Spoiler-free question:
As someone who absolutely loves FF6 and FF4 but never really played FF7, is it worth starting with these remakes or should I play through the original on an emulator?
I had SNES and N64 growing up, didn't get a PS until late in the console's lifespan (and it came with FF9 so I pretty much skipped 7 and 8). I did sneak in my brother's room and play his copy on his PS when I was like 14 but that was maybe 45 minutes of content so my knowledge of the game is scant outside of the hype it has.
I definitely disagree with Dolemite. The devs suggested that playing Rebirth first was viable (which should be taken with a grain of salt, they'll say whatever makes them money), but I think it's a far less effective experience that way, to the extent that it's not worth it. I watched someone start to do it in that order, and it was a pretty awkward playthrough, where the game made allusions that relied on existing knowledge in a way that just felt unnatural to learn in reverse order (on top of that, a lot of the payoffs and quips rely heavily on your existing affinity to the characters built up in remake), and they ended up losing interest. Also, there's far too much convoluted stuff that happens in Remake to feel confident that a recap has covered it, IMO.
I'd say if you're not averse to old games, which it sounds like you aren't if you like 4 and 6, OG 7 first probably makes the most sense. However, if you're interested due to Rebirth and that's the end goal, it would also be perfectly fine to start with Remake then do Rebirth (there's no reason you have to get to Rebirth as quickly as possible anyways). I've seen lots of people go backwards starting with Remake and doing OG after the fact, and it always works out great (seems to be a really good way to convince hesitant modern players to accept and appreciate old games, actually). You'll be the least confused if you start with OG, though.
In short, both OG and Remake are fine options, just don't start with Rebirth, IMO.
