Honestly I think we could take this remake as something like an adaptation on the original like using it as source material. We've already gotten so many adaptations lately of superhero stories so we have plenty of practice with this line of thinking. I think it makes it more enjoyable to think of it as a new generation of writers offering their look into an old story.

Actually I remember an old interview with Kitase where he hinted at a link between FFVII and FFX. The "ghosts" that represent the fluctuations in the remake's story could relate to the pyrefly memories from FFX. In that way it's like the writers of the remake are expanding on this world building.