An experience that takes a 'different' direction without taking away from the franchise
The combat for this title is incredible, I finished the game with 66 hours of playtime and was still discovering new things you could do with the action. The way the different Eikons work makes the experience fresh, with its unique feats. Boss fights will pull you in with the insane action, with some exciting sequence breaks between them to invoke excitement, and find no boss except 1 to be underwhelming.
The Eikon battles were a big part of the marketing of this game and I found they did not disappoint the sheer scale of them draws you in as you experience pure spectacle.
Now the story and characters in this title drew me in, I love the cast and this carried over when I completed all the side quests within the game, the characters are fascinating. An example of this is a specific side character's placement within the world of Valisthea and how side quests allowed you to learn more about them naturally without needing the power of a story DLC to do so. Speaking more specifically about the side quests is that they only truly start to kick off during the second half of the game, where their impact starts to break out of a compressed circle and can influence even the whole world. The main story can be bad in pacing sometimes, making you have to do the most monotonous of activities when you are at an exciting point, but overall is a strong narrative.
However, I didn't like how the ending was left to interpretation, I completed all the side quests that provided more groundwork in doing that but still left me yearning for a more clear conclusion
Overall I love this title so much and struggle to see another game take its place as my GOTY, I have taken half a rating away because the destination of the story did not really do it for me but in terms of a game, it will measure up to many hours of fun. I will definitely be doing New Game + to conquer that platinum trophy
July 30th Update:
Never mind I think this game is a masterpiece and the ending has grown on me.
The combat for this title is incredible, I finished the game with 66 hours of playtime and was still discovering new things you could do with the action. The way the different Eikons work makes the experience fresh, with its unique feats. Boss fights will pull you in with the insane action, with some exciting sequence breaks between them to invoke excitement, and find no boss except 1 to be underwhelming.
The Eikon battles were a big part of the marketing of this game and I found they did not disappoint the sheer scale of them draws you in as you experience pure spectacle.
Now the story and characters in this title drew me in, I love the cast and this carried over when I completed all the side quests within the game, the characters are fascinating. An example of this is a specific side character's placement within the world of Valisthea and how side quests allowed you to learn more about them naturally without needing the power of a story DLC to do so. Speaking more specifically about the side quests is that they only truly start to kick off during the second half of the game, where their impact starts to break out of a compressed circle and can influence even the whole world. The main story can be bad in pacing sometimes, making you have to do the most monotonous of activities when you are at an exciting point, but overall is a strong narrative.
However, I didn't like how the ending was left to interpretation, I completed all the side quests that provided more groundwork in doing that but still left me yearning for a more clear conclusion
Overall I love this title so much and struggle to see another game take its place as my GOTY, I have taken half a rating away because the destination of the story did not really do it for me but in terms of a game, it will measure up to many hours of fun. I will definitely be doing New Game + to conquer that platinum trophy
July 30th Update:
Never mind I think this game is a masterpiece and the ending has grown on me.