Going in, I had decently high expectations for Final Fantasy VII Remake and I'm happy to report that it it surpassed them in ways more than one.
STORY: 
The story of Final Fantasy is pretty straightforward but I really loved the plot progression and the world building, Midgar really seems like a broken down mess of a city that's corruptly ruled by the Shinra and the bits and pieces in which the story is delivered felt great. The writing in particular is really clever, it can make you laugh when it wants to while also delivering some incredibly amazing, hype as hell moments that will have your jaw on the floor. As the story starts ramping up after what is basically the interval, you get hooked to the story, you start looking forward to the cut scenes, waiting for the moment when the pieces that have been laid out in front of you will make sense and honestly it never disappoints. If this is the set-up for a trilogy, then holy shit is this going to be fucking AMAZING. Suffice to say, the entire climax had my jaw on the fucking floor.
Cinematics:
For any other game, I wouldn't really consider this a section that should be discussed but Final Fantasy VII Remake feels like a freaking movie. The cinematics and cutscenes are absolutely AMAZING to the point where you're actually shocked. To people that have been regularly playing games, this might not be much but hey this is the second game I've ever finished so I think I can get away with gushing on the cutscenes.
Visuals:
Like I said before, the visuals of this game are no joke. Almost every area you're in looks beautiful and I often found myself taking as many screenshots as I could. The voice acting felt spot on with all of the main cast delivering phenomenal performances and there's really nothing I can point to as a negative.
Side quests:
People give Final Fantasy VII Remake a lot of flack for having bad/tedious side quests and honestly, I agree (a little), yes they're very tedious and seldom rewarding,other than one that gave me a new move so personally, I just ignored almost 70% of them which is probably why I was nowhere near max health when the game ended but trust me, you won't be missing out on anything by not doing the side quests, although I've heard that they're much better in Rebirth.
Characters:
Calling the entire main cast of final fantasy VII great is a sever understatement, all of the main cast have great chemistry and ACTUALLY interesting personalities that make you want to know more about them. If I have to pick one, I'd just straight up admit....I fricking love Aerith bro, her voice actress delivered a phenomenal performance and a pretty significant amount of time is spent focusing on her which is why I just love her so GODDAMN MUCH
Gameplay:
In a JRPG, gameplay is probably not a huge concern but I'm happy to report that Final Fantasy VII Remake has great gameplay that feels really satisfying and well thought out. The materia system is really great, although I do wish there was a bit more variety and I love how the game compels you to change your weapon to receive it's specific ability and gets it's proficiency to 100%. Overall, I was very, very satisfied with the gameplay side of things and loved the different, supposedly new elements that were apparently not in the original game like ATB and maintaining a good balance of switching between different party members to get the most out of their abilities. Also Tifa is FREAKING wild, probably the most OP character and the one I used the most aside from Cloud.
Overall Thoughts:
There's a LOT of stuff I want to talk about because there's so much to enjoy in this game but that might be really boring since I don't think most people have even read to the end of THIS Post
4.5/5
Final Fantasy VII Remake is an ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL game that did everything it wanted to REALLY, REALLY WELL and introduced me to an amazing cast of characters whose next adventures I cannot wait for...

Story:
4/5 (Starts off slow but delivers some amazing moments coupled with a phenomenal ending
Visuals:
5/5 (Every frame looks drop-dead gorgeous)
Combat:
5/5 (Insanely satisfying and fun)
Pacing:
3.5/5 (Really slow at the start but picks up in Act 2)
Overall:
4.5/5 (Phenomenal game)