It’s hard to explain to someone who has no connection to the Final Fantasy series before why Final Fantasy VII is the title that remains a reference in the history of video games and why the new Remake series is so important to gamers. On the one hand it’s about nostalgia, but on the other hand the characters, themes and the way the story is told in Final Fantasy VII have marked several generations of gamers. All of them now have the opportunity to see the reinterpretation of this classic title in the most modern style possible, with the appetite whetted by the excellent Final Fantasy VII Remake in 2020. The long four-year wait for that title is over, and the new Final Fantasy VII Rebirth brings us closer to the conclusion of the story of Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Barret, Red XIII and other classic characters. Let’s find out together whether or not it was worth the wait.
Rebirth marks Final Fantasy VII’s transition to the open world style
Rebirth doesn’t waste too much time with introductions or tutorials because it assumes you already know what it’s about. Not only is this a title where existing fans are directly targeted, with all sorts of more or less subtle references to the original PlayStation 1 game, but it is already the continuation of a successful part of the remake series, which has already established the who, what, how, where and why of reaching this point. You should know ahead of time that if you have no experience with the Final Fantasy series, if you haven’t played the original Final Fantasy VII or even the 2020 Remake, it’s not a good idea to jump straight into it. The remake, in particular, is mandatory “reading” to be able to tackle Rebirth in peace.
Unlike the Remake, which was a somewhat more linear title and limited in the number of explorable game environments, focused almost 100% on advancing the story and elucidating the mystery about certain events that take place differently from the original game that it “reinterprets”, Rebirth completely changes gears and puts us in an almost “classic” open world. You have the freedom to explore the game world at your own pace right after the introduction, and side objectives are found every step of the way in each of the regions you discover throughout the game.
You can see here that Square Enix took a lot of inspiration from the Western open world games of the past decades, adopting the Ubisoft “school” of game design, with towers that require climbing and all kinds of repetitive side objectives, valid for each region. On the one hand, it’s good that they aren’t mandatory and that you can postpone or ignore them if you don’t feel like them. On the other hand, if you want to always be at the level necessary to complete the story, you must, at least partially, get involved in solving this “sterile” menu of objectives. At least there are bonuses commensurate with the effort, such as resources for buying materials, or even exclusive Summons for each region.
The explorable areas are generally vast and visually pleasing, and each comes with its own identity, complete with “native” flora and fauna. Only the objectives are repetitive. Of course, these are just the most basic quests. Being a Japanese RPG, it also throws side quests at every turn, many of them elaborate, with multi-staged objectives that can take hours to complete. In this respect we have an improvement over the Remake, where the side quests seemed like they were added at the last minute. You thus have the opportunity to meet many secondary characters that enrich the universe of Final Fantasy VII, and give players the chance to strengthen relationships with characters from the main team, which also has a direct effect on gameplay through new synergies that can occur during battles .
70 hours of nostalgia, mini-games and epic battles
In terms of story, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth manages to continue in the direction of the Remake, and it does it well. The team from the first game returns and you will explore in great detail the motivations that brought them together to fight for the survival of the planet. You will also discover other classic characters, originally introduced in the 1997 PlayStation 1 game, and the way they have been reinterpreted in the 2024 version, with advanced graphics and voices is a real treat for fans.
Incidentally, the actors who bring the characters to life do an excellent job from start to finish, and it’s impressive that all of the characters’ lines are 100% recorded, considering how many there are. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is a huge game. I saw the end screen after more than 75 hours of gameplay, during which I completed not only the story, but also most of the side quests.
And the gameplay can vary all the while from the classic linear main missions, where you can solve puzzles or fight enemies, to exploring the game environment on foot, riding a Chocobo or in a plane. Some of the most impressive elements of Rebirth turned out to be the side activities, or “mini-games” as they are called. Not only do we have a ton of such activities around the corner, which can range from shuttle arcade games to Mario Kart-style racing of Chocobos, but they’re all carefully crafted down to the smallest detail. The most impressive of them is by far the card game Queen’s Blood, which could easily be a standalone game to compete in the market with other similar titles like Gwent or Heathstone. Collecting cards, making decks, and then applying them to “battles” can become one more reason why you’ll want to explore each area of the game to discover new opponents or new playing cards.
For a “remake”, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth could look a bit more… modern
The only downsides to Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, aside from the repetitiveness of side activities, would be on the technical side. Although it’s a newer, PlayStation 5-exclusive game, Rebirth has sometimes inferior graphics to Remake, released in 2020 for PlayStation 4. Certain graphics aren’t up to par with a current-gen game, nor is the low resolution in “performance” mode it doesn’t help much. At least this one runs pretty smoothly, managing to hold 60fps most of the time.
Tags: step reimagining classic
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