eternal
2023
(No spoilers)
I went into this game with fairly high expectations in certain aspects. Those being story, characters, gameplay, and spectacle. And while those are some of the most important parts of a good video game, it does fall short in things that I consider minor but others may not. This review focuses on a lot of the negatives, but I want to make it clear that they do not outweigh the positives and I now consider this one of my favorite games of all time.
My biggest problem is the pacing of the main story quests. This game reaches some of the highest highs I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing in a video game, but in the second half it frequently it pulls you back down with menial fetch quests that do nothing but keep you busy while the next spectacle is prepared. There is a precedent to this style of storytelling, giving you time to breathe before going all in on the next major event (for an example of expert story pacing, see the Resident Evil 4 remake), but it happens far too often and does nothing to properly engage the player. While they are relevant to the plot, they also lack any urgency or importance. These kinds of things should be relegated to side quests, not the main story.
Regarding side quests, they are by and large not very good. They do an okay job of building on the world around you, but there is just nothing particularly fun about going to a location and holding X to gather materials (especially egregious that some of these instances happen during the MAIN quest). I shouldn't be surprised since this is a developer known for their MMO work (a genre where side quests are mainly a means to get XP) but I can't help being a little disappointed.
As far as other side content goes, the developers explained there are no minigames or life skills like previous entries in the series as Clive's story is not a happy one and it wouldn't have made sense. I just don't agree, and it sucks that they aren't here. Outside of that, the bulk of side content lies in the hunts, arcade mode, and Chronolith trials. If you're fiending for combat, these are here for you. These are extremely good, and go along with my other biggest praise of the game.
The general combat and individual encounter design is some of the best I have ever played. There were many, many boss fights and hunts that I did in my 30+ hours (so far) and not once did I feel like an attack was poorly designed. It is absurdly fun weaving through telegraphs and interacting with so many cool Eikon abilities.
I have so much more experimenting I need to do, but it's clear from what I've used that every ability is strong in one aspect or another. The mastery system lets you mix things up pretty significantly and there is a lot more player choice here than I had initially thought. The combat itself also has a lot of hidden depth. My one tiny little complaint is toppling enemies with Garuda is so damn good I feel like I'm leaving damage on the table if I'm not using it, which brings me down to only two Eikon slots. Regardless, there are a staggering number of ways to initiate and hold a combo, whether using Eikonic feats or even commanding Torgal. Sure, you CAN beat the game by button mashing--which keeps the barrier to entry low--but there's no way I'm going to do that.
As a side note the itemization in this game is weak, and the crafting system is basic. But this has never been a strength of the series, so I'm okay with a couple stat sticks and damage/cooldown passives.
Rounding off this review with a final look at the positives, I found the story incredible when things were actually happening. It hit every emotional beat and by the end of it I was fully invested and felt the full force of its impact. The sentiment from other reviews is that it goes fairly off the rails in the final act, but personally I feel like it does so in a way that isn't alien to the JRPG genre. Not to dismiss any flaws, but there wasn't anything I was blindsided by and it never really breaks the mold on this type of story. It does fail to address a few things by the end, but not in a way that hindered my experience. The main villain is good but doesn't reach the same heights the best in the franchise do.
The Eikon battles are the peak of the game. When I mentioned highest highs, this is what I was referring to. I went in hoping they weren't just button mashing and QTEs, and it blew my expectations away. These are incredible, immersive battles between titans where scale and spectacle just kept getting bigger. I found myself finishing these and wondering how the next one could possibly be better--but it was every time. These encounters always happened at major story points, and the accompanying cutscenes never disappointed, with smooth transitions between cinematics and gameplay paired with, overall, some of the best English voice acting in video games. I never felt like the line delivery was flat or out of place.
The characters are amazing. There are some real gems in this cast, Clive, Dion, Cid, Byron, and one unnamed character in particular shone the brightest for me. Barnabas is propped up as one of the most powerful characters in the game, and he delivers on that with every moment he takes the screen. Jill unfortunately does not reach the heights that other major female characters in the series do, but I loved her relationship with Clive and she does have her moments. The side characters found in your main hub also fell short for me. They just weren't very interesting.
Creative Business Unit III, known best for their work on Final Fantasy XIV for the last decade, transfers a lot of their storytelling and game design experience to XVI, for better or worse. It's not perfect, but still holds a high score for me.
Thanks for reading if you did.
I went into this game with fairly high expectations in certain aspects. Those being story, characters, gameplay, and spectacle. And while those are some of the most important parts of a good video game, it does fall short in things that I consider minor but others may not. This review focuses on a lot of the negatives, but I want to make it clear that they do not outweigh the positives and I now consider this one of my favorite games of all time.
My biggest problem is the pacing of the main story quests. This game reaches some of the highest highs I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing in a video game, but in the second half it frequently it pulls you back down with menial fetch quests that do nothing but keep you busy while the next spectacle is prepared. There is a precedent to this style of storytelling, giving you time to breathe before going all in on the next major event (for an example of expert story pacing, see the Resident Evil 4 remake), but it happens far too often and does nothing to properly engage the player. While they are relevant to the plot, they also lack any urgency or importance. These kinds of things should be relegated to side quests, not the main story.
Regarding side quests, they are by and large not very good. They do an okay job of building on the world around you, but there is just nothing particularly fun about going to a location and holding X to gather materials (especially egregious that some of these instances happen during the MAIN quest). I shouldn't be surprised since this is a developer known for their MMO work (a genre where side quests are mainly a means to get XP) but I can't help being a little disappointed.
As far as other side content goes, the developers explained there are no minigames or life skills like previous entries in the series as Clive's story is not a happy one and it wouldn't have made sense. I just don't agree, and it sucks that they aren't here. Outside of that, the bulk of side content lies in the hunts, arcade mode, and Chronolith trials. If you're fiending for combat, these are here for you. These are extremely good, and go along with my other biggest praise of the game.
The general combat and individual encounter design is some of the best I have ever played. There were many, many boss fights and hunts that I did in my 30+ hours (so far) and not once did I feel like an attack was poorly designed. It is absurdly fun weaving through telegraphs and interacting with so many cool Eikon abilities.
I have so much more experimenting I need to do, but it's clear from what I've used that every ability is strong in one aspect or another. The mastery system lets you mix things up pretty significantly and there is a lot more player choice here than I had initially thought. The combat itself also has a lot of hidden depth. My one tiny little complaint is toppling enemies with Garuda is so damn good I feel like I'm leaving damage on the table if I'm not using it, which brings me down to only two Eikon slots. Regardless, there are a staggering number of ways to initiate and hold a combo, whether using Eikonic feats or even commanding Torgal. Sure, you CAN beat the game by button mashing--which keeps the barrier to entry low--but there's no way I'm going to do that.
As a side note the itemization in this game is weak, and the crafting system is basic. But this has never been a strength of the series, so I'm okay with a couple stat sticks and damage/cooldown passives.
Rounding off this review with a final look at the positives, I found the story incredible when things were actually happening. It hit every emotional beat and by the end of it I was fully invested and felt the full force of its impact. The sentiment from other reviews is that it goes fairly off the rails in the final act, but personally I feel like it does so in a way that isn't alien to the JRPG genre. Not to dismiss any flaws, but there wasn't anything I was blindsided by and it never really breaks the mold on this type of story. It does fail to address a few things by the end, but not in a way that hindered my experience. The main villain is good but doesn't reach the same heights the best in the franchise do.
The Eikon battles are the peak of the game. When I mentioned highest highs, this is what I was referring to. I went in hoping they weren't just button mashing and QTEs, and it blew my expectations away. These are incredible, immersive battles between titans where scale and spectacle just kept getting bigger. I found myself finishing these and wondering how the next one could possibly be better--but it was every time. These encounters always happened at major story points, and the accompanying cutscenes never disappointed, with smooth transitions between cinematics and gameplay paired with, overall, some of the best English voice acting in video games. I never felt like the line delivery was flat or out of place.
The characters are amazing. There are some real gems in this cast, Clive, Dion, Cid, Byron, and one unnamed character in particular shone the brightest for me. Barnabas is propped up as one of the most powerful characters in the game, and he delivers on that with every moment he takes the screen. Jill unfortunately does not reach the heights that other major female characters in the series do, but I loved her relationship with Clive and she does have her moments. The side characters found in your main hub also fell short for me. They just weren't very interesting.
Creative Business Unit III, known best for their work on Final Fantasy XIV for the last decade, transfers a lot of their storytelling and game design experience to XVI, for better or worse. It's not perfect, but still holds a high score for me.
Thanks for reading if you did.
2022
If the dialogue was better it would get that last half star. I still love the shit out of this game though
2022
To start, this game is not without flaws. If you've done one catacomb, one cave, one tunnel, you've done 90% of them. They all feel extremely similar. The sense of wonder while exploring is not nearly as strong in the later areas as it does in Limgrave.
There are also far too many duplicate bosses. You could say this is a side effect of the open world genre, but it's a huge bummer to fight a cool boss only to see them again multiple times in the open world. Am I supposed to feel stronger because they're easier now? Even some moveset variation would have been enough. I also think mechanically PART of the final boss was not very good. I don't wanna spoil anything, but I feel like anyone who has played it knows what I'm talking about.
That's the end of my negatives with the game.
The boss music, ESPECIALLY the final stretch from Farum onward felt rightfully epic. Boss design is phenomenal visually, and legacy dungeons have the great level design Souls fans know and love (toned down in size, understandably). Limgrave into Stormveil Castle is one of the strongest first impressions I've had with a game. The bigger dungeons like Leyndell and Farum Azula continue to deliver and I consider them some of the peaks of my playthrough.
The combat has been refined so well over the last decade. Weapon designs are fucking sick, and the ashes of war are even sicker. The new ashes are one of my favorite changes from Dark Souls 3. I've tried 3 different builds on my way to postgame and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. It's one of the biggest strengths of the franchise and it's just as good here.
I put 60 hours in and I still have a few bosses to go. This is a very dense game, and an open world Souls game is a winning formula. Ideally From Software makes the right adjustments to the next iteration, because this is already one of the best games we've had in a long time and it can only get better.
There are also far too many duplicate bosses. You could say this is a side effect of the open world genre, but it's a huge bummer to fight a cool boss only to see them again multiple times in the open world. Am I supposed to feel stronger because they're easier now? Even some moveset variation would have been enough. I also think mechanically PART of the final boss was not very good. I don't wanna spoil anything, but I feel like anyone who has played it knows what I'm talking about.
That's the end of my negatives with the game.
The boss music, ESPECIALLY the final stretch from Farum onward felt rightfully epic. Boss design is phenomenal visually, and legacy dungeons have the great level design Souls fans know and love (toned down in size, understandably). Limgrave into Stormveil Castle is one of the strongest first impressions I've had with a game. The bigger dungeons like Leyndell and Farum Azula continue to deliver and I consider them some of the peaks of my playthrough.
The combat has been refined so well over the last decade. Weapon designs are fucking sick, and the ashes of war are even sicker. The new ashes are one of my favorite changes from Dark Souls 3. I've tried 3 different builds on my way to postgame and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. It's one of the biggest strengths of the franchise and it's just as good here.
I put 60 hours in and I still have a few bosses to go. This is a very dense game, and an open world Souls game is a winning formula. Ideally From Software makes the right adjustments to the next iteration, because this is already one of the best games we've had in a long time and it can only get better.
I can't even formulate any thoughts. This somehow surpasses Shadowbringers while also making Shadowbringers even better
Story, characters, and dialogue were the stars of this show. The variation in environments a joy to experience too. Also had the right amount of exploration for a linear game and just the right length at 15-20 hrs.
Combat was plenty of fun, but it could have been harder. Once you learn your best ability combos it becomes very satisfying, but can be a little one-note. I should have played on the harder difficulty, because on normal I literally never died.
Very little replay value aside from achievement hunting and collecting outfits but overall 100% worth a playthrough.
Combat was plenty of fun, but it could have been harder. Once you learn your best ability combos it becomes very satisfying, but can be a little one-note. I should have played on the harder difficulty, because on normal I literally never died.
Very little replay value aside from achievement hunting and collecting outfits but overall 100% worth a playthrough.
Perfect mix of survival horror and action. House Beneviento is one of the best horror sequences I've ever played. The story was incredible and tied into the Resident Evil franchise so perfectly.
Presentation and spectacle in the final hours of the game were INCREDIBLE. Easily one of my favorite games of the year.
Bonus points to Capcom for full ultrawide support. 3440x1440p maxed out looks so good it had my soul leaving my body. Could have had an FOV slider, though...
Presentation and spectacle in the final hours of the game were INCREDIBLE. Easily one of my favorite games of the year.
Bonus points to Capcom for full ultrawide support. 3440x1440p maxed out looks so good it had my soul leaving my body. Could have had an FOV slider, though...
Truthfully the story did not do much for me. But it still gets a high score anyway because this game is so much fun. Nefarious is a hilarious villain and Rivet is a fantastic character with a lot of potential. She is definitely the star of the show in this game so I'm curious how the dynamic will be between her and Ratchet for future games.
Rebel Legend difficulty is just challenging enough to keep you on your toes from early to mid-game as you build up your arsenal, constantly switching weapons to maintain ammo and bombarding enemies with all kinds of combos.
Unfortunately it becomes trivial once you've unlocked most of your weapons, and getting hit is meaningless because of the constant health drops and how much health you gain with each level.
As far as visuals go, Insomniac are masters of their craft both from a performance and design perspective. Runs at a solid 60 with ray tracing on, and all the different environments are such a treat to experience. I can't count how many times I had to stop and take in the view. in the cutscenes, the animations are top notch and this is totally been said way too many times, but it feels like watching a Pixar movie sometimes.
Rift Apart is a fantastic title to get things started for the PS5's lifetime. This has definitely become a powerhouse franchise for Sony, and I can't wait to see what Insomniac can do with this hardware in the future.
Rebel Legend difficulty is just challenging enough to keep you on your toes from early to mid-game as you build up your arsenal, constantly switching weapons to maintain ammo and bombarding enemies with all kinds of combos.
Unfortunately it becomes trivial once you've unlocked most of your weapons, and getting hit is meaningless because of the constant health drops and how much health you gain with each level.
As far as visuals go, Insomniac are masters of their craft both from a performance and design perspective. Runs at a solid 60 with ray tracing on, and all the different environments are such a treat to experience. I can't count how many times I had to stop and take in the view. in the cutscenes, the animations are top notch and this is totally been said way too many times, but it feels like watching a Pixar movie sometimes.
Rift Apart is a fantastic title to get things started for the PS5's lifetime. This has definitely become a powerhouse franchise for Sony, and I can't wait to see what Insomniac can do with this hardware in the future.
Only played through the first game so far but I've completed the trilogy several times in the least decade. It's amazing what these games were able to accomplish way back then. Greatest trilogy of all time and this refresh only makes it better.
2021
The wirebug is fucking awesome
Let me get this out of the way before I say anything else: Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers is arguably the greatest story in any medium I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing. It's so tightly written, hits on every emotion possible, and has an incredible cast of characters that includes one of my favorite antagonists ever. Just hearing certain songs can put me to tears all over again.
All that aside, as an expansion this is the Final Fantasy XIV at its best. The zones are beautiful and diverse, the soundtrack is INCREDIBLE, new dungeons and trials are engaging and unique, and questing never gets too monotonous.
All that aside, as an expansion this is the Final Fantasy XIV at its best. The zones are beautiful and diverse, the soundtrack is INCREDIBLE, new dungeons and trials are engaging and unique, and questing never gets too monotonous.
Game is very on rails and has its fair share of bugs (enough to force me to reload my checkpoint a couple times), but the story holds up and looks great visually.