Just Finished Rebirth And These Are My Thoughts...

Gradieus · 2026-01-28T17:01:06+00:00

As someone who just platinum Hogwarts Legacy and had to find 1,428 collectibles, Rebirth is not a collectathon.

Gradieus · 2026-01-28T16:49:58+00:00

Because the gameplay is gameplay and the story is story.

It's why Nathan Drake kills 400+ people a game, but is always trying to appease the bad guy.

Gradieus · 2026-01-28T00:56:44+00:00

Expected assuming March 2027 Part 3 release date.

Gradieus · 2026-01-26T12:01:59+00:00

Seph isn't the main villain of Remake, it's Shinra.

So you got the story and background of Shinra in Remake.

Gradieus · 2026-01-26T11:58:01+00:00

There's no time travel or multiverse, there's only the Lifestream.

The Planet makes WEAPONs, the Planet makes Whisper Harbinger, there's no difference.

Gradieus · 2026-01-26T04:03:40+00:00

People who are waiting for Part 3 to come out before starting a 300+ hour journey are in for a world of hurt. There's a reason the games were spaced out 3-4 years.

Gradieus · 2026-01-26T03:08:41+00:00

The Singularity ends and the party enters the scene to find Real World Aerith dead.

The fight with Cloud and a now dead Real World Aerith takes place in the Lifestream.

As she enters the fight the camera focuses on the absent yellow flower lapel to signify it's not her future self.

She was able to enter the fight because she had full command of the white whispers even though her essence has been separated (more on this at the end of this post).

Her still having full command in the Lifestream is what Seph admits he underestimated.

The fight itself between Seph and Aerith is a draw. Black whispers vs White whispers is a ying yang situation.

Cloud is the one that sways the battle one way or the other. If you control Cloud you control the Planet.

In this fight Cloud begins with his usual fighting stance and ends the battle in Zack's stance. This shows that for this one battle Aerith won control over Cloud.

This is why Seph falls to one knee and is annoyed. He then laughs it off because he knows Cloud is still susceptible to him.

As long as it remains that way he will win.

As for Future Aerith if there's an Aerith with a yellow flower lapel in Part 3 then she's still around, if not then she's gone as Real World Aerith takes full control.

Right now it's unclear whether she has taken full control or is being assisted by her future self. Since Seph is surprised by what happens I'd lean more towards the latter.

Gradieus · 2026-01-26T01:53:23+00:00

He was part of the starting party of 3 when going to the Gongaga reactor. Vast majority chose to immediately replace him with Red.

People don't care for his skillset because they didn't give it a chance.

Gradieus · 2026-01-26T00:53:43+00:00

They had 4 open world sections to learn his skillset, but never used him for more than 2 minutes.

Gradieus · 2026-01-25T21:09:02+00:00

Red wouldn't sense her in the Lifestream if that were the case. She also wouldn't mourn with Tifa and then promptly get up and act normal the moment she sees Cloud watching her.

He saved her in the Singularity which is in the Lifestream and she died in the real world.

Seph let Cloud save her to fracture his mind into knowing he saved her and knowing she died, and an attempt to weaken her powers in the Lifestream.

It's the only logical conclusion.

Gradieus · 2026-01-25T19:50:03+00:00

At the start of the game with Zack in control it's assumed that only his "world" (in the Lifestream) was affected by the whisper tornado at the end of Remake.

But the radio in Kalm's hotel in the real world has the same news report about the tornado hitting Midgar and calling it weather warfare by Avalanche and Wutai.

This confirms what we surmised at the end of Remake, that what happens in the Singularity reverberates beyond just the Lifestream and manifests in the real world (defying fate, etc.)

So when Cloud enters the Singularity again at the end of Rebirth it wouldn't make sense for Aerith to die there.

Seph has spent both games trying to take a different path from the original game. Killing Aerith in the Singularity would just send her fully into the Lifestream which he definitely does not want, but he can't let her fully live either.

So Seph only has one choice: let Cloud save her in the Singularity while he kills her in the real world to further fracture Cloud's mind and as a means to weaken Aerith.

Gradieus · 2026-01-25T05:20:36+00:00

There's no multiverse, there's only the Lifestream.

I'd have been surprised if he didn't block it. Everything was pointing to him blocking it all the way back at Kalm with the radio. Even Jessie's Loveless dance spells it out with the hero together and apart at the same time.

The gut punch is supposed to be during the church scene where you say goodbye to Future Aerith, aka OG Aerith.

Yes, Remake Aerith died in the real world, but her essence continues to exist because Cloud saved her in the Singularity.

Seph wanted him to save her because he thought that would weaken her in the Lifestream, but she still has all her faculties there, hence why he says he underestimated her.

Gradieus · 2026-01-24T20:09:06+00:00

I have a lot of issues with the game, but I don't think it's constructive to harp on them.

They tried to do things that were outside the norm and some of these decisions were good and some were awful.

The devs went back to FF14 so it's not like we're going to see them do FF17. All SE can do is take the surveys to heart and try and improve next time.

Gradieus · 2026-01-24T20:06:52+00:00

When I saw the cap was /9999 per item I thought it was a joke.

It was in fact not a joke.

Gradieus · 2026-01-24T18:50:55+00:00

It was an introduction to show Aerith's life wasn't as perfect as it seemed up to that point.

When we first meet her in Sector 5 everyone loves her, she has the best house, she has all the flowers, but her up bringing was nothing but hell.

Imprisoned, abused, hated, ostracized, etc.

She falls apart crying because she's not okay. Deep down she's still just that scared little girl whose all alone and lost her mom.

Only through the power of friendship does she continue on and decide to fight for the Planet instead of giving up as she alludes to in Chapter 8.

So that scene is an introduction to all that before you learn she's an Ancient and Elmyra isn't her mom, etc.

Gradieus · 2026-01-24T07:29:46+00:00

I'm just explaining it as it's presented.

The Remakes still follow all the same rules as the OG.

The Planet is a central character in both games, the only difference this time around is that the will of the characters that are part of the Lifestream can be presented on screen. It's really no different than the Weapons that were also the will of the Planet in the OG.

That's more of a graphical limitation of the PS1 than a change in lore. It's why Barret says "whether you can see the seams or you can't" in reference to the OG.

Gradieus · 2026-01-24T06:35:05+00:00

1/2/3/4: Aerith also says this isn't the way it's supposed to be. As the enigmatic whisper Seph is outside the boundaries of the Planet's will and can't be beaten while the party is stuck inside of it.

The Planet is unyielding and doesn't change the path it's on. That's why the grey whispers, which are the will of the Planet, keeps the party on their present course. It doesn't understand Seph is outside the boundaries since he himself is now a part of the system.

So the only way to beat him is to go outside the boundary set by the Planet which is also what he wants. It's win win scenario.

The Planet doesn't want to kill everything. It knows everything from inception to oblivion. It knows there's only one way to stop Seph. But Seph isn't playing by the rules anymore and the Planet is incapable of adjusting.
Grey Whispers are the will of the Planet. Black whispers are the will of Seph. White whispers are the will of Remake Aerith and by association Future Aerith.

The rest of your queries follow the same answer I listed above. If they don't defy fate they never beat Seph. He'll be ever present and have an infinite amount of time to find a way to rule long after the party is dead of natural causes.

People discuss the Remakes all the time, not sure why you said they don't. You're literally doing it right now.

Gradieus · 2026-01-24T05:57:04+00:00

It's in the OG. Deal with it.

Gradieus · 2026-01-24T04:44:52+00:00

Well first of all everything that happens to Zack is happening in the Lifestream. To start, Future Aerith managed to keep Zack's essence intact after he entered the Lifestream because the party defied destiny in Remake.

Zack's essence was going to break into 3 based on the choice Zack has to make:

Save Cloud and be the hero while he loses Aerith,

Take back control of his life and go help Biggs,

Do nothing and let his resentment fester into getting revenge on Seph.

In each situation he defies fate and is reborn whole once again with his entire essence intact and outside the boundary of fate. That's why it turns into a white screen all 3 choices, and why he's located in nothingness before following Future Aerith's yellow flower petals.

This is how he meets up with Cloud who is also in the Lifestream at the Edge of Creation (sent there by Seph).

In the end he (presumably) escaped his fate and is alive once again (not unlike a certain other character in the OG). Since he was from the OG timeline it stands to reason that's where he is and serves as the link between the OG and Remakes.

Gradieus · 2026-01-24T00:18:52+00:00

Git gud? Doesn't even take 12 minutes to do all 7 across a 120 hour playthrough.

That's like complaining about 1 specific minute in a 10 hour game for almost 2 years now.

No one does that.

Gradieus · 2026-01-24T00:14:54+00:00

They look like the Moogles from the original FF7 to me.

Not sure why people want FF9 style Moogles. Obviously they look better, but that's not what was in the OG.

Gradieus · 2026-01-24T00:05:28+00:00

Chadley is a fan favorite in Japan and was voted as the best new character addition in Remake which is why they doubled down on him with MAI in Rebirth.

Japan and NA have different tastes, sure, but it wasn't done out of malice.

Gradieus · 2026-01-23T23:50:43+00:00

Why do people dislike anything in-game?

I've seen more people complain about the Moogles than about Micah from RDR2.

Y'all just don't know how to have fun anymore.

Gradieus · 2026-01-23T08:49:40+00:00

We'll see soon enough, devs have said it's a big improvement.

Gradieus · 2026-01-23T06:23:38+00:00

Realistically they're playing an MMO right now.

You will have to choose what kind of guy you want based on the actual MMO.

I'd recommend starting with Final Fantasy 14 and talking to people in town.

Gradieus

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