I'm going to keep my review spoiler-free. The meat and potatoes of it all is that I loved this game. I spent 111 hours beating it and it was a joy the whole way through. I completed nearly every quest/side mission, but Final Fantasy had to Final Fantasy, so there were some that were just unbearably difficult (I didn't have too much difficulty with most of the game, but it threw in a few battles in these side missions that were just ridiculous and I couldn't foresee myself enjoying the process of getting adept enough to beat them; I don't enjoy the frustratingly difficult battles and challenges that some gamers do, so I ended up begrudgingly walking away from a handful of these).

I thought the entire game was gorgeous, the cut scenes in particular, and I was fully invested in every character. There were many moments that strove for comedy and nearly always stuck the landing. There were many other moments that were designed to pull at the heartstrings, and it hit the target on those as well; there were definitely moments that had me getting misty-eyed. Finally, there were moments still that portrayed pulse-pounding action and they were riveting every time.

I also very much feel that I benefitted from playing Crisis Core: Reunion and the Remake DLC right before this game came out as it helped me keep up with the story beats (and were essential to understand a few brief storyline references, although not required for anyone trying to just delve into the game after Remake), and I'm sure that, had I replayed Remake more recently, certain moments would have been easier to follow.

The story was engaging, albeit a little confusing to follow at times, but, as with those difficult battles, Final Fantasy is going to Final Fantasy, so they couldn't have a straight-forward, easy to follow storyline the WHOLE way through!

Again, having only recently played the original FFVII (AFTER I played Remake, in fact), it was great fun to see the gang again, and I can imagine how extra special it is for those who played the original way back when.