Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - Review

 Genre: RPG.
Developer/publisher: Square Enix.
Platform: PS4/5.
Official Site: N/A

Release date: 29-2-2024.

 

With the exception right at the beginning I generally liked the story and it was fun

exploring the world, they added a lot of detail to where there was none in OG.

I mostly played this game in the evening whenever the switch was charging

which is why this game took me a whole month to finish.

 

Pro's

- Decent enough plot I guess...

- Nice to explore the world, a lot more detailed.

- I liked it when Cloud told Yuffie to STFU at one point.

 

Con's

- One too many minigames and gimmicks. Quantity over quality, most (but not all) were awful.

- Padding, pacing issues and thus ends up overstaying its welcome.

- Retry from current battle or this battle? the wording on the game over screen was poor esp in ch14.

- Gongaga & Cosmo Canyon are the worst areas to explore, in this essay I will...

---

 

Story is... mostly loyal to the OG FF7 except they're adding in elements

that weren't there before but I already knew that because of part 1.

What is really awful is that all these changes don't even really seem to matter???

The prologue of the game had me in confusion noises but then it was mostly

same as OG. They got rid of the stupid CPR minigame which I am grateful for

but instead we got a rhytmn game to impress Rufus. ' -' 

Could've done without the dolphin minigame too but it was cute...

 

I know OG FF7 had minigames as well but this game really went overboard and added even more.

For the first parts of the game it really felt like I was doing anything but the main

objective because it was just that bloated but then again they extended the midgard part

from 6 hours to 30 hours in the first remake so not sure what I was expecting. /Shrug

So now you get 40+ hours of disc 1 while the original PS1 release

was only 30ish hours as a whole. That's a world of a difference amiright.

 

Replace Rufus with SE and Mako with Minigames and its a mood.

Atleast the character interactions were mostly great as well as this NPC's dialogue

because it has all the energy that I had when I was done with this game.

 

Its not like I disliked everything, I did enjoy seeing certain parts remade.

Like Barret in a sailor suit😂 as well as a prettier& more detailed world.

So despite my complain-no-jutsu it wasn't all bad... in fact I had fun with it!

its just way too bloated which made the game overstay its welcome

hench why when I was nearing the end I just didn't like it all that much.

 

I still tried to do proto relics and clear up sidequests in chapter 13 but each area

had such a laundry list of things to do which was also mostly the same

and just repetitive so I had to limit what I engaged with. At the very least

there's always something to do so FF7 rebirth is one of those rare games

that can actually last a while if you want it to. However at the end of the day

IMO this game ended up being just fine, not great but it ain't awful either

its just that there are a lot of questionable design choices.

I'm not really sure if I want to play the 3rd remake because of this game mostly.

 

FF7 rebirth makes me appreciate the original with how simple and to the point it was

yet in the remakes they padd it out so much that I end up running out of steam quickly.

Also let's not forget the fact they make it seem like they're gonna change things

but then are like lol nope. They only make it more complicated than it really is

or try to make everything more epic while also making it longer than it needs to be.

**Gonna add to this that without part 3... I just don't know what they even want to do anymore.

6/10

 No thanks, for now I am done with the FF7 remakeverse because I think

they all just took a piss on it at the end just how this chocobo is able to float.

More rambles and complain-no-jutsu after the jump... but I think I have already made myself clear here.

Final Fantasy 16 - Review

Genre: Action RPG.
Developer/publisher: Square Enix.
Platform: PS5
Official Site: https://na.finalfantasyxvi.com/
Release date: 22-6-2023.

 

Okay so it is here, the latest installment in the FF series!

If I had to be honest I did not really like the vibes the game gave off at first

but I the story really managed to grab me to the point I delayed finishing digimon CS.

There won't be any story spoilers in this post but I will share a few screenshots of my journey!

 

Pro's

- A good storyline with a great cast of characters.

- Music and Graphics.

- Battle system is fun but it might take a bit for it to reach its full potential.

- A decent amount of optional content.

Con's

- A lack of a minimap, seriously why isn't there one? a lot of areas could benefit from this.

- Why is there no sprint button? Clive only occasionally sprints after running normally wtf...

- This game can at times be a bit much, its may need an acquired taste.

More ramblings after the jump!

Final Fantasy VIII remaster - Review

 Genre: RPG.

Developer/publisher: Square Enix.
Platform: PC/PS4/5/switch.
Official Site: N/A.
Release date: 09/03/2019

 

Another game I bought on a sale around 10$.

FF8, aka one of the PS1 era FF's I never played thus far and when I started this game

I immediately understood why it probably was better to not to.

Its mostly the system really, its a huge unga-bunga of drawing magic from bosses

which makes you able to use said magic but only if you set it. 

Yea you read that right, well as an FF fan I always felt a little bad for avoiding this one

so this time I bit the bullet and tried the remaster when I didn't have much else to do

so it was kind of a backburner game of sorts. I didn't take that many screenshots

but there were some really funny dialogues at times.

Pro's

- Great cast of characters.

- Serious story with some light-hearted moment&comedy.

- Triple triad is goat.

- Amazing OST.

Con's

- Overly complicated system that is easily broken and lacks balance.

- Backgrounds and FMV's were of poor quality in comparison to the amazing models.

- As great as the OST is this game really needed a lower the BGM option.

- Too easy to miss sidequest or other things making you have to read a guide like a hawk.

More rambles after the jump.

Secret of Mana - Review

Atleast the ps4 ''splash page art'' when you boot the game up was nice...

Genre: RPG.

Developer/publisher: Square Enix.

Platform: PS4/PS5/PC

Official Site: N/A

Release date: 02/15/18.

 

I only bought this game cuz I saw it for 18$ after I had finished trials of mana

and thought well maybe if I want another traditional rpg adventure? well seems like this game

suits that price just fine, cuz after only 2 hours of play I could only see myself playing this

if I was that bored! turns out it wasn't even that long to finish the main story either as

I clocked out at 12 hours. No I did not finish this game in a single sitting... i'm not that hardcore.

This game was basically another don't judge it by its cover cuz it ain't as cute as it looks...

maybe Monochrome Mobius has turned me into a masochist.😂

Pro's

- Oldschool traditional rpg with a charming cast.

- Skits at the inn were fun to watch!

Con's

- Story is simplistic and leaves a lot open to interpretation.

- Extremely grind oriented but it isn't necessary at all to grind to beat the game.

(It just makes it even easier if you lvl up sprite's magic skills)

This game's only charm point were the skits at the inn...

Character; Randi is the main character and then there's Primm and Popoi/Sprite!

They're all kind of basic personality and story wise. At inns there may be some fun interactions

before they go to sleep so at the very least this was something that was better than trials of mana.

By the time the game ended, I felt like I only had just become to know them...

and the way it ends doesn't help either so much is hinted but nothing is explained.

Much like trials of mana a lot of things just happen and its so&so do this or go there while

being pretty fast paced but they didn't always give clear direction so a guide is very nice to have. 

The gameplay/world design and such definitely had its charms its just... everything else

didn't age well!  If you barely saw any skits at the inn its even worse! All in all I am just glad

this game wasn't too long and I got this game out of my backlog!

For the price of 18$ I can recommend it to anyone who wants another oldschool rpg

but keep in mind this game in terms of gameplay did not age well at all.

 

More rambles after the jump. 

Star Ocean 6 the Divine Force - review

Genre: RPG
Developer/publisher: Tri-Ace/Square Enix.
Platform: PS4/PS5.
Official Site: N/A

Release date: 2022-10-27. 

Never did I expect there to be another main-line star ocean game after SO5...

but here we are and honestly it makes be so happy.

Not even 4 hours in and... sigh this make really remember why I love RPG's

this game really made me nostalgic for the old days cuz this it has the vibes

well at the very least I was off to a good start!😄 regardless of what was to come.

Sadly I did not like the OP that much, it was pretty much a mashup of scenes

from the game with some screamo rock music which definitely was not to my tastes.😓

I played the PS4 ver on normal difficulty and it was just the right amount of balance, no annoyance 

of the plot made me consider lowering it this time! I am mostly positive with this game

but I have a few gripes.

 

Pro's

- Charming cast of characters and lot's of shipping fuel between some chara's.

- Story pacing was good and when the going gets good it keeps going.

- Slight graphic dip but smooth gameplay in battles thanks to FPS mode.

- Replay value; two different side + 1 optional character and endings for each side.

 

Con's

- While trying to fast travel, the message of being able to miss dialogue is unnecessary.

- Private actions despite not that missable should be more easier to spot as they are a

boon to be better able to understand the chara's. Sad to see its easy to miss.

- If you played many a rpg it might not do much new.

 

 This game has you pick sides much like Star Ocean 2 so you can play with

Laeticia or Raymond's POV. Most of the game is the same but there are moments that differ

and even unique party member that join depending on whatever side which is nice.

There's mostly some POV differences and certain angles being unique to each side.

 Story wise I won't be posting much in terms of spoilers but the pacing's alright

you slowly get to know characters and the world they live in.

The story was a slowburn, but it was kind of nice? I didn't think it was terrible or anything...

well not everything can happen like a magician snaps a finger and viola! Basically the outline

 is like Ray's ship gets attacked and his escape pod crashes on an underdeveloped planet.

Laeticia and Albaird find him and decide to help him out find his comrades.

Some stuff happens along the way which they have to deal with too

and its a underdeveloped planet yet there is some folk trying to mess around.

This game in quite similar to older games isn't it? 

The story does end up peaking at some point and I liked that part a lot... it really shows

just how much everyone has come to trust one another! I could tell it was leading up to the finale

and it did really well or atleast tried to keep its momentum till the end.

I didn't really like the stuff before the final boss who is kind of like a cockroach at that point

but it fits with what the story was trying to do. There's a post game available as well

for those who really love the combat and character speciific endings. 

Good thing is viewing PA's is not required for those and just spam aphrodite tears

on whoever you'd like to see the ending of and beat mr: final boss .

 

TL;DR for people who don't want to read the whole post:

Honestly I enjoyed this game for the most part, it didn't try to hard with its story

and the cast ended up being better when we got to know them more.

Star Ocean has always been fantasy meets sci-fi and this game did it pretty well!

Combat was fun even tho I didn't fully understand it, at times in boss fights it felt impossible

to get more AP except if you did a well-timed dodge still it was great that bosses were susceptible

to status ailments like freeze! They could definitely touch this game up with some QoL features

like better being able to tell if there are new PA's in the towns plus getting rid of the message

when trying to fast travel literally anywhere. There were some moments during the story

where I was like huh I wonder what happened on their side and there's a character

unique to each side that definitely adds replay value as well as endings. I can definitely understand

why J.J doesn't have an ending with Laeticia or Theo with Ray... if anything I can see

Ray asking Theo out for a drink.😅 but J.J and Laeticia uh... no compatibility detected.

It was a pretty good game with a fun battle system and decent AI that I don't need to babysit

yet the AI still had its moments of dropping its brain but you'll get used to it.

This game isn't perfect but its good at what it tried, a brand new story set in the star ocean universe

that doesn't force you to play other entries to understand its plot. Its a nice scifi adventure

that let's you explore an underdeveloped planet while uncovering a greater plot going on.

There may be a treat for fans who've followed the series so its mostly a win-win situation...

Unfortunately this game does not boldy go where no rpg has gone before

and it doesn't need to! it was still an interesting journey but if it was any longer

i'd probably get really annoyed. So take that as you will.

I'll be blunt, if the series dies with this game then atleast I am glad that it ended up

being like some of the older titles while giving it a nice fast paced battle system

and all the playable's having their own unique movesets.

 Playing RPG's to constantly expect them to do mindblowing or things most don't do

will just set one up for disappointment! even if they don't it can still be good.

IMO this game wasn't terrible but its not perfect either.

 

I don't have any tips except for the following:

I recommend trying to play as albaird if the melee's feel too weird, he is around almost always

on Laeticia's side and is pretty busted in trying to make his bimbo spells stronger

thus being able to melt most enemies and being able to revive any AI that get hit too much. 

Determined princess skill will make lvling up a breeze.

My last advice is to ignore the fast travel dialogue and act  as if the message isn't there

and to just have fun exploring the games contents!

 

No plot spoilers in this post but like always there will be more babbles

with some random screenshots of moments that I liked.

Trials of Mana - review

Genre:RPG.

Developer/publisher: Square Enix.

Platform: PS4,switch,PC,mobile.

Official Site: N/A

Release date: 2020-04-25.

 

This game is a remake, its apparently pretty faithful...

Gonna be honest here, I have never played a mana game but this

was a nice game to just casually play, it is linear  and little to worry

about missing anything except maybe the cactus thingies.

Most of them are easy to spot but there are a few easy to miss!

I wish I could be completely positive about my experience with this game but I can't.

Anyway...

I got into this while waiting for xenoblade 3 to come out... I decided to continue playing this

from the demo I tried a while ago, it was easy to pick up the pace and/or understand

what's going on plus when chara's mentioned this or that also please be warned

this game is fairly straight-forward in terms of plot, there's not a whole lot of talking

and its pretty on point nor does it ever drag itself out more than needed.

Sadly it seems this game has dropped tremendously in value, I bought it for 30$

and it is now even 20ish euros. After playing I can definitely see why... it is not long

so unless you really love action rpg's most people would give up cuz certain things.

 

Pro's

- A simple, yet traditional story with some replay value.

- Good music, the ability to switch to the original bgm is nice too.

- The ability to choose your protagonist and those who tag along.

- Most of the bosses are all unique and fun in design maybe a lil frustrating too.

 

Con's

- Over two hundred chests but most contents are healing or revive items....

- Class change items shouldn't be locked behind RNG, nor be able to get duplicates of.

^^(Maybe actually put nice things in treasure chests?)^^

- Terrible AI is terrible.

 

The quick and dirty  would be that this is something to look into if you want something traditional unfortunately this games pitfalls are the god awful AI, I think its even worse than ff15!

it also has a nice class system but I found it to be such a hassle when it came to the

second class changes which involves unknown item seeds... it is never guaranteed whether

you get a light or dark class item??? so unless you want to farm and put up with stupid RNG s

 you'll probably have to take what you can get. If you can get past all this it could be a fun game.

 

I am well aware that you can't always get what you want and I already sucked it up and rolled

with classes I didn't want, so I'd like to believe i'm mentally strong enough in that regard.

Anyway bullshit RNG is still bullshit RNG no matter how you slice it. Even worse

if it is determined from the moment you get the item from the chest. REEEEEE~

Anyways I adored the characters and even made a start to the second playthrough but it seems

aside from the prologue and personal motivations most will be the same, a guide said some

of the end game will be different so that is nice. Sadly the AI is horrendously bad

and I was frustrated at watching my team mates die over and over and over again

to the stupidest things. Good news though the only difficulty specific trophy you can

just switch to before the boss itself! so no need to suffer on hard the entire game unless

you want all the challenge! you can just play on normal till then.

 

Sometimes I wonder why I put up with BS like in this game... I must've been really bored

to plow through this game but hmm I guess what was nice was nice even if somethings weren't nice.

Hah... I don't think Chawlotte's UwU speech was ever a problem... IMO there were worse things.

I wouldn't be surprised if people gave up on this game... the beginning might seem

like this is gonna be super stress-free but the AI will end up testing you.

 

For what its worth a nice, fun game but it has noticeble setbacks!

I do want to play the other mana games someday, they do have its charm

but as you can see, you must be willing to get past some setbacks.

Now for all my screeching, another good thing is despite them recycling three bosses

the main game isn't any longer than it should be. If you're still up for more there is a post-game

scenario but I am not sure why they had to split it from the main game. Maybe because

due to the extra classes making MP no longer an issue thus breaking the game.

Anyway if I had to score it this game it might get an 6.7/10 from me which translates to

 well its fine really but could be a little better? it might be even better if you want

a game with not much talking cuz there really wasn't. At the end of the day this was a classic.

 

More rambles after the jump, its more or less just my own experience

with this game and some parts may be a little ranty.

 

Final Roadtrip Fantasy XV - review

 Genre:RPG.

Developer/publisher: Square Enix.

Platform: PS4/PC.

Official Site: https://finalfantasyxv.square-enix-games.com/

Release date: 2016-11-29.

 

With not much else to play I decided to look at games I once started but never finished...

which lead me to FF15! I did remember where I stopped it was after arriving in galdin quay

and met some suspicious guy. Knowing this I saw no reason to replay from scratch

and it was actually easy enough to get the hang of things again!

Casually adds even more screenshots... after making posts.

My reasons for dropping the ball on this before was simple, my old ps4 had a bug

where it would try to eject discs sometimes even when there's no disc inside as well 

as annoying beeping sounds when it tried to do exactly that (even when turned off).

It was not just me that had it but yea I couldn't really play disc based games cuz of this.

A shame really because this game was quite fun and I don't understand the hate it got.

I suppose I could have bought it digitally when royal came out but I didn't

and it just ended up being dropped till now.😅 (The old model was replaced by a slim)

Pro's

- Exploring and doing quests/hunts is fun.

- Cast has great chemistry and most of the time the vibes are chill...

- Story is straight-forward but this is not a character game.

- Scenery is beautiful and the OST is really good.

Con's

- Story can be pretty peak fiction but terrible execution and full of holes so if you want

to fill those gaps, you need the movie(sets the stage), dlc ep's and read the novel(epilogue).

- Magic system is a hassle.

 

 

More ramblings after the jump break.