And so the time has come to talk to you about Final Fantasy VII Rebirth in a dedicated review: it will be a long journey, almost exhausting, but it will be worth it… yes, we are talking about the game
It is not even remotely imaginable how difficult it is to talk to you, as objectively as possible, about Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. The reasons are many and they range from the most vulgar sentimentality to the enormity which undoubtedly constitutes one of Square Enix’s most ambitious titles of recent years. Perhaps, however, the main one is only one: the epochal burn that this writer received in 2020 with Final Fantasy VII Remake. We won’t be here to dredge up the past, certainly, but there is always that question that echoes in our heads when remembering the final chapter of the first of the trilogy… “why?”. No more chatter though, the past is the past, while the future of this new path taken by the wonderful journey of Final Fantasy VII seems to be quite bright: so let’s do it, let’s talk about Rebirth in this review.
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We really wish we could ignore it, that elephant in the room, but at this point we prefer to remove the tooth and start, for this review of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, with the narrative. We won’t go into much detail, because we reserve the right to tell you more about it in a special full spoiler, precisely to avoid spoilers for those who don’t want any. On the other hand, however, if we don’t touch on uncomfortable notes, we don’t have much to say about the narrative. The game picks up exactly from the Remake ending (here’s our full review!), while Cloud’s group is traveling to reach Sephiroth and understand what’s really happening in the world.
From the first initial stages in Nibelheim, those also playable in the first demo released on PlayStation Store in February (and from which we took a substantial preview, you can find it here!), in fact, you immediately notice that the intent with Rebirth is exactly that which was for Remake: precisely following the original narrative in every aspect, adding and deepening details of the individual characters to make them even more characterized, alive and real. This narrative is then accompanied by… dystonic elements. Already from the various trailers shown you will have noticed the presence of Zack, who should not be in Cloud’s adventure following the events of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (here is our review of Reunion) for various reasons.
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The defeat of the Numen in the first chapter led to major repercussions on the world experienced by our protagonists, repercussions that, for much of the adventure, you will almost not feel. The problem, as you can imagine, these are the final stages of the game, in which Square Enix returns to make us understand that no: this is not the original Final Fantasy VII, but a new narrative line. Unlike Remake, however, the burn was not so striking. Maybe it’s because we expected it in the end, or maybe it’s because maybe some details were handled better. We cannot actually know and nor do we want to delve further: we will do so in a specific location.
The fact is that everything in Rebirth has improved compared to Remake, especially the management of the characters and, as already mentioned, their in-depth analysis. Even the simple bunters during the explorations, the chatter and dialogues that may seem more useless, actually give greater depth to the protagonists and, collaterally, to the game world. And finally, finally, after Intergrade Yuffie manages to take the leading role she deserved ever since 1997.
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Let’s abandon the narrative and then resume it in more appropriate places (and full spoilers, perhaps) and move on to the beating heart of this review of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: the combat system. If you think that with Remake Square Enix had reached the pinnacle of synthesis between the old and the new, between the turn-based combat system and the purely action one, know that in Rebirth that same gameplay has been further improved and refined. The base is exactly the same as the prequel, but from the first minutes of the game you will notice that everything is more fluid and reactive and that, finally, both parries and dodges have been improved.
The biggest and most interesting addition certainly lies in the Synergistic Attacks, very powerful special moves that can be implemented by two specific characters after consuming a certain amount of ATB bars, either to consume objects or activate skills and spells. This factor is fundamental, because it makes them more complex to activate and you simply won’t be able to spam them as often. Synergistic Skills, in addition to being able to cause significant damage to enemies or restore moderate amounts of HP and MP to the party, they also have pretty useful side effects.
Synergies
Conceptually, they can be divided into four categories: those that raise the level of limit skills; those that increase damage on exhausted enemies; those that fragment the ATB bar into three (with all the consequences of the case); and finally, the most useful (especially in Hard mode), those that eliminate spell casting costs for a limited time. The Synergistic Skills can be unlocked within the classic Skill Tree, also present in the Remake, and you need to pay attention to the predefined pairs, especially if you tend to play with a fixed party.
And here we come to the focal point of all this discussion on Synergistic Skills and the real reason why we appreciated them so much: they push the player to use all the characters in the party and not just that Cloud chopper. This is because, although it is true that the ATB bars fill a little faster even in non-active characters compared to Remake, this is still too limiting a speed, especially in more challenging battles. You will therefore be almost forced to switch between the three player characters to use specific skills and magic, or simply to let them do it with the Automating Materia after filling their ATB bars. A much sought after balance, finally achieved.
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As mentioned, the Skill Tree is similar to that of Remake, and it is possible to acquire new ones by spending the Skill points obtained by leveling up or with the combat manuals that can be purchased. What makes the difference in Rebirth is the Team Level, which can be increased by carrying out a plethora of different activities, including advancing with the narrative, completing secondary tasks or delving into Chadley’s dossiers (we’ll get to that later). Esper summons also returnall very beautiful to look at and damn useful on many occasions, including Ramuh and Leviathan which you can unlock if you have the Intergrade and Remake save data on the PS5 console (don’t miss anything, in that case, they are rather weak compared to the later ones) .
To further delve into the “combat” factor they were New weapons and accessories also added, as well as new materials, such as bi-elementals which allow you to equip only one material, but have two elemental spells available. In short, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is a combat system that permeates 90% of the Remake, but refines it, streamlines it and improves it in every aspect. Then, it adds a further 10%, making it practically unattainable, in the current state of Square Enix’s productions. Because yes, we all know that this will be the battle system that will be used for the next main chapters of the franchise, after the (splendid) purely action parenthesis of Final Fantasy XVI (here is our complete review!).
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Let’s therefore move on to the game world of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, which is the most substantial part of the whole experience. It’s not an open-world, obviously, but multiple huge, fully explorable open-maps that you can teleport to once you reach certain story points. So yes, don’t worry: once you have abandoned a region, you can easily go back as long as you have a minimum of patience. You can also explore each individual area on foot, but our primary advice is to unlock the reference Chocobos in each region before continuing. This is because, although for example in the initial area of the Prairie the Chocobo only serves to increase the speed of exploration, already in the Junon area the faithful birds will allow you to climb mountain walls that would otherwise be inaccessible.
Inter-connection
Every Chocobo in every region is unlockable by completing specific minigames or continuing with the narrative. Nothing too transcendental, they will always be rather simple to obtain. The birds can also be aesthetically customized with three pieces of equipment, which can be purchased at ranches by spending golden feathers, which can be obtained by restoring the various Chocobo stations scattered along the maps and which act as checkpoints to recover HP and MP. What a complicated ride, huh?
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is, however, everything exactly so interconnected. Each secondary activity available on the game map can have effects on other secondary activities, in a sort of broader and vaster experience in which all the elements are intertwined with each other. Completing a task will not only grant you a reward, but may provide you with items, materials or information to advance other tasks and so on.
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And speaking of materials, one of the most interesting additions of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is the Transmuter which allows you, through the use of the raw materials that you will find, to collect in the game maps or by defeating enemies (or again, by purchasing them in the appropriate shops ) Of create objects, accessories and even key materials to continue secondary tasks. Also in this case, the first creation of a new object will result in obtaining a quantity of experience points, which will increase Cloud’s level of Transmutation and he will therefore be able to create more powerful objects.
The main objective of exploration in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will, of course, be the completion of Chadley’s Dossiers. And this is not because the child will be particularly petulant and intrusive in your raids, but because doing so will allow you to unlock new virtual fights, from which to obtain rare objects and even Espers, but also to provide enough data to the scientist to create new and otherwise materials not obtainable. The maps will therefore be dotted with points of interestranging from old transmission towers, hunting areas, Esper altars, Moogle houses, and so on.
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And if that wasn’t enough, what about…