So, I kind of meant to beat the game so I could provide some fuller impressions tonight, but ended up getting carried away with doing some optional stuff and some battles. I'll try to throw in some stuff, though, as this thread is a little light on the impressions.
First up, though - as far as the reviews go, I felt comfortable in identifying with the Destructoid one, as it was capable of acknowledging the game as good, bordering on great, but hampered by some poor decisions. But I have one major problem with both that review and IGNs:
This is just objectively
false. By far the majority of my time has been spent in the battles trying to collect the myrrh (not so much to increase my life gauge, but rather for the pride of having done it and been able to advance onto harder campaigns in those areas). I can't even imagine how few of the battles you would have to complete to spend as much time in the mini-games as these reviews suggest.
Anyway, just to throw out some very brief things I'm enjoying and things which I'm not.
POSITIVES
- The presentation is top-notch. Graphically the character models are stunning, the environments are unique compared to the typical "ice level/fire level/forest" with locales like a pirate bay, a vineyard, a monastary, etc., and are really brought to life by an excellent artistic vision. Moreso than this I don't think I've seen a single loading screen in the game, so all the transitions feel fantastic, and all the cutscenes are rendered in real-time.
- The music is incredibly diverse, with bluegrass, rock, folk, piano-led jazz, and most of it is wonderful - including some wonderful remixes
I am also a fan of the voice acting, and though I know some people have been down on it, I think it's stellar and everybody is perfect (except maybe Vaigali, who is barely in the game anyway).
- The different reactions you can get with enemies (or in playing with the NPCs) is really great. Not everything you think will happen will, but there's a lot of room for experimenting and it feels really rewarding to discover something new to do with an enemy, or finding a new one that you can use the power of (examples: Goblin Samurai swiping his sword, Cactuar using 1000 Needles).
- The story and characters are great. This is definitely one of the more subjective ones, but I think this is one of the better Final Fantasy stories out there for sure - not necessarily because it's so dazzlingly original or anything, but just because I like the characters and the story is small enough to be fully realized.
- There is a surprising amount of content. I'm only 14 hours into the game, and I figured I would have already beaten it by now, but I'm still pushing on, not quite finished with the story, and only have about 45% of the medals. Additionally there is the promise of a new game+ which lets you carry stuff over and has new cutscenes.
- It is addictive. This is like crack. And it only gets better with time.
NEGATIVES
- The controls. Most people argue the camera as the main offender, but it honestly only bothers me very rarely - the IR/motion combo is the prime suspect for unenjoyment for me. After about 6 or so hours I had fully come to terms with the unwieldy method of picking up enemies/items and throwing things about, but that's just too fucking much.
- The beginning of the game (first 2 hours or so) are kind of poorly paced, though the rest of the game makes up for it. But here it will feel like half of the game consists of nothing but mini-games.
- The map is utterly useless. Thankfully I don't think this is much of a problem, as I love exploration and never really needed it besides checking the intended destination, and the world isn't that big, but this does bother some people.
- The battles have a time limit on them. To elaborate: you have something like 5-10 minutes to beat the enemies if you wish to collect the myrrh (which gives you one additional health point). If you do not, the level reverts to its NPC/safe form, and you have to wait about five fucking minutes to do it again. A true pain in the ass, and one of the worst design decisions I could imagine. This is honestly the only part of the game that I felt had been "casualized", and it is a fucking killer.
- Missed opportunity. Why do I have to use a context sensitive jump button - why can't I just jump? Presumably it's because the camera can not handle platforming, but that just doesn't cut it for me. Why are there so few reactions, so that when I expect something cool to happen nothing does? Why does the information scrolling on the bottom of the screen disappear if I pick up an enemy or item or do pretty much anything? More importantly, why didn't they get the woman from FFCC to voice these again? This game... has a shit ton of missed opportunity. Always inches away from greatness.
Verdict: On the whole I would only feel safe recommending this game to those who already feel like it is something they would enjoy. If you are on the fence about it, I would say wait for it to hit the bargain bins or rent it, or just forget about it. The game is not going to impress the masses. It has a plethora of excellent ideas, but many are not delivered on, and others are going to be hit-and-miss with people. It just so happens this game has hit all the right buttons for me. While I wouldn't disagree with the review scores pegging it as a 7-7.5 or whatever, for me,
personally, it's been closer to a 9, and one of my favorite games this year.
