I liked the first 80% of the story. After it went into the Ultima / King stuff I was getting bored and the game started feeling like an absolute slog. Up until this point while there was a lot of running back and forth (I hated the Hideaway design for this very reason) and useless quest steps in some instances "I better go let Jill know it's time to go" Talk to Jill she says 2 things and then you can continue... that shit was aggravating but got really bad in the last 20% of the game. It didn't help that EVERY SINGLE CUT SCENE was "We can do this together" "We are saving the world" "We are giving people a choice in life" YADA.... YADA.... Jesus I was about ready to rip my fucking head off if I had to hear any more of that Banter in the last 20% of the game, and in the final 5% it was like the developers knew that would annoy the ever living fuck out of me so they tripled down on that bullshit. NO. YOU DO NOT NEED ANOTHER CUT SCENE WITH THE SAME DRIVEL CONVERSATION I HAVE HEARD 65 TIMES IN THE LAST 34 MINUTES. Also the ultima thing dragged so fucking much. Going to Ash, running through, fighting trash mobs, more useless banter and cut scenes stating the above, finally make it to Ultima and small fight encounter that doesn't matter - and then some decent story tidbits in there, run out, back to hideaway, run back and forth between useless characters - Had to laugh when "I better go talk to Otto"... Run over there "Ok sounds good" says Otto, another huge cut scene between Joshua and Clive saying the SAME EXACT SHIT. anyway, I think everyone gets the point. I just wanted the shit to end already.
Some of the side quests were good - the food delivery shit was annoying and the running back and forth shit in hideaway was so pointless. Add a couple waypoints in that place to speed things along or increase my run speed. Obviously I did all the + quests but even then as I got to Blacksmith 3 I was skipping dialogue like a madman along with others late stage.
Itemization was simple which really didn't bother me all that much. I would just upgrade when the time arose. Combat was fine except for a few bosses when the fights would just fucking drag as targeting became a problem when pushed far away and needing to get in close again while dodging shit. (The final ultima fight was more annoying then fun - but I am not sure if it was because of the mechanics or I didn't give two shits about the white walker Ultima style story which felt tacked on anyway)
Game definitely could have used more rewards for exploring the books and crannies. I finished at 88% exploration because I didn't care. It's hilarious when you have 200k gil and you are in a high level area running over to a loot spot (Which I knew better anyhow but wanted to check it out) and get 5 gil for going out of my way so in the end 99% of that was completely pointless and I would just google any rare mats I might need for something I wanted to craft as an upgrade.
Action sequences were sweet but by Ultima I was pretty much over the same QTE for everything. HIt R1, Hit Square, Mash Square. Served it's purpose because of the awesome wow moments in the action movie sequences when the QTE was going on. Sound and music were good.
Overall I would give it a 8/10. Great story up to when mom died. Drawn out after either because of too much of the same conversational cut scenes over and over, running, trash fighting, or fighting the same damn guy 3-4 times during the last 20% of the game. Exploration needed a lot more fun factor or at least useful rewards. Unlockable + quests were fine. Hideaway was a pain in the ass to get anywhere with a slow run speed and the last 20% of the story quest gameplay/loop was a chore.
As far as DLC, I would rather they just start on 17.
Wasn't a huge fan of the ending either. Joshua was supposed to not be able to bring people back, he did with Clive, Clive has his power and may have been able to do it for Joshua no one really knows since the book at the end could have been written before or after the final encounter. Some of the side quests explain this stuff but since 40% of them were just garbage door dash quests it may have been a better idea to get rid of those entirely and just focus on lore side quests as side's to the story for better explanation - which 60% of them were, but I would bet people got fed up like me with the fetch shit that no one bothered with most of them.
I looked at what it would take to plat and saw I would have to run through the game again in Final Fantasy mode. Nah. No thanks.
Also: Do not lock side quests. I ran into a few that I would try to do and there was a lock next to them while I could do others. I still do not know why I couldn't get into a certain door in hideaway, and if I had to run down to that garden area again for a 4th upgrade to consumable potency I was going to murder the garden guy and bring the garden to the obelisk.
