Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is like going to the movies to see a new version of The Empire Strikes Back in which, maybe, who knows, Darth Vader doesn’t end up being Luke Skywalker’s father. The simile is not accidental, as this legendary video game franchise is considered the equivalent of George Lucas’ galactic saga. In addition, this installment is the second part in a trilogy, something that makes it even more closely related to the aforementioned film.
To finish giving context, this video game is in turn a remake – a “rebirth” – of the iconic Final Fantasy VII, published in 1997 for the first PlayStation and responsible, among other things, for popularizing Japanese role-playing games in the West It’s not a small thing.
The protagonists of the game are the members of an eco-terrorist organization whose mission is to put an end to the enormous company that is extracting energy from the planet. The ecological premise remains as valid today as it was thirty years ago, but the rest of the work has undergone enormous evolution both in form and content.
If the first part of the new trilogy meant the reunion with such beloved characters as Cloud, Tifa, Barret and Aeris, this second chapter is the one of the great adventure. A world of extraordinary beauty opens before the player, the combats increase in possibilities, the relationship with the characters is deeper, there are a thousand things to do.
All this without counting that this is not a remake in use, and that the plot – including “that” scene in which a character dies – can change. Despite its many virtues, not everything is perfect: the game is so self-aware of its overflowing charisma, it tries so hard to be mythical, that it sometimes loses believability. As happened in the previous game, on many occasions it gives the feeling that the characters are disconnected from the world in which the story takes place, a fact that takes away a lot of credibility from what is being told. It is noticeable, however, that its creators knew at all times that the material with which they have worked is the history of the medium. Above all, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is a game for its fans, and they will appreciate it.
