If FF7 Rebirth does one thing better than Remake and Crisis Core, please let it be this

As has seemingly become a yearly tradition in my gaming calendar, I have ended up finishing 2022 in much the same way I finished 2021: reviewing yet another Final Fantasy VII game. Last year, it was the PC release of Final Fantasy VII Remake, this year it’s Crisis Core – Final Fantasy VII – Reunion, a remaster of the original game’s PSP prequel. As such, I’ve been thinking a lot about Final Fantasy VII these last few weeks, and playing them so close together has ended up highlighting one key thing for me. Namely, that story chapters that break up the action by giving players some ‘downtime’ to ‘hang’ with your party pals, either by doing side or fetch quests for them MUST DIE.

Drop a meteor on them or let them go the way of Aerith and be skewered into oblivion, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, because please, Square Enix, I simply cannot with the interminable sidequest chapters any more.