FlowerSunandPain
284 Reviews liked by FlowerSunandPain
There's a good essay to be written on how remakes don't always necessarily preserve the original games they're based on with 100% accuracy, but it's not mine to write. I'd heard of "Trace Memory" and its sequel a billion years ago, but never got around to them. I hear the differences between "Journey into Lost Memories" on Switch and "Another Code R" on Wii are actually pretty substantial.
After playing this collection, I kind of want to experience the original games. Another Code: Recollection tells a good story that's maybe worth the "full" price for fans of the genre, especially if you can buy it with a Nintendo Switch Online Voucher or something.
But honestly—the way Another Code: Recollection's Hint System works is super great. I think more "puzzle games" should follow its lead. It stops just short of literally solving the puzzles for you, if you want it to. The only real problem I had is that some of the instructions were a bit obtuse sometimes—like figuring out exactly what the game wanted me to do to unlock an analog combination lock, even though I knew what the combination was.
After playing this collection, I kind of want to experience the original games. Another Code: Recollection tells a good story that's maybe worth the "full" price for fans of the genre, especially if you can buy it with a Nintendo Switch Online Voucher or something.
But honestly—the way Another Code: Recollection's Hint System works is super great. I think more "puzzle games" should follow its lead. It stops just short of literally solving the puzzles for you, if you want it to. The only real problem I had is that some of the instructions were a bit obtuse sometimes—like figuring out exactly what the game wanted me to do to unlock an analog combination lock, even though I knew what the combination was.
PNW IN A NINTENDO GAME????!!!!
Note: I have not played the original titles and I do plan on playing them in the future.
I don't think this game will land for everyone, especially on the gameplay department. But what really got me to absolutely love this game was the art style, atmosphere, story, and especially its characters. This is such a tightly knit story about memories and being able to connect with others, with a lot of sincerity behind it. The game also just has such a cozy feel to it, where a lot of I would just walk around and take in the music as I was playing because of how much I was taken in by the music.
I loved this game a lot and I especially got teary eyed by the end. Maybe this review will change once I play the originals, but at this time I will remember this game fondly.
I don't think this game will land for everyone, especially on the gameplay department. But what really got me to absolutely love this game was the art style, atmosphere, story, and especially its characters. This is such a tightly knit story about memories and being able to connect with others, with a lot of sincerity behind it. The game also just has such a cozy feel to it, where a lot of I would just walk around and take in the music as I was playing because of how much I was taken in by the music.
I loved this game a lot and I especially got teary eyed by the end. Maybe this review will change once I play the originals, but at this time I will remember this game fondly.
i would have fixed ryan gray by having crazy upside down 360 til the room stank jungle gym sex w him 🤷♀️ ashley’s dad could have done this too if he wasn’t a coward.
In 2005, we got a Nintendo DS. Shortly after we picked up a game called Another Code: Two Memories because we like puzzling adventure titles and needed something to play while going on the bus or train. It became our favourite Nintendo DS game of all time and Ashley Mizuki Robins became one of our favourite video game leads ever.
Four years later we picked up Another Code: R - A Journey Into Lost Memories on Wii, and while it didn't impress us as much as the first game, we left it happy to have played it. We could never have imagined that Arc System Works would end up developing a remake of both games from the ground up for Switch, but here we are in 2024 with Another Code: Recollection.
The best Another Code game to date.
Retelling both of the previous two games, Recollection makes the interesting creative choice of mostly keeping the first game narratively intact while greatly changing up the sequel. This could have easily harmed the game, but ends up strengthening its writing immensely in the end as it ties the two stories together as one in a way that feels so perfectly cohesive that it took us a considerable amount of time to realize how much had actually been changed.
The plot has a nice blend of expected developments and clever twists and despite the often absurd fantastical aspects of the story it pulls through thanks to sheer sincerity about its subject matter. It's so easy to be immersed in Ashley and her co-stars' story of coping with loss and PTSD through a deeply emotional scenario focused on rewriting memories, especially thanks to the excellent voice acting at hand.
The the DS and Wii games made heavy use of unique hardware gimmicks for its puzzle design, resulting in the Switch requiring to change things up quite a lot. But the puzzles created for the game are fun and feel like classic adventure game material. If there's anything we felt was lacking, it's that the first game, Two Memories, felt somewhat rushed compared to its sequel. But by the time we reached the credits it didn't matter at all.
This is a game tailor made for us, and we loved every moment of it.
Four years later we picked up Another Code: R - A Journey Into Lost Memories on Wii, and while it didn't impress us as much as the first game, we left it happy to have played it. We could never have imagined that Arc System Works would end up developing a remake of both games from the ground up for Switch, but here we are in 2024 with Another Code: Recollection.
The best Another Code game to date.
Retelling both of the previous two games, Recollection makes the interesting creative choice of mostly keeping the first game narratively intact while greatly changing up the sequel. This could have easily harmed the game, but ends up strengthening its writing immensely in the end as it ties the two stories together as one in a way that feels so perfectly cohesive that it took us a considerable amount of time to realize how much had actually been changed.
The plot has a nice blend of expected developments and clever twists and despite the often absurd fantastical aspects of the story it pulls through thanks to sheer sincerity about its subject matter. It's so easy to be immersed in Ashley and her co-stars' story of coping with loss and PTSD through a deeply emotional scenario focused on rewriting memories, especially thanks to the excellent voice acting at hand.
The the DS and Wii games made heavy use of unique hardware gimmicks for its puzzle design, resulting in the Switch requiring to change things up quite a lot. But the puzzles created for the game are fun and feel like classic adventure game material. If there's anything we felt was lacking, it's that the first game, Two Memories, felt somewhat rushed compared to its sequel. But by the time we reached the credits it didn't matter at all.
This is a game tailor made for us, and we loved every moment of it.
LEGO Studios Backlot
2002
BANGER GAME WHEN YOU'RE LIKE 5 YEARS OLD!!!
Persona 3 FES
2007
please change the fucking cover art im gonna go crazy
sometimes in the past i had played persona 3 fes and it was definitely the highlight of my life till that moment if i gotta be honest and im really happy to see that nothing really changed from that time i still love every single part of this game i love every single character and i cant really say anything bad for this experience that is as tight and incredible as everybody says and i genuinely cannot believe how breathtaking it can be after so many years from the original release of the game
its been a while since i actually explored this entry in the persona franchise and even though this is definitely a step down from p4 and p5 this can still sit rightfully at the top of the trilogy to this day this is still my favorite entry in the spin off series and while i also love p1 and p2 for what they have to offer i definitely still have a sweet spot for this game above the others in the series
im pretty sure everybody knows what this game is about as of nowadays but i just gonna talk about it anyway like people actually asked me to elaborate on my love for this game so i will definitely do that
persona 3 stars a guy transferring to a new school and for some different reasons he ends up in a squad of different people trying to fight off enemies called shadows in a structure called tartarus during an hidden hour after midnight called the dark hour (theres a lot of different terminology alright) where people get some into some weird ??? coffins ??? and actually escalates into something called the apathy syndrome where people become weirdly lobotomised or something of the like and to do that they have to use the power of personas
now personas are basically demons from shin megami tensei recontextualised to actually be used in this series as “another you” and usually just take the form of mythological creatures or deities or shit like that now you know im a big fan of shin megami tensei and its general sense of design so of course i was gonna love this iteration
thats the general incipit of the whole game and while this is definitely the main story theres a lot lying below the surface that needs to be explored
persona 3 fes is famously divided like every other game in the franchise (apart from 1 and 2 skull face) in 2 different sections where you either have some slice of life story high school events and turns into a jrpg in the night segments where you have to fight off the different shadows and ascend tartarus in the hope of a better tomorrow
basically what happens is that you gotta finish the game in a single year (omg atelier ???) and what happens is that during the day you can do social links with different characters that are basically segments where you hang out with people and this is gonna make the arcana social link go up and each single level will actually make the personae of the same arcana way more powerful when you fuse them so theres basically a lot of nuance to this but more on this later
persona still borrows a lot from shin megami tensei and this is actually seen in the fact that the main mechanic of the game is recruiting and fusing demons which is a fucking blast every time even though you cant choose the skills the demon is going to inherit and that makes me actually suicidal ngl like you want me to create the best persona ever and make me inherit marin karin are you actually out of your mind what the fuck honestly this is something that makes me go buck wild in older smt games like why would you make me redo and redo the same persona combinations until i can get some good inherited skills do you just want to purposefully make me angry cmon atlus dont fuck with me rn
while i definitely have some gripes with the gameplay elements i still have a lot of love for it the jrpg elements are super tight fusing personas is fun as hell the combat that still has the basic smt principle of exploiting weaknesses actually makes the game even juicier with the 1 more mechanic + the all out attack its just so fucking good its incredible and since youre gonna do this for like 80+ hours at least this needs to be some degree of fun its just a simple and quick way to finish battles off and this still have some of the classic smt flair in the fact that if youre pretty unlucky and the rng wants to fuck you up you can get demons actually doing mahamaon and killing every single party member or like crit and crit and crit until you bite the dust funnily enough
lets address the elephant in the room though while i still think p3fes is actually the safest choice i have a huge fucking problem with it: you cant control party members which fucking sucks because im adhd and need to use my controller at all times or else i get fidgety and THATS WHY i ended up using the controllable characters patch (and also the undub patch dont @ me i hate english VA i dont know in how many more reviews i got to say this) and while i definitely think this is the way to go i had a lot of game breaking bugs during battles because of course it was gonna get buggy because you know they basically recoded shit or something i have no idea how this works so yeah i mean i had to do a lot of save states and even when i actually made some save states i was dumb enough to actually save in critical moments so i had to wipe like 3 hours of progress sometimes that to say that TO ME it was actually a god sent addition but it is to be said that these are the conditions of the patch i dont really think the original AI party is actually that bad but i cannot deal with not controlling every and each character in a turn based combat game so theres that
i do also recommend the undub which is done really well they also added some subtitles to the cutscenes they put work in that so yeah just try it out maybe it is for you
anyhow the other elephant in the room is tartarus now we need to make a detour for a moment i do think tartarus is actually the oddest dungeon out of the 3 different personas the ones in persona 4 are actually pretty interesting because theyre character specific and (for what ive seen) persona 5 also has some character specific dungeons that look absolutely fucking gorgeous but as much as ive seen mementos or whatever its name is works the same as tartarus
now do i think tartarus is bad ? no . i probably had less fun in it than in p4 and p5 dungeons but that doesnt mean its bad the first blocks arent that interesting but the more you actually ascend into it the more the floors start getting interesting like the psychedelic one is such an highlight i had so much fun in it it makes absolutely no sense and the final block is real thematically consistent to the rest of the game
while i definitely do understand where the most of the people here are coming from i also believe that theres definitely a huge chance that they are people who only played persona 5 because yknow its the most popular game in the smt franchise ever and of course tartarus was gonna get this kind of treatment since yeah its rudimentary its monotonous and its tedious BUT i still love it to hell and back slowly ascending the entire tower is such a joy that i cannot honestly think about this game without actually thinking about tartarus farming over and over and over again
now still talking about gameplay as a whole this is still the first persona to actually include the SoL/RPG elements which means its yes very simple but not because of that less effective doing the social links honing your 3 skills exploring the town buying stuff discovering new events doing side quests and shit actually makes for a really interesting gameplay loop that feels rewarding in the long run im not gonna lie that this still feels like stone age persona loop but again they had to start somewhere for the love of christ
in general i think the gameplay is such a blast and people who dont agree are dipshits and dont deserve shinjiros huge fat fucking cock thats honestly such a shame for as much as i want to criticise these decisions i actually have 100 contrasting reasons to actually say the opposite which means that every single hater of this game can suck my balls kissessssssssssss
a real shocker here will be the fact that yes persona 3 also has some super slick art direction now we all know and love the art direction in p5 even though at this point it feels like thats the only game that has an art direction but i digress (it is some of the best art direction ive ever seen though,,,,,,,, ngl) and i definitely can see a lot of care being put into this one the artworks of the characters are some of my favorites in the entire scope of videogames the models of the city are great every single persona is detailed as shit and the vibes of the entire game are absolutely unmatched and when you also add a bomb UI and art style you have the winning formula of the century and to not even talk about the entire ost department which is honestly as thick as it can get now im not gonna put 100 songs in the hyperlink because im trying to be more humble and lose less time in my life time is precious everybody
that to say that im gonna put just one song and my favorite in the entire playlist is changing seasons(https://youtu.be/ONsRqzQUeoo?si=6uDeTBnNrZiLwlkS) its such a sick track what the hell but as youll already know theres not really a single tracks that goes off the mark every single song is infused with a lot of hip hop vibes and enhance the entire experience to another level entirely
while i definitely feel that these are absolute strong points for the game i still do think that a lot of the best elements sit right into the story department and in particular the characters and interactions
the story definitely takes a real slowdown real soon in the game but as soon as like half a year passes youre gonna get plot twist after plot twist after plot twist boom boom boom one after the other im not gonna lie and this would probably fall flat if it werent for the gorgeous cast of characters
theres some that i like more and some that i like less i genuinely think shinjiro and akihiko are my lifelong companions im literally so in love with them i feel like im gonna pass out in particular shinjiro every time i think about him something in my pants swells i dont know guys im 10 and inexperienced should i take the gay test on trustworthy gay test sites online what do we think
so that to say that shinji and aki are my husbands i love how they both interact with each other and i love their archetypes so im definitely biased in the fact that i love boys i love boxer boys who can fuck my face up and fuck my ass up and i also like gloomy boys who dont want none to do with the outside world and social interactions shinjiro this game is literally based on social interactions stop being afuckinng cunt
i love them dearly
mind you even though those 2 are the loml i definitely have a lot of affection for my sweet little troubled yukari who feigns confidence through sass and a lot of ass mitsuru is literally the dominatrix of my dreams her persona has a whip and if that isnt a real indicator of her sexual tendencies idk what is junpei is my sweet little sunshine and while he can be a dickhead sometimes theres definitely a lot to his character than it meets the eye aigis is my baby i gave birth to her and im not gonna let anybody get near her ever in my entire life i love koromaru with the deepest parts of my heart and theres nothing that will change the fact that hes the bestest boy ever and ken is a good kid !!! i think and fuuka is still such a mystery to me but i definitely love her a damn lot maybe i dont know as much about her as i want to since i forgot to complete her social link teehee dont @ me mitsuru had the priority yall
as much as i love all of them im still pretty sad that in the original game you can only do social links with the girls in the party like who THE FUCK thought that was a good idea can i PLEASE suck shinjiros dick or do i need to pay a nsfw cosplayer on twitter to do that im not joking im gonna do that so thats sort of a let down and anyway the social links that are present here cant really compensate the absence of the main party to the whole meal like the school mates are fun like theres the gerontophile into milfs, walmart ryuji with a broken leg + his team manager whose social link i didnt finish so i have no pun, an immigrant that really feels kind of japanesephobic somehow, a timid girl whos scared of boys but also cant wait to suck dick, a son of a doctor who wants to be an artist but actually changes idea after a sitcom type of chain of events, a girl whose parents really need a fucking divorce, an athlete (thats his whole personality), a guy that i really hate so i fucking ignored aka the emperor, an online friend who actually is the most random character of the entire game and also a good excuse to put some persona 2 cameos, a guy with bulimia im not actually making fun of this one its actually pretty serious /gen, a monk who decided to follow buddha instead of pussy but then changes directions again because yknow pussy juice, a conniving businessman who wants to actually make you his apprentice, a couple with a a ,,,,, a d ea d umh a dead son umh wait i thought social links were supposed to be fun wait wait what and UGHHHHHHHHHHHHH WE DONT TALK ABOUT THE SUN ARCANA PLEASE
so as i was saying social links are some of the most inspired parts of the entire game and its such a shame that most of the time you wont see each and every one of them because yknow time management and shit but thats also the cool thing about persona you can do whatever the fuck you want and actually pursuit the stuff you actually want to see finished like i made my life work around the mitsuru social link and i studied my fucking ass off just to have a glimpse of her ginormous puthey thats what humans actually do so why the fuck not
so i guess im gonna get into spoiler territory now so SPOILER ALERT DONT READ ETC ETC
i genuinely love the fact that this game is surrounded by death everywhere its themes are some of the thickest and more real arguments to ever talk about and every single character conveys this kind of story to hell and back everyone in SEES actually had to face the pain of losing a beloved one mitsuru and yukari have to deal with the loss of a father ken misses his mother everyday akihiko is still grieving for the death of his little sister junpei is still traumatised by losing his loved one in a second and all of them are still trying to make sense of the departure of shinjiro DONT GET ME STARTED ON SHINJIRO DYING BECAUSE UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH LORD
death is a thing that permeates all life and it takes BALLS to actually make a game that is surrounded by death everywhere story beats remind you that the world is dying every character is actually trying to make sense to the world around them and even the social links have a lot to say about life as a whole
theres some other games that tackle these themes im not gonna pretend persona 3 is the only game which has memento mori as its main theme but i cannot overstate enough how beautifully composed every single story line and emotional breakdown to actually drive home this series of events that have a lot to say about our world and how we live in it
the final stretch of the game with the near apocalypse is probably my favorite part due to the fact that every single character is using their grief as a mean to move on theyre trying to use all their suffering as a way to become powerful against a common threat that threatens life itself and while i think the nyx boss fight can be a bit of a pain to go through it has to be said that is so thematically rich that i cannot hate it for any reason in the world ever
and to this day the ending makes me bawl my eyes OUT you know what this game has not the most heartbreaking ending in the world in a shocking sense the slow and steady demise of the main character can be seen even from a few days before but when its all done youre left with you yourself aigis crying for you your friends grieving and all the memories you made together till now seeping through the cracks of you consciousness
while i do agree this is the most 2000s emo tumblr storyline ive ever witnessed it is told so beautifully that it honestly touched my heart theres not really a lot that i can say about this game apart from please play it and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make it through the ending of the sun arcana you will be left with no regrets and a lots of tears youre advised listen to me it is definitely such an emotional social link and possibly the best social link of the entire franchise im not gonna lie here wow
the ending of the game is as heart wrenching as it can get and really encapsulates the entire experience in a like 3 days theres a lot of weird things that i can say about this game maybe the fact that there arent controllable characters is weird or the fact that it is as melodramatic as it can get the gameflow is pretty slow you can go an entire month without any story beat whatsoever and i wish shinjiro was still in the party but thats something that i will experience when i will play p3p
as much as this is not a perfect game i can attest to the fact that this is a perfect game in my eyes every single element of it comes together to create such an unforgettable experience that i didnt find anywhere else in the media p4 and p5 still have the flair and drama of this one but its definitely toned down for some other elements of psychological matter but to this day the way the theme of death is treated in this one
please please please please please check this one out and if possible play the original FES release not that portable isnt good but i think this is the way this game should be experienced (for the first time at least) and with all its gripes i still think this is as good as it gets
cant fucking wait for the FUCKING REMAKE LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORD
i still have to play the answer tho
sometimes in the past i had played persona 3 fes and it was definitely the highlight of my life till that moment if i gotta be honest and im really happy to see that nothing really changed from that time i still love every single part of this game i love every single character and i cant really say anything bad for this experience that is as tight and incredible as everybody says and i genuinely cannot believe how breathtaking it can be after so many years from the original release of the game
its been a while since i actually explored this entry in the persona franchise and even though this is definitely a step down from p4 and p5 this can still sit rightfully at the top of the trilogy to this day this is still my favorite entry in the spin off series and while i also love p1 and p2 for what they have to offer i definitely still have a sweet spot for this game above the others in the series
im pretty sure everybody knows what this game is about as of nowadays but i just gonna talk about it anyway like people actually asked me to elaborate on my love for this game so i will definitely do that
persona 3 stars a guy transferring to a new school and for some different reasons he ends up in a squad of different people trying to fight off enemies called shadows in a structure called tartarus during an hidden hour after midnight called the dark hour (theres a lot of different terminology alright) where people get some into some weird ??? coffins ??? and actually escalates into something called the apathy syndrome where people become weirdly lobotomised or something of the like and to do that they have to use the power of personas
now personas are basically demons from shin megami tensei recontextualised to actually be used in this series as “another you” and usually just take the form of mythological creatures or deities or shit like that now you know im a big fan of shin megami tensei and its general sense of design so of course i was gonna love this iteration
thats the general incipit of the whole game and while this is definitely the main story theres a lot lying below the surface that needs to be explored
persona 3 fes is famously divided like every other game in the franchise (apart from 1 and 2 skull face) in 2 different sections where you either have some slice of life story high school events and turns into a jrpg in the night segments where you have to fight off the different shadows and ascend tartarus in the hope of a better tomorrow
basically what happens is that you gotta finish the game in a single year (omg atelier ???) and what happens is that during the day you can do social links with different characters that are basically segments where you hang out with people and this is gonna make the arcana social link go up and each single level will actually make the personae of the same arcana way more powerful when you fuse them so theres basically a lot of nuance to this but more on this later
persona still borrows a lot from shin megami tensei and this is actually seen in the fact that the main mechanic of the game is recruiting and fusing demons which is a fucking blast every time even though you cant choose the skills the demon is going to inherit and that makes me actually suicidal ngl like you want me to create the best persona ever and make me inherit marin karin are you actually out of your mind what the fuck honestly this is something that makes me go buck wild in older smt games like why would you make me redo and redo the same persona combinations until i can get some good inherited skills do you just want to purposefully make me angry cmon atlus dont fuck with me rn
while i definitely have some gripes with the gameplay elements i still have a lot of love for it the jrpg elements are super tight fusing personas is fun as hell the combat that still has the basic smt principle of exploiting weaknesses actually makes the game even juicier with the 1 more mechanic + the all out attack its just so fucking good its incredible and since youre gonna do this for like 80+ hours at least this needs to be some degree of fun its just a simple and quick way to finish battles off and this still have some of the classic smt flair in the fact that if youre pretty unlucky and the rng wants to fuck you up you can get demons actually doing mahamaon and killing every single party member or like crit and crit and crit until you bite the dust funnily enough
lets address the elephant in the room though while i still think p3fes is actually the safest choice i have a huge fucking problem with it: you cant control party members which fucking sucks because im adhd and need to use my controller at all times or else i get fidgety and THATS WHY i ended up using the controllable characters patch (and also the undub patch dont @ me i hate english VA i dont know in how many more reviews i got to say this) and while i definitely think this is the way to go i had a lot of game breaking bugs during battles because of course it was gonna get buggy because you know they basically recoded shit or something i have no idea how this works so yeah i mean i had to do a lot of save states and even when i actually made some save states i was dumb enough to actually save in critical moments so i had to wipe like 3 hours of progress sometimes that to say that TO ME it was actually a god sent addition but it is to be said that these are the conditions of the patch i dont really think the original AI party is actually that bad but i cannot deal with not controlling every and each character in a turn based combat game so theres that
i do also recommend the undub which is done really well they also added some subtitles to the cutscenes they put work in that so yeah just try it out maybe it is for you
anyhow the other elephant in the room is tartarus now we need to make a detour for a moment i do think tartarus is actually the oddest dungeon out of the 3 different personas the ones in persona 4 are actually pretty interesting because theyre character specific and (for what ive seen) persona 5 also has some character specific dungeons that look absolutely fucking gorgeous but as much as ive seen mementos or whatever its name is works the same as tartarus
now do i think tartarus is bad ? no . i probably had less fun in it than in p4 and p5 dungeons but that doesnt mean its bad the first blocks arent that interesting but the more you actually ascend into it the more the floors start getting interesting like the psychedelic one is such an highlight i had so much fun in it it makes absolutely no sense and the final block is real thematically consistent to the rest of the game
while i definitely do understand where the most of the people here are coming from i also believe that theres definitely a huge chance that they are people who only played persona 5 because yknow its the most popular game in the smt franchise ever and of course tartarus was gonna get this kind of treatment since yeah its rudimentary its monotonous and its tedious BUT i still love it to hell and back slowly ascending the entire tower is such a joy that i cannot honestly think about this game without actually thinking about tartarus farming over and over and over again
now still talking about gameplay as a whole this is still the first persona to actually include the SoL/RPG elements which means its yes very simple but not because of that less effective doing the social links honing your 3 skills exploring the town buying stuff discovering new events doing side quests and shit actually makes for a really interesting gameplay loop that feels rewarding in the long run im not gonna lie that this still feels like stone age persona loop but again they had to start somewhere for the love of christ
in general i think the gameplay is such a blast and people who dont agree are dipshits and dont deserve shinjiros huge fat fucking cock thats honestly such a shame for as much as i want to criticise these decisions i actually have 100 contrasting reasons to actually say the opposite which means that every single hater of this game can suck my balls kissessssssssssss
a real shocker here will be the fact that yes persona 3 also has some super slick art direction now we all know and love the art direction in p5 even though at this point it feels like thats the only game that has an art direction but i digress (it is some of the best art direction ive ever seen though,,,,,,,, ngl) and i definitely can see a lot of care being put into this one the artworks of the characters are some of my favorites in the entire scope of videogames the models of the city are great every single persona is detailed as shit and the vibes of the entire game are absolutely unmatched and when you also add a bomb UI and art style you have the winning formula of the century and to not even talk about the entire ost department which is honestly as thick as it can get now im not gonna put 100 songs in the hyperlink because im trying to be more humble and lose less time in my life time is precious everybody
that to say that im gonna put just one song and my favorite in the entire playlist is changing seasons(https://youtu.be/ONsRqzQUeoo?si=6uDeTBnNrZiLwlkS) its such a sick track what the hell but as youll already know theres not really a single tracks that goes off the mark every single song is infused with a lot of hip hop vibes and enhance the entire experience to another level entirely
while i definitely feel that these are absolute strong points for the game i still do think that a lot of the best elements sit right into the story department and in particular the characters and interactions
the story definitely takes a real slowdown real soon in the game but as soon as like half a year passes youre gonna get plot twist after plot twist after plot twist boom boom boom one after the other im not gonna lie and this would probably fall flat if it werent for the gorgeous cast of characters
theres some that i like more and some that i like less i genuinely think shinjiro and akihiko are my lifelong companions im literally so in love with them i feel like im gonna pass out in particular shinjiro every time i think about him something in my pants swells i dont know guys im 10 and inexperienced should i take the gay test on trustworthy gay test sites online what do we think
so that to say that shinji and aki are my husbands i love how they both interact with each other and i love their archetypes so im definitely biased in the fact that i love boys i love boxer boys who can fuck my face up and fuck my ass up and i also like gloomy boys who dont want none to do with the outside world and social interactions shinjiro this game is literally based on social interactions stop being afuckinng cunt
i love them dearly
mind you even though those 2 are the loml i definitely have a lot of affection for my sweet little troubled yukari who feigns confidence through sass and a lot of ass mitsuru is literally the dominatrix of my dreams her persona has a whip and if that isnt a real indicator of her sexual tendencies idk what is junpei is my sweet little sunshine and while he can be a dickhead sometimes theres definitely a lot to his character than it meets the eye aigis is my baby i gave birth to her and im not gonna let anybody get near her ever in my entire life i love koromaru with the deepest parts of my heart and theres nothing that will change the fact that hes the bestest boy ever and ken is a good kid !!! i think and fuuka is still such a mystery to me but i definitely love her a damn lot maybe i dont know as much about her as i want to since i forgot to complete her social link teehee dont @ me mitsuru had the priority yall
as much as i love all of them im still pretty sad that in the original game you can only do social links with the girls in the party like who THE FUCK thought that was a good idea can i PLEASE suck shinjiros dick or do i need to pay a nsfw cosplayer on twitter to do that im not joking im gonna do that so thats sort of a let down and anyway the social links that are present here cant really compensate the absence of the main party to the whole meal like the school mates are fun like theres the gerontophile into milfs, walmart ryuji with a broken leg + his team manager whose social link i didnt finish so i have no pun, an immigrant that really feels kind of japanesephobic somehow, a timid girl whos scared of boys but also cant wait to suck dick, a son of a doctor who wants to be an artist but actually changes idea after a sitcom type of chain of events, a girl whose parents really need a fucking divorce, an athlete (thats his whole personality), a guy that i really hate so i fucking ignored aka the emperor, an online friend who actually is the most random character of the entire game and also a good excuse to put some persona 2 cameos, a guy with bulimia im not actually making fun of this one its actually pretty serious /gen, a monk who decided to follow buddha instead of pussy but then changes directions again because yknow pussy juice, a conniving businessman who wants to actually make you his apprentice, a couple with a a ,,,,, a d ea d umh a dead son umh wait i thought social links were supposed to be fun wait wait what and UGHHHHHHHHHHHHH WE DONT TALK ABOUT THE SUN ARCANA PLEASE
so as i was saying social links are some of the most inspired parts of the entire game and its such a shame that most of the time you wont see each and every one of them because yknow time management and shit but thats also the cool thing about persona you can do whatever the fuck you want and actually pursuit the stuff you actually want to see finished like i made my life work around the mitsuru social link and i studied my fucking ass off just to have a glimpse of her ginormous puthey thats what humans actually do so why the fuck not
so i guess im gonna get into spoiler territory now so SPOILER ALERT DONT READ ETC ETC
i genuinely love the fact that this game is surrounded by death everywhere its themes are some of the thickest and more real arguments to ever talk about and every single character conveys this kind of story to hell and back everyone in SEES actually had to face the pain of losing a beloved one mitsuru and yukari have to deal with the loss of a father ken misses his mother everyday akihiko is still grieving for the death of his little sister junpei is still traumatised by losing his loved one in a second and all of them are still trying to make sense of the departure of shinjiro DONT GET ME STARTED ON SHINJIRO DYING BECAUSE UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH LORD
death is a thing that permeates all life and it takes BALLS to actually make a game that is surrounded by death everywhere story beats remind you that the world is dying every character is actually trying to make sense to the world around them and even the social links have a lot to say about life as a whole
theres some other games that tackle these themes im not gonna pretend persona 3 is the only game which has memento mori as its main theme but i cannot overstate enough how beautifully composed every single story line and emotional breakdown to actually drive home this series of events that have a lot to say about our world and how we live in it
the final stretch of the game with the near apocalypse is probably my favorite part due to the fact that every single character is using their grief as a mean to move on theyre trying to use all their suffering as a way to become powerful against a common threat that threatens life itself and while i think the nyx boss fight can be a bit of a pain to go through it has to be said that is so thematically rich that i cannot hate it for any reason in the world ever
and to this day the ending makes me bawl my eyes OUT you know what this game has not the most heartbreaking ending in the world in a shocking sense the slow and steady demise of the main character can be seen even from a few days before but when its all done youre left with you yourself aigis crying for you your friends grieving and all the memories you made together till now seeping through the cracks of you consciousness
while i do agree this is the most 2000s emo tumblr storyline ive ever witnessed it is told so beautifully that it honestly touched my heart theres not really a lot that i can say about this game apart from please play it and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make it through the ending of the sun arcana you will be left with no regrets and a lots of tears youre advised listen to me it is definitely such an emotional social link and possibly the best social link of the entire franchise im not gonna lie here wow
the ending of the game is as heart wrenching as it can get and really encapsulates the entire experience in a like 3 days theres a lot of weird things that i can say about this game maybe the fact that there arent controllable characters is weird or the fact that it is as melodramatic as it can get the gameflow is pretty slow you can go an entire month without any story beat whatsoever and i wish shinjiro was still in the party but thats something that i will experience when i will play p3p
as much as this is not a perfect game i can attest to the fact that this is a perfect game in my eyes every single element of it comes together to create such an unforgettable experience that i didnt find anywhere else in the media p4 and p5 still have the flair and drama of this one but its definitely toned down for some other elements of psychological matter but to this day the way the theme of death is treated in this one
please please please please please check this one out and if possible play the original FES release not that portable isnt good but i think this is the way this game should be experienced (for the first time at least) and with all its gripes i still think this is as good as it gets
cant fucking wait for the FUCKING REMAKE LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORD
i still have to play the answer tho
Silent Hill 3
2003
Being a dude is kind of a W tbh
The Evil Within 2
2017
“the first game is better” pleb filter
real talk tho its pretty interesting that i actually ended up enjoying this one as much as i did since it actually seems to be one very controversial sequel to the first game now i liked the first game i didnt think it was a masterpiece neither some junk it was a fun experience altogether with some pretty interesting storybeats here and there and an elite gameplay route sure when you play it you realise everything is held back with duck tape and the best thing in the game is staring at sebastian being hot
that being said a lot of people hated this installment in the series for the stupid reason that is: the series got shall i say AAA-ed which is a word that makes no sense and I just made it up but its pretty funny looking its just like elon musks son yknow xanax something so i was saying the entire experience got overhauled and streamlined the game has the same structure as base skeleton but it actually “improves” on different things like the weird uncohesiveness of the original game and the huge amount of times youre gonna die due to the fuck ton of traps and gimmicky segments but then it also updated a lot of what made the combat as good as it was and they actually made the entire experience more cohesive both in the gameplay department AND in the story department and even better they made sebastian so fucking hot i was barking the entire time sebastian im literally a hole to be filled im so sorry for your wife and daughter but the stones say im overdue for a creampie
and people complained
so if you didnt get it i absolutely fucking loved this game like it made me absolutely enthralled for the entirety of it and i do really believe its a great update to the originals idea and vision
they trashed the linear progression for some open hub type of gameplay where you can do some scavenging for ammo and materials or kill some enemies around or even complete some side quests if you want sure this is not a openworld typa game but it actually made the chapters way more fluid you may be in the bathroom in a diarrhea cutscene and the game would say chapter 7 its pretty good now im not that big of a fun for side quests but for some reason i ended up doing most of them maybe actually all of them due to the fact that they would give you more weapons or items or gel and shit oh yeah the upgrade system is back and I NEEDED that gel because skill trees give me some kind of serotonin
meeting tatiana or going at the working table you can upgrade basically everything weapons constitution damage storage healing items create ammos or new arms you can actually do whatever the fuck you want maybe even more than in the first game and this is absolutely fucking fun its insane how addicting it is to just update every single skill for sebastian idk maybe im just too adhd that could also be the reason and i also put everything in the running stamina because i need to run always in every single moment or i will die same thing i did with breath of the wild
so the gameplay is still fun lets go
this games cinematic approach at the source material is stunning theres a lot of good scenes and sceneries all around to the point that the first act with stefano being the main villain was probably the best part it has a lot of stunning camera shots and color schemes and themes of art and beauty altogether and the places are great (actually preferred the first games schizophrenic locations but thats alright) and the enemies are cool as shit and it sure as hell got into the great technological advancement to the point that sebastian is a fucking snack i cannot believe i cant suck this guys dick irl i hate fictional men so much they make my expectations so high i wont ever touch another human being again sebastian im very free and very freaky+
so i was saying enemies yeah maybe i actually preferred the original ones and maybe the developers do too because theres a whole sequence that reenacts scenes from the first game and youre like omg the spider girl swoons so whatever but some highlights are the big girl with the chainsaw thats one of the freakiest designs ive ever seen and the final boss but i cant talk about that rn because its time for story
so the story SPOILER I actually liked it more because I love the sad dad trope trying to save his daughter or whatever so basically it's just the evil within ² as in youre gonna get in the STEM ² and save your little girl because somehow fate wants that shes essential for the new machine or whatever so go in there do some stuff see that the fictional town is going buck wild and kill some bitches
the first act with stefano as I said is defo the highlight of the entire plotline since after that it slowly just becomes some kind of excuse for sebastians wife to be the somehow villain of the entire story even putting the priest and the entirety of mobius aside
sure the whole "I actually did it for our daughters sake" trope for the mother character can get tiring after a while but I LOVE it they really outdid that part of the game with some flashbacks here and there to thicken the emotional connection between sebastian and his family and actually making you care for these people that in the first game were just names in random collectible papers and thats where this all shines you see a broken family due to external causes and that also led to internal conflicts between them which is always really good since it reminds me of home :3 anyway yeah sure it's not really the biggest twist or plot point ever I need to be real with you while talking about this since I do absolutely love this kind of stories but I guess for some people the cheese is too much for them or whatever
that being said the priest arc is over pretty quickly and doesn't leave a strong impression after stefano being the true heart of the game and the final act with The Wife I forgot her name being the villain is actually pretty tight super packed with combat and story elements that culminates in possibly one of my favorite final bosses ever in the history of videogames its so fucking simple and has no particular gimmick to it but that's what makes it SOOOOO GOOOOOOD and also the design of the entire boss is just top notch absolutely incredible monster design and also its pretty telling that this woman is the cum demon since I'd also be full of cum if I was sebastians wife thank you everybody for listening to me have a nice day
the ending is cheesy enough probably shed a few tears sure it's pretty predictable that somebody would've been left behind I was putting my money on sebastian then I remembered there wouldn't be a the evil within 3 so I shifted my POV and yeah the wife is the only character left so there you go mind you this is not like the greatest crying moment I've had in my life that one's for explorers of sky and maybe masterpiece adastra furry vn but it sure delivered an emotional conclusion to the whole tale
oh yeah and also kidman is here and she's back to being badass (i don't really care for her im sorry fans)
soooooooo probably not what a lot of people wanted from a the evil within sequel but definitely really synced with me on a lot of planes spiritual AND physical boners caused by sebastian castellanos don't go easy on you just gonna leave this in the open as fair warning for anyone willing to listen
definitely not a perfect game and if I glance at this installment in an objective manner the seams are gonna come apart but I fucking love this junk this is exactly the garbage that I love and adore and I wont listen to anyone say the first game is better because I have no counterargument and I WILL cry on you
trust you will be dealt with period period
sebastian im stretching my hole BTW my address is
real talk tho its pretty interesting that i actually ended up enjoying this one as much as i did since it actually seems to be one very controversial sequel to the first game now i liked the first game i didnt think it was a masterpiece neither some junk it was a fun experience altogether with some pretty interesting storybeats here and there and an elite gameplay route sure when you play it you realise everything is held back with duck tape and the best thing in the game is staring at sebastian being hot
that being said a lot of people hated this installment in the series for the stupid reason that is: the series got shall i say AAA-ed which is a word that makes no sense and I just made it up but its pretty funny looking its just like elon musks son yknow xanax something so i was saying the entire experience got overhauled and streamlined the game has the same structure as base skeleton but it actually “improves” on different things like the weird uncohesiveness of the original game and the huge amount of times youre gonna die due to the fuck ton of traps and gimmicky segments but then it also updated a lot of what made the combat as good as it was and they actually made the entire experience more cohesive both in the gameplay department AND in the story department and even better they made sebastian so fucking hot i was barking the entire time sebastian im literally a hole to be filled im so sorry for your wife and daughter but the stones say im overdue for a creampie
and people complained
so if you didnt get it i absolutely fucking loved this game like it made me absolutely enthralled for the entirety of it and i do really believe its a great update to the originals idea and vision
they trashed the linear progression for some open hub type of gameplay where you can do some scavenging for ammo and materials or kill some enemies around or even complete some side quests if you want sure this is not a openworld typa game but it actually made the chapters way more fluid you may be in the bathroom in a diarrhea cutscene and the game would say chapter 7 its pretty good now im not that big of a fun for side quests but for some reason i ended up doing most of them maybe actually all of them due to the fact that they would give you more weapons or items or gel and shit oh yeah the upgrade system is back and I NEEDED that gel because skill trees give me some kind of serotonin
meeting tatiana or going at the working table you can upgrade basically everything weapons constitution damage storage healing items create ammos or new arms you can actually do whatever the fuck you want maybe even more than in the first game and this is absolutely fucking fun its insane how addicting it is to just update every single skill for sebastian idk maybe im just too adhd that could also be the reason and i also put everything in the running stamina because i need to run always in every single moment or i will die same thing i did with breath of the wild
so the gameplay is still fun lets go
this games cinematic approach at the source material is stunning theres a lot of good scenes and sceneries all around to the point that the first act with stefano being the main villain was probably the best part it has a lot of stunning camera shots and color schemes and themes of art and beauty altogether and the places are great (actually preferred the first games schizophrenic locations but thats alright) and the enemies are cool as shit and it sure as hell got into the great technological advancement to the point that sebastian is a fucking snack i cannot believe i cant suck this guys dick irl i hate fictional men so much they make my expectations so high i wont ever touch another human being again sebastian im very free and very freaky+
so i was saying enemies yeah maybe i actually preferred the original ones and maybe the developers do too because theres a whole sequence that reenacts scenes from the first game and youre like omg the spider girl swoons so whatever but some highlights are the big girl with the chainsaw thats one of the freakiest designs ive ever seen and the final boss but i cant talk about that rn because its time for story
so the story SPOILER I actually liked it more because I love the sad dad trope trying to save his daughter or whatever so basically it's just the evil within ² as in youre gonna get in the STEM ² and save your little girl because somehow fate wants that shes essential for the new machine or whatever so go in there do some stuff see that the fictional town is going buck wild and kill some bitches
the first act with stefano as I said is defo the highlight of the entire plotline since after that it slowly just becomes some kind of excuse for sebastians wife to be the somehow villain of the entire story even putting the priest and the entirety of mobius aside
sure the whole "I actually did it for our daughters sake" trope for the mother character can get tiring after a while but I LOVE it they really outdid that part of the game with some flashbacks here and there to thicken the emotional connection between sebastian and his family and actually making you care for these people that in the first game were just names in random collectible papers and thats where this all shines you see a broken family due to external causes and that also led to internal conflicts between them which is always really good since it reminds me of home :3 anyway yeah sure it's not really the biggest twist or plot point ever I need to be real with you while talking about this since I do absolutely love this kind of stories but I guess for some people the cheese is too much for them or whatever
that being said the priest arc is over pretty quickly and doesn't leave a strong impression after stefano being the true heart of the game and the final act with The Wife I forgot her name being the villain is actually pretty tight super packed with combat and story elements that culminates in possibly one of my favorite final bosses ever in the history of videogames its so fucking simple and has no particular gimmick to it but that's what makes it SOOOOO GOOOOOOD and also the design of the entire boss is just top notch absolutely incredible monster design and also its pretty telling that this woman is the cum demon since I'd also be full of cum if I was sebastians wife thank you everybody for listening to me have a nice day
the ending is cheesy enough probably shed a few tears sure it's pretty predictable that somebody would've been left behind I was putting my money on sebastian then I remembered there wouldn't be a the evil within 3 so I shifted my POV and yeah the wife is the only character left so there you go mind you this is not like the greatest crying moment I've had in my life that one's for explorers of sky and maybe masterpiece adastra furry vn but it sure delivered an emotional conclusion to the whole tale
oh yeah and also kidman is here and she's back to being badass (i don't really care for her im sorry fans)
soooooooo probably not what a lot of people wanted from a the evil within sequel but definitely really synced with me on a lot of planes spiritual AND physical boners caused by sebastian castellanos don't go easy on you just gonna leave this in the open as fair warning for anyone willing to listen
definitely not a perfect game and if I glance at this installment in an objective manner the seams are gonna come apart but I fucking love this junk this is exactly the garbage that I love and adore and I wont listen to anyone say the first game is better because I have no counterargument and I WILL cry on you
trust you will be dealt with period period
sebastian im stretching my hole BTW my address is
Killer7
2005
Still da best
so i was like omg i hope its not gonna be more stealth and guess what they put in this dlc ? exactly more stealth
this dlc is pretty interesting it focuses on kidman and kind of acts as a separate ways was for resident evil 4 you follow her journey through mobius and her babysitting job for leslie its kind of a fun addition if it wasnt for the fact that its more stealth focus and has a lot more puzzle elements than the base game
sure the gameplay its still kind of fun and has the same core at heart but being unable to use weapons was really detrimental for the experience like this girl is harmless 90% of the time please get a fucking gun sebastian finds a stupid amount of weapons and ammo around and you cant even get a fucking knife cmon now
that being said it has some cool segments and new enemy designs that are actually a fruit of the new stealth mechanics like they will glow of different colors if they are weary or if they saw you
the story is actually trying to explain better the main game but somehow it got me pretty confused im not gonna lie like some stuff actually fucked my interpretation of plot points in sebastians route and i still feel a little bit weirded out but yeah exploring kidman as a character is a fun time even though i wasnt DYING to spend more time with her and even after some hints of characterisation and trauma in her life im still kind of uninterested in her but the sound of her heels is pretty soothing and the little cat as a save point is a winning factor for me like it was for rpgmaker masterpiece the witch house
so idk i guess this is a nice addition for how long it is and sheds some light to some events of the base game with some crossing scenes between her path and sebastians and that boss fight was definitely an highlight
again i saw them hint some kind of character study and some major plot twists in the second part of the dlc so im pretty excited stay tuned
this dlc is pretty interesting it focuses on kidman and kind of acts as a separate ways was for resident evil 4 you follow her journey through mobius and her babysitting job for leslie its kind of a fun addition if it wasnt for the fact that its more stealth focus and has a lot more puzzle elements than the base game
sure the gameplay its still kind of fun and has the same core at heart but being unable to use weapons was really detrimental for the experience like this girl is harmless 90% of the time please get a fucking gun sebastian finds a stupid amount of weapons and ammo around and you cant even get a fucking knife cmon now
that being said it has some cool segments and new enemy designs that are actually a fruit of the new stealth mechanics like they will glow of different colors if they are weary or if they saw you
the story is actually trying to explain better the main game but somehow it got me pretty confused im not gonna lie like some stuff actually fucked my interpretation of plot points in sebastians route and i still feel a little bit weirded out but yeah exploring kidman as a character is a fun time even though i wasnt DYING to spend more time with her and even after some hints of characterisation and trauma in her life im still kind of uninterested in her but the sound of her heels is pretty soothing and the little cat as a save point is a winning factor for me like it was for rpgmaker masterpiece the witch house
so idk i guess this is a nice addition for how long it is and sheds some light to some events of the base game with some crossing scenes between her path and sebastians and that boss fight was definitely an highlight
again i saw them hint some kind of character study and some major plot twists in the second part of the dlc so im pretty excited stay tuned
The Evil Within
2014
i was basically gaslighted into playing this game since bioshock was the favorite series of a friend of mine so i was like why not just marathon it and after finishing that one this friend went umh ok actually so the evil within also is one of my favorite game ever so me being a people pleaser a i was like yes maam ,,,,,,, onto it
and here we are
now ive been looking for a horror game that could really make me want to tear my heart out due to the scary shit that happens but im still unable to find it so did the evil within make me shit my pants ??????? no !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! im so tired of people saying “horror game” when in reality its just an action game with horror aesthetic like youre telling me resident evil is scary as fuck and i completely lose interest in your argument (resident evil village has some haunting segments tho will give you that)
so yeah yet again i gotta say this game isnt a good “horror” game the atmosphere isnt the most claustrophobic or thick one and the focus on action elements make it really clear that the direction the game is gonna go its just an action game with some degree of horror elements and even there its more of a gore aesthetic than a horror one apart from some really specific enemies that are genuinely some really disgusting degree of body horror
so actually talking about the game itself the evil within is something that i wasnt expecting to like as much as i did im not a huge fan of these kinds of games unless theyre resident evil so when i also heard the director of this one is shinji mikami who famously also directed resident evil 4 i was sure this was gonna lend a lot of narrative and gameplay elements from that game for better or for worse and sure this did not reach the higher highs of re4 but its sure a good experience nonetheless
something that really struck me as interesting in this one is how much care was put into the themes and general aesthetic of the game to the point that even though youre gonna traverse a wide variety of environments (something that i really liked lets be real theres a hospital a cemetery a collapsing city a forest some sewers a castle a haunted house a laboratory theres some serious attention to detail in every single one of them) theres sure some sense of cohesion altogether and that really sold the game for me i was a huge fan of the cinematographic black bars during the game but after a while i genuinely needed a good amount of time to really use the limited amount of screen so whatever
that being said yeah im a huge fucking fan of this games entire art direction and while i think the characters are bland both in a character design standpoint and also a character development standpoint the enemies are really such a great fucking compromise and somehow get more and more similar to silent hill fiends than resident evil ones with all the body horror i told you about youre gonna feast your eyes on countless limbs lots of mucus and blood and a wide variety and definitely too much decomposed skin the zombies you find at the beginning are the the most safe designs since theyre sure gonna get freaky real quick like the multi hands black hair gal is a highlight and the box heads are really a statement of how much men with heavy metal on their heads are super hot and fuckable im looking at you pyramid head
the gamefllow is nice i was not a huge fan of the stealth elements since i usually suck at them but when you get in the meat of the gameplay which plays a lot like resident evil 4 its really interesting you get a lot of weapons and you can upgrade your stats and the weapons through the use of some loot you get all around and after defeating enemies now this is pretty interesting and again in general fucking these bitches up is always a treat but there were some points here and there in the game so tricky just for the point of being annoying like segments with a lot of traps ot scenes that will always result in a game over the first time you play them because you dont know what you have to do or some enemies that can oneshot you its not always a tranquil descent into madness i gotta say but its still fun to play i cant really lie to you some deaths are irritating but quite fun nonetheless
bosses are also pretty great which is something that i cant really say for many other action horror games sure they also have some weird gimmicks sometimes but its not too bad anyway and they got some bomb designs that final boss was such a treat i had so much fun
so apart from sebastian being kinda hot but this is not the right time to thirst on him since here hes kind of ugly but who wasnt in the ps3 times so yeah hes still an interesting protagonist doesnt have as much of a psychological insight as much as i wanted to even though the game allegedly dabbles into psychological territory but it was more of an external kind of psychological type of narrative than character study which is fine by me maybe the evil within 2 apart from making sebastian super hot and breedable (we are gonna get there in that games review) it will also give me some more insight into his person
that being said i still like what i see hes serious and funny and hes already done with the whole zombie apocalypse after 10 minutes from the beginning of the game and honestly ? can relate
last but not least the story SPOILER TERRITORY YALL
i was not a huge fan of the story in the beginning i knew it was gonna get into psychological type of horror but still the pacing was kind of slow and i was not that interested in the characters if im being honest kidman is barely there joseph is schizophrenic and confusing a character the doctor sucks as a person and as a narrative point and leslie is mentally ill what do you want me to say
ruvik was a weird case because one thing that i really hate in horror stuff is the superpowers it make the entire point of building tension and dread absolutely useless like i was getting invested in the story and this guy would just show up and do some star wars ass moves come on is this the best you can do now i understand he can do the stuff that he does because its all a simulation and hes like the god of the simulation but still if you just give some characters superpowers i already lost half the interest like what happened to physically overpowered monsters or psychologically haunting disorders you can do better
so yeah the entire premise was kind of shit for me but the more i went on the more i liked how the story unfolded they really gave it a nice twist and the entire realization that i was all a simulation in their minds retrospectively explains a lot of stuff that happens throughout the campaign so i really cannot complain about it and anyway i still had a good time all the way through so i guess i can excuse some kamehameha typa plotpoint
good shit i dont know if im gonna play the DLCs for this game but im definitely gonna check out the second game to get a piece of that castellanos ass in tight trousers
and here we are
now ive been looking for a horror game that could really make me want to tear my heart out due to the scary shit that happens but im still unable to find it so did the evil within make me shit my pants ??????? no !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! im so tired of people saying “horror game” when in reality its just an action game with horror aesthetic like youre telling me resident evil is scary as fuck and i completely lose interest in your argument (resident evil village has some haunting segments tho will give you that)
so yeah yet again i gotta say this game isnt a good “horror” game the atmosphere isnt the most claustrophobic or thick one and the focus on action elements make it really clear that the direction the game is gonna go its just an action game with some degree of horror elements and even there its more of a gore aesthetic than a horror one apart from some really specific enemies that are genuinely some really disgusting degree of body horror
so actually talking about the game itself the evil within is something that i wasnt expecting to like as much as i did im not a huge fan of these kinds of games unless theyre resident evil so when i also heard the director of this one is shinji mikami who famously also directed resident evil 4 i was sure this was gonna lend a lot of narrative and gameplay elements from that game for better or for worse and sure this did not reach the higher highs of re4 but its sure a good experience nonetheless
something that really struck me as interesting in this one is how much care was put into the themes and general aesthetic of the game to the point that even though youre gonna traverse a wide variety of environments (something that i really liked lets be real theres a hospital a cemetery a collapsing city a forest some sewers a castle a haunted house a laboratory theres some serious attention to detail in every single one of them) theres sure some sense of cohesion altogether and that really sold the game for me i was a huge fan of the cinematographic black bars during the game but after a while i genuinely needed a good amount of time to really use the limited amount of screen so whatever
that being said yeah im a huge fucking fan of this games entire art direction and while i think the characters are bland both in a character design standpoint and also a character development standpoint the enemies are really such a great fucking compromise and somehow get more and more similar to silent hill fiends than resident evil ones with all the body horror i told you about youre gonna feast your eyes on countless limbs lots of mucus and blood and a wide variety and definitely too much decomposed skin the zombies you find at the beginning are the the most safe designs since theyre sure gonna get freaky real quick like the multi hands black hair gal is a highlight and the box heads are really a statement of how much men with heavy metal on their heads are super hot and fuckable im looking at you pyramid head
the gamefllow is nice i was not a huge fan of the stealth elements since i usually suck at them but when you get in the meat of the gameplay which plays a lot like resident evil 4 its really interesting you get a lot of weapons and you can upgrade your stats and the weapons through the use of some loot you get all around and after defeating enemies now this is pretty interesting and again in general fucking these bitches up is always a treat but there were some points here and there in the game so tricky just for the point of being annoying like segments with a lot of traps ot scenes that will always result in a game over the first time you play them because you dont know what you have to do or some enemies that can oneshot you its not always a tranquil descent into madness i gotta say but its still fun to play i cant really lie to you some deaths are irritating but quite fun nonetheless
bosses are also pretty great which is something that i cant really say for many other action horror games sure they also have some weird gimmicks sometimes but its not too bad anyway and they got some bomb designs that final boss was such a treat i had so much fun
so apart from sebastian being kinda hot but this is not the right time to thirst on him since here hes kind of ugly but who wasnt in the ps3 times so yeah hes still an interesting protagonist doesnt have as much of a psychological insight as much as i wanted to even though the game allegedly dabbles into psychological territory but it was more of an external kind of psychological type of narrative than character study which is fine by me maybe the evil within 2 apart from making sebastian super hot and breedable (we are gonna get there in that games review) it will also give me some more insight into his person
that being said i still like what i see hes serious and funny and hes already done with the whole zombie apocalypse after 10 minutes from the beginning of the game and honestly ? can relate
last but not least the story SPOILER TERRITORY YALL
i was not a huge fan of the story in the beginning i knew it was gonna get into psychological type of horror but still the pacing was kind of slow and i was not that interested in the characters if im being honest kidman is barely there joseph is schizophrenic and confusing a character the doctor sucks as a person and as a narrative point and leslie is mentally ill what do you want me to say
ruvik was a weird case because one thing that i really hate in horror stuff is the superpowers it make the entire point of building tension and dread absolutely useless like i was getting invested in the story and this guy would just show up and do some star wars ass moves come on is this the best you can do now i understand he can do the stuff that he does because its all a simulation and hes like the god of the simulation but still if you just give some characters superpowers i already lost half the interest like what happened to physically overpowered monsters or psychologically haunting disorders you can do better
so yeah the entire premise was kind of shit for me but the more i went on the more i liked how the story unfolded they really gave it a nice twist and the entire realization that i was all a simulation in their minds retrospectively explains a lot of stuff that happens throughout the campaign so i really cannot complain about it and anyway i still had a good time all the way through so i guess i can excuse some kamehameha typa plotpoint
good shit i dont know if im gonna play the DLCs for this game but im definitely gonna check out the second game to get a piece of that castellanos ass in tight trousers
Final Fantasy III
2021
you would think this would be talked about more given that this game is the source of many ideas, themes, and even item names. this is a silly video game with a silly premise and silly dialogue. your characters wear silly outfits and use a silly job system which seems to be programmed in a silly way (e.g. my "glass cannon" always had higher defense / hp / speed / atttack than my "tank" with very little job switching involved). in summary: heck yeah, FF3.
Armored Core 2
2000
It seems everyone's playing that shiny new Armored Core VI. I would be too, but my computer isn't all that great and can't really run it. You know what my PC can run though?
A PS2 Emulator.
So here we are. It may be called Armored Core 2, but it's really the fourth game in the series. With the '2' though, one may expect a little more than we got from Project Phantasma and Master of Arena. Did we get more?
Well, before we find out, I feel the need to disclose something. Anyone who has played the earlier Armored Core games know about Human+. Basically, getting deep in debt results in the player getting a permanent upgrade with the tradeoff that they restart the game. You can repeat this process several times to get more upgrades. It's a neat part of the game, and I decided to purposefully get all of the upgrades on purpose by grinding debt for an hour, simply to see what it's like. This probably made the game a decent amount easier for me than many others. The game wasn't really that hard, and while there are other reasons for that I'll get into later, it's almost certain that Human+ is part of what made the game easy.
With that out of the way, what's new to this game? The game definitely sticks close to the PS1 games, but there's a decent amount of new stuff and improvements. First, let's talk about the player's new moves and options. For me, the overboost is one of the best new improvements. Not only does it provide a quick movement option that makes duels really fun while also being another reason to carefully manage energy, but it also means that backtracking takes less time. You also activate it by pressing R3, which means you don't have to take your thumb off of the camera stick to activate it.
...Except the right stick isn't used for the camera. The left stick isn't used for movement either. The control scheme is the same as it was on the PS1. Look, I'm not against unconventional controls, but there's no logic behind the control scheme. Yeah, you can map the camera to the face buttons, but that doesn't compare to a stick. Ok, It was a PS2 launch title, I guess I can accept it. They better fix it with the next game though.
There are new part types here. For example, we have the radiator. Now, if you get hit a bunch by enemies, you begin to overheat, which drains your health. The radiator counteracts that. This is a fine mechanic, but it doesn't really add much. Not much is actually done with the radiator that a defense stat and defense optional part couldn't also accomplish from a design standpoint. This is unfortunate, because it became clear in the PS1 games each part type was unique and served a purpose, even ones you may not expect like the FCS.
There's also hover legs, which are very quick. They also hover on water, which helps for a few missions. The last big loadout additions are extensions and inside parts. These are anti-missile systems, light movement options, mines, anti-lockon systems, and other miscellaneous actions. These were neat, but I didn't use them that much because I was trying to keep my AC light. Still, there's some neat stuff here. For some reason, you have to access inside parts by pressing your 'change right weapon' button. Just a small thing, but I wish they had enough space to just have a button for it. Hmm, maybe if the camera control could be controlled with a stick or something...
So really, it's mostly the same old kind of stuff. This is fun, but I think there could've been a bit more done to improve on the customization.
Anyway, how are you going to afford these new parts? There's so much, and you don't have much disposable income when starting out. You could go do a mission, but you'll go in debt if you fail, so it might be a good idea to tackle the arena. In retrospect, while Master of Arena making the arena a focus was a good idea to differentiate it from the other PS1 games, Armored Core 2 cements the fact that it works best as a diversion that's mostly disconnected from the main game. Initially fought in the arena just to get more money without the risk of missions, but eventually I just got really engaged with it and got to Rank 1. The pacing of these missions is surprisingly good because many upcoming and defeated Ravens will taunt and encourage you respectively in mail, letting you know when a boss is coming up. Dare I say, the arena is better than the main missions here. It was really challenging and I had to consider all of my parts and the map I chose to fight on. It also led to me being super rich by the end of the game, so I could afford pretty much every part I wanted.
So what about the story missions? They're good. The level design is generally less confusing than that of the PS1 games, the missions feel varied, they're a good length, etc... Levels are overall more consistent, but I can't help but feel they're still basically the same kind of stuff as those of the PS1 games, especially since some of the missions are just remakes of missions from those games. Isn't it a bit early to be doing that guys? The game takes place on Mars, but they don't take advantage of that very often. Make a low-gravity or space mission, maybe have a big sandstorm or something, I dunno. There's a lot of missed potential.
Then there's the story. Once again, it's mostly the same kind of stuff. There is a bit more characterization when it comes to some side characters and the main villain, but it's the same main framework as previous games, except now all a lot of the more covert stuff isn't present. When I saw that the first mission in the original Armored Core tasked the player with attacking protesters, it conveyed the world of the game well. Many missions felt like they create mini-storylines too. However, that's not nearly as pronounced in this game. Apparently the Ravens are slaves or something, but this wasn't really explained well in any capacity. I was really hoping for a bit more here.
So overall, while Armored Core 2 is a pretty good game, it's just a little too similar to its predecessors for me to call it great. If you liked the PS1 games, you will probably like this, and vice versa. 7/10. I'm tackling these in order, so Another Age is next. See you then.
A PS2 Emulator.
So here we are. It may be called Armored Core 2, but it's really the fourth game in the series. With the '2' though, one may expect a little more than we got from Project Phantasma and Master of Arena. Did we get more?
Well, before we find out, I feel the need to disclose something. Anyone who has played the earlier Armored Core games know about Human+. Basically, getting deep in debt results in the player getting a permanent upgrade with the tradeoff that they restart the game. You can repeat this process several times to get more upgrades. It's a neat part of the game, and I decided to purposefully get all of the upgrades on purpose by grinding debt for an hour, simply to see what it's like. This probably made the game a decent amount easier for me than many others. The game wasn't really that hard, and while there are other reasons for that I'll get into later, it's almost certain that Human+ is part of what made the game easy.
With that out of the way, what's new to this game? The game definitely sticks close to the PS1 games, but there's a decent amount of new stuff and improvements. First, let's talk about the player's new moves and options. For me, the overboost is one of the best new improvements. Not only does it provide a quick movement option that makes duels really fun while also being another reason to carefully manage energy, but it also means that backtracking takes less time. You also activate it by pressing R3, which means you don't have to take your thumb off of the camera stick to activate it.
...Except the right stick isn't used for the camera. The left stick isn't used for movement either. The control scheme is the same as it was on the PS1. Look, I'm not against unconventional controls, but there's no logic behind the control scheme. Yeah, you can map the camera to the face buttons, but that doesn't compare to a stick. Ok, It was a PS2 launch title, I guess I can accept it. They better fix it with the next game though.
There are new part types here. For example, we have the radiator. Now, if you get hit a bunch by enemies, you begin to overheat, which drains your health. The radiator counteracts that. This is a fine mechanic, but it doesn't really add much. Not much is actually done with the radiator that a defense stat and defense optional part couldn't also accomplish from a design standpoint. This is unfortunate, because it became clear in the PS1 games each part type was unique and served a purpose, even ones you may not expect like the FCS.
There's also hover legs, which are very quick. They also hover on water, which helps for a few missions. The last big loadout additions are extensions and inside parts. These are anti-missile systems, light movement options, mines, anti-lockon systems, and other miscellaneous actions. These were neat, but I didn't use them that much because I was trying to keep my AC light. Still, there's some neat stuff here. For some reason, you have to access inside parts by pressing your 'change right weapon' button. Just a small thing, but I wish they had enough space to just have a button for it. Hmm, maybe if the camera control could be controlled with a stick or something...
So really, it's mostly the same old kind of stuff. This is fun, but I think there could've been a bit more done to improve on the customization.
Anyway, how are you going to afford these new parts? There's so much, and you don't have much disposable income when starting out. You could go do a mission, but you'll go in debt if you fail, so it might be a good idea to tackle the arena. In retrospect, while Master of Arena making the arena a focus was a good idea to differentiate it from the other PS1 games, Armored Core 2 cements the fact that it works best as a diversion that's mostly disconnected from the main game. Initially fought in the arena just to get more money without the risk of missions, but eventually I just got really engaged with it and got to Rank 1. The pacing of these missions is surprisingly good because many upcoming and defeated Ravens will taunt and encourage you respectively in mail, letting you know when a boss is coming up. Dare I say, the arena is better than the main missions here. It was really challenging and I had to consider all of my parts and the map I chose to fight on. It also led to me being super rich by the end of the game, so I could afford pretty much every part I wanted.
So what about the story missions? They're good. The level design is generally less confusing than that of the PS1 games, the missions feel varied, they're a good length, etc... Levels are overall more consistent, but I can't help but feel they're still basically the same kind of stuff as those of the PS1 games, especially since some of the missions are just remakes of missions from those games. Isn't it a bit early to be doing that guys? The game takes place on Mars, but they don't take advantage of that very often. Make a low-gravity or space mission, maybe have a big sandstorm or something, I dunno. There's a lot of missed potential.
Then there's the story. Once again, it's mostly the same kind of stuff. There is a bit more characterization when it comes to some side characters and the main villain, but it's the same main framework as previous games, except now all a lot of the more covert stuff isn't present. When I saw that the first mission in the original Armored Core tasked the player with attacking protesters, it conveyed the world of the game well. Many missions felt like they create mini-storylines too. However, that's not nearly as pronounced in this game. Apparently the Ravens are slaves or something, but this wasn't really explained well in any capacity. I was really hoping for a bit more here.
So overall, while Armored Core 2 is a pretty good game, it's just a little too similar to its predecessors for me to call it great. If you liked the PS1 games, you will probably like this, and vice versa. 7/10. I'm tackling these in order, so Another Age is next. See you then.
She Armored on my Core till i Fire from Rubicon.