I love pokemon. I love open world. This game has solid ideas and can definitely be fun, but like almost every pokemon game on the nintendo switch, this feels rushed and unpolished.

its clearly trying to be breath of the wild, without breath of the wild's development time and vision. and for that it ends up being so rough around the edges, that it honestly hurts to think about. I played the hell out of it in the early months after its release, but eventually stopped when i realized....its honestly not as fun as I'd have liked it to be. take it or leave it.

I can't even recommend this to hardcore pokemon fans. watch gameplay videos, think hard about if you wanna play it, and even then, maybe just borrow it from a friend first?

The Second Sister is a fantastic villain and foil to the protagonist and reason enough to get the game in my opinion. I adore her. She steals the scene every time she appears, exactly as you'd expect from the likes of established Star Wars Villains.

The themes of the story are also just so well done. It's true to the setting and also applicable to our own lives: how do you move on after losing everything at such a young age? Do you choose to honor those who raised you and if so, how do you go about doing that when it seems the world is against you? This is set in the imperial era, but the scars of the clone wars are still fresh on everyone's minds.

And couple that with archaeology of all things? studying an ancient civilization that also had to grapple with tragedy caused by the power-hungry? its just such a potent game narrative that you'd expect more from a well-funded TV studio.

the combat and exploration are derivative from soulsbourne style games, but that surprisingly works well in a story about jedi. in order to succeed in this genre, you can't just spam one button and brute force your way through. You have to be defensive, calm, observant, and patient in order to succeed. And if you're frustrated or angry, it only gets worse. It's just, brilliant how game design interweaves itself with narrative design. I adore it so much.

I watch this game become the most hated example of corporate greed to a redemptive passion project by dedicated star wars fan over the span of 2.5 years. Its buggy at times, but so many strong solid concepts. its a shame that Battlefront is a somewhat cursed franchise, because this game deserved a much longer lifespan. Were it not for EA's greed and DICE's shortsightedness in canning it early so that all hands on deck could be focused on Battlefield, this game could have evolved into something truly amazing.

Story could have used a rework though. And I would have loved to see maps be opened up to multiple eras. Imagine seeing that first order gorilla walker smashing through the arches on Theed? Or AT-TEs assaulting Crait?

Imagine if the game kept going into the streaming era? mando related content, like dark troopers. the disintegration rifle, or even tusken warriors?

anyway, I don't wanna gush forever, the game is flawed but to this day, I can still find active lobbies. That goes to show you just how fun the game is. If you haven't already and you're into casual arcade-y multiplayer games, give it a shot!

I'm not done yet, but man am I done with the game. I'm so sorry to be so mean to a voice actor, but man was this character interpretation so bad. I have to assume the casting director is doing a favor, or is being blackmailed, or is sleeping with the voice actor because omfg, the actor is just doing a bad job.

I never played the original but every time someone shows me an original clip of the old game, I can't help but wonder why Square Enix decided to get rid of that voice actor. I understand there MAY be a difficulty in portraying a young person when you're much older, but damn did they have to get someone so nasally?

That plus the annoying AI saying "activating combat mode" every time you enter a fight, makes this game a bit of a chore.

which sucks because I think there are some solid ideas here and there, but overall I don't think this game needed to exist. I really hope the Zack Fair voice actor gets some strong coaching and lessons, or just gets replaced by the original actor, because I have no clue how I'm going to withstand his voice in the next FF7R chapter.

I can't even rate this game yet. I'm so annoyed by the actor that I've shelved this. I'll just play with my sephiroth amiibo in smash bros instead.

a worthy sequel to an incredible game. everything has been improved gameplay wise. customization options are great since I hate how cover art Cal looks like he'd call me a slur and run a podcast about the death of free speech.

this game let's me traipse my little magical gay space twink all throughout the galaxy, filled to the brim with kuntenserven. hence why I really wanted the deluxe edition, in order to have the yavin ceremony luke skin.

Side note: don't bother getting the deluxe edition if you're not into getting those cosmetics. there are plenty of free cosmetics in-game that will more than tickle your fancy. I just adore luke's outfit and can't pass it up.

the worlds definitely feel alive and well crafted, and the combat is even more fun than the last iteration. While the game allowed you to adopt 2 combat styles and tons of different ways to level up, I quickly adopted and favored the gunslinger stance. the frequent stabbing and lunging motions help you close the distance, and for enemies out of reach, a simple button tap either dispatches them or interrupts (most) of their attack wind ups.

the sheer amount of NPCs and force echoes are great to sift through if you're like me and really want to explore and get immersed. not to mention, the era clashes going on here between re-activated clone wars droids, the empire, and a pickled fundamentalist twink brought back to life, there is so much going on.

I did however, take off a half point because the story is a just little messy compared to the very tight and focused predecessor. I won't go into details, but essentially, I think the final fight suffers from power creep. A boss fight prior to this final one, feels like it should have been the end of the game. It makes the challenge of the final fight feel undeserved. Like, why is my opponent that powerful? not just from a gameplay point, but a narrative standpoint. it feels a little forced in more than one way, but everything after that fight felt like a nice bookend to a middle chapter in Cal Kestis's life. I really hope there is a sequel to turn this into a trilogy.