hate to be a hater but man did I hate this, may as well lean into it; by far one of the least pleasurable and enjoyable experiences I've ever had with a video game in any capacity, with anything really, spread out and torturous over 30 aching hours. determined to finish this and I think it counts for something. this is my first experience with final fantasy so I can't say how entirely faithful it is to the original (I know the big plot beats) but, like, really?? this is the story that hit for so many people?? even in the differences this remake brings??
I really do just have... too much to say about this and don't really know where to begin about it all. for the positives, this is obviously incredible looking, and uhhh yeah I really like Barrett but other than that it's a struggle. this thing really is emblematic of so many issues I have with a lot of gaming in general, so self serious with huge misses when attempting anything light (I refuse to believe there are honest to god Wedge stans out there). giving us so many cinematics, having the gameplay consist of another... 5 or so steps along a corridor and bam, here's another cutscene. dialogue and vocal direction sucks. Cloud is an absolute black hole of charisma. Nobody is fun to play as except for Barrett, who has the most simple combat systems out of the 4 options.

I'm listing lots of things and they really might seem insignificant, and certainly all negative, but I really did not feel much of anything positive in any capacity here. I could feel the brain rot from the inside. There was occasional levity, some rest, but playing this genuinely made me feel unhappy -- there is no other word for this.

tldr; its bad