i think i came out liking this game less than i did before which im a little upset about but the game has so much cool shit going for it and it disappoints on damn near all of it.
I've realized that making an engaging open world is a very hard thing to do and I don't think this game does it or even encourages you to explore said "open world." i think conceptually open world with linear story will never work. as such, how this game tries to tell its story often does not work. Many of the characters being fleshed out in content that isn't a part of the base game is also really fucking weird. Several important characters like Lunafreya or Aranea have non-existent character arcs because of it.
The story is what I would describe as "sporadic" which is strange considering the linearity of it. Maybe it's to add to the "journey" feel of it but often times story beats felt like they just happened and didn't really go anywhere or have a purpose, even if that wasn't necessarily true. Even still, the story tended to be enjoyable in typical Final Fantasy fashion. I think the climax of the game was still really epic.
The gameplay is also pretty stale bread but there are times when I found it quite enjoyable. Like I said earlier, warping and shit is really cool.
I also quite enjoy the main 4 bros and Ardyn, though I wish all of them could have been fleshed out more. The music in this game is obviously top notch. I wish Tony had willed Versus XIII into a better game. In the end, Ardyn is just a diet Emet-Selch. Thanks for reading.
6/10
I've realized that making an engaging open world is a very hard thing to do and I don't think this game does it or even encourages you to explore said "open world." i think conceptually open world with linear story will never work. as such, how this game tries to tell its story often does not work. Many of the characters being fleshed out in content that isn't a part of the base game is also really fucking weird. Several important characters like Lunafreya or Aranea have non-existent character arcs because of it.
The story is what I would describe as "sporadic" which is strange considering the linearity of it. Maybe it's to add to the "journey" feel of it but often times story beats felt like they just happened and didn't really go anywhere or have a purpose, even if that wasn't necessarily true. Even still, the story tended to be enjoyable in typical Final Fantasy fashion. I think the climax of the game was still really epic.
The gameplay is also pretty stale bread but there are times when I found it quite enjoyable. Like I said earlier, warping and shit is really cool.
I also quite enjoy the main 4 bros and Ardyn, though I wish all of them could have been fleshed out more. The music in this game is obviously top notch. I wish Tony had willed Versus XIII into a better game. In the end, Ardyn is just a diet Emet-Selch. Thanks for reading.
6/10