I played Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth on release. I paid it slowly. I played it methodically. I enjoyed every moment of it. The open world environments, which gradually blossomed into larger and larger areas to explore kept me captivated, and in order to ensure I didn't "fail" any of the story progression bits, I ensured that I did every single thing possible before daring to embark on the storied path.
Why?
Because I didn't want this re-imagining of a beloved game to be disrupted by game over screens, or have to fight twenty-eight different metamorphoses of bosses, as is the typical style of Final Fantasy.
I wanted to play, one and done; and enjoy the heck out of the world, the characters, the music, the visuals, and the emotional threats that such a game was certain to contain.
People who have played the original would know what is going to happen in this game. I'm one of those people, and all I can say is that the presentation of certain sequences were very specifically designed to tug on every last fibre of your heart strings in an attempt to maximise any possible emotional response.
For me however, it wasn't the moment that took me to some measure of tears; it was the moments that led to the event that did. Rebirth plays with your mind as a form of media. You know what is loosely going to happen. You know that there's going to be tragedy. You'd like to prevent that tragedy, but a sense of determinism and knowing that the story is the story leads you forward to that horrible tragedy with reverence and emotion.
I'm not sure what else I can say without spoiling, but I'm not going to say anything else about that. People who know, know. Those that don't; should play the original Final Fantasy 7 game, and if you enjoy it; then play Remake and Rebirth. Just be prepared for several hundred hours of solid entertainment in the interim.
Rebirth very obviously picks off where Remake left us, on the outskirts of a city, with a world sprawling at our feet, and a mission to complete: save the planet from the protagonist's enemy, the evil SHINRA power electric company and its various, villainous employees.
There's also a spectre from Cloud's past, Sephiroth, a powerful, quite mad soldier, who has an agenda of his own for the planet. None of it is good, and it sets the stage for an enormous amount of story, adventure, and exploration.
Apart from the battles, side quests, excellent mini game, Queen's Gambit (which could be in its own right a digital TCG without the Final Fantasy branding attached to it) - (and... all the other mini games) - Rebirth is a complete package. There's incredible graphics, awesome animations, and a wonderful soundtrack which is nostalgic and refreshing, but to me, didn't hit on the same level of the original Remake.
Still, as a game for a fan of the original games, Rebirth is almost perfect, but having aged considerably since the original release sees me firmly want to lay a few certain criticisms:
- I don't have time for filler
- I don't want to fight the same boss more than once in the same place
- If I'm kicking someone's ass, don't stop me for a cut scene only to make them stronger
- Don't tell me how to live my life (ie, you can only walk slowly here, crawl there, etc)
Some of these criticisms are limitations of the game engine - where you're forced to a crawl, or a tip-toe, to conceal what would otherwise be a stutter loading mess, instead of a flowing, all-encompassing, uninterrupted adventure.
Others are gameplay decisions that I don't agree with, and add to the theatrics of the game, but when this related to characters that were not present in the original title, I'm simply not interested, they're filler that don't get me through to the catharsis of reliving something I saw before with new flesh and new colour.
Overall, I'm happy that I got the game, and that I sunk a few (real world) days into it, over the course of a month, but for this particular part of the remake, at least now, I do not feel compelled to replay it.
In fact, when I completed the game, I felt a considerable pang of relief, enjoying the fact that it was over. Enjoying the fact that I had reached a cathartic moment, and that I would be "going again" in the future when the third part of the Remake is released.
Ultimately, Sony sold a PS4 Pro, and a PlayStation 5 to me, on the promise of this game - as there's not much else I've played on either platform, but perhaps I will change that in the future.