This discussion will include spoilers through Chapter 4.
I enjoyed the Junon area more than the grasslands. There was more variety in the terrain and seemed like more side areas to explore. The black chocobo wall climb was a nice homage to the original game where the colored chocobos had different abilities. The Chadley side quests are starting to get repetitive, as I expected, and this is only the second area. But I appreciate that the rewards of special materia and weapon skill points are worthwhile.
The one different area quest here was the Fort Condor game. I loved it! Great idea to incorporate that into a board/video game simulation than make you actually go there for each round. The upgraded 3D polygon versions of CBT were so cute that Miriel wished the whole game looked that way. The FC minigame was very true to the original, which was a game I thought was fun back then as well. The last round was hard!
I think I said this before, but the banter in the field among the characters during quests is great. I love that the sidequests tend to focus on a different team member to build their relationship with Cloud. The quests also help build out the world
Storywise, I appreciate building out the backstory of Under Junon and the struggle with Shinra taking over this city built by the Republic. The silly dolphin race captured the cheese of that part in the original, and I liked the Yuffie add in there. The parade stuff was by far my favorite part of the game so far. Rufus's parade was one of my favorite events in the original game and Rebirth took it up to 11. I absolutely loved that Clound stumbled his way into being the captain of Squad 7 and then had to go round up the troops. Then after a perfect performance, they pledged their loyalty to him and even fought by his side! Fantastic. And the remixes of the Junon and Rufus march themes were great as well. I need to download this soundtrack.
Loving this game. SE has absolutely nailed it so far.