It's kinda hard for me to fully articulate my thoughts on a game that essentially existed for a solid 8 years while I've rushed through the story content in only two months. There are feelings I've not been able to quite feel due to my lack of history, and important context I can't help but lament missing.

So I speak here not as an old veteran, or even as someone with at least some history with the franchise like I had with FFXIV, but as someone who was sapped into this game this very year for a silly reason and couldn't help but forge through to the end.

Okay, so, game's good. I don't think I have much of interest to say concerning the gameplay, it's fairly engaging hack n' slash that does its job at worst, and uses fairly inventive tricks to heighten the story moments at its best (especially impressive for a mobile game).
What I signed up for, and I was really interested in however, was the story. I have an...acquiantance shall we say (wink) who had started this game around last year and praised it a very decent amount. I held strong for a while, but in the end I just needed to know what the deal was. What was she seeing, feeling, that I was missing out on. And I...understand now. Honkai's story is a heartfelt, beautiful ode to a lot of the themes that person and I hold dear in our chests, it's a deeply emotional plot that generally always kept me wanting to see more of the world and setting. It goes beyond the game and into the multimedia too. The numerous mangas, the two VNs, the numerous animations, the silly chibis, everything works together wonderfully to create what is one of the most comprehensive and insanely "full" experiences I've had with any story.

And here comes the part where I'm gonna be a stinky poo poo and complain about gacha again. Yes it's a gacha, yes I hate those, and yes I hate that this game is one too. In fact, if all my praise thus far is to the highest degree, I think the medium of the game still halts it from becoming a true and tried favorite in my heart. It's an unfortunate moral shield I still hold, but I cannot in good conscience praise this game again and again without the very large asterisk of: this game is still of the genre that aims to suck out your money with edulcorated gambling.

However. I praised this game first because what I saw, what I played and what I felt throughout my whole experience, from the writing to the characters truly did take their roots in me. Kiana, Mei, Bronya, Fu Hua, Elysia, and all the others who've had numerous arcs across multiple media and chapters were written genuinely and with a sincerity that affected me to my deepest core. So I want to emphasize that while I abhor this game's medium, it's something I can't really fully blame the writers, animators, designers and developers on. (Who am I blaming then? Capitalism.)

In short (lol); Honkai Impact 3rd is a beautifully written game with some stumbles here and there, especially in the first half of the game where it's clear the general outline of the plot was not quite as well defined. The gameplay is as fun as it should be and the multiple strong emotional moments have had their effects on me, to the point I'm a slightly different person for having experienced all of what Honkai had to offer. I just have to lament that this isn't a game one can ethically consume. And this will apply to any gacha I play in the future, which I guess makes me slightly part of the problem too, even despite my f2p status.

But I can blame capitalism all day (and I DO), in the end it's these complicated and mixed feelings that make up the bulk of my thoughts. I love this game, i love the world it developed around it, and I love the stories it made me go through.
But more than any of that, I love the insight it gave me into the passion of the person I hold dearest in this whole world.

Thanks Alise, may we keep fighting for all that is beautiful in the world, together.

Continuing my chronicles through FFXI after the base game and the first expansion, Rise of the Zilart, this time we have the second expansion, and true ending to the game's original storyline, Chains of Promathia.

It's fucking amazing bro.

The scale of the conflict, the writing, the characters, everything lives, breathes and shits the best of the best of what Final Fantasy can offer through its most poignant narratives, this isn't just a good FF or a good mmo story, it's one of the best FFs period and has an inherent quality to it that wouldn't be out of place in that one other Final Fantasy MMO (you know the one).

The very stakes have been gradually ascending since the base game and it all comes to a head with the plot this time around, between potential omnicide by wyrms to reincarnated demiurges, this expansion is packed full with batshit crazy developments and twists left and right, as well as really interesting revelations concerning the very lore of the setting, it's Vana'diel at its most endangered yet fascinating form.

The cast is also at its most interesting here. I liked the tag-along characters in Zilart, but the relative shortness of the storyline meant not a lot of attention was given to the likes of Zeid, Lion and Aldo. This time however that problem is largely averted, with a nuanced cast of fairly fleshed out characters, who all have their time to shine and develop overtime. The standouts being Tenzen and Prishe of course.

Gameplay-wise, I made the decision to lock myself at level 80 for the whole expansion (I was overleved for like 4/5ths of it so it was a good call) and thus my experience shouldn't have been that different. However I acknowledge there's a lot more intricacy to the dungeon design this time around, not always for the better, but I can conceive this would have been really riveting content at release and I respect that!
Also the last thing I did right after beating the final boss was get my super kewl sword skill so I take that as a personal reward for my actions kyehehe...

Special mention goes to the music, which while not adding THAT many new tracks, is pretty much a straight upgrade in most ways from Zilart (except for the final boss music bweh) and how could I not talk about the absolutely magnificent ending song, Distant Worlds.

That shit made me cry dawg. Uncool.

All in all, Chains of Promathia is where FFXI truly grew the beard for me. It's a lot of cool concepts executed really well and while I'm not expecting the next few story arcs to equal, let alone surpass it, it still gives me great expectations from the kind of writing quality I might be getting in the future.

I'm fully won over now. I'll see this FFXI journey to the very end!

Continuing my ineffable quest through Vana'diel, this time with the first major expansion Rise of the Zilart.

It's good! Story-wise, XI finally is starting to unveil its deeper lore to pretty impressive effect, as well as try to branch out more in terms of cutscene composition. It's still pretty basic, as final fantasy plots go, but basic is good.

Gameplay-wise, the quests this time around are still quite fetchy, but i've found them way WAY less annoying this time around, and I guess caring more about the plot helps too. But I was happy to see there was no "mission 4" fiasco this time around, I can only handle Castle Oztroja so many times before fucking evaporating haha...
I've also started getting more accustomed to the combat and skillchains and such. It still feels like my trusts are doing the bulk of the work (and they are) but sometimes i do big numbers and it feels nice :D

But yeah, Zilart was a nice surprise overall. I wasn't expecting anything in particular, and I got a few neat things and I liked it! Very excited for Chains of Promathia now, definitely one of my most anticipated expansions in this game, we'll see how it treats me.

This isn't a joke 5 star like most of the others.

The gameplay in this is interesting, but executed preeetty roughly tbh. If I was ranking it solely on that, it'd probably be a 3 at best. But I'm not even factoring it in at all, cause that's not why I love this game.

This game came at a perfect time for me. I was starting to accept my gender identity, but still kinda struggling with it at the same time, if that makes sense. So when I played this game, I ended up truly relating to the issues and concerns J.J. faces in a way I've never related with another character before, and I mean every issue, even including the ones revealed at the very end.

Game genuinely left me in a depressed state for a few days after I completed it, but I think it's messages also helped me come out of the experience better than I was before it. I can't recommend this game enough, especially if you're struggling with your identity like I was.

Replicant is what happens when you uncrust a fundamentally crusty and janky game for an actually pleasant experience (a rarity in Yoko Taro's repertoire I'll add)

Does it succeed? I...am inclined to say yes!
The combat isn't the best, especially next to Automata's, but it's crisp and it feels visceral enough to be addictive. The story itself is hard to sum up, but I played already knowing everything until ending D, and enjoyed myself thoroughly.

What the game has as its strongest point without doubt however, is the cast and their dynamics and interactions. Alone, they're some of my favorite characters around. Kaine, Emil and Weiss especially. Together, they are my single favorite cast of characters in any media period.
The way they're written, how they bounce off each other, their comical scenes, their dramatic ones, they are amazing characters who resonate amazingly well with each other, and just for that alone giving the game 5 stars is easy af.

As an aside, the newly added Shipwreck and Ending E only serve to complement the cast even further and they perfectly fall in line with Nier's spirit, and I'm so glad they exist in this game.

With everything said, I do have some small gripes. The redo of part 2 would have been better done only once instead of twice (as an addition to the first time). The 3rd playthrough's additions could definitely have just been part of the 2nd's, and spreading them didn't feel particularly relevant to me.
It took me months to finish cause I kinda just lost motivation along the way, notably at the end where Endings C and D require you to do the final area twice in a row, despite you having done it twice before already.

Interesting to see how Automata would come to resolve all my issues here btw, it's an experience in and of itself to see what Taro took away from developing Replicant.

Anyways, all in all, and despite my gripes, I still consider Replicant a 10/10. Not because it's perfect, but because it's just that good.