Far Cry 6 Review

 

The Far Cry series has long experienced something of an identity crisis. 

Is it a hard-boiled story of survival or a goofy physics playground with pet bears and flamethrowers? The answer has usually been a bit of both and Far Cry 6 definitely doesn't buck this trend. 

It does however smooth out a lot of the bumps that have cropped up over the past few games and in doing so becomes the best the series has been in years. 

But it also misses some steps especially with its new inventory system and that creates some new problems along the way. 

Far Cry 6 once again sees you trapped in a huge open world controlled by a charismatic madman. 

This time on the fictional island nation of Yara. Even after this many games the job of turning all the red dots in your map into blue ones is still a good time. 

Whether by sneakily silencing every enemy guard or by going the less subtle route of throwing bullets and molotovs at them until nobody's left. 

Primarily modeled after Cuba, Yara is ruled by fascistic dictator Anton Castillo. 

His regime would be too preposterously evil to believe at times if not for its real world south and Central American inspirations but it's his unwavering devotion to his vision of a quote-unquote perfect Yara along with the gravitas and charm he projects to his still loyal subjects that make him handily claim the top spot on my list of favorite Far Cry villains. 

Every one of Esposito's scenes are captivating particularly as you get deeper into the 30 odd hour main story. 

That story can be a fairly predictable affair with all the psychotic bad guy lackeys sudden but inevitable betrayals and tragic yet motivational character deaths you'd expect from a big budget popcorn flick. 

It does manage to balance its more sombra moments with the more ridiculous aspects of its gunplay better than any recent Far Cry game though it also leans a little too heavily on the grizzled “get it done” trope of resistance fighters. 

I wasn't wild about how it eventually wrapped itself up either but again the journey as a whole was mostly enjoyable. 

Far Cry 6 clearly wants to be a more socially responsible game than its predecessors too and to its credit it does make an effort to tackle some social issues even if the script might stumble a little over the reality of some of those moments. 

That said, it still feels trapped between presenting an authentic representation of Latin American culture and a gonzoed-up version designed to please mainstream western audiences. 

The world itself seems like a gorgeous rendition of South and Central American life but the script sometimes relies so heavily on specific colloquialisms that it feels like it borders on caricature or more egregiously, there's the cockfighting mini-game that's basically Mortal Kombat with chickens and I know it's technically, legal, in Cuba but come on guys :) 

While previous Far Cry games have mostly pitted us against pirates, mercenaries and cultists not to mention evil cavemen and cyber commandos, Far Cry 6 makes its bad guys a properly organized and equipped army. 

It's a little straight laced given the series origins but it also provides more diverse and engaging encounters. 

Enemy captains can call in reinforcements or airstrikes to flush you out of a sniper nest, while medics will revive wounded comrades and that gives you interesting reasons to prioritize your targets beyond who might see or shoot at me next. 

On top of that Far Cry 6 is the strongest the series has ever been when it comes to turning fleets of trucks, helicopters and tanks into fiery metal scrap. 

I've spent a lot of my play through clearing out checkpoints without raising an alarm but there's a very special brand of joy that comes when you're speeding down a highway trashing a convoy with mounted machine guns while blasting Ricky Martin. 

Taking a cue from Far Cry New Dawn, provides not just the usual truckload of real world weapons but also a selection of what it calls wrestle their weapons and rides, named for the Cuban idiom for making do with what you have. 

These ramshackle kilima jigs range from a portable emp cannon to my personal favorite and upgradable minigun made out of an old motorcycle engine. 

There are also a handful of similarly jerry-rigged vehicles to find around the world whose multi-function designs made them invaluable. 

You've really got to love a dune buggy that hot swaps into a paraglider. Rounding out your arsenal are sopremos which are effectively ultimate abilities duct taped to a backpack along with a bunch of depleted uranium. 

Each one has a unique function be it a rocket barrage or a salvage poison bomb that can turn soldiers against each other. 

I primarily swap between the rocket pack and one that let me see enemies through walls though others like the self-reviving medic pack were equally helpful when I chose not to have one of the animal amigos at my side. 

Changing up your arsenal is a lot more important this time around too. As enemies now have unique resistances and vulnerabilities to certain types of ammo. 

It took a few hours to amass enough weapons to feel ready for anything but the careful balancing of Far Cry 6's increasing power level versus my own meant taking someone down rarely felt tedious and while that's a welcome new idea, it's the moments where you have to switch from stealth to action on the fly where the biggest change to the Far Cry formula simultaneously shines and stumbles pretty hard. 

Abilities that were unlocked through RPG style, skill trees in previous games are now attached to armor and weapon mods. 

It's satisfying to use the wide variety of gadgets to create playstyle specific loadouts for each supremo and moving perks and bonuses to gear really leans into six's emphasis on crafting and customization. 

Even if some of the armor bonuses feel like they should be permanently unlockable but your armor and weapons lack a similarly easy loadout system. 

The constant need to shuffle my inventory was at the best of times a brief dip into a clunky UI. 

There are a handful of other relatively minor technical issues but this was far and away its biggest mechanical flaw and it's even more of a pain in two-player co-op when you can't pause. However, teaming up to stealthily take out military installations or complete special operations are still a good time. 

Those are a fun side activity and interesting contained areas but for my money, Far Cry 6 is at the top of its game when you're wreaking havoc across the Ara's countryside. 

Far Cry 6 is some of the most fun I've had with this series in nearly a decade its cast delivers strong performances across an enjoyable story even if it's also a fairly predictable one that doesn't always land the bigger swings it tries to take and despite some faltering new inventory mechanics and a handful of bizarre design choices, it's creative weaponry and more diverse crew of enemy types means capturing an outpost, ransacking a convoy or even just taking a ride with a buddy has never felt better.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Integrade Review

It seems strange to say that Yuffie Kisaragi feels like she's always belong in Final Fantasy 7 Remake but after spending more than eight hours with her in the PS5 exclusive Final Fantasy VII Integrate Intermission DLC, Yuffie Kisaragi feels like she's always belong in Final Fantasy 7 Remake. 

This relatively bite-sized piece of DLC selectable from the main menu at any point as a separate campaign does a wonderful job of sewing the Wutaian ninja's plot thread into the main story, even though she didn't show up until after Midgar in the original game. 

At the same time, it introduces us to a completely new and exhilarating style of combat, offers up a bunch of meaningful and rewarding side activities and tells an impactful side story that explores the Wutai and Midgar conflict in much deeper detail than ever before. 

The star of this DLC is obviously Yuffie herself and she's just as playful, childish, and energetic as any Final Fantasy VII fan could ever hope for her to be. 

As great as Cloud, Tifa, Barrett and Aerith are, Yuffie's optimism and sheer unshakeable confidence is a breath of fresh air. 

And getting to watch her interact with notable characters from the main game is always a joy to behold. Balancing out Yuffie's loud and boisterous personality is the much more soft-spoken and level-headed Sonon; a new character who serves as Yuffie's partner in their undercover operation to steal Midgar's secret materia. 

There's a really great chemistry between them and despite not getting more than two chapters to develop it, a real bond starts to form between the two of them, just in time to make the emotional high points of the story especially resonant. 

It helps too that the performances across the board are outstanding and maintain the high level of quality that the main game establishes. 

Final Fantasy VII Remake ripped the original from its turn based JRPG roots and basically transformed it into a full on action game, and with Intermission Yuffie's high speed hyper mobility focused combat style, takes that transformation even further. 

To start she's got her shuriken which can be used with basic attacks to do a quick combo that has her darting in and out and performing air combos just by mashing the attack button. 

At any point you can press triangle to throw her shuriken which changes all of her basic attacks to range ninjutsu. 

From there you can press the triangle button again to zip to wherever the shuriken is lodged and continue the up-close assault. 

Yuffie's combat is so active and fun that when I first started playing, I often found myself forgetting that I was building up my ATB meter in the process which is obviously not ideal but fortunately spending that ATB turned out to be just as much of a thrill. 

Like the main game characters, Yuffie can be equipped with all sorts of material that allow her to cast spells, execute special techniques or boost your stats. 

Since this is a truncated campaign, Yuffie starts with most of the standard materia already in her inventory but you'll still have to find many of the really useful ones like magnify which lets your spells do AOE damage, AP up which increases the amount of AP gained for linked materia and first strike which lets you start each encounter with portions of your ATB meter filled. 

Sonon also fights alongside Yuffie for most of the DLC and while you can't directly control him, you can give him commands and equip him with materia that'll allow him to fulfill whatever role you need. 

The pair also get a unique mechanic known as synergizing which lets them group up and use coordinated attacks to deal big damage and greatly pressure opponents. 

They can even use both their ATB meters at once to activate synchronized versions of Yuffie's special attacks. 

The downside is that while synergize, Sonon's ATB meter gain is drastically reduced. So you're encouraged to go in and out of synergy fairly regularly. 

As if all that isn't enough, Yuffie can also elementally charge her ninjutsu to target weaknesses without having to dip into her MP supply. 

She can almost completely negate damage from any target with an expertly timed Block and she can use a special dodge to restore her ATB if timed correctly. 

All of this adds up to what essentially feels like a platinum game's character, dropped into Final Fantasy 7 Remake and it leads to some of the most fun and challenging combat encounters in the entire game. 

The main story of Intermission is pretty short and can be completed in about 4 hours but if you rush through it at that pace, you'd really be doing yourself a disservice because the side activities are cut above the average side quests. 

First off there's fort condor, which has its origins from the original FF7 as a kind of defense minigame where you had to place units on a hill to stop enemies before they reach the top, at which point you'd have to fight them. 

Intermissions version of Fort Condor instead plays out like a dueling deck building card game. 

You face off against an opponent and use cards to summon units on the map which move forward as they attempt to destroy the opposing team's Condor tower at the end of the field. Your ATB mirror slowly fills as the match goes on. 

Since cards have their own ATB cost, you have to consider whether you want to put down a weaker card immediately or take the risk of waiting until you're able to afford a more powerful card that may be able to stay on the field longer. 

Under the hood of the mini game is a rock paper scissors dynamic where red units beat green units, green units beat blue units and blue units beat red units there's a bit more to it than that though with certain units being able to fly and avoid taking damage from melee only units, others that work as stationary turrets and other still that rain down inaccurate but damaging mortar fire. 

The final wrinkle is that you can influence the flow of battle yourself by casting spells that can either buff your units or damage the opponents. 

It's not the deepest game in the world but it's fun building up your deck and finding new boards out in the main game, along with buying new cards with the currency that you earn from winning matches. 

It also provides Yuffie with an excuse to interact with returning side characters which is always fun to watch. 

Not to mention that some of the later duels can prove to be quite difficult and building a deck that can counter some of their strategies, is immensely satisfying. 

Beyond Fort Condor there's also a very fun and very challenging box destruction minigame that puts your skills with Yuffie shuriken to the test, a new summon to battle and using Ramuh, a number of combat simulations that are unlocked upon beating the story and provide further incentive to continue leveling up Yuffie and Sonon and a hard difficulty mode that is also unlocked upon completion. 

All in all, it's a pretty respectable amount of worthwhile content with meaningful rewards that's been keeping me busy long after completing the main quest. 

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Integrates Intermission DLC is a short but substantial chunk of content with an extraordinarily fleshed out new style of combat fun and worthwhile side activities and most importantly, Yuffie.

The Wutai ninja is witty, funny, adorable and brings a lighthearted energy to the dreary setting of Midgar that feels like a breath of fresh air. 

It is still ultimately just the DLC and it won't keep you busy for all that long but if you're a fan of Final Fantasy 7 Remake and are looking for more, this is an intermission well worth taking.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Review

 

There are tons of remakes being made these days but what does that word really mean? 

Well, lots of things. well the recent Resident Evil remakes have been mostly  faithful modernizations of the original, Final Fantasy 7 remake is more like a complete reinvention. 

It boldly swaps the traditional turn-based combat of the 1997 original with exciting real-time action and expands the first act of the classic story into a full game by adding dozens of hours of character development and world building; and also a bit too much filler. 

It may not be a perfect reunion but with or without nostalgia and play, this is still a great JRPG in its own right. 

Final Fantasy 7 Remake zooms in on the first hours of the original game which takes place in the city of Midgar. 

Here, Cloud Strife and his freedom fighting allies battle the evil Shinra corporation that run it and that conflict has been stretched into a campaign that took me more than 33 hours to complete; in a spectacular style both in and out of its epic cutscenes and in its truly phenomenal soundtrack. 

As a big fan in the originals turn-based battles, I was thrilled to find that Remakes revamped combat still proved to be endlessly engaging. 

Flashy basic attacks, charge up things called ATB bars which then let you use your team's unique weapon abilities, equippable spells and items from the comfort of a slow-motion menu. 

It's extremely different but there's still attention to every choice that truly reminded me of the originals frantic decision-making moments and you can't just mash square. 

Part of that is because filling up an enemy's stagger gauge will make them take extra damage for a time. 

We've seen that in games before but the clever twist here is that every enemy staggers in a different way. 

Learning those differences kept combat fresh the whole way through. That variety is a big part of why it's epic multi-phase boss fights are so incredible too. 

These powerful enemies push you to learn tricky patterns and the way they seamlessly blend in cinematics always put a smile on my face. 

We have a massive amount of flexibility in your party management thanks to role defining material orbs and upgradable weapons. 

Materia can be slotted into any character's equipment to give them spells and buffs. 

That's important since your active team of three is entirely determined by where you are in the story. I just wish I didn't have to keep reslotting my best materia every time my party shifted. 

Weapon upgrading also had me digging through menus too much but it's such a cool new system that I didn't mind. New weapons are rare but they upgrade as you level to keep them relevant. 

I found myself frequently switching weapons as my materia builds and party changed. But even clouds signature starting weapon the Buster Sword remained a solid option. 

Rather poetically, it ended up being my favorite weapon by the end. the visual variety of Midgar's levels is fairly impressive, ranging from dirty slums to industrial Shinra facilities. 

That said, the level design itself is serviceable but simplistic. the combat is always a blast and that keeps momentum high but there's not much else to think about beyond some simple puzzles and lightly hidden items. 

That makes the areas you're asked to reach shred for side quests, a repetitive drag. Generally speaking though I love that this brief section of a much larger RPG has been fleshed out with real character development and a more robust story. 

I loved learning more about Jesse, Biggs and Wedge and seeing lively neighborhoods full of people. 

One excellent new mission has you wrestling with the decision to turn off the giant Sun lamps that provide light to Midgar slums to progress; giving more direct weight to your group's actions. 

What I didn't love however, was when this remake clearly decided it just needed more stuff to pad out its length regardless of quality. the dullest of these by far are when Cloud is asked to do odd jobs around Midgard slums. 

Suddenly you're faced with bottom-of-the-barrel JRPG tropes that belittle the high stakes events around them. A shopkeeper literally asks you to kill some rats. Then there's a little girl who can't find her kitty cats. Seriously? 

There are plenty more and sure you could skip these side quests but that'll mean you miss out on extremely valuable items and unlocks and can even influence later scenes in subtle ways. 

This pointless filler isn't always reserved to just side quests either. A handful of the new main missions similarly pushing through events that feel totally irrelevant. 

They can be amusing diversions but if you could somehow skip a few of them entirely, probably wouldn't even notice. 

Square Enix has generally done a great job of making this originally brief Midgar section feel like a bigger story and showing things like Cloud’s cold murk, heart warm over time gives vital character development to a part that didn't have much in 1997. 

But it also raises tons of unanswered questions. Some of those are clear nods for longtime fans that will be incomprehensible to anyone else but a lot of the totally new stuff is convoluted and confusing regardless. 

The way its’ characters wantingly spout and do nonsense, it just expects you to roll with towards the end of the story can only be described as some Kingdom Hearts BS and I say that as a Kingdom Hearts Fan. 

Ultimately, I would have liked a more satisfying  conclusion to this story and a better jumping-off point for its eventual sequel. 

Thankfully reaching the credits does unlock a hard mode and a chapter select, allowing you to easily return to any area with your current equipment. Filler or not, I do plan on diving back in to tie up some loose ends or just throw some darts. 

Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s combat is top-notch and its enemy variety kept me constantly entertained. Seeing this snippet of a story flashed out with the previously hidden humanity behind Midgar filled me with pure joy. 

This Remake still delivered on letting me relive part of a classic and stupendous fashion while also standing as a great RPG all its own.

Code Vein Review

 

If you've heard or seen anything about Code Vein, you know the elevator pitch; do a Dark Souls but make it animate but there's more to it than that. 

It's unique post-apocalyptic sci-fi meets horror anime setting stands out and pairing you with an AI buddy makes it feel mechanically distinct from the rest of the crowd. 

Sometimes that sidekick is more trouble than they're worth but in this kind of game, frustration comes with the territory. 

Code Vein deserves some credit for experimenting with this well-established formula in ways others often don't. True to its anime inspirations, Code Vein has a lot of stories to justify. 

The action RPG combat your custom character awakens in a wild mad max-style ghoul eat ghoul world as an undead revenant who feeds on blood. 

The 30hour story takes itself seriously even though some of its quirks teeter on the line between interesting and ridiculous. But the story drops an enticing breadcrumb trail of mysteries and unfurls details about the world as you go. 

For all its twists and turns though most of the story and Code Vein feels very separate from what you actually do. 

It is hours and hours of exploring the labyrinth and caverns and city ruins of the revenant world, cutting through feral revenants and typical souls like fashion. 

Basic combat is up to par for the genre and each twisty, turny level is chock-full of combat that requires you to play cautiously and choose your moments. But beyond that your options extend far beyond the average stick and move tactics. 

Your character has an effectively unlimited capacity to invent and reinvent themselves by changing their class aka blood code rescaling their stats for different types of character builds and give you access to different abilities. 

Over time you can mix and match skills and blood codes to create custom loadouts that can give you an edge over certain types of enemies. 

It is particularly helpful when you get stuck in a tough encounter or boss fights where changing our class can help you see the fight in a new light. 

When you're in the thick of battle against a group of enemies, it definitely helps that you have a partner to take the edge off. Code Vein’s other novel innovation is that it pairs you with an AI controlled partner. 

Each of your AI squad mates has a different blood code, so it pays to pick one that complements your playstyle. Of course, they're also helpful as a meat shield but keep some enemies off your back while you concentrate on a few targets at a time. 

Then again when the going gets really tough, your partner can really cramp your style. 

Most of the AI characters are relentlessly aggressive and can't really read enemy attack patterns which makes them a liability in tough boss fights.

Like it or not, your partner support is valuable so your capacity to defeat many of Code Vein harder bosses comes down to how they perform. That element of randomness does not feel good in a game that otherwise demands precision. 

You can take the AI Ally out of the equation entirely in place solo but playing alone is far more difficult than dealing with the AI's issues. 

There's also a Dark Soul style co-op option where you can summon another player for short term support but without any real matchmaking or even the ability to sync up with friends that isn't a long-term substitute for an AI companion. 

Plus, companions are a vital part of what makes code main interesting and the running commentary helps keep you up-to-date on what's going on in the story even during long stretches without a major event or cutscene. 

Despite building itself on well tread ground Code Vein definitely moves to the beat of its own drummer. 

That beat can lose its rhythm when you need to be steady. However, some of its new ideas work well being able to easily switch classes on-the-fly is great.   

For example, others like unreliable sidekick AI adds too much dependence on luck to a style of combat the prizes skill above all else. 

But that willingness to take chances on bold new ideas makes things interesting during a familiar type of challenge and it's worth sinking your teeth into because of it.

Ghost of Tsushima Review

 

It’s time to take a quick look at the "Ghost of Tsushima" big new expansion, the Director's Cut. 

The new Iki Island area and added story and gameplay and quests is what I'm really excited about here but before we get into it, it's worth pointing out the full rereleased Director's Cut version of the game that includes everything, it's available on PS4 and PS5. 

If you're like me and you already played through "Ghost" on PS4, the whole upgrade path can be a bit annoying, but let me break it down. If you own "Ghost" on PS4, you can upgrade to the Director's Cut PS4 version for USD20. 

If you own Ghost on PS4, but you want to upgrade it to the PS5 version with all of the new content, it's USD30 all in. 

The base games actually are patched with a few quality-of-life improvements and stuff, but to access a lot of the PS5 upgrade features and stuff like the Japanese voice acting lip syncing, you gotta pay up. 

I don't like being piecemealed for something like DualSense controller support and haptic feedback. I just want to point that out upfront. 

A lot of people are either, A, confused about the pricing structure, or B, just not happy with the pricing overall, and I totally think a lot of it is valid. 

But for me personally, though, the rest of it, the new content and some of the stronger graphical fidelity, I'm all about it. 

Now, if you haven't played "Ghost of Tsushima" at all, now, after all of this, is absolutely the time. 

The Director's Cut is best version of the game, objectively, like when we're talking about all the added content, and on PS5, yes, it does look somewhat better. 

Smoother frame rates, even if that's not technically new. It's not an insane upgrade or anything, but just a little refinement. 

So if you were jumping on this from PS4 to PS5 and expecting an absolutely massive, massive overhaul, I've seen expectations all over the place out there on the internet, keep your expectations in check. 

Although I gotta say, man, don't worry if you don't have a PS5. This game still looks good either way, and if you have a TV that supports HDR, man, this thing has been like my definitive HDR game since it released. 

With the Iki Island expansion, I was happy to just jump back in and play through some new stuff. It was easy, after the upgrade, to bring over my save from PS4. It's actually simpler than how it's been handled with other games. 

So you get this whole new area, Iki Island, to load into separately. 

You can find the mission on your map on the coast of Tsushima, and it's a quick mission, and then you have the ability to go there and get on a boat and start a whole new adventure that feels nicely in-sync with everything else going on and Jin's character and whatnot. 

The island, like Tsushima, is also occupied by Mongol forces, but a bit of a different breed of Mongol. 

They follow a cult-like leader known as the Eagle who uses these hallucinogenic poisons to strike fear into the hearts of local citizens and control her soldiers. 

Now, with this Mongol group, you encounter a couple of new enemy variations, most notably, a Shaman. 

They do a chanting thing that hypes up other enemies and makes them attack relentlessly. It can make things challenging, but also really messy and annoying. 

There are a lot more combat scenarios, though, with tons of enemies this time around and a greater challenge, as enemies change up their weapons a lot and are just kind of always surrounding you. 

This is fine, of course, because for me, combat is my favorite part of the game. 

It's not always maybe the most complicated, but it's a great bad-ass simulator, and it's always fun managing stances and parrying or doing some crazy Batman stuff, like with smoke bombs and throwing knives. 

I actually was kind of rusty because I haven't jumped into "Tsushima" for almost a year and I got messed up a lot at first. And so that's just a warning if you're jumping into this. 

Maybe brush up on the main island first. Also worth pointing out, a big new addition, you can kill people with your horse. 

There's actually a horse charge ability. It might not sound like much, but it's really satisfying to crush through a bunch of dudes. 

It's a nice little change-up, and it feel kind of nice with the DualSense feedback. Now, Iki Island is closer to mainland Japan, but it's much smaller, and here, in the video game version, there are tons of biomes and environmental variety, like the main island. 

A lot of the exploration is boiled down to just more, more haikus, more hidden areas with more supplies, banners to collect, birds to follow, but they are also fun little archery challenges now, and these cool animal sanctuary moments. 

A lot of the game, in the story, but also just in the exploration of the environment itself is about Jin reliving his past and coming to grips with old memories and skeletons in his family's closet. It's fun to see how the game plays around with those concepts. 

And to be fair, that's the better part of the overall thing. There's this Eagle bad lady and her Mongol followers, but that's all whatever. 

It's just more fodder. What's cool is learning about this place and Jin dealing with the uneasy alliance he has with the people of the island and how it all connects to his heritage. 

There are some neat little tricks in the presentation, too, that you don't see in the main game. Some storytelling things are really shaken up here in fun new ways. 

But like I said at the start, it still slots in nicely as a necessary and interesting part of the story, and that's not always an easy task. 

It just makes you understand Jin and this world way more. And the other bells and whistles are nice, too. 

Iki Island has new trophies, and you're gonna get some new stuff along the way. My personal favorite so far is this monkey-inspired suit of armor, which makes it so you can only do perfect parries. 

You can't just block. But if you do get that perfect parry, you can chain a bunch of strikes together. It makes fights more challenging, but even more satisfying, which I didn't think could be done. 

So I just want to get this across if it hasn't been clear. It's a bit more of "Ghost of Tsushima" to play. 

But besides the couple of things I mentioned here and there, nothing overall is completely revolutionary for the formula, but it's a nice little expansion for me personally, which I completed the main game and 100%ed it, and I was dying for a little something more. 

I needed a taste. This scratches that itch, and it's over 10 hours if you're trying to do everything. 

And like I said, there is absolutely some valid debate over the pricing model, specifically with the upgrade and the features, but the actual new content, the actual meat itself, I felt like it was worth my time and money. 

But I really, really, really enjoy this game, so keep that in mind. And if you're coming in completely new and completely fresh, buying the whole game for a full price, you're getting the game, the refinements, graphical and otherwise, the newer expansion, and the multiplayer mode, Legends, which was added a few months back, which is actually really good. 

So I highly recommend "Ghost of Tsushima" in general, and the new island gets my seal of approval, too. 

I give you some pros, some cons, and some personal opinion, and if you haven’t got this game, you will not be disappointed if you do.

Atelier Sophie 2 Review

Gust is a developer that thrives through iteration. They’re not only known to release at least two RPGs a year, but also continuously improve upon and learn from making so many games constantly. 

With the release of Atelier Ryza 2, it proved to Gust that fans really didn’t mind that they’d feature the same protagonist for a sequel. 

And with Atelier Sophie 2, Gust tests this concept once again by revisiting one of the most beloved characters in the series’ history. 

The result is an Atelier game that not only borrows the best elements of the series’ past and the present, but also takes us on an incredible adventure with some truly memorable moments. 

Atelier Sophie 2 The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream is the sequel to 2015’s Atelier Sophie, which is set in a medieval fantasy world and features a heavy emphasis on crafting. 

This story takes place in-between Atelier Sophie and Atelier Firis, where we find Sophie continuing her journey on becoming a licensed alchemist, all the while hoping to restore Plachta, her mentor, to human form. 

Days after leaving Kirchen Bell, Sophie and Plachta are separated after being absorbed into the world of Erde Wiege, a land populated by its inhabitants’ dreams. 

With the help of her newfound friends, Sophie sets forth on an adventure that’ll take her through dreamlike locales, in the hopes of reuniting with her mentor and finding a way back home. 

Atelier Sophie 2 features seamless transitions from exploration to battle, letting you jump right into the offense without any pauses or loads into a different battlefield. 

This makes the act of battling monsters in Sophie 2 feel faster than any Atelier game before it, making you want to hop in from one battle to the next because of how fluid this makes it. 

But that’s not all. Atelier Sophie 2 also brings back some of my favorite battle mechanics from games prior to Ryza. 

Not only do turn-based battles make a triumphant return, attacks that specifically target groups of enemies are present again, as well as the ability for your supporting cast to block an attack and replace a party member in the front line. 

New to Sophie 2 is the ability to invoke Twin Actions, which help maximize your turns by letting you attack twice in one turn. But in order to do so, you’ll have to build up a resource meter that increases each time you attack your opponents. 

Monsters, on the other hand, can now create an Aura around them that can shield them from damage, much like the enemies found in Ryza. 

While some may be disappointed to learn that Sophie 2 does away with many of the previous game’s battle mechanics, what is left is essentially a finessed battle system that combines the best elements of previous games that is very easy to learn and create strategies with. 

While I loved Ryza’s battle system, this return to the tried and true demonstrates Gust’s willingness to experiment with both old and new ideas, creating a battle system that is, essentially, a blend of great mechanics perfected across the entire Atelier series. 

This makes battling just as fun as its crafting mechanics, and it helps that this too was polished to a mirror shine. Crafting, or in Atelier parlance, synthesis, all happens on a grid, retaining the basic mechanics of the previous game. 

You’ll have to place shapes representing elements on the grid in such a way that unlocks the fullest potential of the item, giving access to various effects and higher quality that’ll give you an edge while exploring the world. 

Though materials in Sophie 2 may have multiple elemental affinities, you’ll only need to put in one element per material to initiate synthesis, though you can try and fit everything on there. 

Doing so will help you form vertical or horizontal lines; no diagonals, that’ll increase the item’s Super Success Rate. The higher the rate, the more likely your finished item will receive 50% more quality. 

One of my favorite parts of Sophie 2’s synthesis is the ability to have your party help out, activating bonuses and perks that can help you unlock even more effects or, even, improve your Super Success Rate. 

For anyone new coming from Ryza, Sophie 2 features an item replenishment mechanic called “duplication”; that lets you recharge any spent items you’ve synthesized, though you’ll have to pay money to do so. 

Earning money in the Atelier series has never been a problem to me, so paying for it wasn’t really that big of a deal. 

While there’s plenty more in store for you to discover, I found that I vastly prefer Atelier Sophie 2’s synthesis when compared to other games in the series. In fact, I’ll even say that it’s my absolute favorite now. 

The way you incorporate your materials into your item feels very much like a puzzle, more so than Sophie before it, and the kinds of fun options you get to play around with always had me wanting to make the best items possible. 

It is true that aiming for the best item can be a bit time consuming, and I can’t really tell you how much time I’ve spent at the cauldron improving the quality of my items. 

But I can say that I had a ton of fun doing so, constantly tinkering and tweaking to get the most optimized material placements. 

All that said, if you don’t like the idea of having your story progression stopped because you’re being asked to craft an item to continue, I need to point out that these type of checkpoints do exist in Sophie 2. 

That being said, if you’re willing to put in the minimum effort to gather said materials and not worry about min-maxing your work, you can utilize the Auto Add Materials function to have the game make the item you need. 

As with my time with Ryza 2, I played around with the Auto Add Materials function for much of my playthrough. 

And while its implementation isn’t perfect given its automated nature, I feel confident in recommending new players who don’t want to learn the ins and outs of synthesis to take advantage of this as much or as little as they want. 

For anyone curious about wanting to start with Atelier Sophie 2 as their first Atelier game, you’ll be glad to know that the game provides a brief summary that’ll tell the tale of what’s happened. 

This also comes with a helpful warning that lets you know that you’ll be spoiled by some of the events in the previous game, in case that wasn’t made clear. 

This summary also serves as a great way for players who did beat Atelier Sophie years ago to quickly catch up and be reminded of what happened. 

So in case you had any doubts, yes, you can play this as your first Atelier game, and it might even be a really good one to start with, despite the “two” in the name. 

I say this with absolute confidence because Atelier Sophie 2 is a grand adventure filled with memorable characters and moments that’ll tug at your heart strings. 

It still has the overarching narrative of an alchemist wanting to be the very best she could ever be, but this is wrapped in a story that’ll warm even the most cynical of hearts. 

Early on, your time with Sophie 2 will be filled with wonderful characters who feel welcoming every time you encounter them. 

And their desire to help Sophie find her dear mentor and friend makes you feel a kinship that’s quick to establish. 

To Sophie, her friend is more than that - they’re family - and this idea permeates not only across the immediate party, but to everyone around her. 

This is all to say that Sophie 2 retains much of the charm and care that’s been a staple  of the series for a long time, preferring to focus on individual growths and smaller, more meaningful moments, rather than focusing on an apocalyptic event that has you felling gods of eld. 

And while this might be off-putting to some, to the rest of us who feel like they need a break from the doom and gloom, Sophie 2 is a shining light in the darkness. 

Speaking of, Sophie 2’s characters and environments look gorgeous, rendering each scene with bright, saturated colors that also lets it showcase massive areas that reinforce the developers’ strong art direction. 

Each area showcases just how much Gust’s in-house engine has matured since Sophie’s last appearance in 2017’s Lydie and Suelle, making her latest outing feel grander and more epic than ever before. 

You won’t be finding high resolution 4K textures here, of course. Rather, you’ll find a careful consideration of its art direction and design that collectively lifts everything up in such a way, that you just might be wondering how they’re able to pull this off consistently by releasing two RPGs a year. 

Perhaps even more impressive is your ability to control the weather in Atelier Sophie 2. 

Sophie can change the weather at specific points of the map, altering the look and layout of the area considerably, thereby opening and closing new pathways. 

This happens with very little delay, and it’s quite impressive how they’re able to incorporate this as part of the game’s level design. 

As long time Atelier fans might expect, Sophie 2 only features Japanese voice acting, so you won’t be hearing Christine Marie Cabanos reprise her role as Sophie in this one. 

Atelier games haven’t been voiced in English since Atelier Firis in 2016 and, sadly, there isn’t any reason to believe that this will be changing any time soon. 

That being said, the rest of Sophie 2’s sound design is quite strong and consistent with the quality of the rest of the series. 

In addition to a memorable soundtrack that’ll have you humming along with it, Atelier Sophie 2 employs some satisfying sound effects that’ll have you wanting to hear more of it. 

From activating an item’s Super Success to turning in Requests, the sounds that play feel punchy and satisfying, but not in a way that feels out of place in the series for me. 

When I heard that Gust was making Atelier Sophie 2, I was both surprised and elated. 

Having played so many of their games over the years, I knew that the decisions that drove them to make Sophie 2 were a direct result of their insistence of delivering so many RPGs in such a short time. 

And yet, while many other developers struggle creating one good game when employing this type of rigorous schedule, Gust stands tall above the rest by delivering a game that is easily their marquee game of the year. 

Atelier Sophie 2 will have you laughing, smiling, and maybe even crying while journeying through Erde Wiege with Sophie and friends. 

And with the rest of the game firing on all cylinders like this one, Atelier Sophie 2 The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream becomes an easy recommendation for any long time Atelier fan or any newcomer wanting a different take on JRPGs.