Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Is A Must Play Masterpiece (Review)

it's really coming down huh hey man feeling any better Final Fantasy has always been a franchise I have loved since the late '90s when I first experienced the series with Final Fantasy 6 which is easily one of my favorite games of all time still to this day and has obviously led me down this road to playing all future entries in the franchise since then which I would argue as a long running RPG series Final Fantasy is some of the most memorable worlds and characters not just in the RPG genre but in video games as a whole so when it was originally announced Final Fantasy 7 was getting a remake I was beyond excited though I did wonder how they would even approach bringing such an old classic to Modern Hardware but just how vast the world is well the answer was simple by doing the Remake in multiple games this has allowed Square uniques to really dive into the characters and world to a much deeper level than the original now with that said not everything has been perfect with either parts of the remake of Final Fantasy 7 but I do truly believe after playing in over 200 hours in the Final Fantasy 7 rebirth it has improved on part one of the Remake in almost every way possible and even with some flaws and how they approach some parts of the game I really feel rebirth is one of the greatest Final Fantasy games ever made but before I really dive into why I feel this way about it I want to say now that there will be spoilers in this review why I will will in general be avoiding showing major story moments the best I can outside the first five or so hours of the game I will be featuring gameplay from every open world region various side quests and the various towns cities you come across in the game so with that warning out of the way the first part of rebirth I want to dive into is the one I was most worried about and that's its approach to the open World gameplay design over the years I have slowly tired of the open world game designs we have seen so many games adopt the quote unquote Ubisoft style endless repetitive grind that really serves no purpose other than fluffing out the runtime of a game with meaningless content that's nothing more than a checklist of items to collect for no real reward or satisfaction in doing those objectives or completing that list of Collectibles by the end of it and really thinking hard on it now the last open world game that really drew me in and made it feel like the exploration was worth doing was probably Elden ring with the reward of exploring the lands between being in it revolving around finding hidden areas and bosses that challenged the player in new ways I couldn't get enough of it no matter how long I kept playing and somehow rebirth has captured that feeling in a different kind of way because I'm not going to pretend that rebirth doesn't have the general checklist style of open world objectives because that would be a lie and I completely understand why someone would still not enjoy this style of open World gameplay but what it does do compared to other open World Games is it makes the time invested into doing those checklist sell objectives absolutely worth it thanks to an amazing payoff that makes what would normally be a disjointed collection of side content to one cohesive experience that's all working together in a system that rewards you every step of the way that is completely optional but how exactly does it do this well in each open world region of rebirth your task in gathering Intel on the region for a young scientist named Chadley and his newly created AI assistant might which I have a lot to say about these two here after a bit now this Intel is gathered by doing a variety of tasks that are all connected in one way or another you have Towers to claim that feed you information on other objective locations like LIF Springs which as you slowly scan more of these LIF Springs throughout a region you unlock additional Intel objectives like excavation sites where while riding on chocobos you use their ability to smell to find hidden items in an area by following the trails of sense also in general while riding around the world on chocobos you can also find random items though the items you dig up in these special excavation objective zones are of Greater importance since they net you transmuter chips which unlock additional items to craft which may also be needed for side quests you also unlock classified Intel objectives after grabbing all life Springs in a region which basically leads to a special boss fight that honestly pretty pretty epic with that classic battle music not to mention bosses drop rare materials that can also be used for crafting rare unique boss items like the M orb that extends duration of stas effects on enemies while reducing them on the player's character which the entire crafting system is about what you expect outside of these special boss materials that can be used to craft boss related items with cool effects you can craft a large variety of items from healing to equipable equipment and there's a leveling system along with it to where as you craft more items your crafting level goes up allowing you to not only make better items but enhance them as well now going on with the other objectives you have in a region you have fiend encounters where you fight specialized versions of enemies under special parameters that you must meet like defeating an enemy in a certain time limit or not allowing them to form certain actions you must tame choke bows in each region to be able to use them which is done through a stealth-like mission you have your Mughal Hutts where you have to round up Mughal in this little mini game that afterwards allows you to shop in the mugh shop by spending Mughal medals you find throughout the world also real quick I don't like the design of these Mughal these things are made of nightmares they look like they crawled out of a pet cemetery that's right I went there not everything needs to look realistic I like cute mugal not wherever these monstrosities are anyways you have these Divine shs where you do this little mini game that not only makes your summons you bring into battle more powerful but makes it so they are easier to take down for when you attempt to acquire them then finally you have the Proto Relic quest lines which are easily some of the best side content in the entire game these Proto Relic quest lines offer very unique gameplay experiences not found anywhere else like in one moment you're being drawn into a board game called Fort Condor battling out with tiny little game pieces brought to life the next you are following a beam of light emitted by a cactus statue to solve a mystery of the Sands just to find yourself doing these mini gamess for a tiny Goblin that loves to box in these Proto Relic quest lines across all regions lead to a final that is slowly built up to with a connecting story weave throughout all of them that leads to some of the most challenging fights in the entire game that were just an absolute blast to experience not to mention you get some incredible cut scenes that have so much care put into them it's wild thinking they are just side content that people could never experience or see with that said though that's basically everything tied to Gathering Intel in a region and by gathering this Intel and also assessing enemies through battle with an ability that basically tells you their strengths and weaknesses you're not only able to develop new material to use in battle by spending the Intel points you earn by doing all of this side content which material is basically what you slot into weapons or equipment for various abilities or spells but you also unlock a variety of combat challenges that also unlock even more new materials and usable enemy skills not to mention this is also where you go to fight and unlock summons to use in battle as well but now that I've covered how a Region's Intel system works in rebirth I hope all of you can somewhat see why I like it so much this interconnectivity of all of this content working together in a way that not only provides a meaningful way of making your party stronger but also provides Stellar story moments and fun challenges that really rewards you for your efforts though I will say my biggest issue with all of this content is the fact it all runs through Chadley as much as I like his character and am curious to see what his role is in part three of the Final Fantasy 7 remake is going to be thanks to some interesting cut scenes found in some of the side content he and his assistant M are constantly interrupting and talking to you every step of the way while doing all of these Intel objectives and it can be a bit annoying at times since most of the dialogue from them really doesn't add anything meaningful to what you're doing leading to it feeling like they are patting out the length of the side content artificially through them like I don't hate these characters I just think they could talk a bit less and some of the side content could have been found more naturally in the world with that said though this isn't even all the side content the game has to offer in each region on top of the Intel objectives you have Chocobo stops where you can set up signs that give new fast travel points and a place to rest though only through the use of an item called a cushion can you rest at them which was an interesting choice to say the least that feels like it has more to do with playing on hard mode than any other difficulty then the chocob ball stops also give golden plumes which can be spent on gear for your Chocobo which actually affects their stats when racing them which is also kind of cool you also have treasure areas that have hidden chests you can find there are even companion side quests that build up your relationship with them and gives you a deeper understanding on who they are as a character which I had a blast doing these have a huge Variety in gameplay that range from riding Dolphins to training a villager to fight fiends even some of the more annoying side quest like when you team up with red to lure chickens back to an old lady has such an incredible payoff and not only a cool boss fight but a Cene that literally made me fall out of my chair laughing because it was so perfect The Comedy of the situation red found himself in it made the pain of that chicken luring task worth it this is wrong is all wrong I don't understand it was just supposed to be a game now of course I can't forget to mention what was easily my favorite side content in the entire game and that is the damn card game they introduced into it called Queen's blood where you take turns placing cards on a board to control different squares where you're main goal is to have the most points in a row to add them to your total score when a match ends only after both players pass their turn while sounding simple it has a lot of strats are fun to learn not to mention it even has its own horror likee storyline that evolves over time as you make your way up the Queen's blood ranks trying to understand what happened to the creator of the game it's just like they didn't have to go this hard on a damn card game which outside of the cool storyline it's just plain fun to play and I had a blast trying to master it while trying to collect all the cards which you're constantly being rewarded new ones with each player you beat not to mention you can also find various card packs and special cards through vendors some costing money others through spending points earned at the Gold saucer which Speaking of the gold saucer it's no secret it's crawling with mini gamess for people to enjoy and mini games and Final Fantasy games aren't exactly anything new I would even argue it's cor to some of the older Final Fantasy games DNA like classic Final Fantasy 7 but I do believe rebirth might go a little too far with them so when playing through rebirth one of the things you're going to notice maybe not so much if you beine the story but I was doing all the content I could as I made my way through the game and sometimes it almost felt like you're playing moror party with the amount of mini games scattered everywhere in the world the Divine and Life Spring intels are like mini games side quests have mini games the main story has mini games mixed in there are so many mini games in this game that it can definitely be a bit overwhelming like my favorite thing to do in rebirth is the combat above everything else but sometimes they can feel like it takes too much of a back seat like in Costa Del Soul having so many mini gamess being a part of the story just seemed like excessive padding for that part of the game notice I say seemed like because the character interactions and bonding are really great to see and add to the overall story on why these characters care for each other so much not to mention you do need these moments in RPGs where characters get those moments of relaxation in the story but sometimes it just feels like the mini gamess are a little too much with how often they integrate them into the main story through the middle part of the game like a big story moment with Barr can feel so disconnected or drawn out since your party goes after him only to be captured and stuck running tasks for a gang so you can get to the conclusion of that big story moment like it didn't ruin the moments for me because I just love these characters and do find the mini games fun to do it's just the pacing felt so odd at times when these story beats were being told but that's enough rambling about mini games because it's time we dive into the meat of the game the combat the combat and rebirth might be my favorite out of any Final Fantasy game each character truly feels unique to play and satisfying the master thanks to the systems that surround them so such as the Stagger system where through various actions you fill up a bar that once full causes the enemy to be able to attack or defend giving you free range to do a massive amount of damage this bar can be filled up faster by pressuring enemies through exploiting their weaknesses which range from dodging or attacking after certain moves or even doing something like damaging them with their Elemental weakness there is such a huge range of factors it can really make battles feel like a dynamic chest match definitely on hard mode or against stronger bosses in the game that will absolutely punish you for not respecting the mechanics like when you're fighting The Red Dragon you have to make him breathe fire into pillars so you can knock them down to pressure him on top of that just like the last game you have a variety of materials you can slot into your weapons and equipment for each character that level up over time as you use them also your non-active battle members will still level up the material they have equipped as well which is nice to see since even though they aren't in your active party they're still participating in battle from a distance which is a nice detail that does have some function which I'll get to here in a second then while weapon levels are back from part one they're more standard where all weapons share the same levels and you have these individual Buffs you can equip on them and also weapon abilities are back to where after using a weapon for a certain amount of time you unlock its core ability to use with any other weapon you have equipped then outside of normal individual character levels the main progression of the characters is tied to these folios that level up with your overall party level which is done through completing the wide variety of activities in the game like side quests and you get some really cool new abilities through this like the special limit break attacks they're basically an individual character strongest moves or the new Synergy abilities which is where various characters team up for a special attack similar to their limit breaks or you can even use Synergy skills that are like these mini offensive combos or defensive abilities you can interweave into normal combat also you can use Synergy attacks with nonactive party members as well which is pretty cool really makes it feel like everyone even when not in your active party or a part of the battles which like I said before each character feels very different from one another barretts gunfire and strong defensive abilities makes him a great range tank while someone like Tifa is a stagger machine with her quick firing melee combos though I must say my favorite character play as was easily youthy she's an absolute versatile Savage with her ability to inflict physical or magic damage on the Fly while having some of the best dodging abilities in the game to help you survive tough situations basically what I'm trying to say is all the characters are blast to play and each really do have their own unique style that makes them stand out which when you have party members split up for different parts of the story it allows the devs to really design some of those encounters to those characters skills skill sets to make those moments really interesting from a gameplay perspective plus there are so many battle arenas scattered around the game that offer a wide variety of challenges that if you're not satisfied by what's offered in the main story or some of the side quest you will definitely find some challenges in these that will absolutely punish you for not respecting the mechanics of the game because if there's one thing I can say for sure this is not a game you can Button Mash your way through and I definitely consider Reaper to be a much harder game than remake but as much as I could rant about the combat all day I do want to touch on the world of rebirth that these characters explore and battle in so the various regions feel very different from one another and really have their own style that makes exploring them so much fun almost all regions outside of the grasslands and Corell has their own distinct choke balls that have a unique ability for traveling around in a region junan chocobos can climb walls Cosmo Canyons can glide gagas use mushrooms to jump and the nibel chocob balls which are easily my favorite use water to Glide over bodies of water which is used in very interesting ways to get into areas adding the fact that Corell has the wheelies and buggy to make up for not having a unique chokeable and you have a huge list of transversal options that makes moving around the world in each new region somewhat exciting since it's just not a repeat of the previous area allowing them to each feel distinct since how you approach different quests or objectives or tied to this traversal plus the views you get when traveling are just amazing and do a really good job at times showing just how far that cloud in the Gang has traveled also I absolutely love the towns of rebirth they feel alive with so many people moving around having conversations so much care went into these areas and I never got tired of just taking it all in it's not very often I really care to stop and take screenshots in a video game and rebirth made me want to do that also there is a series of tasks you can do for this photographer that gets you new picture frames so yeah they even have content for people who like that kind of stuff as well though I will say as much as I love the world at times graphically it can be a little questionable like the game looks really good in general but there are points where you're like damn what am I looking at see I normally play games on performance mode because I'll take frame rate over Graphics any day of the week but it looked so bad in rebirth for me I immediately knew I was playing on Graphics mode which isn't the end of the world for me I do think people overblow how bad playing that 30fps is I'm not saying I prefer it I'm just saying it's really not that bad once your eyes readjust to it but outside of those there is some terrible pop in in the game when traveling in the Overworld then when you're somewhere like the town in Cosmo Canyon for example you have all these people walking through the town but you go up the elevator and look down there's no one to be seen which can be a bit jarring not the end of the world stuff and by no way affected my experience really but just thought it was worth noting in terms of General performance though I believe I had maybe frames dropped four or five times in the 200 plus hours I played which I think is pretty damn good all things considered now with that said you obviously can't really talk about a Final Fantasy game without mentioning the story well the story of rebirth in general is amazing the way the characters grow alongside one another through their interactions and range of personalities that clash with one another is amazing aith and Tia's friendship truly shines in this compared to the original Barrett's Redemption to overcome his past is amazing yui's Antics really bring comedy to the party despite dealing with the pain of losing a close friend and so on Square Enix really has captured the party dynamics of these characters and honestly I believe they are some of the best if not the best they have done cloud in the party really do feel like they are learning to trust one another through these hardships they face and the game makes you a part of that experience by having this oneon-one moments with characters that builds up your relationship with them which ultimately can lead to some romantic or funny moments depend on where you sit with some characters by a certain point in the game based on these choices and the side quests you choose to do with them and it's not like the maincast are the only ones who get love so many other characters from the first game gets their story arcs extended into rebirth and some of these side quests that makes the payoff of playing the first game really worth it I really just love the storytelling overall on rebirth though I will say I think the final chapter is completely unhinged and while I don't dislike where they're going with the story personally I feel like a certain moment from the original game was somewhat poorly executed for spoiler reasons I'll leave it at that for now though I will say rebirth has to have one of the best soundtracks and not only only the final fantasy franchise but in all of gaming I swear they made music for almost every little possible thing in the game just listen to [Music] [Music] this here MC of jun not and you are oh man find out folks this is the moment we've been waiting for a [Applause] desert I mean literally from the towns side quest and just walking up to the random life Springs in the Overworld there's music for literally everything and I can't even imagine the amount of work that went into rebirth to make a sound track this massive now if only I love the opening of rebirth as much as the music in it the opening parts of the game with the nilheim flashback while being an amazing way to introduce players to the core mechanics of rebirth and while General being pretty awesome it has to have some of the worst pacing and moments executed in the entire game like when you're crawling towards Sethro these moments feel just so unnecessarily long like why are these guys just standing around zro not shooting a single shot waiting for me to crawl up this is stupid and not fun to play this would have been way better just portrayed in a cut scene and sometimes the devs just get in the way of their own storytelling in this regard and makes the pace in the game feel awkward at times luckily these moments are few and far between so it's not the end of the world then finally one last issue I had was I really wish we got more gameplay elements with the Zach moments of the story so much of it is just walking and talking he has such a fun move set so it's such a shame we never got to see more of it in the actual story though the fact we got to play as Zach and Sethro in the story was pretty awesome though with all of that out of the way Final Fantasy 7 rebirth really is an amazing RPG experience that really reminded me that open world games really can be enjoyable if Done Right the cast of characters are so full of life through the animations and voice acting done by everyone involved with one of the best soundtracks in gaming backing it and the fact that just like with the Remake there are so many improvements that can't be made going into part three that I'm excited to see what Square Enix does with the feedback to improve upon this formula even more rebirth really is one of the best games I've played and to all those Tifa and aith fans out there I'm sorry I'm taking yui because she sings The Best Song you have ever heard here goes I'll search hi and low till I've GED them all I'll have orbs piled up about a billion ft tall I'll have so much materal I won't know what to do but until I can make you mine I'll just patiently wait and dream of you

Channel: JaredRPG

Views: 1,515

Keywords: Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, PlayStation 5, RPG, Remake, final fantasy 7 rebirth ps5 review, final fantasy 7 rebirth video review, final fantasy 7 rebirth, final fantasy 7 rebirth in depth video review, is final fantasy 7 rebirth a bad game, JaredRPG, final fantasy 7 rebirth review, ff7 rebirth, game review, ff7 remake

Id: t04rpD1G6mk

Length: 24min 49sec (1489 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 19 2024