Not really a shame. It all depends by what those things would get replaced with. I have played FF VII almost every year since it's realease in 1997, and the only things I think are really special about it are the limit breaks, the materias and the summons. All of which are sure to come back in the remake. So I'm really not worried whatever they do with the pacing of the battles. As long as it has strategic elements, which is most likely a given considering the materias, then I'm totally fine. 

I want a new take on the game, and feel like I'm discovering it for the first time again. If they stick with everything, that won't be possible. I want the game to feel new. Not the same as I've been playing for years already. I want to have the pleasure of discovering its new systems and features, and the battle system is part of that.

Fair enough, I don't. I just want a graphical upgrade.... oh and orchestral musical score too.

-better graphics(like in ff XV)
-same story, combat system and everything else, i loved the materia thing (to combine them, lvl up)

First and foremost a major overhall in graphics is needed. PS one graphics, while great at the time have aged poorly.

An end to pre-rendered backgrounds. While keeping the style of the pre-rendered backgrounds, Final Fantasy Vii needs a fully 3D world for us to explore.

While I think turn based battles should remain and be further refined, you should have to run into enemies before they start as opposed to suddenly entering a battle.

Voice acting is a must in my opinion.

The materia system needs to stay, it was perfect in the original and doesn't need a change. I'd say the same about the turn based combat system, but they already announced that there will be changes... at least I want to control all the characters, but some part of me will die if they turn FFVII into an arpg.
Yuffie and Vincent need to be in the vids too.

I'm not worried about the Materia system staying. Materias are part of the game's plot. So it's a given that the battle system will still revolve around them. :)

Yeah, I know, I'm more worried about the changes that a new combat system could bring to how materia is used.

I'll Explain. What SE did in Braverly gave control to the player to all the annoying aspects of RPG's.

Diffcuilty can be changed at any time. So if you have a hard time beating a boss or area. Lower it. You won't be stuck in a area for that extra 5 hours.

Fastforward functions are in all the time. Think of Chrono Cross FF speed. But instead of holding it down, it's saved. Nor is it a dumb unlock. And will work under all animations in battle. Remember those amazing but then boring long finishers in RPG. Skippable.

Cursor position can be turned on or off. So if you're in battles and have to do the same attack over and over again. You can just mash the next button.

Random encounters is fully controlable. You can turn it off and avoid a pointless death and reload. Because you where trying to retun to a town. You can also increase it so you can grind faster. This helps the game when you beat it. So that you can replay the game. With zero interferrence. How I wish I can turn off those Zubat's in Pokemon.

You can turn off EXP. and money. So when you replay the game in the future, in new game plus. You don't have pointless money and or EXP screen show up.

All the cool battle start up stuff and ending screens are fully skippable. No cutscene is locked. You can skip them at will. Except for very few dumb ones.

Auto play. This allows the text and voices to playout as a cutscene. So you don't have to press a button to advance the text. You can also end the cutscene or dialog completely.

The game has auto save. Whenever you change screens. Staircase door etc. it saves. So if you went threw a whole area. And then got caught off guard by some dumb cheap combo. Or a boss fight you didn't know was happening. Or our favorite scripted fight you have to lose. And you end up wasting your important items. You'll reload at that last staircase. The game is also friendly to people who want the old fashion way. Overworld saving. And there's a guy near major battles and towns for saving.

Thanks for the info! I'll throw in my support behind that (and nothing else if I can't control my whole party, I'm gonna throw a fit).

New script, same plot and settings. New events and places. Same ATB battle but go ahead and expand items, materia, and limits. More side quests. Multiplayer golden saucer.