I was going to be sensible and wait for the cost of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth to go down. I really was. But then I saw no fewer than six of you posting about it on my reading page, and it made me sad that I couldn't read any of your posts!

Here are some early impressions of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth! Very early; I'm in Kalm, in chapter two, and I'm currently supposed to head to the clocktower.

Be aware that, although I've only just started Rebirth, this entry includes spoilers from the original Final Fantasy VII.



I've just started this game, and it's already insane. How is Zack here with comatose Cloud in the present? Have they introduced time travel? Or is this an AU where everything with Zack and Cloud went down a little later, and the rest of the party somehow ended up travelling together despite Cloud not being there, but they never got out of Midgar?

Wow, the answer to 'does Aerith die in this game?' technically came a lot sooner than I was anticipating, but not in the circumstances I expected. I'm also very sad about the fate of Red XIII in this universe!

It's so weird (but cool!) to hear Cloud using Zack's speech patterns.

I tried to play the demo, but I got so distracted by the piano in Tifa's room that I never finished it. Let's see if I manage to escape the piano this time.

(The message I sent to my friends while playing the demo: 'I started up the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth demo, and I am obsessed with the piano minigame. Cloud's playing gets more elaborate when you're doing well! He adds little fancy trills! And then I mess up and he goes back to "basic notes with metronome in background" and I feel like such a failure. I must perfect this piece.')

I did not spend half an hour on the piano this time! I'm actually progressing the game! I'm so proud of myself.

To be honest, I probably only escaped the piano because, unlike the demo, the full game doesn't present you with sheet music at the first piano you find. The moment I get sheet music, the plot is screwed; I'm just going to throw myself onto the first piano stool I find and obsessively try to perfect it.

Shortly after the demo release, while watching videos of the piano minigame on YouTube, I stumbled across a comment pointing out that a poster in Tifa's room appears to have a silhouette of Zell Dincht on it. Does this mean that a version of Zell exists in the Final Fantasy VII universe? Is the entire Final Fantasy VIII cast here, living different lives? The more I think about this, the more I want fanfiction.

Who came up with these mako processing unit sequences? Who went, 'I know what players will enjoy in our videogame: being made to push a slow-moving, cumbersome hoover around'? One of the most baffling game design decisions I've seen in my life.

Glad to see Tifa and Aerith are still extremely into each other in this instalment. It's clear that there are some ferocious Tifa/Aerith shippers on the remake team, and good for them, frankly.

Red XIII curling up on the hotel bed to sleep is very cute, but I'm worried that his tail is going to set it on fire!

I like the detail that Cloud is a higher level in the flashback. In any other game, that would be a continuity error; in this one, it's foreshadowing.

Oh, God, there's an affection points mechanic. I'm going to try not to obsess too much over this and just pick the answers that feel right to me. Assuming this leads to a Gold Saucer date, I'm hoping for Aerith or Barret, but I don't want to end up sitting in front of the game with a walkthrough, trying to manipulate everyone's feelings about me.

Which is exactly what I do in Persona games, admittedly, but that's different.

I've challenged two Queen's Blood players so far. Are they... are they all this weird? At least Cloud will fit right in with the community.

A male NPC you can overhear in Kalm is talking about his boyfriend with a friend! It's a tiny detail, but it's nice to have it.

Here's the trouble with Final Fantasy VII: Midgar is such a cool and interesting setting that I'm always a little disappointed to leave it. Kalm looks lovely! But I miss that hellish city. Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner.



I love the unnecessary physics on everything. I walk into a hotel room and promptly knock three chairs over because I'm a fuckup. Immersion!