I have decided to re-log this game after a while and my praises of the game have definitely diminished over time. I still think it’s the best in the series since B2W2, but I don’t think it’s “great” or anything. It’s certainly a step in the right direction but nearly every other game in this series for the past 10 years has been “a step in the right direction” only for the next game to not follow up on that at all. I’m so tired of only having “a step in the right direction” instead of a straight up great new game. I don’t care if this is an unfair complaint or whatever because I think it’s entirely fair to expect more from this series given that the best JRPGs on the switch at the same price are made by smaller teams teams with funds several times smaller than TPC.

The gameplay is certainly fun and innovative for the series. Battles and catching Pokémon feel fast and engaging. But throughout the game there’s so many annoyances and issues. The controls feel weird and there’s no way to remap them. The characters are shallow and forgettable, the visuals and optimisation are very sub-par, the new boss fights are incredibly boring and repetitive. QOL has been downgraded from SwSh (I don’t even know how). I cannot in good faith call this game anything other than “slightly above average for the series” even if it’s the first in a long time to do a lot of things right.

Dirge of Cerberus is an interesting idea from an interesting period of time in Square's history. They were really trying to do something with Dirge. I just wish it actually came to fruition instead of completely floundering like it does.

Dirge is the type of game that clearly has ideas for FF7 as a series and really does want to tell a new story but it refuses to let itself do so in any real true sense. Okay gameplay can't really save this from being the Lucrecia apologia/retcon fest this game absolutely ends up being. It can't help but fuck with things in the original game that just really didn't need to be fucked with at all. It can't leave that alone and just let Vincent have a new story with mostly new characters. They HAVE to be tied to the old ones because nothing can rest. The new characters (besides Shalua) are all so one note and boring that they might as well not be there, ESPECIALLY Weiss who's supposed to be the MAIN Antagonist, it's sad really. It's exhausting and kinda maddening to play through as it goes on because of that. I was fairly excited to play this but as it goes on it really just let me down.

Personally I would recommend you stay away from this game. Again, while it has solid gameplay with mouse and keyboard support that works surprisingly well and a nice sense of style its story, which is what most people will be there for, is a massive let down. Absolutely not worth the time at all.

If you'd like to see my thoughts on this game in a bit more detail (along with Advent Children and the FF7 anime OVA's) then please check out my analysis of it here: https://youtu.be/vtkofo9-s1g