I was fully prepared to hate the remake.

I played all the FF games I could growing up. I played the original when it came out, and I played IV and VI (as II and III in the US) on my SNES.

I got a PS1 instead of an N64 because I knew FFIV (didn't know it was gonna be called VII yet) was gonna be on Playstation. I saved up my money for months to buy the PS1, and a few months later my mom (angel of a woman) went to Sears on the release day for FFVII while I was in 8th grade football practice and picked it up for me with my remaining savings.

I devoured the game. It was truly special. When a certain character left the party at the end of disc 1, I was devastated. I was and still am an unapologetic die-hard superfan of FFVII.

When I heard about the remake I was skeptical. When I found out they were taking away the ATB system and making it an action-RPG and bloating the opening chapter of Midgar into the entirety of the game I wrote it off.

But I still bought it, of course, and I have never been happier to eat crow.

The remake is fantastic. It's an entry point to the story for newcomers that's somehow both a retelling and a sequel that will keep old fans interested. The expanded Midgar section makes the events of the early game much more impactful as you really get to know the Avalanche crew, and everything about the production design is top-tier. The gameplay is a great balance between action and strategy that does its own thing instead of just copying what had already been done with the first game. It's a love letter to the original while being an amazing game in its own right.

I still haven't played the sequel, as I don't have a PS5, but I understand it's also excellent.