Well, somewhere around the 60 hour mark, I managed to finish Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. It’s a huge, quite remarkable game, even if I was left a little cold on the ending. There’s plenty to talk about before we get to the ending though, and I’ll be sure to put a big spoiler warning before diving into this game’s rather controversial ending. 

Let’s start off with the good, the characters. The main cast of Rebirth is now a strong contender for my favorite party in a Final Fantasy game. While Cloud, Barret, Tifa and Aerith remain our core cast, having Red 13, Yuffie, and Cait Sith along for the ride are welcome additions. Even Barrett, who I was never a huge fan of in the original or Remake, has a lot more room to breathe in Rebirth, and is easy to grow fond of. 

The writing is consistently grounded, charming, and funny. I loved getting to spend time with these characters, and the minor affection system made it feel like the game was encouraging me to care about each member of my party. The affection system culminates in a date with someone from your party at the gold saucer, and I was surprised to find myself invested in who I would get to spend more time with. 

The character writing is really what holds up Rebirth, because I feel like this is a game let down by its plot in many ways. Being the second game in a trilogy is always difficult, you have to build on the first, but still keep enough excitement for a grand finale in the next game. Final Fantasy Rebirth also adapts the second act of the original game. In a typical three act structure, the second act is often the hardest to get right. 

Being the second game in a trilogy adapting the second act of a story originally packaged in one game is no easy task, and I think Rebirth did a decent job, but it still feels aimless at times. The goal of this game can be summed up as “find Sephiroth”. This is consistent with the original of course, but to make this feel like a full length game, certain areas are expanded in this remake. While the original was able to build up momentum in the second act, since many areas are shorter, or even optional, this game only really built momentum around chapter 12, almost 35 hours in. 

Until the Black Materia is introduced, there isn’t a tangible goal for the party. They wander from place to place just hoping to run into Sephiroth. We get to meet the new cast members along the way, and dive into character’s back stories, but outside of chapters 4 and 9, I didn’t feel very engaged by the wider story. 

While the plot suffers from extending out the second act, the gameplay, especially the open world, is served by it. While I’m not in love with the open world, I think some of the activities are rather boring and can be tedious, it’s fun to run around in. Unfortunately, it’s running around rather than exploring, as every activity is shown via ubisoft style towers, something I hope they leave behind in part 3. Each area tries to have a different method of travel though, so at least the ways in which you’re running around remain varied.

Combat remains a highlight throughout the game, if anything, becoming even better as it evolves. I enjoyed when the game forced you into more specific party compositions, as you got to try out dynamics you might not have considered before. Each cast member also gets a chance to replace Cloud as the lead character, at least for a while, which makes for some fun sections. They’re not all winners, but I appreciate giving each character the spotlight and their own unique mechanics. 

I haven’t done any of the end game super challenges or started the game on hard mode, but if anything will draw me back into the game, it would likely be the combat. What it won’t be, is the mini games. I’ll go on record, I don’t hate the mini games. There’s just too darn many. If they cut even just 5 of the games and focused a bit more on the ones they do have I think that’d be for the best. While some are almost universally loved, like Queen’s Blood, there are far too many games duking it out for the title of most hated. 

Even something that was tons of fun in the Remake Integrade DLC, Fort Condor, became a frustrating puzzle that lost everything that made it fun. Instead of choosing your units, and dueling an opponent, you’re forced to complete pre-set time challenges. Even if you had “solved” the challenge, and your objective had just a sliver of health left, the whistle would blow and it would be all for nothing. 

Some are maybe just a matter of taste or player preferences. While I quite liked the Red 13 rocket league style mini game, I’ve heard others complain about it, while I breezed through on my first try. But for me, I won’t be touching that froggy style Fall Guys game anytime soon, even dozens of attempts later I could hardly survive more than 30 seconds. I feel the mini games really depend on how much time you have to spend with them, the less the better, and that’s not great. 

Now, let’s talk about the elephant in the room, the ending of this game. Ahead of release we knew that this game would end at the place where *that* character meets their fate. The question on everyone’s mind was, will that happen again. Well… 

SPOILERS AHEAD

The answer is, kinda? I’ll just put it out there, I think this ending is a cop out. Rather than committing to the same story as the original, letting Aerith live, or a bold new direction like killing Tifa or Cloud, we’re left in limbo. Cloud seemingly saves Aerith, before finding that she had died nonetheless. Or had she? After a long multiphase boss fight against Sephiroth, we see the party grief for Aerith, but not Cloud. We also miss out on the iconic scene of releasing Aerith’s body into the water, further adding to the confusion. 

As the party makes preparations to begin the next leg of their journey on the highwind, we see Aerith watching over the rest of the party as they grieve and get ready, only they can’t see her. Only Cloud seems to be able to see this vision of Aerith, and we’re left wondering why exactly this is. 

It could be Cloud’s deterioration and yet another vision only in his head, like we’ve seen throughout the game, or it could be, sigh, the multiverse. Yes, this is now a multiverse story. Over these final few hours we see between 5 and 7 different universes, and Zack is even able to join Cloud in the fight against Sephiroth before being sent back to some other universe. 

I don’t love multiverse stories at the best of times, and this is my least favorite kind of multiverse. The one that lets character’s avoid tragic fates seemingly at random. Aerith might not be present for most of part 3, only to pop up later through some whisper/multiverse magic, perhaps with Zack in tow. I didn’t really care whether Aerith died, or lived, but just that we committed to a decision. This is trying to have your cake and eat it too. 

END SPOILERS 

So, for those that are still avoiding spoilers, or just want the TL:DR, I think the ending is quite messy. It soured me a bit on the game as a whole, because I can’t help but feel like we went on this whole journey for no real reason. I have no more answers than when I started, and the good faith and intrigue that Remake built is largely wasted here. 

I’ll play part 3 of course, and I hope they take some bigger swings in part 3, but my faith has certainly been shaken. I had dared to hope that this really would be a reimagining or a reflection on the original game, and now I’m not so sure. Rebirth is still a great game, but one that I wish I could love more than I do. 

Mr Hunter’s Grade: 8.5 

The visuals, the music, the combat, the characters, it’s really all top notch. My only sticking point is the plot, and I ended up feeling a little spurred for having high hopes about where it could go. The ending really soured me on the game as a whole. If I replay the game it’ll be for the smaller moments, the journey, spending time with my friends, because I hate the destination. 

A strong third entry might help soften me on this game, but for now it’s a bit of an awkward sequel, at least in terms of the plot. There’s still plenty to love in every other aspect of the game, which is why… 

Final Grade: 9.5 

This is the first time my personal grade is lower than the Final Grade. Just because I was soured on this game due to its ending, doesn’t mean it isn’t a triumph in so many other areas. This series of remakes/reimaginings is still my favorite vision of a modern Final Fantasy and delivers on a lot of what I think makes this series special.