I really did give Revenant Wings a decent shot, I tried to like it. But it... doesn't work. RTS on DS is a fun idea on paper, but it ends up panning out pretty poorly, the tiny screen making it a pain to micromanage all your units. This game could have really benefitted from a proper gambit system like the original game, instead of the butchered version of it we got. Doesn't help that maps lag very frequently when there's more than a few units on screen, making the experience super unpleasant.

I dropped it after a few chapters, which was a bit of a shame as I did like hearing FF12's music on the DS sound chip, but did want to see where the story went at least, so I watched it. It's... not great. Tonally it's completely off from FF12—which was one of that game's strengths—and the narrative is really simplistic. The lore is somewhat interesting, but again pales in comparison to FF12. Worst part of the story was the misunderstanding with Balthier, which was just a ridiculous way of padding out the game and creating drama.

I guess you could say this does more with Vaan and Penelo than FF12, but... I dunno, this game feels more like FF12 fanfiction than any kind of sequel or even side story. I don't have much more to say tbh, Revenant Wings is just pretty mediocre in every area other than music (which isn't even original!)

Reviewed on Feb 05, 2024


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