Playing through FES in 2022 was one of my favorite gaming experiences I've had in quite some time. I guess I didn't realize quite how much until hearing about this remake. No hesitation in wanting to replay a long game like this, and in fact, genuine excitement for what was to come. If this version in 2009 was already one of my favorite games of all time, what would this end up being?

The answer is a truly unforgettable experience, that cements itself as one of my favorite games of all time, and Persona as one of my favorite series of all time.

Everything here is improved, from the improved music, to the combat, to the visuals, to the links, to the voice acting. Almost nothing feels off here. The story remains excellent and in my humble opinion, the best of the big three persona games, with some of the best side links in the series, and some of the best female characters. Makoto is the best protagonist in the series, and, while this game can't quite hit the monumental high and achievement of Persona 5 Royal (including the best OST soundtrack in any game) this game comes damn close to me.

The final boss fight is one of my favorite in all of gaming, and is done total justice here, the game is accessibile and easy if you want it to be (a huge improvement from FES in that way without modding it).

Overall, this game is a dream come true, is probably going to be my GOTY, and quite frankly, one of the crowning achievements for video games in general.

Can't wait to see what Atlus does dipping its toes into the Old Timey Mystical genre next!!!

Wow what a little piece of gaming history here. Look, I went into this game expecting to either drop or get filtered right the fuck out of it. This game is ancient after all and while the pixel remaster did have some modern boosts here, it's still dated, and I figured that this was gonna be a problem for me.

And to be honest I almost did. I got my ass handed to me in the Marsh Cave a few times, and I quit the game, uninstalled it, and was ready to move on. However, something pulled me back a couple hours, and I'm so so glad I did. This game is genuinely really great for it's time, and it's clear why this series has lasted for as long as it has from the very start.

Obviously the story here isn't anything too special, in its humble beginnings, but it's fun making up your own storylines as you go, with your party members. It's so cozy, and the music is wonderful. The combat is super simplistic but quite fun in a weird way, and even grinding is made to be enjoyable here.

This is where I embark on my journey of playing 1-6, and if this is the starting point, I can't WAIT to see what some of these future games have in store for me. Banger.

As an amateur game developer myself, I hold a great deal of respect for Studio Sai. I get anxious just mustering up the willpower to email indie publishers to try and get funding, and there they went (somehow) getting a big PlayStation feature. It's rather inspiring…

And now I say this with the mindset of an athlete set on surpassing those who come before…

I bet I can do better.

Someday 😂

Content wise, I actually found the game rather endearingly dorky and it even shows some real promise at moments. It's surprisingly well restrained for how big of a project it became and it doesn't feel unfinished or rushed.

It's just rough

The biggest, biggest problem for me was how they managed transitions. From my experience with the Unity engine, I suspect that they used individual "Scene" assets (Unity's concept of a level) not only to manage which environments were loaded, but also to "organize" each small section of the cutscenes. Or otherwise they tied their save system to a full scene reload because lordy that loading spinner has more screen time than the main character and yet it's only ever there for a second or two at a time. This turns almost every scene transition into a slow fadeaway and music cut which drops whatever atmosphere the scene was trying to build.

I have friends who say they didn't notice and enjoyed the game, so I can't say it ruins the game for everyone, but it was incredibly jarring for me.

Combat is also a bit rough, though it can also work fairly nice at times. The use of hit stop is excessive and some of the frequently used ability animations are far too long relative to the rest of combat. You're usually invincible during the animations in question, so it's not a matter of balance but responsiveness and flow. Input in general is a bit finicky feeling, though I think half of that at least is because of the hit stops eating inputs and requiring you to mash to use your moves reliably.

Other than that, it delivers what it promises on. So if it seems vaguely entertaining to you, either legitimately or as dating sim adjacent junk food, it's not the worst you could pick. If you have weeb friends, it may aslo be worth playing if only for the conversation and story around it.

Oh childhood nostalgia how I love thee.

As I get older and reflect on some of the amazing games I've played, very few stand out to me like Super Mario RPG. Self admittedly, I'm not the biggest Nintendo fan, especially now a days, as I prefer a focus on story, and narrative over gameplay and "fun" which Nintendo seems to excel at. However, this game longs from my childhood as one of my favorites, and something that (along with FF7) introduced me to JRPG's probably one of my favorite genres of games.

Re-visiting this now, while it doesn't hold up quite as well as I remember, it's still easily one of my favorite Nintendo games ever, and a true triumph for Square, especially for the time period.

The combat is nearly unmatched, and it's insane that more JRPG's don't use the timing mechanic (shout out to Sea of Stars for lovingly ripping it off and putting their own spin on it).

The story here is easily the best story in a Mario game, and it actually does perhaps the unthinkable, give a personality to Mario. All of the companions here are fantastic, and it's a true love letter to Mario, even today.

Now I do have some issues with this remake. I think overall I do prefer the original graphical style. While this is no doubt gorgeous (and pops on the OLED) there's just something so wonderful about the OG style I can't help but adore even more. Also the music, while again I like it, and it's great, I think I prefer the OG (thankfully that's easy to toggle on).

Overall though, I still really like this game quite a bit, even if it might not be one of my favorites of all time anymore, this is certainly a trip wroth taking once again, and a must play for anyone who has never experienced it.

I think to start this review one thing needs to be made very clear. I despite tactics gameplay. I do not like the challenge or the strategy involved, I do not like the difficulty, and it's just something I've personally never jived with,

I feel like Persona 5 Tactics was made for someone like me, more than the hardcore tactics fan. Someone who's a hardcore Persona fan, who maybe wants to dip their toe into something a little bit new.

Dare I say, by the end of this game, I enjoyed some of the creative style boss fights and gameplay. Not enough to try more difficult ones, but just enough to keep the experience from being Dull for me.

What really shines here for me is the story. Erina and Toshrio are fantastic characters, and just perfect additions to the persona cast. This is certainly more of a side story than Strikers (strikers was a proper epilogue really) but if I'm being honest, I think I enjoyed the story in this game even more than Strikers, based off the work by these two damn strong characters. Erina is someone so awesome I wish she was in the main cast. It's a shame she wasn't.

The music, as always is tremendous. My biggest complaints about this game (besides the gameplay being a style I don't really like), I think the side quests sucked. They were mostly puzzle based ones where you'd need a pretty exact solution to figure it out, and that just wasn't fun to me.

Overall though, This was a wonderful game, and a total surprise from me. I didn't even have plans to play it this year, but I gave it a shot and it hooked me. Persona games clearly hold a special place in my heart (from the tremendous Persona 5 Royal being one of my favorite games of all time) so I'll clearly give anything involving this cast a bit of a bump, but this one was genuinely fantastic in my opinion.

I have a unique perspective on Alan Wake 2, as a person who was very critical on the original game, and not a fan of the survival horror genre. Yet Remedy did something special and unique and intriguing here, that i was glued to my seat from the narrative perspective and even invested in the new protagonist Saga. Remedy also did the dual protagonist in a great way that didn't make any of them feel less important than others, or even making the new character uninteresting. They excelled this game alone from a writing perspective and I do hope if they don't win game of the year, they should win narrative of the year, Sam Lake is one of the industry's best writers. Now the gameplay, I think the combat works alot better when it feels more sparse and is not just spamming waves of enemies at you like the first game, because of that it felt more repetitive without the satisfying feeling. But here it was more sparse and the boss fights quite fun and unique, tho I must critique that the gameplay didn't feel as good as the first one, I dont know if clunky is the right word, but I believe this is on purpose because of the genre switch, to be more like resident evil. Also the soundtrack is good man, especially some cool story ones. The puzzles worked here for me, where i felt annoyed and bored in Resident Evil, the story made me care and the gameplay mechanics made the puzzles and mystery quite engaging to me. Gameplay is what it is, but does what it does for the focused narrative, also the backtracking isn't nearly as annoying in Resident Evil for me. I apologize for kind of rambling on here, but i applaud Sam Lake for making me enjoy a game this much, in a genre that really isn't my cup of tea.

Ps: This game made me want to give control another shot.

I didn't think this game was going to be this good after both hearing that it was made in 6 months and after playing Ishin and being a bit cold on it but this game turned out to be so much fun. From the two fighting styles that feel fresh, to the substories being integrated with the Akame Network creating an addictive gameplay loop, this is a masterclass of creating a spin off title.

The story was surprisingly good and better than even some of the main games, leading to one of the most memorable moments in the franchise from another perspective and an ending that I didn't expect that made me tear up a bit. RGG doesn't miss.

I really tried to find ways to lower the score of this one and I just couldn't. Such a great remake that made some of the worst parts of Dead Space (like the Boss fights or the Asteroid Shooting section) actually worth playing while introducing more story beats such as the side missions that dig deeper into the lore of the title.

While it still is a pretty linear title, introducing a dash of Metroidvania and backtracking with the aforementioned Side Missions or the Security Clearance doors, it made the Ishimura even more of a character and a fantastic setting than ever before.

So going into this game, this is probably the Metal Gear I was least nostalgic for/excited to replay. I do love all these games, so much, but for whatever reason MGS 2 doesn't have that same pull for me, despite being an obviously incredible game. After my replay, I can't say too much has changed, but it's clear that this is still an utter masterpiece.

The story is so so far ahead of it's time here, and that's been talked about to death. The early twist in this game is one of the best ever done, and it still makes me mad how upset "gamers" got about it (and would again get angry later in TLOU2 over it. Gamers do NOT like being fooled)

Raiden is awesome, Snake is awesome, all the characters are so great. The soundtrack in this game is phenomenal just heater after heater.

So what makes this not a 5/5 for me unlike the other MGS games (besides V?). I think for me, the only thing holding me back here is a couple of things. My nostalgia for some of the other games plays a huge part, but I also feel like the setting is one of the weakest in the series. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it's still very good, but compared to shadow Moses and the jungle, I just enjoy this setting a little less, and that's really the only knock I have on this masterpiece of a game otherwise.

Kojima is a creator who is much discussed, but MGS has made him the GOAT. God I fucking love these games.

Being a Silent Hill fan IS our Silent Hill.

I am still in shock that this is the first formal return of the franchise in over a decade. Even without the predatory monetization and crappy aspects of the UI, the story and pacing are a mess. If anything it will serve as an experiment on how stuff like this is an inherently bad idea. I would have preferred this game in a Telltale episodic format.

Check out my initial impressions:
https://youtu.be/gSythbFhMGs?si=LIKz1e_XjCUzLD2F