This certainly feels like when Final Fantasy became "Final Fantasy". The series aesthetic is crafted throughout your journey that punctuate a rather mature story for the usual FF affair (at least so far from what I've played and know from osmosis). I became a kid again playing this game, just imagining this game remade with that FF7R flair, all the batshit crazy set pieces that could be crafted. It elevated my experience by getting past my disdain for pixels.

I enjoyed the keyword system, I enjoyed the skill based leveling system. It was more so just FF1, but with most of my gripes ironed out. While it still isn't like...the greatest thing in the world, it was definitely a lot more enjoyable than the first game.