After so much hype, I succumbed and got myself the season pass. Finished Episode Gladiolus (which was surprisingly quite enjoyable despite being linear) and dived straight into Comrades (because FOMO mah).

First 3 hours were spent with AI party members which was quite okay. Caved in last night and subscribed to 1 month PS Plus just so I can test online mode. Surprisingly the level of enjoyment was not improved significantly; I reckon it would only be fun when played with "actual friends". A major advantage (or could possibly a disadvantage) would be having super high level players joining your party thus enabling one to complete missions way beyond one's level (but a large level gap could take away the fun by shortening the mission to 3 minutes instead of 20 minutes).

Things I like so far :
-Missions are not draggy hence the game is suitable for players who are unable to clock in long hours after work/players who like to cramp in at least an hour before sleeping
-Great character customization options
-Good amount of fan service. So far I've met and play alongside a few favorites from the campaign version
-The option for one to complete the game with AI alone
-Game mechanism actually provides immense sense of accomplishment

Things I dislike :
-Loading takes so damn long sometimes
-Need to pay extra to enable multiplayer
-Limited conversation options (you expand your vocab via purchase of Conversation Books which unlocks dialogue options) ....seems unnecessary
-Player matching takes a bit too long sometimes and it can get buggy hence one will be stuck @ loading screen

Any players who are also late to Comrades? Perhaps we form a party.

Okay I'm optimistic about the next update, hopefully loading time can be cut down.

On the other hand, game was purrrdyyyy buggy last night. Partied with 4 players for a defense quest. Screen prompted "Several bosses have showed up" but we walked around for a good 5 minutes or more before daemons actually appeared. The wait was excruciating.

Guys, any idea if PVP will be added to this?