Super Metroid was one of the first Metroidvanias I’ve ever played, alongside that, it was the first Metroid title I’ve ever played as well. I first got it on my 3DS back I think around 2017, and I remember absolutely loving it. I mean, it’s Super Metroid, what more is there to say on the matter? I wanted to replay Super Metroid now that I’ve gone and played the other major 2D Metroid titles, sort of coming back to where I started in a way. And even still, Super Metroid I still find to be one of the best Metroid titles, and I absolutely loved my time with replaying it.
Though I don’t play them as much as I used to, Metroidvanias are one of my favorite genres when it comes to videogames, and Super Metroid is one of the games that help create this genre. With that in mind, I bring it up because an important part of Metroidvanias that they all need to get right is level design. Metroidvanias are mazes, simply put. They’re large explorable mazes, where you can find upgrades, secrets and methods to unlock new paths and shortcuts. Making the entire world a maze provides a difficult challenge though, as it leaves you asking one important question. “How do you direct the player where to go next without outright telling them?”. And I like to think that Super Metroid does a really good job at doing so. The typical method of indirectly telling players where to go that Super Metroid does is placing enemies behind walls. I remember seeing so many rooms that I’d normally think impossible to go to, but then I see an enemy and think “that was put there for a reason”, thus I know I can probably go up there. I also remember a room where there’s a secret path in the middle of it, but you can only tell that it’s there as an enemy crawls out of it. The more I played Super Metroid, the more I noticed these subtle cues to where the game tries to direct you and I find it really impressive.
Another major aspect of Metroidvanias is the list of abilities and upgrades you can get along the way. And I don’t think I need to elaborate too much here, Samus’ list of abilities, especially in Super are downright iconic. The Morph Ball, Power Bombs, Grappling Hook, The Varia Suit, The Gravity Suit, The Screw Attack? These are practically all staple aspects of Samus’ abilities, and from what I remember, they persist from this point onwards. Super Metroid is where Samus really gets going in this regard. What I will say though is that later games do get better at the switching between Missiles and regular shots, and I do like how Super Missiles eventually become an upgrade to Missiles, instead of their own ammo source. Though then again, I love how busted the Super Missiles are, being able to destroy a lot of bosses really easily.
Speaking of bosses, Super Metroid I’d consider to have the strongest collection of bosses in the entire series. I don’t think there’s any bad bosses in this game at all, though there’s ones that are at worst, unremarkable. Though probably due to me having played this game before, I found the bosses quite easy, I only ever died once in a boss fight throughout the entire game. Even though they’re pretty easy, I still find them to provide a really fun challenge, and there’s some great presentation found in the game as well. I love how the Kraid fight is presented especially. There’s this fake out with a Mini-Kraid before you actually get to the boss arena, but when you enter the actual arena, Kraid is absolutely massive, to the point where you can never see its entirety on screen. I also really like the Crocomire fight, it’s a particularly unique one compared to the other bosses in Super Metroid, and I really like the bit that occurs after you actually defeat it. Phantoon is a fight that I love for its presentation, especially with how weird Phantoon is as a creature, but after all this time I still don’t understand how I’m actually supposed to dodge its attacks. I kinda just damage tank it. Draygon is another really fun boss, but I’ve never actually fought it then normal way. I use the secret method that requires the Grappling Hook that makes the boss ridiculously easy. While sure I’d love to fight the boss the normal way and see how it’s done, I also really like knowing this secret method. And of course of the last major bosses, Ridley is as iconic as always. Much like Phantoon I don’t really know how to dodge his attacks, but the general presence of Ridley is so threatening, and I love the build up to actually getting to the room where Ridley is at. And Sure some of the mini-bosses aren’t of particular interest, but each major boss is done in a way that I absolutely love.
Super Metroid, and Metroid as a series is particularly interesting when looking at the story of the games. In particular, aside from opening monologues, there’s very little actual dialogue within the games, but there’s still impressive stories. That really becomes noticeable in Super Metroid, with a lot of what it’s able to do. Super Metroid is able to really convey its story through music especially. The music is of course meant to set the scene, but in certain aspects, it helps convey Samus’ emotions. I find this to be very noticeable in the last part of the final fight with Mother Brain. The baby Metroid is dead, sacrificing itself to save Samus, and Samus attacks Mother Brain over, and over, and over. Mother Brain is not given time to act, she killed Samus’ child. And the music, it isn’t anything glorious or motivational, there’s barely any music at all. It’s solemn, empty, sad. Even if she defeats Mother Brain, Samus lost her child. And only now having replayed it after all this time have I fully understood this moment of the game, and it’s an absolutely amazing moment.
As I said earlier, Super Metroid was the first Metroid game I ever played, and I wanted to replay it after I played the other major 2D Metroid titles. Now that I have, I still feel as if Super Metroid is still one of the best that the series has to offer, even though it’s not particularly my favorite. There’s so much polish and care put into Super Metroid, and truth be told it felt like I was playing the game for the first time all over again. I finished the game with a pretty nice 69% completion, which is probably the best I’ve done in Super Metroid. I really enjoy not finding everything in a game, because if I ever replay it, there’s a sense of discovery finding something I never found before. Regardless of that, I’m glad I finally got around to replaying Super Metroid proper, it’s still a wonderful game.

It's weird to imagine that this game is real. For the longest time, this game was being developed, and we barely knew anything about it. And not even a week ago, a physical copy appeared at my doorstep, and the game finally released.
At the day I'm typing this, I first played and beat Breath of the Wild a little bit over a month ago. This is to reiterate how fresh Hyrule felt in this game. Not only has Hyrule changed in obvious ways, but how you have to maneuver Hyrule has changed too. While I do miss the abilities of the original, the new abilities in this game are really fun and allows for so many unique ways to deal with problems. Though I do have to remember that I have certain abilities, but that's on me, not on the game. I really love the Fuse ability in particular, able to create an entire array of personalized weapons, with seemingly limitless customization.
I feel like ultimately, a lot of what Breath of the Wild did was just ultimately improved upon within Tears of the Kingdom. I mean, that's a bit obvious cause it's a sequel, but I think it's important to note. In the case of Shrines, I always hated the Test of Strength shrines from Breath of the Wild, but they're entirely gone in Tears of the Kingdom. I love the Proving Grounds Shrines, making me have to play in ways I don't typically.
One big notable improvement in the game is the bosses. I won't go into detail, but in comparison to Breath of the Wild's bosses, there's a clear winner. While I wasnt bothered by the Breath of the Wild bosses, they were all a bit same-y, but in Tears of the Kingdom, they all felt super unique and I love it. And in the same vein, the dungeons as well are just so much better.
To reiterate, Tears of the Kingdom is a game I can't believe is real. I absolutely loved my time with it, and I'm dead certain I barely scratched the surface of it. It's weird how that, a couple months ago, I was only slightly interested in this game, but once I played Breath of the Wild, I knew I needed this game. And it was a need well met.

It's rather funny, really. I've played both Earthbound and Mother 3, but only now have I gotten around to playing Mother proper. And while I think it's a good game, it's definitely got a lot of rough patches that keep it from being much higher.
This game from what I remember was a very late Famicom/NES game, coming out only a year before the Super Famicom, and for what it is, Mother is a really impressive game. And while it definitely has its shortcomings and limitations, I find it really impressive. While this game isn't a massive RPG, I beat it in about 10-11 hours total, the sense of scale that Mother has is really cool!
I really love the aesthetic of Mother, the idea of a turn based RPG set in some midwest US state is really cool. The mundanity mixed with the fantastical nature of evil monsters and magic PSI abilities. It creates a really charming aesthetic, and one that persists throughout the entire game, even when you get to the ending. I also absolutely love the music, easily my favorite being Snowman.
The actual combat of Mother is rather fun as well, though probably the simplest of the series from what I remember. The PSI abilities are fun, but I never really used many of them. I pretty much only used them to heal, and use PK Beam when I needed a good offensive option. Though I never found the game too difficult, I probably would've had an easier time with the game if I used more of the PSI abilities. But at the same time, I never felt the need to.
Compared to its later games, Mother isn't as story heavy from what I experienced. However, the story it does have is really good, and the actual emotional core of Mother is very strong. The final moments of the game are super impactful, especially.
But, even though the game is really good in the previously mentioned aspects, it's got some noticeable problems, I feel. While I do compliment the scale of Mother's world, god it so difficult to navigate. The overworld and dungeons feel like mazes, and it's really hard to find your way around. This definitely lead to times where I was just completely lost, having no way to get my bearings. I remember this especially when I was in Duncan's Factory, where the entire area blended together and I just had no idea where to go. Eventually I just pulled a guide and followed it all the way to the end, and I don't think I could've beaten the game without it. The level layout I think is the general issue here, as I had the idea of where I needed to go, just not how to get there.
The other, and definitely more glaring issue is the rate of Random Encounters. In particular, random encounters occur so often in Mother, sometimes just taking a single step brings about one. Now, while that's passable early on, as enemies could be beaten easily, and it's good for level grinding, the further you get, the worse it becomes. Enemies often have noticeable spikes in difficulty, and can often appear in groups of 2-4, and because of how long these battles can take, it proves easier to try and run from them instead of fighting them. However, that leads into one of my personal pet peeves that appear in many RPGs, which is failing to flee from a battle. Failing to run away is often a punishment to the player, however, there's already an innate punishment in running away already, as you wont gain experience at all, thus, you'll ultimately be weaker. But regardless of that, the chance of failing the run away feels way too high, and while there is a PSI ability to ensure a success flee, it costs 16 PP to use, so you get at best about 10 uses of it at the end of the game. And with how often random encounters occur, you're likely to run out of PP before getting to the end of a dungeon. Though I think this issue wouldn't be as big of an issue here if the encounter rate was significantly lower.
But I still really appreciate Mother for what it is. It's definitely got its shortcomings, and it's probably my least favorite of the trilogy, but there's a lot of heart here. I think it was definitely worth playing, but I don't think I'd replay it any time soon.

Not many games have left me as awestruck as this.
I already knew I would probably love it going in, I've absolutely loved every Hack 'n Slash game I've ever played, so it was easy for me to assume that this would be no exception. And let me say, I think I can say with confidence that this is my current favorite of the genre.
The game's aesthetics are absolutely amazing. I love the art-style, and the fact that every single thing moves to the beat of the music is outstanding. The combat as well is just. so good. The fact that attacking, dodging, jumping, etc, if you do them to the music there's better results, it makes the combat even more just, fun.
The story itself is executed so well, it may not be anything mindblowing, but with how well its written, I can't help but love it. The characters are written so well, and there's no weak link in the entire cast.
And of course the music. God, the music is so amazing. The music fits so well, especially during the boss fights. Bosses having lyrical tracks as their music is so amazing, and god, I love the music they chose. Not only is it amazing, but it fits the bosses as well, which is amazing.
Overall, this game is a genuine masterpiece, and I'm glad I finally got around to it. I need to play more Hack 'N Slashes, as this one has made me love the genre even more.

What can I say about Silent Hill 2? I’m not asking that due to how often Silent Hill 2 is talked about. Rather, I ask it because the game has left me utterly speechless. Somehow I avoided a majority of spoilers for Silent Hill 2, meaning I had gone into the game almost entirely blind. I already had a general feeling I would love the game. I played the original Silent Hill over a year ago at this point, and I absolutely loved the game. The environment, atmosphere, and music were all stunning. And I feel that Silent Hill 2 perfects it all, making an utter masterpiece.
Now, I played on the PC Abandonware version of Silent Hill 2, with upgrades from the enhanced edition patch (you have to use it anyway, since the patch allows the game to actually open). I was suggested to use the abandonware version as a friend of mine mentioned difficulty with emulating the PS2 version. I could’ve tried out the PS2 version, but hey, better safe than sorry. Now, I bring this up because I think it’d be important to know that the version of Silent Hill 2 I had will most likely not provide the same experience someone reading this may have.
Now onto Silent Hill 2 itself, I don’t really know what all I can speak of it. Particularly, I don’t want to go into the spoilers of Silent Hill 2, as I think it’s a game that’s worth experiencing. To be specific, I don’t want to say what the exact details of the story are, but it’s one worth experiencing. One thing I’d like to mention that’s only tangentially related to the story is the voice acting. The voice acting the characters have is absolutely wonderful! What I mean by that is that there’s something so unnatural about the line delivery that it makes everyone feel off. In most other games, this would be a bad thing, but for a game and setting like Silent Hill, it makes perfect sense. It’s a minor detail that adds to the overall unsettling nature of Silent Hill.
I Think what is ultimately my favorite aspect of Silent Hill 2 is is the atmosphere. The fog that surrounds you in Silent Hill 2 is perfect for the kind of atmosphere Silent Hill should have. The best way I kind describe the fog is “suffocating”. You’re surrounded by it, and you can barely see through it. Any possible threat will only be seen when it’s almost right next to you, leading to things seemingly jump out towards you. And when things aren’t foggy, they’re cast in a deep darkness. This darkness has a similar effect to the fog, but with the fact a small portion of it can be illuminated by a flashlight, it makes the dread even stronger. And when it comes to the actual graphics of the game, I absolutely love how grimy the game looks. Everything looks rusted and dirty, and that idea of being broken down really works, I feel. Much like the fog, I think another perfect aspect of Silent Hill 2’s atmosphere is the sound design and music that’s used. I absolutely love the droning ambience of the game, it’s as if there’s a sense of emptiness alongside some sort of dread. And to coincide with those drones, there’s also loud metallic clangs, scrapes, and bangs. It creates such a strong sense of tension, as if there’s a threat that’s far out of sight, especially if it occurs in places that it wouldn’t make sense for those sounds to occur. And the fact that the sound that signifies if enemies are close to you is static, it creates such a unique atmosphere that very few games can replicate.
I want to give a frame of reference here, for the next topic about the game I want to discuss. Particularly, the feelings of horror, and fear. While I love horror games, I find myself not often terrified by them. I get scared sometimes, but few games ever terrify me. I bring this up to express how terrifying Silent Hill 2 is. Even just hearing the game’s ambience was dreadful, but there were so many terrifying moments on top of it. I particularly remember an area early on in the game, where I was still getting used to things. I was running by an area I had already been to, after doing stuff somewhere else. And suddenly, a scream rang out from across the hallway, completely startling me. In that same general sequence, going to the end of the hallway, Pyramid Head appeared on the other side of a barred off wall, and all he did was stand there. I don’t know how better to describe it, but just seeing him stand there filled me with so much fear.
I also really adore the actual puzzles found in Silent Hill 2. One thing I hope for whenever I find games that feature complex puzzles is the need to write things down. I think it’s a compliment when a game requires me to journal hints to puzzles, and write down reminders to help solve future puzzles. I wont go into details about the puzzles I absolutely loved, but my favorite puzzle in the game was one with a riddle and three coins. I had to read the riddle over and over to figure it out, as it took me so long to understand what the riddle was trying to say. When I did figure it out, and solved the puzzle, I felt genuinely proud of myself, especially knowing I figured it out without a guide. Another similar puzzle also involved a riddle, and 6 people. Yet again, solving the riddle itself felt amazing to do.
I wanted to save him as a topic for last, as I felt he’s important to talk about. And by that, I’m referring to Pyramid Head. Pyramid Head is absolutely an amazing character not only by Silent Hill standards, but all of horror in general. In the realm of Silent Hill 2, Pyramid Head has a really narrative unique purpose that you’ll only ever find out by the end of the game. And once you realize why Pyramid Head exists, it makes his existence so much stronger. And outside of Silent Hill 2, it may be exaggerative to say, but I feel like Pyramid Head is comparable to that of famous horror slashers. Not only does Pyramid Head have a similar level of iconicity, but the presentation, threat, and overall execution of Pyramid Head feels so similar, and I love it. Pyramid Head is such a unique threat for any horror property, but he feels perfectly crafted for the world of Silent Hill 2.
The more I think and type about Silent Hill 2, the more I end up totally enamored by it. The atmosphere, terror, and just general flow of Silent Hill 2 is outstanding. And though I only glossed over it, the story is really something unique, that few games are able to replicate with the same level of quality. I only got one of the endings, since I felt like the ending I get is my ending. Though I can definitely see myself replaying the game to try and get the other endings at a later point. Aside from that though, I’m so glad I finally got to play Silent Hill 2, it’s an absolute must play. From what it sounds, the remake of Silent Hill 2 sounds like it’s going to be bad, so if you want to play Silent Hill 2, just play the original.

To be honest it might have been a bad idea to save Xenogears for last. I started out with the Xenosaga trilogy, cause I really wanted to learn about KOS-MOS. Then afterwards due to the Summer of Sequels, I wanted to have the Xenoblade games on the Wheel, so I played through all of them. This all leads to now, where I finally got to the game that started everything off. I found myself really enjoying a lot of Xenogears, the story is probably my favorite part of the game, but even still I find there to be some general issues with the game, though not all are issues due to the game itself.
One thing that was immediate to notice in comparison to the later Xeno games was that Xenogears features Random Encounters. It being the only one of the games to feature it, it was somewhat jarring, though of course I wouldn’t be as surprised if I played it first. Though I do have one peeve when it comes to the random encounters though. In particular, there’s like an odd delay that occurs? The music cuts out, and the random encounter starts about a second or two after. But you’re still able to act in that small window of time, and you’re able to interact with objects like doors and chests, though the interaction only occurs after the random encounter. Often, I moved over to open a door to make progress in a dungeon, but even though I interacted with the door, a random encounter interrupted me. It’s not the biggest thing really, but it was just a minor annoyance that never went away.
When it comes to the Dungeons of Xenogears, my feelings generally fluctuate throughout the game. There are some pretty solid dungeons in the game, I honestly really like the Kisvet Sewers, and especially Zeboim. When it comes to the dungeons I like though, the random encounters yet again were a bit of a nuisance, but yet again that’s just me. Though further I got into the game, the more I decided that it was best to fight every random encounter. Full Health healing items were really cheap to buy, and even though they can only be used outside of battle, they were really helpful. I will say though, the dungeons I don’t like, I really don’t like. Particularly I found myself really hating the Tower of Babel and Anima Dungeon 2. For the former, the issue comes from the game’s platforming, and the enemies you find while in the dungeon. Xenogears’ platforming isn’t all that good, and neither is my depth perception, which for a dungeon like the Tower of Babel, is really bad. One missed jump and it’s highly likely you’re brought down to the start of the long platforming segment, and have to do it all over again. Not only that, but the enemies that you have to fight before you get on an elevator respawn if you go through a room transition, and there’s one in the middle of the platforming segment. Most of the enemies that spawn in the Tower of Babel cannot be fled from, which makes the dungeon drag on a lot longer than it feels it should. Overall I just found that dungeon frustrating. On the other hand, I found the puzzles in Anima Dungeon 2 really bad. One of the puzzles broke and I had to restart it, and the other puzzle was just really lackluster. Me going into details on these 2 aside, most of the dungeons in the game weren’t bad and were honestly fun to go through, but I really disliked these 2 in particular.
Combat in this game comes generally in 2 forms. I don’t know if the actual types of combat have names, but it’s easy for me to describe them as “Human” and “Gear”, depending on whether or not you’re riding in your gear. Overall, the combat of the game is really fun, though I think of the 2, I prefer the Human combat for the gameplay, but the Gear combat for the spectacle and presentation.
Human Combat is primarily focused on performing combos. The Triangle, Square, and X buttons all use differing moves of differing powers, and the stronger the move, the more AP it requires. From what I remember, you start out the game with 3 AP, but the further you progress in the game, the more AP you get. By the end of the game, my characters had 7 AP, and I’m under the assumption that that is the maximum. But the more AP you get, the longer your combo can become, and if you do certain combos, eventually you’ll be able to learn Deathblows. I wish there was a moment where it explains how deathblows are learned, though it might be a case of me just missing it. Deathblows are really fun to use, especially as later on the Deathblows you get can be tied to specific elements, which I find really fun. Though at the same time with all of this, actually learning every Deathblow became a hassle. I found myself grinding not to get levels, but to learn Deathblows, as they are integral in combat, both in Human, and Gear combat. It made me prioritize using characters where I have already grinded out their Deathblows, instead of using the ones who haven’t learned theirs, and for Human combat, I actively avoided characters who didn’t have Deathblows. Even though I’ve said all of this, when you don’t have to worry about grinding out Deathblows, they’re really fun to use, especially when they do massive damage.
I really like Gear Combat, though I do have some peeves with it, which is based around Fuel. In actual combat, I think Fuel is a really good mechanic. Every attack uses up an amount of fuel, and you can do certain actions, like healing or using specific attacks. It adds a form of strategy based upon the limited resource. On top of that, there’s an option you can do where you can activate a booster, which speeds up your gears, but costs fuels in order to do so. All of this My issue when it comes to Fuel occurs outside of battle though. I just wish there was a way to restore Fuel outside of battle easier, especially in later dungeons, and points in time where you have to fight multiple bosses in a row. I think the reason why certain bosses are much harder than they would otherwise be is because restoring fuel outside of battle is limited. The actual combat with Gears is pretty solid though. There’s not really combos like in Human combat, and most of the time you’ll only do one attack per turn. Though each attack you use raises your level, and depending on your level, you can use certain levels of Deathblows. Later on, you gain Infinity Level Deathblows, which are absolutely sick when you’re able to pull them off, but there’s a factor of luck for when they activate.
The Boss Fights are really fun, and are probably when the combat is at its best. That’s primarily due to them being noticeably longer than random encounters, so the groove of combat is really able to develop. I definitely think some bosses are noticeably harder than others. One boss very early into the game, Calamity, was really hard when I first ran into it, though that was at a point before I understood how Deathblows worked. Once I did, the fight was noticeably easier. A lot of the late game fights, primarily in disc 2 were noticeably difficult, though I never lost to them. They’re primarily difficult for the reasons I listed in the previous paragraph, back-to-back boss fights on top of limited fuel. But even then, the general presentation and fighting of bosses is really good.
Now after all of this, I finally can talk about the story of Xenogears, which while I have some conflicting feelings with it, I still think the story of Xenogears is amazing. Xenogears has a lot of themes and symbolism, and while I absolutely love it, I can acknowledge the fact that I don’t fully understand everything going on in the game. I really love the cast of Xenogears, though I wish there was a bit more time with them. Billy was one of my favorite characters in the game, though after his main arc, he takes a noticeable step back, not having as much relevance as other characters. I definitely think the character who was hit hardest with this was Emeralda, who seemingly barely got any spotlight even when she was an important character. Looking at the events of the story as well, I really like the game’s actual story, alongside the world of Xenogears. Though with that in mind, I find it unfortunate that Disc 2’s pacing was noticeably a lot faster than Disc 1’s. I’ll explain my thoughts on Disc 2 sometime later though. Most of Disc 2’s events are done through exposition, but the most important parts are the ones that are actually playable. Even still, they’re rather short segments. For general reference, Disc 1 took me about 45 hours, while Disc 2 took me only 10 hours.
Now, Disc 2 is an unfortunate thing to really examine, I feel. By that I mean that Xenogears’ Disc 2 was meant to be a lot more, but due to the meddling, budget and timing restrictions placed upon the team by Squaresoft, they had to minimize what Disc 2 was. From what I’ve heard, all of the exposition that was in Disc 2 was originally planned to be all playable segments, and I would’ve loved to actually play those. Though I want to say, knowing the reasons why Disc 2 is the way it is, I can’t bring myself to knock on the game too much for this. On top of that, I find there to be a bit of charm in the way they present the exposition in Disc 2, though again, the pacing takes a hit due to most of it being solely through exposition.
Even though I have some gripes with Xenogears, I really find myself mesmerized with the game as a whole. Its strengths are absolutely strength, and most of its flaws are excused to Squaresoft’s meddling. The story is amazing, and though I wish some of the main cast had more time to shine, when they do, they’re really great characters. It feels odd finally being done through the Xeno series. I started this whole thing back in February with Xenosaga Episode 1, because of how I spaced them out, it took ten months to finally play through them all. It feels somewhat odd finally being at the end of the road, but that just means I can find a new road to take.

I’ve had Persona 5 in my library for way over a year now, and playing it has been a long time coming. I was honestly somewhat apprehensive to, I really disliked Persona 4, so even though I’ve heard nothing but great things about Persona 5, I was afraid something similar would occur. My main motivation to playing Persona 5 in the first place was that one of my friends started playing it, and I didn’t want to be spoiled. This entire preamble is to lead up to this; for the past 8 days I have done nothing but play Persona 5. 104 hours total, beginning to end. My perception of time has been fundamentally altered because I was so engrossed and invested into Persona 5, these past 8 days have all blurred together into some amalgamative mass. If it isn’t already obvious by all of this, I absolutely loved my time with Persona 5.

Way before getting into where this game just absolutely works, I love how much style is put into this game. UI, animation, music, everything in this game has this particular style to it that’s addictive. Even when I’m 20, 40, even 60 hours into the game, I hear certain music tracks, or see certain animations, and I get that same level of excitement that I do seeing them for the first time. And in a similar vein, the game’s UI is absolutely stellar. It took a little bit of time getting used to each button being a battle command, instead of having to scroll through a list of actions, but once I got used to it, it really felt great.

I also absolutely love Palaces. They feel like properly planned out and designed dungeons, and I love how they’re able to fully and completely fit the theme they’re going for. I’ll try to avoid comparing Persona 5 with Persona 4 as much as I can, but I want to highlight that I really didn’t like how the main dungeons of Persona 4 were all procedurally generated, it made Palaces such a breath of fresh air. I love the stealth mechanics, being able to hide from enemies and ambush them from the shadows always felt great to do. I would say most palaces are rather good, with only one not being as strong as the others, but that’s mainly because the puzzles in that palace are rather basic. It might be contrarian to what I mention prior, but I also really love Mementos as a dungeon. It is procedurally generated which would make it seem like I would dislike it, but I think it’s the balance between Palaces and Mementos that allows me to actually enjoy Mementos. It’s a dungeon you can take at a sort of piecemeal way, as you’ll be able to slowly gain access to lower parts of Mementos as you progress with the story. You can then alternate between Palaces and Mementos, allowing for a sort of balance between them, which I really appreciate.

I’m also really enamored by the combat system of Persona 5. This is the first MegaTen game I’ve played that doesn’t feature the standard Press Turn system, so it was definitely another thing I had to get used to. Even then, Persona 5’s gameplay system is absolutely masterful. Persona 5 does sort of feature a press turn system, though not in the exact same way. One More functions about the same as a Press Turn, but of course it only activates when downing an enemy. There’s also of course a specific turn order in battle, instead of player and enemy rounds. But going back to One More, it leads into one of my favorite mechanics in the entire game, Baton Pass. Baton Pass works basically as a free switch to an ally to use their action, but you can chain it up to a total of 4 times. Increasing power, recovery, and even lowering the cost of skills if you chain it high enough. It becomes an absolutely addictive system that I love both utilizing, and in a way, abusing.

And this leads me into what I think is what kept me playing all this time. What allowed to sit through and play 104 hours total of this game with only sleep being a break. That of course is none other than the game’s story. Immediately before the game even gets going, it has absolutely one of the best cold opens I’ve seen in a game, and it serves well as a tutorial section too. It sets up so much intrigue that made me want to see more and more of what is going on in the game. As well, the character writing is so good. The main party’s dynamic is really good, and it feels like they’re a proper group of friends. As well the villain of each arc can at times be cartoonishly evil, but I think that exemplifies the world and the themes that Persona 5 is trying to go for. This idea of young rebels fighting against a corrupt society that allows for these cartoonishly evil villains to avoid punishment, and forcing them to realize their actions and live with the understanding of what they’ve done. It’s something immaculate. There’s also just so much else I could talk about here, though I won’t as I don’t really want to spoil anything specific here. The last few arcs of the game are amazing, I love the Royal story content, and the end is absolutely perfect. Persona 5’s story is everything I really hoped it to be, and more.

Goro Akechi

Unlike in Persona 4, where I went only for the Social Links of the main party, I actively engaged with as many social links I possibly could in Persona 5. I’m not going to go into elaborate detail into all of them, that would be the absolute death of me. I would say for a good majority of them, they were really good, and I love how some sort of tie into Mementos and doing Mementos Requests. Its nice that the game opens up a lot of night options to allow you to try to at least get 2 social link rank ups in a day if you plan well. There were definitely some characters I didn’t feel as strong about, but there were few, if any characters I actively disliked. I tried my best to get as many social links done as I can, and I’d estimate I probably got about 90% complete. I completed 18 social links, but I was pretty high in the other ones, ranging between ranks 5-8. I also really like the bonuses that some social links give, some of them are absolutely busted too. One of Ryuji’s bonuses particularly became the perfect level-grinding method. Though it does feel weird examining the mechanical reasons to raise Social Links, it feels good to raise social links not solely because of the mechanical boons, but because I care about these characters.

I’ll say this as well, but I wish I was able to really compare the differences between base Persona 5 and the content exclusive to Royal. While the last major arc of the game (if you unlock it) is Royal exclusive, there’s noticeably differences solely based upon certain characters existing. Maruki and Kasumi are Royal exclusive characters, but they exist through nearly the entire main storyline of base Persona 5. What is it like when those characters aren’t there, what changes? This thought makes me wonder what other changes exist in Royal, and since I don’t have a way of playing the original Persona 5, I have no way of comparing. I should specify I’m not saying this as a negative, it’s more just a thing I’m curious about more than anything.

It feels weird being done with Persona 5. Yet again, I must reiterate, I have done nothing but play this game for the past 8 days. I really do feel like for me, Persona 5 is an unforgettable experience, not only because of the game itself, but because of the environmental circumstances around me that not only brought me to play the game, but while I was playing the game as well. I don’t know if I can bring myself to replay the game anytime soon, it was over 100 hours long after all, but maybe a few years from now I’ll revisit it. I’m glad to have played a Persona game I ended up absolutely loving.

Secret of Mana is a game that I’ve been meaning to get to for a long time now. I’ve always heard it regarded as one of the classic SNES RPGs, so I knew I would want to play it at some point. Now that I have beaten the game proper, I just find myself conflicted. I found the game really fun to play, and I enjoyed my time while playing it, but there were so many issues that prevent me from enjoying it any more than I already did. I don’t hate Secret of Mana, far from it, but I’m far from loving it.
When it comes to the combat of Secret of Mana, it’s… well it’s odd. When I’m in the natural flow of combat, it’s really fun, especially after the 2 other party members join. Sometimes it feels like you’re absolutely bullying the enemy, not allowing them to attack, which is kind of funny. Though this comes with a sort of caveat. Particularly, it’s really hard to tell when you can or can’t hit an enemy, and for some enemies (particularly bosses) it’s hard to tell where you’re even supposed to hit them. For some enemies, you’re able to hit them while they’re knocked down, while for others you can’t, and it’s just hard to tell when you can and can’t hit something. There were some noticeable jumps in difficulty, but they weren’t too hard to deal with, especially since the game is mostly forgiving in giving you methods of healing up. One personal pet peeve I had though is that sometimes it feels like enemies appear behind you, from places you’ve already been. While it might be a purposeful surprise attack, it felt more annoying than anything else. Though there’s more to the combat than the enemies you have to fight.
The first major aspect of combat itself are the weapons your characters can wield, and from what I remember you have 8 different weapons to choose from. This creates a fun sense of customization, not only in the weapon you, the player uses, but the weapons of your party members can impact combat as well. Though some weapons just end up more useful then others, particularly the Sword, the Axe, and the Whip. Throughout the game, and especially in dungeons, there are obstacles that require specific weapons to clear. Cutting down grass with the sword, breaking rocks with the axe, or crossing gaps with the whip. It just ends up being that these 3 weapons end up being the most useful, and with factors that’ll explain in a later section, I see it best to have the party members use those 3 weapons and nothing else.
To explain what the other major aspect of combat is, I want to paint a picture of the early game. In the early game, all you have to attack is using your weapons, and there’s some enemies with high defenses. There was an enemy encounter I had to fight that I died at more times than any other part of the game, and a boss fight that I found harder than any boss in the game’s final dungeon. So, you may ask, why was the early game so difficult? The answer couldn’t be simpler, you don’t have magic yet. Magic utterly breaks any balance this game once had, and every boss once you have magic is an absolute joke. Most bosses in the game range between 1800 – 3000 health, and if you train your magic properly, it can easily do about 500 damage. Boss fights can be done in less than a minute thanks to magic, making fights that sound scary into complete jokes. Though you can only get the spells as you progress through the story, and you have to train up your magic in order for it to be good, which is a different can of worms.
This game is extremely grindy. There’s of course the standard player level, but that doesn’t immediately improve weapon proficiency or spell proficiency. You have to grind levels for those too. If you play through the game in full only giving each party member a specific weapon to use, they’ll probably be at the max level for that weapon at the end of the game. And that’s fine if you’re doing that, that means they can fully charge their weapon to the strongest they can be. This as well is why I stuck the only the sword, axe, and whip, grinding out the weapon levels of other weapons would be a waste. On the other hand, you should grind out magic, the stronger it is, the easier the game becomes. But from having grinded out the characters to max, I can say with confidence it’s super tedious. Probably about a third of my playtime overall was grinding to max out the magic levels, and I don’t think I would’ve beaten the game as quickly if I didn’t do that. When it comes to the 2 characters who have magic, they have 7 different magic types they can cast, and each magic type has 8 levels, which means you would need to gain 102 levels for magic total. While I do enjoy level grinding from time to time, I do really wish that grinding magic levels was at least a little bit easier.
Though I did mention prior how magic makes boss fights an absolute joke, I still find them really fun. There’s a level of presentation, and even though you can cast magic quickly, you still have to avoid enemy attacks. This all leads me to say that I despise this game’s final boss. You can only hurt it with one kind of weapon that’s fully charged and only when the boss allows you to hit it. It’s extremely repetitive, slow, and because the final boss may target the one character who can attack, making it so that you have to wait for the next cycle, annoying as well. It ended up being the only boss I ended up hating out of the numerous bosses you have to fight during the entire game.
Finally done with talk of the game’s combat, the story of Secret of Mana is rather simple. There’s a noticeable amount of ambition I can see, but it feels like it’s unable to do what it really wants to do. While characters are fun, they’re rather simple, and the general plot isn’t anything to write home about. Even through all of this, I think the game’s opening and endings sequences are amazing. There was a great sense in closure seeing the end screen, even the the road getting there was quite rough.
One last thing I want to mention about Secret of Mana is that I had absolutely no clue where I was supposed to go for a lot of the game. I ended up using a guide (and especially a map) for the majority of the game, to know where I needed to go. For the later half of the game, the game tells you a location you need to go, but not exactly how to get there, or in what exact order you’re supposed to go to. Without the guides I used for this game, I probably would’ve still been playing this game even now, still probably lost somewhere. Though since I did use the guide, I can’t really say for certain.
Yet again, I’ll repeat, I had a lot of fun playing through Secret of Mana. While I mention many of the flaws that appear in the game, the general gameplay of the game is still fun. It just has a lot of issues that I find to prevent me from enjoying it more. I can easily see why this game is as beloved as it is, but I can’t help but notice the flaws. With that in mind though, I still want to play later Mana games, and hope that maybe they improve upon where this game falters.

Years ago, I learned of Xenoblade Chronicles through one of my favorite YouTubers at the time, Chuggaaconroy. Then when i got a New 3DS, that was my first time ever getting a chance to play this game. But that was 5 years ago, and I'm entirely a different person now. And since I recently played through the entirety of Xenosaga, I wanted to go back to Xenoblade, with a new perspective. And god, this game is really peak. I would say it's not as good as Xenosaga Episode III, but Xenoblade Chronicles is still undeniably peak.
Yet again with games like these, I don't want to say anything about the story. But much like the Xenosaga games, there's a lot of themes in the story that are explored really well. But I think these themes are so integral to it, I think it'd be a spoiler exactly mentioning them. Anyway, I also really love the character writing of the games, the main cast has such a great dynamic with eachother, and knowing that I've only really scratched the surface of total character interactions is really interesting. There's such a good found-family dynamic in this game, and I love those types of dynamics.
The combat of the game is really interesting. The earlier Xenosaga games were turn-based, so it's crazy how much of a drastic change there is here. It's hard to describe really, but it's such an interesting system. I love how you have to pay attention to so many things, no battle makes you feel like you're just going through the actions. If you aren't thinking about what your best move is, you could just easily fall in battle. And the customization with arts, skills, equipment and gems, I absolutely love it. Do I know the proper ins-and-outs of how they work? No, but I love trying to figure it out.
I have to really commend the voice acting here. So many of the voice actors have pure, unfiltered emotions in there lines, especially Adam Howden as Shulk. He puts his all into his lines, and you can just feel it.
I did have a couple hiccups while replaying the game. One boss was absolutely terrible, and late game grinding was a slog, but I absolutely loved my time going back through Xenoblade Chronicles. And I know I've still only scratched the surface of the game, and what you can actually do in it. Maybe one day I'll go back and try to see more of what the game offers, but even still, this is a genuine masterpiece.

Okami is a game I never expected would get a sequel. I know I'm saying this 13 years after this game's release, but my point still stands. Okamiden however is an interesting title, and there's a lot of what I can really say about it.
Okamiden could be best described as "Okami Lite". It's a much smaller version of Okami, with the same mechanics and world, but shrunk down to fit into a DS. And I think it does it quite well! It's commendable how well this game tries to replicate the original Okami's art style. Combat is very akin to how it was in the original Okami, though it's definitely a lot more simplified.
The dungeons and puzzles are really fresh, and I enjoyed going through them! I'm a sucker for good dungeons, and Okamiden's dungeons are well executed. The mechanics tied to partners is really fun, and I love how each partner has unique mechanics. The brush mechanics are transferred to the touch screen, and work pretty well. Sometimes it doesn't seem to work properly, but I'd say it works about 95% of the time.
I described Okamiden as "Okami Lite" earlier, and while I said that with praise earlier, it's also Okamiden's greatest flaw. For a lot of the game, Okamiden feels like a repeat of the original game. It's as if the game is afraid of stepping out of Okami's shadow. You'll go to the same areas, in the same order, with the same motivation. Sure the dungeons and bosses are unique, but the way to get there isn't. The most notable moment was of course, when you had to fight Orochi twice again.
But I say that to reiterate that when Okamiden steps out of Okami's shadow, it shines! There's so much heart and care put into this game. The dungeons, and puzzles as previously mentioned are well crafted. The characters and story though are really well written, and I honestly really loved the game's ending.
Okamiden definitely has issues, but I can't help but love it. It's super cute, and it has some absolutely fun dungeons. While it struggles to get out of Okami's shadow, it's really good when it does. For what it is, it's a really nice game.

I really wanna like this game, y'know. I swear, I do. The actual main levels of the game are really fun. The stealth is fun, and I like how aside from bosses, everything is one hit away from death, including you.
But what really brings it down for me is just how insufferable I found the minigames. I found them all really tedious, and for some reason annoyingly difficult. Those racing minigames especially were some of the worst. And while I wouldn't complain if they were optional, but they're not, and you have to do them to beat the game. There's also just a large amount of them, typically each world has at least 2 Minigame stages. And its like, if these minigames just weren't there, this easily could've been a 4 Star game, no doubt about it. Cause as I said prior, the game is really good, and it's really only the minigames that bring it down for me.

Now, before I start anything, let me acknowledge that I’m absolutely going to be biased here. Pokemon Diamond and Pearl (which is how I’ll be referring to the game, even though I only played Pearl) were the first ever games I played. Things that may be flaws for some, either I really like, or I can overlook. Diamond and Pearl do have flaws to them that I can understand, but my nostalgia and love for these games let me overlook that. And it was really nice to finally replay Diamond and Pearl after this long, I absolutely adore the Sinnoh games, and in my plan to play through all of the mainline Pokemon titles, I had to save the Sinnoh games until near the end. I’m glad that even after all this time, and after having played countless other Pokemon titles, I still adore Pokemon Diamond and Pearl.
Of course talking about Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, we can’t ignore the best change that it brought about in Pokemon overall. That being the Physical/Special Split. A move being Physical or Special no longer was tied to what type the move was, now each move was individually determined as Physical or Special. This noticeably allows Pokemon that were once terrible to now become amazing, Dark Type Pokemon could now utilize their often powerful Physical Attack Stat, and Ghost Type Pokemon could utilize their Special Attack Stat. Grass Types could be physical attackers, Poison Types could be special attackers, and the list just goes on and on. The Physical/Special Split frees so much that was once so limited. While Gen 3 introduced abilities, Gens 2 and 6 introduced whole new types, and Gen 6 onwards introduced new gimmick mechanics for each generation, I think that Generation 4’s Physical/Special Split is the best mechanical change that has ever occurred in a Pokemon game.
And in a similar vein, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl also add so many new evolutions to Pokemon that really needed it. It introduced some of my favorite Pokemon, like Honchkrow, Weavile, and Roserade to name just a few. And it’s so nice to see a large batch of Pokemon that needed something, as only recently have we seen old Pokemon gain new evolutions, even though it’s only a small few now, instead of the large batches. One unfortunate aspect though is a lot of new evolutions can only be obtained after beating the game, as many of the Pokemon they gave evolutions to can’t be caught until them. It’s just somewhat unfortunate.
Now, to continue my bias as mentioned from earlier, the Sinnoh region is honestly my favorite region in all of Pokemon. There’s so many different areas to explore, and places that are completely fleshed out, but you can entirely miss out on. One of my favorite areas in the game is Fuego Ironworks, and you’d only know of it if you think to go back to Floraroma Town, and Surf on the route east of it. And while I understand why people would be upset by the massive requirement of HM use, I’m not. It makes Sinnoh feel a lot more unexplored of a region, which then in turn, makes me want to explore it more. And areas like Victory Road needing 5 HMs total to get through feels like a true test of what you’ve had to do beforehand, which I really love. Even though I wish it had more use, the more I played Diamond and Pearl overtime, the more I found Defog as an HM to be useful, though only once during the game I’ll admit. Fog is just an annoying weather condition. And in a similar case, while it is a little tedious to go through, I love the snow routes. They’re just too pretty to me to really be bothered by how slow it is to move through them.
I absolutely had a blast playing through the whole game. My team was just really fun. For reference, I had an Infernape, Roserade, Manaphy, Mismagius, Lopunny, and Weavile. A mix of some of my favorite Pokemon, some I don’t use often, and one I’ve never had the chance of using before. I still can’t believe I was able to do the Pokemon Ranger event and have an actual Manaphy in a Pokemon game, I only got that chance once, and that was probably a decade ago. My team was so well crafted that I barely struggled with most of the game. While I did grind here and there (I did a lot in Iron Island, so I didn’t have to do much afterwards), I surprisingly found myself grinding very little. And a great thing about early Pokemon is that I find myself really getting attached to my party members, I feel like I really got to know how each Pokemon played, their strengths, and their weaknesses. It’s something that only recently have I noticed is sort of lacking in the modern games.
And even though I this go of the game probably had my easiest fight against Cynthia, I really have to acknowledge just how memorable Cynthia is. Cynthia still, all in all, is one of the hardest Champions in a Pokemon game, and for good reason. She has noticeably higher levels than any other trainer you’ve fought so far, and her ace of Garchomp is terrifying. Dragon and Ground are generally some of the best offensive types, especially in Gen 4. Starting out with Spiritomb, also having a Milotic and a Lucario. Her team is built to adapt to possibly anything, and that means you have to as well. It took me years before I was able to first beat Cynthia without trading any legendary Pokemon from other games, and I’m proud to see how I’ve grown to where I’m able to properly plan and now easily beat Cynthia. And this all hasn’t even acknowledged the iconic music that plays before and during the Cynthia fight, which makes her all more memorable.
Now of course, while I have a lot of love for Diamond and Pearl, I can also acknowledge that they aren’t perfect games. As it’s been constantly been joked about, Diamond and Pearl have a noticeable lack in Fire Type Pokemon, only having the starter Chimchar, and Ponyta. Though, while Fire is a really useful type for a lot of battles throughout Diamond and Pearl, it’s a very minimal criticism, as you can easily just use other types. I think there’s only one Pokemon in the entirety of Diamond and Pearl that’s exclusively weak to Fire, though I may be wrong. Another notable flaw is that Diamond and Pearl are really slow, and that’s true. I’m used to it of course, but it is one that I can’t ignore. It’s especially noticeable when surfing, and this ties to something that I think is important to reference. Pokemon Platinum improves so much that Diamond and Pearl falters with, so many more Pokemon in the region to catch, altered graphics that better fit Sinnoh’s general aesthetics, and faster speeds all around, both during battle, and while moving through the overworld. It just fixes a lot, so if the flaws of Diamond and Pearl are a turn off for someone, I think Platinum can still be a strong recommendation.
And this goes all to repeat that I will always love Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. There’s a lot I never acknowledged as well. It was (I believe) the first mainline game to feature Wi-Fi Connection, Wi-Fi battles, and Wi-Fi trading through the GTS. Team Galactic is my favorite villain team, and I hardly mentioned them because I plan to mention them further when I get to Pokemon Platinum. The music is amazing, I love the gym leader designs, and generation 4 introduced just so many amazing Pokemon. There’s so much I want to talk about the generation 4 games, though I see myself saving them for when I review Platinum, as it’s just the better game all around. Even still, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl were the first games I ever played, so even if they’re not perfect, I love them either way.

I'm not sure how to feel on this game.
Illusion of Gaia is far from a bad game, but to me it definitely feels like the weakest of the Quintet Trilogy.
To start with the positives, traveling through dungeons in this game is amazing. Clearing out rooms to unlock upgrades, and being able to switch forms to solve a handful of puzzles. It's definitely really fun! Though there were definite noticeable spikes of difficulty, the dungeon exploration never felt too frustrating, and no dungeon feels poorly designed.
But, man, the story suffers so much. Its ending is great, but the journey to get there doesn't really feel deserved. I read from another review that it was an issue of translation, and I hope that's the case. I can see how the story wants to go somewhere, and make you care for the main cast, but at least for me, it just doesn't seem to do that. I also think some of the early bosses were just... not good. The later half were all really good and fun bosses, but the first half just felt terrible. Which, is a bit odd y'know, since you'd expect the first half to be easier then the second half.
Now one last note is that this game has what can only really be called a lives system? It's odd, and I don't think it works all that well, because it doesn't actually feel worthwhile to gain new lives.
This game, even with its strengths, is probably my least favorite of the Quintet Trilogy. Which sucks because I see a whole lot of potential within it. Yet again Illusion of Gaia is far from bad, but I wish I could like it more.

I think this may be my favorite Zelda game.
I wouldn't consider this my first attempt at playing Twilight Princess. When I was a kid, my stepdad had a copy of the game for the Wii, and while I did make it past the first dungeon, I never picked it back up afterwards. Finally, probably over a decade later I returned to Twilight Princess to finally give it its due. And god, I loved it.
Zelda dungeons have always been some of my favorite things to come across, and Twilight Princess genuinely has some of the best. The puzzles are great as always, I loved stuff like the magnetism in the Goron Mine, or the Statue Puzzles in Temple of Time. They feel so well designed, and I loved trying to clear out every single dungeon I came across. I think if anything, I didn't particularly was one segment in Palace of Twilight. I found the Zant's Hand to be too punishing, but that's how I view it.
And the bosses were so fun. When it comes to most bosses, they're pretty easy to understand, and I wouldn't say any were difficult at all. I never died to any of the bosses. However, while understanding a boss is one thing, the execution of fighting it is another, and I love it here. There's oftentimes a sense of spectacle that I love here, especially for some of the later bosses too. I think the only boss I had any issue with was Morpheel, but that's mainly because I could never understand the swimming controls all that well.
The general combat is really fun too. I will say at first, the general combat is your basic fair. It's what you would typically expect from other Zelda games, right? But as you progress further and further, you can obtain new types of attacks that allows Link to fight enemies in more different ways. It really fleshes Link out I'd say, and I really enjoyed it.
And listen, I've praised this game so much, and I have yet to address the elephant in the room here, being Wolf Link. Wolf Link is such a neat idea, being able to transform into a Wolf and have new ways of interacting with the world is so cool. I love how you can say, track specific scents, or sense things that can't normally be seen by the naked eye. Wolf Link is such a fun idea and I think they did it really well.
The story is really interesting. While Zelda has been dark before, no game really comes close to how dark Twilight Princess is. But, at the same time, I would say it's incorrect to describe Twilight Princess as the "dark" Zelda game. While dark stuff does happen, the game always is able to balance things out. But don't get me wrong, this game can be genuinely scary at times, and when it does, oh is it memorable. Those parts are easily some of my favorites for just how bizarre they are, and no other Zelda game has replicated that for me.
I can't say Twilight Princess is for everyone, but it will most likely remain as my favorite Zelda title. There's so much that I absolutely loved, and I'm glad I finally was able to do what child me just forgot to do.

No words I can write here can do this game justice, but I will at least make an attempt to sing its praises.
In the past couple months, I had played through the two other Xenosaga games, and while they had their flaws, I still really enjoyed them. I was scared to start this game, not only was I afraid this game wouldn't live up to the hype I accidentally built up for it, but I was scared of finishing this series for good. Xenosaga Episode 3 is the culmination of everything that came before it, creating something beautiful.
The gameplay is easily the best in the series. Though I did enjoy Xenosaga 1's gameplay, it at times felt overly complicated, and in turn, I feel like Xenosaga 2 did the opposite, oversimplifying everything. The gameplay of Xenosaga Episode 3 hits a good balance, featuring the customizability of Xenosaga 1, while having a lot of the simplifications of 2. I really liked the break system, and by far this game has the best mech combat of the entire series, hands down. But by far the best change Xenosaga 3 did was the fact that characters in the reserve gain skill points! It actually allows for every character to grow evenly at the same time.
The story, like with any Xenosaga game, is its shining aspect, and yet again Xenosaga 3 goes above and beyond. I did find that there was slight pacing issues, as I found the second act (chapters 4-7) to drag on a bit, but the entirety of Xenosaga 3's disc 2 makes up for it entirely. The fact that I don't want to spoil anything is painful because the story and its themes are AMAZING! The character writing is still on point, and not only does this game's new characters work really well, but it also made me care for characters I didn't really care about prior to this game. The themes are so impactful, especially to me particularly, as some of these themes have really been a part of my life experience. I definitely attached to KOS-MOS the most because of it. Xenosaga Episode 3's story is simply just a masterpiece in storytelling.
I love this game, without any shred of doubt. But. I'm sad to see it go. Sure, I can always replay it whenever I want, but the initial, blind experience can only occur once. But honestly, with a game like this, I think that's the point.