Anthony James

Ok.. I've given it adequate time to give a fair and reasonable review of this game. After playing the demo, I was enthralled and extremely captivated. The setup and execution was fantastic. The demo did exactly what was intended; grab your interest, get invested in the story. What followed was nothing short of complete disappointment. The world is hollow, the characters are bland, the gameplay depth is shallow and the graphic performance on release was poor. After 20hrs I was completely deflated, but continued playing hoping it would improve overall, but it never did. There is no sense of wonder, or a sense of getting lost in the world. The game follows the story, with no reason to go off the beaten path and explore. There are no fulfilling sidequests or mini-games. There are no items to collect in the field that are worthy of your time. Weapons and accessories in this game are an afterthought. Elements mean nothing. Positives: - The Eikon battles are great. They truly are. - The graphics are stunning (when you stand completely still or use photo mode) - You can pet Torgal - Some nice music arrangements, but nothing exceptionally memorable. - Some great shocking moments in cutscenes Negatives: - Sidequests are mostly fetch quests, with the occasion "kill these monsters" - The world is empty with zero reason to explore any of it - 2 gil shiny pickup (what is the damn point) - Disgraceful weapon and armour system - Pointless levelling system - Laughable crafting system - Gathering materials from monsters that have basically no use - Earning Gil that you'll have nothing to spend on - "Party" mechanic that adds absolutely nothing to the combat. You forget they're even there half the time - No sprint button.. Run straight for 5secs to pick up speed, but hope you don't touch a rock and start over - It's. Way. Too. Easy. Zero challenge. (with or without the rings) - Nonexistent endgame - No mini-games - Run down a linear corridor. Watch 20min cutscene. Rinse and repeat for 40hrs - Motion blur... Makes the game almost unplayable - Outside of the Eikon battles, all other fights are 10secs and become tedious after 20hrs. Once you get the chocobo, there's literally no point in jumping off to fight. The XP and gil you get amounts to nothing from these fights. Such a shame, as I had extremely high hopes after playing the demo. It's nice to see people are still enjoying it, but this one will remain a hard pass for me. In its current state, it's unsalvageable from my perspective. I say this as a long time Final Fantasy fan, I do not recommend this game.

This is a game that truly overcame adversity. I was a day one player and I enjoyed every minute that I played. I was eventually saddened by the lacklustre ending, but with every update came new adventures and a vast selection of content. What truly separates Hello Games from other companies is their continued investment in the project. Not for monetary gain, but to just do what is right by the player and the game itself. I could not recommend this game more. With "Beyond" on the horizon, you're guaranteed to find what you're looking for from this galactic exploration game. Jump in now.