Maybe not the best way to play this game, but at least I finally played it. And man, what a game it was! The first thing that stuck out to me from the beginning is how absolutely gorgeous the backgrounds are! I was playing a bit of Donkey Kong Country while playing through this game, and these two games really made me fall in love with the prerendered backgrounds as a concept. They look super detailed, and they always seem to paint a picture of what is happening. In Midgar, it seems like every single background tells a story of the people who live there. And that is absolutely amazing. Something that isn't technically as impressive are the 3D models, but I found them to be very cute and made the game feel like a toy theatre or something, which is something that was successful in disarming me for some of the heavier moments in the game's incredible story. And it really was incredible. I felt like I got to know the main cast very well, especially Aerith, Tifa and Cloud, which are now some of my favourite RPG characters. But a story and aesthetics can seldom carry a game alone, so luckily this game has very nice gameplay and one of the best soundtracks. I like that the battle system is timer-based, because it makes it very exciting and stressful. This was especially true during some of the final bosses of the game. I wouldn't say that it's a particularly hard game, but I don't think it really needs to. Playing the game without grinding and facing every enemy was something I found worked very well to increase the difficulty, and if it ever gets too hard I also find it super satisfying to grind, as you progress so quickly between levels, you level up quickly, and the battle theme is a major jam that I love. I loved almost every song from the game with the "Hurry!" theme and the two final battles being my favourite songs from the OST. Fortunately, the OST is on Spotify, so it's very easy to access. But one of the biggest reasons as to why I love this game is because it does something that even some of the darkest games I've played haven't done. If you've played the game, you probably know what I am talking about, and I won't say what it is. But trust me when I say that it is incredibly well executed and gives you the exact feeling that it wants to give. This game was basically as good as it was hyped up to be, and probably exceeded my expectations. Everyone should experience this!