I never played the original, regardless I still very much had a good time with this game. The gameplay was solid and the story was very good, especially the presentation. The cutscenes are very high quality, a few highlights are sprinkled in the game which were amazing (The keyword is: Motorcycles). The characters were also absolutely amazing, each character is interesting.

But not everything lives up to the fantasy (pun intended). The side quests had good presentation but gameplay wise it’s just fetch quests. They really kill the pacing the main story builds up, so at a certain point I stopped caring about them. Also towards the end (Chapter 17) the game once felt really stretched, like really really stretched. I know that the game portrays about one third of the original and stretched out many things but this section was the only one which bothered me. Otherwise for someone who does not know the original the game in its length felt smooth.

The game has some big weaknesses but also some very big strengths. I had a great time with this game, I was always captivated to continue playing. I am looking forward to playing Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. If you are into story games you’ll like it. For me the game is a 9/10.