Adele
2019
This review contains spoilers
Imagine you live somewhere where you have to lie to survive, someplace where you’ll never really be you. All the connections you’ll have are hollow, you can’t ever truly express yourself because life is unfair to you. That was my reality when I played the Maruki arc of Persona 5 Royal for the first time, it’s an arc that asks the question of “does suffering need to exist” and at the time when I was first presented that question I didn’t know how to answer it. The morally correct option that society taught me to say was yes, but I was torn, I had seen some of the lowest things in life. Death of loved ones, abuse, suicide, drug abuse, and selfishly the one I feel is the worst is loss of self. I didn’t know who I was, I couldn’t be who I wanted to be, I simply existed to simply pass the time until some golden opportunity or miracle happened. So to answer the question, no I don’t think suffering needs to exist, Takuto Maruki is absolutely right. But just because he’s right doesn’t mean I have to give up on life and wait for a miracle to happen, seeing the journey of Sumire overcoming her flaws, flaws very similar to mine made me tear up. I wasn’t alone in dealing with life’s worst, I could stand back up and reclaim my life by myself, maybe I can’t be who I want to be now, but I’ll strive to become that person every day of my life until I do goddammit. Would I take Maruki’s offer? Absolutely, no sane person wouldn’t, but I’m not in a position to where I could accept his offer. Seeing the characters push past him, and reclaiming their life by their own merit touches my heart. Yes not everyone can endure hardship, some people can’t do anything but run away from life’s worst, but I am not one of those people, I am a strong person who can reclaim their life on their own. It might be a selfish and self centered view on the world and the arc, but it’s the exact same view as Akechi in the game, I am selfish, I care about myself and those close to me more than the world. Yes, I will achieve my dreams even if the world has treated me unfairly, I will not fold to the fake personas I’ve created and live my life as my own.
This review is more what this game means to me, and not a critical look/analysis of the Maruki arc. I’ll save that for a later date, I just wanted to pour my heart out on why I love this arc. I’ve lived most of my life in fear of being myself and the repercussions it would have on my life. I was scared, confused, disconnected from reality, couldn’t even make any friends without it feeling fake. I was stuck and I felt hopeless, but this arc made me realize that I don’t need to always feel trapped, I can look at all the hardship I’ve faced in a positive light, and reclaim myself by myself.
I love this arc, it changed my perspective of life from a nihilistic one to a hopeful one, one where your hardships don’t necessarily need to pull you down, but rather help you move forward.
This review is more what this game means to me, and not a critical look/analysis of the Maruki arc. I’ll save that for a later date, I just wanted to pour my heart out on why I love this arc. I’ve lived most of my life in fear of being myself and the repercussions it would have on my life. I was scared, confused, disconnected from reality, couldn’t even make any friends without it feeling fake. I was stuck and I felt hopeless, but this arc made me realize that I don’t need to always feel trapped, I can look at all the hardship I’ve faced in a positive light, and reclaim myself by myself.
I love this arc, it changed my perspective of life from a nihilistic one to a hopeful one, one where your hardships don’t necessarily need to pull you down, but rather help you move forward.
2012
A game that constantly undermines its main themes by belittling the characters that most represent this theme.
A game that has the worst character designs in the series so far.
A game that has the worst comedic moments in the entire series.
A game that has dungeons designed like garbage with gameplay that is cookie cutter JRPG with nothing interesting going on.
How is this the most beloved entry in the franchise so far? (Dojima and Nanako good doe)
Edit: this review sucks, why does it have so many likes
A game that has the worst character designs in the series so far.
A game that has the worst comedic moments in the entire series.
A game that has dungeons designed like garbage with gameplay that is cookie cutter JRPG with nothing interesting going on.
How is this the most beloved entry in the franchise so far? (Dojima and Nanako good doe)
Edit: this review sucks, why does it have so many likes
This game is just budget Thracia
This game feels like the culmination of everything wrong with mainline SMT, and instead of tackling the issues of the narrative design of SMT it just sidesteps it completely. It is a good game in spite of being an SMT game not because. Mainline SMT needs to learn to be more active, going hours without a single line of dialogue from the MC, companion, characters of the world is not good storytelling for a game focused on its story. When the game ignores mainline SMT's troupes it's phenomenal but when it's time to incorporate them into the story is falls flat
If you’re an edgy lonely 13 year old? Oh boy have I found your favorite game of all time, but for the regular person who doesn’t spontaneously combust when they talk to person this game is gonna be asssssss
I played on the switch so I won’t talk about the gameplay since I know that version is complete dodo, but I will be talking about the first week and a half since I dropped the game after that (although I do know what happens in the story later and I still don’t find it interesting)
Week 1: probably bottom 3 game experiences I ever had either be the bad gameplay (switch issue) or the garbage story, sorry if I sound pretentious or condescending but Neku is just Shiki Ikari but for babies, he is too forced in his approach and his dialogue reeks of someone trying to push the themes of the game with 0 nuance. Shiki on the other hand felt like a complete insult to people who have had to deal with inferiority complexes such as myself. I really don’t get her existence, the game goes out of it’s way to be as slow as possible for Neku’s character arc (which I didn’t like but I applaud the dedication for creating a full RPG for a single character’s story) but Shiki? Nah her character arc is done within a single day. I won’t go very in depth on Shiki but I elaborate on my issues with her
Eri’s inclusion completely ruined Shiki’s character arc for me, because instead of having Shiki develop into a person with more social confidence to be herself the game makes it seem that she needed the validation from Eri for her to grow out of it, from my experience (and from a lot of others who had to deal with the same issues) the opinion of the other person doesn’t matter to people with inferiority complexes in fact it makes them more dependent on the validation from them. What if the person you have an inferiority complex to doesn’t view you in a good light? What if you will never meet them? What if someone that you have those feelings for is with you in an abusive relationship? The way the game handles it is far far too clean compared to how big the issue is in the real world. The only real way I found on how to combat an inferiority complex or self hate is to start working on yourself. You change the wording of how you talk, instead of self deprecating humor you talk as if you’re a god in a joking way. Instead of trying to seek validation from others you find validation from within, that’s how you deal with that and not how Shiki dealt with it. That’s why it feels like an insult when Shiki finds validation from her friend instead of finding it from within.
Note: if you find Shiki a character you relate with and love I’m happy for you I would not wish to take that away from anyone, this is just some random girl on the internet ranting about a video game character that she didn’t like.
Jeez that was a long rant about Shiki if you couldn’t tell I don’t the character. After that day the game kinda lost me with no hope of return, maybe week 2 and 3 are good but who knows. The game just lost me by this point. Overall a very bad experience, probably never gonna pick it again after that train wreck of a first week. Happy if you liked the game as I know this game means a lot to a lot of people, I just didn’t.
I played on the switch so I won’t talk about the gameplay since I know that version is complete dodo, but I will be talking about the first week and a half since I dropped the game after that (although I do know what happens in the story later and I still don’t find it interesting)
Week 1: probably bottom 3 game experiences I ever had either be the bad gameplay (switch issue) or the garbage story, sorry if I sound pretentious or condescending but Neku is just Shiki Ikari but for babies, he is too forced in his approach and his dialogue reeks of someone trying to push the themes of the game with 0 nuance. Shiki on the other hand felt like a complete insult to people who have had to deal with inferiority complexes such as myself. I really don’t get her existence, the game goes out of it’s way to be as slow as possible for Neku’s character arc (which I didn’t like but I applaud the dedication for creating a full RPG for a single character’s story) but Shiki? Nah her character arc is done within a single day. I won’t go very in depth on Shiki but I elaborate on my issues with her
Eri’s inclusion completely ruined Shiki’s character arc for me, because instead of having Shiki develop into a person with more social confidence to be herself the game makes it seem that she needed the validation from Eri for her to grow out of it, from my experience (and from a lot of others who had to deal with the same issues) the opinion of the other person doesn’t matter to people with inferiority complexes in fact it makes them more dependent on the validation from them. What if the person you have an inferiority complex to doesn’t view you in a good light? What if you will never meet them? What if someone that you have those feelings for is with you in an abusive relationship? The way the game handles it is far far too clean compared to how big the issue is in the real world. The only real way I found on how to combat an inferiority complex or self hate is to start working on yourself. You change the wording of how you talk, instead of self deprecating humor you talk as if you’re a god in a joking way. Instead of trying to seek validation from others you find validation from within, that’s how you deal with that and not how Shiki dealt with it. That’s why it feels like an insult when Shiki finds validation from her friend instead of finding it from within.
Note: if you find Shiki a character you relate with and love I’m happy for you I would not wish to take that away from anyone, this is just some random girl on the internet ranting about a video game character that she didn’t like.
Jeez that was a long rant about Shiki if you couldn’t tell I don’t the character. After that day the game kinda lost me with no hope of return, maybe week 2 and 3 are good but who knows. The game just lost me by this point. Overall a very bad experience, probably never gonna pick it again after that train wreck of a first week. Happy if you liked the game as I know this game means a lot to a lot of people, I just didn’t.
2015
One of my least favorite games of all time.
All this game does it cheapen the otherwise great narrative of Lisa the painful. Tries to rebrand Brad from a tragic abuse victim who unfortunately continues the cycle to be a good dad??? Answers and changes character motivations for no apparent reason other than not to leave any stone unturned? Because leaving things to the imagination is a bad thing and doesn’t enhance the experience am I right? I honestly don’t think there is any argument for this game being good beyond it’s solid gameplay, beyond that it honestly feels like bad fan fiction
All this game does it cheapen the otherwise great narrative of Lisa the painful. Tries to rebrand Brad from a tragic abuse victim who unfortunately continues the cycle to be a good dad??? Answers and changes character motivations for no apparent reason other than not to leave any stone unturned? Because leaving things to the imagination is a bad thing and doesn’t enhance the experience am I right? I honestly don’t think there is any argument for this game being good beyond it’s solid gameplay, beyond that it honestly feels like bad fan fiction
2022
Same shit different toilet, but unfortunately this toilet is not as good as the others
This game’s gameplay flows so smoothly, it’s honestly just perfect. I don’t think from software will ever top this game combat wise, the story is fine nothing to write home about but I do appreciate From actually trying to do a traditional narrative, it was definitely worth a shot and it wasn’t half bad for their first attempt. If they continue with the traditional narrative as a norm in the future they might start cooking. But back to the highlight of the game, the bosses, they’re the peak of From design, even having a boss rush and hard mode variants which honestly just cements this as my favorite souls game no questions asked
This review contains spoilers
After seeing my friend finally finish their review of this game I felt the need to redo my original review which was mostly just a rant where I sounded like an old man screaming at kids, this was because of irl stuff happening with this game, and my friend group which caused more animosity towards this game than it deserved. Now onto this review
Playing TWEWY was one of the most painful gaming experiences I ever had, not only was the gameplay completely and utterly atrocious, the story of week 1 was really bad.
The week starts off with Neku being your typical asshole to Shiki, how they should team up and how being a loner will get you nowhere/killed. Your typical character arc. What I dislike is Neku almost killing Shiki and him getting away practically scot free. The only thing he gets is a slap on the wrist which really irked me, Shiki should not have forgiven him or trusted him as quickly as she did. I get it, it’s the theme of the game, but come on! He almost fucking killed you.
Moving on to the next big scene which was Rhyme’s death, the dialogue here feels like the game was just regurgitating the themes and message it wants to tell without any nuance. Plus are you really expecting me to care about Rhyme when they have 3 lines of dialogue? I hate when games kill off a character that was not built up for us to care about and this scene is exactly that. Yes the purpose of the scene was to show how socially isolated Neku is, but again the dialogue here is written like it’s slapping you in the face going “DO YOU GET IT, HE HATES PEOPLE”
The straw that broke the camel’s back for me on week 1 was the Shiki and Eri day. It feels like the writers prioritized the idea of individuality and added her inferiority complex as a side thing. So her final scene with Eri was more them resolving the story of this singular day in the most convenient way possible. Think about it, Shiki is in a city with god knows how many people, and not only does she run into the person that all her issues stem from, but she also hears the exact words she needed to hear from her. If this was like a kick-starter for her arc I’d be fine, but it isn’t. With Shiki, it was literally her conclusion and the game just goes “bye-bye lol”
These days plus the horrible gameplay of the switch version is why I decided to drop the game and probably never come back to it.
I’m gonna keep my old review up just because the comments are funny, but it’s not a good review. It just sounds like an old grandma malding
Playing TWEWY was one of the most painful gaming experiences I ever had, not only was the gameplay completely and utterly atrocious, the story of week 1 was really bad.
The week starts off with Neku being your typical asshole to Shiki, how they should team up and how being a loner will get you nowhere/killed. Your typical character arc. What I dislike is Neku almost killing Shiki and him getting away practically scot free. The only thing he gets is a slap on the wrist which really irked me, Shiki should not have forgiven him or trusted him as quickly as she did. I get it, it’s the theme of the game, but come on! He almost fucking killed you.
Moving on to the next big scene which was Rhyme’s death, the dialogue here feels like the game was just regurgitating the themes and message it wants to tell without any nuance. Plus are you really expecting me to care about Rhyme when they have 3 lines of dialogue? I hate when games kill off a character that was not built up for us to care about and this scene is exactly that. Yes the purpose of the scene was to show how socially isolated Neku is, but again the dialogue here is written like it’s slapping you in the face going “DO YOU GET IT, HE HATES PEOPLE”
The straw that broke the camel’s back for me on week 1 was the Shiki and Eri day. It feels like the writers prioritized the idea of individuality and added her inferiority complex as a side thing. So her final scene with Eri was more them resolving the story of this singular day in the most convenient way possible. Think about it, Shiki is in a city with god knows how many people, and not only does she run into the person that all her issues stem from, but she also hears the exact words she needed to hear from her. If this was like a kick-starter for her arc I’d be fine, but it isn’t. With Shiki, it was literally her conclusion and the game just goes “bye-bye lol”
These days plus the horrible gameplay of the switch version is why I decided to drop the game and probably never come back to it.
I’m gonna keep my old review up just because the comments are funny, but it’s not a good review. It just sounds like an old grandma malding
The piss filter on this game changed me as a person
This definitely isn't a game I could crack open and enjoy at any time I have to be in the mood for it
After a couple of months of thinking about this game, it still feels so weird to me. Do I love this game? Absolutely, the ending is probably my favorite ending to any game I've seen. Do I think the cast is solidly written? I think it's the best persona cast (not including EP and P1 as I haven't played those) I also believe it's one of the best games I've ever seen at handling serious and comedic moments, there isn't a single comedic moment that feels out of place or a serious moment that gets undercut by something else. But for some inexplicable reason, I can't form a solid enough opinion on this game. I feel like I'm missing something. It is a great game don't get me wrong I highly recommend it. I just hope this feeling of missing something gets resolved after playing eternal punishment.
Now you might look at this score and think I’m on crack, the only reason it’s this high is because this is single handedly the best zombies experience on any COD game hands down. I do not care about multiplayer or Campaign. The zombies mode is honestly too good, you have DE, Gorod, SOE, Origins, all in one game. Not to mention you also have customs so even if you miss idk mob of the dead? You can play it. That’s not even to mention the other maps, ZNS is a flawed but extremely good map, the BO1 and WAW maps are also extremely helpful for beginner, there is literally something for everyone in this game when it comes to zombies. Just perfect
2007
I played this game at a really shitty time, it was after discovering the series with P5R so my expectations were sky high. I also streamed the game in a VC which was an awful decision as that definitely lessened the experience from friends being annoying (thank you mid and eladio). Anyways I'm far enough in my replay to solidly say that this is a good game (probably gonna end at either a 8.5 or a 9). Just that my first experience was tainted
2011
While I do think it’s a solid experience and it being super influential is a major factor as to why it’s beloved I think as someone who started the series out with the later games it falls flat for me. The areas aren’t that interesting to look at even tho they are admittedly well designed (in the fist half, the second half is designed like ass) I find myself not interested in those areas and more focused on the bosses in these games, and for me this game is the weakest in the series when it comes to bosses (yes even worse than demon souls for me) this is a good first experience/game but I don’t think it ages well