extremely happy to have been into ff around the time a new mainline game drops. 16 really doesn't disappoint, it's a technical and mechanical masterpiece with fantastic combat intertwined with a pretty compelling narrative. this game is probably as "next-gen" as it gets. they throw out a seemingly nonstop barrage of some of the coolest bosses ever paired with some of the craziest gameplay scenarios I've played. these eikon fights are honestly the highlight. and that ending.....oooohhhhhh




(female character writing generally leaves a lot to be desired and the side quest design feels a little too MMOy and time wastey but its complicated because theres still nuggets of great stuff in there on both accounts...)


and thus did our journey end.

they somehow followed up on ayesha by making the gameplay loop even more addicting and the vibes more vibing. it feels considerably less "open" than ayesha but i think i almost prefer it this way. the game is sort of on rails in terms of getting your tasks done, but it has enough going on that it feels like i still have to think about what im doing. that airship sideplot was a really cool little side gig that felt so rewarding and added to the main plot as well
also the final boss theme is a vocal track sung by kanako itou?? peak fiction

"girls hanging out over the backdrop of a major climate crisis" gotta be one of my favorite subgenres of media fr

i went in knowing this is a fairly budget annual franchise but even then it was a fascinating experience all around. i dunno man , the game has a good amount of depth to its systems and mechanics, and with the solidly paced time mechanic i got addicted to running around doing my chores and going on a little journey for a couple weeks. immensely cute game to play through.

sometimes you just need to take a load off and be a silly anime girl stirring her cauldron dude.

this game feels very sloppy and disjointed, but in a way that i really can't dislike. it's campy and genuinely hilarious, and while the story is not very cohesive for most of the run it still manages to hit when it needs to, esp toward the end.

the remaster work is also really fascinating, but ultimately couldn't save the PSP game structure for me--every combat encounter and mission (the latter of which there are 300??) feel completely identical and my eyes were glazed over playing almost half the game lol. regardless this game is very fun to think about and i generally have a fondness for it.

this game really caught me by surprise!! there's a bunch of things it does as an isometric platforming action rpg(?) but all of them are seamed and paced together pretty perfectly.
exploration is fun, with level design working well enough that i discovered most of everything on my own while running through the game and made me feel constantly rewarded for observing different paths.

combat felt pretty great. very mashy with a few extra options sprinkled in to not make it noticeably boring. as i progressed and upgraded and leveled i found it bordering on power fantasy, tearing through enemies is incredibly satisfying and bosses are similarly fun to beat.

this game is just a really solid package and it's probably the most satisfied ive been after playing a falcom game, definitely want to check out the rest of the franchise

played almost to the end. as interesting as i think the game and its multitude of ideas and systems are (esp as a snes release) it became increasingly frustrating and tedious to play as i settled in and learned how things worked. the variety of options completely stopped meaning anything as the only way that i was able to finish levels was to turtle my whole team and slowly pick off guys or suicide charge to kill the one target. a lot of my issues i feel are symptoms of the original game design, as it just felt very slow and low-impact. not to mention the game is SO LONG lmao, i literally gave it 40 hours. no thank you.