That's why the decision to split the remake was strange, SE already had market experience on how sequels go.

One could argue that it's different since it's one story split in three but each act of the game has become its own self-contained thing, even ending with Sephiroth battles. A person with some passing FF7 itch might be satisfied playing only Remake or Rebirth and not bother with the others.

Some fans once thought the FF7 remake would be this emergency button for Square Enix, and maybe the company bought into that idea when greenlighting the project, but these games sell in line with the other FF titles at best.

It is still significantly cheaper to make the FF7 series over FF16,FF17, and FF18. I think the guys had to do the FF7 series before they start dying off, retiring or changing company though.

Looking at just Remake and Rebirth; they had no choice. To develop this game in one go would mean they would still be developing the game now and after the 13 Saga and all the criticisms it had with loooong development times, I'm sure they wanted to avoid that. 

Only because it was expanded and stuffed with so much filler, especially Remake. The game would have been in development for 11 years at this point, surely it would have come out already.

I have just started Chapter 13.

Currently in the process of deciding what I want to do before I complete the game and take an extended break. I just noticed that the Sea is another region? Fuuuuuck man. What goes into completing it? Is it quick? I was going to go do Gilgamesh Island... until It decided not just to be a boss fight. Definitely will be left my very far off return.

Fumbled upon a nifty EXP grind strategy; There's a quest in Nibelhiem that has you escorting a Cat to town. One of the fights along the way is with a Queen Bee that spawns workers bees infinitely. Those workers bees give a ton of EXP per kill. Make sure not to kill the Queen Bee but if you are getting close to doing so, you can Restart the battle while keeping the EXP(not Ap or Gil though). Turn difficulty to Dynamic to keep the enemy levels matching yours and a great EXP spot created.

Level 46 - 55 in under a hour.

It's only the Pirate King's relics, a mini-quest that you begin with the purple chest by the harbor and it's just fighting some monsters after going to certain map spots. The reward is pretty good, though.

Ok. All characters Level 70 and finished all the Piano stuff. Cosmo Canyon is definitely the hardest one. I recommend turning up the note speed for that one. Cleared it on my first try after. You get the final music sheet after which is the battle theme(not needed for the trophy) which I missed on the first try by like 80 points! Got it on 3rd try though.

Trophy Hunt:
Defeat Gilgamesh - Probably wont be done before break
Develop all Materia with Chadley - I'm assuming that Gilgamesh needs to be done for this to doable?
Johnny Hotel - Not doing any of this.
Colosseum - Can't be done until post game so not doing this.
Chocobo race - Meh ... Post Break
All Quest done - Maaaaybe
Hard Mode - No. Post Break
Simulator - Post Break
300% stagger and All abilities and limits: Depends on what needs to be but most likely post break.

My next weekend I think I will complete the game. I would gun for it tonight but apparently I'm looking at 6-8 hours between Chapters 13-14? That's a whole ass shift!

The last chapter can be painfully long, especially if something happens to you that happened to me. You being level 70 already should mitigate the risk though.

I technically started Chapter 13 but I'm waiting to do more story stuff until I do some more side content.
I don't care how unpopular this is, I'll probably end up liking Remake (Base and Intergrade) better than Rebirth. Yeah, Remake is as padded if not more so than Rebirth. However, the navigation in Gongaga, the desert of Corel, and Cosmo Canyon really needed more polish. The maps don't help the exploration in the slightest. Additionally, there are too many minigames in both the main quest and side quests, and the quality varies a lot.
Remake may have a good amount of padding and a lot of linearity, but I didn't want to put it down. A lot of my playtime for Rebirth screeched to a halt around Chapter 9.
If Rebirth gets an Intergrade version around or after the PS6 launch, the maps need to be improved greatly, and the piano minigame needs tuning as well for those of us are too impatient or unskilled to pull it off. I don't think Square Enix will make those improvements in normal updates to Rebirth, sadly.

Being at the end of the game now, Remake was a better experience for me. Rebirth, while being a great game, irritated me so much. If it's not a mini game, it's a lame ass gimmick. If it's neither of those it's a side quest that doesn't know when to end (I am so tired of doing side quest chains that end in a "WAIT! One moooore thing!!!". I'm also pretty damn tired of my party being decided for me; This happens too many times. There are just so many things that make me groan with this game.