Also worth noting, it's much longer than the 1997 game.

I played and beat the original on PS1. I bought FF7 Remake on Xbox, and it came with the OG FF7. After beating Remake, I went back to the OG. I did everything Remake got from the OG in like 2 hours. I think I put 30 hours into Remake? I mean, if you haven't played the OG or you haven't played it in a while, you might have forgotten how easy it is to get to Shinra and escape wtih Aerith and Red XIII. Remake added so much. Was it necessary? I dunno. I really didn't like Remake and I haven't bought Rebirth yet. I'm not planning on it, but I may eventually. But I don't have a problem with how they're doing it.