A perfect conclusion to the small, quiet story started in the last entry, and a wonderful conclusion to the series as a whole. I don't want more of this, because there's nowhere else to go, nothing else to do that wouldn't just be retreading that same ground.
Ragnarok is very much a case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", as it adds very little to the formulas of the previous entry, for good reason. The last game was so tight, so well done, there was nothing that needed improvement or changing. Instead, Ragnarok introduces a few new, small elements that allow for some new puzzles without messing with perfection.
Ragnarok returns to all the same locations as the first game, but without reusing maps or areas. The maps have changed, drastically, due to the events of the first game. Most of this happens in the first chunk, and it's a good setup for the story that follows, which is about facing the consequences of your actions as it grapples with free will vs. prophecy.
The narrative continues to be very mature, and was very affecting ,not just for a game, but for a narrative in any medium. Characters continue to grow, and it is great to see games continue to use actors to actually act. As in the first game, many of the largest genuine emotional beats are entirely silent, a look from a character, a physical touch or movement. The actors say so much with so little, and it's still somewhat jarring to me to see actors acting in a video game.
As far as the gameplay, it's still crunchy and delicious. It feels so good to throw that ax, to call it back, to kick a dude off a cliff, and I absolutely loved the flexibility in accessability options this time around. The ability to change the difficulty on the fly meant that I could still experience everything the game had to offer, despite not being particularly great at games (after 35 years you'd think I'd be better at this).
The post-game this time around is less of a POST game and more of an epilogue. The events that take place are very much part of the story, and they are constructed in such a way that they lead you back through the world, meeting up with people one last time, seeing how the events of the game wrap up. It is, in many ways, like the endings of old SNES era RPGs, where you have to walk back through the world, all the way home.
It's really just all lovely, and I'm sad it's over, and I'm glad we left these characters before they were out of things to say, and while I don't want more from these characters, I am excited to see what this team does next.
EDIT/UPDATE: I didn't realize how much the post game was actually the real game, that that first set of credits were just there to mark the end of the big story, not the end of the actual story. And that actual ending was devastating. Not everything is wrapped up, but it's not left for a sequel we will (hopefully) never get, it's not wrapped up in the way that real life doesn't wrap everything up. Sometimes people are hurt and angry and there's nothing you can do about it. I think this is the best AAA game I have ever played in my 35 years of playing video games.
Ragnarok is very much a case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", as it adds very little to the formulas of the previous entry, for good reason. The last game was so tight, so well done, there was nothing that needed improvement or changing. Instead, Ragnarok introduces a few new, small elements that allow for some new puzzles without messing with perfection.
Ragnarok returns to all the same locations as the first game, but without reusing maps or areas. The maps have changed, drastically, due to the events of the first game. Most of this happens in the first chunk, and it's a good setup for the story that follows, which is about facing the consequences of your actions as it grapples with free will vs. prophecy.
The narrative continues to be very mature, and was very affecting ,not just for a game, but for a narrative in any medium. Characters continue to grow, and it is great to see games continue to use actors to actually act. As in the first game, many of the largest genuine emotional beats are entirely silent, a look from a character, a physical touch or movement. The actors say so much with so little, and it's still somewhat jarring to me to see actors acting in a video game.
As far as the gameplay, it's still crunchy and delicious. It feels so good to throw that ax, to call it back, to kick a dude off a cliff, and I absolutely loved the flexibility in accessability options this time around. The ability to change the difficulty on the fly meant that I could still experience everything the game had to offer, despite not being particularly great at games (after 35 years you'd think I'd be better at this).
The post-game this time around is less of a POST game and more of an epilogue. The events that take place are very much part of the story, and they are constructed in such a way that they lead you back through the world, meeting up with people one last time, seeing how the events of the game wrap up. It is, in many ways, like the endings of old SNES era RPGs, where you have to walk back through the world, all the way home.
It's really just all lovely, and I'm sad it's over, and I'm glad we left these characters before they were out of things to say, and while I don't want more from these characters, I am excited to see what this team does next.
EDIT/UPDATE: I didn't realize how much the post game was actually the real game, that that first set of credits were just there to mark the end of the big story, not the end of the actual story. And that actual ending was devastating. Not everything is wrapped up, but it's not left for a sequel we will (hopefully) never get, it's not wrapped up in the way that real life doesn't wrap everything up. Sometimes people are hurt and angry and there's nothing you can do about it. I think this is the best AAA game I have ever played in my 35 years of playing video games.