On the whole, Dirge is a boring and outdated shooter from a bygone era. The story is serviceable, but overcomplicates itself in the vein of many 21st century Square titles. I can appreciate the quality of the visuals and overall presentation for a PS2 game, and the minor RPG mechanics were ahead of their time (even if underwhelming in execution). Gameplay-wise though, Dirge is mostly a spammy shooter with random difficulty spikes, rote level design, and it goes on longer than it should. Vincent Valentine is and always will be a badass character, but this FF spin off can be left in the past.