I mean, don't get me wrong.

00:00 Coldly Warm
00:14 Intro
02:37 Starting Out
04:53 Cuff & Cuss
07:59 Praenost: World
11:37 Praenost: Combat
13:46 Tanta Sila
15:21 New Spell
17:43 Remorse
19:04 Cipal: The Last Bastion
22:25 Avoalet
23:50 Tanta Prav
25:16 Formula
27:38 Visoria
29:15 Betrayal
31:21 The Final Tanta
33:51 Unexplored World
36:51 Final Showdown
38:25 Ending
39:39 Conclusion

===

[I had to cut so much out of this description. I had alot to say, but the character limit isn't designed for my ramblings.]

{{Edit: I posted the full text in a post in the community tab}}

Coldly Warm. That line is so incredibly stupid, and i heard it so many times in my first playthrough. Though in some weird strange way it became the perfect description for this game. It didn't turn out great. But there's genuinely some things i quite enjoy about it that wish could've been fitted to a better experience.

There was a section i redacted from the script pertaining to the open world trend. Something about the pressure to release a game in that style just to market it as Open World. Or the expectation that open world is the only suitable way to design a game anymore, or else it's antiquated. But mostly something about not forcing a concept to be something it's not meant to be. I think this game would have been better suited for a less-than-open-world.

I did end up finishing the post game though. And it was alright. Like the annotation says in the vid, you re-fight each of the core bosses. It wasn't much of a challenge, though that's fine because i was only doing them to see if anything happens. Does it? No. I mean there's a trophy, and a couple lines form Frey and Cuff about the boss at hand. But nothing more. Finishing Pilo's quest is a feel-good conclusion capped off with another dance. Well it's the same dance unfortunately but with an increased difficulty. That last one's difficulty was agonizing. I've perfected hard mode songs in Project Diva and i'm having trouble with this? Well before you can really see the button prompt you lose. But it's actually quite simple once you learn the pattern through trial and error. Lastly returning to Cipal after the Junoon closure will reveal Janesh had escaped from prison. And there's an ominous blood splatter on the jail wall. They say he's escaped but there doesn't seem to be more to it. I looked around for him but didn't see him. Even looked online, but of course not many people would have stuck around to that point of the game. Oh well. Not much more too it i guess. That completionist part of me feels a bit odd leaving this one as is. But there's no way i'm going to explore this whole expansive empty world just to check off waypoints for no reason. And i usually love doing that sort of thing. No joke, i've gotten every single treasure chest in every Assassin's Creed game i've played. But even that didn't feel as empty as forspoken's world does to me now, so it's not happening.

There's a bit of some "justification" in the early parts of my review. Like many of my videos, i set things up to kind of align with my original thoughts i had when i was first at that particular part of the game. The Frey characterizations and cringy dialogue? I can deal with it because i like the people of Cipal and Cuff. The long and slow start to the game? It'll all be fine once that leash is gone and i can explore the world. Praenost being visually dull? There's so much world out there, just imagine what the other places will look like. And the formulaic approach to our objectives? It's fine so long as each land is interesting, each Tanta battle is epic, and there's good story revelations to come.
I can look past flaws in hopes something greater is to come. And that's been the case for many games. But when there's already a good number of them to start, and they don't exactly lead to what i was hoping they would, that's where the whole experience falls apart. My tolerance is set pretty high. PS2 RPG's almost always have rough edges, and i grew up loving them and still do. But there has to be some pay off to sticking around through it all. Forspoken doesn't much of have that. So all of that tolerating and justification just kind leaves you feeling empty when it doesn't deliver. Even still, there's a bit of charm left over in the game. I genuinely do like the characters in Cipal. I didn't even think i would at first but they really grew on me. And the combat in this game is alot of fun, assuming you actually learn to use it. And the world may not have been utulized much, but it's not ugly. It's strange they'd have you start out heading to Praenost, the most dull of the 4 provinces and also the one you spend the most time in. But there's some nice sights elsewhere. Especially Avoalet. But unfortunately nothing waits for you besides ruins and more battles.

Okay, enough rambling. Thanks for watching, i mean it. If you read this far, let me see some "Coldly Warms" in the chat.