There aren't a lot stories that can succeed at making a character highly flirtatious and yet still have more to their character. Jessie isn't a sex bot. She just finds Cloud attractive and, unlike some OTHER girls,she has the confidence to pursue him openly. Even when Cloud calls her desperate, she just says she'll cool off a bit in her chase but she won't give up. (SPOILER)Some people expressed issues with the fact her bomb didn't do much damage and that Shinra had to clean up. But I just think it shows that she is a competent bomb expert. In the OG Jessie's surprise at the size of the explosion pointed to her being less skillful. Sure, Avalanche was a ragtag group, but why would Barret put Jessie in charge of the bomb if she didn't know what she was doing? I think that's why even Barret was shook by the huge explosion when he and Cloud were on the elevator.
For Biggs,the main reason I liked him in R is because he looks like Charlie Sheen from Platoon. Aside from that, I didn't dig him all that much and I didn't approve of the choice of voice actor. To me I couldn't reconcile that voice with his character.
Marlenefelt more real here too. In Advent Children, she was more of a plot device and they tried too hard to make her "cute". Here, there's a curiousness to her voice that sounds genuine when sge's interacting with Barret or Aerith.
Johnny'spretty cool here. He gets significantly more attention than he should in the Midgar section. But his outfit isn't the one I was expecting. In OG, in Johnny's closet is a leather jacket with a flaming skull. I always figured Johnny was wearing that throughout the game, you just can't tell 'cause the low graphics.
Elmyrais improved, though in a way that makes me irritated to engage with her. In OG sge was stereotypical overprotective mother. But here, she carries a lot of confusion as to how best keep her daughter safe, going so far as to convince herself that it would be best to leave Aerith with Shinra rather than try to get her back. Yes. That irritates me.
Reno's attitude was a satisfying middle ground between OG and Advent Children. Still cocky, still kinda lazy, still awake.
Speaking of Turks, we're introduced to Rude a lot sooner than in OG. And even in the scant screentime he is alotted, we still get a deeper look into his personality. I guess that's the purpose of these cutscenes during battle.
I appreciated the extra screentime we got for Scotch and Kotch, but I DESPISE that they removed the Scotch miniboss fight. I was actually hoping we would be able to fight Scotch AND Kotch. At least they duped the scene of Kotch being tied up. That was neat.
Jules aka Big Bro, is slightly less "cute" though clearly still into that. He's still a disciplinarian but minus the violence which was a little bit of an overreaction in OG (breaking a dude's arm for throwing a tantrum at losing to Cloud).
Gotta say I hated the Party Never Stops Quest. The old man in the original had a bit of sympathetic air about him. The old man in Remake was just an idiot. Total downgrade.
Tseng:in OG, our first encounter with the man made him come off like a stereotypical villain laughing maniacally. Bastard even backhands Aerith right in front of the group. (Though that's not nearly as bad as Barret firing repeatedly on the chopper when he can clearly see a helpless flower girl curled up on the platform beside Tseng... damn Barret, cool off!) Tseng's attitude toward work and Aerith respectively are both given a much needed overhaul here.
I didn't approve of the characterization of Domino. It may have been accurate to his character in OG, but it just rubbed me the wrong way. Then again, that may have been the point.
Lastly, Shinra and Rufus. Shinra's outlook may be sterotyoical of a villain, but it feels like it comes from a recognizable origin, like if you could just take away everything that makes him President and just make him another man on the street, he'd be the type of hard-working soul that could build himself up from nothing. Then there's Rufus. No speches this time, but he definitely has more stage-presence to his aura. Overall, I found the battle with him to be pretty entertaining.