What if some of the most inspired worldbuilding and atmosphere that gaming had to offer was packaged within a near-unplayable pile of garbage?

Frustrating, Infuriating, slow, buggy, REALLY BUGGY, badly designed, and incredibly interesting.
Every time I felt like I was getting into a groove with this game it would throw some obtuse block in my way to prevent me from truly enjoying it. I tried really hard to love this game and part of me does, the other 75% of me wants to kick it down a stairwell

After falling in love with the recently released Star Ocean Second Story R, I knew that I needed to continue seeing what this series had to offer. Figured I'd backtrack before I move forward- and thus here I am with Star Ocean First Departure R. I am happy to report that it, like its successor, is a fantastic time.

A lot of my praise for this game is pretty similar to the praise I gave to Second Story- the blending of sci-fi and fantasy, the mechanical depth, fun combat, wonderful characters and recruiting processes, worldbuilding, so on and so forth. However, this game still feels very distinct with its own flavors and spins on all of those aspects, and I found that to be really exciting. This game is such a blast from start to finish, and just emanates charm right from the golden snes/ps1 era of JRPGs beautifully.

The way this story is setup is so wonderfully told and compelling, and the early twist that truly kicks the game off had me engaged right from the start. From that point onward I was on board for everything the game threw at me. Time travel? Awesome. Four main protagonists? Wonderful. Keep it coming because I am having a ton of fun. Traveling around the world felt so diverse with its races, towns, and general atmospheres of the major areas, and every chance I had to meet someone I gladly took the opportunity. It manages to feel expansive and tight knit at the same time, and I think that is a commendable feat. I noticed a lot of little moments that really made the world shine. For example, I found a kid building a snowman and I joined in with Millie to help build more and more until we had a long line of snowmen. I figured it was just a little visual gag, but it didn’t reset when I left the town- and even showed up in a monumental cutscene later on. Everything about that encounter was completely optional, but it added so much texture and authenticity to the world that I was honestly pretty shocked by it. Little bits and pieces like that dotted around every corner are captivating, and that attention to detail and worldbuilding is always in effect.

In the combat encounters I had a ton of fun slashing away at the monsters, too. It is very simple, flashy, and depending on your outlook maybe a little dull and repetitive or (in my outlook) very satisfying and visceral. The true fun is seeing how you can build your characters beforehand and watching your progress pay off, and it is just as addicting as my previous encounter with the series. Crafting new weapons that would bump my stats up by 400+, blacksmithing new armor that could absorb elements, appraising amazing items, and nerfing my stats in exchange for higher xp rewards never got old. I probably spent just as much time looking at the skill screen as I did the combat itself, and watching my numbers grow always made me hyped. There is an endless amount of variety, customization, and stuff to unlock and play with that I feel like everyone could approach this game in unique ways and see great results. Heck, I have plenty of skills that I didn’t try out at all, and that's before all the attack techniques, spells, and character combinations I have yet to see too. Good stuff all around.

I think the true highlight for me here was, like Second Story, the characters. Not all of them are heavy hitters for me, for example T’nique felt very one note and boring to me, but everyone else I picked up was just a joy. Roddick is a great protagonist, and Ronyx and Ilia both gave such a unique perspective to everything and just were a ton of fun to be around. Watching the history of Cyuss and Phia was one of my favorite side stories in the game easily, and that serious tone is contrasted so heavily by how funny, naive, and energetic Pericci was and I caught myself always chuckling at her screen presence. Millie was my very favorite, though, since she was very emotionally fleshed out while still being so goofy and personable- something I always love- had great dynamics with everyone, and was also the party healer (my favorite JRPG class). Every time I saw the icon for the private actions I jumped at the chance to see what little flavor texts I could find just to spend more time with the cast. Some were really funny like Ronyx begging Millie not to tell how he learned Symbology, the girls only meeting in the inn, or all the times Cyuss got wasted at a bar- and like I mentioned before added such a great layer of texture to the world and cast that I always enjoyed. And the best part is I still have a huge stack of characters I haven’t met yet! I already want to replay just to see who else is out there, but I will save that for the future since I know I'll be back someday.

I don’t think this game is perfect by any means- as much as I wish I could say otherwise given how much fun I had, but there are some pretty apparent faults here and there. The beginning of the game and the setup it provides is so strong, and the ending kind of feels like it was thrown together at the last second and didn’t feel particularly satisfying to me. Not bad, but I was hoping for a little more. There are also some weird difficulty spikes sprinkled in that I felt were kind of absurd, especially at the end with the final boss who’s first phase I really don’t know how to beat without spending hours grinding or just cheesing him like I did. I also think there’s a little too much backtracking here that even I, a Metroid and Castlevania enthusiast, found to be a bit obnoxious. Those were the major flaws, but I also think that the soundtrack is just “good”. I liked it but it's not something that has really stuck with me like Second Story’s. The audio mixing felt all over the place, with the battle theme especially feeling like it was turned way down- made worse by everyone yelling their current actions nonstop. There’s a few more little things but I think I’ve made my point and they’re trivial enough for me not to really care when the game as a whole is so great.

Star Ocean First Departure R is a very short (only 22ish hours), mechanically dense, incredibly charming, addictive, and generally just fantastic little game. Second Story got me curious about what this series as a whole could offer, and now First Departure has cemented me as a newfound Star Ocean (series) fan. I had such a great time and I hope more people like me who are just getting into the series come and play and enjoy it like I did. Great time.

In the past half decade, I started my journey with the Persona series, and now I am making my final stop with the Persona 2 duology. I have had a strenuous relationship with the four games that preceded this, with opinions on games ranging from “fantastic!” to “that was kind of bad..”, and now I wondered what my feelings would be for this one. Luckily for me, it fell firmly on the former rather than latter- and I have been enamored and absorbed into this title deeply. It is not without some issues, but where it shines it does so so radiantly that I just simply fell in love.

The elephant in the room here is the moment-to-moment gameplay- which its distasteful fan commentary was virtually the only thing I knew going in. Now, was the gameplay of Persona 2 Innocent Sin bad? To that I say, “not really I guess”- however I can’t dance around its glaring flaws. This game plays very.. plain- and I like plain! Selecting actions and watching them play out has never ceased to be entertaining for me. That being said, I think three major things hold it back from true excellence.

Firstly, This game has an insane encounter rate. I personally love random encounters in JRPGs, but they really crank it up here. Doing anything in a dungeon will undoubtedly have you lining up to kill some demons a few times. It is made worse by…

Secondly, This game needs a redbull or something because goodness it is sluggish! Menu selections in a battle feel like you’re choosing them through molasses, the battle animations are incredibly repetitive (press start to use the skip feature !!!), and getting in and out of every battle has a little load screen to accompany it- and that was with the extra data install you can do to trim loads. If you truly lack patience, it might be worth busting out your fancy emulator fast-forward toggle. And finally you start to question the point at all because…

Finally, This game is easy. Like, you have to try extensively to fail here. I don’t want to sound hyperbolic here but I can’t think of a more accurate descriptor than “brainless” here. You can very easily beat this entire game using exclusively the story-granted Personas. I used the Velvet Room maybe two or three times to see what it was like, but never even used my new companions because it didn’t matter. I also did a minimal amount of side content (mostly due to it being kind of obtuse to even find) and never found an ultimate weapon or armor for anyone. I still could beat nearly every encounter with a nice and balanced magic-spamming autobattle. Dump your stats into magic and just go crazy- it’ll work just fine. This is the first JRPG where I didn’t get a game over even a single time. I like easy fine enough, but when it is this easy, sluggish, and prominent it can get a little tiring. However, I still don’t think it is “bad”, just kind of boring and repetitive- but there is some satisfaction to it all watching everyone level up more and just steamroll everything. It doesn’t ruin the experience at all, to me atleast.

For every gameplay misstep, however, it is made up for tenfold by the storytelling served to you here, because damn this game absolutely fascinated me from start to end. Right from the very beginning it sets up such a compelling mystery and intrigue that you truly want to unravel, and it never slows down with dull moments or loses any appeal. Persona nowadays tries to act “adult” but feverishly lacks the nuance needed more times than not, in my opinion. This game also introduces some very heavy and mature themes, but I never found it disingenuous or distasteful when presented here since it is very carefully crafted to be nuanced and treated with care- while still never losing the charm and levity of the colorful cast. Every second of it was engaging, thought provoking on occasion, and legitimately moving when it needed to be. This game has all sorts of anime craziness for sure, but it uses the surrealism to paint a very contrasting image to the down to earth and realistic atmosphere and narrative it delivers- and I think both sides of the coin are strengthened because of it.

What really punctuates this story, though, is the characters it tells it with, and I think this is easily the best cast of characters this series has ever had. Every single one of them is not only likable, not only really unique, but also consistently develops throughout the story with some outstanding writing and characterization. This is a game about a group of ordinary people overcoming their past trauma by internalizing it and facing their fears with newfound courage, supportive friends, and also maybe some occult powers- and I think conceptually and in execution it is beautiful. This game doesn't hide critical character development behind optional social links, it doesn’t force in a dating sim mechanic or double its runtime by splicing in slice of life shenanigans, it just tells a story and it does it wonderfully.

Innocent Sin kind of snuck up on me. I didn’t know what to expect from it, but this level of praise and love was not quite on my bingo card. I am simply enamored by this game, and I think it is a very special experience. I will be playing Eternal Punishment soon, even though I was so satisfied by this game I don’t quite feel I “need” a continuation- but I can’t turn it down either. I hope that this game gets a modern rerelease along with P1 and EP so more people can experience and love these games like I have. Until then, my conclusion simply states that this game rules.

Final thoughts I couldn't really segway into this review naturally:

- Maya is easily the best character in the series and every aspect of her personality, dialogue, and actions made her both incredibly silly and also heartwarming with a genuine love for her friends. I found her to be the heart of the cast and really laid the foundation for why this story and cast is so good.
- The cast including someone not Japanese, someone from another school, an adult, and an experienced persona user makes this an incredibly diverse and unique cast compared to anything else and I thought it was really refreshing and cool.
- More Philemon. I love Philemon.
- More Satomi Tadashi Pharmacy (it is a crime it stopped being used after P2)
- Out of all the Persona games this has the best antagonist(s) which I’m not mentioning here since I don’t want to spoil anything, but if you know you know
- Not having traditional demon fusing was a little jarring coming from someone so thoroughly invested in Megaten, but I came to appreciate it fast due to it being different and new- even if barely necessary.
- The rumor system didn’t get as much use as something as cool as it should, but when it was an option I loved seeing how it would impact the world.
- The music is great but unfortunately to me lacks a lot of the impact and atmosphere from something like P1 and I was a little disappointed just having that subconscious comparison (but still love it anyways)
- This game still rules

In the past half decade, I started my journey with the Persona series, and now I am making my final stop with the Persona 2 duology. I have had a strenuous relationship with the four games that preceded this, with opinions on games ranging from “fantastic!” to “that was kind of bad..”, and now I wondered what my feelings would be for this one. Luckily for me, it fell firmly on the former rather than latter- and I have been enamored and absorbed into this title deeply. It is not without some issues, but where it shines it does so so radiantly that I just simply fell in love.

The elephant in the room here is the moment-to-moment gameplay- which its distasteful fan commentary was virtually the only thing I knew going in. Now, was the gameplay of Persona 2 Innocent Sin bad? To that I say, “not really I guess”- however I can’t dance around its glaring flaws. This game plays very.. plain- and I like plain! Selecting actions and watching them play out has never ceased to be entertaining for me. That being said, I think three major things hold it back from true excellence.

Firstly, This game has an insane encounter rate. I personally love random encounters in JRPGs, but they really crank it up here. Doing anything in a dungeon will undoubtedly have you lining up to kill some demons a few times. It is made worse by…

Secondly, This game needs a redbull or something because goodness it is sluggish! Menu selections in a battle feel like you’re choosing them through molasses, the battle animations are incredibly repetitive (press start to use the skip feature !!!), and getting in and out of every battle has a little load screen to accompany it- and that was with the extra data install you can do to trim loads. If you truly lack patience, it might be worth busting out your fancy emulator fast-forward toggle. And finally you start to question the point at all because…

Finally, This game is easy. Like, you have to try extensively to fail here. I don’t want to sound hyperbolic here but I can’t think of a more accurate descriptor than “brainless” here. You can very easily beat this entire game using exclusively the story-granted Personas. I used the Velvet Room maybe two or three times to see what it was like, but never even used my new companions because it didn’t matter. I also did a minimal amount of side content (mostly due to it being kind of obtuse to even find) and never found an ultimate weapon or armor for anyone. I still could beat nearly every encounter with a nice and balanced magic-spamming autobattle. Dump your stats into magic and just go crazy- it’ll work just fine. This is the first JRPG where I didn’t get a game over even a single time. I like easy fine enough, but when it is this easy, sluggish, and prominent it can get a little tiring. However, I still don’t think it is “bad”, just kind of boring and repetitive- but there is some satisfaction to it all watching everyone level up more and just steamroll everything. It doesn’t ruin the experience at all, to me atleast.

For every gameplay misstep, however, it is made up for tenfold by the storytelling served to you here, because damn this game absolutely fascinated me from start to end. Right from the very beginning it sets up such a compelling mystery and intrigue that you truly want to unravel, and it never slows down with dull moments or loses any appeal. Persona nowadays tries to act “adult” but feverishly lacks the nuance needed more times than not, in my opinion. This game also introduces some very heavy and mature themes, but I never found it disingenuous or distasteful when presented here since it is very carefully crafted to be nuanced and treated with care- while still never losing the charm and levity of the colorful cast. Every second of it was engaging, thought provoking on occasion, and legitimately moving when it needed to be. This game has all sorts of anime craziness for sure, but it uses the surrealism to paint a very contrasting image to the down to earth and realistic atmosphere and narrative it delivers- and I think both sides of the coin are strengthened because of it.

What really punctuates this story, though, is the characters it tells it with, and I think this is easily the best cast of characters this series has ever had. Every single one of them is not only likable, not only really unique, but also consistently develops throughout the story with some outstanding writing and characterization. This is a game about a group of ordinary people overcoming their past trauma by internalizing it and facing their fears with newfound courage, supportive friends, and also maybe some occult powers- and I think conceptually and in execution it is beautiful. This game doesn't hide critical character development behind optional social links, it doesn’t force in a dating sim mechanic or double its runtime by splicing in slice of life shenanigans, it just tells a story and it does it wonderfully.

Innocent Sin kind of snuck up on me. I didn’t know what to expect from it, but this level of praise and love was not quite on my bingo card. I am simply enamored by this game, and I think it is a very special experience. I will be playing Eternal Punishment soon, even though I was so satisfied by this game I don’t quite feel I “need” a continuation- but I can’t turn it down either. I hope that this game gets a modern rerelease along with P1 and EP so more people can experience and love these games like I have. Until then, my conclusion simply states that this game rules.

Final thoughts I couldn't really segway into this review naturally:

- Maya is easily the best character in the series and every aspect of her personality, dialogue, and actions made her both incredibly silly and also heartwarming with a genuine love for her friends. I found her to be the heart of the cast and really laid the foundation for why this story and cast is so good.
- The cast including someone not Japanese, someone from another school, an adult, and an experienced persona user makes this an incredibly diverse and unique cast compared to anything else and I thought it was really refreshing and cool.
- More Philemon. I love Philemon.
- More Satomi Tadashi Pharmacy (it is a crime it stopped being used after P2)
- Out of all the Persona games this has the best antagonist(s) which I’m not mentioning here since I don’t want to spoil anything, but if you know you know
- Not having traditional demon fusing was a little jarring coming from someone so thoroughly invested in Megaten, but I came to appreciate it fast due to it being different and new- even if barely necessary.
- The rumor system didn’t get as much use as something as cool as it should, but when it was an option I loved seeing how it would impact the world.
- The music is great but unfortunately to me lacks a lot of the impact and atmosphere from something like P1 and I was a little disappointed just having that subconscious comparison (but still love it anyways)
- This game still rules