PixlBit

I recently picked up this game again after stopping about two years ago because I was stuck. This game is absolutely brutal if you don't know what you're doing. And if you don't have any Black Mages in your party. I was stuck on a battle very early in the game in the Dorter Slums:

This battle was particularly brutal, being that the enemies have positioning advantages and they are a bit overpowered. Unless you are constantly lobbing arrows and Black Magicks (They spell it with a k for some reason -- maybe it sounds more victorian?? more on that later), it's very easy to get tripped up and make a fatal mistake. 

The game is also a great test of patience. The battles, even random encounters have long durations, like 7-8 minutes, even random encounters, and you need to plan out moves ahead of time to maintain an advantage. However, the game uses its length to its advantage to truly immerse you in the game. One example of this is a battle at the end of the first chapter where

**SPOILERS**

Delita's younger sister is killed by Argath, and her corpse remains atop the bridge for the duration of the fight. 

Throughout this scene, the body serves as a reminder of the pain Delita feels, and is one of the many ways that this game makes character motivations and narrative more realistic and powerful. True ludonarrative consonance! This leads to my next point, the story. I'm only part way through the second chapter, but the story so far has been utterly enthralling. I'm rushing through writing this just so I can get back to playing it. The dialogue is fantastically immersive, and I know some people take issue with the War of the Lions translation, but I find it to be an interesting reprieve from the dialogue of most games. It reads more like Shakespeare than most Final Fantasys do, but the mixture is gratifying.

I'm excited to keep playing!