A game that is absolute cinema!
The OST has no right to be this good.
The main storyline is a great narrative that keeps you wanting the next high.
Well crafted //ACTION COMBAT// that allows you to approach fights the way you want with
the ability to mix and match moves.
However there is a serious flaw, I and likely others have with this game; and that it truly
DOES NOT RESPECT YOUR TIME.
I will explain further below but,
TLDR: Never do side quests. Never explore maps. Never do anything that is not involved in the main storyline. It is never worth it, you get nothing, and somehow, it will actually invalidate the nothing you side quested for.
>>ONLY DO MAIN STORY LINES<<
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>Gameplay/Combat:
There are really good bones to the combat of this game that ensure all the abilities you get are useful and cohesive. While there are some that are pretty weak, or not my play style, I can understand where they can be if you wanted certain combos/cycles/chains.
Combat does get a little stale once you start hitting 25/30+ hours and the late game, but that is mainly because enemies themselves are stale. If you want to mix things up you need to upgrade/master abilities, so that then you can mix and match them between your Eikons.
(only figured this out after 20 hours and after Titan.)
>Story/Characters:
It's going to take me some time to digest EVERYTHING that occurred and went on, but fakk me. Characters are great and everyone get's the chance to have their tale fleshed out and spun. Members of the Hideaway (not you Mid, you can eff off.) are exceptionally well written and you do get the feeling they are a real family. The main story line is compelling, and aside from small beats I was invested from the opening 2 hours leading up to [spoiler] The Opening Title Card. Bruh that first Dragoon completely aura farming. [/spoiler]
There is some weakness though in how drawn out parts of the story and scenes are. Scenes have so many pregnant pauses, that I kept waiting for someone/anyone to get randomly sniped/assassinated because the scene wouldn't end. Additionally I would say this is really a 25 hour story dragged painfully over 40 hours. (This is included sidequest content.) And the last 10 hours or so of my playthrough I was just praying it would end soon.
>RPG/Side Questing/Items:
This...this here in the anchor around the neck of this game. Side content is near worthless outside its stories and narrative construction. You will constantly get 10 bazillion iron fragments for crafting. But for what? There's nothing to craft outside swords and 2 accessories? (im probably not going to play NG+ for a very long while) And the things that you do craft are immediately invalidated less than 10 minutes later, as the smith will basically sell you the new sword thats better than the one you crafted. This is extremly evident with the final legendary sword you craft called GottenSmitten [[I dont remember because I had it less than 20 minutes before I went into Echos ELC. :) ]]
""Wow you spent hours side questing, saving villages, reigniting the flames of humanity and resistance? Hunted down all the powerful monsters lurking in the corner of the world to forge that legendary sword. Thats neat, heres one I found lying on the floor of my shop, it's better than that."
There is basically no RPG. Leveling is just there for show and you cant spec into anything. Weapons and accessories are meaningless because theyre all just stat sticks. you dont even need to use jewlery at all for the whole game. I wore +20AP, +35gold , Auto-Potion the entire game and never swapped.
>DLC:
It's bad. Both of them. It fleshes out part of the world, but really comes down to nothing more than filler to stuff in 2 more Bosses. After 40 hours of the main game, and before launching final quest, ECHOS immediately invalidated all my gear by handing me white gear that was better than my crafted gear that I 100%-ed the main game for. Then TIDES did the same thing for the accessories. Wow great, thanks for showing me I wasted my time.
To Long Did Read:
I had a pretty good time for one playthrough. Riding the story from high point, expecting some dénouement to slow down, yet it just keeps going up and up. I do feel betrayed that my time was wasted on anything outside the main storyline. Why this game doesnt just have /FINAL FANTASY MODE/ for a one and done playthrough I dont know. I might come back and do a NG+ run, but right now I need some detox time.
