Ok I have fiendishly played through the majority of the game (I'm finishing up side quests before I go to Shinra HQ) and here are my observations. Bear in mind that I haven't played a JRPG in at least a decade and frankly can't call myself a fan of the modern genre. I'm in it for FF7 because its clearly on the of best games ever made irrespective of genre.
tl:dr - I'll get this out of the way right now. If you love the old game you will absolutely enjoy this reboot. The visuals of Midgar, looking up at the plate and the entire area, are absolutely majestic. Just seeing your favorite locations done by a thoughtful team with modern tech is worth the price of admission.
_Gameplay_
The combat is fantastic. Materia is still integral, though linking is less emphasized. Instead they have made upgrading weapons via a sphere grid a much more critical part of your gameplay. Some weapons are specifically for casting, ranged, or melee. This means you can make Barret an in your face tanking juggernaut, a strafing ranged battlemage, or a combination of anything really. Combat on normal difficulty is challenging and its obvious that Square was heavily inspired by Fromsoft. The posture meter from Sekiro is here, the roll dodging side attacks of Soulsbourne are here. Combat is deep, strategic, and satisfying. No complaints at all except that you have to earn action points to use items and cast spells, so strategy is far different than any other RPG I've ever played. Beyond that, it's a Final Fantasy game. Goofy side quests, hidden chests, etc. It all feels very normal and expected.
_Graphics_
Its fucking beautiful. Honestly this game is so amazing in the visual department I really lack words to describe it. Viewing video games as an art form is something we can all agree on. Neo Geo cemented that for me in the 90s. The Neo was pushing the existing technology to carry the most beautiful art and animation that 16 bit would allow. This game is doing the exact same thing.
_Voice Acting_
Astonishingly good. All the voices sound right on with what I always imagined they would be. The localization is waaaayyyyy better than what I have come to expect, but sometimes its goofy. They use a lot of modern American slang and casual swearing, but all in all its worlds better than localization jobs I've come to expect.
_Music_
So good. A mix of old and new. They re use some classics that you want to hear, but include a bunch of new hype battle tunes and other cool stuff. The entire score of the original game is included as a collection mini game which you can put on at various jukeboxes. Some have been hilariously remixed I.e. hip hop chocobo theme. It slaps so hard its hilarious.
_Plot_
So far the plot changes don't bother me in the slightest. Everything is done for a reason, though the anti-corporate/fascist rhetoric is a little more in your face, but I feel like that's to be expected given that we're exploring the full story of AVALANCHE. Also, seeing a lot of these characters more fully realized and not just weird blocky blob looking things does wonders for the plot itself. The Don in Wall Market leaps to mind. Sometimes the Japanese tropes are a little lost on me, but now you can really see what they meant and it all makes sense. The 80s/90s crazy Japanese gangster haircuts and whole Fist Of the North Star styling are in full effect and its absolutely great.
_Weeb Factor_
Obviously the original was pretty weebish, but this reboot does crank it up a notch especially in certain parts. I was expecting this because JRPGs have gotten much gayer over the years, at least to me as an outside observer. Overall its not that bad, but there is one part in the initial Wall Market portion that had me dying laughing because its just pure weeb cringe. You just have to endure your self shaming, that you did in fact pay money for this experience. The other thing is that the whole "all the ladies love Cloud" bit is much more in your face and there are more relationship questions than before. Yeah its cringy... but let it be known that my Cloud is banging Tifa for damn sure. Yolo.
_Negatives_
First off they have color coded chests so if you catch a glimpse of one that requires some puzzle to get to, you'll known roughly how important the loot is. I hate that. In the original sometimes you'd get a ribbon, sometimes you'd get a hi potion for your effort. You never knew and I liked that.
Also if you forget some important loot in a certain section you can't return to, once in a while a party member will speak to you and say something like "Hey I thought you had your eye on some material back there. Do you want to go back for it?" I also hate this. So fucking what, I forgot something. I never got every item on any RPG and theres a sense of accomplishment about finding something you missed before on a subsequent play through. Annoying.
Overall I'd say that this three part game will be one of the coolest things that ever happened in the world of video games. My prediction is that the second game will embrace the exploration aspect that made me truly fall in love with the original and find a way to carefully include all the landmarks and plot devices of the original. I think it will also be much longer as there is a big open world to fuck around in. I have no qualms with the length of this one at all. They did a really beautiful cinematic experience of the formative adventure from the first game and fleshed it all out brilliantly.
You should all play it. Its pretty fucking cool and I'm not even at the best part yet.
