Board 8 > Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Review Zone

(+) Yeah! (+)

I would recommend another topic marked for spoilers.

Also I've been fine with all the voices up to a certain point. They completely ruined Red for me, can't even stand to use him in combat anymore, really sad.

At least Cait Sith is awesome enough!

Everything with the Seventh Infantry rocked. Best part of the game so far.

CassandraCain posted...

Also I've been fine with all the voices up to a certain point. They completely ruined Red for me, can't even stand to use him in combat anymore, really sad.

I always thought Red should have a somewhat younger voice and just be slightly more naive in general, since by his species' standard he's only like a teenager, but whatever, it's fine

It took me a bit to get used to it but now I like it. Cosmo Canyon in general was an incredible chapter. Loved every moment of it.

Finished game. Clocked in at 50 hours and 4 minutes.

Absolutely incredible experience. Ending is bonkers just like Remake's was and I expect absolutely everyone to hate it. But as someone who didn't hate Remake's ending, it was quite fun, especially the last few scenes. Now gotta wait 4 years for next part. I'll at least get to have my fun playing Red and Cait a ton until then =p

Red is a dog so it makes more sense to me for his voice to have somewhat of a growl to it. His gruff voice is perfect, his child voice is annoying.

As for the story, I've enjoyed the changes they made so far (though I haven't beaten Rebirth yet), much better than doing a 1 to 1 recreation. Demons Souls did that and it's worse off for it. Remakes need to have some fresh material for it to be worth it imo.

CassandraCain posted...

Remakes need to have some fresh material for it to be worth it imo.

And yet everyone playing Persona 3 Reload seems to enjoy it very much.

The additions to the story are mostly cool, but some stuff really drags still.

MacArrowny posted...

And yet everyone playing Persona 3 Reload seems to enjoy it very much.

The additions to the story are mostly cool, but some stuff really drags still.

As someone who hadn't played through Persona 3, I can tell you for a fact I would have had zero interest in Reload if I had already beaten the game previously, especially for a game that's story/character focused.

Why spend 90 bucks to see the exact same story with just better graphics? Might as well just watch a playthrough on youtube then?

UltimaterializerX posted...

Demons Souls didnt need story adjustments, and the lore is tied to other games. Also, BluePoint made it. Not FromSoft. You cant take an ip youre being given only to do an HD remaster and change plot stuff without permission.

They were given permission to add more content for the unused archstone. I didn't need more added to the story, just extra gameplay woulda been nice. Also it's a standalone, the lore isn't connected to any other game.

Remakes should be used to expand and freshen up the story and gameplay. That way they don't replace the original, they accompany it instead.

There's a difference between expanding on a story and...whatever the FF7 Remake series is trying to do. I think all the extra stuff that feels straight out of Kingdom Hearts plot nonsense is rough and detracts from the overall experience.

Well, I can enjoy everything all the same. I haven't seen if they stick the landing of Rebirth yet (only up to 2nd Gold Saucer), but the pace of this game is really damn good. If you don't do sidequesty bullshit, you get through areas in about 1-2 hours. The game is filled to the brim with cool character moments, and I think it actually plays around with Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith's stories in a way that makes more sense than they did in OG. That's mostly due to Cloud's mental state being way better produced and executed in this graphical style and presentation. The changes in the story also seem less complex somehow...again...so far. It's different enough to feel original, without making the original feel like it is being completely overwritten; that's pretty fucking funny, given that is exactly the type of story they are doing, in a cheeky way. OG still exists on its own, but this isn't replacing anything.

There is every chance this cocks up, but I've loved the story and pacing of Rebirth. It's a different version of FF7, and I've loved every minute of it since leaving Midgar. The World Tour was my favorite part of OG anyway. I'm glad it hasn't disappointed.

I would have loved if the Demon's Souls remake added the sixth archstone

Nevermind...the ending has me VERY confused.

Synergy Materia + Comet is incredibly productive I love it

Got 100% Junon area down

Why did they make the Fort Condor minigame worse than the one that was in Intergrade? That one was great! Not a fan of the prebuilt loadouts and weird unit balance here.

I am pretty overwhelmed by the amount of minigames.

Wow they really turned the Summon fights into FFXIV battles huh?

AoE markers and everything.

just got to the Gold Saucer

this is a really incredible video game

I'm only three attempts in, so this is reactionary and may get me rightly roasted, but

the piano game is one of the most aggravating minigames I've ever seen for a major release. The score requirements are absolute bullshit, and assuming there's gotta be at least one trophy tied to this crap makes it worse. Fuck this Stan Lee wannabe Dorian.

I was just seeing someone elsewhere say that turning up the speed on the piano game may actually make it easier, so maybe try that?

Holy shit the card game tournament on the cruise ship

Anyone ignoring Queen's Blood is missing out on top tier content

Also agreed on the piano game speed, 2 or maybe 3 is the sweet spot for me, the slow speed throws my timing way off for some reason. Also also, hope you don't have joystick drift!

I haven't started yet because I'm still finishing up BG3 (I've interrupted that far too many times already), but seeing the piano game fills me with dread because every other day my right stick has a mind of its own. My left stick also has dead zone issues but not as bad.

So I barely touched the DLC for Remake, so I don't have a lot of R Yuffie exposure.

Uhhhh.

Not a great first impression lol.

Yuffie consistently made me laugh throughout the game, she's like an energetic younger sister. Her interactions with Barret are especially endearing to me.

HeroDelTiempo17 posted...

Anyone ignoring Queen's Blood is missing out on top tier content

Yeah that's when I forced myself to learn how to play so I could be champion. After that I fell in love with Queen's Blood, too bad Fort Condor didn't get similar treatment!

Oh I absolutely hated Yuffie. I was hoping Rebirth would have made her more likeable, but nope. Still insufferable.

Yuffie is great. Not Tifa/Aerith besties great though

OK so in a sidequest, Tifa just specifically referenced the Steel Sky line Aerith gave at the end of Remake before they patched it out.

So I dunno what the hell they did that for anymore lol.

There's multiple references to the steel sky lol. I have to imagine the entirety of Rebirth was localized before whoever made the sudden editorial decision that it's very important for players to know Aerith doesn't like the open sky more than she likes the steel one.

The funniest thing about this to me is that while the steel sky line is undeniably a banger, I would not have remembered it at all if it wasn't for the change. Most people probably don't have a memory for that shit!

Oh yeah they mention it all the time, but this is the most egregious because she specifically says "I guess I know what Aerith was talking about" in reference to being comfortable under the Steel Sky.

So silly.

Uh oh, here comes the Gacha game content!

Ok finally got started on the game after finishing CC: Reunion late. So uh, my first thoughts are that they must enjoy making us suffer... Climbing stuff with the yellow paint on the ledges is both lame appearance-wise but also painfully slow. And moving around the Mako cleaning machine, what the fuck dude. It's sooo slow for no reason. Hopefully these aren't* indicative of future obnoxious activities <_<

the mako cleaning machine made me groan too

I dont think the climbing is so much of an issue though

There are definitely some poorly designed aspects in an otherwise fantastic game. Many times where it forces you to move slowly for no reason.

The open world also needed some improvement, can't tell you how many times my chocobo has bonked on a small ledge that it should easily be able to run over.

The chocobo controls actually leave a lot to be desired honestly. Except the last region variant, that one's ability is by far the best.

I hit the 20 hour mark and I feel like the plot is only now really starting. Like it's been filler until now. Yeah that's because I'm doing everything....but I mean that's what the game wants you to do.

Still, enjoying mysely plenty. When it's good it's good. When it's not good...meh!

I really think some of these devs in games like this need to ask themselves "is this thing fun?" If not....why are you putting it in the game? Pushing carts. Rounding up Moogles....this stuff isn't fun. Sometimes maybe you should just let something unlock itself without a cheeky minigame attached to it.

Right now I don't think a universe exists where this ends up better than Remake, but that's not a damning thing.

My biggest issue is a carryover from Remake: the lock-on camera. I can't believe that it's tied to a simple push of the right trigger... the same thing that most players move around constantly during exploration to adjust the camera. I probably push the right trigger more than any other input on the controller, but learning to never touch the damn thing at all during combat, lest my character's attention frantically bounces around between enemies, is awful. It's like an inexplicably bad design decision, and it's been that way for two games now. Is there an easy fix to this that I'm unaware of? I looked at the control options, and the one "fix" appears to also swap the enemy lock-on selection with the PARTY selection. WHY?

I think they think the Moogle minigame is fun

Im not sure I agree, but it was probably intended to be a good time

on the Moogle point, I think the real issue with any of this stuff is when it gets in the way of the thing you want to do

like ok, make me find the Moogles the first time as an intro to this situation, but after that when I stumble on a new mushroom I just want to access the dang shop.

put whatever additional levels of Moogle Catch you want in there as optional ways to get some more medals

I like the mini games even when they kinda suck. But I've yet to encounter one that's crazy frustrating like they could get in older games (or even as bad as the squats hard mode in Remake (which I did anyways)). So I guess I'll reevaluate after Gold Saucer.

The cart pushing "puzzles" though, those suck. I have a suspicion the vacuum cleaner one only exists because the devs wanted to do power cord physics.

I've also been ok with the filler plot but it's such a weird side effect of applying modern game design and length of content to a classic JRPG. Where typically you would get all these filler towns where you would just check out the vibe, talk to NPCs, collect loot and maybe do a little story that's self-contained to that village. It just takes you 10-15 hours to do that now. If this was being made without a blueprint, each area would have its own major storyline.

It's little things. It's not important things, not obstructive things, but it's a thousand cuts thing.

Why do I need to do the same 3 easy triangle taps at every spring? The memory game at every shrine? Lift the signpost at the benches? These aren't difficult enough to be fun, they're not stimulating, it's just a waste of 10 seconds for no reason.

Also, why does sitting at a bench to heal take longer to load than fast traveling, hell it takes longer than the first game! What's type of PS5 optimization is that?

If you're not wasting any time on sidequesting, you can get out of places in 90 minutes to 2 hours. Maybe places like Costa Del Sol take way longer due to the mechanics at play, but I never felt that inconvenienced.

Then again, after Infinite Wealth, I swore off doing side bullshit for a while. Dondoko Island was cool, but Sujimon's Discreet Four quests just ate away at me. Well, that and deciding to do nearly all the substories as soon as things got unlocked. Fucking lemonade stand...

Oh, also, fuck, there's one thing that's actually a huge problem. I fucking HAAAAAAAAAAATE Chadley and Chadleyette. It's unbearable. I would pay for $10 DLC that just shut these idiots up.

Chadley rules

Chadley rules in moderation.

Now that he's had the most dialogue of any character in the game up until this point (I am pretty sure that's actually true if you are doing all the side content), it's a big fat nooooo.

I think its super funny that Chadley is annoyed by the girl Chadley he created. You get to see him have the experience players had with him.

Chadleys fine. I dont get why they went all in on him, but he doesnt actually bother me

I'm going to be the weirdo who says it: Roche got on my nerves the more I saw him. Chadley sucks sure, but at least he hasn't had multiple boss fights over multiple games where they are trying and failing to make a recurring side boss.

I get it game. I don't need it more than once.

Chadley is certified GOATED

I sincerely love Roche. Roche should join the party in part 3 (assuming he doesnt die at some point in this game past where I am)