Release: 2020
Gameplay Stats: 41 hours, 52% achievements
I was going to wait to play this game until all the chapters were out... But then it was free with PlayStation Plus! So I decided to jump in.
Visuals: As the trend seems to be, games look better over time. This is probably the prettiest game I've ever played and I played it on the PS4. I'm getting a PS5 soon, but I'm not sure if I will double dip. At least not right away. The characters and everything look a little stylized, but look more or less realistic which is really cool but also kind of odd. I liked the visual style of the world, it felt fairly lived in which is always nice to see. There were a lot of repeating NPCs which I feel like it kind of a pet peeve of mine, but the game had way more NPCs that normal so I see that as a step in the right direction. I think the battles look pretty good as well, I had some issues with hitboxes and enemies not telegraphing their movements well, but nothing too frustrating since you can scan the enemies.
Audio: The music in this game is legitimately great. I remembered a lot of the tunes from playing the original 20 years ago and they were all lovingly remastered/updated. The sound effects sound chunky where they should and also fluid where they should. The voice actors that they hired for this game all did a great job. I feel like Cloud's actor did the worst job, but I think that's because he's supposed to be an avatar for the player, so he wasn't meant to have a lot of personality. I hope that changes as a trend.
Plot: I was honestly expecting to be let down here. I expected it to be a rehash of the original game plus some random side stories. I was pleasantly surprised! The story actually looks to be going in a different direction that the original game. Without spoiling anything, the characters kind of rail against the story of the original game throughout the remake. It's almost self aware in that aspect. I think you could feel the game's creators struggling against their creation's legacy and what they intended for the game to be unconstrained by their efforts to squeeze it onto now 25 year old hardware. It was well worth playing this game if you don't hold the original up on a pedestal, especially if you think it is looked at through some strong prescription nostalgia goggles.
Gameplay: I'm going to be honest here, I didn't think the gameplay was that much to write home about. It was fun but about what you get from the trailers in terms of execution. I did have some trouble with the hitboxes and the dodge in particular wasn't as responsive as I wish it was. It also doesn't seem to have i-frames which is unusual these days. It was more Code Vein than Dark Souls for better and for worse. I think exploring the areas and the quests were kind of where the gameplay really shined, I am always such a fan of the small vignettes games give us as their quests.
Overall, would I recommend this game? Absolutely yes. It was a good time and looked great the whole time. I think it may have been slightly too polished if that's a thing. It doesn't have a whole lot of personality just yet, but it seems to be building up into something that will. Will we have to wait another 23 years for another chapter? Maybe, but I'm okay to wait for greatness. [9/10]
Comments
Post a Comment