Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Full Review (spoilers)
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There's some hidden shenanigans going on during Odin's fight. Maybe the following video will help out a bit.
Having children form attachments to your games is step 2, first you have to get them to actually play your games.
There's too much noise in the entertainment environment for children, most would rather engage with anything other than a long form RPG.
With first Odin and then Rufus I'd say the game is at its weakest when it bypasses the combat system for highly gimicky fights that will shut you down entirely if you deviate even an inch from the gimmick. As for Rufus I could do it but it wasn't really fun either.
I'd say I'm in the final of the final stretches. All regions visited, gold Saucer date achieved(sadly not Barret) and a point of no return. I don't exactly mind his absence since Shinra's way better, but its gonna be odd for Sephiroth to take center stage after being absent for about the whole game.
As for the date, I think its nice that despite Cloud's introvert, shy and dorky nature are mostly humanizing and endearing traits the game doesn't infantalize him either. The date with Aerith spells out that its a pretty big blockade for Aerith(and others) that she's bothered by, and that Cloud simultaniously doesn't understand but is bothered by it too.
I'd say I'm in the final of the final stretches. All regions visited, gold Saucer date achieved(sadly not Barret) and a point of no return. I don't exactly mind his absence since Shinra's way better, but its gonna be odd for Sephiroth to take center stage after being absent for about the whole game.
As for the date, I think its nice that despite Cloud's introvert, shy and dorky nature are mostly humanizing and endearing traits the game doesn't infantalize him either. The date with Aerith spells out that its a pretty big blockade for Aerith(and others) that she's bothered by, and that Cloud simultaniously doesn't understand but is bothered by it too.
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The character interactions are some of the best things about the game. The way they all stand by Cloud even though they know he's mentally troubled. Hell, likewise the way Cloud told Barrett he was there for him after the business with Dyne. I dunno, I don't get emotional easily but that really got me good.
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I was pulled out of it a little when Cloud starts being pretty blatantly fucked and the party just kinda keeps going along with it.
I hope in part three there is some dialog between like barret and tifa addressing it. At least some open apprehension where they say that he is clearly off but will stick with him to try and straighten him out or something like that.
As for characters and how I'd rank them
1: Barret the baddass. I think of all the characters he's the most multifaceted. He can be the goofy comic guy, but also the first guy to resort to lethal violence and him meaning it rather than it being a goof. The one seemingly the least respected by the group(aside from Caith) but also the one who always seems to slide into the leadership role whenever Cloud is incapacitated, as he should since he was the leader before Cloud. It helps that his primary conflict is with Shinra who are vastly more interesting than Sephiroth
2: Aerith is just great. The game sells her so much as this pure mani pixie dream girl that its always really fun when she reveals she's actually goofy, bratty and has a rough and agressive side to her. The contrast makes her really appealing.
3: Cloud. The contrast between the cool stoic merc he fails to be, and the dorky boy he actually is makes for a really fun and likable character. Both funny and rather pitiable. He's an easy character to root for. And its always nice character building when Cloud lets the act fall completely and acts like himself.
4: I have nothing bad to say about Tifa but actually nothing all that good either. She's just fine in all areas. Perhaps a bit more so in the chest area. She's kind, inoffensiveness and a little bland. I guess what I like most is that her and Cloud's childhood friendship was actually really superficial and that despite being the only links to each others past they don't know each other very well.
5: I like Nanaki. Like Cloud the contrast between the person he tries to be and the baby boy underneath is a very nice basis around his character. His problem is more that he's a bit removed from everyone and everything. He's got no prior bonds with characters aside Hojo and he's always a bit at the sidelines in the present. His sideplot with the Gii and Cosmo canyon is nice but also kinda removed from Shinra and Sephiroth
6: I don't dislike Yuffie. She can be a brat and not in the lovable sense but I think that at charm. At times. At other times I think she should dial it down a notch. I also think she and her materia also risk becoming a tad too much of a ''fatesawakening character'' as the cool Fire Emblem guys say. In short her gimmick is a bit too much a part of her
7: Caith Cid is a bit awkward. Love the accent but I don't really see much place for him. He's the cute mascot character but Yuffie and to some extend Barret and Red already have that role claimed. Yeah I know who he is but its too soon for that plotpoint to really pay off. Caith also has a scrapped dark side from the original which's absence seems notable
As for the villains
1: The (non Reeve) Shinra executives are a perfect blend of goofy and really evil. Except Palmer who's just a jolly guy. Their comedic manners make them lovable without downplaying their completely evil behavior. The idea that corporate executive are kinda self obsessed morons is also rather topical
2: The Turks are fun. Its refreshing to have people who's villainy is just a job and who are perfectly normal people off the clock. That said the game does try to have its cake and eat it too with them treating the Turks this way even after they committed outright mass slaughter in Midgar.
3: Quite frankly I prefered Rufus's dad. He seemed to have more aura despite the game selling Rufus as his more competent replacement. Still he's a fine rival to Cloud and seems very much on the ball.
4: Don Corneo is a fun filler villain. Also a good combination of vile and funny. Not great, but not bad either
5: Sephiroth is supremely boring, barely in the game and attached to the multiverse plotline that's the least interesting factor of the game. He's a failure. Unlike Cloud he didn't get rehabilitated from the post FF7 days. Its a shame because Flashback Sephiroth was pretty great. If at least some part of this persona remained rather than everything about him being about bullying Cloud he might have amounted to something.
1: Barret the baddass. I think of all the characters he's the most multifaceted. He can be the goofy comic guy, but also the first guy to resort to lethal violence and him meaning it rather than it being a goof. The one seemingly the least respected by the group(aside from Caith) but also the one who always seems to slide into the leadership role whenever Cloud is incapacitated, as he should since he was the leader before Cloud. It helps that his primary conflict is with Shinra who are vastly more interesting than Sephiroth
2: Aerith is just great. The game sells her so much as this pure mani pixie dream girl that its always really fun when she reveals she's actually goofy, bratty and has a rough and agressive side to her. The contrast makes her really appealing.
3: Cloud. The contrast between the cool stoic merc he fails to be, and the dorky boy he actually is makes for a really fun and likable character. Both funny and rather pitiable. He's an easy character to root for. And its always nice character building when Cloud lets the act fall completely and acts like himself.
4: I have nothing bad to say about Tifa but actually nothing all that good either. She's just fine in all areas. Perhaps a bit more so in the chest area. She's kind, inoffensiveness and a little bland. I guess what I like most is that her and Cloud's childhood friendship was actually really superficial and that despite being the only links to each others past they don't know each other very well.
5: I like Nanaki. Like Cloud the contrast between the person he tries to be and the baby boy underneath is a very nice basis around his character. His problem is more that he's a bit removed from everyone and everything. He's got no prior bonds with characters aside Hojo and he's always a bit at the sidelines in the present. His sideplot with the Gii and Cosmo canyon is nice but also kinda removed from Shinra and Sephiroth
6: I don't dislike Yuffie. She can be a brat and not in the lovable sense but I think that at charm. At times. At other times I think she should dial it down a notch. I also think she and her materia also risk becoming a tad too much of a ''fatesawakening character'' as the cool Fire Emblem guys say. In short her gimmick is a bit too much a part of her
7: Caith Cid is a bit awkward. Love the accent but I don't really see much place for him. He's the cute mascot character but Yuffie and to some extend Barret and Red already have that role claimed. Yeah I know who he is but its too soon for that plotpoint to really pay off. Caith also has a scrapped dark side from the original which's absence seems notable
As for the villains
1: The (non Reeve) Shinra executives are a perfect blend of goofy and really evil. Except Palmer who's just a jolly guy. Their comedic manners make them lovable without downplaying their completely evil behavior. The idea that corporate executive are kinda self obsessed morons is also rather topical
2: The Turks are fun. Its refreshing to have people who's villainy is just a job and who are perfectly normal people off the clock. That said the game does try to have its cake and eat it too with them treating the Turks this way even after they committed outright mass slaughter in Midgar.
3: Quite frankly I prefered Rufus's dad. He seemed to have more aura despite the game selling Rufus as his more competent replacement. Still he's a fine rival to Cloud and seems very much on the ball.
4: Don Corneo is a fun filler villain. Also a good combination of vile and funny. Not great, but not bad either
5: Sephiroth is supremely boring, barely in the game and attached to the multiverse plotline that's the least interesting factor of the game. He's a failure. Unlike Cloud he didn't get rehabilitated from the post FF7 days. Its a shame because Flashback Sephiroth was pretty great. If at least some part of this persona remained rather than everything about him being about bullying Cloud he might have amounted to something.
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I really like how the remakes handled Aerith. She also seems like shes the only character who really knows whats going on, but also knows that if things don't happen in a certain way then everything will be fucked. But shes not angsty about it, she makes the best of it. I also quite enjoy the relationship between her Cloud and Tifa. I don't remember what it was like in the original, but in the remake it feels like both of them are fine with sharing if it comes down to it.
The Italian senate probably thinks so too since they were caught watching Tifa’s TifasRanking Tifa 4th place is criminal.
They probably wouldn’t mind sharing Cloud’s Buster Blade. In general the girls being the best of friends is cute
Call me crazy but I always felt like aerith's flirting with Cloud was more an attempt to get Tifa to take action and claim her man. I never really got the impression that Aerith ever wanted anything more than helping Cloud find his true self because she can see his persona is trying to emulate Zacks.
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Could be, as I said, it seems like Aerith knew what was going on and going to happen so she might have been trying to ground Cloud with Tifa.
This was the case in Remake for sure, but in Rebirth Aerith states that the whispers took that knowledge. The lifestream Aerith is named Omni-Aerith by fans and she has been hiding in different worlds to buy time while Sephiroth has been world hoping to kill every possible version of her.
For the most part I think Aerith really does want in Cloud's pants, but is close enough to Tifa and Cloud to root for them getting together too, and will step aside if that works out best. Its friendly competition with empasis on the friend part.
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But is that true and how much? She could have been lying to stop the rest of the gang from asking.
Who knows. But the theory is that Omni-Aerith follows the White materia which is empty during more of Rebirth and only an Aerith from another world gives it to Cloud sends him back in order to give it back to "our" Aerith. It's Sqaure trying to overcomplicate things on purpose just to have people argue over theories or whatever, which has some merits tbh.
I think the Loveless play with Cloud and the gang was a good bit of fun but I wouldn't exactly create a villain who's entire identity revolves around it. Because that sounds really stupid. Especially if said villain is supposed to be Sephiroth's peer.
I'm surprised its relatively hard to boost Tifa's relation compared to Aerith and Barret. She seems to have fewer side quests. I guess it fits her and Cloud's friendship being kinda superficial.
I'm surprised its relatively hard to boost Tifa's relation compared to Aerith and Barret. She seems to have fewer side quests. I guess it fits her and Cloud's friendship being kinda superficial.
Rebirth complete! Congratulations Cloud, your PTSD has been upgraded to schizophrenia.
I'm still not keen on the multiverse and it tying into sephiroth's big plans. I mostly tune out and take the game's word for it when that plotpoint emerges. That said I don't really agree with one common criticism I hear since I don't think it applies with Rebirth. I merely dislike it on principle.
While I'm lukewarm at best with the multiverse plot I do like Cloud's development. Or degradation really. We seem to be in uncharted territory with him after the ending
Considering Sephiroth refused to do or say anything interesting for two games straight I doubt he'll get any more interesting in the third game.
I'm still not keen on the multiverse and it tying into sephiroth's big plans. I mostly tune out and take the game's word for it when that plotpoint emerges. That said I don't really agree with one common criticism I hear since I don't think it applies with Rebirth. I merely dislike it on principle.
Commonly its said that death hold less weight when there's an alternative universe counterpart waiting in the wings to take over, but that doesn't seem to be how things are handled in Rebirth. Both Zack and Biggs clearly seem to be the mainline versions merely stuffed into another world to escape their deaths. The Biggs from the silly multiverse section is clearly stated to be the one we met in Remake, and Zacks says his experiences are similar.
One thing that does annoy me with multiverse plots, going all the way back to Bioscock infinite is the lack of resolutions whenever the main characters go world hopping. Does every friend and foe the main characters just get confused when the main characters seem to completely disappear, and do the villains of that timeline just get off Scot free? Does the tyrannical Comstock from the first sections of Bioshock just go on his merry way when Booker jumps into another world to look for a gunsmith?
In the case of Rebirth that mostly applies to that comatose Cloud Zack was carrying around in the alternative universe. Does Zack just ditch him ad Aerith's mom when he goes world hopping? And doesn't he care when they die due to Meteor?
One thing that does annoy me with multiverse plots, going all the way back to Bioscock infinite is the lack of resolutions whenever the main characters go world hopping. Does every friend and foe the main characters just get confused when the main characters seem to completely disappear, and do the villains of that timeline just get off Scot free? Does the tyrannical Comstock from the first sections of Bioshock just go on his merry way when Booker jumps into another world to look for a gunsmith?
In the case of Rebirth that mostly applies to that comatose Cloud Zack was carrying around in the alternative universe. Does Zack just ditch him ad Aerith's mom when he goes world hopping? And doesn't he care when they die due to Meteor?
While I'm lukewarm at best with the multiverse plot I do like Cloud's development. Or degradation really. We seem to be in uncharted territory with him after the ending
Now he doesn't merely have a bad grasp on his past, but seems to have gone completely loony about the present as well. We'll likely see him get completely loony and in denial about Aerith next game. To the extend I think Zack might take over as main character for a bit when Cloud spirals too much into hallucinations.
Considering Sephiroth refused to do or say anything interesting for two games straight I doubt he'll get any more interesting in the third game.