The most innovative remake I've ever played- I have too much to say about this game but will try to keep it short. I've never played the original, so my first playthrough left a lot on the table as it's (rightfully so) clearly tailored for people who've played the original. Voice acting is great (outside of the anime grunting, a hard listen), and I immediately felt a connection to all the characters, which is the highlight of the game. The plot is NOT simple by any means as I've had to watch multiple YT videos explaining, but it's worth investing your time in. The spirits were a genius idea to reinvent the wheel with the series. It's known everyone's heartbroken when Aerith is killed in the original, which is why creating a remake of a game with such a big moment is tough as the anticipation of what's to happen next is gone. The spirits being gone opens up the sequels for ANYTHING, recreating the anticipation and angst. This is how to craft a remake, and it's the reason so many fans are excited and all deluxe versions of the sequel coming out are sold out. Complete overhaul to modern graphics, awesome combat mechanics, more in depth story, better character development, the game really has it all.

Alright gotta chill on the glaze, here are my issues with the game:

Fluff- I understand taking 5 hours of the original game and expanding it into a 30-40 hr adventure is tough to do, but there are so many moments they could've cut to avoid boring ass segments that disrupt the pacing. This was more evident on my second playthrough. Examples being the robot hand sequence with Cloud and Aerith + the Cloud+Tifa+Barrett chapter where they're lighting up sections of reactor 5 on the roof. There's more than that, but take out chapters like these, condense the game to 20hrs, and the pacing is fixed. Quality>Quantity.

Sephiroth- bro does not need to show up every 10 minutes man. Shouldn't have even showed up till the very end as a tease into the next game, (although I know the scene at the top of Shinra tower was necessary). They shoved him in the players face all game and it degrades his importance to an extent.

Fix these two and you have a perfect game, but regardless, can't wait for the sequel as it's my most anticipated game since Last of Us 2.