No Promises.

[rionaleonhart]

I've just finished Final Fantasy VII Rebirth!



I've always found the relationship between Aerith and Tseng interesting. I'd like to know more about their history.

The temple traumatic backstory parade feels a bit much, even for me, but I'm pretty into this homoerotic Cloud/Sephiroth stabbing scene.

When Cait Sith is being crushed in the Temple of the Ancients, you can hear the exertion in his voice. Important question: is Reeve roleplaying the effort despite feeling absolutely fine in reality, or did Reeve develop a robot that allows him to feel its pain? I can't decide which possibility is funnier.

I'm really touched by Zack choosing to prioritise helping Cloud because Aerith likes him. Choosing Aerith's happiness, even if Aerith's happiness might not necessarily mean being happy with Zack.

wait, are we in a third universe now

what is going on

I laughed aloud at Zack going SCREW FATE and vaulting over the reactor barrier. That's the spirit!

This is some absolutely classic 'dissolving into confusing nonsense at the end of a Square game' bullshit and I love it. Makes me strangely nostalgic for when I first discovered the Final Fantasy series and found myself going '?????' at the end of every game.

I wonder if this 'Cloud and Aerith on a date in the alternate universe' sequence is different if you haven't been prioritising Cloud's relationship with Aerith as hard as I have.

Every time Cloud and Sephiroth are in the same frame, I find myself expecting them to make out. I suspect that's by design.

'Let's go get our girl,' Barret says of Aerith, and I continue to ship Cloud/Aerith/Tifa/Barret pretty hard.

Yuffie hiding behind Barret is also pretty cute.

I've been wondering the whole game how they would handle the iconic stabbing scene. Would they go ahead with it? Would they prevent it? Turns out they went with 'ambiguous and confusing', which I'd consider a bad decision; when you're remaking the most famous scene in the game, you want the player to know what's going on!

I'd also consider it a misstep to throw the player into a series of boss fights before they can emotionally process whatever the hell just happened.

'It's been awesome having me on the team, right?' 'Hasn't been boring' is a very endearing exchange between Yuffie and Cloud.

I have no idea how Zack is here, but I will accept it because it's cool and fun. I enjoyed a) Zack getting so close to Cloud's face that it looks like he's about to kiss him, and b) the two of them standing back-to-back with their giant swords.

Delighted by Cloud going 'LET'S DANCE, ASSHOLE' when I used his second-level limit break on Sephiroth.

I am emotionally destroyed every time Cloud and Aerith hold hands. The most surprising thing about this remake is how it's made me realise that I am actually a massive Cloud/Aerith shipper.

'Getting me interested in Rufus Shinra' is another thing I wasn't expecting from the remake, but perhaps I should have seen it coming; I do love a shitty young man.

Zack going 'Seeya!' while falling through the floor into eternity is extremely funny.

I still have very little idea of what's going on, but if Cloud is hallucinating Aerith, or somehow communicating with a version of Aerith from another reality, I'm here for it; that's a theme I can never resist! In the original game, of course, it's important that Aerith is just gone, but I've had time to come to terms with the fact that this isn't a straight remake.

Is Cloud... trapped between two realities? Somehow living them both at the same time? I am bewildered but fascinated. Does Cloud not know that Aerith is dead??

And now the credits are rolling, so it's time to reflect! God. How did I feel about that game?

I'm not sure the Final Fantasy VII Remake series entirely knows what it wants to be. Does it want to retell the story of Final Fantasy VII? Does it want to do its own thing? Given that the whole of Remake led up to the characters destroying the chains of fate binding them to the events of the original game, Rebirth cleaves surprisingly closely to those events; it ends up feeling a little strange. I'd be happy with either a remake or a new story, but the effort to do both simultaneously is confusing!

The rest of my overall thoughts are less spoilery, so I'll pop those outside the cut.



I still feel this game could do with about thirty percent less of everything. Shorter dungeons, fewer mechanics, fewer side activities; I think it could benefit from being a more focused game all round. That's ultimately a matter of taste, though; do you prioritise pacing, or do you prioritise having plenty of things for the player to do?

Honestly, if you gave me completely free rein over the Remake series, I'd focus the game by narrowing the party down to the core four of Cloud, Tifa, Barret and Aerith and giving everyone else minor roles, and then I would be horribly murdered by fans. I like the other party members, but they often ended up feeling a bit extraneous! Also, get rid of Chadley.

Despite my issues, though, I really enjoyed Final Fantasy VII Rebirth overall! It looks gorgeous, the music is fantastic, the battle system feels good, the characters and their relationships are lovingly depicted, and I have to admit that I had a good time with some of the side content; Queen's Blood in particular really won me over. I'm looking forward to the final instalment!

Comments

[necrophilia]

Wait, is this not the end of the FFVII renaissance?

[rionaleonhart]

Final Fantasy VII continues to happen! Final Fantasy VIII had its twenty-fifth anniversary this year, and I continue to hold out desperate hope that one day it will be that game's turn to happen. But, for now, Final Fantasy VII continues to happen.

[necrophilia]

Ah, I see.

Out of respect for you and the joy(?) this one-game-for-the-price-of-three has brought you, I'll keep my opinions to myself. Starting now.

[wolfy_writing]

The temple traumatic backstory parade feels a bit much, even for me

Oh damn!

Important question: is Reeve roleplaying the effort despite feeling absolutely fine in reality, or did Reeve develop a robot that allows him to feel its pain? I can't decide which possibility is funnier.

Those are both excellent!

Is Cloud... trapped between two realities? Somehow living them both at the same time? I am bewildered but fascinated. Does Cloud not know that Aerith is dead??

Ooh!

[rionaleonhart]

To be clear, it's not that the traumatic backstories were too intense to handle; it's just that we were shown the traumatic backstories of five different people in a row, and I think that's the sort of thing you need a moment to breathe for!

I also want to know why Reeve, whose natural accent is decidedly unScottish, felt the need to give his robotic cat avatar a Scottish accent.

[wolfy_writing]

Ah yeah, pacing, vitally important in traumatizing fictional people.

[rionaleonhart]

To be honest, Chadley's worst crime is being a bit dull, but that quickly becomes an unforgivable sin when you won't stop calling me, shut up, Chadley.

[lokifan]

'Getting me interested in Rufus Shinra' is another thing I wasn't expecting from the remake, but perhaps I should have seen it coming; I do love a shitty young man.

*cackles*

I'd be happy with either a remake or a new story, but the effort to do both simultaneously is confusing!

Yeah, that's my impression. The press on Remake was very back-and-forth about that as well, I think? I didn't follow it at all myself but my housemate at the same was a RABID FFXVII fan.

[rionaleonhart]

I was okay with Remake sticking largely to the original script with only slight variations, because the whole point was that they were being prevented from diverging. But, given that they won the right to diverge just before Rebirth began, it feels weird that Rebirth doesn't diverge more! 'A remake that actually turns out to be a new story' is an interesting concept, but this series feels strangely reluctant to commit to it.

[zarla]

WAIT DID THEY DO THE STABBING SCENE i thought they cut right before it, maybe I heard incorrectly. I do remember that it went right from Aeris dying to a battle with a Jenova form originally but it kept Aeris's Theme going during the battle just to keep punching you, haha.

Man I remember Cait Sith being crushed in the temple and then coming up in another cat body really nonchalantly like HI I'M FINE I HAVE LOTS OF BODIES does that still happen, am I also misremembering this

[rionaleonhart]

WAIT DID THEY DO THE STABBING SCENE i thought they cut right before it, maybe I heard incorrectly.

It's very confusing! They have the scene with Aerith praying and Sephiroth dropping from above, but in this version Cloud manages to deflect Sephiroth with his sword. And then we start flickering weirdly between a world where Aerith was killed and a world where she survived, I think??

Man I remember Cait Sith being crushed in the temple and then coming up in another cat body really nonchalantly like HI I'M FINE I HAVE LOTS OF BODIES does that still happen, am I also misremembering this

You remember this exactly correctly, and it absolutely does still happen! It feels really weird that the new body shows up at the temple immediately. Are there Cait Siths located all across the world? Or does a spare Cait Sith always follow the current one at a close distance, just in case it's destroyed?

[zarla]

lol all the confusing things I'm hearing about multiple timelines makes this all sound SO confusing. WHAT IS GOING ON, IS THIS AN AU, WHAT IS THIS

lol i'm glad they kept that, it was just such a totally bizarre scene. Even at the time I thought that was extremely weird! Also hilarious lol. IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE NO MATTER HOW YOU TRY TO SPIN IT

[thenicochan]

I believe I'm the only person on this entire planet who was never once even slightly annoyed by Chadley. Either I have the patience of a literal saint, or something deep within me is broken and will never be fixed.

[rionaleonhart]

I'm impressed by your patience! Getting a call from Chadley feels a lot like getting a spam e-mail to me; it's not the worst thing in the world, but I'd definitely be happier if it didn't happen.

[tinkaton]

Cait Sith in general is so funny/fascinating to me. Like Reeve isn't piloting him 24/7 so Cait is some level of sentient (I'm pretty sure they retconned in Reeve having some kind of ability that lets him do that??) but how sentient are we talking? Does he feel pain for real even though he's a robot. Did Reeve build in the accent or did Cait decide on that. Every time they try to explain something about him some new weirder mystery crops up.

The whole timelines thing with Zack felt a little superfluous to me. Like it was just there to have Zack be in the game more, which is fine sdjhfksjdf but feels like if that's all they did with this then it was kind of pointless. I can only guess that maybe it'll come back in the third part, given...the ending with Aerith? I can't tell if Cloud is just hallucinating her (and thus thinks she isn't dead when she really is) or if she's actually still in existence in some way due to timeline shenanigans. I WOULD say the former is more likely, but the only thing throwing me off is that Red seems to be able to sense her presence in the final cutscene which implies she's not a hallucination.

lmao Chadley. I was fine with him last game but this game he is blowing up your phone way too much!! and why did he create a girl version of himself just to constantly be fighting with her!!

anyway yeah I made a longer post with my final thoughts on the game haha but in general I enjoyed it too! could've done with less repetitive side quests and I agree that the overarching story/themes between the two games seems a bit muddled, but at least I had fun.

[rionaleonhart]

Cait Sith is such a weird character in so many ways! I once tried to watch a cutscene compilation of Dirge of Cerberus, but I had to abandon it twenty minutes in. There's a bit where Reeve gets shot, but then it turns out that it is not in fact Reeve but a robotic replica of Reeve, who is being controlled by Cait Sith, who is being controlled by Reeve. I couldn't really cope with that.

I have absolutely no idea what the third instalment is planning to do, but I look forward to finding out! I'm fascinated by the question of whether Cloud is aware of Aerith's death.

[tinkaton]

god I even played Dirge when it first came out and I don't remember that at all sjdskjfh that whole game was like a fever dream I think. teenage me loading up it up with gritted teeth like "anything for my beloved Vincent..."

yeah I'm very intrigued how they're going to wrap this up, especially considering how much plot they still have to get through. I can't believe we have to wait again ughhh 😔 I really want Cloud to be hallucinating Aerith/think she's alive/whatever, that would be such juicy drama.

[sleepyquail]

Joining you in the Finally Finished Rebirth club! Big agree about the sheer quantity of everything, it's kind of insane. I mean, I might be now using chapter select to go back and do some final stuff I missed, but there was just SO MUCH STUFF!!! I kept forgetting the story!! Which is impressive since I know the damn story already! I really hope part 3 cuts down on the sidequesting, I just cannot resist the siren call of a fillable map so it was set up specifically to draw me in.

I'm just running off with my Cid and Vincent crumbs in delight, but heavily tempered with One Fear that they're Making Cid nicer. Also why didn't he have any ciggies!! LET HIM SMOKE!!!! -_-

[rionaleonhart]

I'm really curious about how Cid will be portrayed when the series starts digging more deeply into his story! I hope the third instalment gives you the Cid (and the Cid/Vincent) you crave.