Little conflicted on this one. Without question Remake was my favourite game the year it came out. A love letter to part of a game that ups the drama for a modern audience, but still keeps a lot of the silly goofiness of the PS1 original. Rebirth retains all of Remake's best qualities, but adds in a giant open world with Ubisoft towers and side activities busting out of a giant Cait Sith Moogle's seams. And while I enjoy the variety on offer, maybe some restraint was needed as this goes into minigame overload, one chapter is 90% minigames, and while some are pretty good, others feel barely formed. It would be fine if it wasn't for so much of it being mandatory to progress the story. This also extends to one-off or barely used mechanics. The game decides Aerith needs another one in the final handful of hours, and honestly it could just have easily been a single button press. A lot of it is emblematic of a game that seemingly has endless amounts of money thrown at it... And that's the thing - musically and visually it's astounding, even the combat with its enhancements is more than just flashy spectacle, it all just feels like a little too much fluff. If I was to break down moments and sections of the game I'd try to trick myself into thinking it was a 5/5, and it's so packed with life and personality that it's a hard game to hate, but I fear what more they will feel the need to add in the final part. That said, the bits I enjoyed, I enjoyed massively, and I think it's worth seeing much of the side content, as there's cutscenes and story moments that most developers would demand the player see at all costs. It's definitely a lot more interesting story and gameplay wise than a game I feel like a lot of people will just want to watch a playthrough to know if they "did the thing" or not. Definitely uneven, but it made me feel things, and that's a positive. I really just hope they cool it on the minigames next time around though.