for context, I want to preface, I am a big fan of JRPGs, i have been playing them since the mid 90's, on all different consoles, including some more obscure ones. I have also been an avid anime watcher since the same time. I have played Xenogears on PS1 and thoroughly enjoyed what I've played.

I waited some time to play XBC2, and i thought it would tick all the right boxes, but it fell flat on all fronts, so I'm just going to list why I did not enjoy the game at all:

- Did not enjoy the combat at all. There is a lot of combat in this game. it was slow, and felt cumbersome. my attacks did not feel like there was a large impact and using combos did not seem to be as useful as they should be.
-the game does not explain it's own combat system well through natural progression, and more mechanics keep getting thrown in throughout the game, which just makes it very bloated.
-Enemies do aggro you from a long distance away, forcing you to retreat to safety if they are too high level.
- constant repeated, annoying lines and quips after every single battle gets on your nerves.
- the levels are 3-dimensional but maps are 2D, and don't have multiple layers so everything looks like it's on top of each other on the map, making things confusing.
- excessive chance-based/ gatcha elements for a bunch of things like getting blades or dive containers.
- too many damn shops. why are there like 15 shops in every town?
-an excessive amount of fetch quests which often amount to "collect 10 of this and bring it back" which comes parceled with going out to the field, killing monsters and coming back, and then doing it again, repeat ad nauseum. I fully expect this in an MMO, not in a single player game, at least not this many.
- all the characters are written like someone threw a bunch of anime tropes in a hat and drew lots. of course all the women are comically well-endowed and are in love with the main protagonist. it's all cringey and I can't take it seriously. other JRPGs have this of course but not to this extent.
- the performance is pretty poor on the switch, it's probably one of the worst I've seen from a 'AAA' developer. I would enter a town area and it would get extremely blurry and stay that way for a good 5-10 seconds. this is not fun.

I gave it a serious chance but it did nothing for me.

this is a direct sequel to Ocarina of Time, and it is right there on the same level, and might even surpass it. some gamers get put off by the timer in the background, but the sense of impending doom is a deliberate design choice and definitely plays heavily in the atmosphere that's present. this world feels more populated and has more 'history' to it than OoT does and there's a lot of weirdness that makes it almost feel like bit of a dream at times. it's incredible that they were able to make this in such a short amount of time and have it turn out this good, even with re-using many assets. definitely a must-play for zelda fans.

Excellent game. there's a wide variety of levels, all unique and interesting. This is one of the prettiest and most polished-looking games on the switch and the mechanics are pretty sound. it's really just a refinement of the Luigi's mansion formula.

minor spoilers ahead:


where i felt the game could use some improvements are:
- bring back the scariness factor. the original had a good eerie feel to it, with lots of very dimly lit rooms, many areas in this are too brightly lit, and the ghosts don't invoke the same fear when they pop out. I looked back at the original just to see and it still definitely feels more tense and foreboding(as far as a mario title goes anyway).the tension is more palpable and exemplified by the setpieces, environmental and sound design
- there is pretty much no replayability. the game is good, and it kinda gets hurt by this. I have not really felt like playing throught it again because it's easy enough that i'd just breeze through again, and there's no kind of postgame or new game plus with anything extra. you can play multiplayer i guess.
- needs more interconnectedness and backtracking. the original had a section of the game which required revisiting old cleared rooms, and it felt more like one cohesive connected world than individual levels like this does. there is some but not a lot.

I didn't get sucked into this game the first 2 times I tried to play it due to superficial reasons but after i gave it a good chance it has become one of my favorites in the franchise and across JRPGs as a whole.
It has one of the most thrilling and epic stories among Final Fantasy titles, with a large cast of diverse, memorable characters. Each character plays slightly differently and the game's magic and accessory system allows for a good amount of customization. I feel the pacing of the story beats is well done, with moments of increasing action and interspersed moments of downtime, before heading into the next conflict.
each character's personal struggles pull the story along in different directions but returns to the overarching plotline to remind you of what you're fighting for. moments of humor are woven in here and there contrasting with the bleak reality the characters see themselves in.

FF6 has always felt a little difficult to me in comparison to FF7 or FF9, unless you take the time to grind as some sections have noticeably stronger enemies, although having good knowledge of the game and appropriate strategies definitely helps with this. This is a personal issue however and i wouldn't hesitate to recommend FF6 to anyone remotely interested in it, though it does feel it's age compared to it's contemporaries.