Boy there sure is a lot of game here. It's weird when a game or series goes open world or semi open world like this game. A lot of times they feel the need to shove a bunch in to the game. Maps littered with icons to walk to and do busy work. A crafting system is implemented and so the ground is littered with things to pick up. There's a robust minigame card game made for this and there are people around to play in ALL major locations regardless of tone of the events. Also just minigames for days. There's nothing inherently wrong with them but when a game sets a tone of haste and then forces me to do minigames it just feels bad.
The busy work stuff too is just so dull too. Activate towers is something Ubisoft burned into everyone's brains. Fine. Zelda did this well though. Activate a tower and see more of the world and pick places to go. Rebirth tower just puts more chores on your map to go do. Go to shrine and play memory game, go to fountain and press triangle three times, go fight monsters in specific way, and so on. You could say open world stuff just isn't for me and that's true but it also hurts more when I've seen other open world games have their open world and keep it engaging rather than like house work. Also fuck whoever said "oh you wanna move around the world more quickly? do this hackneyed stealth section first". Double also fuck glorified box moving puzzles you solve in your head near instantly and take forever to actually "solve" in comparison.
That said, the core JRPG stuff is mostly fun. I enjoy the combat and how you're encouraged to use other weapons for new moves. The pressure and staggering effects add some depth to how you approach things so you can't always mindlessly hack through stuff. I also still love how the kept in the auto battle system so you can choose to let the characters move around and build up ATB on their own but also take control whenever you want. It's all still well implemented. Materia is still fun to swap around and experiment with I think although this time around I found myself using more character abilities than spells in general. The only thing that felt a bit much was the Folio system which was like a skill tree for each character. It's neat that it's there I guess but it's kinda cumbersome to navigate and ultimately I just ignored it and really didn't have much trouble getting through the game (except dying twice on the final final boss but whatever).
They also kept in and expanded on synergy moves. This is actually something the Folio system is good for as you can unlock new synergy moves with different characters as you ascend the branches of the skill tree. I did this enough to have a couple and it was pretty neat. You get moves shared between characters that are strong and cost no ATB. Instead you build up to them by having used ATB moves already with each character. So like after you do two ATB moves with Yuffie and two with Tifa for example you're then able to use their sync move. They're all full of spectacle and feel great to build up to and pull off.
On top of sync moves being flashy fun to use in battle, they also have a slight effect outside of it. Specifically doing sync moves with a character and Cloud can help deepen their relationship. Yeah in this game they have like the equivalent of Persona social links (though not as in depth). So you can increase friendship with characters in combat but the bulk of it is usually done when you get to a new location and the game gives you the opportunity to talk with each character. Find them all and there's some good character moments that usually trigger a timed dialogue tree choice where the "right" one will deepen your relationship with said character. Of course this also leads to having a "romance" scene with whoever you have at the highest affection level by the time you get back to the Gold Saucer. It's a fun addition to the game and really helped in feeling engaged in the character's personalities.
OH also to build into deeper character engagement they have sections where you play as a different character and they have some gimmick specific to them that you have to use to progress. It ranges from kinda neat and inoffensive to mildy annoying and then straight up "fuck you Cait Sith" tier. I get what they're going for but it kinda sucks. Fortunately they also have sections of the game where they split the party into groups and this does a much better job showing the developing comradery of various characters.
So then how's the actual story? Well it's mostly just ok lol. It's the same weak connections that were present in this chunk of the OG game. You go to places on weak reasoning because plot. It's good they implemented the character stuff I mentioned before because that's where any sort of plot element really shines. The actual story at play here is just "Sephiroth gonna do something lets chase random almost-leads." and then like two thirds the way through and a couple personal character arcs later they stumble onto the plot to get the thing. It's whatever. The best bit is the wacky Nomura incoherent space fights and the "Zack is out there" extra story bits. It ultimately just leads to more "what the fuck are they thinking?" but it's still on the third game to see if they deliver on anything substantial or not. The story in this is more or less exactly as it goes in OG FFVII. I think it's fine.
So yeah. It's the second act of FFVII but made to look real pretty. It was too self conscious to just be a JRPG but bigger so there's a bunch of open world crap in it. Maybe you'll like it but it's clearly not for me. I enjoy the base combat and seeing the OG game realized as like this full thing. Also the character moments and the wacky extra stuff going on keeps me going. It definitely felt like a lot though and I'm ready to play something shorter and more video game-y. Don't need to recommend anything here. People playing this already know they're gonna play it. It's a sequel after all. Enjoyable enough but way too much extra junk for my liking.
The busy work stuff too is just so dull too. Activate towers is something Ubisoft burned into everyone's brains. Fine. Zelda did this well though. Activate a tower and see more of the world and pick places to go. Rebirth tower just puts more chores on your map to go do. Go to shrine and play memory game, go to fountain and press triangle three times, go fight monsters in specific way, and so on. You could say open world stuff just isn't for me and that's true but it also hurts more when I've seen other open world games have their open world and keep it engaging rather than like house work. Also fuck whoever said "oh you wanna move around the world more quickly? do this hackneyed stealth section first". Double also fuck glorified box moving puzzles you solve in your head near instantly and take forever to actually "solve" in comparison.
That said, the core JRPG stuff is mostly fun. I enjoy the combat and how you're encouraged to use other weapons for new moves. The pressure and staggering effects add some depth to how you approach things so you can't always mindlessly hack through stuff. I also still love how the kept in the auto battle system so you can choose to let the characters move around and build up ATB on their own but also take control whenever you want. It's all still well implemented. Materia is still fun to swap around and experiment with I think although this time around I found myself using more character abilities than spells in general. The only thing that felt a bit much was the Folio system which was like a skill tree for each character. It's neat that it's there I guess but it's kinda cumbersome to navigate and ultimately I just ignored it and really didn't have much trouble getting through the game (except dying twice on the final final boss but whatever).
They also kept in and expanded on synergy moves. This is actually something the Folio system is good for as you can unlock new synergy moves with different characters as you ascend the branches of the skill tree. I did this enough to have a couple and it was pretty neat. You get moves shared between characters that are strong and cost no ATB. Instead you build up to them by having used ATB moves already with each character. So like after you do two ATB moves with Yuffie and two with Tifa for example you're then able to use their sync move. They're all full of spectacle and feel great to build up to and pull off.
On top of sync moves being flashy fun to use in battle, they also have a slight effect outside of it. Specifically doing sync moves with a character and Cloud can help deepen their relationship. Yeah in this game they have like the equivalent of Persona social links (though not as in depth). So you can increase friendship with characters in combat but the bulk of it is usually done when you get to a new location and the game gives you the opportunity to talk with each character. Find them all and there's some good character moments that usually trigger a timed dialogue tree choice where the "right" one will deepen your relationship with said character. Of course this also leads to having a "romance" scene with whoever you have at the highest affection level by the time you get back to the Gold Saucer. It's a fun addition to the game and really helped in feeling engaged in the character's personalities.
OH also to build into deeper character engagement they have sections where you play as a different character and they have some gimmick specific to them that you have to use to progress. It ranges from kinda neat and inoffensive to mildy annoying and then straight up "fuck you Cait Sith" tier. I get what they're going for but it kinda sucks. Fortunately they also have sections of the game where they split the party into groups and this does a much better job showing the developing comradery of various characters.
So then how's the actual story? Well it's mostly just ok lol. It's the same weak connections that were present in this chunk of the OG game. You go to places on weak reasoning because plot. It's good they implemented the character stuff I mentioned before because that's where any sort of plot element really shines. The actual story at play here is just "Sephiroth gonna do something lets chase random almost-leads." and then like two thirds the way through and a couple personal character arcs later they stumble onto the plot to get the thing. It's whatever. The best bit is the wacky Nomura incoherent space fights and the "Zack is out there" extra story bits. It ultimately just leads to more "what the fuck are they thinking?" but it's still on the third game to see if they deliver on anything substantial or not. The story in this is more or less exactly as it goes in OG FFVII. I think it's fine.
So yeah. It's the second act of FFVII but made to look real pretty. It was too self conscious to just be a JRPG but bigger so there's a bunch of open world crap in it. Maybe you'll like it but it's clearly not for me. I enjoy the base combat and seeing the OG game realized as like this full thing. Also the character moments and the wacky extra stuff going on keeps me going. It definitely felt like a lot though and I'm ready to play something shorter and more video game-y. Don't need to recommend anything here. People playing this already know they're gonna play it. It's a sequel after all. Enjoyable enough but way too much extra junk for my liking.