If you’ve been a FFVII fan, either from the original release or from Remake, you’ll enjoy this game. The nostalgia and bias will have you feeling great all through the adventure, and you won’t think of it lower than a 4/5 game. That being said…

I am a huge FFVII fan. The original is my favorite game of all time and I got the platinum trophy in Remake. I had every intention to see Rebirth through with another platinum, but even with my level of enjoyment and love for the game and its world… it’s just too much. That might not sound like a bad thing, but at 60+ hours in, playing as a completionist through every region up through that point, finishing every quest I could, I felt I had the pulse of the game in check. I was wrong. In the last quarter of the game, you suddenly have a significant influx of content thrown at you. Refreshed mini games and challenges you’ve completed already are made available in upgraded/hard versions. The Gold Saucer updates all its content with new challenges and hard versions. Regional content reveals hard mode versions. The battle simulator ends up being 1 of 3 different battle simulators in the game, all of which have additional battles thrown at you, then having hard mode versions and extra character versions after you finish the game.

Again, after 60-70 hours of playing, the games scope and content pacing is radically altered and I just lost my engagement to see it through. It was too much. Plus, the entire game needed to be completed on Hard Mode, and the optional 70+ proto-relic finale… Too much.

Realistically, this isn’t a major complaint for most players. If you want to jump in just for the story and amazing combat, it’s a wonderful game to dig in to.

There are minor gripes with no real “newly acquired” items section of your inventory, or cleaner/simplified UI choices for equipment and menu navigation. I would also have liked materia “sets” to change up a few different loadouts or combinations for your party without having to manually adjust everything for key challenges and fights.

Play it for the story and gameplay, skip it if you’re a completionist.

If you grew up playing that family copy of electronic poker while visiting your grandparents house trying not to be bored, those skills will transfer over to this amazing piece of entertainment.

The game combines basic poker hands with a system of modifiers called “jokers” that enhance and change the core functions of the hands you play. Score multipliers, card enhancing effects, suite bonuses and a ton of other things that all play together with synergies to create a unique game with each “run.”

Check out a video on YouTube or watch someone stream it for a few minutes, and you’ll understand it. It constantly is a challenge, with plenty of player choice and control.

Fans of Slay the Spire or other unique rouge-lites will dig it. Simple to look at, addictive to play, plenty to modify and enjoy. Worth every penny.

Star Ocean is an obvious hit of nostalgia, but it goes beyond that and is filled with quality of life additions and modern touches that new players will enjoy it as much as returning players. The games visuals blend pixel art characters on fully 3D backgrounds and look great. There are some surface level comparisons to Octopath Traveller, but beyond sharing a genre, Star Ocean stands on its own.

I give points to its pacing control and quick battle system. These elements make or break a good RPG, and being able to have so much control as the game goes on and opens up was a huge surprise. Battle frequency, simple encounters, AI control, etc all allow you as a player to dictate how much of a grind you want to play or skip without impacting progress.

The opportunities here are related to inventory and item management. You can sort items in your inventory, but a bulk way to trash or sell would have been nice, and the frequency that you get new materials and equipment with an investment into the IC/Skills system makes finding what you just got a chore, even with a “recently acquired” tab. You’ve got so many items to find, buy, restock at towns, manage for crafting and customizing, etc. Plus, the auto equip feature defaults to DEF or ATK and bonus abilities you may want to keep on a character can get lost unless you manage equipment one-by-one with your full party of 8 characters.

Overall, the story isn’t heavy handed or too far out there. It is one you can follow along and be involved with and I really enjoyed the amount of variety in the additional characters you can pick up along the way. Seeing the main story from two different perspectives with the two different main characters is also fun. This game is captivating enough that I’m going through a New Game+ run to see and experience more. Star Ocean gets a big recommendation from me.