Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth – Why did they make it like this?

MINOR SPOILERS FOR REBIRTH.

I’m only into 17 hours of the game (around chapter 6 I believe) and I’m sad to say that I’m somewhat burnt out already and after pushing myself to play it, I have lost the desire pretty much to keep going as there are so many decisions put into this game that ruin the experience. It’s a damn shame because this is one game I have been waiting almost four years to play. After VII Remake I was itching to know more about how the story was going to go since it started the same but deviated and became something much different and led to many possibilites.
But after spending quite a few hours with it I just find myself getting more and more annoyed until I find myself actually mumbling to myself to getting angry.

It’s open world
For a start this was the biggest mistake they made and honestly I think is the one thing that really brings the game down for me. Touting an open world game used to be fun and something to get excited about. Remember playing Oblivion or Fallout 3 for the first time? Or even GTA? That felt really fun and cool because you could explore, do what you wanted to do, make your own adventure, etc. Not now because the formula for every open world game is the same – Explore but within limits. You could wander around the vast landscape but they want you to activiate towers that lets you see small areas and all they offer. You could go to your next objective but they want you to do these meaningless objectives that offer little rewards. You could be having fun but they’d rather extend your game time artifically. It’s a boring world that is no fun to explore at all.

Your hand is held all the time
It really feels like everything you do is just so simple and easy because it is. There is no way you can get lost or are unsure what to do. Every objective is listed which is great, that’s a given. But so are all the sidequests and where to find them, every area you could find something hidden, the towers tell you what is in each place, any surface you can climb is marked blatantly, you have signposts and markers that obviously lead you to something they want to find. You even have little Chocobo’s leading you to fast travel points which are about ten feet away like we can’t find them ourselves. Also, if you find a ruin or some interesting looking areas you can explore it and see what’s inside. Except you don’t need to as it tells you how many items you’re looking for as soon as you enter which ruins any excitement of discoving things on your own. It’s like the game developers are in the room with you pointing at the screen every two minutes and saying “oh look there, we put something there for you to find, go there!”
Which leads me onto the next point.

The characters don’t shut up
Chadley. Fucking Chadley is there all the time and won’t shut the fuck up. He’s supposed to be there to act as your guide for the new mechanics of the world and provde some information on certain things. That’s fair enough but for the love of God do you need to have him talk to you every five fucking minutes after you complete anything? Do you need to have him just suddenly appear in every area you go to? Does he need to be part of the main story? Does he need to be part of the substories? Does he even need to be there because I’m pretty sure we can either figure it out by ourselves or just read a brief summary. And when it isn’t Chadley it’s his female counterpart. And when it isn’t her it’s NPC’s giving you nonsense information in an annoying attempt at worldbuilding. And when it isn’t NPC’s its your own party. The world is in danger, a major threat has returned, the planet is dying and you’re wanted fugitives. But sure, I’d love to hear about your crush or how much you love flowers or that one memory you have that bears no effect on current situations.
Unfortuantely too, characters I loved in the original and even Remake feel different here and it’s making me like them less as the game progresses.

The atmosphere has completely changed
In the original game it was undoubtedly miserable and a very somber world. A company was bleeding the planet, many were dying in poverty, an old threat returned to murder everyone on the planet and one of your own party members actually gets killed off in an emotional twist. The music is haunting, the colour schemes are dull and oppressive, the NPC’s are unhappy and you’re losing people all around you.
Well in Rebirth everyone is happy nearly all the time, the colours are always bright and vibrant, everyone around you is in a good mood, the music is jolly and exciting, almost everyone you meet (including the girls in your party) are all energetic and quirky and everyone has a fun little task for you.
I really miss the depressing version of the game.

Too many minigames and sidequests
To this day I don’t believe that I have played a game that is more interrupted by side quests and mini-games than I have with Rebirth. And I don’t mean they just pop up and are optional, I mean you can’t progress with the main story until you’ve played it. Travelling to the next area? Ok, take part in a card competition. Want to access the next area? Play a shooting gallery and the card game again. Need to unlock fast travel? Alright, play the Chocobo wrangling mini-game. Want to advance the story? Ok, here’s a rhythm game. It’s just too much and really detracts you from the main story where you’re invested. The only other game I can think of like that is the Like a Dragon/Yakuza series but at least there it feels natural and part of the main story as opposed to “just do this mini-game becuse reasons”.
All this is before you get to the Gold Saucer which is full of mini-games.
And get this, I just completed a couple mandatory mini-games to access an area. It then cuts to two of the party members who have yet to arrive. They want access too so what does that mean? Yup, I have to play more mini-games to get somewhere I have already gotten to. Extremely frustrating.

Pacing is really weird
This game is a sequel but when you start it it doesn’t feel like you’re playing part two. If anything it feels more like you’re loading up someones saved game and have missed the first part. There’s hardly any catch up, you’re left with some really confusing questions from the opening cutscene, you then start with a flashback and then thrown into the game with so much going on that it’s left me feeling “oh, alright, we’re doing this now I guess”. Then you’re into the open world with little ease into it so it hits you like a brick wall. Then each time you try do the story you’re interrupted by quirky situations and mini-games and it throws the pacing off a lot. It just feels hard to get into the game when you’re bouncing between different plot points and game mechanics. I should also point out that no progress is carried over from Remake to Rebirth which also severs somewhat of a connection. And I don’t mean a save file I mean anything. You start at level one, you have basic weapons and basic equipment. I know it would ruin the progress of the game mechanics but what happened to all the stuff we had moments prior to the beginning of the game?
Also you have to manage five party members from the get go. JRPG’s usually have a set amount then add to as the game goes on which is great as it lets you get used to the mechanics, understand each character and find a playstyle that works for you.

So much crammed into one game
We all know the old saying “jack of all trades, master of none”. Well this game is best described like that as there are just too many conflicting decisions that have gone into this that it feels so overwhelming and confusing.
– You have a character level up
– You have a weapon level up
– You have a crafting system
– You have a collecting system
– You have an open world game
– You have very linear chapters
– You have many mini-games
– You have party level ups
– You have a bonding system
– You have a VR training system
– You have a buddy combat system

What game are they trying to make exactly aside from appealing to the most amount of people they can? Remake was linear, fairly simple and had a limited amount of things to do other than the main story and that was great. It didn’t detract you from the main story, you didn’t have to keep sorting your inventory and equipment and you didn’t need to run around aimlessly to pick up useless items or crafting materials.

I’m sure I’ll get round to playing it more and finishing it as I love the world of Final Fantasy VII. This latest chapter is just a bit hard to get through and it seems like I’m not the only one who thinks this way. Going from an amazing looking game with fun combat and an interesting story to a generic, open world, Ubisoft collectathon with unbearable story moments is more than disappointing.