While it sounds crazy enough to write a review about a game thats not even OUT LMAO. I why I can 100% confirm that this game will be my favourite game ever when it releases.

Shin Megami Tensei V is from a series I'm genuinely not that familiar with. beside playing Persona Q on the 3DS 10 years ago. Having played a few hours of Devil Survivor on the 3DS and having watched like 7 episodes of Devil Survivor 2 and then dropping it out of boredom. You would genuinely be insane from a series where your intertest was never fully captured nor grasped to have the latest entry be your FAVOURITE GAME EVER?! Well here I will try to concretely enough explain my "My insanity" or for some of you guys "Stupidity" I'm assuming.

I found out about Shin Megami Tensei V pretty late actually the game was revealed at the Nintendo Direct in 2020. I accidentally stumbled upon the game in march pure on whim. I was watching videos about JRPGs and I saw the games Trailer in my recommendations. I didn't even wanna click on the trailer nor did I want it to play YouTube Autoplayed it for me when I went to the toilet lol... but when I came back I was like "fuck it why not" and pressed replay and my mind was blown away... to most it's a standard trailer nothing outstanding or experimental enough for someone to lose their shit over it but man... I WAS IN. From the VA of Lucifer the silent build up and the narrator to the strong post-apocalyptic athmosphere but with a striking distinct visual style. It reminded so much of every favourite post-apoc series I love and it happens so rarely that I ever have such a strong sense of nostolgia from past of something in the present that I have no strong knowledge. But from the previously mentioned things and flashy gameplay and strong and striking character designs. I just knew it was the one. The post-apoc genre is a VERY important genre to me because it helped me allot as a person throughout my life and I honestly watched allot of post-apoc media but super rarely has this same feeling been matched before. I literally searched up every information about the game since and don't think I've ever been as hype for something as this game. The latest Info dump just made me even more confident in my feelings. I rewatched each trailer over 10x and watched the gameplay showcases over 10x. Did as much research as I can on the people working on it. Theorize heavy about future characters , environments and potential story beats. I genuinely have 100% trust in this game and don't think I can get dissapointed really.

So it really a case of pure feelings of nostolgia , charm and trust that makes me so sure. I know this seems goofy asf to write this but I know myself the best so I know best what my true feelings on the game will be.

( P.S I've done this before and know how my expectations work so I really cannot be dissapointed. also I will do a follow up in November on this when I play it.

EDIT: OK i finished it (got the true ending) and this game is AMAZING this is such an amazing sequel to nocturne but also a great standalone game its so GOOOOOD

The myth of a Persona 3 "definitive edition" has haunted the halls of discussion over the series's fourth game and breakout implementation of its calendar system, with newcomers intimidated by what it attempts to do and how it sticks by it. Many have people hoped for something that combines FES's general presentation and style combined with Portable's gameplay improvements, and Reload sets out to obtain a middle ground while also adding the style and flourish Persona 5 has been known for.

But we've had a definitive edition for Persona 3 already, and it was called FES: nothing of it needed to be changed and what it has been exists perfectly by itself. So Persona 3 Reload inherently misunderstands the assignment by taking a story of simple teenagers scarred by what life has handed them and the consequences of the failures of our fathers, needing to take it into the next generation's hands and believe in our possibility for self improvement, while also recognizing that we are all different individuals, and partially turning it into a flashy power fantasy.

And in that regard, Reload fails: which is why I run into my dilemma. I can talk about the tonal issues implemented by what Reload decides to implement and change, but I still came out of this story with tears once again, even with its uglier animated cutscenes and FMVs. Even after the countless problems sprouted by needing to turn this unique gem of living one's life to the fullest by your own choices into a much easily digestible work for the newest waves of Persona fans, I still reached that final day where I reflect back on all the bonds I've created and tear up at how they've been able to turn around their lives in the face of hopelessness. Even in the sanding down and flanderization of Persona 3, one thing will forever shine through, and it is the core of its story.

"Greatness does not fade away". I can't ignore how worthwhile it was for me to revisit the work that lead me into the Shin Megami Tensei series and changed me for the better because of it; I can't ignore how attached I can get to this cast, and I could never ignore that, even if I can never reccomend this to someone as the definitive way to play over FES, how glad I am that this game can stand the test of time and continue to exist in its timelessness, and in its permanent beauty.

One thing that Unicorn Overlord excels at when nothing else can is a sense of scale; during combat, the feeling of traversing these huge lands and fighting armies at immense disadvantages is sold very well. Outside of combat, traversing the world and rebuilding it is always a fun inbetween.

Unicorn Overlord also falls apart when examined in more detail. Individual characters are extremely basic and the story behind each continent are as interesting as the characters, with an exception that Bastorias has interesting concepts that are also never really reckoned with. Team building feels shallow; not that "anything works", but there feels like there's very little real variety in individual classes. I'm also not a fan of gambit systems but that's more me than an issue with UO, but it definetly didn't convince me otherwise.

And I can't really say that it's more of the sum of its parts because the scale also works against it; by the time I reached Bastorias I was already tired because nothing really changes. The overworld aspect is repetitive, the secrets aren't really secrets and are just basic things to get good equipment, and the gameplay never really felt like it got difficult. Even in the final quest where all of these characters and nations unite, it doesn't end up making up for how the past 40 hours of Unicorn Overlord continued to be tasteless oatmeal, with a story and concepts done in much better fashion. Calling this Fire Emblem Awakening for the Switch is lowkey an insult to FE.

Whenever you think about an open world in terms of a game, you generally have to call back to Breath of the Wild; its massive world, with its bigger focus on atmosphere than delivering a story, while still having its cake and eat it too. It's no wonder such a game paved the way to creating what would become the de facto version of open world games, having countless games take notes from it, creating their own versions of it in ways that work, and ways that don't. But Breath of the Wild is not perfect; it's an empty game, with a lot of repeating content that becomes stale when your focus is a 100% completion. Sure, it is a very open game where you can go straight to Ganon, but there's not much of an unique experience to be found. At the end of the day, it's good, but it's not what open world games can be. Elden Ring is that absolute zenith of an open world experience that Breath of the Wild couldn't, and can't be, although the reasons why are not exactly fully about the design of the open world.

Coming from MIyasaki, a man who has already made games that embrace freedom, such as Dark Souls 1 and its continuously convoluted labyrinth of a world, and George R R Martin, which while I do not have experience with his works, I have heard countless praise, and their conjoined efforts makes an amazing world, and a game to accompany that world. The lore of Elden Ring is unique as it has a lot of things that scream Miyasaki; it's a world stuck in that transition point of death and rebirth, with someone needing to create a change. It's this kind of worldbuilding that brings the "Dark Souls IIII" joke around, but regardless of the similarities, I think the actual parallels end there, because while Dark Souls is closer to the end of an era, Elden Ring is focused on what comes after this.

Elden Ring is a triumphant story that's hidden behind its layers of depressive, character-specific plotlines. You are the one heading for change. Originally, just a graceless Tarnished, that ends up being able to kill a god and leads to the creation of what comes next, all with your power. Sure, slaying these demigods can become a sad ordeal at times, but more than anything, you are fueled to become a champion of The Lands Between, becoming stronger, taking down the remnants of the previous order, and taking back the land that was ripped from you. The music of Elden Ring fits this perfectly, with strong, triumphant tracks but with some that still display danger. You CAN be strong, but the enemies you face are still threatening.

Elden Ring's gameplay also demostrates this point well. I'll expand this a bit more after the open world part, but at the core of it, it's still Soulsborne. It's a tried and true method that despite it being similar, it's still pretty damn fun. I do have to respect it much more for how open-ended the game can become with the builds, something that's a lot more limited in other Souls games, as well as just the immense variety of weapons. I think it makes specific experiences much more unique in ways I love, and the structure of the open world especially helps, and is part of why I think it's such an amazing open world.

The variety of this open world also creates a way to have a pretty big variety of NPCs. There's a lot of standouts. I love Ranni, Blaidd, Alexander, and Rogier especially. Fia, while I never finished her questline, I think she was very good, and Hewg and Roderika's somewhat of a father daughter dynamic was absolutely stellar, although how they ended up depressed me in some ways, and made me glad in other ways. Things like Varre and the Three Thingers, and the Volcano Manor are also great factions, although, honestly? I miss Covenants. It's a bit nitpicky, and I do think some covenants are kind of useless and weird to get in Dark Souls, but so much of it screams as if it were to have Covenants originally, but were removed. It's a shame, since having a bit of a longer, permanent stay with the Volcano Manor residents would have been neat, and the Three Fingers stuff for me was more or less just a way for me to get through Moghwyn without dealing with the actual level lol.

The open world of Elden Ring has so much care and specialty crafted in it in ways that is absolutely amazing and a joy to see being in an actual game. Each location feels distinct and unique, with the usual From Software magic with all the locations being visual spectacles, but also having some great music to accompany it, and unique fights fitting with the location itself. I think the only location I'm not a fan of is Liurnia of the Lakes, with it being a bit of an empty, kind of a swamp? I liked the Academy, sure, but the things surrounding it were less than interesting to me, but outside of that? Limgrave, Caelid, Mountaintop of the Giants, the Atlas Plateau, Farim Azula, and especially Leyndell are all amazing, unique locations. The areas of the open world are vast, but not a slog to go through due to the horse, and has a lot of smart placement and world design to reward you for yout exploration and keeping an eye out, while the legacy dungeons are some of the best designed areas I've arguably seen in video games at all. I LOVE Leyndell, and Stormveil Castle, and the Academy, all these locations are amazingly huge and reward your exploration, but are still dangerous. The jump button especially allows for great world exploration, allowing for some tried and true platforming that isn't very hard to do, but still creates much more interesting world layouts. Leyndell, for example, allowing you to jump through roofs? Absolute genius. The catacombs are similar to Bloodborne Chalice Dungeons, but I think they work much better than the chalice dungeons, thanks to the general scarcity of them, as well as the rewards you gain from them.

Look back on Breath of the Wild; what did you get from completing a shrine? You'd get a Spirit Orb, maybe sometimes a weapon, right? The former's always a standard, and while it helps, it's a bit of a monotonous experience thanks to it, and you can't really keep using the latter thanks to the durability system (one of the worst concepts ever created, let's be real). What do you get from a catacomb in Elden Ring? You can get a talisman, or a weapon, or a rune arc, or some extra runes to help you level up. All of these things are ALWAYS useful, despite the fact that maybe your current build isn't made for it, a talisman always stays and depending on the boss, can be a huge help, and a weapon might be strong and good for a future build, rune arcs and runes are always useful as well. Everything you get from a catacomb will always be useful, which creates actual motivation to go through these small dungeons, but it's never the same reward, which leads to the question of "what will I get this time?", in a way that WORKS and INCENTIVIZES exploration much more than its contemporaries. It helps that the world is designed for this exploration, with a good eye being able to see these things with stronger ease.

Small side note, I know some people are using Elden Ring to shit on the handholding nature of Ubisoft Open World and I wanna say that I think both are completely valid ways of making a game. Fromsoft has always been one to be inherently cryptic, and while I think that this creates the same sense of wonder older games had with their exploration, think the original The Legend of Zelda, I can't be completely against a hand-holding philosophy when the story that is extracted from such an experience can, at times, be really good.

The bosses of Elden Ring I think are generally standouts. I'd say I loved most of them, really? Malenia, Mohg, Radahn, Rykard, Morgott, and Hoarah Loux are all standouts and I love all of these; the rest of the Remembrance bosses I also really liked. The issue with the bosses do come more from the optional Catacombs, where it can be extremely infested with unbalanced 1v2 fights, or flat out bad enemies like Crucible Knights. I... don't mind that TOO much? I think that sure, the unique fights are all generally pretty amazing, and the others can be hit or miss, but I can't be too mad about these when I think they're such a minor part of the experience. I hated the Gargoyles in Nokron, and the Misbegotten/Crucible fight in Caeld, but that's as far as pure hatred goes when the rest are generally either really good, or a kind of a non-issue.

The inclusion of a respec as clean as it is in Elden Ring is one of, if not, the best addition this game has. I know that Dark Souls 3 also has one. I have not played Dark Souls 3, and I do not think the addition of a respec goes far in such a game because what I applaud Elden Ring for here is NOT the addition of it purely, but the absolute creative freedom you have on your build thanks to it. Sorcery and Faith builds have finally become interesting, for once, with a lot of tools for hybrid builds. In one run, I respecc'd four times. My first build was a curved greatsword dex build; then it was dex/int with moonveil, then dex/arc with Rivers of Blood, and then finally, for postgame, a str/faith build. All of these? Extremely fun. I loved them all. So much work was put into making such an immensely huge variety of weapons, builds, all to incentivize immense flexibility in how you want to play, and how you want to represent yourself in the game. Coming from Bloodborne, which is a very homogenous experience in multiple ways, and Dark Souls 1, which does have some variety, but its lack of respec and unappealing sorcery creates a specific route for you to follow from the start without the ability to attempt to remove yourself from your original decisions, it makes for such a breath of fresh air and something I'm sure to play around with countless more times. In some ways, sure, boss design ends up taking a hit from this thanks to such a huge variety of builds meaning a boss can't be designed for everything, but the appeal in Elden Ring is no longer the same boss rush of Bloodborne and Dark Souls 1.

The appeal of Elden Ring is its world, and how you insert yourself into it. You can be absolutely anything you wish to do. With such a wide variety of endings, weapons, builds, armor, and NPC plotlines, immersing yourself in its world is easier than ever, and the amount of effort that must have been put to put yourself in the Tarnished's shoes must have been endless. This is what makes it a TRUE open world; the tools have always been in front of you, it's just a matter of how you use them to shape your own experience, and shape yourself, and I'm sure that this level of detail, love, and passion is to be enjoyed by everyone for the years to come, and whatever comes next for The Lands Between, I'm here for it.

you can also be a woman and marry Ranni lgbt rep for the win miyasaki the strongest ally very me and makcore

Not enough people consider this the masterpiece of fiction it actually is

The most beautiful blending pot of the older SMTs, these archaic, products of their time but with a lot of soul and passion that drives it, and more modern iterations, with the specific feeling of modernity to it that doesn't really abandon the old, but remakes it to fit a more modern landscape

These are mixed to create an atmosphere that creates an extremely alien and hostile atmosphere in ways that the rest of the series never really approaches. It's most similar to the Vortex World in Nocturne, but more reversed. While Nocturne utilizes familiar locations to create a sense of abandonement and stillness, Strange Journey uses things that merge the familiar and the foreign to create an extremely hostile enviorment. It's this mix that creates an amazing plot-gameplay mixture, where even if at a surface level, it's simple, the more you dig in, the more it bites back. YOU are in danger, at every time, and the game doesn't make you forget that, making sure you are very aware that at any moment, you CAN die. Your fellow crew can die, nothing is ever really "safe".

The writing has a similar structure to 1's concepts, with Jimenez taking the role of the Chaos hero and Zelenin, the Law hero. It's similar, but it's deeply expanded here to lengths and quality never seen before. Both these characters are shaped by the Schwartzwelt, where Jimenez thrives and decides strength is everything, as he gains a deeper understanding of demons with his relationship with Bugaboo, while Zelenin decides that peace is the best option for humanity, where she is somewhat indoctrinated by Mostima to believe that only YHVH's kingdom can bring peace. This struggle between these two factions create a similar role to SMT 1's, but ot decides to change the setting and expand on its ideas much more that it still feels like a fresh experience.

Gameplay's really fun. I like the bosses a lot. Not as good as press turn but I do think it has its charm.

Dungeon crawling's great. People call it too hard but I think that's a skill issue and a lack of a correct mindset more than anything. Barely had issues, I had my fun with everything.

New content's weird. I like it but I think it's weirdly jammed in at times. New Law's definetly the best Law ending, and New Neutral's just the best SMT ending.

It's a unique game compared to what people are used to in some ways, but I personally think that this mixture of old and new makes the game shine much more than most of the other titles.

Actual beautiful game

Gameplay which while simple in the surface level becomes much more interesting and fun when all its features come to play, a story that, while it has its weak points at times, is absolutely beautiful with the stellar performances of the cast, the amazing writing, and just the sheer and perfect integration of gameplay and story woven together

I cannot describe it as anything but beautiful, every single piece of it just works and it has one of my favorite if not favorite ending in the medium itself and even just by the sheer accomplishment of being able to make the relationship between a baby in a pod and Sam Porter Bridges feel so realistic and beautiful to the point I cried at the end.

Just immaculate.

What I love about Disco Elysium:

-Vast possibility space due to genius feat of design.
-Writing is incredible!

What I don't like about Disco Elysium:

-Do we really need another grimy detective story?
-I'm playing as a generic middle aged white man again, urgh.

I was a game that uses Disco Elysium's same insanely well crafted narrative system and wonderful writing...

...but it's about a young witch trying to solve the disappearance of her neighbor's cat in a small village in the Alps.

(Canto VI)

Cannot be understated how Project Moon are the best developers in the game right now and nothing else is even close to what they've been able to do. This is what gacha SHOULD be for, long-form and with an immense variety of storytelling styles. From Canto 4's near-future sci-fi approach to Canto 5's nautical travel, and Canto 6's period piece drama, and the many side stories inbetween these. Sure, 4 and 5 had their issues despite their peaks being at the same tier as their previous works, but 6 FEELS like they've understood how this medium works, and they've used that to nail its pacing, its characters, its plot, continuing to advance so many overarching plot lines but also creating an amazing conclusion to Heathcliff, with such perfect attention to detail in its presentation and boss fights more in-tune with Ruina's... it really cannot be overstated how ahead of the curve PM is, how above in quality they are in everything, and how excited I am for what they continue to make in this long story that'll span many years.