Oh boy where to start? Narratively I have no real issues with this game which I didn't expect, that isn't to say I was expecting the game to be bad but there was never a moment (story-wise) I felt the game faltered, there's a few things I could nitpick I suppose but nothing I believe worthy to be brought up.
I'm not going to go into any spoilers, but this game excels best in its absolute hype, the eikon battles in this game are absolutely insane, the hype levels they bring are almost unmatched, there aren't many fights in games I can recall that manage to give the adrenaline rush of hype like some of the bosses in this game can.
Characters in this game are also pretty good, I won't say they're the best in the franchise but still quite good, personal favorites of mine being Dion, Cid and Clive. Antagonists aren't quite as good tbh, Barnabas is fine but he doesn't hit at a level beyond just being a decent villain, he's no Sephiroth that's for certain. And the other main antagonist who I won't name for spoiler reasons is kind of the usual fair for jrpg's, if you know you know but there's nothing overly unique about them.
This brings me to my next point, which is what I would say is the weakest part of the game, it's RPG elements. For a series so heavily rooted in jrpg history it is a bit odd how bare bones they feel in this game, party members in this game aren't much of anything, you can't interact with them in anyway, whether that be controlling then it even customising moved or equipment, none of that is present here. The magic system in this game is non-existent only visual, there's no element affinity, no variation in spells and it's kind of just tacked on in a lot of ways, and lastly the crafting system, as basic as it gets, there's no real variation in what you're making, it's always just something with higher stats, no special effects on them, no reason to make anything other than just the highest strength thing there. It's also pretty easy, I have yet to try the New Game+ hard difficulty but from the normal playthrough there wasn't a boss, story or optional that managed to kill me more than 3 times tops, and sure I probably could have taken on a few of the S-rank hunts at a lower level of I really wanted to, but that would only make the enemies damage sponges, which would just be more tedious than hard really.
Now that's enough of the negatives, as you can see by my score I absolutely loved this game, great story, great cast and which I've criminally yet to mention the soundtrack goes crazy hard. But to end it off I'm going to talk about the side quests, in the beginning I was ready to write these off as shit, because the early quests they give you I will stand by are exactly that which is a shame because structuring it like this is likely to turn a decent amount of people off from interacting with the side content in this game when there is some genuinely great stuff especially towards the end of the game. It doesn't reach the platinum standard of side content in games like Yakuza 0, Lost Judgement and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 but despite some early stinkers I so think the side content in this game ended up being surprisingly good.
I still haven't finished a lot of the games in this franchise so it is hard for me to compare, having only fully finished the first 3 games as far as numbered entries go but I'll still give my thoughts here anyway. This game is very different from any other Final Fantasy title, even more so than XV or VII Remake, so I can see where there could and from what I've seen definitely is, a disconnect from part of the fanbase and that's fair. Me however? I like this more than the first 3 games in the series, by a long shot, and while I never finished or even played much of them I like this more than either XIII or XV as well, as for the one most people will probably compare this with, VII Remake I don't like it quite as much but it is a lot closer than expected, and I actually think this game does a lot less things wrong than that game does.
So far this game is definitely the top contender for my GOTY, more so than Ishin or despite me having yet to finish it, TotK as well, that's not to say it will go unchallenged however, I expect Spider-Man 2 to at least give it a good run for its money.
I'm not going to go into any spoilers, but this game excels best in its absolute hype, the eikon battles in this game are absolutely insane, the hype levels they bring are almost unmatched, there aren't many fights in games I can recall that manage to give the adrenaline rush of hype like some of the bosses in this game can.
Characters in this game are also pretty good, I won't say they're the best in the franchise but still quite good, personal favorites of mine being Dion, Cid and Clive. Antagonists aren't quite as good tbh, Barnabas is fine but he doesn't hit at a level beyond just being a decent villain, he's no Sephiroth that's for certain. And the other main antagonist who I won't name for spoiler reasons is kind of the usual fair for jrpg's, if you know you know but there's nothing overly unique about them.
This brings me to my next point, which is what I would say is the weakest part of the game, it's RPG elements. For a series so heavily rooted in jrpg history it is a bit odd how bare bones they feel in this game, party members in this game aren't much of anything, you can't interact with them in anyway, whether that be controlling then it even customising moved or equipment, none of that is present here. The magic system in this game is non-existent only visual, there's no element affinity, no variation in spells and it's kind of just tacked on in a lot of ways, and lastly the crafting system, as basic as it gets, there's no real variation in what you're making, it's always just something with higher stats, no special effects on them, no reason to make anything other than just the highest strength thing there. It's also pretty easy, I have yet to try the New Game+ hard difficulty but from the normal playthrough there wasn't a boss, story or optional that managed to kill me more than 3 times tops, and sure I probably could have taken on a few of the S-rank hunts at a lower level of I really wanted to, but that would only make the enemies damage sponges, which would just be more tedious than hard really.
Now that's enough of the negatives, as you can see by my score I absolutely loved this game, great story, great cast and which I've criminally yet to mention the soundtrack goes crazy hard. But to end it off I'm going to talk about the side quests, in the beginning I was ready to write these off as shit, because the early quests they give you I will stand by are exactly that which is a shame because structuring it like this is likely to turn a decent amount of people off from interacting with the side content in this game when there is some genuinely great stuff especially towards the end of the game. It doesn't reach the platinum standard of side content in games like Yakuza 0, Lost Judgement and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 but despite some early stinkers I so think the side content in this game ended up being surprisingly good.
I still haven't finished a lot of the games in this franchise so it is hard for me to compare, having only fully finished the first 3 games as far as numbered entries go but I'll still give my thoughts here anyway. This game is very different from any other Final Fantasy title, even more so than XV or VII Remake, so I can see where there could and from what I've seen definitely is, a disconnect from part of the fanbase and that's fair. Me however? I like this more than the first 3 games in the series, by a long shot, and while I never finished or even played much of them I like this more than either XIII or XV as well, as for the one most people will probably compare this with, VII Remake I don't like it quite as much but it is a lot closer than expected, and I actually think this game does a lot less things wrong than that game does.
So far this game is definitely the top contender for my GOTY, more so than Ishin or despite me having yet to finish it, TotK as well, that's not to say it will go unchallenged however, I expect Spider-Man 2 to at least give it a good run for its money.