Positives:
- Continues to interestingly expand on the lore and source material of the original "Final Fantasy VII."
- Even as someone who never played the original, it's cool to see some of its most iconic moments here.
- The emotional moments of the story still hit like a truck, and there are plenty of fun, charming moments as well.
- God, I love these characters.
- No, seriously, why are they so awesome? And why is everyone so hot?...sorry, tangent. Anyway:
- An utterly beautiful game that really shines, especially as the characters escape Midgar.
- Truly beautiful music, which shouldn't be surprising for a Square Enix game.
- Overworld is incredible to explore, with tons of discovery as well.
- The pitch-perfect combat of the first game? They made it even better here.
- As a whole, the gameplay is even more varied thanks to the new additions and minigames, and it's a blast to try all of these things.
Negatives:
More a "forewarning" but there's...a LOT of game here, which might be overwhelming to some.
Consensus: I don't know how they did it, but somehow, Square Enix topped a game that I thought was going to be impossible to top. "Final Fantasy VII Remake," to me, was almost TOO good, to the point where even with the knowledge of it being the first of three parts, I couldn't even begin to figure out how they could do any better. But somehow, Square did it; "Final Fantasy VII Rebirth" is a huge improvement over a game that was already one of my favorites of all time, and I'm blown away by what they were able to accomplish here. It's a fantastic game and I absolutely recommend you play it. Jeez...now how in the hell are they gonna top THIS with Part 3?
Final rating: 10 out of 10 "Fantastic"