History YMMV / FinalFantasyVIIRebirth

** The water, while impressive from a distance, [[NoFlowInCGI is rather noticeably stiff]] and doesn't interact with anything in it at all. This is especially obvious in the Under Junon cutscenes with Mr. Dolphin, the Terror of the Deep and Yuffie, where much splashing about happens, but the water remains perfectly flat. [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall This is referenced]] by [[spoiler:Cid in the boat'd Tiny Bronco, who complains that the entire Meridian Ocean doesn't have even one little wave to challenge him]].

** ''Rebirth'' changes the party's reason for visiting Nibelheim from just being the pursuit of Sephiroth to needing to access a Shinra database terminal in the abandoned manor. To get into the manor, Cloud and a couple of his allies head up Mt. Nibel to the reactor so they can get his keycard, and Cloud inserts it into a terminal so Cait Sith can scan it. While this is keeping in the original game also having you climb Mt. Nibel, once Cait Sith and those with him enter the manor, they encounter an AI of Hojo who drops them into his abandoned lab. What follows is a dungeon that is both unnecessary and [[TheOneLevel annoying]] as the group fights their way past Hojo's leftover experiments to escape. The only purpose is serves is to let Cait Sith be the party leader for a chance, and to basically stall his group while Cloud and company make their way back down the mountain to meet up with them.

* {{Padding}}:

** The second (mandatory) fight with the Turks, and Cloud's rematch with Rufus in Chapter 12 ultimately serve no real purpose in the narrative beyond padding out the length of the chapter, as otherwise it would be relatively light on gameplay content due to it covering the party's return trip to the Gold Saucer and betrayal at the hands of Cait Sith. Inexplicably, Cait Sith hasn't gotten out of the next room over to show how little those fights actually affect the plot.

** The "7-Star Hotel" trophy requires donating every item to Johnny's treasure trove, which not only requires the prior completion of the Piano Virtuoso trophy, but also requires the player complete every combat trial, every chocobo race, every Queen's Blood game and challenge, and complete every mini-game on both normal and (if there is one) hard mode - some of which provide no incentive towards their completion other than contributing to ''this'' trophy.

* CompleteMonster: [[EvilutionaryBiologist Professor Hojo]] continues to show how despicable he is as he did in the [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII original version]]. See [[YMMV/FinalFantasyVIIRemake here]] for more details.

** Cait Sith's segment in Nibelheim is a segment that many dislike going through, because Cait is an unorthodox character that relies on RNG that many players don't play as much even when they get him due to familiarity with the other more reliable party members. He also has slow meter buildup with not a lot of damage until you get the toy Moogle he's known for, which requires meter. Not only is that where a lot of his damage lies, but he's also incredibly squishy without it. Now take all of that and make him the only playable character in this one segment with difficult enemies that can one shot you, including Ying & Yang as mentioned above, the boss only he fights, and include a very needlessly complicated aiming mechanic to get through certain areas and progress. It's considered one of the biggest pace killers in the whole game and it reminds people of the weaker aspects of "Remake"'s level design but with a more unreliable, luck based playable character.

* ShipToShipCombat: Shipping wars over if Cloud should be with Tifa or Aerith, and if either girl ''truly'' loves him and he them, go back all the way to the original game, and ''Rebirth'' has only stoked the fires hotter than ever. For those supporting Cloud with Tifa, [[spoiler:they actually kiss in the "intimate" version of their Gold Saucer date, the first time Cloud has ''ever'' kissed either of them]]. For those supporting Cloud with Aerith, [[spoiler:they don't kiss, but instead hold hands with IntertwinedFingers, which is definitely a strong romantic gesture of its own, particularly in Japanese works]]. Regardless of the player's affection choices or Gold Saucer date, in the ending [[spoiler:they go on a "date" in a parallel version of Midgar, and hold hands and intertwine fingers again before she fades away after the boss battle with Sephiroth]]. Finally, the other Gold Saucer dates still feature one of the two girls as the topic of conversation (though Barret's is only implicit), with Yuffie teasing Cloud about Tifa having a crush on him and Red XIII making a DeclarationOfProtection towards Aerith with Cloud. Far from definitively "killing" either of the two ships, ''Rebirth'' has given them both more fuel than ever.

* SpiritualSuccessor: Much like ''VII Remake'' being this trope towards ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' beforehand,[[note]]A linear trek through a city that culminates in [[spoiler:the main party defying fate by defeating two FinalBosses in quick succession]][[/note]], ''Rebirth'' is one for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2''; both are WideOpenSandboxes involving the main characters hunting the BigBad, and both end with [[spoiler:a female party member dying (though more of an ambiguous case here) despite attempts to avert YouCantFightFate, and two MarathonBosses in quick succession]]. They even share Gilgamesh as a SuperBoss!

** The sit-ups minigame unlocked in Chapter 7, essentially a reskinned version of Tifa's pull-up minigame from ''Remake''. The first three rounds against Amina, Jay, and Ronnie are easy enough, but then there's Jules. Like the pull-up minigame before it, you have to press buttons so fast that muscle memory and pure dumb luck can determine whether or not you beat Jules, and if you make even '''one''' mistake once he picks up steam, you may as well retry since he'll gain a lead you'll never catch up to. But unlike the pull-up minigame, your button prompts are now mapped to the ''shoulder buttons with no way to change it'', meaning it's very easy to make a mistake. Thankfully, there's no achievement for beating all four opponents, but you ''do'' still have to beat them to 100% the game.

** The "7-Star Hotel" trophy requires donating every item to Johnny's treasure trove, which not only requires the prior completion of the above trophy, but also requires the player complete every combat trial, every chocobo race, every Queen's Blood game and challenge, and complete every mini-game on both normal and (if there is one) hard mode - some of which provide no incentive towards their completion other than contributing to ''this'' trophy.

* EndingFatigue: Remember the multi-phase finale of ''Remake''? Well, the final boss fight against [[spoiler:Jenova Lifeclinger and Sephiroth]] in this game manages to out-do it. After [[spoiler:Aerith's [[AmbiguousSituation possible death]]]], the final fight lasts for no less than ''twelve'' distinct phases, utilizing ''every playable character'' [[spoiler:including alternate timeline Zack for two of them]] in set parties, culminating in a brutal fight against [[spoiler:Sephiroth]] with only Cloud and [[spoiler:[[AmbiguousSituation some version of Aerith]]]]. Hopefully, you have enough decently levelled Materia to give to everyone, because there's ''no chance'' to enter the menu between phases and swap it around, even if you did know the party compositions ahead of time. Altogether, this can take at least one continuous hour of gameplay, and if you die, some retry options can send you back ''multiple phases'', further adding to the time. Good luck!

* SequelDifficultyDrop: Between having a full party from the start, the new synergy abilities increasing your offensive power, multiple sidequests to boost your level and the new mp-less elemental attacks, many find the normal and even dynamic difficulty of ''Rebirth'' far easier than ''Remake''.
* SequelDifficultySpike:
** While the base game is potentially easier than ''Remake'', the hard difficulty mode is significantly more challenging than the one in ''Remake'', with the tougher enemies and bosses being able to deal damage in the quadruple-digit range with basic attacks and wipe out the whole party within half a minute. Surviving such fights requires careful, intentional manipulation of materia loadouts and the party's composition to a degree that well exceeds what was expected from the previous game's hard mode challenges, as well as a strong command of new mechanics like the synergy strikes and perfect blocking.
** The hard mode combat simulator challenges are much more difficult than their equivalents in ''Remake'', requiring strong mastery of synergy abilities, materia, character abilities, and blocking to negate damage, as well as there being more challenges, and the three-man battles mostly consisting of ten rounds instead of five. While this is designed to be very challenging optional content, it can destroy even very experienced ''Remake'' players who are not prepared. As an example, the hardest battle in the base version of ''Remake'' was a BossRush series fighting 4 summons in sequence, with a ''single'' DualBoss (summoned at 50% health and weaker than the main boss), and then a final battle against a new opponent. By comparison, ''Rebirth'' throws ''three'' pairs of summons at full strength at you, then Gilgamesh, and finally [[spoiler: virtual Sephiroth]].

** The boss fight against Rufus Shinra at the Golden Saucer can be a real pain to deal with and a nightmare on hard mode. Bear with us, this is going to be a ''long'' list. For starters, he has a huge number of moves, and there is a lot of RNG in his AI script, which makes him very difficult to predict. The only way to damage him is when countering his attacks or when he's reloading, which makes it very difficult to build ATB, and while Counterstance worked well in ''Remake'' it is almost useless here. Trying to attack him at any other point causes him to parry your attack and damage you (he can sometimes do this at the end of his reload when he's supposed to be vulnerable), and his regular shots also have interrupt and knockback capabilities, meaning Cloud has to spend 90% of the fight cartwheeling around. Most ranged attacks don't work. His attacks are quick with rather peculiar timing. There's a lot of randomness in when he will reload. Rufus is also slow to build up stagger, though it's easier if you use an ability rather than normal attacks. Like in ''Remake'' you can stagger him instantly with a Braver, but the timing is so tight on this that it's practically frame perfect, and most of the time you will end up being countered. Things get even more difficult in the second phase, where his pet, Darkstar, joins the fight, since they can combo attacks and shred Cloud in seconds. Obviously, you're meant to focus on Darkstar, but you still have to deal with Rufus attacking you. He can even attack you while off-screen, while you're trying to attack Darkstar. The cherry is Rufus is also fought straight after the Turks (and after yet another boss and series of battles in which Cloud is a mandatory party member, meaning a lot of fights you need to converve Cloud's MP for in hard mode), so there's no ability to save before the battle. You can customise your equipment between fights, but if you restart the battle it will reset to what equipment you used against the Turks, so you have to do this ''every single time''. Er, that's everything?

* ShipToShipCombat: Shipping wars over if Cloud should be with Tifa or Aerith, and if either girl ''truly'' loves him and he them, go back all the way to the original game, and ''Rebirth'' has only stoked the fires hotter than ever. For those supporting Cloud with Tifa, [[spoiler:they actually kiss in the "intimate" version of their Gold Saucer date, the first time Cloud has ''ever'' kissed either of them]]. For those supporting Cloud with Aerith, [[spoiler:they don't kiss, but instead hold hands with IntertwinedFingers, which is definitely a strong romantic gesture of its own, particularly in Japanese works]]. The game's theme song "Promises To Keep" has been officially stated to be Aerith singing about her feelings for Cloud, and regardless of the player's affection choices or Gold Saucer date, in the ending [[spoiler:they go on a "date" in a parallel version of Midgar, and hold hands and intertwine fingers again before she fades away after the boss battle with Sephiroth]]. Finally, the other Gold Saucer dates still feature one of the two girls as the topic of conversation (though Barret's is only implicit), with Yuffie teasing Cloud about Tifa having a crush on him and Red XIII making a DeclarationOfProtection towards Aerith with Cloud. Far from definitively "killing" either of the two ships, ''Rebirth'' has given them both more fuel than ever.

** The hard mode fight with the Red Dragon has garnered a lot of hate for one simple reason: damaging its chest does nothing to weaken the mass fire breath attack in the second phase. In fact, despite the assess description, destroying its chest results in it flooding the battlefield with lava that can easily wipe the party. That means the entire arena becomes one large flame broiler to cook your party alive, and it considers the damage non-elemental so cheesing it with fire protection does not help. That means you must find a way to keep your party healthy and fortified enough to survive the attack, which is a big task while fighting a near endgame boss to begin with. Some have even suggested that the fight is bugged, since the player is punished for crippling the body part that not only they are informed to focus on to reduce damage, but most players [[ViolationOfCommonSense would logically think]] would weaken the boss. Thankfully, the Dragon's hp threshold for changing into its second phase is vast, so having it down to a level that winning before it even uses its Crimson Breath attack is entirely possible if requiring very specific builds and team composition.

** The hard mode fight with the Red Dragon has garnered a lot of hate for one simple reason: damaging its chest does nothing to weaken the mass fire breath attack in the second phase. In fact, despite the assess description, destroying its chest results in it flooding the battlefield with lava that can easily wipe the party. That means the entire arena becomes one large flame broiler to cook your party alive, and it considers the damage non-elemental so cheesing it with fire protection does not help. That means you must find a way to keep your party healthy and fortified enough to survive the attack, which is a big task while fighting a near endgame boss to begin with. Some have even suggested that the fight is bugged, since the player is punished for crippling the body part that not only they are informed to focus on to reduce damage, but most players [[ViolationOfCommonSense would logically think]] would weaken the boss.

** While the execution of the game's GainaxEnding is debated, it can't be denied that [[spoiler:fighting and beating down Sephiroth with a party of Cloud and Aerith can feel ''very'' satisfying especially seeing the mighty One-Winged Angel brought down to his knees and looking pissed for a moment]].

** The Hard mode fight with the Red Dragon has garnered a lot of hate for one simple reason: damaging its chest does nothing to weaken the mass fire breath attack in the second phase. That means the entire arena becomes one large flame broiler to cook your party alive, and it considers the damage non-elemental so cheesing it with fire protection does not help. That means you must find a way to keep your party healthy and fortified enough to survive the attack, which is a big task while fighting a near endgame boss to begin with.

** While the execution of the game's GainaxEnding is debated, it can't be denied that [[spoiler:fighting and beating down Sephiroth with a party of Cloud and Aerith can feel ''very'' satisfying]].

** For the "Queen's Blood" minigame, the Fat Chocobo card is disgustingly overpowered. While it needs to be placed in a rank 3 spot and packs the expected 5 power, its true power is the ability to buff adjacent lanes or any cards placed after it on its own lane if placed correctly. With one solid placement, the opposing players will constantly [[AIBreaker lock up in realizing they can't play anything to win]], because it will often overpower your other cards to absurd degrees and seize the lanes. Even better, it's a DiscOneNuke because you can buy it from the final opponent of the Grasslands for a mere 500 gil.

* {{Woolseyism}}:
** Rebirth renames the ''Midgar Zolom'' to ''Midgardsormr'', which makes the giant snake sound much more in keeping with the games Norse themed naming conventions.
** While retaining the original name in Japanese, the rather mundane sounding ''Huge Materia'' are called ''Magnus Materia'' in the English version of the game, better conveying their magnitude and importance.
** In this game, [[spoiler:Bizarro∙Sephiroth is renamed to Sephiroth Reborn, which is more in line with his Japanese name リバース・セフィロス (Rebirth Sephiroth).]]

** Many also took issues with the design of the Moogles in ''Rebirth''. However, Moogles were also showed in ''Remake'' with the same design. Though in that game, they're almost completely absent outside of the Chocobo & Mog summon.

** While the execution of the game's GainaxEnding is debated, it can't be denied that [[spoiler:fighting Sephiroth with a party of Cloud and Aerith can feel ''very'' satisfying.]]