conflict
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Final Fantasy VII Remake is a game I played before being on Backloggd, but it was my favorite game of 2020 and is one of my favorite games of all time. There are some flaws, air combat was stiff, level design was rough in several of the chapters, and it suffered from pacing issues. However, I felt that it was an excellent foundation to the FFVII remake series, and if they could address those issues, the follow ups could easily exceed this already amazing game. Remake also introduced additional story elements that hinted at a new overarching narrative, I hoped it wouldn’t completely eliminate the elements from the original game, and it is an interesting set up if they could nail the conclusion. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth had to tackle all of those elements from Remake, while also contending with the larger scope of the world outside of Midgar.
Rebirth manages to get SO MUCH of this better than I could have ever thought possible. The world outside of Midgar feels vast, towns are more lively than their pre-rendered selves implied. I would go so far as to say that these are the best towns I have ever seen in an RPG, especially Kalm and Cosmo Canyon. Each region feels vast and unique, with tons to do and the diversity of activities allows exploration to remain entertaining even after 90 hours. This element was one of my main concerns going into Rebirth from Remake, especially when we saw the existence of "Ubisoft Towers”, but I think this is one of the best implementations of this gameplay system. This is assisted by the wide variety of mini-games, while not all are equally enjoyable, some are remarkably deep, and keep the game varied and interesting. Also, Chocobo Racing is amazing and I absolutely would love to play more, and I hope they have more in part 3.
Combat is also vastly improved by expanding on the excellent ATB system from Remake, as well as the synergy system from INTERmission. Combining this with more refined character movesets led to a superior version of the already amazing combat from Remake. On top of that, the new playable characters all felt amazing to play as, including Cait Sith which was a pleasant surprise. I really can’t wait to see how they handle Vincent and Cid in Part 3.
Level design was vastly improved, while still having some awkward moments where you have to move a box or something. Each dungeon mostly focused on a different party member's unique attributes, allowing for them all to have a moment to shine and these were some of my favorite moments of the game, especially the final dungeon.
While there were still pacing issues, most of these were actually present in this section of the original. Like with Remake, several additions were made to mixed results, though mostly positive to just neutral. I won't go into specifics to avoid spoilers but I overall like the direction of the story and where they chose to flesh out the narrative. A few exclusions from the original do worry me that we may not see these elements in part 3. And that's really my main concern that I hope causes this review to poorly age. This is an excellent middle chapter, that sets up beautifully for the final part, and it is on part 3 to use what it has been given to create a satisfying conclusion.
Rebirth manages to get SO MUCH of this better than I could have ever thought possible. The world outside of Midgar feels vast, towns are more lively than their pre-rendered selves implied. I would go so far as to say that these are the best towns I have ever seen in an RPG, especially Kalm and Cosmo Canyon. Each region feels vast and unique, with tons to do and the diversity of activities allows exploration to remain entertaining even after 90 hours. This element was one of my main concerns going into Rebirth from Remake, especially when we saw the existence of "Ubisoft Towers”, but I think this is one of the best implementations of this gameplay system. This is assisted by the wide variety of mini-games, while not all are equally enjoyable, some are remarkably deep, and keep the game varied and interesting. Also, Chocobo Racing is amazing and I absolutely would love to play more, and I hope they have more in part 3.
Combat is also vastly improved by expanding on the excellent ATB system from Remake, as well as the synergy system from INTERmission. Combining this with more refined character movesets led to a superior version of the already amazing combat from Remake. On top of that, the new playable characters all felt amazing to play as, including Cait Sith which was a pleasant surprise. I really can’t wait to see how they handle Vincent and Cid in Part 3.
Level design was vastly improved, while still having some awkward moments where you have to move a box or something. Each dungeon mostly focused on a different party member's unique attributes, allowing for them all to have a moment to shine and these were some of my favorite moments of the game, especially the final dungeon.
While there were still pacing issues, most of these were actually present in this section of the original. Like with Remake, several additions were made to mixed results, though mostly positive to just neutral. I won't go into specifics to avoid spoilers but I overall like the direction of the story and where they chose to flesh out the narrative. A few exclusions from the original do worry me that we may not see these elements in part 3. And that's really my main concern that I hope causes this review to poorly age. This is an excellent middle chapter, that sets up beautifully for the final part, and it is on part 3 to use what it has been given to create a satisfying conclusion.
Before I start this review, I want to say that I'm going to use this to not only review The Rising Tide but also Echoes of the Fallen as I wasn't active on this site when the latter released and I feel like I have a lot of the same things to say. I also never review Final Fantasy XVI on here so I have to outline some of my thoughts there. So this will be a long one... Sorry...
Final Fantasy XVI was my GOTY for 2023, and while I found that there were several flaws, it hit on a lot of the elements that I personally love in games, and delivered a story that made me care a lot about the world and cast. The only major thing that I felt let down by after finishing my first playthrough was a feeling that I wanted a few more unique encounters. Both DLCs set out to address just that issue providing 2 full "stages", a new world area, several new bosses, a new Eikon fight and a new suite of abilities to play with. However, several other issues the main game had are not resolved, and the implementation of the DLC leaves something to be desired.
First I want to cover the new encounters, which are all absolutely incredible. Final Fantasy XVI truly thrives on the battlefield, fights are well paced and exciting, Clive's abilities make him incredibly satisfying to control, and both DLCs do a great job of expanding on this. Both stages contain several new enemies, but they truly shine in their boss fights. While the stages all use the same formula (pulled straight from FFXIV) of trash enemies, mini-boss, trash, mini-boss, trash, stage boss, it is fortunately a good formula which is enhanced by the variety and quality of encounters. Omega stands at the end of Echoes of the Fallen, and proves to be one of the most harrowing fights with a wildly unique moveset, and an intense DPS check. The Timekeeper is at the end of The Rising Tide's normal stage and proves to be the most interesting humanoid boss in the game, utilizing a some abilities of a specific Eikon against you. Afterwards you face off against Leviathan in the most difficult Eikon fight in the game. It has strict movement, and a tight DPS check on Final Fantasy mode. All of these encounters seem to be directly focused on addressing concerns of the base game being too easy even on Final Fantasy mode, and they thoroughly succeeded. The new abilities added to Clive, along with some balancing made to his kit have made combat even more engaging and varied. Making Clive a ranged powerhouse is now a viable way to play, and he has several new methods of crowd control. It takes some time getting used to Leviathan's playstyle, but once you do it feels incredibly satisfying. In regards to combat there is one more thing which is the rogue-lite mode "Kairos Gate". While this was a fun challenge to work through, my only real disappointment was the lack of any unique boss in there as all were reused, though they were much more interesting and difficult than their normal incarnations, and the reward for finishing these challenges is nice, though you have nothing to use it on unless you want to chase high-scores.
I've been praising this set of DLCs quite a bit but I do need to bring some more heavy criticism in. Both The Rising Tide and Echoes of the Fallen repeat the base game's issue of having unengaging questing structure. Most of these quests boil down to walking and talking, while this can be a great opportunity to unearth lore, develop characters, and immerse you into the world, it unfortunately tends to drag the pace down to a crawl. This game is fully voice acted, which means that I am just staring at very stiff models with terrible lip syncing as they talk about something that could be interesting but is taking too long to explain. I hoped that in the DLC they would find a way to break up the monotony through either some better exploration, or shortening these interactions. Unfortunately, it is largely the same outside of a universal change they made to being able to immediately return to a quest giver after finishing their objectives. While this is nice, they could have learned more from the criticism to create a more engaging set of expansions, the way it currently is makes them feel like more of the same.
A much smaller problem I wish the DLC fit more naturally into the main narrative. I get the issue the devs were having though, they wanted to make new content that felt like endgame content, but also were wanting to have it be with the main game’s characters before the ending. Echoes of the Fallen mostly works before the very end since it is shorter and feels like good background context before the final fight, but The Rising Tide would do good to be somewhere between Bahamut and Odin’s encounters as that is where the base game could use a stage and Eikon fight to spice things up.
Oh also, both DLCs continue the trend of blowing my mind at the impressive real-time graphics, and the OST absolutely was nailed by Soken and his team. Overall, I really enjoyed my return to FFXVI with this DLC. I still absolutely love the combat and characters, and spending more time with them is great. I really hope that we get to see CBU3 do another single-player FF game as I think they could absolutely make a game which is perfect in my eyes if they take the best of this game and refine it with things like what CBU1 is doing with the FFVII ReTrilogy.
Final Fantasy XVI was my GOTY for 2023, and while I found that there were several flaws, it hit on a lot of the elements that I personally love in games, and delivered a story that made me care a lot about the world and cast. The only major thing that I felt let down by after finishing my first playthrough was a feeling that I wanted a few more unique encounters. Both DLCs set out to address just that issue providing 2 full "stages", a new world area, several new bosses, a new Eikon fight and a new suite of abilities to play with. However, several other issues the main game had are not resolved, and the implementation of the DLC leaves something to be desired.
First I want to cover the new encounters, which are all absolutely incredible. Final Fantasy XVI truly thrives on the battlefield, fights are well paced and exciting, Clive's abilities make him incredibly satisfying to control, and both DLCs do a great job of expanding on this. Both stages contain several new enemies, but they truly shine in their boss fights. While the stages all use the same formula (pulled straight from FFXIV) of trash enemies, mini-boss, trash, mini-boss, trash, stage boss, it is fortunately a good formula which is enhanced by the variety and quality of encounters. Omega stands at the end of Echoes of the Fallen, and proves to be one of the most harrowing fights with a wildly unique moveset, and an intense DPS check. The Timekeeper is at the end of The Rising Tide's normal stage and proves to be the most interesting humanoid boss in the game, utilizing a some abilities of a specific Eikon against you. Afterwards you face off against Leviathan in the most difficult Eikon fight in the game. It has strict movement, and a tight DPS check on Final Fantasy mode. All of these encounters seem to be directly focused on addressing concerns of the base game being too easy even on Final Fantasy mode, and they thoroughly succeeded. The new abilities added to Clive, along with some balancing made to his kit have made combat even more engaging and varied. Making Clive a ranged powerhouse is now a viable way to play, and he has several new methods of crowd control. It takes some time getting used to Leviathan's playstyle, but once you do it feels incredibly satisfying. In regards to combat there is one more thing which is the rogue-lite mode "Kairos Gate". While this was a fun challenge to work through, my only real disappointment was the lack of any unique boss in there as all were reused, though they were much more interesting and difficult than their normal incarnations, and the reward for finishing these challenges is nice, though you have nothing to use it on unless you want to chase high-scores.
I've been praising this set of DLCs quite a bit but I do need to bring some more heavy criticism in. Both The Rising Tide and Echoes of the Fallen repeat the base game's issue of having unengaging questing structure. Most of these quests boil down to walking and talking, while this can be a great opportunity to unearth lore, develop characters, and immerse you into the world, it unfortunately tends to drag the pace down to a crawl. This game is fully voice acted, which means that I am just staring at very stiff models with terrible lip syncing as they talk about something that could be interesting but is taking too long to explain. I hoped that in the DLC they would find a way to break up the monotony through either some better exploration, or shortening these interactions. Unfortunately, it is largely the same outside of a universal change they made to being able to immediately return to a quest giver after finishing their objectives. While this is nice, they could have learned more from the criticism to create a more engaging set of expansions, the way it currently is makes them feel like more of the same.
A much smaller problem I wish the DLC fit more naturally into the main narrative. I get the issue the devs were having though, they wanted to make new content that felt like endgame content, but also were wanting to have it be with the main game’s characters before the ending. Echoes of the Fallen mostly works before the very end since it is shorter and feels like good background context before the final fight, but The Rising Tide would do good to be somewhere between Bahamut and Odin’s encounters as that is where the base game could use a stage and Eikon fight to spice things up.
Oh also, both DLCs continue the trend of blowing my mind at the impressive real-time graphics, and the OST absolutely was nailed by Soken and his team. Overall, I really enjoyed my return to FFXVI with this DLC. I still absolutely love the combat and characters, and spending more time with them is great. I really hope that we get to see CBU3 do another single-player FF game as I think they could absolutely make a game which is perfect in my eyes if they take the best of this game and refine it with things like what CBU1 is doing with the FFVII ReTrilogy.
This review contains spoilers
i have incredibly mixed feelings on this game. i really enjoy the character interactions, but at times, characterization takes a backseat to prioritizing fanservice. i like the execution of many scenes, but some, in comparison to the original, are simply not as good or are straight-up missing (barret vs dyne, for example, suffers for its hollywood dramatization; missing pieces of the sleeping forest make it far less impactful, even though those changes make sense in-context; the absence of the water burial is keenly felt, and even if this is intended to be included in some manner later, i really doubt it can induce the same feeling in retrospect). it's fun to see characters like zack again, but those characters are so wildly out of place their scenes feel more comical than anything. the minigames can be really fun, but they're in excess to the point of frustration. the maps are beautiful and they can be fun to interact with, but some way outlive their welcome (looking at you, gongaga).
anyway, i don't know. i have a lot of complaints. i have a lot of positive things to say too. some of the new scenes, such as tifa's lifestream sequence and the temple trials, were genuinely well-done. there isn't a single track on the ost i didn't like. despite getting tired of some of the maps, i still had enough fun with the moment-to-moment gameplay to fully complete all of them. i could really talk about it all day, but i don't feel like doing that on here, so i'll just say that, for all its faults (of which there are absolutely many), i still very much liked it.
anyway, i don't know. i have a lot of complaints. i have a lot of positive things to say too. some of the new scenes, such as tifa's lifestream sequence and the temple trials, were genuinely well-done. there isn't a single track on the ost i didn't like. despite getting tired of some of the maps, i still had enough fun with the moment-to-moment gameplay to fully complete all of them. i could really talk about it all day, but i don't feel like doing that on here, so i'll just say that, for all its faults (of which there are absolutely many), i still very much liked it.
man this game still really sucks huh. i can never forgive how they absolutely eviscerated aerith. but 2 stars for zack i guess, they somehow stumbled into making him likable despite running face first into a wall everywhere else
fave fave fave lion ushiromiya the world
Battler you need to stop. Your rooms are too closed, your truths too red, your witch too golden. They'll turn you into a logic error
This review contains spoilers
Trails of Cold Steel III starts out incredibly strong. The New Class VII is a breath of fresh air following the well-intentioned but largely bloated cast of Cold Steel I and II, being a tight-knit group where each member serves a distinct role. Juna provides a unique perspective to the cast as a Crossbellean who was there during the occupation, now begrudgingly living in Erebonia. Kurt is the most level-headed character in the entire series up to this point, providing a much needed grounding factor to this otherwise extremely over-the-top anime cast. Altina has a fairly similar arc to Millium, but their personalities are different enough that the arc takes on a unique flavor, and her pre-existing connection to Rean enhances her dynamic with him and the rest of the group. Ash took a little while to grow on me, but once he joined the party proper it became clear that there was a greater depth to his character, even if his motives were initially unclear. The only character I wasn’t really vibing with was Musse, mostly due to a lack of a development, though her one joke not being funny didn’t help either. That being said, they’re clearly setting up something with her for Cold Steel IV, so I would wager a guess that she has more screen time there.
Then slowly but surely, Cold Steel III loses its mind.
Playing through the first two chapters, it seemed like the game was setting up a conflict between Rean and Juna. Juna’s home had been colonized, and Rean had helped colonize it. It makes perfect sense that she would hold a grudge against him, and the fact that he’s her teacher only enhances the drama. Then there’s Rean himself, who at the end of Cold Steel II was clearly expressing doubts about his own role in Crossbell’s occupation and his general cooperation with the Imperial Government. I thought the game was going to use their dynamic as a way for Rean to work through his colonizer guilt and develop alongside Juna. Imagine my surprise, then, when towards the end of chapter 2 it’s revealed that Rean actually saved the lives of Juna and her siblings, Juna harboring no ill will towards him whatsoever. In fact, she had wanted to thank him this whole time, but she kept on getting in her own way. In one fell swoop, the writers had missed an opportunity to develop Rean and Juna’s characters by writing out the need for them to reach a mutual understanding. This wasn’t the first time the writers had failed to develop Rean’s character by not following up on seeds of character backstory they’d planted earlier either.
I use this moment as an example because in spite of my melodramatic musings earlier, I still enjoyed Cold Steel III more often than I didn’t. I’m just disappointed, because there are moments where you can see that if they took things in a slightly different direction, Cold Steel III could easily be among the best in the series.
I think the biggest problem Cold Steel III suffers from is being a direct sequel to Cold Steel I and II. Juna is an infinitely more interesting protagonist than Rean from the get-go for reasons already established, and if this was the start of the arc, the game could’ve zeroed in on its worldbuilding strengths by making the conflict center around Erebonia’s apparent attempts at world domination. Instead, Cold Steel III is the third game in the arc, and thus Rean has to be protagonists, the game has to follow the repetitive structure of the field studies, and the writers have to build upon all the set up with the witches and the Gnomes from the first two games. I was never a fan of the witches and Gnomes to begin with, because in concept alone I dislike the idea of magic separate from the Orbment system and the Sept-Terrions existing in Zemuria. It doesn’t contradict canon per se, but the Liberl and Crossbell arcs never alluded to the existence of such a thing, so to me it seems out-of-place. For that reason, the game kind of lost me at the very end when it revealed that the whole of Erebonia was literally cursed. What does that mean? What are you talking about? The Erebonia arc is collapsing under the weight of its own lore, and Cold Steel III is an innocent victim.
Cold Steel III is a lot like Persona 4 where I’m inclined to call it a good game in spite of its glaring flaws. If the Erebonia arc is Trails’ attempt at a more character-focused story, this is the first game where they more or less succeed in doing that. The New Class VII absolutely saves this game. It’s just a shame that they couldn’t save the plot.
Then slowly but surely, Cold Steel III loses its mind.
Playing through the first two chapters, it seemed like the game was setting up a conflict between Rean and Juna. Juna’s home had been colonized, and Rean had helped colonize it. It makes perfect sense that she would hold a grudge against him, and the fact that he’s her teacher only enhances the drama. Then there’s Rean himself, who at the end of Cold Steel II was clearly expressing doubts about his own role in Crossbell’s occupation and his general cooperation with the Imperial Government. I thought the game was going to use their dynamic as a way for Rean to work through his colonizer guilt and develop alongside Juna. Imagine my surprise, then, when towards the end of chapter 2 it’s revealed that Rean actually saved the lives of Juna and her siblings, Juna harboring no ill will towards him whatsoever. In fact, she had wanted to thank him this whole time, but she kept on getting in her own way. In one fell swoop, the writers had missed an opportunity to develop Rean and Juna’s characters by writing out the need for them to reach a mutual understanding. This wasn’t the first time the writers had failed to develop Rean’s character by not following up on seeds of character backstory they’d planted earlier either.
I use this moment as an example because in spite of my melodramatic musings earlier, I still enjoyed Cold Steel III more often than I didn’t. I’m just disappointed, because there are moments where you can see that if they took things in a slightly different direction, Cold Steel III could easily be among the best in the series.
I think the biggest problem Cold Steel III suffers from is being a direct sequel to Cold Steel I and II. Juna is an infinitely more interesting protagonist than Rean from the get-go for reasons already established, and if this was the start of the arc, the game could’ve zeroed in on its worldbuilding strengths by making the conflict center around Erebonia’s apparent attempts at world domination. Instead, Cold Steel III is the third game in the arc, and thus Rean has to be protagonists, the game has to follow the repetitive structure of the field studies, and the writers have to build upon all the set up with the witches and the Gnomes from the first two games. I was never a fan of the witches and Gnomes to begin with, because in concept alone I dislike the idea of magic separate from the Orbment system and the Sept-Terrions existing in Zemuria. It doesn’t contradict canon per se, but the Liberl and Crossbell arcs never alluded to the existence of such a thing, so to me it seems out-of-place. For that reason, the game kind of lost me at the very end when it revealed that the whole of Erebonia was literally cursed. What does that mean? What are you talking about? The Erebonia arc is collapsing under the weight of its own lore, and Cold Steel III is an innocent victim.
Cold Steel III is a lot like Persona 4 where I’m inclined to call it a good game in spite of its glaring flaws. If the Erebonia arc is Trails’ attempt at a more character-focused story, this is the first game where they more or less succeed in doing that. The New Class VII absolutely saves this game. It’s just a shame that they couldn’t save the plot.
Deltarune: Chapter 2
2021
It's not bad, but it feels like a downgrade from Chapter 1 and that's probably primarily because Chapter 1 of Deltarune felt like something fresh and new compared to Undertale whereas this felt like more of the same. I liked it, don't get me wrong, but if I said it was worth the wait I'd be lying. Hoping for improvements in the future chapters though
Edit: Didn't think the review would get any traction whatsoever, but people are asking me to elaborate so. Undertale and Deltarune are extremely different games that both have a unique identity. When Deltarune Chapter 1 came out it felt so cool and worth the wait because not only do you see the characters and world that you missed, but the game also feels like a new experience that is completely separate from Undertale. As far as Deltarune CH2 goes, I didn't feel that at all, it just felt as though I waited 3 years for a patch to Deltarune. That's because Deltarune was released as an unfinished game, and that remains the case here. When Chapter 1 was released Toby said that the next release was going to be the full game, which obviously was not true. Is this preferable to getting a full game release in 2036? Maybe, but it still feels like a letdown when you think about it that way.
Again, the game is not bad, by any means (although I do think that the writing is worse than in Ch1 and significantly worse than in Undertale) it is a nice little game that is fun to play but that's it. The lasting impact that was left from Undertale in particular is not there.
Edit 2: Undertale/Deltarune fandom is insufferable so just gonna delete the annoying comments and disable commenting. Some people cannot accept an opinion that doesn't align with their own unfortunately. It's crazy because I literally LIKE THIS GAME and am a huge fan of Undertale, but because I didn't give this game a 5/5 stars rating I get mauled by rabid obsessed fans. Yes I know about the "Pipis Route" btw
Edit: Didn't think the review would get any traction whatsoever, but people are asking me to elaborate so. Undertale and Deltarune are extremely different games that both have a unique identity. When Deltarune Chapter 1 came out it felt so cool and worth the wait because not only do you see the characters and world that you missed, but the game also feels like a new experience that is completely separate from Undertale. As far as Deltarune CH2 goes, I didn't feel that at all, it just felt as though I waited 3 years for a patch to Deltarune. That's because Deltarune was released as an unfinished game, and that remains the case here. When Chapter 1 was released Toby said that the next release was going to be the full game, which obviously was not true. Is this preferable to getting a full game release in 2036? Maybe, but it still feels like a letdown when you think about it that way.
Again, the game is not bad, by any means (although I do think that the writing is worse than in Ch1 and significantly worse than in Undertale) it is a nice little game that is fun to play but that's it. The lasting impact that was left from Undertale in particular is not there.
Edit 2: Undertale/Deltarune fandom is insufferable so just gonna delete the annoying comments and disable commenting. Some people cannot accept an opinion that doesn't align with their own unfortunately. It's crazy because I literally LIKE THIS GAME and am a huge fan of Undertale, but because I didn't give this game a 5/5 stars rating I get mauled by rabid obsessed fans. Yes I know about the "Pipis Route" btw
This review contains spoilers
It's difficult for me to judge this game when compared to the first. Overall, story/writing wise, I would personally say that the first game trumps this one by a pretty noticeable margin. However, this game added upgrades in the gameplay department, with a wide selection of new Somniums that have interesting and fun gameplay mechanics. I won't lie, there were particular Somniums that frustrated me more than anything and felt unpolished (namely the Bibi Somnium) but it's hard for me to judge how much of that is faulty mechanics/design and how much of it is just me making mistakes. With that in mind I'm not judging that too harshly, I think the gameplay is without a doubt upgraded from the first game. This includes the Somniums as well as Investigation sequences. I don't care for QTE events but I didn't in the first game either, that's just a personal preference.
Getting into the story, I'm not going to do a super deep dive into either game's story but I will say that in my personal opinion I thought the first game's plot was more well written and had much more interesting and satisfying plot twists. It also felt to me that this game has a lot more "fluff" or "filler" than the first game did, which I see as a negative.
Additionally, as far as new characters to this game go, I can't say I cared much for the additions overall. The game sort of baits you into thinking that Ryuki is going to be much more interesting than he actually is. Not a big fan of Tama either, she just feels like budget horny Aiba and has way less of a personality than her. As far as the new characters in the supporting cast go, I liked Bibi, Gen, Amame (not technically a new character but you get what I mean) and Tokiko. Tokiko was a character that really surprised me with how intriguing she was and the "nil number" was rent free in my head the whole game until I got it. Apart from those though, I couldn't care less for Shoma/Komeji, I thought perhaps the game was building towards a romantic subplot with Mizuki and Shoma but nothing of the sort happens. Komeji is impossible for me to take seriously because they gave him a square head for no reason but I didn't really think he was well written anyways. I found the Kizuna/Lien story very cliche and cheesy (albeit cute at times) and wasn't exactly enthralled by it either. The first game also had a similar problem of having some weak members of the supporting cast, but I felt like I was really into every character that got a route (I didn't like Ota, but thought his route/ending were very good). Not the case this time. As you could surmise from my earlier statements, I thought Komeji/Shoma ending was the worst, and I didn't personally care for the Kizuna/Lien ending either. Also, hate to say it, but Iris's song is way better than Kizuna's.
The tribute to 999 that you unlock after completing the secret ending honestly made me consider raising my rating. I audibly laughed at that, it was amazing.
All in all, since these games are so heavily story driven, that is the main thing I have to judge the game off of. With that said, I do think that overall I liked the first game better, with story being the determining factor. I enjoyed this game though and would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the first.
Getting into the story, I'm not going to do a super deep dive into either game's story but I will say that in my personal opinion I thought the first game's plot was more well written and had much more interesting and satisfying plot twists. It also felt to me that this game has a lot more "fluff" or "filler" than the first game did, which I see as a negative.
Additionally, as far as new characters to this game go, I can't say I cared much for the additions overall. The game sort of baits you into thinking that Ryuki is going to be much more interesting than he actually is. Not a big fan of Tama either, she just feels like budget horny Aiba and has way less of a personality than her. As far as the new characters in the supporting cast go, I liked Bibi, Gen, Amame (not technically a new character but you get what I mean) and Tokiko. Tokiko was a character that really surprised me with how intriguing she was and the "nil number" was rent free in my head the whole game until I got it. Apart from those though, I couldn't care less for Shoma/Komeji, I thought perhaps the game was building towards a romantic subplot with Mizuki and Shoma but nothing of the sort happens. Komeji is impossible for me to take seriously because they gave him a square head for no reason but I didn't really think he was well written anyways. I found the Kizuna/Lien story very cliche and cheesy (albeit cute at times) and wasn't exactly enthralled by it either. The first game also had a similar problem of having some weak members of the supporting cast, but I felt like I was really into every character that got a route (I didn't like Ota, but thought his route/ending were very good). Not the case this time. As you could surmise from my earlier statements, I thought Komeji/Shoma ending was the worst, and I didn't personally care for the Kizuna/Lien ending either. Also, hate to say it, but Iris's song is way better than Kizuna's.
The tribute to 999 that you unlock after completing the secret ending honestly made me consider raising my rating. I audibly laughed at that, it was amazing.
All in all, since these games are so heavily story driven, that is the main thing I have to judge the game off of. With that said, I do think that overall I liked the first game better, with story being the determining factor. I enjoyed this game though and would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the first.
the ending stunlocked me
edit: to elaborate further, this series is AMAZING and this game did not disappoint. because i played CS1-CS2 first and then went back to Sky, there actually was around a 2 year gap for me between CS2 and CS3, which made the time jump feel much more real to me lmao. i guess that's a benefit of that play order. needless to say, getting back into cold steel was extremely satisfying and reuniting with the old class VII hit super hard, not to mention all the guest appearances from liberl/crossbell and the new class VII are no slouches either. the character cast in this series is immaculate and it really shines in this game. they really stepped it up with the gameplay too, adding fun new mechanics like Break and Orders to the already good combat system present in the previous CS games.
if I had to name any gripe whatsoever it would be that the late game is a bit too easy once you get access to really broken resources like the domination quartz / hades gem etc... makes some key fights near the end pretty anticlimactic when you can kill them all before they even have a chance to attack. naturally though if i wanted more challenge i could've just played on nightmare difficulty or not abused the game to its core lmao, for what it's worth i think this is only a problem later in the game and that the difficulty curve through the early-mid game is fine
furthermore the ending, while crazy, IS a cliffhanger ending that leaves many loose ends untied which is fine as a stylistic choice for the series but does knock it slightly for my overall opinion of this game specifically personally since it's not the complete package.
all in all, to this point I would say this is currently my 2nd favorite game in the whole series just behind trails to azure. lots of potential for CS4
edit: to elaborate further, this series is AMAZING and this game did not disappoint. because i played CS1-CS2 first and then went back to Sky, there actually was around a 2 year gap for me between CS2 and CS3, which made the time jump feel much more real to me lmao. i guess that's a benefit of that play order. needless to say, getting back into cold steel was extremely satisfying and reuniting with the old class VII hit super hard, not to mention all the guest appearances from liberl/crossbell and the new class VII are no slouches either. the character cast in this series is immaculate and it really shines in this game. they really stepped it up with the gameplay too, adding fun new mechanics like Break and Orders to the already good combat system present in the previous CS games.
if I had to name any gripe whatsoever it would be that the late game is a bit too easy once you get access to really broken resources like the domination quartz / hades gem etc... makes some key fights near the end pretty anticlimactic when you can kill them all before they even have a chance to attack. naturally though if i wanted more challenge i could've just played on nightmare difficulty or not abused the game to its core lmao, for what it's worth i think this is only a problem later in the game and that the difficulty curve through the early-mid game is fine
furthermore the ending, while crazy, IS a cliffhanger ending that leaves many loose ends untied which is fine as a stylistic choice for the series but does knock it slightly for my overall opinion of this game specifically personally since it's not the complete package.
all in all, to this point I would say this is currently my 2nd favorite game in the whole series just behind trails to azure. lots of potential for CS4