Besides the materia system the gameplay is terrible. For a 2022 remaster this is honestly so lazy I am appalled.
Moving on, the story is great. It serves itself as a neat prequel to FF7 and fills in a lot of pages I wanted to see thus enhancing the og FF7. Zack and Sephiroth are the best characters in the series with Cloud following this entry. And I really dig how Sephiroth's past relationships mirror the ones in the later parts of the FF7 storyline, it makes him seem like a central character more than an antagonist. The story still could be better as it feels very disjointed and often times lost in what it wants to do, but it works. The theme of how strength affects the main trio's dreams, ideals and identity is finely executed.
That ending sequence might be as good as the lifestream scene from FF7.
Moving on, the story is great. It serves itself as a neat prequel to FF7 and fills in a lot of pages I wanted to see thus enhancing the og FF7. Zack and Sephiroth are the best characters in the series with Cloud following this entry. And I really dig how Sephiroth's past relationships mirror the ones in the later parts of the FF7 storyline, it makes him seem like a central character more than an antagonist. The story still could be better as it feels very disjointed and often times lost in what it wants to do, but it works. The theme of how strength affects the main trio's dreams, ideals and identity is finely executed.
That ending sequence might be as good as the lifestream scene from FF7.