Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is a game that continues the story of one of the most classic games of the first generations of games.
Image credit: PlayStation / Sony Interactive Entertainment promotional art.
Source: PlayStation
Summary
- Name of the game: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
- Launch date: February 29, 2024
- Developer: Square Enix Creative Business Unit I
- Publisher: Square Enix
- Platforms: PlayStation 5
- Genre: JRPG / Action / Adventure
- Context: Second installment of the ambitious remake of Final Fantasy VII, continuing the story after the events of Final Fantasy VII. Remake (2020). Rebirth expands the world beyond Midgar, taking Cloud and his team on a semi-open world adventure.
History and narrative
The story follows Cloud Strife and his group as they pursue the enigmatic Sephiroth and try to prevent a catastrophe on a global scale. The game combines events from the original title with new ramifications, reinventing certain parts without straying too far from the classic story. Unlike the previous remake, Shinra is no longer as important here. They appear, yes, but they are no longer the main focus. Everything revolves around Sephiroth's plans, and the game starts explaining more about his past and the relationship he had with Cloud, which I appreciated because in the previous remake I didn't even understand who he was or what he had to do with Cloud.
Now, narratively speaking, the game is slow. It's well done, but it progresses slowly. The first 5 to 10 hours are basically uncovering the mystery of the guys in black robes, who appear everywhere like zombies. Unlike the remake, I found this plot less interesting. In short: you're going to spend over 30 hours looking for Sephiroth, and when you finally find him, you don't even beat him.
Shinra is still there, but they almost act as allied enemies, because in the end the real villain for everyone is Sephiroth, so they lose a lot of weight. About the side quests, there are quite a few and they are entertaining, but they have no depth. They are rather to kill time and explore a bit, but do not expect strong narrative development. They fulfill, but they don't blow your mind.
As for the characters, I go by parts.
- Cloud Has development, yes, but he looks like Sephiroth's trained puppy dog, which made him less interesting to me. He still doesn't get a handle on his “romance” with Aerith or Tifa, because compa can fight wars, but not girls.
- Aerith is probably the most important character in the story, he plays a crucial role and I liked his development. I did like her development, but the romance with Cloud was a bit less than in the first game, although later on you understand why.
- Tifa She is fun to use in combat, charismatic, warm, for me the best character in the game.
- Barret has a chapter that goes more into his past, which helps to understand his history and relationship with the girl he cares for. Well done.
- Network XIII was always a character who suffered from Shinra's abuse. That doesn't change, but what did bother me was the sudden change of name and voice, he no longer feels like the same Red we knew.
- Yuffie I like her, I think she's the younger sister of the group. She has that more childish personality. But her possible romance with Cloud doesn't fit at all. They seem more like siblings than anything else and sometimes it can be irritating.
- Caith Sith Needless to say. A character that is remembered more for his appearance than anything else. Narratively he's bad, fake, and in combat he's the worst of the group, by far.
About Sephiroth, he's a good villain, but I didn't find him scary or intimidating. He comes out at the beginning and end, and even though the game is about looking for him, he only has a few cinematics, and then the final fight. I feel it was completely wasted.
Now, Zack I still don't understand what his role is. He has playable sections that completely cut the rhythm of the game, and he's only relevant at the end. He has interesting dialogue, yes, but every time it was my turn to use him, I got lazy.
And to close, the three Shinra guys and their boss. I don't know how many times we faced them, but it was exhausting. On top of that, they never even ruffle their feathers. You throw spells, attacks, summons at them, and then they come out in cinematics as if nothing happened to them, not even a dirty suit. I understand it's fantasy, but these Shinra soldiers look like gods.
Overall, the characters are well developed, with dialogue that has emotion and personality. Each has his or her moment to shine. The script is thoughtful, balancing drama, humor and introspection, but there are several points for improvement where choices matter almost nothing. I had all my companions with the little blue happy face, indicating good connection with them. I get to the casino in chapter 12, and I was expecting to pick Tifa for the Chicago wheel. And who did I get? Red XIII. I like him, but after more than 50 hours, the game decides that for me even though I made all my choices well? I didn't like that.
Gameplay
Combat is very similar to the previous game, but with improvements that make it feel more frantic. There are more synergies between characters, combined skills, an improved allied AI and a new skill tree that really serves to make the fights not feel so heavy. Of course, it still has absurdly long fights and the problem that common enemies can hurt you too much, not to mention the bosses.
The bosses in general didn't seem memorable to me, and some are so poorly designed that you can tell it's just to make it more difficult. The fight against Shinra's president was long, tiring, and even unfair after having to fight his accomplices beforehand. Some simple bosses, others with insta-kill type attacks that are almost impossible to dodge, even if you have a huge arena. And let's not talk about the arena challenge fights, which are horrible and frustrating.
The battle against Sephiroth is very long, divided into stages, and if for some reason you leave the game, you have to go back from stage 1. It's fine for that to happen in boss fights, but when each attempt takes you 30 minutes, it's not reasonable at all.
The controls are intuitive, responding quickly. The shortcut system works well, although the menu can be confusing at first. The learning curve is normal, especially for someone new to the series. The easy mode helps, but the hard mode is frustrating. For that mode, you have to master every subject, learn all the descriptions and weaknesses of enemies.
The big problem: its mini-games.
And now let's go to what is, for me, the biggest problem of the game: the mini-games. Some are good, others are torture. I start with the one I did like, the Queen's Blood card game. I found it addictive, entertaining and worth collecting all the cards. The problem comes at the end: in Gold Saucer in all the minigames the difficulty skyrockets ridiculously, and you end up resorting to guides, because otherwise you can spend hours trying to beat the machine. And that was the way of the rest of the minigames.
- Piano mini-game: at the beginning fine, but the difficulty spike is insane. Just to get A rank on all the songs, it took me like 1 or 2 hours, for one song.
- Catch Moogles: fun, simple.
- Dolphin mini-game and frog mini-game: nice but very short and seem to be copied from other games.
- Fort Condor: fun on easy, on hard it's a nightmare without a guide. I had to use a guide to get the 100%.
- 3D Brawler: It's entertaining until they decide to put you in a fight against Sephiroth. It's frustrating: you have to dodge 50 of his attacks and if he hits you 2 or 3 times, he kills you. Where's the logic?
- Chocobo racing: good, but on hard they border on the impossible.
- Gym exercises: if the remake ones were bad, someone at Square Enix said “let's make it worse” with the sit-up test, which requires perfect timing and quickness with the buttons. I wasted an hour on that alone.
- Coliseum Challenges: absurd even on easy.
- Chocobo glide: starts out fun and ends up being torture.
In total there are 26 mini-games that at first seem cool and end up being a test of mental endurance. If you want the 100% of the game, you're going to have to pass them on hard because of collectibles or useless items. In the end these mini-games are a hindrance, not an add-on. Anyone who has ever wanted to platinum this game will know what I mean. The good thing is that they're optional, but if they're already there then it's worth trying them out.
Oh, and lest I forget: Chadley's simulation bouts are up to 20-minute bouts per challenge. Who thought that was a good idea?
Graphics and visual design
Visually the game is impressive, with detailed modeling, spectacular effects and fluid animations. The character design is great, and helps a lot to connect with them. The group of Cloud, Aerith, Tifa, Barret, Yuffie, Red and Caith is unforgettable in terms of design.
The enemies are also well made, although the combat style means that their details are not always noticeable. The map is quite large, divided into sectors and chapters, and with a very nice artistic design, especially the beaches. Other areas look good, but did not surprise me as much. The visual style respects that of the original, but adapts it well to the modern.
Sound and music
The soundtrack is excellent, with new compositions and reinterpretations of classics by Nobuo Uematsu and company. The music fits well, although it has the same problem as the previous game: they use epic music for normal fights, which takes away its impact. It has memorable moments, like Aerith's theme, which is beautiful. There was only one place where the music bugged me: chapter 9, in a kind of jungle or jungle. The song is fine at the beginning, but after so much hearing it, it became annoying.
The sound effects are excellent: natural, combat, environmental, all well done. They improve a bit compared to the previous one, although there is no great leap. I would like more detail when interacting with objects, but that's something very personal.
The voice acting is of the highest quality, both in English and Japanese. Aerith steals the show, the actress is amazing. Tifa also improved a lot and connects more. Barret and Red are good, but with Red I'll stick with his first voice, since the second one breaks what the character had been building.
Difficulty and accessibility
The game has 4 modes: Story, Standard, Hard and Classic (turn-based). I played in normal. It's balanced, but there are fights that become absurd, where with 2 or 3 hits you're already dead. It's an accessible game in general, but it will require patience.
In terms of accessibility, it has subtitles, adjustable text size and visual options, but there are games that have made more progress in accessibility for players with physical or hearing disabilities, so it could improve there.
Additional content
The campaign can take about 45 hours if you go straight to the main part. I took a lot longer trying to get the 100%. If you go for everything, you can easily reach 100 hours, especially for the mini-games that require patience and perseverance.
Replayability I would say average. There are some minor decisions that change certain events, but they don't affect the central story. There are many secondary activities, but as I said before, some are an excess and end up tiring. There is no DLC for now, but for sure there will be one, or they will close the game with a trilogy.
Technical Aspects
The game runs at 60 FPS in performance mode and 30 FPS in graphics mode. You choose how you prefer to play. I didn't find any serious bugs, maybe some minor things, but nothing that affected the experience.
Optimization on PS5 is excellent, loading times are lightning fast even with how big and detailed the game is. Nothing to criticize here.
Value for money
Its starting price was $69.99 USD. And the truth is, it is worth what it costs. It gives you more content, duration and quality than many other games of the same price. I bought it at $50 on sale and it was totally worth it.
If you go for everything, it's perfect to pay the full price. But if you only go for the campaign and a couple of secondary ones, I would not pay more than $50.
Trophies / Achievements
- Platinum obtained: No
- Percentage of trophies obtained: 71%
- Estimated time: 100 to 120 hours.
- Platinum difficulty: 8 out of 10. It is much more difficult than the remake, not only for the amount of hours, but to get the 100% is crazy with repetitive activities, useless collectibles in mini-games with a ridiculous difficulty, reach level 70 to be able to face a secondary boss Gilgamesh, then pass the game again, but on hard and then at the end do the Chadley fights. This is the recommended and easiest way. It took me only 80 hours to beat the game and complete the 90% of the game. My respects to those who achieve it.
Conclusion
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is a work that reinvents with ambition, depth and heart. It improves on its previous game although it replaces elements with others that in the end are more quantity than quality. Despite its minigame problems, a less interesting story because it is only a small extended fragment of the original, and some other details, it is a game that is worth playing and giving, but if you go for everything it offers you can be sure that the game will go from being something fun to a mental challenge. The best things are its characters, its soundtrack, technical aspects and graphic quality.
If I consider that it lacked to even be the best of the 2024 game, where in my opinion it was a fair nomination, but it wasn't the best. If you like JRPGs with charismatic characters, this game is a must.
My final rating for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is:
4.4/5
