There is absolutely no shortage of breathtaking scenery in this game. Over and over I found myself stopping just to look around, explore, and take in the incredible sights in this game. For fans of the original, it is a wonderful treat to see such familiar settings and characters rendered in such great detail. Audio wise, the music is top notch, a fresh take on the classics, and wonderfully cued. Sound effects are great, and extremely satisfying in combat. The only place this game's audio suffers is in the voice acting. Repeatedly it falls into the cringey territory for some characters.

Unless you're a die-hard fanatic of the original and refuse to accept any changes to its gameplay formula, the remake is a wonderfully modern update to the original. Combat is fast, fluid, and intense (you can even go to turn based mode if you still wish). Wandering around the world in the third-person over-the-shoulder view is a great take and a wonderful way to explore these familiar environments. Honestly the new viewpoint connects you to the world and characters even more. Gameplay is fluid all throughout, keeping you in the story, switching between cutscenes and gameplay seamlessly. It makes it hard to put the game down. The materia systems make a return in the classic form, slotting it into various weapons/armor, combining it with other materia in slots to add effects, etc. There is a new weapon upgrade system which also allows you to customize each character a little bit more, either pushing them towards magic attacks, physical attacks, materia bonuses, etc. Overall a solid improvement from the original to streamline combat and keep the game moving forward.

They've done a bit of an interesting thing here. (SPOILERS AHEAD). Within the first couple hours of gameplay, you'll notice the story line begins to deviate from the original game, just slightly. Strange specters appear that help push events to stay in line with the original, but it's clear that Square is trying to open themselves up to tell a slightly different story here and keep you wondering what events may or may not unfold. Whole sections of the game are brand new (such as fleshing out Jessie's back story more), but are welcome for the most part. My one major complaint is that some of the story changes seriously cheapen the impact of the original story, removing the burden of your actions from you and placing them into "generic conspiracy and you were a pawn the whole time" trope. I liked the questions the original story raised about consequences to actions more than this take.

Overall, it's still a very interesting story where each character feels unique and fleshed out. I find myself drawn in just as much as the original game, excited to move forward and hear the next part of the story, and hunting down every side quest (though they certainly can be "meh" in quality) just to experience everything this game has to offer to me. Keep in mind however, the story has been split into multiple parts, and this is just part 1.

None to be found here.

Down the middle with this one. I've beaten it once, and am diving in again and it's still just as good. But there's certainly nothing new to discover and do as there's not an overwhelming amount of side quests or extra things to do. The story is very linear, and you're going to keep moving forward through the same areas, same fights, same results, etc. Basically the main reason it's replayable is because of how fantastic an experience it is.

All in all, this is an incredible, faithful, lovingly-made remake. Square clearly knew they had one shot to remake their most beloved game and it shows. The amount of detail to not just the story, but the gameplay, environments, music, sound and character design is astounding. Except for perhaps the most die-hard fans who are married to the idea of the classic JRPG formula, every fan new and old will love this take on one of the most influential games of all time. It's easy to get drawn in, easy to enjoy, and challenging at times to play (though you can adjust the difficulties). While it's not as ground breaking to the industry as the original Final Fantasy VII was, I have no doubt that this remake will stand the test of time to be a beloved entry into gaming history. I look forward to seeing where they take the story in the part 2!