Alright, just finished it last night.
As a preface, I've played the original FF7 and only completed it quite recently.
I enjoyed this remake a lot, in spite of its flaws. Overall, I'd give it a 9 out of 10.
To me, Midgar is the heart of the original FF7, and my hot take is that the original gets boring after leaving Midgar and turns into more of a generic fantasy, so the idea of Midgar having its own game, I highly support. I also thought the original had some boring and nonsensical parts and bad pacing issues from time to time.
THE GOOD
I like the battle system a lot, played on standard, even if I feel like I didn't full grasp it.
I somehow beat Rufus with a Limit Break, which seemed like a very tough fight. Sephiroth seemed pretty easy. I didn't have that much of a hard time with Hell House like others have, only died once. If anything, Air Buster screwed me over multiple times. I don't know if it was just me, but Fire/Blizzard/Aero seemed useless in comparison to Thunder? Thunder just wrecked all the robots.
I loved the graphics and music. The environments in the game are breathtaking, altho I wish there were less linear corridors. They did an excellent job with Wall Market.
I liked a lot of the expansion, like seeing Cloud's and Tifa's apartments in the slums, getting to
be with Avalanche more, learning more about Aerith's history, etc.
I liked the new take on the Shinra Building and seeing it like a museum. The "Ancients hologram" really floored me.
I liked how Tifa and Barret just seemed a lot more human in this game, and I liked the moment where Tifa breaks down in Aerith's garden. I'm glad I didn't get Aerith's/Barret's scene.
I thought the voice acting was also good, but I also think FF10 has good voice acting so take my opinion with salt. I was fine with everyone's voices, and I think Tifa's a perfect case. Something which bothered me was Zack's, it just felt off in a bad way. Not sure why they couldn't get a better soundalike.
I don't mind the timeline shenanigans, I think it breathes a lot of new life in this story. I can see why it would annoy purists, but to me, it sort of feels like I'm experiencing something with more weight, as a sequel. It sort of makes me feel more connected to the characters and story more in a way.
I got pretty emotional during Aerith's and Marlene's hug since I can relate to the subject of childhood trauma and losing your "home". It's really amazing how giving characters voices and going more into their histories just helps you bond with them more.
THE BAD
Aerial combat feels sluggish and awful.
I honestly have no idea why Roche and Leslie were in this story, they seemed a bit superfluous. I also don't see why Biggs survived, especially after his fakeout death. Imo, Biggs and Jessie should've died at the tower, and Wedge should've been revealed to be alive much later, like near the end of it. It would give us more time to let their deaths sink in a bit, but they reveal Wedge is alive not long after the plate fall.
Some things I found not-so-great were the padding (some areas went on for way too long like the sewers and Hojo's lab) and the robot arm segments.
Spoiler-wise, I really hope Zack isn't alive, it would ruin the remake a lot. I hope it turns out he died some other way in the alternative timeline (just because he survived the army showdown, it doesn't mean the whispers didn't Final Destination him later). The ending *is* confusing, and I think that's a bad thing here. I guess they want to keep fans talking for years, but I would've preferred something more concrete.
The game also suffered from some annoying gamey stuff, like repeating NPC dialog which takes me out of the experience. You can also knock chairs across the Shinra cafeteria and no one reacts. It comes off as silly.
I also got two glitches in my playthrough, one was a small one where Tifa walked through a table, the other one seemed to make Jenova Dreamweaver not spawn tentacles, forcing me to reload.
THE FUTURE
I'm very sad we won't get another installment for another few years. I hope the team seriously takes advice. I hope we don't get more than 3 parts.
I'm also a bit sad that this remake fell short of certain people's expectations. It's clear that a lot of love and effort was put into it.