Final Fantasy VII Rebirth |OT| Moseying Into the Unknown

[ventuno]

I had less time to play the game, but I'm on chapter 9 right now and I think the best way to describe my experience so far is that I really, truly am loving it. I think it's going to take a lot for something else to even challenge Rebirth as my GOTY this year.

Spoiler: Chapter 9 impressions

Chapter 9 really put into perspective how much I appreciate the efforts made to make the force of the Lifestream and its influence on the planet feel more tangible. It really adds to the scale of the ecological disaster brought forth by Shinra when the planet moves to guide the party to things it wants to see, you can find gorgeous streams hidden amongst the ruins of the world.

I believe the whisper entities are manifestations of the black and white materia and of OG!Aerith and Sephiroth respectively, two powerful beings who can sway the world and influence the Lifestream on a deeper level.

So far I don't think that any of the changes are meant to actually stray from the storyline's path, just spice things up so returning players can also have things to speculate on. So far though... I am only even more convinced that they'll just stay on the same path as the original even if the journey is longer or has a few pit stops on the way, so there's less speculation on my end as a returning player. I also think that they're alluding to Cloud's breakdown and the circumstances of it in too many ways for me to think things will play out differently. I do appreciate the work done to make things feel more tangible, even though I'm sure some things aren't quite what people expected.

 

[Andrew J]

Chapter 8

Spoiler

I lean towards favoring maximaliism, but going from the Dyne boss fight, into the Palmer boss fight, and then straight into the dune buggy shooting setpiece was a bit much even for me.

 

[astro]

I am in that post FF7 Rebirth period where I don't know what to do. What a hell of a game. Obviously it's not perfect, but I love so much about it. Even though it's huge I'll probably go back to it in a year or two (would be a great excuse to boot it after getting a Pro)
Also, I can't believe this but I played almost the whole thing on resolution mode and it was excellent. Honestly feel it was the superior mode in this game. Super crisp details and I literally didn't even notice the framerate after a minute or two. It's unbelievable how fast your eyes/mind can adapt to a nice stable 30fps (esp with good motion blur).

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If Graphics mode fixed the issues with shadows and lighting, I might consider it.

As it is though, having the clarity in motion of 60fps just makes battles look too good. Sure it dips at times, but being able to make out all the little details during battle is something I prefer.

I'd love to see them at least add improvements to graphics mode for the Pro or whatever, would make that mode a lot more enticing for me.

 

[Linus815]

i wish they could decouple menus and make them 60 fps in graphics mode. the 30 fps menus just feel way too sluggish imo

 

[astro]

i wish they could decouple menus and make them 60 fps in graphics mode. the 30 fps menus just feel way too sluggish imo

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Was going to say the same! It's one of the main reasons I won't use it.

 

[Pat_DC]

i wish they could decouple menus and make them 60 fps in graphics mode. the 30 fps menus just feel way too sluggish imo

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Yeah this was the main issue I had with the 30fps mode, but in the end I just stuck with it.
One of the biggest killers for me is a sluggish menu in an rpg and that definitely stood out.

 

[BladeX]

If Graphics mode fixed the issues with shadows and lighting, I might consider it.

As it is though, having the clarity in motion of 60fps just makes battles look too good. Sure it dips at times, but being able to make out all the little details during battle is something I prefer.

I'd love to see them at least add improvements to graphics mode for the Pro or whatever, would make that mode a lot more enticing for me.

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I know I am going to make a lot of people grasp for air with what I am about to suggest but whatever, here goes: 😂

Let me say that I, myself am totally opposed to doing the things i will suggest, but in the case of FFVII Rebirth's Performance mode, I just couldnt deal with it and tried it out.

So, I have an OLED tv, but I am sure other TVs have similar options. In OLED there is an option "Super Resolution" or something like that, I enabled this at full power and then I cranked up the sharpness setting quite a bit.

Yes I know you shouldnt mess with image quality this way, I never do it but Rebirth is what it is.

And I must say that from the distance where I am sitting I dont notice any significant artifacts and such. The image quality is way sharper (duh!) and overall it makes the game feel much much better and clear. After doing that I am never using 30fps mode again (1st playthrough was entirely on Graphics mode). Again, this will benefit those sitting in a distance from their TVs. If you sit very close, this suggestion of mine could probably make things even worse.

 

[Rahkeesh]

Going ham on the resolution "enhancement" stuff could help with the blurry 3D graphics, but it made text actually harder to read, and that is like 80% of how you engage with combat.

 

[Poltergust]

Spoiler

The whole deal with the constant materia juggling in hard mode and general endgame stuff needs to be fixed for part 3…

It is exhausting to change materia all the time and do it for 7 characters. Cant imagine 8. It is too much micromanagement.

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…

Either that is a typo or I just got spoiled. Wtf

 

[JasoNsider]

If Graphics mode fixed the issues with shadows and lighting, I might consider it.

As it is though, having the clarity in motion of 60fps just makes battles look too good. Sure it dips at times, but being able to make out all the little details during battle is something I prefer.

I'd love to see them at least add improvements to graphics mode for the Pro or whatever, would make that mode a lot more enticing for me.

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As someone who plays nearly every game on framerate mode, I get it. I think I was just more surprised by how quickly I got used to lower FPS. When you first switch over it's incredibly jarring, but 15 minutes later I didn't notice it at all.
But yeah, obviously if the Pro can give best of both worlds then I'm sold!

 

[BladeX]

…

Either that is a typo or I just got spoiled. Wtf

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How is it a spoiler? The actual poll at the very top of this page has 7 playable characters all referenced by their actual name... what my post tried to point out is that i cant imagine doing all this materia juggling with even more characters than the ones featured in Rebirth.

 

[Rahkeesh]

…

Either that is a typo or I just got spoiled. Wtf

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Its' not a spoiler that more characters, like Cid and Vincent, will be playable in part 3.

 

[Kuro]

Its a spoiler if you do the math lol. Then again, the spoiler is very well known after all this time.

 

[FullWalter]

I just got to the start of the final chapter last night. How much time should I set aside if I want to play through the rest of the game in one sitting?

 

[dglavimans]

I just got to the start of the final chapter last night. How much time should I set aside if I want to play through the rest of the game in one sitting?

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2/3 hours? Not even kidding

 

[FullWalter]

2/3 hours? Not even kidding

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Damn, ok. Thanks for the heads up. this might have to wait until next week, unfortunately.

 

[Moves]

I hate how little enemies are on the world map. I just wanna grind AP for my materia.

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In general I agree that I wish there were some more enemies populating the open areas to just mess around for fun with the combat more while exploring. Though if you add too many more you have the FFXVI/ typical JRPG problem where your world is way too cluttered with fight encounters and the moment to moment gameplay balance is off, it's nice to just walk/ride your chocobo without always running into combat encounters every inch. Probably a tough balance to get right.

 

[Rephil]

Finally got the platinum last night, 200 hours later. What a ride.
Really loved the game! Remake is one of the my favorite games, and Rebirth continued to deliver that same level of quality, only in a much bigger quantity. Any gripes I have are irrelevant when looking at the package as a whole.

 

[Poltergust]

How is it a spoiler? The actual poll at the very top of this page has 7 playable characters all referenced by their actual name... what my post tried to point out is that i cant imagine doing all this materia juggling with even more characters than the ones featured in Rebirth.

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Spoiler

It's the specific number of 8. The whole party is supposed to consist of 9 characters, so one is missing.

So now I know someone is missing out on part 3. Considering the story changes it wasn't a foregone conclusion that Rebirth would follow the same kind of story beats as the original. Now that I'm starting chapter 13 I was wondering if it would be different this time.

Heck, even saying 9 will be playable next game is a spoiler unto itself. You should never have mentioned a specific number. =/

 

[Rahkeesh]

Spoiler

It's the specific number of 8. The whole party is supposed to consist of 9 characters, so one is missing.

So now I know someone is missing out on part 3. Considering the story changes it wasn't a foregone conclusion that Rebirth would follow the same kind of story beats as the original. Now that I'm starting chapter 13 I was wondering if it would be different this time.

Heck, even saying 9 will be playable next game is a spoiler unto itself. You should never have mentioned a specific number. =/

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Spoiler

See the ending for yourself, its still debatable whether its 8 or 9 in the long run.

 

[Zoe]

Spoiler

See the ending for yourself, its still debatable whether its 8 or 9 in the long run.

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Spoiler: Super Spoiler

Spoiler: You sure?

It could even be 10 or 11...

I jest!

Or do I? 🤔

 

[BladeX]

Spoiler

It's the specific number of 8. The whole party is supposed to consist of 9 characters, so one is missing.

So now I know someone is missing out on part 3. Considering the story changes it wasn't a foregone conclusion that Rebirth would follow the same kind of story beats as the original. Now that I'm starting chapter 13 I was wondering if it would be different this time.

Heck, even saying 9 will be playable next game is a spoiler unto itself. You should never have mentioned a specific number. =/

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Spoiler

Game is built that way where it could be 10 playable characters in part 3. Even more if they want to. Nobody knows.

 

[Agrizzlyadventure]

I had zero experience or exposure to final fantasy games prior to the remakes. I had always heard 7 being called the best game of all time etc. I popped in intergrade last week for the first time and holy hell man, I finished that in a week and now I'm 23 hours into rebirth. I'm loving the open world in rebirth but at the same time I do miss the linearity of intergrade, the story kept going there, rebirth feels like it has more filler. Either way I can't get enough, can't believe I slept on this for so long.

 

[TheDestructiveSquirrel]

Damn, no more Queen's Blood :(

 

[SlickVic]

Man can't believe I messed up the Roche fight in Chapter 4 the first time I did it. Was getting bogged down with how quickly he moved before I could connect attacks with the sword. Then realized you just have to cast Fire a few times and dude gets staggered almost immediately lol.

 

[Poltergust]

Spoiler: Final protorelic quests

I don't know how, but I was somehow able to finish up all these summon refights + Gilgamesh with my party only being level 49. That's over 15 levels under the recommended level for these fights lol.

I wonder how everyone else handled these? The only fight I actually ended up losing was the Odin/Alexander one. Everything else was cleared in one try (items really helped here). I even had Kujata get fully revived by Phoenix and I was like "oh crap" but I still clutched it out lol.

I'm also curious as to what Gilgamesh's countdown attack is. I always managed to interrupt him before it finished. I kinda wanted to see it but I had no idea how devastating it is, so I didn't risk it.

Now that all that is done with, there is precisely 0 side content left to complete for my initial playthrough of dynamic difficulty. The combat challenges I just unlocked are hard mode only so I'm not counting them. I can finally move on with finishing the game!

I'm just at the point of no return. How long is it until the end from here?

 

[Linus815]

I had zero experience or exposure to final fantasy games prior to the remakes. I had always heard 7 being called the best game of all time etc. I popped in intergrade last week for the first time and holy hell man, I finished that in a week and now I'm 23 hours into rebirth. I'm loving the open world in rebirth but at the same time I do miss the linearity of intergrade, the story kept going there, rebirth feels like it has more filler. Either way I can't get enough, can't believe I slept on this for so long.

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Yeah, I loved the linearity of the Remake personally, something that actually a lot of people disliked lol. That being Rebirth still has long linear dungeons so I was still satisfied in that regard. It's obviously very easy to get distracted by the open world stuff though!

 

[speiky]

Spoiler: Super Spoiler

Spoiler: You sure?

It could even be 10 or 11...

I jest!

Or do I? 🤔

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I don't think there will be any surprise additions, who will be permanent party members. Would love to be wrong.

 

[astro]

Starting to understand the complaints about Chadly...

I feel as though I'm misunderstanding something about sprinting on Chcobos. It says to press/hold L3 or R2, but a single press/hold does nothing. Mostly pressing twice then holding does it, vut sometimes I need to do it three times.

What's the actual input?

Edit: ah got it now, noticed the UI changes. Press once to dash a other to sprint.

 

[Kuro]

Starting to understand the complaints about Chadly...

I feel as though I'm misunderstanding something about sprinting on Chcobos. It says to press/hold L3 or R2, but a single press/hold does nothing. Mostly pressing twice then holding does it, vut sometimes I need to do it three times.

What's the actual input?

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you have to double press. Why? I have no idea. Also putting drift on circle by default is a big???

The Chocobo racing later on has completely different (and better) controls which is another???

 

[MrTharne]

The Chocobo racing later on has completely different (and better) controls which is another???

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I mean, they also have idk how many shooting sections/minigames and none of them have the same controls layout for aiming and shooting which is baffling too.

 

[Kuro]

I mean, they also have idk how many shooting sections/minigames and none of them have the same controls layout for aiming and shooting which is baffling too.

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I guess a lot of stuff was made between different departments that didn't communicate with each other on a universal control scheme

 

[AuthenticM]

I'm just at the point of no return. How long is it until the end from here?

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6-7 hours

 

[Wonderrade]

Just got Platinum last night! Pretty proud of doing the hsrd mode chadley missions without using any cheese strats. I will say though I do not understand what they are going for with Zacks quick charge mechanic. Felt very inconsistent and random. I basically avoided using him :/

 

[Andrew J]

The auto-unique ability materia is really good on Yuffie. She'll build pretty decent ATB when off control that way.

 

[oty]

man I really liked Chapter 13 rofl. sure, the Cetra holographs were the dumbest thing ever and you do quite a lot of fighting but fuck, it's so good when you know, the game starts turning it's story gears. I really liked what they did with Sephiroth's mindfuck with Cloud. Instead of playing with the surprise of him giving the Black Materia, they just....made it 100x creepier, which, yeah, I'll take that lol

now.....the dreaded Chapter 14 awaits, but I'm kinda more hopeful now after 13 lol

 

[Mephissto]

man I really liked Chapter 13 rofl. sure, the Cetra holographs were the dumbest thing ever and you do quite a lot of fighting but fuck, it's so good when you know, the game starts turning it's story gears. I really liked what they did with Sephiroth's mindfuck with Cloud. Instead of playing with the surprise of him giving the Black Materia, they just....made it 100x creepier, which, yeah, I'll take that lol

now.....the dreaded Chapter 14 awaits, but I'm kinda more hopeful now after 13 lol

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Haha yeah. When Cloud is chasing Aerith for the black materia he is super creepy

 

[Poltergust]

The auto-unique ability materia is really good on Yuffie. She'll build pretty decent ATB when off control that way.

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I have the Auto-Weapon Ability on Yuffie too, along with Barret. I like how I don't have to micromanage everything they do since their AI is pretty decent at prioritizing good moves while under it (Yuffie typically uses Doppelgänger, Barret typically uses Lifesaver).

I'm thinking of giving Red Auto-Unique Ability so his AI can just activate Vengeance Mode on its own. He's very good at blocking when not being controlled by me lol.

 

[Chance Hale]

All the rage I've read about the chicken quest is utterly baffling, each chicken takes 30 seconds and if you mess up you can put the can right back down and it gets back to following it. Assume a lot of people just let the chicken run all the way back rather than doing the smallest bit of experimentation? Last chicken did make me think oh you have to be kidding me and sure enough they were lol

Ending was incredible, the music and tonal change perfect

 

[Rahkeesh]

I guess a lot of stuff was made between different departments that didn't communicate with each other on a universal control scheme

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More likely external contractors but yeah.

 

[SlickVic]

Was pleasantly surprised the Queens Blood matches in Chapter 5 weren't as rough as I was fearing. I imagine the opponents will get much tougher in the later chapters, but this was pretty fun.

 

[fuzzylogic]

Finally finished my initial playthrough on Dynamic after two months and 117 hours. I plan on a hard mode run after a month off, but probably won't get the plat, because I really don't want to do the harder Queen's Blood stuff or Hard Gears and Gambits. I heard the end-game VR missions are harder than Remake's, and I don't want to look up strats. I want to do it myself, so I'll probably never beat them all.

Edit: 368 screenshots and video clips from Rebirth. Have about 108 from Remake.

 

[Mephissto]

Finally finished my initial playthrough on Dynamic after two months and 117 hours. I plan on a hard mode run after a month off, but probably won't get the plat, because I really don't want to do the harder Queen's Blood stuff or Hard Gears and Gambits. I heard the end-game VR missions are harder than Remake's, and I don't want to look up strats. I want to do it myself, so I'll probably never beat them all.

Edit: 368 screenshots and video clips from Rebirth. Have about 108 from Remake.

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Post some of your screenshots in the screenshot thread. Would like to see some :)

 

[astro]

Some quick thoughts:

- Battle system is amazing. Huge step up from the first game. Synergy skills and abilities are a wonderful addition adding another layer of tactical depth, and the rework to certain skills and materia make for a much more fluid and dynamic system. The original was good, but this is great!

- Open world is very fun. Yes, it is more of a checklist style and I can undersrand that putting people off, but here I feel it's not overbearing. Chocobos make travel easy, fast travel is generous and quick, and there's a lot of variety to be found. Each new area introducing new elements helping things feel fresh.

- Quest design is kinda basic but the characters are fun and the combat system and other elements make up for some of the less imaginative quest designs themselves.

- Progression systems are, imo, a big improvement over the original. I personally really like the crafting system and how it ties into obtaining new gear. I prefer the new folio system to the old weapon boards, and the upgrades feel more meaningful.

- Main story so far is good, character moments are really fun, the world building is excellent. It feels like it expands upon thos part of the original game really well.

Some downsides:

- Chadly's interruptions would have been better designed to happen in the background as you continue to move around instead of forcing you to stand still and listen. He interrupts so often that it does become annoying.

- Traversal can be a bit frustrating with some slow climbing and movement. Not sure if you can upgrade later, but Chocobos could climb a bit faster, so could your own party. They've shown they are capable of much grander physical feats than slowly climbing (especially climbing down).

- The UI is a bit uneven. Readability on the main menu isn't great, they went for style over function in a few places and honestly the style feels a bit undercooked. Combat setting and Party menus feel like they overlap in weird places, and some choices for button prompts feel a bit unintuitive especially when similar functions happen on different buttons.

---

Overall I think the game is great so far!

 

[Andrew J]

The quality and detail demonstrated by Rebirth's environmental art is so self-evident it almost doesn't seem worth commenting on, but...Good lord, I want to live in the Cosmo Canyon observatory.

 

[ScOULaris]

I got Barret for the date instead of Tifa.

I'm livid.

 

[TheDestructiveSquirrel]

Hahaha

The dialog in Ch 12 after beating Don Corneo

 

[Leeness]

I got Barret for the date instead of Tifa.

I'm livid.

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Barret's is nice tho.

You can also reload and see if you can do any further quests for Tifa.

 

[ScOULaris]

Barret's is nice tho.

You can also reload and see if you can do any further quests for Tifa.

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I had the pulsing blue face icon for her, Barret, and Aerith. So I got the worst possible outcome out of those options.

Tifa's date felt like it should be canon when I looked it up on YouTube.

 

[Leeness]

I had the pulsing blue face icon for her, Barret, and Aerith. So I got the worst possible outcome out of those options.

Tifa's date felt like it should be canon when I looked it up on YouTube.

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If there's sidequests, there's still a chance! :p they can still technically go up.

Spoiler

Honestly, Aerith and Red's are the most "story" relevant.

Tifa's is nice. Barret's is nice. Yuffie's is hilarious. The "guy's night" is also super funny.

Aerith's semi confirms a lot of stuff about Cloud/Zack, or what she thinks of Cloud at least, and Red's has lore about the whispers.

Which is maybe why Red has the most sidequests before chapter 12? I think if you weren't trying to game the game for the date you want, you'd likely end up with Red or Barret.

I was trying to game it, so I did all of Aerith's quests and hard stopped for everyone else, so that she was the only person with the light blue icon going back to Gold Saucer.