Well this was a bit of a disappointment for me. Don't get me wrong it was good. If you have a fondness for the original or Remake it's probably worth continuing the series here and I'll certainly be there for the final chapter when that releases but this entry has problems.

I went back and read my review of Remake Intergrade and I complained that there weren't enough open areas with side quests and it felt like I was burning through the game too fast... Well they "fixed" that. The story beats are stretched incredibly far apart. At times I forgot what I was actually supposed to be doing because nothing of consequence happened for such long stretches. It feels mostly like padding with only a few actual story rich moments in the entire game. Sure you get the open world and side quests galore but they're mostly just MMO-style nonsense... "help me catch my chickens, go find this thing and bring it here".

The combat was still good. Felt balanced. I had fun switching the characters more this time instead of sticking to a core party. The music was an excellent rendition of the original tunes and the art style fit. It isn't a graphical powerhouse but it looks nice and the characters seem to fit well.

I guess this is a case of be careful what you wish for. Its a competent game but they overcorrected from Remake to here. The series still feels worthwhile but maybe not for new fans with limited time on their hands.