I think I could write a book on my thoughts, good and bad, for this game but I'll try to keep it short. I really liked it and enjoyed this game a ton. It's easily my favorite final fantasy.

The combat is stellar, the music is awesome, and the cast is great. As someone who doesn't like mini-games (especially when games force it in the story), I surprisingly enjoyed the mini-games with maybe only 2-3 exceptions. The boss fights were also amazing especially the final boss.

While I liked the ending, for the most part, unfortunately I think the story is a bit all over the place with pacing. It's still an enjoyable story but the pacing is weird and sometimes not good. Despite that, the fun gameplay and great character moments made up for it so it wasn't too much of a bother.

The open world was unfortunately very generic. I don't think it's bad but when I saw people hyping it up to be one of the best open world games ever, I was a bit disappointed. It's a generic checklist open world with a very predictable formula. Again, it's not bad but it just left me disappointed. Still enjoyed it though since there are some great moments with characters from doing the activities.

I'm excited for Part 3 and hopefully addresses my issues with this game (and I wouldn't mind if they went back to linear like remake or just did semi-open world).