Apologies for the scattered thoughts on this game but I feel the need to express myself. Are we sure this is a step above the supposed B-tier Square titles of recent memory? I played a little of that Valkyrie Elysium game and it felt cooler than this, and that recent Star Ocean game looked weirder and cooler than this too.
I’m about 3 hours in I guess and it’s a fairly boring/rote action game. I just got wind powers and it’s whatever. I’m thinking I might just enable auto-combos because the action in this game is just stimulation between story beats. Push the buttons, watch the fireworks go off and meaningless numbers fly across the screen.
Eurogamer gave it three stars and that seems about right, slightly above average. Some people talking about this as the game of the year though? Please, this shit isn’t even the third best game released this month.
i’m also leaning toward hater mode on this one but i’m gonna give it a little more time. possible i just need to stop playing shit like this though, when i catch myself on the third consecutive loop of “dry cutscene > five fights, one easy and four trivial > dry cutscene > buy the two new pieces of gear > repeat” i’m like wow i should be doing anything else
i mean i still find myself feeling more warmly toward it once in a while too, idk
the visuals are also really nice, one of the prettiest games i’ve ever encountered. on “graphics” mode the framerate goes down to like, 10 in one of the eikon fights, but most of the time is surprisingly solid
the combat feels a lot better than XV, which is just too conflicted and confused about what it wants to do. can’t really form impressions beyond “feels good” yet, but that’s a great start
now i want to hear a souls OST scored by Soken, this is so much more interesting than From’s “epic choir” template while still hitting the intended mood
XV was a great monsterpiece that actually didn’t ever feel that bad to me combat wise, even though it was not good, I was almost never annoyed or bored, which is more than you could say for almost any square action combat since like… secret of mana. this just doesn’t seem as fun or strange or interesting as XV on any level.
honestly, to me, this is the most “FF”-sounding soundtrack since 9/10. can’t speak to 14 because i don’t play MMOs but daphny sent me some great stuff from those OSTs - not surprising this one is so dank from what i’ve heard.
it’s surprising and inventive and bold and EXHILIRATING
15 is Shimomura which has its own character, and is also an all-timer soundtrack, but Soken is somehow able to seamlessly channel Uematsuisms without sounding subordinate or reverential
haven’t finished it. but XV started boring me something fierce
great soundtrack, great (male) characters
open world does very little for that game. what percentage of your time is spent sprinting from the regalia to whatever you are trying to actually reach? 20%? more? what if you include the driving sections where you are waiting to arrive? game wastes your time like a motherfucker.
if you have an open world, it should be fun to explore! but XV’s world is decidedly not fun to explore. you are still accumulating map markers and then lawnmowering them down, the details are just slightly different.
the combat needed to be way more rewarding to redeem the open world! it’s a death knell to sprint for 3 minutes just to reach a mediocre hunt target
Hard agree on the music, it’s really standout in most cases so far. I admit the game is basically a cutscene treadmill with some DMC lite but it’s working for me idk. Definitely FF7Remake lessons about structure but with the character action combat template.
I’m hoping we get more weird crystal shit or eventually end up in space or something. Clive and Cid are not quite as bland as I thought they’d be but we sure are hearing a lotta gruff men gruffing about what they fight for. Just beat Benedicta for the first time and the music had me into it.
i think it’s just the mix and compression but it’s so charmingly amateur for a final fantasy game. like when vocaloid artists use guitars and it clearly sounds like a telecaster direct in
