So I played through FF7R the first time when it came out on Steam a couple years ago, then just replayed it again alongside the Yuffie episode.

I remember liking it the first time, thinking "I still prefer original FF7 but this is good, too. it has some flaws like bad map design, annoying side fetch quests and some rather anti-fun (but not difficult) bosses."

After replaying it again with a more analytical eye, that's all still largely the same. I was able to appreciate the side quests a little more now that I already knew what to expect from the game, and I was able to use different materia and party builds since I knew exactly how long the game was going to be and what battles to expect. I enjoyed it more this time than my first time as a result, where as in the first time I already had expectations set based on the original and wasn't sure about how much "planning" and "investing" I needed to do in specific materia based on the original game.

With that out of the way, this game is not worth $70. Definitely get it on sale. It's not a bad game, and it will be enjoyable for FF7 veterans or new players, but it's not worth $70.

It is, however, a 40 hour game that's only the Midgar section of FF7 and thus already as long as the original game. But the major wrench in that is that the biggest reason it's 40 hours and only in Midgar is that the game is A LOT of cutscenes with voice acting that pad your time, plus side quests and traveling large hallway maps with no real exploration. So you don't spend 40 hours playing the actual game in gameplay, you spend the vast majority of that watching cutscenes.

The story is not bad and the cutscenes are very good and compelling. They flesh out each character very well, and it throws a large amount of twists at you for the veteran players that you definitely don't expect. Since they intended this to be about a 40 hour game just in Midgar, they definitely embellish many sections and add entirely new scenarios that weren't in the original. These embellishments vary in quality. Sometimes you're having a blast in them, othertimes you're really wishing that part would finally end so you could move on. You spend A LOT of time with Biggs, Wedge and Jessie in this version that you don't in the original, and the Shinra Building episode is also much longer.

You quickly learn that whenever the game tries to subvert your prior FF7 story expectations, certain things start to happen which become very compelling. It makes it so much more enjoyable because despite you knowing what's ultimately going to happen, you want to see how it happens now because of those certain things. It makes for very good storytelling for the veteran players.

I might be a minority on this, but I think the music is pretty bad. Only a few tracks are actually "okay," but most of it is just random dubstep eletronic noises that sound like modern autistic hip hop and barely anything like the original, far superior music. It's also very subdued and quiet, particularly in battles, so it doesn't grip you or make you bounce your head as you begin a boss fight. The battle theme, boss theme, Jenova's theme, and even the motorcycle chase themes aren't truly present in the game. They play bits and pieces of them here and there, but again it's so electronic and subdued that you can barely recognize them when they DO play.

Most of the cutscenes range from fine to okay, with a few good ones and some really bad ones. It definitely pushes the action cutscenes to maximum over the top Advent Children styles that are just unbelievably stupid and cringe sometimes. A far cry to how much more subtle and grounded the original FF7 was, which made the game a lot more relatable than FF7R.

The combat system is definitely FF13 inspired. Build a stagger gauge, break the enemy, burst them. That's the basic core concept loop for the combat with minimal variation. Some enemies and bosses require more strategy than others, and there are definitely uneven and random difficulty spikes particularly with a few bosses. These only get further compounded when enemies are weak to immune or resistant to particular elements, but you can't switch your materia mid-combat so you can't adapt to them and that makes some fights much more difficult. Likewise, when you do have the setup, some become way too easy. The game doesn't give you Hard mode until you clear the game once, and Hard is designed for max level characters with maxed out materia and builds as a post-game challenge. It is quite hard, especially on two particular bosses (Air Buster and Hellhouse), and will require specific party make ups and builds specific to those fights. You cannot use any items in Hard, even out of battle, and resting does not restore your MP. So healing is definitely a very deliberate decision; every spell cast, offensive or otherwise, will limit your available heals. Enemies are given a multiplier on damage dealt on top of it in Hard, so you really have to plan carefully. It's a little too much min-maxing every single detail for me to be "fun," where I prefer more skill-based than strategy-based gameplay.

What I do like about this game's combat is the variety of character playstyles. Every character plays very, very differently from each other. Tifa in particular is very fun to play; some of the most fun I've had playing "monk" in any RPG. As you play through the game, you'll quickly notice the enemy AI almost always targets whoever you're controlling though which is pretty annoying. Sure there is a "Provoke" materia, but it's limited and has a long cooldown, and only activates on characters you aren't controlling. It's just really annoying when you're trying to swap between characters to spend their ATB efficiently with their attacks (like using Tifa to increase Stagger bonus during burst windows to prep Cloud's huge burst) only to have every enemy instantly chase you down and force you to immediately become defensive. The idea that you swap to a different character as the enemy is targeting a specific character just isn't a thing. The battle system is bad by any means, but it's also not amazing or as good as original FF7. It serves, but it's not particularly memorable outside Tifa's few moments where the enemy isn't targeting her because it's staggered and there's no more adds.

And that's kind of the main point where FF7R falls behind the original: it's not nearly as memorable. It's fine, it's good, it's enjoyable. But it's not perfect, it's not amazing, it's not unforgettable like original FF7 is. I still remember so many extremely minute details about original FF7 as a kid, yet I could barely tell you many of the major specifics in FF7R even after replaying it for a second time. It's worth a playthrough, but only on sale. Here's to hoping they make the next two much better and more memorable, but I can say it is a "good" remake.

Also, for you Noticers, there's a lot of obvious intentional cringe in this game that is blatantly meant to undermine us, particularly with the NPCs. Don't say I didn't warn you

So I played through FF7R the first time when it came out on Steam a couple years ago, then just replayed it again alongside the Yuffie episode. I remember liking it the first time, thinking "I still prefer original FF7 but this is good, too. it has some flaws like bad map design, annoying side fetch quests and some rather anti-fun (but not difficult) bosses." After replaying it again with a more analytical eye, that's all still largely the same. I was able to appreciate the side quests a little more now that I already knew what to expect from the game, and I was able to use different materia and party builds since I knew exactly how long the game was going to be and what battles to expect. I enjoyed it more this time than my first time as a result, where as in the first time I already had expectations set based on the original and wasn't sure about how much "planning" and "investing" I needed to do in specific materia based on the original game. With that out of the way, this game is not worth $70. Definitely get it on sale. It's not a bad game, and it will be enjoyable for FF7 veterans or new players, but it's not worth $70. It is, however, a 40 hour game that's only the Midgar section of FF7 and thus already as long as the original game. But the major wrench in that is that the biggest reason it's 40 hours and only in Midgar is that the game is A LOT of cutscenes with voice acting that pad your time, plus side quests and traveling large hallway maps with no real exploration. So you don't spend 40 hours playing the actual game in gameplay, you spend the vast majority of that watching cutscenes. The story is not bad and the cutscenes are very good and compelling. They flesh out each character very well, and it throws a large amount of twists at you for the veteran players that you definitely don't expect. Since they intended this to be about a 40 hour game just in Midgar, they definitely embellish many sections and add entirely new scenarios that weren't in the original. These embellishments vary in quality. Sometimes you're having a blast in them, othertimes you're really wishing that part would finally end so you could move on. You spend A LOT of time with Biggs, Wedge and Jessie in this version that you don't in the original, and the Shinra Building episode is also much longer. You quickly learn that whenever the game tries to subvert your prior FF7 story expectations, certain things start to happen which become very compelling. It makes it so much more enjoyable because despite you knowing what's ultimately going to happen, you want to see how it happens now because of those certain things. It makes for very good storytelling for the veteran players. I might be a minority on this, but I think the music is pretty bad. Only a few tracks are actually "okay," but most of it is just random dubstep eletronic noises that sound like modern autistic hip hop and barely anything like the original, far superior music. It's also very subdued and quiet, particularly in battles, so it doesn't grip you or make you bounce your head as you begin a boss fight. The battle theme, boss theme, Jenova's theme, and even the motorcycle chase themes aren't truly present in the game. They play bits and pieces of them here and there, but again it's so electronic and subdued that you can barely recognize them when they DO play. Most of the cutscenes range from fine to okay, with a few good ones and some really bad ones. It definitely pushes the action cutscenes to maximum over the top Advent Children styles that are just unbelievably stupid and cringe sometimes. A far cry to how much more subtle and grounded the original FF7 was, which made the game a lot more relatable than FF7R. The combat system is definitely FF13 inspired. Build a stagger gauge, break the enemy, burst them. That's the basic core concept loop for the combat with minimal variation. Some enemies and bosses require more strategy than others, and there are definitely uneven and random difficulty spikes particularly with a few bosses. These only get further compounded when enemies are weak to immune or resistant to particular elements, but you can't switch your materia mid-combat so you can't adapt to them and that makes some fights much more difficult. Likewise, when you do have the setup, some become way too easy. The game doesn't give you Hard mode until you clear the game once, and Hard is designed for max level characters with maxed out materia and builds as a post-game challenge. It is quite hard, especially on two particular bosses (Air Buster and Hellhouse), and will require specific party make ups and builds specific to those fights. You cannot use any items in Hard, even out of battle, and resting does not restore your MP. So healing is definitely a very deliberate decision; every spell cast, offensive or otherwise, will limit your available heals. Enemies are given a multiplier on damage dealt on top of it in Hard, so you really have to plan carefully. It's a little too much min-maxing every single detail for me to be "fun," where I prefer more skill-based than strategy-based gameplay. What I do like about this game's combat is the variety of character playstyles. Every character plays very, very differently from each other. Tifa in particular is very fun to play; some of the most fun I've had playing "monk" in any RPG. As you play through the game, you'll quickly notice the enemy AI almost always targets whoever you're controlling though which is pretty annoying. Sure there is a "Provoke" materia, but it's limited and has a long cooldown, and only activates on characters you aren't controlling. It's just really annoying when you're trying to swap between characters to spend their ATB efficiently with their attacks (like using Tifa to increase Stagger bonus during burst windows to prep Cloud's huge burst) only to have every enemy instantly chase you down and force you to immediately become defensive. The idea that you swap to a different character as the enemy is targeting a specific character just isn't a thing. The battle system is bad by any means, but it's also not amazing or as good as original FF7. It serves, but it's not particularly memorable outside Tifa's few moments where the enemy isn't targeting her because it's staggered and there's no more adds. And that's kind of the main point where FF7R falls behind the original: it's not nearly as memorable. It's fine, it's good, it's enjoyable. But it's not perfect, it's not amazing, it's not unforgettable like original FF7 is. I still remember so many extremely minute details about original FF7 as a kid, yet I could barely tell you many of the major specifics in FF7R even after replaying it for a second time. It's worth a playthrough, but only on sale. Here's to hoping they make the next two much better and more memorable, but I can say it is a "good" remake. Also, for you Noticers, there's a lot of obvious intentional cringe in this game that is blatantly meant to undermine us, particularly with the NPCs. Don't say I didn't warn you