Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is the latest installment of the FF7 Remake series, but if the trilogy is going to end on a strong note, then there's one big problem that needs to be fixed in the next game. Being heralded as one of the best games of 2024 and even netting a nomination for Game of the Year at The Game Awards, FF7 Rebirth has all the trappings of a fantastic game and a proper reinvention of a classic. Despite its praise, there was one common point of criticism that kept some players from finishing the game at all.

As one part of a three-game remake of Final Fantasy 7, FF7 Rebirth adapts only the middle portion of the original and expands it into a full game. In doing so, the game adds a wealth of extra content to the core experience to make it feel fuller, but a lot of that extra content could have been left on the cutting room floor. FF7 Rebirth quite simply has too many mini-games, to the point that it detracts from what is otherwise an excellent game.

FF7 Rebirth Had Too Many Mini-Games

A Fantastic Experience Watered Down By Side Content

The FF7 Remake trilogy had its work cut out for it in trying to recreate what many consider to be one of, if not the greatest JRPG of all time, especially if the project was going to be split into three parts. So far, the trilogy has been able to accomplish this by not just remaking, but reimagining the original game's story in a new form and by delving deeper into the subplots and ing characters. But there's still the problem that one-third of an almost 30-year-old game needs to be expanded into a full-length modern triple-A title.

The problem is that those large environments are filled with a glut of side games and fluff that often feel like they were designed simply to pad out the game's length rather than add value.

The middle installment of a trilogy is always the hardest to do well, and FF7 Remake does what it can by expanding the original game's locations into a series of large, open-world environments to explore. The problem is that those large environments are filled with a glut of side games and fluff that often feel like they were designed simply to pad out the game's length rather than add value. FF7 Rebirth is a bloated experience as a result of this over-stuffing.

Between card games, races, music performances, and ab crunches, there are a total of 28 mini-games spread across the 14 chapters of FF7 Rebirth; for a bit of context, the original Mario Party, a game built almost entirely around mini-games, had a total of 50. Mini-games are nothing new to the JRPG genre or even Final Fantasy 7 in particular, but the sheer overload at that scale is daunting. It leaves the game feeling less like an RPG and more like a Final Fantasy-branded mini-game collection.

Too Many Mini-Games Distract From A Compelling Story

Saving The World Often Takes A Backseat

Final Fantasy may be no stranger to mini-games, but with the caveat that they're typically relegated to optional side content. In FF7 Rebirth, mini-games are all too often mandatory for advancing the plot, and as a result the narrative frequently feels like it's slamming on the brakes at the most inopportune times. It robs the story of its urgency – the quest to prevent the world's destruction feels far less dire when we're taking a break to buy swimsuits for the party.

Though most of the mini-games are ostensibly optional, it's an approach that's at odds with the way FF7 Rebirth is structured. As neither the beginning nor the ending of the story, Rebirth smartly takes the approach of fleshing out Final Fantasy 7's ing cast as the focus of its story, but many of those important character moments are locked behind side quests that, again, often require mini-games to be completed as part of the process.

How FF7 Remake Part 3 Can Fix This Problem

Trimming The Fat Will Be A Must

The triple-A gaming market often suffers from a need to make every game feel as big as possible, and FF7 Rebirth is a prime example of how this approach can potentially backfire. It creates a drive to make games bigger and bigger, but not necessarily better and better, all for the sake of creating the most perceived value for the price tag. FF7 Remake Part 3 needs to shift its focus away from padding out the experience to creating a tight, focused finale for what promises to be an epic story, especially in light of FF7 Rebirth's disappointing sales, at least by Square Enix's metrics.

Per HowLongToBeat, the original Final Fantasy 7 takes about 36 hours to play through to the end, bumped up to 80 hours for those seeking 100% completion. By comparison, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's HowLongToBeat stats show takes about 47 hours for a standard playthrough, and a whopping 167 hours for full completion – over double that of the original game.

Many players have itted they were unable to finish FF7 Rebirth due to burnout from the relentless grind of side content, and that's a big problem for the next game to come. The trilogy's director, Naoki Hamaguchi, has already promised that FF7 Remake Part 3 will tone down the difficulty of completion compared to Rebirth, and hopefully that sentiment holds true when it comes to cutting the game down to size. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth deserves all the accolades it has received for its story and gameplay, but its flaws must also serve as a cautionary tale for Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3.

Source: HowLongToBeat (1, 2)