This is a game that I really honestly wanted to like a lot based on what it tries to accomplish but unfortunately, it ultimately falls flat in al to of ways for me. From reading the other reviews it does seem to be intensely hit-or-miss and so I'll sing my praises and air my grievances and allow one to draw their on conclusions.
First and foremost, the boss fights in this game are a thing of beauty, and honestly, a game designed around these would be beyond fantastic. The game does an exceptional job of showing you the various mechanics and how they interact amongst your party...and then using those boss fights to push that to the limit and make you really think about how to use what you've discovered.
Similarly the combat is generally fairly engaging and difficult, but all the enemies are on-screen so avoiding them can be doable. The stronger you are in comparison the less likely they are to give chase so you needn't really worry about having to fight weaker enemies while traversing through old zones.
However, the weak points in this game, for me, is exploration. If I were 15 or 16 again, back in high school, with an entire summer off to just immerse myself in this game I would absolutely love it, I cannot deny that in any capacity. But the exploration requires some very precise platforming and shifting of different animal mounts which do different types of movement and when you reach points without maps and you have no idea where to go, all you can really do is guess and see if you're right or wrong.
Beyond that, the game prides itself on its open world and to be fair, when I first started it was quite impressive to journey and to be able to find out where I was going and just learn piece-by-piece where everything was located, and getting to explore. But as time goes on, it becomes less and less apparent of -where- you need to go and -what- you need to do. You end up feeling kind of aimless, and that doesn't bode well for wanting to continue.
Lastly, while the classes are interesting, they all feel as if they're derived from the same cloth. They don't really feel distinct enough to warrant an interest in going to hunt all of the different classes out there and that leads to some complacency and lack of interest as well.
There are a lot of really good ideas here, and I'm shelving it for now but I will eventually come back and update the review, but I might be playing with a guide just to avoid the aimless wandering without direction.
First and foremost, the boss fights in this game are a thing of beauty, and honestly, a game designed around these would be beyond fantastic. The game does an exceptional job of showing you the various mechanics and how they interact amongst your party...and then using those boss fights to push that to the limit and make you really think about how to use what you've discovered.
Similarly the combat is generally fairly engaging and difficult, but all the enemies are on-screen so avoiding them can be doable. The stronger you are in comparison the less likely they are to give chase so you needn't really worry about having to fight weaker enemies while traversing through old zones.
However, the weak points in this game, for me, is exploration. If I were 15 or 16 again, back in high school, with an entire summer off to just immerse myself in this game I would absolutely love it, I cannot deny that in any capacity. But the exploration requires some very precise platforming and shifting of different animal mounts which do different types of movement and when you reach points without maps and you have no idea where to go, all you can really do is guess and see if you're right or wrong.
Beyond that, the game prides itself on its open world and to be fair, when I first started it was quite impressive to journey and to be able to find out where I was going and just learn piece-by-piece where everything was located, and getting to explore. But as time goes on, it becomes less and less apparent of -where- you need to go and -what- you need to do. You end up feeling kind of aimless, and that doesn't bode well for wanting to continue.
Lastly, while the classes are interesting, they all feel as if they're derived from the same cloth. They don't really feel distinct enough to warrant an interest in going to hunt all of the different classes out there and that leads to some complacency and lack of interest as well.
There are a lot of really good ideas here, and I'm shelving it for now but I will eventually come back and update the review, but I might be playing with a guide just to avoid the aimless wandering without direction.