I managed to Platinum the game and had it released for the current year, it would have been an easy GOTY for me. Combine that with the excellent DLC, it solidified my opinion of what is perhaps one of the most fun I had with a single player campaign in a very long time. I was just one trophy away from completing Yuffie's DLC, but it seems there is one trophy from the DLC that is tied into the main game and unfortunately, since I completed the US version of the base game, my saves didn't carry over to my Indian one (F*ck you Sony!). Anyway, it's also been a while since I raised the difficulty in any game and this is one of the game that really made the hard mode journey truly worthwhile. Hard mode is where the combat techniques truly shine.
For the people who have completed all the Shinra Combat simulator trainings, you'll know that 'Three-Person Team vs. Top Secrets' which was truly the most difficult fight in the entire game. I literally died so many times and tried so many offensive strategies to no avail, finally went full defensive, finished it at around 2:00AM-ish and as soon as the rewards screen hit, I kid you not, I broke out some B-boy dance moves. Honestly felt like a major accomplishment.
The 2 most annoying things during my replay were the all bridal dresses collection and Tifa's pull-up mini-game. The latter pissed me off beyond reason and the former was just annoying in terms of it's structure. Good thing we didn't have any such mini-game for Aerith or Barret.
Glad I replayed the game and can't wait for the next titles in the series.