This game was definitely a victim of false advertising as it was not newcomer friendly at all but even from a newcomers perspective there was still so much wrong with this game
The story is directionless and almost feels episodic with a lot of random moments happening that honestly just feel like filler and you could remove and the story wouldn't feel all that different like the plot with Jessie or Dr. Hojos lab.
There are so many moments in the game where it feels like you are supposed to know what's happening when in reality I have no clue, its just very vague. I have no problem with the game adding some mystery but its portrayed in a way like we are supposed to know what it is going on such as all this talk about fate or the promised land. The ending also barely makes any sense to the point where I decided to do research and try to understand it and even with that understanding I still thinks its really stupid.
It doesn't help that the game has absolutely atrocious dialogue, any time the characters try to be funny or deep it just comes across as very corny and at some points I was cringing or even laughing at how dumb some of the serious lines were, maybe it could be due to the delivery of some of the lines.
The voice acting itself isnt horrible but there are some really awkwardly delivered lines that can honestly ruin the mood of the scenes they are used in, mostly with Cloud. I do think Cody Christians voice suited Cloud well but there are some lines he just delivers so awkwardly to the point where he sounds like he is whining. Whenever there was an attempt at an emotional moment with any of the characters most of the time, I felt nothing because most of the delivery is just really flat and felt emotionless except for maybe Barrett.
The rest of the performances are just forgettable, nothing amazing but nothing terrible either
The characters are also one of my biggest issues with this game as they are so poorly emphasised and you don't even get a full party of 4 by the end.
I do not like Cloud at all, honestly he just comes across as an emo edgelord that annoyed me a lot. His dialogue is atrocious and makes me want to slap him at times and I honestly didn't find his edgy behaviour all that believable. I would expect him to have at least a small change in attitude with someone like Tifa as she is someone from his past who is still alive, so it would show a more human side to Cloud if he was at least a little happy around Tifa.
Speaking of Tifa, she is honestly painfully boring that I really cant say too much about her, nothing about her character sticks out other than her design and again every time she opens her mouth I just want end because her dialogue is also terrible.
Barrett could've been decent I mean his chemistry with Marlene is cute but the dialogue he is given sounds like its from a bad marvel movie to the point where he really annoyed me.
Aerith is easily the most likable out of the 4 party members, I thought her sweet and kind demeanor was really cute and she was the only character who had a small bit of depth to her, it wasnt great depth but at least it was something and sometimes her dialogue was shit but not to the point where I was annoyed or angry. I will gladly call Aerith my wife.
The side cast are honestly forgettable, I have no care for Jessie, Wedge or Biggs as most of the time they just annoyed me, Red XIII just shows up around the end randomly and I wasn't really given enough time to care about him, Rude and Reno could've been a fun dynamic but we don't see them all that often.
Finally on the character list that I want to talk about is Sephiroth, holy shit he is the hottest man I have ever seen in my entire life and he was my motivation to keep playing this mess, but im putting those thoughts to the side and I honestly think how he was handled in the story was very poor. His introduction was amazing but was done way to early as I felt it took away the mystery on why Cloud is afraid of Sephiroth because Sephiroth basically explains what he did to Cloud to make him fear Sephiroth.
Sephiroths motivation though is quite the mystery because he just shows up whenever the fuck he feels like it and says random shite that you will probably forget about after he disappears as what he says has nothing to do with his motivation at all and again from newcomers perspective I have no idea what the fuck he is doing. Overall I do love Sephiroth as a character but how he is handled in the story is just really flawed
The gameplay was decent but there isnt much all that special about it.
A lot of the time there isn't really a lot of strategy to the enemies and bosses, normally you just hack away and they will be dead. Just so you know I played this game on normal mode and most of it wasn't a struggle. The dodge mechanic honestly sucks as even when I timed a dodge perfectly, I still got hit, maybe im just bad or something? The stagger mechanic was honestly really satisfying to pull off and made me feel like I was a God at the game. The upgrade system is fine, nothing too mind-blowing just fine.
I did have fun fighting the bosses except for that fucking house I felt like that thing was never gonna die.
The side quests were honestly super dull and boring to the point where I just gave up doing them because they were not fun.
There are also so many long walking or climbing segments that I felt only exist to stretch game time, like those fucking stairs at Shinra HQ, I had no idea that was optional because Cloud suggested using the stairs so that was me thinking that was the game telling me to use the stairs, so I did and I wanted to throw my PS5 out the window, the scene was so dragged out to the point where it wasn't even funny and the higher you go up the stairs the slower you move which was really frustrating.
The overall graphics and presentation look really nice, however the biggest fault are the NPCs who look so flat and lifeless. The music is honestly pretty decent like I liked the ending song that played during the credits so I will give it that praise.
Overall an absolute mess of a game with directionless story, unlikable to annoying characters, horrible dialogue and a terrible beginner for newcomers which has me concerned on how the rest of this story will play out in part 2 and 3.
The story is directionless and almost feels episodic with a lot of random moments happening that honestly just feel like filler and you could remove and the story wouldn't feel all that different like the plot with Jessie or Dr. Hojos lab.
There are so many moments in the game where it feels like you are supposed to know what's happening when in reality I have no clue, its just very vague. I have no problem with the game adding some mystery but its portrayed in a way like we are supposed to know what it is going on such as all this talk about fate or the promised land. The ending also barely makes any sense to the point where I decided to do research and try to understand it and even with that understanding I still thinks its really stupid.
It doesn't help that the game has absolutely atrocious dialogue, any time the characters try to be funny or deep it just comes across as very corny and at some points I was cringing or even laughing at how dumb some of the serious lines were, maybe it could be due to the delivery of some of the lines.
The voice acting itself isnt horrible but there are some really awkwardly delivered lines that can honestly ruin the mood of the scenes they are used in, mostly with Cloud. I do think Cody Christians voice suited Cloud well but there are some lines he just delivers so awkwardly to the point where he sounds like he is whining. Whenever there was an attempt at an emotional moment with any of the characters most of the time, I felt nothing because most of the delivery is just really flat and felt emotionless except for maybe Barrett.
The rest of the performances are just forgettable, nothing amazing but nothing terrible either
The characters are also one of my biggest issues with this game as they are so poorly emphasised and you don't even get a full party of 4 by the end.
I do not like Cloud at all, honestly he just comes across as an emo edgelord that annoyed me a lot. His dialogue is atrocious and makes me want to slap him at times and I honestly didn't find his edgy behaviour all that believable. I would expect him to have at least a small change in attitude with someone like Tifa as she is someone from his past who is still alive, so it would show a more human side to Cloud if he was at least a little happy around Tifa.
Speaking of Tifa, she is honestly painfully boring that I really cant say too much about her, nothing about her character sticks out other than her design and again every time she opens her mouth I just want end because her dialogue is also terrible.
Barrett could've been decent I mean his chemistry with Marlene is cute but the dialogue he is given sounds like its from a bad marvel movie to the point where he really annoyed me.
Aerith is easily the most likable out of the 4 party members, I thought her sweet and kind demeanor was really cute and she was the only character who had a small bit of depth to her, it wasnt great depth but at least it was something and sometimes her dialogue was shit but not to the point where I was annoyed or angry. I will gladly call Aerith my wife.
The side cast are honestly forgettable, I have no care for Jessie, Wedge or Biggs as most of the time they just annoyed me, Red XIII just shows up around the end randomly and I wasn't really given enough time to care about him, Rude and Reno could've been a fun dynamic but we don't see them all that often.
Finally on the character list that I want to talk about is Sephiroth, holy shit he is the hottest man I have ever seen in my entire life and he was my motivation to keep playing this mess, but im putting those thoughts to the side and I honestly think how he was handled in the story was very poor. His introduction was amazing but was done way to early as I felt it took away the mystery on why Cloud is afraid of Sephiroth because Sephiroth basically explains what he did to Cloud to make him fear Sephiroth.
Sephiroths motivation though is quite the mystery because he just shows up whenever the fuck he feels like it and says random shite that you will probably forget about after he disappears as what he says has nothing to do with his motivation at all and again from newcomers perspective I have no idea what the fuck he is doing. Overall I do love Sephiroth as a character but how he is handled in the story is just really flawed
The gameplay was decent but there isnt much all that special about it.
A lot of the time there isn't really a lot of strategy to the enemies and bosses, normally you just hack away and they will be dead. Just so you know I played this game on normal mode and most of it wasn't a struggle. The dodge mechanic honestly sucks as even when I timed a dodge perfectly, I still got hit, maybe im just bad or something? The stagger mechanic was honestly really satisfying to pull off and made me feel like I was a God at the game. The upgrade system is fine, nothing too mind-blowing just fine.
I did have fun fighting the bosses except for that fucking house I felt like that thing was never gonna die.
The side quests were honestly super dull and boring to the point where I just gave up doing them because they were not fun.
There are also so many long walking or climbing segments that I felt only exist to stretch game time, like those fucking stairs at Shinra HQ, I had no idea that was optional because Cloud suggested using the stairs so that was me thinking that was the game telling me to use the stairs, so I did and I wanted to throw my PS5 out the window, the scene was so dragged out to the point where it wasn't even funny and the higher you go up the stairs the slower you move which was really frustrating.
The overall graphics and presentation look really nice, however the biggest fault are the NPCs who look so flat and lifeless. The music is honestly pretty decent like I liked the ending song that played during the credits so I will give it that praise.
Overall an absolute mess of a game with directionless story, unlikable to annoying characters, horrible dialogue and a terrible beginner for newcomers which has me concerned on how the rest of this story will play out in part 2 and 3.