Not in the sequels, Nomura mentioned that he will be using material from all of the Final Fantasy VII world. So there will probably be mentions of stuff that happened in the spin off's, Specially CC I'd imagine. So no, not pointless to mention them :)

The only way this works is if each part is really good. And flows well between each part as well. I think SE know long by now that direct FF sequels don't sell particularly well relatively speaking to the first. So I have some hope that this first game will be really good as they know if it isn't the rest of the games are not going to be looked upon very favorably. While Midgar may not be the full story of FF7 in the original, if done well enough with plenty of depth it can easily have more value than a typical full video game story.

"At this point I consider" As in my opinion, you know, not a fact. not definite or based on fact. in a way that appears.. etc

Forgot to also include the PC version.

I mean they might as well use the original which is a great game by itself as a rough draft to make a greater game. Do I really have to explain this..

I made that conclusion based on your perspective only, not my perspective or anyone else. Besides, FFVII came out for ps1 way before PC

I'm such a fan that I will buy the PS4 version and later when it's coming out the PC version.

If nothing else, they've nailed the box art:

Love that box art, just like the original...though they should put "Part 1" there..