Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Disappointing"

Before I dive into the shortcomings, I should mention that there are some redeeming aspects of this game for sure. The graphics as per usual redefine the limitations of the system, the worlds are beautiful and varied and the enemies are dynamic. The story itself isn't bad, it feels like a rehashing of some of the previous plot lines (FFX particularly), but altogether its engaging. The battle system is novel, you only control the party leader and can alter the other member's style using preset packages on the fly. The positives end here unfortunately.

The first and most glaring weakness of the game is the linearity. If you've read the professional reviews, no doubt you've been exposed to that aspect of the game. I knew this was a problem before I started, but figured as a loyal consumer I wouldn't be off-put. Let me tell you, thirty hours is a really long time to repetitively dungeon crawl without hope of reprieve. The game becomes so tedious after a while that I considered just quitting altogether because nothing felt rewarding enough to continue.

The second thing that is awful about the game is the weapons system. I have no idea who decided that upgrading weapons with experience locked random drops was a good plan, but it isn't. There is no way to project how good a weapon will be after upgrades and most of the time new equipment you find are so far below the upgraded older weapons that it doesn't make sense to waste what few precious items and gold you have to find out. Conceptually, it was a nice idea but was implemented poorly.

The third thing that didn't work out was the summoning system. Guardian Forces have been a staple of the series for as long as I can remember. However, they are sorely underused in this title. Thirty hours into the game, you own just 3 summons and only the leader can use theirs. Therefore, 95% of the time you'll be summoning Odin (the main character's). In fact, having beaten the game I'd wager I used Ifrit just once.

The fourth thing that Square Enix never seemed to perfect was voice acting. As a multi-billion dollar corporation, you'd think they could afford to hire some professional actors who won't make you grind your teeth every time they speak (Vanille is especially awful). Some of the dialogue is so painfully melodramatic or out of place that I genuinely felt awkward just watching it. With such terrible dialogue, it is hard to feel invested in the characters' plight and I found myself not caring whether they won or lost in the end.

There are other aspects of the game that are frustrating as well (the battles become repetitive, the central story is too confusing and the sphere grid system feels lopsided to name a few), but the aforementioned are the primary culprits. If you're like me, you're probably going to play this game anyway since it's part of a beloved franchise. But I implore you to approach cautiously or you'll be sorely disappointed.