Playing the game now. It's a lot of fun, some good changes but some negative changes from Remake. The open world portions are just gorgeous. The ubisoft towers and icons are kinda lame but it's not just a scourge on the map so to speak. The sidequests have been pretty fun, and the soundtrack is awesome.
Storywise, it follows largely the same beats as the original with some changeups to the formula (I haven't beaten it yet so I expect some wild changes @ the end like last time.). Gameplay is pretty neat but I preferred FF16's DMC style combat.
All in all I wouldn't buy it at $70, but at $50 it is well worth it