You May Not Like Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, And That’s Okay

So, I finally got around to finishing Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and a couple of tips as we set the table: set the difficulty to  easy, set it to performance mode, swap often (if possible) characters to build ‘synergy’ charges. 

Square Enix has complained about their games not selling for years now. They’ve also been chasing the ghost of their success with Final Fantasy VII with successor stories, characters, and this 3-part reimagining. And to be clear, Final Fantasy VII, much like Square Enix’s own Dragon Quest, or the Dragon Ball, series are formative pieces of media with input from wunderkinds of various industries. As a poor kid who only experienced Final Fantasy VII through a demo disc as a child, the strong characters, story, message, etc., all were apparent to me. But more recently, Square Enix as a company has shifted: their leadership was set on NFTs, and they blamed their Western studios for not meeting sales expectations. This ultimately led to the Tomb Raider IP being sold to Amazon for 600 Million Dollars. Square Enix seems to highly respect Western journalists in their interactions with Kinda Funny, and have great PR in the fact that Aerith’s Voice Actress, Briana White, played through Final Fantasy VII Remake and cried at seeing her own scenes, and more recently, introducing us to gaming’s darling, Ben Starr. Sadly, none of this guarantees a good game. Most recently, I was let down by Kingdom Hearts III, where all the things they were building up to, all the things Nomura and Co. promised would be resolved either weren’t or were done with the devil-may-care attitude of college students brewing jungle juice.

With this revisiting (because they’ve revisited Final Fantasy VII multiple times), Square brought back many of the original staff, including Nobou Uematsu’s last contributions to Square Enix. These are quality games, and I’m sure Part 3 won’t be unplayable, but I feel the team is falling into the same trap they did with Kingdom Hearts III. There are multiple members of staff that have gone on to say ‘We made [Final Fantasy VII Rebirth] vague on purpose’, since release. While it’s fine to have some questions unanswered leading into the third game, Kingdom Hearts III boiled down to ‘lol Sora can fix it…probably’ which was supremely unsatisfying. I don’t want that to happen to the upcoming Final Fantasy VII Part 3, but I have a feeling it will. Square updated Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII to its Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion version, released multiple mobile games, made outlandish claims such as Final Fantasy X’s world being one and the same as Final Fantasy VII’s but what’s the point of espousing all this if you don’t land the metaphorical Highwind you’re building?

I am more than a bit sad about Final Fantasy VII Rebirth – many of us were weary about the strangeness, especially at the tail end of Final Fantasy VII Remake. With the completion of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, that makes TWO entire games where they’ve committed to at least telling us change and unpredictability will be a factor, but not committing to it. This brings me to the topic at hand: I’ve heard some people say they don’t like Rebirth as much as Remake, and I think I can understand why:

1. To Be Continued (Or Not): Virtually No Story Progress

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth starts with you leaving Midgard, having literally (Yes, you fight a big Meta-monster representing fate before taking on Sephiroth) changed fate. It left a big question that’s not really answered. Most of the story beats consist of you following Organization XIII, I mean black robes, around and Aerith and Tifa giggling. I love Aerith and Tifa, but you’ve asked me to pay $500 for a PS5, and $70 for part two out of three. I have zero problems with watching an influencer play through a game, which costs me zero dollars, but I felt like this was a watershed moment and I needed to be part of it since I missed Final Fantasy VII the first time around in 1997. 

There are tidbits of interesting story in the fact that Cloud’s psyche is fractured and a farcical war between Shinra and Wutai. In Square Enix’s defence, this part of the story is filled with betrayal and asks the question ‘Who exactly you can trust’ – a compelling question. Even the most casual fans of video games know Aerith isn’t long for this world in the original, and they’ve played with this in mind. I’ve learned a surprising amount about characters I didn’t think to expect like Barret and Red XIII, but in terms of story, the only consistent thing I’ve found is Cloud’s party routinely making the worst decisions possible and everyone is being played by a fiddle by Sephiroth. Additionally, there are SO MANY LAYERS with the betrayals, temporal/dimension shifting, and alternate versions of characters, it’s hard to know which way is up. And most damningly, MOST OF THIS DOESN’T MAKE ITSELF APPARENT IN THIS GAME. After watching a Maximilian Dood video referencing Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Ultimania, there are references to at least SIX universes/timelines. We’re told Cloud’s black materia is fake, but the consequences of it being fake(or not) and what he does with it aren’t explained. It’s not helped since, by the end of the game we learn Cloud is an unreliable narrator. Even then, to what extent, we don’t know.

Unreliable narrators only work when we’re given answers in other fashions. If a character says the sky is green, we KNOW the sky is blue because that’s a fact. The developers in various interviews and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Ultimania have told us in so many words ‘Even we’re not sure yet’, so while I applaud their candour, it just leaves me frustrated. While Maximilian Dood, one of the most dedicated and in-the-spotlight fans of Final Fantasy VII is going to revel in this regardless, I can’t help but think this is exactly why Square Enix isn’t seeing the sales they so often say they desire. How do they expect someone with no investment in the series, for example, a Zoomer born after 1997, to continue to care about this? While we do not know what’s happening next in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or in Sony’s Spiderverse Part 3, we have an idea. Which is much more than I can say for Final Fantasy VII Part 3. 

There are some great character moments, but when the looming overall question is still unanswered from the beginning of the game, I feel you owe your audience something, even if it isn’t the whole truth. Even Sephiroth in this game, taunts Cloud constantly (especially in the endgame fight) whether any of what’s happening is real - or if it matters. It’s in the same vein when games such as Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, lampshade the fact that they’re running into strange puzzles (‘no more crates’, ‘these things always come in three’) repeatedly. Just because the developer ACKNOWLEDGES the player is enduring something repetitive or annoying doesn’t actually absolve them for making the player part of the aforementioned tasks. Even if we restrict lampshading to this game and its previous entry, it’s different when a character hums the battle victory theme on winning a battle(a fun reference) versus treating the story as if it were the result of a shaken-up Magic-8 ball.

2. Time To Pay The Open World Tax!

Unlike Final Fantasy VII Remake, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth has an open world. While Ubisoft in particular has been on the wrong end of this in recent history, it’s a curious thing for Square Enix to say ‘We’re going to make an open world’ in the current climate of games. Of course, part of this is due to the fact that this was part of the original version of Final Fantasy VII, and most RPGs in general. The problem is, this also does not take into account how open worlds have evolved, with many citing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and its sequel as the golden standard, and I’m sure many look to Elden Ring’s The Lands Between fondly still. The person coordinating most of your open-world objectives is Chadley, which some people will immediately be deflated to see. While I understand this character is a bit of a dork and annoying on purpose, it’s clear from the general reaction many just found him annoying to the point of complaining. Square Enix realizes this themselves as Chadley has created his own gynoid/robot companion that’s a girl and deals with a bit of jealousy about it. When completing most of your open-world objectives, you’re forced to pause your progress to watch a clip of Chadley that you can’t skip. Similarly, open-world objectives will force you to stop and watch your regional data go up. This isn’t a mobile game where I’m enthralled by my gacha rolls because it generates dopamine and I’m being tempted to spend more virtual currency, it’s an experience that was just halted so Chadley can tell me something that’s most likely not important. In Final Fantasy VII Remake (and also partly in Rebirth), loading was hidden behind Cloud and Co. moving very slowly through debris, so I don’t know if this is a similar situation. But I don’t feel like my time is respected through all this. 

Faster navigation, through many different avenues (Chocoboback, dune buggy, by boat) is also a bit of a pain. The game lands somewhere between ‘fun for the player’ and realistic, but this just adds frustration and wait time. You cannot take Chocobos in combat, so demounting, remounting, and trying to avoid combat when exploring all add precious seconds you can’t get back to your 100-hour playthrough. Chocobos also operate on tank controls and have to manually be put to sprint, so sometimes it felt more like a struggle to take “advantage” of fast travel, unlike in the Batman: Arkham games where I can glide and swing around as if it were as natural as breathing. Probably most puzzlingly, there’s no real party chatter in the open world - there was plenty of it in Final Fantasy VII Remake, and you’d think with how much effort they put towards crafting great characters and deemphasising definitive story beats, they AT LEAST could’ve made sure character chatter was present in the open world. In the Batman: Arkham series, half the fun of roving around the City or Asylum was hearing how characters reacted to Batman. I know some people are tired of the open world, period, but I have a feeling that with superhero movies, people are ACTUALLY tired of BAD Superhero movies, not them in general. Give us an open world worth exploring, and players will love to take part. 

3. Your Least Favorite Coworkers: You’re Immediately Reunited with Unlikeable Characters

I try to take things at face value, as it feels wrong to hold prejudice against something I’ve not even experienced yet. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth definitely tests that with them IMMEDIATELY reuniting me with unlikeable characters. I’ve already mentioned Chadley, and I get the joke but many people don’t and are forced to interact with someone they hate, as he’s your ‘guy in the chair’ for much of the open world. I also found myself at too low a level to approach some content pretty early on, where I ran into Beck’s Badasses. These numbskulls are part of a Team Rocket gag that lasts entirely too long for being 20 years too late. And this would be fine if you specifically sought this content out, but I NEEDED to find things to do in the open world for experience because unfortunately, Queen’s Blood doesn’t give experience (which it should!). This continues with some of the worst humour this side of problematic raunchy 2000s anime, with “quirky” Queen’s Blood players who have gimmicks that instantly are tiring despite you only spending less than 10 minutes with them. Final Fantasy VII Remake had a number of sidequests that were pretty interesting and expanded on the story. But that’s not the most important part of the difference between Final Fantasy VII Remake and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth in terms of side content - Final Fantasy VII Remake was streamlined, and didn’t have level requirements. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth requires you to stop and smell the roses, both in story and side content. The upside to this is getting to know your party, but the downside is being introduced to some very grating characters and content that isn’t all that compelling. While I have not played through the game 100%, on beating the game I listened to some spoilercasts, the Gongaga region is hard to navigate with mushrooms which catapult you to a place you probably don’t expect. Additionally, if you do plan on taking on all the content, a very annoying stealth minigame is required to get a Chocobo, which is required for faster traversal and also unlocks some areas of the map. You have to do this for EACH region. Part of me is conflicted, as I know this needs to be somewhat faithful for the fanbase to enjoy it, yet, I wonder if it’s worth it.

4. Middle Child Syndrome: Final Fantasy VII Remake Had A Better Structure, And The Unnamed Third Game Will Actually Have Answers.

Final Fantasy VII Remake starts in media res with you merc-ing with Avalanche, an extremist terrorist group to bomb a Mako Reactor. This journey goes at a breakneck speed and ends with you ascending the Shinra HQ. Shinra isn’t just a random name, either: "SHINRA" derives from the word "myth" in Japanese (神話, shinwa?) because SHINRA was about becoming god and controlling everything. Shinra is also evocative of the yojijukugo phrase 森羅万象 (lit. shinra banshou), "all the forests and myriad of things", meaning "all of creation". There, you fight the Whisper Harbringer (The arbiters of fate - you are fighting fate itself) and Sephiroth. This is a compelling journey which ends definitively and lets us look forward to the future of the Final Fantasy VII Remake Trilogy, despite the overwrought message of killing fate(Whispers). Rebirth doesn’t land so smoothly as it decides not any answer any questions, and even backtracks on cool decision points made in Final Fantasy VII Remake such as Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie possibly living, leaving me in a state of whiplash. Most alarmingly, Kingdom Hearts III had the same hopes and dreams and was seen as a low point for both the story and gameplay. I guess my issue with this is Square Enix has been complaining about how their games aren’t selling; but in my eyes, they’re approaching an iceberg at sea and they’re trying to ‘complain’ it away. 

5. Chasing Fidelity: PS5 Tech Hasn’t Evolved Despite The PS5 Requirement

While it was apparent in Final Fantasy VII Remake, as a cross-gen game, would have to take some precautions to look THAT good and work on the PS4 (it did receive a PS5 version in the form of Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade) like moving slowly through debris or entering slow elevators to disguise loading. But these things are still present in Rebirth even though this is a PS5-only game. Sony has to give us reasons to buy a PS5, this is even more of a going concern lately with the controversial PS5 Pro and general disinterest towards non-Switch consoles of the current generation. 

Character models, while pretty, are dolls that don’t emote with the same gravity the voice actors and scenes call for(there’s a lot of weird-looking sighing, for instance). Locomoting around the open world is more of a struggle than with games much older than it like Batman: Arkham Knight, and there are strange situations where you don’t have access to the full ‘pause’ screen because the game considers you still doing ‘something’(fighting, moving, in a cutscene), which can be annoying once, but over the period of dozens of hours of an epic RPG, it adds up.

To be clear, I do not think Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is a bad game. But the lack of answers and satisfying story beats really make me wonder if Square Enix is going to have another Kingdom Hearts III situation again, especially since they’re saying the third game in this trilogy isn’t necessarily the final piece of the story. I haven’t 100 percented the game, and I may not due to having a very busy schedule. But I think this is a good example of the experience a more casual fan, or someone picking up the game might have. We don’t know anything about Zack. In the first part, with no context, we see an animatronic puppet in shock about the plate falling. Near the end of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, I could list a number of things that make no sense, or that we don’t have a definitive answer for, which even the development team admit in the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Ultimania addendum. Keep in mind Square Enix is asking people to wait YEARS for these answers. I feel like Square Enix has had a couple of chances in the past decade or so to right the ship: With Dissidia NT, they said they wanted to engage in Esports. With the Final Fantasy XIII series, they attempted to go back to the well with Lightning. With Final Fantasy XV and Final Fantasy XVI, they chased trends only to once again be disappointed by their financial performances. Most interestingly, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin attempted to retell the story of Final Fantasy, which I feel could’ve really gone somewhere similar to Kingdom Hearts, but we’ve heard nothing. Will the people who aren’t entrenched in decades of fandom be purchasing “Final Fantasy VII: ReStart” in 2028, or even care?