Now I don't want people to take this as a critique or something bad as it's not. So let me explicitly say that the differences aren't bad they're just different.
Playing the original FF7 on the Playstation even today elicits a dreamlike atmosphere. The somber music, and abstract calm moments juxtaposed against absurdity (possibly caused by the limited animation of the low poly models) and over the top action creates a sense of dreamlike wonder. You don't have voices to give you a concrete idea of the characters feelings and you have these random possibly inconsequential choices peppered through making you question if what you're doing has any affect on the world or story. This is all combined with intentionally vague storytelling and a sense of mystery and confusion. It feels like walking through a fever dream with a vague narrative thread tying it all together.
The remake on the other hand so far hits the same general story beats and manages to tie it together much more coherently but it almost feels like something was lost in translation. You know exactly what's going on. The character motivations are clear and concise and the action pieces feel built up to and earned. When Barret sits down on the train after scaring off the Shinra employees and tells you how people in the slums are just trying to survive that hits a lot more clearly then his low poly model jumping around the seats but at the same time that clarity and grounding completely change the feel.
In the remake the world feels grounded and the story grand and edgy and in the original there's this sense of dreamlike wonder and foreboding mixed with melancholy and the story is half you filling in the blanks of vague character dialogue. A lot of this was borne of the development environment being chaotic where the remake had clearer goals and oversight. It's interesting how 2 interpretations of the same material can create a completely different atmosphere.