“Final Fantasy VII Rebirth” is the sequel to 2020’s critically acclaimed “Final Fantasy VII Remake” and allows players to return to the story outside of Midgar.
This game picks up right where “Remake” left off with the party leaving Midgar to stop the evil godlike swordsman Sephiroth. “Rebirth’s” story covers up to the Forgotten Capital, which was originally the end of disc one in the original 1997 JRPG classic.
This game keeps the open feel of the original game by making multiple open world areas filled with story, side quests, locations, and minigames. The story shares the same linear format of “Remake”, but the open world is anything but linear with multiple activities in almost any direction you look.
The combat is also revamped and feels quite different from “Remake”. The addition of synergy abilities creates many more possibilities for increasing effects like the limit gauge (which acts like a super move), stagger time (the amount of time an enemy takes increased damage), or granting unlimited magic points to use for spells. The new combat makes the entire party feel like they are fighting as a team rather than individually like it did sometimes in “Remake”.
There are also the character introductions of the remaining members of the party, these being Yuffie, Cait Sith, Cid, and Vincent. Yuffie and Cait Sith are the only ones that are playable out of the new introductions and are both incredibly fun and allow for a lot of creative team ups with the returning party members. Cid and Vincent are both very cool, but sadly they are not playable in this game.
The returning locations are breathtaking for returning fans with places like Kalm, Junon, Costa Del Sol, The Gold Saucer, and Cosmo Canyon being seamlessly explorable with the open world. There is one notable exclusion from the first disc of the game and that is Rocket Town. Without Rocket Town Cid is introduced differently, but it still works and the location will be in the third game.
The story follows most of the same story beats with some events moved around and some new events particularly in Gongaga where an entire piece of story not in the original is added. The story, although similar in almost every way to the original, follows the precedent of “Remake” with slight changes to interactions, characters, and expansion of events to create a fresh experience even for returning fans. Even though it is a sequel it can be played without playing “Remake”, but it is recommended that you play that one first.
There are a lot of minigames in this and sometimes especially towards the end they can feel like they are distracting from the main story. They vary in quality, but all of them are fun, particularly ones like the Chocobo Racing, the piano, and the rhythm game sections. Yet, one minigame stands above the rest and that is the card game Queen’s Blood. It is by far the best minigame and takes some actual strategy to beat opponents, especially towards the end of the game.
Overall “Final Fantasy VII Rebirth” is a worthy successor to both the original and 2020’s “Remake”. With a third part to cap off the “Final Fantasy VII Remake Project” coming in the future it would be strange to not recommend this game whether you’ve played “Remake” or not.
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Square Enix Creative Business Unit 1
Platform: Playstation 5
ESRB Rating: T
Price: $69.99
My Rating: ★★★★★
