I feel really conflicted about this one. The writing itself is great but the story goes some really weird places. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it goes from 0 to 100 insanely quickly and it feels like, at times, the devs were more concerned with creating some cool imagery (the art in this game is absolutely gorgeous) than telling a cohesive story. It's pretty thought-provoking and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it, though, so it's definitely something that will stick with you.

It doesn't surprise me to hear that this game had a mixed reception when it first came out in Japan in 2015, because I most certainly did not vibe with it as much as a lot of people did and do. The 6 years of waiting undoubtedly did not help.

I'll start off by saying that the presentation is excellent. The series' transition to 3D was incredible, but this game truly takes it to the next level. The animations are better than ever, and the Dance of Deduction sequences are beautiful to look at. The game’s cast is also fantastic, and I’d go as far as to say this is probably the best AA ensemble we’ve had yet. The music’s also incredible, but it’s Ace Attorney, so what else is new?

Due to some genuinely interesting design decisions that were made, all of the cases in this game, imo, suffer from severe pacing issues, in addition to some of the mysteries just not being all that interesting. The first and second cases are decent but go on for far too long, the third case is solid but doesn’t reach the heights of some of the other cases in the franchise, the fourth case is an absolute bore and the fifth case is interesting, but not interesting enough for it to go on as long as it did. Again, none of them are outright bad (There aren’t any Turnabout Big Tops or Turnabout Serenades here), their pacing is just really, really off.

I’m not going to jump into GAA2 immediately (the thought of playing two Ace Attorney games back to back sounds exhausting), but I’ve heard it pretty much fixes all the issues in this one and is one of the best games in the franchise, so I’m looking forward to it.

Not even going to pretend for a second that I can have a remotely unbiased take on this game. I fucking love Final Fantasy XIII. Some of it is because of nostalgia, but what this replay made me realize is that a lot of it is because it's a great fucking game. the story (which isn't complicated at all and doesn't require you to even touch the datalog btw) is great, the cast is really strong (including Hope, who's unlikable but not a bad character by any means), the music is absolutely wonderful, and the combat system is one of the best in the franchise. I will concede that yes, you do "run in a straight line" for most of the game, but I honestly can't say it bothers me, especially when the rest of the game is THIS good. It's hard for me to care about any of that when the sound of Leona Lewis humming elicits the emotions it does in me.

Final Fantasy XIII isn't my favorite Final Fantasy game nor is it the best one in the franchise, but it's the one I love the most. If that doesn't make any sense, so be it.

This was a lot of the same. That's not inherently a pro or a con, but as someone who replayed Zero Dawn right before Forbidden West came out, it shocked me just how similar everything was. Most of the side activities are still the same, the mount controls are the same, the combat is mostly the same, most of the environments look the same, the music sounds the same, a lot of the new machines kind of look similar to returning ones, etc. Again, this isn't necessarily a con since I personally thought the first game was spectacular, but it was kind of shocking. The only thing that doesn't feel the same and doesn't give off the same vibes as the original is the story and my god, do I wish it did.

I wouldn't call Forbidden West's story bad, but compared to Zero Dawn's story, which was relatively simple but insanely fresh and engaging, the one here feels...a little basic. Finding data logs and recordings from the past still feels great, and I like the increased focus on companions (even if I don't think any of those characters are particularly strong) but the plot itself is kind of...by-the-numbers and really predictable. Every single exciting revelation either doesn't go anywhere or goes somewhere insanely disappointing. Zero Dawn's story was what set it apart. Forbidden West's story is what drags it down.

Still, the moment-to-moment gameplay is so insanely fun and the game is so breathtakingly gorgeous that it's hard to hate. I just hope the third game's story is one that's going to be worth telling.

The campaign's story is actually pretty decent, but when you can feel the repetitive nature of the gameplay loop during a relatively short campaign of a GaaS game, that's a pretty bad sign. You just do the same thing over, and over, and over, and over again.

The game also just...doesn't feel good to play. Even the flying doesn't feel that good. How do you make flying not feel good?

It's so frustrating because this had a ton of potential to be something great. So unfortunate.