General Gaming Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Remake Part 2) - "An Excellent But Inconsistent Experience" (Digital Foundry Technical Review)

[Best]

1 minute ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

Start of 4 I believe. 

 

Oh, he was not difficult on easy obviously. 

 

Here is a tip:

 

Spoiler

Bottomswell is a long range opponent. Unless the party has a Long Range Materia (one found in Mythril Mines prior to Junon) only Barret and Yuffie can attack Bottomswell physically, so the other party members must use magic or Limit Breaks to attack. The player can easily win simply by poisoning Bottomswell.

 

[legend]

58 minutes ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Bottomswell spanked my ass at level 23. Was using Cloud, Barrett, and Aerith. any Tips? 

 

 

Use the synergy skill (does not require ATB) to throw Tifa at him in the air. For Cloud, make sure you use the circle followed by the square hold (not tap) to launch Cloud into the air for air attacks.

 

I forget if he has any elemental weaknesses to cause pressure. If so, make sure you use those elements to pressure and then stagger him. (Use Assess ability to check for weaknesses). One pressured use your characters "focus" abilities to get it to stagger quickly. E.g., Cloud's Focused Thrust. Other characters have "Focus" abilities too.

 

And you should *always* be frequently shifting between teammates to

* Build up each of their ATB

* Avoid the eye of the enemy attack. Non-controlled teammates take less damage and are not as commonly the focus of attacks, so switching once he starts looking at you is a good way to minimize damage intake.

 

 

Oh and if you're taking Aeirth and he has an elemental weakness, make sure you use the ward ability so that when you cast from it, it casts twice. You can have Aerith teleport back to it quickly if she walks off if you press Triangle.

[Best]

6 minutes ago, legend said:

 

Use the synergy skill (does not require ATB) to throw Tifa at him in the air. For Cloud, make sure you use the circle followed by the square hold (not tap) to launch Cloud into the air for air attacks.

 

I forget if he has any elemental weaknesses to cause pressure. If so, make sure you use those elements to pressure and then stagger him. (Use Assess ability to check for weaknesses). One pressured use your characters "focus" abilities to get it to stagger quickly. E.g., Cloud's Focused Thrust. Other characters have "Focus" abilities too.

 

And you should *always* be frequently shifting between teammates to

* Build up each of their ATB

* Avoid the eye of the enemy attack. Non-controlled teammates take less damage and are not as commonly the focus of attacks, so switching once he starts looking at you is a good way to minimize damage intake.

 

 

Oh and if you're taking Aeirth and he has an elemental weakness, make sure you use the ward ability so that when you cast from it, it casts twice. You can have Aerith teleport back to it quickly if she walks off if you press Triangle.

 

I did all of this but on easy mode. The combat is so freakin fun and keeps you busy with each character. 

[Best]

@Biggie where you at?

[Biggie]

1 hour ago, best3444 said:

@Biggie where you at?

About to go into the mines

[Biggie]

I didn’t play at all today until now. It’s going to take me a long time lol. @best3444

[eventide11]

7 hours ago, Biggie said:

Are you playing this? 

Nah. I'm working on an ancient back log of God of War Ragnarok at the moment

[Biggie]

4 hours ago, best3444 said:

@Biggie where you at?

 

2 hours ago, Biggie said:

About to go into the mines

Ok made it through and defeated the 

Spoiler

rock boss Mythril Golem. 

I’ve really got the hang of combat now. Even on normal I handled him. 

[Best]

1 hour ago, Biggie said:

I didn’t play at all today until now. It’s going to take me a long time lol. @best3444

 

I am still in the very beginning of chapter 7 because I went back to Kalm and the grasslands to do side quests etc. Tomorrow I'm going to do in the main quest.

 

@legend told me that the area where I was doing mini games I only had to do like 3 total. So that section isn't nearly as bad as I was making it out. 

 

This is one of my favorite games this generation and if it continues to be great I don't know where to put it. 

[Best]

3 minutes ago, Biggie said:

 

Ok made it through and defeated the 

  Hide contents

rock boss Mythril Golem. 

I’ve really got the hang of combat now. Even on normal I handled him. 

 

There is a boss on chapter 5 that might give you trouble but if you're getting the hang of it maybe not. 

[Biggie]

3 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

There is a boss on chapter 5 that might give you trouble but if you're getting the hang of it maybe not. 

Well I’m doing absolutely everything there is to do which is helping me because I’m pretty powerful now. Just made it to Junon Region and chapter 4. This is a spectacular game. 

[Best]

1 minute ago, Biggie said:

Well I’m doing absolutely everything there is to do which is helping me because I’m pretty powerful now. Just made it to Junon Region and chapter 4. This is a spectacular game. 

 

"Under Junon" is big but not as big as the grasslands. I didn't really do anything there and got a Chocobo and got to the higher elevation where Shinra runs the Junon city. There is where the main stuff goes down. 

 

Then after that you head to Costa del Sol which leads to chapter 7. So you're not THAT far off from me. 

[Biggie]

10 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

I am still in the very beginning of chapter 7 because I went back to Kalm and the grasslands to do side quests etc. Tomorrow I'm going to do in the main quest.

 

@legend told me that the area where I was doing mini games I only had to do like 3 total. So that section isn't nearly as bad as I was making it out. 

 

This is one of my favorite games this generation and if it continues to be great I don't know where to put it. 

I like mini games lol. Also I have a feeling this will end up in my top 5 greatest ever. 

[Biggie]

Just now, best3444 said:

 

"Under Junon" is big but not as big as the grasslands. I didn't really do anything there and got a Chocobo and got to the higher elevation where Shinra runs the Junon city. There is where the main stuff goes down. 

 

Then after that you head to Costa del Sol which leads to chapter 7. So you're not THAT far off from me. 

I’m going to do EVERYTHING there before moving on. 

[Best]

Just now, Biggie said:

I like mini games lol. Also I have a feeling this will end up in my top 5 greatest ever. 

 

The mini games are fun ngl. I won't comment to much on where this will land in my top list until I beat it. But when a game demands me to play 3-4 hours at a clip and sometimes 5 hours, it's really special. 

[Keyser_Soze]

I know best loves mini games. Max came back to Costa del Sol and spent over an hour doing

 

Spoiler

Tifa Sit ups

 

[BloodyHell]

Im about 50 hours in. Just completed the Costa Del Sol/Corel region. This game is so damn good.

 

The mini-games are absolutely brilliant. They did such a fantastic job of translating them from the original game to this one. 
 

playing the game on Dynamic has kept it slightly more challenging than Remake was. I constantly am exited to find new landmarks and read new World Intel and lore. Fighting even more summons has been excellent. 
 

So far the story is excellent, and the characters work so well together. Without a doubt this will probably be my GotY. This game is pretty special as someone who bought a ps1 and FF7 at a midnight launch with friends in 1997 (The game was literally the reason we all got PSX’s instead of N64’s). It’s amazing to see it all play out again, only slightly differently, never knowing exactly what’s coming. 
 

I expect this game to take 100 hours, and I’m loving every second of them. 

[Best]

I'm hitting a nice stride in chapter 7 with some great music to boot. 

[Biggie]

1 hour ago, best3444 said:

I'm hitting a nice stride in chapter 7 with some great music to boot. 

Honestly the game is a masterpiece to me. The characters, story, music, pacing, and progression are all on point. 

[Best]

1 hour ago, Biggie said:

Honestly the game is a masterpiece to me. The characters, story, music, pacing, and progression are all on point. 

 

I spent 3 hours on chapter 7 and didn't beat it. But a section opened up that said fast travel is now open. So I decided to tackle all side quests open to me up until this point. I'm doing that now and taking my time with this game. You're right, I can confidently say this is the best Final Fantasy game ever made. It's just so fuckin fun. 

[Best]

The music at Costa del Sol has such beautiful remixes throughout. Then climbing a mountain in chapter 7 there is beautiful music. This entire soundtrack has to be up there as some of the very best ever. I kinda wish I played the original FF7 just to appreciate this even more. 

[BloodyHell]

1 hour ago, best3444 said:

 

I spent 3 hours on chapter 7 and didn't beat it. But a section opened up that said fast travel is now open. So I decided to tackle all side quests open to me up until this point. I'm doing that now and taking my time with this game. You're right, I can confidently say this is the best Final Fantasy game ever made. It's just so fuckin fun. 

I mean, how many Final Fantasy’s have you played?

 

I can confidently say that imo, it’s not a better game than VI, that is one of the greatest stories ever told in game. As for if this is better than VI or OG VII, I’ll only judge that once the game is completed with part 3. It’s certainly shinier and better presented, but we don’t yet have the full game to judge.

[Best]

42 minutes ago, BloodyHell said:

I mean, how many Final Fantasy’s have you played?

 

I can confidently say that imo, it’s not a better game than VI, that is one of the greatest stories ever told in game. As for if this is better than VI or OG VII, I’ll only judge that once the game is completed with part 3. It’s certainly shinier and better presented, but we don’t yet have the full game to judge.

 

I played FF8, FF9, FF10, FF11 online, FF12, FF14, FF15, FF7 Remake, FF16. 

 

Rebirth is the best of those that I played. I guess I should hold out judgment until I actually beat it but 15 hours in I'm having more fun than I ever had with a FF game. 

 

What chapter are you on?

[legend]

1 hour ago, BloodyHell said:

I mean, how many Final Fantasy’s have you played?

 

I can confidently say that imo, it’s not a better game than VI, that is one of the greatest stories ever told in game. As for if this is better than VI or OG VII, I’ll only judge that once the game is completed with part 3. It’s certainly shinier and better presented, but we don’t yet have the full game to judge.

 

It's fair to wait until part 3 is out (ME3 is a great example of fumbling in the final minutes  ), but on its current trajectory I would rank this higher than 6. 6 is great and all, but it does feel dated to me at this point. Both in gameplay and presentation, and I think presentation is actually extremely important for being able to effectively deliver emotional beats. In a more apples to apples comparison, Remake/Rebirth just hits so much harder than OG 7 even on the same beats because they do so much more with the tech. And in addition to that, the remakes are expanding the characters and their interactions much more.

[TwinIon]

I'm not nearly as far as many of you, only having put in a dozen hours or so. I'm still in the Grasslands, mucking about doing a bunch of the quests. I feel like my impressions are kinda mixed. Some of it just has to do with meeting this game where it's at. There are wild tonal swings, it's goofy as hell, and it's supposed to be a big open world bonanza of nonsense to do. Even once I've more or less adjusted to all that, it still feels like it's a JRPG shoehorned into a Ubisoft open world game, with all the complexities of both added together. I definitely didn't feel this way with FF16 and don't recall this being as much a problem with FF road trip (whichever one that was), but here it's hard to miss.

 

One example of this is the amount of stuff it throws at you all at once. Yeah, it's a sequel, but there really is a whole lot going on with the combat system and the leveling and all the mini-games. It felt to me like they had to rush through it as much as possible because they were about to send you out into the world not knowing what you'd do, so here's everything all at once. This despite the fact that the game begins with a flashback sequence. I think it's great that there is so much to do and such a deep combat system here, which I am still in the early stages of figuring out, but this is not a game that wanted to take its time getting you back up to speed.

 

The menu system and UX is complicated and unintuitive. Why isn't the ability to change party members under the "party" menu? I dislike that I can't see what spells or abilities characters have when they don't have the ATP to cast them. Especially in a game where any character could have nearly any spell, I'm finding it easy to forget who has fire and who has thunder. Maybe I'll develop a system or start remembering, but just showing it to me in the battle menu would help. It's not a complete waste, but when I build up the wrong character to attack a weakness, it feels like a missed opportunity at least.

 

For an uber-budget open world game, the traversal is acceptable only because it's fast. I will praise them for that. Chocobos in particular move fast and fast travel points are like Starbucks in a city. You can often see the next one from where you're standing. Still moving around feels terribly unpolished. It's so janky looking sliding up and down all these high resolution rocks, and every interaction you make is so slow. It's so slow to see if a room is locked or climbing up a cliff or stopping for your chocobo to smell around. None of it is broken, but it feels very much like these fundamental parts of the game have been overlooked in favor of more of everything else. Maybe I'm just too harsh on games, but I just feel like the level of animation fidelity is way too low compared to the rest of the visual presentation.

 

All that said, there is a metric ton of stuff that seems available. I've barely gotten into the story, which I expect to go some wild places. The production values are extravagant, and while I have small gripes about the combat system, it's obviously got a whole lot going on. If I ever figure it all out, it seems like a lot of fun!

[Best]

3 minutes ago, TwinIon said:

I'm not nearly as far as many of you, only having put in a dozen hours or so. I'm still in the Grasslands, mucking about doing a bunch of the quests. I feel like my impressions are kinda mixed. Some of it just has to do with meeting this game where it's at. There are wild tonal swings, it's goofy as hell, and it's supposed to be a big open world bonanza of nonsense to do. Even once I've more or less adjusted to all that, it still feels like it's a JRPG shoehorned into a Ubisoft open world game, with all the complexities of both added together. I definitely didn't feel this way with FF16 and don't recall this being as much a problem with FF road trip (whichever one that was), but here it's hard to miss.

 

One example of this is the amount of stuff it throws at you all at once. Yeah, it's a sequel, but there really is a whole lot going on with the combat system and the leveling and all the mini-games. It felt to me like they had to rush through it as much as possible because they were about to send you out into the world not knowing what you'd do, so here's everything all at once. This despite the fact that the game begins with a flashback sequence. I think it's great that there is so much to do and such a deep combat system here, which I am still in the early stages of figuring out, but this is not a game that wanted to take its time getting you back up to speed.

 

The menu system and UX is complicated and unintuitive. Why isn't the ability to change party members under the "party" menu? I dislike that I can't see what spells or abilities characters have when they don't have the ATP to cast them. Especially in a game where any character could have nearly any spell, I'm finding it easy to forget who has fire and who has thunder. Maybe I'll develop a system or start remembering, but just showing it to me in the battle menu would help. It's not a complete waste, but when I build up the wrong character to attack a weakness, it feels like a missed opportunity at least.

 

For an uber-budget open world game, the traversal is acceptable only because it's fast. I will praise them for that. Chocobos in particular move fast and fast travel points are like Starbucks in a city. You can often see the next one from where you're standing. Still moving around feels terribly unpolished. It's so janky looking sliding up and down all these high resolution rocks, and every interaction you make is so slow. It's so slow to see if a room is locked or climbing up a cliff or stopping for your chocobo to smell around. None of it is broken, but it feels very much like these fundamental parts of the game have been overlooked in favor of more of everything else. Maybe I'm just too harsh on games, but I just feel like the level of animation fidelity is way too low compared to the rest of the visual presentation.

 

All that said, there is a metric ton of stuff that seems available. I've barely gotten into the story, which I expect to go some wild places. The production values are extravagant, and while I have small gripes about the combat system, it's obviously got a whole lot going on. If I ever figure it all out, it seems like a lot of fun!

 

I'd focusing more on the story if I were you. I picked up on everything they throw at you early on pretty well and I'm not too great at this genre. You should advance the story a bit to flesh things out because you can always do side quests and exploring whenever you like. Your opinion is very different than the 106 reviews I read on opencritic. Yes, I read every review lol. 

 

The game is spectacular. Keep at it!

[Biggie]

15 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

I'd focusing more on the story if I were you. I picked up on everything they throw at you early on pretty well and I'm not too great at this genre. You should advance the story a bit to flesh things out because you can always do side quests and exploring whenever you like. Your opinion is very different than the 106 reviews I read on opencritic. Yes, I read every review lol. 

 

The game is spectacular. Keep at it!

When your Dad returns tell him you would like to be referred to as Cloud Strife going forward. 

[BloodyHell]

3 hours ago, best3444 said:

 

I played FF8, FF9, FF10, FF11 online, FF12, FF14, FF15, FF7 Remake, FF16. 

 

Rebirth is the best of those that I played. I guess I should hold out judgment until I actually beat it but 15 hours in I'm having more fun than I ever had with a FF game. 

 

What chapter are you on?

Chapter 9

[Biggie]

12 hours ago, BloodyHell said:

Im about 50 hours in. Just completed the Costa Del Sol/Corel region. This game is so damn good.

 

The mini-games are absolutely brilliant. They did such a fantastic job of translating them from the original game to this one. 
 

playing the game on Dynamic has kept it slightly more challenging than Remake was. I constantly am exited to find new landmarks and read new World Intel and lore. Fighting even more summons has been excellent. 
 

So far the story is excellent, and the characters work so well together. Without a doubt this will probably be my GotY. This game is pretty special as someone who bought a ps1 and FF7 at a midnight launch with friends in 1997 (The game was literally the reason we all got PSX’s instead of N64’s). It’s amazing to see it all play out again, only slightly differently, never knowing exactly what’s coming. 
 

I expect this game to take 100 hours, and I’m loving every second of them. 

Glad you are posting again

[BloodyHell]

1 hour ago, TwinIon said:

I'm not nearly as far as many of you, only having put in a dozen hours or so. I'm still in the Grasslands, mucking about doing a bunch of the quests. I feel like my impressions are kinda mixed. Some of it just has to do with meeting this game where it's at. There are wild tonal swings, it's goofy as hell, and it's supposed to be a big open world bonanza of nonsense to do. Even once I've more or less adjusted to all that, it still feels like it's a JRPG shoehorned into a Ubisoft open world game, with all the complexities of both added together. I definitely didn't feel this way with FF16 and don't recall this being as much a problem with FF road trip (whichever one that was), but here it's hard to miss.

 

One example of this is the amount of stuff it throws at you all at once. Yeah, it's a sequel, but there really is a whole lot going on with the combat system and the leveling and all the mini-games. It felt to me like they had to rush through it as much as possible because they were about to send you out into the world not knowing what you'd do, so here's everything all at once. This despite the fact that the game begins with a flashback sequence. I think it's great that there is so much to do and such a deep combat system here, which I am still in the early stages of figuring out, but this is not a game that wanted to take its time getting you back up to speed.

 

The menu system and UX is complicated and unintuitive. Why isn't the ability to change party members under the "party" menu? I dislike that I can't see what spells or abilities characters have when they don't have the ATP to cast them. Especially in a game where any character could have nearly any spell, I'm finding it easy to forget who has fire and who has thunder. Maybe I'll develop a system or start remembering, but just showing it to me in the battle menu would help. It's not a complete waste, but when I build up the wrong character to attack a weakness, it feels like a missed opportunity at least.

 

For an uber-budget open world game, the traversal is acceptable only because it's fast. I will praise them for that. Chocobos in particular move fast and fast travel points are like Starbucks in a city. You can often see the next one from where you're standing. Still moving around feels terribly unpolished. It's so janky looking sliding up and down all these high resolution rocks, and every interaction you make is so slow. It's so slow to see if a room is locked or climbing up a cliff or stopping for your chocobo to smell around. None of it is broken, but it feels very much like these fundamental parts of the game have been overlooked in favor of more of everything else. Maybe I'm just too harsh on games, but I just feel like the level of animation fidelity is way too low compared to the rest of the visual presentation.

 

All that said, there is a metric ton of stuff that seems available. I've barely gotten into the story, which I expect to go some wild places. The production values are extravagant, and while I have small gripes about the combat system, it's obviously got a whole lot going on. If I ever figure it all out, it seems like a lot of fun!

I mean, those goofy tonal shifts are FF7 to its core. Frankly, it’s literally one of my favorite things about the game, and extremely true to the original. 
 

the traversal is classic 3d action JRPG. This isn’t supposed to be  and isn’t trying to be Horizon/AC/etc. It’s actually very close to Tales of Arise, except with much larger zones. And I don’t mind chasing landmarks and the like because every single one of them gets me new lore on a world I absolutely love. 
 

also, you can change party without going into menus. You can’t do it in combat, but if you can set up to three separate teams.

 

I can’t find a thing I dislike about this game, but I also admit I can’t look at this game without a lot of bias towards it because I love the original so much, and have such a long history with the franchise, along with my closest friends who are all also playing. Seeing the story move and change, but still remain close to the same. Seeing all these wonderful concepts from 27 years ago wildly expanded upon excites me. 
 

One thing though, I can’t imagine missing all of the context of the original game while playing Remake/Rebirth. Theres so much information the game doesn’t tell you, so it’s almost like two groups are playing two different games. Ine group is playing a completely original experience, while the other is playing sequel in separate universe. 

[Best]

Well I'm glad to report that chapter 7 is long but really good. I'm about 4 hours in chapter 7 and playing as yuffie definitely changes the gameplay up a lot. 

 

I went back to juno to do a side quest but then decided to get back to the story. I may go back for the remaining side quests after chapter 7. God I love this game. 

[Best]

2 hours ago, Biggie said:

When your Dad returns tell him you would like to be referred to as Cloud Strife going forward. 

 

He's home already. The fun is over. 

[Biggie]

Okay finally something I don’t enjoy about the game. 
 

Spoiler

Doing the World Intel in the Junon Region where you have to play that silly board game where all the characters turn into Lego type figures. 

That shit ain’t fun and takes away from the game. 

[Best]

3 minutes ago, Biggie said:

Okay finally something I don’t enjoy about the game. 
 

  Hide contents

Doing the World Intel in the Junon Region where you have to play that silly board game where all the characters turn into Lego type figures. 

That shit ain’t fun and takes away from the game. 

 

Yea but you don't have to do that...

 

I never even attempted that. The main story is where it's at. 

[Biggie]

17 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

Yea but you don't have to do that...

 

I never even attempted that. The main story is where it's at. 

Uh yeah I do have to do that lol. I told ya I’m doing every last thing in each new area before moving on. This will be atleast a 100 hour game for me. And I love it! I’m 20 hours and 27 minutes in. Hell it’ll probably be more than 100.