Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a good game. But I’m not sure it deserves all the hype it got last year.
It does some very clever stuff in terms of gameplay, with each character having their own unique battle system that synergise with the others.
And yes, the soundtrack is incredible.
In terms of the story, whilst it was interesting, the way the game drip-feeds you knowledge in the first two acts quickly became frustrating. There were multiple cutscenes where characters speak in such a vague, superficially poetic way. In reality it just felt pretentious.
Major story spoilers:
spoiler
The overall metaphor for grief is unique. I liked the concept of the characters being creations in this painting, and how that layer of reality feeds into the one you begin the game in. But it felt like everything was revealed all at once in Act 3. The game gives you very little up to that point, so it’s hard to emphasize with many of the characters. Perhaps replaying the game knowing what you know changes the perspective of it, but for a new player I’m not sure it’s the best way to tell a story.
Perhaps this is an unpopular opinion but I found the game aesthetically quite ugly. Many landscapes had a feeling of copy pasted Unreal assets that looked so same-y at points they became confusing to navigate (especially given the lack of a mini-map). The characters had these blank, uncanny stares half the time and the designs for some of them (Esquie in particular) just didn’t look good to me.
Oh and I’m really not sure why the devs decided to add entirely unnecessary platforming elements!
I found certain enemy attacks to be inconsistent and not well telegraphed, leading to some frustrating encounters were you had to memorise the parry timings rather than learn them from a valid cue.
I think the game deserves good reviews, but I’m not quite sure how it won so many GOTY awards. Perhaps it just wasn’t the game for me.
I bought it without knowing the hype, only seeing a score and wanted to play a JRPG.
It’s one of the best games i’ve ever played. The emotional delivery of the story is on point. The gameplay is solid. The build variety is quite fun.
It’s difficult but not too difficult. The art is absolutely on point for me (art is always subjective.)
I would love to see a followup, and given the story there could be one given the openings left in the story to expand upon.
It was quite refreshing seeing the endings too. They are an awesome talking point and the fact that it’s not just a boring “good ending”, “bad ending”, “golden path” like most games fall into is great.
Easy 10/10 for the story, and total package.
I respect that i just never gave a shit about any story in any video game ever lmao. Like I grew up on NES mario, “save the princess from the monster” that’s the whole story and it’s more than enough.
I grew up with an NES as well. I started playing when I was a couple of years old, but I also remember going to the library often and reading a ton of books. Reading assignments in school were tough because i’d want to read ahead of the class, and the teachers were somewhat willing to allow it but they always wanted me to write reports about it and the one thing I would never do was homework.
I love good stories. I started reading a lot of the big epic fantasy and science fiction novels out there. Stuff that we’ve seen turned into movies, books and TV many years later. Game of Thrones, Sword of Truth, Wheel of Time, Mistborn, The Expanse, Ready Player One, American Gods, Gone Girl, Hunger Games… all kinds of stuff. I love a great story.
It takes a lot of patience to play story focused games, but when the systems in them are entertaining enough to keep me engaged I can’t put them down once i’m hooked. The end of the first act in expedition 33 hooked me so hard, and the overall art and extremely french story won me over despite my preconceptions.
It helps that I have a sizable amount of patience, and i’m usually pretty good at games of all kinds aside from the ones that require memorizing combo moves beyond monster hunter or something like dynasty warriors. Dodging in E33 is incredibly forgiving, only parrying requires precise timing imo, so you don’t need to memorize it much.
Right now i’m playing the shit out of warframe. The story is effectively nonexistent for me and the whole game feels like ADHD, and i’m reveling in it. I don’t know many people who play almost all genres though like myself.