spreadsheeticus

This game can only be described as Square Enix's attempt to create an homage to Zelda: A Link to the Past, which they nail flawlessly and demonstrates the versatility of Octopath Traveler rendering pipeline and art style. The mechanics feel crisp and the visual style works very well. I don't have any criticisms per se, but the weaknesses are definitely the length of the game and depth of the story (which was not particularly strong in early Zelda games). Basically SE actually understands what their target audience wants in a game like this. If you like older Zelda games, highly recommend.

Very repetitive and pointless, the game world is on rails and every action feels completely banal and devoid of satisfaction. There is no strategy, just random button mashing and shut off brain, which is fine if that’s what you’re looking for.

This game is not "Dark Souls-like". It's a vanilla adventure game with watered down features.

Having a game-ending bug in the main questline is unacceptable. I'm 25 hours in, and do not have a save prior to two much earlier quests that must have been completed in a particular order, that have now locked my game from progressing any further. At the very least there should be an acknowledgment with some sort of ETA on a fix... I'm not restarting this game.

Really cool ideas, but the game becomes very tedious and repetitive very quickly. Very limited replay value.

Great storytelling, premise, and fun battle mechanics. A spiritual successor to Planescape:Torment, but it also has parallels to other Chris Avellone games.

Ensemble Studios, the original AoM developer, was closed by Microsoft in 2009. Extended Edition is basically a cosmetic upgrade by SkyBox labs. I, fortunately, was given a leftover promotional copy from a friend in the industry. I mean fortunately because the price tag is pretty outrageous. This is basically like buying a loaf of bread for $2, then charging $10 a slice because you toasted it......just shameless. 5/10 because the game is still a great game, but can only give half points because it is neither original, nor is it truly the work of the developer taking credit.