Had some expectations going into this game about how it's slow and will take a little patience and I think I was better off for it. It hit at a good time where I was fully prepared to sit and vibe with a game. I had a wonderful time playing through this with only a few gripes near the end.

I had no issues with traversing the world for the most part especially when I was still discovering new things and making small progress along the way. The most annoying part is getting to Technopolis since it has so many hallways and waiting. Make no mistake you do a lot of waiting in this game but going in that direction managed to feel the worst.

I decided near the end that I wanted to go for 100% but hit a massive brick wall in the form of an RNG fishing mini-game. Even when doing everything to streamline the grind, each attempt takes several minutes just for one chance to roll the dice. It was really disappointing to get this at the end of the game since there was nothing this bad beforehand.

Choosing a bad answer at the end forced me to watch the ending sequence twice so I could see actual credits. The sequence is obscenely long. This one is kinda on me, but the consequence was uniquely cruel.

I think there's a potentially decent game here, but it's buried under a veritable mountain of flaws. This is a JRPG in the most barebones sense. There's a shallow story that backs up 20 hours of running down hallways and repeated floors. All the while you are hit with lengthy random encounters that will remind you why they're a thing of the past.

The combat is the bread and butter of the game since it's what you'll spend 90% of your time doing. I would say it's decent and requires a bit of strategy. Stat buffs and debuffs are really ambiguous and I never fully understood or took advantage of them. Hyper modes are neat but they feel weird to me since they're limited but the game expects you to be using them constantly.

I like the new characters a lot but they're underutilized story-wise. Spider debatably being the only exception. I'd die for Marino.

X3 I've played by far the least of the original 3 X games. Playing through it once again It's pretty clear as to why. All the new ideas that are introduced feel pretty underdeveloped. Ride armors, for example, are really underutilized. The bosses really fail to stand out and I don't look forward to fighting any of them. The same could be said about the stages. I never liked the soundfont change from X1 to X2, but this game hits a halfway point between the two that I don't think reaches the highs of either. There's still a banger here and there though.

The golden armor is one of the cooler final upgrades as well as the ability to get the Z saber, but getting these things can be cryptic. The buster upgrade by itself is arguably worse than the normal buster because of the way it functions. It messes with your controls and the benefits of using it are not nearly as good as older buster upgrades.

At the end of the day it's still an X game in the OG engine so I love to play it.

I don't feel like much needs to be said about this game at this point. Really impressive what they managed to pull off in the transition to 3D. Obviously not without its flaws but all things considered they're pretty minor.

The game feels like an adventure from front to back with the highlights being the temples and bosses. The world design in this game I always found a bit strange because it's ultimately a bunch of more interesting areas connected to a huge empty field. The vastness of Hyrule Field is important to the feel of the game, especially when you first arrive, but there's very little to actually see and do in it. Side areas are interconnected where they need to be but not always in useful ways. This is only really an issue when you're travelling around a lot but not so much when you just follow the main path.

I went for 100% this time around and didn't find it all that rewarding. The skulltulas are the biggest undertaking and there are too many for the reward to be worthwhile. I don't think you're really expected to get much more than 50 though in a normal run.

Before playing this I couldn't really understand how it could be badly received when it has the bones of the RE2 remake. They did it well the first time, so why not again? Now I understand.

It really does feel like they didn't want to go above and beyond for this one and the result feels more like a really solid DLC for RE2 remake rather than its own full sequel. It seems to be entirely linear and lacking in interesting puzzles. The story is really predictable and doesn't stand out at all. The game likes to throw large groups of zombies at you at once in lieu of more interesting encounters. I'm actually mostly fine with how it's structured until the end where enemies are at their most annoying. The boss battles are not great which isn't necessarily a surprise, but there are some uniquely bad ones here.

I knew absolutely nothing of 3 other than Nemesis exists before this, so I am totally unable to make comparisons on that front. I get the impressions that Nemesis is all this game has going for it as far as memorability goes.

An infuriating experience even compared to its less-than-stellar prequels. It backtracks on the obnoxious combat encounters from the second game, but in turn has the most baffling puzzles in the trilogy. Items are placed seemingly randomly and sometimes will be basically invisible. Without the assistance of a guide, I would have found this game impossible.

At least it has some funny set pieces. The first game, despite its major flaws, manages to be the best of the first three. Frankly, two and three are not worth the effort.

A definite sequel but not necessarily a better one. While there are a few minor improvements to the gameplay, it abandons what people liked about the original for a more action adventure experience. The game has a much heavier focus on combat which is only slightly expanded from the first game and barely more functional. Encounters can feel extremely unfair in some cases. Other times it's a total crapshoot whether or not you make it out unscathed. My sentiment towards this game is about the same as its predecessor, but one would be better off playing that one versus this misguided sequel.

Peaks and valleys with this one, but overall I think its a good game. If I were to list off every issue I had with the game this review would probably never end. Thankfully, the good manages to outweigh the bad, but I wont deny it walks a fine line. If not for the stellar presentation and characters I would definitely be singing a different tune.

As far as open worlds go, I think this one is pretty mediocre. The gameplay just doesn't lend itself well to the format. Navigating the environments doesn't feel good at all because of how rigid the movement is. There's nothing special to discover in the world, just marks on the map to walk between. Maybe you will stop to sniff out an item or grab a few chests in a "point of interest", but those aren't memorable, interesting, or even worth it. FF7 as an open world feels obvious but this execution is not it. If you don't get the inherent dopamine hits from filling out a map I can imagine this is probably a nightmare.

I see the vision and understand why this would resonate with a person. Unfortunately I found the experience bogged down by its insistence on putting me in open areas against either a massive wave of enemies or a swarm of small evasive ones. The weapons are not easy to use and most of them are redundant, which makes walking in circles and chipping away at a horde all the more obnoxious. The later levels were the worst the game has to offer, and I think the bosses were largely terrible. I also got frustrated about getting caught on minor level geometry or sliding off cliffs.

It's an interesting game with cool moments but I take too much issue with the game's flaws to think much of it.