This review contains spoilers
This game is fucking huge.
There are so many minigames and activities, and outside of a couple, they were all great. I especially liked the Johnny quest which made you collect trinkets from all over the world, some from mastering minigames, some from tough challenges, or some from random exploration. The flavour text on a lot of them was really nice too, and it acted as a nice sort of completion list. Another one of my favourite parts was the Protorelics and their overall quest. They are all references to 7/Remake, and I appreciated them bringing back Fort Condor since I thought Queen's Blood wasn't that great. Just like the previous game, the sequel is very easy, even with dynamic (just level scaling?) for most of the time, so I do wish they would just give a harder difficulty from the start...Also, like the remake, the last chapter here kind of gets a little too crazy, and I was equally confused as to how your party members get picked for each phase. It turns out to be set, and it looks like it will be a lot easier when I replay in hard mode. Despite that final chapter, the rest of the game seemed pretty faithful, hitting everything with only a few glaring changes (Gi storyline expanded, Cid introduced & handled differently, Tifa lifestream). The extra postgame challenges and hard mode in general (I assume from Remake) were a nice way to end the game and get rid of the memory of Grasslands (I hate that zone so much now). Though I understand it is much harder to justify for a lot of people with how large this game was (even if they give you more time playing as Sephiroth and Zack).
Did they tease Zack way too much? Yes, but I loved seeing Cissnei and hearing the music in Gongaga.
Could they have deleted grasslands since it is a terrible zone? Yeah, but the later open world zones are much better because you're forced to explore more with your chocobo.
Could they have cut or split another zone like Corel? Yeah probably, Corel being in two different locales at two different times in the story really helped with the pacing.
Could you cut 90% of the things Chadley says? Yes
There are so many minigames and activities, and outside of a couple, they were all great. I especially liked the Johnny quest which made you collect trinkets from all over the world, some from mastering minigames, some from tough challenges, or some from random exploration. The flavour text on a lot of them was really nice too, and it acted as a nice sort of completion list. Another one of my favourite parts was the Protorelics and their overall quest. They are all references to 7/Remake, and I appreciated them bringing back Fort Condor since I thought Queen's Blood wasn't that great. Just like the previous game, the sequel is very easy, even with dynamic (just level scaling?) for most of the time, so I do wish they would just give a harder difficulty from the start...Also, like the remake, the last chapter here kind of gets a little too crazy, and I was equally confused as to how your party members get picked for each phase. It turns out to be set, and it looks like it will be a lot easier when I replay in hard mode. Despite that final chapter, the rest of the game seemed pretty faithful, hitting everything with only a few glaring changes (Gi storyline expanded, Cid introduced & handled differently, Tifa lifestream). The extra postgame challenges and hard mode in general (I assume from Remake) were a nice way to end the game and get rid of the memory of Grasslands (I hate that zone so much now). Though I understand it is much harder to justify for a lot of people with how large this game was (even if they give you more time playing as Sephiroth and Zack).
Did they tease Zack way too much? Yes, but I loved seeing Cissnei and hearing the music in Gongaga.
Could they have deleted grasslands since it is a terrible zone? Yeah, but the later open world zones are much better because you're forced to explore more with your chocobo.
Could they have cut or split another zone like Corel? Yeah probably, Corel being in two different locales at two different times in the story really helped with the pacing.
Could you cut 90% of the things Chadley says? Yes