I can only repost what I said in another thread:

Wow. The panic and the horror of the bomb attack, listening to terrified people wondering where their family and friends are and just how they're going to get home felt more real, more human, than any Final Fantasy game location has yet.

I only wish that the revelation from the Demo Chapter 1/Demothat Shinra made it worse was revealed a little later or didn't happen at all, as it would've felt like even more of an emotional gutpunch. As an audience we get a free pass that our characters don't.