Spoilers up to the end of 'The Crystal's C.' chapter / getting 'Lawless' achievement

[Loony BoB]

This thread can be used to freely discuss the game up to the point where you receive the 'Lawless' achievement / end the 'The Crystal's Curse' chapter (wasn't enough room in the title for the full name but tbh it's a ... kind of spoiler? I guess not really but hey, it works as an excuse to truncate the thread title so it fits so I'm good).

You can feel free to post unmarked spoilers about this portion of the game in this thread.

...So.

Once again, a lot to take in! Of course right after me complaining about Torga barking for no reason, the first thing Torga does in the new chapter is bark for a reason, and that reason is "Oh, you didn't hate your mum enough already? Well, here's something to break down any remaining barriers." I do love a good villain but dude she's Cersei level at this point. The two short haired blonde female villains are definitely my two favourite villains so far. Titan guy (Hugo Kefka or whatever) seems pretty cool, though, too, if a bit basic. I'll happily take a brute to mix things up a bit.

That was followed up with two of the worst kept secrets in the game: Margrace is definitely Joshua and Cid is gonna die. They built up both of those so much that the 'revelations' were more just confirmations. I didn't really want Cid to die but I was very, very prepared for it because of all the little moments before it. When a character keeps coughing up blood, and the curse is taking hold of their arms already, it's like "okay so I guess this is gonna happen" and it was so. Still sad he's gone but yeah, it wasn't as sudden an affair like it was with previous character deaths in the game.

The Dame helps replace Benedikta with a fox-for-fox scenario, if a little more classy than deadly. I hope Otto somehow miraculously survived Titanfall but I suspect it was just Gav and Tarja. I'm happy those two survived because I quite like them both.

The fight against Typhon was probably my favourite so far! Mechanics I had to pay attention to and it felt very epic. The setting was kind of dull but still, good fun. The dragon fight just before it was cool too.

This Ultima guy reminds me of the Borg. I'm not going to post any speculation on this end (much like I didn't say anything on Joshua/Cid build-up beforehand, as obvious as it was), but I have a pretty firm theory about how all this is gonna play out. If it does go the way I think, then it's gonna be a cool plot. If it doesn't, I'll be glad it's not predictable. Win-win.

Although the minigames still haven't presented themselves, I will say I like this game more and more as I get through each story achievement. I'm very much interested to see where it all goes, but still am hoping for some cool new characters to replace the ones we've just lost.

And now we're Cid 2.0 and we're having adventures in Final Creed: Assassin's Fantasy. smurf it, let's go!

[Psychotic]

Wow, this chapter goes really hard on the bleakness and misery of the Bearers, supported by some good sidequests. Compared to FFXV where there's a war and invasion going on and nobody's lives really seem interrupted, this game is great at the worldbuilding and to show who it is that is really suffering when the High Lords play their Game of Thrones.

Cid of course had a hundred death flags on him but still a shame to see the old rogue go. I had a feeling Ultima would be involved based on the artwork, but uh, huh. Wasn't expecting them to be... that. The story pacing is frantic, Joshua remerges and "dies" (NO CHANCE) again, then hideaway gets smashed by Titan and we timeskip 5 years. Jeez. Again, thinking of FFXV and the current post-EW content in FFXIV, this feels crazy fast.

[Jinx]

I liked Cid, but I feel like this entire scene wasn't earned. I mean, spectacle-wise, it was stunning. Including the fight against Typhon. But like...why am I supposed to care? lol

[Del Murder]

Wow, this chapter goes really hard on the bleakness and misery of the Bearers, supported by some good sidequests. Compared to FFXV where there's a war and invasion going on and nobody's lives really seem interrupted, this game is great at the worldbuilding and to show who it is that is really suffering when the High Lords play their Game of Thrones.

I agree that the sidequests do a great job of highlighting the plight of the bearers. When that little girl talked about her 'pet' I thought 'oh god it's a human isn't it...' The quests themselves are super basic and the rewards are pitiful, but the worldbuilding does make them worth it.

Poor Cid, even if we all saw it coming. My son who was watching that scene exclaimed 'that's so sad!' I liked him a lot as the Cid in this game, but gimme dem Ramuh powers bro.

The Ultima battle was fun but other than that there is not really much to the battling in this game. Most fights are over in seconds with no damage taken. The cinematics are great but the challenge is not there. The weapon and armor upgrades are almost 100% linear progression with no real variety in character build. I guess once you get more than 3 Eikons you will have a choice in what you use, finally.

I still like this game and the story is very cool, and I like Clive and Torgal. But it is more of an experience than a game so far.