Stranger of Paradise
Let me preface this by saying that i have never played a single Final Fantasy title in my entire life nor do I want to anytime soon, in fact I approached this game as something more akin to Sekiro than anything else because of how the combat works, which to no one's surprise actually turned out to be really good. Though Team Ninja's ineptitude when it comes down to game design really stuck out like a sore thumb in other areas, especially in the level design department.
When it comes down to certain aspects of the game that I did manage to extract some enjoyment out of, I ultimately still found myself on the fence unable to keep a positive outlook and that's because of the game being inconsistent as hell with its overall quality throughout its entire runtime.
The introductory boss to this game coupled with a few until the halfway point were all pretty well crafted to serve as fantastic tutors of the risk and reward centered combat (that is if you play the game right) but the quality of the boss fights drop to an embarrassing degree of low once you're halfway through the game where they start pinning you up against bosses that are either frustratingly cheap or straight up ds2-tier with no more than 3 different moves. The bosses all remain roughly the same until the very final one and that's where they pull a complete 180 and give you one of the best bosses you'll ever fight.
The combat allows for a lot of freedom as to how the players want to tackle the challenges which can be considered a con, no hear me out, you are absolutely not going to take away the same amount of fun if you decide to play this game like a wuss and just target the bosses' hp bar while completely ignoring the break gauge, which I've seen some people doing in their gameplay footages. On the flipside, if you parry everything thrown at your way and constantly remain on the offense which this game encourages, you'll find yourself having the time of your life, though I understand the skill-ceiling for this kind of playstyle is quite high but this is objectively the intended way to play the game. So, even if the game offers you a plethora of different ways to take down enemies and bosses, you'll most likely end up with a sour experience of the combat if you choose to ignore the more risk and reward centric playstyle.
The story in one word is just goofy, I'm not the one to care all that much about stories in video games but the comically goofy writing at times seemed as if it was poking fun at stupid JRPG tropes, so I kind of dig it for that. It also gets a pass for making me laugh despite everything about it being so painfully one-dimensional.
The level design in this game just screams incompetence, they're all infuriatingly bad. Samey, confusing, uninspiring, forgettable, boring, filler are the words I'd use to describe every single area in this game, they're all bad, none stood out to me, absolutely NONE. What makes it worse is that the enemies you fight on your way to the boss are all canon fodders that go down in just a few hits, team ninja could've at least put some mini bosses that pose at least somewhat of a challenge instead of littering the levels with boring same 3-5 enemies, which would've prevented the levels from feeling like they were a complete utter waste of time.
Now this is where i stray from the positive sentiment everyone shares about this game, which is the customization choices. While it is undeniably fun to try out different jobs, weapons and armor sets in the beginning hours of the game but quite soon it divulges into being a goddamn chore. As for the jobs (skill trees, basically) it's fine if each weapon types had their dedicated jobs but they take this whole customization thing to the point of obnoxiousness where you're able to basically craft your playstyle taking upgrades from different jobs and mixing them up all into one of your choice which honestly feels like a waste of time when the core combat is more reliant on the player's skill if anything. That's why I couldn't be bothered with it and decided to stick with the Berserker job throughout most of the game. The game also dropping different sets of gear everytime you kill a mob can be quite annoying but there's a dedicated button that allows you to just optimize the highest level weapons and armor sets on you and your team members so I can kind of look past it. This is probably something of an homage to Final Fantasy where it's the staple or whatever, don't know, don't care, my point ultimately being that this game could've been way better if it was a bit more streamlined.
The lack of good music can also make the game more boring to play through than it actually is. Every single track is just some unforgettable background noise that you wouldn't even bother listening to outside of the playthrough, which is a shame since this game could've used some kickass tracks given just how much of a pure adrenaline rush it is fighting some of the bosses taking full advantage of the combat.
In conclusion, I actually ended up having a lot of fun playing through this one and I'm glad it's the first game I picked up this year. Wanted to start the year in a positive note when it comes down to video games so I don't regret picking up this one and sticking to it til the credits rolled. So, despite how overly critical I was of the game I'd still consider this to be one of the better action titles I've played in a while
tl;dr decent game but drops the ball super hard from the halfway point until the final boss, could've been better if it was more streamlined instead of the annoying degree of customization it offers
Let me preface this by saying that i have never played a single Final Fantasy title in my entire life nor do I want to anytime soon, in fact I approached this game as something more akin to Sekiro than anything else because of how the combat works, which to no one's surprise actually turned out to be really good. Though Team Ninja's ineptitude when it comes down to game design really stuck out like a sore thumb in other areas, especially in the level design department.
When it comes down to certain aspects of the game that I did manage to extract some enjoyment out of, I ultimately still found myself on the fence unable to keep a positive outlook and that's because of the game being inconsistent as hell with its overall quality throughout its entire runtime.
The introductory boss to this game coupled with a few until the halfway point were all pretty well crafted to serve as fantastic tutors of the risk and reward centered combat (that is if you play the game right) but the quality of the boss fights drop to an embarrassing degree of low once you're halfway through the game where they start pinning you up against bosses that are either frustratingly cheap or straight up ds2-tier with no more than 3 different moves. The bosses all remain roughly the same until the very final one and that's where they pull a complete 180 and give you one of the best bosses you'll ever fight.
The combat allows for a lot of freedom as to how the players want to tackle the challenges which can be considered a con, no hear me out, you are absolutely not going to take away the same amount of fun if you decide to play this game like a wuss and just target the bosses' hp bar while completely ignoring the break gauge, which I've seen some people doing in their gameplay footages. On the flipside, if you parry everything thrown at your way and constantly remain on the offense which this game encourages, you'll find yourself having the time of your life, though I understand the skill-ceiling for this kind of playstyle is quite high but this is objectively the intended way to play the game. So, even if the game offers you a plethora of different ways to take down enemies and bosses, you'll most likely end up with a sour experience of the combat if you choose to ignore the more risk and reward centric playstyle.
The story in one word is just goofy, I'm not the one to care all that much about stories in video games but the comically goofy writing at times seemed as if it was poking fun at stupid JRPG tropes, so I kind of dig it for that. It also gets a pass for making me laugh despite everything about it being so painfully one-dimensional.
The level design in this game just screams incompetence, they're all infuriatingly bad. Samey, confusing, uninspiring, forgettable, boring, filler are the words I'd use to describe every single area in this game, they're all bad, none stood out to me, absolutely NONE. What makes it worse is that the enemies you fight on your way to the boss are all canon fodders that go down in just a few hits, team ninja could've at least put some mini bosses that pose at least somewhat of a challenge instead of littering the levels with boring same 3-5 enemies, which would've prevented the levels from feeling like they were a complete utter waste of time.
Now this is where i stray from the positive sentiment everyone shares about this game, which is the customization choices. While it is undeniably fun to try out different jobs, weapons and armor sets in the beginning hours of the game but quite soon it divulges into being a goddamn chore. As for the jobs (skill trees, basically) it's fine if each weapon types had their dedicated jobs but they take this whole customization thing to the point of obnoxiousness where you're able to basically craft your playstyle taking upgrades from different jobs and mixing them up all into one of your choice which honestly feels like a waste of time when the core combat is more reliant on the player's skill if anything. That's why I couldn't be bothered with it and decided to stick with the Berserker job throughout most of the game. The game also dropping different sets of gear everytime you kill a mob can be quite annoying but there's a dedicated button that allows you to just optimize the highest level weapons and armor sets on you and your team members so I can kind of look past it. This is probably something of an homage to Final Fantasy where it's the staple or whatever, don't know, don't care, my point ultimately being that this game could've been way better if it was a bit more streamlined.
The lack of good music can also make the game more boring to play through than it actually is. Every single track is just some unforgettable background noise that you wouldn't even bother listening to outside of the playthrough, which is a shame since this game could've used some kickass tracks given just how much of a pure adrenaline rush it is fighting some of the bosses taking full advantage of the combat.
In conclusion, I actually ended up having a lot of fun playing through this one and I'm glad it's the first game I picked up this year. Wanted to start the year in a positive note when it comes down to video games so I don't regret picking up this one and sticking to it til the credits rolled. So, despite how overly critical I was of the game I'd still consider this to be one of the better action titles I've played in a while
tl;dr decent game but drops the ball super hard from the halfway point until the final boss, could've been better if it was more streamlined instead of the annoying degree of customization it offers