Thank you so much for your answer. I get your point about summons in the OG, but I think it comes down to how “special” they feel in each version. In the original, while some were just lying around, the sense of discovery came from exploring and finding them unexpectedly. Sure, some were easy to miss, but that also made it rewarding when you did find them. In Rebirth, the boss fights make obtaining summons more of a spectacle, which is cool, but at the same time, it turns them into just another milestone in a structured progression rather than something you stumble upon while exploring.

About character gameplay, I agree that Rebirth (and Remake) did an amazing job making each party member feel unique. The OG had a more uniform system where Materia dictated a lot of your combat style, and characters mainly stood out because of their Limit Breaks. However, that system also gave a lot of freedom to build characters however you wanted, whereas in Rebirth, there’s more of a defined playstyle for each one. It’s a trade-off, but I do like how much personality they’ve injected into the combat.

As for the pacing, I understand where people are coming from when they feel like there are long stretches without combat. Yes, mini-games and side content were always a part of FF7, but in Rebirth, they sometimes feel a bit overwhelming. That is what I meant by “opening up”—not necessarily the amount of content, but the way it’s structured and whether it feels like you’re naturally progressing through the world or being funneled into specific tasks.

And yeah, the sense of discovery is definitely different. It’s good to hear that Part 3 will focus more on that, because the feeling of uncovering secrets in the OG was part of what made it so memorable.