"It's optional content" doesn't invalidate that that content is bad when its there to justify a 100 dollar price tag.

Nothing not already present in the previous installment of the remake trilogy appealed to me. That is, between 30 to 40 new mini-games and empty vistas. After the third open-world area I had my fill of some of the worst padding to grace a video game. Instead I decided to ignore side content and only play the main campaign which was fine. Very little happens until the end but I still enjoy the combat which mostly remains unchanged from Remake.

Cant wait to level up my Materia for the third time in the final entry.

Also immensely annoyed at playable characters being relegated to DLC or sequel. Gameplay and narrative disconnect for what?

Really wish this game was better than I found it to be. Great graphical fidelity and basic SSD load time tricks don’t elevate it as high as other great games released in 2023.

Gameplay on hard is serviceable, I wasn't expecting anything revolutuonary. In short, combat is there to break up story beats and is entirely forgettable besides a few striking vistas.

We experience the peak of Alan's story early on and its a scenario of which its concept is a repurposed highlight from
Remedy's previous title, Control.

Convoluted backtracking puzzle game which sets itself up to answer why something is better than nothing and fails to do so convincingly.

A lot of the mechanics are dull and progression often felt unrewarding.

The good is the parts which reminded me of Ubisoft's Beyond Good & Evil.