This is one odd game. So odd that it's hard to talk about it critically. It's junk food. Is it arrogant to critique junk food? Do you treat McDonalds like you'd treat a restaurant, fine dining or not? Of course it's not the same thing, this used to be an AAA priced game on launch that got price-dropped afterwards, but it still isn't set out to wow you with its amazing story and visuals or whatever do AAA games promise nowadays, and that is fine.

That being said, it succeeds. It's a fun game with deep systems and engaging combat that makes you feel powerful, segmented by competent dungeon-crawling segments, each loosely based on a different numbered game in the series (which is unfortunately too subtle to be impactful). This is all accompanied by a story that is fun to experience and doesn't take itself seriously, but at the same time is a bit hard to follow and is not as meme-y or as satirical as it might seem for those who watched clips of it online. These funny moments are actually part of main character Jack's oddly compelling character development, something that is one of the game's biggest charms and gives the journey more meaning. Other than that, there's the in-depth job system that allows for a lot of customization and the amazing and surprisingly free co-op, which is by itself the ultimate way of experiencing this gem.

Overall, it's a relatively short soulslike experience that can be straight-forwardly played with friends, and that is something that I'm partial to. It being a Final Fantasy game with a Final Fantasy story is just icing on the cake.