It's not.. a bad game. It's a lot of neat ideas with a fresh take on story telling, especially for its time.

That said, I really felt like I was playing a game with a massive toolbox with no where near enough tools. The last quarter I finally felt like I had the right amount of blades, grips, gems, spells, etc, but then the bosses were such let downs.

I do wonder if this game was made today, would it be a GOTY? I think so.

A really fun game with a straight forward platinum, just don't go looking for a top tier JRPG story - you won't find it here.

I do wonder how this game gets produced outside of a COVID time. Seems like a lot of areas were reused way too often, and the serious lack of animated cutscenes will be a problem for some - though I didn't really mind.

Gameplay - 10/10
Absolutely solid battles that only get better as you unlock more and more. Feels so satisfyingly. My first run was with Yuito on hard, and a few bosses were really a challenge! Never felt I needed to grind, so that was perfect. Kasane wasn't near as fun, but that also could be because I played her route on NG+

Story - 6/10
Big letdown here for me. Such a neat world and lore they created, but the story just takes a dive and never seems to recover. I would rate it lower but the characters? The bond episodes between your MC and the party members? Absolutely stellar - well, MOST of them - and its those interactions that really helped.
Only complaint regarding the bond episodes is pacing. Towards the later chapters the 'stand-by' phases start feeling like a visual novel.

Graphics - 9/10
Pretty game with pretty visuals. Nothing earth shattering, but some of the brain crush animations are beautiful.

Sound - ?/10
Having a hard time rating this one. There's a couple absolute bop of songs, but then the rest of the game has music that I couldn't pick out of a blind lineup. The great tracks have a Persona vibe to them, in that I can listen to them in any mood outside of the game.

It's weird - usually I really enjoy MMO inspired single player titles. Xenoblade is one of my favorite games, for this reason. But CrossCode just doesn't do it.

The game starts pretty strong: combat feels responsive, the story is intriguing (amnesia troupe, but still) and a pretty neat world. That first boss is a great sample of what's to come. The first dungeon is a slice of those that will follow.

The first two chapters are really well done and enjoyable. Unfortunately for me, it went downhill from there. The side quests are pretty uninspired, upgrading weapons and armor requires a pretty extensive grind, and wow the puzzle dungeons are loooong.

Feels like CrossCode suffers from trying to be a literal MMO rather than inspired. I understand that the world of the game is supposed to be an MMO, but that doesn't mean it has to play exactly like one.

Got to Chapter 6 and retired.

A fun mash up of Last of Us mixed with Gears of War with some open world antics thrown in. It's a game where you know what you're getting before you even play. And if you aren't into that, you aren't going to find anything new here.

Gameplay: 3.5
Tight gun combat with a fairly intuitive loop. Does get stale and there aren't enough differences between the weaponry beyond damage. Got to be a farily easy challenge on Normal after the first few hours. The Hordes were more tedious than difficult.

Story: 2
Started strong but started to really lose me. Felt like there were pieces of the tale untold between events that constantly had me questioning WTH was going on. Some of the side characters really stick out - especially Rikki - as being very very loveable and real. Others... not so much.

Graphics: 4
Beautiful game on the PS5 running smooth. Would have given it a 5 but there were some really nasty bugs, including a bridge that appeared on my screen but I fell thru the moment I tried to drive over it. Also enemies flying. Humans. Flying. Randomly.