Breaking this down into three parts; the gameplay, the world, and the story.

First gameplay-wise this takes what both Remake and INTERgrade have done and takes it to a new level. Where it feels like everyone has a use in a battle, and even the most out there situation has ways of dealing with it no matter who you play as. Cloud feels snappier and more responsive in Punisher Mode, while his air combat is harder to pull off, it's far more powerful. Tifa is just cracked. Barret and Aerith are fun to play. Yuffie is the same but she was already perfect. Cait Sith was the only one lacking as he takes a while to setup. While Materia customization is still more limited than the OG, a lot more unique materia was added in to give additional depths to encounters. Weapons were awesome as they took the idea of having all weapons be viable and made sure no matter what you used it would be effective. Synergy abilties and skills are amazing, though the stagger one felt like it could've given additional time for a stagger. Most ecounters felt like they knew what was possible and made sure you being able to do what you want was prioritized. Though there's some stuff at the end that kinda throws that out the window for better and worse.

Second, the world - what they have done translating FF7's world is nothing short of mind boggling.It takes this massive, but empty world and fills it with things for you to do. It does have those open world towers but also you don't need to do them to get the stuff out in the world and there are diagetic methods to get to them. If there is one complaint is that moving around in them feels like a hassle at times, especially in the Gongaga region. It's one of those aspects of Remake I had wished they shed but it's not a deal breaker more so a nitpick. But still, being able to ride the waves around different places just had me in awe of how the team was able to pull this off, especially with how piss slow it felt moving around Midgar in Remake.

Third and final, the story - my feelings on this are complicated as it does a lot and I think for the most part it lands. Where it began was a genuine shock to me as I didn't think it would go into this this soon. After that it cuts back to the same story beats as in the original, but under a wildly new context. As there are revelations and topics that aren't discussed until the last fourth of OG that are being discussed here. This also brings up a new problem as the same events as the OG still happen under a new context and sometimes it works heavily in its favor and a few times against it. For starters, it really benefits certain aspects that felt a bit to pushed under the rug in OG 7 such as Red XIII's character and the Black Materia, where they give so much more to latch onto. Which makes it slightly baffling to how the party just reacts or in some cases the lack of reaction to Cloud clearly needing help. This is where I am not fully equipped to say what is what as whatever the third one will be will change my feelings on this. But for now those last two chapters are a point of conflcit for me as I DO LIKE what happens but it could have been more concise in what it wanted to do, as there's moments in this that needed to breathe. Where a giant climactic fight was not needed, even though I understand why they wanted to do it. Also does not help that the last two chapters try do some unique gameplay sections with the party that, while are neat on paper, left a bit to be desired on execution. Played all this game on normal, not a single section felt unbalanced, but those last two chapters with trying to be different threw a lot of what they had designed before. Lead to some interesting challenges but also huge spike in the difficulty, I liked it but MAN I do not look forward to replaying those sections. I may be sounding negative but there's a section in this that had me screaming my ass off as I was completely overwhelmed by how much this game meant to me.

I want to see how this ends, I know what they're setting up and I hope they can deliver so I can revisit this game and the choices it made and say it was worth it.

Coming at this from several points; from when I first played Remake before playing OG FF7, Remake after OG FF7, and finally the Yuffie portion. Firstly when I played this back before I played 7 I still did enjoy it but was confused at several different points in the story and left me feeling that I had done something wrong or missed some specific context. It wasn't until I decided to play Final Fantasy 7 last year that I realized what that context was. Afterwards I deicded to explore more of the FF7 compilation. And now here I am playing this, well the Remake portion is a replay with the INTERmission DLC being new to me. Gameplay wise Remake was even better as I just got better at it, storywise is where I'm more conflicted on. As certain beats in the original happened because they served a specific purpose and here a lot of it is changed to show a different side, which on one hand makes it leff effective but also gives insight into certain characters, like Barret and President Shinra. It also leads to sections where you just slog through the game and question what you're doing and not in a fun way but a "I'd rather get to it." Similar to how Sepiroth is treated in game as he is just plastered everywhere without actually giving a reason unlike the original where he comes in and just cleanse house. Though this also adds onto the insight mentioned before as the game wants to do something different than what the original did. Speaking of something different, the INTERmission section of Intergrade is where something different is welcomed. Whilst a small adventure that Yuffie goes on and how she was in Midgar for the part where the plate falls, it was fun. Not only is she the best playable character, but also it takes what is established about Yuffie and builds onto her during this time, but also sets her up in her own right and while the end feels the need to make sure certain story aspects aren't brought up again it was a neat play. Final thoughts is that with Rebirth a few days away and knowing this is now the first in a trilogy I wonder how much of what I think of Remake will change in the future. Guess I'll know when the Unkown Journey becomes Known.

The narrative beats from moment to moment feel tangential at best, however what the game wants to say about the entire series up to this point is paralleled perfectly with the plot. About how, yes there have been some shit that has happened, but we cannot hide that because if we do we'll repeat those mistakes. Much like how criminals shouldn't be sent off to a place to die, the series should not hide what it has done. Yes Kiryu has always run away from his own issues, yes he is an idea that no one can reach, and how that inspires more people to be a Yakuza. With that last bit creating far more harm than it does good, with that being the crux of his final fight. Instead of trying to brush it off, he comes to terms with it, and decides to take it on himself because to leave it to the next generation would repeat the cycle again. Whilst Ichiban's side of the story is much messier, it also goes to show why he's the protagonist of this new era, to show that there's always going to be good in this unjust world that would strip him of everything and that despite it all, he would keep moving forward even with the knowledge that it will fail. Not only a love letter to the events in the series but every era, entry, and even mistake that the series has done and it wears it on its shoulders. This does get messy, and there are certain plot points and charactes that definitely could've used more time, but everything about this game I love.