I completely agree with you. Arieths death lost its weight and impact because there was too much going on. I didn't have any time to process what was going on. It was very messy
Spoiler: Thats the point the developers want to do. They show you what Cloud is seeing, not the reality, and that impact will no longer be like you have 8 years old. The Third part will show the Lake Scene and the real stuff of Aeris Death Scene on Cloud Recovery on the lifestream.
Not to mention "dream" sequences. I'm sick of all four things. More than any of that however, I'm tired of the whispers. I didn't want nonsensical heartless in this game. They just stand out as pointless obstacles. It's like the writers just want to tease changes but not actually go through with them and that's where the whispers get their tension. "Ooo, is Cloud going to catch Aerith in the forest of Ancients? Who knows?" I don't care.
Sorry but I need to say that there is no proof at all yet that Glenn is Cloud’s father. If you refer to the line at the end of Rebirth they are clearly referring to Rufus and HIS dad wanting to find the promised land. Glenn was just a cameo so far showing how Sephiroth is using a clone with his appearance trying to manipulate Rufus into not interfering with the plans. But not in Rebirth or in EC there is a mention or link between Glenn and Cloud’s father so far!
@@rzxwm10 yeah and many are using it just to say that nothing matters and nothing makes sense. I am more open to the changes and felt this game was absolutely a wonderful experience. But I guess like for everything not everyone will agree on all! Anyway regarding Glenn I believe he is long dead and as we see in the last scene his appeareance is used by Sephiroth to distract Rufus. I dont think it will become much more complicated than that, but we have to wait and see :)
The part that annoyed me the most was ,"is Aerith alive or did she die?". I think they messed with us s little too much. I think they held back on a lot of story to flush it out in the final part.
My conclusion is: Great story ideas in concept, horribly bad execution. They should have let Aerith die, let the scene breathe and linger. Then do the whole surprise cross-over with Zack fight...then let the credits roll and have the alternate aerith appear and just end on a cliffhanger (similarly to the Zack, Biggs reveal). Instead of springing multiple timelines on you and confusing you with mutiple alternate universe versions of stamp, flashing and zig-zagging left and right conceptually.
The fact people who have negative opinions on FF7 Rebirth are scared to speak up because of the fear of getting attacked and harrassed by the community makes me sad
Glenn is in Ever Crisis, but you don't need to play it to understand his role in Rebirth. He is a mystery regardless. The most you'll get from EC is that Glenn is about to seemingly defect from Shinra. First Soldier is not finish yet. Rebirth tells you more relevant back story than EC does. Playing EC will not help you understand Glen in Rebirth. It might later with more expansion to FS, but ATM there is not enough information relevant to Rebirth
Could not agree with you more. What was the point of putting so much love in to recreating and embellishing the OG to throw in all the multi verse garbage that actually drags the legacy of FF7 in to awful fan fic territory. How could they do this and think it would be better than an alternative more similar to the OG!? Now the multi verse thing means nothing matters, death doesnt matter.
I completely agree with just about everything you said in this video, although i also wished i could take the last hour of remake back as well lol. All the additions to the character work and the world and even the completely new characters and subplots work well, its the additions to main plot that just take away from the emotion of the story and make things feel less connected. When they do the old story beats so well but then add new elements that don't mesh well thematically it just feels off. In the original 7 when we see Zack's parents i always felt sad (except the first playthrough because i was 8 and had no idea what was up with zack) but in this game i was like "yeah i guess he is dead in this timeline, and its very weird Cissnai didn't say anything to them, since she works for the Turks and would know what happened but also i just played as him half an hour ago so i don't feel any sense of loss." When Glenn showed up in Junon i went from "glad i booked today off of work, ten hours into this game and loving it," to, "oh no... why can't anyone at square figure out how to tell a story without a hooded character from side content showing up to be cryptic."
SPOILERS: It's so funny because I said this is the most Kingdom Hearts that FF7 has ever felt, but I also love that? I think it's kind of just my thing 😂 Also I felt like Yuffie explained who Glenn was well enough for me to understand until you said he was Cloud's dad?! WHAT?! I didn't feel the need to play or feel like I was missing all that much until hearing that part.😭 I think it's fine to feel how you do about it & I'm sure there are a lot of people who agree. I personally did really enjoy this though & it's made me SO curious and more excited for the future of the game. I do very much feel like how "nothing changed" at the end of Remake but we had Zack branch off & survive in another timeline, we just had the same thing happen with Aerith. Looking forward to seeing where this all ends up in the third! I am curious though, do they explain Viceroy Surruf being Rufus in Ever Crisis or is tha tsomething we're supposed to infer from Rebirth?
Viceroy is not in EC. However, Rufus was working with Avalanche at one point in Before Crisis. They have connections with Wutai. Suruf and Rufus might as well be Alias
Devs were in a wierd place with where they had to end part II. The post aerith death-jenova fight in the OG is generally a pushover but they couldn't make the final fight of such a monumentally huge installment easy. Not sure i love what they did with it though. It was like the original games final fight light
For me, I like that the extra stuff amounted to not much, since the main story remained intact. My big beef is the lack of the water burial scene, which would have been the emotional closure we needed. BUT I think they’re holding it until Cloud grieves in game 3. I think he may even be suppressing the memory of the burial, which may have happened in the underground lake this time. They were sitting on stairs.
I agree, but I am personally hoping that this lack of a definitive water burial scene means they want to turn the tables around somehow, and make it such that she comes back from a different reality. I guess only the final part will be the definitive answer. Although sadly, if they want to keep Advent Children canon, then likely Cloud is just losing his mind fast.
I am personally expecting the Mideel section to do a lot of the heavy lifting of piecing everything back together. Currently I feel that even people who played the OG are getting a resense of the unreliable narrator that is Cloud. What we have seen so far, isn't necessarily what has happened and until Mideel I don't think we will know what is real and what isn't
They did so much so well; showing the party bonding and interacting and actually growing into a found family from just an alliance of acquaintances. The synergy attacks! The moogles! Adding the legend that is Gilgamesh! But yeah, you can come into this without playing or knowing anything about the FF7-verse? Absolutely not. The moment you brought up Glenn, I verbally said, “Who? Wait, Cloud has an ingame DAD?!”
I am currently watching my Wife play through Remake and Rebirth having never played the OG and she is absolutely able to follow along. Also I don't think Glenn is as important as stated here. As far as I can tell it isn't really Glenn anyway, just Sephiroth fucking with Rufus for some reason and Glenns face is the one he is using.
Finished Rebirth last night and I sat there for a solid of 10 minutes processing everything. Right now, I just don't know how will they be able to top everything they have given us in part 2. Narrative wise, I think Sephiroth will successfully turn Cloud to the evil side and this is where Zack will come into play. Although Zack is my absolutely favorite ff character - something like that wouldn't sit right with me since FF7 is supposed to be Cloud's story and journey. So a lot of the loop holes make me worried. Speaking of loop holes, why in the hell there is at least 4 different timelines for Zack and will they even address it? Anyway, loved the game but it left me with more questions than answers even more than Remake.
100% agree. Sick to f***ing death of "multiverse" BS. This might have been fine back in 2015, but we've had multiverse up the wazoo since then. I had no problem with Remake setting up a scenario where they could change things from the OG. My one and only real stipulation was that they didn't ruin Aerith's scene at the forgotten capital. Despite me absolutely loving 99% of Rebirth they went ahead and ruined Aerith's scene at the forgotten capital. That scene should have been sacrosanct, instead they ruined it in aid of justifying having a few fan-favourite characters around when they shouldn't have been and setting up a convoluted plot device for the third game. Zack, I'm hoping has an important role somehow in Part 3, cos up until the end of Rebirth his main reason for being alive appears to be just so that we can geek out at having Cloud and Zack fight Sephiroth together. Yes it was great, but it was pure fan service that actually added zero narratively. Biggs?? What was the point. Oh sorry Biggs, you survived, but you can't outrun fate, boom, dead. Great, thanks. I had no issue with Cissnei turning up. Thought she was great in CC and was pleased to see her here. Rebirth is a GREAT game, mostly.
The ending and the narrative changes are for no one, they are just bad writing. The entirety of the meta discussion of “defying fate” in remake that was there to upset those who wanted a faithful remake ended up also upsetting those who wanted a new story since the result is the same old story with zero effettive changes only made 10x worse by complete nonsense lol
First of all the story isn’t finished. Second this is a sequel, it’s a new story and its own. If you don’t like it and you like the original better then stick to that. That’s what the game is for. Otherwise it wouldn’t be as exciting to be sticking to the same script with us knowing exactly what’s gonna happen. Again this is a new story with similar elements that are gonna keep us wanting to know what happens next.
Gotta preface that i agree with you on mostly everything Agreed about the ending and the multiverse BS. They just want to give a chance for all the MCs to be alive for fanservice. I also did not appreciate how much Clerith was shoved in our faces in the last chapter. Most of the game centers around tifa and cloud’s relationship and then without much buildup in Rebirth just pandered to Clerith fans in the final cutscenes I gotta say that the end of the game also shows cloud being more crazy and more fixated on the sephiroth, the black materia, and aerith. Tifa better still be endgame 👁️
Great video and mostly agree with your points. I wasn't bothered with Glenn, I didn't even knew he was from another game and it just felt to me that if we were to know more about him would be in the 3rd part. Most of what Glenn does is basically setup that a war with Wutai is coming. For whispers/multiverse stuff, it does feel pointless since the overall plot doesn't change that much from the original. Instead of justifying the plot going in different way, it just justifies itself. I still love the game, Yuffies's portrait in this game was wonderful and Tifa and Aerith being BFFs gave me life.
While I also despise “multiverse” I might be okay with how they’re doing this one. Since it seems timelines are only temporary and fate eventually wills what happens to happen. The lifestream exists as an afterlife so removing that function in favor of everybody exists somewhere would be odd.
I actually really don’t like the ending. I think if they went with time manipulation it would’ve been a lot more compelling because at least time travel comes with stakes. I am so so so very disappointed they decided to make it a multiverse story. And I’m talking about Rebirth narratively- As a game, it’s amazing. The story is actually really fucking dumb though. Nothing that they toyed with or “changed” had any significance in the story. Destroying destiny in Remake? Doesn’t matter cause it’s back now. Aeriths materia being clear and not working? Doesn’t matter cause she ends up getting Holy anyway from another universes Aerith. Zack being back? Nope only for 5 minutes and only Cloud can see him, and then he goes back to his own Universe. Nothing matters. There was no point in playing around with expectations, there was no point in changing anything. Did they forget that Aerith had some memories from the future? Sephiroth came back from the dead, with memories from the original timeline, and his big fucking master plan now is instead of destroying the planet with meteor he’s gonna destroy the multiverse. Wow. Bigger, better, dumber. Why on earth would he let any of the party members live after they destroyed destiny? Why doesn’t he actually do anything? He knows where they’re gonna go, he knows what’s gonna happen, and he’s actively choosing to follow the plot of the original game loosely- Because it worked so well last time right? They took the safest route possible and I honestly wish they would’ve just followed the original story because now with this added context I can see the wasted potential- And they managed to make Sephiroth just seem stupid. They also managed to completely kill the surprise plot twist of Cloud having Zack’s memories by remaking Crisis core recently. So now the newer people who didn’t know about that are gonna connect the dots before the reveal actually happens lol. And for what payoff? Good job Square.
So a few days ago I completed the game, every side quest, high scored every mini game and did basically everything you could pre-post game and after that ending I decided to take a break away from the game to let my thoughts and feelings settle. I’m sure I’ll come back to complete the platinum at some point but have no plans to do it soon. For me the ending was just so poorly executed that I just felt empty by the end of it all. I’ll say that I’m with you on this, enjoyed the majority of the game but yeah need time to process
I hated this ending. It was so concerned with being confusing and meta defying that it shit all over Aerith's death and forgot to actually focus on it and give it the proper weight it deserved. It is literally impossible to interpret the events of the ending between the infinite multiverse and Cloud being a completely unreliable narrator. And in the end nothing actually changed. Aerith is still dead, her death was just a failure of a scene now and the whole ending was super confusing. Glenn didn't bother me really. I didn't know he was from Ever Crisis so I just assumed he was a new character and we would learn more about him. And we sort of did, but not really. But he didn't upset me. It was a little confusing but whatever. Not looking forward to Part 3 at all at this point honestly. I put up my own 45 minute rant/review if anyone is interested.
Fun fact: you can disable playing Zack’s sections entirely if you’re on new game plus, which affirms your point that his inclusion has almost zero impact on the story
Im with you 100% the multiverse is unnecessary as through 2 games, nothing major has changed. The multiverse serves one purpose, to shoehorn zack into it , and for part 3 to have aerith in a bigger role than she could being dead and all. Its completely fan service for zack/crisis core fan boys.
Huge ff7 fan here and don't worry, I'm not coming for you, in fact, I agreed with everything you said here! The ending a mess 😅 but the rest of the game is good 😊
My perspective as a quite new Superfan of FFVII (played and finnished the game first time when it was released on Nintendo switch). I do agree with all of your points of the good parts of the game. I realy don't care at all about Zack and have not cared to play hes spinoff game. The intresting reality that all of us who played the original game are in fact timetravlers in some way. We already knew what will happen when we play rebirht because we have played the original game. So what I get from this version of the story is that they "had" to change something to trow us off in some wayto make the outcome of the story uncertan. We all knew that Aerith will die in the Forgotton City. Compared to ending of disc one we don't know if there will be a way to save Aerith, if she realy is dead or not. For the story of Glenn I totaly missed about "Clouds father" untill you mentioned it now. To me he was just a puppet controlled by Sepiroth to mess with Rufus and try to keep shinra from intrefearing with hes plans for Cloud. But Im not sure I got it all. Have already started my secon playthrough and now I intend to complete all areas this time. The best part is that I realy enjoy the gameplay! The looks of the game and the characters are all so god and funny I just like to "hang out" with them. Totaly agree with the scores of ~95/100 not perfect but realy close to.
I haven't played any of the side games, and without that context Glenn's presence makes no sense, his lines make no sense, and he doesn't seem to have an effect on the story either. Why was he even included?
My reaction to the ending was the same as pretty much everyone's. But as I heard people talk about it I have changed my stance on it. I feel like some people forget we are told this story from clouds perspective. In the ending pretty much shows that cloud is not accepting Aeriths death. You can see that he says something and I'm pretty sure it's the dialogue from the original but it gets blocked. Also sephiroth says something like you can't see with such clouded eyes. On top of that you don't get to see him put aerith into the water like in the original. We already saw this scene in remake towards the end. So I think this is just cloud blocking everything out. So the Aerith that we see at the end is him trying to cope with her death. Or it can just be sephiroth disguising himself as aerith to continue to fuck with cloud. But like always this is just a theory. We'll have to wait for part 3 to see how they execute this.
I feel like my having forgotten a lot of what happened in the original and also had no idea who that ever crisis dude was worked in my favor to a degree. I enjoyed what was in front of me at face value and accepted that I was kinda lost on what was going on in the lore. The multiverse stuff was very convoluted, even by jrpg standards. My main issue is how much I disliked the sheer volume of unnecessary side content. Some of it was fantastic, and the rest just felt like awkward padding. Having finished my first playthrough, I'm not all that eager to jump back in to get the platty. Which is a shame, because with Remake I pretty much didn't stop playing it from the moment I received it until I'd 100%'d everything.
Great review 😊 spot on. Part 3 better still have the original weapons ruby ect. 😅. Luckily my Brain is a ff7 knowledge enriched lol so I got it all lol part 3 gona have some major twists I'm thinking
I feel that the feeling (heh) of unsatisfaction (that’s a word) is intentional. Cloud not having his limit, but everyone else does. The aerith theme being consumed by the Jenova theme. Cloud seems to be in… denial (1st stage). I hope there’s a pay off for people that feel cheated, and I don’t want to diminish your experience, but I adore this… weird? Feeling? It just feels wrong, and that’s how someone should kinda feel at the end of a second act. But I recognize this is a FULL game. To wait 4 years is a big ask. Hope y’all stick around for the third! I have high hopes! Worth mentioning the team was extremely worried about how people would perceive this ending, but they didn’t feel that way for remake… I feel like that’s very telling, that this is intentional.
In my view, theyve always intended for nothing to *really* change. I think the ending was a good combination of keeping 2 different people happy: people that wanted aerith to still die and the people that wanted things to change. Ive also maintained the thought that i expected things to be left confusing seeing as how it isnt the final part of the trilogy. Ideally, everything is explained a bit more clearly in the next game and everything gets tied together. I think it was unreasonable to expect this game to be the one that gives all of the answers and leaves no questions unanswered. I love complicated stories with loads of depth though so im probably biased on this.
I completely understand why a complex and confusing ending like that would have you confused and upset… I would just like to give another prospect I believe the whole point of that happening is for the fans of glen and Zack for us to have our moments and it answers the questions we’ve had for years what if Zack survived what if aerith survived what if Biggs survived this allowed us to have that answer without completely changing the game
I was really hoping the world was cyclical before playing rebirth. Im not much of a fan of multiverses it diminishes the significance of each character and kinda ruins the finality of their death. We see zack biggs and aerith die multiple times and the doomed nature of each branching reality kinda undermines all of the new scenes for me. The addition of glenn didnt bother me as much because i was and still am confident that if the team wanted to they could create many new deep and interesting additions to the story. There are plenty of aspects that bothered me more than even these changes but id be talking forever if i went over each and every one. Ill just say this: When i finished remake I was very hype and hopeful for an ambitious sequel to the original game and didnt agree with anyone upset about the changes but seeing how safe they played with the new aspects of the game I have to say i am still pretty dejected even though this is probably still the greatest game ive ever played.
I really did not like the execution of the aerith scene.. whispers take over the screen for too long couldnt appreciate what they were trying to show me. Overall dissapointed with what they did, i have really strong opinions on the idea that aertih should die and they butchered it. Whispers hovering over her and cloud, fake outs, and the scene after was so bad no carying her to the water, shes just hanging around like a ghost or something. No emotion, no impact, just confusion and frustration. Misses the mark on the themes of death, the emptiness and sadness that comes with it and how important that is to the story. Thats what made the original so memorable for me and I got into after playing remake. Just my opinion, Aerith and the story deserved better. I dont mind changes but there are things that are so integral to the story and the game as a piece of art that i think were missed so that they can cater to fans or just for the sake of making things look big/epic just comes off as heartless and convoluted. Had high expectations with how well they portrayed the characters and writing throughout but when it came time for the most iconic and memorable moment, disappointing
I'm giving them some grace with the end of this game keeping in mind that there's still more of the story to tell but I hope they have a damn good conclusion to all of *this*. But I'm glad they expanded on some things like the Gi tribe and some more in depth story behind why the black materia even exists. I think the story also suffers a bit from social media pressure, like how Cid is really different. But who knows, we'll probably see more about Cid in the next part. I couldn't wait to get passed the end (as much as I absolutely struggled with the last phase of sephiroth! So many restarts... SO MANY) just so I could replay upper junon through the gold saucer, objectively the best part of the game 😂
Nomura was the one who wanted the game to stick to OG the most. Again please inform yourselves before putting statement that people will believe with no argument. The storymaker is Nojima and the producer is Kitase. The two wanted the remake to be another thing from OG and funny enough Nomura is the one who was nervous about the ending of Rebirth and trying to keep the story within certain limits.
@@Nyla_emoteshard to believe someone with 1/3 of the say has no power to influence the story. I mean he’s not just another dev lol. I read the article and it just sounds like Nomura is all too aware of his perception and is downplaying his contributions “unless you enjoy them”. Any Kingdom Hearts fans can see Nomura written all over remake and rebirth. It’s his MO. You’ll have a hard time convincing anyone otherwise
@@cyntheticgaming I played all KH games so I understand why people think this way. And nobody can guarantee that these ideas are not from Nomura. But I am stating the truth by saying that story and scenario are written by Nojima. And he has been responsible of many other games before FF7 OG that included timetravel. So hard to say that Nojima is not responsible and only “blame” Nomura (if there is anything to blame, cause for me the new direction is totally fine - and I have been fan of the game since 1997).
@@Nyla_emotes totally a fair point and respect your opinion but yeah. I think this ending in rebirth is gonna take some time for a few people to digest including myself. Also an OG fan here from way back! Good to see us going strong :)
The game was very strong until the ending. Not because it’s bad but because it was so confusing and distracting that it basically had no impact. That’s just such a weird way to end a story even if it is a middle chapter. But my god, they did an amazing job with the side content and world exploration. This is the best Final Fantasy game in a very long time just as far as gameplay is concerned.
This game was a 10/10 (in my eyes) until the ending! Yes the Aerith scene still got me, but It was messy immediately after that. It was almost like a bunch of senior creative minds could not come to agreement on what should happen and in then just put everything together. But, will we forgive them when the 3rd game comes out and it all pieces together beautifully. Yes we will but unfortunately I thought a lot of that cryptic stuff would end after remake. I’m so mixed 😂
Finished it tonight and a few things really got to me. I agree that there was entirely too much hype around Zack for what he ultimately did, especially after Nomura said he would have an "extremely important role" - I feel more than a little jerked around, given Zack & Aerith are my two favorite characters. My other big nitpick aside from the minigames (some of them are torture) was yet again, there were a slew of boss fights that just felt egregiously over tuned (looking at YOU Rufus) and while I like the action oriented combat, I also miss the power fantasy that was present in the OG. Ultimately though, I take solace in Zack's final line - the devs clearly didn't want to mess with ' the big scene ' , but that doesn't mean the ending will be exactly the same. Still waiting for Genesis to show up as well.
Power fantasy? That’s easy enemy skill plus hp absorption and synergy skills and abilities are op especially if you got got limit break increases to do lvl 3 limits and spam it with limit siphon
@@OfficialDjTalksick One of the biggest draws to the original FF7 was what you could do with Materia, and so far the Remake series feels too limited on that front - I especially hate that twice now we only get 2 Magnify materia, and you get both of them quite late into Rebirth. The story already mentioned the huge materia, but if we don't get Master materia in part 3 I will be pissed. Of course it's gonna suck finally getting Master Magic (if we do that is) and not having Aerith to take advantage of it (at least for most of the game - she could very well come back before the end alongside Zack)
Zack being alive and being in like 5 timelines is stupid. Zach’s sole purpose is to kick off clouds story and his mind fuckery. The game died at the end for me. OG is and will always be the better version now. The final game is going to end up like GOT season 8.
Thank God for this video, I felt EXACTLY the same. I was so irritated by the number (and hours of length) of forced minigame sequences, and honestly some of the world traversal was infuriating (you mentioned it, fuck's sake the gliding chocobos), but the majority of the gameplay was so incredible by comparison at times I couldn't believe the lack of Quality Control and/or QoL. There were times I was almost positive the devs were deliberately trolling us with how irritating things would feel. And of course the story. I was excited for Zack at first, really excited! Very intrigued by how Biggs and Marlene and Aerith's mom still remembered "our timeline" even though they were obviously in a new one now, but the explanation for how this happened, or even why, was confusing and unsatisfying. Warning bells went off at the Gongaga reactor when the whispers showed up... we defied fate already. We defeated them. Lol, guess not. For them to pull all of this multiverse nonsense, not only sanitizes Cloud's mental breakdown (he honestly barely even seems unstable anymore, just coping with living between timelines/worlds/dinensions), but it changes the entire meaning and purpose of Sephiroth's "reunion." And sure, this is a future, or maybe even "beyond time" version of Sephiroth that has already been reunited with Jenova and thus that isn't personal for him anymore, but that makes him a less compelling villain. Defy fate with him? The guy who wants to lord over an entire multiversity compressed into one? I thought they might go somewhere actually interesting with this Sephiroth and his pleas to Cloud to defy fate together, but it's even more generic than the original. Side note: the Gi. They're aliens now? Like Jenova. They can't enter the Lifestream because they're aliens. Also Jenova was an alien. Like, Sephiroth's mom, that Jenova. So... is that where they're going with that? Like, will that be the big change? Is Jenova, like, Queen of the Gi? Is Sephiroth ALSO unable to enter the Lifestream and that's going to tie in with maybe Geostigma and that whole "I will never be a memory" schtick? Eeeeegghhh. Idk. Not sure what to make of the Gi and all of the implications.
I felt the same way as you but mainly around not doing much with zack, I felt that he needed a definite path set in this game and all the going against destiny stuff turned out to be nothing really. I want the next game to have zack be in the main party + see what happens to midgar crew, marlene is obviously also from the main timeline so whats up with that. To be honest I won't say I hate the ending now after resting from the game for the last few days I'm just pissed I'm gonna have to wait maybe another 4 years for the next game. EDIT: I rewatched the glenn scene at the end, I think your wrong im pretty sure he was referring to Rufus and his dad who are both looking for the promised land
I'm pretty sure they just repeating original but in a VERY convoluted way. After two games all the multiverse stuff don't matter and "unknown jorney" seems like a bait if all the major events remains the same. Still a fun game
Agree with a lot of the points here Story and characters 12/10 -until you get to that last bit, where my smooth brain genuinely could not keep up with all the time swaps. The emotional tension is undercut by the multitude of "what?...wait what? huh? ohhhh!~...oh i have no idea." I have a better grasp on things now, but that is after SEVERAL lore videos. Which all had a slightly different take because of how convoluted it gets. Some people are theorizing Glenn is Clouds dad after that line to Rufus Some think Tifa could see the visual distortion with Cloud holding Aerith At least a couple think Aerith is alive and cucking Tifa and think that's why she's bummed out at the end (this one is definitely not the case idk how they got there) Some think there's a backup Aerith and Cloud from the Terrier timeline and some people think the ones that woke up after falling off the whisper tendril are those two....the list just goes on and on and on. Please Square, I know you're reading this.....Please tie this up neatly in part 3..for the love of god
I think you are spot on for the spoilers section, the ending is even more bittersweet because it will take a long a** time to know the conclusion, especially when there is a sinking feeling that Areith's death could not be avoided no matter how the hope seemed to come through at that moment when the worlds split. I feel that the multiverse aspect is out there to pander to fans as well as leave it open for interpretation and content creation and discussion on the interwebs as well as give the devs a way out depending on the sentiment of the net after Rebirth's release. Also, that ending seemed to have been recorded before everything was completed as the graphics looked kinda..... beta for lack of a better word. But I read somewhere that they intend to keep FF7: Advent Children canon for this series, so that would mean that Aerith was indeed dead, but maybe the multiverse saves a version of her somewhere???
Honestly he's just a plot device for Yuffie and Rufus. Any further involvement will be down to whether Sephiroth uses another puppet posing as Glenn to lure Yuffie into Wutai and take materia from the party.
Nailed it bro. I still massively enjoyed the game and have it as the best FF of all time but it stings since the ending was so off from the rest of the game it ruined its grasp of perfection for me as the GOAT and this is coming from a non-purist who enjoyed Remake’s ending 9.5/10 Reasons: 1. Aerith’s scene is devoid of emotion, whether she lives or dies is irrelevant, the intense emotions are replaced for a think tank 2. Biggs and Zack’s purpose are not answered. Why were they transported thru worlds? Why have Biggs live and talk about purpose to just kill him again? 3. We get multiple timelines instead of just two, over convoluting things 4. Game’s last chapter moves at break neck speed. We rush thru timelines and the forest and then skip the Forgotten capital exploration entirely 5. We fight Sephiroth AGAIN after Remake, kills the excitement. I’m sure it’s the same at the end of the 3rd game…. 6. Sephiroth bizarro fight is overly long, distracts and lessens the impact of Aerith’s scene even more 7. Zack with Cloud should of been saved for the 3rd game 8. We get no dedicated Zack chapter to give us clarity on what’s going on in his world, only snippets of him walking around and talking, much less barely any gameplay when he was marketed so highly for this game I was excited to hear he was going after Hojo, and where it would go. Then I saw the multiple timelines split and face palmed. Highway robbery Honorable mention: Temple of the Ancients made us switch parties 4 times. Wtf? Lol
All Sephiroth had to say was he was going to summon meteor and destroy the world instead he talks all this confusing garbage about different timelines. He was once an all time great villian now he's just weird.
I hate the multiverse stuff it's just a device to fanfic Zack in to the story. I went on an unforgettable journey with the main cast in og, I didn't go on that journey with Zack and don't want him stealing their thunder. Zack had his heroic moment at the end of Crisis Core and like Aerith it should be preserved and given the proper closure it deserves. Aerith's death omitted two key scenes that robbed it if it's emotional impact. The scene at the altar was a make or break moment for me going in and they blew it. As a huge fan of Yuffie her most emotional scene in og is her praying for Aerith then crying as Cloud hugs her. Cloud doesn't interact with any other character and it's easily the longest animation of the party and it was absent. That moment where she breaks down grounds her character which is otherwise comedic and bratty it makes you realise howuch she genuinely cares. We also lost the scene of Aerith being lowered in to the lake as she fades away. Showing Clouds delusion wasn't worth losing those monents. On a more positive note though the implications of the Glenn scene are huge and have me excited. Rufus has been goaded in to restarting the war by Sephiroth posing as Glenn as the real Glenn is long dead, It's also clear that Rufus is Viceroy Sarruf. This means Yuffie who is loyal to them unwittingly supported a movement led by Rufus that landed her dad in jail. While he poses as the anonymous leader it's Glenn (Sephiroth) that Yuffie is going to seek out when trying to get materia (Im betting huge materia) to help Wutai as the war heats up. Yuffie and Rufus's roles in pt 3 are going to be some of the most intriguing going in. Some of our party have had their big moments but Yuffie, Vincent and Cid still need theirs and Yuffie's has been set up really well.
This Ending was dedicated to all the fans who hold the Aerith death scene as one of the most important moments not just in gaming but in life too, the evidence? When Cloud is fighting Jenova in the first phase he said "You've done it before - can do it again" Clearly he's saying that to himself because he's the only one in the party who is aware of Aerith's plan and what's going on with the worlds (as that is what i understand from the ending). But the most beautiful thing is that he's not only saying that quote to himself but to you, you who played the original all those years ago, you who was destroyed in tears and impact you so much. We all know Aerith's death and this moment in Rebirt is completely aware of that so the whole time on these fights Cloud is on the mindset of not fail her again. YES i also missed the scene when Cloud is holding Aerith's body and let her go and i also missed the speech he gives to Sephiroth (Which is on Rebirth but just muted and flashes out so quickly). But people need to understand that this is not a common remake of a videogame, it's a sequel disguised as a remake that is fully aware of the past events. This entire project is most likely the end of the FF7 Compilation and thus far is doing an amazing job at it in my opinion as a long time fan of FF7 (Peace everyone we don't need to fight ourselves for different opinions if you don't like it that's completely fine) Loved every second of this amazing game made with so much passion and love for FF7
In sequel I would expect story to continue and I don't see continuation in Rebirth, all OG events are the same and what is new it's really didn't matter in the end. Same book, different cover so far as they say
@@samthecaribbean6466 Hell yeah it's a continuation. In the Original game (SPOILER WARNING) Cloud doesn't remembers Zack THIS early in the story. Sephiroth is not present on Midgar like he was in Remake, when Cloud and Zack fight Sephiroth in the end of Rebirth they literally said to each other to catch up later and confront Sephiroth in an ultimate showdown that doesn't happened in the original game. Tifa when she is on the Lifestream sees a lot of stuff including the fact that Sephiroth is still alive on the Lifestream controlling the Arbiters of Fate.
@@SomnusShinra SPOILERS BELOW Meeting Zack was cool, but Cloud still thinks he's a soldier, he did not accepted the truth about himself so it's still mental breakdown in the future but with a new twist. Sure, Seph has Arbiters and multiverse hoping but he did the same OG things with a very little extra. Killed the snake, toyed with Cloud, murdered Aerith and flew away to summon everyone for reunion so Cloud could bring him Black materia again. I see this ending the same as a disc2 ending, but sure, how we got here is quite different.
Ok so some complaints. 1. Gfx in general. Between the res switch up on performance and pop in even close to the camera it wasn't much of a performance. 2. I should have focused on the story. Outside the bulletin board, that filler was EXCESSIVE. 3. Possibilities but is it time? Reality? Can we converge multiple ones for the best outcome? Did they spoil it all by saying how Advent Children are still cannon? The multiverse thing sucks but honestly? I don't think that is it. Hypothesis: is there a good version of Sephiroth? Where is Genesis? Last I saw him he was still alive. White materia what is it for? Save the planet or purify Sephiroth of Jenova's taint? Could Sephiroth be the key to allowing the Gi to be part of the stream since Sephiroth is only half Jenova and half human? I mean he was allowed to become part of it. Tainting it.
They did the same thing, twice. Remake and rebirth were both amazing… up until the final chapter where they entirely threw the script out and just said “fuck it”. I’ll be 35 this year, I was there day 1 on 7’s release and this game has deeply turned me off from playing part 3…
I actually don’t think aerith’s death in rebirth is bad at all if anything it tries a very different way of conveying her death through clouds mind. The part when cloud deflects Sephiroth sword split onto ANOTHER Timeline where cloud saw that he saved aerith and decides to Fight him alongside the Actual timeline where she actually died resulting in probably his cellular degredation destroying him psychologically into a denial that she died. When the multi phase boss started aerith’a theme playing in the background against was almost like I myself wanted to deny aerith just died, you can hear it in the Hym and I thought it was such a phenomenal way of conveying the emotion I felt at the moment before the crazy sequence of fights began with sense of Hollow and Emptiness. By the End fight with sephiroth aerith’s spirit lives on which is definitely a foreshadowing that her spirit will now be guiding cloud as he continues the journey with the party but unable to tell him the truth because she believes that’s when Tifa’s supposed to be with cloud to see it through the mental disorder he’s having. Cloud is in a more Torrid state than he is in the original and still highly under sephiroth hands as a puppet especially him having the black materia fully foreshadows the northern crater in part 3. I think this ending will hit even harder for fans of the OG especially people who hold aerith’s death strongly although it was executed a little wonky with multiple cuts in between the scenes, other than that I fully get what they’re going for.
Except she doesn't die in the Main world. Tifa had static and saw both worlds. One, Aerith is covered in blood. Two, Cloud blocked Sephiroth and Aerith isn't harmed. Now, here's how you know which is which. Seph needed to force Cloud and company into the World Between Worlds with the key to get the black materia. This happened right when Tifa saw static. The WBW Temple is not on the Northern continent, only in the Main. The WBW is the OG game. That is why Aerith seems dead. Cloud understands it's an illusion. Cissnei doesn't feel Zack is dead either.
I understand your take I believe “zack’s rebirth” story will be DLC for 26.99 And quick question still don’t know who Glenn is what’s the evidence he is Cloud’s father And how do they not at least add Genesis or Deep-ground side story instead they added weapons that look like Sin from FF10
Opened this video and knew immediately what the "almost" was gonna be 😂. A lot of the choices flesh out the story more in a good way, but they've tried to have their cake and eat it, dangling the possibility of new stakes in an unknown narrative, and then use it....to do absolutely nothing except confuse the hell out of the viewer, and drown out the most powerful moment in the story in an absolute hurricane of fanservice and spectacle.
I completely agree with you. The ending really soured it for me and I loved the rest of the game. It seems to be a multiverse and I don’t like that. There is a possibility it is not, but I have to wait 3-5 years to find out. Zack and Biggs both seemed pretty pointless in this game. I was waiting to see the point of both of them in this game and I’m still waiting. I also really hope Glenn is explained in the next game because I’m not gonna play Ever Crisis. Going into Remake I wanted this trilogy to stand alone and be complete without needing to play any of the other games in the FF7 compilation, including the original.
LoL. Another statistical data for "Games I'm not touching as long as there's Tetsuya Nomura in it". If I were to play the game, it would be to look at its gameplay and skip the story. LoL
@@Masterpain33 yea but Sakaguchi still helmed the game, and Nomura was just a junior member of the design team (or something. can't remember the details). In this game and KH he is the director
FF Rebirth is my GOTY and I thought Zack's story at the end was a bit lame and Aeriths death was kinda fumbled. I think I like how confusing it is. It's like we are seeing through Cloud's eyes.
The 1st game is literally called "Remake" not "Remaster".... I've been confused since the announcement of remake why people are expecting this to be anything other than a Remake, meaning to Remake the game/story. Also if you pay attention to the original this was all there, its not a multiverse, it is the lifestream. Sephiroth literally explains he has traveled the lifestream in the OG and gone to the past and future through it. You really have to dissect the OG to understand whats really going on. The game was pretty much made for people that have eaten up the lore for 20+ years. I wouldnt recommended this trilogy for new players/people who have not dove into the entire compilation.
People expected a remake, the original but remade in a higher fidelity. What they got is this psuedo-sequel that plays with your knowledge of the original game's events. Introduces multiple timelines/worlds and tries to have you theorize about what might change. In a hypothetical scenario where we did get a faithful remake, calling it "FF7 Remaster" makes zero sense since your average remaster is the same game, same engine, just spruced up with better textures, frame rate, or resolution. It was obvious from the first trailer that it was all going to be entirely rebuilt in a new engine lol. FF7 Remake intentionally plays with the players expectation of what a remake even is. People aren't wrong for assuming what they did prior to launch. The devs knew that's the expectation most players would have, because they wanted to subvert them by the end. To pretend it's on them is honestly pretty pretentious sounding. Like you have it all figured and are so much smarter than everyone else.
It feels like the only time other than the end of the game a Zack part was important is when he makes the choice between Cloud and Biggs. Because it shows that every choice being made is creating a separate timeline since things aren’t bound by Fate anymore
why was zack important showing up in a pocket dimension to fight one of many sephiroths, fighting jenova in a doomed reality, and the ability to make timelines by a choice, able to jump timelines, being the first in the timeline to "defy fate", see the whispers, so on and so on. its ridiculous and if you examine it rationally, it doesnt make sense. zacks death was 1-2 years before the story of ff7.
@@lldavidll to me it seemed to show that now that “Fate” had been defeated every single new choice is creating a branching timeline and every choice in those branched timelines is creating other timelines to the point that it’s rapidly getting out of control and the only way to course correct might be to force the “fated” choices to happen anyways. Seems like they’re going for a “no matter what you do you cannot defy fate” type of message
@@dukeofmayonaise it just doesnt make sense. by defying fate and defeating inserted lore gods, it changes the past for only zack to live for fan service. they retcon events to the point of it happened but didnt happen and insert fate ghosts. it messes up the story of ff7, and fans loving the original story is why ff7 remake was made. fate was never a theme in the original. its just so dumb for writers to do this. not only do they make different timelines, those timelines time travel into other timelines and characters can jump from timeline to timeline without losing memories of other timelines, why? becasue the writer just wants it to happen. its just completely stupid to follow a character through different timelines and in the story the character is aware of every timeline. its not really clear is it, if their consciousness just gets put in another timeline or their physical body is being transported. the whole timeline story is garbage.
I didn’t like the ending for a different reason. Throwing Sephiroth’s form at us here left me with a bad taste. I love 90% of the game and that 10% has to do with gameplay for the first part.
I dont think it's a fair critique that people should be able to expect to play rebirth without knowing anything about remake, integrade and crisis core (to some extent). If you went into rebirth expecting to understand without prior knowledge then you are an idiot 🤣 I think you are overstating Glenn's appearance as Important he appeared a few times in a 100 hour rpg. Also cameos happen in lots of games. I think people are reading too much into Aeriths death, I think cloud is losing mind and can't comprehend that he didn't save her. The way he spoke to her at the end speaks to this, he doesn't know she is dead. Also everything Yuffie was fantastic!
Agree 100% now we will have 2 years of people complaining about the ending (that of course can be discussed but then they should infomr themselves about the lore first I believe) just to end up like for Rebirth that with the first trailer got everyone back on board. I have nothing against others opinion and anyone can dislike a game, but saying that you should be able to play with no knowledge at all of what comes before is the same of reading a trilogy starting from the last book. Also Glenn’s role so far was totally minor and ended up being just another clone used by Sephiroth to deceive Rufus…
I have to say I’m glad you had the courage to criticize the game. Because we all now as a content creator if you have the wrong unpopular opinion it stumps the growth of the channel. However I’m just a regular person and MY GOD did they fumble the ending sooooo hard!!!!!! I share a lot of the same sentiments as you on what was poorly implemented with the story. Loved the game but didnt like the way they handled the ending. You didn’t even speak on the death & personally, they did a disservice to how they handled Aeriths death. She didn’t deserve to go out how she did with a 10 phase boss battle seconds after. Where’s the time to grieve? Where’s the time to process? Why do i have to keep my eyes peeled in every scene eyes for a damn Stamp dog to know what timeline I’m seeing 😂 Just had to get that off my chest. I’m done. Thank you 😂
I’m just wondering how the hell the next game will start? Are we going down a mountain snowboarding sonic adventure battle 2 style or are we doing a tutorial as zack
It's limbo, not a multiverse. The date at the end made it very obvious. Like the top layer of Dantes inferno. Og ff7 did alot of this alternate space too with clouds mind. Aerith showed herself in visions in the original not to mention advent children introduced the limbo state pretty overtly. It's not really all that convoluted if you pay attention.
Tbh I don’t think it’s that clear. Nightskyprince did a good video covering the multiverse evidence including all the various breeds of stamp and when they show up etc. but I do think limbo is an interesting take worth considering
Remake bothered me a lot because it was too much padding Rebirth I loved the game from start to end, it's amazing. But I can't handle that multiverse bullcrap. Let's see if part 3 justify all that nonsense. They could chanfe somethings like Re2 Remake does, but noooo, they added a KH narrative.
Gongaga and red 13s voice change made pissed me off more than anything 😂 the impact of aeriths death was a disappointment because of all the multiverse crap going on.
i was disappointed by remake ending, multiverse, but wanted to give rebirth a chance, and as you sais it was great until it wasn't. ending was not only bad as multiverse like remake but this time it also ruined aerith death emotional impact. for me i got fatigued by all the filler content that was forcefully put as kinda mandatory for progression, it made me rush it after a while as it took me out of the main story.
Gonna be honest, ReBirth felt a LOT like Mads Effect 3, sure 90% of it was good, the combat was better than it has ever been, the character writing was really good, and I love these characters and this setting. But the ending and choices failed the final product. Hopefully not so badly as Mass Effect 3 did, but I guess only time will tell there
Even without the ending, the game's story beats were so spaced and were always followed by either comic relief or 2 hours of forced mini games. Game is a disappointment on the story department
Remake - I love this characters. Wait why are they different? It's cool anyway. Wait why the game is bloated and feels like a big demo. WTF ending. Rebirth - ok I think I got this. It's much better. WTF ending. Why it doesn't feel like ff7 at all? Will they add 40% to 3rd part? Couldn't they just do 1:1 since added stuff is the bad part...
Im going to implore everyone who was feeling confused and bamboozled by the ending to play through it again, watch carefully - and allow a new interpretation and emotions to come through outside of your expectation . I felt a little thrown by the ending of course also - and some confusion did get in the way of the emotional response I was EXPECTING to happen . But on subsequent play throughs there actually a lot to feel about what’s actually on display. Especially the date between cloud and Aerith and when she sends him back knowing her end is inevitable. The meaning of that carry’s its own gravitas and heartbreak…and I think actually adds to the entire altar scene considerably. I have faith they are going to land this entire plane correctly - but they are definitely taking us on a bumpy unexpected ride that I think we will see the wisdom of at its conclusion
I'm kind of sick of this multiverse and time travel shenanigans. Also, there are better ways to want to include Glenn into the story and not like a ghost or alter ego entity.
So, definitely don't like multiverse, I can only think of two examples I liked (the one and everything everywhere all at once) This game was incredible, everything good with remake was made better (except situps) and almost everything bad or lacking in remake they fixed, thay being said; I did feel I was 'ready for it to end' when it ended, I didn't like the ending too much, I didn't like how they took from some emotional scenes in the game The dyne scene: the shinra hero death he had felt random, and (definitely not an advocate for suicide) the original death felt more impactful, because it showed how truly broken that man was, and it would have hurt Barrett even more, so it kinda felt like a cop out to remove sensitive story telling Also aeriths death felt... less impactful, you didn't see it, you didn't see her shock, you didn't see her send off, it just felt like "y'all know what happens here, we won't show it again" Something this game could (still use, DLC exists for a reason) give it 3d maps like borderlands 3, god that would have made gongaga and cosmo canyon way easier Once you beat the game... let me just have all 7 party members all the time, the narrative doesn't matter for accuracy of "who is where" just let me have everyone, everywhere (except solo stuff) I know I said a lot of gripes, but everyone else has so much positivity they have said, and I agree with 99% and won't say ot any better than they did
I think youre misunderstanding the "multiverse" situation. When space time was fractured and fate was split it made these branching paths, each with its own lifestream and such. Sephiroth wants to reunite all the worlds into a combined super gaia to kill any chance at him losing in any lifestream time cycle, as well as become a more powerful "god" then he could become in any singular cycle
I completely agree with you. Arieths death lost its weight and impact because there was too much going on. I didn't have any time to process what was going on. It was very messy
Spoiler: Thats the point the developers want to do.
They show you what Cloud is seeing, not the reality, and that impact will no longer be like you have 8 years old.
The Third part will show the Lake Scene and the real stuff of Aeris Death Scene on Cloud Recovery on the lifestream.
With you on being tired of multiverses and time travel and alternate dimensions. Ugh
Not to mention "dream" sequences. I'm sick of all four things.
More than any of that however, I'm tired of the whispers. I didn't want nonsensical heartless in this game. They just stand out as pointless obstacles. It's like the writers just want to tease changes but not actually go through with them and that's where the whispers get their tension. "Ooo, is Cloud going to catch Aerith in the forest of Ancients? Who knows?" I don't care.
@@Alassandros Me too! it doesn't make any sense and no plus at all. Is like returning to KH
Sorry but I need to say that there is no proof at all yet that Glenn is Cloud’s father. If you refer to the line at the end of Rebirth they are clearly referring to Rufus and HIS dad wanting to find the promised land. Glenn was just a cameo so far showing how Sephiroth is using a clone with his appearance trying to manipulate Rufus into not interfering with the plans. But not in Rebirth or in EC there is a mention or link between Glenn and Cloud’s father so far!
thanks, I came to the comments to dispute that affirmation
@@taddensetlie yeah felt like saying cause they misinterpreted the scene with Rufus :)
That's the magic 9f Kingdom Hearts abstract multiverses. In 1 world he is Cloud's father, in another he isn't. And none of it matters.
Except in no world in ff7 was that suggested. Only fans are speculating on the link between Glenn and Cloud
@@rzxwm10 yeah and many are using it just to say that nothing matters and nothing makes sense. I am more open to the changes and felt this game was absolutely a wonderful experience. But I guess like for everything not everyone will agree on all!
Anyway regarding Glenn I believe he is long dead and as we see in the last scene his appeareance is used by Sephiroth to distract Rufus. I dont think it will become much more complicated than that, but we have to wait and see :)
The part that annoyed me the most was ,"is Aerith alive or did she die?". I think they messed with us s little too much. I think they held back on a lot of story to flush it out in the final part.
My conclusion is: Great story ideas in concept, horribly bad execution.
They should have let Aerith die, let the scene breathe and linger. Then do the whole surprise cross-over with Zack fight...then let the credits roll and have the alternate aerith appear and just end on a cliffhanger (similarly to the Zack, Biggs reveal).
Instead of springing multiple timelines on you and confusing you with mutiple alternate universe versions of stamp, flashing and zig-zagging left and right conceptually.
The fact people who have negative opinions on FF7 Rebirth are scared to speak up because of the fear of getting attacked and harrassed by the community makes me sad
Glenn is in Ever Crisis, but you don't need to play it to understand his role in Rebirth. He is a mystery regardless. The most you'll get from EC is that Glenn is about to seemingly defect from Shinra. First Soldier is not finish yet. Rebirth tells you more relevant back story than EC does. Playing EC will not help you understand Glen in Rebirth. It might later with more expansion to FS, but ATM there is not enough information relevant to Rebirth
Could not agree with you more. What was the point of putting so much love in to recreating and embellishing the OG to throw in all the multi verse garbage that actually drags the legacy of FF7 in to awful fan fic territory. How could they do this and think it would be better than an alternative more similar to the OG!? Now the multi verse thing means nothing matters, death doesnt matter.
I completely agree with just about everything you said in this video, although i also wished i could take the last hour of remake back as well lol. All the additions to the character work and the world and even the completely new characters and subplots work well, its the additions to main plot that just take away from the emotion of the story and make things feel less connected. When they do the old story beats so well but then add new elements that don't mesh well thematically it just feels off. In the original 7 when we see Zack's parents i always felt sad (except the first playthrough because i was 8 and had no idea what was up with zack) but in this game i was like "yeah i guess he is dead in this timeline, and its very weird Cissnai didn't say anything to them, since she works for the Turks and would know what happened but also i just played as him half an hour ago so i don't feel any sense of loss." When Glenn showed up in Junon i went from "glad i booked today off of work, ten hours into this game and loving it," to, "oh no... why can't anyone at square figure out how to tell a story without a hooded character from side content showing up to be cryptic."
SPOILERS:
It's so funny because I said this is the most Kingdom Hearts that FF7 has ever felt, but I also love that? I think it's kind of just my thing 😂 Also I felt like Yuffie explained who Glenn was well enough for me to understand until you said he was Cloud's dad?! WHAT?! I didn't feel the need to play or feel like I was missing all that much until hearing that part.😭
I think it's fine to feel how you do about it & I'm sure there are a lot of people who agree. I personally did really enjoy this though & it's made me SO curious and more excited for the future of the game. I do very much feel like how "nothing changed" at the end of Remake but we had Zack branch off & survive in another timeline, we just had the same thing happen with Aerith. Looking forward to seeing where this all ends up in the third!
I am curious though, do they explain Viceroy Surruf being Rufus in Ever Crisis or is tha tsomething we're supposed to infer from Rebirth?
Viceroy is not in EC. However, Rufus was working with Avalanche at one point in Before Crisis. They have connections with Wutai. Suruf and Rufus might as well be Alias
Devs were in a wierd place with where they had to end part II. The post aerith death-jenova fight in the OG is generally a pushover but they couldn't make the final fight of such a monumentally huge installment easy. Not sure i love what they did with it though. It was like the original games final fight light
For me, I like that the extra stuff amounted to not much, since the main story remained intact. My big beef is the lack of the water burial scene, which would have been the emotional closure we needed. BUT I think they’re holding it until Cloud grieves in game 3. I think he may even be suppressing the memory of the burial, which may have happened in the underground lake this time. They were sitting on stairs.
I think you are right about seeing that scene in the next game. Maybe it will be part of what breaks him or a part of what helps him heal. Maybe both
I agree, but I am personally hoping that this lack of a definitive water burial scene means they want to turn the tables around somehow, and make it such that she comes back from a different reality. I guess only the final part will be the definitive answer. Although sadly, if they want to keep Advent Children canon, then likely Cloud is just losing his mind fast.
I am personally expecting the Mideel section to do a lot of the heavy lifting of piecing everything back together.
Currently I feel that even people who played the OG are getting a resense of the unreliable narrator that is Cloud. What we have seen so far, isn't necessarily what has happened and until Mideel I don't think we will know what is real and what isn't
They did so much so well; showing the party bonding and interacting and actually growing into a found family from just an alliance of acquaintances. The synergy attacks! The moogles! Adding the legend that is Gilgamesh! But yeah, you can come into this without playing or knowing anything about the FF7-verse? Absolutely not. The moment you brought up Glenn, I verbally said, “Who? Wait, Cloud has an ingame DAD?!”
I am currently watching my Wife play through Remake and Rebirth having never played the OG and she is absolutely able to follow along.
Also I don't think Glenn is as important as stated here. As far as I can tell it isn't really Glenn anyway, just Sephiroth fucking with Rufus for some reason and Glenns face is the one he is using.
Finished Rebirth last night and I sat there for a solid of 10 minutes processing everything. Right now, I just don't know how will they be able to top everything they have given us in part 2. Narrative wise, I think Sephiroth will successfully turn Cloud to the evil side and this is where Zack will come into play. Although Zack is my absolutely favorite ff character - something like that wouldn't sit right with me since FF7 is supposed to be Cloud's story and journey. So a lot of the loop holes make me worried. Speaking of loop holes, why in the hell there is at least 4 different timelines for Zack and will they even address it? Anyway, loved the game but it left me with more questions than answers even more than Remake.
100% agree. Sick to f***ing death of "multiverse" BS. This might have been fine back in 2015, but we've had multiverse up the wazoo since then.
I had no problem with Remake setting up a scenario where they could change things from the OG. My one and only real stipulation was that they didn't ruin Aerith's scene at the forgotten capital. Despite me absolutely loving 99% of Rebirth they went ahead and ruined Aerith's scene at the forgotten capital. That scene should have been sacrosanct, instead they ruined it in aid of justifying having a few fan-favourite characters around when they shouldn't have been and setting up a convoluted plot device for the third game.
Zack, I'm hoping has an important role somehow in Part 3, cos up until the end of Rebirth his main reason for being alive appears to be just so that we can geek out at having Cloud and Zack fight Sephiroth together. Yes it was great, but it was pure fan service that actually added zero narratively.
Biggs?? What was the point. Oh sorry Biggs, you survived, but you can't outrun fate, boom, dead. Great, thanks.
I had no issue with Cissnei turning up. Thought she was great in CC and was pleased to see her here.
Rebirth is a GREAT game, mostly.
The ending and the narrative changes are for no one, they are just bad writing. The entirety of the meta discussion of “defying fate” in remake that was there to upset those who wanted a faithful remake ended up also upsetting those who wanted a new story since the result is the same old story with zero effettive changes only made 10x worse by complete nonsense lol
First of all the story isn’t finished. Second this is a sequel, it’s a new story and its own. If you don’t like it and you like the original better then stick to that. That’s what the game is for. Otherwise it wouldn’t be as exciting to be sticking to the same script with us knowing exactly what’s gonna happen. Again this is a new story with similar elements that are gonna keep us wanting to know what happens next.
Gotta preface that i agree with you on mostly everything
Agreed about the ending and the multiverse BS. They just want to give a chance for all the MCs to be alive for fanservice. I also did not appreciate how much Clerith was shoved in our faces in the last chapter. Most of the game centers around tifa and cloud’s relationship and then without much buildup in Rebirth just pandered to Clerith fans in the final cutscenes
I gotta say that the end of the game also shows cloud being more crazy and more fixated on the sephiroth, the black materia, and aerith.
Tifa better still be endgame 👁️
Great video and mostly agree with your points. I wasn't bothered with Glenn, I didn't even knew he was from another game and it just felt to me that if we were to know more about him would be in the 3rd part. Most of what Glenn does is basically setup that a war with Wutai is coming.
For whispers/multiverse stuff, it does feel pointless since the overall plot doesn't change that much from the original. Instead of justifying the plot going in different way, it just justifies itself.
I still love the game, Yuffies's portrait in this game was wonderful and Tifa and Aerith being BFFs gave me life.
While I also despise “multiverse” I might be okay with how they’re doing this one. Since it seems timelines are only temporary and fate eventually wills what happens to happen. The lifestream exists as an afterlife so removing that function in favor of everybody exists somewhere would be odd.
I actually really don’t like the ending.
I think if they went with time manipulation it would’ve been a lot more compelling because at least time travel comes with stakes.
I am so so so very disappointed they decided to make it a multiverse story.
And I’m talking about Rebirth narratively-
As a game, it’s amazing.
The story is actually really fucking dumb though.
Nothing that they toyed with or “changed” had any significance in the story.
Destroying destiny in Remake?
Doesn’t matter cause it’s back now.
Aeriths materia being clear and not working?
Doesn’t matter cause she ends up getting Holy anyway from another universes Aerith.
Zack being back?
Nope only for 5 minutes and only Cloud can see him, and then he goes back to his own Universe.
Nothing matters.
There was no point in playing around with expectations, there was no point in changing anything.
Did they forget that Aerith had some memories from the future?
Sephiroth came back from the dead, with memories from the original timeline, and his big fucking master plan now is instead of destroying the planet with meteor he’s gonna destroy the multiverse.
Wow.
Bigger, better, dumber.
Why on earth would he let any of the party members live after they destroyed destiny?
Why doesn’t he actually do anything?
He knows where they’re gonna go, he knows what’s gonna happen, and he’s actively choosing to follow the plot of the original game loosely-
Because it worked so well last time right?
They took the safest route possible and I honestly wish they would’ve just followed the original story because now with this added context I can see the wasted potential-
And they managed to make Sephiroth just seem stupid.
They also managed to completely kill the surprise plot twist of Cloud having Zack’s memories by remaking Crisis core recently.
So now the newer people who didn’t know about that are gonna connect the dots before the reveal actually happens lol.
And for what payoff?
Good job Square.
So a few days ago I completed the game, every side quest, high scored every mini game and did basically everything you could pre-post game and after that ending I decided to take a break away from the game to let my thoughts and feelings settle. I’m sure I’ll come back to complete the platinum at some point but have no plans to do it soon. For me the ending was just so poorly executed that I just felt empty by the end of it all. I’ll say that I’m with you on this, enjoyed the majority of the game but yeah need time to process
I hated this ending. It was so concerned with being confusing and meta defying that it shit all over Aerith's death and forgot to actually focus on it and give it the proper weight it deserved. It is literally impossible to interpret the events of the ending between the infinite multiverse and Cloud being a completely unreliable narrator. And in the end nothing actually changed. Aerith is still dead, her death was just a failure of a scene now and the whole ending was super confusing.
Glenn didn't bother me really. I didn't know he was from Ever Crisis so I just assumed he was a new character and we would learn more about him. And we sort of did, but not really. But he didn't upset me. It was a little confusing but whatever.
Not looking forward to Part 3 at all at this point honestly.
I put up my own 45 minute rant/review if anyone is interested.
Fun fact: you can disable playing Zack’s sections entirely if you’re on new game plus, which affirms your point that his inclusion has almost zero impact on the story
Nah it’s because they’re essentially cutscenes and people would bitch if you couldn’t skip them
Im with you 100% the multiverse is unnecessary as through 2 games, nothing major has changed.
The multiverse serves one purpose, to shoehorn zack into it , and for part 3 to have aerith in a bigger role than she could being dead and all.
Its completely fan service for zack/crisis core fan boys.
Huge ff7 fan here and don't worry, I'm not coming for you, in fact, I agreed with everything you said here! The ending a mess 😅 but the rest of the game is good 😊
Games story is such a mess it’s not even funny
Amazing. I felt the same you described when I reached Cosmo Canion :D
Glenn is not Clouds father that is a fan theory
My perspective as a quite new Superfan of FFVII (played and finnished the game first time when it was released on Nintendo switch). I do agree with all of your points of the good parts of the game. I realy don't care at all about Zack and have not cared to play hes spinoff game. The intresting reality that all of us who played the original game are in fact timetravlers in some way. We already knew what will happen when we play rebirht because we have played the original game.
So what I get from this version of the story is that they "had" to change something to trow us off in some wayto make the outcome of the story uncertan. We all knew that Aerith will die in the Forgotton City. Compared to ending of disc one we don't know if there will be a way to save Aerith, if she realy is dead or not. For the story of Glenn I totaly missed about "Clouds father" untill you mentioned it now. To me he was just a puppet controlled by Sepiroth to mess with Rufus and try to keep shinra from intrefearing with hes plans for Cloud. But Im not sure I got it all. Have already started my secon playthrough and now I intend to complete all areas this time.
The best part is that I realy enjoy the gameplay! The looks of the game and the characters are all so god and funny I just like to "hang out" with them. Totaly agree with the scores of ~95/100 not perfect but realy close to.
I haven't played any of the side games, and without that context Glenn's presence makes no sense, his lines make no sense, and he doesn't seem to have an effect on the story either.
Why was he even included?
It's to set up the war with between Wutai and shinra in pt 3 which I'm guessing is gonna be called REunion
@@CidolfusTelamonThe already uses the title Reunion with the Crisis Core remake.
Gave the video and liked*plus comment to help but will bounce till I've finished the story myself.
Excited though to hear your thoughts.
I haven't really played the game and I don't mind spoilers but the Glenn bit has me REELING.
My reaction to the ending was the same as pretty much everyone's. But as I heard people talk about it I have changed my stance on it. I feel like some people forget we are told this story from clouds perspective. In the ending pretty much shows that cloud is not accepting Aeriths death. You can see that he says something and I'm pretty sure it's the dialogue from the original but it gets blocked. Also sephiroth says something like you can't see with such clouded eyes. On top of that you don't get to see him put aerith into the water like in the original. We already saw this scene in remake towards the end. So I think this is just cloud blocking everything out. So the Aerith that we see at the end is him trying to cope with her death. Or it can just be sephiroth disguising himself as aerith to continue to fuck with cloud. But like always this is just a theory. We'll have to wait for part 3 to see how they execute this.
I feel like my having forgotten a lot of what happened in the original and also had no idea who that ever crisis dude was worked in my favor to a degree.
I enjoyed what was in front of me at face value and accepted that I was kinda lost on what was going on in the lore. The multiverse stuff was very convoluted, even by jrpg standards.
My main issue is how much I disliked the sheer volume of unnecessary side content. Some of it was fantastic, and the rest just felt like awkward padding.
Having finished my first playthrough, I'm not all that eager to jump back in to get the platty. Which is a shame, because with Remake I pretty much didn't stop playing it from the moment I received it until I'd 100%'d everything.
Good video, im going to wait for the PC version
Great review 😊 spot on. Part 3 better still have the original weapons ruby ect. 😅. Luckily my Brain is a ff7 knowledge enriched lol so I got it all lol part 3 gona have some major twists I'm thinking
I feel that the feeling (heh) of unsatisfaction (that’s a word) is intentional. Cloud not having his limit, but everyone else does. The aerith theme being consumed by the Jenova theme. Cloud seems to be in… denial (1st stage). I hope there’s a pay off for people that feel cheated, and I don’t want to diminish your experience, but I adore this… weird? Feeling? It just feels wrong, and that’s how someone should kinda feel at the end of a second act. But I recognize this is a FULL game. To wait 4 years is a big ask. Hope y’all stick around for the third! I have high hopes!
Worth mentioning the team was extremely worried about how people would perceive this ending, but they didn’t feel that way for remake… I feel like that’s very telling, that this is intentional.
In my view, theyve always intended for nothing to *really* change. I think the ending was a good combination of keeping 2 different people happy: people that wanted aerith to still die and the people that wanted things to change.
Ive also maintained the thought that i expected things to be left confusing seeing as how it isnt the final part of the trilogy. Ideally, everything is explained a bit more clearly in the next game and everything gets tied together. I think it was unreasonable to expect this game to be the one that gives all of the answers and leaves no questions unanswered.
I love complicated stories with loads of depth though so im probably biased on this.
Also... algorithm. Cuz I like this channel lol
I completely understand why a complex and confusing ending like that would have you confused and upset… I would just like to give another prospect I believe the whole point of that happening is for the fans of glen and Zack for us to have our moments and it answers the questions we’ve had for years what if Zack survived what if aerith survived what if Biggs survived this allowed us to have that answer without completely changing the game
I was really hoping the world was cyclical before playing rebirth. Im not much of a fan of multiverses it diminishes the significance of each character and kinda ruins the finality of their death. We see zack biggs and aerith die multiple times and the doomed nature of each branching reality kinda undermines all of the new scenes for me. The addition of glenn didnt bother me as much because i was and still am confident that if the team wanted to they could create many new deep and interesting additions to the story. There are plenty of aspects that bothered me more than even these changes but id be talking forever if i went over each and every one. Ill just say this:
When i finished remake I was very hype and hopeful for an ambitious sequel to the original game and didnt agree with anyone upset about the changes but seeing how safe they played with the new aspects of the game I have to say i am still pretty dejected even though this is probably still the greatest game ive ever played.
I really did not like the execution of the aerith scene.. whispers take over the screen for too long couldnt appreciate what they were trying to show me. Overall dissapointed with what they did, i have really strong opinions on the idea that aertih should die and they butchered it. Whispers hovering over her and cloud, fake outs, and the scene after was so bad no carying her to the water, shes just hanging around like a ghost or something. No emotion, no impact, just confusion and frustration. Misses the mark on the themes of death, the emptiness and sadness that comes with it and how important that is to the story. Thats what made the original so memorable for me and I got into after playing remake. Just my opinion, Aerith and the story deserved better. I dont mind changes but there are things that are so integral to the story and the game as a piece of art that i think were missed so that they can cater to fans or just for the sake of making things look big/epic just comes off as heartless and convoluted. Had high expectations with how well they portrayed the characters and writing throughout but when it came time for the most iconic and memorable moment, disappointing
They fumbled aeriths death 🙄
great game but i didn’t feel like everything needed a mini game. it got exhausting by the time i got to ch.10
I completely agree with what you said and I'm unashamedly going to say that I do wish the game was exactly the same as the original but prettier
It only makes sense cause that was the best stretch of the original game too!
I'm giving them some grace with the end of this game keeping in mind that there's still more of the story to tell but I hope they have a damn good conclusion to all of *this*. But I'm glad they expanded on some things like the Gi tribe and some more in depth story behind why the black materia even exists. I think the story also suffers a bit from social media pressure, like how Cid is really different. But who knows, we'll probably see more about Cid in the next part. I couldn't wait to get passed the end (as much as I absolutely struggled with the last phase of sephiroth! So many restarts... SO MANY) just so I could replay upper junon through the gold saucer, objectively the best part of the game 😂
Nomura and his multi-verse crap is just getting out of hand and is just a messy crap. Can't forgive him for destroying my favourite game.
Nomura was the one who wanted the game to stick to OG the most. Again please inform yourselves before putting statement that people will believe with no argument. The storymaker is Nojima and the producer is Kitase. The two wanted the remake to be another thing from OG and funny enough Nomura is the one who was nervous about the ending of Rebirth and trying to keep the story within certain limits.
@@Nyla_emoteslol he just assumes cause kingdom hearts and nomura. The original game was untouched too. Braindead sheep
@@Nyla_emoteshard to believe someone with 1/3 of the say has no power to influence the story. I mean he’s not just another dev lol. I read the article and it just sounds like Nomura is all too aware of his perception and is downplaying his contributions “unless you enjoy them”. Any Kingdom Hearts fans can see Nomura written all over remake and rebirth. It’s his MO. You’ll have a hard time convincing anyone otherwise
@@cyntheticgaming I played all KH games so I understand why people think this way. And nobody can guarantee that these ideas are not from Nomura. But I am stating the truth by saying that story and scenario are written by Nojima. And he has been responsible of many other games before FF7 OG that included timetravel. So hard to say that Nojima is not responsible and only “blame” Nomura (if there is anything to blame, cause for me the new direction is totally fine - and I have been fan of the game since 1997).
@@Nyla_emotes totally a fair point and respect your opinion but yeah. I think this ending in rebirth is gonna take some time for a few people to digest including myself. Also an OG fan here from way back! Good to see us going strong :)
Ya but the thing is the original was open world (kinda) they HAD to do an open world
The game was very strong until the ending. Not because it’s bad but because it was so confusing and distracting that it basically had no impact. That’s just such a weird way to end a story even if it is a middle chapter. But my god, they did an amazing job with the side content and world exploration. This is the best Final Fantasy game in a very long time just as far as gameplay is concerned.
This game was a 10/10 (in my eyes) until the ending! Yes the Aerith scene still got me, but It was messy immediately after that.
It was almost like a bunch of senior creative minds could not come to agreement on what should happen and in then just put everything together.
But, will we forgive them when the 3rd game comes out and it all pieces together beautifully. Yes we will but unfortunately I thought a lot of that cryptic stuff would end after remake.
I’m so mixed 😂
Finished it tonight and a few things really got to me. I agree that there was entirely too much hype around Zack for what he ultimately did, especially after Nomura said he would have an "extremely important role" - I feel more than a little jerked around, given Zack & Aerith are my two favorite characters.
My other big nitpick aside from the minigames (some of them are torture) was yet again, there were a slew of boss fights that just felt egregiously over tuned (looking at YOU Rufus) and while I like the action oriented combat, I also miss the power fantasy that was present in the OG.
Ultimately though, I take solace in Zack's final line - the devs clearly didn't want to mess with ' the big scene ' , but that doesn't mean the ending will be exactly the same.
Still waiting for Genesis to show up as well.
Power fantasy? That’s easy enemy skill plus hp absorption and synergy skills and abilities are op especially if you got got limit break increases to do lvl 3 limits and spam it with limit siphon
@@OfficialDjTalksick One of the biggest draws to the original FF7 was what you could do with Materia, and so far the Remake series feels too limited on that front - I especially hate that twice now we only get 2 Magnify materia, and you get both of them quite late into Rebirth.
The story already mentioned the huge materia, but if we don't get Master materia in part 3 I will be pissed.
Of course it's gonna suck finally getting Master Magic (if we do that is) and not having Aerith to take advantage of it (at least for most of the game - she could very well come back before the end alongside Zack)
Zack being alive and being in like 5 timelines is stupid. Zach’s sole purpose is to kick off clouds story and his mind fuckery. The game died at the end for me. OG is and will always be the better version now.
The final game is going to end up like GOT season 8.
Thank God for this video, I felt EXACTLY the same. I was so irritated by the number (and hours of length) of forced minigame sequences, and honestly some of the world traversal was infuriating (you mentioned it, fuck's sake the gliding chocobos), but the majority of the gameplay was so incredible by comparison at times I couldn't believe the lack of Quality Control and/or QoL. There were times I was almost positive the devs were deliberately trolling us with how irritating things would feel.
And of course the story. I was excited for Zack at first, really excited! Very intrigued by how Biggs and Marlene and Aerith's mom still remembered "our timeline" even though they were obviously in a new one now, but the explanation for how this happened, or even why, was confusing and unsatisfying. Warning bells went off at the Gongaga reactor when the whispers showed up... we defied fate already. We defeated them. Lol, guess not. For them to pull all of this multiverse nonsense, not only sanitizes Cloud's mental breakdown (he honestly barely even seems unstable anymore, just coping with living between timelines/worlds/dinensions), but it changes the entire meaning and purpose of Sephiroth's "reunion." And sure, this is a future, or maybe even "beyond time" version of Sephiroth that has already been reunited with Jenova and thus that isn't personal for him anymore, but that makes him a less compelling villain. Defy fate with him? The guy who wants to lord over an entire multiversity compressed into one? I thought they might go somewhere actually interesting with this Sephiroth and his pleas to Cloud to defy fate together, but it's even more generic than the original.
Side note: the Gi. They're aliens now? Like Jenova. They can't enter the Lifestream because they're aliens. Also Jenova was an alien. Like, Sephiroth's mom, that Jenova. So... is that where they're going with that? Like, will that be the big change? Is Jenova, like, Queen of the Gi? Is Sephiroth ALSO unable to enter the Lifestream and that's going to tie in with maybe Geostigma and that whole "I will never be a memory" schtick? Eeeeegghhh. Idk. Not sure what to make of the Gi and all of the implications.
I felt the same way as you but mainly around not doing much with zack, I felt that he needed a definite path set in this game and all the going against destiny stuff turned out to be nothing really. I want the next game to have zack be in the main party + see what happens to midgar crew, marlene is obviously also from the main timeline so whats up with that. To be honest I won't say I hate the ending now after resting from the game for the last few days I'm just pissed I'm gonna have to wait maybe another 4 years for the next game.
EDIT: I rewatched the glenn scene at the end, I think your wrong im pretty sure he was referring to Rufus and his dad who are both looking for the promised land
I'm pretty sure they just repeating original but in a VERY convoluted way. After two games all the multiverse stuff don't matter and "unknown jorney" seems like a bait if all the major events remains the same. Still a fun game
Agree with a lot of the points here
Story and characters 12/10 -until you get to that last bit, where my smooth brain genuinely could not keep up with all the time swaps. The emotional tension is undercut by the multitude of "what?...wait what? huh? ohhhh!~...oh i have no idea."
I have a better grasp on things now, but that is after SEVERAL lore videos. Which all had a slightly different take because of how convoluted it gets.
Some people are theorizing Glenn is Clouds dad after that line to Rufus
Some think Tifa could see the visual distortion with Cloud holding Aerith
At least a couple think Aerith is alive and cucking Tifa and think that's why she's bummed out at the end (this one is definitely not the case idk how they got there)
Some think there's a backup Aerith and Cloud from the Terrier timeline and some people think the ones that woke up after falling off the whisper tendril are those two....the list just goes on and on and on.
Please Square, I know you're reading this.....Please tie this up neatly in part 3..for the love of god
I think you are spot on for the spoilers section, the ending is even more bittersweet because it will take a long a** time to know the conclusion, especially when there is a sinking feeling that Areith's death could not be avoided no matter how the hope seemed to come through at that moment when the worlds split. I feel that the multiverse aspect is out there to pander to fans as well as leave it open for interpretation and content creation and discussion on the interwebs as well as give the devs a way out depending on the sentiment of the net after Rebirth's release. Also, that ending seemed to have been recorded before everything was completed as the graphics looked kinda..... beta for lack of a better word.
But I read somewhere that they intend to keep FF7: Advent Children canon for this series, so that would mean that Aerith was indeed dead, but maybe the multiverse saves a version of her somewhere???
I love Rebirth but you can't pay me enough to play EC so that I know who Glenn is.
Honestly he's just a plot device for Yuffie and Rufus. Any further involvement will be down to whether Sephiroth uses another puppet posing as Glenn to lure Yuffie into Wutai and take materia from the party.
Nailed it bro. I still massively enjoyed the game and have it as the best FF of all time but it stings since the ending was so off from the rest of the game it ruined its grasp of perfection for me as the GOAT and this is coming from a non-purist who enjoyed Remake’s ending
9.5/10
Reasons:
1. Aerith’s scene is devoid of emotion, whether she lives or dies is irrelevant, the intense emotions are replaced for a think tank
2. Biggs and Zack’s purpose are not answered. Why were they transported thru worlds? Why have Biggs live and talk about purpose to just kill him again?
3. We get multiple timelines instead of just two, over convoluting things
4. Game’s last chapter moves at break neck speed. We rush thru timelines and the forest and then skip the Forgotten capital exploration entirely
5. We fight Sephiroth AGAIN after Remake, kills the excitement. I’m sure it’s the same at the end of the 3rd game….
6. Sephiroth bizarro fight is overly long, distracts and lessens the impact of Aerith’s scene even more
7. Zack with Cloud should of been saved for the 3rd game
8. We get no dedicated Zack chapter to give us clarity on what’s going on in his world, only snippets of him walking around and talking, much less barely any gameplay when he was marketed so highly for this game
I was excited to hear he was going after Hojo, and where it would go. Then I saw the multiple timelines split and face palmed. Highway robbery
Honorable mention:
Temple of the Ancients made us switch parties 4 times. Wtf? Lol
All Sephiroth had to say was he was going to summon meteor and destroy the world instead he talks all this confusing garbage about different timelines. He was once an all time great villian now he's just weird.
I hate the multiverse stuff it's just a device to fanfic Zack in to the story. I went on an unforgettable journey with the main cast in og, I didn't go on that journey with Zack and don't want him stealing their thunder. Zack had his heroic moment at the end of Crisis Core and like Aerith it should be preserved and given the proper closure it deserves.
Aerith's death omitted two key scenes that robbed it if it's emotional impact. The scene at the altar was a make or break moment for me going in and they blew it. As a huge fan of Yuffie her most emotional scene in og is her praying for Aerith then crying as Cloud hugs her. Cloud doesn't interact with any other character and it's easily the longest animation of the party and it was absent. That moment where she breaks down grounds her character which is otherwise comedic and bratty it makes you realise howuch she genuinely cares. We also lost the scene of Aerith being lowered in to the lake as she fades away. Showing Clouds delusion wasn't worth losing those monents.
On a more positive note though the implications of the Glenn scene are huge and have me excited. Rufus has been goaded in to restarting the war by Sephiroth posing as Glenn as the real Glenn is long dead, It's also clear that Rufus is Viceroy Sarruf. This means Yuffie who is loyal to them unwittingly supported a movement led by Rufus that landed her dad in jail. While he poses as the anonymous leader it's Glenn (Sephiroth) that Yuffie is going to seek out when trying to get materia (Im betting huge materia) to help Wutai as the war heats up.
Yuffie and Rufus's roles in pt 3 are going to be some of the most intriguing going in. Some of our party have had their big moments but Yuffie, Vincent and Cid still need theirs and Yuffie's has been set up really well.
This Ending was dedicated to all the fans who hold the Aerith death scene as one of the most important moments not just in gaming but in life too, the evidence? When Cloud is fighting Jenova in the first phase he said "You've done it before - can do it again" Clearly he's saying that to himself because he's the only one in the party who is aware of Aerith's plan and what's going on with the worlds (as that is what i understand from the ending). But the most beautiful thing is that he's not only saying that quote to himself but to you, you who played the original all those years ago, you who was destroyed in tears and impact you so much. We all know Aerith's death and this moment in Rebirt is completely aware of that so the whole time on these fights Cloud is on the mindset of not fail her again. YES i also missed the scene when Cloud is holding Aerith's body and let her go and i also missed the speech he gives to Sephiroth (Which is on Rebirth but just muted and flashes out so quickly). But people need to understand that this is not a common remake of a videogame, it's a sequel disguised as a remake that is fully aware of the past events. This entire project is most likely the end of the FF7 Compilation and thus far is doing an amazing job at it in my opinion as a long time fan of FF7 (Peace everyone we don't need to fight ourselves for different opinions if you don't like it that's completely fine) Loved every second of this amazing game made with so much passion and love for FF7
In sequel I would expect story to continue and I don't see continuation in Rebirth, all OG events are the same and what is new it's really didn't matter in the end. Same book, different cover so far as they say
@@samthecaribbean6466 Hell yeah it's a continuation. In the Original game (SPOILER WARNING)
Cloud doesn't remembers Zack THIS early in the story. Sephiroth is not present on Midgar like he was in Remake, when Cloud and Zack fight Sephiroth in the end of Rebirth they literally said to each other to catch up later and confront Sephiroth in an ultimate showdown that doesn't happened in the original game. Tifa when she is on the Lifestream sees a lot of stuff including the fact that Sephiroth is still alive on the Lifestream controlling the Arbiters of Fate.
@@SomnusShinra
SPOILERS BELOW
Meeting Zack was cool, but Cloud still thinks he's a soldier, he did not accepted the truth about himself so it's still mental breakdown in the future but with a new twist.
Sure, Seph has Arbiters and multiverse hoping but he did the same OG things with a very little extra. Killed the snake, toyed with Cloud, murdered Aerith and flew away to summon everyone for reunion so Cloud could bring him Black materia again. I see this ending the same as a disc2 ending, but sure, how we got here is quite different.
The ending was a dedicated middle finger to all the fans. Takes one of the most impactful moments in the story and shits all over it.
I felt 9:31 on a spiritual level.
Ok so some complaints.
1. Gfx in general. Between the res switch up on performance and pop in even close to the camera it wasn't much of a performance.
2. I should have focused on the story. Outside the bulletin board, that filler was EXCESSIVE.
3. Possibilities but is it time? Reality? Can we converge multiple ones for the best outcome? Did they spoil it all by saying how Advent Children are still cannon? The multiverse thing sucks but honestly? I don't think that is it.
Hypothesis: is there a good version of Sephiroth?
Where is Genesis? Last I saw him he was still alive.
White materia what is it for?
Save the planet or purify Sephiroth of Jenova's taint?
Could Sephiroth be the key to allowing the Gi to be part of the stream since Sephiroth is only half Jenova and half human?
I mean he was allowed to become part of it. Tainting it.
It really does feel like someone activated the monkeys paw for a ff7 remake to happen
They did the same thing, twice.
Remake and rebirth were both amazing… up until the final chapter where they entirely threw the script out and just said “fuck it”.
I’ll be 35 this year, I was there day 1 on 7’s release and this game has deeply turned me off from playing part 3…
I actually don’t think aerith’s death in rebirth is bad at all if anything it tries a very different way of conveying her death through clouds mind. The part when cloud deflects Sephiroth sword split onto ANOTHER Timeline where cloud saw that he saved aerith and decides to Fight him alongside the Actual timeline where she actually died resulting in probably his cellular degredation destroying him psychologically into a denial that she died. When the multi phase boss started aerith’a theme playing in the background against was almost like I myself wanted to deny aerith just died, you can hear it in the Hym and I thought it was such a phenomenal way of conveying the emotion I felt at the moment before the crazy sequence of fights began with sense of Hollow and Emptiness. By the End fight with sephiroth aerith’s spirit lives on which is definitely a foreshadowing that her spirit will now be guiding cloud as he continues the journey with the party but unable to tell him the truth because she believes that’s when Tifa’s supposed to be with cloud to see it through the mental disorder he’s having. Cloud is in a more Torrid state than he is in the original and still highly under sephiroth hands as a puppet especially him having the black materia fully foreshadows the northern crater in part 3. I think this ending will hit even harder for fans of the OG especially people who hold aerith’s death strongly although it was executed a little wonky with multiple cuts in between the scenes, other than that I fully get what they’re going for.
Except she doesn't die in the Main world. Tifa had static and saw both worlds. One, Aerith is covered in blood. Two, Cloud blocked Sephiroth and Aerith isn't harmed. Now, here's how you know which is which. Seph needed to force Cloud and company into the World Between Worlds with the key to get the black materia. This happened right when Tifa saw static. The WBW Temple is not on the Northern continent, only in the Main. The WBW is the OG game.
That is why Aerith seems dead. Cloud understands it's an illusion. Cissnei doesn't feel Zack is dead either.
I understand your take I believe “zack’s rebirth” story will be DLC for 26.99
And quick question still don’t know who Glenn is what’s the evidence he is Cloud’s father
And how do they not at least add Genesis or Deep-ground side story instead they added weapons that look like Sin from FF10
Opened this video and knew immediately what the "almost" was gonna be 😂.
A lot of the choices flesh out the story more in a good way, but they've tried to have their cake and eat it, dangling the possibility of new stakes in an unknown narrative, and then use it....to do absolutely nothing except confuse the hell out of the viewer, and drown out the most powerful moment in the story in an absolute hurricane of fanservice and spectacle.
I completely agree with you.
The ending really soured it for me and I loved the rest of the game. It seems to be a multiverse and I don’t like that. There is a possibility it is not, but I have to wait 3-5 years to find out.
Zack and Biggs both seemed pretty pointless in this game. I was waiting to see the point of both of them in this game and I’m still waiting.
I also really hope Glenn is explained in the next game because I’m not gonna play Ever Crisis.
Going into Remake I wanted this trilogy to stand alone and be complete without needing to play any of the other games in the FF7 compilation, including the original.
Wait I finished the game and I can’t remember anything with Glenn in the ending 😂
LoL. Another statistical data for "Games I'm not touching as long as there's Tetsuya Nomura in it". If I were to play the game, it would be to look at its gameplay and skip the story. LoL
The OG has tetsuya in it 😂
@@Masterpain33 yea but Sakaguchi still helmed the game, and Nomura was just a junior member of the design team (or something. can't remember the details). In this game and KH he is the director
Very well said.
FF Rebirth is my GOTY and I thought Zack's story at the end was a bit lame and Aeriths death was kinda fumbled.
I think I like how confusing it is. It's like we are seeing through Cloud's eyes.
The 1st game is literally called "Remake" not "Remaster".... I've been confused since the announcement of remake why people are expecting this to be anything other than a Remake, meaning to Remake the game/story. Also if you pay attention to the original this was all there, its not a multiverse, it is the lifestream. Sephiroth literally explains he has traveled the lifestream in the OG and gone to the past and future through it. You really have to dissect the OG to understand whats really going on. The game was pretty much made for people that have eaten up the lore for 20+ years. I wouldnt recommended this trilogy for new players/people who have not dove into the entire compilation.
People expected a remake, the original but remade in a higher fidelity. What they got is this psuedo-sequel that plays with your knowledge of the original game's events. Introduces multiple timelines/worlds and tries to have you theorize about what might change.
In a hypothetical scenario where we did get a faithful remake, calling it "FF7 Remaster" makes zero sense since your average remaster is the same game, same engine, just spruced up with better textures, frame rate, or resolution. It was obvious from the first trailer that it was all going to be entirely rebuilt in a new engine lol.
FF7 Remake intentionally plays with the players expectation of what a remake even is. People aren't wrong for assuming what they did prior to launch. The devs knew that's the expectation most players would have, because they wanted to subvert them by the end. To pretend it's on them is honestly pretty pretentious sounding. Like you have it all figured and are so much smarter than everyone else.
It feels like the only time other than the end of the game a Zack part was important is when he makes the choice between Cloud and Biggs. Because it shows that every choice being made is creating a separate timeline since things aren’t bound by Fate anymore
why was zack important showing up in a pocket dimension to fight one of many sephiroths, fighting jenova in a doomed reality, and the ability to make timelines by a choice, able to jump timelines, being the first in the timeline to "defy fate", see the whispers, so on and so on. its ridiculous and if you examine it rationally, it doesnt make sense. zacks death was 1-2 years before the story of ff7.
@@lldavidll to me it seemed to show that now that “Fate” had been defeated every single new choice is creating a branching timeline and every choice in those branched timelines is creating other timelines to the point that it’s rapidly getting out of control and the only way to course correct might be to force the “fated” choices to happen anyways. Seems like they’re going for a “no matter what you do you cannot defy fate” type of message
@@dukeofmayonaise it just doesnt make sense. by defying fate and defeating inserted lore gods, it changes the past for only zack to live for fan service. they retcon events to the point of it happened but didnt happen and insert fate ghosts. it messes up the story of ff7, and fans loving the original story is why ff7 remake was made. fate was never a theme in the original. its just so dumb for writers to do this. not only do they make different timelines, those timelines time travel into other timelines and characters can jump from timeline to timeline without losing memories of other timelines, why? becasue the writer just wants it to happen. its just completely stupid to follow a character through different timelines and in the story the character is aware of every timeline. its not really clear is it, if their consciousness just gets put in another timeline or their physical body is being transported. the whole timeline story is garbage.
I didn’t like the ending for a different reason. Throwing Sephiroth’s form at us here left me with a bad taste. I love 90% of the game and that 10% has to do with gameplay for the first part.
I dont think it's a fair critique that people should be able to expect to play rebirth without knowing anything about remake, integrade and crisis core (to some extent). If you went into rebirth expecting to understand without prior knowledge then you are an idiot 🤣
I think you are overstating Glenn's appearance as Important he appeared a few times in a 100 hour rpg. Also cameos happen in lots of games.
I think people are reading too much into Aeriths death, I think cloud is losing mind and can't comprehend that he didn't save her. The way he spoke to her at the end speaks to this, he doesn't know she is dead.
Also everything Yuffie was fantastic!
Agree 100% now we will have 2 years of people complaining about the ending (that of course can be discussed but then they should infomr themselves about the lore first I believe) just to end up like for Rebirth that with the first trailer got everyone back on board. I have nothing against others opinion and anyone can dislike a game, but saying that you should be able to play with no knowledge at all of what comes before is the same of reading a trilogy starting from the last book.
Also Glenn’s role so far was totally minor and ended up being just another clone used by Sephiroth to deceive Rufus…
Before I even begin the video, let me guess the one thing that might ruin the game: the ending
Totally agreed, enjoy the open world, mini games and best character development until it being ruined by that multiverses shit.
I have to say I’m glad you had the courage to criticize the game. Because we all now as a content creator if you have the wrong unpopular opinion it stumps the growth of the channel. However I’m just a regular person and MY GOD did they fumble the ending sooooo hard!!!!!! I share a lot of the same sentiments as you on what was poorly implemented with the story. Loved the game but didnt like the way they handled the ending.
You didn’t even speak on the death & personally, they did a disservice to how they handled Aeriths death. She didn’t deserve to go out how she did with a 10 phase boss battle seconds after.
Where’s the time to grieve? Where’s the time to process? Why do i have to keep my eyes peeled in every scene eyes for a damn Stamp dog to know what timeline I’m seeing 😂
Just had to get that off my chest. I’m done. Thank you 😂
Nomura fans are gonna eat this up. I'm conflicted about the story.
I’m just wondering how the hell the next game will start? Are we going down a mountain snowboarding sonic adventure battle 2 style or are we doing a tutorial as zack
Exploring the icicle area open world most likely.
It's limbo, not a multiverse. The date at the end made it very obvious. Like the top layer of Dantes inferno. Og ff7 did alot of this alternate space too with clouds mind. Aerith showed herself in visions in the original not to mention advent children introduced the limbo state pretty overtly. It's not really all that convoluted if you pay attention.
Tbh I don’t think it’s that clear. Nightskyprince did a good video covering the multiverse evidence including all the various breeds of stamp and when they show up etc. but I do think limbo is an interesting take worth considering
Remake bothered me a lot because it was too much padding
Rebirth I loved the game from start to end, it's amazing. But I can't handle that multiverse bullcrap. Let's see if part 3 justify all that nonsense. They could chanfe somethings like Re2 Remake does, but noooo, they added a KH narrative.
My head hurts... We got answers, who led to even more questions. 🙃
Gongaga and red 13s voice change made pissed me off more than anything 😂 the impact of aeriths death was a disappointment because of all the multiverse crap going on.
Great video. Agree that it’s perfect until that very confusing BS final part.
i was disappointed by remake ending, multiverse, but wanted to give rebirth a chance, and as you sais it was great until it wasn't. ending was not only bad as multiverse like remake but this time it also ruined aerith death emotional impact. for me i got fatigued by all the filler content that was forcefully put as kinda mandatory for progression, it made me rush it after a while as it took me out of the main story.
Gonna be honest, ReBirth felt a LOT like Mads Effect 3, sure 90% of it was good, the combat was better than it has ever been, the character writing was really good, and I love these characters and this setting. But the ending and choices failed the final product. Hopefully not so badly as Mass Effect 3 did, but I guess only time will tell there
Even without the ending, the game's story beats were so spaced and were always followed by either comic relief or 2 hours of forced mini games. Game is a disappointment on the story department
Yeah i agree 100%
Remake - I love this characters. Wait why are they different? It's cool anyway. Wait why the game is bloated and feels like a big demo. WTF ending.
Rebirth - ok I think I got this. It's much better. WTF ending. Why it doesn't feel like ff7 at all? Will they add 40% to 3rd part? Couldn't they just do 1:1 since added stuff is the bad part...
Wait not knowing Glen this whole time I thought Glenn was Cloud in the future from another universe 😂. Huh dad. Damn it’s gunnaa be a long 4 years
Im going to implore everyone who was feeling confused and bamboozled by the ending to play through it again, watch carefully - and allow a new interpretation and emotions to come through outside of your expectation . I felt a little thrown by the ending of course also - and some confusion did get in the way of the emotional response I was EXPECTING to happen . But on subsequent play throughs there actually a lot to feel about what’s actually on display. Especially the date between cloud and Aerith and when she sends him back knowing her end is inevitable. The meaning of that carry’s its own gravitas and heartbreak…and I think actually adds to the entire altar scene considerably. I have faith they are going to land this entire plane correctly - but they are definitely taking us on a bumpy unexpected ride that I think we will see the wisdom of at its conclusion
I'm kind of sick of this multiverse and time travel shenanigans. Also, there are better ways to want to include Glenn into the story and not like a ghost or alter ego entity.
9/10 game for me
So, definitely don't like multiverse, I can only think of two examples I liked (the one and everything everywhere all at once)
This game was incredible, everything good with remake was made better (except situps) and almost everything bad or lacking in remake they fixed, thay being said; I did feel I was 'ready for it to end' when it ended, I didn't like the ending too much, I didn't like how they took from some emotional scenes in the game
The dyne scene: the shinra hero death he had felt random, and (definitely not an advocate for suicide) the original death felt more impactful, because it showed how truly broken that man was, and it would have hurt Barrett even more, so it kinda felt like a cop out to remove sensitive story telling
Also aeriths death felt... less impactful, you didn't see it, you didn't see her shock, you didn't see her send off, it just felt like "y'all know what happens here, we won't show it again"
Something this game could (still use, DLC exists for a reason) give it 3d maps like borderlands 3, god that would have made gongaga and cosmo canyon way easier
Once you beat the game... let me just have all 7 party members all the time, the narrative doesn't matter for accuracy of "who is where" just let me have everyone, everywhere (except solo stuff)
I know I said a lot of gripes, but everyone else has so much positivity they have said, and I agree with 99% and won't say ot any better than they did
I think youre misunderstanding the "multiverse" situation. When space time was fractured and fate was split it made these branching paths, each with its own lifestream and such. Sephiroth wants to reunite all the worlds into a combined super gaia to kill any chance at him losing in any lifestream time cycle, as well as become a more powerful "god" then he could become in any singular cycle