Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth Review – A Hungry Battle For A Fantastic Narrative

Remaking a beloved game is a daunting project, and few franchises come with as much loyalty, dedication, and nostalgia as Final Fantasy VII. The second installation of the Remake trilogy for VII takes this challenge and soars, with Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth delivering fantastic plot, iconic characters, and a reworked world that inspires exploration and curiosity.

While the game’s combat system isn’t without its hurdles, fans are in for a treat as they follow Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, and Barret into the next edition of the reworked story. The open-world maps offer dynamic level-grinding opportunities, while secrets tucked within the world’s lore blend iconic moments with discoveries.

Related: FFVII Fans Speculate PS6 Part 3 Release With PS5 ‘Entering the Latter Stage of its Life Cycle’

FFVII: Rebirth Made Me Fall In Love With Characters All Over Again

JRPGs are only as strong as their characters, and Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth has taken beloved personalities from the original story and made them stronger – fleshing out backstories, relationships, and motivations with a combination of cinema-style cutscenes and detailed writing. I have always loved the quirky cast from Midgar, but FFVII: Rebirth makes every story feel brand new, even with the overlap from the original narrative.

I thoroughly enjoyed the way Tifa and Aerith’s friendship blossoms throughout Rebirth. The pair come to rely on each other, despite the insinuated love triangle centered around Cloud. I love seeing the pair work together, instead of shredding each other down in pursuit of a male character’s attention.

Excellent writing and seamless cutscene transitions make the game as much a movie as an RPG adventure and showcase each character in a way that wasn’t possible when the original FFVII released. It’s delightful and propels players through the open world areas to the next plot point.

My only frustration with the writing comes down to the romance. At times, the implied love triangle with Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith feels heavy-handed and unnatural. As someone who never saw any of these characters getting together, I found it obstructive to my enjoyment of the story. In the original FFVII, the implied romance is light and doesn’t create cringey, anime-like moments. It also allowed fans to draw their own conclusions about character relationships without distraction from the plot.

I am all for a little romance, but the cheesy, forced relationship drama seems to cater specifically to a traditionally male audience, with Cloud left to fumble through conversations sporting the “too oblivious to get it” trope that doesn’t resonate with modern relationship portrayals. This romance subplot may not connect with female and LGBTQA+ players, and for me, it didn’t feel needed whenever it came up.

Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth Uses An Open World To Deliver Lore

Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth has reimagined the world outside Midgar in a series of open-world locations. From the start of the game, players will have the opportunity to explore vast maps filled with challenging battles, hidden secrets, and special crafting items.

These open-world locations are a blast to investigate, and I particularly loved finding the Materia Springs located around each area. When scanned, players can learn about the location’s history, how Shinra impacted culture, and how it coped following the takeover.

Chocobo stops were my favorite part of Rebirth’s open-world locations, and I took care to stop and fix every broken signpost for the baby Chocobos whenever I found them.

These large maps add content to the game, especially for the collectors and completionists diving into Rebirth. However, after several maps, I did find myself ignoring these large areas to hurry on to the next plot point. Additionally, later areas are tough to navigate, with the overworld map doing a poor job of showing players where to cross or pass through to plot-necessary areas.

I am excited to go back to each map after finishing the story to complete every location and discover all the secrets tucked into cliffsides and groves of trees.

The ATB Gauge Is A Big Struggle For FFVII: Rebirth Combat

Combat in Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth is not as simple as hitting an enemy or casting a spell. Instead, special abilities, magic, and items are locked behind charges on the ATB gauge. Players must hit the opponent to charge the meter, with two to three charges available at any given time. This feature was present in Remake, but feels a lot less forgiving in Rebirth.

While the boss fights present a solid challenge, and regular enemies are tough enough to provide satisfying combat, I found myself resenting the limitations of the ATB gauge. I wanted to try items like the grenade, but doing so could spell disaster if an overpowered enemy attack crushed the HP of the party. There were times I would neglect Abilities to ensure that I had enough ATB to heal, especially in later chapters when bosses took on a Soulslike quality.

I sincerely wished that items were not tied to the ATB gauge. It would have offered more freedom with strategy and created a space where all the abilities available could have been more useful. It would also have been nice to have more ATB gauge slots right from the start, to encourage dynamic ability combos as FFVII: Rebirth progressed.

Synergy Moves Are A Highlight of Combat, But Only When Available

Synergy attacks in Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth are amazing, and worth the effort of setting up. These special combos charge up as players battle opponents, allowing two characters to team up and deliver a themed attack. When timed with a Staggered opponent, they are the perfect way to end a battle. However, players will find these moves limited by a predetermined party set-up that shuffles throughout the game.

Unlike the original FFVII, Rebirth players won’t have as much control over the make-up of their active party. At many points of the game, characters become separated, limiting player access to abilities and attacks.

While this was likely done to ensure that characters were correctly lined up for cutscenes, increasing story immersion, it also made my personal playthrough miserable at points. A Combination of Cloud, Barret, and Red XIII left my party without a healer, while a combination of Tifa, Aerith, and Yuffie strangled battles that needed a heavy hitter. Additionally, Synergy moves unlocked for certain character combinations were unavailable, making strategy when unlocking new abilities a puzzle.

Despite my frustrations, I enjoyed how placing characters in specific slots created a seamless storytelling experience, even if it meant retrying battles multiple times due to a rough party make-up.

Mini-Games Are Hidden All Over FFVII: Rebirth

Fans of mini-games will find no shortage of them in Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth. From riding a Dolphin to Taming a Chocobo, there are plenty of challenging, tutorial-inducing activities. Chocobo racing was one of my favorites, and one I spent a bit too much time practicing in order to nail the drift for going around corners.

Players will have the chance to Play Queen’s Blood, Jump into a Rock-’em Sock-’em fist fight, tame a Chocobo, Ride a fake Motorcycle, and more as they work their way through each location. However, this means that at no point in the game will fans be finished with tutorials.

This onslaught of extra content is great for extending gameplay hours. However, there were times when the steady addition of new elements felt overwhelming, and I found myself wondering if I would ever have a grasp on every new mechanic being thrown my way. There were times where I hit mini-game fatigue, wishing to simply progress through the story without the need to plug cables into generators or win a match of Queen’s Blood.

Despite this, the shining star of the mini-game roster is Tifa’s piano rhythm game. I wish it would be released as its own title, because I would play every song for hours. The controls take a bit to get used to, but once I figured it out, I sat and replayed each song just to get better and enjoy the music. I honestly wish it had come into play much earlier in the story, as it was a delight to discover.

Verdict

Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth is superior to Remake in every way, with a story that gripped my heart and a perfectly reworked version of a world that has filled my imagination since I was a kid. Square Enix succeeded in a feat that is very hard to achieve with a remake – it felt as if I was playing the story for the first time.

While there are some technical elements that were frustrating from a gameplay perspective, I found myself hungry to get at the controller every day after work and was delighted by every secret and new mechanic I uncovered. It was a joy-ride of a game, even when boss battles were beating me into the ground. I can’t wait for the world to get ahold of this title, as Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth is sure to impact fans in the same devastating, amazing, emotionally debilitating way the original game did so many decades ago. It’s a thrill ride, a treat, and a gameplay experience I won’t ever forget.