This game has some of my favourite moments in the series and helps add so much to the characters we are familiar with, and a finale that is truly a spectacle to witness. The game has many moments that remind me why I am a final fantasy fan but unfortunately everything surrounding that story feels like it was made to force me away from the game. The game features a typical open world Ubisoft design with its "towers" to unlock activities on the map and I do truly wonder how this game gets a free pass on such mediocrity where other games get criticized for it. It is fine in the first area of the game where it is all new but by the time it happens for the 5th time, it is purely eye rolling "oh...again" and I wish they could have come up with something much more creative for the world that deserves it.

Ultimately I enjoyed my time with the main story, even though there are slight areas of padding, I simply cannot give it a higher mark because of how much the open world aspects of the game ruined my overall enjoyment and at times made it hard to push through and see the story to the end.