This only after finishing chapter 1 but this game isnt like anything crazy.

My two biggest draws are that the game is super gorgeous to look at. Character designs and animations are beautiful and fluid, and based on some footage ive seen for upcoming 5 stars too it should only get better. The environments are nice to really take in with their strange locales and mixtures between forestation and sububian rubble. Just a really cool vibe.

The other thing I really like is the combat which is what people have been hyping up, and i get it. It's really fluid and flashy in a sort of bayonetta kind of way. The mechanics of how characters are used was strange at first but affer really adjusting to it I really dig it a lot, and i think it allows for everyone to have a unique playstyle. I also think character swapping is awesome, which is huge for me cause i HATED it in Genshin. The outro and intro skills are a really nice touch and i think some of the interaction between whos out and whos in reserve works in neat ways. If im playing this game for anything, it's just to fight shit.

The story is largely uninteresting for me. There was about one moment in all of chapter one where I was kinda into what was going on, but it was very short lived. I think it might be because of how expositional the current content of the game is? Very big on dropping a bunch of jargon and important terms on you to catch you up to speed in very little time. I think that the current quality of the english dub may have also dampered this experience but from what i understand they are going to fix or make it better in the future so hopefully that imporves it.

The only other thing of note is that this game handles the relic/equipment system with this neat lil pokemon esque mechanic and i think its very fun on first look, unsure of how tedious that may become when optimizing builds. But I do like it for now.

The game is fun, and probably going to have some neat stuff in the long run, and will likely not be one of the many gachas trying to exist within this space that die off quickly. So all in all, not too shabby.

This game is maybe the only RTS game I care about. A wonderful mix between Fire Emblem and Final Fantasy Tactics, put on a an active battlefield, and sprinkled with Final Fantasy 12's gambit system if it felt good to use. Like a good amount of games with large casts and playable units, a good amount of depth of character is lost for many of the individuals you can recruit and I do wish there was more of that to invest into. You do get some affection rate based conversations between units but it's nothing crazy. I haven't finished yet, but making teams in this game feels like crack and I will rock this out to it's end some day.

This game has a lot the charms of suikoden, as it was promised to have, but something about it is still not exactly there for me. And I say this even considering it as it's own thing as well. I love the battle set up, I think the additions to the six space team format is very well done, as well as giving each character some sort of unique action like dodge, defense, and other more personalized ones. I don't think the wide array of characters has major depths, but they are very charming in their own way and well designed enough that when I do come around to finishing I will be thinking of playing again to use a whole team through it. The side content is funny and neat, nothing life chaning or stunning. But good fun when you want to stary from story for a moment. It's a solid game and worthwhile fun, maybe less as a revival of suikoden and more as a continuation of Eiyuden Chronicle.

I REALLY like this game. I think the combat is a lot of fun and using it in both group skirmishes and big monster fights is a lot of fun and really engaging.

The main story is kinda whatever but I do enjoy it's format for quests. I found a lot of side quest rewarded exploration and investigation in a way that really resonated with me. I found myself more invested in the side characters quests and their arcs then whatever was going on in the main plot.

So here I am really having a good time, then boom. Dragonplague. My main city is a fucking ghost town. And I just feel so like defeated and discouraged. I had gone to the house in town that I EARNED to sleep. I had just returned from doing like 3 quest that took me all over and I just wanted to refill my Max health. There was a random NPC that I had JUST maxed the affinity for because I liked her. And now everyone in town is dead because of a ailment that isn't shown on character status or telegraphed in any explicit clear way. I just. Idk. Why?????

I like this game a lot, I just think the mechanic is ill natured and I hope there is some kind of change because I'd really like to come back one day and play more.

EDIT 03/31/24: After watching some of the post/end game stuff I think this game is sauce even despite the issues I had.