#ff7 rebirth review

[vex-cti]

[LONGPOST] I just finished... Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth

I wanna write down all my thoughts before I delve into more in-depth online opinions. I'm writing this on the same day as having done the last two chapters of the game, so I may have not had time to process the story completely. However, I've been playing this game for the entire month and I got a lot to say. Obvious spoilers ahead, but I'll still try to keep some things vague enough.

Okay Square Enix, you win, I'll use photo mode

Graphics in video games are like how attractive a dessert looks, it doesn't dictate how it will taste, but it makes you want to try it. Rebirth feels like one of those games that is finally showing what the PS5 is capable of, with environments extremely rich in detail, superb lightning that's both colorful and conveys the right emotion for each scene, this is the prettiest Final Fantasy has ever looked, even compared to 16 which had some optimization issues and dull lightning in some areas, specially towards endgame. No single location in Rebirth feels half-baked, what used to be single screens and flat textures in the original have been completely re-imagined to have their own identity. I will talk about more about the open environments when I talk about gameplay and exploration.

Reliving the moments: Going above and beyond

The cutscene direction for this game is absolutely phenomenal, I love that they have amped up the campiness of the original 7, while also being faithful to the serious and emotional moments. What shines even more in Remake is the excellent writing when it comes to the characters, their performances are full of charisma, and it made it clear to me why the cast of seven ended up becoming so iconic to gaming as a whole. Every scene with these characters interacting, no matter if it was the dullest of sidequests, made everything entertaining. But the best part of Rebirth, like its predecessor, it's when it brings back the iconic moments we all wanted to see. The Junon Parade, Costa del Sol, Red XIII and Cosmo Canyon, Barret and Corel, and many more of these moments have barely altered from how they happened originally, reliving these moments feels like watching a high production TV Series based on a book you loved as a kid. If you love the original FFVII but have no intentions of playing the remake due to how things change, I at least recommend you look up the scenes that do stay faithful.

Some things left me wanting

Still, Rebirth only covers up to the end of Disc 1 section of the story, and has some blatant teases from trailers and the game itself that left me wanting. The Planet's weapons are mentioned and different versions appear, but there's no Diamond or Ruby weapon superboss yet. Both Cid and Vincent make their debuts near the final chapters, but are not playable for now, which left me a little disappointed. And this lets me segway perfectly into the other best part of Rebirth...

Can I just say I love the portraits in this game? Love me some PNGs

When I first played Part 1 of the Remake saga, I felt like I had no idea of what I was doing with the combat, I found the action-hybrid system too complicated and visually cluttered I felt like I was brute forcing every fight and not really enjoying myself. I finished the game and didn't come back to it until early this year where I decided to do Hard Mode for the Platinum, and this time I had a way better time, now understanding the combat system and each fight better. It makes for a flashy, semi tactical game with very visceral and satisfying animations, powers, character building thanks to materia, the importance of positioning, blocking, switching aggro, it felt like the realization of what games like FF12 and 13 aimed to be.

So imagine my surprise when Rebirth made it even better. Fundamentals are still the same, new skills were to be expected, but my favorite new addition are synergy skills. Not only do you get special commands you can perform with your partners in the party with extremely satisfying animations, you also have synergy real time action commands which reward you for being more reactive and agressive, now adding perfect blocks and counters, now every time you play with a different team composition you're gonna feel the difference of having Barret or Red or Yuffie as your partner, as you get access to different skills.

They also help you build ATB for characters not actively controlled at any given time, which is an excellent quality of life improvement. My only nitpick is that despite the menus allowing you to have 3 different party compositions and even allowing you to set the leader for each, Cloud is mandatory. Cloud is of course good at everything, so it's not the worst thing, but it does suck that I can't play as a team of Barret, Red, and Yuffie at any time in the open world. Though you can do that at virtual combat challenges or the colliseum. This feels like an oversight.

Fortunately, this meant I was playing around different characters all the time, because they're all great, and it feels super satisfying to set the right materia for each one according to what you envision them to be and complement their abbilities. Some are obvious: give Yuffie the steal materia, give Aerith healing materia. But who gets to be the mage, the debuffer, the buffer, the tank, that's up to you. I found Red XIII + Darkside materia works extremely well thanks to his Reaper Claw abbility and his health regeneration, sort of like a bestial Dark Knight, great crowd control and support all around. Cait Sith takes some work to get used to, and requires lots of setup, but his luck based gameplay can have some serious benefits, I'm sure he will come in handy in hard mode. Yuffie plays almost identically to her DLC, and she is excellent for handling boss fights with multiple parts or different weaknesses.

Exploring will either be fun or tedious, depends on who you ask

I feel like the other primary component of the gameplay, which is the exploration and traversal, will be a bit more divisive. It takes tropes from standard open world games like towers, points of interest, fast travel, loot locations, hunts, there is nothing new or original about it. However, that doesn't mean it can't be fun. Completing areas feels like I'm playing a collect-a-thon akin to Sonic Frontiers, where while it may not be the most exciting thing in the world, it is very relaxing for me, as I take in the sights and look for ways to get to new areas and find the next rare fiend. What I enjoy about the world design is that areas are not large, but are very packed and designed in such a way where you can't get everywhere by just looking at markers on the map, sometimes you do have to look for clues on the environment to get to where you need to, meaning you're looking at where you're going more than your tracker, which is great, but you still get the benefits of one. So it's a nice compromise, not as open ended as BoTW or Elden Ring, but not as braindead as a Ubisoft game. However, completing these areas can take a while, and if you're like me and plan to do all of them, don't be surprised when each area can take you up to 10 hours if you want to do everything.

"No seriously Cloud, I'm still waiting!" -Sephiroth, 100 hours into your game file

If you remember FF16 (I love that game too btw), you might remember how universally hated the sidequests were, not so much for their stories, but for their large amount and lack of variety. It seems like Rebirth is an active effort to avoid those same mistakes. Most sidequests in this game has you doing something different, have an entertaining story or character development attached to them, or even have you doing something dumb like bringing chickens back to their sweet innocent mother, or following an Ex Shinra employee in some brutal gold saucer challenges. I won't say every sidequest is a winner, at the end of the day, they're still busywork, and never will a game make you feel good saying "Congratulations on your progress, you have unlocked even more sidequests to do!". Still, I have to commend them, they do not bombard you with them, you can do a few at a time and be good for the next area, and the rewards allow your party to access more skills.

They have some of the most fun music too

The sidequest also introduce an excuse to have you do more of the minigames and take on their harder difficulties. And BOY did they add soooo many minigames, I could not believe I was encountering a new one what feels like every hour. There's something both horrifying and admirable about the devs commitment to bring back the spirit of a ps1 classic in this way. Have you noticed that triple AAA games basicly don't do minigames anymore? Yea fishing games are still around I guess, but Rebirth is not ashamed to harken to those videogamey roots and sheer goofiness. Red football, Fort Condor (love the reinterpretation), Super Dolphin Sunshine, and so many more. Enjoy youself with these minigames, and pick your least favorites too because there will be at least one that will make you want to break your controller. Contenders for me are Glide de Chocobo for it's terrible camera, and Gears & Gambits for having an overwhelming amount of Gambits for such a simple minigame (even FF12 had you start with a small amount). Still, there is more bad than good here. What I was not expecting was a brand new card game, akin to Triple Triad in 8 and 14: Queen's Blood.

*Insert Yugioh abridged reference here*

Not only did I not expect a new card game 2 hours into the game, I did not expect it to be so good, and have me thinking about different deck builds, deck synergy, strategies, and ways to one up your opponent with some smart plays. Queen's Blood is an extremely fun time sink and nice break from all the combat and normal exploration. It can be overwhelming at first, and having so many different cards with effects each is a hassle I've seen many not even wanting to bother with, finding some of its rules to be too confusing. I will say that if you're not constantly updating your deck with better cards you won't be making much progress, but you also won't know what cards are better if you don't play enough to get what your objective is, so it's best to start getting into it the sooner you start the game. Do make sure you take note of some of the later puzzles and challenges, as they can teach you strategies to make comebacks on hard duels.Screw the survival challenges, though.

But the journey isn't quite the same, after all

Perhaps the stuff I have the least things to say about, are the new elements to the story, which are more prevalent during the beginning and ending sequences of the game. I was honestly intrigued at the start, the tension and anxiety felt in this unknown timeline Zack has walked into, and the mystery surrounding the true fate of our protagonists, as it shows you bits and pieces of more information the further you progress, I was curious to where things were going. Unfortunately, the ending provided even more questions than answers, and I still feel like it's not as emotionally impactful as perhaps it intends to be, maybe due to the lack of clear information. I understand it wants to keep itself vague with the idea of multiple timelines and universes colliding, or what Sephirot's actual plan is. But it does make things like the Whispers feel even more pointless than when they showed up in Remake, but at least their presence has been reduced, as expected. Areas where changes to the story were most effective were when they were not pointed out to be a product of a split timeline, like the conclusion to the Junon festival, or the Gongaga reactor sections.

But of course, what most people were more curious about, was how was the ending going to change, we all knew it was going to be different no matter what. And while I feel like these convoluted elements do take off some of the emotion of the original scene, there is one element which does seem to align these new events with the emotions of the original: Cloud himself. For he experiences the events of the ending differently from the rest, and it's left unclear how reliable is his perspective. Add Sephiroth's manipulation of Cloud's emotions and he becomes this genuinely creepy and ruthless shell of himself. This new problem does not completely go away by the end, as Cloud is not fully aware of it yet. But with how the new version of the ending has unfolded, it left me with these feeling of doubt and... hollowness, confusion, not sure if to be sad, or hopeful. Which I feel is exactly how Cloud feels as well, as his human nature is questioned.

Despite thinking a faithful story remake would have been more satisfying, I can't deny these new events had me thinking about the story of FInal Fantasy 7 in ways I could connect emotionally to it even more. Perhaps, what this game truly achieved for me, is remind me just how much I love this franchise, for its extremely creative worlds and creatures, to its unique stories and unforgettable characters. Rebirth is a celebration of Final Fantasy, a joy to look and play, to relive and to guess. It's got one more part to prove if these changes to the narrative were really worth it, nonetheless. And honestly, I hope they don't keep relying on vagueness as much.

But when they are not being vague, I promise you, every moment, old or new, will feel exciting.

#final fantasy vii #ff7 rebirth #ff7 rebirth review #review #iranted #now when someone asks me what i thought about the game i can just copy paste this #no but wait then they would find my blog #i did not think this throuuuuuuuugh #i wonder if babyboi will want to ever do a final fantasy marathon with me hmmm i got so much to say about all games #i should also mention the towns in this game are WONDERFUL #and the gold saucer date had me internally sobbing

[blaaaaask]

My Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth review:

Spoilers ahead, you've been warned!

So here are pros and cons of what I thought about Rebirth.

Overall I really liked it, can't wait for the next installment. I still have a few items to wrap-up with side quests, but I did beat the game with a large portion of items done in 94 hours.

Pros:

Character development is on par. Lots of 'getting to know' not only your teammates but characters they introduced from the Remake version as well. This kind of feels like an Easter Egg moment sometimes, and gives the game consistency and charm.

Gameplay during battle is smooth, consistent, and the added synergy attacks are interesting. Playing as a larger group of people with their own assets can be a little overwhelming, but fun to find your favorite playing style. Using different characters feels absolutely necessary for differing battle mechanics, and I think they did a great job in providing the opportunity to keep all characters relevant rather than 'backseating' someone. The side quests and even main storyline ensure this.

Storyline. The intense amount of speculation people have been doing has been a little blown out of proportion and I kind of like that. I mean we weren't wrong about differing timelines, the game does have that, but the way it is incorporated was done beautifully. They followed the original story very well, and moments that were changed only seemed to enhance the clarity that was occurring in those scenarios. Moments that I had thought of prior were now in different tones, giving different meanings. I enjoyed that.

Voice acting. Using new voices can be a bit of a dealbreaker for those of us who enjoyed the original VAs, but I think they did a great job in continuing with VAs that fit the tone of this 'newer' version of the FF7 world. I do still miss some of the originals, but with the storytelling in this format I think it's done very well.

Music. I really don't know what else to say other than the blends and tones and meshing of songs and the moments they're in is just. It's everything. It really makes every. Single. Scene. If you played the demo you know exactly what I mean.

Scenery. Everything is so gorgeous. Ugh. I just want to paint every little scene into a pretty landscape.

The comedic value is gold. Random characters will bring up points from Remake that will make you die of laughter. Side quests can be beyond hilarious (looking at you, Johnnys).

The intense amount of flirting and goofy moments of people hitting on Cloud is beyond amazing and very fitting. The dating scene I ended up with was with Tifa, and it played out beautifully. I am totes excited to try out the others, too.

Cons:

Too many minigames? It might just be me, but it felt like every mechanic had an unnecessary 'challenge' to it that robbed the enjoyment of the side quests. Each mini game has its own rules, mechanics, and is oftentimes poorly instructed to the point you will be redoing them in multitudes. Precision is key to every single one of them, but getting there seems too difficult at times. It's probably just me lol, but the piano keys with a PS5 controller can be incredibly difficult to get accurate notes. The march portion of the game was increasingly difficult, too, borrowing from the dance mechanics of Remake and yet somehow making it more motion-sickness-y. Granted, it was still funny, but the practice rounds they allow you do not compare to the actual hell hole that is the 3 march portion. It felt like when a teacher tells you '1+1=2' but on the math test they give you 'If Jimmy sells 83 portions of apple purple, who is the sun representing in the third movie of cryptocurrency?' Fort Condor makes a comeback from Yuffie's DLC, which is fun and kind of annoying. I am terrible at timed things so don't mind my venting here. And don't get me started on MOG HOUSE. The weird slide mechanics of trying to 'push' things around in this minigame while trying to avoid haphazard death feels a little too much like reality for me and I cannot deal, yo. The 'Run Wild' or whatever Red XIII game has a similar mechanic, which only makes it frustrating for the harder challenges they throw at you in making goals. Also, every minigame seems to incorporate an insane amount of R2/L2 button mechanics. Being left-handed feels like a bit of a disadvantage in some of these games, and it sometimes feels like the PS5 controller has too much of a 'soft push' on it that doing full trigger clicks is like a whole hand exercise. These games crippled me hahaha. I would love a Story Mode for us cripple-y old fucks that makes it so I don't have to do minigames. To add to that, Queen's Blood ended up being a relief for me after the hell that I faced in all the other minigames, but only later in the game once you get better card decks. However, I am currently stuck on Dale in Nibelheim. Yes. Dale. Don't laugh at me.

Not all characters fit the aesthetic of the original game. I'm mostly thinking of Kyrie and Regina. It's such a dumb nitpick on my part, but I kind of wish they had toned down their looks to match the game a little better that way it isn't such a 'sore thumb' kind of vibe. The moogles are also a bit terrifying to look at. Why did they give them such horrifying teeth?

And speaking of sore thumb, Chadley and MAI. I like the banter but oof what an annoying duo, hahaha. The 'fun' mechanics they're trying to implement with having these two talk to you through the PS5 controller was a bit of a fun and novel concept in the first 2 seconds, but MAI's voice is a bit too grating for me that I had to turn off that feature.

Speaking of voices, Red XIII's splits back and forth at times between his 'pretending to be sophisticated' and 'teen' voice. I prefer his sophisticated voice, and it's a pity they don't have an option to choose what you want to hear. I think I just hate the sound of children's voices, so anything that is too high pitched sounds a bit like nails on a chalkboard for me. I am guessing no one else cares about this, hahaha.

Chocobo mechanics. I like sweeping onto a chocobo smoothly without button pressing, but sometimes Cloud gets off the bird in a direction that accidentally makes it possible to get back on the bird. Also, the open world trekking is only fun in the Grasslands area, after that it is a bit of a nightmare that continuously gets worse the hillier things get. I spend a lot of time staring at the map trying to figure out where I'm supposed to go because you can't actually 'go' wherever. This is a bit unfortunate because it can make simple tasks of 'I need to go here' turn to 'I need to make 70 different turns to get there.' And the traversing for specific regions can also feel like hell, mostly in Gongaga and Cosmo Canyon.

Controller mechanics. Kind of already talked about this, but because the PS5 is supposed to be a 'new, novel console' with things like speakers in the controller, touch sensitivity, motion sensors, etc, they go at it hardcore here. Tilt mechanics, sliding things, and all that garbage is just annoying. I turn it off as soon as I can. It is especially annoying during Cait Sith's time in the Shinra Manor. Boxgate. That is all, lol. If you like silly things like this then more power to you.

I am sure I am forgetting things, but to wrap-up: the storyline is what I'm in it for, and the story was beautiful and therefore I enjoyed it even with my stupid gripes. Please remember this is just my ridiculous opinion. I am merely a purple dinosaur on the internet and should not be held as gospel.

#video games #final fantasy 7 rebirth #ff7 rebirth #ff7 rebirth spoilers #spoilers #ff7 rebirth review #my garbage opinion #I will go hide in a hole now

[momsden]

Vee's Honest Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (SPOILER-FREE)

It’s been a few days since I’ve finished Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and there is quite a bit to unpack. I’ve spent some time thinking about how I’m going to formulate all my thoughts without any spoilers, so I do feel like I should give you a gentle warning in case you want to know nothing about the game at all. However, I will steer clear of any story bits, and at most, you’ll see some in-game…

View On WordPress

#ff7 #ff7 rebirth review #ffvii #ffvii rebirth review #final fantasy #FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH #final fantasy vii rebirth review #Gaming #honest review #ivona nikolic #moms den #review #square enix

[aerithium]

FFVII: Rebirth Review!

This review does contain spoilers!

★ Score: 11/10 ★ Date Finished: March 15th, 2024 ★ Final Thoughts: This game is a beautiful remake and reimagining of my favorite portions of the original FFVII. The purists probably hate it because its not the exact remake they might have wanted but this game might be the best game I have ever played. The story in this game feels brand new, despite being fairly the same as the original. I was constantly filled with wonder and excitement to play even though I technically knew everything that would happen, a feat that is rather impressive when creating a remake. The devs blew it out of the water with the character and party interactions, making them even better than before. Each character not only feels important to Cloud but also other party members such as Red XIII and Aerith having a close friendship, Aerith and Tifa having fun with one another like teenage girls, Tifa and Yuffie acting like siblings to one another, and Barrett and Yuffie having an adorable father/daughter like bond. It makes the course of the story even more impacting and sometimes gut-wrenching as you realize that not only you as the player adore these characters, but they also adore one another. Cloud's characterization in this game is also phenomenal and his personality constantly shifting as he slow loses his identity over the course of the game was chilling to watch. I could ramble forever about the characters in this game, as I find that each one of them holds a deep place in my heart. The gameplay of this game is also phenomenal for many reasons. The open world is extremely expansive and can be rather rewarding, though occasionally overwhelming. It was hard to balance story and exploration but once I figured out the best way to do things, I found both rather enjoyable and they balanced out well. I ended with about 84 hours on the game and still have a lot of content to explore. A new mechanic is also introduced so that the player can track their bond with each party member, something that I enjoyed as I was attempting for a specific character for the dates. The side quests in this game are also really fun for the most part, I didn't love all of them but there were plenty that made me laugh, smile, and sometimes tear up. Finally for gameplay, the combat is much like remake's but it only gets better as each character unlocks new abilities and can be played in many different ways thus having the potential to make characters very strong! The music is also crazy, hearing my favorite tracks from the original game be remade was such an enjoyable experience but the new music in the game is also really nice and I am eagerly waiting for the OST to drop online. Overall this game is a gem among modern day games and the devs did a perfect job both remaking and reimagining all of the segments of the game, if it tells you anything, I cried about 16 times while playing through this game. Many of these being at the endings as the devs created such a beautiful, heart-wrenching, unique yet familiar ending to this installment of the trilogy. I found myself reaching moments that I had looked forward to seeing in the game and whispering to myself "No no no I don't want to do it" I was terrified and I loved it. There are things in this game that I could nitpick if I wanted to but it doesn't feel worth it because the overarching final impression is that it is truly perfection, while I wasn't happy with everything it was all so minute that its not worth trying to remember and mention. I'm probably bias about this game but I think I just witnessed perfection.

#final fantasy vii #final fantasy 7 #final fantasy vii rebirth #final fantasy 7 rebirth #ff7 rebirth #ffvii rebirth #rebirth spoilers #aerith gainsborough #cloud strife #tifa lockhart #yuffie kisaragi #game review #spoilers #i cried a lot

[gurn]

"60-70 hour" game includes the amount of time you spend paused straight up janking your stuff

#im always beating them in like 30 to 40. because of these game reviewers always on their damn cocks #Post inspired by me opening up ff7 rebirth and idling on the menu while i roll a joint to smoke LOL

[professional-sephiroth-scrungler]

I finally finished rebirth! Here is my unsolicited review cause i don’t want to melt my brother’s ear drums with my rambling

First off, Rebirth is a wonderful game. It’s not perfect by any means but it’s still great. The graphics are stunning, the soundtrack is absolutely amazing, and all the issues i had with story flow and confusion in the OG are basically fixed.

Story: I’ve got so much to say but thats mostly theories so i’ll keep it brief. I love where they are taking things. They’ve done a wonderful job of blending the OG story with the new stuff and the new directions its going. We arent really gonna full know whats happening until its all wrapped up but I am here for it!

Gameplay: its a good improvement on what they did for the first part. I however, have slow reflexes with the bumper and trigger buttons so they milliseconds they give you to block for immunity is not great for me. Dodging around is really fun though

Side quests/world intel: the side quests and world intel are hit or miss for me. Most of the stuff that doesn’t enhance the story, give lore, or deepen character relationships feels like a chore sometimes. Getting all the lifesprings, phenomenons, summon alters, and intel fights is repetitive and annoying sometimes but its easy to fall into the groove of if you have something playing in the background for the dull bits and running around the world to get to another story/side story beat.

Characters: Wonderful, amazing, exceptionally characterized. The nuances of the cast have been fleshed out a lot and it’s great. Even with their limited screen time, Vincent and Cid have so much substance and i am extremely excited to see where the story takes them. No, i am not ignoring one character in particular, what do you mean? None of the characters have made me seethe and mald at all and make me want to stop playing because of how annoying they are! And im definitely not afraid of the wrath my opinion of the character will bring if i say who! … Fuck it.

Yuffie: Yuffie definitely has more character than in OG and has sure been fleshed out since Intergrade… In the sense they took the happy go lucky, hyper, materia obsessed kid and multiplied it by 1000. It doesn’t help that she is also inserted into situations she 100% does not belong in. What could have been bonding moments for Aerith, Tifa, Barret, or Nanaki, what would’ve fit well in those situations, have Yuffie instead. And it seems her story is not until part 3 so why is she here so much? During tense or sad moments, she says stuff that ruins the vibe or is just irritating. Many time, she would say something during the story, and right after i would think that the moment would’ve been 10 times better if she was not inserting herself into it. Sometimes it feels like the writers are partially writing her as the main character when in the OG, she was an optional side character. Its not to say its all bad, she can have some funny moments. Except those where near when she just joins the party and the more those “silly moments” happen, the more grating they become. I hope that whenever her story arc happens in part 3 or a dlc (god i hope not a dlc the game is already $70), she has some growth and mellows back at least a bit. But who knows, maybe this is just a personal thing and she is actually a fine character. If you like her, thats fine. In the end, her character just isn’t for me and i just dont understand. These were just things that annoyed me personally and if you are fine or like how much more Yuffie there is in the remake trilogy, thats perfectly ok. Anyways

Expectations vs Reality: my only real gripe with the advertising is around Sephiroth and him being called a “protagonist” and supposedly us learning more about him in some english translations ive seen of interviews. I don’t quite understand where the protagonist thing came from. He is still very much the penultimate antagonist. But i expected to at least be able to read some in the manor about his childhood and play as him in combat a bit more. Maybe some TFS promo material got mixed up in my brain. If not, the best i can come up with from where the protagonist thing came from is that Sephiroth believes he is the protagonist, that he is doing the right thing, that he is the hero saving the planet and all other worlds through his twisted vision. And i guess through that, we have learned a lot about his motivations now and how he currently sees things. Not the backstory stuff i was hoping fore, but still really cool to see and analyze.

Over all, i would say Rebirth is an 8.5/10 for me. Some stuff dragged, was fluffed out a bit much in parts and such but over all a great game!

Actually, no. Sephiroth didn’t fast ball a materia at us in the basement. Maybe that will happen in Part 3. But that loss makes it a 0/10. RIP baseballiroth

#final fantasy 7 #ffvii #ff7 #final fantasy vii #ff7r #ffvii rebirth #ffvii rebirth review #my thoughts #final fantasy vii rebirth #mostly serious review except for the last part #please dont come for my throat yuffie fans #ff7 rebirth #final fantasy 7 rebirth #final fantasy vii remake #ffvii remake #review

[compulsiveaquatic]

so im just minding my own business watching a 2 hour video reviewing all the animated barbie movies and he’s just there staring at me the entire time

#and i know i could just full screen it #but there’s something funny about him being there #watching me watch a grown man review all the barbie movies #ff7 #ffvii #ffvii rebirth #sephiroth #final fantasy vii #final fantasy 7 #*my ramblings*

[dryderpunk]

Ff7r2 review , full spoilers, TL:Dr; it's shit

Ch1 it's fine, graphics kept glitching out (got patched), Zack is a dick who leaves red to die in a fire after red saves aerith

Ch2 so much filler "have a card deck to show it's open world" *gives you 3 opponents over the next 12 hours* get chocobo to skip boss, fail to skip boss, your cloud is shit so dies but "um um, wrong timeline, it's dead now"

Ch3 nothing much happens

Ch4: shitty bird enemies with a unblockabke 70% hp attack, that dodges aren't long enough to avoid, we save the guy we want to kill, berate the person who tried to kill him, then team up with them, making everyone think we were assasins

Ch5 card game tournament arc

Ch6 "go to beach" 1) get swimsuit, 2) to get swimsuit you must complete two mini games , 3) switch party, 4) get swimsuit, 5) you must complete two minigames. Barret isn't allowed to be topless, maybe because he's 'bara' build in a Japanese game?

Ch7 honestly can't really much,

Ch8 gold saucer, pretty accurate, topless bara white guy, solo Barret fight Vs dyne is a shambles

Ch9 best 30mins of plot in game, followed by 6 hours of the worse designed map known to man, which instantly destroys all karma gained from the 30mins. Cid has entire personality removed and replaced with "upbeat happy pilot"

Ch10 scholars are sexist & entitled, and are like "all corps are bad, let's pray for change" but change mind eventually(regarding the sexist/entitled but), which is niceish. Map is a bit ass as it has 18 different heights

Ch11 nibelheim reveal is underwhelming, Vincent reveal is PS1 accurate, floating coffin & all, which is great in super hd. We destroy cids plane, he doesn't mind and stays happy.

Ch12 they stuff a 30min minigame into the date, despite ignoring tifa/aerith as much as possible without destroying quests, and doing maximum combos & choices & party for yuffie, I get tifa. The climax of date is a super mid song & lyrics,

Ch13 so many inconstances I thought they were plot (they were not) "I'm going to wait at boat & get it repaired""will you be ok?""yes" 4mins later he's next to you in CS at dungeon. Party gets split up, so you do 10mins busywork (not puzzles, just holding down buttons in orders given to you), then it does 'several hours earlier' and switches to party 10mins ago. Then there is quick 5mins filler of "this is why everyone is depressed btw", that was done at at point that my investment in game was so low, I just wanted past

Ch14 chucking in as many OG last boss & advent children reference as can fit, while the bosses themselves are underwhelming and deal less than the ones 3 chapters ago. Aeriths voice actor appears to have given up, and gone super flat on line delivery.

80 hours of game play, 8 hours of plot, 1 hour of enjoyment.

If you are an FF player you'd buy it anyway, if not, don't

#final fantasy vii #final fantasy 7 #ff7 rebirth #ff7 spoilers #game review

[hotcomicstv]

Final Fantasy VII Game Unboxing

#youtube #final fantasy vii #unboxing #final fantasy 7 art explained #final fantasy vii artbook #ff7 rebirth #cloud strife #tiffa Lockhart #game review #pplaystation #sony playstation #pplaystation 5 #video games #character design

[unproductive-software-blog]

Contact (DS) Review

Hi, I'm Suoly, and I review "Hardcore" video games for people with limited time and money.

TLDRFAQS:

Should I play this game?

No. It's a 3/10 game that manages to feel extremely time-wasting despite actually being pretty short.

Now stick around if you want to learn what I love about it. I have played Contact so that you don't have to.

Contact is a semi-turn-based fully-touch-controlled action-RPG from Grasshopper Manufacture, developers of Killer7, No More Heroes, and my personal favorite game series, The Silver Case. While most of Grasshopper's other games are known for being extreme and violent, Contact is a reletively quiet game very clearly intended for children. That said, it still feels like a Grasshopper game in a few important ways. Most-notably is the fact that you start nearly every session in the main character's bedroom, having just woken up. I love how their games go the extra distance to put you in the main character's shoes. This is also enforced by the games very colloquial and real-sounding dialogue.

Contact is also the most Earthbound-like game I have ever played outside of the Mother series itself. While nearly every modern 2D RPG not set in a generic high-fantasy world seems to get the "Earthbound-Inspired" label applied to it, Contact actually carries forward a lot of the more specific elements of Earthbound that it's contemporaries tend to abandon in favor of delivering on their own unique aesthetics. Contact is a humorous RPG, yes, but it's humor comes not from sheer absurdity, but from the distinctly Earthboundian combination of realism and game logic.

Take the game's fourth level (oh yeah, it's a level-based RPG like SMTV) for example. It's a desert area. It takes two in-game days of travel by boat to get there, during which time you... don't really do anything but sleep and wait. Before stepping off the ship, you're told that it's extremely hot out and that this island is a big tourist destination. You then make your way through the white-hot dunes, listening to this music that conveys a sense of the natural danger and beauty of the area. Eventually you reach town and find out that while this island may seem like a paradise to the tourists, the people who actually work here are struggling to survive, and live in near-constant fear of the corporate overlords who practically own the place. It's all the more powerful for being missable, as RPG sociology tends to be.

Then you go into a pyramid and find hieroglyphics that look inexplicably like the game's UI, and fight aliens in an alternate dimension inside the pyramid's tip.

Your reward is a power cell that might just help you get back to your home planet. You're not here to save this messed up world, you're just a kidnapped child trying to get home.

I just love it. That's what I mean by Earthboundian: you're a kid on a wacky cartoon adventure in a world full of adult problems outside your control.

Also, you can fix a girl's car and she'll take off her clothes. If you put them on, you unlock fire magic. Somehow this is required to solve the mystery of the UI hieroglyphs.

So yeah, it's obtuse, but in the charming (if utterly outdated) way classic adventure games were. Unfortunately, Contact is not an adventure game. It's the RPG with the worst RPG combat I've ever experienced post-NES.

The combat system is similar to .hack's, yet with even fewer options and only one party member. There's nothing to do but blow your skills right away, or save them up since they take forever to charge (like 1 every 3 normal battles). Other than that you're watching your character auto-attack the enemy and using a healing item outside turn order when his hp is low. Sometimes you can dodge an atack by running away quickly, but only when it's made really obvious that you're expected to. There's no skill to it.

Much like in a From Soft game, most battles can be completely avoided by simply running past them, and you don't really need to grind them to beat the bosses anyway, but playing that way makes time spent in dungeons feel even more time-wasting, like you're just fast-forwarding through the ads to get to the cutscene at the end.

In a world full of 10/10 games, there's just no reason to put up with poor gameplay for somewhat interesting writing anymore. There are so many games that nail it in both areas.

On the flipside, FF7 Rebirth takes it's time to a much greater extent, but manages to fill its world with so many unique encounters and thematic setpieces that what would feel like open-world-box-checking in other games, but end up feeling like THE REAL GAME. I much prefer this approach, a game which uses all its systems to the fullest and creates a great flow of storytelling through play, rather than a game with good dialogue and aesthetics that lets you mostly circumvent its boring gameplay. RPGs can be fun!

#contact ds #contact #grasshopper manufacture #atlus #game review #ffvii rebirth #ff7 rebirth #nintendo ds #SoundCloud

[gamescreeddotcom]

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Review | PlayStation 5

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth's characters, combat and captivating story made it the best Final Fantasy game ever.

#ff7 rebirth #ps5 #review #gameplay #screenshots

[ponett]

Is the TKP revival and accompanying video essay still in the cards for this year?

They are. They're just not my focus right now, because they'll be a huge undertaking. I'm probably going to have to reread not only the entire TKP archive but also all of Ken's actual Sonic comics as a refresher before I can make any real progress on the video or resume regular updates. It's been anywhere between five and ten years since I last read any of Ken's Sonic comics, and I don't want to just recycle things I said on the blog in my 20s in the video. There are things I missed, and things I would articulate differently at age 30 than I did at age 20. All this will take some time. But, I mean, the year's not even halfway over

In the meantime, I'm working on a long piece about both the original FF7 and Rebirth, which is taking longer than I'd hoped because I'm making very slow progress with Rebirth. And for TKP, I know I'll have to write something about the Knuckles show this week, and after that I still have a half-finished review of Sonic Dream Team, and I might post something about the Fang miniseries as well

#anon #ask

[phantomyre]

FF7 Rebirth - Critics Review Summary and what to expect with Cid and Vincent

FYI: This screenshot is taken from a Spanish critic site, so I apologize for the weird translation. The embargo for FF7 Rebirth has lifted, and the metacritic is out: 93. I browsed through the reviews and have condensed a summary based on what the critics have provided. There aren't any spoilers, but for those who want to go in completely blind, you may want to avoid reading. This summary goes into what we can expect out of Vincent and Cid in a general sense. The purpose of this is to temper certain expectations. Note that some of this may not be a surprise, but for some it might be. As it is, some people are still just finding out Vincent and Cid are not playable. Proceed at your own risk.

Example taken from French GameBlog:

Example from ShackNews:

Based on the reviews I've see thus far, the general consensus is that even though Cid and Vincent join Cloud and Co to complete the entire party (and as we know are not playable), screentime for both characters are minimal. Case of Cid I'm very sorry Cid-fans, but it looks like Cid has been reduced to a chauffeur/pilot and barely does much with the main party. This had previously been a speculation based on interviews. However, based on what I've seen in the critic reviews, this has been confirmed to be the case.

In terms of Cid's personality, there was a lot of talk about Cid being 'too nice'. And based on the reviews, this also seems to hold true for the duration of Rebirth, albeit we don't know the reason. Cid is stated to be very upbeat in Rebirth, unlike the cranky foul-mouthed guy we know from OG. But I wouldn't despair on this just yet... Cid Speculation While it is unfortunate we don't see the usual Cid, consider the fact that we've heard nothing about Rocket Town, Shera, or if we'll even get Cid's story on how Shinra has treated him. It stands to reason that this view of Cid could be meant to shed light on why he becomes harsh and abusive to Shera (part 3). We may better side with Shera and why she is willing to take the abuse, knowing what he used to be and what he (presumably) becomes in part 3.

Case of Vincent There were a fair amount of positive comments on Vincent's reveal and his characterization, particularly his voice and moodiness which is a comparatively stark contrast to Cid's personality. So good news is, Vincent is as broody as ever. However, just like Cid, Vincent has little time to shine and keeps himself in the shadows, both visually and verbally. Vincent has some side quests that still give his personality time to show, but it would be prudent to not expect much screen time from Vincent in Rebirth. In spite of his lack of presence, however, consider that this still falls in line with how he is in OG. Vincent Speculation "Don't expect anything else from me except fighting beside you." If any of you recall, Vincent in OG made it very clear that he was going to do as little as possible when it came to getting close with the group. It isn't until after Aerith's death and defeating Hojo that Vincent finally comes out of his shell. Even then, by the time Meteor falls, he actively avoids getting close to the group (noted in On the Way to a Smile and Dirge of Cerberus). I think Rebirth is going to establish the vivid contrast between Cid and Vincent, and will then delve heavily into their characters in part 3. While it is upsetting we get so little screentime with Cid and Vincent on top of them being non-playable, consider where we are in the story. Critics have also confirmed that Cid and Vincent arrive fairly late into the game, so on top of story reasons, it makes practical reasons, as well. Given how ambitious Rebirth is, it only stands to reason that part 3 will have a ton more pressure to surpass Rebirth's expectations, and that includes delving deeper into Cid and Vincent via their personalities, gameplay, and backstory. Fans will rightly expect Square Enix to make up for the lack of Cid and Vincent's time in the spotlight. And I'm sure SE knows this.

Other Speculations Given the many hints about Dirge of Cerberus becoming more important to the story, and how strongly they are leaning into Vincent's Chaos, many fans are beginning to speculate that part 3 will draw a lot of elements from DoC, and rightfully so. We know we won't get any Deepground in Rebirth. So likely we will see them in part 3 to wrap up the whole story--- which if you know DoC's story, you know why Vincent will be very important to the ending. And then of course there's the issue with the secret ending aka Genesis, who we also know is connected to Vincent aka Weiss. On top of OG's latter end story and including compilation elements, I think we can safely assume we will get our Vincent/Cid appetites whet in part 3. Yes, it's unfortunate we have to wait another 3-4 years. But I'm thankful we do get some time with both Vincent and Cid in Rebirth, regardless.

#final fantasy 7 #ff7 #ff7 rebirth #final fantasy 7 rebirth #ffvii rebirth spoilers #vincent valentine #cid highwind

[frogadir]

My ff7 rebirth review: it's a terrible ff7 remake but an AMAZING ff8 remake

[6ad6ro]

ok. i finally finished final fantasy vii rebirth. and i wanna talk about it. i guess you could call this my "review". this post will be vague and spoiler-free unless you click on the "read more".

i do love this game, but it's an absolute mixed bag: story: 10/10 combat mechanics: 9/10 music: 9/10 art direction: 10/10 voice acting (jp): 10/10 open world (non-quest stuff): 4/10 sidequests: 6/10 minigames: 3/10 pacing: 1/10 does this game have flaws? yes. is it as good as the og ff7? no. but is it worth playing? absolutely. i almost feel like this game needs a "cheat sheet" in order to know what parts to play and what parts to avoid. but the good parts (mostly the linear main story stuff) is SO gd good that it's still a must-play game. ok but now i'm gonna go into details (and spoilers) under the rm cut.

so i'll go over some of my scores. firstly, the story is the main reason to play this. they def fuck around a lot, maybe they bait and switch a bit too often, but in the end it makes for a very compelling (or at least interesting) narrative. at first, i was REALLY worried that this game was gonna turn into just some "fan pandering nightmare". and it felt like it was "ff7 without it's claws". esp when everybody was dancing like pop stars and aerith and tifa kept high fiving. but... it def got into that good ff7 trauma we know and love later on. and respect to them for following through with killing aerith. yes, they did what i sorta expected. they teased tifa dying instead, teased aerith NOT dying, and then killed aerith anyway. they EASILY could have left her alive, but they didn't. they kept in the loss angle, which imo is what makes ff7 "ff7". i kinda LOVE that now you have a batshit cloud "seeing" aerith's ghost like it's star wars. and everyone else seems almost... afraid of him. and rightfully so. also i LOVED the zack stuff, even though it was absolutely confusing. i like that they're hinting at zack somehow breaking through his reality into the rm universe. i also like the tease that... idk... will there be another "party" involving zack, kyrie, biggs (if he's still alive or not)? regardless, a great story!

the combat feels mostly improved over rm. the gameplay is fantastic with very few flaws. difficulty is way more balanced than rm, with easy feeling a bit harder and normal feeling less unfair. the only times i felt frustrated by the gameplay was when they laid the "stone" status effect on too thick in parts bc it felt cheap. is it as good as the og combat? no. it still def has the unfun "you desperately need to heal but don't have a charge and the enemy is immune to everything so you just die" thing. but credit where its due, the "free item a few times per battle" materia fixes a lotta those issues.

the music is incredible. the remakes of old songs generally kick ass. some of the new music was pretty good, too. though it gets a point off because a lot of the open world stuff music felt... generic? this is just a situation where the og game's music is TOO GOOD, so the new music will always be fighting this sort of uphill battle.

the art was perfect. just the shading alone... like jesus this game is absolutely beautiful. i took so many goddamn screenshots in game, and they'd often end up looking like key renders, even tho it'd just be a random ss i could take at any angle. this game went above and beyond all expectations.

the voice acting... there was SO MUCH and it was all SO GOOD. tho i did switch to jp voices. bc... in this sorta storytelling, eng just sounds like "drama club"? idk there's a reason the language of origin cast is usually better and that's just how it is. it was perfect.

ok now we're gonna get into some of my issues, starting with the open world. it's not ENTIRELY awful? some was genuinely fun and exciting. but the majority was busywork. like it's so weird when the mainline stuff was so good that this would feel like a shitty ubisoft game. and chadley... fuck that dude. worst character in the series. but for SOME gd reason he ends up talking to you nonstop! i hit the point where i'd wince any time i heard his "radio" turn on. he took an already mediocre open world and made it way worse. fuckin chudly.

the sidequests that weren't just repeated busywork were usually neat. tho some were bad, and others withstood their welcome. the cutscenes/dialogue were usually fun or genuinely great, but they too often came at the cost of wasting your time. they often had shit rewards. and they often incorporated the shittiest "minigames" ever (i'll go into this more in a minute). example: you gotta find ingredients for a character who is learning to cook. but it isn't just going out to find them in the world. no no no. you gotta follow a dog (ftr i love the song) as they slowly meander through a jungle, running into every mob they see. and when you finally get to where the "salt" is, there's a dumb scavenger hunt minigame where you need to find only the 5(?) salt piles that look like the photo. THEN you gotta get on your chocobo and look for mushrooms in a confusing, puzzle-like terrain. which also involves a smelling/follow the direction minigame, which always leads you into mobs. and once you get to each mushroom? there's this STUPID picking minigame. after all that, what reward do you get? an accessory that functions like maybe the worst materia in the game, but also takes up the accessory slot, making it even more unusable. FUCK this game sometimes, lol.

speakin of "fuck this game", the minigames. the 200 minigames (exaggeration, but it really feels like that many). some are genuinely incredible, like the piano minigame? which might be one of my favorite minigames of all time, it's legit THAT good. or "red xiii rocket league". but for every good minigame, there was a mediocre one. and then a terrible one. or one that gets WAY too hard in higher difficulties, like the mog game which starts fun but ends up dogshit and unplayable a few levels in. even tho the good and passable minigames are the majority, the bad minigames? they're maybe some of the worst minigames i've ever played in my goddamn life. like, by design, they're almost anti-fun. i genuinely believe some of the people in charge of the bad minigames should be blackballed from the industry. it's bewildering.

and finally that brings us to the pacing. if you play the game the way they seemingly expect you to play, getting to each new area and sidequesting a bit before continuing on with the story? then you'll spend five hours of mediocre/bad sidequest for each hour of good story. that's even worst if you're a "completionist" at all, you can triple or quadruple that number. we all loved remake because it "expanded the midgar section". we were all hoping they'd do the same with the og open world. the very idea of "big open world, but so much bigger" seemed incredible. but they certainly gave it to us! like they gave us exactly what we said we wanted, lol. when i first started playing rb, i was mostly completing each area. by the second or third area, i was more than 50 hours in. "burnout" is a gross understatement. all the mediocre sidequests combined with the sometimes unplayable minigames ALSO COMBINED with fuckin chudly? and i actually started to hate this game. it made me miserable. i'd get to a new area and just roll my eyes. i'd see a new minigame tutorial pop up and i'd mash "cancel". but wouldn't you know it, once i started skipping most minigames/sidequests? i started havin a ton of fun. turns out this pacing issue can be mitigated a lot. straight up you can ignore most of the open world, and i would actually strongly recommend it. if you DO wanna sidequest a bit between story, i'd say put on a podcast, set the difficulty to easy, and turn the voices down (bc chudly). and don't do everything. oh no. just do enough to unlock the chocobo, to buy the best materia chudly has from that area, and maybe get the summoning. even THAT is probably too much. bc near the end of the game, you get the opportunity to go back and finish a bunch of the stuff you missed the first time. and i actually enjoyed a lotta that stuff then! it was almost like a period of rest and relaxation before the end story stuff.

there are ways, intentional or not, to make this game feel even BETTER than remake. when you skip most of the side stuff, it's paced incredibly well. so it's hard to say it's a bad game. it's actually a really GOOD game with "too much side content". if you treat the open world stuff as just like, a living, detailed world you glance at as you zoom by? it's actually really cool that it's there. i have a couple more pros/cons that i wanna mention, but i don't know where else to put em. like the end fights. thematically, i adored em. in execution, it went on for way way WAY too long. it was like a 15 (yes FIFTEEN) phase fight. on normal, i swear it felt like it took close to two hours, full of unskippable cutscenes and only like one checkpoint. it also takes away al of your team composition too, consistently forcing you to use characters you don't wanna use in the hardest fights in the game. first time, i got through to the very last sliver of final sephiroth's health, only for him to cast some dogshit unblockable "everyone is at 1hp" move at the end. it was ok bc "i'd prepared for this". so i instantly had one character use a gigapotion on the other, who i switched to so they could dodge just to be extra safe. the potion... missed? how? and then before i had a chance to use another, he killed the remaining character. bad game. shit game. but whatever, i hit retry. and i couldn't believe it. it sent me back 7 phases. i was livid. it had sucked the air outta the room. so i said fuck it and restarted the whole fight from the start on easy, because i can't tolerate that kind of scumbag game design that wastes a player's time. and wouldn't you know it, turns out i'd been at the very end of the fight when i died. if the potion had gone off like it shoulda, i would have won, no question. ironically even on easy, that trash situation happened again, but the potion actually went off this time, that was the only difference. but yeah. fuck that fight. it was cooler thematically than the final fight in rm, but it was three times as long, and three times more unfair. fuck whoever designed this fight, they too should be blackballed from the industry, lol.

the last thing i wanna talk about is queens blood. bc my feelings on it are sorta all over. so it starts out kinda boring, like as basic as ff8 triple triad, but wayyy less fun. and you're very limited in who you can play and what cards you can add to your deck. the ai seemingly "cheats", but it's so "linear" that you can win anyhow. and they musta known they'd lose most players, so they legit give you the ability to "flip the game board" at any point in the match and start over with zero punishment. they knew the game wasn't rly fair by design. but it's still good they had the easy retry feature, or they woulda lost me too. the qb experience sorta continues this way until you get to the latter junon area, where suddenly you run into... idk what to call it. intense difficulty spikes? like this dickwad who's playin a rockabilly guitar. FUCK that dude's deck and FUCK his ai. almost single-handedly got me to drop qb altogether. i was absolutely done, had decided qb was just a poorly designed game. thankfully, right after junon they have this big tournament on the boat to costa del sol and it's really fun. you suddenly are getting cards that have actual strategy. and suddenly qb opens up. there was a slight misstep after the boat where they make you play these stupid "puzzle" versions of qb, but you can look up guides and, even if they aren't fun, they help teach you about the game. anyways, i cautiously started playin more matches in later areas (skippin fights that seemed too lame), and before i knew it, i'd kinda fallen in love w the game. it also helped that they started incorporating this fun n bizarre story, too. so idk. i'd say play qb the same way you play the side content, skip a lot of it until you get to the end game? and then go back with cards you bought or won and finish the ones u missed. it's so weird that so much of this game works this way. and i could see someone arguing that "it's just a bad game". because when most games hand you content, even side content, most players expect they should at least give the content a fair shot. it really is kinda poorly executed. but! there are so any ways to mitigate the bad and focus on the good. knowing what i know now, i like this game even more than remake (which i really REALLY love). rebirth was fuckin great. and thank fuck i didn't get spoiled, tho i never wanna hafta try n rush through a 100+ hour open world ever again. i'm really excited for part three, just hopin i can remember to skip over a lotta the optional stuff. also hoping i won't have to buy a fuckin ps6 or whatever just to play it.

#final fantasy vii rebirth #spoiler #spoilers #final fantasy vii spoilers #final fantasy vii rebirth spoilers #long #i had a lot to say

[flourish-of-steel]

An update.

I hope to get back into ff madness when xvi is out, but not sure if I'll play it. Gonna wait for reviews first. And then! FF7! Rebirth! 👻

Also I stopped xiv completely for a few months again, I just wanted my real life back you know.

#mmo games are dangerous #i'm glad i'm able to just decide one day to not play anymore and then never come back #although i don't know if i'll stop completely since the story was getting better and i did like the characters