Persona 2: Innocent Sin is overall a really great game, most of the story is amazing and I love the main cast. Sadly the gameplay is just, barely gameplay. Dungeons were fine mostly, some annoying some good, and from my experience of watching my buddy David play other SMT games that's a miracle. Overworld and utility stuff was good, I found the way of contacting and summoning Personas via cards interesting. Unfortunately you don't really need to do any of that due to the combat never feeling like you need anything other than the plot Personas, so there's no rewarding feeling of experimenting with different Personas. Boss fights aren't anything of note, they're mostly just long more than difficult. Barring the penultimate boss. Their presentation is pretty good for the limited environments and visuals they had.

Rumor system was pretty cool, I liked the idea and the gameplay and story integrate well with it.

But enough about gameplay, the story was amazing. Mostly. I know why the Nazis and Alien stuff was in the story, it fits and is used pretty well. I just didn't find any of it engaging. I liked the boss fight with the aliens though, that was pretty cool. But the actual good story content, that being developing the stories of each main cast member was excellent. I loved learning more about them as they learned about themselves. I always feel putting both the player and character on the same side of the mystery, both discovering at the same time is a great way to go about it. I also absolutely love how this game ends.

The cast's interactions with each other are also fantastic. Ranging from great funny bits to great emotional beats. Maya is definitely my favorite character, her story is a big focus and her role feels unique among the cast, she's a fun character that attributes a lot of the funny scenes to her. But the rest of the characters I love as well, very closely below her. An almost imperceptible difference.

I am excited to see where the story goes in Eternal Punishment. Thanks to all my Persona Pals for helping me on my journey.

been a week, wrote a bunch of shit and wasn’t happy with it. had to sit on this one for a bit. danganronpa is a love it or hate it kinda game but i’m still on the fence. whatever ideas that were presented (which i almost got interested in) are handled with the elegance of an elephant in a china shop. bordering on straight up offensive with chihiro’s gender identity or just laughably boring with “hope and despair.” there is a textbook, childlike understanding of the potential of these words. doesn’t help that they’re said about what i’d believe to be over a hundred times. hope and despair here is like some weird tongue twister whose words become jumbled and meaningless just after a few verses. i’ve gone on record many, many times to say that this isn’t for me. danganronpa’s story isn’t for me and there’s no other way for me to elaborate. stereotyping, lack of connection with its player, lackluster character writing. idk, maybe i was just spoiled by playing better games in the genre. didn’t care for any of the characters. don’t blame anyone for being a fan, though. game’s just not in my taste at all and i kinda figured it wouldn’t be even before i started playing. i’m sorry to have such loaded claims without much backing but that’s just how i feel. genuinely had to force myself to finish the game. constantly checking my phone every few minutes during play sessions i think is a clear indicator of my disinterest.

looping it back, before i had said danganronpa’s story wasn’t for me. the presentation and shit like that is what i truly liked. gonna try and highlight what i liked most about it as best i can.

school. a common-ground to tread on for games geared towards teenage audiences. i think the distorted presentation of school here is pretty unique compared to its contemporaries with even a bit of subtext to pick up on about the school system itself. in the walls of hope’s peak academy, a sterilized yet chaotic viewpoint is placed upon rooms we’ve familiarized ourselves with before. further sinking in the despair anxiety felt towards this alienated “academy” enveloped since our questionable arrival. wandering the dark and gloomy gradient covered hallways does almost hit me with a similar feel to a horror game. murder, confusion, and betrayal hang in the air while anticipation builds up with each step towards the next room. what awaits us beyond the next door, the next trial? masafumi takada understood this and his compositions accurately reflect the school’s atmosphere wonderfully. unironically the visuals and music do a much better job at emotionally investing me than anything else. i found this to be comparable to killer7, as far fetched as it may sound. in the final chapter you’re tasked with exploring every classroom and walking down every hallway in a completely abandoned school with a tragic political past that i won’t spoil. both k7 and dr1 give this very raw, unhinged outlook on school. something hits different with these emptied hallways and classrooms, your thoughts being the only thing that echo throughout.
now enter the wacky, exaggerated 2D character art. juxtaposed against the sharp modeled environments, it fits very well. i don’t particularly like the artstyle of the character art but i cant deny its place in the game and how well it works. aesthetically, everything is put together super tightly where it feels comfy and looks cool at the same time. the sprites popping up like cardboard standees, crisp UI elements getting shattered and battered during trials; arguably the most recognizable aspect of the series.

there is a whole lot more i had written about previously, but as mentioned before, i wasn’t content. i found myself lazily listing each part of the game one by one and saying shit along the lines of either i liked it or i didnt like it. lame. i do feel like i want to clarify my thoughts on more parts of the game but frankly im lazy as fuck and not the best at being completely constructive. im noticeably very bad at concluding these sort of things lol. as a whole, i don’t really care for about 90% of this package and thats about it. i dont like dividing stuff into chapters cuz i like looking at shit together as one experience rather than these smaller ones that make up a whole. danganronpa is one of the most influential games in the current state of the genre, or something. when the credits rolled an immense dissatisfaction came over me to a surprising degree. did not give a shit at all. to everyone who genuinely likes this game, i give you my respect. really wanted to enjoy this but it just was not happening. admittedly fell asleep a few times while playing. also no, i will not be playing dr2. at least not for a very, very long time.

despite how fucked up we and the world can be, we move on, sometimes painfully, but such is inevitable.

putting out something pretty minimal without whole ton of thought, mainly piecing together shit i wrote on discord

i really enjoyed the subtext about capitalism and societal influence, also how theres no real resolution. it’s an outlet for its creators to express, it doesnt try and convince you there’s something wrong with this futuristic dystopia where basically everyone is fucked up and corporate corruption overwhelms, it simply just manifests. whether it’s “good” or “bad” is simply up to the player’s interpretation. i found myself in this morally gray area, seeing the overarching corrupt madness that influences everyone’s moods as a bit depressing yet motivational for some. this is how their world is and despite how it operates, people move forward. acceptance of the circumstances has sank in and acceptance of others also in the process, everyone is in the same boat. dogs, machines, talking brains; you name it. all in mutual understanding of one another.
i think some of the more sexual content can be pretty uncomfortable but it’s only very prevalent in one character and part of it does help build upon how shitty the world is, sexual desires overcome in the face of hopelessness.
characters are all super cool and i had been expecting the story to be more grandiose but i’m glad it wasnt in the end. a short but sweet small outlook into a much larger world we still don’t have a complete grasp on, but ultimately thats okay and not even its citizens fully have a grasp on it. lots of neat writing and exchanges that both satisfy with being fun and contributing to the overall ideas. it’s quirky in its own way. a fun and cozy time where you can forget and just be with these tragic yet lovable people. the infamy of the foot-tapping soundtrack also delivered. maintaining that level of intimacy with its audience that resonates. at the end i was kinda like “thats it?” but thinking about it more, va-11 hall-a doesn’t overstay its welcome at all and does exactly what it sets out to do. def one of my most memorable experiences with the genre. i’m a sucker for anything post-modern or cyberpunk related.

Despite missing from its title, Soul Hackers 2 is a solid addition to the Devil Summoner series. A series not known for pushing the boundaries of the gameplay or storytelling within Megami Tensei, but rather for holding a unique sense of style and charm that you’d be hard pressed to find replicated within another entry in this wide franchise. As with its predecessor, you can expect an aesthetic akin to cyberpunk anime to ooze through every aspect of the game, but this time through the lens of the current year as opposed to the 1990s. The game makes the most of its apparent low budget through its vibrant and striking art direction, accentuating the many enjoyable character stories held within the game’s world. But as much as I’d love to sit and gush about the concept of a MegaTen subseries entry that comes from neither Mainline or Persona releasing in 2022, this experimental title still comes with a couple major issues.

Much like its predecessor, Soul Hackers 2 has a very basic combat system; retaining the baseline weakness/resistances aspect, but not adding much more in terms of core mechanics. But unlike its predecessor, Soul Hackers 2 doesn’t have the leeway of building upon and perfecting the simple row system of Classic Mainline. The new Sabbath mechanic can’t help but feel like a more dumbed down take on the other weakness exploit systems with how little it adds in terms of the tactical decision making process. Essentially, every time a party member hits an enemy’s weakness, the party begins to build a stack. At the end of the turn, Ringo deals AoE damage to every enemy, with the strength of the attack dependent on the number of stacks. Party members can gain personal skills to increase the number of stacks added per specific weakness exploit, but it comes with the downside of feeling as if party members are being funneled into specific builds. It’s unfortunately a pretty large drawback for a game with otherwise very strong and flexible character customization, as the sheer usefulness of the increased damage dealt with a high stack count is hard to ignore.

Physical skills aren’t as useful when it comes to dealing damage, as without a skill unlocked in the endgame, critical hits don’t count towards a stack for whatever reason. And they still use MP instead of HP, AKA the worst change ever made in the history of MegaTen. But I do love how they’re more utility based as a way to balance them out. They often come with secondary effects, such as single target debuffs, ailments, or some other quirky that keeps them valuable in spite of their rare use in contributing to Sabbaths.

Hama and Mudo skills have been wiped from the game completely. Kind of a shame, since I think SMTV perfected them by greatly restricting their ability to blindside the player. But in their place, Ailment inflicting skills have now taken on a similar role. They now deal damage on top of having a chance of inflicting an ailment. I’m fine with the change as I think it finally gives good incentive for the player to actually utilize them now. And there’s enough counterplay to keep enemies who use them from feeling too obnoxious, like armor that negates their passive effects.

Buffs and debuffs go back to being universally partywide instead of single target. But instead of being stackable, they keep the three turn limit first implemented in Persona. They also got a bit more creative in terms of upgrades. In the later half of the game, you gain access to skills that can buff/debuff two different stats at a time. And to keep those from quickly becoming irrelevant, Debilitate has been downgraded to being single target. All things considered, this game creates my favorite buff system in all of MegaTen. Each change makes sure they’re not too over centralized (especially since physical skills with debuff side effects exist), but still retain their incredible utility from the very start of the game.

I feel where this game shines the most in gameplay is in its boss battles because bosses can finally strategize again! Battles with Devil Summoners force you to overcome some sort of gimmick with their demon party, as their synergy can typically leave you with very little opportunities to attack. They’re also where my favorite addition to combat comes the most into play: Ringo’s Commander Skills. They allow Ringo to perform an action without consuming a turn, which aids the party with some sort of extra effect or action. All of them are useful and can completely change the way you approach an encounter, but the most integral one, in my opinion, is the ability to swap out any party member’s demon. If you ever wondered what Modern Persona would play like if the Wildcard wasn’t restricted to just the protagonist, this is the game. With this, bosses can become fun juggling matches where you’re constantly swapping out party members’ demons for the sake of reducing damage taken through resistances or optimizing damage dealt through skillset changes. They also encourage you not to only focus on building one strong demon for a respective party member, but to have an entire repertoire of demons that can be used at any time.

The most recurring complaint this game receives is its dungeon design and yeah, the shit is BLAND. I’m a psychopath who’s played Persona 3 like five times in a year and I’ve generally played MegaTen games with WAY worse dungeon design, so I got through it just fine. But if you’re normal and actually like your brain to be stimulated, dungeons will be rough. Aside from the couple basic puzzles sprinkled throughout in the second half, you’ll typically be roaming around empty hallways for 30 minutes to an hour until you get to the boss. This kind of design would lend well to the old 2D dungeon crawler gameplay of Classic Mainline and other such entries, but really have no place in a game with 3D traversal.

A prevalent focus in Devil Summoner games is their emphasis on demon personalities within gameplay and their connection to the Protagonist. Instead of implementing a friendship system, Soul Hackers 2 highlights this with benefits for maxing out a demon’s skillset and, more importantly, Demon Recon. At the start of each dungeon, Ringo will send out demons to scout the area. While exploring, you can interact with them, to which they’ll provide a different benefit indicated by an icon. It’s a fine system. Even though it tries, I don’t think it does much to make your demons feel like natural extensions of your party. But their dialogue can be fun and seeing them call Ringo nicknames like Rin-Rin is cute. My only big issue with the system is that dungeons can be far too reliant on it. Oftentimes the solution to a “””puzzle””” amounts to simply talking to one of your demons to collect an item necessary for progression. I’ve seen other people complain about how sidequest items and demon recruitment are tied to this system and I don’t get it personally. I never had to spend more than a couple minutes running in circles looking for what I needed, as playing the game naturally will most likely net whatever’s necessary. Also prefer this way of collecting demons, as Demon Negotiation is a dated system rendered mostly redundant by fusion in almost every game and serves no further purpose than an annoying RNG based way to gather fodder

The story is nice. It’s missing the batshit insanity that’s become a staple of Devil Summoner narratives and definitely does tend to play things safe. But its more down to earth focus on its cast is refreshing, especially since they’re not the most conventional group. The strength of the cast lies in their small talk. These guys are capable of striking up conversation over anything, whether it be after learning a new personal skill, completing some random side quest, finding a miscellaneous item in a dungeon, or eating a new dish. You’ll be constantly learning new things about not only them, but the dystopia they live in and the people they’ve connected with, all through an endless amount of fun banter. What makes it especially fun is Ringo herself. She’s an amazing protagonist that breaks new ground for MegaTen. Not only in the fact that she can speak, but her bright personality is able to bring the best out of each party member. She contrasts very well with their underlying melancholy and the occasional unrest within the group. I often found myself being disappointed by the fact that I had to choose from one of her usual three dialogue choices because I wanted to hear them all. I love when MegaTen effectively uses silent protagonists to enhance a game’s narrative and theming and whatnot, but I definitely think this game proved the franchise could stand to use more speaking protagonists like Ringo.

The game doesn’t tread many themes foreign to Megami Tensei. Government corruption, the strength of human connection, cultivating hope through despair, etc; you’ve likely seen it all already, if not in MegaTen then in some other JRPG. Not unsurprising, seeing as the original Soul Hackers was similar in this regard (granted, it was a story that took itself considerably less seriously). But I do find the way the game explores the importance of a second chance to be a great extension of the original’s messages and its motif regarding regret. It’s a good way to tie the games together thematically, considering there’s not much direct relation in general beyond that.

Soul Hackers 2 leaves me with caution filled hope. Hope that this game is a sign that Atlus is willing to adopt the sense of inspiration and experimentation that defined their days in the 2000s. It’s the era that birthed some of their most influential titles, like P3 and Nocturne, alongside beloved fan favorites, like DDS and Raidou. Each subseries acts as a reminder to me that Megami Tensei is FAR too broad of a franchise to be restricted to just Persona and the occasional Mainline entry and I would genuinely love to see more titles like Soul Hackers 2, just with a bit more polish. I just gotta hope this game’s inevitable mediocre sales don’t deter them from broadening their horizons indefinitely.

(this whole ass paragraph was just a slightly more composed way of me asking where the FUCK is the next Raidou Kuzunoha game, you FRAUDULENT company)

I have to start saying that this is actually not my second time playing this game, I have actually played it maybe at least a dozen times already. Even so, just now I've completed it in a full multiplayer run, so I think I can now say that I've experienced all this game has to offer.

With that said, this playthrough with my brother was pretty damn fun. I think a multiplayer run is the way of playing Patapon 3. Sure, you can always play it by yourself if you're lonely most of the time like me, but this game and the hero classes are more balanced to play with other people.

And what can I say about the game? I think it's on par with the first one (for different reasons obviously), and quite above P2.
The heros are more balanced here, and they feel a lot better to play with their hero mode activating only with a specific command rather than the perfect combo in 2 regardless of the command (except for marching).
The skill system gives you the chance to try different builds all the time, and of course most of them won't be optimal, they can still be a fun experience.

The story is the perfect way to end the journey set up in the previous 2 games, I won't go too much into detail here as I don't want to mark this for spoilers, but at least the enemies have a lot going on for them, both the new ones and the returning ones. They are actual characters, reminding me of the zigotons from P1 who had a lot of charm unlike the karmen from P2.

A lot of people don't like this game because it gets rid of the squad from the previous games, but then they go and say that P2 is the best (it's not; the hero there makes any squad completely irrelevant once you get good gear and masks). Because of this, I think that giving you a small number of stronger patapons was a wise move.

Music wise this is the best game in the series, because not only did the themes that appeared in previous games got better quality, the new ones are bangers as well, and the rock versions are the cherry on top of the cake. Thank you, Kenmei Adachi.

Even though it's been 11 years since I first played the game, the ending still gives me this sad but peaceful feeling.
The best game series to ever exist. Thank you, Hiroyuki Kotani for giving me the best gaming experience in my childhood.