Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Full Review (spoilers)

[Worgen]

View attachment 14400

I mean....we were there for the OG so obviously.

I didn't really like the original game, but really liked the remakes. In the original I did the chocobo breeding and got 13 kings or whatever, used it once and pretty much stopped playing.

 

[CriticalGaming]

I didn't really like the original game, but really liked the remakes. In the original I did the chocobo breeding and got 13 kings or whatever, used it once and pretty much stopped playing.

I have a buddy who plays RPG's 99% of the way and then never finishes them. That you too?

 

[bluegate]

View attachment 14400

I mean....we were there for the OG so obviously.

It might be indicative of a trend where young people spend more time watching short form videos or playing meme slop games.

Not being able to "refresh" your audience will be a future problem for the games industry.

 

[Worgen]

I have a buddy who plays RPG's 99% of the way and then never finishes them. That you too?

Sometimes. I'll tend to get to the end then burn myself out trying to do all side quests, and stop playing right at the final dungeon. Might give the final boss a few tries but if I find I have to grind more levels then its not hard for me to get distracted by something else.

 

[CriticalGaming]

It might be indicative of a trend where young people spend more time watching short form videos or playing meme slop games.

Not being able to "refresh" your audience will be a future problem for the games industry.

I saw a quote from Yoshi P of FF14 and 16 fame, that modern development cycles are so long that kids aren't forming attachments to games anymore. And he has a point. Final Fantasy 6,7,8,9 all came out in over like 6 years. But now you're lucky to get 1 game in 6 years.

And considering how fast people actually grow up, you can play a game in 5th grade and not see a sequel until you're in college.

I mean fucking the FF7 Remake was announced in 2015. It's been 11 years and the final part isn't even revealed yet, let alone with any sort of release window.

GTA 5 came out on the fucking PS3, and it's going to be like 14 years before GTA 6 comes out. That is absolutely insane. There is no reason for that shit.

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

I saw a quote from Yoshi P of FF14 and 16 fame, that modern development cycles are so long that kids aren't forming attachments to games anymore. And he has a point. Final Fantasy 6,7,8,9 all came out in over like 6 years. But now you're lucky to get 1 game in 6 years.

And considering how fast people actually grow up, you can play a game in 5th grade and not see a sequel until you're in college.

I mean fucking the FF7 Remake was announced in 2015. It's been 11 years and the final part isn't even revealed yet, let alone with any sort of release window.

GTA 5 came out on the fucking PS3, and it's going to be like 14 years before GTA 6 comes out. That is absolutely insane. There is no reason for that shit.

Well, it's the old joke, isn't it?

"They made three GTA' s for the Playstation 2 and 3 Playstations for GTA V."

 

[CriticalGaming]

Well, it's the old joke, isn't it?

"They made three GTA' s for the Playstation 2 and 3 Playstations for GTA V."

Yeah but the thing about it too is that I don't think you can even blame graphics for the swollen dev time. Call of Duty games look fucking great and they only have a 3 year cycle. Say what you want about Activision, having three developers working on COD 24/7 is really smart because they can have a new game ready every fucking year. I don't know why Square doesn't do that, they certainly have the budgets for it. Just have two studios always making the next FF game and you could have a modern looking FF game every 2-3 years easily.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Say what you want about Activision, having three developers working on COD 24/7 is really smart because they can have a new game ready every fucking year. I don't know why Square doesn't do that, they certainly have the budgets for it. Just have two studios always making the next FF game and you could have a modern looking FF game every 2-3 years easily.

I don't think that more numbered Final Fantasy games in less time would ultimately result in more Final Fantasy games that I actually wanted to play. Call of Duty's release cycle is often held as a negative rather than a positive (not to mention the people during the Golden Age who would refuse to play titles by Treyarch/Infinity Ward), and Assassin's Creed is the same way. Yakuza made it work for a pretty good while, but since Nagoshi left the team they've started to show cracks too.

 

[CriticalGaming]

I don't think that more numbered Final Fantasy games in less time would ultimately result in more Final Fantasy games that I actually wanted to play. Call of Duty's release cycle is often held as a negative rather than a positive (not to mention the people during the Golden Age who would refuse to play titles by Treyarch/Infinity Ward), and Assassin's Creed is the same way. Yakuza made it work for a pretty good while, but since Nagoshi left the team they've started to show cracks too.

I mean studios can simply work with reusing their own assets which would also help. FF16 is graphically stunning so I don't see why they couldn't use all those assets to expand on and create other games which would cut out a lot of work. I feel like one of Square's biggest issues is that they seem to throw everything out once they've released whatever game, and each game starts from zero which is just a terrible way to do things clearly.

I would like more numbered FF games especially if the release was once every 4 years or so. I don't think that's a completely unreasonable cadence of releases. And it's better than 7 years between games if we're lucky.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

View attachment 14400

I mean....we were there for the OG so obviously.

I misread this as "according to data from Cincinnati" and was very confused.

 

[BrawlMan]

GTA 5 came out on the fucking PS3, and it's going to be like 14 years before GTA 6 comes out. That is absolutely insane. There is no reason for that shit.

That's what happens when you over focus on "REALISTIC GRAFIX" so much. Those diminishing returns happen at some point. Also, this is why you never announce games too early. I hate to bring Gaming Brit into this, but he had a point even before he got worse. It sucks when people wait for a game, and they get terminally ill or die at some point before the game even comes out. Due to something unforeseen happening.

Also, with the way Rockstar treats its developers and the union busting, no wonder it's taking forever. Though I am so glad I dropped the franchise after IV. There are much better games I care about or interested in playing, and most of them come out within a year or two. Due to being either smaller games, or straight up indie.

This video is nearly a decade old now, and publishers still have not learned. A few, but not many in the AAA space.

​

Well, it's the old joke, isn't it?

"They made three GTA' s for the Playstation 2 and 3 Playstations for GTA V."

​

 

[meiam]

I don't think that more numbered Final Fantasy games in less time would ultimately result in more Final Fantasy games that I actually wanted to play. Call of Duty's release cycle is often held as a negative rather than a positive (not to mention the people during the Golden Age who would refuse to play titles by Treyarch/Infinity Ward), and Assassin's Creed is the same way. Yakuza made it work for a pretty good while, but since Nagoshi left the team they've started to show cracks too.

Lets put it this way, the FF mainline game thats about halfway trough the franchise release is FF12. They made 12 game before in the time it took them to make 4 game since. There's a pretty big difference between COD schedule and FF schedule and I think they could easily afford to move the needle a little bit in the other direction.

 

[Hades]

Overall the game is significantly less railrowdy than Rebirth. In Rebirth everything from the places you went to, down to the party composition was strictly regulated by the game, and you couldn't really return to old areas.

Despite it being an open world Rebirth has less padding than Remake, or at least less obvious one since its mostly optional. Rebirth had some pretty silly instances like randomly dropping down a hole in the emotional core of the game so the plate drop aftermath could be interrupted by some lame Hojo laboratory.

Speaking of lame Hojo laboratory. I was rather disappointed that Shinra manor got skipped entirely in favor of the lame hojo laboratory underneath the mansion. Its also less interesting an arena when you have to fight Emola von Emodorf.

I've heard it said the game is an open world but I'm not really sure I agree. The world isn't really all that big. Junon especially is just a straight line from the cave to the town and then you never have to return again. I also think the world has some rather weird post apocalypse vibes. The Grasslands feel lived in with a highway and several farms, but after that every road or building you find is a ruin. I'm not sure that's fitting since we're supposed to play in a world at its technological zenith.

As for the third entree, is it me or are we fast running out of world to cover? I haven't played the original, but from what I gather the north pole and Wutai are the only regions not seen yet. Even when including the inevitable return to Midgar that's a rather small selection of regions.

 

[CriticalGaming]

I haven't played the original, but from what I gather the north pole and Wutai are the only regions not seen yet. Even when including the inevitable return to Midgar that's a rather small selection of regions.

Rocket Town Region.
Icicle Inn Region.
Mideal Region.
Magic Forest.
Various islands outskirting the world including secret areas.
Underwater region, including shipwrecks and super boss.
Plus the north Crater, and Wutai as you mentioned.
Oh and Also the real Fort Condor.

Those are all locations remaining to be including into the world.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Despite it being an open world Rebirth has less padding than Remake, or at least less obvious one since its mostly optional. Rebirth had some pretty silly instances like randomly dropping down a hole in the emotional core of the game so the plate drop aftermath could be interrupted by some lame Hojo laboratory.

The purpose of going to Hojo's old laboratory in Chapter 13 of R1 was due to the context change regarding Aerith's 'capture' by Shinra. Since she went of her own accord in this timeline rather than having been abducted by Tseng (at least, nominally), there's less immediate motivation for Avalanche to rescue her - so seeing Hojo's old experiments under Sector 7 lets them (and, presumably, anyone who didn't play the original) know exactly what's going to happen to her and that a rescue really is necessary. It's also to give Barret and Tifa some time to develop without involving Cloud, though that's a side benefit.

In general, the remake trilogy deliberately runs at a slower pace than the original, taking time to develop areas and characters that were blown through at breakneck speed before. There's benefits and drawbacks to both approaches, and in general I think it's for the better that the remake establishes itself rather than simply trying to be "the original, but better". Especially given that the original is still widely available to buy and play on whatever platform unlike some remakes and reboots.

 

[CriticalGaming]

The purpose of going to Hojo's old laboratory in Chapter 13 of R1 was due to the context change regarding Aerith's 'capture' by Shinra. Since she went of her own accord in this timeline rather than having been abducted by Tseng (at least, nominally), there's less immediate motivation for Avalanche to rescue her - so seeing Hojo's old experiments under Sector 7 lets them (and, presumably, anyone who didn't play the original) know exactly what's going to happen to her and that a rescue really is necessary. It's also to give Barret and Tifa some time to develop without involving Cloud, though that's a side benefit.

In general, the remake trilogy deliberately runs at a slower pace than the original, taking time to develop areas and characters that were blown through at breakneck speed before. There's benefits and drawbacks to both approaches, and in general I think it's for the better that the remake establishes itself rather than simply trying to be "the original, but better". Especially given that the original is still widely available to buy and play on whatever platform unlike some remakes and reboots.

I feel like this is the best argument against "purest" bumfucks who hate the Remake's because it's not 1-to-1 the story of the original.

I think the Remakes have done a beautiful job filling in the gaps and expanding the world of FF7 in order to create an experience that is both familiar and different at the same time. The expanded characterization of the party is the biggest success because a lot of people dont realize that most of the characters only have like 1 scene of character development in the original game and then they just become background noise. The Remakes keep the characters around and have them all input and exist in every scenario so that they can all get little expansions of growth.

The same goes for the extended levels, like the underground sewer which not only showcases Hojo's bullshit but also hints at Deepground from Dierge of Cereberus, which is also further expounded in Yuffie's DLC. The lore of FF7 goes far beyond the original game and I think the Remake's have been smart to sprinkle that shit around so that people can get more hints on the depth of the story and understand via other games. Square already rereleased Crisis Core to explain Zack, and rereleased Advent Children to hint at the sequel bait of the Remakes.

They're playing 4D chess and people need to settle down.

 

[Hades]

The purpose of going to Hojo's old laboratory in Chapter 13 of R1 was due to the context change regarding Aerith's 'capture' by Shinra. Since she went of her own accord in this timeline rather than having been abducted by Tseng (at least, nominally), there's less immediate motivation for Avalanche to rescue her - so seeing Hojo's old experiments under Sector 7 lets them (and, presumably, anyone who didn't play the original) know exactly what's going to happen to her and that a rescue really is necessary. It's also to give Barret and Tifa some time to develop without involving Cloud, though that's a side benefit.

In general, the remake trilogy deliberately runs at a slower pace than the original, taking time to develop areas and characters that were blown through at breakneck speed before. There's benefits and drawbacks to both approaches, and in general I think it's for the better that the remake establishes itself rather than simply trying to be "the original, but better". Especially given that the original is still widely available to buy and play on whatever platform unlike some remakes and reboots.

I don't think I really agree with that. To me it really comes across as just another quickie filler dungeon to fill out the run time. Shinra being completely horrid is enough reason to spell out to the party that Shinra has only the worst of intentions for Aerith. Meanwhile for the player Hojo spelling out that he'll make Aerith a breeding slave is reason enough.

If dropping down a hole into the lab was needed then fair enough, but in that case they shouldn't have put it right after the plate dropping. Especially because at the start of the plate dropping event we already had an interuption about chasing ghosts. A ghost adventure straight from the original but still, it just comes across as awkward that the emotionally charged plate dropping is sandwitched between two filler events.

 

[Hades]

I've decided that Odin will likely be permanently missed content for me. That boss fight is just a horrific chore. Even putting it on easy and trying to brute force the issue isn't working since the boss battle is carried by a dreadful gimmick where Odin will very quickly nuke the entire party if he hits you a few times. Going through a three phase boss battle with rather difficult to read attacks without getting hit once just isn't reasonable.

''Take too much damage or die'' would be a decent gimmick if they hadn't gone completely overboard with it. ''Take too much damage'' in this case translating to ''get hit trice and he nukes you''. And with that huge lance and giant horse the attacks aren't that easy to prep for either. One attack even has him seemingly do a feint attack with his horse so you'll just dodge into the attack if you try to avoid it. I'm not sure if non controlled party members taking damage counts too, but even if not it still wouldn't be a reasonable thing to expect. The game kinda tricks you into thinking you can interrupt his nuke attack since he charges for it, but even in a ''cutscene attack'' he just cancels it out by jumping off screen and doing the attack.

Phoenix using revive could be a decent work around but it takes long to set up, and the investment could also go into wailing on Odin to make the annoying fight end quicker. With such an oppressive boss I'm not sure if extending the battle will be very helpful.

He seems more like a post post post game boss than a summon you unlock halfway and are presumably expected to able to make use of.

 

[CriticalGaming]

I've decided that Odin will likely be permanently missed content for me. That boss fight is just a horrific chore. Even putting it on easy and trying to brute force the issue isn't working since the boss battle is carried by a dreadful gimmick where Odin will very quickly nuke the entire party if he hits you a few times. Going through a three phase boss battle with rather difficult to read attacks without getting hit once just isn't reasonable.

''Take too much damage or die'' would be a decent gimmick if they hadn't gone completely overboard with it. ''Take too much damage'' in this case translating to ''get hit trice and he nukes you''. And with that huge lance and giant horse the attacks aren't that easy to prep for either. One attack even has him seemingly do a feint attack with his horse so you'll just dodge into the attack if you try to avoid it. I'm not sure if non controlled party members taking damage counts too, but even if not it still wouldn't be a reasonable thing to expect. The game kinda tricks you into thinking you can interrupt his nuke attack since he charges for it, but even in a ''cutscene attack'' he just cancels it out by jumping off screen and doing the attack.

Phoenix using revive could be a decent work around but it takes long to set up, and the investment could also go into wailing on Odin to make the annoying fight end quicker. With such an oppressive boss I'm not sure if extending the battle will be very helpful.

He seems more like a post post post game boss than a summon you unlock halfway and are presumably expected to able to make use of.

I think you might be missing something with the combat if Easy-mode introduction Odin is giving you trouble. Sorry to say. If you were talking about the special endgame version on hardmode then I would agree he is a cocksucker, but easy? You've gotta just be doing something wrong with your team and materia set-ups. Odin should melt simply using Aerith, Arcane Ward, and Synergy Materia linked to your best magic, then just control any other party member and spam whatever ATB you can. Especially on easy this fight should be over in under 1 minute.

 

[Hades]

I think you might be missing something with the combat if Easy-mode introduction Odin is giving you trouble. Sorry to say. If you were talking about the special endgame version on hardmode then I would agree he is a cocksucker, but easy? You've gotta just be doing something wrong with your team and materia set-ups. Odin should melt simply using Aerith, Arcane Ward, and Synergy Materia linked to your best magic, then just control any other party member and spam whatever ATB you can. Especially on easy this fight should be over in under 1 minute.

Could theoretically be, but since I’m breezing through anything non Odin related and haven’t used a Phoenix down in ages that would surprise me