Nostalgia it is then. Just finished this tonight. Will probably have to play around with it to really get a good feel for everything. For the most part, the demo confirmed a few of my concerns, but I can see this being something I may pick up down the line. There was a part of me that was really hoping the demo would pull from the classical demos of the game and maybe let us test drive Aerith or Tifa, and perhaps access to a summon, but overall, it was a fairly well done demo.

Pros:
  • Production values are pretty top notch here, no one will deny the game is pretty.
  • The Command Menu does give combat a nice break up and allow more tactical fighting. I also appreciate that using items is not a free action.
  • The VA work is pretty good. No real complaints except maybe Wedge since he sounds like a doofus but then I remember that's what he was...
  • I liked the fact you could choose the(SPOILER) final timer for the bomb. Though even twenty minutes is really generous. I wonder if the final game will drop it down to ten.
  • Switching between characters is pretty seamless, though the different playstyles of the characters can be a little difficult to accustom to when you first switch over.
  • New Limit Breaks sounds interesting. I never got to see Barret's new one, but I'm intrigued we'll get a few new ones from the cast.
  • I really liked the change (SPOILER)concerning the bomb, that was actually a pretty sly story change.
  • They did a great job of not messing too much with the feel of the original story and characters. So I feel long time fans will be happy.
  • Bombing Mission is still a great track, and the new version is pretty good.
  • This might sound silly, but I appreciate the game keeping treasure chests.


Cons:
  • Combat at this point, is just not for me. While I appreciate the fact there is still more tactical elements thanks to the Command Menu and enemies having certain weaknesses, the combat wasn't too impressive. Cloud just auto-combos into things. Blocking would be more helpful if there was a better way to see what all the enemies are doing, and not getting sniped from offscreen cause you were too busy trying to anticipate what the enemy you were actually targeting was doing.
  • The biggest issue is that everything in this game is tanky except for a few very common enemies, but I'm including Cloud and the party in this. I mean we start the game with over a thousand HP and I never died once and I was playing on Normal difficulty. It's too easy to just tank damage from enemies and trade blows than it is to actually bother with blocking or dodging. Considering I never ran out of Potions either. This game better have a hard mode, otherwise the core design is way too easy.
  • The Scorpion Boss fight drags on way too long. Just as I expected, it felt less like I was fighting a difficult boss, and more like I was just fighting an HP sponge. Despite all the pyrotechnics going on in the fight, I never felt pressured, so why did we have to drag this fight out so long? I get it, he's a starter boss, but a starter boss that takes almost ten minutes to kill? Let's be reasonable here, they should have either made him tougher or more practically made the fight take less time.
  • I'm conflicted with how magic is being handled in this game. On the one hand, it's actually potent and useful, which is very good and I'm happy cause I've played too many Action RPGs where magic is usually useless after awhile. My issue is that Magic requires both MP and ATB to use, while Commands only need ATB. Why can't magic just be restricted to one thing or the other? Why does it have two handicaps in place? Like its useful, but I almost feel like its only useful because the devs programmed scenarios to make it feel useful, whereas I'm just spamming my non-MP using Braver skill over here to bring the hurt on things.
  • I'm still not a fan of the Stagger mechanic, it just feels like it drags out combat more than necessary.
  • I was very disappointed that I couldn't grab a few free potions off the unconscious bodies of the guards Jessie and Biggs took out like in the original.
  • Also, to no ones surprise, the Compilation is referenced. Though, there is still a strong possibility the incidence referenced is different in the remake.