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Broncofan

Broncofan

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On 3/8/2024 at 2:44 PM, Broncofan said:

I’ve finished 8+ chapters and I’ve done all the side quests and mapped out the towers / relics and played every QB match I can.   I wasn’t intending to play QB but it’s both fun and has a backstory that caught me by surprise.   I’m 40+ hrs in as family was away this past weekend.   I could have sped-run it and finished but I wanted to really enjoy the full game, and in another 2 weekends I'll get to finish then:
 

General thoughts (no spoilers): 

Story

I give them credit, they're sticking to the original story key events and fleshing out iconic moments (Golden Saucer had so many I forgot lol).   If you've haven't played the original, it's fine but takes a while to wrap your head around the whole story/cast, but OG FF7 fans can keep track without missing a beat - and the expansion on those key events has been awesome, while the new twists do seem aligned with the character development.   We’ll see how things progress but so far it’s been A+ so far.   
 

 

Characters

They really do a great job of making you care about all the characters in the party so far - and the supporting cast as well.   And not just from the OG story, but the blended new one as well.  Definitely pays back for having played FF7 Remake and Intermission (Intergrade).

 

Gameplay (Fighting)

I do like the Abilities / Synergy mechanic a lot more than Remake's.    I will say doing the side quests first, it makes the extra stuff less necessary - Abilities/Synergy/Limit is really all you need for all but the hardest of Boss battles if you go completionist.    The Materia grid is serviceable - but I love the fact you can reset and start over any way you like.  Thumbs up there.

 

Visuals

I don't really have anything to say, other than it's stunning.

 

Side Quests

Yes, it’s not really truly open world because icons tell you what’s out there.      And yes some of the side quests are repetitive and some are just fetch quests - but they do a fantastic job of building up relationships in a far more tangible way than the OG game did.    And these are miles better than the on-rail feel you got from FG XIII - XV.    Highly recommended.   
 

The World Intel does get you to see some great background and expands on the FF7 lore that we filled in the blanks on with post-game.   Nice payoff to OG fans and helps introduce new fans to the depth of the original game.   

 

QB / mini-games

I honestly barely played them before - but QB has a neat backstory that's got me intrigued.   And it did so quite unexpectedly - it’s necessary

 

Fort Condor does make a return, but thankfully it's short.   Too simplistic to be really worth it but annoying enough to burn time on as the way to complete World Intel quests in 1 area (thankfully only 1 area).    The other mini games are simple but fun (the soccer-based one is surprisingly addictive, thankfully it's limited in scope lol).  
 

Other than the QB card game you don’t have to keep doing it which is a plus - past FF XIII - VV games just became more like drudgery to get through when required.   The QB mechanics and cards plus the story that weaves in are really well done.  Hats off to whoever came up with this one.    I will say that I took the extra effort to get the 100K pts for the parade (what a blast from the past) and an A rating for the piano side quest - it does get addicting and rewarding lol    


The Score

They have the classic ones...and man they're so awesome.  But I have to say the new tracks are really good - the Chapter 9 jungle one is my favorite new one by far.


Overall, if you're not a fan of JRPG's, and you prefer more action - you may say it's just OK/good.   But if you love story, characters, you should love it so far....we'll see how it ends lol.   But if you love FF7 OG - a booming success the 2nd time around.

I'm now on hiatus for 2 weeks then will finish Ch. 9+ to the end by the last weekend in March.  Looking forward to the last 1/3 of the game (I think it's 1/3). 

But yeah - NO WAY YOU PLAY THIS BEFORE REMAKE & INTERGRADE.   THANK ME LATER.

Updated quick thoughts:

1.  Story - there's going to be a lot of talk about the ending.   I'm going to leave it for now.   But the detail to which the writers gave the Main Story, and the love to all the new characters that played a part in Remake, and then the key ones in the OG post-Midgar story, well it was just mindblowing.    I was overwhelmed with how many callbacks to Remake & the OG story were done.     NGL - I don't just care about  the main party, but there were at least 20+ other characters that you grow to love/root against with fully fleshed out tales.   And another 40-50 you learn way more than you knew before in Rebirth/OG.   And you care about pretty much all of them.   Full credit, the storytelling depth & character expansion is A+.

2.  Side Quests - yes, there's a couple of OMG-kill-me-now quests (the chicken and kitten ones..... GAWD still have PTSD).   But the side quests also gave INCREDIBLE depth to one of the party members, and then to past members / storylines from Remake / OG.    Someone will eventually create a list of "you can avoid these 3-4 side quests"....but out of the 30-ish side quests, right away at least half of them really expanded on a character moment that was only touched on in the OG or Remake.   

3.  Gameplay - it's just so much fun, and so rewarding.    Going to a full party control system was the missing piece FFVII rebirth lacked - building the Synergy / Materia system was just awesome.  Abilities, limit breaks & both types of Synergy attacks made fighting both enjoyable and also quick if you outmatched opponents but rewarding mixing it up to beat bosses and side quest harder opponents.  

4.  "Those" Moments - you'll know it when you see it.   The OG ones are back, and they are spectacular - parade & date nights were actually done incredibly well.  

5.  Score - it only got better.  By Chapter 12.....well, man, I tip my cap to the new folk - they paid homage to Noematsu & co. but also created memorable ones - Gongaga still runs in my head 2 hours after the game's done and at least 24+ hours since I was last there.

6.  Mini-Games - QB is one of those rare mini-games that just "got it" perfectly.   The unexpected part was the side story that was excellent in its own right.   Totally out of left field.  I got all the extra cards from Costa Del Sol & the Golden Saucer (as it's necessary to get the last 1-2 opponents).   Gotta say Fort Condor and Gears & Gauntlet mini game were not my jam, though (but only way to get the whole Proto Relic story done and the Gears story is absolutely worth getting).   

7.  New Chapter select - the game's so big, I don't mind this feature at all.   The 2nd time you can pick the ppl involved, and if they got the regular or special ending - kudos on that (otherwise I was just going to watch the Youtube videos lol).

I know ppl are going to debate the ending ad nauseum, I'm just going to let it sink in as I've finished my 110+ hour journey with it (I'll go back to do the Gilgamesh isle - recommended LV70+ lol - and maybe see about the Chocobos).    

 

I have to say right now, this game is probably my favorite FF game upon completion since at least FFX.     It's not perfect (a few issues I'll expand on later with spoiler tags later), but what it does well, it hits out of the park.

Edited by Broncofan
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BobbyPhil1781

BobbyPhil1781

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On 3/20/2024 at 9:51 PM, Broncofan said:

Updated quick thoughts:

1.  Story - there's going to be a lot of talk about the ending.   I'm going to leave it for now.   But the detail to which the writers gave the Main Story, and the love to all the new characters that played a part in Remake, and then the key ones in the OG post-Midgar story, well it was just mindblowing.    I was overwhelmed with how many callbacks to Remake & the OG story were done.     NGL - I don't just care about  the main party, but there were at least 20+ other characters that you grow to love/root against with fully fleshed out tales.   And another 40-50 you learn way more than you knew before in Rebirth/OG.   And you care about pretty much all of them.   Full credit, the storytelling depth & character expansion is A+.

2.  Side Quests - yes, there's a couple of OMG-kill-me-now quests (the chicken and kitten ones..... GAWD still have PTSD).   But the side quests also gave INCREDIBLE depth to one of the party members, and then to past members / storylines from Remake / OG.    Someone will eventually create a list of "you can avoid these 3-4 side quests"....but out of the 30-ish side quests, right away at least half of them really expanded on a character moment that was only touched on in the OG or Remake.   

3.  Gameplay - it's just so much fun, and so rewarding.    Going to a full party control system was the missing piece FFVII rebirth lacked - building the Synergy / Materia system was just awesome.  Abilities, limit breaks & both types of Synergy attacks made fighting both enjoyable and also quick if you outmatched opponents but rewarding mixing it up to beat bosses and side quest harder opponents.  

4.  "Those" Moments - you'll know it when you see it.   The OG ones are back, and they are spectacular - parade & date nights were actually done incredibly well.  

5.  Score - it only got better.  By Chapter 12.....well, man, I tip my cap to the new folk - they paid homage to Noematsu & co. but also created memorable ones - Gongaga still runs in my head 2 hours after the game's done and at least 24+ hours since I was last there.

6.  Mini-Games - QB is one of those rare mini-games that just "got it" perfectly.   The unexpected part was the side story that was excellent in its own right.   Totally out of left field.  I got all the extra cards from Costa Del Sol & the Golden Saucer (as it's necessary to get the last 1-2 opponents).   Gotta say Fort Condor and Gears & Gauntlet mini game were not my jam, though (but only way to get the whole Proto Relic story done and the Gears story is absolutely worth getting).   

7.  New Chapter select - the game's so big, I don't mind this feature at all.   The 2nd time you can pick the ppl involved, and if they got the regular or special ending - kudos on that (otherwise I was just going to watch the Youtube videos lol).

I know ppl are going to debate the ending ad nauseum, I'm just going to let it sink in as I've finished my 110+ hour journey with it (I'll go back to do the Gilgamesh isle - recommended LV70+ lol - and maybe see about the Chocobos).    

 

I have to say right now, this game is probably my favorite FF game upon completion since at least FFX.     It's not perfect (a few issues I'll expand on later with spoiler tags later), but what it does well, it hits out of the park.

Kinda just glossed over this since I'm still playing GTA5 but what I read was encouraging. Looking forward to getting my hands on it whenever that may be

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Broncofan

Broncofan

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On 3/24/2024 at 2:52 PM, BobbyPhil1781 said:

Kinda just glossed over this since I'm still playing GTA5 but what I read was encouraging. Looking forward to getting my hands on it whenever that may be

One piece of advice - allocate a good chunk of time more than you might originally plan for.

I still despise the Fort Condor mini-game, and 3D Brawler is a PITA (Desert Rush a close 3rd), but the character growth is so good for the party and the side characters, finishing all the side quests, and doing all the dates, was a lot more fun than I thought.    As much as I struggled with getting through the Gold Cup, the story payoff was actually surprisingly good.    So I ended spending a lot more time completing mini-games and side quests just because of the story depth it added for the party, and the NPC's.

The fact the game doesn't make any party characters "optional" like they were in FF7, basically every party member really gets time to shine in the side quest, and you get a ton of expansion.     

The game still has flaws, but the amazing focus on the in-depth character growth, since I'm a sucker for story-driven/character-building games, I can say that this is a top 5 all-time favorite game now - and talking the past 10 years, it's right up there with Last of Us and GoW: Ragnarok.    It's literally the first game I find I wanted to do more on side-quests & mini-games, because of how fun the party is. 

Other side comment - I never played Crisis Core, and I never saw Advent Children.  I just watched a 20-min recap for each - and man, the continuity the game referenced, well it's even more impressive now that I know what they had covered before.   But it also speaks to the point that you don't need to be an FF7 OG fan who saw everything, to enjoy it.   

Don't get me wrong, FF7 OG was a game-changer for me, but as long as you do FF7 Remake (with Intermission), and if you need to, get a recap of CC / Advent Children (again, I didn't have the last 2 before doing Rebirth), FF7 Rebirth does stand on its own really well.   The gameplay, storyline expansion, character growth are just all out of this world - and that score & fun factor (aside from the few times you hit a required area that is a PITA - eg Cait Sith solo area, you know what I'm talking about), it really is something that few games can match nowadays.   

Edited by Broncofan
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BobbyPhil1781

BobbyPhil1781

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16 hours ago, Broncofan said:

One piece of advice - allocate a good chunk of time more than you might originally plan for.

I still despite the Fort Condor mini-game, and 3D Brawler is a PITA (Desert Rush a close 3rd), but the character growth is so good for the party and the side characters, finishing all the side quests, and doing all the dates, was a lot more fun than I thought.    As much as I struggled with getting through the Gold Cup, the story payoff was actually surprisingly good.    So I ended spending a lot more time completing mini-games and side quests just because of the story depth it added for the party, and the NPC's.

The fact the game doesn't make any party characters "optional" like they were in FF7, basically every party member really gets time to shine in the side quest, and you get a ton of expansion.     

The game still has flaws, but the amazing focus on the in-depth character growth, since I'm a sucker for story-driven/character-building games, I can say that this is a top 5 all-time favorite game now - and talking the past 10 years, it's right up there with Last of Us and GoW: Ragnarok.    It's literally the first game I find I wanted to do more on side-quests & mini-games, because of how fun the party is. 

Other side comment - I never played Crisis Core, and I never saw Advent Children.  I just watched a 20-min recap for each - and man, the continuity the game referenced, well it's even more impressive now that I know what they had covered before.   But it also speaks to the point that you don't need to be an FF7 OG fan who saw everything, to enjoy it.   

Don't get me wrong, FF7 OG was a game-changer for me, but as long as you do FF7 Remake (with Intermission), and if you need to, get a recap of CC / Advent Children (again, I didn't have the last 2 before doing Rebirth), FF7 Rebirth does stand on its own really well.   The gameplay, storyline expansion, character growth are just all out of this world - and that score & fun factor (aside from the few times you hit a required area that is a PITA - eg Cait Sith solo area, you know what I'm talking about), it really is something that few games can match nowadays.   

Appreciate the knowledge. I definitely do everything in games, side quests and all, unless they're extremely monotonous. Like, I'm playing GTA5 right now and I'm not going to play every single golf course, go to every range, tennis club, etc but I will do at least one and will do every side quest I find. Rebirth will be no different. I think I spent 60+ hours on Remake and it was very linear and shouldn't have been nearly that long.

Really looking forward to this when I get to it later this year!

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