+combat is extremely fluid and responsive. I think the choice to allow parries at any time with no startup encourages aggressive play that focuses on quick reactions to enemy's moves and constantly keeping abilities in use
+I appreciate how relaxed the game's plot is at the start, with island exploration and day-by-day events taking precedent
+there's good variety in enemy design and the game takes care to give each one wind-up animations/tells so that you aren't taking potshots when encountering new enemies.
+it's a little odd to call this a positive quality but there's a dreary element to the game's plot and environment that makes the game feel like you really are trapped on an island; a pervasive sense of claustrophobia and sadness to each of the characters as they grow more and more accustomed to their new lives away from their families and trapped in an unsafe environment. a unique atmosphere that few games have tackled
+adding to that previous point is the search action-esque world layout: this is not open world but instead a gigantic interconnected series of rooms filled with landmarks and hidden treasure. the acquisition of exploration items make revisiting previous areas rewarding as well
+side content isn't excessive and it all has story elements that flesh out the characters around the main base. many of them have subtle arcs over the course of the game, and as you'll be returning to base frequently it's easy to keep up with everyone's different stories
+there's plenty of extra optional combat content, including endgame and post-game raids (base defense) and hunts (capture the flag), the large multi-level sanctuary ruins both solo as dana and in the post-game, a small true ending dungeon and extra final boss, and another optional endgame dungeon as well
+bread-and-butter action mechanics at its finest: so many bosses and a laundry list of every possible action rpg mechanic you could ever want. bullet patterns, traps, huge AoEs, stage gimmicks, multiple bosses at once, multi-phase fights, bosses that swim around your platform; it's a vertiable tour de force that never gets tiring
+as the island escape plot winds down in the back quarter of the game and the larger, eon-spanning narrative takes hold, the game goes into some rather somber directions that I feel were executed excellently. there's few tonal whiplashes to be found here and a lot of serene character interactions in their place, where the heroes keep their required-by-genre jrpg stubborn determination while actually mourning those lost along the way and pondering the different civilizations they've been exposed to. I was honestly not expecting how much I would enjoy the story here, and even the somewhat abstract ending
-very obviously a vita game in the graphics and UI, giving it a bit of a cheap look. ymmv on how big of a deal this is for you, I sometimes find it charming. what's less charming is when it begins to chug... though on ps4 this really only happened around castaway village
-certain map features are a little wonky, specifically with how it picks up unopened treasures on the map. some of them didn't appear even after 100% map completion, and I had to use online resources to clean up
a truly impressive action rpg that takes simple controls and turns it into a fast and franctic experience that feels more responsive than perhaps any other hack-and-slash I've ever played. it feels like it took me forever to beat, but only because I couldn't stop myself from doing as much optional content as I could whenever given the opportunity. I've always had falcom on my radar, but this game really has made me more interested in their work, and I can't wait to dive into whatever ys game (or trails or whatever) I choose to play next.
+I appreciate how relaxed the game's plot is at the start, with island exploration and day-by-day events taking precedent
+there's good variety in enemy design and the game takes care to give each one wind-up animations/tells so that you aren't taking potshots when encountering new enemies.
+it's a little odd to call this a positive quality but there's a dreary element to the game's plot and environment that makes the game feel like you really are trapped on an island; a pervasive sense of claustrophobia and sadness to each of the characters as they grow more and more accustomed to their new lives away from their families and trapped in an unsafe environment. a unique atmosphere that few games have tackled
+adding to that previous point is the search action-esque world layout: this is not open world but instead a gigantic interconnected series of rooms filled with landmarks and hidden treasure. the acquisition of exploration items make revisiting previous areas rewarding as well
+side content isn't excessive and it all has story elements that flesh out the characters around the main base. many of them have subtle arcs over the course of the game, and as you'll be returning to base frequently it's easy to keep up with everyone's different stories
+there's plenty of extra optional combat content, including endgame and post-game raids (base defense) and hunts (capture the flag), the large multi-level sanctuary ruins both solo as dana and in the post-game, a small true ending dungeon and extra final boss, and another optional endgame dungeon as well
+bread-and-butter action mechanics at its finest: so many bosses and a laundry list of every possible action rpg mechanic you could ever want. bullet patterns, traps, huge AoEs, stage gimmicks, multiple bosses at once, multi-phase fights, bosses that swim around your platform; it's a vertiable tour de force that never gets tiring
+as the island escape plot winds down in the back quarter of the game and the larger, eon-spanning narrative takes hold, the game goes into some rather somber directions that I feel were executed excellently. there's few tonal whiplashes to be found here and a lot of serene character interactions in their place, where the heroes keep their required-by-genre jrpg stubborn determination while actually mourning those lost along the way and pondering the different civilizations they've been exposed to. I was honestly not expecting how much I would enjoy the story here, and even the somewhat abstract ending
-very obviously a vita game in the graphics and UI, giving it a bit of a cheap look. ymmv on how big of a deal this is for you, I sometimes find it charming. what's less charming is when it begins to chug... though on ps4 this really only happened around castaway village
-certain map features are a little wonky, specifically with how it picks up unopened treasures on the map. some of them didn't appear even after 100% map completion, and I had to use online resources to clean up
a truly impressive action rpg that takes simple controls and turns it into a fast and franctic experience that feels more responsive than perhaps any other hack-and-slash I've ever played. it feels like it took me forever to beat, but only because I couldn't stop myself from doing as much optional content as I could whenever given the opportunity. I've always had falcom on my radar, but this game really has made me more interested in their work, and I can't wait to dive into whatever ys game (or trails or whatever) I choose to play next.