While most of the key moments were nailed or even improved from the original, I have some gripes with the way certain moments were handled. Many of the changes are leaning a bit too much toward the metanarrative which I'm not as fond of, but I'll have to wait and see how it plays out. Despite these flaws I do feel that most of my favourite moments were done well or even improved from the original, and the way they restructured the story helps the flow in a lot of ways. I have very mixed thoughts on the ending and the changes they made but I'm going to have to see what they do with it before I can properly judge. Overall I enjoyed the story and it was great seeing moments from the original come to life. The characterization of all of the characters was spot on, the biggest thing I wanted to see from this game is to flesh out all of the characters and have them feel like a real party that interacts and that out of anything is the thing they nailed the most. I loved getting to see the party interact and grow together, and I can't wait to see what else is in store. The side quests are a huge step up from Remake, having a companion accompany you on each one helped with keeping you engaged, from just having funny moments with them or tying it into part of their character. One problem I had with this was it felt like certain characters were overutilized and some were underutilized, I would have liked to see a more even spread of screentime.
The combat system is just as satisfying as Remake, all of the new features and characters they added are super fun. One problem is I feel all of the new mechanics almost trivialize the combat to a degree, you have so many tools you have access to that fighting enemies feels less like trying to solve a puzzle and more just throwing everything you can at them, but there were still a good amount of challenges. The exploration and world map here leave a lot to be desired, I always felt like open world was the way to go for this section of the game, and I still do, but the way it was executed felt very sloppy. Visually the areas are great, however the big world is filled with generic repetitive open world objectives that start to make the areas feel like a chore to go through rather than a treat to explore. Pulling off an engaging open world can be difficult but I feel they got too caught up in the idea of creating a "huge" RPG and the experience feels very unfocused and greatly effects the pacing. Another huge problem tying into this is the minigames, I know many loved the minigames in the original, myself included, but they absolutely went overboard with the inclusion of too many. The minigames themselves are fine, but the sheer amount of them, let alone the fact you have to replay most of them several times, is just too much.
Visually the game is a treat to look at, the characters, animations, and world all look fantastic. The nailed the aesthetic of most of the areas and did a great job bringing them from 2D maps to feeling like a real place. I do miss the grungy brooding aesthetic the original game had though, most of the areas in this game feel very sanitized.
Once again the music is fantastic, I think I still prefer the original soundtrack but it has a different vibe to match the Remake series different aesthetic. The different areas around the world all use the same motif but have their own genres that somehow avoids feeling repetitive or stale at all.
Overall I enjoyed the experience, it wasn't everything I was hoping for but I still look forward to the next installment to see how they handle some of the new story beats.
The combat system is just as satisfying as Remake, all of the new features and characters they added are super fun. One problem is I feel all of the new mechanics almost trivialize the combat to a degree, you have so many tools you have access to that fighting enemies feels less like trying to solve a puzzle and more just throwing everything you can at them, but there were still a good amount of challenges. The exploration and world map here leave a lot to be desired, I always felt like open world was the way to go for this section of the game, and I still do, but the way it was executed felt very sloppy. Visually the areas are great, however the big world is filled with generic repetitive open world objectives that start to make the areas feel like a chore to go through rather than a treat to explore. Pulling off an engaging open world can be difficult but I feel they got too caught up in the idea of creating a "huge" RPG and the experience feels very unfocused and greatly effects the pacing. Another huge problem tying into this is the minigames, I know many loved the minigames in the original, myself included, but they absolutely went overboard with the inclusion of too many. The minigames themselves are fine, but the sheer amount of them, let alone the fact you have to replay most of them several times, is just too much.
Visually the game is a treat to look at, the characters, animations, and world all look fantastic. The nailed the aesthetic of most of the areas and did a great job bringing them from 2D maps to feeling like a real place. I do miss the grungy brooding aesthetic the original game had though, most of the areas in this game feel very sanitized.
Once again the music is fantastic, I think I still prefer the original soundtrack but it has a different vibe to match the Remake series different aesthetic. The different areas around the world all use the same motif but have their own genres that somehow avoids feeling repetitive or stale at all.
Overall I enjoyed the experience, it wasn't everything I was hoping for but I still look forward to the next installment to see how they handle some of the new story beats.