Normally I do all my reviews without spoilers, but there are so many nuances that we have been given in Rebirth about everyone that I can not help but want to comment on them ... Really in this game does feel the expansion of everything we know about Final Fantasy VII and puts us on a horizon full of possibilities for the future third installment.
Wonderful storytelling… till the end
The story of Cloud and his friends is well known by now, but the depth with which Rebirth treats it is on another level.
I didn't expect to get so excited about Barret's background, or the deep friendship you see forged between Aerith and Tifa. Red XIII's path, the camaraderie Cait Sith feels knowing hir position, and even the little we see of Cid and Vincent. Everyone's stories matter and are expanded upon little by little by performing side quests the likes of which are rarely seen: interesting and with relevant content for those who participate. While they are not as organic as in Trails in the Sky or NieR Automata, they are a very strong point in my opinion.
On the other hand, you can tell that Rebirth is a bridge game, and there's almost nothing wrong with that. One of the implicit themes here is something that the saga already wanted to do with FFXV (not counting DLCs and Extras outside the game) and that here they have achieved it at a higher level: it feels like a real group.
And one of the links that serve to cohere this group so well aside from the chemistry between them, is Cloud. Here we don't see the Cloud that begins to integrate that we saw in Remake, forging his friendship with Barret little by little for example. This is a game that encourages quite the opposite, how at every step he advances in his quest for Sephiroth, he takes two steps back from those around him. The deterioration of the mako, his connection to Sephiroth and the conflict between his memories and Zack's are central to his character that create a complexity that has me gripped from minute one and really puts Cloud in a limbo whose vortex ends up dragging everyone down.
And even though a good nexus is important in any story, what really shines in Rebirth is the tension that is constantly lived with Tifa and Aerith. The fragility with which they treat Cloud knowing the hard road he's traveled and the conflict he's living through, despite not having the slightest idea what's going on. Seeing Tifa's pain** on her face every time Cloud makes mention of a past he hasn't lived through, or an **Aerith lost in a discordance between what she knows, what she should know and what is happening.
However, and as a consequence of being a bridge game, it opens more questions than it answers. We don't really know if Aerith found Cloud. We also don't know what exactly is the Sephiroth we constantly see. And we certainly don't know why Glenn showed up and distracted Rufus throughout the game, nor what benefit that would bring to Sephiroth. We don't even really know if Aerith is still alive or not, given the complicated mental shuffling that Cloud undergoes throughout the final part.
Of course, this leaves the third installment in a very delicate position with the expectations, questions and mysteries left with the build-up to Remake and Rebirth.
Fighting is Patience
Sincerely, I hope that for the third installment of the Final Fantasy VII Remake they COPY directly the dodging and parrying system of FFXVI. Trying to dodge and block in Rebirth is a very unintuitive ordeal, sometimes even frustrating, because there are SEVERAL seconds between hitting the button, opening the submenu AND THEN blocking.
I know perfectly well that they are not going to do it, but I do wish it was a little more responsive, because it seems to me very little organic for a game that allows you to block and dodge to have to give many seconds of combat to do some attack, see if it is blockable or not, and wait for the attack to arrive to block/dodge it. And sometimes not even then.
Dodging feels arbitrary, there are enemy abilities that feel like you can dodge them and actually end up hitting you (I don't know if it's because they have pathfinding and move as soon as you dodge, or if on the contrary the hitbox of the characters is too big in these cases). Be that as it may, I really hope this will be a point of improvement in the next (and last) release.
Gaia Unleashed
It looks beautiful, I think Gaia has never looked as beautiful and alive as in Rebirth. From the grasslands, to the intricate jungle of Gongaga, to the rocky formations of Cosmo Canyon. All the settlements we visit feel alive, with constant chatter, activities to participate in and, of course, a huge Gold Saucer.
Hidden recesses to explore, something to do at almost every step we take on the map, quests from Chadley, and getting more information from the area. The sources, altars of invocation and protoreliquias. Of course with Rebirth this journey that we are offered is more extensive than ever and I had a great time despite the fact that from Gongaga felt a little displaced exploration in pursuit of wanting to advance the story. In short, everything looks and feels spectacular...
...And it comes at a price to be able to show all this. I'm also not going to get technical like the Digital Foundry team did, but I certainly witnessed the performance issues it had from day 1. Now, a couple of patches later, the game's performance has been much more solid, but it still leaks here and there.
Constant popping a few meters away from the character even though the render distance is set to High, shadows appearing and disappearing as if it were the ghost of Shinra Mansion, or FPS drops every time something new is shown on screen. All this is especially noticeable in the first half of the game, where everything is new and the game hasn't yet... gotten used to it. It's especially weird because of the first shader compilation when starting the game, but there's something that doesn't quite add up.
The open world has taken it from a solid 120FPS in 2K with Remake to having to fiddle a bit with resolution, render scale and settings to get 90FPS at 1080p. And it's a shame, because the graphical leap beyond scaling isn't that striking after playing just before Intermission with Yuffie.
The End of Rebirth
Of course, Rebirth has not only pleased me in general, but it has fueled my curiosity to learn more about what the Square Enix Creative Business Unit I team has in store for the third installment. Mind you, I really hope they introduce Cid and Vincent as playable characters and make them viable compared to the original, because I'm really looking forward to making my dream team.
I guess we'll have to wait for the REAL reunion...