5/5 ★ – cordysoups's review of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

All in all this is one of the best games ever made. It just checks all of the boxes. Gameplay is a blast, characters are fun and lovable, visuals are STUNNING, music is as incredible as always... story is... good. As a follow up to REMAKE, it does a great job of continuing and expanding on the story of FF VII. The writing was never the best part, and there's a lot I would change about how much anime influence this game has, but it was a fun and thrilling ride. The twists and turns absolutely had me on the edge of my seat. I guess I just wish it was less convoluted, and the characters acted a little more naturally. That said, the date with Aerith was everything I could have asked for. Aerith and Cloud's relationship throughout this game is just so fun to watch as it unravels. Aerith being so forward and Cloud so awkward makes for the perfect dynamic. The other characters are awesome as well. Barret's back story is fun to discover (although very silly at times) and Tifa's involvement with Cloud's backstory is also super fun to watch as info is drip-fed to the palyer. The inclusion of Zach this time around is really interesting as well. The opening of the game was so cool on first playthrough. As far as visuals go I don't know what else to say besides: Holy shit. Absolutely stunning. Every vista is incredible and the scale on display (at Junon specfically) is absolutely awe inspiring. The gameplay is where this game really shines. It takes the combat of REMAKE, which I already thought was near perfect, and adds so much to it. At first when playing this game I was very much overwhelmed by the scope and the amount of new mechanics, but after some time I really could not put the controller down. The combat is very familiar, but with the addition of synergy abilites and the mechanics surrounding them, there is so much more visual flare and fun to be found than before. Each new synergy ability grants an awesome animation and a super fun interaction between 2 specific characters. Each new combination of party members was so exciting. Sweet-and-Sour Salvo is the best. At times the exploration and general open-world elements did get tiring, but mostly it was as fun as you would hope. I don't know if its because I had played the original or not, but I was rarely surprised by what I found while exploring. It was super impressive though how fleshed out every location was. Every little village was a fully-fledged town with shops and NPCs abound. By the end I was definitely getting burnt out on the scope of the game, and haven't gone back to finish up some side-quests because of this feeling of burn-out. I do plan to though. Narratively, the ending left me very much underwhelmed. The final boss was insane and a lot of fun to play though, and the moments leading up to the end (basically the entire last 2 chapters) were sooo fun and exciting. The ending itself though was too confusing and anti-climactic. Not even knowing Aerith's fate was a dissapointment. I wanted to be destroyed emotionally and instead I was told to sit and wait because they have something bigger and better planned. I want to have faith that they can pull it off, but I am cautious knowing that Final Fantasy as a series isn't normally my cup of tea with how they tell their stories. Again, fantastic game that checks almost every box. Hands down the best of the generation so far.