Okay, opening impressions, with small spoilers!:
One thought kept coming back to me as I've gone through the early chapters.
I'm home.
That thought, more than anything else, summarizes that (so far, at least!), Square Enix has accomplished the nearly impossible task of recapturing the pure magic Golden Age Squaresoft accomplished with this game the first time around.
This is the Midgar, and the characters, as I "remember" them, not as the aged, janky, early 32-bit PS1 era rendered them. There's been a couple moments where I've smiled, a couple moments where I've felt genuine emotion (that they play Aerith's Theme when you meet her, but there's a faint reverb of One Winged Angel's chorus echoing softly, slowly in the background gave me a legit chill). Not 100% sure I loved those ghost things interrupting the scene and so far they're the one bit of the remake that hasn't really meshed for me, but I am curious to see where exactly it's going.
They subtly set the tone that things are going to be the same, but different, right out of the gate, as they've added a pre-open to the opening train scene, where they show the construction of Midgar - something the original game references (that the lower sectors used to all be separate towns - and that seems to be where much of the added length is, Sector 7 is a legit town into itself now, something the original game could only imply).
Terorism (even well intended eco-terrorism) is seen through a very different lens in 2020 than it was in 1997 for obvious reasons, and I like that the game doesn't stray from that. Instead of the original version briefly mentioning the attack via TV monitors and a couple NPCs as you make your way back to the train station, the new version rubs your nose in it, making you walk through a devastated section of upper Midgar. While the player knows Shinra did the real damage themselves, the members of Avalanche do not, and the impact hits them all differently. The moment that got me was the realization that the emergency service personnel are wearing the iconic Shinra Trooper "triclops" helmets.
I'm also digging that the moments of Cloud freaking out have been fleshed out.. instead of him just grabbing his head with a screeching noise, we now get to share his mental struggles, which are now straight up hallucinations. Which means we get to actually see Sephiroth much earlier than he appears in the original version of the game, and him taunting Cloud about the destruction of his hometown (and being surprisingly chill about being killed) makes me interested in seeing how they play out messed up Cloud as the game progresses. I read an interview with one of the vets that came back and they said that in the original they needed to build Sephy up to make the players understand the level of threat he posed, but now the reputation of the original game has accomplished that FOR them, so they can just show the cards out of the gate. Looking forward to it. I also greatly enjoyed the fact they *remembered* how tall he's supposed to be. A lot of the compilation stuff seems to overlook this, and seeing him tower over Cloud in that cutscene makes him that much more intimidating.
Huge smile when I arrived in Sector 7 though and got to see Tifa and her bar (trivia observation, it's officially "Seventh Heaven" now, as opposed to "7th Heaven" in the original. Does that matter, not at all!), and I love that all the notes are still there (seeing the plate support gave me that creeping dread), the minimap still refers to the weapon shop facility as "Beginner's Hall" and there's still random people working out there, lots of tiny nods to the quirks of the original game, like that there's a Wild West themed pinball machine in the bar, a great little wink and nod to the silly, 4th wall breaking, totally illogical "Texas" sign hanging on the wall of the original. I also ADORE that materia sockets actually get filled in now, AND get filled in with the respective color of the materia you slot into them! It's a small touch, but it's an attention to detail that I really appreciate.
Other random thoughts:
The gameplay is FUN. I'm beginning to get the hang of the momentum of it, but for all the endless talk about them making it an ARPG, this is pretty much what Hiroyuki Ito intended Active Time Battle to someday become when he originally designed it for IV. Being able to jump from character to character to give orders, cast spells/abilities makes combat pretty dynamic. Yeah, you can just button mash the easy stuff, but you could do that in the original game too. Looking forward to seeing how the different characters play - I really enjoy Tifa's combat style from the short amount I've messed with her.
I'm also pleased as pie that I've identified every single monster I've encountered so far with the exception of a new rat type (which isn't exactly new to FF in general). Even here there's small nods to the original, like the Shinra officers having the red "Captain" uniforms, or the Grenadiers actually being the right color.
Materia: Ho boy. This, honestly, was my biggest concern with the remake going in. The materia system was such a great part of VII and such a core part of being able to flesh out your playstyle. I feared they'd just give you a small handful (the way they're handled in Crisis Core, or addressed in the compilation stuff), but it looks like I was way wrong. I've already seen quite a few different variations, some of which aren't even in the original game (autocure, GREAT IDEA!), and looks like it has the potential to be every bit as hilariously game-breaking once you figure out how to manipulate it as it originally was. I absolutely cannot wait to see how the more dangerous bosses play out as we get deeper into the source material.
And the visuals, yeah. The original game (while ugly AF now), was a graphical show of force in it's day -- this version brings the world to life with some really nice graphics. The character models look fantastic, look like the source material implied they should (except for Heidegger, who's weirdly good looking now), and I don't know what freakish art magic they used, but this game has the most impressive eyes I think I've ever seen in CG. Given how important that is to the lore (Mako eyes look just as creepy as I imagined them too), I'm glad they got them right. Some of the NPC models (like the crowds in Upper Sector 8) are obviously done with lower texture counts and it shows, but hey, you could argue that's a nod to the source material too as the original game also did this to NPCs.
And on the subject of the style, the initial trailers made me concerned they "modernized" Midgar too much. This concern has been assuaged. The city still has its magi-steampunk meets 1930s design style meets 1990s terrible fashion choices look.
As I've been savoring my time with it and not rushing - I've waited ages to return to what may be my favorite game world ever, so I'm exploring everywhere, talking to everyone, doing all the side quests, so I'm still in Chapter 3. Will probably be babbling more, as I can't remember the last time I was this excited for a game.