FF7 Rebirth Impressions
This game's a lot of things all at once and I think it's fairest to take a look at each facet separately.
As an adaptation, it's poor. It has lost track of the meaning and intent of FF7, which is the most important thing for an adaptation to capture. You cannot play this game alone and have a different but equivalent experience. In fact, you probably shouldn't play this game at all if you haven't played OG.
As a narrative-driven game, it's mediocre, poor by my standards. Most individual scenes are competent, but the whole does not hang together. New plotlines don't connect, and old plotlines are adapted in such a way that they don't really work anymore*. The tone is all over the place, and the best moments feel rushed. The pacing is abysmal, even if you rush the story and ignore the side content. Some folks have said they like this game for the camaraderie among the cast, but even that's pretty thin for me, especially in comparison to other character-driven JRPGs like Tales or Persona. Excepting perhaps Red, the characters don't really develop past where they began at the start of the story, and a lot of the writing is fluff. Remake did better on just about every front here - despite my dim view of it, it's a lot more coherent and careful.
As its own piece of art, it's empty. It's flashy, maximalist, and obviously afraid of getting too real. It refuses to let its most meaningful moments breathe lest they become bummers and it doesn't really have anything in particular to say - again, even less than Remake. It's entirely a piece of FF7 fanfiction/metafiction. The implications of the ideas that it does bring to the table are extremely tone-deaf, particularly the Shinra apologism.
As a sequel it's a worse story, but a better game. The battle system is much improved. Bosses and trash are a lot less spongy. The environment design is way more impressive (not to mention exhaustive) and there is a lot more of it to explore. It's clearly a lot more ambitious and it tried out many different things and stretched quite a lot. It is just more fun to play... as long as no one is talking.
As an open world game, it's so-so. On the positive side, I found the objectives well spaced out, so that if I was just running around the area I moved pretty freely from one to the next to the next. The rewards for your exploration points are always good and substantial, so it does feel rewarding. On the other hand, it's extremely repetitive and bloated. The maps are not very fulfilling to explore in terms of landmarks and interesting things of note outside of your map markers. Many of the areas are extremely difficult and frustrating to navigate. I was constantly in and out of my map trying to figure out where I had to go.
As a collection of minigames it's exceptional. There are so many minigames. I lost track. I think you'd need to play an MMO to find more variety in minigames really. There is so much Content here, I have never seen a game more ambitious about minigames. There is a part of me that feels bad for leaving it on the table when so much has gone into it.
As a piece of fanservice for compilation fans it's probably pretty good! All the locations are there and rendered in stunning detail for at least one good shot, the music is there and very hummable, unexpected fan favourites return, references are many. If all you really care about is seeing your blorbos you probably like this game.
As a compilation of FF7 entry it's about where Remake was, a little lesser. Better than most of the slop, nowhere near the original, different in very meaningful ways, and marching bravely forward towards a world state where the only person who has ever done anything wrong is Hojo.
And overall, this game felt like it was Cocomeloning me. It was long and bloated and over the top and afraid to give me any space to think about any of what was happening. It is also so long, and so bloated. I would say it is functionally a marvel movie. Good if you're in the mood for that, bad if you happen to really care about story or games or the source material.
I gave each segment grade ranks as I played through, they're under the cut if you're curious.
Couldn't agree more. Truth is, I really wanted to like it. I even gaslit myself into liking it. But I have to come clean: unfortunately, for me, Rebirth broke my heart. And not for the reasons it was supposed to.
Aesthetically, the game looks amazing. The environments are gorgeous. But the music is hit or miss. When it's good, it's really good; the kind of tunes I can't get enough of, and listen to over and over again (example: the Mount Corel hike theme. It's freakin' awesome). However, the music is often bland and generic where it matters the most.
The dramatic moments that are supposed to be heavy and dark are cheapened by melodrama, and the pacing is awful. The game doesn't let those scenes breathe. Its darkest moments are sanitized and interrupted with action immediately after, or by a completely unnecessary lore dump (examples: the Dyne scene and the Seto reveal scene in Cosmo Canyon).
It also can't commit to one thing. Aerith's death? A confusing mess. I wish they would have picked a lane and committed to that. Either have her die, or survive. The most ballsy thing would have been for Aerith to survive - because that's the one thing most people didn't think the devs would dare pull off. When you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one.
The game also forces specific party compositions on you in certain locations - unlike in the OG, where you could always choose your party yourself (except for in certain situations, for example, when Cloud was Mako-poisoned in Mideel). Aerith dies before you even get to have the full party, which was the biggest issue for me. When I first heard about synergy, I got so excited, because I was thinking "Wow, there's sooo many character combinations!" and I imagined how fun that would be. Then the biggest disappointment was announced: Vincent and Cid would not be playable.
So, that "camaraderie between characters" is also flattened when you don't even get to have all of the party members fighting together and interact with each other. How much did Aerith interact with Vincent, for example? Well, he held her at gunpoint in the Shinra Mansion, and Aerith also said "Really?" when he revealed he could track the Turks by radio after they took the keystone. Oh, and Vincent also looked up when she sung "until I met you" in the Gold Saucer - if that even counts. That's it. That's not exactly "expanding on the camaraderie". They expanded the amount of stuff you can do. Minigames and side quests. While that's nice, it takes up so much space that it actually takes away from the characters' interactions and time spent together.
It feels Disney-fied. What was dark and mature in the OG felt dumbed down, so moments that were supposed to be heartbreaking... frankly made me feel nothing. In OG, the Dyne scene is one of my favorites. It's tragic, and masterfully done. Rebirth version changed that, and removed the tragedy in the process. It does that a lot: cheapening the stakes. "Obviously afraid of getting too real", as OP put it, is spot-on.
I could say so much more. This is just the tip of the iceberg. I really really wanted to like the Remake trilogy. Unfortunately, it just left me greatly disappointed.
