- Engaging and strategic combat system
- Rich and immersive open-world design
- Fun and varied mini-games included
- Excessive mini-games disrupt game pacing
- Severe performance optimization issues present
- Story changes alienate long-time fans
Emotions
Players consistently cite excessive and repetitive mini-games as a major source of frustration, often disrupting the main story and feeling forced or mandatory. Additionally, poor optimization, performance issues (e.g., crashes, stuttering), and unfair or poorly balanced combat mechanics (e.g., boss difficulty, unresponsive UI) further exacerbate the negative experience.
The game fails to meet expectations due to its excessive filler content, repetitive side quests, and lack of meaningful rewards for exploration. Players also express disappointment with the story's pacing, disjointed narrative, and deviations from the original's tone, as well as technical issues like poor PC port quality and unmet graphical expectations.
Players highlight the engaging combat system, ambitious world design, and narrative innovations as key sources of excitement. The expansion of the *Final Fantasy VII* universe, including new areas and character interactions, along with the game's soundtrack and visuals, contribute to a highly immersive and enjoyable experience.
Satisfaction stems from the game's improved story and gameplay mechanics, particularly in the latter chapters, which are often described as excellent. Players appreciate the depth of character builds, engaging combat, and the emotional impact of the narrative, as well as the overall value and quality of the game despite its flaws.
The refined combat system, reimagined story moments, and well-designed mini-games (e.g., Queenās Blood) are frequently mentioned as enjoyable aspects. Players also appreciate the exploration, visuals, and character interactions, which contribute to a fun and engaging open-world experience.
Verdict
Mixed
Summary
Positive 55% Ā· Negative 45%. Score: 45 / 100
Positives:
- The combat system is frequently praised for its depth, blending real-time action with tactical elements like the ATB gauge and synergy abilities. Players highlight its balance, fluidity, and strategic depth, especially in boss fights.
- Mini-games like Queenās Blood, Moguri Chase, and Chocobo racing are frequently mentioned as enjoyable distractions. They add depth to character stories and provide optional, high-quality content.
- The open world is praised for its beauty, diversity, and meaningful exploration. It balances freedom with narrative progression, offering activities, side quests, and lore-rich environments that feel alive.
- Characters like Tifa, Aerith, and Barret are lauded for their emotional depth, tridimensional personalities, and meaningful interactions. Their development and voice acting enhance player immersion and connection.
- The narrative is praised for its emotional depth, unpredictability, and respectful expansion of the original. It balances action, humor, and drama while introducing new twists and multiverse elements.
Negatives:
- The game forces an overwhelming number of mini-games, many of which are poorly designed or mandatory, disrupting story flow and immersion. Players report these feel like filler to artificially extend playtime.
- Significant deviations from the original FF7 story, including unnecessary meta-narrative elements, dilute emotional impact and confuse newcomers. Character arcs and tone feel inconsistent.
- Characters like Chadley frequently disrupt gameplay with repetitive dialogue, breaking immersion and making exploration feel like a chore.
- Chocobo riding mechanics are frustrating due to poor maneuverability, auto-mounting issues, and forced progression gates (e.g., reacquiring chocobos in each area).
- The Materia system lacks depth compared to the original, with desirable abilities locked behind tedious side quests or Chadleyās shop. Grinding feels mandatory for progression.
Gameplay:
- Side quests are numerous, often tied to character interactions or mini-games. While some are rewarding, others are criticized for being repetitive or excessive.
- The combat system blends real-time action with turn-based elements (e.g., ATB gauge, synergy abilities). It allows for strategic planning while maintaining fluid, action-oriented gameplay.
- The game adopts an open-world structure with climbing towers, regional variety, and collectibles, resembling Ubisoft-style designs. Exploration is streamlined but sometimes restricted (e.g., no climbing in certain areas).
- The Materia system enables deep character ability and equipment customization, tied to progression. Players can unlock missed items and tailor builds to their playstyle.
- The game offers adjustable difficulty modes (e.g., easy, normal, dynamic) and replayability features like hard mode. Combat balances accessibility with strategic depth.
Performance:
- The game suffers from widespread stuttering, frame drops, and inconsistent frametimes across high-end and mid-range hardware, including issues with DLSS implementation and texture loading. These problems persist even on systems exceeding recommended requirements.
- Many players rely on mods to achieve stable performance, fix camera issues, or enable features like ultrawide support. Mods are often necessary to mitigate crashes, stutters, or graphical bugs on PC and Linux.
- Performance on Linux and Steam Deck is notably worse, with severe FPS drops, crashes, and graphical downgrades. Despite being verified for Steam Deck, the game often requires mods or tweaks to run smoothly.
- The game fails to launch or crashes on specific hardware configurations, including older CPUs, Nvidia RTX 4070, and AMD GPUs. Some players report fatal errors, black screens, or unplayable performance despite meeting system requirements.
- DLSS implementation causes performance issues, including poor frame pacing and stuttering. While some players note smoother performance with frame generation enabled, others report negative impacts on stability and visual quality.
Recommendations:
- The game is strongly recommended for fans of the Final Fantasy VII series, JRPGs, and newcomers alike. Many reviews highlight its emotional impact, replay value, and strong storytelling as key reasons for its appeal to dedicated fans.
- Reviewers frequently suggest buying the game at a discounted price rather than full price, citing its flaws and recommending it only if the cost is reduced for non-fans or casual players.
- The game is described as time-consuming and demanding, making it less suitable for players with limited time or those who prefer shorter, more streamlined experiences.
- Several reviews recommend playing *Final Fantasy VII Remake* before this game to fully understand the story and characters, as *Rebirth* builds on its narrative and events.
- Many players advise focusing on the main story and avoiding or minimizing side quests and mini-games, which are often described as filler or detrimental to pacing and enjoyment.
Miscellaneous:
- Players noted the absence of a fully flyable Highwind airship, a beloved feature from previous titles, as a disappointment in the current game.
- Multiple players expressed dissatisfaction with the current leadership and called for fresh talent or visionary changes at SquareEnix. This reflects broader concerns about the company's direction.
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