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Seeing as the 15th anniversary of the title is coming up this month, I figured it was about time I finally sat down and pushed through it. Not to shit on the early celebration, but I have to be honest here and say that 358/2 Days is one of the most tedious experiences I have had with a JRPG to date. It's definitely not for a lack of trying on the developers' side. Quite frankly, 358/2's story is one of the most interesting in the series, and certainly the most emotionally despondent, but the game suffers from so many problems, some of which even detract heavily from the story itself, that I can't help but be left with a sour taste in my mouth after completing it.
First things first, forget the fact that I have not been going through this series in a consistent manner, but I did go through Days' story some years ago through the remaster's VN format, so I already understood the gist of what was to come before actually playing the game myself. And yet, despite not enjoying the game very much at all, I would still say that actually playing Days is essential. Roxas' near-year long residency with the Organization is one that easier to empathize when going through the mundane day-to-day life in his shoes. While this works wonders from a storytelling perspective, it's a double-edged sword that may also cause disengagement from the player, which was partially true for me.
To better explain what I mean, I'd like to draw comparisons to Pathologic, a game that many who hold in high esteem would still call extremely boring; I mean, it's meant to be. It's very much a case of "games as art" that I don't blame anyone for hating. As of the time of typing up this review, I have not finished Pathologic myself, but I have found some great sense of roundabout enjoyment in its deeper themes and worldbuilding, despite its gameplay being the equivalent of nails on chalkboard. In the same way that Pathologic sacrifices "good" gameplay to make the player feel part of its world, one could argue that Days takes a similar approach in order for the player to connect with Roxas. The main problem, however, is that Mickey Mouse is in this game, among other things.
Kingdom Hearts is a series that tends to not take itself too seriously; a fact that attracts many to the series in the first place. As a result, though, I'm someone who has not come to expect too much from the story in these games, but rather a fun and goofy time for a majority of it, and unfortunately, Days is just not fun. Between the boring mission-based structure, the incredibly tanky bosses, and the simplistic/janky combat, there was rarely a moment of genuine enjoyment on my part. Despite this, I'm still glad I finally got to experience it to the end. Roxas, Xion, and Axel are probably my favorite trio in the series, and despite not being as enthralled with the series' overarching narrative as some others, I still think Days was a story worth telling.
First things first, forget the fact that I have not been going through this series in a consistent manner, but I did go through Days' story some years ago through the remaster's VN format, so I already understood the gist of what was to come before actually playing the game myself. And yet, despite not enjoying the game very much at all, I would still say that actually playing Days is essential. Roxas' near-year long residency with the Organization is one that easier to empathize when going through the mundane day-to-day life in his shoes. While this works wonders from a storytelling perspective, it's a double-edged sword that may also cause disengagement from the player, which was partially true for me.
To better explain what I mean, I'd like to draw comparisons to Pathologic, a game that many who hold in high esteem would still call extremely boring; I mean, it's meant to be. It's very much a case of "games as art" that I don't blame anyone for hating. As of the time of typing up this review, I have not finished Pathologic myself, but I have found some great sense of roundabout enjoyment in its deeper themes and worldbuilding, despite its gameplay being the equivalent of nails on chalkboard. In the same way that Pathologic sacrifices "good" gameplay to make the player feel part of its world, one could argue that Days takes a similar approach in order for the player to connect with Roxas. The main problem, however, is that Mickey Mouse is in this game, among other things.
Kingdom Hearts is a series that tends to not take itself too seriously; a fact that attracts many to the series in the first place. As a result, though, I'm someone who has not come to expect too much from the story in these games, but rather a fun and goofy time for a majority of it, and unfortunately, Days is just not fun. Between the boring mission-based structure, the incredibly tanky bosses, and the simplistic/janky combat, there was rarely a moment of genuine enjoyment on my part. Despite this, I'm still glad I finally got to experience it to the end. Roxas, Xion, and Axel are probably my favorite trio in the series, and despite not being as enthralled with the series' overarching narrative as some others, I still think Days was a story worth telling.
In between the time I finished EoSD and now, I was able to get my keyboard replaced under warranty. As it turns out, Touhou was not the reason for my keyboard malfunctioning. It was simply a funny coinky-dink. That said, I had been too lazy to replace my old keyboard until I looked at my journal and thought to myself: "Golly! It's been 10 days since I last finished a game! Well, might as well quit slacking and move onto the next Touhou title."
Well, that's all the motivation I needed to finally set up my new keyboard; motivation that came way too late, because I now realize how long I deprived myself of absolute PEAK! Its title is fitting as the first game in the franchise I'd consider to be "perfect." It really helps that this feels a lot less chaotic than EoSD did. Though, I will admit that playing as Sakuya low-key felt like cheating with her OP homing shot, but I'm just here for a fun time, not a hard time. Regardless, I'm already looking forward to doing a 1cc run on Normal (I had to test the waters on Easy seeing as I had just woken up from a terrible night's sleep).
Well, that's all the motivation I needed to finally set up my new keyboard; motivation that came way too late, because I now realize how long I deprived myself of absolute PEAK! Its title is fitting as the first game in the franchise I'd consider to be "perfect." It really helps that this feels a lot less chaotic than EoSD did. Though, I will admit that playing as Sakuya low-key felt like cheating with her OP homing shot, but I'm just here for a fun time, not a hard time. Regardless, I'm already looking forward to doing a 1cc run on Normal (I had to test the waters on Easy seeing as I had just woken up from a terrible night's sleep).
Stage 1 music didn't have to go so hard, though. But seriously, I was really excited to finally get to the Windows games, and perhaps my expectations were a bit too high, because while I do really enjoy this game, a prettier coat of paint isn't gonna gaslight me into preferring this over something like LLS (my beloved). Plus, while I am not letting this issue affect my rating, I'd like to mention the headache this game brought on to me:
So, it was my first run, and I got about halfway through Stage 3, when suddenly, my left arrow key stopped working. Granted, this seems to be a common issue with a lot of Touhou games and I have experienced it a few times in the older games as well, but I could usually fix it relatively quickly. This time, nothing I did worked. I restarted the game, my PC, updated my drivers, cleaned the socket for the key, and still no dice. This is a problem that also persisted outside of the game, though. I was starting to think the switch died or something, but every once in a while, it would decide to work again for a bit, and then die again. After not touching it for a few hours, I came back. and everything was working normally. I got to the final boss aaaaaand... the key stopped working again.
I was able to brute force my way to victory with the harder to use num pad, but I guess my point is: If it turns out that I need to replace my keyboard, it'd be kind of funny to say it was because of Touhou.
So, it was my first run, and I got about halfway through Stage 3, when suddenly, my left arrow key stopped working. Granted, this seems to be a common issue with a lot of Touhou games and I have experienced it a few times in the older games as well, but I could usually fix it relatively quickly. This time, nothing I did worked. I restarted the game, my PC, updated my drivers, cleaned the socket for the key, and still no dice. This is a problem that also persisted outside of the game, though. I was starting to think the switch died or something, but every once in a while, it would decide to work again for a bit, and then die again. After not touching it for a few hours, I came back. and everything was working normally. I got to the final boss aaaaaand... the key stopped working again.
I was able to brute force my way to victory with the harder to use num pad, but I guess my point is: If it turns out that I need to replace my keyboard, it'd be kind of funny to say it was because of Touhou.
I've seen hell... and it's not red... it's blue...
Seriously though, was ZUN going through something when he made this? Why are there so many goddamn blue projectiles that you can barely see against some of these backgrounds? Stage 2, while fairly easy, is bound to accelerate my already deteriorating vision on subsequent playthroughs. The game's overall quite a lot harder than the last one, and as such, despite coming off my recent high of 1cc-ing LLS, I have no desire to even attempt it here. I still had a fun time, as expected. Overall, this is a pleasant way to end the classic era on, even if it's not my favorite of this gen.
Seriously though, was ZUN going through something when he made this? Why are there so many goddamn blue projectiles that you can barely see against some of these backgrounds? Stage 2, while fairly easy, is bound to accelerate my already deteriorating vision on subsequent playthroughs. The game's overall quite a lot harder than the last one, and as such, despite coming off my recent high of 1cc-ing LLS, I have no desire to even attempt it here. I still had a fun time, as expected. Overall, this is a pleasant way to end the classic era on, even if it's not my favorite of this gen.
I finally did it. After enduring a little over 2 hours of trial and error, including a random game crash at some point, I have finally achieved my first 1cc in a Touhou game. I am still shaking as I type this, and while Eastern Wonderland was the first game to really pull me in, this one has for sure solidified me as a fan. Keep in mind, I rarely care about high scores, or perfect runs, or just trying to improve in general when it comes to arcade style games or danmakus. But I just couldn't resist letting myself get beat here. I wanted to succeed and see that good ending. I was not going to back down. I WOULD prove that I am NOT a failure of a person. You hear that ZUN? SUCK IT!
Touhou 3 continues the early trend of ZUN trying out new things for each game, and while the VS. format is a novel concept and is executed decently enough, I got sufficiently attached to the previous game that I was hoping for more of that. This format also lends itself to a much easier game overall; save for the final boss, which had a sizeable difficulty spike that ruined my initial 1cc run dream. I'll probably go back and try this out with a friend at some point, but it's fun enough as a single player experience, regardless.
This game taught me that I'm a "failure of a person," but it's also the first Touhou game to actually play like one. Even though I still enjoyed the first game, it still felt somewhat awkward, especially going in with foresight on what the series would become. Despite its relative simplicity, Touhou 2 actually feels like a cohesive product, and one which really showcases the potential of the series formula. I'm still a relative newbie when it comes to bullet-hell/danmaku games, I'm still a complete newbie, and some frustrate me to no end, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one, and its relative simplicity probably proved to be a plus for someone like me who's still trying to get into the genre. If this is considered a mediocre Touhou game, then I'm in for a real treat with this franchise.
I started playing CSGO around 2013. The game was still very much in its infancy, and at the time I had no prior experience with the series in general. To say that I got hooked is an understatement. As of typing this out, I have accumulated about 3800 hours of playtime, which is not something I'm proud of, but it shows just how much I loved it. Sure, there was a lot of toxicity, hacking, griefing, and just generally unpleasant company in your team sometimes, but the core gameplay and genuinely good matches one could have outweighed most of the negativity to be found here.
Unfortunately, we are witnessing the end of an era here. September 27, 2023: CS2 has just released as a massive overhaul to CSGO. New engine, new physics, new graphics. On paper it all sounds great, and there are indeed a lot of great additions and improvements; likewise, there are plenty of negatives to come of this as well, but lest I start dissecting it too much, I'll save it for the actual CS2 review. The fact of the matter is that the original CSGO holds an incredible amount of sentimental value and got me through much of my adolescent free time. I sincerely hope Valve someday brings back CSGO in some capacity for those who will forever remain nostalgic for it. Personally, this was and still is the golden standard for online competitive shooters.
Unfortunately, we are witnessing the end of an era here. September 27, 2023: CS2 has just released as a massive overhaul to CSGO. New engine, new physics, new graphics. On paper it all sounds great, and there are indeed a lot of great additions and improvements; likewise, there are plenty of negatives to come of this as well, but lest I start dissecting it too much, I'll save it for the actual CS2 review. The fact of the matter is that the original CSGO holds an incredible amount of sentimental value and got me through much of my adolescent free time. I sincerely hope Valve someday brings back CSGO in some capacity for those who will forever remain nostalgic for it. Personally, this was and still is the golden standard for online competitive shooters.
This review contains spoilers
Holy based? Speaking of based, can we get a moment of silence for my man Papalymo? His sacrifice solidified him as one of the GOAT's.
It'd be pretty neat if the trend of the x.5 patches being the best ones continue. And sure, I understand why many consider 3.3 to be the best one of the HW patches, but I love how dark the first half of this patch was, and the second half's epic battle between Omega and Shinryu was satisfyingly intense.
The character development for Yda.. er, I mean, Lyse, was also quite nice to hear, with her brief backstory being quite bittersweet. This patch wasn't as smooth of a transition into the next expansion as 2.5 was, but that hardly matters when I was this enthralled. I'm still keeping my expectations somewhat low, seeing as Stormblood is the black sheep of the expansions, but hopefully that works in my favor, because I still can't help but feel excited now that I've gotten this far.
It'd be pretty neat if the trend of the x.5 patches being the best ones continue. And sure, I understand why many consider 3.3 to be the best one of the HW patches, but I love how dark the first half of this patch was, and the second half's epic battle between Omega and Shinryu was satisfyingly intense.
The character development for Yda.. er, I mean, Lyse, was also quite nice to hear, with her brief backstory being quite bittersweet. This patch wasn't as smooth of a transition into the next expansion as 2.5 was, but that hardly matters when I was this enthralled. I'm still keeping my expectations somewhat low, seeing as Stormblood is the black sheep of the expansions, but hopefully that works in my favor, because I still can't help but feel excited now that I've gotten this far.
This review contains spoilers
There's a lot to digest here. It's just unfortunate that the 2nd third of this patch kills the pacing with the meandering around some ARR areas which felt more like busywork, despite knowing it was plot relevant. It doesn't help that we had to fight Titan again. Sure, it was the (Hard) version, but that was already optional content beforehand that I had already completed, so queuing up for it again was kinda whack.
But I digress, the actual meat of this patch is indeed interesting, and with Alisaie finally joining the fray here, it's cause for celebration enough. The return of Yda and Papalymo is also nice, but I'm so paranoid at this point in the story, especially with Urianger working as a double agent, that I'm starting to wonder if either of them are hiding something terrible. Of course, everything seemed to have worked out with Urianger and I'm glad he didn't actually betray us, but man, with this game, you never know.
The Warriors of Darkness had a sort of redemption arc in this one that made me feel some sympathy for them, but as it was with previous patches, there just seems to be a lot of set up for Shadowbringers and it kills me that there's still a whole expansion to go before then. Damn you, Yoshi P!
Oh, and Nero's back? Oh boy...
But I digress, the actual meat of this patch is indeed interesting, and with Alisaie finally joining the fray here, it's cause for celebration enough. The return of Yda and Papalymo is also nice, but I'm so paranoid at this point in the story, especially with Urianger working as a double agent, that I'm starting to wonder if either of them are hiding something terrible. Of course, everything seemed to have worked out with Urianger and I'm glad he didn't actually betray us, but man, with this game, you never know.
The Warriors of Darkness had a sort of redemption arc in this one that made me feel some sympathy for them, but as it was with previous patches, there just seems to be a lot of set up for Shadowbringers and it kills me that there's still a whole expansion to go before then. Damn you, Yoshi P!
Oh, and Nero's back? Oh boy...
This review contains spoilers
Patch 3.3 presents a new standard in quality for future patches. This is the true ending to Heavensward, bringing a resolution to the Dragonsong War, and ushering in a new era for Ishgard proper. I'll admit, I was somewhat adamant at first, with the first couple of MSQs meandering a bit, but once I got to the dungeon, it did not let up.
The trial against Nidhogg was the best in the game up to this point, and my first attemot was a pretty hilarious party wipe. Epic fight. And when Ysayle and Haurchefant showed up to help from the beyond? Oh man, I almost bawled. Just beautiful.
Oh... and was that Alisaie I saw near the end? It's about time!
The trial against Nidhogg was the best in the game up to this point, and my first attemot was a pretty hilarious party wipe. Epic fight. And when Ysayle and Haurchefant showed up to help from the beyond? Oh man, I almost bawled. Just beautiful.
Oh... and was that Alisaie I saw near the end? It's about time!
This review contains spoilers
While this patch does feel more narratively focused than the last, with its final moments tying back into the cliffhanger that was set up at the end of HW proper, there was not as much shock value here as the last patch. Hell, Minfilia's death(?) was so anticlimactic that I just rolled my eyes. And the "melee" tournament was honestly not as interesting as I expected.
Still, there's plenty that this patch does to keep the story rolling along, with Nidhogg's rude interruption of the peace conference being quite memorable. The Antitower was also a really solid dungeon, with its final boss taking the form of a giant demonic baby doll come to life; certainly, an image I will not soon forget.
The best scene? Emmanellain getting completely socked in the face by Thancred.
Still, there's plenty that this patch does to keep the story rolling along, with Nidhogg's rude interruption of the peace conference being quite memorable. The Antitower was also a really solid dungeon, with its final boss taking the form of a giant demonic baby doll come to life; certainly, an image I will not soon forget.
The best scene? Emmanellain getting completely socked in the face by Thancred.
This review contains spoilers
I'm starting to think there's some sort of conspiracy to gaslight new players into thinking that post-game patches are all mostly underwhelming. Seeing as how 2.1 was a fairly uneventful and slow patch, I expected the same trend moving forward, in that, at the very least, the x.1 patches would be more filler than anything of major substance. But how glad I was to be wrong. I'm just as surprised to see a general consensus among the reviews here that this is apparently mid. Couldn't be me!
Here we see the ramifications of the archbishop's death and of the people finding out the truth about the Dragonsong War, culminating in an uprising within the Holy See that made for some truly tense, nail-biting moments. After base Heavensward taught me suffering, I figured anyone is fair game to welcome death at this point, but I'm glad it did not come to that... this time.
Thancred's return is a welcome one, but a bit anticlimactic, I will say. If anything, the introduction of the Warriors of Darkness kind of overshadowed the reunion, and it's wild that that they're already trying to get me excited for Shadowbringers when I haven't even gotten to Stormblood yet.
Other important things to note:
- Alphinaud is a horndog. Poor lad just can't catch a break.
- Krile is a good potato.
Here we see the ramifications of the archbishop's death and of the people finding out the truth about the Dragonsong War, culminating in an uprising within the Holy See that made for some truly tense, nail-biting moments. After base Heavensward taught me suffering, I figured anyone is fair game to welcome death at this point, but I'm glad it did not come to that... this time.
Thancred's return is a welcome one, but a bit anticlimactic, I will say. If anything, the introduction of the Warriors of Darkness kind of overshadowed the reunion, and it's wild that that they're already trying to get me excited for Shadowbringers when I haven't even gotten to Stormblood yet.
Other important things to note:
- Alphinaud is a horndog. Poor lad just can't catch a break.
- Krile is a good potato.
Dragons, Dragoons, and Deceit... Oh My...
For the longest time, Heavensward was a name that held this air of mystery to it. It sounded elegant and enticing, but also seemed so out of reach (hah, get it?), for even years before I properly attempted to get into FF14, I was aware that this first expansion is where a lot of the community promised the game would get good. And look, I liked ARR. Sure, it was very slow at times, but it had some genuinely good story beats and did a good enough job at introducing the world of Eorzea and its gameplay mechanics. Of course, I still had those higher expectations going into HW, but a lot of people were hyping it up as a 10/10 masterpiece, and I guess if you didn't like ARR, it very well could be, but that wasn't the case for me.
But hey, for what it's worth, HW is definitely a strong improvement over ARR, with much better pacing, a more intriguing story, stronger character moments, and less filler quests (though, in an MMO, that's still going to be a thing). And I'll be honest, despite this first expansion being more interesting from the get-go, it still took me quite a while to reach that "Eureka!" moment. Because for as much as I enjoyed this expansion, I still felt like a dog searching for scraps. The incredible moments of explosive plot development and hard-hitting emotional beats are few and far between, and the story doesn't really start to pick up until the level 57 quests. All that to say that, again, a masterpiece this is not, but I can easily see why it is regarded as such by many. I don't doubt that the Stockholm Syndrome theory surely applies to quite a few players.
But lest I start to sound like I'm just bashing on it, Heavensward felt geuinely rewarding to go through, even as someone who still enjoyed ARR quite a bit. With how stagnant a lot of ARR's story felt, it was great to see how some its more ambitious writing, mainly found in the later post-game patches, flowed into this expansion and kept a satisfying consistency. In fact, this is where the game started feeling less like an MMO and more like a single-player experience with mostly optional multiplayer content. As someone who mainly started playing for the story, this is a big plus, but I'm also happy to say that the game has hooked me in sufficiently with its gameplay systems that I am now looking forward to going through harder optional content in the future. Yes guys, I'm actually trying to learn how to play my class, and I will do so for every other class eventually.
By the way, on the subject of aether currents, it's so funny to see other new players complaining about them when they could just automatically fly after finishing ARR. What many don't realize is that ARR flight was added in a patch much later. Personally, I think the aether system is a bit inconvenient, sure, but it's a logical system, and it doesn't require that much time to find and complete their relevant quests.
My thoughts on the post-game patches:
Patch 3.1 - As Goes Light, So Goes Darkness
Patch 3.2 - The Gears of Change
Patch 3.3 - Revenge of the Horde
Patch 3.4 - Soul Survivor
Patch 3.5 - The Far Edge of Fate
Without Post-Game Patches: Decent 8/10
With Post-Game Patches: Strong 8/10
For the longest time, Heavensward was a name that held this air of mystery to it. It sounded elegant and enticing, but also seemed so out of reach (hah, get it?), for even years before I properly attempted to get into FF14, I was aware that this first expansion is where a lot of the community promised the game would get good. And look, I liked ARR. Sure, it was very slow at times, but it had some genuinely good story beats and did a good enough job at introducing the world of Eorzea and its gameplay mechanics. Of course, I still had those higher expectations going into HW, but a lot of people were hyping it up as a 10/10 masterpiece, and I guess if you didn't like ARR, it very well could be, but that wasn't the case for me.
But hey, for what it's worth, HW is definitely a strong improvement over ARR, with much better pacing, a more intriguing story, stronger character moments, and less filler quests (though, in an MMO, that's still going to be a thing). And I'll be honest, despite this first expansion being more interesting from the get-go, it still took me quite a while to reach that "Eureka!" moment. Because for as much as I enjoyed this expansion, I still felt like a dog searching for scraps. The incredible moments of explosive plot development and hard-hitting emotional beats are few and far between, and the story doesn't really start to pick up until the level 57 quests. All that to say that, again, a masterpiece this is not, but I can easily see why it is regarded as such by many. I don't doubt that the Stockholm Syndrome theory surely applies to quite a few players.
But lest I start to sound like I'm just bashing on it, Heavensward felt geuinely rewarding to go through, even as someone who still enjoyed ARR quite a bit. With how stagnant a lot of ARR's story felt, it was great to see how some its more ambitious writing, mainly found in the later post-game patches, flowed into this expansion and kept a satisfying consistency. In fact, this is where the game started feeling less like an MMO and more like a single-player experience with mostly optional multiplayer content. As someone who mainly started playing for the story, this is a big plus, but I'm also happy to say that the game has hooked me in sufficiently with its gameplay systems that I am now looking forward to going through harder optional content in the future. Yes guys, I'm actually trying to learn how to play my class, and I will do so for every other class eventually.
By the way, on the subject of aether currents, it's so funny to see other new players complaining about them when they could just automatically fly after finishing ARR. What many don't realize is that ARR flight was added in a patch much later. Personally, I think the aether system is a bit inconvenient, sure, but it's a logical system, and it doesn't require that much time to find and complete their relevant quests.
My thoughts on the post-game patches:
Patch 3.1 - As Goes Light, So Goes Darkness
Patch 3.2 - The Gears of Change
Patch 3.3 - Revenge of the Horde
Patch 3.4 - Soul Survivor
Patch 3.5 - The Far Edge of Fate
Without Post-Game Patches: Decent 8/10
With Post-Game Patches: Strong 8/10
2023
When it comes to this series, XV should have taught me to remain... cautiously optimistic, at best. As I directed my metaphorical gaze towards Square Enix, I proudly proclaimed, "You cannot... will not, get me to buy the deluxe edition! Not again Satan!" And I didn't. Though, part of me still wishes I had. See, it's been nearly 7 years since we got XV, and I have learned. Unlike that game, XVI had all the surefire signs that it would deliver, and all these factors lead back to one, uh, thing: Yoshi P.
The lead up to this game's release had me so hyped that I actually tried getting back into XIV, and I ended up getting hooked. I already knew, but this just further cemented it: Kino was upon us. Sure, in hindsight, perhaps my expectations were still too high (I guess I didn't learn enough). But, does it really matter? CBUIII still gave us the gift of a complete and quality product. XVI is stylish, it's dark, and most importantly, it's fun.
There's a question that likes to get thrown around a lot during discussions of this game: is XVI a real Final Fantasy game? Personally, the series has always been about experimentation. Besides some usual trademark staples like chocobos and moogles, there's not really a concrete foundation for what makes a FF game. As far as I'm concerned, this series is a great sandbox for SE to play around with new ideas and bring something new and interesting to the table - hoping that of course, it lands.
Devil May Cry-lite combat mechanics? Sure, why not. Gore? Knock yourself out. Scenes that would make your parents blush? Might as well.
Yeah, XVI is for sure a very radical departure from what most have come to expect from the series, and it's a very divisive title as a result. But again, I'm usually one to embrace change, and it's something that I have come to expect in a series that's been going strong for nearly 40 years. This game may feel like a AAA western action "blockbuster" more than a "proper" JRPG, but I could care less when the game is this good.
Cons? I can list quite a few, actually:
- Low difficulty
- Combat mechanics aren't as deep as they could have been
- Lots of MMO-ish side quests
- Padding and weak pacing later on
- Terrible loot
- Dungeons? What dungeons?
All of these complaints amount to very little in the grand scheme of things. The fact of the matter is, in the 48 or so hours it took me to get through my first playthrough, there were many moments of joy, of awe, and of pain that I would gladly experience all over again for the first time if I could. I'm so glad this game exists, and I'm thankful to Yoshi P for making it happen. Mainline Final Fantasy is so back.
Oh, and the Eikon battles were pretty badass, yeah.
The lead up to this game's release had me so hyped that I actually tried getting back into XIV, and I ended up getting hooked. I already knew, but this just further cemented it: Kino was upon us. Sure, in hindsight, perhaps my expectations were still too high (I guess I didn't learn enough). But, does it really matter? CBUIII still gave us the gift of a complete and quality product. XVI is stylish, it's dark, and most importantly, it's fun.
There's a question that likes to get thrown around a lot during discussions of this game: is XVI a real Final Fantasy game? Personally, the series has always been about experimentation. Besides some usual trademark staples like chocobos and moogles, there's not really a concrete foundation for what makes a FF game. As far as I'm concerned, this series is a great sandbox for SE to play around with new ideas and bring something new and interesting to the table - hoping that of course, it lands.
Devil May Cry-lite combat mechanics? Sure, why not. Gore? Knock yourself out. Scenes that would make your parents blush? Might as well.
Yeah, XVI is for sure a very radical departure from what most have come to expect from the series, and it's a very divisive title as a result. But again, I'm usually one to embrace change, and it's something that I have come to expect in a series that's been going strong for nearly 40 years. This game may feel like a AAA western action "blockbuster" more than a "proper" JRPG, but I could care less when the game is this good.
Cons? I can list quite a few, actually:
- Low difficulty
- Combat mechanics aren't as deep as they could have been
- Lots of MMO-ish side quests
- Padding and weak pacing later on
- Terrible loot
- Dungeons? What dungeons?
All of these complaints amount to very little in the grand scheme of things. The fact of the matter is, in the 48 or so hours it took me to get through my first playthrough, there were many moments of joy, of awe, and of pain that I would gladly experience all over again for the first time if I could. I'm so glad this game exists, and I'm thankful to Yoshi P for making it happen. Mainline Final Fantasy is so back.
Oh, and the Eikon battles were pretty badass, yeah.