A game that, despite it's flaws, packs a serious emotional punch and deserves to be played.

Completing this game was difficult for me, since the first half was a bit disappointing. The first 2 "substories" (out of 5) were interesting, but a tad overdramatic and didn't elicit the emotions I was hoping for. The gameplay felt a little grindy, with time being wasted on walking back and forth between locations and doing very little interaction with the world. I ended up stopping for about 2 months halfway through the third character story, since it just didn't feel like it was worth my time.

It took me a while to find the motivation to continue past that point, but I'm really glad I did - the endings of the last 3 character stories were heartbreakingly emotional, managing to make me cry during reveals I'd already put together beforehand.

Rakuen is far from perfect, but there is definitely a lot to admire in the end.

Honestly, if I'd written this review immediately after finishing the game, it would have been an instant 5 stars, no question.

Now that a few months have passed, though? I'm disappointed to say that it didn't leave as much of a long-term impact as I'd hoped.

The game is an extremely clear-cut Good vs. Evil narrative, to its detriment in many instances. Many of the villains are comically evil, and the overarching conspiracy feels almost... cheap, looking back.

And while the third semester added by Royal was definitely a mixed bag, at least it had some substance to its moral discussion. The most emotional moment for me was actually in seeing the contrast between the two endings in the third semester, seeing how those endings compared to one another. The contrast between them made for a much more satisfying conclusion to each character's arc, having them choose to fight for a world with their trauma and accept that part of themselves, even when faced with the option to have it erased. Fighting for an objectively worse reality and acknowledging the trauma and darkness in their lives, rather than forgetting about it amidst the 'found-family' of the Phantom Thieves. Other than that, though, the story wasn't really anything that special or groundbreaking, other than the novel idea of using supernatural powers to punish evil in positions of power.

What I will say in this game's favor is that the style is unmatched, to the point where I would almost recommend it just for that. As someone interested in game design, the interfaces, visuals, and soundtrack were genuinely fascinating. It's a AAA game that's crafted with an indie game level of passion, and that's something I haven't really seen before.

I had an absolute blast with Persona 5 when I played it, but it consumed an immense amount of my free time to complete. Unless someone was already really interested in trying it I would struggle to recommend the game, as 100+ hours is just too much now that I look back and see how little of it actually stuck with me.

Do I regret playing it? Not at all, no. It was actually a really unique experience. But would I recommend it casually? Definitely not. Only try it if you have a lot of time at your fingertips and are already very invested in the premise.

Rocket League is an interesting game for me, in that it has exposed one of the issues I now have with competitive online games.

In terms of the gameplay itself, Rocket League is phenomenal and utterly unique. You can't really find the same type of experience anywhere else, and that novelty is very attractive. To make matters even better, it has remained almost completely unchanged in the many years I've been playing, making it really easy to jump back after a period of inactivity compared to say, a fighting game that adds new characters to its roster every few months.

That being said, I've learned a valuable lesson in playing the game; Nothing changes between matches other than a minute improvement in my skills, which will never be applicable anywhere other than this specific game. It is a time sink. The moment you decide to stop playing, all of that time you've invested is essentially invalidated, with nothing of value sticking with you after all is said and done. Not only that, but I will never be at the level I want to be, not unless I were to drop everything else in my life.

Compared to the numerous finite singleplayer titles I've experienced, it's simply too hard to justify spending time playing Rocket League anymore.

It's a fun game. Extremely fun. But by its very nature of infinite replayability, that fun is utterly mindless, and as such I've decided to spend my time in other ways.