i hope you're wrong about the nonsense

(SPOILER)
i disagree about story direction becoming fanficcy. someone said this is more of a sequel than a remake, which would make perfect sense; parallel universe and timelines stuff going on.

i think the boss fights being drawn out is a playing preference, but they actually become a lot quicker once you figure out weaknesses and stagger tactics for the specific bosses. i'm running through them a lot faster the second time around on hard, and that's including dying more often

i actually like the idea that they won't just re-created the same old scenes with updated graphics and voice acting. i'm interested in seeing a new version of the story through a different lens. if i wanted to play ff7 again, i would do it (and i am doing it haha, slowly).

i guess these are personal preferences though, and it makes sense to be disappointed if you were expecting just the same story. but to me it's more of a meta narrative (so far) that has a lot to do with the fanbase as well.

i do agree that the side-quests sometimes got boring and weren't interesting. they were going to try and incorporate some sort of yakuza style gameplay but forgot their set-pieces weren't made for it. and the forced walking segments were UGH. i get you're probably loading the level during but it's boring when you're trying to just run.