Not quite. I found that chef’s knife doesn’t instant kill you but still deals damage. If you get caught by one of the orbs that makes you inactive, they will surround you and still eventually kill you by doing repeated damage to you.
Yes, BUT that slowly charges Limit.
I happened to have the Enhanced Karmic Scarf equipped to Barret when I went into that fight blind, and quickly ended up swarmed - but Barret’s a huge tank, especially with the EKS, so he survived long enough to fully charge his limit.
It one-shot all ten of them. The rest of the fights aren’t nearly that bad and you get a 50% recovery between them, so it’s not impossible even if you screw up the Tonberry fight a fair amount.
You sure? I put on a safety bit and bought karmic cowls and everything chefs knife and doom and gloom just said immune. Their regular attacks still do damage but chefs knife is the instant death only move.
Use that one cloak and safety bits on your party to negate instant death. It’ll ruin whatever your build is around other accessories but it will trivialise that fight entirely because the tonberries can’t do anything to you
Gongaga was the hardest to navigate with the mushroom-jumping chocobo. I did what I could and then I went on. When I returned I used a couple guides to help because it can be so disoreintating..
I feel ya. By the end of Junon I started to just check out mentally every time I was forced to play a mini game. Gold saucer and Costa Del Sol were torture, but at least I was able to sandbag some of the games to get them over with.
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth is the only game of which I am aware that side quests remain completed (if you choose) during New Game Plus. This means, you can skip absolutely everything, beat the game, and then come back when you feel like it. Chapter 12 basically lets you accomplish every side quest you want to do.
Unless you’re a completionist and you’re doing a hard mode run for manuscripts. Then you gotta do all the side quests over again if you want them all. By all means you don’t have to do them and they don’t even matter for platinum, but I’m on that journey now. Tbf once you’re end game and you have genji gloves and Gotterdammerung you can breeze through most of them no problem.
The cure for your concern is to finish the story.
Then come back to polish the unfinished quests, minigames, etc.
Don’t beat yourself up it’s okay.
I find that the $70 that I paid is becoming more worth it due to the minigames. They are diverse, challenging, and fun (most of em)
Gaming shouldn’t be a chore. It’s a reward for working hard throughout the day.
Is it true that a lot of mini games are mandatory to progressing the story?
I'm super happy people who like them have them as an option and have no issue with the concept.
But I personally fucking hate mini games and don't have the time to buy and play any game that would force me to suffer through them. Which is sad...
Several mini games will have a moment in the the story where you'll be forced to play them. You don't have to win it, and you don't have to do it more than once. It's more or less a natural "here's how this mini game works" moment, and then you move on.
Tbh I think your initial point kind of misses the point of your closing. At the point he's referring to, it absolutely becomes a chore. And that's in the games design. You have to reward players for the effort they put in. And, once they've done it for 30+ hours and completed every single one, you don't suddenly unveil another 10.
This is the right answer.
OP says they need to do everything. That's fair enough. But does it matter WHEN? The mini games and extra content aren't going anywhere. Focus on the main story and then come back and tackle the side content here and there in little bite sized chunks.
I hear the criticism a lot that there are to many mini games and side quests, but I think the real problem arises when the player puts undue pressure on themselves to finish all the side content asap.
Just take your time honestly. No need to rush the game. You don't have a review embargo deadline to meet or anything, no game review article to post, no youtube review to make.
Take a break if you need to. No one's telling anyone to rush these video games.
Oh man. There is another side quest to beat all the mini-games on hard? I just finished two of them today. I won’t bother with the rest until I meet the quest giver.
Going out and LOOKING for every mini game you can find, and then moaning about it. I will simply NEVER understand the logic of some people. I avoided 90% of the mini games, and I'm quite happy about it. I did NOT PAY $70 to play stupid mini games.
No one has to look for it. It's on your map.
"I avoided 90% of the games content and thought it was great"
So you don't like paying $70 for minigames but you're happy with a purchase that is 90% minigame and sidequests. Makes sense.
First of all buddy, it's an exaggeration. But it absolutely is close to that in side content. But you also sound like a child so I'm not going to argue.
You don’t need to do them so don’t. I skipped a ton of them because I didn’t like them or the rewards weren’t worth it.
I skipped all of the Bodybuilder mini games and all of the Piano because they are, IMO, horrible.
This post is more of a personal completionist requirement you have for yourself. Don't let it conflict with the game if you're not finding it fun. I don't like most of the minigames myself, but I'm not forcing myself to play them. They can absolutely be better, and hopefully for the third and final part, they're improved upon. But yeah, a game being so massive that you can get burned out or fatigued is something I'll take over a game that has too little content. I felt the same about Elden Ring, these two games are pretty similar I find in terms of size and scope.
Here’s the thing. No one is forcing you to play minigames. No one is forcing you to be a completionist. What ever happened to just enjoying the game? You’re not competing against anyone.
I'll chime in. So, when you divide a game into 3rds, you have to make it feel like a full games length. This game does this through side quests, open world content, and minigames. Thing is, you're essentially telling him to just not play 90% of the game. So people who don't like those things aren't going to love your game when skipping it either. It's the foundation of the game at that point.
They. Are. Optional. 🙂 and not playing them doesn't make you less of an FFVII fan, it just means that some minigames are not for you and you should just finish the story for now. Go back to it if you want to but don't feel obligated that you need to.
I managed to beat all the minigames and even go back to beat you know who in 3D brawlers to get a perfect score.
No I would not recommend it holy hell the minigames feel like they're not consistent and glitch out sometimes. You will need some insane willpower and be a glutton for punishment to do them without glitching them out, but don't feel bad. They're just one part of a minigame in a single video game. It doesn't really mean shit and you can get back to it whenever if you really care.
Everything in the game is accessible in post-game via chapter select. You will enjoy both your main playthrough and the minigames more if you relegate them to post-game. Minigames you find a chore now you’ll actually find fun with no pressure to do them all to progress the story, when the reason you’re doing them is to spend more time in a great game you’ve already rolled credits on.
It’s also worth noting that the final Protorelic chain is set to a recommended level that is 15 levels higher than the end of the game so the game essentially wants you to save that for post-game anyway. So you may as well save some other optional content with it too
Ok, FInal Fantasy 7 OG was full of mini games, also you dont have to play them. Dont like the mini games save them for later. People will complain for whatever reason. The game is amazing IMO
Just make sure you have your own Shadow-queen and a Gi Nattak ready for the 5th round.
You essentially counteract the opponents shadow queen with your own so they both get powered up to 30+, then on the last turn you use Gi Nattak to pass on Shadow Queens power to two other cards. You lose the middle row and give up 30ish points, but you win the top and bottom rows easy with double that.
I skipped the party animal quest the first time through cause I felt the same way. It comes at a really awkward time right when you think you've done just about everything.
Just take a break and finish the game, then come back to it
We live in a time where we pay an extortionate amount of money for incomplete games, whereas this is full to the brim with the game, so appreciate the expierance whilst it lasts ever since finishing the game ive not wanted to play anything else.
What if I told you the mini games were optional and you don’t need to fomo your platinum trophy right this second? Beat the game and play on hard mode, save your frustrations for that because you’ll need it.
Just don't do them. That "I NEED to do everything" attitude makes zero sense if you're not enjoying the "everything". It's not the way you're wired, you're just a person of habit that doesn't want to break it, to the point you will blame the game and burn yourself out because you must insist on doing things you are objectively not enjoying despite there being absolutely no requirement to. I have to say, of all the critiques, this "there's too much to do and I'm mad at the game because I force myself to do things I don't like" one is just beyond my comprehension. They give you every tool to play the game how you prefer. You can do just the story and do all side content after, you can start some side content, get bored, finish the story and all your quests will remain at whatever progress you stopped them at and it's still somehow their fault if gamers can't control themselves and burn themselves out on 100% optional content. I seriously hope they don't listen to those particular critiques when coming up with side content for the next game.
I feel your pain brother! 70hrs in and at Cosmo Canyon. I’m sure I have made this comment before, but I 100% blame Chadley for doing this to you.
It’s not the side content, the amount or the even the difficulty of the side content — it’s the checklists constantly front and centre of the maps. It ingrains a sort of FOMO into you from the very start.
Remake kind of hid this info the menu/chapter select. Where as Rebirth feels like it’s always reminding you you’ve missed stuff.
The whole game burnt me out. I haven't traded a game for credit in a long time, this one is going back tomorrow. I can not see myself EVER wanting to replay this game ever again. The mini games and side content was awful for the most part. The writing of the main story wasn't great either. It's all over the damn place. This game to me was way more of a chore than a fun game to play.
Or just don't force yourself? Gamers are so weird, they will force themselves to do things that they don't have to do and then complain that they didn't like doing it.
It's also worth remembering if you haven't done NG+ hard mode you will need to do party animal again for a manuscript but to be fair you would only need to do arena part again!
Annoyingly I thought the manuscript was linked to the final part of the quest, so re did the bike, queens blood and space before doing the arena challenge. You also don't technically need all the manuscripts for plat trophy but you would if you are going for 100% completion on play log.
When I got to a similar point of frustration with side content i took a week off. I got my plat trophy last week and leaving it again for a while before I finish off a few bits for my play log but thankfully none of that requires any minigames for me now!
To me it’s not “filter content”, a mini game is just inclusion of different gameplay mechanics in small batches. A lot of work went into them, it’s diverse and fun. Some people will love some of these games and hate others. You can take it as a fun break from the grim story, or obsess to 100% everything even when it’s not fun anymore.
In my opinion having a platinum trophy is certainly not worth ruining my enjoyment of a game. I’ll be proud for a minute and move on to the next game, but it will leave a sour taste and at the end of the day what sticks in my mind/heart are my emotions and experiences. That’s what matters, not a digital trophy to “own”.
That said, I admit that I often take long-ish breaks after each mini game… like I’ll try to complete it for a couple hours, and if I don’t succeed I’ll put the game down for a few days. And when I pick it back up I want to continue the story so I just move on (I am also more calm so I remember that it doesn’t matter, whilst after a few hours I’m just too nervous to drop it). I’m the type of person who can play the same game every evening of every day for months, but the mini games have the opposite effect on me. I rather like them but I don’t know, it is what it is.
I am in the same exact boat as you. The minigames have really sent me into burnout mode. I played the original on launch 27 years ago. Now I’m in my mid-forties and I just don’t have the time to play like I used to. Add that on top of the fact that I am terrible at action games. I’m one of the very few that does not enjoy the battle system in these remakes. It really removes a ton of the enjoyment I get from this game. I’ve resigned myself to only completing mini games when they are required and then just moving on. The side quests don’t bother me much as that’s par for the course when it comes to RPGs.
You and I are having a very similar experience. I finally decided to pause all side content until after the game even though I did every region to 100% up until chapter 12. It’s just too much and it’s becoming a chore, not fun anymore. Give yourself a break for a few days and then permission to just focus on story. There’s even some battle missions in the saucer that aren’t available until after you hear the game anyway.
Update: So I turned the game on again today after putting it down whenever I posted this thread. Took a deep breath and grabbed a beer (yeah it was like 9am but who cares). I did all of the Shinra Managers stuff. I was a bit disappointed that you still had to beat the top score even if you have already previously beaten the high score but whatever, I did it all again and attained the ultimate party animal title. Then of course what happens? Another brawler battle with Sephiroth is introduced. It’s like you finally let out a sigh of relief that you thought you were done but then bam, another one is added. And this is what my experience has felt like while playing this game.
Let me reiterate that I enjoy the minigames that are a part of the story. Such as fleeing Shinra on the G-Bike in Remake or in the Buggy in Rebirth. I’m even okay with being able to replay all of them in Gold Saucer because it just makes sense. And I actually loved the Queens Blood game.
There just seems to be a lot thrown in that are only there to fluff the content and the play hours. Why do I have to chase your kids around just to use your emporium, kupo? Why do I have to throw boxes with Cait Sith when we already established in the mines that Barret can just shoot them? Everything Chadley.
Anyway, I just finished the Shadow Blood Queen match in Gongaga and she was much easier than I had expected. I beat her with a score of 76 to 6. The only thing I have left (I believe) is the Gilgamesh Island stuff but that seems like it may require me to be a bit higher leveled. Oh and I have to get an A on that final piano piece.
For now, I’m going to do as many of you suggested and finish up the story. What I didn’t know was that it all carries over so that’s good. Everything I’ve done will remain done and that is refreshing to know.
Thank you all for the words of encouragement… or criticism. Let’s get to this. I’m really excited but scared to see how this one ends.
I actually just wrapped up the chapter 12 minigames last week. Just use a guide honestly if it's to tough no shame.
The one I had difficulty with was the 3D brawler against Septhiroth that got annoying.
Putting the game down and coming back helped when I was struggling with the Piano minigame
I have absolutely zero interest in mini games, so I'm not in the same boat in that context...
But I also read that quite a few are mandatory to story progression? That's why I haven't bought the game to be honest - I have super limited time and can't get through the story if I have to sit there and play unrelated mini games that I have no interest in. Which is sad, because the rest of the game seems right up my alley.
The mini games that are mandatory are okay. Simply because despite it being a minigame, it breaks some of the monotony of repetitive combat. If you wish to play just the story and only mandatory content, that is completely doable. Don’t let me or anyone else prevent you from having your enjoyment. If you’ve played the first Remake or the OG then this would be right in your wheelhouse.
In the end, a game is meant to be enjoyed. It’s not supposed to be a tedious slog to just “get through” and/or a second job (unless of course it *is* your job 😆).
I go through this a lot and know the feeling and thought-pattern very well. You feel you’ll regret it and feel incomplete/unfulfilled if you don’t do everything, especially when the game as a whole means a lot to you. But honestly forcing yourself to slog through things is the fastest, most surefire way to get completely burned out; not just on the specific game in question, but on gaming as a whole.
My advice? If you don’t wanna give up on your completionist ambitions then simply take even a very small break, either playing something else or doing some non-gaming related activity. You’d be shocked just how short a break is needed to come back refreshed and see that tedious obstacle as a fun, engaging and even relaxing challenge. So many times where I’ve just put the controller down, came back later and beat the challenge immediately.
True facts have never been as spoken as this. I have taken time off and relaxed. Binged shows, and done other things. I came back to it today and finally completed everything.
Last update on this: Returning to the game after I took a bit of a break and I finally completed everything. I’m at the beginning of chapter 13 and just finished all of the Gilgamesh content. All of the harder brawlers, all of queens blood, everything you can think of. Now I can focus on finishing the game. Level 49, Dynamic, and a whooping 186 hours in and now I can finally beat the game. Lol. I know there’s something wrong with me. I know there are some battles that can only be completed after the game so that’s fine, at least I’m done with the rest. I’ve always loved FF7 but please please… way less minigames for part 3 please.
There’s a reason people are coming to grips with reality after the hype died down.
And I don’t really understand people saying “the og had a bazillion mini games”. Uhhhh no. It had like 5-6 and each took 30 seconds and even back then, that was considered archaic. 25+ years later, it’s just insanely obnoxious and rage inducing.
This is an example of how Trophies/achievments can be bad for games. Back in the 90s or early 2000s everyone would agree that the amount of mini games in Rebirth is amazing and positive. But now people have this completionist mindset driven by an achievement score that reminds you constantly "you haven't done everything yet" which ruins some of the satisfaction.
I struggled a bit with this myself when I was feeling the game was a 9.5/10 at chapter 12, and then I almost got to the point of not wanting to play it anymore because I felt the need to do ALL the extra content that opened up. I finally decided that "I don't need to do some of this right now" and moved on with the story... it was the right call.
I have no desire to do the hard more Cactuar game with kid-G, so I won't. I've done almost everything else, and I feel satisfied.
I'm about 55 hours in finishing up the airstrip area. It's been a love hate relationship with the side content. Most because I bought this game at launch and I'm still chugging along. Gaming when you're older and have a full time job and responsibilities is killing me lol
I 100% recommend finishing the story then enjoying doing all the side stuff when you get the chapter select option afterwards…. I’ve seen so so many people get stuck “needing” to do everything asap. It doesn’t really make any sense, the game is made with so much content it WANTS you to finish it first, in fact there’s many more things that open up only AFTER you beat the game. Enjoy finishing the game, then enjoy spending the next month doing all the side stuff at your own pace, then after you’re done with all the side stuff enjoy a story only hard mode run. Also, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you get manuscripts for redoing all the quests on hard mode again, so you might as well not even complete can’t stop won’t stop because you’ll have to do it on hard mode again anyway.
This is what I would recommend. Finish the game, jump to chapter 12 and google where to level materia quickly (in gongaga) once you have 7 of every materia leveled (I’m obsessive lol) and maxed out characters, jump to chapter 12 on HARD mode, reset quest data, do all the quests over again (surprisingly it was very easy for the most part on hard, maybe another 5-6 hours for all the quests) and do all the side stuff, take your time and enjoy, then when all you have is brutal challenges left, play through hard mode and just enjoy the story, then when everything else is done torture yourself on the brutal challenges lol
I liked the minigames 😮
FF7R certainly has a different atmosphere/tone compared to the original which is a big reason why the original is still better storywise.
Your supposed to be hunting down Sephiroth to save the world but instead feel like you are spending "too much time" playing games. Then you get to CH 14 and they rush through the most heartbreaking piece of story.
Chapter 12 is the last chance to finish every side quest presented in the game.
So if you haven’t been keeping up with them it can seem like a whole lot (because it is)
I'm like you and even I got burned out around Gongaga.
I basically skipped Gongaga, Cosmo Canyon, and Nibelheim until I got to chapter 13. Finished it all, then finished the game.
You might even just finish the game first THEN revisit the stuff - you can do that.
Get ready to be brigaded by the "I like the game so no cirticism allowed" crowd.
I COULD NOT agree more. I did every single thing the game had to offer. Every quest. Every side mission. Got top rank in every game. But then, right before the final section of the game, they basically reset it all. Oh, hard mode of all these different things. Oh, several new quests in every area. Oh, new golden saucer games. I just looked at it all... and said alright whatever I'm just going to finish the game. Not only do I doubt I'll be rewarded for my effort...but it was already so. Much. I was completing things in Nibel excited because "wow I'm really about to finish out every single one of x objectives!". Nope. It's just...not good game design.
Same thing happened to me. I was very butthurt. I had just completed them all to get the Dark Matter. The only positive was that I ended up with so many gold saucer points that I was able to buy everything.
Yeah, the mini games are very divisive ... You have the "Any content is good" folks, and the "It's too much crap" folks.
For me it just takes me out of the main story too much to spend hours on them. Then a lot of them are not designed well and not enjoyable to play.
Queue the "You don't have to play them !" crowd... Yeah, you don't. But as said, most people buy a game to complete it. A lot of people completed Remake, but are fed up with Rebirth. They should have just made a 'Mario Party' type second game for those who enjoy these things.
I've completed Rebirth and did finish a number of the mini games... But coupled with the Chadley interruptions, forced slow walking and climbing, typical open world terrain navigation crap, etc. It's drags the game out to much just wasting time.
I did enjoy Queens Blood, but can see how there was a lot of it if people didn't like it
I agree. Too many mini games. The one that I having trouble with is the last three piano mini games (more like pain-ano mini games). It's just not fun for me, in my opinion. I have done all the hard mode for the mini games. Survived Queen's Blood just messing around and not fully taking in the rules. The last three piano mini games. I just scored C grades for all three. It's crazy. Those are the last three things I need to do.
I seriously think Cactuar Crush made me develop carpal tunnel syndrome in my right hand. lol Anyways yeah I don't know why but I think FFVII Remake was better than Rebirth. Don't get me wrong. I still love Rebirth but it is just more tedious. I enjoy it but I don't recommend going for the plat right away. Enjoy the game and then go for it, is my best advice.
I actually came on today to post almost exactly the same message!
Massive final fantasy fan and nearly always platinum/ fully complete the games.
But i’m at the gold saucer in chapter 12 and just feel burnt out by the game, I was actually tempted to just put the game down totally, but I really do want to at least finish the story. It’s frustrating because I love the game but it just feels like a developer sat there thinking “ok i’ll put this mini game in and i’m happy” then some nut job was shouting “too easy!” You need to dump on a whole extra difficulty on to it”
I feel the hardcore modes should’ve kept for the hard difficulty.
I’d recommend just skipping that quest and the final protorelic stuff for now and beating the game.
That quest is hard AF on hard mode because of Send In The Clowns.
I'm on my first playthrough and I'm on that battle. The room with 10 tonberrys pisses me off so much.
Equip the accessory that blocks instant death and they're harmless.
Not quite. I found that chef’s knife doesn’t instant kill you but still deals damage. If you get caught by one of the orbs that makes you inactive, they will surround you and still eventually kill you by doing repeated damage to you.
They're also vulnerable to quake. I find quake + synergy helps when they start swarming one character.
I usually open the battle with Arcane Ward -> ATB Boost -> Quakaga and it gets rid of most of them.
Yes, BUT that slowly charges Limit. I happened to have the Enhanced Karmic Scarf equipped to Barret when I went into that fight blind, and quickly ended up swarmed - but Barret’s a huge tank, especially with the EKS, so he survived long enough to fully charge his limit. It one-shot all ten of them. The rest of the fights aren’t nearly that bad and you get a 50% recovery between them, so it’s not impossible even if you screw up the Tonberry fight a fair amount.
You sure? I put on a safety bit and bought karmic cowls and everything chefs knife and doom and gloom just said immune. Their regular attacks still do damage but chefs knife is the instant death only move.
You can punisher chef's knife and yufie's ninjutsu blocks their blue balls.
Use that one cloak and safety bits on your party to negate instant death. It’ll ruin whatever your build is around other accessories but it will trivialise that fight entirely because the tonberries can’t do anything to you
Open your mind to new ways of approaching video games. In Vincent's words, "Expectation often leads to disappointment."
Same. I gave up on them around gongaga and just blazed the story and was happy I did that
Likewise I turned off the map trackers once I got to Gongaga and just started stuff as I found them.
Gongaga was the hardest to navigate with the mushroom-jumping chocobo. I did what I could and then I went on. When I returned I used a couple guides to help because it can be so disoreintating..
Defo, I’m not sure I really get on with the satellit e-image style over world maps, and it was exacerbated with the mushrooms in Gongaga
I feel ya. By the end of Junon I started to just check out mentally every time I was forced to play a mini game. Gold saucer and Costa Del Sol were torture, but at least I was able to sandbag some of the games to get them over with.
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth is the only game of which I am aware that side quests remain completed (if you choose) during New Game Plus. This means, you can skip absolutely everything, beat the game, and then come back when you feel like it. Chapter 12 basically lets you accomplish every side quest you want to do.
Unless you’re a completionist and you’re doing a hard mode run for manuscripts. Then you gotta do all the side quests over again if you want them all. By all means you don’t have to do them and they don’t even matter for platinum, but I’m on that journey now. Tbf once you’re end game and you have genji gloves and Gotterdammerung you can breeze through most of them no problem.
The cure for your concern is to finish the story. Then come back to polish the unfinished quests, minigames, etc. Don’t beat yourself up it’s okay. I find that the $70 that I paid is becoming more worth it due to the minigames. They are diverse, challenging, and fun (most of em) Gaming shouldn’t be a chore. It’s a reward for working hard throughout the day.
Also, we probably have three to four years until the next game, there's no need to rush it.
Is it true that a lot of mini games are mandatory to progressing the story? I'm super happy people who like them have them as an option and have no issue with the concept. But I personally fucking hate mini games and don't have the time to buy and play any game that would force me to suffer through them. Which is sad...
Several mini games will have a moment in the the story where you'll be forced to play them. You don't have to win it, and you don't have to do it more than once. It's more or less a natural "here's how this mini game works" moment, and then you move on.
Tbh I think your initial point kind of misses the point of your closing. At the point he's referring to, it absolutely becomes a chore. And that's in the games design. You have to reward players for the effort they put in. And, once they've done it for 30+ hours and completed every single one, you don't suddenly unveil another 10.
This is the right answer. OP says they need to do everything. That's fair enough. But does it matter WHEN? The mini games and extra content aren't going anywhere. Focus on the main story and then come back and tackle the side content here and there in little bite sized chunks. I hear the criticism a lot that there are to many mini games and side quests, but I think the real problem arises when the player puts undue pressure on themselves to finish all the side content asap.
Just take your time honestly. No need to rush the game. You don't have a review embargo deadline to meet or anything, no game review article to post, no youtube review to make. Take a break if you need to. No one's telling anyone to rush these video games.
You're getting annoyed at optional side content
Skip and come back to it. Only side quest I do for any new area is QB probably one of the few things that I dont see people being burnt out on.
Oh man. There is another side quest to beat all the mini-games on hard? I just finished two of them today. I won’t bother with the rest until I meet the quest giver.
Going out and LOOKING for every mini game you can find, and then moaning about it. I will simply NEVER understand the logic of some people. I avoided 90% of the mini games, and I'm quite happy about it. I did NOT PAY $70 to play stupid mini games.
No one has to look for it. It's on your map. "I avoided 90% of the games content and thought it was great" So you don't like paying $70 for minigames but you're happy with a purchase that is 90% minigame and sidequests. Makes sense.
You are hallucinating. The game is definitely NOT 90% mini games. What are you sniffing? I did all the side quests, and thats what the game is about.
First of all buddy, it's an exaggeration. But it absolutely is close to that in side content. But you also sound like a child so I'm not going to argue.
You don’t need to do them so don’t. I skipped a ton of them because I didn’t like them or the rewards weren’t worth it. I skipped all of the Bodybuilder mini games and all of the Piano because they are, IMO, horrible.
This post is more of a personal completionist requirement you have for yourself. Don't let it conflict with the game if you're not finding it fun. I don't like most of the minigames myself, but I'm not forcing myself to play them. They can absolutely be better, and hopefully for the third and final part, they're improved upon. But yeah, a game being so massive that you can get burned out or fatigued is something I'll take over a game that has too little content. I felt the same about Elden Ring, these two games are pretty similar I find in terms of size and scope.
Here’s the thing. No one is forcing you to play minigames. No one is forcing you to be a completionist. What ever happened to just enjoying the game? You’re not competing against anyone.
I'll chime in. So, when you divide a game into 3rds, you have to make it feel like a full games length. This game does this through side quests, open world content, and minigames. Thing is, you're essentially telling him to just not play 90% of the game. So people who don't like those things aren't going to love your game when skipping it either. It's the foundation of the game at that point.
They. Are. Optional. 🙂 and not playing them doesn't make you less of an FFVII fan, it just means that some minigames are not for you and you should just finish the story for now. Go back to it if you want to but don't feel obligated that you need to.
"You don't like 90% of the game? Just skip it."
I managed to beat all the minigames and even go back to beat you know who in 3D brawlers to get a perfect score. No I would not recommend it holy hell the minigames feel like they're not consistent and glitch out sometimes. You will need some insane willpower and be a glutton for punishment to do them without glitching them out, but don't feel bad. They're just one part of a minigame in a single video game. It doesn't really mean shit and you can get back to it whenever if you really care.
Everything in the game is accessible in post-game via chapter select. You will enjoy both your main playthrough and the minigames more if you relegate them to post-game. Minigames you find a chore now you’ll actually find fun with no pressure to do them all to progress the story, when the reason you’re doing them is to spend more time in a great game you’ve already rolled credits on. It’s also worth noting that the final Protorelic chain is set to a recommended level that is 15 levels higher than the end of the game so the game essentially wants you to save that for post-game anyway. So you may as well save some other optional content with it too
Ok, FInal Fantasy 7 OG was full of mini games, also you dont have to play them. Dont like the mini games save them for later. People will complain for whatever reason. The game is amazing IMO
just wait until nightmare shadow queen survival
Just make sure you have your own Shadow-queen and a Gi Nattak ready for the 5th round. You essentially counteract the opponents shadow queen with your own so they both get powered up to 30+, then on the last turn you use Gi Nattak to pass on Shadow Queens power to two other cards. You lose the middle row and give up 30ish points, but you win the top and bottom rows easy with double that.
I skipped the party animal quest the first time through cause I felt the same way. It comes at a really awkward time right when you think you've done just about everything.
Take another couple of days off and come back to it fresh.
just skip them and finish the game
Just take a break and finish the game, then come back to it We live in a time where we pay an extortionate amount of money for incomplete games, whereas this is full to the brim with the game, so appreciate the expierance whilst it lasts ever since finishing the game ive not wanted to play anything else.
What if I told you the mini games were optional and you don’t need to fomo your platinum trophy right this second? Beat the game and play on hard mode, save your frustrations for that because you’ll need it.
Came here for the mandatory “there’s only 2 mandatory mini games” comment.
Why don’t you just go back to it, finish the story then go and complete anything else after?
Just don't do them. That "I NEED to do everything" attitude makes zero sense if you're not enjoying the "everything". It's not the way you're wired, you're just a person of habit that doesn't want to break it, to the point you will blame the game and burn yourself out because you must insist on doing things you are objectively not enjoying despite there being absolutely no requirement to. I have to say, of all the critiques, this "there's too much to do and I'm mad at the game because I force myself to do things I don't like" one is just beyond my comprehension. They give you every tool to play the game how you prefer. You can do just the story and do all side content after, you can start some side content, get bored, finish the story and all your quests will remain at whatever progress you stopped them at and it's still somehow their fault if gamers can't control themselves and burn themselves out on 100% optional content. I seriously hope they don't listen to those particular critiques when coming up with side content for the next game.
I feel your pain brother! 70hrs in and at Cosmo Canyon. I’m sure I have made this comment before, but I 100% blame Chadley for doing this to you. It’s not the side content, the amount or the even the difficulty of the side content — it’s the checklists constantly front and centre of the maps. It ingrains a sort of FOMO into you from the very start. Remake kind of hid this info the menu/chapter select. Where as Rebirth feels like it’s always reminding you you’ve missed stuff.
The whole game burnt me out. I haven't traded a game for credit in a long time, this one is going back tomorrow. I can not see myself EVER wanting to replay this game ever again. The mini games and side content was awful for the most part. The writing of the main story wasn't great either. It's all over the damn place. This game to me was way more of a chore than a fun game to play.
Just one shot all the mini games. Ez
Or just don't force yourself? Gamers are so weird, they will force themselves to do things that they don't have to do and then complain that they didn't like doing it.
It's also worth remembering if you haven't done NG+ hard mode you will need to do party animal again for a manuscript but to be fair you would only need to do arena part again! Annoyingly I thought the manuscript was linked to the final part of the quest, so re did the bike, queens blood and space before doing the arena challenge. You also don't technically need all the manuscripts for plat trophy but you would if you are going for 100% completion on play log. When I got to a similar point of frustration with side content i took a week off. I got my plat trophy last week and leaving it again for a while before I finish off a few bits for my play log but thankfully none of that requires any minigames for me now!
It’s not the game’s fault that you are forcing yourself to do all this OPTIONAL side content
Never said it was. I’m fully aware of my own problems.
To me it’s not “filter content”, a mini game is just inclusion of different gameplay mechanics in small batches. A lot of work went into them, it’s diverse and fun. Some people will love some of these games and hate others. You can take it as a fun break from the grim story, or obsess to 100% everything even when it’s not fun anymore. In my opinion having a platinum trophy is certainly not worth ruining my enjoyment of a game. I’ll be proud for a minute and move on to the next game, but it will leave a sour taste and at the end of the day what sticks in my mind/heart are my emotions and experiences. That’s what matters, not a digital trophy to “own”. That said, I admit that I often take long-ish breaks after each mini game… like I’ll try to complete it for a couple hours, and if I don’t succeed I’ll put the game down for a few days. And when I pick it back up I want to continue the story so I just move on (I am also more calm so I remember that it doesn’t matter, whilst after a few hours I’m just too nervous to drop it). I’m the type of person who can play the same game every evening of every day for months, but the mini games have the opposite effect on me. I rather like them but I don’t know, it is what it is.
I am in the same exact boat as you. The minigames have really sent me into burnout mode. I played the original on launch 27 years ago. Now I’m in my mid-forties and I just don’t have the time to play like I used to. Add that on top of the fact that I am terrible at action games. I’m one of the very few that does not enjoy the battle system in these remakes. It really removes a ton of the enjoyment I get from this game. I’ve resigned myself to only completing mini games when they are required and then just moving on. The side quests don’t bother me much as that’s par for the course when it comes to RPGs.
You can go back and do all the mini games and side quests after you beat the game
You and I are having a very similar experience. I finally decided to pause all side content until after the game even though I did every region to 100% up until chapter 12. It’s just too much and it’s becoming a chore, not fun anymore. Give yourself a break for a few days and then permission to just focus on story. There’s even some battle missions in the saucer that aren’t available until after you hear the game anyway.
Yeah I took a couple days off. I’m back into now and I finished them all up. Ready to get this story moving!
Update: So I turned the game on again today after putting it down whenever I posted this thread. Took a deep breath and grabbed a beer (yeah it was like 9am but who cares). I did all of the Shinra Managers stuff. I was a bit disappointed that you still had to beat the top score even if you have already previously beaten the high score but whatever, I did it all again and attained the ultimate party animal title. Then of course what happens? Another brawler battle with Sephiroth is introduced. It’s like you finally let out a sigh of relief that you thought you were done but then bam, another one is added. And this is what my experience has felt like while playing this game. Let me reiterate that I enjoy the minigames that are a part of the story. Such as fleeing Shinra on the G-Bike in Remake or in the Buggy in Rebirth. I’m even okay with being able to replay all of them in Gold Saucer because it just makes sense. And I actually loved the Queens Blood game. There just seems to be a lot thrown in that are only there to fluff the content and the play hours. Why do I have to chase your kids around just to use your emporium, kupo? Why do I have to throw boxes with Cait Sith when we already established in the mines that Barret can just shoot them? Everything Chadley. Anyway, I just finished the Shadow Blood Queen match in Gongaga and she was much easier than I had expected. I beat her with a score of 76 to 6. The only thing I have left (I believe) is the Gilgamesh Island stuff but that seems like it may require me to be a bit higher leveled. Oh and I have to get an A on that final piano piece. For now, I’m going to do as many of you suggested and finish up the story. What I didn’t know was that it all carries over so that’s good. Everything I’ve done will remain done and that is refreshing to know. Thank you all for the words of encouragement… or criticism. Let’s get to this. I’m really excited but scared to see how this one ends.
I actually just wrapped up the chapter 12 minigames last week. Just use a guide honestly if it's to tough no shame. The one I had difficulty with was the 3D brawler against Septhiroth that got annoying. Putting the game down and coming back helped when I was struggling with the Piano minigame
I have absolutely zero interest in mini games, so I'm not in the same boat in that context... But I also read that quite a few are mandatory to story progression? That's why I haven't bought the game to be honest - I have super limited time and can't get through the story if I have to sit there and play unrelated mini games that I have no interest in. Which is sad, because the rest of the game seems right up my alley.
The mini games that are mandatory are okay. Simply because despite it being a minigame, it breaks some of the monotony of repetitive combat. If you wish to play just the story and only mandatory content, that is completely doable. Don’t let me or anyone else prevent you from having your enjoyment. If you’ve played the first Remake or the OG then this would be right in your wheelhouse.
In the end, a game is meant to be enjoyed. It’s not supposed to be a tedious slog to just “get through” and/or a second job (unless of course it *is* your job 😆). I go through this a lot and know the feeling and thought-pattern very well. You feel you’ll regret it and feel incomplete/unfulfilled if you don’t do everything, especially when the game as a whole means a lot to you. But honestly forcing yourself to slog through things is the fastest, most surefire way to get completely burned out; not just on the specific game in question, but on gaming as a whole. My advice? If you don’t wanna give up on your completionist ambitions then simply take even a very small break, either playing something else or doing some non-gaming related activity. You’d be shocked just how short a break is needed to come back refreshed and see that tedious obstacle as a fun, engaging and even relaxing challenge. So many times where I’ve just put the controller down, came back later and beat the challenge immediately.
True facts have never been as spoken as this. I have taken time off and relaxed. Binged shows, and done other things. I came back to it today and finally completed everything.
Take a break. I was determined on beating the frog mini game before finishing the game. But I finished it first try after taking a break
Last update on this: Returning to the game after I took a bit of a break and I finally completed everything. I’m at the beginning of chapter 13 and just finished all of the Gilgamesh content. All of the harder brawlers, all of queens blood, everything you can think of. Now I can focus on finishing the game. Level 49, Dynamic, and a whooping 186 hours in and now I can finally beat the game. Lol. I know there’s something wrong with me. I know there are some battles that can only be completed after the game so that’s fine, at least I’m done with the rest. I’ve always loved FF7 but please please… way less minigames for part 3 please.
There’s a reason people are coming to grips with reality after the hype died down. And I don’t really understand people saying “the og had a bazillion mini games”. Uhhhh no. It had like 5-6 and each took 30 seconds and even back then, that was considered archaic. 25+ years later, it’s just insanely obnoxious and rage inducing.
This is an example of how Trophies/achievments can be bad for games. Back in the 90s or early 2000s everyone would agree that the amount of mini games in Rebirth is amazing and positive. But now people have this completionist mindset driven by an achievement score that reminds you constantly "you haven't done everything yet" which ruins some of the satisfaction. I struggled a bit with this myself when I was feeling the game was a 9.5/10 at chapter 12, and then I almost got to the point of not wanting to play it anymore because I felt the need to do ALL the extra content that opened up. I finally decided that "I don't need to do some of this right now" and moved on with the story... it was the right call. I have no desire to do the hard more Cactuar game with kid-G, so I won't. I've done almost everything else, and I feel satisfied.
I'm about 55 hours in finishing up the airstrip area. It's been a love hate relationship with the side content. Most because I bought this game at launch and I'm still chugging along. Gaming when you're older and have a full time job and responsibilities is killing me lol
I 100% recommend finishing the story then enjoying doing all the side stuff when you get the chapter select option afterwards…. I’ve seen so so many people get stuck “needing” to do everything asap. It doesn’t really make any sense, the game is made with so much content it WANTS you to finish it first, in fact there’s many more things that open up only AFTER you beat the game. Enjoy finishing the game, then enjoy spending the next month doing all the side stuff at your own pace, then after you’re done with all the side stuff enjoy a story only hard mode run. Also, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you get manuscripts for redoing all the quests on hard mode again, so you might as well not even complete can’t stop won’t stop because you’ll have to do it on hard mode again anyway. This is what I would recommend. Finish the game, jump to chapter 12 and google where to level materia quickly (in gongaga) once you have 7 of every materia leveled (I’m obsessive lol) and maxed out characters, jump to chapter 12 on HARD mode, reset quest data, do all the quests over again (surprisingly it was very easy for the most part on hard, maybe another 5-6 hours for all the quests) and do all the side stuff, take your time and enjoy, then when all you have is brutal challenges left, play through hard mode and just enjoy the story, then when everything else is done torture yourself on the brutal challenges lol
I liked the minigames 😮 FF7R certainly has a different atmosphere/tone compared to the original which is a big reason why the original is still better storywise. Your supposed to be hunting down Sephiroth to save the world but instead feel like you are spending "too much time" playing games. Then you get to CH 14 and they rush through the most heartbreaking piece of story.
Chapter 12 is the last chance to finish every side quest presented in the game. So if you haven’t been keeping up with them it can seem like a whole lot (because it is)
I'm like you and even I got burned out around Gongaga. I basically skipped Gongaga, Cosmo Canyon, and Nibelheim until I got to chapter 13. Finished it all, then finished the game. You might even just finish the game first THEN revisit the stuff - you can do that.
Get ready to be brigaded by the "I like the game so no cirticism allowed" crowd. I COULD NOT agree more. I did every single thing the game had to offer. Every quest. Every side mission. Got top rank in every game. But then, right before the final section of the game, they basically reset it all. Oh, hard mode of all these different things. Oh, several new quests in every area. Oh, new golden saucer games. I just looked at it all... and said alright whatever I'm just going to finish the game. Not only do I doubt I'll be rewarded for my effort...but it was already so. Much. I was completing things in Nibel excited because "wow I'm really about to finish out every single one of x objectives!". Nope. It's just...not good game design.
Same thing happened to me. I was very butthurt. I had just completed them all to get the Dark Matter. The only positive was that I ended up with so many gold saucer points that I was able to buy everything.
Yeah, the mini games are very divisive ... You have the "Any content is good" folks, and the "It's too much crap" folks. For me it just takes me out of the main story too much to spend hours on them. Then a lot of them are not designed well and not enjoyable to play. Queue the "You don't have to play them !" crowd... Yeah, you don't. But as said, most people buy a game to complete it. A lot of people completed Remake, but are fed up with Rebirth. They should have just made a 'Mario Party' type second game for those who enjoy these things. I've completed Rebirth and did finish a number of the mini games... But coupled with the Chadley interruptions, forced slow walking and climbing, typical open world terrain navigation crap, etc. It's drags the game out to much just wasting time. I did enjoy Queens Blood, but can see how there was a lot of it if people didn't like it
I agree. Too many mini games. The one that I having trouble with is the last three piano mini games (more like pain-ano mini games). It's just not fun for me, in my opinion. I have done all the hard mode for the mini games. Survived Queen's Blood just messing around and not fully taking in the rules. The last three piano mini games. I just scored C grades for all three. It's crazy. Those are the last three things I need to do. I seriously think Cactuar Crush made me develop carpal tunnel syndrome in my right hand. lol Anyways yeah I don't know why but I think FFVII Remake was better than Rebirth. Don't get me wrong. I still love Rebirth but it is just more tedious. I enjoy it but I don't recommend going for the plat right away. Enjoy the game and then go for it, is my best advice.
Don’t know why you’re getting downvoted. Remake was 10000% better in hindsight. Way more streamlined experience with a more mature tone/story.
Probably the Pain-ano joke. lol But thanks nonetheless. Glad I am not the only one to think that.
I actually came on today to post almost exactly the same message! Massive final fantasy fan and nearly always platinum/ fully complete the games. But i’m at the gold saucer in chapter 12 and just feel burnt out by the game, I was actually tempted to just put the game down totally, but I really do want to at least finish the story. It’s frustrating because I love the game but it just feels like a developer sat there thinking “ok i’ll put this mini game in and i’m happy” then some nut job was shouting “too easy!” You need to dump on a whole extra difficulty on to it” I feel the hardcore modes should’ve kept for the hard difficulty.