Well, I finally beat Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (SPOILER DISCUSSION)

I beat FFVII Rebirth and once again have a lot of stuff to say so I'm gonna do it here instead of punishing friends & family

[@Peter-jn9rb]

You didn't get the Tifa date because you're not a big enough simp.

[@Contaminate2Aleviate]

A runtime to rival that of the Boysen, lets fucking go

[@Badalight]

That's actually insane that you got the trio date. That's like incredibly difficult to do unless you are actively trying for it (i.e. being a dick to everyone). It sounds like you did zero of the sidequests, and then answered wrong to every prompt with the characters.

[@roccobotte]

This actually sounds like the most me thing possible- I am constantly making video games do rare and unwanted shit while just trying to do a normal playthrough AHAHHAHAAHA

[@cheapretrokorean]

Stone Cold Stunnered the Snake. Rocco, you’re the best 😂

[@chroipahtz]

Final Fantasy 7 Return -- return of the Weapons, Cloud returns the Black Materia to Sephiroth, Cloud returns to his real self, the crew returns to Midgar, Zack/Aerith/Sephiroth return to the lifestream, the story returns to the original plotline

[@aaron-n]

As someone who hasn’t felt like Final Fantasy hasn’t been compelling since 10, (didn’t care for 12, 15, or 16), this remake project has been a masterpiece so far. I thought they were going to Kingdom Hearts this and imo they didn’t. I think a lot of us thought they weren’t going to kill Aerith, but they did! I love the take on it too! I think the message is that we shouldn’t run away from the thought of death. Death is just something we try not to think about and run away from, but death is perfectly natural and I think Cloud accepting and embracing that is good. We'll see if they stick the landing in part 3.

[@TheGrades90]

Just to be clear, Aerith's death is not natural at all.

[@aaron-n]

@@TheGrades90 I was speaking in general. Although we see killing play out in nature all of the time. Cats eating rodents, people killing animals, animals killing people, etc. Ultimately those things happen within nature since it can't exist outside of it.

[@TheGrades90]

@@aaron-n No, murder doesn't play out in nature all the time. Those animals you listed are eating each other. The whole reason her death is tragic is because it's cold-blooded. Sephiroth isn't killing her for his survival. Her death is a disruption of the natural flow. You spend the rest of the game righting the wrong done to her. People don't grieve the same way after someone they love is murdered, compared to when they die naturally. They seek justice. It would abnormal for them to treat it like 'just another part of life.'

[@aaron-n]

@@TheGrades90 Nothing happens "outside" of nature.

[@lolzforlunch]

despite the weird timeline god rays, i feel like its ending was really trying to anime it up for the snap to reality in Reunion when Cloud fully comes to.

[@MarkPTP7000]

I've got a long drive tomorrow and a big ol' FF7 ramble coming from you is going to be the perfect listening material - thank you!

[@tvirusgetz]

While I don't like how they Aerith scene played out (too confusing at the time), I think I can appreciate what they're going for. It's a crazy big risk though. Trying to shift the entire emotional punch of her death and moving it onto when Cloud finally realizes she's dead/accepts that she's dead in Part 3 and hoping that it hits as hard...bold, I'll give em that.

[@Badalight]

Why would it hit harder when you're 3+ year and an entire 100 game without Aerith removed than when the event actually happened? Especially after Aerith was such a prominent character in this game.

[@ugh5281]

@@Badalightlet’s be honest do you really think they’re gonna have all of part 3 without aerith? wether it’s livestream aerith/omni aerith or “alternate world” aerith she’s definitely gonna show up more. if zack of all people is set-up to have a role, aerith most definitely will especially since in this whole trilogy her and sephiroth are having a multi dimensional chess match…. when it comes to her death and cloud “realizing” she’s dead i have no idea how they’ll do it but they didn’t even show her death properly in rebirth nor her burial so even if it doesn’t hit hard emotionally, they’re definitely gonna show what actually happened in part3.

[@lolzforlunch]

the "guys night out" is 100% what im gunning for next playthrough holy lmao

[@TravisSheflin]

I'm amazed you brought up the Sayid comparison and never thought to refer to the Zack stuff as "flash sideways"

[@nazislam4066]

I agree with you Rocco about your reason about playing a game. Not to be challenged but to experience the ost to the world to the places they take you. Just beat it today. Cant wait for p3. Loved this review! Was waiting to watch this until I finished it.

[@syxx573]

There is a live performance of No Promises to Keep on youtube, and the producer of Mario RPG is playing the percussion part.

[@moxfaple]

Would love to know what you thought of 16 too :) that games hit or miss for everyone

[@Contaminate2Aleviate]

I loved the game, all your points are definitely solid! The ending didnt bother me too much; just from the angle that no matter how you approach it, the outcome is inevitable, etc. I will concede it was delivered in a very confusing way. The date with Aerith in the slums during that sequence was beautiful though, really loved that. I like that the game ended with Cloud being more obviously nuts/under Sephiroth's control. He's gonna be a looney bin for a minute, looking forward to that.

[@YTPremiumWatch]

the lighting of the new setup is excellent

[@Shlompskii]

Feel like the building exposure is to let the interior textures load in without you noticing. But I got no evidence

[@bender844]

hey Rocco just wanna pop in and say you look great man and I'll see ya later

[@tata021]

I enjoyed rebirth a lot as this reminded me of empire strikes back with how they both had cliffhanging endings. But this ones real time for us, wondering whats next and how can part 3 even outdo this one.

[@shrewbu]

Always love watching these after I catch up and beat these games. I find the Remake trilogy so funny so far, as they’re some of my fav modern games ever yet both have confusingly low-impact endings. A nice quality of life btw for the dating system is when you chapter select, you can just choose who you want to take on a date.

[@JLP161]

Haven't watched/ finished the video yet but that sweater is sick!

[@Cronks964]

just finished the game, so i had to come back and check this vid. sick vid btw. First i gotts say, i never played OG ff7, i started with remake, and didnt feel lost in all the whisper stuff. To me if feels like the game is having a conversation with the OG, like its negotiating with the story? it could have been a 1to1 remake, or a faux sequel. but it is kind of both? i think its showing us glimps of possibilities, maybe the game wont set them in stone as cannon, but theyre there to add mystery and something for fans to think about. 3rd game is gonna be called Re-imagined if they diverge from the og story, or Revived if Zack comes back

[@boxxyfishfearme7113]

Me too Rocco 🎉

[@Badalight]

The Remake ending was stupid and scared me because I thought it meant the future games would massively diverge - which wasn't really the case with this game. So in retrospect, I actually hate it much less. It also did not mess up a pre-established scene. This ending, however, ruins the most iconic moment in video game history. I don't even mind if they make changes (I actually like Cloud parrying the initial downward thrust on Aerith) but they could have reached this same point without muddying the waters so much. It's like they were scared they wouldn't be able to reach the emotional heights of the original scene, so they didn't even try. Instead they just obfuscated everything and made people confused and were like "isn't this such an interesting direction to take?!"

[@SQUISHY_GHOSTS]

CLASSIC vid havent seen it yet i still need to beat the game

[@saturatedwithsound]

Aslo my favourite part of the ending is how Tifa says nothing. Not one word. It’s so powerful.

[@CalciumOxyde]

The thumbnail is the face of a guy that beat ff7 rebirth. Nice!

[@engagexkujo]

I just beat it last night can't wait to watch this right now.

[@immune2rugburn]

For what its worth the idea that the rebuild series was said from the start that it would be new and not a sort of reimaging/requel is a bit of revisionist history. I remember when part 2 dropped and everyone lost their shit about the changes. You can find very similar quotes from the developers of the remake project talking about how they want to add new elements but the keep core of the story the same. Think the kingdom heartsification of the story moreso falls on peoples dislike of certain visual aesthetics, but this story is anything but that narrative wise imho. Great video 😂, always enjoy hearing your thoughts even if we disagree on a lot ❤

[@roccobotte]

Not revisionist history- the original announcement said Rebuild would head into new territory! People having their minds blown doesn’t change that

[@Nigel222]

What did you think of the scene where Aerith and Cloud go on the date in the other world and the old granny sweat lady makes some comment about how she feels like she went too far and wishes she had more time to start over. Did you see it as a bit of a comment from the devs on the remake itself?

[@Furitenma]

I completely agree with your thoughts about the Aerith moment being less impactful but now I think that’s the whole point. They’re setting up the murder and burial scenes for later on so that Clouds final revelation hits harder. That might not be a good thing but I love that they’re taking risks for the final chapter. My theory is that Zack is going to play a much bigger part here since Sephiroth is actually breaking Cloud this time.

[@ryan_deakin]

awww Yuffie was my favourite :( you broke my heart lol

[@_iao_]

loved Aerith's singing scene the bittersweet acceptance and calm before the storm vibes were immaculate

[@lexingtonbecker6723]

I jumped into Infinite Wealth right after Rebirth and am currently about 25 hours in. I think Square could learn a lot from the way Ryu Ga Gotoku handled the social link aspects as well as the mini games.

[@YummyYusko]

I definitely enjoyed the game more then remake, but to me I feel like there is so much shit that prevented me from liking it as much as I wanted to. I wish so much of Cid’s stuff wasn’t cut although I guess it’ll probably show up in the next game, and it annoys me more bc I feel like there are parts of the game where you really could’ve cut it down to move the story along faster. There are also moments they do certain well and then immediately just sour for me by throwing some new shit in directly after it. The best example for me is the Dyne stuff, the moments with him IMO are handled pretty well, but having you fight a giant robot that shakes it’s ass at you directly after his death just felt so stupid and genuinely brought the whole moment down for me. I also kind of wish that Zack was more involved because I feel like the game is at a point where he just interrupts the story constantly but his story just felt like it was all setup for the third game which in all fairness I guess that’s to be expected of the second part of a trilogy but I wanted at least like some payoff from him and felt kinda disappointed by it. Ultimately though I still really enjoyed the game. Seeing shit like the Shinra parade, gold saucer, and everything with Cloud’s backstory in this game made me feel so happy and I haven’t felt like that from a game in a long time. So I guess I just hope the third one improves on this one as much as rebirth improved on remake for me.

[@Kerma7]

I still think you should check out final fantasy origins stranger of paradise if you haven't already, despite it not being turn based it might be my favourite ff game in the last while. it's definitely over the top but has a charm to it and the gameplay is pretty solid

[@ryan_deakin]

I was always the weird kid who didn't fit in with the other kids and always felt like an alien. thats why Yuffie is my spirit animal and I love her =D

[@artysixo3]

I am one of those that can't finish games because I try to do all the sidequests. But I finished this one because I thought all the sidequests were really fun to do (same with Like a Dragon). I found the gameplay to be the best part of the game while the ending could have been better but I thought it was fine and it was exciting to get to the Zack parts wondering how it will all connect. Queens Blood was also a highlight in the game for me.

[@SlavicGold]

I think one of the standout things about og ff7 is just how cool some of the story moments or set pieces really are. After they swarmed ghosts everywhere in these moments in the first ff7 remake, I didnt want to keep playing this series. Sounds like I might have the same issue with some of the stuff in rebirth :(.

[@JadedDarkness]

Just wanted to say if you want to see the other Gold Saucer dates for yourself you can experience each date of your choosing in the chapter select stuff after beating the game.

[@LiquidButterAlternative]

how you not gonna talk about cloud sticking the materia into the buster sword.. what in the hell was that.. I NEED TO KNOW

[@AltTakeshc]

I got the Tifa date cause I left the Gold Saucer and did all her quests, still didn't get the kiss 'cause I guess I chose the wrong dialogue option at some point. It's definitely worth watching all the dates on YT cause they all have some pretty engaging character moments in them. With you 100% on the story. They bottled so many of the OG's best moments. My guess for Part 3 subtitle is Remember, but someone else said Return which is a good guess too.

[@McCheesy22]

As someone who has yet to play the original (trust me I will), I didn’t find Rebirth to be “anemic on main plot” at all. I found it to be a great second act, really focusing on the character moments and relationships between the party as they make their trek across the world. I’m actually going back to replay Remake after beating Rebirth and the difference between the depth of character interactions is actually staggering. The characters feel so much more like real people in Rebirth

[@nah1610]

I hear what you're saying about the Evangelion comparison. Evangelion did the psuedo-remake into a new story well. A recent anime series that did it very poorly in my opinion was Higurashi. Not everything needs to do it. I'll say that I personally think that FF7 Remake/Rebirth is doing it as a way to put players in the same headspace as Cloud was in the original game, confused and unsure of what is real or true by adding this new mystery. I think at most they might set up a sequel to Advent Children for after the Remake trilogy is over. Love hearing your thoughts on all this!

[@MooseheadStudios]

VII is my favorite game of all time. also 40yrs old. agree with 90% of everything you said. Put 100 hours in rebirth. the music is 10/10.

[@ZanDatsu]

You voiced my feelings better than I could have, especially with how the mystique around Sephiroth is weakened by showing too much rather than leaving it up to the imagination. I have somewhat come around on the ending after hearing theories by people who were a lot more perceptive to what was happening than I was while playing it. Still, that doesn't change the fact that I mostly felt confused and almost detached while experiencing it myself for the first time.

[@cosmosofinfinity]

I wonder if maybe a better comparison would be to the new Hobbit movie trilogy rather than Rebuild of Evangelion. Rebuild basically shrinks it down and sets expectations right away that it's not gonna just be your average straight adaptation of the original story by bringing changes, not just with the 4-movie structure that essentially shrinks it down, but things like Asuka Shikinami Langley and Mari. With FF7 and The Hobbit, however, they expand the story to the point where it's necessarily filled with a bunch of padding that no one really asked for, only the devs wanted, and made a 1-release standalone story into multiple release chunks to extend the hype/development/revenue cycle. And remember, this whole project is even being done in the first place is because FANS demanded a REMAKE, and that was largely vocalized as: the same perfect game we love but just with fully modern graphics instead of Lego models. And instead of honoring the fan request/desire faithfully, they have messed with the recipe/formula and inserted their own unneeded nonsense into it and transforming it into 3 separate games instead of 1 giant game like it originally was, and now with all these horrible additions like Chadley and the new off-putting moogles that distract from the game we're TRYING to play. If there's any project that precisely should play TO fan expectations instead of AGAINST fan expectations, it would be a REMAKE, no? Especially of one of the most beloved stories in gaming, where any change even for the supposed better would be inevitably controversial. Does FF7 really need the controversy? Just do the job you were asked to do, don't tamper with it, and you will get unanimous cheers from precisely the audience this is was ostensibly made for Just you even describing it like that at 33:32 gave me chills. Modern day Square Enix just cannot be trusted to understand subtlety or implication anymore, and I guess they have no faith that we the audience have an appreciation for subtlety either. Everything has to be overt and bombastic now. They cannot resist the urge to tear the mask off of Michael Meyers. Not to discount what all is here that really is a treat to enjoy, but there is definitely no substituting the original lightning in a bottle in one of gaming's golden years

[@KIager]

I need to know if he mentions Kid G before I start this video.

[@ordinary_]

Hearing the ending of FFVII REMAKE pt.1 be described as "KINGDOM HEARTS..." I don't think it could have been explained any better. It just seems too late to change things about the story at this point. Square Enix knows people are buying this to see their favorite events reimagined, but how do you keep all the same events while changing the story?

[@MisterAlerion]

I really hated the last 2 hours but I was still sitting on the edge of my seat for every minute. Holy shit what a mess! It was amazing

[@acidfruitloops]

I didn't know wtf was going on

[@mitsame]

sharing the sentiment on the ending. i've always been more on board with the idea of things going off the rails and being really different, but it was disappointing how it felt like they met "both sides" halfway on whether she's alive or dead. as an added wrinkle, it felt kinda gross the way they're kind of dancing around it being a hallucination of cloud's? maybe it's a stretch too, but it feels like it's kind of calling the player delusional for thinking this could've been different after foreshadowing how it was gonna go down for like a game and a half now. i kinda get what they're doing with making it so like, cloud is in denial and he's not coping with the loss, but with all the fate stuff i think it ended up feeling like they're showing their hand too much. it feels too manufactured, like the writers are literally course-correcting in real time just for the sake of a cheap emotional beat. if they wanted to just do a big re-imagining of the original game they shouldn'tve spent so much time telling us what was going to happen as though we would be subverting it

[@Llythe]

I always thought it was interesting how the Midgard Zolom (midgardsormr) is spoken about in a way where it makes you think there's just one of them, but in the original since you see the one Sephiroth impaled after you flee from the marsh one and are also able to go back and fight it again it makes it seem like there must be at least a few. This isn't really a problem in itself but maybe when they were rewriting the story for Rebirth they decided they liked it better as a singular beast which is why they linked the fight and Sephiroth impaling it into one event. I also had similar thoughts on Remake where it felt like they were too eager to show Sephiroth but I actually came around to it with Rebirth because it feels like they really wanted to hammer home that the shadow of Sephiroth is always with Cloud from the beginning so to speak. That being said I don't disagree that the mystery of Sephiroth in the original is more interesting. Edit: Also I got the Red XIII gold saucer date because I didn't understand the relationship stuff which is awkward as fuck so be glad you didn't get that

[@AlphaLax]

I just beat it today!

[@KsizzleMvC3]

I think the title for part 3 will be Return. My original guess when Rebirth was announced was 'oh its gonna be Relive for part 3. They're doing the 3 stages of a life since life is a central theme of FF7: A life is made (Remake), the life is born (Rebirth) and then the life lives its days (Relive)'. I thought that made sense. But I saw some other people point that one of the final tracks of Remakes sound track was 'One Winged Angel - Rebirth', and then eventually Rebirth was the title of part 2. Now Rebirths soundtrack came out and the final track is 'Aerith's Theme - Return to the Planet'. So they may be hinting at the title through the OSTs. I think my original train of thought is still somewhat correct but I needed to think more in terms of FF7 lore. When a life reaches their end in FF7, they return to the planet: A life is made (Remake), the life is born (Rebirth) and then the life returns to the planet at their end (Return).

[@RiffFlair]

It’s gonna be Reunion. There’s no way they call it anything else

[@FunkySpaceAlien]

Answering some stuff Rocco said in the video before sharing my thoughts on the ending lol For the Gold Saucer Date, it's mostly about the side quests to get closer to your wanted party members. Most side quests tend to relate to one of the characters so if you wanted to be with Tifa, you could just focus on sidequests that involves her. The gold saucer quest for her helps out a lot. The multiple choice questions you do is mostly to get an "intimate" ending during the date. I forgot where you can find this, but you can check the emotional status of characters and if they're "light blue", then you'll go on a date with them. I think what might've happened that you didn't reach that color so the game defaults to the "Guys Night" date About the patch changing that one line in the ending: That was only done for the English version. It matched closer to what was said in Japanese, which wasn't changed at all. They also added some other things like they gave Tifa a black undershirt for her cowboy getup, lol. ---- I'm kind of on two minds with Aerith's death. I do like the idea of the ending seemingly happy but if you look into it deeper, it's sort of fucked up lol. Cloud is just seeing something completely different from everyone else and no one knows about this and assumes Cloud is way off the deep end. I think that'll make interesting drama in the next game and works well with the original game's character development where Cloud does dissociates and imagine things that aren't there. I could be wrong, but didn't Cloud imagine Aerith being with them at various points after her death in the original game? I remember something like that so I didn't find the twist tooooo weird? I do think how it was presented made it a bit off. Like, *I* personally wouldn't know how they should've done it while keeping in that intent. Maybe it's kind of like what Rocco said where they were doing too many weird stuff at once that it made it pretty murky. Perhaps they should've paced some of the fights or reveals out? It was pretty much one after another lol.

[@roccobotte]

Like I guess I can see what you mean about the Aerith death twist thing not being too weird, but to me it’s about all the Cloud stuff just kind of steamrolling what used to be one of the most emotional moments in a video game ever… like this was the big next gen console remake of THAT THING and it was just like bzzzt moving on

[@FunkySpaceAlien]

@@roccobotte Yeah I think that steamrolling is what made it weird. Even all the characters were like "yeah LET DO THIS FIGHT FOR AERITH" after seeing her dead on the floor. You would think they might need a moment lol

[@Badalight]

All of that could still be achieved while showing the scene play out normally. In fact, it would make Cloud look even more messed up considering he is talking about things that clearly are not accurate to what the viewers saw.

[@Badalight]

Gold Saucer actually has 4 fewer mini games than the original, and it doesn't look like it will be getting the submarine either. It was actually one of the things that disappointed me the most in this game given how much love they gave to every other location (even locations that were lacking in the original, such as costa del sol).

[@CaladriusTV]

Final part is going to be called Regenesis, as a callback to the World Regenesis Organisation in Dirge of Cerberus and the fact that Gackt's back baby

[@GrimmShadow]

I wish I could feel the same optimism for the sequel. I made the mistake of playing Remake first, so the ending of Rebirth sorta feels like I had Aerith's death dangled in front of me for two games(they literally dangle it in front of you on a branch before they fall in Rebirth) because the first flashforward you see as Cloud is a vison of Aerith's materia dropping after she dies. Silly me for thinking that was a warning. Also to hell with the writers for making me find out how Wedge dies via a MINIGAME SUBPLOT 💀💀💀

[@aepoyi]

speaking of eva comparisons i always thought LCL and the lifestream were pretty similar but on the opposite ends of the spectrum

[@pacmke8181]

Man I was getting reeeeal close to playing remake after years of not feeling it with some oft he stuff I saw from the second part, and this was like "man I can't, no way. I'm gonna maybe play the original modded to hell"

[@lowbudgetmic]

F F seven remake part three crossover into Kingdom Hearts four, Chrono Trigger 😮💛

[@JadedDarkness]

I think the muddiness of Aerith's death is intentional because they want that emotional gut punch in the third part instead. I think they want Cloud to come to terms with her death and realize what actually happened and accept her death. Then maybe they'll do a flashback or something where we see what actually happened and actually show them sending her body off into the water. We even see a moment of Cloud doing his speech that he did after her death in the OG but we can't hear him, so I think we'll actually get to see it in the next part. At least I hope we get that. Otherwise yeah this take on her death scene just lacks any emotional punch that the OG version had.

[@willthered9385]

My opinion has arrived

[@goldmoon251]

Omg, I totally agree with you on Yuffie. I feel like they gave her something to say for every damn cutscene, when I would have wanted to hear from Barrett, Tifa, or Aeris you know? She had the worst lines in the game too. The game isn't in need of humor, and they seemed to be using her for that, but the game has its' own funny moments. Having Yuffie pop up and say something idiotic before and after every boss fight was annoying -_- I only used her once in the OG too, then I was done with her lol.

[@SephirothinLEGO]

i dont think it's a multiverse, i think on the date with aerith in the other world when she says it's a dream that's actually a lot more accurate than we realize. and i think sephiroth is manipulating reality by overwriting the real world with potential outcomes dreamt up in the lifestream.

[@zbvick]

Brother out here streaming his 1997 remake sequel thoughts from the Morpheus pill room

[@Justxcaz_]

I get your disappointment on the mysteries and the eerie-ness being lost from the OG with this remake trilogy. That’s the one thing I miss too about the original. There was that true suspense and darkness to it that can’t be replicated. I think they trade that off (with us OG fans fully aware who these characters are, what the story beats were originally) by adding in new events in place with the whole hectic multiverse thing that’s happening; examples like Sephiroth attacking the weapon that was inhabiting Tifa for a bit, like why did he visit with her? That was kind of weird moment that we kind of need answers to. Why is she so important to him now? Also, the new Aerith ending. The impact of that, the weight of it is traded off for part 3, where Cloud is going through his own turmoil with identity, especially depression when he realizes Aerith really did die. How Cloud is going to go through that and come out of it, is a mystery, in itself? I guess.

[@gmedley]

rocco accidently getting the worst ending for the date is so on brand (has to be a bit)

[@CrimsonPhoenixBen]

I'm generally someone that doesn't enjoy remakes that much, I like enjoying something as a product of its time and FF7 is very much that. I get hung up on minor changes or altering things for "new audiences" and losing subtlety (sort of like shoehorning in Sephiroth or the Midgardsormr fight thing you mentioned.) I think what bugs me is the idea of a remake trying to improve on something that is already great, and to some extent replace it in the cultural mindset. Just thinking about someone playing a remake of something as special as FF7 and going "Great! now I don't have to play the original" drives me nuts, even though it really doesn't matter. That's kind of why I LIKED the ending of FF7 Remake. Something clicked in my head that they're not trying to replace FF7, but instead add onto it. This whole Remake trilogy was going to be a new thing, for the fans of FF7 original, so those minor changes no longer mattered anymore. It was a game that demonstrated that they really knew the source material well, they knew how the characters act, and they wanted to tell a new story with them. The promise at the end of that game of "The Unknown Journey Continues" was exciting, because now anything could happen. Lots of potential. While I love Rebirth for how much detail they packed into FF7's world, and how fully realized it is, I can't shake this feeling of disappointment that we're mostly still following the same story beat by beat. It feels like a cop out, like they took the easy route in writing this. They could have committed to telling an entirely new story, but it feels like they wanted to keep everyone happy by still giving them a remake style game at the same time. Basically I was expecting a difference like Eva 3.0. I don't think anyone is really going to be fully satisfied now, it's not a direct remake with all this new story stuff, and it's not a wild new game series either. It's like the fence sitting thing you talked about. They probably got cold feet after the reception of Remake, and backed off a bit. tl;dr I'm on the opposite side where I wanted Less Remake and More New Stuff. Agreed that they botched the ending moment though

[@SuspicouslyCrisp]

That's exactly how I feel about aeriths scene at the end! But no one will hear me out!!!

[@ryan_deakin]

I adored this game. I thought it was really next level. everyones criticism are valid. but I loved it so much I just dont care and im down with everything this game did =D

[@xxxkamoxxx]

I loved Red so much in this game and Barret calling him Nanaki near the end. So good.

[@saturatedwithsound]

by the way the patched line in rebirth is aerith now referencing the rift in the sky

[@KMFox]

I think the Aerith scene is especially difficult because it's so iconic. Like, how can you retell that with the same impact for both new and old fans? Does Darth Vader being Luke's father still surprise you in Empire? It's been 27 years, even if they fully realise it beat for beat, it just wouldn't have the same emotional weight. You'd maybe go, "Oh wow, they really did that scene justice, it looks so beautiful!" but that's not a reaction to the narrative, only appreciation for its execution. And if you do go the opposite way, I think you're just gonna piss people off even more. So what's the solution? Is what they're trying to do with it the best way? I'm not sure, but it seems to me the emotional payoff is being moved to Part 3 in some capacity. We know there's some sort of timeline shenanigans happening, with lots of theories going around about whether the Aerith we see Cloud talking to at the end is from another timeline that was created when he blocked Sephiroth's sword, or a lifestream dream spirit. Maybe in Part 3, stopping Sephiroth will include picking a "prime timeline", meaning the one in which Aerith dies, and that's when we'll revisit her death and get to see the scene of Cloud lowering her body into the water. Unfortunately just like with Remake, the ending doesn't feel complete at all, like a book series that abruptly cuts off midchapter in each entry.

[@viper139]

I’m sure that dark to light issue was to hide the hard drive loading the area. Can’t agree with you on the Yuffie one. She’s great to play as. Remember she’s only like 13 years old.

[@marvelman1127]

Never apologize for bringing up LOST, Zack stuff is like the Flash Sideways

[@JJMomoida]

I'm of two minds with regards to the Aerith scene. Part of me wants them to play it straight and just redo it as it happened in-game. Sephiroth gets the drop on her and runs her through and that's that. What we GOT is what my other part wants. I feel like the emotional gut punch of the scene was somewhat dampened by all the multidimensional shenanigans, but it was still there (fucking great use of Aerith's theme during the Jenova fight, btw). Ultimately, I wouldn't call it bad or anything, just... different. Looking forward to part 3.

[@Badalight]

Aerith's theme was used in the Jenova fight in the OG too. That's not unique to Rebirth. I actually think it works much better in the OG because it plays in the scene before and when the battle starts - the music just continues.

[@JJMomoida]

@@Badalight I'm aware. The instrumentation used here, though, hits harder.

[@SeanUnkempt]

cool

[@mooxsir]

I kind of understand what you are trying to get across, but you don't have to call/blame Kingdom Hearts. I don't mean any offense by saying this. I agreed with most of what you said anyway

[@blkguy3rd]

The moments where you dont see him but see his influence building up to when you finally do see Sephiroth is something I always loved about the original and was so disappointed with in the remakes with Sephiroth being plastered all over the place. Nomura just cant help him self sadly total hack.

[@Spenerico]

I couldn't relax with this game in the back of my mind I'm thinking about how they'll change the ending if they do so I felt a need to rush through it.. This wasn't a problem in remake because we didn't know they'd change things.. Didn't finish it though I thought it was incredibly boring and somehow looked worse than Remake

[@TheoDoesVideos]

Its interesting you bring up yuffie because to me i liked her dlc in remake and the story was interesting but in rebirth it really felt like they had nothing for her to do so they just had her there saying how she wants materia. I was really let down by how this game utilized her in the story. Like she is clearly the weakest link its like they added her in rebirth and never want back to revise the script. Its like she was added at the very last minute almost.

[@virtualnelly55]

I find it so odd that they would triple down on minigames for rebirth when some of the worst parts of the originals were the mandatory mini games. That stuff really should just be in gold saucer, that's the theme park. Though if you've followed the kingdom hearts series it's pretty plainly obvious that someone over at square is just obsessed with mini games

[@087Alfred]

ff7: ReRocco

[@TheoDoesVideos]

I havent played the original ff7 so remake and rebirth i feel its hard to appreciate the changes or the structure of the story. I think theres interesting pieces and i dont feel lost but i feel these bold changes the games are doing fall flat on me with no idea what the original game was. All i know of the original is aerith dying and sephiroth is a bad guy. I feel at least the rebuild movies can be seen without watching NGE sure you should watch nge but you wouldnt be lost watching rebuilds. While this its hard to say who is this game for. I think you kinda hit on this point to me where its just more work on square to justify these games.

[@machbass]

Wait. This isn't a toy review?

[@kooshkaboose]

see my problem is it's named final fantasy 7 and their's going to be another one.

[@timrattray]

I think there's plenty of fair critique and praise in this video, but I'm having troubling wrapping my mind around the Yuffie thing. It's one thing not to like her (I think they did a wonderful job here with a character that previously was only OK to me) and not liking her is fine, but saying you want her removed while simultaneously angling toward wanting the remake project to remain faithful to the original is... strange. So stay faithful to the original but leave out a party member? Some mixed messages here.

[@roccobotte]

She was an optional character in the original game and as I said in the video I always skipped her annoying ass anytime I played it. So for me she wasn’t in it. Problem solved

[@timrattray]

@@roccobotte I think this is fair, but we also need to consider that this is a cinematic game that is expanding all the optional or less fleshed-out characters into main roles that largely fit into their OG personas. There's no way to leave her out unless you cut her entirely. Just as there's no way they could drop Vincent for anyone who might not have liked him in the original.

[@KillianC1C2]

All the apologies in advance, I have so many thoughts on this game and waited for your video cause I was so curious what you thought. Overall, I really enjoyed this game more than Remake but by the end I felt cold and lost interest in its future. I do not buy at all that these games are an attempt that it's a "retelling", it is a sequel. With how much they rely on past knowledge of FF7, this is a sequel. I do think they had a change of heart when it came to the "direction" of these remakes and I do not like it lol. You mentioned games being behind films, I get what you mean but don't fully agree. Films have always influenced games and vice versa, but some games have been able to tell stories that were especially effective BECAUSE they were interactive. (Silent Hill 2, MGS2, all Fumito Uedas stuff and OG FF7) Regarding Sephiroth, I do understand that the devs probably thought in the modern day it's kinda hard to make Sephiroth as unknown or scary because he is kinda the mascot of FF7. But I do think it is possible, it's just a challenge the writers didn't bother to attempt. The story Rebirth covers is my favorite part from the original because it has the many vignettes that gave FF7 its charm and made it so memorable. The Dyne section brought tears to my eyes, it was the one part for years I had hoped they wouldn't fuck up. While I prefer the way more bleak part of OG, Rebirth handled it well. Gold Saucer was a massive fun improvement that I loved, the ship to Costa Del Sol, Costa Del Sol itself, Corel, Junon, all great. I beat Rebirth and honestly I've just felt cold since beating it. I commend them for not really removing anything from the original game, and even adding additional context for some stuff. Its ending to me just made me feel disconnected more than ever, it was like "hey if you're not with us then get the fuck out." which honestly hurt a bit. I'm just not interested in so many of these "theories" because I just feel this story is gonna fall flat on its face. Aeriths scene, a scene that is considered one of the most iconic moments not just in FF but video games as a whole, and just tried to make it a cliffhanger. Like, I can't even say if she actually died or not. There are so many channels that are attempting to theorize but I just don't care. Zacks story stuff just felt like "...OH RIGHT. We need to include him" and just happened all over whenever with little to no direction and just doing it whenever. You played Zack in the beginning, the didn't play him until like 20+ hours in. Red XIII (Nanaki) changing voice was very jarring but remembering how he changed was cool to see. I do think it was done a bit too much but was happy to see him change as a character really. Tifa and Aeriths friendship is still amazingly done and enjoy seeing them being besties. Yes, cut Yuffie (Yoofee). Yuffie is the equivalent of someone who would talk in memes to normal people (saying dumb shit like awesomesauce, epic, sussy etc.). I hate her so much. I've made comments that I still standby; if this game was FFXVII, no one would be as hot on it as they are now. Because the world is FF7, people are super hot on it. If it was a brand new one, people would be dogging the open world stuff WAY HARDER. It's legit Horizon, every Ubisoft game that people shit on and are tired of. But because it's FF7 it's ok. I love FF7 but even I was tired of it by the time I got to Gongaga (the worst section). I beat FFXVI last year, and while it wasn't perfect and had some issues I loved how it told its story and knew when to end it. XVI was maybe the first mainline Final Fantasy that had grabbed me since FFX. FFVII Rebirth felt like a classic FF at times, but had a story that dropped its ball so many times and especially at the end, that it made me just not care anymore. I really apologize for the sporadic thoughts and long comment, I was jotting all this while watching the video and making sure I got what you said. Always love these videos and everything Mega64!

[@Yuri-fs3es]

Sephiroth was not interesting for me in rebirth at all. I think you are right, that they even do not tried to make it in the same horror style.

[@KillianC1C2]

@@Yuri-fs3es Part of me understands why it is difficult. When FF7 came out in 97, Sephiroth was an unknown. Nowadays, he's legit arguably the face of Final Fantasy as a whole. It would have been cool to see them commit to that original premise of him being mysterious, but instead they didn't even bother.

[@Yuri-fs3es]

@@KillianC1C2 for me Sephiroth was literally the same as he was potrayed in Dissidia, Kingdom Hearts. More to the fan fiction side of a character.

[@aaron-n]

Interesting, I felt that way at the end of Remake but not Rebirth. Love Remake till the end. But after the ending I was so checked out I didn't watch a single thing for Rebirth. I was so in the dark I didn't even know if Rebirth was open world. But upon playing Rebirth I loved it and the take on Areith's death. But I totally understand if people don't like how they handled that scene. I'm excited for part 3 but I think the story could potentially fall flat. We'll see.

[@KillianC1C2]

@@aaron-n Yeah I'm interested in playing Part 3, but story wise personally I'm just checked out.

[@airbagged_]

Just started the video, I'll be back in an hour and a half.

[@airbagged_]

Agree with most points. I think Yuffie is a beast in combat, but one of the most annoying characters in the game.

[@ConanSlew]

Yeah yeah whatever, let’s get back to the real shit, tell me about Don Draper.

[@kevintheshane]

Felt the exact same as I did with Remake. Dying on the inside at the end because Nomura couldn’t help himself. Each time though, a few days later I kinda made my peace with it. 95% of both games are great and full of memorable deliveries on classic moments. This project has been a resounding success so far.

[@HiCZoK]

You still give it too much credit. Most important story moments are destroyed... and the game is a colelction of mini games and open world activities. I liked it well enough but its too bloated.

[@kevintheshane]

@@HiCZoK you just gotta play the fun parts and skip the not fun parts. Junon and Kalm, I did like, all the side quests. And it was fun! But I was over it after that and only did like, 20% thereafter.

[@albertWJS]

Nomura wasn’t the one behind the changes, he wanted to keep it as close to the original as possible.

[@HiCZoK]

@@kevintheshane Yes. i played the game xactly the same way. Junon and kalm 100%. 20-50% after that.... and it still took me 70 hours

[@FunkySpaceAlien]

@@albertWJS I wish people learn to stop blaming it on one guy, lol. There was a interview that Nomura did where he goes "yeah I watch videos of this game and so many players went "oh this was so Nomura" even though I didn't even wrote that part in" lol. There's so many things that goes into a game, it's never one person doing something

[@FatTomato]

I’m really intrigued by what people mean by the developers doing a “Kingdom Hearts” with the remake games. Have those people actually played the KH games? Cause I’m a big KH fan and I don’t know what the intent of these comments are. Does it just mean a narrative that’s kinda confusing/complicated? Cause OG FF7 definitely falls in that category too! On a side note, I also didn’t like the ending of Remake much, but actually was kinda a fan of Rebirth’s. It helped that I was prepared by already having read people’s complaints, but I think there’s a lot more to digest and theorize over but maybe people just don’t want that. Very into how it sets up Cloud’s psyche to just be completely blown apart in Pt 3

[@aqua_mashu]

Feels like they backstepped the premise yeah. Which leaves the changes they make now feeling like they were made just to justify the extra runtime of 3 games.

[@chase36chase]

your photos on instagram are often so gangsta. You should give courses to rapper how to look gangsta on photos

[@cr239]

Anti-Yuffie alliance unite! Didn’t even bother playing Intergrade.

[@mysterioscal2840]

Spot on thoughts on Yuffie! Felt the same way. Always skipped her in the original. “NOPE!”

[@saturatedwithsound]

i loved the game but the Zack stuff to me was dragged out and and by the end it felt like it was tossed out of the window when there had been so much build up. Just like in Remake i appreciate what they were going for towards the end but they just never execute it in a decent satisfying way. the final few hrs of story and cutscenes felt like quality took a huge dip and it wasn’t coherent or satisfying. i doubt the 3rd game can live upto this one though. i kinda got tired of the following the cloaked guys. it became a bit ridiculous at points. but i know thats in the original.

[@ultima7865]

This is a lot of critique for Game of the Generation.

[@Issen_Mode]

I gotta say, being someone who played and beat the original years and years ago, them shoving Sephiroth down everyone's throats in Remake ruining the build up and tension and going the "nobody is ever really gone" pseudo multiverse route sounds like a bad bad move for a game you spend dozens of hours being invested in. The overall package sounds pretty good and worth checking out though.