conflict
82 Reviews liked by conflict
Huh???
This series has taken over my life
Rune Factory 5
2021
im in the middle of my first playthrough of this game and i think that's a testament to how 'meh' it is considering i've owned it for over a year and i typically plow through the main story of rune factory titles quickly and obsessively.
it's not a bad game, don't get me wrong, but unquestionably could have been SO much better. rune factory 5 feels outright lacking in many spots and unpolished in others- i stand with others saying that locations and buildings feel empty in a way previous titles haven't, combat is overwhelmingly mediocre, and a lot feels pieced together rather than a cohesive whole. overall i just find myself mourning what this game could have been if executed better. my interest is kept afloat solely by charm and love for the series a lot of times while playing. what shines the most to me though is the characters, i like them, i like interacting with them, but again they feel flatter than, say, rf4 (ESPECIALLY daily dialogue), and it's not enough to balance out the flaws.
(that wouldn't have been true if they'd just had terry as a marriage candidate . this review would've gone up by a whole point at least)
it's not a bad game, don't get me wrong, but unquestionably could have been SO much better. rune factory 5 feels outright lacking in many spots and unpolished in others- i stand with others saying that locations and buildings feel empty in a way previous titles haven't, combat is overwhelmingly mediocre, and a lot feels pieced together rather than a cohesive whole. overall i just find myself mourning what this game could have been if executed better. my interest is kept afloat solely by charm and love for the series a lot of times while playing. what shines the most to me though is the characters, i like them, i like interacting with them, but again they feel flatter than, say, rf4 (ESPECIALLY daily dialogue), and it's not enough to balance out the flaws.
(that wouldn't have been true if they'd just had terry as a marriage candidate . this review would've gone up by a whole point at least)
is his name really battler
Final Fantasy XVI
2023
This review contains spoilers
Man this game was a mixed bag for me.
I wanna preface this whole thing with the comment that I don't have a PS5 so I watched my friend play; if I had been playing it for myself this could have easily added another star onto my review. The combat looks absolutely incredible and the SPECTACLE of it all, especially in the eikon fights, is second to none. However, I do not have a PS5, so any fun I might've had actually playing the game is, well, sadly irrelevant. It's a shame too because it looks really fun to play for yourself.
Another positive: the music! It's amazing, which is not at all surprising given Soken worked on it. Jill's theme and the pre-boss-prelude were my two favorites.
The line deliveries were amazing. Each voice actor really put their all into it. I wasn't particularly attached to any of the characters by the end but I still did get a little choked up over the scene with Joshua and Clive and Jill's realization that Clive wouldn't be coming home.
If I talk too much about my problems with the story of the game this review would be a billion paragraphs long so I'm not gonna bother. It's frustrating to be given the broad strokes of something that, if it had only a little more time, could truly be great, but instead we're given a bunch of sort-of-fleshed out ideas that never really land. The story can't decide if it wants to be about Joshua and Clive, Clive's healing, or Clive's found family, so it tries to be about all three of these things and gets pulled in different ways that really hurt the story. We don't get to see Clive and Joshua reconnect much after their reunion, and any reasoning for Joshua being gone for so long completely falls apart when it's revealed that he never actually learned much about Ultima while he was travelling with Jote. We don't see any of the personal healing or self-doubt Clive experiences, he just gets talked at by Cid and any of his deeper growth happens off-screen during the timeskips. We don't see Clive form any meaningful bonds with the people he's supposed to be helping beyond doing fetch quests for them. It's a shame, because the game wants you to believe that his bonds are the backbone of his character, but it doesn't give the audience any real ways to connect to them until the very end with the completely optional sidequests, which were easily some of my favorite parts of the game. Why is Gav's backstory completely left in shadow until this very moment? Understanding that he was part of a big family that was taken away by the empire on the day of his little sister's birth puts his awkwardness with emotional situations (i.e. when Clive tried to hug him earlier on in the story) in an entirely different light, but you get this character note at the very end of the game--or not at all, if you didn't meet the prerequisites. Why do I learn that Jill promised herself she'd only cry in front of the moon only in her optional sidequest? Arrrgh!!!!!!
Basically, all of my interest in the characters was extremely limited to my fondness of their archetypes from previous JRPG experience. I wish there had been more meaningful scenes interspersed through the game. Everyone, even Joshua, feels incredibly underbaked compared to Clive, and even Clive's motivations just seem to come from a place of "I got talked at by a father figure so I'm good now." Sometimes he mentions he's doubting himself, but we never see him act on that doubt in a conscientious way (i.e. the 1 minute part where Joshua has to travel into Clive's mind to remind him of who he is--imo this would have landed much better as a short playable section as 'Wyvern' Clive like the beginning of the game). He just says "I'm not sure if this is right," and we go, "Oh ok."
Jill gets some interesting stuff about halfway through, but they hardly elaborate on her personal feelings beyond "I have to kill the guy who made me into a monster," and then they shelf her immediately to get kidnapped a few times.
The other characters, notably Dion and Barnabas, are obviously designed to be foils to Clive in some way, but they go so painfully unrealized that they don't land at all. Also, how can Eikons just make dudes? Does this not parallel what Ultima did to make humanity in a way? But I digress. Anyway, Barnabas had me reflecting on my time with FFXV and when people were calling Ardyn the most boring villain...augh!!
Do not get me started on the way the game talks about Elwin. Fuck that guy, I don't care, stop making me hear about how he was a good guy because he was "nice" to his slaves.
The tone of the game is all over the place. I'm fine with swearing but every time someone said "fuck" in this game I could not stop laughing. If you're going to show us some naked people in bed getting jiggy with it then stop with the funny camera angles to obscure a woman's boobs. We're adults here, we can handle a little nipple. Stuff like this makes the tone of the game feel a little weird, like XVI wants to be "grittier" but it's too embarrassed to commit to that. And then we get Clive punching Ultima in the face at the end of the fight (which admittedly was awesome but something I would more expect from, well, Devil May Cry).
I know this review is mostly negative so I just wanna stress that I really had a lot of FUN with the game and hanging out and watching my friend play it (#CLIVEHIVE), but I don't think it's very good, and I'm glad I didn't buy it. In comparison to the previous entry, FFXV, which I think is a similarly bad game, at least FFXV got me attached to the main cast, and that attachment made me cry at the end--in XVI's case I was mostly left feeling empty, and wistful for something more that it just didn't deliver.
Cid is so fine. Thank you
I wanna preface this whole thing with the comment that I don't have a PS5 so I watched my friend play; if I had been playing it for myself this could have easily added another star onto my review. The combat looks absolutely incredible and the SPECTACLE of it all, especially in the eikon fights, is second to none. However, I do not have a PS5, so any fun I might've had actually playing the game is, well, sadly irrelevant. It's a shame too because it looks really fun to play for yourself.
Another positive: the music! It's amazing, which is not at all surprising given Soken worked on it. Jill's theme and the pre-boss-prelude were my two favorites.
The line deliveries were amazing. Each voice actor really put their all into it. I wasn't particularly attached to any of the characters by the end but I still did get a little choked up over the scene with Joshua and Clive and Jill's realization that Clive wouldn't be coming home.
If I talk too much about my problems with the story of the game this review would be a billion paragraphs long so I'm not gonna bother. It's frustrating to be given the broad strokes of something that, if it had only a little more time, could truly be great, but instead we're given a bunch of sort-of-fleshed out ideas that never really land. The story can't decide if it wants to be about Joshua and Clive, Clive's healing, or Clive's found family, so it tries to be about all three of these things and gets pulled in different ways that really hurt the story. We don't get to see Clive and Joshua reconnect much after their reunion, and any reasoning for Joshua being gone for so long completely falls apart when it's revealed that he never actually learned much about Ultima while he was travelling with Jote. We don't see any of the personal healing or self-doubt Clive experiences, he just gets talked at by Cid and any of his deeper growth happens off-screen during the timeskips. We don't see Clive form any meaningful bonds with the people he's supposed to be helping beyond doing fetch quests for them. It's a shame, because the game wants you to believe that his bonds are the backbone of his character, but it doesn't give the audience any real ways to connect to them until the very end with the completely optional sidequests, which were easily some of my favorite parts of the game. Why is Gav's backstory completely left in shadow until this very moment? Understanding that he was part of a big family that was taken away by the empire on the day of his little sister's birth puts his awkwardness with emotional situations (i.e. when Clive tried to hug him earlier on in the story) in an entirely different light, but you get this character note at the very end of the game--or not at all, if you didn't meet the prerequisites. Why do I learn that Jill promised herself she'd only cry in front of the moon only in her optional sidequest? Arrrgh!!!!!!
Basically, all of my interest in the characters was extremely limited to my fondness of their archetypes from previous JRPG experience. I wish there had been more meaningful scenes interspersed through the game. Everyone, even Joshua, feels incredibly underbaked compared to Clive, and even Clive's motivations just seem to come from a place of "I got talked at by a father figure so I'm good now." Sometimes he mentions he's doubting himself, but we never see him act on that doubt in a conscientious way (i.e. the 1 minute part where Joshua has to travel into Clive's mind to remind him of who he is--imo this would have landed much better as a short playable section as 'Wyvern' Clive like the beginning of the game). He just says "I'm not sure if this is right," and we go, "Oh ok."
Jill gets some interesting stuff about halfway through, but they hardly elaborate on her personal feelings beyond "I have to kill the guy who made me into a monster," and then they shelf her immediately to get kidnapped a few times.
The other characters, notably Dion and Barnabas, are obviously designed to be foils to Clive in some way, but they go so painfully unrealized that they don't land at all. Also, how can Eikons just make dudes? Does this not parallel what Ultima did to make humanity in a way? But I digress. Anyway, Barnabas had me reflecting on my time with FFXV and when people were calling Ardyn the most boring villain...augh!!
Do not get me started on the way the game talks about Elwin. Fuck that guy, I don't care, stop making me hear about how he was a good guy because he was "nice" to his slaves.
The tone of the game is all over the place. I'm fine with swearing but every time someone said "fuck" in this game I could not stop laughing. If you're going to show us some naked people in bed getting jiggy with it then stop with the funny camera angles to obscure a woman's boobs. We're adults here, we can handle a little nipple. Stuff like this makes the tone of the game feel a little weird, like XVI wants to be "grittier" but it's too embarrassed to commit to that. And then we get Clive punching Ultima in the face at the end of the fight (which admittedly was awesome but something I would more expect from, well, Devil May Cry).
I know this review is mostly negative so I just wanna stress that I really had a lot of FUN with the game and hanging out and watching my friend play it (#CLIVEHIVE), but I don't think it's very good, and I'm glad I didn't buy it. In comparison to the previous entry, FFXV, which I think is a similarly bad game, at least FFXV got me attached to the main cast, and that attachment made me cry at the end--in XVI's case I was mostly left feeling empty, and wistful for something more that it just didn't deliver.
Cid is so fine. Thank you
Devil May Cry
2001
Still getting my ass kicked by Nightmare 3 as I log this. Whatever. Don't be fooled by the 3 star rating and the pain in my metaphorical-text-voice this is the best game ever made
EDIT: I gave up on Nightmare 3
EDIT: I gave up on Nightmare 3
This review contains spoilers
Honestly I liked this game a lot more than I was expecting to, especially after the negativity it got on social media after coming out. I'm really glad I gave it a shot especially since the first game is one of my favorites.
I feel like the game will do that much better as a TV show if they adapt it and smooth over some of the problems I had; for example, as narratively strong as Abby is, asking your audience to play and control a character who is singlehandedly responsible for decimating the relationship of your beloved original two characters (and the other characters they care about) is kind of a tall order. But there's something to be said in the difference between "playing" as a character and simply observing their perspective on the screen in a TV show, and I think that alone would help smooth over the sort of...whiplash? I experienced from this initial switch.
Despite everything I just said I think Abby's section is completely necessary for the game's pacing and to highlight Abby's humanity--by which I mean literal "humanity" not just her "goodness".
Abby is made to mirror Joel so directly it can feel a little ham-fisted at parts, but just like Joel in TLOU1, Abby wants to stop being the (frankly bad and unliked) person she has been her whole life, and desires to find new purpose by protecting and guiding Lev. Abby is basically what Joel is on the opposite side of the battle. I think the hate she gets is pretty unwarranted. And honestly I think it's kind of funny since everyone loves Joel so much but hates Abby. They have literally the exact same personality. Which isn't really to say I was or am a bona fide Abby defender. By the time the final section of the game rolled around I had warmed up to her, but I was a little annoyed that the game expected us to empathize with her right off the bat and to give her the same grace we had been giving Ellie + Joel after everything.
The game's core is in its flashbacks and I think the slow reveal overtime of Ellie's spiral stemming from her inability to forgive Joel and not something as simple as Joel's demise is really really really good. Ellie wanting to kill Abby so badly isn't so much about Abby killing Joel, it's that Ellie feels guilty for pushing Joel away after learning about what happened in the hospital, even if she can't forgive him for that, even though she wants to, because at the end of the day they're the only two people who can really truly understand the other. Ellie wants to forgive Joel, and Abby strips that chance from her like the day after she makes it, so Ellie jumps headfirst into the warpath for closure, and I think the way it shifts away from it being about "Joel" and more about Ellie's personal sense of guilt and responsibility is really good.
I remember a lot of people being pissed about Ellie deciding not to kill Abby and essentially chalking it up to Ellie forgiving Abby. I don't read this decision as Ellie forgiving Abby but being the moment when Ellie finally realizes that Joel is gone, and in her quest to kill Abby she has truly become alone, which as we know from TLOU1 is her biggest fear. Joel is gone and she will never have the chance to forgive (or try to forgive) him. Killing Abby won't get that chance back. It will only further divide her from everyone. And that's why I think Ellie lets Abby go. I remember a lot of people being like "The game is like ooo revenge and attacking people who hurt you bad" but I don't think it's even really a revenge narrative. It's about Ellie outwardly directing her self-disgust.
The discourse I saw about the game being really transphobic purely because the game includes a trans person in it is frankly ridiculous; Lev is done so much justice by the people who matter in the story. Yeah, it kind of sucks that transphobia still exists in the apocalypse, but you kill all the transphobes and empower Lev to be his true self. Which I think is a far more authentic story to tell. I can get the discomfort but wow people were making it sound like Lev is being constantly misgendered and belittled by the main cast all the time.
I wasn't playing for myself but the combat seems like a vast improvement from TLOU1. It looks weighty and punchy and the animation is frankly stellar all around. Facial animations, the guitar animations, etc. The direction in the last fight in the water especially is crazy impressive.
This game is going to have an MGS2 moment in about 10 years where everyone realizes it was good actually
I feel like the game will do that much better as a TV show if they adapt it and smooth over some of the problems I had; for example, as narratively strong as Abby is, asking your audience to play and control a character who is singlehandedly responsible for decimating the relationship of your beloved original two characters (and the other characters they care about) is kind of a tall order. But there's something to be said in the difference between "playing" as a character and simply observing their perspective on the screen in a TV show, and I think that alone would help smooth over the sort of...whiplash? I experienced from this initial switch.
Despite everything I just said I think Abby's section is completely necessary for the game's pacing and to highlight Abby's humanity--by which I mean literal "humanity" not just her "goodness".
Abby is made to mirror Joel so directly it can feel a little ham-fisted at parts, but just like Joel in TLOU1, Abby wants to stop being the (frankly bad and unliked) person she has been her whole life, and desires to find new purpose by protecting and guiding Lev. Abby is basically what Joel is on the opposite side of the battle. I think the hate she gets is pretty unwarranted. And honestly I think it's kind of funny since everyone loves Joel so much but hates Abby. They have literally the exact same personality. Which isn't really to say I was or am a bona fide Abby defender. By the time the final section of the game rolled around I had warmed up to her, but I was a little annoyed that the game expected us to empathize with her right off the bat and to give her the same grace we had been giving Ellie + Joel after everything.
The game's core is in its flashbacks and I think the slow reveal overtime of Ellie's spiral stemming from her inability to forgive Joel and not something as simple as Joel's demise is really really really good. Ellie wanting to kill Abby so badly isn't so much about Abby killing Joel, it's that Ellie feels guilty for pushing Joel away after learning about what happened in the hospital, even if she can't forgive him for that, even though she wants to, because at the end of the day they're the only two people who can really truly understand the other. Ellie wants to forgive Joel, and Abby strips that chance from her like the day after she makes it, so Ellie jumps headfirst into the warpath for closure, and I think the way it shifts away from it being about "Joel" and more about Ellie's personal sense of guilt and responsibility is really good.
I remember a lot of people being pissed about Ellie deciding not to kill Abby and essentially chalking it up to Ellie forgiving Abby. I don't read this decision as Ellie forgiving Abby but being the moment when Ellie finally realizes that Joel is gone, and in her quest to kill Abby she has truly become alone, which as we know from TLOU1 is her biggest fear. Joel is gone and she will never have the chance to forgive (or try to forgive) him. Killing Abby won't get that chance back. It will only further divide her from everyone. And that's why I think Ellie lets Abby go. I remember a lot of people being like "The game is like ooo revenge and attacking people who hurt you bad" but I don't think it's even really a revenge narrative. It's about Ellie outwardly directing her self-disgust.
The discourse I saw about the game being really transphobic purely because the game includes a trans person in it is frankly ridiculous; Lev is done so much justice by the people who matter in the story. Yeah, it kind of sucks that transphobia still exists in the apocalypse, but you kill all the transphobes and empower Lev to be his true self. Which I think is a far more authentic story to tell. I can get the discomfort but wow people were making it sound like Lev is being constantly misgendered and belittled by the main cast all the time.
I wasn't playing for myself but the combat seems like a vast improvement from TLOU1. It looks weighty and punchy and the animation is frankly stellar all around. Facial animations, the guitar animations, etc. The direction in the last fight in the water especially is crazy impressive.
This game is going to have an MGS2 moment in about 10 years where everyone realizes it was good actually
Since the thing that stood out to me the most from Heavensward was 3.4, I knew I was going to like Shadowbringers, but I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. It fully blew me away.
On account of having social media accounts I have seen Emet-Selch literally everywhere and I knew he was the sort of character I'd enjoy, and I picked up the game for him and him alone, but even with all that in mind I severely underestimated how much I was really going to love the guy. But Shadowbringers is strong, even without him, and my favorite part of the entire game (5.3) doesn't even feature him (unless you wanna be nitpicky about Seat of Sacrifice).
ShB says hold on tight, we're going to talk about grief now, and it does so within the first 10 or so quests, which is really nice compared to HVW and STB which take a while to ramp up their respective plots. And it does NOT hold any punches. Towards the end of my time with ShB I was crying pretty much every time I was playing. Did I mention 5.3?
ShB recontextualizes pretty much every mid JRPG choice XIV made into something far more poignant and special for its particular narrative, the Echo being the strongest example IMO, but concepts such as light and dark also shine here -- and again, have I mentioned 5.3?
Semi-vague list of things I loved:
Emet. Duh. Everything about him. I love him.
5.3. In case I haven't said it enough.
Ryne and Thancred's arc.
Ran'jit is the strongest side villain imo.
Ardbert's arc. The moment at the end of 5.0 yeah you know the one. HYPE
The music that plays in Amaurot. I was fully expecting some final stretch JRPG music. Instead we are given a somber, yet wistful song backdropped by the sound of the clock ticking, which really accentuates the tragedy of Emet's character.
Any scene with Seto. I was sobbing every time
The role quests (I cheated here and watched the role quests on YouTube bc I could NOT be bothered to try and learn one of every class ok but they are still SO good)
The Exarch and specifically the way he juggles duty/responsibility vs his desire of being youthful at heart. A very fun personality dynamic at play in this guy. I will miss this in Endwalker.
THE MUSIC IN AMH ARAENG
More dialogue options as the WoL!! Thank god!!!
And finally, the dialogue in general. What a massive upgrade. I started taking screenshots just so I could remember some of the quotes I loved.
Anyways, this was entirely worth all of the build-up in XIV's prior expacs, and the writing is so strong that I ended up streaming a bit of the end of 5.0 for a friend who knows little to nothing about XIV except for what I've told them and even THEY were emotionally impacted by its narrative. THAT SAID, I have a ton of free time after work so it was easy for me to load up the game and play a little bit each day to get to this point. The best thing I can recommend to people who want the ShB experience but are way busier than me is that they go play one of the two Nier games (I like Replicant more) since they will also eviscerate you emotionally and they tackle a lot of the same themes as ShB.
I am REALLY excited for Endwalker.
On account of having social media accounts I have seen Emet-Selch literally everywhere and I knew he was the sort of character I'd enjoy, and I picked up the game for him and him alone, but even with all that in mind I severely underestimated how much I was really going to love the guy. But Shadowbringers is strong, even without him, and my favorite part of the entire game (5.3) doesn't even feature him (unless you wanna be nitpicky about Seat of Sacrifice).
ShB says hold on tight, we're going to talk about grief now, and it does so within the first 10 or so quests, which is really nice compared to HVW and STB which take a while to ramp up their respective plots. And it does NOT hold any punches. Towards the end of my time with ShB I was crying pretty much every time I was playing. Did I mention 5.3?
ShB recontextualizes pretty much every mid JRPG choice XIV made into something far more poignant and special for its particular narrative, the Echo being the strongest example IMO, but concepts such as light and dark also shine here -- and again, have I mentioned 5.3?
Semi-vague list of things I loved:
Emet. Duh. Everything about him. I love him.
5.3. In case I haven't said it enough.
Ryne and Thancred's arc.
Ran'jit is the strongest side villain imo.
Ardbert's arc. The moment at the end of 5.0 yeah you know the one. HYPE
The music that plays in Amaurot. I was fully expecting some final stretch JRPG music. Instead we are given a somber, yet wistful song backdropped by the sound of the clock ticking, which really accentuates the tragedy of Emet's character.
Any scene with Seto. I was sobbing every time
The role quests (I cheated here and watched the role quests on YouTube bc I could NOT be bothered to try and learn one of every class ok but they are still SO good)
The Exarch and specifically the way he juggles duty/responsibility vs his desire of being youthful at heart. A very fun personality dynamic at play in this guy. I will miss this in Endwalker.
THE MUSIC IN AMH ARAENG
More dialogue options as the WoL!! Thank god!!!
And finally, the dialogue in general. What a massive upgrade. I started taking screenshots just so I could remember some of the quotes I loved.
Anyways, this was entirely worth all of the build-up in XIV's prior expacs, and the writing is so strong that I ended up streaming a bit of the end of 5.0 for a friend who knows little to nothing about XIV except for what I've told them and even THEY were emotionally impacted by its narrative. THAT SAID, I have a ton of free time after work so it was easy for me to load up the game and play a little bit each day to get to this point. The best thing I can recommend to people who want the ShB experience but are way busier than me is that they go play one of the two Nier games (I like Replicant more) since they will also eviscerate you emotionally and they tackle a lot of the same themes as ShB.
I am REALLY excited for Endwalker.
Yoko Taro makes experiences that stick in the mind and heart. I am gonna miss Kainé, Emil, Yonah and Weiss.
Thanks for the trip!
Thanks for the trip!
If it wasn't for the button controls I don't think I would have been able to beat this game. But I did enjoy this game a lot. The only thing that bothered me was the tons of backtracking the game has. But It did feel good to complete it with one of my favorite Zelda finals and one of the best stories in a Zelda game.
Genshin Impact
2020
god i want to like this game so bad, i really do but theres so much things wrong with it, I love the concept/story/characters/map, but leveling is such a grind it makes the game not even fun and i cant even play with people 5 levels ahead or behind me😐
Sonic Heroes
2003
I don't like saying this but I actually kinda love this game despite how janky it is
it has soul
(don't play the PS2 version though)
it has soul
(don't play the PS2 version though)
Persona 4 Golden
2012
It's alright but the gameplay was really grating on me even compared to the likes of Persona 3, I like a decent portion of the cast though
Literally the most boring Danganronpa game by a long shot
This game has 2 good trials and those are 1 and 5
The rest is hot garbage
This game has 2 good trials and those are 1 and 5
The rest is hot garbage
the worst falcom game to date.
cs4 is filled with trite, worthless filler (act 1-2), and character writing that borders on parody. act 2 is abyss fiction with conflict so forced that the villains themselves cannot even justify the reason for it. act 3 sucks and relies on the shitty plot device (the curse) to move the plot along. the curse is one of the worst written plot devices in all of fiction, being able to do basically anything the writers want by taking away character agency. with the characters having their agency being manipulated by the curse, the writers can set up literally any sort of conflict they want regardless of whether or not the character would participate in said conflict. its like the blood pact from radiant dawn (if you know what that is good job) but applied to like over half the cast. but hey, why set up sidequests/plot points/character moments when you can just make the curse do it for you? it doesnt help that the central plot doesnt kick in until act 3.
the combat was decent but falcom cannot be bothered to balance their games anymore. with balancing the combat system would be excellent but even on nightmare the game is piss easy. the mech fights are pretty cool though
the bloated cast (16 main party members) means little to no character development occurs. the only stratifying character moments come from callbacks to older arcs. the entirety of oc7 and nc7 sucks outside of ash as alisha, the rest of the characters get no character developments or moments. the harem sucks and takes away agency from the women's character arcs. musse is actually a joke and i cannot believe that anyone can take this game seriously. juna being forced as the pseudo main character was awful in cs3 and is awful now: her corny speeches are so bad they offend me. like the rest of the female cast, her character arc is ruined because of the forced rean simping. she talks like she knows the SSS even though we have never seen this. not to mention they had to fucking RETCON HER INTO CROSSBELL BY MAKING NEW VERSIONS AND HER CHARACTER IS STILL SHIT. they just use pedo coom bait like altina to sell copies instead of write them arcs (altina gets no development she doesnt even grieve over the events in cs3 ending lmao). what a joke.
characters are brought back to life for no reason, which takes away from the stakes along with the horrible pacing. the continent is on the crux of war and u are in some fuckoff town taking strolls and running errands. the stakes are also fucked because the game gives every single fucking villain a redemption arc. your friend killed 3 people? no problem, we can save him using the power of friendship!!!!
the music is okay, unisuga made some bangers. i dont know how singa is controversial considering his mixing is worse than most armature music and is overall shit. they also play his awful music for hours on end, in fragments i think i had to listen to the same 3 singa songs loop for 3 hours straight and i had to turn down the volume because it was so bad.
the localization was okay, but full of bugs. a boss in act 2 only spoke japanese lol.
they did bring back a lot of older characters for fanservice, which was cool but a bit disappointing considering they dont show up for a purpose beyond fanservice and being there for the plot. i wish more of it was like renne in zero in how they actually continued her arc and weaved it into the plot, but hey with a cast that bloated u cant really do much.
why this game has a 4.0 is beyond me. i guess kiseki fans are so deep into this series that they cant bear to recognize the game has flaws.
cs4 is filled with trite, worthless filler (act 1-2), and character writing that borders on parody. act 2 is abyss fiction with conflict so forced that the villains themselves cannot even justify the reason for it. act 3 sucks and relies on the shitty plot device (the curse) to move the plot along. the curse is one of the worst written plot devices in all of fiction, being able to do basically anything the writers want by taking away character agency. with the characters having their agency being manipulated by the curse, the writers can set up literally any sort of conflict they want regardless of whether or not the character would participate in said conflict. its like the blood pact from radiant dawn (if you know what that is good job) but applied to like over half the cast. but hey, why set up sidequests/plot points/character moments when you can just make the curse do it for you? it doesnt help that the central plot doesnt kick in until act 3.
the combat was decent but falcom cannot be bothered to balance their games anymore. with balancing the combat system would be excellent but even on nightmare the game is piss easy. the mech fights are pretty cool though
the bloated cast (16 main party members) means little to no character development occurs. the only stratifying character moments come from callbacks to older arcs. the entirety of oc7 and nc7 sucks outside of ash as alisha, the rest of the characters get no character developments or moments. the harem sucks and takes away agency from the women's character arcs. musse is actually a joke and i cannot believe that anyone can take this game seriously. juna being forced as the pseudo main character was awful in cs3 and is awful now: her corny speeches are so bad they offend me. like the rest of the female cast, her character arc is ruined because of the forced rean simping. she talks like she knows the SSS even though we have never seen this. not to mention they had to fucking RETCON HER INTO CROSSBELL BY MAKING NEW VERSIONS AND HER CHARACTER IS STILL SHIT. they just use pedo coom bait like altina to sell copies instead of write them arcs (altina gets no development she doesnt even grieve over the events in cs3 ending lmao). what a joke.
characters are brought back to life for no reason, which takes away from the stakes along with the horrible pacing. the continent is on the crux of war and u are in some fuckoff town taking strolls and running errands. the stakes are also fucked because the game gives every single fucking villain a redemption arc. your friend killed 3 people? no problem, we can save him using the power of friendship!!!!
the music is okay, unisuga made some bangers. i dont know how singa is controversial considering his mixing is worse than most armature music and is overall shit. they also play his awful music for hours on end, in fragments i think i had to listen to the same 3 singa songs loop for 3 hours straight and i had to turn down the volume because it was so bad.
the localization was okay, but full of bugs. a boss in act 2 only spoke japanese lol.
they did bring back a lot of older characters for fanservice, which was cool but a bit disappointing considering they dont show up for a purpose beyond fanservice and being there for the plot. i wish more of it was like renne in zero in how they actually continued her arc and weaved it into the plot, but hey with a cast that bloated u cant really do much.
why this game has a 4.0 is beyond me. i guess kiseki fans are so deep into this series that they cant bear to recognize the game has flaws.