I went into this game thinking it was going to be decent but overall a poor remake of the original game, story wise that is. But, I was definitely wrong because this game is not a normal video game remake at all. Rather, at its core this game is a remake of not the game itself, but something else entirely. Seeing all of the locations from the original game in all their detailed and to scale glory was amazing. I really thought spending the entire game in Midgar would be boring but every location was extremely detailed and had plenty of secrets to find. The combat is a ton of fun and being able to fight old enemies and bosses in this new system was great. Some enemies were kind of a pain in the ass for no reason and the longer battles were drawn out the more annoyed I was, though those battles are far an few. Another minor compliant in semi-scripted boss fights is that you could be wailing on a boss and then start your limit break or something and then it would cancel it out because the boss would have a cutscene with it going to its next phase, resetting its stagger gauge. I love the fact that your whole party can just go ham on one enemy but it sort of takes you out of it when in the middle of it the boss changes in a way and now they are no longer staggered. The characters are a huge plus to this game, all of them are expanded on even very minor ones. I thought it was pointless at first but I now see its significance. Cloud has great growth throughout the game, coming to enjoy the company of the group and Barret especially gets the award for the most improved from the original, they did his character so damn good. Some of the quest are hit and miss and I do not love some scenes where the game slows down your movement, but those are minor complaints because I enjoyed some of the quests and some of those scenes. The final chapter is really where everything comes together and it made me lose my shit, the final boss is fantastic.
I have no idea if this is the smartest game I have played or the most stupid but I really loved this game and I think it will show if this game is smart or stupid when part 2 releases and I can not wait. I still like the original miles more than the remake, I mean the original is a complete game, but I can for now appreciate what the remake is doing for the game. If you are interested in FFVII REMAKE I think the best way to experience it is if you play the original first, there is so much stuff that is likely to be missed if you have not played the original, especially some end game stuff (and you have time since part 2 will probably come out in like 10 years or some insane shit). If anything definitely check out either the original or remake both are great but together I think the games are really special.