What a way to end the game. You've got all this stuff about changing destiny and moving forward, interposed with a flashback to not just the past, but an alternate version of the past--that also may have been a change in destiny? And Aerith seems to be keen on something. Perfect last line to finish the game on, too. "I miss it. The steel sky."
Random additional thoughts:
Overall, I think I would go ahead and say I feel blessed not only that this remake exists at all, but that Square managed to pull it off with such gusto and flair. "Blessed" is probably too dramatic of a word but with the impact FF7 had on me as a kid and how FF7 Remake was basically a joke that no one actually ever expected to happen (especially after all of the Spirits Within/FFXII/FFXIII/FFXIV, FFXV stumbling), I think it's appropriate. And this is on OLD HARDWARE at this point. Sure, there are some technical issues (textures, wonky sound design, PS2 NPCs with not-great voice acting) and aerial combat sucks donkeyassdickballs. It's got hallway syndrome, but Midgar was kind of always like that and honestly it's not so bad when done well (FFX says "hi"). On the whole? Square took the tutorial portion of the original game and made it a satisfying experience in its own right while sticking true to the original in all the important ways but updating it and throwing in small curveballs here and there to keep you on your toes. Really interested to see where they go with this and hope they can keep it up since everything I've read about this project seems to be a "we're figuring it out as we go" kind of deal. I am going to go replay this part of the original game again, but right now I prefer Remake to the original, hands down.
Red XIII's line of "is it our destiny to change destiny?" is really stupid but also fuck you Nomura goddammit you've got me hooked.
I don't know how I feel about Aerith possibly living this time around. Though apparently the creators said the remake won't diverge too wildly from the original. Still, very excited to see what they do. Glad they didn't do a 1:1 remake of the plot. Interested to see what they do with weaving in the conflict with Wutai and the involvement with Avalanche HQ into the plot. And do we know what Scarlet (mommy) was doing with the materia experiments?
I really love how this game takes the crazier enemies and turns them into boss battles. In the same vein, the updates to some of the odder parts of FF7 are mostly great. Wall Street and the Honeybee Inn, climbing up to the plate, infiltrating the Shinra Building. I think my least favorite part was the Train Graveyard, but even that was OK.
I mentioned it earlier but the updated interpretations of all these characters is astonishing in just how Square absolutely nailed it. Not just the main party, but Avalanche, the Turks, Shinra, Marlene and Elmyra, Corneo. It tickles me that they even made Johnny an actual character. They've injected so much character into every single one. I'm meh on some of the new characters, especially the ones who look like they were straight up taken from Final Fantasy 13. Chadley, Leslie, Kyrie. Of the bunch, Leslie is the most interesting and I hope we see more of him in some capacity.
SO MANY COOL SUBVERSIVE ARRANGEMENTS OF ALL OF THE CHARACTER THEMES IN THIS SOUNDTRACK. Lots of throwing Aerith's theme into a minor key or having Sephiroth's theme peek into other tracks but they keep it really fresh and interesting. I'm currently trying to find all of the music related to this game. What's this Original Soundtrack Plus and is it the full OST and more, or do I also need to get the Original Soundtrack? And then there's some Acoustic CD, plus a Shinra CD? Christ. But also give me all of the music, please. It's so good. I feel like I'm a little kid again.
I'm tempted to go through and do the post-game stuff. Hard Mode, whatever these manuscripts are, the new challenges. But I also want a reason to play the game in full again when it hits PC (I hope sometime in the next few months).
I love that I beat this game in 7 days, and closed out the story on the 24th anniversary of the original game's release. Totally by accident.