Done.

Took me 100 hours and i It's been a magical experience for me. Sure it's somewhat bloated and some story decision are at least questionable, but man the love and care that went into this game is stellar.

Also thought the dialogs were well done. Some anime bullshit here and there, but the camaraderie between the characters felt really special.

Hear, hear. The Dyne scene felt like when Americans remake a European or Japanese movie, no offense. More drama, more action!

I wonder if Sakaguchi reined them in back in the day or if Nomura, Nojima, and Kitase were always crazy and it was just the technical limitations of PS1/PS2 hardware that kept them from overdoing it (this also applies to the ending, not just the Dyne scene).

At least Cait Sith, on the other hand, was done much better this time around.

Average completion seems to be about 100 hours. There are people beating the game in under 30 hours skipping all non mandatory stuff.

I'm also done with the main story now. It took 52 hours in total. I've also decided to give the side content a try.

As mentioned before, the experience was a lot more enjoyable for myself after I started skipping all optional content.
The story seemed at it's best when it stuck to the original FFVII script. It does drag on a bit at times, but on the whole the story was well done, especially in the areas where it matters.
I won't give anything away about the ending, but I did have to switch off my brain a little bit. Like Remake, it's a bit awkward having a hype finale of sorts in what is ultimately part way through the story, but there were some moments in that final chapter that I did really enjoy.

I try not to care about the plot anymore. Expecting good and consistent writing is just setting myself up for disappointment at this point. But at least the characters are generally likeable, their dynamics kinda great, and the dialogue is good in less serious moments. I also really enjoy the humor.

The gameplay in general is the star here, combat in particular, but I also like the world, exploration, and even the minigames which seem to piss off most fans. The game's quality overall exceeded my high expectations.

I wish Chadley and MAI would shut the fuck up for a second though. I would have probably liked them too if they opened their mouths a 100 times less.

I wonder who will be considered the strongest character and team in this when all is said and done. Endgame Yufffie seems crazy good. If you think her damage output is average wait til you get "a certain ability" then you may criticise it for the opposite reasons lol. Her skill set including weapon skills are great. One standout weakness of hers is that she's not the best teamplayer outside synergy skills (Foxflame). Red XIII is stupidly good, both as a teamplayer and solo, range is his glaring weakness and I'm glad he has it. Cloud has his counters and has no serious weaknesses when you unlock all abilities. Like Yuffie though, not much of a team player. Red compensates here and doesn't need MP to do so, making him excellent in hard mode.

Need to dabble more with the rest of the cast... Aerith is OP as a team player, but annoyingly slow and weak solo from what I can tell (unless you master perfect blocking or something). Tifa is self explanatory (thank god she didn't inherent the spammy slides from Remake), might still be the best character but it's hard to say. I heard someone saying Barret might be the best, and finally Cait Sith is a mystery to me so far.

I just love how strong and unique each character feels, and the way they work together.

Finished Gongaga region last night. Anybody want to defend the mushroom and chicken mini game? Though I do like trolling at the end of the chicken one. I wish the mini games would stop using the analog sticks. The Piano and mushroom were difficult because of severe drift for my left stick.

Interesting story developments though. Currently just starting Cosmo Canyon, Its seems smaller that previous regions? (A freebie region!?)

Finished all intel in Cosmo Canyon yesterday and I did so pretty quickly thanks to everything being so condensed. It as a fun zone. Gi Caverns was a boring dungeon but I like what was done with the Gi tribe in regards to story. One more region and I hope its not a pain(pleeeeaaaase)

*shakes head and chocobo glide mini game* Skiiiiip.

Just touched down in Nibelheim and it is immediately obvious the intel amount is reduced here! Thank You Gawd! Final region! I'm pretty sure this is more story driven region.