Chris Barnes: I have so many unanswered questions about this game. How will the episodic stuff work? Are we even going to get out of Midgar? How many more years do I have to wait before getting a lovingly modern rendition of Cait Sith? With so many questions swirling in my brain, the anticipation for this game is at an all-time high.

Chris "Atom" DeAngelus: Final Fantasy VII is THE RPG in a lot of people's minds. A distinct blend of cyberpunk, fantasy, and surreal storytelling, it represents one of the most popular RPGs ever made. A remake has been a long time in coming, and it's almost here. This particular Remake is part one of a multi-part remake, fleshing out the original five-hour opening in the city of Midgar into a full-length game. With awesome visuals, a cool new combat system, and a focus on one of the best parts of the original game, FFVIIR has a ton of potential to be just as good as the original.

Joseph Doyle: Final Fantasy 7 may not be the best game of all time, but it easily sits in the pantheon. Inspired by the remake announcement, I recently played the original and was blown away. Twenty years have elapsed since the title's release, and it's only received a handful of quality of life improvements, but I still understood the hype. The story is gripping and goofy, the aesthetics and design feel timeless, and the music is to die for. I understand its gravity and place. The model is also fascinating: multiple parts for a reboot seems incredibly presumptuous, but then again, this is Final Fantasy 7. This game has to be good, and I'm curious about how they'll go about it. They have the battle designer from Kingdom Hearts II working on it, and that also sold me on the game.

Cody Medellin: Truthfully, there's some morbid curiosity driving this choice. After so many years in development and one more delay announced recently, we're getting what is reportedly a remake of the game until the end of Midgard. Two discs will get us to the halfway point of the original's first disc. At the very least, the experience will feel very different due to the new third-person viewpoint and a battle system that looks to take elements from Kingdom Hearts mixed with more traditional turn-based stuff. The question is whether there's more to the game that they're not talking about and if it'll be enough to hold people's attention until we know how quickly the rest of the game will come out.

Rhi "StormyDawn" Mitera: Final Fantasy 7 was my gateway drug. It's the first RPG I ever played all the way through back in 1997, when the game had to be split up over four CDs because it was so big. Even though it's taken a long, long time to get here, I'm so glad they decided to do a full remake instead of just a remaster; everything I've seen from it is more beautiful than the last — and it's still too big to fit on only one disc.

David Silbert: Despite a short delay, Final Fantasy VII Remake is nearly here — or, at least, the first part. It's well-known at this point that FF7R is but episode one of what is expected to be a multi-year, generation-spanning series. While Square Enix remains mum about how many games we can expect or even what platforms to expect them on (PS5, anyone?), this first entry certainly has our attention.

With its gorgeous visuals, real-time battle system, and loving re-creation of the city of Midgar, FF7R certainly looks the part. We'll see in a few short months whether it lives up to the hype.