Kayla Adams

FFVII (OG) was the video game that changed my life. My grandma used to take me to the local flea market where I found a stand that sold knives, fishing lures, random old hand tools, road signs, and also a small selection of video games. I picked up FFVII for $5 (and still have that very copy 22 years later). I give Rebirth a solid 3 stars. The graphics are phenomenal. I appreciate exploring the world. I enjoy the affection system which tracks your teammates positive/negative association with you. Battle is pretty fun (I used the newer battle tactics since I figured they were created intended for this game) — easy battles are button mashing and more challenging battles require incorporating some strategy. I’ve been enjoying the new take on the story thus far and am excited to see where it goes. I docked it two stars because I feel like the level of repetition with the side missions is driving me up the wall. I know I could skip it but I feel like I owe my inner child every painful detail of these remakes. I had to take a break from this game for a couple months though because the side missions were driving me crazy. They’re all courier (running from point A to B back to A) missions or slayer (find monster, slay it) missions. The bigger side quests do have some story sustenance but all the little “intels” are shallow and take up 80% of the game. Chadley annoys the #%^* out of me and he never shuts up. And in general, Rebirth places more emphasis on graphics and an immersive world (which it excels at) than the astounding story of its predecessor. Obviously it still has story, but I feel like that gets lost in the weeds (literally when you’re doing your intel missions). Many folks probably don’t care about that but as an adult with a limited amount of free time, it bums me out to spend two hours straight on intel only to make a small dent in the total region intel (and there’s many regions — which is cool). I’d say these remakes are good for introducing folks to FF and they are better than the XI and up games, but they also just lack that extra magic that was in those early FF games (X and earlier). Should have made it one (or even two) game(s) and cut out a bunch of the filler. Hate to say it but, classic money grab. Worked though because I know I’ll buy the 3rd also, still hoping to find a bit of the magic from those early days.