I'm getting top surgery next week, so this will be my last big upload for a while, since I'll need several weeks to rest and heal (and that's without factoring in the 3-6 weeks it normally takes me to edit videos this size). Please keep watching my other content, and keep an eye on the Community tab for updates! 💚🏳⚧
Funny thing is I think devs in their hearts imagine these things happening (what you have described in the end), but just fail or are too lazy to develop this. Even Ultimanias prove it. We have to read what happens in the game, about what characters actually felt or about world building through books and ultimanias because they don't do it in games. It is annoying.
OH BOY, don’t even get me started on Ultimanias 😂 Near the end of my playthrough I talked at length about it, but one of my big pet peeves about games is when they intentionally keep a story vague only to sell a separate product explaining it a few months later. As an aspiring author, I think that’s REALLY bad form. Wasn’t Re- project meant to be the thing that reconciles all the retcons and inconsistencies across the FFVII universe, yet it can’t even get its own story across within itself? If the writers need to explain so much in retrospect, they simply didn’t convey their intended story well enough. Whether by time constraints, oversight or marketing design, I don’t think it’s fair to essentially force fans to consume so many products (games, books, obscure interviews etc) just to understand the story. It’d be different if they ACTUALLY wanted to leave it to player interpretation and didn’t try to commodify the answer, but it’s clear the devs DO want to convey a specific message to players but are just playing coy to an excessive degree to keep selling us stuff. Books like the Ultimanias ideally should be restricted to supplementary material - extra worldbuilding and lore that doesn’t directly affect the main story but is cool to know, behind-the-scenes information and such. Long story short, consumerism sucks and is making a lot of stories suffer 😅💚
Appreciate your honesty as always. When I played through Rebirth this was the chapter when I realised this game was gonna fall way short of the hype and setup. That reused Remake clip with Barret annoyed me so much coz they should be talking about this way more and it should have “narrative consequence” as you said in another video. Defs not a 10/10 let alone GOTY
Me too, actually! It frustrated me so much that major plot developments are almost lampshaded or otherwise blind-sighted for the sake of excessively rigid faithfulness to OG’S trajectory. Nothing feels connected or earned, everything just seems to happen for convenience or to tick boxes. If people enjoyed Rebirth I’m happy for them, but to me it could’ve been so much better 😕💚
Though something to bod, even about Cloud's more nice behavior. Developers did say multiple times that it's not exactly a remake one for one. I do feel like these characters are a bit different, almost like there are different versions of them "hint hint", like they have some of the memories of OG...or they at least get a feeling. I don't mind Cloud's real personality shining through a bit more. To me it's very clean developers have other plans and ideas for the way this story will go, that's why so many things are revealed ahead. That tells me they will have to change and introduce other things in the future. (They already did).
Oh yeah absolutely it’s not a 1:1 remake. I think my issue is that with how much they HAVE kept the same, it makes it much more obvious that these more sanitised versions of the characters haven’t been given much to do in place of their OG arcs (and frankly, most of the few additions weren’t implemented very well at all *cough* Chapter 9). They’re going through the same motions, sometimes even saying the same words but there’s less meaning behind them because there’s no growth being facilitated. Every scene feels episodic and disconnected from the last, only referencing stuff when they absolutely have to for the plot. That’s my problem - they’ve done the bare minimum with the concept, when they could’ve done it in much more creative and interesting ways. In my opinion, we should be feeling these have a deeper, more consistent effect on the story and characters instead of being shoved into the last few chapters of the game. It worked for Remake’s reveal, but Rebirth doesn’t adequately follow up on Remake’s ground. I’m concerned that shoving all the revelations into Part 3 after such limited/disjointed build-up just isn’t going to be satisfying. They’re still trying to appease the people who DID want a 1:1 remake, between that and the devs being divided between staying faithful and trying something new Re- project as a whole is suffering from not committing too strongly in either direction.
Hey Kabbaway ! It's always a pleasure to follow you even though these playthroughs remind me how disappointing and frustrating this game is in so many ways, one of the things I was looking forward to was seeing the characters grow closer in a meaningful way but many of their interactions lack substance. FF13 is a game with a lot of flaws, but the relationships between the characters are more genuine, there's a real connection that develops as they have personal/intimate discussions that allow them to get to know each other, whereas at first there was distance and animosity between them because they were stuck in a situation they didn't ask for. The game is so long and yet so hollow, maybe there will be an improvement in the last game of the trilogy, I really hope so but the writing should have been better since part.1, especially Rebirth. Do you still have hopes/expectations for part.3 ?
Thank you very much! Rebirth very much feels like it's just going through the motions, ticking the boxes and doing the bare minimum. Even the gameplay, while better than the writing, is not much to write home about. For me, even if Part 3 turns out to be an amazing game in its own right and they manage to resolve all the plot points they've left hanging, it most likely isn't going to be satisfying to me because they haven't let said plot points develop CONSISTENTLY throughout the story. The story as a whole suffers terribly from Rebirth failing to elaborate on the groundwork Remake set (for the devs' sake, I don't believe for one moment that "no set pieces were changed due to player feedback"). I'm still curious how things will turn out, but Part 3 can't save a story we're 2/3 of the way through... you can't keep shoving your big reveals into the last few chapters out of nowhere and expect the story to feel properly developed. After Part 3, I'm most likely done with SE games - the company has gotten far too pretentious for their own good, and the wasted potential of the devs and the stories they tell (not to mention SE's shitty "business choices"/techbro shills) is something that I legitimately can't stand much longer 💚
I understand your opinion. I'm very annoyed at having waited 4 years for this result, it's even more annoying when you know that they've described this game as very probably the one that will be the fans' favorite but they also said recently that the last of the trilogy will be one of the most loved and popular games in gaming history, I like creators to be confident but the FF7 Retrilogy team is too pretentious at this point, and the fact that they've announced that part.3 will be longer, when Rebirth has already been superficially extended and there will be a lot of mini games, doesn't reassure me. Surprisingly, what I thought I'd find in these games in terms of writing, I found in Arcane, this show shares many similar themes but is treated with far more nuance and care.
Same, especially since the game was $120 here in Australia! I think it's important to keep in mind that the devs aren't part of a small team from a same game developer anymore - ultimately, it's their job to sell us a AAA product from a multimillion dollar company. That doesn't make them evil, but we do have to acknowledge that they'll say whatever it takes to generate hype for the next game... just like their CEO hyped up cryptocurrency one year, NFTs the next and now AI. Ever since the Enix/SquareSoft merger, SE haven't been trendsetters - they jump on bandwagons, often years after they were relevant. Definitely - the minigames don't even feel good to play because the PS5 controls are WAY too touchy and the console isn't old enough to have had those issues re-calibrated. I couldn't even get into the piano game because they had to give so much leeway because of input lag and over-sensitivity, that even "perfect" notes are offbeat which is antithetical to the very essence of a rhythm game, and personally irritating as someone who grew up engaging in the performing arts. I've also heard they plan to scale up Wutai into this huge militarised faction on par with Shinra, which makes me worried they're gonna try and Both Sides™️ literal colonisation and attempted genocide (culturally or ethnically, take that as you will). In favouring action above all else, they're missing the point OG was making about how corporate greed and power fucks EVERYONE and EVERYTHING else over... if that is indeed the plan, it also unwittingly trivialises Yuffie's whole arc of wanting to avenge her culture which has been left a commercialised shadow of itself. I hate that Sephiroth is given so much of a spotlight, when he mostly just acts as a boring God-like antagonist who we don't even get to see concoct his evil plans. I WISH Shinra could've been the primary antagonists of the entire story, and not reduced to window dressing and cheap comic relief or punching bags past the Midgar section. I love these characters, I love the themes and lore of this story... but the execution leaves so much to be desired. Just... so much wasted potential all round. In trying to be and do everything, it has nothing to actually say and I don't think Re- project will be that fondly looked on in the years after Part 3 has ended. It's the epitome of a flawed but earnest product being commercialised to hell and back until it's nothing but an empty IP for a big corporation to milk dry... the irony would be hilarious if it wasn't so true
@@KabbawayYou've summed it up very well, I'm worried about Yuffie's arc and the Wutai too, since CC it's obvious that they've forgotten or ignored OG's messages with this notion of Soldiers' honor when they're pawns of the Shinra, a highly corrupt company that prioritizes profit above all else and that it's implicated in Rebirth that Yuffie has a crush on Zack during her date at the Gold saucer when he participated in the colonization of her people whom she wants to help regain their past glory is already very strange, why do you have romantic feelings for this stupid guy who came to attack you in your home ? We'll see but I'm worried, I also think that with time this trilogy won't be as well received, there are too many issues. I think I will stay invested only as Clerith shipper bcs the story is ass and the gameplay not fun enough 😅
Absolutely! It wouldn't have been so bad if it was in a context where Yuffie was trying to reconcile Zack's kind treatment of her with what he was complicit in letting happen to her people... but again, unfortunately Re- project doesn't care about that nuance because the characters we're meant to root for are supposed to be innocent little angels incapable of any flaws or grey morality (as I alluded to in the Editing Kabba segment of this video). The characterisation is just so sterile and heavyhanded it makes the interactions feel so cold and stilted... the (constant) banter feels so staged because they're used to substitute actual deep conversations. Even in the more "intimate" moments, the feelings they TELL us never come up except when it's convenient for the plot (eg Aerith talking about her intrusive thoughts about Hojo... this is NEVER alluded to before this point. Yes, she was clearly mad/upset at him back in the lab when he taunted her about Ifalna's remains being in test tubes, but nothing indicated she fantasised violence against him). As a Clerith shipper I'm pretty happy, although like everything else I wish they'd gone further with exploring both characters' feelings and experiences along the journey. Making Aerith lose her foresight was one of the most baffling and poor choices they made in my opinion - we got to see an Aerith that is ACTALLY resigned and self-sacrificing, and I wanted to see the themes teased in Remake (especially Clerith's Resolution scene) be further realised. One thing I'm fairly confident on - Aerith WILL be back and they WILL meet again, the lyrics of NPTK which close out Rebirth state it. The ending is ultimately hopeful, and if there's one thing I'm hopeful they won't dare to fuck up it's in delivering the teased changing of fate that is the literal tagline and justification for this entire project's existence.
For a heavily political story it really feels like they’ve gone out of their way to make it as apolitical as possible. Disappointing but not surprising given how ideas become co-opted by corporations and inevitably lose their weight and meaning
I know right? That’s definitely one of the things I’ve been most disappointed by as the FFVII franchise goes on. I think there’s likely a number of factors behind the shift, probably motivated by marketing and profitability. Whether to capitalise on more widely marketable aspects of the story (eg the LTD, Cloud vs Sephiroth, the specific characters within SOLDIER/Shinra/Turks etc), or a more deliberate attempt to backpedal FFVII’s political messages now that they’re a massive corporation responsible for hundreds/thousands of workers and partly complicit in environmental damage themselves… maybe even real life sociopolitical events such as 9/11… either way, FFVII has absolutely lost a lot in the process 😕💚
I know I’m being quite pessimistic in this playthrough, it’s why I’ve been a bit hesitant to put it out. But ultimately, I’m gonna be honest with viewers about how I felt, it’s awkward as fuck but feels better than lying and I hope people can get something out of seeing my perspective, whether it reinforces their opinions or makes them reconsider them 💚 A lot of my raw reactions are me taking the piss out of everything as I’ve always done even in media I DO enjoy, which in itself can be fun. What can I say? I’m a true blue Aussie 🤣 The Editing Kabba segment are all done AFTER I finished the game so they’re definitely my more consolidated opinions after seeing the big picture. Overall, I’m disappointed that Rebirth had a lot of potential that it just didn’t rise to. I wouldn’t say it was horrible, but I did find it to be painfully average in most aspects and I’ve seen other games do what they were going for better. 65 hours of gameplay is a LOT to ask of people, especially neurodivergent and disabled people like myself, and I think it’s become far too normalised for gaming culture/industry to overlook or even glorify games not using their time more effectively. In saying that, I did love the music, I enjoyed taking in the scenery of each area and the graphics are good most of the time (barring some lighting and texture issues). Once I got the hang of it, I found the combat to be alright (the new abilities, especially Synergy, are quite fun). In the moment there were plenty of character moments I did enjoy, and as always I did have fun messing around with objects in different areas. That might not sound like many positives, but all those little moments made this playthrough worthwhile to me 💚
Oh! I also really loved the Aerith/Nanaki and Barret/Yuffie dynamics, some of the best writing in the game for me to be honest. And of course, just about all the Clerith moments made me happy ☺️💚
@@KabbawayI think I actually had a lot of problems with this game when it just came out but later I got used to it. I did notice immediately though the lack of dialogues in open areas where we have hours of running around in complete silence. I wish they would remove endless Chadley and Mia conversations, and add team conversations instead. Another complain is that not every party character interacts with each other. Or at least not to the same degree, so you don't feel like they are bonding. Also, there are too many side-quests, I loved many of them tbh, but I think developers should have get rid of some Chadley towers or whatever so the side content wouldn't be so overwhelming.
Yeah, I noticed that too! As someone who’s played Dragon Age Origins and II, I really think a lot of the banter scenes could’ve been randomly triggered dialogue. It’s also a shame that we don’t get to see the characters intermingle more like you said. The party feels strangely sterile in that sense - again, they’re laughing and joking al the way through the story, but they don’t do much else together… a lot of wasted potential there 😅
I'm getting top surgery next week, so this will be my last big upload for a while, since I'll need several weeks to rest and heal (and that's without factoring in the 3-6 weeks it normally takes me to edit videos this size). Please keep watching my other content, and keep an eye on the Community tab for updates! 💚🏳⚧
Thanks for the content and take care of you ❤
No worries, and I will! 💚
GOOD LUCK!!! 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Thank you! 💚
Best wishes take care
SPITTING FACTS AS ALWAYS KABBA!! 🔥💅
I’m just stating my opinions as openly as possible 😅💚
@@Kabbaway And I appreciate that 😍
Funny thing is I think devs in their hearts imagine these things happening (what you have described in the end), but just fail or are too lazy to develop this.
Even Ultimanias prove it. We have to read what happens in the game, about what characters actually felt or about world building through books and ultimanias because they don't do it in games. It is annoying.
OH BOY, don’t even get me started on Ultimanias 😂 Near the end of my playthrough I talked at length about it, but one of my big pet peeves about games is when they intentionally keep a story vague only to sell a separate product explaining it a few months later. As an aspiring author, I think that’s REALLY bad form. Wasn’t Re- project meant to be the thing that reconciles all the retcons and inconsistencies across the FFVII universe, yet it can’t even get its own story across within itself? If the writers need to explain so much in retrospect, they simply didn’t convey their intended story well enough. Whether by time constraints, oversight or marketing design, I don’t think it’s fair to essentially force fans to consume so many products (games, books, obscure interviews etc) just to understand the story. It’d be different if they ACTUALLY wanted to leave it to player interpretation and didn’t try to commodify the answer, but it’s clear the devs DO want to convey a specific message to players but are just playing coy to an excessive degree to keep selling us stuff. Books like the Ultimanias ideally should be restricted to supplementary material - extra worldbuilding and lore that doesn’t directly affect the main story but is cool to know, behind-the-scenes information and such. Long story short, consumerism sucks and is making a lot of stories suffer 😅💚
Appreciate your honesty as always. When I played through Rebirth this was the chapter when I realised this game was gonna fall way short of the hype and setup. That reused Remake clip with Barret annoyed me so much coz they should be talking about this way more and it should have “narrative consequence” as you said in another video. Defs not a 10/10 let alone GOTY
Me too, actually! It frustrated me so much that major plot developments are almost lampshaded or otherwise blind-sighted for the sake of excessively rigid faithfulness to OG’S trajectory. Nothing feels connected or earned, everything just seems to happen for convenience or to tick boxes. If people enjoyed Rebirth I’m happy for them, but to me it could’ve been so much better 😕💚
Though something to bod, even about Cloud's more nice behavior. Developers did say multiple times that it's not exactly a remake one for one.
I do feel like these characters are a bit different, almost like there are different versions of them "hint hint", like they have some of the memories of OG...or they at least get a feeling.
I don't mind Cloud's real personality shining through a bit more. To me it's very clean developers have other plans and ideas for the way this story will go, that's why so many things are revealed ahead. That tells me they will have to change and introduce other things in the future. (They already did).
Oh yeah absolutely it’s not a 1:1 remake. I think my issue is that with how much they HAVE kept the same, it makes it much more obvious that these more sanitised versions of the characters haven’t been given much to do in place of their OG arcs (and frankly, most of the few additions weren’t implemented very well at all *cough* Chapter 9). They’re going through the same motions, sometimes even saying the same words but there’s less meaning behind them because there’s no growth being facilitated. Every scene feels episodic and disconnected from the last, only referencing stuff when they absolutely have to for the plot. That’s my problem - they’ve done the bare minimum with the concept, when they could’ve done it in much more creative and interesting ways.
In my opinion, we should be feeling these have a deeper, more consistent effect on the story and characters instead of being shoved into the last few chapters of the game. It worked for Remake’s reveal, but Rebirth doesn’t adequately follow up on Remake’s ground. I’m concerned that shoving all the revelations into Part 3 after such limited/disjointed build-up just isn’t going to be satisfying. They’re still trying to appease the people who DID want a 1:1 remake, between that and the devs being divided between staying faithful and trying something new Re- project as a whole is suffering from not committing too strongly in either direction.
Hey Kabbaway ! It's always a pleasure to follow you even though these playthroughs remind me how disappointing and frustrating this game is in so many ways, one of the things I was looking forward to was seeing the characters grow closer in a meaningful way but many of their interactions lack substance. FF13 is a game with a lot of flaws, but the relationships between the characters are more genuine, there's a real connection that develops as they have personal/intimate discussions that allow them to get to know each other, whereas at first there was distance and animosity between them because they were stuck in a situation they didn't ask for. The game is so long and yet so hollow, maybe there will be an improvement in the last game of the trilogy, I really hope so but the writing should have been better since part.1, especially Rebirth. Do you still have hopes/expectations for part.3 ?
Thank you very much! Rebirth very much feels like it's just going through the motions, ticking the boxes and doing the bare minimum. Even the gameplay, while better than the writing, is not much to write home about. For me, even if Part 3 turns out to be an amazing game in its own right and they manage to resolve all the plot points they've left hanging, it most likely isn't going to be satisfying to me because they haven't let said plot points develop CONSISTENTLY throughout the story. The story as a whole suffers terribly from Rebirth failing to elaborate on the groundwork Remake set (for the devs' sake, I don't believe for one moment that "no set pieces were changed due to player feedback"). I'm still curious how things will turn out, but Part 3 can't save a story we're 2/3 of the way through... you can't keep shoving your big reveals into the last few chapters out of nowhere and expect the story to feel properly developed. After Part 3, I'm most likely done with SE games - the company has gotten far too pretentious for their own good, and the wasted potential of the devs and the stories they tell (not to mention SE's shitty "business choices"/techbro shills) is something that I legitimately can't stand much longer 💚
I understand your opinion. I'm very annoyed at having waited 4 years for this result, it's even more annoying when you know that they've described this game as very probably the one that will be the fans' favorite but they also said recently that the last of the trilogy will be one of the most loved and popular games in gaming history, I like creators to be confident but the FF7 Retrilogy team is too pretentious at this point, and the fact that they've announced that part.3 will be longer, when Rebirth has already been superficially extended and there will be a lot of mini games, doesn't reassure me. Surprisingly, what I thought I'd find in these games in terms of writing, I found in Arcane, this show shares many similar themes but is treated with far more nuance and care.
Same, especially since the game was $120 here in Australia! I think it's important to keep in mind that the devs aren't part of a small team from a same game developer anymore - ultimately, it's their job to sell us a AAA product from a multimillion dollar company. That doesn't make them evil, but we do have to acknowledge that they'll say whatever it takes to generate hype for the next game... just like their CEO hyped up cryptocurrency one year, NFTs the next and now AI. Ever since the Enix/SquareSoft merger, SE haven't been trendsetters - they jump on bandwagons, often years after they were relevant.
Definitely - the minigames don't even feel good to play because the PS5 controls are WAY too touchy and the console isn't old enough to have had those issues re-calibrated. I couldn't even get into the piano game because they had to give so much leeway because of input lag and over-sensitivity, that even "perfect" notes are offbeat which is antithetical to the very essence of a rhythm game, and personally irritating as someone who grew up engaging in the performing arts.
I've also heard they plan to scale up Wutai into this huge militarised faction on par with Shinra, which makes me worried they're gonna try and Both Sides™️ literal colonisation and attempted genocide (culturally or ethnically, take that as you will). In favouring action above all else, they're missing the point OG was making about how corporate greed and power fucks EVERYONE and EVERYTHING else over... if that is indeed the plan, it also unwittingly trivialises Yuffie's whole arc of wanting to avenge her culture which has been left a commercialised shadow of itself. I hate that Sephiroth is given so much of a spotlight, when he mostly just acts as a boring God-like antagonist who we don't even get to see concoct his evil plans. I WISH Shinra could've been the primary antagonists of the entire story, and not reduced to window dressing and cheap comic relief or punching bags past the Midgar section.
I love these characters, I love the themes and lore of this story... but the execution leaves so much to be desired. Just... so much wasted potential all round. In trying to be and do everything, it has nothing to actually say and I don't think Re- project will be that fondly looked on in the years after Part 3 has ended. It's the epitome of a flawed but earnest product being commercialised to hell and back until it's nothing but an empty IP for a big corporation to milk dry... the irony would be hilarious if it wasn't so true
@@KabbawayYou've summed it up very well, I'm worried about Yuffie's arc and the Wutai too, since CC it's obvious that they've forgotten or ignored OG's messages with this notion of Soldiers' honor when they're pawns of the Shinra, a highly corrupt company that prioritizes profit above all else and that it's implicated in Rebirth that Yuffie has a crush on Zack during her date at the Gold saucer when he participated in the colonization of her people whom she wants to help regain their past glory is already very strange, why do you have romantic feelings for this stupid guy who came to attack you in your home ? We'll see but I'm worried, I also think that with time this trilogy won't be as well received, there are too many issues. I think I will stay invested only as Clerith shipper bcs the story is ass and the gameplay not fun enough 😅
Absolutely! It wouldn't have been so bad if it was in a context where Yuffie was trying to reconcile Zack's kind treatment of her with what he was complicit in letting happen to her people... but again, unfortunately Re- project doesn't care about that nuance because the characters we're meant to root for are supposed to be innocent little angels incapable of any flaws or grey morality (as I alluded to in the Editing Kabba segment of this video). The characterisation is just so sterile and heavyhanded it makes the interactions feel so cold and stilted... the (constant) banter feels so staged because they're used to substitute actual deep conversations. Even in the more "intimate" moments, the feelings they TELL us never come up except when it's convenient for the plot (eg Aerith talking about her intrusive thoughts about Hojo... this is NEVER alluded to before this point. Yes, she was clearly mad/upset at him back in the lab when he taunted her about Ifalna's remains being in test tubes, but nothing indicated she fantasised violence against him).
As a Clerith shipper I'm pretty happy, although like everything else I wish they'd gone further with exploring both characters' feelings and experiences along the journey. Making Aerith lose her foresight was one of the most baffling and poor choices they made in my opinion - we got to see an Aerith that is ACTALLY resigned and self-sacrificing, and I wanted to see the themes teased in Remake (especially Clerith's Resolution scene) be further realised. One thing I'm fairly confident on - Aerith WILL be back and they WILL meet again, the lyrics of NPTK which close out Rebirth state it. The ending is ultimately hopeful, and if there's one thing I'm hopeful they won't dare to fuck up it's in delivering the teased changing of fate that is the literal tagline and justification for this entire project's existence.
For a heavily political story it really feels like they’ve gone out of their way to make it as apolitical as possible. Disappointing but not surprising given how ideas become co-opted by corporations and inevitably lose their weight and meaning
I know right? That’s definitely one of the things I’ve been most disappointed by as the FFVII franchise goes on. I think there’s likely a number of factors behind the shift, probably motivated by marketing and profitability. Whether to capitalise on more widely marketable aspects of the story (eg the LTD, Cloud vs Sephiroth, the specific characters within SOLDIER/Shinra/Turks etc), or a more deliberate attempt to backpedal FFVII’s political messages now that they’re a massive corporation responsible for hundreds/thousands of workers and partly complicit in environmental damage themselves… maybe even real life sociopolitical events such as 9/11… either way, FFVII has absolutely lost a lot in the process 😕💚
Do you dislike everything about Rebirth BTW? Or you actually really enjoyed some parts of it, or thought they have done a great job at something?
I know I’m being quite pessimistic in this playthrough, it’s why I’ve been a bit hesitant to put it out. But ultimately, I’m gonna be honest with viewers about how I felt, it’s awkward as fuck but feels better than lying and I hope people can get something out of seeing my perspective, whether it reinforces their opinions or makes them reconsider them 💚
A lot of my raw reactions are me taking the piss out of everything as I’ve always done even in media I DO enjoy, which in itself can be fun. What can I say? I’m a true blue Aussie 🤣 The Editing Kabba segment are all done AFTER I finished the game so they’re definitely my more consolidated opinions after seeing the big picture. Overall, I’m disappointed that Rebirth had a lot of potential that it just didn’t rise to. I wouldn’t say it was horrible, but I did find it to be painfully average in most aspects and I’ve seen other games do what they were going for better. 65 hours of gameplay is a LOT to ask of people, especially neurodivergent and disabled people like myself, and I think it’s become far too normalised for gaming culture/industry to overlook or even glorify games not using their time more effectively.
In saying that, I did love the music, I enjoyed taking in the scenery of each area and the graphics are good most of the time (barring some lighting and texture issues). Once I got the hang of it, I found the combat to be alright (the new abilities, especially Synergy, are quite fun). In the moment there were plenty of character moments I did enjoy, and as always I did have fun messing around with objects in different areas. That might not sound like many positives, but all those little moments made this playthrough worthwhile to me 💚
Oh! I also really loved the Aerith/Nanaki and Barret/Yuffie dynamics, some of the best writing in the game for me to be honest. And of course, just about all the Clerith moments made me happy ☺️💚
@@KabbawayI think I actually had a lot of problems with this game when it just came out but later I got used to it.
I did notice immediately though the lack of dialogues in open areas where we have hours of running around in complete silence.
I wish they would remove endless Chadley and Mia conversations, and add team conversations instead.
Another complain is that not every party character interacts with each other. Or at least not to the same degree, so you don't feel like they are bonding.
Also, there are too many side-quests, I loved many of them tbh, but I think developers should have get rid of some Chadley towers or whatever so the side content wouldn't be so overwhelming.
Yeah, I noticed that too! As someone who’s played Dragon Age Origins and II, I really think a lot of the banter scenes could’ve been randomly triggered dialogue. It’s also a shame that we don’t get to see the characters intermingle more like you said. The party feels strangely sterile in that sense - again, they’re laughing and joking al the way through the story, but they don’t do much else together… a lot of wasted potential there 😅