Where it Shines:
Art Direction - 10/10
Lore - 9/10
Characters and Story - 8/10
The Good:
This game really surprised me. It's a lot rough around the edges, but it's beauty and characters really kept me interested. Every area in the game is so memorable. Truly. No other game I have ever played had so many well thought out set pieces. Every time you enter a new temple, city, forest, etc, they make sure to have you access it in some breathtaking way, with a sunset overlooking cherry blossoms for example. It's remarkable and such a breath of fresh air with all these samey, middle age high fantasy grey tones in every game. I wish more games were like this.

The Bad:
It's a bit tough to follow for a non-chinese speaker. I mostly made do, but a lot of the lore is really over my head. That said, around 3/4 of the way into the game I felt like all the exposition was done and it wasn't just random: everything connected together and came to a head really well. I wasn't expecting that. I was expecting some all over the place story but it was actually quite cohesive, so I'll blame being lost for the majority of the story on translation issues.
Summary:
Everyone should at the very least see some cutscenes of this game. It's a beauty to behold. The combat and gameplay can be a bit tiresome but overall, I do think this series needs a lot more love and I hope they make more translated for english audiences. As it stands, I haven't enjoyed a Final Fantasy game in a long time, but Sword and Fairy 7 really gave me the feeling I was looking for. Highly recommend.
****note on my ratings:
half ⭐: hot trash garbage
⭐: below average, needs work
⭐⭐: average
⭐⭐⭐: pretty good
⭐⭐⭐⭐: excellent
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: all time favourite
half star ratings between those mean it's slightly better or worse than stated in this list.
*