square's fixation with consistency ever clearer having repackaged prior expansions without self-awareness. starts as a disneyfied but tonally odd stormblood and then again transitions to silly sci-fi as a mashup of both shadowbringers and endwalker. there's some bland and thoughtless takeaways about culture and friendship and conflict and so on that they've all used before, but there's nothing really as problematic as its premise implies. they don't strike me as being in that overt conservative mode that colored much of XI and early XIV anymore, but I'd prefer something to latch onto over its absent-mindedness, good or bad. many of its conflicts are resolved swiftly w no push or shove, some of which could be taken in more interesting directions if the writing weren't so safe.. (what happened to the scions contesting each other??). the goofy american accents are amazing and the fotns/mad max/bdsm leveling gear was an inspired choice. stand together and we can destroy the game's servers(?)^
but none of that matters to me so long as the battle content is fun. baller trials in this one. gone is the shb/ew paradigm where the first dungeon is the hardest. an expert dungeon is one of the best ever. love the addition of stuns (concussions) as punishment over dmg downs and vulns, and as a healer the everlasting bleeds had me smiling. folks are already calling this stormblood 2 in how the msq falters where the battles do not. i'm not totally convinced yet, but we can see that they've significantly scaled the battle content team from comparing EW and DT's credits. they did the same for SHB, but the fights here have me hoping for some shakeups to the kit of mechanics they've relied on for so long. let's see how that tournament arc shakes out
zones great music fine solo-duties alright graphics update nice face look wonky whatever mixed quality assets whatever who cares pick up a dualshock where are my crazy moblins these are not my crazy moblins
^(zone spoilers: was looking forward to S9 as the new tome town but I think I'd maybe have preferred the Cyber Twilight Town from the ending stretch. the zone itself dying was a nice touch, but as a thematic swing it'd work best in a braver context. you'd think square would shy away from the message here as it sits amidst recycled storytelling in a game that's lost its footing, a message that'd work perfectly well for a real ending, and yet..)
but none of that matters to me so long as the battle content is fun. baller trials in this one. gone is the shb/ew paradigm where the first dungeon is the hardest. an expert dungeon is one of the best ever. love the addition of stuns (concussions) as punishment over dmg downs and vulns, and as a healer the everlasting bleeds had me smiling. folks are already calling this stormblood 2 in how the msq falters where the battles do not. i'm not totally convinced yet, but we can see that they've significantly scaled the battle content team from comparing EW and DT's credits. they did the same for SHB, but the fights here have me hoping for some shakeups to the kit of mechanics they've relied on for so long. let's see how that tournament arc shakes out
zones great music fine solo-duties alright graphics update nice face look wonky whatever mixed quality assets whatever who cares pick up a dualshock where are my crazy moblins these are not my crazy moblins
^(zone spoilers: was looking forward to S9 as the new tome town but I think I'd maybe have preferred the Cyber Twilight Town from the ending stretch. the zone itself dying was a nice touch, but as a thematic swing it'd work best in a braver context. you'd think square would shy away from the message here as it sits amidst recycled storytelling in a game that's lost its footing, a message that'd work perfectly well for a real ending, and yet..)