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?

Could have been an all timer sandbox game if it just had better mission variety. The maps look amazing and have so much potential for interesting interactions and mission design, the arsenal of tools you have to use are varied (although it takes way too long to unlock them all), and obviously the physics engine and destruction mechanics are incredible.

70% of the missions in this game are the exact same thing with very slight variations, pick up six items, an alarm will start when you pick one of them up, so you have to plan out the best route to get all of them in a time limit once the alarm is triggered.

It baffles me how often the game relies on this mission type, considering how many other potential objectives the game could have gone with. It also cripples the game's pacing as every mission is the exact same length, throw some shorter, and some longer missions in there for Christ's sake.

Average social link conversation in this game:

Determined Moron: "Hey I found this lump on my balls the other day, do you think I should see a doctor about it? I might miss some study time for this next exam so probably not right?"

Protag: 'Nah, don't be a pussy dawg'

Determined Moron: "Yeah! You're such a good friend!" ♪♪♪

I have a feeling Determined Moron thinks I am his close friend...

A man snatched my phone from me on the street the other day. I tried chasing after him but he was too fast, I was close to giving up. But suddenly he stopped, staring down at my unlocked phone screen in silence. I was mentally preparing for a fight as he turned to face me but as he turned around I saw a look in his eyes of pure sadness. He pointed at the PvZ 3 app on my homescreen and shook his head slowly. He placed the phone in my hand and gestured toward it. Eventually I realised what he was getting at and I deleted the app. With a weary smile on his face he proceeded to give me a full body bear hug, I whispered "Thank you" into his ear, tears now streaming down my face, he replied "You're free now". The man left without saying another word, I thank him every day for setting me down the right path.

Has all the necessary ingredients to be one of the great coop shooters alongside Left 4 Dead 1+2 and Deep Rock Galactic:

-Large hordes of enemies, with squishy easy to kill enemies mixed in with giant tanky enemies
-Heavy explosives
-Funny emotes
-Characters with fun personalities and quotable in game voice lines
-Almost no cutscenes
-Missions where every player has to defend a point from hordes for a set time, and missions where every player has to get to a certain point in a set time
-MASSIVE amounts of team killing