the writing in this game (Spoilers)

[Prismatic Lollipop]

is beyond mud, dirt, and reason.

i won't even discuss the big bad, or Vyrn being the most annoying creature in the universe next to claptrap.

but what is the big idea here?

the way Rolan and Miss Great Villain say goodbye, is beyond mentally handicapped.
add to that the plot, which is also completely and utterly negative IQ in logic, and you're already in for an extremely cheesy, and terrible story.

but then there's Id.
random emo dude who just so happens to have deus ex machina levels of power with and without an alternative bahamut inside him (what a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ joke).
but he also undermines and basically replaces the main character and becomes more important to Lyria and the crew than Djeeta.

... who actually enjoyed this garbage?

[Val the Moofia Boss]

It was okay. Unmemorable but not offensively bad. I've suffered through far worse JRPG storylines (Trails in the Sky SC where you spend the first 30 hours running around in circles accomplishing jack all, the travesty that is Ao no Kiseki, FFXIV Endwalker, etc). As far as GBF stories go, the only ones I really liked was the second half of the Phantagarde arc when you go to Erste and the emperor intrigue begins, the war arc during the first of 1/3rd of Created by the Stars & Loved by the Skies, the first half of Seeds of Redemption when you have the 7th fleet hunting Seox and Fif agonizing that her friend is a murderer who is going to be arrested, and the third Dragon Knights event featuring Aglovale.

I do agree that the lore justification for Id's powers is baloney, given how the foundational lore of the setting is that the god of the GBF universe - Bahamut - was split into two halves when the universe was split (Sky side and Astral side), and the Astral realm is completely inaccessible. We never, ever get a glimpse of it, and no character has ever managed to cross that gap in the present day. IIRC Cosmos is just a puppet in the Sky realm being remote controlled by someone in the Astral realm, since the controller can't actually get to the Sky realm. That's how insurmountable the divide. But here we have another Bahamut, apparently from the Astral side? How? Wouldn't the Astral realm be destroyed with its half of god there? Why was Versa even hanging around that village in the first place? How can one half of god be trapped inside a necklace? Etc. It doesn't make much sense.

Also wasn't fond of Lilith getting a hug and treated sympathetically rather than immediately shot or clapped in irons, but villains not being held to account is a sadly common trend in Japanese pop culture nowadays.

Gallanza was a boring retread of Ghandharva from the gacha.

I quite liked Magielle.

[The22nd]

Yeah, stories involving the base crew in the mobile game are all dog water.

One time, I can't remember what it was, but they added something that was exclusive to the main story and I guess they knew nobody played through the main story and wasn't about to start, so they added an auto-skip feature along with the update lol

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Originally posted by The22nd:

Yeah, stories involving the base crew in the mobile game are all dog water.

The main issue IMO is that Gran's characters were tied to the Phantagarde arc. Katalina and Lyria are on the run from the Erste empire. Lyria is an escaped test subject. Katalina is a former imperial soldier who has defected. Eugen is leading guerillas in war against the empire, and his estranged daughter is an imperial general. Rosetta is a Primal and the Erste Empire is trying to control Primals and bury its undignified secret history about having surrendered to and became the collaborators of the invading Astrals. Etc. But once the Erste Empire is gone, the defining arc of these characters was over. They're hanging around but with no real investment in what's going on.

[Prismatic Lollipop]

Originally posted by Val the Moofia Boss:

It was okay. Unmemorable but not offensively bad. I've suffered through far worse JRPG storylines (Trails in the Sky SC where you spend the first 30 hours running around in circles accomplishing jack all, the travesty that is Ao no Kiseki, FFXIV Endwalker, etc). As far as GBF stories go, the only ones I really liked was the war arc during the the second half of the Phantagarde arc when you go to Erste and the emperor intrigue begins, first 1/3rd of Created by the Stars & Loved by the Skies, the first half of Seeds of Redemption when you have the 7th fleet hunting Seox and Fif agonizing that her friend is a murderer who is going to be arrested, and the third Dragon Knights event featuring Aglovale.

I do agree that the lore justification for Id's powers is baloney, given how the foundational lore of the setting is that the god of the GBF universe - Bahamut - was split into two halves when the universe was split (Sky side and Astral side), and the Astral realm is completely inaccessible. We never, ever get a glimpse of it, and no character has ever managed to cross that gap in the present day. IIRC Cosmos is just a puppet in the Sky realm being remote controlled by someone in the Astral realm, since the controller can't actually get to the Sky realm. That's how insurmountable the divide. But here we have another Bahamut, apparently from the Astral side? How? Wouldn't the Astral realm be destroyed with its half of god there? Why was Versa even hanging around that village in the first place? How can one half of god be trapped inside a necklace? Etc. It doesn't make much sense.

Also wasn't fond of Lilith getting a hug and treated sympathetically rather than immediately shot or clapped in irons, but villains not being held to account is a sadly common trend in Japanese pop culture nowadays.

Gallanza was a boring retread of Ghandharva from the gacha.

I quite liked Magielle.

Magielle is a 10/10 easy.
i'm disappointed we didn't get her to join the crew.
instead we have Id now.
completely unfun to play as, completely unlikable as a character.

as for Lilith, after everything she's done, she gets swiped by a dragon's tail and flies off into the abyss .. and that's it ..
not once have i felt so extremely disappointed, and yes, FF 14 Endwalker writing is as bad, if not worse.

writing has been taking a nosedive lately, and as funny as this sounds, a mobile like such as Nikke that is believed to be empty and sexualized, actually has excellent writing.
it looks like a god-level novel next to something like Granblue Relink.

[Suzaku]

Pretty much how I felt. Been gaming for 30 years and watching anime for 20 years. I'm sure there's probably worse out there, but I've not seen it. I don't know what's below F-tier, but this game's writing was it.

At least the gameplay is damn fun.

[Dangeki]

Its hard to take a review that says things like "beyond mentally handicapped" and "utterly negative IQ in logic" seriously lmao. It isn't my fave either though and rather forgettable in comparison to the stories in the actual game. I feel they tried too much to introduce the series to new people that it lowered the actual impact of the existing story.

[Катюша]

The writing and localisation for this game are some of the worst in modern JRPG history, unfortunately. Thankfully the gameplay is decent enough to carry it, just skip the other guff.

[Velmoria]

The story being kept kids-friendly, so there are lots of Power of Friendship troupes.

Most of dark parts of the story only being told in Fate episodes before meeting the Captain and understand a bit of Japanese, because EN localizer just censored those.

[Nepnep]

Originally posted by Val the Moofia Boss:

It was okay. Unmemorable but not offensively bad. I've suffered through far worse JRPG storylines (Trails in the Sky SC where you spend the first 30 hours running around in circles accomplishing jack all, the travesty that is Ao no Kiseki, FFXIV Endwalker, etc).

Well. Trails is a "slice-of-life" kind of story. Where travelling in circles aimlessly because the world is (was) peaceful af is kind of like their thing. On top of it being a turn based game so plot just moves slower by default.

Not that its entertaining but also not quite the best example to use for "bad storytelling". (like comparing apples with watermelons and saying watermelons are bad because its literally harder to eat)

If there ever was a travesty, it'd be Star Ocean 4. Braindead protagonists and space flea villains all the way.

[SlantedRhetoric]

It's an anime game. It's pretty par for the course.

Personally I didn't mind it as it's a perfectly serviceable vehicle for the gameplay.

[Washing Machine]

Big bad being intentionally slapped down a pit and falling to her death was bit lols. Why didn't one of the 3 guys in the party with guns just cap her from behind while she's hovering over pits during her villainous monologues if it was really that easy.

Unless she comes back way into postgame, idk.

[Prismatic Lollipop]

Originally posted by Washing Machine:

Big bad being intentionally slapped down a pit and falling to her death was bit lols. Why didn't one of the 3 guys in the party with guns just cap her from behind while she's hovering over pits during her villainous monologues if it was really that easy.

Unless she comes back way into postgame, idk.

i'm more disappointed that we didn't get to fight her directly.
i want Maglielle (forgot the name) and Lilith both as playable characters, but i'm probably reaching for the impossible here.

at least they'd be lightyears better than Id.

[YUBI YUBI tax collector]

Originally posted by Val the Moofia Boss:

It was okay. Unmemorable but not offensively bad. I've suffered through far worse JRPG storylines (Trails in the Sky SC where you spend the first 30 hours running around in circles accomplishing jack all, the travesty that is Ao no Kiseki, FFXIV Endwalker, etc).

Brainless people who don't know they talking about. Like always.

[YUBI YUBI tax collector]

Originally posted by Nepnep:

Originally posted by Val the Moofia Boss:

It was okay. Unmemorable but not offensively bad. I've suffered through far worse JRPG storylines (Trails in the Sky SC where you spend the first 30 hours running around in circles accomplishing jack all, the travesty that is Ao no Kiseki, FFXIV Endwalker, etc).

Well. Trails is a "slice-of-life" kind of story. Where travelling in circles aimlessly because the world is (was) peaceful af is kind of like their thing. On top of it being a turn based game so plot just moves slower by default.

Not that its entertaining but also not quite the best example to use for "bad storytelling". (like comparing apples with watermelons and saying watermelons are bad because its literally harder to eat)

If there ever was a travesty, it'd be Star Ocean 4. Braindead protagonists and space flea villains all the way.

FC was slice of life, i agree but not SC lmao.

[vaanomega]

Originally posted by Prismatic Lollipop:

is beyond mud, dirt, and reason.

i won't even discuss the big bad, or Vyrn being the most annoying creature in the universe next to claptrap.

but what is the big idea here?

the way Rolan and Miss Great Villain say goodbye, is beyond mentally handicapped.
add to that the plot, which is also completely and utterly negative IQ in logic, and you're already in for an extremely cheesy, and terrible story.

but then there's Id.
random emo dude who just so happens to have deus ex machina levels of power with and without an alternative bahamut inside him (what a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ joke).
but he also undermines and basically replaces the main character and becomes more important to Lyria and the crew than Djeeta.

... who actually enjoyed this garbage?

Being better than Tales of Arise Story is enough for me to enjoy it