Integrating an open world into a parkour game was a great idea, but in reality it gets old fairly quickly. Catalyst doesn't quite have the razer sharp pacing of the original but I still don't think it's as bad as people originally made it out to be. Just make sure to turn off runner vision, makes the game a whole lot more interesting trying to find ways to traverse rather than just following the red. Hopefully dice takes another crack at it, or maybe they'll be stuck in the endless cycle of making battlefield.

I've been thinking and I came to the conclusion that I should be more thorough than before. I've never played a final fantasy game before, although I've tried to many times before. I have copies of 6, 10 and 15 but I never took the plunge until 7 remake. While I don't think remake is representative of the whole series, it has engaged me in a way where I want to try out the other games again. The story of 7 has an amazing base, and I love the world building within. Midgar is a world I love exploring and seeing how people live from the slums to the Shinra towers. The characters are a fair step down in contrast, but they are with some good moments. Cloud is such a goober that tries to act tough it wraps around from being annoying to just funny. Barret is just overtly goofy, Aerith got that "kinda quirky doe" energy and Tifa has the characterization equivalent to a level 7 porcupine. They did grow on me, but that could be due to the fact it took me 6 months to beat this game. The gameplay is flashy, but satisfying enough to keep me engaged. Turn based combat seems to be quite the problem for some audiences, and I do think the real time combat suits the game well. It somewhat reminded me of a more methodical kingdom hearts, which isn't a surprise as this was directed by godking of belts Nomura. I hope the kingdom hearts 3 team enjoyed seeing this, I'm sure Osaka team loved this. The greatest benefit of this game is the graphical fidelity and sheer scope of the game. You feel immersed in this world, and the level of detail present throughout the game made me genuinely say "wow, games look pretty crazy now". Square seems to be one of the only companies that knows how to use unreal engine, but I hope the effort put into luminous and crystal tools doesn't go to waste. As I finished the game, I felt rather satisfied, and then started writing this. Play 7 remake, it's pretty good. Get it on pc or ps5, I can't imagine playing this at 30fps. LOL!!!!