I don't think you will only play as Cloud throughout the game. But if they do away with a turn-based combat, you have to come to the conclusion that controlling all aspects of your party at any one time would be exceptionally difficult. I suspect they'll take heed from Type-0. They'll give you the option to control different characters, but only through a switching system. Again, I wouldn't technically mind this. The battling was never the be-all-end-all for me in Final Fantasy. I never found the combat in Final Fantasy particularly engaging - it was more the whole experience that I appreciated. Back in the day, I would never have told people to play Final Fantasy VII "because the battles and action are so amazing". I'd probably have said the characters and story were pretty cool.

We all get different things out of Final Fantasy; I am sure of this. And there will always be a group of people, no matter how great the game may be, who will find dissatisfaction in certain components in one or more ways. I'm not implying that people are 'searching for criticism', but nothing in the world can tick the right boxes for everyone. For some people it may be an overhauled system of combat. For me; it would be deviating drastically from the original personalities of the characters, and the omission of elements that made up big portions of the original story. The Wall Market won't be anywhere near as goofy, which might be a sad thing, if I wear by nostalgia goggles...but I'd be interested in how they would tackle parts of the original game to fit the whole dark colour palette of 21st century takes-itself-way-too-seriously Final Fantasy.

Why remake a game if you are just going to do the same thing, but instead of using A4 paper and crayons, you're using watercolours on canvas. I'll be pretty excited to see the remake, if only to gauge Square-Enix's underlying philosophy of what they believe a fun and better gaming experience is. They're taking a game, a critically well-received and loved title, and publicly announcing that "We can make this game even better". I'm curious, especially by going off their current rather middle of the road, mediocre creative output, what they truly believe makes a good game. We will have access to a complete direct comparison.