This review contains spoilers
mostly taking about story. be forewarned etc.
the stretch of story that is ysayle, estinien, alphinaud, and the WoL on a journey is great. distinct, conflicted characters. real senses of momentum and discovery. grappling with suppressed history, difficult truths, the irrevocable. everything else is also pretty good. the busywork at the beginning and throughout felt more or less organic. it has lulls, not lows. there are great little flourishes like midgardsomr's occasional commentary (which i would've liked more of) and edmond's narration. in the 3rd act, i felt my interest wan when ysayle left the story and you go off on what felt like a long series of tangents to set up the climax. i think it wrapped back around well enough, but i spent a lot of time wondering if she was just gone. done. then i was so happy when she returned... it was a cool cutscene, i ended up crying a little... but it felt like a disservice. the conversations with hraesvelgr are the best parts of this story, and now there are implied, impactful scenes with him and ysayle that the game just isn't gonna show?? i wanna see those scenes. i wanna read the fucking dialogue that lead them here. i'm not begrudging this too heavily cuz i still have 3.1-3.5 to get through and who knows what will happen (i don't, pls don't tell me). even if characters don't return, the WoL has the convenient superpower to have flashbacks to things that happened to other people lmao. i'm hopeful. regardless, i found much to love. i'm taking a break before i hit the patches. will update.
the stretch of story that is ysayle, estinien, alphinaud, and the WoL on a journey is great. distinct, conflicted characters. real senses of momentum and discovery. grappling with suppressed history, difficult truths, the irrevocable. everything else is also pretty good. the busywork at the beginning and throughout felt more or less organic. it has lulls, not lows. there are great little flourishes like midgardsomr's occasional commentary (which i would've liked more of) and edmond's narration. in the 3rd act, i felt my interest wan when ysayle left the story and you go off on what felt like a long series of tangents to set up the climax. i think it wrapped back around well enough, but i spent a lot of time wondering if she was just gone. done. then i was so happy when she returned... it was a cool cutscene, i ended up crying a little... but it felt like a disservice. the conversations with hraesvelgr are the best parts of this story, and now there are implied, impactful scenes with him and ysayle that the game just isn't gonna show?? i wanna see those scenes. i wanna read the fucking dialogue that lead them here. i'm not begrudging this too heavily cuz i still have 3.1-3.5 to get through and who knows what will happen (i don't, pls don't tell me). even if characters don't return, the WoL has the convenient superpower to have flashbacks to things that happened to other people lmao. i'm hopeful. regardless, i found much to love. i'm taking a break before i hit the patches. will update.