Review - Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Вставка
- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- My full review of the second part of Square's Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy. Will we get to finally explore an open world? Will we be able to change destiny? Will we see Tifa in a bikini? Find out here.
"I'll never understand why they have Cait Sith an Scottish accent. "
My guy. With a monsoon of respect... The cat-sìth is a creature from Irish/Scottish folklore. It stands to reason they would have given him one accent or the other. It just so happens the cat-sìth appears more in Scottish culture.
Maybe the Drinker will understand if we pronounce it with it's Gaelic name. Ket-Shee!
@@TheEffectOfMass Oh now that is something
The pronouciation is what threw me. The original Gaelic way of saying it is more like "Khat Shee" which is nothing like his name in FF7. Also the Scottish version doesnt walk around with a giant microphone and ride a stuffed Moogle, so I just never made the connection, I guess.
@@TheCriticalGamer83 fair enough! Still got some of the best content on the net, man. Like I said, nothing but a monsoon of respect
@@TheCriticalGamer83I'm no expert but from what I know it seems to be a modern English approximate due to the phonetic differences between Scots Gaelic and English. Kind of like a Jesus/Jesús situation.
I remember what my grandmother always told me, “ignore your teachers, when Yasuke said he can’t breathe, it is true.
wrong video bro 😂😂
A Cait Sith is a cat from Scottish and Irish folklore... hence the accent
Hence their name. Cait. Which is a shortened version of Caith or Caithlin. Which is one of those Irish girl names you can try to pronounce but god be with you ;)
He has a Osaka accent in the Japanese version, so they had to choose an accent for the English one
@@R202X
Because Osaka is the Japanese equivalent of a "simpletons accent" 🤪
Wasn't there a whole fanbase debacle about how to pronounce the name because of it's origins. "khet shee" i think it was?
No one cares if he's scottish, Jenova is a reference to Jehovah, you don't hear her speak hebrew. Just give him a english accent and stop with the ridiculousness. It was just a reference to the myth, he wasn't actually scottish.
I don't think I've ever seen Drinker this emotional before. I am changed.
This bs talk from him makes me so angry
Sounds like the cope of a man who just gave up on ever getting a real faithfull remake of the game he loved as a kid and because of that he became delusional
@@RealEvilLordExdeathjust accept that some people enjoy and even love the game
@@andrewramirez3998 yeah i can accept it, its still a strange feeling to know someone u really like to watch has a fetish for sht.
@@RealEvilLordExdeath it's a good game broski, here, have a snickers.
@@RealEvilLordExdeath Terrible point. This can apply to literally ANYONE you disagree with. Your mindset seems to be, "oh you disagree with me? That MUST mean you're coping and delusional" 💀
It made me happy they added Cissnei to the game in Gongaga. She’s a tiny but really important character in Zack’s story in Crisis Core, so seeing her there just felt right.
Cid’s connection with Aerith is not in the original but in the short story Picturing the Past within the Traces of Two Pasts novel written by Kuzushige Nojima, the same writer of the games. It depicts Aerith and Ifalna’s time in captivity in the Shinra building and Cid used to work there, that’s where he came across them while doing various odd jobs for Shinra
i dont think the book mentions cid by name but would make sense
“Lost my train of thought” gold
I mean Tifa in a bathing suit should do that to any man lol
Regarding cait Sith - I believe it's from the celtic Legend of cat-sìth. A supposed ghost like cat that haunts the Scottish Highlands. So the Scottish accent might be due to that!
This. It's actually pronounced "kat shee" and comes from the same etymology as the word banshee. FF has always had a grand obsession with folklore and mythology of foreign countries.
I know his segment ain't the greatest but I loved Cair Sithe in this game. Just being an adorable kitty cat riding around on a fat moogle that's more weaponized and powerful than anything Shinra's RnD is actually making.
Schrodinger's Aerith, letting the writers have their cake and eat it too.
Two moments in this game brought tears to my eyes: Red XIII's discovery of his father, and Aerith's flashback. Amazing stuff.
Sephiroth has been a pan-dimensional evil being all along. The only way to defeat him is to rise up to his level, with the help of Aeris and become Omni-cloud. Yes, the omni slash at the end is 7 clouds finally in unison.
Barrett’s section of the game when he confronts his old village and best friend was really well done
I clocked in at 121hours, its was one of the best games I ever played in my life. I can really relate to the feeling the drinker had when getting closer and closer to the end of the game. I loved the ending tho, getting that final fight as a duo. Knowing it was the last ride. Cant wait to see Wutai in the next one.
This game with this ending is basically kinda like "Empire strikes back". People walked out of the cinema and didtn know how to feel about it. But they have been so invested to it that they wanted to know how the whole story plays out. If you can achive this then you have done something right. I do trust Square here. Cant wait to play part 3
original game did it better
Dont bring a great movie like empire down to this level of shitty wrting
Was a blast watching your podcast where you delved into this, wasn’t expecting to be spoiled with a proper review video too! Can fully understand the criticisms for this game, but from a gameplay perspective I love how it opened up, and I’ve got a lot of faith in the third and final game (FF7: Return?)
I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on the ending. Maximilian Dood has a very compelling interpretation of the final events of this game that acknowledges and debunks many of the contradictory evidence. I won't say it here in full, but it does indeed involve Cloud imagining many of the events in real time to cope with his loss, with other more complex elements thrown in. The potential result of this theory (if true) could set up for part three to be even more emotionally devastating than the original, followed by an even more uplifting recovery. I'd highly recommend checking out his archives on Twitch and hearing his thoughts after experiencing the end of Rebirth if you haven't already.
Honestly usually I’m on board with Max’s theories, but it felt like he went *WILD* with his Rebirth theories :’) definitely think there’s some kind of suppressed trauma thing going on here, but his theories about Aerith manipulating everyone were pretty out there
@@Evanz111 I’m not sure I understand. Can you give an example of what you’re talking about with Aerith manipulating everyone? Because depending on the reference there may be a suitable explanation.
@@Evanz111 He generally goes in every direction at first, then tends to narrow down things over time that are in the same ballpark of what'll happen. When he first beat Remake, he had some very crazy theories right after that made no sense, lol.
The problem is that Cloud does not make up stories or is shown to do so with cope.
All of Cloud's sezures and mantal issues are caused from the degradation and JENOVAs manipulation. So when Cloud seed Sephiroth and pn one else does that is because that is JENOVA manipulating his mind. For example Cloud does not forget Zach because he cannot cope with his death, Cloud forgets Zach because JENOVA repressed the memories and created a false memory from Zach's memories. By the time Zach is killed Cloud is suffering from high levels of mako poisoning and his mind is fragmented and barly functioning. More than likely after Zachs death the JENOVA cells transfered to Cloud to recover him and those cells carried Zach's memories and personality which JENOVA imprinted on to him.
So for the theory of Cloud to be seeing Areith as a cope to work it would have to be that JENOVA is the one that is allowing to happen and that the vision of Aetith is in actual fact JENOVA manipulating Clouds mind.
@@andrewcarlton6196 *SPOILERS*
While it is true that Cloud is being manipulated by Jenova, what allows her to that so easily is because Cloud is extremely manipulable and doesn’t cope with loss properly. After his awakening in the original game, he states outright that his weakness and his desire to be perceived as something he’s not are what made him get caught up in Jenova and Sephiroth’s manipulations. Not only that, but Cloud isn’t actually suffering from degradation. He is the only successful Sephiroth clone, as stated by Hojo in the Northern Crater, since he was successfully merged with Sephiroth cells that do not degrade. His fractured memories and interpretations of Zack and other events are a defense mechanism for Cloud to continue on without processing his grief, something he has a subconscious awareness of and a desire to protect, but he outwardly interprets it as degradation after what President Shinra told him in Midgar, and especially after what happens to Broden and Roche. Cloud forgot Zack and took on his persona all on his own, and Sephiroth is using this to his advantage so that he can get Cloud to deliver the Black Materia to him.
In terms of what happens in the ending of this game, the theory goes as follows: Cloud sees a reality where he saves Aerith from being killed. We don’t know yet how factual this reality may have been, whether it was an alternate timeline or a figment of his imagination, but it convinces Cloud that he saved her life even while he is cradling her dead body in his arms. Everything Cloud sees from the moment Aerith puts her hand to Clouds face to the moment he lays her down to fight Jenova Lifeclinger are in Cloud’s imagination. This is further informed by Sephiroth’s remark about how Cloud “will never se the truth behind such clouded eyes.” The rest of the party sees that Aerith is clearly dead, with the exception of Tifa, who seems to shift between seeing her as alive and dead. There could be many different reasons for this, including ones that contradict this theory, but my interpretation is that she is also experiencing the same denial as Cloud in this moment. She wants to believe that Cloud was able to save her life, and so for a split second, she saw Cloud cradling Aerith and thought she was injured but alive. However, she is much better at facing reality than Cloud, so the illusion doesn’t hold for her in the same way. I acknowledge that this is flimsy and could be contradicted at any point, but we simply don’t have enough information to be definitive at this point.
The Aerith we see fight alongside Cloud in the final battle is indeed an alternate version of Aerith and not an illusion in Cloud’s mind. An easy tell for this is that Sephiroth actually has to fight and acknowledge her during the confrontation. He even uses her presence to manipulate Cloud further, but unlike his statement at the altar, it’s phrased as a thought experiment for Cloud rather than an insult to his perception, implying Sephiroth doesn’t believe that it is a fever dream. Where this alternate Aerith came from is still a mystery, but since the Sephiroth at the Edge of Creation is described by the developers as a mysterious new Sephiroth that knows Cloud better than the others, the theory goes that this is a similar version of Aerith. Perhaps from the lifestream, perhaps from another timeline. We can’t know for sure.
After the final boss, Cloud telling Aerith to wake up is all in his head. She opens her eyes exactly on cue and doesn’t say a word to Cloud, when the real Aerith would be shocked and confused, or maybe even mad that she can no longer cast Holy from the lifestream. Moreover, when we see the party at the edge of the water below the altar, she isn’t there initially and there’s no acknowledgment of where she is from Cloud. The common interpretation of this is that Cloud manifested this reality to distract himself from the fact that he is laying her body to rest in the water at this moment, just like what we see in the original game. This is likely a setup for this moment to happen in a flashback in game 3 once Cloud finally comes to terms with what happened at the altar.
Here’s where things get interesting. At the water’s edge, the Aerith that Cloud sees is *not* a figment of his imagination. He is actually seeing an illusion from Jenova, using Cloud’s defense mechanisms against him in order to convince him that Aerith is still alive. In Rebirth specifically, Jenova is described as a deceiver that stole the faces of the dead and sowed the seeds of discord among the Ancients and Mankind. This ability that Jenova has is given special emphasis in this game in order to inform what is happening with Aerith in the ending and where it will take the party into the next game. Cloud’s belief that Aerith lives will tear himself and the party asunder. Aerith is only visible to Cloud, something we’ve seen happen with visions of Sephiroth throughout the game, and what separates this from an imaginary event is that Aerith actually holds conversations with Cloud and convinces him of things that he couldn’t come up with on his own. Her dialogue is lifted directly from previous lines in this game and Remake, as if it’s an approximation of her using past information. She had a meta awareness about the original Aerith’s plan to stop the meteor using her prayers, despite the fact that meteor hasn’t even been summoned yet at this point. She pretends to be involved in what the rest of the party is doing, but she cannot answer Cid’s question about what she did at the altar and she disappears when not in Cloud’s line of sight, as if this is all a charade to convince Cloud. The biggest contradiction to this is that Red senses her presence, but while Red is indeed more in tune with the planet than the others, he isn’t infallible. He is indeed prone to manipulations from Jenova. If he is chosen to hold onto the Black Materia at the Northern Crater, he is manipulated into bringing the materia to Cloud by Sephiroth. What he is sensing in Rebirth may actually be Jenova posing as Aerith, which would set up for that same scene to happen in the next game. In fact it could even be a vision of Aerith instead of Tifa that convinces him. Finally, when informed by Cloud of his resolve to defeat Sephiroth, she tells him to make it a promise. A direct contradiction of what she said to Cloud in the Sleeping Forest, that he should leave Sephiroth to her and focus on finding himself. This is not Aerith. This is Jenova, or possibly Sephiroth, just like how Rufus was convinced by Sephiroth disguised as Glenn to start a war with Wutai. Cloud is being set up to have his psyche break to the point of no return once the truth comes out at the Northern Crater, and he will not only have to confront his history, but his grief over Aerith’s death.
The final bit of contradictory evidence comes just before the credits, as Aerith looks wistfully at the Tiny Bronco flying away and says goodbye. This one moment stands in opposition to the entire Aerith/Jenova theory, and while Max cites it as a cop-out for the emotionally resonant ending, I want to give it more credit than that. In truth, a single definitive piece of evidence is all it takes to knock this theory out, but there has to be no room for interpretation. There is very little we can say about this ending with absolute certainty, which is a criticism of Drinker’s that I agree with in part. I believe the intention of the developers is to have these questions answered definitively at the Northern Crater and in Cloud’s self-reflection in the lifestream, but for many people, the story has become too vague to be interesting. Ultimately, for me anyway, it’s as the Drinker says: it all depends on how they stick the landing.
Most fun I’ve had with a game in years, it really brings me back to how games were made in the PS2 days, there’s just something about it that makes it special
Great review. This game was quite possibly the best game I've ever played; both because of the story and character development, but also because of the amazing gameplay. I also did not want it to end!
One of the most consistent things I hear people say about Rebirth is "Now that I'm done, I don't know what to play next." It's like getting back home after a long vacation with close friends and suddenly feeling alone and sad. Rebirth is having a profound effect on the people who play it. What better compliment can a game possibly have?
This game sits up there with Nier: Automata, Hollow Knight and Elden Ring for me where, after they were done, I couldn't even look at another game for months. Some games just sit heavy in your heart and you realize after playing them that all those stacks of shovelware titles just isn't doing it for you anymore.
Very few games have managed to give that feeling for me. ME2, RDR2, FF10, and now this game.
I finally finished it today, had so much fun with this and there was a big sense of family and communionship the party had. They really did feel like a family, and when the thing happens, they're all heartbroken. Hats off to this one for me.
Not a FF7 fan i never really got into it for 1 reason or another but Drinkers passion about videO games got me back into the hobby and 4 that im thankful. Currently on a GoW crusade and giving Res Evil a go so very grayeful to him 4 that❤
In the original Aerith and Zack (Advent Children) were always alive in some way in the lifestream and able to communicate directly with Cloud.
I don't see alternative timelines, I see an afterlife, a sort of purgatory. And the lifestream can manifest as people still alive (Marlene) to help guide a soul.
Or it's all just batshit bonkers final fantasy and it really doesn't care what you think it's just taking you on a wild ride.
Either way, one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had and is a masterpiece, a flawed one but still a masterpiece none the less. Cloud was an absolute beast.
And the single most important part of part 3 is the reveal of Clouds truth with Tifa; who he is, how he killed Sepiroth etc. That's the biggest and single most important moment in the entire game, not the death of Aerith.
Advent Shitren is not canon
Agree completely with the alive in the afterlife theory. Your last part is the absolute key to people's divide and misinterpretation of the ending and many other things. Cloud's resolution is the pivotal point of the game and story, not Aerith's death. So many people have been hyped up over the years about her dying in the OG that it has taken on a status beyond what it should.
Incorrect, it's the death of Aeryth. I found out Cloud is a stolen valour fraud gaslighting himself left year through TV tropes. Every living soul on 1997 knew Sephiroth killed Aeryth (well, technically it was a J-E-N-O-V-A clone- not important].
@@RealEvilLordExdeath Unfortunately every FF7 spinoff is canon. Every prequel, every sequel. Dirge of Cerberus and even all the mobile games. The Re-trilogy team even discussed this when Remake released, that when they add/expand on something, they have to make sure everything will eventually lead to Advent Children and other sequels.
Advent children isn’t “The original” lol
When you actually hear honesty in a review, you can tell. That's why we love the drinker
Hadn't quite finished it yet, but the story I've liked massively. I'd say my biggest annoyance is this games incessant need to add minigames everywhere which can range from fun to pretty annoying. None of which have been mandatory (thankfully), but does get old to have your exploration ground to a halt in some instances.
Aerith is alive at the end unless you think both Cloud AND Red 13 are imagining her. Red reacts to her presence in the final scene. Did his sensitive paws detect Cloud’s hallucination?lol (Hojo did experiment on both characters so maybe…)
I’m surprised you had no graphical issues- I overall loved this game but I did come across some odd visuals. Especially up close textures and some light effects on Cloud looked really odd. I suppose that’s the price we pay for having an overall huge world that is stunning to explore.
I absolutely loved every minute of this game and didn't want it to end.
Rebirth is hands down my top game of 2024 and maybe the past 2 years. A game you can spend 100 hours into easily in one playthrough.
If you're a purist, and maybe a sadist lol you can get every trophy and dump anywhere from 150-200 total hours into the game
Yes some mini games are better than others, but they are optional, and some are fricking hard to the point where i had to google a few like how do i beat this stupid card game????
The combat is flawless, but poor Cait Sith i just found totally useless lol.
Graphics are 10/10 and some cinematics i felt like i was watching a live action film. The soundtrack is worthy to buy. The voice acting and actors never phone it in.
In the end the only real controversy is the ending. Some fans want a definitive answer and the ending explained to them.
Others like myself prefer NOT knowing. Because I'm that much more excited for the third and final game.
I never wanted a graphical remaster of Final Fantasy 7. I've played that game, know that story and how it ends.
Now i have no clue wtf to expect and how this story is going to end. And that makes me happy.
I really hope that Square going forward doesn't keep games like this console exclusive. Sales are low because not everyone owns a Ps5, nor do they want one.
I alone have 5 friends who would buy this game on Xbox and i don't play on Steam, but many do.
Also the drinker made a live stream discussing the finale of this game. It's a must watch 😀
The parts of this game that are good are brilliant, the parts that are bad are awful. I still prefer the original
I'm very much in the same boat. The new additions and changes (save for some QoL stuff and boosted graphics) really didn't do anything better than the original, making it feel like I would have just preferred something closer to a remaster over a full-blown remake by the end.
Classic nostalgia merchant preferring a 97 pixelated turn based game 😂
@pietrozavattaro2323 or they just prefer the original story and did think the bloat of new fearires really added anything more than a boost in graphics and some QoL would have.
I have to agree. Chadley is a massive negative for me, and is constantly "kicking me out" everytime he appears. I think he's a really lazy (mechanic/function?) in the game.
Yeah Aerith isn't just a hallucination. Cloud may be the only one that can see and talk to her in the end, but she appears to be able to interact with the physical world and Red even senses her presence at one point after she touches his fur. I'm thinking she's actually there in spirit form, but who knows? Just not a mere hallucination.
Yo, I live in Los Angeles. I’ve been in North Hollywood for 20 years and know a lot of writers and game, developers and people that work within some of the bigger studios, and that comment about four people living in a studio Is 1000% accurate. Lol I think this is my first video hearing you. I dig the accent and wish you a merry day.
And I wanted to feel destroyed at the end of this game so that the next game would as you say stick the landing. But did feel that confusion about what to feel instead of a happy and or sad feeling, but the lead up to that final moment was perfect.I enjoyed this game so much from the demo introduction all the way through the battle with the end boss. And I do hope that in the final game they really bring this home. AnyWho, cheers see you later.
As a Welshman I say bring on the particle accelerator handbook!
Maybe people forget that the beginning of the original FF7 was also extremely linear.
Nice video, thanks Drinker, I am just gutted I will have to buy a PS5 to play this.
Yeah I've said as well they need to stop with console exclusives. I wish more people could play this game who don't own a Ps5
13:17 - 13:37
Giving Square ("Nomura") your piece of mind, huh? Not pulling any punches, either.
I hope he's watching this video.
Why is it hard to believe that a guy who created a fake identity with fake memories after an important person died in front of him would create a new fake reality when another important person died in front of him?
It's not hard to believe. Although there were repeated signs that suggested it was just an alternate timeline, and not a delusion.
I think people really are struggling without having the final answer. I think people are jumping to their own head cannon conclusions and it makes people confused or angry or happy depending which way you go. Ultimately we won't know the story they are trying to tell until it's all said and done. Which I don't think is a bad thing.
I thinknit is more the ambiguity that people have a problem with. Is she a made up illusion to help Cloud cope with what happened or is it her spirit before it goes to the life stream.
Since they have failed to stick the landing on both ending to the games I am still reserved and really hope they do not do this everyone is alive and happy in some world crap.
@andrewcarlton6196 I think it would be really cool if all the timeline stuff was literally just cloud failing to cope with loss, and how in "his world" or "dream world" he wanted to save everyone and wanted everyone to be happy. But then has a realization that all this timeline stuff wasn't time being manipulated, it was cloud failing to see what actually was happening. And in the life stream has to come to terms that the friends lost are gone. And the part that lives on of them is in our memories. Would hit so hard in my opinion but I don't think that is the case since zack seems to have another purpose. But would be cool! Haha.
Because you fake fans don't understand the importance of Aerith's death. Aerith's death was the catalyst for Cloud to snap out of that and finally accept death. Hers and Zack's. Her death made him start developing as his own character. Cloud not doing that in these "remakes" completely fails to understand what the OG game was doing. Having him repeat the same mistakes doesn't lead any development.
I love this game. One of my favs of all time.
The ending didn’t make a whole lot of sense but it wasn’t supposed to and so far with this remake trilogy, they haven’t done me wrong so they’ve earned my faith.
This project was a massive, risky undertaking and both games so far have been huge W’s so I won’t give them shit for the ending unless it completely falls apart in part 3.
At risk of spoilers - the persistent rumour from the original game was that there was a cut content questline to restore Aeris post… events.
Using timeline bullshit to bring her back might thread that needle, if done well.
Loved Aeriths song towards the end.
Playing this right now, and it's hands down the most bang for my buck ive gotten in a game maybe ever.
The Nioh Collection is on sale 20 bucks free shipping on PlayStation direct.
I'm 40 and this was amazing... What an incredible game!
Agreed. I think remake was pretty cool but I felt like I was convincing myself to like it more than I actually did but with rebirth I was absolutely captivated. I played 120 hours and it felt like nothing, I was so engaged the entire time and seeing that world in such incredible graphics really felt like a special experience as someone who played the original in their early teens
Same here im about 350 and i won't stop till i plat@Dis2good
One thing I thought CG would have touched on were the places in particular Kalm and Cosmo canyon
In the original most places had a distinct difference Kalm being this quite little town and Cosmo canyon being this land inhabited by a first nations people
Rebirth had none of that with both places they were turned into tourist attractions crammed with anybody and everybody
A few things I wouldn't mind Drinker addressing:
1. What was going on with the Zack scenes where Aerith and Cloud are comatose. Alternate universe? Then Aerith from that universe never died, and Cloud is only a comatose shell. And the rest of the party is dead, but Biggs is alive? They never really explained any of that.
2. Ghost of Tsushima played a heavy influence on the gameplay in Rebirth, did he notice this as well?
3. Cloud did save Aerith, in my opinion. And I think Sephiroth wanted this because in the original timeline, killing Aerith led to his own failure and demise. So after Cloud saving her, is Aerith being dead a strategy by Aerith to stop Sephiroth, despite surviving the deathblow? Meaning, is her survival a path for Sephiroth to ultimately win?
Thanks for the spoiler warning near the end. My finger was on pause for the whole review as I haven't played it yet
Honestly, you are the only reviewer who gets me.wanting to play it. Cause all i was seeing and hearing about it everywhere else was giving me creeps. And i talk about good and bad reviews.
I greatly appreciate this review as it put into words things I knew but couldn't articulate myself.
This is my favorite video game of all time. The combat, world, soundtrack and characters are so compelling and fun. After playing Remake I really liked the main cast, especially Tifa, but after this game I can definitively say that I love each and every one of these main characters. Even Cait Sith who I despised in OG. They are all so incredibly charming and bounce off of each other so well. There's not a moment of modern writing where we have to put down Cloud and make him out to be less than he actually is, or show off Tifa and Aerith as super high level girlbosses. And above all the characters and story are treated with such reverence and respect that is lost in today's gaming market. Cough TLOU2 cough. They are just well developed characters with awesome stories of how Shinra and Sephiroth have hurt them. Barret's gets me the most. A man who wanted to just help his home and inadvertently got everyone he knew and loved killed because of it. And that changed him as a person. It made him want to graft that gun onto his arm to fight back against the people that destroyed his home. But now he has more than just sadness and rage. He has a daughter and friends who want to help him. They want to give him a chance to not have that gun on his arm forever.
That being said while I adore these characters I do absolutely think the end portion of the game is very flawed. It is a tonal whiplash and confuses you all the way through. I'm not sure how I am supposed to feel. Sad that she's "dead"? Happy that she's alive somewhere? Concerned that maybe Cloud's head is being screwed with by Sephiroth and Jenova? The ending has some very surface level cool scenes, but without context as to why things are happening the way they are it just makes me confused when I think back on it.
I entirely agree with you that they need to stick the landing in Part 3. If not then while we do have some amazing characters, they'll be bogged down by a story that is too convoluted that is really only there for the sake of bringing back Zack. And if you want to justify that then I need to see Zack with the main party to flesh him out more. I want to see the character interactions that can happen because he is there. Especially when it comes to a character like Tifa who would probably blame Zack in part for what occurred in Nibelheim. Aside from that answers are needed and I just hope we don't lose the characters along the way.
"As rare as Videogame journalists who don't live in studio apartments with 4 other people and smell of cat urine" 😂😂😂😂
I salute you, sir!
My first true love in gaming was FFVII. I’m in my 50’s so I have been around as long as video games have been. FF was beyond the sum of its parts. Just a perfect game. Remake got some of it right but I passed on this one- I am reconsidering that now
The grand plots of Final Fantasy are often esoteric in nature, and this is certainly not the first time the franchise has played with multiverse/timeline stuff, hell thats been in the series from the beginning. I know not everyone is onboard with that, fair enough, but my concern lies far more in the characters, gameplay, and just how much I like being in the world - to those ends I think the remake trilogy has been nailing it so far.
So of FF7 has a multivers and Dissidia is about a multivers of the series then you have infinite worlds in infinite worlds
The original FF7 was before I was even born. I played it for the first time a few years ago and enjoyed it. I played FF7 Remake and loved it* (when it let me deviate from the beaten path).
FF7 Rebirth? Wasn't expecting it to become one of, if not my favorite video game of all time. I've always thought Square Enix was an overrated studio, coasting on the reputation and nostalgia of their 90's superstars. Remember, this is the same company that released FF13, Marvel's Avengers, Forspoken, and FF14 1.0. I feel like for every success Square has had since the 90's, there's another failure to point at. I can only imagine the size of the Square Enix Mobile Game Graveyard too. Even as a kid, I just assumed the original FF7 was overrated because "the greatest video game of all time doesn't exist." After having played it I can say it was good, but growing up in the ages after it I didn't think the presentation held up well. For the time, sure it must've been revolutionary. But I played it in 2019-20.
I was expecting a much more scathing review from The Drinker. Watching him for a while now, he didn't seem to be one to let the nostalgia goggles distract him from bad writing/design that maybe I missed, and the dreaded multiverse forcing its way into an already written story, convoluting everything and weakening the impact of the ending. "They fucked up Aerith's death scene" was a bit of MY reaction, and I don't have nostalgia for the original. But I'm cautiously optimistic for Part 3. I do not care for any of the multiversal BS, but if there's 1 thing I have faith in Square Enix in, it's to not COMPLETELY fuck up the Remake Trilogy. They must have a plan, they can't be Disney Lucasfilm stupid to go in without one. And the promise of a follow up video debunking some ending theories? Well consider me excited.
Cheers Critical Drinker/Gamer. Here's hoping they stick the landing in 3-4 years when the final part releases.
LMAO, Thinking they can't mess up multiverses. Have you seen Kingdom Hearts?
I'm 99.9% sure that's Nomura making shit up as he goes. He's not on the writing team for this, even though there are Nomurian tisms at the end of both Remake and Rebirth. For as little faith in Square as a company as I have, I'd like to at least imagine they're not writing this as they go along.
@@mawk2722 Man, I'm tired of people bringing up Nomura. It isn't Nomura, it's NOJIMA. NOJIMA is responsible for writing the convoluted KH stuff and it's NOJIMA who's responsible for the writing of FF7 "Remakes". Blame HIM. Nomura just wanted a 1:1 remake, it would mean less work and guaranteed success. Nojima wanted to "subvert expectations".
The game developers intentionally wanted this game to have a “conflicted” ending. All emotional payoff and catharsis will happen in the final game, and honestly, I can’t blame them for wanting it to be the best of the 3.
I don`t see how they can top this tho. But looking forward to the game!
I'm so excited for part 3. It's gonna be all Godzilla monsters and the end of the world. It's gonna be awesome.
Feel the same way. It was hard for me to let the game go once I finished it.
I can't remember if they showed him in the original FF7, but do you ever get to see/meet the person who controls Cait Sith?
Also, can Cloud still buy that Villa in Costa Del Sol like in the original FF7?
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - Game of the Year ❤❤
I spent 135 hours playing this awesome game and I cannot praise it enough. I loved the characters, the gameplay, the musics, the Materia system. What an experience! 😁
The thing about great characters, they can make you cry if tragedy happens! And I cried a lot
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Helldivers 2 !!!
End of discussion
@@RealEvilLordExdeath not into mindless multiplayer boom boom toys since my teenage years 🤣🤷♂️
@@FredThePhoenix why play this mindless boom boom bs Fan letdown game then?
@@RealEvilLordExdeath didn't let this fan down at all, was a masterpiece
@@Dayv018 Japan has spocken, the game has flopped
The issue was saying that clouds delusions are not at least part of this is that it was square enix themselves that more or less suggested this as a possibility. Of course it's obviously not a complete answer as this would failed to explain how Nanaki sense her at one point.
The most likely explanation is that the initial parts are showing the difference between clouds delusions and reality, but the rest is just her surviving is a LifeStream ghost.
She survived as a LifeStream ghost in the original timeline anyway.
The original heavily implies that the Cetra remain conscious in the lifestream.
@@andrewcarlton6196 it could be the same here, although if that's the explanation it begs the question of how Zack did the same.
At this point not having knowledge about anime is kind of a detriment. Becasue this whole thing is reminding me a lot about a series called Neon Genesis Evangelion, specifically their werird attempt at making a movie Quadroligy (Rebuild of Evangelion) simultaniously being reboot and sequel, sound familiar? Needless to say that didn't end well and is pretty universally panned as best forgotten among fans of the original TV show plus Movie Ending these days. It's kinda ironic seeing SE taking the approach of replicating that mess, ngl. But I have neither hope nor interest in this kind of thing. And i'm very afraid Drinker you got taken for a ride with both of these FF 7 reboot games. Guess if you had fun it's okay?
My biggest complaint is honestly how crazy difficult they made some of the minigames and side content. I swear someone looked at all the complaints in the Pull Up minigame and took it as a challenge for the Crunches minigame.
Did you play the games in Serendipity?
When Remake came out, it became the gold standard that I judged triple A games by. Rebirth makes Remake look like a tech demo. From now on, if any triple A game wants to charge me full price ($70), they have to deliver on Rebirth's level of quality, writing and presentation.
This game really showed me what a strong, focused development team can do, and I was doubly impressed by the smart reuse of Remake's assets. That last part might sound a bit ridiculous, but when you look at everything Remake had already done, like the music for example, you'd realize how redundant it would be to have to do things like make *even more* main battle theme remixes; especially since Rebirth is very selective in where it uses that specific song, due to the dynamic overworld tracks.
Honsetly, I think the best thing this game did for me was simply to make me care. I missed OG FF7 when it came out and only played it years later during the PS2 era, just to say that I did...and I had a pretty bad time with it. It felt clunky, dated and confusing. I ended up missing Vincent, due to the wonderous mat painting esque backgrounds, despite knowing he was in the game. I missed out on seeing Cloud use Omni Slash at the end because I took a split second too long to marvel at it appearing in the menu and then Cloud Counter-killed Seph (which I didn't even know was preprogrammed in, because my Cloud had Counter on from the moment I got the materia).
Rebirth actually, not only made me care about the characters, but the world as well. Part of me is actually kind of sour that they may never use this style and battle system for future FF's, like how there were previous eras of turn based and then ATB, followed by whatever the hell 12 was trying to do. This is the best FInal Fantasy game I have played since 10...and it's a weird hybrid spin-off/sequel. Once I got to the part with the open seas, I really started wishing that this was an original story and cast and not tied to a story I already knew. It bothers me on some level, but for the time being, I'm just going to enjoy it. Rebirth genuinely made me happy, and it's a game that I am glad I paid full price for, as PS fanboy as that may sound.
Im still playing, took a break for a while but somehow I came back to do more into 100%.
What I like the most about Rebirth is the battle system, I can't get enought of it, try new team, new setup. I'm willing to suffer compliing Hard mode mini games just to unlock all abilities and try them out in combat.
I just wish this game hadn't have soo many mini games and Chadley quests, it makes me not to play the game to get platinum....
This part is sort of a breather to what is about to come, so part 3 hopefully won't have that many unnecessary shit. I don't mind the new plot stuff that wasn't in OG just wondering how they are going to fit all of this in the last part.
This. I don't like the filler parts.
Just tell me why Barrett left Midgar if Charlie Sheen from Platoon and Jesse are still alive? He still has his boys, he isn't at a loss of what to do next, he doesn't need a spiritual realignment before reforming Avalanche and going back to bombing reactors.
Nah man they effed up. New story or not what they delivered after 22 years of constant teasing was nonsense.
Go Play the Game to find out.
I loved the game. Had basically the same criticisms as you did.
The game is more of a challenge than the last for platinum trophy.
Worth the play.
I don't actually mind the ending that much. At first it's really confusing but after looking into it, the devs left clues for what they were intended. Part 3 just really needs to have a good emotional pay-off.
He he he, I look forward to the Cait Sith Drinker AI voice mods when it comes to PC.
I also thought Aerith's presence in the end was her manifestation via life-threatening, having merged with it in her death. 🤔
was the choice to have Red Xll ride a chocobo technical or ethical? the way I imagine him running along side is probably out of the reach of reasonable development capabilities but should have been done.
Never played a game in my life, but watched Az playing it, & became very fond of Cloud, Tifa & Aerith.
what are you waiting for? experience it for yourself.
Play either the OG or the remakes, or both( recommended). The original FF7 is available on practically everything so if you don't own a console or anything, you can still play it on your computer or phone
I loved 95% of the game and yes I even loved Cait Sith, though getting used to his combat style was frustrating. My biggest issues with the game come down to the multivirse parts. 1 it was not necessary, 2 they did nothing with Zach and he simply seems to be there to please Crisis Core fans because i thoight they would do sort of an alternate reality were Zack would take the place with Cloud in events in Midgar, 3 is Final Fantasy already has a multivers and it is called Dissidia.
Outside of the multivers stuff the problems i had with the game was boss/unique battles were heavily gimmicky whick i found was a problem in some of the boss battles in the first game.
Hard mode is not hard it just remeves your abily to use items and MP cannot be refilled untill a new chapter, this was done in the original, but it feels like the boxes you can break gave you gave you more MP back as well as I felt like the characters in the original had more MP.
My final complaint was they did not do Rocket Town and just skipped that whole event. Guess they are saving it for the next game with I think will be drastically different because the game really starts to fall apart after the norther creator.
Things i liked were the relationships of the team like Barret and Red becoming a dynamic duo, Tifa and Aerith having a good friendship. After Midgar kn the original game they just kind of forget about all of these characters untill they are important. Aerith becones relative and then dies, Tifa does kto becone relative ti close to the ends and Barret and Red are only really relative in thier home quests along with Yuffie and Cid. Good variaty of things todo. The explanation of the Gi and flushing out some stuff that was just in the original, but never explained. I loved that they tried to make you think Tifa was actually a JENOVA fragment.
Finally things I like, but also was not fond of lime Cid and Vincent not being playable, but i guess they want to save it foer the next games. The sidequest which have variety and fun, but also could be tedious or frustrating. Really did nothing with Roch. The final boss as the game got stuck half way through and then by accident i was on the final phase when i accidently selected start from being of the final battle, which i think has 9 phases all in squance. Put a confermation on that stuff.
All in all the game was FF7 with some extra stuff to make it more enjoyable, but the multivers crap is very unnecessary and is very lazy writhing to try to keep you on edge and talking fan theories.
Yea, I hope they don’t Kingdom Hearts this shit.
Oh they will
Y’all are stupid when the story isn’t even like kingdom hearts. This is literally mcu logic
@@Ntwinzzthat’s not the point they’re making.
Too late.
@@vladik87they’re clear with there point being that anytime KH is brought it’s how convoluted and lame the story according to there opinion
I wish people would mention the borderline sadomasochistic challenges required to complete the game. For the first time in my life I am unable to Platinum a video because of how ridiculously frustrating the endgame is. The Hard-mode Chadley VR missions, particularly "Rulers of the Outer Worlds" actually ruined my opinion on the entire game. These are challenging, which is fine. What is NOT okay is how much these challenges do not respect your time. I am 250 hours in and let me tell you I have spent nearly 100 of the hours stuck on this challenge. And 99 of those 100 hours were spent doing the same easy rounds over and over, just to get to Gilgamesh and get absolutely wrecked, every single time. You can't practice on it, you must simply so the same easy rounds over and over and over and over just to get to the challenging ones. The game just doesn't respect your time. Which is bizarre because I would expect SE to know better. For example in FF14 whenever your party wipes on a boss, you simply spawn right in front of it. No running back to the boss, no extra time wasting mechanics. This is part of what makes FF14 so great. It respects the players time. Having to repeat easy rounds hundreds of times is the opposite of that. I was really enjoying this game, one of the best I ever played, until thw endgame. Until I tried to complete it. Now whenever I turn the game on I feel like I'm signing up for C&B t*rture. It's just disrespectful to the player. The jump in difficulty is so great. I don't necessarily even mind that. I just want a check point system or a retry battle option in the endgame VR challenges, you know, like the entire game has... I wish more creators would talk about this. I feel like the devs don't even care because of the low sales and probably all working on the next game. But please, for the love of God, fix this. The difference between fun challenging and frustrating challenging is so important to the average gamer like me. This is not fun. This is sadism.
Thank you. I’m sold now after was disillusioned by the first remake.
9:45 Ellie is gay by the way
I agree with almost everything he says, I fucking love how everyone hates Chadley and how he became a meme, but the only thing I hate about this game, or the one I hate the most is how they portrayed Cid is this one, I was expecting to shut up, sit my ass down and drink my GODDAM tea!
Square, gather around the Nagasaki campfire for a moment and perk an ear open: You’re not Michael Moorcock! Stop shoving in multiverse shite where it wasn’t or isn’t needed! Move onto a different plot device already!
I blame Marvel for this multiverse trend, even they misuse it in the most fanfic way possible.
I put 45 hours into the game and reached Chapter 11 and got burnt out. Hoping that over the summer I’ll be able to finish. It literally has the same formula as every Ubisoft game over the past 15 years yet no one seems to be bothered by it despite Ubisoft getting meme’d for doing it themselves.
This is very much a normie take.
The critical part of the Critical Drinker seems to go out the window when it comes to video games.
Nah the game is that good. 92 on meta.
@@sam.246 Final Fantasy 13 had stellar reviews across the board.
Dragon Age: Inquisition won multiple game of the year awards.
Normies and games journalists have poor takes on video games that do not age well.
Let's see how it goes.
@@BusesAreFatCars XIII got 83 on meta though, don't remember DA3
@@sam.246 Dragon Age: Inquisition got game of the year at the game awards 2014.
Game of the year at the DICE awards.
Game of the year at the SXSW gaming awards.
Game of the year at the NAVGTR awards.
Along with many other accolades, including a special recognition award by GLAAD. If you're unaware, GLAAD is an LGBTQ advocacy NGO. Inquisition had a trans character, along with gay and bisexual characters.
This had an influence on the awards received. Games journalists haven't changed.
Metacritic score on PS4 was 89.
The game was not good. It had a few decent character moments, though the story, the characters, the pacing, the mechanics, the combat, all of it was a huge downgrade compared to previous games. More complicated, yes. Not better.
Dragon Age: Origins was excellent.
Though Inquisition was ruined by an early example of developers pushing "The Message" and that showing where their priorities are. The game suffered for it.
Don't expect much of the upcoming Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. Development of it has been restarted several times.
@@sam.246 Also FF13 got a lot of 9's and 10's at the time. Mainly as it was linear and removed random encounters.
Both of which made it easier to review.
Journalists hated the open world and the random encounters as they made their reviews take longer. Square Enix has listened to journalists too many times.
I bought it on release and I actually haven't touched it yet. Lol. But I am looking forward to playing it after finishing my current lineup!
I adored the game, but after finishing it, I wanted it to stay away for a while. It exhausted me. I felt emotionally drained. Had tons of fun with it though. Hated the Rufus battle with all my heart (I prepared for Rude and Elena not for this bastard LOL). Loved how Tifa just couldn't stop from showing her scar to Cloud all the time. "See, just below the boobs".
Overall, it is a TOP GAME. Gonna replay it sometime soon.
13:30 basically the issue to appealing to a "wider audience", no one wins
Game of the year for me. Absolutely loved it 9/10 for me.
I know that nobody gives a fuck, but I really wasn't a fan of remake... But rebirth cooked a 5 star meal, I was genuinely grinning ear to ear throughout
My favorite game of all time. But I really, really, really hate Chadley. Really.
Chadley and the way they handled the summons was my main critiques
It looks nice but at the end of the days its still just a button-masher in between cutscenes...keep hitting A or X until the enemy is dead...yippee. The original game had to use a ton more strategy, mixing weapon hits with defense or offense magic (some enemies couldn't even get hurt with weapons). Sometimes you had to test which magic would harm the enemy the most, and when you found it, you had to remember it the next time you faced that enemy. If they would have just given us a copy of the original game with updated graphics, I and many others would have paid full price for it...but I'm not spending a dime on this interactive movie of a game.
Have you ever played any of the Superhot games, Mr drinker? The VR version is one of the best VR experiences you can have!! They rock!!
Loved the game but hated the ending and mini games along the way, partb3 has an insane amount of content to give us, i dont know if they'll fit everything in, they also have to finish the story and make it lead into advent children, all in one game whilst introducing cid and vincent as playable members
I haven't played the original, but let me just say this with a straight face: Rebirth is the best game I have ever played.
The ending was the most frustrating one I have experienced in recent memory. They dangled the carrot of Aerith's salvation only to punch us on the face with a "gotcha". Sure, narrative-wise and critically speaking, her death serves the story better but the fanboy in me wants her to live.
If you want to know how this game ending made everyone feel, watch the Key and Peele skit “Gideon’s Kitchen”
Damn you Drinker! I spent hours after finishing the game watching videos to try and understand the ending. I came to the conclusion it WAS all in Cloud’s head. Now you’re saying that’s some weak shit!? 😂
Please do make a video because I’m interested in your take!
I hope you review the Shadow of the Erdtree Elden Ring DLC
Still waiting for the "total experience game of the decade" version at half price. I'm not buying a story that was once complete, piece by piece.
I see what you mean but I would still recommend going ahead and buying them. Totally worth it if you are console. I had to wait forever for it to come to steam after it was on EGS for the longest time. It was definitely worth the wait
I did enjoy Rebirth. Has a few issues that knocked it down to a 9 for me. Mainly the ending, Dynes death was more impactful in the original, and I think they did Cid dirty. Expected a chain smoking, foul-mouthed arsehole and he was nice as pie which rubbed me the wrong way. Apart from that, I'd say it was a great experience, it did expand quite a bit on the story.
Ever read Malazan: Book of the Fallen?
Reader depression when you finish a series and nothing feels real for a week or 2 until you get back to Earth?
Yeah.
The moment when you realize "Remake" is a double entendre to remake the timeline 😮😮😮
100% on, fkin, point, per usual Drinker! 🍻🍻🍻
I liked the game. Played it a lot, perhaps I get platinium soon.
I put 170 hours into my playthrough and still didn't 100% the damn thing, didn't even touch hard mode yet. Granted a lot of it was just siteseeing but holy shit was this game amazing.
Spoilers
The gameplay: this is the best combat of any final fantasy in my opinion.
The world is also the best final fantasy world.
The story is great untill gongaga where it takes a big dip then picks up again at the temple of the ancients.
The ending I am a little mixed on. If aeriths is dead and cloud is going crazy, then it's an awesome ending. But if she is alive in another world or whatever, that's hyper convoluted and unnecessary.
But I guess that's up to part 3 to clean up
As a big fan of the original ps1 game, my biggest gripe with this game is the pacing. So much time was wasted on pointless unskippable minigames that add nothing to the main story. There were a few times where i asked myself, why wasnt this ib the first part?
I really wanted to like the remake but I just can't get into this alternate timeline horse shit.
Yea it is so sad. I really really want to just even like it, but I can't because thinking just a little deeper than a puddle and for more than a few seconds, and it is just infuriating what they have done.
This review captures my feelings on rebirth almost to a T with one sort of exception. The depiction of Cloud. His mental issues are on blatant and repeated display throughout the game in a way they werent in the original and the way everyone just kept ignoring it, even after gongaga, really makes the characters seems like complete idiots and breaks suspension of disbelief. It also feels like the stuff with Tifa just got dropped after that. Like it was a red herring by the developers to draw your attention away from aerith and trick you into thinking they were actually going to do something different.