really overhated game and I don't understand the hate now when all the technical flaws have been fixed. This a triumphant entry in the most storied franchise in gaming. Great characters, dungeons, puzzles, art style, music, and gameplay in general. If you had a sour taste in your mouth when you played this game back on the Wii, I would strongly suggest giving this version a try as I think you'd be pleasantly surprised. I really love this game, and enjoy aspects of it more than Breath of the Wild for comparison. It's fantastic and can't wait for the ten minute TOTK gameplay showcase tomorrow! 4.5 ★

Despite a very obtuse, frustrating, and mind-bogglingly bad ending section (unless you're OP I guess), this is a masterpiece in every other way and is deserving of every ounce of praise it's gotten. The story is layered, emotional, exciting, and well written. The party members are all unique in their personalities, motivations, and what they offer to the game in battle. The soundtrack is nothing less than an absolute triumph in game OSTS and is peak. The designs, atmosphere, cutscenes, and everything artistically oozes with unmatched style. I loved this game so so much. The gameplay loop is addicting and the battle systems are so deep with so many different spells to cast and various options to test with. The Materia system, while tedious to navigate, is a great way to have so many of these awesome abilities to be available to you in battle. The open world is so great and is insane that this is a game from the mid nineties. There's still a few areas and hidden bosses that I haven't explored or conquered yet. I loved the different forms of transportation. I loved how in every area of the game there are secret items to uncover along with branching paths. It was really cool when the game branched off and has a one off gameplay section that was nothing like the core game. There's just so much to it. Thanks to the gorgeous pre-rendered backgrounds, the architecture and designs of each world and the story of what they are trying to convey is done impeccably. The dingy, steam-punk aesthetic of Midgar, or the extravagant, bombastic design of the Golden Saucer. It's all done in the most interesting and masterful ways. This game has so much charm to it as well. Even when I was stuck in the end and faced a lot of frustrating hurdles, I went on to grind for hours and hours to beat it despite that because I loved it so much. Please play this. I can go on and on about why this game is so special and groundbreaking. One of my favorites of all time now for sure.

still very disappointed at how this turned out. Delayed for a long time and still came out with very boring gameplay and mission design that prioritized just fast travel desolate backdrops from place to place until the parts of the movie happened. Why are there no enemies? Why are some character classes locked for a while so you can't even explore and get collectabiles? There was also this really weird glitch which caused the visuals to stop and for my screen to go blank. Yeah man this game stunk. Such a shame. I tried to give it a chance multiple times but I think I'm done with it for good. 1.5 ★

I wanted to love this so badly. The game is very wacky, funny, and full of zany dialogue. The combat is janky but alright to use overall. The swimming is unbearable (no pun intended), and there are a few worlds in the latter half of the game that are a slog and a chore to say the least. The final boss was dumb for a while until I went on a god spree and beat it so I was really satisfied. Music is great. I felt like some jiggy’s were too difficult to get and this is due to design flaws and not “git gid”. Like some of them are genuinely awful. But I don’t know man I just couldn’t stop playing. I played this for like the whole day yesterday. It still was a fun enough platformer and I liked it enough to get through it. Until by the end I was just waiting for it to end. There’s so many problems and it’s aged horribly in a few key aspects, but I don’t know I can’t say I didn’t like it or that it was mid for some reason. I am planning to play the sequel, so I hope the combat and swimming are fixed. I also hope some worlds are more tight-knit and filled with fun, quick ways to progress. Because that was the best when this game was to that point, but it struggled to maintain that majorly. I’d say play it, but be prepared to deal with some grating early 3D platforming.

Yeah I'm tapped out for a while. The last five hours of this game have been filled with bugs, painfully boring quests, and painstaking tedious janky combat sections. I just can't put up with this game anymore. Exploration is terrible and nonexistent, and in my 12 or so hours I have not once actually roamed a planet and discovered anything interesting or worthwhile. Also there are long periods of time where you do no combat at all. The decision to have no ground maneuvering is mind-boggling. Ship combat is good but you are literally barely in it at all for any reason. I've only done one dogfight in space outside of the tutorial and once and it was long and tedious. To state the positives, all the writing is fantastic and the game looks incredible. Also the OST is stellar. And when you don't encounter a bug and are in the action, it for sure is a decent amount of fun. The problem though is that this game has usual western AAA open world game-isms. Markers, barren open worlds, generic gameplay, an illusion of freedom, bugs, the whole nine yards. I can go on and on ranting about the many problems with this game but the slow pacing and tired gameplay loop and systems have put me off from playing this for a long time. Maybe in a few years when there are great mods and the problems are ironed out. I actually enjoyed the first few hours too. Huge disappointment smh I actually really hated my time with this in the last handful of hours.
UPDATE: I continued playing about ten hours more of the game to see if my opinion would change or things would get better, and they absolutely have not. The combat sections just revolve around you constantly dying repeatedly because movement is so slow and enemies much lower level than you are sponges. Like every time you get to the fun part (shooting bad guys), it's the worst experience possible because you can't get through to the objective. Also, enemies just know where you are at all times I guess? I literally killed an enemy and hid invisible behind a desk in a room with a closed door, and the enemy immediately knew exactly where I was. Also, WHY THE HELL ARE HEALING ITEMS SO SCARCE DUDE. The game still has that heavy dose of Bethesda jank and glitchyness. Just in general I wish things were more streamlined and less complicated. Why aren't there more merchants? Why is there no real map telling you points of interests, shops, where elevators are? I haven't even bothered with outposts or have a desire to upgrade my ship or recruit members or upgrade weapons because it all feels uninviting and pointless. All the planets and worlds are just vessels to go to your next objective or certain uninteresting points of interest, instead of you having a desire to go to those locations or explore for yourself. All the cool stuff I discovered were in space. Whether that's being a pirate, ship combat, or finding a party ship, they are cool elements of the game. But stuff like the party ship for example, it was completely and utterly pointless once again. You just go zero gravity and wonder about... and that's all there is to do or see there. The game can be best summed up as tedious. This game is a jack of many trades but a master of none. I really wanted to love this game man. But I’ve given it too much of my time where it feels like I’m on copium at this point. I am having a miserable experience.

PEAK. A near flawless game for me and really encapsulates what I love about the medium. Exceptional effort and turned out just as well as I’d hoped. I’ve beaten it 5 times now (granted new game plus with all your upgrades and knowing where to go makes it much easier). I did find it to be very difficult at points and it can be somewhat easy to get lost. Also a vital system for progression can be too cryptic, but rewarding once you crack it. That’s about my only gripes. Must play game. Gorgeous artstyle, no handholdy nonsense, fun gameplay, top tier OST, great story, and an overall perfect action-adventure game. It’s littered with secrets as well so your exploration is rewarded (pay attention to the manual!). Andrew Shouldice goated fr 5/5 ⭑

Incredible souls-like that in some ways is a major improvement from the Fromsoft games gameplay wise. The lore, art direction, and bosses are impeccable and make this one of the best video game worlds I've ever seen. There was some definite hours of repeatedly dying and grinding for star fragments but my god once you defeat them, it's all so worth it. It's so beautifully well-made and the individual chapters are very well designed. The gameplay loop is super addicting as well. This is easily one of my favorite games of the year!