Good lord, I was not ready for the sheer amount of kino that would be directly injected into my veins. Nor did I expect the absolute emotional rollercoaster that was the story and the endgame sidequests. Some of them really hit hard. The ending in a way without spoiling was bittersweet.

I thought the gameplay was really fun, even if some Eikons were straight up worse than others and it sometimes got repetitive. It still at least allows you to map it to another Eikon once you master a skill. However, I definitely see the complaints that this is less of an Action RPG and more like a DMC-like with RPG elements.

A lot of things seem to be recycled from previous Final Fantasy games, in fact I noticed the overarching plot was very similar to the last numbered game, 15. While 15's combat was more mind-numbing, I'd argue it had better attention to detail and more RPG elements than it. Where it lacks in those areas, it more than makes up for it with an extremely strong narrative.

Don't let my musings about its "less RPGness" dissuade you from playing though. It's absolutely one of the best FF titles, if not one of the best games of 2023. It's absolutely worth it, and I'm glad I got a PS5 for it because my ass was too impatient for the PC port.

Onwards to the DLCs now!