Is it worth it?

[Big D]

FFVII Remake is probably the biggest disappointment I've ever had from a video game. It has a lot to recommend it: a stunning recreation of Midgar, excellent new portrayals of major characters, and a lot more lore and story.

What threw it were things that felt like minor annoyances at first: Incredibly long, drawn-out boss fights that started out feeling epic but ended up becoming tedious, frustrating and dowright boring by the end. A bloated, padded story that's laden with fetch-quests and distracting busywork. Minor characters from across the FFVII expanded universe who who get thrust into the spotlight in a way that suggests we're meant to know, and care, about them deeply.

But most damning for me were the major story changes. It's not until near the end that the remake's story starts to come apart, so for the longest time it feels like they were actually being honest when they promised a faithful reimagining of the original. It was a profound disappoinment to discover that there might've never been any intention of actually remaking FFVII beyond the outline of the Midgar plot.

Whatever comes next might be a re-telling of the original story, or it might be outright fanfiction made up on the spot by the new writers. But no matter what option they choose, it's guaranteed to have a whole lot of nonsense piled on top of it.

You might love it. You might hate it. You might find a bit of both. The biggest thing I found was that I was wrong to get my hopes up and buy into the hype.