I have starred at a blank screen for several minutes trying to think of what to say to show my love for this game. Unfortunately trying to describe exactly what makes me feel the way I do about this game is hard to pinpoint without just saying this is a masterpiece that excels in every area a video games can. But in my opinion this truly excels at every level. Character progression, relate ability, replay ability, story, production, sound tracks, visuals, combat, exploration, vast hour syncing beautiful locations, heart breaking emotional moments, genuinely hilarious moments, so many fun mini games that it feels like you could sell it’s as a Final Fantasy version of Mario Party, you want it in a game it’s probably here. Also did I mention music, character progression, and story because these aspects aren’t just top notch for Final Fantasy, they are top notch for the medium.

I don’t know how Square pulled it off but they made one of the most well liked classic cast of characters and made them 100 times more deep, real and relatable. This goes for every party member but two stand out. First is Yuffie. In the original game Yuffie is optional so they didn’t really give her character much more character than “I love materia.” Here she is fully fleshed out, deep, loveable character just as much as everyone else in the party. Secondly is Cait Sith. As much as I loved the original cast I loathed Cait Sith with my entire being. All of my friends I knew that played this game also hated him. But in this game they did the impossible and took him from my one of my very least liked characters made him into an upper tier character. He goes from a legit joke to an amazing, funny, clever, loving character. To me the remakes did more for him than anyone .

The story was magnificent albeit with a some pacing issues. There were so many side quest thrown at you in between small chunks of the story. Outside of that though it was damn near everything you could want. There is some divide between fans on the last chapter but I think it sets up the potential of part 3 extremely well. I want to talk story much more but don’t want to spoil a thing but just know I thought is was S+ tier.

The music was a delight as songs were brilliantly remixed and sometimes used at beautiful or tragic times. This is one of the best Final Fantasy sound tracks, sooo elite of the elite. Two songs that surprisingly were way more catchy than they had any right to be were “bow wow wow” and the Chocobo songs when racing.

The gameplay is by far the best in the series imo with only XVI and Remake coming anywhere close. Everything felt smooth and customizable. Building each character to your unique play style was enjoyable.

The only two downsides I can even see someone arguing against are the final chapter playing out differently than they hoped and the pacing due to side quests. However as someone that thinks the final chapter will be a good springboard into part 3 and wants as much (good) Final Fantasy content that Square can put out these were bonus/non issues for me.

I could legitimately go on about this game for several hours but I don’t want to ramble. I recommend this game 100% and believe it is one of the greatest video games of all time!

are you using your time to properly think and talk with art? are you listening? or do you plug your ears anytime it tries to talk with you, to challenge you and make you rethink what you're engaging with?

i don't think i have any common ground with most people who like videogames, actually. but i don't think this is just videogames anymore, this is endemic in all of the arts. people stopped being listeners, started being consumers. no long a plot twist will make your heart skip a beat, now it's the author "betraying" your trust. no longer can complicated concept be presented before your public, now you're "fumbling", "overdesigning" or whatever new word people will invent to use as analytical shortcuts. like, really, you spent 90h with this game and all you could get back from it was that it has "Ubisoft-like" design because it has towers? i don't care if you gave the game 4 or 5 stars or if that was a compliment, is it that hard to think more about it? am i setting the bar too high? probably.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is not a product, it's an art piece which you converse with (that's honestly 99.9% of games too btw). hefty admission price for sure, but it does not need to cater to you at any moment. it needs to be heard, seen, felt, I think running around the grasslands felt incredible and vibrant, i love how every map changes its whole design based on the chocobos, i love how sidequests have their own little songs to them with battle music included, i love how every character gets explored a whole ton more because now they have the time to do so, I love how Tifa can be herself instead of Cloud's past, I liked every change, I think this game is probably one of the most courageous games ever made and that will ever be made and people won't appreciate it enough, but that's fine because I will.

the more i think about it, the more i think about its last hours, the more i think how they handled -that moment- the more I like it. I like this and Remake for entirely different reasons, but Rebirth made me feel things I don't think i was even aware I could feel playing a game and I don't mean crying i cry for everything and i cried super hard at several moments in this game, it's something else, which i would only dare to explain if I had spoilered this text but i don't want to do so.

like i said i think i finally realized my lack of common ground is what makes it really hard to talk about videogames outside of my circle, people who only wear "videogames are art!!" as a mantle for feeling validated, but not really treating them much differently than the hamburger they'll buy for lunch. i don't mind if you didn't like the game but i only ask for something of substance, an interesting read, at the very least a personal perspective, not internet gaming buzzwords i can see in like 60 other reviews. i just want to think and challenge myself and i feel like i'm always going into a hivemind. but i guess that's fine i get to cherish good things when i see them at least.

i just need to remind myself of this

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is truly a marvelous achievement, as is the ambitious project it belongs to. The already great cast feels better than ever before and the enormous world is full of unique and fun activities. The story is excellent with many high points, and while the finale is inconclusive, it gives a lot of food for thought regarding the next game. I believe that despite some minor faults, this is the pinnacle of an open-world, character-driven JRPG, and a truly enjoyable game, with a great OST to boot. Even if someone wasn’t a fan of FFVII Remake, I think this game does a very good job addressing some of its issues. It took me around 130 hours to finish the first playthrough and complete its side content. Highly recommended to fans of an action-packed game or an epic story and to those who love mini-games.

The full review can be read here!

Went into this thinking there was no way I wouldnt love Tactics Ogre? I love turn based and strategy games, this is a classic, the art is gorgous, what could go wrong?

Unfortunately bounced off pretty hard due to how slow this game is in every facet. Fights are very slow-paced - movement speeds are low, damange numbers are low, hp pools are high - which, for me, made proper planning and strategizing very difficult. If flanking an enemy takes 8 turns, maybe deathballing down the middle and slowly grinding out the W becomes the more attractive option.

The campaign is slow as well. Everyone is very wordy (not a negative, just adds to the pacing of the game) and there are a lot of filler engagements between plot moments.

Even recruiting new teammates takes forever: Weaken the enemy, get the right character with the right ability into position, use the ability (which is a % chance, and not a kind one), fail, tank their damage, heal up, use the ability again, repeat. Bonus frustration guaranteed when you have an AI controlled Guest character in the party, who sees the 5 hp dragon you were trying to recruit and decides their big moment is now.

There is still a very solid strategy game in there, the plot is interesting & politically complex for its time, AND you can recruit an octopus, who are the best animals! But I thought I would obsess over this, and instead I just kinda like it a bit

Metals clash, and sparks fly. The rhythmic sounds of blades colliding put you in a hypnotic trance. Clink. Clink. Pause. Clink clink. It's euphoric. Sekiro has by far the most satisfying combat in gaming. From genichiro to owl father, each boss is like it's own song in a rhythm game, like piano tiles on steroids. Each moveset like an improvised line in jazz, the boss attacks like the sax, and you're the accompanying bass. One fuck up though, and your entire flow is ruined. It's game over in an instant.

Sekiro is hard. It's probably the hardest game I've ever played. But it's only hard in the beginning. If you're mentally prepared to suffer for just a few hours, I promise you, when you get out the other side and really learn how to play the game, and engage with it's mechanics, it makes you feel like an unstoppable cyborg ninja killing machine.