I decided to go back and replay this game. I still had a pretty enjoyable time, but there are a couple of things I noticed on this playthrough that brought my enjoyment down a bit.
The story is filled with a lot of holes, which I won't mention to avoid spoilers. The main selling point of the series was never the story, so it gets a slight pass due to that.
Combat still felt pretty fun, especially when using the Blades of Chaos, and the varied and mostly fun way to play against enemies carried this game. The Arms of Sparta are an interesting weapon, but they are acquired a bit late into the game, and by that point you'll have invested a lot into the Blades of Chaos, so their usefulness outside of a few sequences is a bit limited because of that. If you've already played most of the other games in the series, at this point, you probably won't be blown away by what this game offers, but if you like what you played in the other games and want more of that, you won't be disappointed. A series fatigue setting in, especially if you've binged through the series before reaching this game, can definitely be felt, though.
Puzzles are nonexistent, which may not appeal to some people, but I didn't mind it.
The game only took a little over 5 hours to beat, and the most unfortunate part was how the section before the final boss felt pretty underwhelming. It was like a hodgepodge meant to add an extra 30 minutes to an already short game. The final boss and ending were even better than I remembered them though, and at least wrapped things up nicely.
The story is filled with a lot of holes, which I won't mention to avoid spoilers. The main selling point of the series was never the story, so it gets a slight pass due to that.
Combat still felt pretty fun, especially when using the Blades of Chaos, and the varied and mostly fun way to play against enemies carried this game. The Arms of Sparta are an interesting weapon, but they are acquired a bit late into the game, and by that point you'll have invested a lot into the Blades of Chaos, so their usefulness outside of a few sequences is a bit limited because of that. If you've already played most of the other games in the series, at this point, you probably won't be blown away by what this game offers, but if you like what you played in the other games and want more of that, you won't be disappointed. A series fatigue setting in, especially if you've binged through the series before reaching this game, can definitely be felt, though.
Puzzles are nonexistent, which may not appeal to some people, but I didn't mind it.
The game only took a little over 5 hours to beat, and the most unfortunate part was how the section before the final boss felt pretty underwhelming. It was like a hodgepodge meant to add an extra 30 minutes to an already short game. The final boss and ending were even better than I remembered them though, and at least wrapped things up nicely.