So I finished Rebirth. FF7 Remake and Rebirth are probably the best games Square Enix has published in the past couple decades. Unlike 13, 15 and 16 (I finished all of them) the remakes don't have the same trainwreck qualities to them, despite the idiotic story additions. These remakes are exactly how the delusional creators wanted, whereas previous Final Fantasies have never come out feeling fully developed. For example, I've rarely seen people criticize FF16 for its story, but it was worse than 13 and 15 in that respect, and nowhere close to as good as the FF7 remakes. If you haven't played FF16, it starts out as a dark fantasy Game of Thrones kind of setting, but gives up after 6 hours and slowly transforms into Power Rangers. All the factions and the characters, including the main love interest, are gradually faded out and forgotten as it simplifies and boils down to big monsters punching each other. Half the side missions are worthless filler, and it's often surprisingly ugly looking, despite being a PS5 exclusive. It's more like Devil May Cry than people expected, as it has a similar level of depth and thought put into it as Devil May Cry 5. Final Fantasy 13 has a fairly good story, but told in the wrong order, so half the game you barely understand what's going on. And 15 is a joke, but likable because of its high ambition. It's a bug fixed alpha version. The FF7 Remakes on the other hand finally match the level of quality Square was putting out in the PS2 era. I enjoyed it a lot. It's a bit like a 200 episode anime adaption with filler arcs. Yes, it's not as tight as the original, but this is still pretty unbelievable as a modern game. Like in Remake, every event from the original is elevated and and produced as lavishly as Square could manage. Everything goes on for a bit too long. But it's not for lack of effort or money. They're taking everything too far, and I don't mind the madness. I'm very much looking forward to part 3.
