Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Review

My dream FF brought to life!

I was impressed with Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Intergrade was stepped up from the PS4 version, and Intermission was a great precursor to Rebirth. So, I had high expectations for Rebirth.

Rebirth blew my expectations out of the window. I didn’t expect Rebirth to be such a major evolution of Remake. I would venture to say Rebirth is the grand evolution of the entire FF series.

Rebirth is my dream FF. A FF that I have been dreaming about since FFX. I will be expressing why I think Rebirth is an amazing middle chapter of the Remake series. Also, I will be diving deep into why this game is my dream Final Fantasy.

Premise

Rebirth begins with Cloud telling the party the story of the Nibelheim Incident. Cloud regales the party with how Sephiroth became a fallen hero.  

Sephiroth learns of his true origins, which shake him to his very core.

Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim as he falls into depravity. He murders the helpless citizens who once revered him. This is all for the sake of taking back his mother, Jenova, and resuming her mission of conquering the planet.

The game begins with the Nibelheim Incident, which sets the tone. The tone regarding the story and improved gameplay mechanics. Nibelheim serves as an excellent starting point.

Narratively, Rebirth is a story of adventure, laughter, and joy. Opposite to those positive feelings, Rebirth will have tragedy, calamity, and other dark elements.

From a gameplay perspective, Rebirth improves on the gameplay systems implemented in Remake. Nibelheim serves as a tutorial for all of these improved systems. Of course, there are new features regarding combat, exploration, and progression systems. First, we will talk about the grand return of the world map.

The Return of the World Map

For years, Final Fantasy did not have a traditional world map. Final Fantasy XV brought back the world map. However, it was mostly vapid. Side quests did not add much to the story either.

But Rebirth brings back the world map in a grand fashion. The world map is beautiful.  Each location is unique and different from the previous location.

The Grassland region has fields, flowers, trees, and the infamous swamplands that are home to the Midgardsormr. Junon has a maritime feel, with the town and region being so close to the sea. The Corel region has the desert, Costa Del Sol, and the Gold Saucer.

While the towns are essential to the story, each one feels alive. Towns are teeming with life thanks to people, their activities, and the town's aesthetics. It feels like these towns have their own story, and they each build upon the world of Rebirth.

Rebirth also brings elements of surprise and discovery to the world map. There are treasure caches where the party can find treasure chests and boxes full of great rewards.

Treasure caches emphasize exploration and discovery. But treasure caches aren’t the only things that influence exploration. There is also world intel.

World Intel

Chadley returns and takes a page of Cloud’s book. He leaves Midgar and decides he wants to research the world. Chadley enlists Cloud’s help for his world intel venture. Cloud is a research partner, as Chadley puts it.

Cloud’s role is to activate Renmawave Towers. Once activated, Chadley will use these towers to scan the area for combat assignments, sanctuaries, lifesprings, and protorelics. The more world intel tasks you complete, the more tasks you open.

Combat assignments pit Cloud’s party against stronger variants of regional fiends. Sanctuaries house crystals of a region’s respective summon. Analyzing these crystals will weaken the summon when you battle it in Chadley’s battle simulator.

Lifesprings are mako crystals that Cloud analyzes. Surrounding the crystals are various materials, including rare ones. When Cloud analyzes more lifesprings, the region’s history is unlocked. In addition, more world intel is unlocked as well.

Lastly, there are protorelics. These mysterious relics are often the source of trouble in a region. Furthermore, they belong to a certain summon that wasn’t in the original game.

World Intel adds more to the exploration of Rebirth’s world map. They add a lot of lore and worldbuilding to FF7R's world. There are times when world ontel can be exhausting yet addicting.

It’s important to remember that world intel quests are optional. I feel it’s best to tackle these quests at your own pace for your enjoyment. Breaking up world intel into segments will enhance your enjoyment and prevent you from burning out.

Gameplay

Combat

The bulk of FF7Rs combat remains the same, except with some new mechanics. There are more actions within the game. If you get the right timing, you get a perfect block.

A perfect block prevents any damage from an enemy attack. Additionally, perfect blocks increase an enemy’s stagger gauge. Some perfect blocks can even disrupt enemies and pressure them.

Some weapon abilities allow our characters to attack airborne enemies. For example, Cloud’s Triple Slash can now launch him into the air. While in the air, Cloud proceeds to strike any airborne enemies.

Cloud can also attack enemies from afar now. After evading, Cloud can launch waves from his swords at enemies. He can even hit fiends that are airborne with these waves.

Synergy

While it was introduced in Intermission, Synergy is another new addition to Rebirth. Synergies have been enhanced and divided into two categories.

There are synergy skills that you execute while your selected party member is defending. When you execute these synergies, you and your partner will execute the move. These synergies can be offensive or defensive, depending on the two members and their synergy.

There are special synergy abilities that can be used between two party members. These synergy abilities are unique to a certain pair and highlight an aspect of their bond. For example, Cloud and Aerith have Firework Blade, which is unique to them. It’s a powerful, beautiful move.

Special synergies also have powerful benefits. Some can increase your limit level. Others can grant you zero MP cost temporarily. Also, some can lengthen the stagger gauge's time.

There is also a variety of synergies that are cool, fun, sweet, and funny. Firework Blade is one of my favorites as someone who loves that pairing. But Sour and Savage Salvo is my top favorite. This synergy features Aerith and Barret, and it’s so dang cool!

Progression

Folios

Similar to weapon cores, party members boost their stats and learn new abilities from their respective folios. Folios are where party members can learn new synergies. The party can also learn special abilities as well.

When Skill Points are allocated to folios. This is how your party members can acquire new skills, abilities, and synergies. But that’s not only used for skill points, though.

Weapon Skills

A party member will learn new weapon skills that you can equip in Weapon Upgrades. These skills can also be equipped in Materia and Equipment in the main menu. Weapon Skills are skills that enhance your character’s stats, attributes, and unique abilities.

For example, Aerith’s Guard Stick can grant skills like Enhanced Tempest, which increases Tempest’s damage. Spiritual Harvest increases the MP Aerith absorbs from an enemy. Weapon Skills can only be equipped with the weapon that grants it. So, Aerith does not have access to these skills without her Guard Stick.

Materia

Materia has also improved. There are independent materia that will allow your characters to automatically perform actions like Unique Ability. This is quite useful, especially with Tifa and her Unbridled Strength, which is key to her skill set.

You will find some Materia that are leveled up already. This means you won’t have to level up all your Materia from scratch. Allowing you to allocate AP to the Materia you want to level more.

Of course, there are new materia in every category. Summon materia is still given by Chadley once you defeat the summon. You can level up summon materia by analyzing the summon’s crystals in their sanctuaries.

Field Interaction

When you control different characters other than Cloud, they interact with the field in different ways. When you control Red XIII, he runs up across walls. Yuffie can put her ninja skills to good use, overcoming obstacles. Cath Sith can summon his Moogle to help him solve puzzles.

While this isn’t a new feature in Rebirth, since Tifa and Barrett have their own sections in Remake. It’s pretty cool that the devs elevate the level of the field interactions. It highlights each character’s unique abilities and helps conveys their individual stories. Of course, this interaction also elevates Rebirth’s storytelling.

Story

The story of Rebirth remains highly faithful to the original FF7. Rebirth covers the original game from Kalm to The Forgotten Capital. Similar to Remake, parts of the story have been expanded.

The expansions that I like the most were Chapter 4 with Rufus’s parade and Chapter 11 with Gi Tribe in Comso Canyon. CS1 incorporated and evolved the lore with these places and people as they did with the Gi Tribe.

Other chapters and segments got expanded enormously. For instance, Chapter 9 in Gongaga has been heavily expanded. What was once an optional town with little plot. The arc in Gongaga is more important. They also incorporated important future elements from OG. They also implemented new story elements from the Remake continuity.

There are shifts in the story of Rebirth. Certain plot beats have been rearranged. It’s important to note that Wutai and Rocket Town do not appear in Rebirth. These two places will be introduced and expanded upon in Part 3.

I’ll be frank. I enjoyed the story overall. The story got me emotional with good feelings such as laughter and joy. The game also had me feeling sad and angry while blowing my mind. Similar to Remake, Rebirth offers a highly faithful adaptation with some good expansions in certain areas and plotlines.

But I did not vibe with some of Rebirth's story. Some things felt like filler. One example is Cath Sith’s segment in Chapter 11. Of course, other parts of my dissonance could be due to lingering mysteries and story directions that are still unknown.

Characters

Cloud, the main character, still gets a significant amount of character development. Other characters in Rebirth get a good deal of the spotlight. I was over the moon when Red XIII joined the party. But the newest character who shine the most was Yuffie.

Yuffie

I grew to love Yuffie even more in Rebirth. Unlike FF7 OG, Yuffie drives the plot in ways. Not only that, she saves the day and becomes a supportive, awesome member of the party. And she's hilarious.

Red XIII

Even after his voice change, I still love Red XIII. Although it took some for me get used to Red's new voice. It made me remember that he is a pup. But I still prefer his initial voice.

Cath Sith

Rebirth also did the impossible. It made me a fan of Cath Sith. Despite his segment in Nibelheim Manor, he grew on me story-wise. His gameplay is also fun once you get the hang of it.

Zack

The only person I felt didn’t get a lot of time in the spotlight was Zack. Besides the beginning and end, Zack’s presence in the story was little. Similar to how Riku's segments were in KH3.

It seems like Zack’s role was more about setting up the overall plot line of Remake’s continuity. Although it was cheesy, I did get giddy and fanboyish with a certain team-up involving Zack.

Side Quests

Rebirth’s side quests have improved. When Cloud takes an odd job now, he has a second party member with him. For instance, he has a side quest with Aerith involving flower crowns.

When Cloud and the second member complete the quest. You get Gil, exp, and other great awards. More importantly, Cloud’s affinity with that party member increases. You also get some character development for Cloud and even more for the second party member.

Affinities

While affinities aren’t new to FF7 or the wider FF series, but they play a key role in Rebirth. Cloud’s affinity with a party member is what determines his date for the Infamous Gold Saucer date. Affinities are also a core part of Rebirth’s narrative.

To increase Cloud’s affinity with his friends. Some dialogue choices affect your relationship with other party members. Saying the right and best answers will strengthen your bonds. The opposite effect will happen with the wrong answers.

Synergies will also increase your party affinities. When performing a synergy for the first time. The first performance will increase those party members’ affinities.

Mini Games

The original FF7 was known for its abundance of mini-games. Rebirth doubles the number of mini-games. Some are mandatory, while many others are optional.

Mini-games from the OG have been improved and expanded. One prime example is Rufus’s parade. Cloud gets to choose his formation, which dictates the routine his squad will perform for the parade.

There are some mini-games I liked. But there are some that are optional. And I'm glad they are. There is one mini-game that is so good that it even surpasses Triple Triad for me. This game is Queen’s Blood!

Queen’s Blood

Yes, Triple Triad, my favorite FF minigame, has been dethroned. Queen’s Blood is now the best minigame in Final Fantasy. I didn’t think anything would surpass Triple Triad until Queen’s Blood. But this speaks to how amazing and fun Queen’s Blood truly is.

Queen’s Blood even has its own story. While it is optional, Queen’s Blood has some ties with the main story. At least, it has ties to the war between the Planet, the Cetra, and Jenova.

Music

The music continues to be excellent in Rebirth. Familiar tracks have been remixed. But they are still recognizable and they are just as good as their original counterparts. Some are even better than the originals. The Jenova boss tracks continue to be bangers.

Of course, the music heightens the emotional tension with key parts of the story. This is especially true with the ending of the story.

The Ending

While I won’t get into spoilers here. I plan to get more in-depth about the ending of Rebirth in the future. But I found the ending to be a mixed bag. A mixed bag, combined with emotions and confusion.

It’s not a bad ending, but I can’t say it’s a good one either. Considering what happens in the ending, whether it’s something expected or the opposite. It is also a cliffhanger thanks to Part 3. However, I’m more appreciative of this ending than Remake’s.

Overall Feelings

This sums up everything about my review for Rebirth. I found most of the game to be enjoyable. Rebirth is an excellent game that fires on all cylinders. It ups the ante on not only the 7 Remake series. But Rebirth does this elevates Final Fantasy as a whole.

While the story is not the strongest element in Rebirth. It’s still a great tale with pretty of emotions, whether they are positive or negative. This is my dream Final Fantasy, and I can’t wait for the final game of the trilogy.

Most images and videos were provided by my playthroughs of Rebirth.