Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - Exclusive Amazon Edition

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth does a great job of retelling one of the all time greats in the JRPG genre. It keeps a lot of the story the same but expands on it as well as adding a few extra layers. As always I split my reviews into 3 categories, Story, Characters, and Gameplay with story getting the most weight Story 10/10 If they had just done nothing but retell this portion of the original, I would have probably given it a 9. But, for me, the additions to the story, the extra layers, and all of the parts that today's technology allows the story teller to illustrate that the 90's technology doesn't just brings this story to it's perfection. You pick up right after the remake (which I strongly suggest you play first as well as integrade dlc) where Cloud and his companions are headed out into the world to try and track down Sephiroth. I'll be honest, the story takes a while to get going. However, it's not a huge detriment because of how quickly the world opens up and you are handed so many fun things to do and to explore. If you've played the 90's version you know where the story is supposed to go. The story progression reminds me A LOT of FFX which happens to be my favorite video game of all time. You get the feeling this is a sad story but you don't quite know why (if you haven't played the 90's version that is). The story is fantastic all around. If I had to knock it at all, I would say that sometimes the overall "silliness" of the game can be a little off putting. Maybe that's just me being 20 years older than I was when I played the original VII. That being said, this isn't enough to detract from the overall greatness that is the crux of the FFVII story. Characters 10/10 There isn't much to say here. If you know anything about final fantasy, you know these characters. The development that you see in these characters is astounding. Watching Barret deal with his terrible past, Aerith coming to terms with her destiny, Red XIII finding out who he is, Cait Sith, wrestling with his allegiances, Tifa trying to figure out Cloud and what that means for her, and Yuffie just growing up in general. You get the feeling these characters are truly in it together and you are right there with them. Sephiroth has always been amazing...and he still is here. The new twist on Shinra is fantastic as well. Cloud is....well Cloud. He's probably the dullest character out of all of them but he's supposed to be. He's barely there a lot of times degrading from the experiments done on him. He loses his grip on reality and you get a front row seat to watch him continue to spiral. I'm betting the 3rd game is really going to be interesting here.... Gameplay 8.5/10 It's so hard to knock this game's gameplay because there is sooooo much here that is so great. First let's just talk about the open world feeling. I loved it. They plop you into several big open spaces and basically say "do what you want, here's a ton of fun sidequests to do or just continue on with the story". The sidequests are fun and force you to explore the various maps. Such a huge improvement over remake with this. Oh and the character side quests...such a vast improvement. No longer are you going from house to house collecting crap (yeah the remake sidequests are aaawwwffuulll). Each sidequest actually has some thought in it...and i feel like they've decreased the number of them..which is a good thing. Some quests up your relationship status with certain characters which is great and adds an additional layer to the game. Queens blood was such an amazing addition to the game. I love this card game and the story behind it was such a nice touch. Best minigame since blitzball (the FFX version...not X-2) The battle mechanics I feel have improved over the first one. The game forces you to use different party make ups and most are story driven. That can be irritating sometimes and switching materia and equipment around can also be irritating but all in all I think this is a positive. I really enjoyed how the game kind of forces you to switch around between characters during the fight so you can maximize your damage and really learn how to play all the characters. There are a few things though that just really detract from the gameplay. First is the forced slow walking. I know this sounds nitpicky but man...the places where they force you to walk at a leisurely pace are too often way drawn out and overly long...and boring. Next...what was that Cait Sith portion of Nibelheim manor? I almost quit on that part...not really but it was the worst part of the game by far. In general, most of the mini games were fun and a nice distraction from the main story...but at times i did feel they were too much of a distraction. At times in the game, I found myself getting irritated with all of the games I was being forced to play and just wanted to get back to the story. It was that good. While I completed 100% of all of the maps, I didn't find myself to enthused with completing all of the Chapley stuff. The battle simulator tasks and quests just didn't really do it for me. I did a good chunk of it but it wasn't good enough to motivate me to complete it. Though i did a lot more of it than i did in remake. I know I mentioned this earlier but I think it's worth repeating here. Sometimes the game was just...silly. Sometimes the characters just acted stupid and juvenile. I know this is commonplace in a lot of JRPG's and that's fine but this game really had a more mature feel to it and I found myself getting pulled out of the experience when some character randomly acts like a 5 year old or does something just to be silly that makes no sense. Overall 9.5/10 Honestly this is the best FF game I've played in probably 15-20 years. I said the same thing about 5 months ago when I finished FF XVI. I really liked that game. The mature take, the characters, the world. All of it was really interesting and I enjoyed it thoroughly. But Rebirth just had so much good in it you have to put it on top. Outside of FFX and IX, this is probably the best FF game since those. I know I wrote a whole paragraph above about nitpicking the gameplay (and some of those weren't nitpicks...some of those were just straight up detractions of a great game) but honestly the rest is just so good. I played this game for 100+ hours. I could not have done that if any part of it wasn't pretty awesome. And this game delivers in a big way. I can't wait until the 3rd game.