Had to sit on this for awhile and get my thoughts together. FFVII has a strange place in my mind. I technically grew up with it, mostly playing the demo and hearing others talk about it but didn't beat it till 6 months before Remake released. I have issues with Rebirth but I'm not going to talk about those because they are either insignificant are intentional, like Aerith's interactions with Cloud. I will instead say that the developers have done a great job recreating and pulling some feelings I had while playing the original. I was shocked and angered by Aerith's death. That was entirely because of the ass pull that made it happen. However as I sat on those feelings I realized that they had successfully made me react to something I knew was going to happen. Something I didn't react to in the original because I had heard about it for years prior. And yet I sat there saddened and angered at the death of this character I knew was going to die simply because they presented the idea that things can be different. I was not impressed by the size of the cities and areas in the original because once again, playing a PS1 JRPG in 2019. I was blown away by Junon and the Gold Saucer. As well as the amount of things to be done in them. But the thing I am most impressed with is the expansion of the characters themselves specifically the main cast. Tifa's self esteem issues, Aerith's general confusion over her own feelings, Barret hiding survivors guilt behind righteous fury, Red XIII tone switching, the character work and voice acting is phenomenal. They have successfully created the spark that surely would have been there had I beaten the original as I child. A masterpiece. And pour one out for my boy Roche. He was #1.

A good game with a very frustrating tale attached. The gameplay and the mechanics are immaculate. The action is smooth as butter and each character feels unique. 10/10 no notes. Id can die in a fire though. Why they thought throwing a wet blanket amongst some the most charismatic characters I have ever seen was a good Idea I'll never know. But they then made him the main focus. The set pieces make up for the plots short comings. It felt like I was yelling Holy S@#$ at my TV way more than usual. Though some of that was because of the game telling me how cool Id is for the tenth time without really giving me any reason to like him. Still was an excellent game, glad its here finally. Will do post game later in the year.