Every time I think Respawn is running out of content to keep long-time Apex Legends players like me married to the game, it comes up with something new to keep me from uninstalling it. Kudos to the Respawn team for keeping the game fresh and relevant, but I am not sure if I like what they’ve been doing lately. A lot of new content they’ve added or the changes they’ve made to Apex Legends feels extremely out of place and poorly executed, and I believe they’ve hit a new low with this new Final Fantasy Rebirth takeover.
Apex Legends X Final Fantasy VII Rebirth takeover, in case you don’t know, is essentially a crossover event that brings a new game mode and a boatload of cosmetics for you to splurge on. I do have complaints about the event cosmetics and how the entire rewards system has been designed to make you splurge, but I promise it has nothing to do with my frustrated demeanor in this post. I am simply unhappy with the takeover event that replaces Trios, particularly due to the Buster Sword and all its gimmicks.
The Buster Sword doesn’t belong in a BR like Apex Legends
There’s no place for an overpowered item like this
Battle Royale as a format is extremely finicky to balance, especially when there are as many playable characters as there is in Apex Legends. It is, however, crucial to strike the balance to deliver a fun, enjoyable, and — most importantly — rewarding experience to the players. Things start to go haywire as soon as that balance is lost, and it’s immediately reflected in the way the game is played. That’s precisely what happens when critical changes are made to the game in the name of “rebalancing” it or when something entirely new is introduced in the game, like the Buster Sword.
The Buster Sword — which is a newly added weapon to the game for the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth takeover — is stupidly overpowered. No, seriously, just play the timestamped YouTube video uploaded by iTemp Plays that I’ve embedded below to see just how ridiculous it is.
There are multiple problems with this Buster Sword, with the first one being the fact that there are only a limited number of these on the map. You wouldn’t want something like this in the hands of everyone, but even the limited number of people who have these can wreak havoc and make it damn near impossible for the ones without it.
Why is the Buster Sword overpowered, you ask? Well, it can deal 60 damage per heavy attack, meaning one can potentially take an enemy down with just a few good swings. What makes it more annoying to go against is its ability to block incoming attacks, which you can simply do by holding down the same button you use for aiming. And if those weren’t enough, Respawn also added the ability to launch an enemy in the air and rain down a barrage of attacks on them with the Buster Sword, which I haven’t been able to defend myself against.
Oh, and you can also close in on enemies with the sword and slash them down with ease while you block all the incoming attacks because, well, that’s fun, right? You can’t even slow them with arc stars or caustic traps, so what exactly is the counter to this, or was it not discussed at all during the playtest?
All this may make the Buster Sword sound like a lot of fun to play with, but trust me when I say it’s quite the opposite. I completely get that winning and losing are both a part of the game, but you’ll be quick to realise that it’s not fun returning to the lobby time and again after dying to a bunch of try-hards every single game. It’s particularly nerve-racking to against an entire squad running the swords, at which point there’s very little you can do.
I am not entirely against the idea of adding a novelty like the Buster Sword to the game, but I also believe that it shouldn’t come at the cost of taking the fun out of the game for casuals who launch and play the game every single day simply to have a good time in the BR mode.
It shouldn’t have replaced Trios
Just let us play whatever we want, Respawn
Forcibly shoving a poorly executed game mode down our throat is Respawn’s next big mistake. This isn’t anything new as Respawn is known to replace the game’s typical Trios mode with whatever it cooks behind the scenes and thinks is cool. Fans of the game like me don’t complain about it if the new mode is genuinely interesting or as long as it doesn’t interfere too much with the classic battle royale mode. But this Final Fantasy Rebirth takeover has no business replacing the regular battle royale mode, and it should’ve been a separate limited-time mode on its own.
Apex Legends fans are unhappy too
The frustrations of the community can also be felt across different social media platforms and forums, with many being vocal about this issue.
A Redditor mentioned that they wish Respawn had made a separate playlist for the Final Fantasy takeover, and said, “It sucks that its not a seperate mode. I enjoy playing regular battle royale, now its just ppl running with swords…”
Fortunately, the Final Fantasy takeover ends on January 30th, so the detractors of the new mode won’t have to wait too long to go back to the regular Trios. That doesn’t change how unplayable the game is in its current state for the casual player base, though, who are simply forced to play some other game mode.
Final thoughts
I can think of a dozen ways other ways to successfully execute and deliver a good crossover event, and none of them involves adding a “busted” weapon to the game in the name of fun. If anything I feel like it’s a disservice to the Final Fantasy fans who are unable to enjoy the new game mode with their friends and show off their new skins because of how difficult it is to survive these lobbies that are filled with sword-holders running in the wild.
I find the rest of items added to the game as a part of this event, including the Materia Hop-Ups and Final Fantasy-inspired cosmetics, to be genuienly fun and interesting. The broken Buster Sword, however, takes all the attention away from those fun elements, leaving a bad taste in my mouth. I know there are two sides to a coin, so there will be varying opinions on this matter. But this new Final Fantasy VII Rebirth takeover is unbearably frustrating, which is what prompted me to write 1000 odd words on it instead of queuing up Trios with my buddies. If this isn’t detrimental to the game, then I don’t know what is.
