Board 8 > Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Review Zone

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.metacritic.com/game/final-fantasy-vii-rebirth/critic-reviews/?platform=playstation-5

The hotly anticipated sequel to my 2020 GotY is here in a week! I'm ready for 19 inches of Sephiroth to inject itself right through my chest. I'm not going to say anything about the game if you played Remake you know what they're doing with this "Remake" and how it actually plays into the FF7 lore.

We're at a 93% through a whopping 114 reviews. Pretty much everyone has been playing it this month that reviews games.

Siliconera - 10/10
Calling a title the best game of 2024 may come across as rather shortsighted when done so in February. I dont care. Im going to say it. I believe Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is the best game we are going to see in 2024, and it also gives me faith in the future of the series.

VGC - 10/10
Final Fantasy 7 is an excellent RPG with some of the best characters in the gaming canon. While some open-world content skirts the edges, and the game's main narrative is left somewhat deflated, the time spent with Aerith, Tifa, and the gang makes this a hugely enjoyable road trip you'll be playing for hundreds of hours.

Noisy Pixel - 10/10
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is an exceptional sequel that surpasses expectations in nearly every aspect. It combines compelling storytelling, innovative combat, and a wealth of engaging content to deliver an unforgettable adventure. As a bold continuation of the saga, it sets the stage for the final installment, leaving fans eagerly awaiting what comes next. Square Enix has truly outdone itself, showcasing the depth and potential of the Final Fantasy VII universe.

RPGamer - 10/10
Its been twenty-seven years since Cloud, Aerith, and Tifa first left Midgar. Since then, their world and ours has changed significantly. Its such a wonder, then, to be able to recreate that sublime experience of leaving Midgar for the first time during the opening of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. This is the game that delivers on the promise of the Final Fantasy VII remake project. Its a fascinatingly familiar yet unknown journey that is breathtaking and unforgettable.

Easy Allies - 9.5/10
As big of an impact as Remake made upon its release, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth eclipses it in nearly every way. It improves upon just about every facet of its predecessor by introducing incredible new mechanics, an unbelievable world to explore, countless charming mini-games, another out-of-this-world soundtrack, some of the most memorable characters, and a fascinating storyline that will leave you on the edge of your seat. This is truly a must-play game for anyone who loves RPGs.

RPG Fan - 9.3/10
Everything in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth comes together into an extensive package thats earnest both in its desire to be faithful in the ways that matter to the original and in being its own thing. I cant help but love it. Does everything always work? No. But it manages to modernize the way Final Fantasy VII felt all those years ago, and its beautiful. After all, if you told me I got to explore the Gold Saucer in full HD 25 years ago and the minigames are even better than the original? Well, thats all you need to know.

Digintally Downloaded - 9/10
I dont regret the 100 hours (or was it more?) that I spent in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. In fact, I loved so much about the game. I loved the expanded party of characters. Vincent's my boy and he shows up in style, Yuffie's my girl and she brings much-needed energy into the main cast. I also loved visiting iconic locations like Costa del Sol and the Gold Saucer for the first time in their remade form. Most of all, I love and adore the work that Kazushige Nojima has done with the narrative (especially the ending that, once again, challenges everything we assumed about the FFVII plot), and he further entrenches himself as arguably the most innovative and creative writer in JRPGs with Rebirth. I just really wish that Square Enix had resisted putting so much padding and pointless distractions between all that good stuff. Why undermine the things you do best like that?

IGN - 9/10
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth impressively builds off of what Remake set in motion as both a best-in-class action-RPG full of exciting challenge and depth, and as an awe-inspiring recreation of a world that has meant so much to so many for so long. After 82 hours to finish the main story and complete a decent chunk of sidequests and optional activities, there's still much to be done, making this pivotal section of the original feel absolutely massive. Minigames, sidequests, and other enticing diversions fill the spaces of its vast and sprawling regions, painting a new and more vivid picture of these familiar locations. But more than just being filled with things to do, Rebirth is often a powerful representation of Final Fantasy VII's most memorable qualities. It does fumble the execution of its ending, getting caught up in the mess of its multiple twisting timelines, but new moments and the overarching journey manage to evoke a deeper sense of reflection in spite of that. So, for as flawed as parts of how this classic has been reimagined might be, Rebirth still stands out as something both thrilling and unexpectedly impactful.

Game Informer - 8.5/10
This sequel went wide, and while that comes with benefits, like new ways to explore this beloved world and its various sights, it also comes with drawbacks. They aren't unlike anything fans of the genre have experienced before, and playing as cherished characters certainly eases the pain, but the tedium and bloat of the open-world checklist can sometimes get in the way of where Rebirth truly shines. The best of Remake exists in Rebirth, but the various open-world areas surrounding it the parts that make Rebirth unique from its predecessor sometimes miss the mark.

Gamespot - 8/10
Thankfully, what Final Fantasy Rebirth succeeds at eclipses what it fumbles. It's a superbly designed gameplay experience that instills a sense of freedom while also making exploration rewarding in a meaningful way. Refined gameplay that makes character synergy a focal point breathes new life into the slick and satisfying combat, and all the while it reinforces the underlying themes of the story. As a game that has the unenviable task of living up to one of the strongest legacies in the medium, it is a worthy second chapter. Whether Square Enix can bring it all together in the third and final part will be the subject of much discussion from here on out. Just like at Destiny's Crossroads, an unknown future beckons once again, and anything is still possible.

SHINE_GET_64 posted...

While some open-world content skirts the edges

fucking ruined, as usual

But seriously, the fact that even the 10/10 reviews are saying the open world isn't great is enough to make you grit your teeth. I'm still gonna play it, but I know it won't be as flawless as 7R1.

boooo

the more open worlds the better

Trying to tie open world or non-open world to quality has been silly for years. Open world games are capable of having tremendous linear content, and non-open world games are capable of being dull and repetitive. Look at last year, Tears of the Kingdom was extremely open yet had some of the best set pieces of all time, while FFXVI was not and had some of the most mindnumbingly boring quest and encounter design in a recent major release.

Anyway, this game sounds incredible, I am not going to read any of these reviews though because I sure some will reveal too much. I think Giant Bomb will do a special Bombcast today about the game though, Ill listen to that.

FF16 confined to the dustbin of history??

FF16 Remake will fix all of the issues in 2050

Zelda glazers just say stuff with their whole chest

pjbasis posted...

Zelda glazers just say stuff with their whole chest

Its fine to not like a game but pretending that it wasnt widely acclaimed is just silly. But it also doesnt matter because I also could have said the same about Elden Ring.

Cant wait to see what goes down in the story.

It's like the now defunct Chocobo GP game is stuck inside Rebirth.

no wonder it's scoring so high!

LightningStrikes posted...

Trying to tie open world or non-open world to quality has been silly for years.

Open world games can be great, but adding open world to a perfect non-open game ALWAYS ruins it. There exists only 1 exception in the near 20-year history of open world games, and that's Elden Ring which only just came out. And even there, you can argue that it ruined the deep replayability of Souls. Many still prefer Bloodborne and Sekiro too.

There's no need to speculate though. Someone who actually played the game and gave it a 10/10 said the open world was bad. So brace yourself, that's just how it is.

LightningStrikes posted...

Tears of the Kingdom was extremely open yet had some of the best set pieces of all time

I'll give you the wind temple (though I wouldn't say it was an all-timer), but apart from that I can't think of anything else in that game I'd call a good set piece

foolm0r0n posted...

There's no need to speculate though. Someone who actually played the game and gave it a 10/10 said the open world was bad. So brace yourself, that's just how it is.

I mean thats not what the review says, and in the same sentence they also criticise the linear narrative. I guess the whole game sucks! Also 5/5 is not the same implication as 10/10, its why mathematically translating review scores is silly.

HeroDelTiempo17 posted...

I'll give you the wind temple (though I wouldn't say it was an all-timer), but apart from that I can't think of anything else in that game I'd call a good set piece

The ending?

foolm0r0n posted...

Open world games can be great, but adding open world to a perfect non-open game ALWAYS ruins it.

zelda? gta? elder scrolls? fallout? mgs? witcher? forza? red dead? batman? bowsers fury?

LightningStrikes posted...

The ending?

Yeah ok, I again would not say it's an all-timer but it's a pretty good boss fight. I just don't think Zelda is the example here.

To your point my go-to open world games with good and prominent setpieces would be the Spider-Man and Arkham games, Bioware games, that one open-world Uncharted spinoff, God of War, maybe Saints Row. It does happen.

andylt posted...

FF16 confined to the dustbin of history??

where it belongs

HeroDelTiempo17 posted...

Yeah ok, I again would not say it's an all-timer but it's a pretty good boss fight. I just don't think Zelda is the example here.

To your point my go-to open world games with good and prominent setpieces would be the Spider-Man and Arkham games, Bioware games, that one open-world Uncharted spinoff, God of War, maybe Saints Row. It does happen.

Yeah Zelda was just chosen as an example as it came out last year and did get that praise, of course tastes will vary and other applicable games are available!

I'll take a decent open-world as one part of the game over like, an FFXV situation any day

TomNook7 posted...

zelda? gta? elder scrolls? fallout? mgs? witcher? forza? red dead? batman? bowsers fury?

Ruined
Was always open
Was always open
Was always semi-open, but also ruined
Absolutely tragically ruined
1 and 2 needed help
Ruined
Ruined
Uncontroversially ruined
Never tried it but it seems like a tight small level

You could just say 3D Mario in general

foolm0r0n posted...

Ruined
Was always open
Was always open
Was always semi-open, but also ruined
Absolutely tragically ruined
1 and 2 needed help
Ruined
Ruined
Uncontroversially ruined
Never tried it but it seems like a tight small level

hot take city up in here

and i thought i was weird for not liking ff7r

Trying to talk to foolmo about stuff he doesn't like is not a fun time

I can't wait for open world Danganronpa to blow foolmo's mind

Y'all can go ride your horse around an empty field for 45 hours, I won't stop you.

(Am I referring to Zelda, MGS, Witcher, or RDR? You decide!)

foolm0r0n posted...

(Am I referring to Zelda, MGS, Witcher, or RDR? You decide!)

Elden Ring, obviously.

Can I say that anyone who doesnt like FF16 is an idiot?

foolm0r0n posted...

Ruined
Was always open
Was always open
Was always semi-open, but also ruined
Absolutely tragically ruined
1 and 2 needed help
Ruined
Ruined
Uncontroversially ruined
Never tried it but it seems like a tight small level

Agree with literally all of these except I think MGS was still good, just different. I pretty much didn't interact with the open world though, I took the helicopter after every single mission I was allowed to without exception.

Anyways, yeah, been worried about the open world hints in trailers since the game was first shows off and it's tragic to hear it's included here. I will get over it I suppose, but man...gotta get rid of this shit. There's a reason RE4 was the best game that came out last year.

foolm0r0n posted...

Uncontroversially ruined

What good Batman games even are there that aren't open world? Unless you're counting Asylum??

Asylum is a big map but it's definitely not open world. Tight, sectioned off areas, very dense.

And definitely the best entry in that series.

What Batman games are we considering "open world" if we're arguing it was uncontroversially ruined?

Saying Batman Arkham was uncontroversally ruined by its open world shift is the fucking wildest take I've seen in a minute, City and Knight are highly acclaimed - hell, even Origins has stans - and became the blueprint for the Sony Spider-Man games.

So, nice bait I guess, you got me

I haven't played it but I've definitely heard lots of people call Asylum open world (in the same sense that people call e.g. Metroid open world) *shrug*

People used to argue it was a Metroidvania, idk about that since many kinds of action games now have adopted backtracking and power-ups into their core loop. It's about as "open world" as Metroid Prime 2 in structure.

"Open world" is just such a normal thing to see in games at this point, I'd even argue that RE4R does have at least one area (Village post-boat) that counts as open world. With that in mind, I honestly don't know how you do post-Midgar Disc 1 without being "open world" seeing as that was how it was structured even in 1997. The only clear alternative to me is forcing it into either FFX or FFXIII's structure, which I'm positive way more people would complain about - I certainly would!

Also from what I've been told, Rebirth isn't "open world" as much as "open region" and each region is fairly self-contained.

Like if you think you're just riding a chocobo over empty plains for hours, it isn't that.

To me Open World is a giant big ass open map with empty fields/streets and dull, monotonous repetitive sidequests and near unending collectibles.

An open world isn't full made of hallways and crafted, sectioned off areas, even if it's a large connected map.

If someone were to say Metroid, Dark Souls, or Asylum is open world, then we'd be coming from a completely different viewpoint in regards to what type of game we're taking issue with.

There are certainly games I can get over it with, like Elden Ring, but I still don't enjoy the open world aspect of the game. I just tolerate it to get myself to the next landmark section.

Xiahou_Shake posted...

The only clear alternative to me is forcing it into either FFX or FFXIII's structure, which I'm positive way more people would complain about - I certainly would!

Ohhhhhh I would definitely prefer this, no question.

Also the boat IS the worst part of RE4R! I've beaten that game 6 times and I always dread it.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

To me Open World is a giant big ass open map with empty fields/streets and dull, monotonous repetitive sidequests and near unending collectibles.

See to me these are just bad games, lol. And for sure, the open world approach has invited a ton of this exact kind of lazy checklist design but there's great stuff like New Vegas, Elden Ring, TotK and Death Stranding that prove it can absolutely be used in a way that fully realizes the vision of the game in a way that couldn't be done otherwise.

But I would consider BotW to be the poster child for this! I gave that game 20 hours of my time and despised every second of it. It's the game that cemented my hate for this genre.

Note that I said TotK and not BotW - I'm also super critical of that game's design but TotK saved it IMO.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

There are certainly games I can get over it with, lie Elden Ring, but I still don't enjoy the open world aspect of the game. I just tolerate it to get myself to the next landmark section.

Yeah as much as I love Elden Ring, the open world aggravates the shit out of me. So many open spaces with nothing interesting in it.

Liurnia is a beautiful place, sure, but it's got one dungeon in it which isn't even that dense. You can run through the whole thing in about 10 minutes.

I don't understand why people love open worlds when it just relagates half the game to "holding forward for several minutes til you reach the fun part."

Unless the traversal itself is the main appeal of the game, like with Spider-Man, then there's no reason for such a gigantic open world.

Are we acting as if Arkham City wasnt one of the best games of its generation? Personally its my favourite of the lot but Asylum was also top tier.

But that's where the other shoe drops in my tiresome, frustratingly picky nature, because the only thing I hate almost as much as an open world is crafting!

Nothing has ever looked less appealing to me than sticking shit together yourself like in Tears.

CassandraCain posted...

Liurnia is a beautiful place, sure, but it's got one dungeon in it which isn't even that dense. You can run through the whole thing in about 10 minutes.

Baffled by this, the place is littered with caves and weird side areas. Yes it's all spread out and there's a huge empty lake (ok it's full of lobsters), but the point is obviously to have a sense of discovery which can itself be fun as long as there's something interesting to find. Elden Ring is good at that, but if you are googling "Elden Ring all dungeons map" and going straight to each one and sprinting through them of course you'll have a lousy time.

Elden Ring gets a LOT of mileage out of the fact that I'm always terrified going through it.

The only time where I really feel the open world pain is the Snow Plains.

This is the worst B8 topic in a long time. Kudos to all the usual suspects for being consistent at least.

HeroDelTiempo17 posted...

Elden Ring is good at that, but if you are googling "Elden Ring all dungeons map" and going straight to each one and sprinting through them of course you'll have a lousy time.

It's a replayability issue. The first time through the game yeah it's a great time to explore everything. But now after several hundred hours I know that most of the stuff I can find is useless to whichever build I'm running.

Again, Elden Ring is incredible and the world is beautiful. I just think it'd be better with smaller denser areas. I don't see how that's a controversial opinion.

The game has a lot more cutscenes and character interactions than Remake did. Like unless the only thing you thought was good about Remake was the linearity, I imagine you'll still like Rebirth.

From what I've been told, it treats the middle entry of the trilogy like Mass Effect 2 did. There's a huge focus on character interaction and development, sometimes perhaps at the expense of the story not moving as far along as it could have.

In other words, Rebirth is all about cast chemistry, which means it's going to be GotY.