Vis_

I'm not exactly the type of purist who disowns anything that doesn't preserve the original essence of what Final Fantasy once was. Let's remember that the classic turn-based combat system of RPG's was developed based on the technical limitations of the time. Although it has subsequently established itself as a system in its own right, today developers have many more and better tools to create exactly what they want without so many barriers in the way.I don't think that the part where they have opted for a real-time combat system is so criticized, but the fact that any action game is sold with the mask of RPG by just showing a few numbers on the screen when doing damage to an enemy or finding a series of irrelevant figures as stats in your character's menu. Why is this a trend now? None of this matters in this game, in fact, there are no weaknesses or altered conditions so it doesn't matter if you attack a Bomb with fire or water. This point is really disappointing since it doesn't suggest you to think about strategies or alternatives to face your opponents. Buy the weapon that does the most damage at the beginning of each chapter and that's it. I would say the combat is the part of the game that I enjoyed the most. Although the difficulty level and most of the battles are quite easy, it's very rewarding to perform combos, which, without being too complex, are very spectacular and make you feel invincible thanks to the incredible work in VFX's and animations that are in **** story follows the line of what you can expect in a Final Fantasy, it's not a masterpiece, but it's not bad either. An interesting narrative that takes itself very seriously and is clearly inspired by geopolitical strategies and Game of Thrones style power plays. Unfortunately this story is hindered on several occasions by an absurd amount of pointless side quests that add no value to the storyline. Am I, Clive Rosfield, leader of a rebel movement against the oppression of the bearers, really the one who has to pick a few flowers and a bunch of rocks while the world is on the edge of collapse? As for the art direction in general, as a senior 3D environment artist with some years of experience in the game industry, yes, the settings are very nice, but almost everything is composed of Megascans library assets and, except for the remains of the empyrean ruins, all the time I had the feeling of visiting very generic places without any kind of identity. Medieval villages, forests and deserts that won't have the privilege of sticking with a hole in our memory. The environments feel completely constrained by an overwhelming amount of invisible walls that prevent you from doing anything. Everything is plagued by collisions, you have no freedom of movement to fall or jump through things and this just feels wrong in a game of this budget. As one of the persons who bought a PS5 just for FF XVI and, far from being a terrible game, I regret having done it...

Eastward presents a very striking dystopian universe that, unfortunately, is constantly interrupted by dozens of secondary characters that don't contribute with anything to the story. Not only that, but most of the tasks or missions related to them are very boring assignments... Personally, I usually like to see video games with characters and side quests that provide an extra, but in the case of Eastward we find that the characters are not well built, they go completely unnoticed and you will never empathize with them even if the game tries at some points. The story is undoubtedly interesting, but.... I just finished the game and I still don't understand anything, what did I miss? I was hoping to find an answer to at least some of the questions that the story poses throughout the game, but no... You end up with more questions than answers. I get the feeling that there was a lot of polish missing in this section. There are too many things that don't make sense that try to be justified by something similar to transcendental philosophical metaphors that only the developers understand. As for the gameplay during the dungeon crawling and puzzle parts, I have to confess that I liked it a lot. The difficulty curve feels fair and well implemented, both in combat and in puzzles. This, along with its unique visuals, has been one of the main reasons why I got hooked on the game. What I do have to mention is that it lacks mechanics such as dodging or defending yourself to fight enemies. The mobility options are very limited. In short, it hasn't been bad because it has kept me entertained for 30 hours, but it has disappointed me in many aspects...

Honestly, I think it's a game that needs to be contextualized. I played it for the first time on NIntendo Switch, many years after it was first released on PC. Doki Doki is a game that is meant to be played on PC, since its greatest strength and, what makes it so special for so many people, ONLY makes sense if you're playing it on PC (Obviously I'm not going to spoiler). For me it was a bit disappointing, since the big plot-twist that takes place in the story comes to be something I've already seen many other times in other games and it' s not a surprise. Although I understand that in the past it was very surprising and original for many people. That's why I think it has to be contextualized.