For me, it’s one of two choices:
Final Fantasy VIII - It’s one of my favourite entries in the series and think they’ve ignored it far too much over the years. There’s a lot they could do with it, not just visually, but with the story and mechanics too.
Final Fantasy Tactics - This game is just fantastic all round, and I can’t say any more than that.
What would you choose?
You don’t have to cut put parts of the game. There are plenty of games that have massive expansive stories, and worlds that are one disc. A good example is the horizon games.
As for the story changes, I didn’t like the introduction of the whispers, or how sephiroth was introduced with no explanation. The rest of the things in the game felt like they were only there to extend the play time.
Funny enough, the things that were added like a visit to Jessie’s parents, didn’t bother me.