Rebirth of Final Fantasy 7 is a polarizing game that is both praised and criticized by players in the current year.

I have some mixed feelings about Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. On one hand, it's one of the best games I've played in years. The characters are great, the story is more fleshed out than before, and the side quests are much better than in Intergrade. Plus, the combat is just so satisfying. But, on the other hand, it's not without its flaws.

One of the things that bugged me about Rebirth was the sheer size of the game. When I first left Kalm, I was disappointed to see that it had become a full open world game, with all the typical markers and map-chasing that comes with it. It felt like every other open world game out there, and it got old pretty quickly. And just when I thought I was done with all that, I reached Junon and realized I had to do it all over again.

Rebirth definitely falls into the trap of adding too much fluff to the story. There's so much unnecessary content that it actually hurts the flow and pacing of the game. And it's not just the story, there are also a ton of mini-games that are thrown in to distract you from the main game. Some of them are optional, but others are required to progress in the main quest. And let me tell you, some of these mini-games are just plain frustrating.

It's not just the number of mini-games that's overwhelming, it's also the number of combat arenas and simulators. There are so many of them, and it can get pretty exhausting. I only did them because I was already on my way, but if I had skipped them, there's no way I would have gone back to do them all. And while I know the original game had a lot of mini-games as well, that was never one of its main selling points.

With over 130 hours of gameplay, I've finally finished my first playthrough of Rebirth. And normally, that would make me pretty happy. But here's the thing – about 80 of those hours were spent on side content that didn't really add anything to the story. In fact, it actually took away from the core experience. And out of those 80 hours, I would say at least 40 were spent on mini-games alone. That's more time than the entire original game!

I get that a lot of these mini-games are optional, but if you want to attempt the New Game+ hard mode, you'll need the rewards from most of them. Personally, I would have preferred less exploration and more focus on the narrative. I'm a fan of Japanese role-playing games because they usually have a more focused story and don't rely on open world elements. If I wanted to chase after map markers, I could just play a Ubisoft game.

I think it would have been better if they had scrapped the mini-games tied to Chadley's intel system and focused on creating more side quests instead. It would have been less repetitive and less frustrating. Because let's be real, Chadley's system is a huge drag, especially in later regions when just getting around can be a nightmare. It almost feels like they just threw everything they could think of into the game without much thought as to how it all fits together.

Overall, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is a fantastic game at its core, but it's weighed down by all the unnecessary fluff. The open world elements and the avalanche of mini-games really bring the experience down. So while I do enjoy the game, I can't help but feel a bit disappointed by some of its choices.

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