix in a bath house because they want to spy on the girls bathing then get caught, then the girls have to cook them a meal, but one of them is notoriously bad at it, and another one loves to eat but never puts on weight.

[arthur]

Originally posted by Lionheartwolf:

It's ironic that you open with the mocking of Ubisoft, but don't get into how FFVII has devolved into the Ubisoft cookie-cutter open world formula.

No game that follows the open world template that has been overused for the last decade should be lauded as a AAAA game. Heck, the term "AAA" has become so perverted since the PS2 era that it basically just means big budget slop. In this way, yes, FFVII is AAA.

FF games earned their title as a AAA title in the past for defining the genre for (console) generations, not because it was copying Ubisoft's notes from the worst part of the companies history, but because people were copying them. It would be like MGS coming back as a Fortnite clone, or if SIlent Hill made a return as a mascot horror and calling them AAAA experiences because you either dont understand what genre defining is, or are just so caught up in modern trends that anything that fits the mold must be considered a masterpiece experience.

With that said, I don't necessarily hate FFVII Rebirth, I like the new direction it is taking by playing on the audience's expectations. I truly dreaded every moment hanging out with Avalanche knowing the pillar was coming, I legitimately didn't know what would happen to Aerith/Aeris and Zack despite knowing for decades what would happen. I think the game does that well.

Where I feel like it stumbles, is it's over reliance on modern anime/gaming/cultural tropes. It's overuse of specific and non-important characters, and repetitive and overused gameplay elements. (Im willing to bet that you know what I am talking about here despite me being nonspecific and vague as possible. That is exactly my point.)

Basically it's exactly when this game is trying to be anything other than FFVII and trying so hard to be something we have already seen a million times already it's doing a poor job.

I sincerely hope in the next game they figure out how to right the ship, but I dont have any high expectations. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Yuffie and Chadley become the main protagonists bv the end of this series who have an anthropomorphic mascot sidekick who get up to highjix in a bath house because they want to spy on the girls bathing then get caught, then the girls have to cook them a meal, but one of them is notoriously bad at it, and another one loves to eat but never puts on weight.

I do address the open world elements and how some people may feel about them, I personally don't think they're a big deal at all, it's like 10% of the game and it's completely optional. I disagree entirely that "devolving into the Ubisoft cookie-cutter open world formula" is a fair characterization of Rebirth.

1. The open world elements on their own is not what makes Ubisoft games unsatisfying.

2. The role, balance, and execution of the open world elements are all very different in Rebirth than in any Ubisoft game. If anything, the open world elements are closer to Ghost of Tsushima's evolution of the Ubisoft formula.

If you're the type of gamer that instantly shut downs when they see open world checklists, like it seems you may be to some extent, I think I make it clear you probably won't like the game as much as I do. The fact is that those elements are such a small part of the game I think it is very unfair to let them color your whole perception of the game. It's like rejecting a beautiful, delicious meal because you were served a drink you don't like. Just don't drink the drink? No one is holding a gun to your head.

I also disagree entirely that Rebirth is anywhere close to approaching repetitive. There are definitely criticisms you can fairly make of Rebirth, but repetitive is not one of them.

I prefer to evaluate what we have based on what we have, not based on what could have been. We can spend the rest of our lives daydreaming about what could have been and whether that would have been better or not, but in my mind that has zero bearing on how good what we have is. Would the game have been better without Chadley and if the exploration was more organic like it has been in previous games? Absolutely, but that doesn't mean what we have in Rebirth is any less great.

Really, this criticism can be applied to the vast majority of the gaming industry. Over time, game developers have become increasingly hesitant to design their games in ways that allow the player to miss content or really just struggle in any way. This seems to stem from an incessant march towards 'accessibility'.

To its credit, Rebirth successfully bucks the trend of accessibility in several other aspects. It's combat is surprisingly deep, to the point that it will no doubt be inaccessible to people who are unwilling or unable to put in the time and effort to properly engage with it.

FFXVI fails much more significantly with the burden of this pervasive trend. It's accessible to a fault and it ends up ruining the game for me. Far too easy, even less missable content than Rebirth. Everything is explicit, there's no room for meaningful experimentation or exploration.

[Rinaldus]

This Ubisoft comparison is kind of a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ strawman. Take towers for instance. Rebirth has towers that are almost completely pointless, so people are trying to make a false equivalency between them and Ubisoft's open world design, and it's a totally disingenuous argument. I actively avoided towers 90 percent of the time, and whenever I did go to one, it revealed 3 map markers. All of which I had usually already discovered organically. The towers are simply there for people who don't know how to explore on their own. And even if you use them they still won't show you everything on the map. They're nothing like Ubislop's open world design.

And that could be said for just about every aspect of design between Rebirth and Ubisoft. There's loose similarities, but if you actually played both games, you'd realize one game does things very lazily, and the other puts in a ton of quality work.

Ubisoft games have largely flat maps where you go from point A to point B in a straight ass line. And Rebirth has very thoughtfully designed geography, where the maps ebb and flow in fascinating ways. Getting around Gongaga for instance is rewarding because of how the map is structured like a dense impassable jungle. It's amazing. Whenever you come across a point of interest there it feels like you peeled back layers of great level design to find it. Ubisoft games have nothing like that.

And none of this even touches on Rebirth's progression systems, loadout customizablility, variety of play between the 7 characters, eealth of minigames, and what is probably one of the best combat systems in gaming. All of which make exploring that world SO much more satisfying.

So no, I don't think the comparison to Ubisoft world design is fair at all, or even logical.

[Rinaldus]

Also, great review. I think you really nailed the game and clearly explained who the game is and isn't for. The people who loudly complain about Rebirth seem to be these compulsive completionists. And it's really annoying to hear them poo poo on the game for having too much completely optional and extremely satisfying/unique content to go through. Just skip it if youre not interested. I hear mainlining the main story fixes a ton of the pacing issues of the game any way.

[Jam4Lube]

Thank you for having an actual level-headed take, I genuinely believe this game is incredibly over-hated

[Andar]

Rebirth is my personal GOTY and your review resonates with my opinions on it.

I say this as someone who felt the the game suffered for being restricted to the PS5, the performance was abysmal, and I still absolutely loved my time with it.

[Constant_K]

"Unless you are a compulsive collectionist who can't help but do all the side content even when you're not enjoying it"

Oh no.

"Rebirth leans heavily into the goofy and campy tone. It also has immense gameplay variety that reminds me of those games"

Oh yes!

[Zhaidel]

Originally posted by Lionheartwolf:

It's ironic that you open with the mocking of Ubisoft, but don't get into how FFVII has devolved into the Ubisoft cookie-cutter open world formula.

I think you're missing the fundamental issue people take with Ubisoft's "open world cookie cutter design" and why this is different.

Ubisoft pads about 80% of their game's content with repetitive ultra-low quality, frankly unfun, tasks side content throughout the world. In addition, they do this with nearly every open world Ubisoft game released, and often the same type of repetitive filler content at that. Hence the whole "cookie cutter".

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is not devoid of some of that, but it is definitely well recognized that a great deal of the side content is significantly higher quality with character development main cast and side cast stories, background lore, etc. that properly fleshed out and offers a more quality engaging experience.

[dlux]

Originally posted by arthur:

decadent

This word actually has a negative connotation. Don't feel bad, it is a common mistake.

Your review is very good though. Thank you for posting!

[Iron Reaper]

i can’t speak for anybody else but i got ff7 for xmas as a teenager and it has been my fav game ever since… until remake came out and dethroned the original and took its crown. but then rebirth came out and dethroned remake… so at this point my expectations are so damn high for game 3 that i can’t even imagine how epic it is going to be but i trust this dev team completely to deliver

[Iron Reaper]

Originally posted by Jam4Lube:

Thank you for having an actual level-headed take, I genuinely believe this game is incredibly over-hated

the ff fandom is just like that. they all hate every new ff that comes out because it is different but then 5 years later it is considered a classic and they are hating on the new thing

i think the reason for this is because final fantasy games have had SO MANY different styles of nearly every component of the gaming experience, so you have this fandom coming together over 30 years who all like different things and can’t ever agree on anything

and a lot of them are super butthurt that we aren’t still doing turn based combat. they are extremely opposed to change and it makes them unreasonable and nearly impossible to please, so SE just does what they want anyway and the fanbase eventually gets on board lol

[Xialoh]

Hmm. I can't say that I love minigames, unless the minigames are good...but I will say that it's likely that a trainer will exist to address the problem for anyone that can't manage for whatever reason.

Personally not into the over the top style of Yakuza, as far as I know, so if this game is similar that might be a problem. On the other hand, I've never played a Yakuza game for more than 10 minutes. Lot to consider here.

[Ganryuu]

more reviews should have the "who this game is for" and "who this game is not for". otherwise agree on all points

[Tiberius]

Originally posted by arthur:

Bottom Line

It is a maximalist, decadent, baroque experience. Some people see its sheer excess as gaudy and self-indulgent, I couldn’t get enough of it.

I agree with this. Some of the most critical reviewers were also saying the same thing:

In a triple-A climate where development costs spiral and content often replaces craft, the generosity and ambition of Rebirth is a convincing argument that, once in a while, too much is exactly what you want.