Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (2024)

I could write an essay about the demo, but let's just say, that I'm afraid to play the game. I'm afraid nothing will ever top it, lmao. Yes, the demo is just excellent, these 3 weeks will be tough. After playing it and seeing the state of play, I'm actually thinking this might get 97-100 metascore rating, and become the best RPG ever made.

That said, the demo is worth playing, even if you don't care about the game at all. I would call it a short origin story of Sephiroth, the most (and the best?) iconic villain in video games, his status is just legendary. Now you can get to know why he's so iconic, and beloved in under two hours. It's just worth it to gain some cult video games knowledge, after these two hours you won't get to know everything about him, and you won't see the full depth of his character, but you for sure will know why he's so f***ing cool and terrifying.

Small spoilery talk, I just love how they know their audience, and the game opens with playing as Sephiroth. Every nod, that the memories might be wrong is also beautifully done, Cloud having Zack's energy is just excellent. The end of the demo is just crazy, the way they build tension while Sephiroth is going full rogue is just perfect. I totally get alien vibes from him, he just stops being human for me, I see a terrifying creature, ready to tear me open in a blink of an eye. I'm actually terrified to face him again, and when that f***ing soundtrack started playing at the end, when he was standing in flames I just lost it.

Thoughts on the demo:

Unsurprisingly, it seems that the name of the game in Rebirth is again going to be greatly stretching out moments of the original game and fleshing them out, which of course produces spectacular results in this slice of the Nibelheim flashback. It's one of the most iconic moments in all of Final Fantasy VII, after all. I do have concerns that this stretching may not work in other parts of the game, much like in Remake, but man does it work extremely well here. The attention to detail is incredible.

I'm totally blown away by how well they adapted Sephiroth. He's such an intimidating, charming presence, at least until, y'know... I loved the well-placed hints that just maybe, something might be off with Cloud's memories. I love how they took that tiny moment where you play the piano and blew it up into a whole mini game. And I'm not sure if the weapon upgrade system is removed entirely, but I'm glad I didn't notice it here.

When it all comes to a head and THAT Sephiroth cutscene happens (You know the one) I was completely giddy. I need more of this game now!!

Best news I’ve heard all day:

In Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, you can’t use your old Remake save

We have announced that the Final Fantasy VII remake project will be a trilogy and that each entry will be a standalone game in its own right. Because of this, each game’s balancing is done independently and a player’s levels and abilities will not carry over from one game to the next. However, we have created some special bonuses for fans who played the previous game, allowing them to start with a little something extra.

This actually addresses something I was worried about and that was having to go back to the first one to either replay it or refresh my memory about my materia, spells, and general character loadouts. Now I can start from scratch in a game balanced as something standalone and not have to worry about how the first game impacts the second mechanically. As far as I’m concerned that’s fantastic.