izigame.me

If you have been following the series and have been a fan of the gameplay, aesthetics, music, etc. up to this point, Fuga 3 will not disappoint! In that regard, it is a solid 8.5/10 from me, with only minor gripes that do little to tarnish an otherwise masterful finale to a beloved series.
-Detailed review below-
Over the last several years, I've asked myself more than once why franchises are seemingly pressured to change a winning formula when introducing sequels. In that regard, I believe that CyberConnect2 has also asked that same question and answered it with a resounding, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"
By which, I mean, the Fuga series has been lovingly iterated on from its first installment, with Fuga 2 adding an economy and Leader skills to improve quality of life and add another layer of complexity to battles, respectively. Fuga 3 takes the quality of life improvements much, much further, especially in regards to replayability! Never before has a Fuga installment been easier to 100% - or, at least, as painless!
Story:
If you're familiar with the overarching plot of Fuga up to now, you will (not) be surprised about how the story of Fuga 3 develops. The plot is almost uncannily similar to that of the first two games, at least in its predictability. That isn't necessarily unwelcome, though! A story doesn't have to be unpredictable to be good, and there are plenty of dramatic reveals, surprises, and stray threads that get resolved in a satisfying and emotionally-gripping manner along the way! As others have remarked, don't expect a tone shift from the previous entries.
Gameplay:
Fuga 3 has (~95%) successfully iterated on the core gameplay of Fuga 2, further enriching the tactical complexity of battles while giving the player small yet meaningful quality-of-life improvements that make sense.
So, what's new? A couple, very big things to mention are as follows:
-Individual "Leader" skills
-Damage-multiplier combos
-Link Attacks as you know them are gone
-Taranis has a passive skill tree now
-Assist Gauge
Addressing these in order:
1. If you remember from Fuga 2, Malt would unlock passive skills. The important part is that this system has been expanded - ALL of the kids have a passive skill they can execute at random, ranging from HP/SP increase to status removal or even shifting the turn order. The only stipulation on these is that the kid has to be engaged in the fight, either as a gunner or a support. The reserves will never activate their skills, so be sure to give everyone some time early on to see what they can do.
2. Damage multiplier combos, which seem to be intended as a core gameplay mechanic, are a carrot and stick for guiding the tempo of battle and enticing players to choose their compositions and skills carefully. Sometimes annoyingly so. You maintain your combo by striking an enemy's weakness, and if you DON'T strike an enemy's weakness (or if there are none available for you to target), you will lose your combo on your next turn-ending action. You do NOT lose your combo from taking damage, but your combo does NOT carry over between ROUNDS OR COMBATS.
Under these conditions, Fuga 3 makes it even more convincing now to use the correct attacks against particular foes. You will suffer if you try to brute force your way through with heavy cannon shots and nothing else! Not only that, but due to the issue of attacking enemies too much to the point of them running out of weaknesses to target, Fuga 3 actually encourages you to settle into an intriguing dance of trading shots at eachother to maintain your boosted attack stats and keep the link attacks coming.
And don't worry, there are two things to help keep your combo going! One is Blitz's leader skill, which will refresh all enemies' weaknesses. The second is a passive upgrade for the Taranis, which will give enemies an additional, colorless weakness after all of their normal weaknesses are exploited (but this does not further delay their turn). Ironically, these systems end up working against one another if you like fielding Blitz, because you may find yourself relying on that colorless extra weakness for a follow-up, only for him to reset the enemies' weaknesses and none of them match up with the next gunner and your formation swap is on cooldown. It sounds oddly specific because it is and it happened to me several times. It never cost me dearly, but it was annoying.
3. Link attacks used to be specific to any particular duo you had on the field. You would raise the gauge up to max and then hold that charged attack in your pocket to enact at an opportune time - up to three attacks simultaneously!
That system is gone.
Instead, there is a 15-point gauge that is charged by striking enemies' weaknesses. Upon filling that gauge, the link attack of the pair that is active will be executed immediately. I have not seen any guides on this yet, so I will explain my understanding of it in a technical way. The gauge fills at a rate of 1 per weakness, but higher combo rates will increase that rate to 2 per weakness (160-180%, 180-200%), while shooting weaknesses at max combo (200%) will fill the gauge by 3 per weakness!
The gauge carries over between waves, but not between battles.
4. The Taranis is back and stronger than ever, now with passive upgrades!
There's not a lot of them, despite the skill tree initially looking rather dense. You may be disappointed to see that it was padded quite a bit by them locking some features from Fuga 2 behind them needing to be unlocked on this tree.
Also, the currency you must accrue to unlock the skills can only be obtained during intermissions.
Yes, it is another check-in you will be making every time you have an intermission. Yes it is a little annoying. The later upgrades are nice, though!
5. Assist attacks were showcased in the trailer, and they ended up being a pleasant addition to my arsenal during gameplay. Offensively, they are about as powerful as a standard attack, but target all enemies at once. In addition to this, most attacks have an additional affect, so try to unlock as many as you can. The gauge charges from making attacks, and fills faster than the link attack gauge, so you will be able to use this quite a bit!
Replayability:
As mentioned earlier, replayability in Fuga 3 has been enhanced greatly by the addition of the "Akasha Panel". Before you beat the game, your access to the panel will be greatly restricted. But after you beat the game, EVERY node that was previously locked to you will unlock, enabling you to rewind and fast-forward with precision to grind materials, make different dialogue choices, or meet the conditions for different endings.
Misc.:
Grinding the last tier of upgrades for the reactor sucks. You can only get the materials for it from one dungeon. Everything else you can fish for in the post-game.
If you buy the Taranis upgrade that lets you make additional intermissions, be warned that they only give you 10 AP but still resets your food buffs. Plan accordingly.
Past the mid-game, the kids become overwhelmingly fond of asking for random foods as their wish. They rarely align, and at a cost of 3 AP per meal on top of your limited food stocks, you may not get to see a lot of those kids' Hero Modes.
There is a post-game challenge mode, accessible from the Panel. Food buffs carry over from hopping around the timeline, so be sure to get all the buffs and statuses you want before diving into the challenges.
I never saw any of the "secret garden" clips as of this review. I know what they are. I don't know how to make them appear, and I assume it isn't random since I encountered it 0 times throughout the campaign. I do not want to encounter them. It is uncomfortable.