I happened to beat this game recently for the first time in I was just in awe at how epic this game is. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is a sequel to Final Fantasy 7 Remake (which I played on the ps4). This game was a ps5 exclusive however. I know I needed a ps5 if I was gonna play it. And last year I made that happen.
This is a continuation of the story of Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, and Barrett as they fight against the Shinra Corporation and the evil Sephiroth. I'll try not spoil much. When the game starts you play as Zack who is a solider like Cloud. You saw Zack at the end of Remake. Basically story wise there is another dimension in this game and you play as Zach in it here and there. There is a relationship meter that the main character Cloud has with every party member….answering certain questions one way or another will change the relationship. I found this to be a cool touch that the first game barely had any resemblance of.
The game's graphics are outstanding and characters look beautiful. speaking of characters you can play as more this time around. Red XIII the talking dog/cat is playable here. Later you get Yuffie the materia ninja hunter. You also get Cait Sith who is probably the worst character but he's like a robot cat who also fights with a Moogle. Like in the first game each character feels different from each other. Each character gets a chance to shine here too.
Combat wise it's similar to FF7 Remake which was a mix of turn based and real time fighting. The combat feels so good and its very fast. New to the game are synergy moves and attacks. It's basically when two characters do combined attacks at the same time. Synergy attacks can really really help out in tough battles. Also the game's combat was definitely harder than the first game's. A lot of times I found myself barely winning against one of the game's tough bosses.
Much of the game is basically open world and there's tons of stuff to do and find! The game will reward you for doing them too. There are towers that you find and can fast travel to kinda like Breath of the Wild. Also there were a a ton of mini games here too. I didn't really care much for the Queen's Blood card game but maybe I'll give it more tries. But yeah there's Chocobo Racing and even a short space shooter game thats like Star Fox.
I put a lot of hours into the game on this first playthrough....but honestly I felt I could of put more in. I put in over 70 hours! The game is just so masterful. I did think it was a little too hard at times but it was really fun overall. Top notch Voice work from the characters.....and like Remake a good variety in gameplay.
Verdict 9.9