This was my introduction to the Granblue Fantasy franchise and I think it leaves a bad first impression. The game opens with a bunch of generic looking, two dimensional, annoying anime characters swapping generic, two dimensional, annoying anime lines of dialogue with each other. I was immediately put off by the character design and the tropeyness of the characters and worldbuilding. However I can't deny how beautiful the environments and backgrounds are in this game, the same goes for the soundtrack.

The combat also leaves a bad first impression. It gets better, but it remains very mindless throughout the entire game. I played on hard mode, and in one chapter I accidently started with no other party members (it's the chapter where your airship gets raided and you fight the big buff guy for the first time). And I still beat the entire level without having to restart once. And i'm not showing off, I was getting downed by the boss loads of times, but my character just kept reviving himself and I kept spamming attacks and dodging untill I wore the boss down. I fact I only had to restart a fight a single time in the entire game. It was during the final final final boss where I lost a dps check and failed to do enough damage to interrupt his instakill attack.

The story is weak, but I mean this as an absolute compliment when I say it does not overstay it's welcome. I'm so used to JRPGs dragging on for hours and hours so it was a genuine suprise to see how well paced this game is. The plot and characters are basic, but the set pieces and environments are fun and varied and the pace never slacks or feels off throughout the entire game.

I have absolutely no interest in the post-credits content of this game. I finished it in under 20 hours and I don't want to spend any more time in it. I hate gacha games and while I don't know if this technically classified as one I can feel the sinister tentacles of the genre poking in and I got out while I still could.

This is almost a complete package for me. Incredible combat, platforming, puzzles, exploration, pacing, progression. It has a great visual style and takes a lot of inspiration in it's worldbuilding and narrative from Zoroastrianism, which is so cool to see considering it was published by ubisoft of all people. However the story and characters are a bit limp. I enjoyed the dialogue between characters in the side missions and just talking to NPCs, but every time a cutscene played it was very underwhelming.

Ancient religions other than Greek and Norse are such an untapped gold mine for video games. Where is my Aztec open world game? How about a Celtic JRPG? Or a buddist platformer?