Positives
- beautiful and diverse locations throughout the entire world
- impressive character designs and animations
- consistent frame rate in graphics and performance mode
- amazing soundtrack; with Let's Go, Mt.Corel! being a personal favorite
- charming and likeable cast of characters
- the story is mostly faithful to the original while expanding upon certain elements and adding fascinating twists to keep fans speculating
- great sense of humor during the more lighthearted segments
- side quests are satisfying and generally provide useful rewards
- boss battles are frequently challenging and exciting
- all playable characters are balanced and offer different styles of play
- new materia, folios and weapon skills offer more customization options
- synergy skills and synergy abilities add more depth to combat
- pressure mechanic encourages using a wider variety of abilities, as well as evading or blocking certain attacks
- exploration is rewarding, due to the presence of cache locations and transmuter chip dig sites
- some mini-games, such as Queen's Blood and Chocobo Racing, are interesting and deep

Negatives
- excessive amount of mini-games that are more frustrating than fun
- certain open-world activities are underwhelming; particularly sanctuaries and remnawave towers