Summary
AlthoughFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirthis one of the best games to release in 2024 so far, it quickly garnered a similarly problematic reputation to its predecessor,Final Fantasy 7 Remake.Both games have astounded audiences with graphics, battle systems, and sweeping narratives in the first two installments of theFF7 Remake Trilogy. However,the endings of both games have fans reelingwith confusion and criticism.
While there are too many redeeming qualities behind the trilogy to write it off completely, Square Enix’s narrative choices have nonetheless blemished otherwise amazing games.Much of the criticism lies in the multiverse narrativeRemakeandRebirthattempt to weave, but it is not the content of these stories that lets them down. Rather, issues of story mechanics ultimately see this modern gaming juggernaut go down a similar path to one of Square Enix’s most controversial series.
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Final Fantasy Has Always Been Convoluted
Square Enix Has A History Of Complex Stories, But Remake Is Different
Like theRemake Trilogy,Kingdom Heartshas managed to toe the line between gaming masterpiece and complete confusion, though it has been doing so for over two decades. While critics of bothRemakeandKingdom Heartspoint their blame toward the series' creative director, Tetsuya Nomura, it is beyond one man’s influence to cause such problems. Rather,Final Fantasy 7 RemakeandRebirthsuffer from specific issues ofpacing and narrative bloat,which, if left unchecked, could see the series following in the footsteps ofKingdom Hearts 3,a game that divided fans.
Defenders of theRemake Trilogy’s convolution point toward the originalFinal Fantasy 7as evidence of precedent, noting that it, too, suffered from a convoluted narrative despite being regarded as one of the greatest games ever released. While true, the originalFF7’sissues aren’t comparable to Remake’s. FF7’sstory suffered from a notoriously rough localization, including questionable translations. Further, much of the confusion players had toward the original title was due to the state of the medium, withmassive pieces of exposition found in optional cutscenes, as was frequently done at the time.
Remake & Rebirth Have A Pacing Issue
Both Games Place Too Much In Their Final Chapters
The most glaring flaw in bothRemakeandRebirthis their endings, not necessarily due to content but rather their pacing. Each game follows the predestined path of the originalFinal Fantasy 7,something that Square Enix has promised since the fallout ofRemake’s ending. However, in keeping this promise, it seems as though Square has had to packan entire game’s worth of narrative shifts into each ending.
BothRemakeandRebirth’sfinal chapters see the main cast arrive at a pivotal plot point inFF7’sstory, inducing all the nostalgia it rightfully should. However, these scenes are quickly injected with hours of ambiguous lines and outright riddles referencing an overarching plot that’s increasingly muddied. Becausethe rules and worldbuilding ofRemake’s multiple timelineshasn’t been established throughout each game, they lean heavily into them during each story’s final hours, creating aproportional imbalance.
Square Enix Is Repeating Its Kingdom Hearts 3 Issues
Remake & Rebirth Both Suffer From Bloated Narratives
Likewise,Kingdom Heartssuffered from similar issues, not so much in terms of pacing but narrative bloat. While the originalKingdom Hearts,released in 2002, wasa straightforward story of light vs. darkness, its success saw its lore explode.Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memoriesintroduced concepts such as nobodies and Organization XIII, and each subsequent entry added more toKingdom Hearts’proverbial plate. By the timeKingdom Hearts 3was released in 2022, there was so much complexity that characters spent much of their dialogue discussing how confused they were.
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This wasn’t only due to the amount of lore, though. One of the largest criticisms of theKingdom Heartsseries is its penchant for releasing too many games of varying genres across several consoles, causing many fans of the series to skip entries due to either console restrictions or disinterest in gaming style. Moreover, Square Enix was reluctant to let confusing lore be compartmentalized into individual titles,insisting on meshing it all into one cohesive arch. As a result, a full understanding ofKingdom Hearts 3can only be obtained by having a working knowledge of the entire series.
FF7 Remakefaces a similar problem due to theCompilation of Final Fantasy 7,the metaseries encompassing allFF7media — over one dozen titles, as seen in the table below. Square Enix has weaved lore from theCompilationthroughout bothRemakeandRebirth. This isn’t problematic if such story beats are shallow or easily understandable, butmany work across several layers of theCompilation,such as the plotline surrounding Rufus Shinra and Glenn Lodbrock, a character first appearing in a mobile game,Final Fantasy 7 The First SOLDIER,which was only available for two years from 2021 to 2023.
1997
2004
2005
2006
2007
2009
Final Fantasy 7 Advent Children Complete
On The Way To A Smile - Episode: Denzel - Final Fantasy 7
Final Fantasy 7 The Kids Are Alright: A Turks Side Story
2011
2014
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
Square Enix Has A Pattern Of Overwhelming Players
Tetsuya Nomura Is Not To Blame, Alone
A common denominator appears betweenRemakeandKingdom Heartsin that Tetsuya Normua served as creative director for both series. Given the series' similar trajectories, it’s an easy connection to make. Some have even made his name into a verb, i.e., “Remake got Nomura’d.”
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This scapegoat doesn’t hold up, though, as the problems facing each series are far too large to be blamed on one man alone, no matter how great his influence. Rather, this pattern points to a greater systemic issue at Square Enix of rushing titles to release and then salvaging obscure narratives from them for future installments. Also, it should be remembered thatTetsuya Nomura is possibly one of the greatest character designers of all timeand is responsible for many of the most beloved characters inFinal Fantasy,including Cloud Strife himself.
The issues surroundingFinal Fantasy 7 RebirthandRemakeare all too similar to those facingKingdom Hearts,but luckily, Square Enix can recover. Notably, it should listen to fan reactions and adjustRemake Part 3’s plot to avoid further last-chapter pacing issues.Square Enix can do this by building toward whatever mind-bending conclusion it’s working toward in the early game rather than constraining it to the last two hours. This will allow the ending of theRemake Trilogyto have the reverence it deserves, closing out what may be one of the greatest series in gaming history.
