In some fairness to the game, it’s probably more fun when you’re not under a massive time crunch to finish before the servers shut down forever. Fuck Nintendo!

This one is tough bc stylistically I kinda love this game honestly, Hytopia’s obsession with fashion is so dumb but in the cutest way and it leads to some really silly moments that are perfectly self aware and charming. But actually playing it… wow this is so much worse than I remember.

The structure is an immediate red flag, instead of full on dungeons the game is split into 128 mini-levels, 16 per area. They can be fun, but just like the shrines in BotW, their extremely short length makes it impossible to get any real substance out of them, ideas come and go way too quickly to be worthwhile and the game never really has any good moments where you really have to think.

I think this was intentional bc of the way that you’re incentivized to grind these levels over and over for materials to make all the extra costumes in this game, so they make the challenge more about execution instead of figuring out tricky solutions. Fair enough I guess but… wow these levels suck!

They’re either boring or frustrating with very few being genuinely fun. They also get super repetitive before long, making this game a nightmare to marathon for long sessions (again, fuck Nintendo!). There were plenty of moments where me and the friends I was playing with all asked each other how some of these levels could’ve possible been approved.

The most memorable examples include a minecart chase that’s hectic in the worst way and a room with a redead, an enemy you can only damage with fire, despite the fact that only one team member has the fire item, and then when you kill it it spawns four more, despite the fact that they all have an AOE attacks that takes up half the room. It’s not all this bad, but there is some baffling game design at points. Also who tf decided to implement limited lives in a Zelda game??

I played this as a kid but never had anyone to play with so I never made it far, I thought now that I was playing with friends I’d enjoy it properly this time but no this game is just flat out not good. Makes me really want to try out Four Swords Adventure though!

I have lots and lots of thoughts on this game, so many that it’s tough to know where to start. I will say this though: while this is a far from perfect game in every area, I feel pretty confident in saying that the full scope of this journey is significantly more competent than you might expect looking at its individual elements.

FFVII Remake is a game that I have relentlessly defended since I first played it in 2020. Where many criticized its admittedly overbearing padding and certain choices regarding the ending, I fell head over heels for its combat system and expansion of its world and characters. It’s not without its issues, but I’ve always believed it deserves to stand head and shoulders alongside the greatest action RPGs.

So it was extremely strange for me to start playing FFVII Rebirth and immediately get struck with the feeling that everything on offer was an immediate downgrade. The presentation is noticeably weaker than the last game, the opening chapter is quite poor in my opinion with lots of unnecessary dragging moments, and the open world was seeming to be far too big and generic for its own good. My first 10ish hours with the game were a fairly large disappointment.

And I want to hone in on that open world now, because it’s one of the strangest I’ve ever seen in the sense that the whole thing isn’t actually an open world at all. Regions are distinctly separated, the map feels like it’s tricking you into thinking each area is far larger than it is, and the first region is by far the largest in the game. The whole thing almost feels like it’s begging you to believe it’s a big open world that can compete with the expectations of AAA games today, when in reality its scope is much more controlled.

I really could’ve done without all the Ubisoft-esque World Intel… some of it like the protorelics and combat challenges were worthwhile and fun, but most of it just felt like checking off a checklist just because it was there. This was the biggest factor of my initial disappointment. Compared to Remake which is a linear rollercoaster without many chances to break off the main path, Rebirth has a significantly more open structure with way more side activities. And during that first section, I felt like I wasn’t making any progress and just wasting time filling out a meaningless checklist, and I hated that feeling.

However, the further into the game I got, the more this feeling disappeared. Call it Stockholm syndrome I guess, or maybe just bc I was so engrossed with the world and characters being presented, but I began to slowly cherish every moment I spent with the game. Exploration never did much for me but I loved seeing the enemies, doing the side quests (which are MUCH better than Remake’s I have to say), even all the minigames, there’s something really special about just soaking in everything this game has to offer.

And I have to stress that this is the game’s single biggest strength. There is SO much to do, and most of it is a ton of fun. It’s so varied, it rarely dips into copy/paste territory, and it really goes a long way into injecting this world with a palpable sense of life that I haven’t felt from a single-player entry in this series since Final Fantasy X… and I really mean that. Combine all that with the gorgeously expanded towns and in its best moments, FFVII Rebirth brought me back to the magic I experienced on my initial run throughs of all those classic FF games, a feeling that I thought the modern industry just wasn’t able to deliver.

As for the parts of this game that are an actual adaptation of the original game… it’s a mixed bag. Some sections are pretty incredible and I couldn’t stop smiling the entire time I was playing them out, such as the Upper Junon parade, the Gold Saucer visits, and the climactic trek through the Temple of the Ancients. The game excels when it’s cranking up the fun, the charm, and the spectacle, and all of these sequences are loaded with those.

Other parts left me disappointed and feeling like they were missing lots of the weight of the original game, like the opening sequence in Nibelheim, the scene with Barret and Dyne, and most unfortunately of all, Aerith’s iconic scene in the game’s finale. It’s not even that any of these are bad sequences on their own, they just feel sanitized and lacking compared to the hefty impact they all left in the original, and that’s pretty disappointing to me as the story of the original Final Fantasy VII is one that means a lot to me.

So even as a straight adaptation of this story, this game doesn’t quite match the original where it really counts. But as anyone who’s played this game or its predecessor would know by now… this isn’t a straight adaptation. And initially I found that exciting! It wasn’t what I wanted, but I was intrigued by the new direction and excited to see where things went. And that’s exactly why the direction of the original parts of Rebirth’s story confuse me so much…

I won’t get into specifics, but Rebirth has a significantly less ambitious story than I expected. The ending of Remake made it seem like they were gearing up for Part 2 to have loads of changes and spin off into an entirely new thing by the end of it, but that’s just not the case at all. Rebirth plays it very safe in terms of its overall structure. If you’ve played the original game, it’s going to hit every beat you expect and outside of a few brief moments that honestly don’t affect the outcome of things very much, there aren’t many surprises.

I won’t spoil the ending, but I will say that it leaves the game in a position where Part 3 is likely to take an extremely similar approach and stick to the original game beat for beat until the very last chapter where it goes completely off the rails in a way that ultimately pretends to have way more of an impact than it actually does. It leaves me in a position where I can’t understand what the point is because it feels like the new story adds absolutely nothing to the experience and just alienates the parts of the fanbase that would’ve preferred a faithful remake.

So story wise… yeah the direction of this entire trilogy is a mess and I sincerely doubt the third game will save it for me. But I know without a doubt that I will be there day 1 when Part 3 comes out because I do still LOVE these games despite not liking how they handle the story. It’s carried by everything surrounding it, the characters and their countless interactions, the incredible combat which has only been further refined here, and above all else the unbelievable scale and life of this world.

Although I was initially disappointed, ultimately I came around to like this game even more than Remake which surprised me. I went out of my way to do everything I could, it took me comfortably over 100 hours, and the grand scope of my whole adventure was a seriously entrancing experience. It helps that it has some really strong post-game legs too, I was immediately beckoned to come back for more once I hit credits, and now that I’m just one hard mode playthrough away from reaching the platinum trophy, I can very confidently say I don’t regret any of the time I put into this.

For reference, at the time of writing I’m nearly 130 hours in, and by this point in my Tears of the Kingdom playthrough I was starting to get pretty tired of the game and only continued to trudge through because I was so close to the end. I’ll surpass that mark pretty soon and I have no signs of fatigue or even wanting to slow down. Not saying this to dog on that game, just to show that this one has serious staying power for me.

It’s not as well realized or polished as something like FFXVI, but I still ended up preferring this in the end because of the massive beating heart at its core. FFVII Rebirth is deeply flawed in execution, even more so than its predecessor, yet it’s an unforgettable experience underneath it all.

Fun time, had no idea what to expect as a friend had me play this blind but pleasantly surprised by what ended up being a relatively unique experience.

The use of roguelike elements surprised me most, but the most impressive part of this game I think is the way that each choice you make ends up branching off so drastically and so naturally. And there’s lots of branches too! Honestly a bit overwhelming just how many different paths there are, but I guess that’s where the replay value comes from.

Very creative “endings” here, and the game as a whole is quite well written, especially as you get to the end. Gorgeous artstyle as well.