I'm sorry but you can't dismiss criticism with "its a sequel and you need to replay the OG and spinoffs in order for it to make sense". That's not how it's positioned by Square and a sequel can't literally be 80% reheated story content of the original. It's essentially between a rock and hard place and this is just one of those creative decisions that was made in an ivory tower, SE is alienating everyone but die hards and it's showing in the sales lol. It feels very much like convoluted fan service.
I was excited for one of my friend to pick up VII Remake for Switch 2 (knowing it would come to the platform) but by the time I finished Rebirth I realised he's going to be confused about why VII is so loved and he's not nostalgic enough to play through the OG with its dated graphics, so he's just going to walk away thinking the story is a mess and overated







