A definite improvement over 4 and 6, Garten of Banban 7 is a solid entry in the series as far as Banban games go, but doesn't rise far above the hellhole of laughably bad design that plagues this franchise. Barring a couple exceptions, puzzles are once again either obscure and horribly thought out, or brain-dead easy. I found the story incredibly boring and meandering compared to the peak that is Banban 3, but its still better than the filler slop of 4, or the infuriating melodrama of 6. One thing I will commend is the area design: It is easily the best in the series, and actually has a good amount of atmosphere and scope to it. The drone control mechanic is a cool development in concept, but it gets stuck so easily that it is laughable in execution. There are also invisible walls everywhere, which attempt to keep you from going the wrong way, but just end up being a hindrance. This game has much more thought put into it than the others up to this point, and I think it is the best-made game in the series up to this point on a technical level, but I was not as entertained as when I was playing 3. My main takeaway from this game is that if the Euphoric Brothers take more than a couple weeks to work on a game, and mix that with entertaining events in the story, they could make something that is not absolutely horrible. That isn't what this game is, though.
2.5/10

This game may be my ultimate guilty pleasure. It is undoubtedly a mess, but the strong points really hold me and I honestly can't bring myself to dislike this game even though it is a bit of a failure. I think this game is aesthetically fantastic. Everyone always talks about how good the graphics and music are in this game, but it really is true. The battle system is pretty hated, but I honestly enjoy it quite a bit. It is too slow (something the sequel improves on), but I think the Auto-Battle and Paradigm systems themselves are right for this game, and I enjoyed crafting new paradigms to suit the challenge that was put in front of me. The story here is not amazing, but it takes the characters to interesting places, and having the party members so at odds with each other for a large part of the game is an interesting dynamic that makes their uncertain journey hit harder. The characters range from mediocre to good, with Sazh being my favorite. The world-building is great in my opinion, which is honestly a bit of a double-edged sword, considering the ways this game fails. The linearity of the game is not ideal to say the least, but it allows each area to be beautiful. The areas may have my favorite aesthetic of any FF game I've played. The contrast between the unique futuristic urban areas and the immense and unknown wilds are very well-balanced. The hand-holding until halfway through the game is infuriating, and probably its worst aspect. If this game allowed any sort of free movement near the end (i.e. the ability to return to Pulse before the final dungeon), then I think it would fare much better. Despite all the drawbacks, I still enjoy this game a lot. I don't know if I can call it a good game, but every time I boot it up to play it, I personally enjoy it.