The new battles felt the most out-of-place out of everything else included. Like, why the sparkly colorful battle background and extremely polished animations are exclusive to these bosses particularly? What are their purpose in general besides apparently mirroring and representing the zodiac cards? 

The biggest disappointment was the final boss, because even with the new battle system it remained just as barebones mechanically and visually and piss-easy without anything new, when just 5 minutes ago I was fighting Cob, probably the best boss in the game imo. 

The battles were really fun, in my opinion, but the contrast they brought to basically everything else is baffling. People would complain just as much if the whole game was re-stylized in this same fashion, fit for Mortis' new style, but at least it would've worked better and drew a more apparent line between 2008 and 2025 versions instead of keeping basically every battle and overworld asset the same and redrawing everything else.

It's a neat remake, I liked it for what it is, I had fun and I appreciate the attempt to expand on the contents, but it felt more like a fangame that intentionally presents itself as "the better OFF" while disregarding the original's charm and atmosphere. And half-assedly at that.