I have, but I’m going through the Remake trilogy and my partner is watching me complete the game. As far as I know they have somehow stayed unspoiled this whole time, so I’m going to try to keep it that way as long as I can. I’m playing Remake on Hard to remember the story and delay until my next paycheck, but will zoom through as fast as I can to get any cool stuff I missed and then jump into Rebirth.
But I’m just curious, will they still enjoy Rebirth as much as I enjoyed the original games? Or do they change too many things for the sake of the meta-narrative? They are adamant they won’t play the original btw, they are watching me play for the story while on their phone, and I don’t think will be able to get past the old graphics and lack of voice acting, so I suspect the “This is a sequel, just play the original game” line I keep seeing on Reddit won’t fly for them.
The only thing you’ll miss out on is knowing the original story because it does change things a bit. Other than the main plot beats, it’s a totally different game.
Would they enjoy it as much as you enjoyed the original …? Maybe. Maybe not. There’s a whole slew of other reasons why FF7 was such a massive hit back in the day, and Rebirth does not have that kind of impact amidst other, modern games. Gotta remember that in 1997, FF7 was the most epic RPG available. Games these days all tend to have stories just as epic and large.
Darn that’s too bad. There are certain things I experienced the first time playing I’d love for them to experience, too.