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Final Fantasy VII Remake: Rebirth Demo dropping tomorrow

Synless

Member
You all were bitching that the game being cross gen would make the whole trilogy look inconsistent. SE heard that and said “we will make it look the same then”. People now bitching it doesn’t look next gen enough.

It’s the new version of this:
d92.jpg
 

mcmanic

Member
Just finished demo and played on quality mode with HDR and it was perfectly fine, I do have old eye’s though, lol. Anyway enjoyed it and it’s an improvement on the 1st part combat wise and I liked it a lot. Will enjoy on release day
 
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TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
You all were bitching that the game being cross gen would make the whole trilogy look inconsistent. SE heard that and said “we will make it look the same then”. People now bitching it doesn’t look next gen enough.

It’s the new version of this:
d92.jpg

Anyone who puts Rebirth beside Remake on a merit per merit contest and comes away with "these textures look bad, failenix," is there specifically and with no other purpose than to bitch.

Like....game has:
- full world map
- quests free of storyline roadblocks
- so many minigames that there's actually controller settings in configuration related solely to minigames.
- returning and classic summons
- same combat system as Remake but iterated upon, which is a level of continuity in mechanics that A LOT here should appreciate, given the situation with XVI
- The affection system from OG with dialogue choices.
- whole new development system with the synergy commands
- fully playable party of 8-10 characters with freedom to swap at will and each with unique traversal abilities.
- Hinting at clearing up some plot holes in the Compilation for those that care, specifically Cissnei, who's original storyline literally went nowhere.
- Gold Saucer looking absolutely incredible.
- vehicle traversal options
- chocobo traversal options
- fast travel system
- 400+ new music tracks
- fully explorable HD Towns
- looks like they finally added Gilgamesh to the FFVII lore
- keeping weapon skills and cool shit from Remake.

But man, fuck that wall texture in that Cavern corridor that the average player spends Thirteen seconds sprinting through in one playthrough. We should be past this lazy game making.
 

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
So from the sounds of things, as I haven't played the demo but read a lot of impressions..... Either 30fps or 60fps in this demo deliver as I've not seen many talk about dips of concern. This is good.

Play at 30 and get a good IQ perhaps around 1440p upscaled to 4k, whilst if you play at 60 maybe dynamic 900-1080p from the impressions I've read.

Hopefully we see a bit more polish in the final release as well on the IQ and framerate front but it sounds perfectly playable and an improvement from 16. HDR implementation sounds good and overall visuals look very nice. Lots more detail and and work gone into the geometry compared to Remake. A huge amount of characters to create and render on screen, size of the world and uniqueness of assets they've made. Quality of the cutscene direction and much more.

I'll go with the quality mode as I appreciate the benefits a higher IQ brings to showcasing the art direction.

The world sounds ridiculously large and as you'd expect from a Japanese game that has a large world (Elden Ring, Zelda etc..) fun > visuals. This isn't a 1st party production which has been in development for 5-7 years where the studio has the luxury of making 1 game a generation. This has been cooking for 4 years of the back of Remake and what they've achieved in that time seems considerable. They'll now be hard at work making a big final entry for the trilogy and getting that out before PS6.

Some of these meltdowns over essentially the limitations of the PS5 and the engine is laughable to be honest. Some low res textures shouldn't cause this much anguish. :messenger_tongue:
 
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JimmyRustler

Gold Member
So I played the demo for like 30 minutes and 90% of it was just sequence after sequence….

Yeah, I think I’m gonna sit out on this one. Coming from FF16 I can only imagine how much useless dialogue there will be in this game.

Maybe one day when I’m more open to this again.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Is it the beginning of the game like ff16, or some random spot in the middle of the story?
It’s a flashback sequence. Not sure when exactly you play it but should be early on. They said they will let you skip it if you played the demo
 

Flabagast

Member
Did someone make a comparison with FF16 already ? Asset quality and general lighting seem much better in FF16 according to me.
 
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elementalnocturne

Neo Member
Nibelheim should be pretty close to the beginning of Rebirth. Like within an hour or so - basically once they leave Midgar, traditionally they would walk to Kalm and begin this sequence by speaking together in the inn. So presumably the trip to Kalm is skipped so it's not much. Junon (part of the demo dropping later this month) isn't that far along either relatively speaking, other side of Mythril Mines which is just beyond Kalm/Zolom/Grasslands.

The party travelling from Midgar to Kalm was already covered in the Intergrade DLC. I would be surprised if this demo section isn't the very beginning of the game since it also includes the opening credits.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
Its good.

FFVII Rebirth feels really solid. It looks amazing, there is much more post processing than in Remake, the areas are bigger and there is more interaction with the environment. Remake felt more artificial and sterile in comparison. I can't wait to explore the open map in Rebirth.

The combat is an evolution from Intergrade, with more party member integration for special attacks etc.

In terms of verticality, scale, combat and challenge it absolutely crushes FFXVI. To me Rebirth looks far better, with better IQ and much better performance mode. The graphics mode by the way, I think its solid. It takes some getting used to if you do performance first but after a minute or so it feels very good. Performance mode IQ however is very good to me, it seems less blurry than Remake.

People bitching about graphics. You're comparing one of the best looking PS4 Pro games, and a PS5 upgrade, to a native PS5 game. The difference isn't immense. I said before that next-gen only games won't look worlds better than cross gen, the hardware isn't like 10 times more powerful to begin with.

But having said that. FFVII Rebirth scale feels massive compared to FFVII Remake which felt like FFXIII tube level design throughout. Rebirth scope feels more like something such as Horizon. the open field probably isn't as big as that but this game does feel much less claustrophobic than Remake. Add up the post processing effects, particles, interaction with the environment (i've seen some ragdoll too) and the game still looks better than Remake which didn't look bad to begin with (aside from some terrible texture work in parts).

I think Rebirth is a very good looking game. The geometry is easily a generation ahead of Remake.


it's not the start of the game, Kalm is basically the first place you visit after leaving Midgar and then this flashback scene happens.

It is the start of the game. The game saves your progress for the full game so you can continue without playing this flashback again.
 
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The party travelling from Midgar to Kalm was already covered in the Intergrade DLC. I would be surprised if this demo section isn't the very beginning of the game since it also includes the opening credits.
What..? I don't remember anything but a scene of them walking on a road.

Edit: Nevermind.. the more I think about it - the rode with Chocobo Bill or whatever. Well, that's kind of disappointing I guess but allows them to have a more interesting opening I guess.
 
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SkylineRKR

Member
What..? I don't remember anything but a scene of them walking on a road.

Edit: Nevermind.. the more I think about it - the rode with Chocobo Bill or whatever. Well, that's kind of disappointing I guess but allows them to have a more interesting opening I guess.

I understand. It was a bit odd to me too since I forgot the Intergrade ending. And many players might've not played it at all. But they're essentially dropped off in front of Kalm.

Rebirth starts with Cloud telling about his past while they are resting at the Inn.
 
I understand. It was a bit odd to me too since I forgot the Intergrade ending. And many players might've not played it at all. But they're essentially dropped off in front of Kalm.

Rebirth starts with Cloud telling about his past while they are resting at the Inn.
Yeah, it's not an awful way to go. After all, nothing significant happens from escaping Midgar to Kalm, it's literally a ten second walk on Overworld. It probably is better to just go ahead and do this sequence then introduce the Overworld and a more dramatic fashion as opposed to giving that to the player for a very short time and then jumping into the Kalm sequence.
 

Katajx

Gold Member
I didn’t notice anything really blurry, and I explored a bit. The NPCs seem to be improved somewhat. The lighting is definitely off in bits. It really ruins the character faces at times
 

saintjules

Member
I liked what I played and might give it another go before the full thing comes out.

I have to get used to the battle mechanics because it seems I need to be quick and choosing which actions I want to perform.

Perhaps continuing my 2nd playthrough of Remake might be ideal before Rebirth releases.
 

NeoLed

Member
So I played the demo for like 30 minutes and 90% of it was just sequence after sequence….

Yeah, I think I’m gonna sit out on this one. Coming from FF16 I can only imagine how much useless dialogue there will be in this game.

Maybe one day when I’m more open to this again.
Second part which have more exploration will unlock at 21 Feb. Try that before giving up maybe
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I didn’t notice anything really blurry, and I explored a bit. The NPCs seem to be improved somewhat. The lighting is definitely off in bits. It really ruins the character faces at times
Yeah, looking much better....In Remake that bothered me more than some low res texture work.
 

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
Did someone make a comparison with FF16 already ? Asset quality and general lighting seem much better in FF16 according to me.

Oh, for sure, but XVI had a TLOU2 approach to most of it's areas. Rebirth is covering the better part of two continents in a seamless way, caves, rivers and settlements included.

Where XVI felt the most like DMC to me wasn't it's combat, but it's world map. Divided into tailor crafted levels that dressed up differently could easily pass for stages in a character action game.

It's like comparing OOT with TOTK. Sake name, but otherwise largely apples and oranges. This looks to exceed FFXV map size and content. I figure some sacrifice had to be made.
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
Did someone make a comparison with FF16 already ? Asset quality and general lighting seem much better in FF16 according to me.
nah FFR is way more detailed and looks leagues better IMO. FF16 is a boxy empty world of nothing.
 
Managed to play the demo. I liked it just fine - it did feel a little weird just jumping into the Kalm flashback right away, but it was fine overall.

Visually things looked pretty good, played on graphics mode. Some pop in here and there but overall nothing too distracting - more problems with lighting for me when entire rooms or areas wouldn't quite light up until I was in them a while, probably the most distracting visual element. Cloud's model also looked kind of weird, but I think part of that is from it being years prior and not present day, so he's more wide eyed and youthful, but I didn't pay enough attention to the few out of flashback scenes to really notice. Combat feels different this time though fundamentally the same. I felt both right at home and also not so much, I'm used to Cloud reacting differently to certain conditions and they've changed that in this game (like with flying enemies), though I'm sure I'll get used to it after playing a while.

The music is pretty great as a whole and I liked the piano minigame a lot. I liked performing Tifa's theme and found myself humming in tune with my terrible playing (C rank first time), but I think it will be really cool if there are quite a few sheet music pieces in the game.

As some have mentioned
the ending is pretty awful with the super, ultra slow moving. I mean he's moving faster when he's crawling under debris than he is while otherwise moving... it's really hard to deal with. Maybe just speed the animation up a bit..

Nibelheim felt.. a lot bigger. I expected it to be smaller. Some scenes and areas were done really well, as far as the transition to this. Really made me feel again like this is FF VII remake.. Got me nice and lubed up for the inevitable rug pull they're going to do like they did with Remake. I hate how it can make me feel this way, but at least this time I know not to be absolutely gutted when things go off rails completely, so there is that.
 

Thabass

Member
The piano mini Game has sold me the Game.
God I suck at it so much lol

Nibelheim felt.. a lot bigger. I expected it to be smaller. Some scenes and areas were done really well, as far as the transition to this. Really made me feel again like this is FF VII remake.. Got me nice and lubed up for the inevitable rug pull they're going to do like they did with Remake. I hate how it can make me feel this way, but at least this time I know not to be absolutely gutted when things go off rails completely, so there is that.
Honestly, I thought it felt bigger in Crisis Core.
 
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JimmyRustler

Gold Member
Second part which have more exploration will unlock at 21 Feb. Try that before giving up maybe
Probably will one day but FF16 kinda feels too recent and that one had the same problem of too much trash dialogue. My fear is that Rebirth will be even worse in this regard given the fact that it’s an even bigger game.
 

Exentryk

Member
Once again, "the PC" is not some single top spec machine and it's simply not accurate to say "the game would be best experienced on PC where we wouldn't need to pick....". Even if you don't have to pick on your high end machine, it's a bit presumptuous to act like a whole lot of people won't have to do much more than just toggle between graphics and performance to get an adequate experience.
PC allows the option to not have to pick between performance and graphics. Whether people can afford that is a different question. But people on PS5 don't even have the option to pick both performance and graphics.

So, yes, both my statement and you are correct that while only PC can currently give the best, people still have to be able to afford it.
 

Hero_Select

Member
It is the start of the game. The game saves your progress for the full game so you can continue without playing this flashback again.
As in the game starts off this way? I assume you have to make your way over to Kalm first and then the Inn and then you get this flashback.

Still the beginning of the game but i would feel weird if it just drops you off in that flashback right at the start.
 

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
Oh, for sure, but XVI had a TLOU2 approach to most of it's areas. Rebirth is covering the better part of two continents in a seamless way, caves, rivers and settlements included.

Where XVI felt the most like DMC to me wasn't it's combat, but it's world map. Divided into tailor crafted levels that dressed up differently could easily pass for stages in a character action game.

It's like comparing OOT with TOTK. Sake name, but otherwise largely apples and oranges. This looks to exceed FFXV map size and content. I figure some sacrifice had to be made.

Good point. If this does exceed XV's map size whilst having actual towns throughout the game world and cutscenes that are well made like part 1 (XV's cutscenes were quite awful), then that's a great achievement for 4 years of dev.
 

TheAssist

Member
As in the game starts off this way? I assume you have to make your way over to Kalm first and then the Inn and then you get this flashback.

Still the beginning of the game but i would feel weird if it just drops you off in that flashback right at the start.
Out of curiosity, how would you do it then.
Since after seeing the Integrade ending it was clear to me that they would start you of in the flashback, because it made the most sense. I mean even without the Integrade scene.
How would you start. Drop people outside Midgar without any guidance? Drop them of right in front of Kalm? To do what? Just walk into the inn and then start the flashback?

I dont know, I thought about it and could not come up with a better solution myself, so I thought this is the only way. But I'd be interested to know what would feel less weird to you?
 

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
Dreams are free.
Why a dream exactly? It took them 4 years from releasing Remake > Rebirth and creating the overworld and the rendering technology for this part would have been a big challenge - now cleared. They now go into the final part with not too much of the rest of the world to recreate and with all of the characters and technology in place. Pre-production for part 3 began in 2022. So 3-4 years from now, about 2027 (the FF7 30th anniversary) doesn't seem unrealistic at all with the precedent now set.
 
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Tahj

Member
Before playing the demo, FFVII: Rebirth was just chilling in the back of my mind; I knew it was otw, looking forward to it. Now, I'm counting the milliseconds lol. Played on Perf, & whilst I had a few bits of pop-in or lighting looking a bit off, otherwise it looked fine to me (I also don't have a super TV, just a nice Samsung something or other), ran great as well. Loved the additions to combat from Remake, & very much enjoyed the story (OG VII in my top 3 games ever). Also, the music, fuckin hell. *checks calendar* Is it the 29th yet? How bout now? Now!?!
 
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