Overview

Here we are after almost 4 years of anticipation, The Unknown Journey continues, I remember playing Final Fantasy 7 Remake back in 2020, sitting there as the credits rolled giving a nice golf clap, thinking "that was pretty good" but I wondered and worried about the future of this trilogy given the defiant conclusion and changes made to the story, and I'll be honest I was excited, but also a little nervous to see where they'd take a game that is so beloved, so heavily impactful, and a story that is near and dear to many peoples heart, myself included and man, they absolutely did it.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is a phenomenal experience, and is in my opinion the best Final Fantasy game that we've gotten since FF 10 back in 2001, seriously this game captures the lighting in a bottle that defined the beauty of Final Fantasy 7's original release, but also understands the magic that makes a the Final Fantasy experience so awe inspiring. Whether it is how the game continues to evolve on it's new real time ATB system marrying real time combat with it's turn-based roots, the various regions of Gaia and the various activities and stories that transpire, or the laundry list of entertaining mini-games that feel like they could be there own independent thing. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is a magical experience, and one that whilst isn't perfect, is full of love, care, and magic that makes this experience a unique and unforgettable one.

Story

The story for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth picks up from where 2020's Remake concluded following the parties escape form Midgar. If there is one thing that I can say straight out the gate, it don't believe his lies, Square stating that you can go into Rebirth with no knowledge of the original isn't entirely wrong, but is far from the truth. You'll be able to follow the broad strokes story, and in many ways structurally Rebirth does retell many of the greatest hits of the original. But I feel that this remake trilogy definitely does shove a ton of fan service and plenty of references to the original and the external media here into Rebirth.

So I'd say the short answer is yes, you can play this standalone, but I do believe that the weight and implications of many scenes in this game will potentially be missed without having an understanding of key events and relationships in the original game.

In terms of structure, it feels like Rebirth sits in this weird position where it simultaneously feels faithful to a large chunk of events that transpired in the original whilst re-contextualizing and throwing in its own twists and turns along the way. The story alone should run you around 40 to 50 hours to complete, with a wealth of side adventures and activities that I'd highly recommend taking part in, as these do a great job at further fleshing out the world of Gaia and telling micro-stories within the world. The pacing for the main story of Rebirth, whilst nowhere near as bloated as Remake, at times does feel in some places a bit rushed in order to move the story to its end destination, but at the same time has two points that grind to a halt.

But honestly it wasn't something that I felt weighed the experience down, and ultimately without diving deep into the details of its story, feels as much like a nostalgic trip down memory lane, as it does a new journey setting out into the unknown. As we all know that this series isn't a 1 to 1 remake, it has the potential to still surprise you, and for better or worse it will definitely surprise you with many of the choices that have been made. I do believe that many of the choices that are made in this story will be up for debate as to whether that landed well, or if they were good choices, and much like Remake, Rebirth will leave you with many new questions left up in the air, which makes the wait for Part 3 more agonizing. Overall, like I said with Remake it is hard to fully determine the choices made without seeing the trilogy to its full conclusion, within the context of Rebirth alone, I think that for the most part the story is quite comprehensive, and I personally enjoyed the narrative experience through to its conclusion, even if there are still many questions that have been left unanswered. But for others this may serve as a point of annoyance, because much like Remake, Rebirth does start to go off the rails and deviate with it's own story elements, which I personally don't dislike and do see potential with them being able to tell quite a clever reimaging and re-contextualized Final Fantasy 7. I personally do believe that the story they're trying to tell here is undeniably ambitious and it really can go either way, with how everything is pieced together and explained in part 3. As for now the wait for Journey's End could not come any sooner.

As this is a spoiler free discussion I feel this is all I can really talk about without getting into the finer details, I do have a lot of thoughts and opinions Rebirth's story, and I'm considering making a separate video for that alone, let me know in the comments if you'd be up for that.

Combat

Active Time Combat

Now I'd like to talk about the combat for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth which I feel cleverly evolves on the formula established in Remake, which is still the best blend of action-based and turn-based combat found in recent entries. They take this evolution even further with introducing three new playable characters that are Red 13, Yuffie, and Cait Sith and each playstyle much like the cast in Remake comes with their own unique kit of abilities that makes approaching combat feel versatile from the very core mechanics at play. There are so many moving parts to the overarching combat of Final Fantasy 7 that makes each encounter engaging from accessing the weaknesses, figuring out weaknesses, and staggering foes to deal heavy damage. It on the surface looks like a hack-n-slash action game, but deep below that surface is a sophisticated system that asks the player to remain as strategic in their approach as they would in a turn-based experience. I'd argue that one of Remake's strongest strengths was it's combat, and how it worked to create imaginative boss encounters, and a much more dynamic take on combat, and here in Rebirth they've doubled down on the spectacle whilst sustaining a strong focus on strategy.

Synergy Skills and Abilities

One of the way's Square cleverly executes this is through a whole new dimension of combat called Synergy System, which build on the foundations of the Synergy Attacks introduced with the Intermission expansion. There are two different types of Synergy attacks in Rebirth, those being Synergy skills and Synergy abilities. The Synergy System serves as a team combo attack that the character you control in-battle shares with other active party members. There are plenty that you'll unlock throughout your playthrough through the new Folio system, which we'll talk about shortly.

So as I mentioned earlier there are two forms of Synergy Attacks, one a Synergy Skill that operates as an additional ability that you can use with your teammates similar to a weapon skill except it doesn't consume any ATB bars, and the uses of these various skills can span from offensive, defensive or support. How Synergy Abilities work, is that they serve as a co-op Limit Break where two members in the party will deal a devastating attack, which can also cast a temporary buff on the team, such as breaking the ATB bar into 3 slots or making all spells cost 0 MP for a duration of time.

These abilities offer a wealth of depth and really do as the name suggests urge you to think and synergize your party accordingly for the best type of approach to the various different foes, and wildlife you'll encounter throughout this lengthy journey.

Gameplay Systems

Materia and Weapon Progression

On the flipside of the Gameplay, is the underlying Gameplay Systems that lock Rebirth into place and I'm going to start with the progression for Rebirth, which I feel is insanely robust. It maintains the core foundations of its originals counterpart, having a materia system that is flexible and enables plenty of player experimentation, but also has a broader net of abilities with the Weapon Proficiency system that was introduced in Remake. I absolutely loved the different weapons that you would find in Rebirth solely for the new abilities that you'd acquire. The system for levelling up the weapons themselves has been simplified here in Rebirth, where there is no longer a crysterium style level system for each characters weapons, but instead a more broader level number that opens up a number of weapon specific bonus's that you can add to improve your weapon. I think that it may seem watered down compared to the amount of abilities and stat increases in remake, but in Rebirth whilst there is a smaller set of upgrades you can apply to your weapon, they do feel more substantial than they did in Remake, and do provide some sort of mix and matching to modify your playstyle.

Folios

Rebirth see's the inclusion of a new Skill Tree progression system that is set of each party member called a Folio. The Skill points acquired throughout your playthrough are used to unlock abilities in each character specific skill tree which allows for individual upgrades, unlocking different synergy skills and abilities and even new limit breaks. The Folio skill tree feels like it provides a good mix of individual character upgrades and team upgrades and most of the progression here does feel meaningful. The overall progression of the Folio tree itself expands the more you upgrade the party level, which works in a similar fashion to how you upgrade your weapons. You'll get party xp from completing Side quests and World Intel, making you feel rewarded for engaging with the side content.

Bonds of Friendship

There's a brand new system introduced in Rebirth that is referred to as "Bonds of Friendship" which provide more intimate scenes between Cloud and the various party members. It provides special moments between many of the cast of characters and it does allow you to get to know many of these characters on a more personal level that the original did have as a hidden system, but they fleshed out and doubled down on in Rebirth. It feels quite unique, the closest thing it reminds me of is the heart-to-heart conversations found in Xenoblade, but here in Rebirth, they feel more cinematic and meaningful.

I do feel like this system is fantastic and provides so much additional conversations and moments between all of the characters. It isn't just these conversation moments with characters that improves your relationship with them, but also executing new Synergy abilities together, and completing side quests that involve particular party members. It's a great system, and leads to some interesting payoffs.

Overall it feels like all of the different forms of progression systems in Rebirth feed into the exploration and combat of the experience well, rewarding the player for any piece of the game's content they choose to engage with.

Exploration

World Intel

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth kicks off with the party escaping the city of Midgar and setting out into the world of Gaia, and will see you visiting many of the iconic areas that were found in the original game, with some optional areas becoming more of a main course here. These different areas are divided into regions and the environments for each region feel like it strikes the right balance between land mass to explore and activities to complete. So what activities are there that occupy these regions, well they're a blend of open world map marked staples you've seen before, like the towers which reveal other objectives, defeating marked enemies, or scanning different lifesprings. Whilst they're nothing new in their structure or concept, it's how they're handled here in Rebirth feels nice, as many of these different quests lead to some interesting discoveries and the activities themselves flesh out the regions you're exploring from the ecology, Ancient Relics, and Moogles in need. There is also one form of quest which is unique in its form in each region, known as protorelics and I highly urge completing all of them. I'd liken open world in terms of its structure and design to something like Ghosts of Tsushima actually. What I mean by this is that the formula and way in which FF7 Rebirth conducts its open world providing a map marker driven open world full of activities and collectibles. But it is the combat, the world, and modes of traversal in-between these activities along the surprises that keep you going along the way. Rebirth's open world objectives don't reinvent the wheel, but they never needed to in my opinion, they more needed to recapture the magic of exploring the world of Gaia and that is something that I think Square have been able to pull off well here in Rebirth.

One thing that I really do like here in Rebirth is how traversal of each region is handled, and the main driver for this is the diverse range of different Chocobos that have a unique ability based on the region you are in, providing different modes of traversing the world, from climbing mountains, gliding the skies, or traversing the sea. These different abilities break up each location to make it feel distinct and interesting.

There's these cute baby Chocobos that lead you to rest points, that remind me of the foxes that guide you in Ghosts of Tsushima, and for those who like patting things, yes you can pat the Chocobo. There is a large variety of content that can take up your time here in Rebirth but if there is one quest-line of side content that I would highly recommend as a must to do it would be the proto-relics that occupy each region telling their own unique stories, and seriously are worth it.

Side Quests

Side Quests see a return here in Rebirth and accompany the world Intel providing stories that further flesh out the cities and districts that you'll explore. The quests in terms of the stories and structure are a mixed bag, some tell some interesting stories, and honestly the quests themselves in terms of what they're getting you to do, can feel quite mundane, but the conversations and banter amongst party members makes them feel worthwhile doing. An example of this is I legit did an escort mission guiding a dog from point A to B, and I know sounds like a played out quest in design, and yeah sure you aren't wrong. But I feel what makes this seemingly simple quest so memorable is like the conversations between the characters along the way, the addictive combat and the lush landscapes that you just look for an excuse to see a nook and cranny of the various regions of Gaia.

To me the side quests at their best, feel on-par with those filler chapters that we'd find in remake, and to be honest as Side Quests I do prefer that. Like I said earlier as well, many of these quests also tie in one of your party members, giving you the opportunity to spend more time with them, and get to know them, alongside the world, the people. If there's one thing that it feels like remake tried to convey from the original it would be the struggle between the people living in the slums vs the people living on the top plate. It is trying to convey the plague and stranglehold that Shinra has on Midgar. Here in Rebirth, what the World Intel and Side Quests are trying to convey is the world, the nature, the contrast to the steel circular city that kicks off the Remake and original game, and that understanding of the planet and these different societies and how they live in tandem with the planet is something the original tried to convey, and I feel is captured quite well through this side content here in Rebirth.

Mini-Games

Okay now that we've talked about the open world, the side quests, and the world of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, I'd like to touch on the last major component, and that is the mini-games, and man some of these mini-games are competent enough in their foundations to be their own game. These mini-games are full of such charm and personality.

It's important to consider these mini-games that are unique reimagining's of story mini-games in the original, as well as a plethora of new mini-games that are distinct with their own mechanics and rewards and bring many of the different regions to life. There are multiple different activities that not only flesh out the region, but also the various hubs for each region, bringing each of the major cities to life, in a more lively way than Remake.

Whilst I do feel that some may find there are too many mini-games, to me I feel that the mini-games particularly story ones in Rebirth capture the magic of the the PS1 era of Final Fantasy games, and a reminder of the PS1/PS2 period of gaming. Here in Rebirth the mini-games break up the more serious moments of story, with these light-hearted stop off points, but with a visual flare and control mapping that follows modern conventions. I felt weirdly nostalgic playing through many of these different mini-games.

Queen's Blood

This next particular mini-game, deserves its own little slot here in the review and that is none other than Queen's Blood, which is a new card game that serves as an addictive detour that serves as its own unique quest-line and side activity that populates any town and hub that you discover and makes it worth exploring, and to circle back to many of the critiques I had of Final Fantasy 16, and even Remake to an extent, is the lack of meaningful activities that occupy the hubs and towns of an open world game.

Queen's Blood took up tons of hours of my time in Rebirth, not just because it was a nice distraction, but also an addictive mini-game and one that in it's roots and foundations could even serve as it's own stand-alone game, similarly to Gwent in The Witcher. Seriously, there is so much love, and depth that is put into this one mini-game alone, and the fact that there is this narrative thread too, that also plays in conjunction with the different challengers that you face in the different regions, and the ranks you climb as you progress. It is such a stellar mini-game and it's insane just how much love, care and effort has been placed into every facet of this mini-game and how it is more largely speaking a testament to the effort and love put into to open-world aspects of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

Visuals and Sound

Now, I'd like to talk about the overall Presentation for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, primarily the visuals and sound, and man, the soundtrack for Rebirth is phenomenal seeing the return of the dynamic soundtrack which plays different variants of tracks depending on if you're in or out of combat, or experiencing a different part of the story. The ways that many of the iconic tracks from the original game have been recomposed and used here in Rebirth, really does land to sell the atmosphere, the pivotal moments, and the sense of freedom and exploration that Rebirth gives way to in this experience. The main theme of Final Fantasy 7, has never felt so varied, and distinct, and many of the different regional themes further create a unique presence that I was talking about in the open world segment, that sells this sense of place, connection to the environment and your presence within this world.

The acting performances from the various cast members here is great as well, and so many of these impactful moments landed quite well for me because of it. I felt, the writing itself to be a tad cheesy at times, but the performances themselves handled them really well. I think Cody Christian's role as Cloud really did shine a lot more here in Rebirth, with us getting to slowly see more sides of the character, as in Remake Cloud's character still hasn't really opened up to the party. Some other show stealing roles was Suzie Yueng's role as Yuffie and John Eric Bentley's role as Barrett. Every time they were on screen I was just keen for whatever shenanigan's would transpire.

Alongside the beautifully crafted soundtrack that see's the return of the of industry icon Nobuo Uematsu, the visual splendour that depicts the world of Gaia feels incredible, the sense of scale, and again the charcters place within the world, is so deeply felt. An obvious example of this is the canon city of Junon and the sense of scale and its presence that is inescapable even from a far is absolutely incredible. The variation of the different locations that you visit the make up the curated world of Gaia that Square has decided to show in Rebirth really are nothing short of a testament to how beautifully envisioned the world of Final Fantasy 7 was back in 1997, and how brilliantly it's been brought to life here in Rebirth. It makes me hope for their return in part 3, and for Square to bring the res of this incredible world to life

On the visual slash performance side of things I felt the lighting would sometimes make some of the character models look a little weird and downright scary at times, and there is the known issue of blur when playing in performance mode, which Square have acknowledged and mentioned that a patch is on the way.

Overall I felt that the soundtrack, the reimagining's of many of these tracks, as well as the new additions really did bring to life, all of the main party members are full of charm and endearing personality, that captures the FF7 party and their interactions in a modern cinematic way that simply wasn't possible in 97. It feels like each location you visit, enemy you encounter, or side activity you take part in has been faithfully redesigned to recapture the magic and essence of what made the lands of Gaia such a magical place to explore decades ago, and in terms of the music and environments I really do believe that they sell the experience.

Conclusion

To bring this lengthy review to a close, I absolutely loved my time with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and as someone who had reservations for this entry particularly after the narrative hooks that closed out the remake, I am surprised with how well almost all aspects of this game sat with me. Yes, it's narrative can be convoluted and honestly for those with no experience with the original navigating this "remake" could be quite a challenge. But in terms of narrative changes, I don't feel that any ruin the original game, and I feel with in the context of the remake have the potential to land and hit us in a whole new way, just as the 1997 release did decades ago. The FF7 re-trilogy was never meant to be a replacement, but a compliment to the original, and as a video game, I feel Rebirth makes good on all the elements of what F77 was trying to be, and having replayed Remake, and playing Rebirth recently I've come to the conclusion that I love this re-trilogy for it's own identity, much like how I feel for the original, and even if part 3 narratively doesn't deliver, it can't take away the good experience, memories and time that Rebirth was. Because simply put Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is a love letter to Final Fantasy 7, its legacy, and more broadly a reminder to us what makes the Final Fantasy series so special to us, and I'm nothing but nervously excited for Journey's End.