Continued the same path that Saints Row 3 took in diverging from the franchise, but went bananas with it and the resulting game is a total chaotic mess that can be fun at times and at plenty of other times unfunny, annoying, confusing, or way over-the-top. It can feel pretty fun to run around and destroy everything, but it totally lacks any substance, even though the writing is very self-aware. Though I do love the included DLC that lets you summon Ashly, Anthony, and Papa Burch from "Hey Ash Whatcha Playin?".

As someone who loves FF7 and Yuffie, and really thought the remake was great overall, I found this DLC to be one more thing to love in the franchise. In some ways, it may seem very standard fare for a DLC pack, but I really enjoyed the changes of pace from the base game. There's a little deck-building minigame in the game that stole an hour or two of my attention, which is fun. Yuffie is a far more dynamic character in personality, and in combat, than Cloud, and makes for a great switch-up, as her gameplay is much more fun. She's also one of my favorite FF7 characters, so it's great to see more of her shining. The story is rather simple, but in the short 7 hours I played, I grew rather attached to the characters and by the end I couldn't help get really emotional, which continued on during the post-credits scene. The final boss had a great design and a solid, challenging fight, but it also had interesting lore implications. Also, the soundtrack, unlike FF7R, was mostly comprised of original music not in FF7 and I loved a lot of it, especially the Happy Turtle songs. I was always going to enjoy it, but it really delivered fun gameplay and new story to sink my teeth into.

An ambitious and quite strong remake of an all-time great game. The game consists effectively of what was the prologue from FF7, only fleshed out to the point that it runs for about as long as all of FF7 did. Giving more depth to all the characters, large and small, felt true to the storytelling of the original, and really immersed me. The combat felt slick, and was a faithful adaptation yet also a conversion to a modern system that is not turn-based. At times, I certainly missed the turn-based system of FF7 and the way battles played out, but most of the time it felt great to hack-and-slash to victory with some of my favorite characters in gaming. The biggest flaws in this game for me really come down to the adaptation of the old game, with the game feeling very slow sometimes, when you are just completing simple side quests, though some of the character moments there are good. The boss fights also can get annoying, as they are obviously adapted for a modern audience, and though many of the same bosses were in the original, the now 3D hack-and-slash system means that the devs chose to make the fights long, as it took me 10-15 minutes at least for most of the bosses, which sometimes dragged it along a little too slow, especially towards the end. There were also story departures too, as towards the end of the game things are set up and it is made clear that the direction of the story will be different this time around. I didn't love it, but I really can't make a judgement on that yet, as it didn't affect much in this game, but we will see. Overall, the flaws didn't detract very much for me, I loved this game, albeit not as much as the original, but just being a strong remake of that game gives it so many positive attributes, like an all-time soundtrack, this time with some fun remixes, a stellar cast of characters, and an interesting world with complex morals. A really great game no matter who you are, though it is more likely to appeal to FF7 fans, who should be mindful that the story choices made may frustrate them.

One of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. The story is rich and deep, the world is massive and interesting, the characters are real and complex. It has maybe my favorite or second favorite video game soundtrack, right there with the Witcher 3. Some might have complaints with the visuals held up to today's standards but they were clearly impressive over 25 years ago. The combat is fun, it can be over-the-top. The game can be really funny, or it can be heartbreaking. Truly amazing, has to be my favorite RPG. If I had one complaint, which I don't really count as a complaint, it would be that the game is so massive that I needed to consult strategy guides occasionally for direction when I was lost, or for some tricky puzzles.

A wonderful surprise, even with the good things I had been hearing about it. There's certainly more to the game than the novelty of playing as a cat, as there is emotion and depth to the world and the characters. The gameplay is simple but addictive, and the game is brief enough that if the novelty was going to wear off it doesn't before the game ends. Gorgeous environments, and a really adorable cat. Extra special to me because I got to spend some time bonding with my real-life cat as she loved to watch the cat run around the screen and meow at the robots. Really good.