FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH

The original Final Fantasy VII from 1997 was my favourite game of all time. It's the game that was the reason I got a PlayStation. I have done multiple 100% playthroughs of the original game over the past nearly 30 years. This remake had so much potential. There are moments of legitimate wonder, like coming over that first hill and seeing the Grasslands around Kalm for the first time. It's moments like those that led me to believe Rebirth could be not only a good adaptation of the 1997 original, but one of the best videogames I've ever played. Unfortunately, 160+ hours later, I'm nearly at the end of my playthrough but completely at the end of my patience with this game's mechanics. The minigames in FF7 Rebirth are some of the most rage-inducing experiences I’ve had in 40+ years of gaming. They are not fair. They are not fun. And they take a game that was easily aiming for my top 10 of all time out of that contention. Way out. I have spent most of my free time over the past several weeks screaming 100+ decibel profanities at my TV because of these minigames. I have not thrown my controller, but man have I come close to it. Here’s a perfect example of how terrible these minigames are. in the 1997 version of Final Fantasy 7, so long as you were smart about chocobo breeding, you could eventually get to a point where you’d dominate every chocobo race you entered. How good you were at chocobo racing was entirely down to your own strategy and skill. In FF7 Rebirth, you’re instead racing on courses littered with obstacles, and while you can do your best to avoid most of them, in the end it’s up to the game’s RNG how successful you’ll be at avoiding some of them, or the other racers. And you can’t mess up even once, because the computer-controlled racers definitely won’t. Collide with one of the RNG-dependent Cactuar gates just seconds before you would have crossed the finish line at last? Too bad. Start the whole five-minute race over again. For the fifteenth time. I do not understand at all the JRPG game designer obsession with punishing players for anything less than perfection. I know in their culture it’s all about overcoming the challenges and earning your victories or something like that, but I do not enjoy spending two hours repeating a task that would take five minutes if the game design only allowed for something less than 100% perfect play. Like, if I wanted to face that kind of challenge, I’d play games against other humans. But I manifestly DO NOT enjoy those kinds of challenges — that is why I gravitate to RPGs instead of shooters or sports games — so don’t clog up my experience with all this aneurysm-inducing nonsense. And yeah, I know the minigames are “optional” in this game, except they’re kind of really not “optional” if significant chunks of game lore and the best in-game gear are all gated behind these story-halting execrable experiences. It's not just the minigames, either. I hope you like your battles to range between "tedious five-minute slugfest" and "completely unfair game mechanics that will have you resisting with all your might the urge to hurl your controller through your screen". I have just rage-quit the final battle of the game because, after an hourlong chain of five battles in a row with varying degrees of player-hating game design and built-in unfairness, the final battle simply exhausted any remaining patience I had left for this experience. I was literally seconds away from beating the final boss and watching the credits roll when yet another "kill the entire party in one hit"attack triggered before I could heal, so game over it was. At this point I realiesd I am not enjoying this game. I am enduring it. Again, the battle mechanics of the original game meant you didn't have to have twitch-shooter reflexes in order to succeed. With sufficient planning, adequate resources, and patience, you could beat any challenge in the 1997 version. In this version, if you don't have split-second reflexes, good luck to you. And it's not like I need to "get good" or whatever; I've played Cyberpunk 2077 on Very Hard without issue. Cyberpunk is a good example of a game that manages to *challenge* a player without *punishing* the player. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is just non-stop punishment at every turn. I hope they pare back on the worst aspects of this game for the next one, but I have a bad feeling that they’re going to double down instead. I’ll be close to 50 years old when the next game comes out, so this is how I die: on my 4K TV, a dejected chocobo repeatedly does post-race consolation laps after getting second place, and there I am slumped in my chair, bloody foam running from my mouth and down my jawline, having suffered a massive stroke after hurling a 120-decibel four-letter word toward the TV for the 20th time that evening. This game's visuals are a 10 out of 10. The characters are mostly faithful to their original incarnations. The locations trigger waves of nostalgia. The materia system is as intricate and involving as ever. The story is quite a lot more obtuse and meandering than the original was. The sidequests and Chadley content are not something I really enjoyed much and probably won't do again. In fact, unlike the 1997 version, it's unlikely I'll ever replay this one. I might not even "legitimately" finish this one on normal difficulty, because the thought of slogging through that hour of battles again has me wanting to uninstall the game instead. I will likely swallow my pride and turn on all the "convenience" features to make my characters invincible so I can cruise past these terribly-designed final battles and finally see the end of this game I've been playing for nearly a month straight. As for replayability - that's a big no from me. I won't even attempt playing this game on hard mode; that does not sound like a remotely fun experience to me. I wanted to love this game. It had so many of the right ingredients for one of my favourite games of all time. Instead, slowly but steadily, hour by hour, I came to hate it. I don't think it's the insult to the original or complete travesty that internet keyboard warriors like to paint it as, but neither do I think this game truly does itself justice. Above all else, it's the gameplay experience that lets this game down. After several dozen hours of playing Rebirth, it started feeling less like something I enjoyed and more like a second job, and one that's somehow even more irritating than the job I actually get paid to do. Having played both FF7 Remake and Rebirth now, I honestly don't know if I'll play the third instalment. If the gameplay in the next one is anything like what I've just spent weeks suffering through in Rebirth, I might just give the next one a miss and replay the 1997 version for the 40th time instead.

They disneyfied this game way too much, everything is a marvel cinematic multiverse and Red XIII and Cloud are femboys and Cid is a useless happyhappy joyjoy hippie version of himself. They shouldve just remade this and not this split universum ♥♥♥♥.

I feel bad for new players to FF(7) who only play the remakes and think Disney musicals and Chadley is what made FF7 a classic. The atmosphere and tone are completely different, the legendary soundtrack was butchered, and the story and themes feel weak and sanitized. The gameplay is fun at least, though the game loves to stutter so you can't even enjoy that as much. Not to mention all the filler even when focusing on the main story alone.

Ben bu oyuna resmen bittim. Öncelikle şunu söyleyeyim, orijinal Final Fantasy VII'ı hiç oynamadım. O yüzden hikâyede yapılan değişiklikler, orijinalle arasındaki farklar veya timeline olayları konusunda çok fazla kıyaslama yapabilecek durumda değilim. Ama Rebirth'ü kendi başına değerlendirdiğimde benim için gerçekten inanılmaz bir deneyimdi. Remake'i de çok sevmiştim ama Rebirth bambaşka bir seviyeye çıkmış. Atmosferi, karakterleri, dünyası... Hepsi o kadar güzel işlenmiş ki oyunun içine resmen giriyorsun. Bitirdiğimde de ciddi ciddi boşluğa düştüm. Uzun zamandır bir oyun bittikten sonra böyle hissetmemiştim. Hikâye konusunda insanların neden ikiye bölündüğünü az çok biliyorum. Özellikle paralel evren/timeline olayları ve final sahnesi bayağı tartışılmış. Orijinal oyunu oynayanların bazı şeyleri daha farklı değerlendirmesini de anlayabiliyorum. Ben orijinali oynamadığım için bu konulara fazla takılmadan, önüme gelen hikâyeyi deneyimledim ve açıkçası çok sevdim. Sürekli "Acaba şimdi ne olacak?" diye merak ettiriyor. Karakterlerin arasındaki bağlar, arkadaşlıklar ve yaşanan duygusal anlar da oyunun en sevdiğim taraflarından oldu. Bazı sahnelerde gerçekten ekrana bakıp kaldığım yerler oldu. Müzikler zaten ayrı bir olay. Bazı sahnelerde müzik giriyor ve direkt havaya sokuyor. Dövüş sistemi de Remake'ten sonra bayağı geliştirilmiş. Karakter değiştirmek, farklı yetenekleri kullanmak ve takım halinde saldırmak gerçekten çok keyifli. Tabii kusursuz değil. Bazen gereksiz uzatılmış gibi hissettiren yerler var ve hikâyedeki bazı olaylar insanın kafasını bayağı karıştırabiliyor Ama bunlar benim aldığım keyfi pek bozmadı. Benim için gerçekten unutulmaz bir oyun oldu. Orijinalini oynamamış biri olarak bile bu dünyaya ve karakterlere bu kadar bağlanabildiysem, adamların yaptığı iş bence gerçekten başarılı. Parasının da vaktinizin de sonuna kadar hakkını veriyor. Kalbimi bıraktım. 10/10

Too many stupid mini games. Way too many. I have spent 28 hrs in this game and, now, I so want to get a refund. Just endless stupid mini games, never end. After playing 10 mini games in Chapter 6, I got 6 more mini games in the next Chapter. No fighting, no action, no story, no thing. Just one mini game after another.

[h1] Me? Gongaga! [/h1] TL;DR [table] [tr] [th]Pros[/th] [th]Cons[/th] [/tr] [tr] [td]✔️ It's a beautifully told story if you strictly follow the main path. Sephiroth's plans are grander than in the original which I love.[/td] [td]❌ Minigames and bloat. Don't get me wrong; I don't mind a few minigames or the Gold Saucer aspect, as these were already present in the original version. However, after Chapter six, all the additional content is filled with excessive minigames.[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]✔️ Characters add depth to the game, as well as background infos. We now have a skill-tree, many moments to improve the connections with our companions as well as special cutscenes in certain aspects of the game depending on your connections. [/td] [td]❌ Repetitive open-world gameplay with bloat. At first, the open world was a cool aspect, and I fully explored it before moving on. However, after the sixth or seventh open world, I started to roll my eyes.[/td] [/tr] [td]✔️ There are new story beats and twists from the original story, as well as new crafting mechanics. You can now craft your own items using the materials you collect by defeating enemies or exploring the open world.[/td] [/table] [h1] Additional Info:[/h1] [table] [tr] [th]Content & Value[/th] [th]It took me ~71.2 hours to complete FF7 Rebirth and earn 78% of all achievements. For those interested in achievements: It's pretty straightforward, but there are a few achievements that are a bit grindy and you need to replay the game twice to get the Hard Mode achievement.[/th] [/tr] [tr] [td]Is it worth buying?[/td] [td]Yes, if you liked FF7 Remake Part 1[/td] [/tr] [/table] [h1]In-Depth[/h1] [h3]Story[/h3] The group pursues Sephiroth or rather, the Black Cloaks across the world and is repeatedly confronted with their own past or the fates of others. Of course, everything in Rebirth is told more slowly and in greater detail, because given the realism of the Remake series much of it simply can’t be conveyed by a shrugging polygon character anymore. And although I’m a fan of slow storytelling and character development, it just doesn’t work for me in Rebirth all the time. The story beats that are there are (almost) always incredible or even perfectly told, but unfortunately, because of the bloated world, they’re way too far apart. As a result, the story too often loses its continuity and intensity. And it’s precisely the latter the emotional impact that I unfortunately find lacking in many places. The only time it hit me like a truck was in the last three chapters where you couldn't get distracted again. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3756263889 Some scenes and monologues are pointlessly dragged out, and then suddenly, in true Hollywood fashion, you need a tissue (You know what I mean after you played the game, haha). That may look great or heighten the “mystery,” but it’s a far cry from a compelling and coherent narrative. Zack’s moments, too, are simply irrelevant until the final third of the game. Of course, I’m happy to see him, but for the most part, his storyline struck me as superfluous and out of place. The number of side quests has also increased significantly since the remake. Some, especially in the early chapters, were nicely integrated into the plot or setting, while others, particularly the later ones, felt superfluous and out of place, and still others seemed like pointless repetition. [h3] Combat and World [/h3] There's little to complain about when it comes to the combat system. The mix of active character control and ATB-timed commands is, just like in Remake, really well done. Strategy and action are perfectly balanced. Normal battles are usually over quickly, while boss or special battles require some strategy and sometimes the strategic use of Materia. It’s better than Part 1 in every respect, and in hindsight, it feels to me like a beta version compared to Rebirth. The “open world” is, in many ways, the best I’ve ever experienced in a game and at the same time, one of my biggest criticisms. Visually, it’s simply stunning, offering the illusion of vastness and plenty of space to explore. However, if you take a closer look, the nature of the exploration unfortunately makes the world feel very small again. Every location is reached via some quest, a tip from Chadley, an owl, a chocobo chick, or a signal tower. While I happily roamed the world map in OG to examine every nook and cranny, I’m now being led to every corner and if not, then there's nothing there. The atmosphere of the landscape, the bustling cities, the light, the views… it couldn’t be more beautiful. On the first map, the scope of exploration feels like it offers endless possibilities. By the second map, however, a certain sense of repetition sets in, and starting with the third, I repeatedly lost the motivation to work through the time-consuming and repetitive tasks. The goal is always to find X towers, X chocobo treasures, Life Stream springs, battle sites, treasure chests, and exactly 3 Esper shrines. [h3] Music & General Thoughts [/h3] Finally, something to have no complaints about: The music in Rebirth is absolutely fantastic. I think the orchestration of the old tracks is fantastic, and the new ones are just as good. The music is very fitting for each region, and aside from one exception, it’s still always varied. The changes in the music and the transitions from one piece to the next gave me goosebumps time and time again. Generally speaking: I love the characters! There really isn’t a single main character I don’t like. Their design is stunning, they have a terrific sense of humor (especially when interacting with Yuffie), and I’m already looking forward to fighting alongside them in the third installment. On the other hand, I thought the way the group was reunited with Yuffie was handled perfectly. I can’t even imagine the team without the little ninja anymore. That mix of childlike naivety, over-the-top coolness, and urgent seriousness is incredibly fun for me. I finally understand why none of the other characters find the cat with the giant Mog strange, and the connection to Reeve also makes perfect sense now. Just like in Remake, the chemistry between the party members is palpable throughout Rebirth, and Cloud’s mental development in the later chapters, in particular, is portrayed in a compelling and stunning way. They’re all so lively, well-developed, and usually act in a believable and relatable way. In addition, the portrayal of many supporting characters is all too often rather lackluster. They often seem to be there just for the sake of being there. Unfortunately, this doesn’t do them justice. Much of their dialogue is completely devoid of substance, and their side quests are often just filler content with no real relevance. [h3]Conclusion[/h3] The game offers a lot that really excited me: the main characters, the way the settings are brought to life, the nostalgic atmosphere it captures, the music.. but the more time I invested in the game, the more elements I found that I didn’t like: the NPCs babbling pointlessly, the feeling that I wasn’t exploring the world but just working my way through it, and the inescapable flood of minigames. The original’s already emotional story is expanded here with even more profound characters and unexpected twists. The gameplay, which was already outstanding in the remake, has been refined in some areas and expanded to include a massive exploration component. In my view, Rebirth tried to do too much. It wanted to keep the mystery alive while simultaneously weaving in every little bit of backstory. Drama and even more drama, mixed with humor and even more humor. And in its attempt to cover all of that, the story lost a bit of its impact for me. [h2] Final Verdict: 8/10 - The main path is where the story really comes alive, but it's let down by excessive bloat that prevents you from enjoying it fully [/h2]

Too many futile minigames as a way to extend playing time to justify cost. The mini games ruin the RPG experience of the original version. In the original, mini games were concentrated to a specific area & with the option to skip.

Я вообще не понимаю, как можно хейтить эту игрушку и при этом любить FF XV, которая во многих аспектах хуже. Комьюнити финалок странное...

セールで購入 途中までだけと...もうやめたい... 11章入ったところまで進んだけど 自分はなんのためにお金と時間を使ってるのだろうって メインストーリーとサブクエとミニゲームをやりながら思っている 多分終盤まで来たとは思うけど ホントになにを話したいのか未だにわからない 開発陣も魔晄中毒？ 旧作好きな方はやらない方がいい 自分も評価は知ってて 結局気になって自分でやってみたかったけど今後悔してる 黒マントとフィーラーの強引なシナリオ進行 カットシーンのセフィロスバーゲンセールとか FF7はもう思い出の中でじっとしていてくれ R3は多分買わない 気になっても配信でいいや あとユフィってこんなうざかったっけ？