Will only be talking about the main game excluding the Yuffie dlc.

So right off the bat this game is absolutely beautiful, character designs and their models, environments and the skyboxes, lighting scenarios and colour work, texturing, visual effects, character animations, camerawork, all of it is fantastic and as someone who recently played the original PS1 game before this its definitely a crazy visual transition.

The one thing that stood out almost more than the visuals was the score, because holy shit it hits so hard when you're fresh off of listening to the basic versions of each track from the original - now fully composed and orchestrated to perfection. The Prelude theme in the main menu is one I'm especially obsessed with since its now my 3rd FF game.

The writing and characters are all very much the same as the remake follows basically the entire script of the original. In this version we get some extra tidbits and interactions (which I appreciate) due to the 'plot device fate ghosts' that appear to extend each area of the Midgar arc, but its so obvious that the writers are using them to add and change things to make this re-telling differ from the OG. It does mess with the pacing though which is kind of annoying after playing the original, and having to slowly crawl through these 'filler' moments just to get to the meaty stuff.

There's probably a large audience that really dislike these changes, since the addition of the ghosts have changed the fates of multiple characters from Avalanche who died during the events of Midgar, as well as Zack which at this point in the story was not supposed to be shown (I don't know if this is a good choice since it detracts from Cloud's character). After killing these ghosts during the ending it has now set up the story of Rebirth to veer away from the original which excites me, but I’m also worried that I won’t get to see all of the story beats I was hoping for to get the remake treatment.

I personally still felt the impact of the sector 7 losses since Jessie (who had much more writing) had a much more drawn out conclusion which I really enjoyed, but I'm not sure if I like or dislike how they've handled these other changes, so I'll have to judge this once the whole story finishes up.

Gameplay was okay, it was pretty average compared to 16 because I feel like it never committed to either an action combo game or turn based rpg, it tried to do both at once but after a while I got used to it. It was nice using the other party members especially Tifa, and using their unique abilities and Limit Breaks with each new weapon kept it fun and refreshing. Materia implementation was okay but nothing special either, just something they added to keep the turn based slo-mo elements relevant. Overall it was nothing that spectacular.

Level design is the same as I experienced in 16 where its basically just a flat boxed arena in each encounter with no real traversal, though I didn't feel like I could get mad at it because I came into FF7 Remake knowing it'd be the same. I do wanna mention the non-action gameplay BECAUSE HOLY FUCK IT CAN GET SLOW. Why does it take the character 50 years to climb ladders, squeeze through tight walkways, pass under overhead debris, or pulling some fucking levers?? This specific aspect fucked with my enjoyment so much its getting half a star removed, and its a shame because I loved the faster paced moments in comparison.

Side quests suck. I'm glad the world building was enhanced during the main story extras because after doing like 3 quests in sector 5 I wanted to tear my eyes out it was that boring.

Voice acting (English) was so good, I'm very satisfied with every interpretation of each character and their amazing performances (especially Barret, Tifa, Sasuke Uchiha and the one guy who talks using motorcycle phrasing)

Sephiroth is really cool and I love seeing more of him. but maybe they should've toned down his inclusion since having him as more of a mystery during Midgar enhanced the few interactions we see in later events in the OG. It felt very fan servicey especially in the last couple of chapters, which is cool for someone who has played that older version but at the same time made it seem cheap and shoehorned in.

Overall it was a good experience I don't regret putting the time into, even though at times it felt like a slog even worse than FF16. FF7 Remake is definitely carried by the original plot and iconic characters, fun dialogue, voice acting, SCORE, and visuals.

3 - 3.5 stars for me, this game could've been shorter. Can't wait for Rebirth though.

edit after a few days of sitting with my thoughts and watching theory content

I can confirm that my opinions on the writing for this game have improved, sure the whispers slowed the pacing of the original story down - but the title of this game isn't a 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡 remake of the OG but a complete seperate timeline. One common theory is that Sephiroth has gone full meta and is using the power of the lifestream - the whispers after the events of Advent Children to 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 a reality where Cloud and the party have defied/defeated fate, playing right into Sephiroth's hands in his plan to inact a 𝙧𝙚𝙗𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙝 that differs from the way things went during the original timeline he was defeated in.

I'm now heavily invested, all the stuff I mentioned about gameplay still stands but because they're cooking so hard with the story the rating goes up to a 3.5/5.

I now understand why this game is so loved by many.

Having only played FF16 beforehand - going into 7 had me doubting Cloud and him being a compelling character like Clive but I was so wrong. Cloud and all the party members have their own backstories and arcs and I was compelled by basically all of them. (except Cait Sith fuck that dumbass cat I do not care if he said some soppy shit at the end to try and remedy his betrayal)

Sephiroth is cool as fuck and the flashbacks involving him, Cloud and Zack were some of my favourite parts of this story. I also really loved the visuals and what they were going for during the Tifa and Cloud Lifestream sequence (very abstract Evangelion-esque which I'm always into), can't wait to see how they re-envision those scenes in the remake.

Music is iconic and everyone knows it, not much I can say on this that hasn't already been said. Battle theme is such a banger holy shit.

My only gripes were mostly gameplay aspects - but it was expected since I'm kinda new to turn based JRPGs. The limited amount of save options which is a product of the game's time, and things every turn based RPGs have which are RNG aspects (FUCK misses) but hopefully as I play more of this genre I'll come to enjoy that stuff, but for now I'm not really into it.