On the fence about buying the 2nd FF7Remake right now. I’m getting a vibe that’s it’s the type of AAA game that’s really good but people won’t admit that parts of it absolutely suck until 6 months later.
I felt the same way, the base game with materia combinations and skills is fun and rewarding, but the pacing and voice acting killed the momentum and I skipped 80% of them at the end. Some mini games like the box smashing, squats, pull up ones were fun, those actually tested your skills and were a fun break from the main game. It was the faux mini games like moving the crane hands, getting Red XIII to wall run to pull switches and timing button presses to unlock doors felt like unnecessary gamification.
Grinding, while unnecessary was fun because of the different character builds possible with different weapons and materia combinations. Yeah you were killing trash mobs, but you were also testing out different play styles though I mostly defaulted to raw damage.
I'd rate the first game a 6.5 out 10, higher if they improved the pacing. Almost started the Yuffie DLC but the thought of more cut scenes and voice acting turned me off it.
I think part 2 will be more the same with deeper mechanics (affinity, folios) and unavoidable mini game sections. Would pick it up when it goes on sale and prioritize other games.
https://kotaku.com/final-fantasy-7-rebirth-review-ps5-1851276129https://kotaku.com/final-fantasy-7-ff7-rebirth-janky-1851294364