Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: A Grand Adventure Worth Revisiting

While everyone's hyped on new RPGs, I'm still thinking about how much fun (and how much stuff to do) FF7 Rebirth was.

I know by now, it may feel like, why talk about FF7 Rebirth when so many great RPGs have dropped the last couple months, like the Oblivion Remaster, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, and especially the biggest surprise of this year with how great it is - Expedition 33? I feel as though when Final Fantasy VII Rebirth originally dropped, people enjoyed it to an extent - but the most I was hearing about were the graphical issues it dealt with when it dropped, looking very washed and muddy, especially playing on performance mode. Although it did get its recognition at The Game Awards, winning the Best Score and Music award (even though I feel like Metaphor: ReFantazio should have gotten that award!), I know my brother personally just had to wait until it dropped on PC, and that it did a couple of months ago! It was exciting to see it come back, but at the same time, it kind of got overshadowed by the previous games I mentioned, and it was overwhelming to figure out which games to play, especially if you had Game Pass. And this year, Final Fantasy 16 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake are dropping on Xbox Series X|S! So listen, Final Fantasy is doing its best standing tall against the other RPGs so far, and it is a great time to look back at Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and talk about what made the game so fun and sometimes overwhelming with the amount of things you can do.

FF7 Rebirth has some of my favorite open-world action RPGs put into one: Yakuza: Like a Dragon with its goofy, random side quests and activities; Ghost of Tsushima for its exploration of the beautiful scenery; and Witcher 3 with its worldbuilding, discovery of new monsters, beautiful card gameplay, and the way it introduces side quests. I know it must have been difficult to balance the serious tone of the story and the cheerfulness of the characters trying to enjoy a new area, but somehow it works. In Part One, the characters were stuck in Midgar with all the pollution and depression, to now seeing the lands beyond and finding out what it all has to offer.

Exploration in this game is such a good time. Each time I go to a new zone, I'm blown away by how beautiful it is, from the grasslands to taking a cruise to Costa del Sol. The number of things you can do is amazing: fun random mini-games, new ways to travel around the world, just more stuff to discover. It never feels like you've seen everything yet. Sure, the activities are the same at times, but the way you get to them and discover them is interesting. What I really enjoy is when the activities get mixed together with the main quest - one part of the game is acting like you’re part of this soldier parade going on - so you and your team have to wear the outfit, learn the march, and take in the amazing choreography while making sure you’re pressing all of the right buttons.

Chadley is back, bothering you for more intel in Assassin's Creed/Far Cry fashion, just a little less annoying. It feels great to get to the towers and speak to Chadley, but it also means more of your map gets filled with so many things to discover… and it can be a lot at times, especially if you’re someone who loves 100% games! What I did like a lot were all of the battle simulations that are helping you understand the mechanics more. Not only that, but some of the bosses you fight are insanely powerful, and I get confused about how I got access to face them currently. With how frequently Chadley pops up in this game, I'm sure in Part 3 he's going to be a hidden secret boss, but for now, seeing him travel the world with you is nice.

Now, the combat is top tier as always. With its bigger party cast, the combinations are pretty wild but damn near endless. Square Enix made sure to make the RPG aspect of this game as accessible as possible so anyone can jump in and play. I appreciate the options of having things automatically placed for you or having the choice of who can be in your main group. I love switching from time to time and also seeing the awesome Synergy Skills and Abilities with the characters and mixing that in with the Limit Breaks is just great. You could go all OP on the damage with Cloud, Tifa, and Yuffie, or have a defensive Wall of Life with Barret and Aerith, or become a Stagger master with Yuffie, Red XIII, and Aerith with her Radiant Ward! Yeah, it can get crazy and really fun to mix and match with what you want to do. Be ready though, because there are always new enemies for you to fight and certain bosses to humble you when you're feeling cocky.

The music of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is downright beautiful, especially paired with the amazing graphics every time you discover a new area or in an amazing cutscene. The music definitely invokes a feeling out of you for sure, like hearing the vacation music of Costa Del Sol - it makes me want to be on vacation forever and just relax. Or the ominous theme when you're scanning crystals had me looking around like, "What is going to happen next?" I especially loved the lively Chocobo music when you're riding around; it felt like you were always going on a grand adventure, but nothing will top the groovy Chocobo theme of FFXIII-2! Even the peaceful forest music of Gongaga makes me want to get coffee and think about living on a farm, and I don't even drink coffee. The soundtrack that really took me aback with how hard it went was for the top-tier side game - Queens Blood. It felt like I was in a final battle every time, or I was in a crazy Yu-Gi-Oh! battle about to lose my best cards; the soundtrack really did its thing!

The story is a continuation of the first part - FF7 Remake, but sometimes with doing all of the things around you, you can lose sight of the story. But when you get back on the main path, seeing the scenes of characters showing their experience in life and witnessing what they faced and how they became who they are now will make you shed a tear! Every character is important in your team, even people you meet that aren’t part of it. Their stories will definitely make you feel something, and I feel as though they did a great job with how they conveyed it. And I do like how they show how the characters overcome what they’ve been through or how they are still learning from it to make them move on/be a better person. It is what makes this game beautiful, even if the story can be all over the place at times. But when you finish those chapters, you do feel a sense of relief and make sure to take breaks in between to be ready to endure the other chapters and stories.

One of my complaints about the game, since I also played the game around the time of its original release on PS5, was its performance mode. Why did aiming for 60 FPS make the graphics in the game look like a muddy pastel painting? The best way to play the game on PS5 seems to be the good ole 4k 30fps graphics mode. It's not bad, it's smooth, and you can see all the scenery the game has to show you. You can also play in a better resolution and frame rate if you have the PS5 Pro or get the game on PC like my brother did (just don’t play it on the Steam Deck if you’re looking for amazing graphics).

The one thing I can say so far about FF7 Rebirth is to enjoy it. No, like truly enjoy it and take your time with it. If you try to rush through, you will feel overwhelmed and burnt out quickly. Each area is full of activities to do - at first it seems you’re doing the same thing over and over, and boom, a new mini-game and a new unique quest. My lord, just writing this out and thinking about it is sort of overwhelming in itself. Even for the simplest things like collecting a damn mushroom is a lot. But it’s all unique to the area you're in, which is a nice touch, so every place has its own set of specific mini-games and quests to do. My favorite, of course, is Queens Blood! The fact they had a whole quest kind of like Yu-Gi-Oh! trying to get the ultimate card while creating the decks to beat every challenger was so damn fun. I just wished there were more tournaments for it in the game.

I can confidently say Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is one of the best RPGs to get into. The games that were released this year and towards the end of last year are definitely going toe-to-toe against it with how unique they are. We saw that with how Metaphor: ReFantazio won best RPG against it. For this year, I don’t think it will be back in the Game Awards again, especially with the releases of Expedition 33 and Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. Definitely keep a lookout for my review on Expedition 33 and hopefully for KCD2 as soon as I finish that… there are so many games to keep up with, especially with this backlog I have. I am happy that FF7 Rebirth released on PC and is releasing on Xbox and Switch 2 so more people can enjoy this amazing adventure, especially since we don't know when the 3rd installment is coming out. Hopefully it’s soon and not 2028 where I'm old with a cane!