My first game of 2023, and possibly the most disappointing game of the year for me. I was really expecting to like this game for the setting, the characters, the gambit control system, etc., and yet in every single area I felt this game was a let down. The plot of this game feels incredibly bland and unfocused. The grand adventure the party goes on remains within a short distance from the starting city, and always feels like the party is just reacting to the latest event without any agency. While I did like quite a few of the party members, some of them are pretty horrible, and none worse than main character Vaan. I like the idea of the main character being just some kid who is swept up in something bigger than him, but where Vaan really fails is his characterization, and in particular his voice acting. Vaan's voice actor is probably the worst voice actor I've ever heard in a major game production, and is a major part of why his character does not work at all for me. The combat system here reminds me a lot of Xenoblade Chronicles, whose own biggest flaw for me was its combat system. The MMO-style of half turn-based, half action combat feels very chaotic, and it's much harder to achieve the more strategic feeling of purely turn based games. I did find the gambit system interesting, as macro systems are a feature I wish more RPGs would have. However, while it's a good first attempt, it isn't quite powerful enough for my liking; I found myself regularly needing to tweak certain gambits or disabling them for certain areas. Boolean operators would've been a great addition, although I can see why that would've made things too complicated. All this being said, I wouldn't say there was nothing I liked. I really enjoyed the character of Balthier, even if he didn't get as much development as I would've liked. The re-imagining of the famous summons as great warships was also a neat idea, and lent itself to some well-made cinematics. Some of the villains were interesting, although the final villain remained underdeveloped and too little seen. Overall, a big disappointment, and a dramatic drop off in quality from the Final Fantasy games that came before. Even something like FFVIII, as weird and uneven as it was, still had some cool ideas and set pieces. This game just felt flat and drab the entire way through.