Naoki Hamaguchi has created the most beautiful and entertaining world map of Square Enix in a while imo. My jaw dropped on each region because it was beautiful, musically excellent and with an unique atmosphere in each one. So much personality in this game.
I am part of the gamers who played the OG in the 90's and this rebirth went way beyond my imagination. Characters have so much personality whether it's the main cast (Cait Sith and Yuffie improvement OMG), the "enemies" (Elena, Rufus or Tseng!) or the NPCs (Dio, Bugenhagen...). Story is intriguing even if you know most of it already. Music is the best tracklist I ever heard in any game (Vincent OST and Jenova one!!!) .I can't wait for the final game.
Critics I can make are the difficulty management in Dynamic (most of the game ok but summons fights and the final bosses too punishing for no reasons), some minigames horrible (Fort Condor and Gambit !!!) and the lightning management in some areas way too dark for my poor eyes. I'd also like different limit breaks with only one new in this game and it's so late that the chances are high you won't get it at all.
But overall, I loved the game.