I never played the original FF7, so this is my first experience with this universe aside from FF7 Remake, though I was aware of some plot points and most of the characters as much of it has entered gaming canon. I've heard that Rebirth makes FF7 Remake look like a tech demo in comparison, and that is certainly accurate. This game is utterly massive, and I will break down my review a bit to better handle the magnitude of the game.
Presentation:
This game looks downright beautiful at many points. The graphics are improved from the first game, and I am often blown away what they present. My main complaint about the visuals is the lighting. In bright areas, it is often to bright for comfort, and it's as if they couldn't manage more subtle lighting in Gongaga or Corel.
The music in this game is legitimately amazing and very wide ranging. The remixes of old tracks are wonderful, and even the campy songs are enjoyable. Some of the orchestral musical arrangements are deeply moving even without the context of the story or setting. So much passion went into it.
Performance:
I had mixed performance on my device. I have a pretty powerful PC and there would be some visual bugs every few hours or so. There were also some hard crashes 3 or 4 times on this PC and several crashes when trying to playing on my Steam Machine.
Story and Setting:
I loved the story of this game. It explores the nature of mortality more-so than the first game, but the environmental theme continues with additional urgency as you explore the world and see the effect that Mako exploitation has there. The characters are all well realized. The returning characters from Remake all have clear arcs they go through, each working through some sort of challenge and developments. Barrett is still my GOAT. Many of the new characters are great as well, with Yuffie and RedXIII being real highlights. Shinra continues to be the big amoral thorn in your side they always were, and again their imperialist ambitions continually harass our party. Sephiroth steals nearly every scene he appears in, and I'm very excited to kick his ass when the next game in the trilogy comes out. Every story in this mission was awesome, and I always looked forward to doing them. I knew some of the main story beats already, but still found myself deeply moved when experiencing them firsthand.
Gameplay:
As stated previously, the combat system of this game is an improvement on the first game, which is impressive. The improved camera angle really adds to the system, the addition of synergy moves added another fun layer to the system, and I always felt I could be better with the combat system. Every playable character was unique, and learning the intricacies of each of them as the game went on was really fun.
The switch to the open world I have very mixed opinions on. Exploration was fun, but the quality and my motivation to complete the world intel or side quests varied immensely. Many of the side quests are low stakes, and are often played for laughs. Sometimes you'd be following a dog around to get back to it's owner, other times you'd be sent to kill a particularly deadly monster. I did every side quest, and all world intel for the main zones. World intel, again, was a mixed bag. Sometimes there's a full blown minigame system that I'd spend hours on, other times I'd literally dread completing it.
Queens Blood was by far my favorite side activity, though once you get a deck that works and understand the play pattern for that deck, most of the battles became trivial. I did love the Yu-Gi-Oh-esque storyline in which the card game was the most serious thing on the planet for some people.
While all of the open world side content was technically optional I really couldn't help it when they gave me a big list of things to complete, and as such it really was dragging on for my by the end of my playthrough. There were also a lot of extra combat challenges, like the eccentric swordsman at the end that I couldn't be bothered to do. I would literally go 10's of hours between story missions, and despite my compulsive need to complete the side objectives, I really wanted to see where the story went more.
Final Thoughts:
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is a triumph in terms of its combat system, its story, and its presentation. For those reasons alone I would recommend it. I think they could've trimmed down the side content a bit, as that from my perspective really had variable quality. Play Remake first. If you like what that game is going for, you'll love this game.
