Aokana

**** OK. Like it's not absolute garbage but I dunno It feels like they took Code Vein then tried to put Halo Controls on it. It may be a small thing, but every game around the same genre, Code Vein, Scarlet Nexus, Stellar Blade, Ys.... square attack, Triangle Heavy Attack, Circle dodge.... and yet these guys have decided to literally be trigger happy, everything revolves around the triggers which becomes messy. L2+R2 for Spell... ok, you have to hit L2 first, they R2, if you hit R2 first you do a heavy attack. You cant block and counter, only one or the other since their part of the skill palette. Which is just weird, you can't pick what best for the situation in the moment, you have to know ahead of time, especially for boss fights. Maybe that's a thing in other "Souls" game. Overall the controls feel janky and un-intuitive. At least the story makes up for it right?... uh no. I'm a few hours in and except for the branches looking like and acting like Code Veins Mistle..... um... I have absolutely no Idea WTF is going on outside of everything apparently wanting to kill me, why? I dunno. Voices are mid, like their not nails on a chalkboard but also take away rather than add to the experience. Top that off with the absent character customization, and the bonus pre-order items become useless an hour into the game since theirs no looks, everything is based off your equipment, and you find better equipment shortly into the game. So much for that. Like that cute ponytail... to bad instead your going to use that hood you just found with better stats I really wanted to like this game,it looked good in the ps store.

7/10 + 1 bonus for having an accessible trophy (you can plat the game without doing a bunch of obscure things) Overall the game is good, story is good, characters are likeable and more importantly I didn't find any of them Unbearable. However the game is really carried by the map exploration so it kinda falls flat for an atelier game. Alchemy, I can appreciate what they tried to do here especially with my only other Atelier being Ryza. Not having to spend hours sorting through inventory and collecting umpteen hundreds of a single component hoping the RNG gives you the stats your looking for was great. However their wasn't enough of a hook in the system as it stands to really get you interested in it. Also the lack of cost for duplication was a bummer, made it too easy to duplicate S rank mats and equipment. Once you have the facility you just plunk it in and walk away for a bit, come back to oodles of replicates. Battle. Again, appreciate the idea just wasn't executed. In short the games way too easy even on Harder Difficulties so battles are over before you can get into any of the battle systems depth. And you level way to fast I was Max level before picking up any of the additional Team members outside of Isla and Viktor that you start with. This was the most disappointing because I can see how fun the system could be but even boss fights were over before anything could ramp up. Base Building/Simple Synth. Overall I like the systems and I appreciate that the secondary "items". When you pick up a "Tough Log" you get secondary "Wood" item, so when you do simple Synth or Base building your using up these generic category items and not your actual items. So no need to go hunt down a specific component to build that new bookcase. The only irk here was the specific builds. Some quests would have you build a base with X level comfort, then later on ask you to place a specific build but the only way I could do that was to scrap my entire base. Quest wise it didn't matter, and maybe there was a way around that (if there was it wasn't very intuitive). I was kinda miffed when I had to scrap my 3 story hot spring resort to place a mana converter.... I spent hours on that. As for achievements, they were pretty straightforward. It was nice that you don't even need to unlock all the treasure troves, only locate them. If you need a specific one, it will appear with a quest marker by it if you track the relevant quest. You don't need to do every little side quests, just the important character and pioneer mission ones. The TLDR seems to be I appreciate what they tried to do even if they fell flat in some areas but overall the game was solid and fun to play.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

All around Meh. Played it on gamepass for 5 or so hours. Quickly turns into Space rock hopping. Maybe I never found a good planet but it seemed like Bland Rock after bland rock. Dunno why you can ask a game dev to make a world for fantasy and get a ultra diverse landscape on a single continent but tell them to make a space game its almost always the same generic space rocks over and over again. Gameplay wise, the menu's are janky and pain to navigate, especially the map and probably the worst offenders are the npc. For a game of this caliber in 2023 it should at least be as good as Skyrim but the NPC's in Starfield are just dumb. For Example I found a random ship on the moon I'm exploring, I go in and the captain and two security officers are there. I draw my weapon and the captains dialogue is "Hello"... I proceed to off the captain and instead of the drawing their weapons the security guards SIT DOWN IN THEIR CHAIRS and wait to be shot in the back of the head. I kept hearing all these great things about how much better the npcs are than Skyrim but... I'm just not seeing it. I dunno after playing for an evening It was like... ok that was fun but I don't have an urge to play anymore it feels like that game I'll always say I'll get around to but never do because I'm too busy other games.

I love tactic games so I was excited for P5T... unfortunately though it's just lacking. Combat feels just like Mario Rabbids Sparks of Hope only simplified with generic characters. Every Character in P5T has the same skills, only with a slightly different flavor. Theirs nothing that make them feel truly unique. Combine that with an overly cartoonish way the game is designed, from the way characters act to the overall look and feel. The game feels like a Saturday morning cartoon trying to be Persona 5. It's too offbrand for me, yes Persona is anime but it's also grounded in a certain level of realism.

It's good, not AAA good but still solid. The Good: • Combat Can be fun, if you mix the right skills into your combo chains. It's simplified over previous titles in terms of things to track in battle, its more reactionary action orientated. • Exploration and moving around the zone is good, you don't need to rely on fast travel, your sprint is fast enough combined with some shortcuts via the DUMA bot you get makes moving around and exploring the zones fun. • Plenty of character interaction on-field to keep you on track from point A to B while giving you some additional insights without stopping your progress, they even continue into combat. After coming from Scarlet Nexus and Tales this is such a welcome change, it gets tiring when your continually stopping every 5mins through a zone for a "Skit" to play out or having combat stop the skit in its track. • Story is good overall, Graphics are good, not like AAA FF16 or Tales of Arise but still solid considering PS4 Limitations (which will carry through PS5) Had it been a strict PS5/Xbox Series title than I'd expect a bit more. Star Ocean has always been a budget game so my expectations are tempered to that. The Bad: • Combat can be frustrating if you don't find the right combo chains and it pigeon holes you into ideal chains instead of free-flow do as you will combat which kinda defeats the purpose of having the ability to set the skills in the chain in the first place, this is more exaggerated with some characters over others. It's still fun and overall good just... could be better. • Crafting can be a chore and VERY VERY Repetitive. • Drop Rates are abysmal for monster based items. For Instance your asked to get 4 "Axe beak feathers" for a side quest because apparently despite disease spreading through the town like a wildfire through California NPC needs to have fluffy pillows... I digress ... target mob is in the field outside town... theirs like 6 of them on the map, you will go from one end of the map to the other 4-5 times, maybe more before you get a single feather.... this means 20+ trips through a massive field just for one side quest. • Speaking of sidequests... Their abysmal. Their often obscure like fail a specific craft 10 times to get desired item to Eat a specific food at the inn then go to a specific spot to get an enemy to spawn... and theirs no menu or tracking. You get a quest update notification in with your battle drops if applicable and that's it so it's inefficient at one point I spent 45+Mins trying to get some old lady's purse to drop in some ruins... only to find out I already had it in my inventory... when did I get it? who TF knows because the notification was buried in the drops from the battle. • Glaring Plot holes. Yes I said I liked the story overall but hot-damn there are some major plot holes and reaches in the game. For instance your android companion falls to the planet, she calls you before hand to say her pod can no longer maintain altitude... then you run out to her pod to find out she's missing an arm and leg and is gonna run outta juice in 56 **** run to your hidden pod and get the materials so you and the middle aged bro from the backwaters planet your stuck on that has no idea what an android is but hey he's gonna fix her right **** apparently you have a spare pair of her futuristic low cut leather pants laying around...shhh.... don't ask questions just go with it. • New Game +... this one loses big points. Holy Balls... why make a dual pov storyline and NOT give players a bonus through the second play-through? I know it sounds like more bad than good but overall its a fun game to play. Star Ocean has always been a budget game so it's never been as good as say Final Fantasy so you have to temper your expectations going in. TLDR: Got it on sale, worth what I paid, probably wont play again and wouldn't be worth full price unless your a huge Star Ocean fan. Overall though not a disappointment.

I honestly didn't expect much when I bought the game but overall this a really solid game. The narrative is really good only you actually have to follow the dialogue (all of it, not just the voices) and pick up and read any texts you find along the way and then you gotta put 2 and 2 together. Which is a refreshing change of pace from modern AAA games like Tales of Arise where the game is constantly dumping you with 10min story/lore scenes. There is side-quests to pad out the time.. but not so many of them that it overtakes the main story. They become more or less little detours and the levels are well enough designed that they allow you to explore a sub-sect of a "dungeon" but you will unlock a door or otherwise find a way to make your way back easily to a save point. This makes it feel more explore-able rather than just a winding tunnel with save points. So overall from a small indie dev its a solid game and deserves high marks. However you need to temper your expectations. I think what happens with a lot of small/indie dev games is people go in expecting AAA but your not going to get that since the team size and budget are so small in comparison. Now onto the problems... 1 - Combat. The combat is fluid enough and doesn't feel "Janky" but on the other hand it isn't exactly polished either. For example some of your combat moves overlap like theirs some unlock able kick moves but they get tied to the same attack as your heavy weapon that has similar inputs which can cause you to use a different ability than intended. These skills should have been put onto the dodge button instead. 2 - Mistranslated text/speech...overall it's not a big issue and some of its humorous but it is present a bit more than it should be. 3 - It just feels... like it was meant to be more. There is many aspects of the game that make it feel like they started it and then cut it off. Overall it makes the game feel like they started and then some investors pulled out or something. Prime example is the entire "Chip" socket enhancements, there's only like... a dozen chips but then a crafting and enhancing section so it feels like this was going to be a full on customization system that was cut off as it was about to hit development launch so instead of scrapping the system they just..left it there in its infantile state. All that said at its core it was still a fun time and that's the important part.

It's a great short game for a realistic price. Honestly I think the game is too good... for its own good lol. Think about it one of the most common critiques of this game is that its "So short it feels more like a tech demo". Imagine that, its SO WELL DONE it feels like a tech demo of the latest and greatest technologies from a massive AAA studio. Except you know... its not. It's a game made by a single guy in is spare time. Hell in my spare time I'm lucky if I can find time to PLAY games let alone MAKE one. I think if this was done in 2-3 gen old or "retro" graphics critics would be way more lenient with it. But since its so well done and things like Ray Tracing and DLSS are so well implemented and it looks so good it triggers people into expecting more. Is the story the best, no honestly it feels like a really long action sequence in a movie and we've skipped the lore leading up to said action sequence. It's not like it's priced like a long AAA game either. I mean I've literally paid 4-5x what I did for Bright Memory for a AAA game only to be sorely disappointed and spend less time playing than a single play though. It's shortness can also be seen as a strength. Sometimes you don't want a 20+ Hour campaign sometimes you need a short 2 hour game you can squeeze in during some downtime between other things... Gotta a couple hours to kill after work before you meet up with someone for dinner. You can play though Bright Memory or you can sit through a couple of long drawn out cutscene's in other games... just saying.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

you only need one word to describe this game. FUN. And that's it. This isn't some wonder game with super stealth mechanics, some stupid hard difficulty for "pro gamers only", or uber dramatic story. No grand political statements. But it is a game I meant to try out for half an hour and wound up spending 6 hours straight playing.

I usually write very long reviews. I'll keep this one short. The game overall is excellent. Game-play and visuals are top notch. However two things severely hold this game back and make me glad I tried it as part of the Xbox Game Pass. 1) - The Horns... Holy F' balls its like the music composer had just found a shiny new button that puts in horn blares and couldn't stop pressing it like a 5 year old who just got his first toy car with the noise buttons, you know the one. I just found the sound in the game off putting. 2) It's way too dragonball, Everything kind of comes together way too close to dragonball and I'm not just saying visually, Plenty of games like Chrono Cross have a dragon-ball aesthetic and visual appearance but manage to FEEL unique. However with Dragon Quest XI you just wonder when the Dragonball announcers going to cut in with "Next time on Dragon Quest Eleven!" All in all I only managed to put in about 12 or so hours before i just couldn't stand the awful music and removed the game from my system. Which **** because there just aren't many JRPGS on the Game Pass and I was really looking forward to it.

Overall Code Vein was an excellent game. Combat was a bit sluggish at first but picked up as you got more weapon, skill and blood codes. However I kept finding myself stuck using the same NPC "Yakumo" especially in boss fights all the others seem to die way to easy. It was a bit odd at first that the game shares Exp and money its all just "Haze" but after I got used to it I kinda liked it. It just seemed to simplify everything and I wish more games would take this simplified approach and it makes you more aware of death since you die once lose all you haze but you can reclaim it (and add it to whatever you've earned since) by going back to where you died but if you die again before reclaiming it then its gone for good. Code Veins Story is good but if your going to get the most out if you have to find all the blood vestiges and restore them. Doing so really flushes out the cast and fills in most of the gaps of how their world is what it is (along with unlocking more skills). The good news Is you never really feel like anything is out of reach if you just explore the maps. I never felt the need for a guide and outside of an optional dungeon like thing I think I missed maybe 2. I found "walking through memories" was also a nice story telling feature and was a nice break from the usual RPG method of "Oh hey I know where in the middle of a dungeon and theirs a bunch of mobs around but I'mma ramble on about my tragic past for the next 10mins" The character customization is adequate. I heard a lot of hype about it but honestly I was let down. While there is TON of colour and facial options. There was really only a handful of outfits. Yes you can add accessories but lets face it. You can have all the facial options you want but in a game like Code Vein you spend almost the entirety of your play time behind your character so having 100's of eyebrow options matters little to not because the only time your going to see them is in the very sparse cut-scenes. (especially since a lot of the story is told via walking through memories). I played on the Series S so the graphics were top notch and I didn't experience any jitteryness or oddities as others have pointed out on the older gens however it is NOT optimized for the series S/X and thus it Crashes, just randomly but typically when loading something. This can be a hassle if your trying to make progress since the only way to avoid losing a ton of progress is to hit every save point you can but every-time you use a save point (mistle) all the mobs respawn. Lets just say I lost more Haze to crashes then deaths.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

My actual rating for the game itself is 8 but the horrible install process drops it to a 6. Lets get that elephant out of the room first. After downloading the entire 70gb of data for this game 4 or so times It clicked what my issue was... the gamegaurd file was tripping a false positive on my antivirus that kept wiping the folder clean only I didn't know because my antivirus runs in silent mode. Even with that resolved your best to look into PSO2 tweaker and use that. Not only will the game run better but it gives you more resolution and framerate options. Story - N/A ... I think there's some story missions. Honestly haven't played them. Theirs a overarching setting for the game that is done very well and if you really want some story, watch PSO2: Episode Oracle, a 25 episode anime. I will tell you this. "Ive know matoi for all of 5 minutes but if anything happens to her..." Graphics - 8/10 - Taking the sheer age of this game into account (originally released in Japan in 2012) the graphics hold up pretty well for a MMO which typically don't have the best graphics. Sound - 6/10 - Honestly it's pretty lackluster, Voices are Meh at best and if going from the japanese audio in the anime to the English release was pretty jarring. Character customization : 10/10. Honestly between what you can do with all the morphing features and the shear amount of outfits, layering wear, and accessories you have more customization than any other MMO I've played ever. Colour changing could be better and available on more items but it doesn't really detract much. Gameplay: 8/10 - While lacking an open world PSO2's hub system works just fine, you pick your area and load into the map, starting and end points change a bit and there are some map variants so there's enough variety that it avoids becoming overly redundant. Combat is faster paced and thankfully simple. Coming from FFXIV where every class has 30+ abilities to only being able to use 6 at a time + 10 skill slots is amazing. it keeps you focused on playing the game and not "Doing muh rotation". You can up the difficulty level, do time attacks, special courses, all in all there is enough to do to keep you entertained long past your "dailies". You feel and look different than other players since you will most likely have different skills attached even if your the same class using the exact same weapon. Not to mention Urgent Quest's and Concerts (yes, you heard me in-game concert events) bring people together. Something MMO's seem to be forgetting about these days opting for a more solo experience. If other players are around you don't need to party with them, loot drops on a player by player basis and you get experience points/drops for any mob kills in your vicinity. Nobody's running around "farming" mobs for loot while your trying to complete a quest. FREE TO PLAY. I've sunk about 300 hours into the game so far and at no point did I feel obligated or forced to spend money on the game. You get 3 character slots for free - 1 per ship but you only need 1 character since you can change classes/sub classes as you see fit. I was able to earn enough SG (1 form of paid currency) in order to get a mission pass and you earn enough off the mission pass system to keep it going (you get lots of free items including some outfits and some of the cash shop items like salon passes). Theirs a scratch ticket gatcha system, however unlike predatory loot boxes almost everything can be sold to other players so if you do buy them and you don't like what you get you can sell what you do get and use the money to buy what you do. You can also forgo it altogether and just grind out the measta (standard in-game currency) to buy whatever you want. This is not P2W, you can easily things off buy getting inventory expansions or whatever but the best gear is earned in-game. Oval PSO2 is a solid, very enjoyable MMO. PSO2 does what it does and it does it in a way that makes the game enjoyable to log into time and time again. If you start to feel burnt out change up your class or your skills to give yourself a refresh.Coming from FFXIV has been a refreshing experience that has made me love MMO's again. There's no patch by patch vertical progression system that simply puts you on a never ending gear upgrade treadmill running the EXACT SAME dungeons for months of end. You log in, you play, you have fun, grind out some XP, money and loot.

Ys VIII was honestly a game I picked up on a whim, knowing nothing about the Ys series so keep in mind this review comes from that perspective. It's fun, pure and simple. I was entertained and looked forward to playing the game whenever I could get the chance until I beat it. This is the kind of game that makes you realize that a game doesn't need to spend an absurd amount of money on graphics in order to be good. Graphics 6/10 - It's dated, this is that common last gen lower textured standard Anime Style JRPG graphics that have been around since the PS2. However the colour pallete is well suited to the environments and it services the game well enough. Overall it's actually pretty good once you take into consideration you can also get this game for the PSVita. Sound 8/10 - The sounds in the game are done well enough. By no means are you going to get Final Fantasy level epic orchestral symphony tracks but the music is solid, there are several really good tracks and most importantly it adds to the game instead of detracting from it. The background music never overtakes the action, it doesn't become a distraction. Gameplay 9/10 - The gameplay is simple and straightforward but varied enough especially as you will want to switch gear around to best suit your environment. You can play as any of the members in your party so if you don't like how one character handles you can play as one that suits you. While there are some challenging areas of the game, especially if your looking to find all the treasure chests however nothing was overly frustrating or required a guide nor did it ever feel like I had to waste a ton of time grinding and its balanced well enough I never felt like I had to play a certain character to progress unlike alot of action JRPGS where your basically forced to play as the main protag because they have an ability you need to get through boss fights. Overall it's the gameplay and Story that will have you coming back. It's just fun to play. Story 8/10 - As I mentioned earlier this is by no means a summer blockbuster and personally I've never been a fan of stories that use time and or character jumping as it usually winds up filling the plot with massive holes or just making things a convoluted mess. However Ys VIII manages to keep everything moving forward and cohesive while doing so. Overall I found myself with grand adventure feeling and was entertained during my play. There was a few anime tropey things but they were not overdone and it avoided the whole "OMG main protag you are just the best" constant gushing, the characters felt rounded out well enough, even the npc survivors you meet along the way and overall it avoids the pitfall I find in a lot of these games where npc's and party members tend to fade away the moment your done with their "arc". Overall 9/10 - This is one of those games that is better than the sum of its parts because everything just comes together to give you a good, fun and entertaining experience.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Is this a masterpiece, far from it, but considering this game was made by a small studio with less than 300 total employees (compared to say EA or Blizzard with over 9K employees) it's really well done. Pros • You don't play as kii-boi and instead your own custom character • Plenty of outfits and character customization • LOTS of characters to add to your team from all over the SAO franchise. • Grinding XP/Credits is easy enough through Quest stacking. • Plenty of Variety of MMO like quests. Find specific Treasure, Kill Dungeon/Zone Boss's, Hunt "Player" X, Kill X number of Mob type. • The game re-uses a fair bit of assets, there is a variety of enemies to to fight but no TOO many, enough to be varied but no so much as you can't keep track of weak points. • Between "Assist Mode", gun types, skills and Gadgets there are plenty of ways to play and no way is really "wrong" or "right". Make a build that suits you. • Graphics are solid and really Technically done well. I used "Leafas Hair" with ponytail down to my feet and hair clipping was minimal despite the amount of acrobatics my character does. Meanwhile we all know certain games that can't seem to stop hair from clipping on just about everything. • You can change the outfits of your squad mates, so if you don't like Asuna's outfit you can give her something else to wear. • Lengthy Story combined with multiple endings Cons • Kirito Mode, while it does a half-baked impression of the show's GGO arc it's pretty bad, and in order to change certain characters outfits you need to switch over to Kirito mode. Some of this was eased a bit in DLC/Updates. • The story is OK, not great. Plot twists can be seen coming a mile away. Way to much gushing over your character. • There is an in-ordinate amount of Loading Screens and filler dialogue you sit through. • The dating sim style affection grind to get the true ending • your Arfa-Sys can get really annoying • Many outfits are locked behind walls so you can't unlock them until almost the end of the game. • Respawn rates in open areas can leave you feeling bogged down, especially in certain area's. • Did I mention the loading screens? • The chit chat between your squattest at first is a neat immersing function but there really isn't a variety of lines so... holy crap it can get redundant. Overall I'd normally rate a game like this around a 7, but I dunno it just scratches the right itch with me personally and I just really enjoy playing this game. Probably more than I should.

I've been playing FFXIV since 2.3 and I'll go over some pros and cons. Pros - • Amazing story once you hit Heavensward, Stormblood dips a bit but I liked it more than most and then While I loved Shadowbringers I still put it below Heavensward. • Great Soundtrack • Nothing on the base level is overly difficult, some of the savage/extremes and Ultimate provide good difficulty for advanced players. • Raids are Fun, especially the new Eden Series • Glamours allow for a good amount of customization • There is a lot of callbacks and references to other Final Fantasy Games. • The world is amazing and there are plenty of hidden gems and beautiful landscapes to find. Cons • Pre Heavesnward the game can be boring, especially if you've already done it once due to the extreme skill pruning to make room for more skills at higher levels. • Classes have been homogenized, Every Class feels like another class of the same role. Similar to a Lincoln MKX and Ford Edge being essentially the same vehicle. • Endgame feels barren, once you complete the story your left running the same few dungeons over and over again for months on end to cap your weekly tome limits. They used to give you variety but everything has been segregated so now you run the same 2 dungeons for an entire patch cycle getting you up in this endless gear treadmill tome grind that you really don't need to be on. There is little to no variety for months on end between **** dailies, no bonus events, just the same things over and over again, this is compounded with people ilv cheating the system so you get stuck with the same lv50 dungeons on alliance roulette 90% of the time. • Their is over 40 different currencies and collectible trade for gear items in the game, everything you do requires some form of currency or collectible item (for example to get raid gear you will need a specific amount of item drops from the raid to trade for the gear you want). The presented reason is that everything is set to limit your access so you can't get items "too fast" and to level the playing field between hardcore and casual players all while combating RMT. The real reason though it's just a way to extend the grind and keep you subbed longer. • Gear is continually made useless, almost no gear outside of Collector edition xp boost gear items hold any long term value unless you want it for glamour. • "Great community BTW" is a farce. The community is extremely toxic in a round about way. The unwritten rule is you never say anything about anyone's game-play otherwise your are to be reported for harassment. Even it its asking the tank to please separate from the the party during a mechanic that requires them to separate from the party, in a party finder party explicitly stating to know this mechanic because "you don't pay muh sub". The subreddit even has a weekly "Rage" thread in which people sit around karma jerking while **** about other players. • There is also a continual housing problem. There is never enough houses to go around but because everyone is so crazy about them the devs stop the auto demo timer over every little event that happens so nobody will be mad that they lost their house. They also force you to wait for the auto demolish if you want to get rid of your house otherwise you don't get that portion of your funds back. However suggesting any changes like updating the apartment system into instance housing is going to get you slammed and harassed. Actually the same can happen if you suggest any changes to the game, as part of the community you are supposed to worship Yoshi P like a god or face the communities wrath, this is even evident here as anyone that didn't rate the game super high is getting their reviews bombed. • The cash shop is a double dip in your wallet with minor Pay to Win tendencies. While everyone pays a sub fee you can buy cash shop items to make cosmetic changes then there are level boosts and exp boosting gear for sale so those willing to drop some extra $$$ can level faster and receive in game cash and gear. It's also a cash crab as many of the in-game gear will use re-use assets with a slightly different colour and dye scheme but all the gear in the cash shop is new designs. They re-used the same gunblade base for 3 patch gears in a row. Everyone's sub fee pays into the design and development but only those willing to pay extra get access. Overall FFXIV is a solid MMO but once you get past the shiny story and soundtrack your left with a dull, repetitive so called endgame, grind that you will quickly realize you don't need to be on because they have made the game so easy to catch up. Probably the worst tragedy there is no use of the actual beautiful world that was created instead pigeonholes you into the base cities and endgame hubs.

This game was a massive disappointment. The premise was good, Moba arena fights for competitive play and a campaign mode to give lore and structure to the game without needing a bunch of out-of-game sources like Overwatch. That and it had a lot of my favorite anime VA's. Ultimately the game failed to the extensive character unlock process and loot box mechanics. As of Feb 2020 you can no longer buy currency for loot boxes and at the end of the year the game will shut down. Since the game, even in single player campaign rely's on connecting to 2K's server the game will be completely unplayable, even if you own a physical copy of the game. I feel for people that spent good money and love this game to have it all ripped from them unceremoniously.

Overall this is my second favorite Tales game, edging out Tales of Symphonia by a smidge. Velvet is a solid protagonist, at first appearing very flat and just the "I"m just varying levels of angry" but as the story evolves we see her go completely nuts and then you get to see a softer side of her at points too. She winds up being pretty varied main character, at least more so than some of the other Tales protags. Overall the story is solid, By no means a masterpiece but it's still good. Throughout the main story and skits you get a good bead on every one of the party members, a bit of their past a bit of their hopes for the future. The interactions between the party often leads to comedy which helps break up the bleakness of the main story and a world where people can turn into demons by having too many negative emotions. Combat is great and by far better than most Tales games, it starts off pretty slow but as you gain levels and progress through the story it really picks up. you can expand you combos further by completing side quests and grinding out gear. Take raw gear, break it down and enhance other gear. Pretty straight forward but by combining the right special effects with the right character titles that also grant bonus's and you can extend your combo (called break souls) gauge really far. The higher your gauge the more moves you can combo together which can further extended by using break soul moves. In short if you put the time in you will be rewarded it isn't just about getting further in the game so you can get the new shiny gear. The soundtrack is solid, but compared to some other games like final fantasy it's a bit flat. It's good fits the mood well but really doesn't stand out. Graphics are a bit dated but Tales has never been "Bleeding edge" in graphics and has always been more of a budget build. Hopefully Tales of Arise takes things up a notch in this department. Overall it's very solid and I find myself coming back to the game time and again whenever I get disappointing by newer games.

A game that doesn't require "Shock and Awe" nor a ton of blood and gore and instead keeps its focus on what a game should be. FUN. Graphics 9/10 - Environments and characters are well done for a low budget game. They stay true to the original games feel and keep that cute fantasy feel. OST 10/10 - I love the Soundtrack to this game, its vibrant and clean. Voice Acting 5/10 - It's bearable, but some of the voices can get irritating after a while, Angela for one makes this loud "EEEP" noise that I can only place akin to my old Mac LC575 Classics error sound. Some more variety of combat and menu lines would have been nice "I love shopping!" gets old after a while. Gameplay - 10/10. It's fun, the leveling and progression systems are simple, and varied enough. Each of the characters has a unique play-style and there is enough skills and abilities that it really feels like you have an option in leveling and combat. Combat itself is fun, you engage monsters on-site and as you level more combo actions come available. Like the game itself its simple and lighthearted. No need to spray guts everywhere, monsters disappear and Crystals appear to charge your special move gauge. Boss battles are clean and intuitive enough but supplies are not indefinite as you can only access 9 of each item on your right (some less) for the duration of any battle, however you can access much more out of combat so you can stockpile items to reduce the need of returning to town after every X uses of restorative items. Story 6/10 - This is by no means the next big thing, but its a fun, lighter story with a bit of drama and its told well enough, especially for a game that gives you more of an open story telling and less linear. Is it going to win best story of the year, not even close but you learn enough about the world, the characters and overall lore that everything makes sense and the characters to be rounded out enough so they are not flat but also doesn't really get into deep development either. Overall compared to recent games I've played this was a nice trip back to an age when developers focused on making a game fun and enjoyable.Where you didn't need long drawn out linear movie cinematic s with hyper-realistic graphics or over the top blood and gore with a M rating, just a game you can pick up, play, enjoy and share with the whole family.