Whoaaa there, I love FFVII:R but the original is still easily on top for me. The story is complete and has a better pacing. There's tons of post game content and quirky mini-games to waste time on. Also, I'm still a sucker for completely turn-based RPGs.

Well it is a matter of taste. I didn't like the original, i had to crawl past the content of midgar, while I enjoyed the whole of FFVIIR. But sure I can imagine I'm minority on it. But that is the problem of not playing FFVII original until this gen and being a graphic whore =p

This one is so simple, Xenoblade with no competition
It's the start of my favourite RPG series
It has a beautifully carved adventure, exploration, Open world
It introduced a great battle system
So challenging with great battles and unique monsters
I can go on all day but it's simply the best to me

FF7R easily. Every individual aspect of it its top notch for me, specially the Gameplay which I hope they replicate for future FF entries.

Trials of Mana is a game I enjoyed but its nowhere near comparable. To note, visually looks like a last gen game and the voice acting is awful. Gameplay is fun.

My experience with the original XC prevents me from wanting to play the DE which I understand its the same game for the most part. Not a game I'd put on a pedestal like many in here do.

I've only played FFVIIR out of those options and found it to be an average game at best. I plan on picking up the other two at some point though and based on what I've seen of the other two, Xenoblade without a doubt will be the better game of the three.

You didn’t play the original until this gen?  That actually explains a lot...

On the PS1 I had played only FF IX. Then sure  played FF X, X-2 on PS2 and loved, hated XII the first time (but liked a lot the remaster). Played XIII and XIII-2 on PS3 and liked. FFXV on PS4 I moderatelly liked, FFVIIR I liked a lot.

Played the remaster of VIII on PS4 and was lukewarm, but didn't like the remaster of VII.

Hmmmmmm...

I think Xenoblade Chronicles is the best one overall, simply because of the quality of the source material. That being said, it's the same experience I've already had. The sidequest tracking is a nice feature (despite the fact that I still find the sidequests dull), but other than that it's just an audiovisual update, which I generally wouldn't buy. Mainly bought it for future connected, so hopefully that part delivers.

FFVIIR on the other hand isn't as good as either Xenoblade DE or the original, but it does offer a new experience compared to FFVII. I'll avoid better or worse for the sake of this topic, but different itself can be a good thing.

So... basically... if I had a time machine, and could go back in time to tell myself which game to buy this year (for whatever reason my past self can only buy one) I'd advise him to buy FFVIIR, and play Xenoblade again on the Wii (my opinion may change depending how good future connected is, but based on what I've heard I don't expect to be blown away). On the other hand, if I were going to recommend a game to a person who hasn't played the originals or the remakesters, I'd probably recommend Xenoblade DE.

That’s because 7 wasn’t really a remaster, just a port of the pc port.  Seven also has not aged very well graphics wise.  A lot of the people that are annoyed at the remake have a lot of nostalgia attached to the original, which is why your views make a lot of sense.

Well VIII isn't similar case? I know that I can ignore IX on this because I love it since PS1. But VIII was the enhanced port similar to VII right? And I still liked it more than VII. But sure I not liking the original VII makes me not be annoyed by the changes of the remake.