everything i feel about the base game pretty much applies here, i found the same amount of enjoyment in this as i did in the base game. it pretty much just feels like another portion of the main game added on. also, im not really one to care much about additional challenge mode stuff in games like this but i would highly recommend at least just checking out the tutorial battle to the new challenge mode added in this dlc. i may come back and play the new challenge mode just for what they added because it seems really neat

i think the only real complaint i have for this dlc is that it's a lot shorter than i was hoping, but honestly i enjoyed my time with this. im not sure if the enemy levels scale with the player at all in this dlc and the other one, but the level of challenge offered here for a piece of game that is meant to further the story was really welcome. i also think the fallen were a part of this game that they didn't really go much detail into so to have this was a nice addition to the lore of this game. also they killed it with the ost for the boss at the end of this dlc as usual

such a beautiful game with so many lovable qualities. the combat system is super expressive, freeing, and in general just lot of fun with plenty of abilities and ability combinations that keep things varied and fresh. the story is super engaging and contains a cast of characters that are really well done (cid <3). the world this game takes place in is fleshed out and has so many things to learn about when you're dropped right into it with no prior context. the soundtrack is so fucking good with a mix of big epic orchestra pieces but also sometimes more modern stuff with electric guitars and like rock/metal band performances. the boss battles have these really amazing senses of spectacle while also having beautiful cinematography and engaging gameplay, they're one of the big standout things i remember seeing people praise this game for and that praise is well deserved. also a lot of people will try to compare this game to popular fantasy series like game of thrones, and im sure there are some similar qualities, but like if you just play through some of these bossfights or even just boot up the game it will be very clear that there is still some sick ass crazy anime bullshit they do in this game that i absolutely adore. these are just all the qualities that come to mind that i love about this game and i could probably ramble on and on in much greater detail about all of them, but this is just the general gist of it all.

after all that praise, though, one thing i will mention that brings this game down for me that i wish was done a bit better was the side content. id say for the first like 60-70% of the game (according to the ps5's progress tracker of how far in i was) i was having a great time with the game and all of it's side quests and hunts. the side quests all presented really interesting side stories that helped teach you more about the world or about a character, and the hunts were a great addition for adding challenging fights that you can go out of your way to do between story segments. after that point though, as the story begins to ramp up more and the intrigue grows, so does the amount of side content that the game dumps on you, and this is where things disappointed me a bit. while im not really much of a completionist in games i do like to do side stuff when a game shows me it's available and worth my time by handsomely rewarding me. when the side stuff starts to get a bit overbearing and the volume of it greatly increases when the story is starting to get interesting, the side content begins to feel like a chore and it gets really boring to go through, so much so to the point that i started skipping through dialogue and reading it rather than listening to the voice acted lines. when the game dumps like 10+ side quests and like 9 new hunts right after you just unlocked the next story segment that will wrap up the main quest, it kinda makes me not wanna play for a little bit and i put it off. and while yeah some of these side quests are interesting or the hunts are fun and challenging at this point, i just wish they were all spread out a little more evenly throughout the game or placed at moments where things dont seem so dire and important.

everything said, this game is well worth it. this game being my second mainline ff game after the only ff content i consumed being everything related to 7, this game really grabbed me and makes me want to continue playing through the series. i already have downloaded a bunch of the other mainline titles and im excited to continue playing through this series. this game just proved to me that final fantasy as a whole can do what it wants and stay being sick as fuck