General Gaming Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Remake Part 2) - "An Excellent But Inconsistent Experience" (Digital Foundry Technical Review)

[legend]

Chapter 9 is awesome. 

[Biggie]

Finally finished everything in the Junon Region except the 

Spoiler

Queens Blood challenges. They were taking wayyyy to long and I’ll come back once I get better packs which will make it much easier,  I’m about to ride some dolphin up to a ship to take me to Top Junon @best3444

 

[BloodyHell]

18 hours ago, MarSolo said:

I can’t do two games at the same time because I start mixing up the controls. Playing Spider-Man 2 and Tears of the Kingdom at the same time led to me trying to web swing in TOTK and Link falling to his death.

I just can’t focus on two games at once, except maybe a puzzle game on the side, like tetris effect. 

 

I love Helldivers, but I haven’t touched it since rebirth. I’ll get back to it once im done. At least until Dragon’s Dogma 2.

[BloodyHell]

10 hours ago, legend said:

Chapter 9 is awesome. 

From 9 to where I am now (chapter 11) the story is really starting to hit its stride. The game is so big, with so much to do, so the story feels very spread out if you’re doing everything, but with all the great character moments a lot of the side stuff brings, you’re never short on interesting moments. 
 

like, theres a Chapter 10 world intel quest that focuses on Avalanche that was really fun and sweet. 
 

Cosmo Canyon is really great too. The Bugenhagan scene is incredible this time around. 
 

9 is definitely the longest chapter so far, it covers two huge areas.

[Best]

11 hours ago, legend said:

Chapter 9 is awesome. 

 

Very close to that so I'm looking forward to it. 

 

9 hours ago, Biggie said:

Finally finished everything in the Junon Region except the 

  Hide contents

Queens Blood challenges. They were taking wayyyy to long and I’ll come back once I get better packs which will make it much easier,  I’m about to ride some dolphin up to a ship to take me to Top Junon @best3444

 

 

I did that last week lol. I really moved the story along initially haha. 

[MarSolo]

Shit, I'm in the Junon area now but there were still two or three things I needed to finish in the Grasslands. I can’t fast travel back there… am I able to go back at all by traveling through the mines?

[Biggie]

6 minutes ago, MarSolo said:

Shit, I'm in the Junon area now but there were still two or three things I needed to finish in the Grasslands. I can’t fast travel back there… am I able to go back at all by traveling through the mines?

Let’s just say an option will open up that will allow that. Don’t wanna spoil it unless you want me to. 

[MarSolo]

4 minutes ago, Biggie said:

Let’s just say an option will open up that will allow that. Don’t wanna spoil it unless you want me to. 

Don’t spoil. I’ll just assume it’s chocobo related since I don’t have access to them in this area YET.

[Biggie]

6 minutes ago, MarSolo said:

Don’t spoil. I’ll just assume it’s chocobo related since I don’t have access to them in this area YET.

As long as you are exploring the area throughly you will find it. Unless you are playing the game like @best3444

 

[MarSolo]

8 minutes ago, Biggie said:

As long as you are exploring the area throughly you will find it. Unless you are playing the game like @best3444

 

Yeah, I’ve got OCD with this game so I’m trying to do everything, which bugs me that I missed the things that I missed because I thought I’d have to go through the mines to get to that part of the Grasslands that I seemingly couldn’t get to.

[Best]

I'm playing FF16 and not exploring anything lol. I'm moving along fast and dominating. 

 

Same goes for Rebirth...just focusing on the storyline. 

[Biggie]

5 minutes ago, best3444 said:

I'm playing FF16 and not exploring anything lol. I'm moving along fast and dominating. 

 

Same goes for Rebirth...just focusing on the storyline. 

Bro! Could you believe what happened to Tifa and Cloud?!?!?!
 

Best: Who are Tifa and Cloud?

[Xbob42]

Chapter 10: 

Spoiler

I really like how the pseudo-spiritual bullshit at Cosmo Canyon isn't just taken at face value without any challenge now, how it comes across as almost like a cult. How Bugenhagen loses his temper because he isn't an all-known sage like Red XIII thinks -- just like he says at the start. The original game kind of made this place come across as a sort of "perfect" place where the people and the land just magically got along with the planet and had almost no problems of their own. But now they're shown to be passive to the point of uselessness, somewhat judgmental at the same time, etc. They do still live in harmony better than Shinra, of course, they get along fine with their small population and windmills for power, they still use technology and all that, they just have a weird religion holding them down instead. I think that's very fitting and makes the place much more interesting than just a "we should all live like ancient native Americans" thing the original game had going on.

 

[Best]

Well chapter 8 turned out more than fun and games. What a surprise!

 

Major spoilers below:

 

Spoiler

I had no idea Marlene wasn't Barret's real daughter. That was a great scene in the junkyard. 

 

Going back and forth between this and 16 is great. 

[Spork3245]

That ab challenge was brutal 

[legend]

59 minutes ago, Spork3245 said:

That ab challenge was brutal 

 

I didn't find that one so hard. I did find the 3D brawler pretty tough though. I apparently am really bad at reading "which arm is down" when it's your turn to strike  

[Spork3245]

32 minutes ago, legend said:

 

I didn't find that one so hard. I did find the 3D brawler pretty tough though. I apparently am really bad at reading "which arm is down" when it's your turn to strike  

Even for the championship belt? The first 3 weren’t bad, with the final a single screw up or not going lightning fast once the timing speeds up and you’re screwed.

[legend]

1 hour ago, Spork3245 said:

Even for the championship belt? The first 3 weren’t bad, with the final a single screw up or not going lightning fast once the timing speeds up and you’re screwed.

 

Ah I may have missed the additional ones. That makes more sense!

[Spork3245]

9 minutes ago, legend said:

 

Ah I may have missed the additional ones. That makes more sense!

Yea, the required one for the side mission is easy, but it’s like the squat challenge in the first game: you talk to the other body builders to do the next “level”, beating the head guy gets you the championship belt.

[Keyser_Soze]

@legend on the final level of the sit-up game

 

[MarSolo]

Fun little detail I noticed. 
 

When you’re in the Junon area, the time of day changes to dusk, and if you go back to the Grasslands, it’s now dusk over there as well. I didn’t check Kalm to see if it’s dusk in the town though.

[crispy4000]

Beat all the hard mode Fort Condor stuff.  That last one was brutal.

[legend]

11 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

Beat all the hard mode Fort Condor stuff.  That last one was brutal.

 

I noped the fuck out of those challenges. The timer ruined that minigame for me.

[Xbob42]

I loved the addition al Fort Condor challenges. Still sad that Queen's Blood is the main minigame with Fort Condor being a side thing. It takes 700 years for Queen's Blood to start getting interesting, around the time where you get cards that you can drop on top of existing cards.

[Mr.Vic20]

I know FFVII  OG had a lot of mini games, but, for my tastes, Rebirth has just too many. I also realize that many are optional, but they are still dragging down the story and combat for me after logging 30 hours. 

[Xbob42]

2 minutes ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

I know FFVII  OG had a lot of mini games, but, for my tastes, Rebirth has just too many. I also realize that many are optional, but they are still dragging down the story and combat for me after logging 30 hours. 

Big opposite for me. JRPGs are all about the minigames. Glad to see they went all in for Rebirth. Remake was so fucking dull in comparison. Darts... breaking boxes... I guess the motorcycle part technically counts? It was just hallways, combat, mostly serious story. The opposite of what I want out of any Final Fantasy.

Also, like 90% are optional, there's no way they're dragging down the story. You're choosing to engage with them!

 

Frankly, I'm glad they're there. While the combat is much improved over Remake, at 90 hours in I like novel things to do, not just fight shit and watch cutscenes over and over. That's exactly what turned me off of Remake.

[SaysWho?]

I can’t play much of this until I get back from vacation, but I’ve been enjoying the reactions! Only chance I really have is at the end of the day via Backbone, assuming the Wi-Fi is good enough.

[Best]

8 minutes ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

I know FFVII  OG had a lot of mini games, but, for my tastes, Rebirth has just too many. I also realize that many are optional, but they are still dragging down the story and combat for me after logging 30 hours. 

 

I agree with this but it's not a popular opinion here. I actually am preferring FF16's flow so much more because there is no nonsense in between the great stuff. 

 

I still love Rebirth but the mini games drive me nuts. Foe instance chapter 8 is littered with them in between a awesome story moment. 

[Best]

8 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

Big opposite for me. JRPGs are all about the minigames. Glad to see they went all in for Rebirth. Remake was so fucking dull in comparison. Darts... breaking boxes... I guess the motorcycle part technically counts? It was just hallways, combat, mostly serious story. The opposite of what I want out of any Final Fantasy.

Also, like 90% are optional, there's no way they're dragging down the story. You're choosing to engage with them!

 

Frankly, I'm glad they're there. While the combat is much improved over Remake, at 90 hours in I like novel things to do, not just fight shit and watch cutscenes over and over. That's exactly what turned me off of Remake.

 

What are you talking about? I was just forced in a Chocobo race to move the story along. Plus the mini-games to get to that section. The Golden saucer is one big mini game lol. 

[legend]

27 minutes ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

I know FFVII  OG had a lot of mini games, but, for my tastes, Rebirth has just too many. I also realize that many are optional, but they are still dragging down the story and combat for me after logging 30 hours. 

 

I can understand this take, but I generally think it's good for different games to take risks that won't appeal to everyone and lean into them.

[Mr.Vic20]

13 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

I agree with this but it's not a popular opinion here. I actually am preferring FF16's flow so much more because there is no nonsense in between the great stuff. 

 

I still love Rebirth but the mini games drive me nuts. Foe instance chapter 8 is littered with them in between a awesome story moment. 

Agreed, but FF XVI is still just and "OK" FF game and squanders a strong start with tons of insanely boring side quests.  

[Mr.Vic20]

2 minutes ago, legend said:

 

I can understand this take, but I generally think it's good for different games to take risks that won't appeal to everyone and lean into them.

100%! I'm careful to point out my concerns as a taste thing rather than an issue with the game itself for this reason. Plenty of folks love this stuff, but it irritates me personally. I also find the GTA series to be a complete yawn, but a *few* folks disagree... 

[Xbob42]

27 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

What are you talking about? I was just forced in a Chocobo race to move the story along. Plus the mini-games to get to that section. The Golden saucer is one big mini game lol. 

Yeah, you do some to move the story along. If you think that's even remotely close to all of the minigames, Mr. Mainlining the Story, you'd be in for a rude awakening if you actually tried to 100% each zone! There's entirely unique minigames dedicated to most of the protorelics, with hard modes!

  

8 minutes ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

100%! I'm careful to point out my concerns as a taste thing rather than an issue with the game itself for this reason. Plenty of folks love this stuff, but it irritates me personally. I also find the GTA series to be a complete yawn, but a *few* folks disagree... 

I mean, I've always found Rockstar games to be big snoozefests. Even when watching people who love the games play them, I feel like half the time they're barely even paying attention. Because nothing that happens is terribly interesting or fun!

[Keyser_Soze]

55 minutes ago, SaysWho? said:

I can’t play much of this until I get back from vacation, but I’ve been enjoying the reactions! Only chance I really have is at the end of the day via Backbone, assuming the Wi-Fi is good enough.

 

Are you going to play this one with your FIANCE?

[Best]

56 minutes ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

Agreed, but FF XVI is still just and "OK" FF game and squanders a strong start with tons of insanely boring side quests.  

 

I'm currently playing both right now and lean on playing 16 more at this point. I don't do side quests so that's a non issue for me. I'm kinda experimenting with this playthrough to find out when 16 hits a wall but I haven't gotten there yet.

 

I plan on beating Rebirth before DD2 but the mini games absolutely slow down its momentum. It's still an awesome game besides that. But I agree with you overall.