Had to use cheat engine to one hit kill every enemy here (boss fights looked funny because of it) cause I didn’t feel like grinding and all the progression systems combined (job system, license tables and having to buy skills and gambits from the town shops) felt like a huge time sinker. I would prefer if they had kept it simple: level up, get skill. Reach enough stats, can wield weapon. that’d be best, pretty straightforward. Then again, the way this game is designed in general is full of stuff meant for you to sink your time in. some might find it fun, I sure don’t.
So yeah, at times I was just rushing through the dungeons one shotting everyone with 4x speed on. I did, however, take my time to appreciate the places I thought looked good, and the game is full of pretty delightful to look at sceneries. I like the concept of the viera village too. Subterranean areas in general looked kinda boring though and there’s one specifically that could’ve been neat but was damaged by its level design. This might sound like a nitpick but I felt it could’ve been way better if done otherwise. I’m talking about the sword of kings temple. Our goal there was to lift the statue’s sword at the lower floor so that we could pass through, but instead of descending into the passageway from the floor above, we’re warped there through a portal as if it were a whole different area. This put me out of the feeling of adventure and cool puzzle solving that a more cohesive area design would convey.
Overpowering myself with a cheat kept me from experiencing the strategic possibilities the gambit system offers, I’m aware of that. i might replay it someday making proper use of the system. Honestly, I just wanted to beat this thing and be done with it already. Why did i almost entirely eliminate a great deal of what makes this game unique, you ask? Why did I keep playing a game whose gameplay wasn’t all that enjoyable til the end, you ask? Am I just stupid, you ask? Well, I probably am but the reason I finished it is because the plot was interesting despite being presented in an unclear way. I don’t really have anything to say about it other than i had to read the wiki to fully understand it. Still a neat little political intrigue story

half assed combat that attempts to add some depth to it by expecting you to dodge your enemies' attacks when you can't even see where they're coming from in the middle of that mess (looks cool at least). combine that with spongy enemies and you have a quite unfun gameplay loop

story is decent i guess but the whole cast has little to no charisma (except for law, i like him)

that it looks good and runs smoothly are about all the compliments i can give this game

very enjoyable first half whose artistry conveyed by its setting couldn't have been done if not in the video game medium. its artsy setting makes sense thematically, of course, as the main antagonist here is an artist and, though this might be just me projecting much, i truly feel like stefano represents pretty much every artist. as a crafstman myself, i relate quite a lot to him and his obsession with his own craft. see, one wouldn't strive to master one's craft weren't it for a deep need for expression. such need for expression that drives creators forward wouldn't be there in the first place weren't it for a certain amout of narcissism and self-obsession. only in stefano's case, these factors are brought to an extreme. combine that with utter psychopathy and you have a character that is... literally me!!! xD (seriously, i can't stress enough just how much i love that guy)

second half is decent. cult leader guy is not nearly as insteresting as my beloved stefano, but i feel like this part is more focused on sebastian's character arc with a silent hill 2-esque psychological horror trip exploring self-blame themes. despite the themes being a bit too on the nose and not as good as what they drew inspiration from, it's a well written character arc. but it's well written as in comercially successful hollywood screenwriting kinda bullshit. i appreciate that but can't say i enjoy it. speaking of which, kidman sections as well as her cutscenes kinda suck. they're short but did bother me as they feel like some shitty american action movie and i gotta say i have low tolerance for westaboo shit (as opposed to weebshit which many people claim to have low tolerance for but the opposite never gets spoken and that's an issue we have to address!)

good but backloaded as fuck. all the epic moments in this game lie on its final couple hours. i was forced to sit through a good 16 hour long of pretty boring gameplay with some of the middest combats i've seen in an action game before it finally got good. needless to say it gets stale rather quickly and it becomes a drag. the later epic shounen-esque moments do kinda pay off, however. some are peak shounencringe kino like emil wiping out a whole city for example.
i'm not sure if i'll have the patience to go through the repetitiveness of this game's most part again just to see an alternative ending, it's probably not worth it.

this game also features peak dialogue, especially from grimoire weiss' part. he's extremely charismatic, i love him