I know I am absolutely the minority here as someone who had never played any FF before this game and did go into rebirth not having played remake... but I absolutely loved it and found that I was totally able to grasp what was going on. I have since gone back and played remake and see the appeal of the more linear gameplay.
Alright. So you were satisfied with what was offered just in Rebirth? You didn't feel like you were missing some pieces of information from Remake? Did replaying Remake after the fact clarify some things for you? Sorry, I'm just curious on getting an outside perspective on this.
I put on your "Why Final Fantasy VII Matters" video quite often to fall asleep to, it's a comfort video to me. I played the original when I was 7 years old (lol), and didn't have a lot of the issues you did with Rebirth, but can agree on a lot of what you say here. For me, it's the best combat system ever made, especially once you dive into hard mode and all it's challenges. I haven't been the biggest fan of some of the story changes either, but I thought this game was magical, just like it was back in '97. For me, the big thing about the OG FF7 was that it made my imagination run wild as to what video games could be someday. It made me feel the potential was limitless and I feel like that childhood imagination was paid off by this game. Rebirth (much more than Remake) is literally what I imagined in my head when I was at that age and that's likely a very unique/personal experience to me. During my playthrough, I remember actively thinking to myself to not rush the game (as I tend to do), and take everything in/appreciate everything it had to offer. I think this game struggles a lot by interrupting the story with the "World Intel with Chadley" bullshit. A lot of that was incredibly repetitive and not very fun, it really makes you think "oh God, please just get me back to the story," and want to rush it. I get the impression from some of the things you said here that you felt playing this one was more of a job/task you had to do rather than an experience you wanted to have. I think that may have contributed to your overall experience with this game. I'm with you on the ending for sure, however I think/hope they can make it right in the 3rd installment by including the reality of Aerith's death in the section where Tifa helps Cloud put his memory back together. After all, if they did the EXACT same thing as the OG, that wouldn't have been very satisfying to new fans or old fans alike imo. Just a note of advice, most of this video is just the trailer looped and I don't see a lot of passion put into the footage shown and editing, which may directly correlate with (what it sounds like) your mindset was while playing the game. It's as if you're doing this because you feel like you have to, vs. doing it because you want to. Regardless, glad to see you covering this game and giving your honest thoughts on it. I'll always be here excited to hear all your thoughts on my favorite game/series! :)
I will fully admit I did play the game somewhat with an attidude of "c'mon! just let me get to the end!" I feel the pacing was REALLY harmed by all the side content, which felt like it slammed the brakes on the plot to go do unrelated things. Which granted is something the original did too, and I'm sure lots of people have the attitude of more is more when it comes to gameplay content. I don't really feel that way. It's one thing when it's a game like Skyrim where exploring this huge world at your own pace is the main appeal. FFVII's main appeal was always its story, and I gotta say I felt most of new stuff here didn't really measure up to the stuff in OG. And it bothered me that some of the OG's biggest and most emotionally resonate moments (Dyne, Seto, and of course, Aerith's death) seemed to be rushed though in favor of new stuff that isn't as good.
@@mritchywrath Yeah I feel that as far as wanting to get to the end. Completely agree on pacing, but I decided to go into it with the "it's not the destination, it's the journey" mindset. I feel like it made it a lot more enjoyable to me. I also played through the game with my 5 year old daughter watching a lot of it, she ended up loving Cloud and the gang and is now invested in the story which is something we bonded over. I'd agree the best parts of the game is the OG stuff, I actually strongly feel that way about Remake as well. In his review, Dunkey said something along the lines of "all the boring stuff? Yeah, that's the new stuff," and I couldn't agree more. I'll be honest I actually thought Dyne hit super hard, I liked the way he went out in this one more than the original, and that comes from someone that really didn't want them to remove the s****de scene from the original. Seto, they definitely could've done better, but it didn't bother me. Completely agree the ending sucked, the one cool thing was when Aerith's theme got mixed in to Jenova's theme during the Jenova fight right afterward. Looking at my previous comment I realize the only argument is "well they're trying to save the emotional moment for the next game," but that's not going to work. Fans expected it in this game and even if they do it well in the next one they already lost their chance because it needed to happen here.
The problem is the overall pacing of the story . They rushed everything in the end. Which made it both confusing and jarring . Why not organically lay mysteries throughout the open world and have the characters piece together things in a way that makes sense? Also the party not noticing cloud is clearly going evil is just stupid . I think this game is amazing but held back by a lot of dumb narrative decisions. The combat , minigames and open world are the best parts , although I wish they would have had a couple less mini games and used some of that development time to craft a better narrative. I really love this game but I can’t deny there are a lot of things that are just plain stupid
I agree. On the one hand I've heard the devs say that since everyone knows who Sephiroth is they didn't need to tease him and could show him right out. They seem to have the same attitude towards the fact that Cloud never joined SOLIDER. They don't say that outright but they offer so many on the nose "clues" that it won't be much a revelation in Part 3. I feel they already botched Aerith's death by stripping it of its emotional impact in order to make it serve the multiverse narrative, and I think they'll do the same with Cloud's reveal. It's like they don't really know how to build up to things anymore.
Because the game is still trying to retell the events of og FF7 as a result, the new elements have to take a massive backseat until the finale and plot points have to be dragged out to fill the game.
Disregarding them deviating from the source material, if they could have atleast fixed the pacing then the story would have been more engaging and coherent. Moments that should be slow should be slow and fast should be fast. But, no. Scenes are fast. Story progression slow.
Nice video! I disagree with a few things here and there but I appreciate this a lot as a level-headed take on the game. I think that the dev team actually does care a lot about those OG moments (Seto, Aerith, Dyne, etc). There’s clearly a lot of love for these characters and I think it shows throughout the relationships between the characters in the main story as well as all the side quests. Unfortunately… what you said about rushing through these moments to get to the next thing is absolutely true. There’s so much tonal whiplash in the game - from a heartbreaking moment with Barrett and Dyne straight to Palmer and his goofiness, Seto to the Gi dungeon and so on. Even the date in chapter 12 felt like it ended prematurely (that Rufus fight sucked so bad lol.). It’s like the devs thought we would get bored, or that a game with more content is better than one that’s more tightly focused. There’s only so many boss fights and grand set pieces that I can take. Did the temple of the ancients need to drag on for that long? Or the final fight with sephiroth? And yeah, Aerith’s death scene was botched. It’s unfortunate. Sorry for the long comment haha, just had a lot of thoughts. Here’s to hoping part 3 is better, but at this rate I’m just going to enjoy the games for what they are, and not what they’re clearly not - a faithful remake of the original game.
Hey, no problem at all with the long comment. I agree that they put care into the OG moments. It's the tonal whiplash and fear that players would get bored that sort of got to me. I feel the OG moments were good enough to stand on their own and I wish they had expanded those rather than feel the add to add additional setpieces.
@@mritchywrath oh for sure! There’s a reason why we all love the original game so much. Those emotional moments hit hard even on repeat playthroughs and the outdated graphics - it’s a genuinely special game! I like the addition of certain things in Rebirth that expand the world, but those additions need to supplement the original storybeats rather than overwhelm them :’)
If your someone that wanted a faithful remake then your going to hate it, if your someone who wanted this project to do something different and have some guts then your going to like it more. It really is that simple. The OG is one of my favorite games of all time but that’s why I actually like what they’re doing with the remake anthology….because I’m already perfectly happy with what I got from the original. I want something new now, and that’s what this is giving me. I’m personally hoping Aerith survives because we already got the A scenario in 97 so now I want the B scenario this has to offer, I don’t see a problem with that, video games are suppose to be about escapism. It amazes me that games like Balders Gate, Mass Effect, Witcher, etc. can all have multiple endings/ scenarios and ppl cream their pants over it and say how great it is…..but the second FF7 DARES explore an alternative scenario the same ppl cry fowl and cry about it. Absolutely ridiculous. Rebirth sold significantly less because SE exclusivity deal with Sony was only able to sell 1/3 the player base on PS5 to that of the monstrous player base on ps4 along with the PC port that came after. It was always going to sell significantly less and SE realizes that now which is why they came out and announced they’re going back to multi platform. Am I saying it does everything perfect? Of course not, but I never expected it too. I always saw this as its own thing. The reason I think they’re glossing over certain segments is because they never intended this to be the same experience. I don’t think they wanted to throw their creative integrity out the window nonchalantly just because ppl wanted to see their childhoods recreated in 4k. I mean who cares about that anyway? It’s suppose to be about the story and the atmosphere. If it’s not delivering for some ppl on that front this time around that’s perfectly understandable, but to expect it to capture lightning in a bottle for a second time is frankly short sighted. This story could have done what RE4 remake did and be popular…..for like 2 weeks. Then what? Lol, ppl will forget about it and not care anymore just like it happened with that. They did t want that, they wanted to take a risk. They did it, I commend them for it.
I was okay with most of the changes in Remake. Even the whispers didn't bother me too much. What really set my mind was the way they handled Aerith's death. Accepting loss is, in my opinion, the very core of FF7's emotional tone. To "subvert" the most important moment in the game by adding multi-verse stuff and intentionally making it confusing really weakens the story for me. Without the central theme of FF7, what's even the point of remaking it? And just for context, Resident Evil 4 remake sold as many copies as the FF7 remake. So from a business angle just remaking the thing works just as well and doesn't risk alienating established fans. As for the "creative integrity" of the developers, if they wanted to veer so far away from what FF7 was originally about, why remake FF7 at all instead of something new that can match whatever tone they are going for? We already have 3 Kingdom Hearts games. Why not just make another one if they want to lean into the multiverse/defying fate angle rather than shoehorn that theme into a property that never had it to begin with?
Accepting loss is sort of a group think answer, I hear that one from a lot of ppl. The original game was very much an upbeat and vibrant atmospheric story, even after after Aeriths death the party goes snowboarding down a mountain and starts racing chocobos at the Gold saucer, you don’t see much or hear about her again after the fact. The developers themselves have stated they were confused about why ppl gravitated towards Aeriths death so much as it was meant more for shock value just like with other deaths in other FF story’s prior. In fact it was also stated they originally intended on killing Barret off in the initial transcript but changed it to Aerith at the last minute. The twist in the OG was Aeriths death, the twist this time should be her survival, that’s more subversive and poetic in my opinion. I mean why introduce the whispers if fate can’t be changed in the first place? Why are they protecting fate if it’s already set in stone? Nonsensical. The real theme of FF7 centers more around Cloud and his journey of self discovery and acceptance of his failures of joining soldier and protecting Tifa at the reactor; FF7’s entire story doesn’t happen without Cloud leaving to “join” soldier and promising to protect his childhood crush. The theme of loss and acceptance is only hampered on during the lifestream sequence when Tifa remembers losing her mom as a child, other than that it’s not really there; a theme sure, but a “core” theme? No way. Simbas dad in the Lion King died too, doesn’t mean the entire movie is about death and loss. In 97 when the OG came out no one said a word about the story being about death and loss, it was just a fun game with a good story. 9 years later Advent Children comes out and makes Cloud into a depressed mopy Edgar Allen Poe writer writing poems about how much his life sucks and all the sudden ppl run with the idea of loss and death being a core theme. That movie really took the themes of the OG and flipped it on its head and that seems to be where that idea comes from. Don’t forget RE4 also had the install base of PS4 to back it up as well just like part 1 remake, those sales numbers make sense. My point was more along the lines that that game just kinda….came and went. I don’t want to see that happen to this IP. I want to see this stand on its own merits and be more relevant than that, and it’s not going to do that if it’s just going to copy and paste the OG. I already have that game, been playing it for 27 years, I want something ambitious and new now.
@@theonecalledlamorak6446 Jesus, there is so much wrong and historical revisionism in what you say I don't even know where to start. The TL DR answer would be you are just being a contrarian for contrarian sake. Not to mention your statement of "wanting something new" doesn't hold a mililiter of water when Square Enix is still releasing new games that take the franchise to places it's never been to before. Or out in other words: You want something new? Play "Final Fantasy XVI".
@@theonecalledlamorak6446og was a depressing dystopia. The moments of levity where there because that was genre defining but they where put well and minimal. The tone of og was always brutal. Rebirth feels like someone sitting on instagram whole day wanted to make a sad story...
@@XanderVJ wonderful, another wine toting smart mark. Not sure what your hostility is about, I never called anyone any names but I guess I do now since I’m going to be attacked for having a different opinion on something. When I said wanting something new I was clearly talking about something new in the world of FF7, not a copy and paste remake like what every other company is doing and there are a lot of ppl that share that with me. The irony in your statement is laughable, calling me a contrarian and rejecting what I’m saying while simultaneously having absolutely nothing concrete to say about anything I brought up. I gave my run down and you don’t have to agree with it but it just sounds like you’re being a snowflake hipster because someone has a different opinion on something you like. Irony alert.
When I listened to you explaining why FF7 mattered, just before this video and then listened to your review of Rebirth I became little deflated. The former was quite epic. It makes you wonder if the creators really intended for all the grand interpretations you ascribed the original game. Anyway that video was great, even made me a little tearyeyed at times.
I think that with a lot of creators they didn't have a very solid idea about what everything they did "meant." The meaning of a lot of stories doesn't really come about until after it's had some time to stew in the public conscious. Perhaps Rebirth will age better but I feel the game was too narrowly focused on being subversive, and I think that approach ultimately leads to a worse narrative experience.
Go ng+, adaptive difficulty, choose not to redo anything , that is ,no chadley stuff (thanks God) and no side quest. Then just play the game going from one actual story point to another , like i just did ok? then hopefully , you will realize two things, again , like i just did. First , Pacing issue are almost entirely gone .Second ... the game is actually quite short , and not a lot is indeed happening aside the party chasing black hooded weirdos around the world because they are your only kinda/sorta lead to find Sephiroth .. Rebirth is about character development more than it is about important story plot. It's a smart game and i can't imagine how hard it was for square to keep players exited for the 3er instalment while still giving us a sense of closure at the end. Did they manage to do that ? Up to you really. But i salute the effort and did not regret my purchase .. Not hearing chadley opening his Side-Quest-Lord bloody Mouth even ones in 35 hours is priceless...you really should try Ng folks. its game changing . BTW: Why ff7 matters still best ff7 video on youtube, ever!
Well thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed my other video. This hot take of mine was pretty polarizing. Let me ask you a question though...but isn't that sort of an indictment of Rebirth that it's best experienced by ignoring like 80% of its content?
@@mritchywrath Well my first playthrough was hindered by boxes to check and what feels like chores more than anything. Regular side quest where fine tho, you get party banter (these were lacking in the OG and I'm a sucker for that sort of thing) and lore. It's cool. That's why i suggested NG+, you get more appreciation for the story in insight, no pacing issues, better combat experience...but in the end you are 100% right, ignoring 80% of the game to "make it feel better" is not a good solution.
I think this is very fair critique. I personally do not really like remakes, and the thing that got me interested in playing FFVII Remake in the first place was the promise of something more interesting happening than a retelling of a game from 1997. I love the original but I'm not allergic to playing old games and I think old games are 100% more interesting to play than remakes of them anyway. I know I'm probably in the minority here. Doing what Remake project has done though is extremely interesting to me even if some of the execution is questionable at times, and I would much rather they swing hard like this than just make FFVII again in 4K. Also the exclusion of the putting Aerith to rest scene I think will probably be used for some sort of emotional closure in the next game. The scene is literally in the flash forwards from the whispers in Remake. Cloud is clearly in some level of denial and still very mentally unwell as the game ends, and I think part of what is going on with him will include coming to terms with the loss of Aerith. I'm sure there will be a lot of other nonsense involved with that, but at its core I think they will make it hit pretty hard when it does. And if they don't whatever, I'm along for the ride and it'll be a good time regardless of whether or not they end up sticking the landing, and its so fun to hang out with these characters and they did them so well that I'll take whatever they want to give me.
This is not a Hot take. At least to Fans of the original who remember it well enough. Yeah its a heartbreak to realize that the creators are not here to faithfully remake the game we love. But when u sleep in a burning building, its better to wake up late then never. U can still play part 3 to see where this mess is going, but no matter what freaky Avengers endgame stuff will go down. When the credits roll u will know, this was the only chance for a faithfull Remake of the game we loved, like Resident Evil 1 and 2 got it, but they wasted it. We will never get it. The chance is lost forever. Maybe thats the meta coment theme of loss, instead of aerith we lose the remake. 😅
Fair critique. I was curious to hear your take on the game as I enjoy listening to your Why FF7 matters video from time to time. I agree about those iconic scenes you mentioned feeling rushed. Also during the Nibelheim incident I think they should have cut out the part with the villagers pointing their guns. It looked so awkward multiple NPC's armed pointing guns, not shooting and just standing there as they are cut down one by one. I'm surprised you didn't mention Shinra Manor. I was disappointed not being able to fully explore it, but that was minor. Don't get me wrong Rebirth is a great game, especially with expanding on the lore and adding in so many little details in this huge game. It did lots of things right. But I just feel that certain scenes were done better in the original, namely the ones you mentioned. It's amazing how even with it's limitations and old age the og still does certain things better. Also it was a much darker game compared to the Remake and Rebirth. After playing Remake I was so hyped for Rebirth to come out, however after finishing Rebirth I'm not as hyped for Part 3. I would still like to see how it ends though. Anyway good video with a fair critique.
Y'know, I think that the technological limitations of the original actually helped the story by forcing the devs to work within their limits. I think this version of FF7 probably is what they had in their mind when making the original game. It's just that now everything can be fully rendered with photorealistic graphics. I'd sort of compare it to George Lucas's redited of the orignal Star Wars movies: he felt the need to "fix" things rather than realize that some of the flaws and limitations of the original work were strengths in and of themselves.
I kind of agree. They foreshadow the whole "she can appear as those you love" thing a LOT. I felt it was pretty weak the way they tried to make you think it was Tifa: I knew that was a red herring from the start. Evidence that the new stuff they're adding is, for the most part, not as good as the original stuff. I've even heard newcomers say that. So far in the remake triliogy, the best stuff is from OG, and the weakest stuff is the new stuff, with a few exceptions (I did find Roche's arc to be compelling, which surprised me.)
its not multi-verse unless you think the matrix is multi-verse or timelines. as a ff7 og fan you should understand that much but if you going to say rebirth got to much going on story wise than og had and goes over most people heads i agree. they should have kept Zack stuff simple and only showed whispers at end of game.
@@mritchywrath if watch matrix you know its a real world and then its different matrix worlds one main one and other small ones where they do fighting practice and get guns from..... in order to get to the worlds you neo has to basically fall to sleep in chair. if you og fan you should know from the live stream sequence that the livestream acts the same way as the matrix where cloud and tifa went into a world of memories after falling asleep in lifestream. in rebirth after falls asleep he always wake up in the other worlds same can be said about aerith after fall with cloud . to further prove my point the crack in the sky is the same crack from og lifestream sequence.
Yeah-in the Matrix there are TWO worlds: the real one and the matrix. In OG, there are TWO worlds: ours and the afterlife in the form of the lifestream. There are not mutliple branching paths of destiny that all need to come together somehow. And neither of those works subverted a major character death in order to make room for more worldbuilding.
@@mritchywrath Matrix dont have multiple path it just have multiple Agent Smiths. like i said rebirth goes over most people head and i dont have all day break it down. . the trailer asked you the question what is fact and what is fiction. problem is you cant tell what is LifeStream dream and what is real but you basically in same bout as cloud lol
The multiverse concept in itself is difficult to integrate in any store. Marvel is a multibillionaire company who have all the resources to tell a great story failed at the multiverse concept. The problem I see is that Square wanted to tell a story about multiverses but were concerned about getting enough of an audience. So, they just slap on the FF7 title to the project to attract the OG FF7 fans. After they accomplished that, they just did fuck all with the story. Not only are they going to massively disappoint the OG fanbase, but slowly lose out new fans because they're not going to stick around for a 3 part story when they don't even know the original. Also, the multiverse concept in itself is convoluted. You would think deviating from source material is a known fact to cause failure already. Ex. The live action super Mario, terminators after 2, Daredevil, Ghostrider, Ghostbusters (all female cast one), Batman forever, Godzilla (American version), etc. Rarely does it work and even exceed the original property (ex. RE4)
Its a great game, I do think rushing it is a huge mistake. I think the sales did not hit expectation because its the 2nd of a trilogy exclusive to the ps5 console. If it was on pc and Xbox it would have sold a lot more. The games quality is amazing when you consider how much content is there and most were pretty fun and bug free. Nothing was outright broken or blocked you from finishing the game. When you read overall fans, customers and critics reviews, a lot of them are happy or it blew away their expectations. I do agree they did fumble with the ending. I liked final fantasy 7 and I did finish the original but FF7 is not my favorite final fantasy so for me I felt like I appreciated the nostalgia but did not mind the changes.
I mean there are plenty of games I would be unwilling to sink 70 hours into. I found rebirth to be a perfectly good "game" as far as gameplay: above average even. The combat is very solid (aside from a few annoying enemies like those jellyfish you cant hit) and most of the minigames were pretty fun. I had a blast with Fort Condor. And I agree that Squarenix deserves props from making such a detailed game without bugs or glitches. That's a pretty hard thing to pull off given its scope.
It's ignoring the core aspects of the original story and telling a much less character-focused plot about destiny and whatnot. In the original game, everything happens because of a characters actions. There is no "will of the planet" or what have you in the original FF7.
@@mritchywrath Yeah, there is no Weapons(following the will of the planet), no Holy(that would decide if humanity deserved to continue existing or not), no will of the planet whatsoever!
I agree with most of your comments. I loved Remake even after all of its flaws I didn't feel like the game was wasting my time. Rebirth felt like a 20 hiur game stretched over 80 hours.
Agreed. The open world stuff wasn't terrible--better than a lot of other open world games, I've being honest, but I felt the pacing REALLY suffered because of that.
There will be fans that love it and there will be fans that hate it. That's simply the fact with every game ever made 🤣. It's simply impossible to satisfy everyone, I dont care for the MCU multiverse crap but overall Rebirth is a fantastic game that I've put in over 200 hours and completed everything possible. Looking forward to the big finale and I'm sure we'll see Aerith's burial when Tifa repairs Clouds mind.
Yes yes, everything will have fans and nonfans. I think in general the remakes that play things straight and give people exactly what they want tend to do better than ones that try to shake things up. The Mario movie gave people exactly what they wanted and it made a lot of money. The Top Gun remake was basically the same movie again and it made a lot of money. Even Force Awakens was essentially a soft reboot of New Hope, and while it had its detractors it seemed to be much less polarizing than Last Jedi or Rise of Skywalker. Way I see it, if you're going to redo something for nostalgia, just do the same thing. That's what most people want. If you want to do something new, do something new. Don't dress up a new idea with nostalgia.
to me, there was also good and not good; but the all thing was pretty cool. I'm in for the platinum and it''s a 290 hours for now... the two things that are missing are Aerith in the lake; and the combinations of materials, not as rich as in the original game (that includes the fact that they don't double when arriving at max PC). But it was a lot of emotions . I really can't wait to know the end! I just hope that they won't go too much in the Glenn Lobrock story, because he's not an interesting character to me, he's just a reliable to make people buy ff7 ever crisis game; which I didn't like .
Thanks! And I agree. There's nothing inherently wrong with the kind of story they are going for, but it doesn't fit with the existing themes of the game. They may be able to resolve it an offer something satisfying in the conclusion, but I doubt it. Guess we'll see.
It's very messy but my theory is that it'll be all cleared up for the third game, the same way Zack's scenes were explained from the first one in this installment.
@@kio1112 I am of the mindset they will fail. If in all the games they need ultimanias to explain what happened and they set up so much PLUS the insane amount of padding that 2 games already have and the last will. Splitting it into 3 games for 70 bucks is one thing. But the story really losses a lot by it. Initially I liked what they where doing. It's just they didn't go with good proportions AND lost the artism of og. I get we live in modern instagram world. But this depressing world shouldn't have such elements.
Because these kind of stories that try to "subvert expectations" or throw too much mystery into the mix don't have a good track record of offering satisfying conclusions. Just look at Lost and the Disney Star Wars trilogy.
They begrudgingly made the Dyne scene and Rebirth? They are putting in more effort into FF7 than any of their other titles. This is not a hot take. It is a wild take. Wildly off the mark. Personally, the Dyne scene is improved in Rebirth. Dyne was just insane in OG. In Rebirth, he gets to save a suicidal Barrett and give him a Zack-like message with negative tone
I was bothered by how the Dyne scene was handled. In the original they really build up to him. Gus (called Mr. Coates in the OG) was a lowlife thug clearly terrified of Dyne. Dyne was scary in the OG. His homicidal insanity served as a contrast to Barret. Both men went through the same tragedy but came out as drastically different people. I agree that Dyne is more of a tragic figure in Rebirth, but that wasn't really his purpose in the OG game. I didn't really mention this, but the original game had a much darker tone and really went to some intense places. Remake and Rebirth seem to pull its punches more: it's less willing to commit to really dark themes. And I think that's a bit of a loss.
The Dyne scene in OG actually focuses on Dyne and Barret. The man commits suicide because he realizes how far he has fallen and feels he can't be with Marlene anymore. Rebirth has him die by shooting some Shinra soldiers that randomly showed up and then proceeds to have a fight with Palmer.
@@mritchywrath Man along the lines of this the thing that really fucking bothered me so far specifically in Remake is that they make the catastrophic explosion during the first reactor bombing Shinra's fault when it works so much better as a consequence of a decision they made. It even works better in the text of Remake and Rebirth, with Jessie feeling guilty for all of the damage it caused as she passes, and the scene in Rebirth where Cloud is shown the aftermath of the bombing by Sephiroth at the temple or whatever was going on there. Just let it be morally ambiguous, Shinra is objectively evil but literal terrorism is very messy even when 100% morally justified, and I think that's a really interesting angle the OG game kind of explores, but for some reason in VII Shinra has to also be responsible for the horrible destruction that first bombing causes. Even though none of the characters know that so what was the point of doing that. I still don't know.
My hot take is that these games are garbage, a complete soulless cash grab with zero replayability in the long term. How's the speed running community for Remake going?
Don't think I'd go that far, but I do think these games were made with a sigh rather than a smile. Seems like the creative directors don't really want to revisit the OG game and instead do something different.
I know I am absolutely the minority here as someone who had never played any FF before this game and did go into rebirth not having played remake... but I absolutely loved it and found that I was totally able to grasp what was going on. I have since gone back and played remake and see the appeal of the more linear gameplay.
Alright. So you were satisfied with what was offered just in Rebirth? You didn't feel like you were missing some pieces of information from Remake? Did replaying Remake after the fact clarify some things for you? Sorry, I'm just curious on getting an outside perspective on this.
I put on your "Why Final Fantasy VII Matters" video quite often to fall asleep to, it's a comfort video to me. I played the original when I was 7 years old (lol), and didn't have a lot of the issues you did with Rebirth, but can agree on a lot of what you say here. For me, it's the best combat system ever made, especially once you dive into hard mode and all it's challenges.
I haven't been the biggest fan of some of the story changes either, but I thought this game was magical, just like it was back in '97. For me, the big thing about the OG FF7 was that it made my imagination run wild as to what video games could be someday. It made me feel the potential was limitless and I feel like that childhood imagination was paid off by this game. Rebirth (much more than Remake) is literally what I imagined in my head when I was at that age and that's likely a very unique/personal experience to me.
During my playthrough, I remember actively thinking to myself to not rush the game (as I tend to do), and take everything in/appreciate everything it had to offer. I think this game struggles a lot by interrupting the story with the "World Intel with Chadley" bullshit. A lot of that was incredibly repetitive and not very fun, it really makes you think "oh God, please just get me back to the story," and want to rush it. I get the impression from some of the things you said here that you felt playing this one was more of a job/task you had to do rather than an experience you wanted to have. I think that may have contributed to your overall experience with this game.
I'm with you on the ending for sure, however I think/hope they can make it right in the 3rd installment by including the reality of Aerith's death in the section where Tifa helps Cloud put his memory back together. After all, if they did the EXACT same thing as the OG, that wouldn't have been very satisfying to new fans or old fans alike imo.
Just a note of advice, most of this video is just the trailer looped and I don't see a lot of passion put into the footage shown and editing, which may directly correlate with (what it sounds like) your mindset was while playing the game. It's as if you're doing this because you feel like you have to, vs. doing it because you want to. Regardless, glad to see you covering this game and giving your honest thoughts on it. I'll always be here excited to hear all your thoughts on my favorite game/series! :)
I will fully admit I did play the game somewhat with an attidude of "c'mon! just let me get to the end!" I feel the pacing was REALLY harmed by all the side content, which felt like it slammed the brakes on the plot to go do unrelated things. Which granted is something the original did too, and I'm sure lots of people have the attitude of more is more when it comes to gameplay content. I don't really feel that way. It's one thing when it's a game like Skyrim where exploring this huge world at your own pace is the main appeal. FFVII's main appeal was always its story, and I gotta say I felt most of new stuff here didn't really measure up to the stuff in OG. And it bothered me that some of the OG's biggest and most emotionally resonate moments (Dyne, Seto, and of course, Aerith's death) seemed to be rushed though in favor of new stuff that isn't as good.
@@mritchywrath Yeah I feel that as far as wanting to get to the end. Completely agree on pacing, but I decided to go into it with the "it's not the destination, it's the journey" mindset. I feel like it made it a lot more enjoyable to me. I also played through the game with my 5 year old daughter watching a lot of it, she ended up loving Cloud and the gang and is now invested in the story which is something we bonded over. I'd agree the best parts of the game is the OG stuff, I actually strongly feel that way about Remake as well. In his review, Dunkey said something along the lines of "all the boring stuff? Yeah, that's the new stuff," and I couldn't agree more. I'll be honest I actually thought Dyne hit super hard, I liked the way he went out in this one more than the original, and that comes from someone that really didn't want them to remove the s****de scene from the original. Seto, they definitely could've done better, but it didn't bother me. Completely agree the ending sucked, the one cool thing was when Aerith's theme got mixed in to Jenova's theme during the Jenova fight right afterward. Looking at my previous comment I realize the only argument is "well they're trying to save the emotional moment for the next game," but that's not going to work. Fans expected it in this game and even if they do it well in the next one they already lost their chance because it needed to happen here.
The problem is the overall pacing of the story . They rushed everything in the end. Which made it both confusing and jarring . Why not organically lay mysteries throughout the open world and have the characters piece together things in a way that makes sense? Also the party not noticing cloud is clearly going evil is just stupid . I think this game is amazing but held back by a lot of dumb narrative decisions. The combat , minigames and open world are the best parts , although I wish they would have had a couple less mini games and used some of that development time to craft a better narrative. I really love this game but I can’t deny there are a lot of things that are just plain stupid
I agree. On the one hand I've heard the devs say that since everyone knows who Sephiroth is they didn't need to tease him and could show him right out. They seem to have the same attitude towards the fact that Cloud never joined SOLIDER. They don't say that outright but they offer so many on the nose "clues" that it won't be much a revelation in Part 3. I feel they already botched Aerith's death by stripping it of its emotional impact in order to make it serve the multiverse narrative, and I think they'll do the same with Cloud's reveal. It's like they don't really know how to build up to things anymore.
Because the game is still trying to retell the events of og FF7 as a result, the new elements have to take a massive backseat until the finale and plot points have to be dragged out to fill the game.
Disregarding them deviating from the source material, if they could have atleast fixed the pacing then the story would have been more engaging and coherent. Moments that should be slow should be slow and fast should be fast. But, no. Scenes are fast. Story progression slow.
Nice video! I disagree with a few things here and there but I appreciate this a lot as a level-headed take on the game. I think that the dev team actually does care a lot about those OG moments (Seto, Aerith, Dyne, etc). There’s clearly a lot of love for these characters and I think it shows throughout the relationships between the characters in the main story as well as all the side quests.
Unfortunately… what you said about rushing through these moments to get to the next thing is absolutely true. There’s so much tonal whiplash in the game - from a heartbreaking moment with Barrett and Dyne straight to Palmer and his goofiness, Seto to the Gi dungeon and so on. Even the date in chapter 12 felt like it ended prematurely (that Rufus fight sucked so bad lol.). It’s like the devs thought we would get bored, or that a game with more content is better than one that’s more tightly focused. There’s only so many boss fights and grand set pieces that I can take. Did the temple of the ancients need to drag on for that long? Or the final fight with sephiroth?
And yeah, Aerith’s death scene was botched. It’s unfortunate.
Sorry for the long comment haha, just had a lot of thoughts. Here’s to hoping part 3 is better, but at this rate I’m just going to enjoy the games for what they are, and not what they’re clearly not - a faithful remake of the original game.
Hey, no problem at all with the long comment. I agree that they put care into the OG moments. It's the tonal whiplash and fear that players would get bored that sort of got to me. I feel the OG moments were good enough to stand on their own and I wish they had expanded those rather than feel the add to add additional setpieces.
@@mritchywrath oh for sure! There’s a reason why we all love the original game so much. Those emotional moments hit hard even on repeat playthroughs and the outdated graphics - it’s a genuinely special game! I like the addition of certain things in Rebirth that expand the world, but those additions need to supplement the original storybeats rather than overwhelm them :’)
If your someone that wanted a faithful remake then your going to hate it, if your someone who wanted this project to do something different and have some guts then your going to like it more. It really is that simple.
The OG is one of my favorite games of all time but that’s why I actually like what they’re doing with the remake anthology….because I’m already perfectly happy with what I got from the original. I want something new now, and that’s what this is giving me.
I’m personally hoping Aerith survives because we already got the A scenario in 97 so now I want the B scenario this has to offer, I don’t see a problem with that, video games are suppose to be about escapism. It amazes me that games like Balders Gate, Mass Effect, Witcher, etc. can all have multiple endings/ scenarios and ppl cream their pants over it and say how great it is…..but the second FF7 DARES explore an alternative scenario the same ppl cry fowl and cry about it. Absolutely ridiculous.
Rebirth sold significantly less because SE exclusivity deal with Sony was only able to sell 1/3 the player base on PS5 to that of the monstrous player base on ps4 along with the PC port that came after. It was always going to sell significantly less and SE realizes that now which is why they came out and announced they’re going back to multi platform.
Am I saying it does everything perfect? Of course not, but I never expected it too. I always saw this as its own thing. The reason I think they’re glossing over certain segments is because they never intended this to be the same experience. I don’t think they wanted to throw their creative integrity out the window nonchalantly just because ppl wanted to see their childhoods recreated in 4k. I mean who cares about that anyway? It’s suppose to be about the story and the atmosphere. If it’s not delivering for some ppl on that front this time around that’s perfectly understandable, but to expect it to capture lightning in a bottle for a second time is frankly short sighted.
This story could have done what RE4 remake did and be popular…..for like 2 weeks. Then what? Lol, ppl will forget about it and not care anymore just like it happened with that. They did t want that, they wanted to take a risk. They did it, I commend them for it.
I was okay with most of the changes in Remake. Even the whispers didn't bother me too much. What really set my mind was the way they handled Aerith's death. Accepting loss is, in my opinion, the very core of FF7's emotional tone. To "subvert" the most important moment in the game by adding multi-verse stuff and intentionally making it confusing really weakens the story for me. Without the central theme of FF7, what's even the point of remaking it? And just for context, Resident Evil 4 remake sold as many copies as the FF7 remake. So from a business angle just remaking the thing works just as well and doesn't risk alienating established fans. As for the "creative integrity" of the developers, if they wanted to veer so far away from what FF7 was originally about, why remake FF7 at all instead of something new that can match whatever tone they are going for? We already have 3 Kingdom Hearts games. Why not just make another one if they want to lean into the multiverse/defying fate angle rather than shoehorn that theme into a property that never had it to begin with?
Accepting loss is sort of a group think answer, I hear that one from a lot of ppl. The original game was very much an upbeat and vibrant atmospheric story, even after after Aeriths death the party goes snowboarding down a mountain and starts racing chocobos at the Gold saucer, you don’t see much or hear about her again after the fact. The developers themselves have stated they were confused about why ppl gravitated towards Aeriths death so much as it was meant more for shock value just like with other deaths in other FF story’s prior. In fact it was also stated they originally intended on killing Barret off in the initial transcript but changed it to Aerith at the last minute. The twist in the OG was Aeriths death, the twist this time should be her survival, that’s more subversive and poetic in my opinion. I mean why introduce the whispers if fate can’t be changed in the first place? Why are they protecting fate if it’s already set in stone? Nonsensical.
The real theme of FF7 centers more around Cloud and his journey of self discovery and acceptance of his failures of joining soldier and protecting Tifa at the reactor; FF7’s entire story doesn’t happen without Cloud leaving to “join” soldier and promising to protect his childhood crush. The theme of loss and acceptance is only hampered on during the lifestream sequence when Tifa remembers losing her mom as a child, other than that it’s not really there; a theme sure, but a “core” theme? No way. Simbas dad in the Lion King died too, doesn’t mean the entire movie is about death and loss.
In 97 when the OG came out no one said a word about the story being about death and loss, it was just a fun game with a good story. 9 years later Advent Children comes out and makes Cloud into a depressed mopy Edgar Allen Poe writer writing poems about how much his life sucks and all the sudden ppl run with the idea of loss and death being a core theme. That movie really took the themes of the OG and flipped it on its head and that seems to be where that idea comes from.
Don’t forget RE4 also had the install base of PS4 to back it up as well just like part 1 remake, those sales numbers make sense. My point was more along the lines that that game just kinda….came and went. I don’t want to see that happen to this IP. I want to see this stand on its own merits and be more relevant than that, and it’s not going to do that if it’s just going to copy and paste the OG. I already have that game, been playing it for 27 years, I want something ambitious and new now.
@@theonecalledlamorak6446 Jesus, there is so much wrong and historical revisionism in what you say I don't even know where to start. The TL DR answer would be you are just being a contrarian for contrarian sake. Not to mention your statement of "wanting something new" doesn't hold a mililiter of water when Square Enix is still releasing new games that take the franchise to places it's never been to before. Or out in other words: You want something new? Play "Final Fantasy XVI".
@@theonecalledlamorak6446og was a depressing dystopia. The moments of levity where there because that was genre defining but they where put well and minimal. The tone of og was always brutal. Rebirth feels like someone sitting on instagram whole day wanted to make a sad story...
@@XanderVJ wonderful, another wine toting smart mark. Not sure what your hostility is about, I never called anyone any names but I guess I do now since I’m going to be attacked for having a different opinion on something. When I said wanting something new I was clearly talking about something new in the world of FF7, not a copy and paste remake like what every other company is doing and there are a lot of ppl that share that with me.
The irony in your statement is laughable, calling me a contrarian and rejecting what I’m saying while simultaneously having absolutely nothing concrete to say about anything I brought up. I gave my run down and you don’t have to agree with it but it just sounds like you’re being a snowflake hipster because someone has a different opinion on something you like. Irony alert.
When I listened to you explaining why FF7 mattered, just before this video and then listened to your review of Rebirth I became little deflated. The former was quite epic. It makes you wonder if the creators really intended for all the grand interpretations you ascribed the original game. Anyway that video was great, even made me a little tearyeyed at times.
I think that with a lot of creators they didn't have a very solid idea about what everything they did "meant." The meaning of a lot of stories doesn't really come about until after it's had some time to stew in the public conscious. Perhaps Rebirth will age better but I feel the game was too narrowly focused on being subversive, and I think that approach ultimately leads to a worse narrative experience.
Go ng+, adaptive difficulty, choose not to redo anything , that is ,no chadley stuff (thanks God) and no side quest. Then just play the game going from one actual story point to another , like i just did ok? then hopefully , you will realize two things, again , like i just did. First , Pacing issue are almost entirely gone .Second ... the game is actually quite short , and not a lot is indeed happening aside the party chasing black hooded weirdos around the world because they are your only kinda/sorta lead to find Sephiroth .. Rebirth is about character development more than it is about important story plot. It's a smart game and i can't imagine how hard it was for square to keep players exited for the 3er instalment while still giving us a sense of closure at the end. Did they manage to do that ? Up to you really. But i salute the effort and did not regret my purchase .. Not hearing chadley opening his Side-Quest-Lord bloody Mouth even ones in 35 hours is priceless...you really should try Ng folks. its game changing .
BTW: Why ff7 matters still best ff7 video on youtube, ever!
Well thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed my other video. This hot take of mine was pretty polarizing. Let me ask you a question though...but isn't that sort of an indictment of Rebirth that it's best experienced by ignoring like 80% of its content?
@@mritchywrath Well my first playthrough was hindered by boxes to check and what feels like chores more than anything.
Regular side quest where fine tho, you get party banter (these were lacking in the OG and I'm a sucker for that sort of thing) and lore. It's cool.
That's why i suggested NG+, you get more appreciation for the story in insight, no pacing issues, better combat experience...but in the end you are 100% right, ignoring 80% of the game to "make it feel better" is not a good solution.
I think this is very fair critique. I personally do not really like remakes, and the thing that got me interested in playing FFVII Remake in the first place was the promise of something more interesting happening than a retelling of a game from 1997. I love the original but I'm not allergic to playing old games and I think old games are 100% more interesting to play than remakes of them anyway. I know I'm probably in the minority here. Doing what Remake project has done though is extremely interesting to me even if some of the execution is questionable at times, and I would much rather they swing hard like this than just make FFVII again in 4K.
Also the exclusion of the putting Aerith to rest scene I think will probably be used for some sort of emotional closure in the next game. The scene is literally in the flash forwards from the whispers in Remake. Cloud is clearly in some level of denial and still very mentally unwell as the game ends, and I think part of what is going on with him will include coming to terms with the loss of Aerith. I'm sure there will be a lot of other nonsense involved with that, but at its core I think they will make it hit pretty hard when it does. And if they don't whatever, I'm along for the ride and it'll be a good time regardless of whether or not they end up sticking the landing, and its so fun to hang out with these characters and they did them so well that I'll take whatever they want to give me.
Agree 100%. Im still excited. I just love these characters, and the remakes are only making my love for ff7 stronger.
This is not a Hot take.
At least to Fans of the original who remember it well enough.
Yeah its a heartbreak to realize that the creators are not here to faithfully remake the game we love.
But when u sleep in a burning building, its better to wake up late then never.
U can still play part 3 to see where this mess is going, but no matter what freaky Avengers endgame stuff will go down.
When the credits roll u will know, this was the only chance for a faithfull Remake of the game we loved, like Resident Evil 1 and 2 got it, but they wasted it.
We will never get it.
The chance is lost forever.
Maybe thats the meta coment theme of loss, instead of aerith we lose the remake. 😅
"Maybe thats the meta coment theme of loss, instead of aerith we lose the remake." Sadly, I think you may be right.
pacing was really well done throughout until the end yeah... hopefully 3rd part wraps things up but i dont know
I hope so too. I have my doubts.
Fair critique. I was curious to hear your take on the game as I enjoy listening to your Why FF7 matters video from time to time. I agree about those iconic scenes you mentioned feeling rushed. Also during the Nibelheim incident I think they should have cut out the part with the villagers pointing their guns. It looked so awkward multiple NPC's armed pointing guns, not shooting and just standing there as they are cut down one by one. I'm surprised you didn't mention Shinra Manor. I was disappointed not being able to fully explore it, but that was minor. Don't get me wrong Rebirth is a great game, especially with expanding on the lore and adding in so many little details in this huge game. It did lots of things right. But I just feel that certain scenes were done better in the original, namely the ones you mentioned. It's amazing how even with it's limitations and old age the og still does certain things better. Also it was a much darker game compared to the Remake and Rebirth. After playing Remake I was so hyped for Rebirth to come out, however after finishing Rebirth I'm not as hyped for Part 3. I would still like to see how it ends though. Anyway good video with a fair critique.
Y'know, I think that the technological limitations of the original actually helped the story by forcing the devs to work within their limits. I think this version of FF7 probably is what they had in their mind when making the original game. It's just that now everything can be fully rendered with photorealistic graphics. I'd sort of compare it to George Lucas's redited of the orignal Star Wars movies: he felt the need to "fix" things rather than realize that some of the flaws and limitations of the original work were strengths in and of themselves.
I think the Aerith at the end is jenova and they sacrifice her death in order to add it to tifa-cloud moment in lifestream
I kind of agree. They foreshadow the whole "she can appear as those you love" thing a LOT. I felt it was pretty weak the way they tried to make you think it was Tifa: I knew that was a red herring from the start. Evidence that the new stuff they're adding is, for the most part, not as good as the original stuff. I've even heard newcomers say that. So far in the remake triliogy, the best stuff is from OG, and the weakest stuff is the new stuff, with a few exceptions (I did find Roche's arc to be compelling, which surprised me.)
its not multi-verse unless you think the matrix is multi-verse or timelines. as a ff7 og fan you should understand that much but if you going to say rebirth got to much going on story wise than og had and goes over most people heads i agree. they should have kept Zack stuff simple and only showed whispers at end of game.
What do you mean by its not a multiverse unless matrix is?
@@mritchywrath if watch matrix you know its a real world and then its different matrix worlds one main one and other small ones where they do fighting practice and get guns from..... in order to get to the worlds you neo has to basically fall to sleep in chair. if you og fan you should know from the live stream sequence that the livestream acts the same way as the matrix where cloud and tifa went into a world of memories after falling asleep in lifestream. in rebirth after falls asleep he always wake up in the other worlds same can be said about aerith after fall with cloud . to further prove my point the crack in the sky is the same crack from og lifestream sequence.
Yeah-in the Matrix there are TWO worlds: the real one and the matrix. In OG, there are TWO worlds: ours and the afterlife in the form of the lifestream. There are not mutliple branching paths of destiny that all need to come together somehow. And neither of those works subverted a major character death in order to make room for more worldbuilding.
@@mritchywrath Matrix dont have multiple path it just have multiple Agent Smiths. like i said rebirth goes over most people head and i dont have all day break it down. .
the trailer asked you the question what is fact and what is fiction. problem is you cant tell what is LifeStream dream and what is real but you basically in same bout as cloud lol
And that makes for a better story than the original why?
The multiverse concept in itself is difficult to integrate in any store. Marvel is a multibillionaire company who have all the resources to tell a great story failed at the multiverse concept.
The problem I see is that Square wanted to tell a story about multiverses but were concerned about getting enough of an audience. So, they just slap on the FF7 title to the project to attract the OG FF7 fans. After they accomplished that, they just did fuck all with the story. Not only are they going to massively disappoint the OG fanbase, but slowly lose out new fans because they're not going to stick around for a 3 part story when they don't even know the original. Also, the multiverse concept in itself is convoluted.
You would think deviating from source material is a known fact to cause failure already. Ex. The live action super Mario, terminators after 2, Daredevil, Ghostrider, Ghostbusters (all female cast one), Batman forever, Godzilla (American version), etc. Rarely does it work and even exceed the original property (ex. RE4)
Its a great game, I do think rushing it is a huge mistake. I think the sales did not hit expectation because its the 2nd of a trilogy exclusive to the ps5 console. If it was on pc and Xbox it would have sold a lot more. The games quality is amazing when you consider how much content is there and most were pretty fun and bug free. Nothing was outright broken or blocked you from finishing the game. When you read overall fans, customers and critics reviews, a lot of them are happy or it blew away their expectations. I do agree they did fumble with the ending. I liked final fantasy 7 and I did finish the original but FF7 is not my favorite final fantasy so for me I felt like I appreciated the nostalgia but did not mind the changes.
The sales absolutely did meet expectations. Anybody who says otherwise is a liar.
I mean there are plenty of games I would be unwilling to sink 70 hours into. I found rebirth to be a perfectly good "game" as far as gameplay: above average even. The combat is very solid (aside from a few annoying enemies like those jellyfish you cant hit) and most of the minigames were pretty fun. I had a blast with Fort Condor. And I agree that Squarenix deserves props from making such a detailed game without bugs or glitches. That's a pretty hard thing to pull off given its scope.
@@mritchywrath
What's wrong with the story though.
It's ignoring the core aspects of the original story and telling a much less character-focused plot about destiny and whatnot. In the original game, everything happens because of a characters actions. There is no "will of the planet" or what have you in the original FF7.
@@mritchywrath
Yeah, there is no Weapons(following the will of the planet), no Holy(that would decide if humanity deserved to continue existing or not), no will of the planet whatsoever!
I agree with most of your comments. I loved Remake even after all of its flaws I didn't feel like the game was wasting my time. Rebirth felt like a 20 hiur game stretched over 80 hours.
Agreed. The open world stuff wasn't terrible--better than a lot of other open world games, I've being honest, but I felt the pacing REALLY suffered because of that.
@mr.itchywrath definitely, and the bad placement of mini-games just amplified all of the small annoying stuffs compounding the issues further.
Yeah. Like, I know the OG was riddled with minigames too, but of all the parts of faithfully emulate...
@@mritchywrath but by far my most hated was chapter 14. More so on hard mode.
There will be fans that love it and there will be fans that hate it. That's simply the fact with every game ever made 🤣. It's simply impossible to satisfy everyone, I dont care for the MCU multiverse crap but overall Rebirth is a fantastic game that I've put in over 200 hours and completed everything possible. Looking forward to the big finale and I'm sure we'll see Aerith's burial when Tifa repairs Clouds mind.
Yes yes, everything will have fans and nonfans. I think in general the remakes that play things straight and give people exactly what they want tend to do better than ones that try to shake things up. The Mario movie gave people exactly what they wanted and it made a lot of money. The Top Gun remake was basically the same movie again and it made a lot of money. Even Force Awakens was essentially a soft reboot of New Hope, and while it had its detractors it seemed to be much less polarizing than Last Jedi or Rise of Skywalker. Way I see it, if you're going to redo something for nostalgia, just do the same thing. That's what most people want. If you want to do something new, do something new. Don't dress up a new idea with nostalgia.
to me, there was also good and not good; but the all thing was pretty cool. I'm in for the platinum and it''s a 290 hours for now... the two things that are missing are Aerith in the lake; and the combinations of materials, not as rich as in the original game (that includes the fact that they don't double when arriving at max PC). But it was a lot of emotions . I really can't wait to know the end! I just hope that they won't go too much in the Glenn Lobrock story, because he's not an interesting character to me, he's just a reliable to make people buy ff7 ever crisis game; which I didn't like .
Spot on critique. It's a shame the way the story went towards the end. It was so messy and major KH vibes. Great video!
Thanks! And I agree. There's nothing inherently wrong with the kind of story they are going for, but it doesn't fit with the existing themes of the game. They may be able to resolve it an offer something satisfying in the conclusion, but I doubt it. Guess we'll see.
It's very messy but my theory is that it'll be all cleared up for the third game, the same way Zack's scenes were explained from the first one in this installment.
@@kio1112 I am of the mindset they will fail.
If in all the games they need ultimanias to explain what happened and they set up so much PLUS the insane amount of padding that 2 games already have and the last will. Splitting it into 3 games for 70 bucks is one thing. But the story really losses a lot by it.
Initially I liked what they where doing. It's just they didn't go with good proportions AND lost the artism of og. I get we live in modern instagram world. But this depressing world shouldn't have such elements.
@mr.itchywrath
Why do you doubt it?
Because these kind of stories that try to "subvert expectations" or throw too much mystery into the mix don't have a good track record of offering satisfying conclusions. Just look at Lost and the Disney Star Wars trilogy.
Good take.
Thanks!
They begrudgingly made the Dyne scene and Rebirth? They are putting in more effort into FF7 than any of their other titles. This is not a hot take. It is a wild take. Wildly off the mark. Personally, the Dyne scene is improved in Rebirth. Dyne was just insane in OG. In Rebirth, he gets to save a suicidal Barrett and give him a Zack-like message with negative tone
I was bothered by how the Dyne scene was handled. In the original they really build up to him. Gus (called Mr. Coates in the OG) was a lowlife thug clearly terrified of Dyne. Dyne was scary in the OG. His homicidal insanity served as a contrast to Barret. Both men went through the same tragedy but came out as drastically different people. I agree that Dyne is more of a tragic figure in Rebirth, but that wasn't really his purpose in the OG game. I didn't really mention this, but the original game had a much darker tone and really went to some intense places. Remake and Rebirth seem to pull its punches more: it's less willing to commit to really dark themes. And I think that's a bit of a loss.
The Dyne scene in OG actually focuses on Dyne and Barret. The man commits suicide because he realizes how far he has fallen and feels he can't be with Marlene anymore. Rebirth has him die by shooting some Shinra soldiers that randomly showed up and then proceeds to have a fight with Palmer.
@@mritchywrath Man along the lines of this the thing that really fucking bothered me so far specifically in Remake is that they make the catastrophic explosion during the first reactor bombing Shinra's fault when it works so much better as a consequence of a decision they made. It even works better in the text of Remake and Rebirth, with Jessie feeling guilty for all of the damage it caused as she passes, and the scene in Rebirth where Cloud is shown the aftermath of the bombing by Sephiroth at the temple or whatever was going on there. Just let it be morally ambiguous, Shinra is objectively evil but literal terrorism is very messy even when 100% morally justified, and I think that's a really interesting angle the OG game kind of explores, but for some reason in VII Shinra has to also be responsible for the horrible destruction that first bombing causes. Even though none of the characters know that so what was the point of doing that. I still don't know.
another half-baked negative review. Yawn.
Whats half baked about it?
My hot take is that these games are garbage, a complete soulless cash grab with zero replayability in the long term. How's the speed running community for Remake going?
Don't think I'd go that far, but I do think these games were made with a sigh rather than a smile. Seems like the creative directors don't really want to revisit the OG game and instead do something different.