To What Extent Is Crisis Core "Required Reading" For Rebirth?
So quick backstory, played Remake in about 2023, loved it, got Rebirth for Christmas this year. After playing for an hour or 2 I really felt like I'd benefit from the context of the original (tbh I felt as a new player the ending Sephiroth fight in Remake was weird because without the context of the og, you kind of have zero idea who he even is). So I bought the original and have finally gotten around to finishing it (literally just put in disc 3).
It seems like Zack will have a bigger role in Rebirth than he does in the og, so I'd like to ask, to what extent is Crisis Core necessary, not just to understand Rebirth, but to understand how it differentiates from the og timeline's story (from what I've heard, it doesn't divert too dramatically which is a little disappointing to me tbh but I get it). Since I already have Rebirth I'd rather just jump into it and get Crisis Core sometime down the line, but I want to have a good understanding of how Rebirth changes the og timeline. Thank you for any help!