Talk about a let down. V was my most hyped game for a number of years, and I inevitably did all routes as soon as it came out, but nothing came anywhere near my expectations. My favorite part about these games are the stories, hence why 2 is my favorite, and while I didn't expect this to necessarily be as story driven as past games, it didn't even try. The plot here makes Nocturne seem like a visual novel in comparison. I'm aware that the gameplay makes up for this to some people, which is fine enough, but not even the gameplay is particularly good to me. It wants to be open world but ends up being a handful of little levels where you're gatekept on where to go next and it ends up being even more linear than IV. Even the OST is a step down from the last few games. An absolute tragedy.

One of my favorite games of all time and an absolute masterpiece. This game is leagues above Automata and, honestly, most other games. There's almost nothing I can really think of that I'd call underwhelming about this game, besides the first part being a little slow and the sidequests being just okay. Anything I could really criticize about this game is entirely overshadowed by the fantastic plot, characters, soundtrack, gameplay, replayability, just everything honestly. The newly added content is just the cherry on top.

Easily my least favorite out of the classic Silent Hill games, Silent Hill 2 encompasses all that eventually became wrong with the franchise once western devs took over.

The plot is a mess, the characters are a mess, the sound design is a mess, and the spook factor is embarrassingly low. I'm aware this game has a diehard fanbase, which must mean that there's something I just missed when playing it, because all I really felt while playing it is that it was a step down in every way from the first game and that is was unnecessarily pretentious, faux-deep nonsense. Play Silent Hill 1 and 3.

Easiest platinum out of all the soulsborne games, Elden Ring was actually fun to complete, but was the game itself an improvement from past games? Yes, and no. The open world is actually done incredibly well, and most of the bosses are great. However the PvP balancing leaves a lot to be desires, and the nerfing of invasions was a terrible decision that ultimately hurt the overall game for me. The plot was also pretty weak. While better than Dark Souls 2 story, I felt the lore left a lot to be desired compared to 1 or even 3. Honestly though, if you enjoy these games it's hard not to recommend Elden Ring in spite of its flaws.

Stranger of Paradise is actually kino, plain and simple. Don't let all of the memes fool you, this game does so much right. The plot is okay, and maybe even a little predictable at times, but it serves its purpose in regards to FF1's story. The real treasure here lies in the gameplay, music, and aesthetic. Many times the game will feel like a cheesy classic action film, much to its benefit, as you gameplay is exactly that. While you might initially think this is either a hack n' slash, or a soulsborne kind of game, it's actually neither. Stranger of Paradise's job system adds a much needed layer of depth as your playstyle will depend upon it, while also requiring you to master timing blocks well. I would give this a full 5/5 if the budget was slightly higher and it looked a bit more polished, but it's overall an excellent game and an enjoyable one to master/platinum.

One of my hardest platinums to date, Legend of Runersia is a weird sequel to the classic Brigandine. With downright ugly visuals, incredibly slow gameplay even from a strategy RPG perspective, and a short and simplistic plot, you have to wonder what the devs were thinking. All is not awful, though, because Runersia does have a lot of depth in its gameplay and the challenge mode really is brutal. Diehard Brigandine fans will get their money's worth with this game, but be prepared to deal with the game's numerous technical faults.