Cc2680

I find Dawn trail to be very hit and miss. The msq plays out very similar to past expansions with how it's structured but it is just too cut scene heavy. You walk, talk to a few people then cut scene after cut scene. This isn't new but the ratio of activity to watching is really becoming more and more unbalanced with each new expansion. The story it self is debatable but it's one of the weaker ones to me. I think it had a lot of promise but it ended up being too slow to build. I also think they put too much focus on one character, and should have spread it out better. I feel the game did a good job with the actual bossmechanics, trial fights, zone appearance(but unfortunately lifeless), music, and solo duties. The dungeons are also a bit harder, not too much but it does feel like a step in the right direction. I Think Dawntrail is generally more of the same with some small improvements. However the story feels a bit weaker to me and it could use more activegameplay. I have a feeling it will be one of those expansions that isn't as liked due to the msq but it will be accepted better later on if they can keep up the interest with the trial fights and raids much like Stormblood did. I have to give it a 7(7.5) for now but this may go up to an 8 depending how the raids and the extra content play out. In the end its really not too much different but fatigue seems to be kicking in when it comes to the MSQ design.

A solid Indy rpg that is heavily inspired by the Japanese snes rpg golden age. I think Sea of stars is very impressive in many ways. The pixel art is quite well done and the animations look really smooth as well. Its very easy to see the inspiration of Chrono Trigger and SuperMario RPG although the game adds their own twists to the combat, which are rather well done. The music is also quite good. I wouldn’t say it hits the high of those games that I mentioned but it’s at a very consistently good level throughout the game. I do think the game Has as few flaws though. I find the story to be a Bit weak for the most part, and a lot of the Characters tend to be very dull or one note. It’s not awful but it could be a lot better really, especially when some of these characters have so much dialogue. The problem is they’re just not that very engaging to Me. I’m also not a fan of the animated cutscenes. They look pretty jarring to me and I feel they don’t match the pixel art very well. It felt like the style just fit some other game instead of this one. It’s still a very enjoyable game to me, but I think they have the potential to make an even better game if sabotage studios choose to go down this route again. In the end my main negatives were really about the story and the characters so that could very well be a non factor to you. It’s certainly worth a pick up if you enjoyed Japanese rpgs from the snes era. 7.5 to 8/10

FF16 is An interesting take for the new addition to the FF series but ultimately I found it to be in the middle as far as the series goes. The game excels with music and over the top graphic spectacles but I found the games pacing to be really rough. I felt like the story got worse the further It went but overall it’s solid enough. It’s pretty nice graphically but the world felt a bit boring for a FF game. The combat was fine but it wasn’t a really big point for me since it’s only kind of interesting during the bosses. I’m fine With it but I don’t think The system is super amazing and I felt like this game is often fighting it **** feels too long for this kind of combat but it wants to avoid your standard rpg elements that you would see in other ff games. I think it would have been better if they just stuck to making it an action game without all the half hearted “rpg elements” which don’t really add anything like the itemization and crafting mechanic that feels there for the sake of it I also feels there’s just too many cutscenes or they’re way too long. I realize ff has had a big focus on them since ff7 but those felt way more natural and it’s not nearly as over whelming compared to this game where there’s so many scenes and just constant dialogue. I don’t think it’s a bad game but I don’t see it as a great game either. 7 to 7.5 out of 10