Well, after 66 Hours, I finally finished the game. All Acts, all Overworld side Bosses, and the Superboss (see above)
This game is great. It was a joy to play. Like everyone else, I understand the hype, and it is justified. Crazy we got this and Metaphor ReFantazio within 6 months of each other. Two classic Turn-based RPG's
As usual, I'll talk about what I liked about the game, and didnt
What I liked:
-The presentation of the game. Amazing visuals throughout. Everything is vibrant, colorful and even dreary when the situation calls for it
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The music is awesome. Nevermind the fact that the Lumiere theme sounds like the Route 1 music from Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow, it's still a great soundtrack. Even more impressive that a no-name soundcloud user composed the entire soundtrack! So many bangers, and just catchy tunes. My favorites are the ancient sanctuary battle theme and the flying waters battle theme. There are some intense tracks like the song that plays for the second to last Boss in act 2. Same for the Return to Lumiere in Act 3
-The game is perfectly paced IMO. The Story is long, but it doesn't overstay its welcome. The overarching theme of coming to terms with your own mortality is very relatable. Ofc it's crazy that the people of Lumiere have to do this in their 30's, but that doesn't take away from the very real theme of the game
-The amount of Content in this game is insane. There are bosses to be fought everywhere both story and optional, different weapons to upgrade, countless outfits to collect if you are into that, music tracks that can be played at camp, there's a relationship system that you take part in if you want some extra features in battle and in the overworld, multiple different areas to explore, you name it! This game is brimming with content. The fact that it's a $50 game is mindblowing in this day and age
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The battle system is outstanding, and the main draw for this game for me. I love a good turn-based game, but between the flashy moves, the dodge/parry system, the AP system (which is a very well-executed idea compared to the standard MP system turn-based RPG's normally use), it's one of the best battling experiences i've had in a game. Also each character has a unique feature that brings more depth into the game. You can experiment with different character combinations throughout the game to see what you like best. On top of that, if you ever die in battle, you can start back to where you were. There's pretty much zero downside to dying. So you can take as much time as you want learning the parry/dodge system and getting comfortable with it. The game also throws a bunch of evasion features at you (dodge, parry, jump/counter, gradient counter). And of course the Gradient system is excellent once youget used to it. Originally I thought it was a waste of time, but the Lumina/Pictos system allows you to make the gradient meter a large part of your playstyle if you wish (more below).
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The Lumina and pictos system provides even more depth for players. There are TONS of different pictos to collect throughout your playthrough. These lead to different builds you can create. Spending time working with pictos combinations that synergize with each other is one of the best things about the game. By the end of the game, I had a build that was pretty much unstoppable. There's a ton of chances for individuality and customization because of the sheer amount of pictos there are in game. And if you take a few hours farming Color of Lumina you cam make ANY build you want by the time Act 3 rolls around. It's an extremely rewarding feature
-The movement speed/traversal in this game is very nice. It's a thing that's really important to me. The run speed of the characters perfect when you are in-world. I've played tons of games where it's a slog to get through because the characters jog and the movement feels so slow (One Piece Odyssey, Alan Wake 1 and 2)
-The characters themselves are interesting, and the relationships they have are fleshed out throughout this story. Each person has his/her own personality and ofc that makes the story and the experience even better. It actually has a notable voice cast as well, and the voice direction for the game is well done. Maelle and Gustave's brother/sister relationship is one of the highlights for me story-wise. Verso and Monoco had a great back-and-forth throughout the game as well
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The fight's are challenging, especially when you hit Act 3. Golgra, Sprong, Serpenphare to name a few. Some of these bosses have insane gimmicks that challenge you (serpenphare, simon), and others are so strong you have to be on your A-game if you wanna beat them (Golgra)
Now, onto my gripes with this game:
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Overworld traversal is too slow. Even with Esquie, flying feels very slow.
-This game is in DIRE need to a map waypoint system, in both overworld and in-world. There are times when i'm in a world and i get lost, or lose my bearings and i have to try and retract my steps. In 2025, all RPG's that have large worlds like this should just have a map. Whenever I'm in overworld and I want to travel to a new area I have to rotate and make sure I'm pointed in the right direction, and then i refer back to the map about 3 times before i get there. It's a momentum-killer having to go back to the map every few seconds until i get to where i need to be.
-There needed to be an icon to shows whether you are above or under your destination. I found myself having to fly up or down, not knowing where it is. But ofc that comes with having a map, which this games doesnt have
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Esquie's controls are clunky. If you want to are already holding R2 to move faster, you have to stop for a minute, then press R1 to fly upward and then continue to R2 when you are at your desired elevation.
-While controlling Esquie, there should be an R1 attack initiation button, like when you are controlling the Expeditioners. If you wanna get First Attack when you are near an enemy in the Overworld but you're controlling Esquie, you need to press Square again to dismount esquie and THEN press R1 to start the fight. Again, a momentum killer
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You can hit small grooves in the ground when running that will immediately slow you down. You have to jump to get past it, not good. Once again, momentum killers. There are some times where your character will be stuck in a dropping animation from being stuck in a groove in the terrain. Any slight change in elevation may or nay not halt your character. For example, one of the Paint Workshops had me hanging for about 15 seconds. And you cant do anything about it. You just have to hope the game works itself out of it. This happens in other games like Ghost of Tsushima, but the game auto-corrects itself out of it after about 3 seconds. This game has no such feature
-When flying with Esquie, the game doesnt auto-save until you touch ground. I spoke about it earlier, but because of this oversight, I had to fight Sprong twice because I died to Serpenphare the first time.
-The game can be TOO cinematic at times during cutscenes. All throughout the game there are multiple 4-5 second pauses where the camera just focuses on a character, and the character isn't saying or doing anything, and I'm just looking like "ok...we can move on now." We don't need to focus on the dirty faces of the characters at random points. It's OK to just move forward with the scene
-It would be nice for the battles to have a quick redo feature ala Metaphor Refantazio. In a game like this, where learning the timing for Parrying/dodging is important, being able to quickly get back into the action if you mess up would save a lot of time
-The hurtbox for the R1 attack to initate a battle is deceptive. In a game like Persona 5 if you want to ambush a shadow you can simply press a button to start the match. You don't have to worry about missing. Again, in ReFantazio if you want to dizzy an enemy to get the advantage to have to slash at them until they are dizzied, and then press a button to initiate the combat. This game just has the R1 attack that sometimes looks like you're close enough to get the hit to land, but might not be. Also, the attack slightly propels the character forward so you might run into the enemy without landing the R1 attack. On top of that, there's a slight delay between R1 attacks. When the enemy is running toward you and you mess up the timing, it's annoying to not get that first strike.
I think that's all i've got for gripes. Again, I think this was an outstanding game. It's also the clear frontrunner for GOTY. The only thing that can challenge it this year (to me, ofc) is Ghost of Yotei.
It's an extremely well-done game. I just believe it misses its mark when it comes to quality-of-life features that would make the experience even better. They hit on just about everything else. Music, story, presentation, world-building, combat, combat depth, customization, difficulty, etc. But it seems like the gave so much attention to those, they missed on the little things you'd expect from a JRPG style game in 2025
Overall this game is an 8.8 to me. I shouldn't compare it to Metaphor ReFantazio but it's the last game i played that's like it. I'd say Metaphor is the superior game because it does everything this game does but also nails the little things, and this game didn't. But again, unless Yotei is better than this, I just played my GOTY. We'll see in October/November when I'm done with Yotei
Welp, time to play this again, but on Expert
Side note: I saw the complete production crew for the making of this game. Did no black people work on this game?
