Alex Hardware

Lowbrow story telling dressed as highbrow. The game force-feeds excessively basic story premises in a format more akin to a teenage high school drama. The irony with this is the bizarre pretentious energy that permeates through the narrative and the fans that waffle on about it. I imagine it's the feeling many want to feel superior to others, so having a plot that's slightly above mildly convoluted is some massive revelation means others surely can't comprehend it if they dislike it! No, by video game standards it's mildly above the norm, sure. But it's still poorly done by writers who seem to be thoroughly imbedded in their own behinds.

Combat props up a decent story that's plagued by awful pacing. When you can actually play the game it's engaging, but extremely barebones as an RPG. There is little to nothing in the way of exploring and gear builds. No status effects, weaknesses to exploit, no loot to gather. Nothing. It gives new definition to linear story telling. With you essentially only playing for brief periods in-between extremely long and constant cut scenes. This is an immersive choice I'm sure works for many, but I'm sure won't work for everyone. I personally felt there is a lot idle time where a cutscene could have been cut in half or been cut all together and nothing would have been lost. Boss fights feel incredible. It's a spectacle every fight and I genuinely cannot praise that highly enough. Difficulty is non existent even without using any of the accessibility tools to make life easier, which is a shame as the combat could actually flow against mobs far more engagingly if you got the chance to actually use it more. Overall I'd say it's a game that suits players looking for a cinematic experience rather than player driven. As mentioned prior, actual game play feels like the interlude to a game desperate to talk over you. I can see why people will enjoy it, although we will have to see how much when they've finished it. But for me, it doesn't scratch a lot of the Rpg elements I'd hope to find in a title like this. With better pacing and end product, the story could have been a high point, but instead ended up being middling. High points are the combat, and spectacle of big engagements. Mid points are the narrative and overall story. Low points are lack of engaging RPG mechanics, extremely linear and amount of cutscene filler.