Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth won’t add up if you’ve been neglecting your lore studies. Rather than replay Final Fantasy 7 Remake and the original FF7 in their entirety, we strongly recommend pulling an “oh damn, the big test is tomorrow” cram session.
A trio of YouTubers have produced the modern equivalent of CliffsNotes in the form of entertaining and educational video summaries. Because I respect your time, I have limited the recommendations to four videos that, in total, will take you 137 minutes to watch — the run time of one meaty movie. I also presume that, since you’re reading this post, you’re not the sort of person who can recite scenes from Advent Children. So my recommendations stick to the core games, ignoring the expanded FF7 universe.
These videos will catch you up on both versions of Final Fantasy 7 (both the original and Remake), go deep into a key moment that opens Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and then recap the story once more in a fun, pithy way that should help the core moments and themes stick in your brain.
Let’s begin the study session!
Final Fantasy 7’s story, explained
YouTube channel Xygor Gaming produced my first two recommendations, exhaustive explainers of both Final Fantasy 7 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake. These two videos are the longest of the bunch, but if possible, they should be watched one right after the other.
The magic of the new Final Fantasy 7 games stems from the various, sometimes subtle ways that the creators subvert expectations of what a remake should be. But it’s hard to spot what’s changed in the modern edition if you can’t remember what happened in the original. Because Xygor Gaming avoids any additional FF7 extended universe stories and events, this story recap of the original game can fit neatly inside a 42-minute box.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s story, explained
Once you’re caught up on the original — with all of that plot still sloshing around your brain — watch Xygor Gaming’s summary of Final Fantasy 7 Remake. If at first this video feels like a repeat, albeit glossier, that’s OK. Most of the story beats in Remake echo the original. But there are two distinct flavors to appreciate within this second course:
- It’s delightful to watch a serious, ambitious story first be told with the polygonal equivalent of paper dolls, and then performed with lifelike digital actors. You can appreciate why the current developers wanted to recreate key moments with all the fancy tech of today. And likewise, the ambition and creative audacity of the PS1 game is all the more apparent when you see just how well it holds up alongside its modern, more expensive re-creation.
- As Remake progresses, its story pushes against that of the original, as if it’s trapped within a metaphysical, metanarrative box. Characters begin to veer in novel directions, only for literal ghastly forces to nudge them back on track. Remake concludes with a cosmic moment that sets the stage for Rebirth to finally break out of that box, and take the story (and all of its iconic characters) somewhere new.
The Nibelheim Incident, explained
Arguably the most important moment in all of Final Fantasy 7 (no matter the version) is the Nibelheim Incident. Unfortunately, it’s also the most confusing.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth opens with its own retelling of Nibelheim. Defying the odds, these introductory hours are exceptional at pulling in lapsed fans and newcomers, perhaps because the scene is a prequel of sorts to the main story. But to really appreciate Rebirth, and Final Fantasy 7 in general, you really should understand the basics of what happened in the original Nibelheim sequence.
We recommend Final Fantasy Union’s 27-minute breakdown of what makes the scene significant.
Final Fantasy 7 in 23 minutes
You’re almost caught up! To wrap up, let’s recap as much info as possible so that it doesn’t immediately sift out your ears. YouTuber Chase Kip summarized the original Final Fantasy 7, this time in a lightning-fast 23 minutes. If you’re like me, you might be thinking: “I just watched nearly two hours of Final Fantasy 7 recap — do I really need another 23 minutes?”
Yes. Yes, you do. While you probably retained lots of info on the adventures of Cloud and friends, you might have already forgotten the nitty-gritty details when I say “Jenova and the Centra” or “Vincent and Lucrecia” or “the backstory of the Lifestream.” Repetition is a powerful learning tool! And this video — cheeky and animated — makes the final learning phase fun.
Congrats, you’re now ready to pass the test. And by “pass the test,” I mean play a video game for fun!
