i seriously did not expect to enjoy this game nearly as much as i did? i preordered it, because some friends and i thought the E3 trailer was funny. which, yes, the game is very unintentionally funny (jack literally listens to limp bizkit. this is not a joke), but it's also really good.

i'm grateful i went into this having played final fantasy 1 in advance just so i could catch those extra details, but honestly i think it's fine to play without that. the story starts out very... awkwardly. but i swear you have to be patient with it, because it seriously does make sense eventually. it absolutely blew my mind with a nice blend of predictable and unpredictable twists.

the gameplay is an absolute blast, too. i really loved how much experimenting with and building up every class was encouraged. i don't know if i'll 100% this game, but i definitely want to go through and finish some of the postgame content at some point.

i have only one gripe relevant enough to bring up, the fact that the world travel felt a bit hollow. i think this game's fine not being open world or anything like that, but i feel there could have been something done to make the campaign screen feel more alive.