The episode is the one I liked the least but the story has some good links with Crossbell/Erebonia events.
I liked Kevin & Ries story and the lore on the dominions and the squire. Olivert's goal and Osborne's one are a bit more explain here. This game is actually important to understand what's happening in the background of Class VII's journey in Cold Steel I and II. Also Renne's story was the big moment of this game to me.
However, the game could have been way shorter to be better. Some stories were really not that interesting and to me, just there to make the game bigger. The difficulty was sometimes really ridiculous with fights who seemed made to be lost (CB for example); like you think you have won but suddenly, the enemy has strangely four to five turns following and wipe out your team. There is no way of fighting to learn, it's just there to make you restart the fight with a boss with less HP.
Overall, not a bad game but it's not at the level of Sky SC at all or even FC.

Naoki Hamaguchi has created the most beautiful and entertaining world map of Square Enix in a while imo. My jaw dropped on each region because it was beautiful, musically excellent and with an unique atmosphere in each one. So much personality in this game.
I am part of the gamers who played the OG in the 90's and this rebirth went way beyond my imagination. Characters have so much personality whether it's the main cast (Cait Sith and Yuffie improvement OMG), the "enemies" (Elena, Rufus or Tseng!) or the NPCs (Dio, Bugenhagen...). Story is intriguing even if you know most of it already. Music is the best tracklist I ever heard in any game (Vincent OST and Jenova one!!!) .I can't wait for the final game.
Critics I can make are the difficulty management in Dynamic (most of the game ok but summons fights and the final bosses too punishing for no reasons), some minigames horrible (Fort Condor and Gambit !!!) and the lightning management in some areas way too dark for my poor eyes. I'd also like different limit breaks with only one new in this game and it's so late that the chances are high you won't get it at all.
But overall, I loved the game.

I am a fan of the franchise for 25 years. And I like that you can not like one game and like the other in this franchise since everything is recreated each time. So i am going to be honest, i didn't like this one at all.
It was good at the beginning but the rhythm of the game became more and more tiring. The focus on Clive totally shadowed other characters like Jill and i didn't feel some arcs at all like the one with Hugo or Barnabas.
I liked the gameplay a lot and characters like Joshua, Cid or Dion make for the other characters. Sorry Clive but i wish Joshua had become the lead character midgame.
Overall not a bad game at all but just not for me this time.

My grade would have a been a bit lower without the DLC. I was more scared of RE7 but then the DLC arrived, creeped me out a lot and was more difficult than the core game.
I liked the universe of the core game but I was really feeling the RE4 vibes too much to find it original. Bad guys designs were cool but the game is too short to give it a real interest. However, I do think Miranda is the baddie I liked the most in the franchise. I also liked the Winters story and for once, Chris who finally has some charisma.

I know a game story worked on me when the last part of it moves me a lot. I liked this group of friends and their roadtrip. The focus on their journey shadowed Lunafreya, ok, but it made everything more powerful because you do feel for Noctis. The DLC should have been in game instead but Prompto or Ignis story worked on me a lot.
Music wise, Yoko Shinomura did a perfect job.
The open world is pretty but there is nothing to do there unfortunately. It's the big flow of this game. No minigames just hunts.
But i loved it and it's not the bad game I heard about. And to know it ended Hajime Tabata's career while he took over Tetsuya Nomura's chaotic development is so unfair imo.