Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Remake pt.2)

All ye folks miles ahead of me while running around like a hyper child still in the grasslands :D

I may have to up my playtime beyond the 3 hours a week I seem to be getting these days

May be slow but my brother and I have been chatting and while he's flying ahead of me, he couldn't beat titan at full might. Which I couldn't either until last night, but I cracked it! The battle system really is a lot of fun in this game, finally getting my head around the synergy things.

Grasslands intel done, on to the swamp!

Edge gave this a 9, the highest scoring FF since FFXII

They gave remake a 7, XVI also. X got a 6. I think these are all fair scores (X is a bit harsh, but I must admit I felt similar about it on release), I'm still doing post-game stuff and learning new materia and party compositions and strategies, and enemy interactions (I never carried binding materia in 97 FFVII, but I have to have it with me in this).

Between the combat and the huge sense of auxillary scope in its surprisingly in depth minigames (gears and gambits does something really surprising, I won't spoil it) it is very close to being the best Final Fantasy imo. Only thing holding it back imo, is it's got sort of a nothing story, and of course that ending. But if that's what it takes to get a good Final Fantasy again, I'll take the **** ending, thank you very much, because it's been so long since FF felt this complete. Tthe last one that felt this in depth with gameplay mechanics was XII, but that didn't have any of this game's side activities, just hunts

Ok so i've played this a good bit and gave it some time to reflect on this VS the original.

In some aspects the storytelling is great, fleshes out nearly all of the characters (including the dreaded Cait Sith), it actually feels like you're chasing the ghost of Sephiroth across the planet. Side quests for the most part interesting, apart from that Chicken one in Gongaga which ill never speak of again.

My biggest gripe is the whole Assassins creed/ Far Cry version of the open world. Go to this tower, unlock it. Go do the things it unlocks. I felt that it detracted from the game and made it more of a chore to progress the story as leaving without doing them would make you severely underlevelled. I hated the Whispers in Remake, thought they were bringing the game down a very bad path, but my opinion of them seems to have balanced out in Rebirth, but ill reserve judgement.

Yeah, I empathise with some of the frustration in the comments here. I'm generally enjoying the game but I'm not sure I'd be persevering here if it weren't part of the FF7 remake. Unfortunately I don't think the padding has improved all that much from the first instalment. I'm 52 hours in to my playthrough (fifty fcking two!) and I'm only at Cosmo Canyon, and that's after starting from Kalm!

Like others I'm at the point of tiring and giving up the side content (towers, enemy intel, divine intel, protorelic missions etc) and just ploughing on with the main story. My fear is that I might not be able to do this because I've been doing all the side content up to this point and am only 1 level above the recommended level for the main story mission.

The pros and cons here mirror the first instalment pretty closely for me. The visuals, the music, etc are all exceptional. I still have my gripes with the combat system but for me the pacing and the padding is just too much. We have the 97' original being stretched out into three games, and each of those three instalments are being stretched out to 60 hours+ to justify their own existence and their price. Everything is elongated, every little inconsequential mini boss from the original is stretched out to this bullet sponge 10 minute + battle.

One example that really stuck out to me this time is the Midgar Zolom (they call him something else this time around). Will spoiler just in case.

Sorry for the rant here so I'll wrap up 😝.

I'm seeing other comments about people not liking the ending which i haven't made it to so I can't comment. One thing I will say is that probably my favourite aspect of these remakes is the changes they make to the story and how they are playing around with timelines. It would have been very easy for them to do the normal remake thing of just making the game again in a shiny new engine and calling it a day like every other lazy remake. I like that they're taking risks here and changing it, even if it ends up not paying off I respect it.

Cosmo Canyon Theme...for me, that would've been enough to redeem it even if it was a heap of sh*te of a game.

It'll never reach the heights of what the original was for me, but I've greatly preferred it to Remake, even if the mini games were a bit OTT

Finished the game last night and have some thoughts on the ending.

Been playing this since last night, about 5 hours or so. I'm absolutely in love with it. Have spent the bulk of my time wandering around in chapter 2 collecting plants and opening up the map. For a game that is as expansive as this, the visuals are truly breathtaking and feel properly next gen. Queens Blood seems to be fairly straightforward and fun, the transmutor is a neat little feature and some of the combat combo pieces are cool.

Early doors of course but it's on track to be my favourite FF of all time (currently that spot is held by 12 / 10, depending on the day)

Yeah the sound track is class in general but that one was a highlight alright.

Generally love the soundtrack too, however there's a few tracks that are a bit meh, the Junon region and the Mt. Corel trail music just had that "new" FF feel to it, I can't describe it but just feels off imho. Rest of the tracks are great, especially when they mix/weave two tracks together subtly like in Mt. Nibel.