Final Fantasy VII has had an impact on this industry for 27 years. It is home to some of the most memorable moments in gaming and remains one of the most nostalgia-inducing games to be released on the original PlayStation in 97, an indicator of what was to come of an industry coming into its own.
So how do you adapt such a powerful experience, better yet, how do you adapt a game like that across multiple entries? How do you take that experience further, and tell that story meaningfully, or speak to a new audience that doesn’t have those memories? There isn’t a way to win on every front, no matter how much you spend on marketing or development, you can never win over the entirety of the current industry… But Final Fantasy VII Rebirth does the best job a game can to bring the legendary story of Love, Loss, and Sephiroth back with a vengeance.
Love, Loss, and Sephiroth
With Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the player will finally play through to essentially the beginning of disk two, making there two disks of story content left for the final game in the series. This might sound like it has been a slow burn, but the truth is like most of the games from the PlayStation era, the final disk mostly offers the conclusion, with a lot of the memorable moments being present on the first disk.
For the most part, those moments return with added narrative, having the characters roughly following the story players are familiar with. This isn’t always the case though and the Whispers, which were introduced in the first game as elements trying to keep the story on the right track, reappear though they have less importance this time around.
Following the party’s escape from Midgar, which served as a more linear gameplay segment, they finally reach the point in the Original Game where they find the world map. In the Original game, this would also serve as a linear segment since the player could not turn back to the ship or plane allowed this. This is drastically changed in Rebirth, allowing players to backtrack pretty easily, making this a fun playground with little limitation.
Where the game drastically departs from the original story is the inclusion of Zack as a playable character in shorter segments that are framed around the main story. By the beginning of the original game, Zack was long dead, serving as a background character in disks two and three. For me, as a player familiar with VII it was an interesting choice that allowed the main story to evolve as it does while adding a new layer of narrative to learn and experience. If you are new to Remake, its inclusion is confusing as context is only added in the final chapters, and even that might be more confusing than engaging.
This being said, many of the biggest moments such as getting into Junon on dolphin back, and traveling to the Gold Saucer, and blending in in a Shinra parade all return in different capacities but are all enjoyable in their own right. The biggest changes to the story in those regards help make the experience better, adding moments that add a deeper context, with standout moments belonging to the introduction scenes for Yuffie, who is now officially a main cast member.
This isn’t to say that every character doesn’t get new narrative moments to shine in. Tifa and Arieth grow closer through the narrative, acting as a centering to the story’s jumping-off points. Clouds’ reunion-based relationship with Sephiroth is also fleshed out as is given more moments of him losing control or becoming possessed, building up to the inevitable climax. Even Cait Sith’s return and introduction, the oddest character in a group of oddballs, offered up fun moments with some later being changed to give the cat on a moogle more story relevance in the group.
Hustle De Chocobo
Combat gets a much-needed upgrade from Remake, but will remain familiar to those who have played the previous entry. Enemies pack a hefty punch even on Normal and emphasis is placed on new features such as the Synergy Abilities and Skills that allow your party members to double team enemies for big damage and added buffs. It took about half the game to realize how to use these properly, you will probably pick it up quicker, but once you do combat will drastically open up.
The benefits of these abilities are that they give you higher limit breaks, more ATB gauges, make MP costing spells free for limited times, and more. This is a minor tweak with larger implications that add to an already fantastic combat system. Now, I will admit I preferred the combat in XVI more than I did in Rebirth, and going back felt weird, but by the end, it all felt great.
Once again the game boasts ‘around’ 40 hours of content but with the open world, your trip will feel much longer when everything is said and done. Worst boy Chadley makes his triumphant return dishing out world intel events that allow you to explore each area completing tasks to flesh out the world. While I disliked Chadley in my ear every 10 seconds as if to tell me another of my settlements was under attack, every task he gave me was pretty fun if not generic and expected. These tasks differentiate themselves with a string of 4 missions in each area to find a prothoracic. These act as a long-form side-quest, or a series of mini-games that offer great narrative drops and extended gameplay.
Speaking of, in a game where I knew Gold Saucer was coming, I expected mini-games to be big in these games, not non-stop. Every chapter introduces like 4 or 5 and then later chapters add new difficulties to all of these, they never stop. Worst yet, many are introduced during the main quest as a hurdle to overcome to keep moving. This isn’t shocking considering the original VII was famous for many mini-games, a few button pushes are a far cry from the depth of the games here that you need to go through.
Chocobo Racing, thankfully returns and proves to be very engaging. Since there are a large number of races to go through this is a good thing. In addition, Queens Blood, the first card game in the series since IX is also a standout, which is good because an entire side quest is tied to it and many story moments and side quests are tied to progression in it. These are a few standouts though as many of the side-quests proved a lesson in frustration more than a fun excursion. Even if you’re not a trophy hunter valuable items are hidden behind rank III finishes in these games, which can soak up hours of your life just trying to score that extra hundred points to finish. The truth is most just aren’t that fun, so the frustration rarely makes the reward worth it.
One of the places Final Fantasy VII stands above its predecessors however is in its side-quests. Now yes, a lot of them will introduce annoying mini-games as well such as Jules and his sit-up challenge. Others are tied to games like Queens Blood and Chocobo Racing is fun but still annoying to have progression locked behind them. However, for every bad quest, there are more than flesh out your supporting cast, offer challenging monsters to fight, give new ways to experience their open world, and build Final Fantasy VII Rebirth into what I always wanted the series to be, a living breathing world I can get lost in.
Verdict
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth has some decisions in it that baffle. For starters, it has way too many mini-games that become time-consuming lessons in frustration. Additionally, many of these games act as progression blockers as you run around completing these games so you can continue on your quest. Another decision that baffles me, is their choice of tripling down on Chadley, a character I was pretty sure people were already tired of by the end of Remake. Finally, some story elements feel like you need the context of the original 1997 title to understand, which doesn’t work for a title aiming to build a new audience.
Despite this though, for every bad decision they make, they make so many right. A classic story reimagined beautifully from start to finish. A combat system that is both engaging and challenging with meaningful new additions that make the experience as diverse as the game’s cast.As well as a world that feels more alive than any Final Fantasy game to come before.
This is the most complete version of Final Fantasy that has been released and it isn’t even the complete Final Fantasy VII story. There is so much here that should influence the franchise moving forward and, more importantly, to enjoy in the here and now, that I can’t wait to see where we go next. Whether we return to Gaia for the final act of VII, or some completely new world that is just being dreamed up, I hope it feels as complete as this.
If you would like to keep up to date on PixelByte make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook where we post regularly. This helps us grow so we greatly appreciate it!
Reviewed For PlayStation 5
Developer: Creative Business Unit I
Publisher: Square Enix
Release Date: February 29th, 2024
The second act in the three part reimagining of the classic 1997 PlayStation RPG see's Cloud and his crew leave Midgar and strike out on an adventure across their world to stop Sephiroth.
Pros:
+ Reimagined Narrative
+ Outstanding Combat
+ Well Crafted Open World
+ Queens Blood
+ Chocobo Racing
Cons:
- Too many mini-games
- Most more frustrating than fun
- Some story elements
-
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
