4/5 ★ – Fokathepingvin's review of FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH.

SPOILERS FOR EVERY FF7 MEDIA EVER I was really excited for this game. I didnt like remake at first, but i liked it on my second pt, and i also really liked crisis core, og and also advent children. The part in the original where you finally get out of midgar is so fucking magical and i was so excited for rebirth since it was remaking that part. And it fucking delivered oh my god. Exploring the open world with the amazing combat and the beautiful music is a life changing experience. Every character feels so much better to play, and Nanaki and Cait Sith are really cool new characters, but im so mad that Cid and Vincent arent playable yet, but i understand that they need new stuff for part 3. Now the story. I want to start off by saying that i dont have a problem with remakes changing the story, since the original is always there if i want to experience it again, and its the same thing with ff7, the og is playable to this day on the ps5. But i feel like if we are changing the story we should be a bit more brave about it?? Like ofc not everything needs to be completely different, i think cosmo canyon is mostly the same and its one of the best parts about the game. But when it does change it is also a really good experience but i feel like they are not really taking the plunge. Like when Tifa falls into the gongaga reactor its literally just the lifestream sequence which is one of the best parts of og and using it this early just as like foreshadowing feels kinda off for me. Zack oh my god. I have to start off by saying that Zack is top 3 ff7 characters for me alongside Aerith and Yuffie. So when during the marketing it was announced that he has a major role in rebirth it made me even more excited. I felt like having him back in the shithole that is midgar somehow coping with being brought back to life would be a great contrast to the party exploring the great open worlds. I really wish that we got that instead of whataver happened here lol. Like i was so excited when the game started off with him i was like holy shit dream come true?? And then for 13 chapters we walk around with him and then he gets 2 boss fights and ta-ta thats it. The game is already long, i dont think it wouldve hurt to put like 5-10 hours of Zack content, especially with him having his own combat and combos and stuff. I was always afraid that they were gonna do something like this with him but im still really disappointed, but judging by the ending we might get more with him in part 3 but im not getting my hopes up. So the ending. I feel like everyone and their mother knows that Aerith dies. I feel like its part of the pop culture. So i wasnt expecting the game to make it seem like that we dont know that shes gonna die, hell its been foreshadowed since remake. But that draws a contradiction. Aeriths death was memorable because it was sudden, no one saw it coming, up until Sephiroths sword pierces her chest. So now that the element of surprise is out of the picture, what will FF7 rebirth do to make Aeriths death memorable? Make you do an hour long series of boss fights and introduce the multiverse lmao. In the original after she dies, there is a JENOVA boss fight where instead of regular boss music its Aeirths theme that is playing, and I always thought that was one of the best things ever. In rebirth that also happens, but for like 3 minutes, and that left me really dissapointed. Back to death and the multiverse, there is a moment that you think they had balls and changed shit and Aerith is alive but no lol shes dead like 10 seconds later because i dont even know. I also feel like because of the multiverse and shit where you meet like 3 different Aeriths (probably, I still havent really processed everything), the thing in og where there are no final words or anything from her, that also just goes down the drain. I feel like less is more really appllies to this situation, they really didnt have to do all that. And all this has me really worried for part 3. Is every important event gonna play out like this? Will the ending shot which goes back to the first shots of the game with Aeirth looking opening her eyes (which makes for one of the most beautiful endings in any game ever) also be like an hour longer? Will the final boss rish take like 5 hours? Once again, I dont mind remakes changing things, I just feel like we are not changing the right things? Another point of criticism is that the side content, while it is much better than in ff16, still isnt all that lol. With all this said Rebirth is a great game. It is a massive game, with fun gameplay, amazing characters, and an exciting story. Part 3 probably isnt fixing my issues with the storytelling, but i will still be excited for it, in about 4 years lmao. No promises to keep.