i fought some goblins and saw this cool hole and went in and i was like wow theres this cool little cellar here. then i broke a wall down and saw a cave and i was like wow theres a cool spider cave. then i beat all the spiders and saw this ominous hole and jumped down and theres an entire different world down there.

i have like 16 hours on my tactician solo playthrough and i havent even touched the goblin camp yet. exploring and going around doing all these little side quests dont even feel like side quests it just feels like cool world building that i just happened to stumble upon while looking for shit. im so immersed.

the multiplayer on this is also just so fun. online is super smooth and its hilarious having different people all trying to figure out what to do.

i was also genuinely shocked when i randomly booted this up in front of my friend and found out theres local coop. we immediately started playing and it was a blast.

easily goty.

This game and this expac changed my life. Like there's a certain experience that just cant be found anywhere else than in mmos. Playing this on release and seeing discussion revolving different parts of the story, talking about things with friends, travelling the journey with new friends you've made along the way; its just magical. All of the memories you make, the challenges you overcome, and the growth you have, on top of just having a fantastic game overall is amazing. Endwalker specifically really feels like the culmination of the entire final fantasy franchises lifespan come into appreciation of its players. Will probably forever remain my favorite game.

This game started pretty strong and just started to fall off the more you played the game. This game feels like they were trying to recapture the Bayo charm but failed.

The combat starts pretty strong but ends up being formulaic and repetitive. The thing I don't like about Musou games is that, at the end of the day, it usually devolves into mindless button mashing with characters/weapons being reskins of the same mindless button mashing. There's no weight or importance to different characters in Musous, they're all the same outside of animation differences. This game has the same issue.

I tried every (10 or so) weapon(s) the game offered me and did my best to experiment, but they all ended up playing virtually the same, and it got repetitive. Even the main guns of Bayo don't feel very interesting, as they too follow the same formula of gameplay.

The concept of giving you new weapons to experiment with starts off cool, but as the game progresses, it gets to the point where you are getting new weapons in almost every chapter, and the chapters aren't long enough to warrant experimenting with said weapons. It also doesn't help that you are limited to two weapons at a time. In a game with so many weapons, it feels like they don't want you to use all of them.

The dodging also feels bad in this game, which sucks for it being Bayo's main gimmick, Witch Time. To compensate for kaiju summoning, the camera pans out to very large angles, and the telegraphs for dodging feel nonexistent or difficult to see. Despite this, I do think kaijus are probably my favorite aspect of the combat, and getting big meaty hits in and having them extend your combos, defend you, or just straight up beat the hell out of an enemy does feel pretty cool.

Conceptually, this game's combat is cool, but it just doesn't end up being as satisfying as the previous games' combat. As those games had a much smaller variety of weapons, but felt much more focused.

As far as the story goes, this game doesn't have the same outlandish, wild, goofy, and extravagant charm the previous games had. It does have its moments, but overall it feels like a watered-down Bayonetta. The story was never really my focal point for these games, so I can't say I was really giving my 100% in analyzing it, but I still believe it's not much of note.

As of writing this review, I am at chapter 13 out of 14. My great friend Tony suggested a Pre-Ending review, as everyone seems to despise the ending. I've only gotten a glimpse of what it could be, but I sure don't like it. I will edit this review upon my completion.

Cont: You know what, the ending isn't that bad. It did kinda just happen but it doesn't like ruin the entire series for me like people were hyping it up to. Still staying a 4/10.

This game is also pretty cool but it felt very clunky at times. I'd describe it as both overwhelming and underwhelming.

Because they designed it so that it's harder to miss skills, there are A LOT of demons and oftentimes provide nothing new or serve the same purpose as others, giving them less meaning. I think this is probably better for accessibility and new players in concept, but it felt really tedious in my playthrough. Because they designed it like this, it was really annoying fusing stuff and they just didn't provide anything new.

The story is okay, and the music is good, though both were a step up from Nocturne. They definitely tried to write characters more in this game, but conceptually, it turns out it's kinda hard to write natural characters who want to change the world in a very extreme way. The main two guys end up sounding very robotic spewing their very far-leaning ideals. Alternatively, you have Isabeau, who comes off more like a brick with nothing particularly interesting about her. Even so, I like that you actually travel with said characters, so you get to see the world with them and their development. It does make their reasons more believable.

The combat does feel quite smooth generally, though instead of debuffing and buffing to the max, 90% of bosses come down to "find weakness and exploit." The move variety and new builds are pretty cool. I personally went with Dex as I heard it had the highest damage potential and indeed it did. Big numbers are fun. With having a larger amount of demon slots than Nocturne as well as having any member be able to swap to others, they encourage the use of your entire party, which I do like. Bosses also just hurt a bunch and they definitely intend for your dudes to die. However, because of how the press turn system works (that being losing half a turn for swapping or losing a full turn if you're down a member), you still generally end up just making a strong party of 3 demons (maybe 4) with the idea of keeping them alive in mind.

I think this game, like most other games on the platform, suffers from being a 3DS game, and as such the interface is clunky. Also, Burroughs is SO fucking annoying idc. She really just intervenes at every point and wastes so much time and I hate her. She is the main reason I like this game less than Nocturne.

All in all, I prefer Nocturne's simplicity. Thank you for reading.

7.5/10