Final Fantasy VII REBIRTH - Part 2 (Feb 29th, 2024 Release Date) - Reviews are Out! (NO SPOILERS - See Post 385)

[GoAwayPanarin]

I've dipped back into the game here and there on my quest to platinum this thing. It's going to take a while, some of the trophies are reallllly f***ing difficult to get. Finally knocked out

Spoiler

the 3rd glide de chocobo mini game. Had to look up how to do it because I kept on failing in the same spot.

On another note...

Spoiler

f***KKKKKKKK Chadley's Legendary challenges.

Agreed, I watched the whole thing before the game came out, ALL cutscenes from Remake, and was still left confused by the end and start of Rebirth.

Actually I should just ask now. Without too many major spoilers, but the scenes with Zack are f***ing confusing, is that a flashback or flashforward? I'm so confused

In Rebirth?

Uhh... I don't know that this can be answered with out really dropping quasi serious spoilers.

Finished it at 95 hours while leaving most of the chapter 12 side stuff alone. I thought the temple was a great dungeon, probably the best out of the two games plus Yuffie DLC. Now to go read up on the ending to make sure I didn't miss anything.

Chapter 13 and 9 were my favorites which is saying alot because I didn't think chapter 4 would be able to be beat.

Lots of fantastic lore in both.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Nibelheim is the closest I’ve come to throwing my controller in my life.

 

[The Merchant]

Here's a really great spoiler-filled discussion about the game. It's a doozy, but worth it.

 

[Shareefruck]

Here's a really great spoiler-filled discussion about the game. It's a doozy, but worth it.

I feel like his Jenova theory has to be a massive stretch, no? It doesn't really seem to add up to me, and his evidence for it seemed like it could just as easily apply to any of the other possibilities (for example, why Aerith at the end only uses dialogue from past moments in the game-- that could really mean anything). But it is pretty neat how the game managed to leave it SO open to interpretation that there are legitimately like 5 different Aeriths that it could possibly be at the end (that are each equally likely, and that COULD change from scene to scene within the same sequence) and we just don't know which one it is. It is nutty.

Maybe it's just me, but honestly, I had a lot of frustrations trying to follow his thoughts in this podcast, though. I thought Max was a little less coherent in this discussion than he was in Remake. Considering how convoluted the ambiguities of the game are and the fact that we didn't know his take going into this talk, I wish he would be more upfront and less mysterious/theatrical about how he presents his theories. He kept doing this thing where he starts out framing things a certain way that made you assume it was his genuine opinion of what was going on, and then possibly but unclearly under-cutting it as a fake-out by suggesting something completely different from that, implying that the former was just the natural but wrong assumption and the latter is what he actually thinks is happening, and when follow-up questions are asked to try to make sense of that actual theory (because oh boy, do they need to be), he may or may not do the same thing again (or even suggest a theory that he DOESN'T necessarily believe but is also a possibility), which kept making me lose track and go "Wait, so which one of the two different things that you said is the thing that you think?! How does it connect with that other ambiguous thing you said earlier? Was the earlier thing I'm thinking of one of the real takes or one of the fake-out takes or one of the 'who-knows?' takes?" several times. I feel like the Easy Allies guys also got lost a few times as well.

Also, man, this guy always bends over backwards to be as hyped/forgiving as possible for this stuff (although admittedly, I have sort of similarly started to 180 on a lot of my initial criticisms as well). He's fun, charismatic, passionate, and knowledgeable, but I always have to take his takeaways with a grain of salt.

It is a fun listen regardless, though.

 

[kingsholygrail]

I'm already eager to get my hands on playing Vincent. Hopefully I don't have to wait too long for it.

 

[Jovavic]

2027 for part 3 looks very possible according to recent interviews. The story is written and they'll begin voice acting soon, hopefully Chandley doesn't get as many lines as a main character in this one. 2027 would be the 30th anniversary of the OG game.

 

[kingsholygrail]

Beat it! And I thought the last boss gauntlet in the first one was long.

Spoiler: Thoughts on story

I don't think the core story has actually strayed from the original all that much. We're just getting a lot more details on what was going on in the background. They're incorporating more stuff from the other games, especially Crisis Core and the movie Advent Children(Roche was Sepiroth Clone 4). I interpret a lot of the "Multiverse" stuff as just the Lifestream and the battle going on there with Sephiroth slowly taking control of it.

There's a lot to look forward to in the next game. Lucrecia and Hojo being Sephiroth's birth parents. Professor Gast(Aerith's father) and all his research that led to the S-Project and G-Project. Probably not going to get any Genesis as that's resolved in Dirge of Cerebus I'm pretty sure. The Highwind. The Northern Crater. Snowboarding. Tifa and Scarlet having a slap fight in Junon. Rocket town and Wutai! Weapons! Gonna be awesome.

2027 for part 3 looks very possible according to recent interviews. The story is written and they'll begin voice acting soon, hopefully Chandley doesn't get as many lines as a main character in this one. 2027 would be the 30th anniversary of the OG game.

They also retained the development team. I really liked this game's system more than the first one. I hope they smooth it out even more.

 

[Khelandros]

About to board the tram to go to the Gold Saucer. My only gripe so far would have to be the weapons. Every new one I pick up is not an improvement. I'm still using the Buster Sword with Cloud.

 

[Jovavic]

About to board the tram to go to the Gold Saucer. My only gripe so far would have to be the weapons. Every new one I pick up is not an improvement. I'm still using the Buster Sword with Cloud.

Are you using the weapon skill slots? They're under the materia in the equip menu, and in the upgrade weapon menu.

 

[Shareefruck]

About to board the tram to go to the Gold Saucer. My only gripe so far would have to be the weapons. Every new one I pick up is not an improvement. I'm still using the Buster Sword with Cloud.

That's actually one thing I really like about the game. It's not just constant escalation, where previous things become antiquated-- new weapons just have different situational uses depending on how you want to use your character, and they give you new abilities. An iconic sword like the Buster Sword remains viable the whole way through.

 

[Khelandros]

Are you using the weapon skill slots? They're under the materia in the equip menu, and in the upgrade weapon menu.

Which is why I am still using the Buster Sword. I can add magic or physical damage to it and it is still the strongest weapon.

 

[Shareefruck]

This video better verbalized the theory/clues I mentioned earlier that makes me potentially really optimistic (but still cautious because it might not happen) about the direction that the FFVII Remake trilogy might be heading, and that would no longer lead me to feel that it betrays the original game's themes, or that the weird "nonsensical stuff" is actually dumb/tasteless.

Spoiler

In my opinion, this is the only path forward that justifies any of the more seemingly nonsensical elements of the game. Timelines/"resisting fate" being the true objective of the trilogy I feel would really really suck, would be really childish, and would be completely antithetical to the original game's more mature themes, which is actually a little closer to the opposite idea-- "accepting fate and how it's beyond your control, but moving forward anyways."

Crossing my fingers hard that this is what they're actually doing.

 

[K Fleur]

I think this game overall was really great , maybe the most fun I’ve had with a Square game since Kingdom Hearts 2.

I thought the last 3 chapters were a drag though. Really did not like the design of the Temple of Ancients and what they did with Forgotten Capital.

 

[Nemesis Prime]

This video better verbalized the theory/clues I mentioned earlier that makes me potentially really optimistic (but still cautious because it might not happen) about the direction that the FFVII Remake trilogy might be heading, and that would no longer lead me to feel that it betrays the original game's themes, or that the weird "nonsensical stuff" is actually dumb/tasteless.

Spoiler

In my opinion, this is the only path forward that justifies any of the more seemingly nonsensical elements of the game. Timelines/"resisting fate" being the true objective of the trilogy I feel would really really suck, would be really childish, and would be completely antithetical to the original game's more mature themes, which is actually a little closer to the opposite idea-- "accepting fate and how it's beyond your control, but moving forward anyways."

Crossing my fingers hard that this is what they're actually doing.

This is what it's going to be and it's really dumb that they're doing it. They could have just done a more faithful remake than do the fakeout route for it to end the same way. Once they mentioned this remake project is going to link with Advent Children it was dead in the water to me.

Either do a faithful remake or do something completely different.

 

[Shareefruck]

This is what it's going to be and it's really dumb that they're doing it. They could have just done a more faithful remake than do the fakeout route for it to end the same way. Once they mentioned this remake project is going to link with Advent Children it was dead in the water to me.

Either do a faithful remake or do something completely different.

Can't say I totally agree. It depends on the execution, but I think something like that could potentially be just a way to more strongly emphasize the themes of the original (like, "of course THAT is what we all desperately and foolishly cling to, it's human nature, but THIS is the brutal reality that we actually have to come to terms with and accept"). That process of denial and acceptance would be pretty fitting of the original game's themes, IMO. Don't know if they'll do it in a way that's any good, but I do think there's potentially something interesting/worthwhile there.

I'm still not sure how all of that could be tied together/reconciled with how Sephiroth's been framing it and whatever he's trying to do, though (it does seem a little too messy now to neatly tie up in a satisfying way). Also not sure why it would make any sense for dreams to branch when different decisions are made

I could also be happy if they did something completely different narratively (yet equally strong) but that still reinforced the same general spirit of the original, but I would not respect the idea of doing something "completely different" to the point that the themes are changed into something much more obnoxiously stupid and antithetical to the whole point of the original, like "fighting fate," which is the direction that this originally seemed to be going. Novelty for the sake of novelty is moronic, IMO. (and let's not pretend that it's even a fresh of an idea to begin with-- These creators have obsessively done the "fighting fate" thing over and over with much crappier properties, it's a complete joke that deserves to be laughed at)

I do agree that linking with Advent Children is a stupid idea in general, but that was always going to be the case, IMO, with or without this theory.

I don't think the theory is ideal in isolation, but it would be a lot better than the alternative path we were heading in, in my eyes. Best of a bad situation, type of thing.

Edit: I do see some holes in the theory, though (that could just turn out to be oversights that the devs didn't consider). For example, if these are the dreams of the departed, why would Red XIII appear in the helicopter, when neither Zack nor Biggs have ever met him?

Ultimately, I would say:
[Mostly authentic remake that only tries to improve the ACTUAL flaws of the original and get a close to perfect as possible] >> [Something completely new but respects the same spirit/themes] >> [this theory that respects the original spirit/themes] >> [something completely new that doesn't respect the same spirit/themes] >> [this half-assed middle-ground that still doesn't respect the original's spirit/themes]

 

[Tw1ster]

I’m onto chapter 10 so far and enjoying it quite a bit. My biggest complaint so far is being forced to play with different characters. I understand why and can appreciate it but I’m absolutely miserable when I have to play as Aerith and Tifa