Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Playthrough Part 2
22024, PS5. Rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
After managing to pull off an audacious feat with Remake, Square Enix doubles down and goes for the jugular with Rebirth, which largely hews to the second half of disc 1 of the original. Like Remake, the game takes advantage of the new technology and resources to make an alive and vibrant world that brings dimension and wonder to a world that, when created in 1997, felt like nothing we had ever experienced.
That is certainly true with Rebirth, which is straddling a fine line between fealty to the original model while going in some new directions. Those new directions are immediately evident with the prologue, which suggests there are multiple storylines and timelines that are threatening to converge, which was a theme in Remake. From a point A to point B story arc, Rebirth follows most of the story points from the original, but it does condense or shuffle a few things for pacing and narrative purposes. The two big omissions are Rocket Town and Wutai. It’s also worth noting Cid Highwind’s character is more of a support in this game as well as Vincent and are not actually playable characters. That’s not a demerit, per se, but it’ll be interesting to see what happens in part 3.
The game’s story is certainly ambitious and does require you having played the original and, to an extent, Crisis Core, to make sense of the many intertwined story elements. Even playing Ever Crisis and Before Crisis help provide context. The game takes it time and sprawls a bit, which works as a strength and weakness. Some moments are spectacular and worth the candle. Others feel more like unnecessary fanservice. It helps that the voice acting is superb and carries its weight in the emotional moments—and there are plenty.
The mechanics haven’t changed much and the inclusion of new characters doesn’t cause any real issues. The system has been fine-tuned a little to make team and tandem actions in combat and it all ties into character interactions and relationships, which is a key focus of Rebirth.
It’s a little hard to grade Rebirth because it is the middle chapter and ends on many emotional and storyline cliffhangers to where you have to see how this ends first. There are many storylines and elements that need to be resolved in the finale. While the game is probably going to stick to the general story beats of disc 2 and 3, I imagine there’s more room to maneuver and let the story dictate it. They’ve largely hewed to what has come before, but what they could and should do looms large over the finale. Can they stick the landing? It’s hard to say, but what they’ve done so far suggests they can. Given the many story elements they have to resolve, I think they would be well-served to shorten the chapters and let the storyline pace increase a bit. The dawdling in the middle chapter was a bit much at times; the finale needs to hit the accelerator. Still, this is an excellent achievement and a must-play for gamers.
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