The original Final Fantasy VII was one of my favorite first-gen PlayStation games. I logged over 99 Clinton-era hours on the original and fondly remember taking out Sephiroth, but my biggest regret was not beating the Ruby and Emerald weapons. So naturally I've been looking forward to seeing how it's been reimagined for modern audiences.  

I'm just about 16 hours into the Final Fantasy VII Remake. It keeps some of my favorite elements of the game and bắc kinh makes some worthwhile changes, but it also misses a few of my nostalgic triggers. 

One of the obvious reasons for a remake is that we can now enjoy this classic in high definition. Back in 1997, the PlayStation wasn't HD and neither was your TV. Forget 4K resolutions and downloadable games -- back then we had to juggle three separate CD-ROMs. 

Read more: Final Fantasy VII: Everything you need to know

Cloud Strife and company obviously look better in the remake's gameplay than they did in even the prerendered cut scenes from the original. But at the time, those '90s cut scenes were gorgeous. They showed us what kind of creativity and narrative depth video games were capable of, even if the technology still had a long way to go. 

Sound Cloud 

A welcome new element is that all the dialogue is spoken. No longer do I have to walk from person to person and click through endless text-only conversations. Even as you complete certain quests, you'll hear the people in town talking about it as you walk by them. As Cloud travels and his reputation grows, you notice more of the sector residents speaking about him and even kids emulating him -- something that wasn't in the original.