Talk:Goddess Ilias/@comment-69.171.166.210-20131212101630/@comment-24357660-20131231055325

I was afraid they might go a bit Pirates of the Carribean 3 in the last chapter with having to resolve so many things as well as introducing new plot elements that would need resolving as well. To some extent this did happen and the story still has many unanswered questions. There were a few things I did not particularly agree with especially since they were kind of last minute additions as well as throwing in more hints of character backstory but ultimately not having the time to go into them (some of those I felt were total BS and were there just to kind of remind you that somehow certain plot points they didn't get to were significant the grand scheme of things).

I guess there was too much pressure to fit this story into a neat and tidy "trilogy" but it's clear there's so much more going on. I know there's MGQ "4"/Paradox/Space-Time Continuum Alteration/etc in the works but the primary Ilias story has been resolved.

I'm still not sure if this last point bothers me, that being the combat in the third part. In part 1 it was a simple story unlocking mechanic as the game punished you with failure if you did not do the exact combination of Attack/Heal/Guard/Skill, etc. In part 2 these got incredibly more complicated to the point where they became an annoyance by getting the way of the story, often you'd be forced to reserve your SP for key healing, often never being able to touch the array of sword skills the story seemed to make a big deal about, especially with Granberia. Though their greater complexity did lead to revealing more CG's/extended scenes.

In part 3 it kind of felt like there was an intent to remove combo lock feel of combat to some extent and offer a more strategic combat system but it never really got around to balancing. There were hints in the dialogue that suggested certain angel types might be closer to monsters and instead would favor Serene Mind over Fallen Angel Dance, but instead it stuck with Monster = Undine, Angel = Slyph. Instead most fights devolved into Daystar, Salamander, Daystar, Revival, and maybe an Alice attack if need be. While I appreciate it not getting in the way of presenting the story like part 2's did...I don't know, I guess it comes back to the 'need for this to be a trilogy so we have to cut/simplify things to get this out' argument.

Now there were definitely things I loved about part 3, particularly the Seekers Of Truth story arc as well as the end scene with Ilias and Luka as well as handful of other things that I really wish they went more in depth with. Again I felt the game could have used at least another part to cleanly develop, explain and resolve things.