I really, really wanted to like this game. I loved BOTW, but this didn't do it for me. I spent 50+ hours, and still felt like I was missing some crucial pieces of information or gear at every turn. A good open-world game should always make you feel like you're on the right path, but I never once felt that way here. Just felt like I was always doing the wrong things in the wrong order, and it made me not want to play. Maybe it's me, but it was a far cry from the wonder that was BOTW for me. Biggest disappointment of the year for me.

someone told me this game puts most battle shonen 3d arena fighters to shame

im gonna go a step further and say this puts a lot of battle shonen to shame

game excels at insane scale and really touching emotion. the Hideaway mechanic really helps sell the lovable cast and how much of a mark Clive is making on this world.

this game lives and dies based on your emotional connection to the Hideaway. STRONGLY, STRONGLY recommend doing every single Hideaway sidequest. The assorted towns and random strangers don't matter as much but the Hideaway should be at the top of your priorities list.

Sidequest placement in games gets brought up a lot as a weird break in the pace, a weird misplaced priority for the hero to be doing this when there's a world ending main quest objective - but I actually think that works beautifully here.

Clive sees them as a family and doesn’t think he’s above any of them. Their livelihoods and small inconveniences matter as much to him as a deity knocking on his doorstep with a sword.

Some of the most memorable moments in this game for me were small things like buying cloths from the market so the young girls around the Hideaway could finally get out of their tattered rags. They could wear things they were proud of and feel a little less like society's rejected.
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massive behemoths on your screen at all times battling it out with laser rays while the main character yells about how much he loves humanity over some very thin faux game of thrones aesthetic dressing

peak

the satisfaction of gaining a new power set by tearing it out of a boss’s asshole is unbeatable

ill write a better review later if i feel like it. this is fired off like 20 minutes after beating it because I wanted to champion the game a little.
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sparknotes:

- one of the best combat systems in any video game
- every single boss fight is one of the best boss fights in any video game
- exceptional english voice acting
- pretty strong story that gets detrimentally overambitious at times but definitely memorable and deeply touching
there's an undeniable beauty in overambition. i love when the storytelling reaches for the stars
- the art direction and setting are jawdropping
- really outstanding cast and character development
- a frequent draw of the JRPG genre is the "immersive" feel of going on a journey in a foreign world that feels real, and this is spectacular at that. they go the EXTRA mile to make Valisthea feel real as hell



there's a bit of a strange marriage between "slow JRPG dialogue stretches" and "adrenaline rush character action stretches" - the pacing of both combined into one game seems to throw a lot of people off


beware that ymmv in that regard but i loved it

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*as you get further in the game (3rd actish) there are optional sidequests with each "town leader" (martha, quentin, isabelle, lubor, eloise) that have your hub towns react to the state of the world/your progress in the storyline

try not to miss these they're very cool stuff that actively change the dynamics of entire locales through Clive's actions