Halo24013
As I sit here writing this review, let me clarify by saying I love the Yakuza franchise for all it does with both story, minigames, substories, and characters. Several things go through my mind when thinking about Ryu Ga Gotoku Kenzan/Yakuza Kenzan:
The annoying combat, the annoying minigames, the amount of sidequests...
But... the story was a beautiful tragedy. We see a Kiryu more expressive and non broading. We see characters who aren't just a villain, but a confused individual. We see amazing developments of humor, love, loss, anger, and happiness.
The ending of this game hit exceptionally hard. It's a poetic end.
It's a shame Sega never released this in the West. Because this games story is amazing.
The combat is not the best, however in if I have to put it in a tier list, it's just slightly better than Yakuza 3, (yikes I know).
The miniganes for Courtesans (Kenzans version of Cabaret Club Girls) can be fun with Bowling... and that's it, the other 3 minigames are complete trash. The one minigame with the red hockey puck is completely unfair (you f*** up once and it's game over). The lack of karaoke is sad, considering Ishin apparently has it.
But look, reguardless of the combat and minigames... this story is beautifully written, with exceptional characters... (wellllllll...except the main villain who can essentially be boiled down to me bad because I want to rule country with iron fist)
Still the ending is one of the most touching endings you'll see in the franchise. I'm not going to force you to play it if you don't know japanese (Though you can use KHH walk-through I recommend)
I recommend watching KHH videos on YouTube, just to see the story unfold. It's so great, I honestly hope this and Ishin get ported (well in this case they should give Kenzan the Kiwami treatment to fix the combat and minigames. As well as add extra stuff). These games are amazing.
#bringkenzantothewest
#bringishintothewest
#bringYakuzaBlackPanthertotheWest
#BringYakuzaBlackPanther2totheWest
❤️⭐️❤️⭐️❤️
The annoying combat, the annoying minigames, the amount of sidequests...
But... the story was a beautiful tragedy. We see a Kiryu more expressive and non broading. We see characters who aren't just a villain, but a confused individual. We see amazing developments of humor, love, loss, anger, and happiness.
The ending of this game hit exceptionally hard. It's a poetic end.
It's a shame Sega never released this in the West. Because this games story is amazing.
The combat is not the best, however in if I have to put it in a tier list, it's just slightly better than Yakuza 3, (yikes I know).
The miniganes for Courtesans (Kenzans version of Cabaret Club Girls) can be fun with Bowling... and that's it, the other 3 minigames are complete trash. The one minigame with the red hockey puck is completely unfair (you f*** up once and it's game over). The lack of karaoke is sad, considering Ishin apparently has it.
But look, reguardless of the combat and minigames... this story is beautifully written, with exceptional characters... (wellllllll...except the main villain who can essentially be boiled down to me bad because I want to rule country with iron fist)
Still the ending is one of the most touching endings you'll see in the franchise. I'm not going to force you to play it if you don't know japanese (Though you can use KHH walk-through I recommend)
I recommend watching KHH videos on YouTube, just to see the story unfold. It's so great, I honestly hope this and Ishin get ported (well in this case they should give Kenzan the Kiwami treatment to fix the combat and minigames. As well as add extra stuff). These games are amazing.
#bringkenzantothewest
#bringishintothewest
#bringYakuzaBlackPanthertotheWest
#BringYakuzaBlackPanther2totheWest
❤️⭐️❤️⭐️❤️
2001
While in no way a good game this game is the most hilarious game you can play in the Shrek franchise. The story is nonsensical not even relating to the movie, so much so i dont think a single character from the movie shows up.
The "gameplay" (specifically) the Xbox version is the most hilarious thing you will ever play, Shrek charging at the same speeds as Sonic the hedgehog, having the ability to kick people into orbit, and a ridiculously flaily jump. Most levels are broken beyond belief, but it doesn't make this a good game, just makes it a hilarious one, you need to own this if you never played it.
It feels like a random assets game with Shrek shoved in slapped together in about 4 months, with the shittest part being the main menu which feels like it's going to open to reveal a puzzle game or something. It's hilarious. Absolutely recommend this pile lmao
The "gameplay" (specifically) the Xbox version is the most hilarious thing you will ever play, Shrek charging at the same speeds as Sonic the hedgehog, having the ability to kick people into orbit, and a ridiculously flaily jump. Most levels are broken beyond belief, but it doesn't make this a good game, just makes it a hilarious one, you need to own this if you never played it.
It feels like a random assets game with Shrek shoved in slapped together in about 4 months, with the shittest part being the main menu which feels like it's going to open to reveal a puzzle game or something. It's hilarious. Absolutely recommend this pile lmao
2018
The definitive Spiderman experience, Webs that shoot onto walls, amazing story and villains. Spectacular Customization and Abilities. This is an the best Spiderman game.
2016
This is a hentai simulator for you to essentially have sex with any anime character you want. So yeah, go ham
2008
Run is a very fun flash that does great job with the physics aspect of gravity of being able to use the walls to your advantage when traversing through the courses, the game reminds me of a more fun and better version of the Atari 800 game "Yoomp!" Very fun flash game
2007
Portal is a masterpiece that has you use Portal in the terrifying Aperture Science Facility which seems to the Protagonist, Chell. Complete every new test chamber, each being more deadly than the last.
The game is a great puzzle game, and has a lot of uneasy/uncomfortable feeling moments when you look at things like writing on the walls or things GLaDOS says to you.
The atmosphere, the puzzles, and GLaDOS all make this game a great experience, except maybe the final confrontation with GLaDOS as it feels very janky and tedious due to how long it can take to take out GLaDOS' personality cores, and dumping them into the furnace.
You can say the ending is a bit abrupt, though considering this is apart of the Half Life universe, it's not that surprising. Though if anything, Portal 1 is more so a puzzle game, than it is a PUZZLE-STORY HEAVY game. The story is there, but it's meh, the story really becomes amazing when Portal 2 comes along.
The game is a great puzzle game, and has a lot of uneasy/uncomfortable feeling moments when you look at things like writing on the walls or things GLaDOS says to you.
The atmosphere, the puzzles, and GLaDOS all make this game a great experience, except maybe the final confrontation with GLaDOS as it feels very janky and tedious due to how long it can take to take out GLaDOS' personality cores, and dumping them into the furnace.
You can say the ending is a bit abrupt, though considering this is apart of the Half Life universe, it's not that surprising. Though if anything, Portal 1 is more so a puzzle game, than it is a PUZZLE-STORY HEAVY game. The story is there, but it's meh, the story really becomes amazing when Portal 2 comes along.
Persona 2 Eternal Punishment is the continuation of the story of Persona 2 Innocent Sin. This game works as the Part 2 of the 2 Part Persona 2 story (however technically there are Parts 1.5 [Persona 2 Tsumi: Lost Memories) and 2.5 [Persona 2 Batsu: Infinity Mask]) and concludes the story in a somewhat positive and beautiful, yet tragic way.
Persona 2 Eternal Punishment picks up sometime after Persona 2 Innocent Sin however this time, instead of controlling Tatsuya, you control Maya instead.
In this situation, Maya becomes a silent protagonist that occasionally has player choice dialogue, however her own voice takes a backseat and instead we are now able to hear Tatsuya's thoughts and voice.
The characters in this game who you play as are as follows:
Maya Amano - Reporter who investigates the rumors, she has memories of the OTHER SIDE but can seem to remember properly. She has a connection to Tatsuya Suou but she doesn't know the reason. She gives hope and positivity to the group and is the leader.
Arcana: The Moon
Ulala Serizawa: Maya's best friend who is amazing at boxing, she's very girly considering her appearance but can also be hotheaded. She struggles due to being conned by a conartist boyfriend, and is jealous of Maya's life style. She still loves and cares for Maya, and gets along well with Katsuya and Baofu. She wants to be as strong as Maya mentally and pushes herself to do that.
Arcana: The Star
Katsuya Suou: Katsuya is a detective/police officer in Sumaru City, and is the older brother of Tatsuya. He's very serious and is attempting to find out the truth of his fathers death. He is motivated in solving the Rumors case, and also is attempting to help his brother who appears to be getting involved with the rumors, Tatsuzou Sudou, and other events. He wears a grey suit with a red suit shirt and a black tie. Katsuya secretly loves Maya.
Arcana: Justice
Baofu (Kaoru Saga): An extortionist and tap buster who claims to be Taiwanese. He has a hatred for the Tien Tao Lien (Chinese Mafia), and has a regrets over something that happen in his past with his partner Miki. He is very techsavy and great at wire tapping conversations. He butt heads a lot with Katsuya due to them sharing opposite ideologies when it comes to justice however both come to respect eachother. He gets along well with Maya, however is always chastised and gets beat up by Ulala. He wears a yellow detective style jacket, with Bluish sun glasses and has really long black hair.
Arcana: The Hanged Man
Kei Nanjo: Returning member of Persona 1. He is now the owner/leader of the Nanjo group and is attempting to stop the New World Order in order to stop the rumor incidents from happening in Sumaru City. He still loves all his friends from Saint Hermelins, and has Eriko as his assistant. He always cherishes the moments from Persona 1, and he also respects Naoya Toudou and always remembers him for how he motivated everyone. Nanjo is so happy to see Maki and Reiji alive and well and willing to help him out, Nanjo cherishes all his friends. He sports a motorcycle outfit and wears a helmet in this game.
Arcana: The Hierophant
Eriko Kirishima: Returning member from Persona 1. Eriko is now working as a model and actress. Depending on whether you choose for her or Nanjo to appear is based upon what rumor you spread. Her personality is mature yet still girly for the most part. Like Nanjo she cherishes the memories from her past at Saint Hermelins and remembers Naoya. She still loves him very much so much so she shares a rivalry with Maki over who loves Naoya more.
She is now wearing a badge outfit with long sleeves and short shorts, she now also has a short hair.
Arcana: Judgement
Tatsuya Suou: Herald of the Sin, he's from the OTHER SIDE who's taken control of Tatsuya Suou of THIS SIDE's body inorder to prevent the world from ending in this universe. He tries to keep Maya and the group away from him and doesn't want Maya, Lisa, Eikichi, and Jun to regain their memories of the other side. He makes the ultimate sacrifice to allow for the new universe to live happily, while his world is doomed for eternity. He loves and cares about Maya, Lisa, Eikichi, and Jun that he bares the sin of the other world. He wears a red jacket with a black X. He has a mark of sin on him that's like a black tattoo.
Arcana: The Sun
The game's story has to do with the spread of Rumors and how rumors are becoming reality and getting worse, similar to the first game however in this situation the rumors are specifically about Jokers. Throughout the game you'll meet several familiar faces from the previous entries, like previous Persona 1 characters, and appearances of Eikichi, Lisa, and Jun who take a back seat in terms of the story.
However the good reason as to why they take a backseat in the story is due to them playing a big part in the overarching story in Persona 2 Eternal Punishment, with the need of having their memories be forever locked away in order to make sure that the fate that befell the world in Innocent Sin, not to happen in this new time.
The Innocent Sin world is called "THE OTHER SIDE" (Aka the original side)
In Persona 2: Eternal Punishment it's explained to us that Jokers are corrupted Personas that sap the energy of negativity, hatred, and malice thoughts of those who it's infecting. The reason being is because in this universe Tatsuzou Sudou, leader of the New World Order wants to unleash Kiyotada Sumaru/Gozen to destroy the world with the 12 dragons. His son Tatsuya Sudou in this timeline has become a pawn and a joker of Nyarlathotep trolling Tatsuya in his endeavor to save this timeline.
The story starts at Seven Sisters High with Maya Amano, her friend Ulala Serizawa, and Tatsuya's older brother detective, Katsuya Suou, investigating a recent murder that was pinned on Anna Yoshizaka (returning from Innocent Sin, however in this timeline she's a regular student, as a opposed to a member of the Masked Circle).
We find out Tatsuya Sudou pinned the murder on Anna and attempts to kill her, on the way Maya, Ulala, and Tatsuya unlock their respective Personas, and Tatsuya saves Anna and tells Maya not to interfere nor remember the memories of her past.
Maya, Ulala, and Katsuya travel throughout Sumaru city and meet with another Persona user, Baofu (also known as Kaoru Saga) who is a techsavy who claims to be Taiwanese, and he wants to take out the leader of the Taiwanese Mafia of Tien Tao Lien, Yung Pao for something that happened in Baofu's past.
They go through similar situations as the Masked Circle in Innocent Sin, like for example, the burning of the Museum where Maya, Ulala, Katsuya, and Baofu save children from the burning Museum, and Tatsuya appears again to save them against Tatsuya Sudou, where a similar boss fight like in Innocent Sin happens against him, where he meets the same fate.
The game continues with antics like Ulala getting infected by the Joker virus, due to what happens with her Ex-conman boyfriend. She is saved and the parasite is removed by having her being taken to the Velvet Room.
After being left stuck without any clues, Katsuya gets info from "SNEAK" a police officer giving information about the corrupt police who are actually apart of the NEW WORLD ORDER. He gives them photos of 2 persona users (Eriko and Nanjo from Persona 1) the group gets the idea to contact 2 Persona users associated with the SEBEC Incident in Persona 1. [Here the choice is up to you as to whole will appear. If you spread a rumor that it's a man, Nanjo will appear. If you spread a rumor that it's a woman Eriko will appear.]
They all head to the bar in Parabellum, and theres a chance of Kei Nanjo or Eriko Kirishima to appear and have the situation explained to them. Here they become your 5th member throughout most of the game.
In Nanjos situation they head to Nanjo's facility because he heard how they were doing experiments on people.
The group infiltrates a Nanjo facility, and we see the return of Maki and Reiji who want to help as much as they can, as Nanjo is so happy to see them. In the facility they see that Eikichi was captured since one of his friends was taken and experimented on. Eikichi doesn't recognize Maya but asks the group to save his friend and to have him tag along.
The group find out the true intention of the New World Order and that is to unleash Gozen by sucking out the evilness and sin of the humans. That and attempting to fuse their bodies with that of Personas, which angers Nanjo when they find out what they're doing at one of his facilities.
Here we see the return of Persona 1's villain, Kandori who has also become a pawn of Nyarlathotep however he goes by his own volition, with Nanjo attempting to save him in a later part of the game during the boat sequence.
In Eriko's sequence of events the group head to Sumaru TV to stop Chizuru Ishigami, who is also apart of the new world order. In this situation, Eriko gets help from Hidehiko "Brown" Usegi (from Persona 1) whos always happy to help a fellow friend from the past.
The group after finding out the truth of the New World Orders plan attempt to stop and save Tatsuya from the robots, since Tatsuya is attempting to stop Tatsuzou from escaping and to try to change his fate (which he doesn't).
The group escape with Tatsuya and Tatsuya tells them what's going on by heading to Mount Iwato, where everyone's past is revealed, as well as Maya's past memories of the other side are unlocked. Tatsuya also explains that he is from The Other Side and is merely using This Sides Tatsuya's body in order to save everyone. Tatsuya feeling remorseful and sad because he's afraid of what might happen to Maya and his friends again. Tatsuya explaining that it's his sin to bare. Maya cheers Tatsuya up and so does his brother Katsuya, Ulala, and Baofu. Eriko/Nanjo take their leave saying, they'll protect what they need to in order to have a better future, and leave.
The group now consists of Maya, Ulala, Katsuya, Baofu, and Tatsuya who head to Xaliba in order to stop the Masked circle. Fighting against soldiers and grotesque mutants. The later fight at the top of the newly formed Sumaru Castle where the group fight against a mutated Tatsuzou, and later against Gozen to stop the destruction of the world.
Nyarlathotep [now appearing as Tatsuya with his Innocent Sin School Uniform outfit with glowing yellow eyes] says he's seen enough and taunts Tatsuya, Maya and co by making fun of the fact that Tatsuya is attempting to change the fate of the world, and challenges him to one final game. He reveals he's captured Eikichi, Lisa, and Jun, and that rule of the game is to not have their memories be revealed or else the world will become the same as the Innocent Sin world.
In my playthough I decided realistically the only one who should never remember their memories is Jun since regardless of what you do, his memories will never be restored, but I decided to have Lisa and Eikichi remember since it's realistic, heartwarming, and sad when they find out.
Nyarlathotep attempts to cause Eikichi and Lisa's memories to be restored by taunting Katsuya, Ulala, Baofu, and Maya with Shadow versions of themselves and their true inner feelings. Depending on your choices here, it can cause Eikichia and Lisa to regain their memories, depending on the right and wrong choices.
I purposefully chose the wrong choices since I wanted them to make sure they remember and to mourn for the loss of their friend/ Lisa's Other side lover.
At the end the 5 fight against Nyarlathotep who is defeated and can't believe that he actually lost, he disappears yet tells him that if Jun were to remember, everything would revert back to the world where he won. As Jun falls and Philemon catches him, Jun's memories will never be restored.
Here is where Tatsuya of the Other Side states his purpose is done and that he's happy he was able to save everyone in this timeline, he plants a kiss on Maya, and tells everyone to live their lives, as his souls is transfer back to his body in the Innocent Sin world. As everyone sadly watches.
The epilogue of the game has Maya finishing up a personal report as she is later told by a fellow employee that she has a a new assignment and has a positive outlook on it. We then cut to Baofu and Ulala now working as detectives, as Baofu visits the grave of his dead partner, as Ulala hurries him up for another mission but also tells Miki, "I'll take care of Baofu for you", it then shows the Persona 1 gang meeting at Parabellum, as Nanjo, Eriko, Maki, Reiji, Hidehiko, and Yukino all meet up together to reminisce and meet up, we then hear the door open and Eriko and Maki welcome their past crush of Naoya Toudou (Boy with Earring). [He is seen on screen in terms of a flashback with Nanjo and Eriko as a teenager in his Saint Hermelins, however as an adult we never see him, we only see Maki and Eriko greeting him as romance rivals].
[This next epilogue is dependent on whether or not you revealed Eikichi and Lisa's memories] We cut to Ayala Shrine where Eikichi and Lisa are crying, saying "You always had to do it by yourself Tatsuya, you didn't have to bare all that pain and sin on your own!"
They cry as they mourn the loss of the original world and of Tatsuya of the other side, as he is the only one who's stuck their to bare the sin.
Jun walks up and asks why they're crying, and says he feels a pain, sadness, and sorrow but he doesn't know why. Eikichi and Lisa know not to tell him, and both state they won't cry anymore for Tatsuya's sake. However this proceeded by Lisa continuing to cry with Eikichi.
We finally cut to Tatsuya of this new world with Katsuya who talk about what Tatsuya want's to do in the future. Tatsuya ask what it's like to be a detective and asks if their deceased father would approve. The 2 talk about it and Katsuya says he'll teach Tatsuya all about being a detective, finally answering Tatsuya's question from Innocent Sin if he's decided what he wants to do in his future.
Tatsuya rides off in his motorcycle as Maya walks by in the crosswalk and sees him, she remembers the Other Side Tatsuya, and her memories, but also sees the New Tatsuya and the new world and has a positive outlook of the future. As the screen zooms in on her face and she smiles. The game cuts to white and the credits role.
The story of the game is an amazing way of finishing up the Persona 2 Story, the story is one about having hope and changing fate. The characters here are superb by having pervious characters from Persona 1 show up as well as revealing everything from 2 Innocent Sin.
Maya, Ulala, Baofu, and Katsuya are amazing characters who have their own struggles and pains to deal with however come together to bring out the best in themselves.
Tatsuya Suou is the best protagonist in all of Persona, as he is both the strongest with Time Manipulation as well as being able to cross dimensions with Apollo, but he's the most tragic as even though he was able to allow the follow of time to continue in the alternate Eternal Punishment time, he's still stuck in the Innocent Sin world on Sumaru City.
The gameplay of the game is similar to that of Innocent Sin but in terms of the battle system has a downgrade.
As instead of how Persona 1 and 2 Innocent Sin have you select what abilities you want each user you want to do one after another, here you HAVE to select them all at the same time, which can ruin the flow of combat since there isn't an auto attack this time. However combat still for the most part is faster than in 2 Innocent Sin.
The usage of Personas and obtaining them is lifted straight from Innocent Sin so it's just as easy. The rumors in this game are just as easy to use. The game does not feature a theater mode that has more content but instead you can unlock these memories of Tatsuya and what he was doing before the events of Eternal Punishment.
The soundtrack for this game is equally as amazing as in Innocent Sin and is a great addition to the franchise and the duology that is Persona 2.
Persona 2 Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment must be experienced together as they are both amazing titles.
If you want to experience the PSP version of this game, I recommend downloading the rom and playing it on PPSSPP as there is no other way of playing the PSP version since it was originally never released on PSP in the West.
It truly is a crime that Persona 1, Persona 2 Innocent Sin, and Persona 2 Eternal Punishment have never been rereleased again, as all 3 of these games are absolute masterpieces.
All Persona games have something amazing in each of them, but it's truly a shame Atlus doesn't feel remasters for these 3 are needed.
I hope one day we can get proper remasters of these 3 games. If not remasters then certainly remakes, I would love to finally see Persona 1, 2 Innocent Sin, and 2 Eternal Punishment for modern audiences to experience.
I absolutely recommend Persona 2 Eternal Punishment
Persona 2 Eternal Punishment picks up sometime after Persona 2 Innocent Sin however this time, instead of controlling Tatsuya, you control Maya instead.
In this situation, Maya becomes a silent protagonist that occasionally has player choice dialogue, however her own voice takes a backseat and instead we are now able to hear Tatsuya's thoughts and voice.
The characters in this game who you play as are as follows:
Maya Amano - Reporter who investigates the rumors, she has memories of the OTHER SIDE but can seem to remember properly. She has a connection to Tatsuya Suou but she doesn't know the reason. She gives hope and positivity to the group and is the leader.
Arcana: The Moon
Ulala Serizawa: Maya's best friend who is amazing at boxing, she's very girly considering her appearance but can also be hotheaded. She struggles due to being conned by a conartist boyfriend, and is jealous of Maya's life style. She still loves and cares for Maya, and gets along well with Katsuya and Baofu. She wants to be as strong as Maya mentally and pushes herself to do that.
Arcana: The Star
Katsuya Suou: Katsuya is a detective/police officer in Sumaru City, and is the older brother of Tatsuya. He's very serious and is attempting to find out the truth of his fathers death. He is motivated in solving the Rumors case, and also is attempting to help his brother who appears to be getting involved with the rumors, Tatsuzou Sudou, and other events. He wears a grey suit with a red suit shirt and a black tie. Katsuya secretly loves Maya.
Arcana: Justice
Baofu (Kaoru Saga): An extortionist and tap buster who claims to be Taiwanese. He has a hatred for the Tien Tao Lien (Chinese Mafia), and has a regrets over something that happen in his past with his partner Miki. He is very techsavy and great at wire tapping conversations. He butt heads a lot with Katsuya due to them sharing opposite ideologies when it comes to justice however both come to respect eachother. He gets along well with Maya, however is always chastised and gets beat up by Ulala. He wears a yellow detective style jacket, with Bluish sun glasses and has really long black hair.
Arcana: The Hanged Man
Kei Nanjo: Returning member of Persona 1. He is now the owner/leader of the Nanjo group and is attempting to stop the New World Order in order to stop the rumor incidents from happening in Sumaru City. He still loves all his friends from Saint Hermelins, and has Eriko as his assistant. He always cherishes the moments from Persona 1, and he also respects Naoya Toudou and always remembers him for how he motivated everyone. Nanjo is so happy to see Maki and Reiji alive and well and willing to help him out, Nanjo cherishes all his friends. He sports a motorcycle outfit and wears a helmet in this game.
Arcana: The Hierophant
Eriko Kirishima: Returning member from Persona 1. Eriko is now working as a model and actress. Depending on whether you choose for her or Nanjo to appear is based upon what rumor you spread. Her personality is mature yet still girly for the most part. Like Nanjo she cherishes the memories from her past at Saint Hermelins and remembers Naoya. She still loves him very much so much so she shares a rivalry with Maki over who loves Naoya more.
She is now wearing a badge outfit with long sleeves and short shorts, she now also has a short hair.
Arcana: Judgement
Tatsuya Suou: Herald of the Sin, he's from the OTHER SIDE who's taken control of Tatsuya Suou of THIS SIDE's body inorder to prevent the world from ending in this universe. He tries to keep Maya and the group away from him and doesn't want Maya, Lisa, Eikichi, and Jun to regain their memories of the other side. He makes the ultimate sacrifice to allow for the new universe to live happily, while his world is doomed for eternity. He loves and cares about Maya, Lisa, Eikichi, and Jun that he bares the sin of the other world. He wears a red jacket with a black X. He has a mark of sin on him that's like a black tattoo.
Arcana: The Sun
The game's story has to do with the spread of Rumors and how rumors are becoming reality and getting worse, similar to the first game however in this situation the rumors are specifically about Jokers. Throughout the game you'll meet several familiar faces from the previous entries, like previous Persona 1 characters, and appearances of Eikichi, Lisa, and Jun who take a back seat in terms of the story.
However the good reason as to why they take a backseat in the story is due to them playing a big part in the overarching story in Persona 2 Eternal Punishment, with the need of having their memories be forever locked away in order to make sure that the fate that befell the world in Innocent Sin, not to happen in this new time.
The Innocent Sin world is called "THE OTHER SIDE" (Aka the original side)
In Persona 2: Eternal Punishment it's explained to us that Jokers are corrupted Personas that sap the energy of negativity, hatred, and malice thoughts of those who it's infecting. The reason being is because in this universe Tatsuzou Sudou, leader of the New World Order wants to unleash Kiyotada Sumaru/Gozen to destroy the world with the 12 dragons. His son Tatsuya Sudou in this timeline has become a pawn and a joker of Nyarlathotep trolling Tatsuya in his endeavor to save this timeline.
The story starts at Seven Sisters High with Maya Amano, her friend Ulala Serizawa, and Tatsuya's older brother detective, Katsuya Suou, investigating a recent murder that was pinned on Anna Yoshizaka (returning from Innocent Sin, however in this timeline she's a regular student, as a opposed to a member of the Masked Circle).
We find out Tatsuya Sudou pinned the murder on Anna and attempts to kill her, on the way Maya, Ulala, and Tatsuya unlock their respective Personas, and Tatsuya saves Anna and tells Maya not to interfere nor remember the memories of her past.
Maya, Ulala, and Katsuya travel throughout Sumaru city and meet with another Persona user, Baofu (also known as Kaoru Saga) who is a techsavy who claims to be Taiwanese, and he wants to take out the leader of the Taiwanese Mafia of Tien Tao Lien, Yung Pao for something that happened in Baofu's past.
They go through similar situations as the Masked Circle in Innocent Sin, like for example, the burning of the Museum where Maya, Ulala, Katsuya, and Baofu save children from the burning Museum, and Tatsuya appears again to save them against Tatsuya Sudou, where a similar boss fight like in Innocent Sin happens against him, where he meets the same fate.
The game continues with antics like Ulala getting infected by the Joker virus, due to what happens with her Ex-conman boyfriend. She is saved and the parasite is removed by having her being taken to the Velvet Room.
After being left stuck without any clues, Katsuya gets info from "SNEAK" a police officer giving information about the corrupt police who are actually apart of the NEW WORLD ORDER. He gives them photos of 2 persona users (Eriko and Nanjo from Persona 1) the group gets the idea to contact 2 Persona users associated with the SEBEC Incident in Persona 1. [Here the choice is up to you as to whole will appear. If you spread a rumor that it's a man, Nanjo will appear. If you spread a rumor that it's a woman Eriko will appear.]
They all head to the bar in Parabellum, and theres a chance of Kei Nanjo or Eriko Kirishima to appear and have the situation explained to them. Here they become your 5th member throughout most of the game.
In Nanjos situation they head to Nanjo's facility because he heard how they were doing experiments on people.
The group infiltrates a Nanjo facility, and we see the return of Maki and Reiji who want to help as much as they can, as Nanjo is so happy to see them. In the facility they see that Eikichi was captured since one of his friends was taken and experimented on. Eikichi doesn't recognize Maya but asks the group to save his friend and to have him tag along.
The group find out the true intention of the New World Order and that is to unleash Gozen by sucking out the evilness and sin of the humans. That and attempting to fuse their bodies with that of Personas, which angers Nanjo when they find out what they're doing at one of his facilities.
Here we see the return of Persona 1's villain, Kandori who has also become a pawn of Nyarlathotep however he goes by his own volition, with Nanjo attempting to save him in a later part of the game during the boat sequence.
In Eriko's sequence of events the group head to Sumaru TV to stop Chizuru Ishigami, who is also apart of the new world order. In this situation, Eriko gets help from Hidehiko "Brown" Usegi (from Persona 1) whos always happy to help a fellow friend from the past.
The group after finding out the truth of the New World Orders plan attempt to stop and save Tatsuya from the robots, since Tatsuya is attempting to stop Tatsuzou from escaping and to try to change his fate (which he doesn't).
The group escape with Tatsuya and Tatsuya tells them what's going on by heading to Mount Iwato, where everyone's past is revealed, as well as Maya's past memories of the other side are unlocked. Tatsuya also explains that he is from The Other Side and is merely using This Sides Tatsuya's body in order to save everyone. Tatsuya feeling remorseful and sad because he's afraid of what might happen to Maya and his friends again. Tatsuya explaining that it's his sin to bare. Maya cheers Tatsuya up and so does his brother Katsuya, Ulala, and Baofu. Eriko/Nanjo take their leave saying, they'll protect what they need to in order to have a better future, and leave.
The group now consists of Maya, Ulala, Katsuya, Baofu, and Tatsuya who head to Xaliba in order to stop the Masked circle. Fighting against soldiers and grotesque mutants. The later fight at the top of the newly formed Sumaru Castle where the group fight against a mutated Tatsuzou, and later against Gozen to stop the destruction of the world.
Nyarlathotep [now appearing as Tatsuya with his Innocent Sin School Uniform outfit with glowing yellow eyes] says he's seen enough and taunts Tatsuya, Maya and co by making fun of the fact that Tatsuya is attempting to change the fate of the world, and challenges him to one final game. He reveals he's captured Eikichi, Lisa, and Jun, and that rule of the game is to not have their memories be revealed or else the world will become the same as the Innocent Sin world.
In my playthough I decided realistically the only one who should never remember their memories is Jun since regardless of what you do, his memories will never be restored, but I decided to have Lisa and Eikichi remember since it's realistic, heartwarming, and sad when they find out.
Nyarlathotep attempts to cause Eikichi and Lisa's memories to be restored by taunting Katsuya, Ulala, Baofu, and Maya with Shadow versions of themselves and their true inner feelings. Depending on your choices here, it can cause Eikichia and Lisa to regain their memories, depending on the right and wrong choices.
I purposefully chose the wrong choices since I wanted them to make sure they remember and to mourn for the loss of their friend/ Lisa's Other side lover.
At the end the 5 fight against Nyarlathotep who is defeated and can't believe that he actually lost, he disappears yet tells him that if Jun were to remember, everything would revert back to the world where he won. As Jun falls and Philemon catches him, Jun's memories will never be restored.
Here is where Tatsuya of the Other Side states his purpose is done and that he's happy he was able to save everyone in this timeline, he plants a kiss on Maya, and tells everyone to live their lives, as his souls is transfer back to his body in the Innocent Sin world. As everyone sadly watches.
The epilogue of the game has Maya finishing up a personal report as she is later told by a fellow employee that she has a a new assignment and has a positive outlook on it. We then cut to Baofu and Ulala now working as detectives, as Baofu visits the grave of his dead partner, as Ulala hurries him up for another mission but also tells Miki, "I'll take care of Baofu for you", it then shows the Persona 1 gang meeting at Parabellum, as Nanjo, Eriko, Maki, Reiji, Hidehiko, and Yukino all meet up together to reminisce and meet up, we then hear the door open and Eriko and Maki welcome their past crush of Naoya Toudou (Boy with Earring). [He is seen on screen in terms of a flashback with Nanjo and Eriko as a teenager in his Saint Hermelins, however as an adult we never see him, we only see Maki and Eriko greeting him as romance rivals].
[This next epilogue is dependent on whether or not you revealed Eikichi and Lisa's memories] We cut to Ayala Shrine where Eikichi and Lisa are crying, saying "You always had to do it by yourself Tatsuya, you didn't have to bare all that pain and sin on your own!"
They cry as they mourn the loss of the original world and of Tatsuya of the other side, as he is the only one who's stuck their to bare the sin.
Jun walks up and asks why they're crying, and says he feels a pain, sadness, and sorrow but he doesn't know why. Eikichi and Lisa know not to tell him, and both state they won't cry anymore for Tatsuya's sake. However this proceeded by Lisa continuing to cry with Eikichi.
We finally cut to Tatsuya of this new world with Katsuya who talk about what Tatsuya want's to do in the future. Tatsuya ask what it's like to be a detective and asks if their deceased father would approve. The 2 talk about it and Katsuya says he'll teach Tatsuya all about being a detective, finally answering Tatsuya's question from Innocent Sin if he's decided what he wants to do in his future.
Tatsuya rides off in his motorcycle as Maya walks by in the crosswalk and sees him, she remembers the Other Side Tatsuya, and her memories, but also sees the New Tatsuya and the new world and has a positive outlook of the future. As the screen zooms in on her face and she smiles. The game cuts to white and the credits role.
The story of the game is an amazing way of finishing up the Persona 2 Story, the story is one about having hope and changing fate. The characters here are superb by having pervious characters from Persona 1 show up as well as revealing everything from 2 Innocent Sin.
Maya, Ulala, Baofu, and Katsuya are amazing characters who have their own struggles and pains to deal with however come together to bring out the best in themselves.
Tatsuya Suou is the best protagonist in all of Persona, as he is both the strongest with Time Manipulation as well as being able to cross dimensions with Apollo, but he's the most tragic as even though he was able to allow the follow of time to continue in the alternate Eternal Punishment time, he's still stuck in the Innocent Sin world on Sumaru City.
The gameplay of the game is similar to that of Innocent Sin but in terms of the battle system has a downgrade.
As instead of how Persona 1 and 2 Innocent Sin have you select what abilities you want each user you want to do one after another, here you HAVE to select them all at the same time, which can ruin the flow of combat since there isn't an auto attack this time. However combat still for the most part is faster than in 2 Innocent Sin.
The usage of Personas and obtaining them is lifted straight from Innocent Sin so it's just as easy. The rumors in this game are just as easy to use. The game does not feature a theater mode that has more content but instead you can unlock these memories of Tatsuya and what he was doing before the events of Eternal Punishment.
The soundtrack for this game is equally as amazing as in Innocent Sin and is a great addition to the franchise and the duology that is Persona 2.
Persona 2 Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment must be experienced together as they are both amazing titles.
If you want to experience the PSP version of this game, I recommend downloading the rom and playing it on PPSSPP as there is no other way of playing the PSP version since it was originally never released on PSP in the West.
It truly is a crime that Persona 1, Persona 2 Innocent Sin, and Persona 2 Eternal Punishment have never been rereleased again, as all 3 of these games are absolute masterpieces.
All Persona games have something amazing in each of them, but it's truly a shame Atlus doesn't feel remasters for these 3 are needed.
I hope one day we can get proper remasters of these 3 games. If not remasters then certainly remakes, I would love to finally see Persona 1, 2 Innocent Sin, and 2 Eternal Punishment for modern audiences to experience.
I absolutely recommend Persona 2 Eternal Punishment
Gravity Rush Remaster is a frustratingly fun action/exploration game where you play as the protagonist Kat with her companion cat named Dusty.
You explore the city via using a gravitational shift and pull abilities while fighting enemies known as the Nevis which are these monsters with giant eye balls that are exposed as the weak spots for the enemies.
The game can be very peaceful in terms of using the shift ability in order to traverse different areas of the city as well as overall feeling the flow of gravity as you control it.
The game has gravity as the basis of both movement and attack, while you are able to traverse on foot and attack on foot, it's better to just attack while in Gravity mode as it allows you to both dodge and hit enemies easier. You throughout the game will gain 3 special abilities:
1. The first is a drill abilities that causes Kat to drill into the enemies.
2. Second is a telekinesis ability where Kat launches a bunch of rocks at enemies to tons of damage and killing a lot of enemies.
3. Lastly being this tornado/saturn ring spin ability which causes Kat to go inside a ball of energy and it spins while this ring does a lot of damage, however this being the last ability, you think it'd be the best but it's the one you'd probably never use.
The gravitational pull can get very annoying to control as they game does not have a lock on feature to lock on to enemies, at the very least during a gravity kick (while in gravity mode, pressing □ will cause Kat to do a gravity kick) will 8/10 land on an enemy without missing or making Kat go beyond the enemy.
The gravity mode can be fun in exploring and traversing, but can be a pain when you have to do said exploring/traversing, while fighting in combat.
The challenge modes are where you can tell the developers want to make certain modes as tedious as possible, or just annoying enough where the jank of the Flow of gravity can make it feel unfair and harder on purpose.
Challenges consist of:
•Hit all the checkpoints and get a fast time
•Hit all the checkpoints and get a fast time but you're only allowed to use gravity slide (Hold L2+R2)
•Hit all the checkpoints but your gravity meter is depleted but you can collect gravity items that limit a small portion of the gravity meter in order to help you be faster, and complete at the fastest time.
• Find and Grab people and take them to a certain area for a certain amount of points before time runs out.
• Get a certain amount of points while killing enemies in any way
• Get a certain amount of points while killing specifically with the throwing ability (Best way to do these is press circle and then press L1 immediately to deactivate Gravity mode as it's easier to throw objects on solid ground than on the gravity mode)
•Throw objects into a specific area in order to gain a certain amount of points before time runs out.
And in the challenges there are 3 ranks, which are:
GOLD 🪙
SILVER🥈
BRONZE🥉
Which give you crystals🔷️
Which depending on the rank you achieve will stack on top of the either, except for bronze, meaning:
Let's say in this challenge you got gold rank, this means your diamonds will stack:
🪙 - 🔷️800 ⬅️ YOU
🥈- 🔷️700
🥉 - 🔷️400
Total you get for first place: 🔷️1900
Total you would get for second: 🔷️1100
Total you would get for bronze/3rd: 🔷️400 only
These crystals can also be found all throughout the city and you collected them, and use them to level up your attacks, your health your gravity meter, your grab range, your dodges, and your super moves.
The game's story is interesting as well as establishes an interesting world with Kat being very likeable and cute, while having a badass side to her.
The city is full of hypocritical jerks as they request for her help while saying that "shifters are no good" so it makes you hate the civilians, however the characters who are friends with Kat are really great.
Also I find it artistically beautiful in visuals and artstyle, that it's beautiful to behold. I also appreciate the language created for the game as it has aspects of Japanese mixed with French, but it is it's own fictional language, still you can hear aspects of both which is nice.
Raven is similar to Kat however her animal partner is... a raven lol. She has this serious, yet hot attitude about her, with a sweet caring side, it's very nice to see even if you do have to fight her twice which can be difficult but fun.
Boss fights can be fun and difficult as the weakspots are usually/always exposed however you must be careful as you have to strategically plan out your attack but also fight against the gravity as it can be janky.
The story has a lot of nice moments with Kat and Dusty, as well as a lot of interesting moments in terms of hinting of Kat's forgotten past however we never see that as the focus was more so saving the city, instead of looking deep into Kat's past, however the game certainly has the sequel to look into that I'm assuming (I haven't played 2 yet when I made this review)
The games story is told in these comic/manga panel styles where it changes to a different panel to express emotions or characters speaking/reacting, to sometimes in-game cutscenes that are either 1. Just in the game as is (plays like a regular cutscene) or during the comic panels, the comic panel will be replace with said animated in game cutscene within the panel.
Kat can unlock several different outfits in this remaster:
Maid
School Girl
Kat Biker
Military Uniform
All of these look cute on Kat, except the Military outfit as it makes her forehead big, the Biker outfit is the best though.
The games final boss is both cool, but the boss is certainly janky to fight against, but the finisher is badass. The ending shot can be seen as abrupt but luckily the game has a nice conclusion at the end with the credits as it shows final comic/manga panels showing how everyone reacted to the events and what happened after while also hinting at the sequel (which obviously does exist and I'm planning on playing next)
Gravity Rush Remaster is a good experience that everyone should try, I think the gravity control is really fun, but also very frustrating in terms of not trying to mess of the flow when Kay traverses or fights. With bosses that can be fun and sometimes easy, which has a interesting, yet ok story as it leaves a lot of open questions, which most likely will be answered when I play Gravity Rush 2.
The game is good for what it is and is a treat to have gotten a Remaster of a game that could've been another victim stuck on the vita.
Had a weird thing that occurs in the map and cutscenes where for no reason they decide to use the gyro controls in order to "move the manga panel" or the map in a 3d axis which is just weird. In gameplay it's more so just used to allow for another way of moving Kat in gravity mode, though its better to just use the joysticks instead.
I recommend buying this game digitally as physical copies are hard to come across and are expensive, I luckily stumbled upon one at my local gamestop, but just buy it digitally as it only costs $9.99. I played it physically on my PS5 and it ran superbly, though I also believe it runs great on the PS4.
I recommend Gravity Rush🙏🏻😁
You explore the city via using a gravitational shift and pull abilities while fighting enemies known as the Nevis which are these monsters with giant eye balls that are exposed as the weak spots for the enemies.
The game can be very peaceful in terms of using the shift ability in order to traverse different areas of the city as well as overall feeling the flow of gravity as you control it.
The game has gravity as the basis of both movement and attack, while you are able to traverse on foot and attack on foot, it's better to just attack while in Gravity mode as it allows you to both dodge and hit enemies easier. You throughout the game will gain 3 special abilities:
1. The first is a drill abilities that causes Kat to drill into the enemies.
2. Second is a telekinesis ability where Kat launches a bunch of rocks at enemies to tons of damage and killing a lot of enemies.
3. Lastly being this tornado/saturn ring spin ability which causes Kat to go inside a ball of energy and it spins while this ring does a lot of damage, however this being the last ability, you think it'd be the best but it's the one you'd probably never use.
The gravitational pull can get very annoying to control as they game does not have a lock on feature to lock on to enemies, at the very least during a gravity kick (while in gravity mode, pressing □ will cause Kat to do a gravity kick) will 8/10 land on an enemy without missing or making Kat go beyond the enemy.
The gravity mode can be fun in exploring and traversing, but can be a pain when you have to do said exploring/traversing, while fighting in combat.
The challenge modes are where you can tell the developers want to make certain modes as tedious as possible, or just annoying enough where the jank of the Flow of gravity can make it feel unfair and harder on purpose.
Challenges consist of:
•Hit all the checkpoints and get a fast time
•Hit all the checkpoints and get a fast time but you're only allowed to use gravity slide (Hold L2+R2)
•Hit all the checkpoints but your gravity meter is depleted but you can collect gravity items that limit a small portion of the gravity meter in order to help you be faster, and complete at the fastest time.
• Find and Grab people and take them to a certain area for a certain amount of points before time runs out.
• Get a certain amount of points while killing enemies in any way
• Get a certain amount of points while killing specifically with the throwing ability (Best way to do these is press circle and then press L1 immediately to deactivate Gravity mode as it's easier to throw objects on solid ground than on the gravity mode)
•Throw objects into a specific area in order to gain a certain amount of points before time runs out.
And in the challenges there are 3 ranks, which are:
GOLD 🪙
SILVER🥈
BRONZE🥉
Which give you crystals🔷️
Which depending on the rank you achieve will stack on top of the either, except for bronze, meaning:
Let's say in this challenge you got gold rank, this means your diamonds will stack:
🪙 - 🔷️800 ⬅️ YOU
🥈- 🔷️700
🥉 - 🔷️400
Total you get for first place: 🔷️1900
Total you would get for second: 🔷️1100
Total you would get for bronze/3rd: 🔷️400 only
These crystals can also be found all throughout the city and you collected them, and use them to level up your attacks, your health your gravity meter, your grab range, your dodges, and your super moves.
The game's story is interesting as well as establishes an interesting world with Kat being very likeable and cute, while having a badass side to her.
The city is full of hypocritical jerks as they request for her help while saying that "shifters are no good" so it makes you hate the civilians, however the characters who are friends with Kat are really great.
Also I find it artistically beautiful in visuals and artstyle, that it's beautiful to behold. I also appreciate the language created for the game as it has aspects of Japanese mixed with French, but it is it's own fictional language, still you can hear aspects of both which is nice.
Raven is similar to Kat however her animal partner is... a raven lol. She has this serious, yet hot attitude about her, with a sweet caring side, it's very nice to see even if you do have to fight her twice which can be difficult but fun.
Boss fights can be fun and difficult as the weakspots are usually/always exposed however you must be careful as you have to strategically plan out your attack but also fight against the gravity as it can be janky.
The story has a lot of nice moments with Kat and Dusty, as well as a lot of interesting moments in terms of hinting of Kat's forgotten past however we never see that as the focus was more so saving the city, instead of looking deep into Kat's past, however the game certainly has the sequel to look into that I'm assuming (I haven't played 2 yet when I made this review)
The games story is told in these comic/manga panel styles where it changes to a different panel to express emotions or characters speaking/reacting, to sometimes in-game cutscenes that are either 1. Just in the game as is (plays like a regular cutscene) or during the comic panels, the comic panel will be replace with said animated in game cutscene within the panel.
Kat can unlock several different outfits in this remaster:
Maid
School Girl
Kat Biker
Military Uniform
All of these look cute on Kat, except the Military outfit as it makes her forehead big, the Biker outfit is the best though.
The games final boss is both cool, but the boss is certainly janky to fight against, but the finisher is badass. The ending shot can be seen as abrupt but luckily the game has a nice conclusion at the end with the credits as it shows final comic/manga panels showing how everyone reacted to the events and what happened after while also hinting at the sequel (which obviously does exist and I'm planning on playing next)
Gravity Rush Remaster is a good experience that everyone should try, I think the gravity control is really fun, but also very frustrating in terms of not trying to mess of the flow when Kay traverses or fights. With bosses that can be fun and sometimes easy, which has a interesting, yet ok story as it leaves a lot of open questions, which most likely will be answered when I play Gravity Rush 2.
The game is good for what it is and is a treat to have gotten a Remaster of a game that could've been another victim stuck on the vita.
Had a weird thing that occurs in the map and cutscenes where for no reason they decide to use the gyro controls in order to "move the manga panel" or the map in a 3d axis which is just weird. In gameplay it's more so just used to allow for another way of moving Kat in gravity mode, though its better to just use the joysticks instead.
I recommend buying this game digitally as physical copies are hard to come across and are expensive, I luckily stumbled upon one at my local gamestop, but just buy it digitally as it only costs $9.99. I played it physically on my PS5 and it ran superbly, though I also believe it runs great on the PS4.
I recommend Gravity Rush🙏🏻😁
Xenoblade 3 is the best entry in terms of gameplay, exploration, and cast of characters. Each of the characters feel unique in design and personality that it's iconic to remember every single one of them.
The game does a great job of having the plot be consistent and captivating, it does suffer a bit of issues in terms of having areas drag out.
I think the ending is beautifully flawed in terms of both context and decision making from Monolith Soft, beautiful in the sense the characters will one day meet again, but given the game explained that both worlds from Xenoblade 1 and 2 collided to form a new one... why not just keep the world unified, the Origin devise was made so that people could transfer over safely in the new world, but of course thanks to Z and Moebius, it gets taken over and it causes and endless life and death cycle in this new world. But I don't understand why the developers essentially pressed an undo button, like the characters have little/vague recollections of what happens in 3, but it really can be a disatisfying ending if you don't like that the world's separated again.
The game eliminates the ludonarrative dissonance that 2 loved to parade around as if it made the game better, when if anything was annoying on how pathetic of a protag Rex was early on, (though he took a Major W by the end of this Game) or making boss fights that clearly had the characters winning in gameplay, but not in story. Xenoblade 3 has little of that, and even when it does it, it does it well that it doesn't annoy the player.
The game is an emotional Rollercoaster with beautiful moments, sad moments: Shania (Ghondor Ascension), Jumbo Turkin (rest in peace you innocent big boi), Miyubi, Joran, etc.
The game does an amazing job of making every hero and villian feel unique, you can go from hating an antagonist, to understanding their reasons for doing that.
All characters are well written, except for Mobieus (not counting M, N, C, Triton, and J) the rest are your run of the mill overly campy and stereotypical villians, which are essentially life force stealing vampires. Really wish that they showed all the Moebius faces, as the ones who aren't involved in the main story, but in side quests, always have their masks on, which is really difficult to actually see how they look like or why they became part of Moebius in the first place. I'm assuming the reason most members have their faces kept hidden as it mightve taken a long time to make unique moebius faces, who aren't prominent in the story.
Weird how there is no Moebius/Consol A, I wonder who that was or if it was something Monolith purposefully did for a future expansion.
Noah and Mio are lovely friends and lovers. Lanz is hilarious, and has a great dynamic with Sena, Eunie and Taion are really great opposites in personality but are really sweet to eachother.
I feel while their inclusions was great for both a nostalgic and storywise decision, I feel Nia and Melia should have been in the story much earlier like chapter 4 or 5, since their presence, while amazing is still lacking.
I had such a good time with this game seeing everything it had to offer, and completed it 100%.
Now all I have left to do is wait for expansions 3 and 4 which hopefully one of them takes place after the main game, adding a more happy ending than what's in this game.
Keep in mind I'm saying that I loved the ending here, but felt like it could've been more satisfying.
If i have to rank the games (including Torna, not X as I haven't played it, and apparently it has a cliffhanger ending that still hasn't been resolved yet, hopefully X-2 one day lol)
1. Xenoblade 3
2. Xenoblade 1
3. Xenoblade 2
4. Torna
Absolutely recommend this game. But I suggest playing 1 and 2 first though take your sweet time with them, don't try to rush through or else you won't enjoy everything these games have to offer.
Also i suggest taking 2-3 week breaks between each game after completion, because or else you'll start to feel fatigue and oversaturated jumping on from one to another.
Xenoblade 3 is a great game I absolutely recommend. 😁🙏🏻❤️
The game does a great job of having the plot be consistent and captivating, it does suffer a bit of issues in terms of having areas drag out.
I think the ending is beautifully flawed in terms of both context and decision making from Monolith Soft, beautiful in the sense the characters will one day meet again, but given the game explained that both worlds from Xenoblade 1 and 2 collided to form a new one... why not just keep the world unified, the Origin devise was made so that people could transfer over safely in the new world, but of course thanks to Z and Moebius, it gets taken over and it causes and endless life and death cycle in this new world. But I don't understand why the developers essentially pressed an undo button, like the characters have little/vague recollections of what happens in 3, but it really can be a disatisfying ending if you don't like that the world's separated again.
The game eliminates the ludonarrative dissonance that 2 loved to parade around as if it made the game better, when if anything was annoying on how pathetic of a protag Rex was early on, (though he took a Major W by the end of this Game) or making boss fights that clearly had the characters winning in gameplay, but not in story. Xenoblade 3 has little of that, and even when it does it, it does it well that it doesn't annoy the player.
The game is an emotional Rollercoaster with beautiful moments, sad moments: Shania (Ghondor Ascension), Jumbo Turkin (rest in peace you innocent big boi), Miyubi, Joran, etc.
The game does an amazing job of making every hero and villian feel unique, you can go from hating an antagonist, to understanding their reasons for doing that.
All characters are well written, except for Mobieus (not counting M, N, C, Triton, and J) the rest are your run of the mill overly campy and stereotypical villians, which are essentially life force stealing vampires. Really wish that they showed all the Moebius faces, as the ones who aren't involved in the main story, but in side quests, always have their masks on, which is really difficult to actually see how they look like or why they became part of Moebius in the first place. I'm assuming the reason most members have their faces kept hidden as it mightve taken a long time to make unique moebius faces, who aren't prominent in the story.
Weird how there is no Moebius/Consol A, I wonder who that was or if it was something Monolith purposefully did for a future expansion.
Noah and Mio are lovely friends and lovers. Lanz is hilarious, and has a great dynamic with Sena, Eunie and Taion are really great opposites in personality but are really sweet to eachother.
I feel while their inclusions was great for both a nostalgic and storywise decision, I feel Nia and Melia should have been in the story much earlier like chapter 4 or 5, since their presence, while amazing is still lacking.
I had such a good time with this game seeing everything it had to offer, and completed it 100%.
Now all I have left to do is wait for expansions 3 and 4 which hopefully one of them takes place after the main game, adding a more happy ending than what's in this game.
Keep in mind I'm saying that I loved the ending here, but felt like it could've been more satisfying.
If i have to rank the games (including Torna, not X as I haven't played it, and apparently it has a cliffhanger ending that still hasn't been resolved yet, hopefully X-2 one day lol)
1. Xenoblade 3
2. Xenoblade 1
3. Xenoblade 2
4. Torna
Absolutely recommend this game. But I suggest playing 1 and 2 first though take your sweet time with them, don't try to rush through or else you won't enjoy everything these games have to offer.
Also i suggest taking 2-3 week breaks between each game after completion, because or else you'll start to feel fatigue and oversaturated jumping on from one to another.
Xenoblade 3 is a great game I absolutely recommend. 😁🙏🏻❤️
I won't go too deep into this as I did with my Shovel Knight review but Shovel Knight Treasure Trove is an amazing upgrade to Shovel giving us the same game with more features.
Featuring 3 new story modes to play:
- Plague of Shadows (Plague Knight Story Mode)
- Specter of Torment (Specter Knight Story Mode)
- King of the Cards (King Knight Story Mode)
3 amazing story modes told from the perspectives of the 3 most popular knights. Sadly the other knights: Tinker, Polar, Treasure, Mole, Propeller, and Black Knight do not get their own story mode in terms of the base game where you traverse the world of Shovel Knight. Shame as I really would love to have played as Treasure Knight since he reminds me of Subject Delta from Bioshock or Black Knight because I love rival characters like: Meta Knight, Shadow, Knuckles, Zero, Ken, Virgil, Miles Edgeworth, etc; would have been really cool to play as Black Knight and see the story and world from his prespective.
Instead all the other Knights have a story mode in terms of the newly added fighting vs mode called "SHOWDOWN!" where you get a roster of 14 playable characters:
1. Shovel Knight
2. Plague Knight
3. Specter Knight
4. King Knight
5. Shield Knight
6. Black Knight
7. Propeller Knight
8. Mole Knight
9. Treasure Knight
10. Polar Knight
11. Tinker Knight
12. The Enchantress
13. Mona (Alchemist girl)
14. Gold Armor (this is a minor enemy that is difficult to defeat found in various stages, and because of how difficult the knight is to fight, it became a playable character)
Each with unique endings.
Shovel Knight Treasure Trove is the definitive experience for Shovel Knight and I cannot wait to experience more of Shovel Knight with Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon, and Shovel Knight dig.
I absolutely recommend this definitive version of the Retro Indie Icon, Shovel Knight :D
Featuring 3 new story modes to play:
- Plague of Shadows (Plague Knight Story Mode)
- Specter of Torment (Specter Knight Story Mode)
- King of the Cards (King Knight Story Mode)
3 amazing story modes told from the perspectives of the 3 most popular knights. Sadly the other knights: Tinker, Polar, Treasure, Mole, Propeller, and Black Knight do not get their own story mode in terms of the base game where you traverse the world of Shovel Knight. Shame as I really would love to have played as Treasure Knight since he reminds me of Subject Delta from Bioshock or Black Knight because I love rival characters like: Meta Knight, Shadow, Knuckles, Zero, Ken, Virgil, Miles Edgeworth, etc; would have been really cool to play as Black Knight and see the story and world from his prespective.
Instead all the other Knights have a story mode in terms of the newly added fighting vs mode called "SHOWDOWN!" where you get a roster of 14 playable characters:
1. Shovel Knight
2. Plague Knight
3. Specter Knight
4. King Knight
5. Shield Knight
6. Black Knight
7. Propeller Knight
8. Mole Knight
9. Treasure Knight
10. Polar Knight
11. Tinker Knight
12. The Enchantress
13. Mona (Alchemist girl)
14. Gold Armor (this is a minor enemy that is difficult to defeat found in various stages, and because of how difficult the knight is to fight, it became a playable character)
Each with unique endings.
Shovel Knight Treasure Trove is the definitive experience for Shovel Knight and I cannot wait to experience more of Shovel Knight with Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon, and Shovel Knight dig.
I absolutely recommend this definitive version of the Retro Indie Icon, Shovel Knight :D
A very fun fighting game with a lot of Tekken characters. The game is really great, has great cutscenes. And beautiful music, especially "your sunset" during the customization screen. This is a nice game to play if you want to play a quick fun Fighting game with friends.
One of the best 3D platformers. This is Kirby's first outing in an actual full 3D game for him. The game is a beautiful, artistic wonder to play. The power ups and abilities are amazing, particularly the sword, tornado, and fire abilities for me personally. Also having Kirby use ZA WARUDO timestop is an awesome bonus. This game has amazing unique levels with great implementation with the new MOUTHFUL MODE. Where they knew how to balance the use of them. Without having them overstay their welcome.
The bosses are both really fun, and really easy with a hint of challenge, but the songs that play during those encounters are amazing as well.
This game introduces a remix version of DEDEDEs theme from Star Allies, but sounding so much more superior in this game, ROAR OF DEDEDE IS AN AMAZING BOSS FIGHT SONG.
The sound track is glorious
The power ups are amazing
The stages are fun to play through with each gymic for each stage
The difficult is great for both new andold fans.
Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee are as cute as ever.
Meta Knight is as badass as ever.
This game is a pure joy. I would not call it Super Kirby Odyssey because that's more of an open world collectathon style of game. I think this fits more in line with Super Mario 3D WORLD where you get to end of the stages collecting collectibles (Star Coins for Mario 3D World, Hidden Waddle Dees in terms of Kirby) however Kirby adds more variety, requiring you to do different challenges to find certain Waddle Dees hidden among the levels. Also it's just pure joy to see, the more Waddle Dees you save, the more your town grows and expands. The post game in this game is lots of fun, I won't spoil it but the final boss for the post game and the final boss for the Ultimate Cup Z in the Colosseum are amazing.
100% check this delight of a Kirby game out, might have took a long time to get a proper 3D Kirby game, but it was worth the wait 😁🙏❤️
Poyo 0.0 ❤️
The bosses are both really fun, and really easy with a hint of challenge, but the songs that play during those encounters are amazing as well.
This game introduces a remix version of DEDEDEs theme from Star Allies, but sounding so much more superior in this game, ROAR OF DEDEDE IS AN AMAZING BOSS FIGHT SONG.
The sound track is glorious
The power ups are amazing
The stages are fun to play through with each gymic for each stage
The difficult is great for both new andold fans.
Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee are as cute as ever.
Meta Knight is as badass as ever.
This game is a pure joy. I would not call it Super Kirby Odyssey because that's more of an open world collectathon style of game. I think this fits more in line with Super Mario 3D WORLD where you get to end of the stages collecting collectibles (Star Coins for Mario 3D World, Hidden Waddle Dees in terms of Kirby) however Kirby adds more variety, requiring you to do different challenges to find certain Waddle Dees hidden among the levels. Also it's just pure joy to see, the more Waddle Dees you save, the more your town grows and expands. The post game in this game is lots of fun, I won't spoil it but the final boss for the post game and the final boss for the Ultimate Cup Z in the Colosseum are amazing.
100% check this delight of a Kirby game out, might have took a long time to get a proper 3D Kirby game, but it was worth the wait 😁🙏❤️
Poyo 0.0 ❤️
2022
Sonic Frontiers is a new step forward for Sonic, and a great step in the right direction.
Now obviously they had a bar set low with Sonic Forces the ideal was to make a game at the very least better than that, and I have to say they knocked it out of the park with this opportunity.
The open zones concept is great, giving a more expressive and exploration based world.
The game has 3 unique open zones, with the last 2 just sort of being a retread of the first however each having their own distinct that make them fun to go through.
The levels are comprised of 7 throughout each open Zones featuring worlds of Green Hills, Sky Sanctuary, Chemical Plant, City Escape, though relying way too much on these 4 worlds split across the 7 levels. I will say though, the pace of each world is perfect, the levels are the perfect length to where they have the speed flow great, while having you complete 4 objectives that can be easy to do so, now obviously you could say "shouldn't it be a challenge to complete the levels and get an S Rank" absolutely, however what shouldn't happen is having the levels that are made for speed, become essentially a looking around the world in order to find a red ring.
The missions consist of 4 missions to complete:
COMPLETE THE LEVEL
S RANK
ALL RED RINGS
GET A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF RINGS TO THE END
The game lacks lives as this experience is more so a new experience, so entering levels does not have any punishment in terms of having to start all over. Instead any progress made stacks on top of the time you died on, so if you're planning on getting the S Rank, and you die, you might as well restart the level and try again.
The open zones consist of this same pattern of gameplay, but having the ability to explore these areas is refreshing especially with the background music which can be peaceful to run around in.
Essentially you have to do challenges to open up the map, which later you can see the entire map, as well as portals (levels), locations of chaos emeralds, side stories/interactions with Sonic and his friends, the fishing levels, and Hermit and Grand Kocos.
After completely all the levels, getting all the chaos emeralds, and gaining memory items for you friends and Sage, you get to fight these amazingly Grand Spaken new bosses for a Sonic game.
I love Metal Sonic, he's my favorite Sonic character, only thing is that Sega's over reliance on him was a detriment as they never seemed to be able to make a new enemy that wasn't up to the level of Metal or Chaos.
All that Changes with the Titan bosses, giving you 4 amazing epic boss battles with you controlling Super Sonic and absolutely decimating them with every combat attack you learn.
The boss fights are amazing, as are the mini boss fights within the open zone, as the incentive with defeating said openzone minibosses is they give you items to use either to open portals, open the chaos emeralds containment.
The game has this funny as hell, and easy to master fishing mini game with Big the Cat, who has no clue why he's in the ancients area, but like in Sonic Adventure 2, he's just there in the world.
The fishing minigame is fun and beneficial as it's easy to just cast for fish, and then grab the fish when you press the button at the right time.
You fish via collecting these fishing coins all throughout the world, which as you fish and collect fish of different varieties, give you tokens and sometimes (rarely) golden tickets in order to exchange for things like:
Eggmans Memos (24 in total) - 15🪙
Chaos Key (there's usually a limit but max you need is about 20, but you can get more for some reason lol) - 5 🪙
Portal Keys -5🪙
Memory Piece for (Amy/Knuckles/Tails/Sage) - 5🪙
Defense fruit - 2🪙
Attack fruit - 2🪙
Kocos - 3🪙
In the fishing minigame it varies in terms of what world you're in for the amount of tokens you'll recieve, I suggest spending time in all 4 just to boost Sonics Power, Defense, and speed to help you out. The best fishing spot is on the last island however as if you catch rare fish it gives you about 48 tokens (maximum amount of tokens you can hold from fishing is 999)
Which you can just spam on Big's token shop and get a bunch of attack and defense fruit, or kocos.
The attack and defense fruit go to the Hermit Koco who automatically stacks it onto Sonic's Current attack and defense, and gets applied automatically, so you could go from level 1 to level 64 if you collected alot, though if you did the big fishing mini game and bought a bunch of fruit, you can get to 99.
The Grand Koco asks for you to collect Kocos throughout the open zone as well as the fishing mini game from exchanging tokens, as you collect 10 and give them to the Grand Koco, he allows you to decide whether you want to add it to Sonic's speed or Ring Count. The issue is with this is you have to level it up one at a time and go in a cycle of:
"Increase sonics speed"
Level 1-> Level 2
"Can never be too fast can we? Would you like to increase something else?"
Options:
"No thanks"
"Increase Speed"
"Increase Ring Capacity"
Rinse and repeat until:
1. You've run out of Kocos in order to level up
2. You have an abundance of Kocos to where you're maxed out on Speed and Ring Capacity so you no longer need to speak to the Grand Koco.
The story is amazing as it features a lot of heart warming and friendly moments between Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Sage.
The writer Ian Flynn, who writes for the IDW comics did a fantastic job adding more emotion, lore, and care to the story with the Ancients/Koco (who look like ancestors/similar to Chaos [main villain from Sonic Adventure])
We see a more caring and expressive Robotnik/Eggman with Sage, and we get a lot of amazing call backs to:
Sonic Unleashed
Sonic Riders
Sonic 1, 2, and 3
Sonic Forces
Sonic Unleashed
Sonic Colors and Lost World
Sonic story book duology
Sonic Adventure 1 and 2
Etc.
As well as referencing characters from said games, and even having idw comic characters mentioned.
The issues with game are as follows:
While having an amazing variety of boss fight themes, and the level music being good as well, I wish for a little more variety.
The levels too could've used either more call back stages rather than just:
GREEN HILLS
SKY SANCTUARY
CITY ESCAPE
CHEMICAL PLANT
They could've used levels from Sonic Rush, Colors, The story book game levels, Unleashed worlds, even 06 with crisis city.
Another issue is with the open zone in terms of the pop in, I feel they could've masked the pop in with either making it so the world had a fog to mask the pop in like Silent Hill 2 or could've rendered all objects in so that it didn't look weird.
The controls need a bit more adjustment as they feel abit janky, however Sonic himself is great to control and feels fast to control, that IGN GAMEPLAY reveal shows how bad the people who play games are as they made it seem like the controls didn't work when they work fine, the person who was controlling just sucks ass at video games.
Overall I had a wonderful time with Sonic Frontiers, I hope for the next Sonic game they keep Ian Flynn as the writer and have more characters present, this a great step forward for Sonic, and I can't wait to see whats next! I absolutely recommend this game 😁🙏🏻❤️
Now obviously they had a bar set low with Sonic Forces the ideal was to make a game at the very least better than that, and I have to say they knocked it out of the park with this opportunity.
The open zones concept is great, giving a more expressive and exploration based world.
The game has 3 unique open zones, with the last 2 just sort of being a retread of the first however each having their own distinct that make them fun to go through.
The levels are comprised of 7 throughout each open Zones featuring worlds of Green Hills, Sky Sanctuary, Chemical Plant, City Escape, though relying way too much on these 4 worlds split across the 7 levels. I will say though, the pace of each world is perfect, the levels are the perfect length to where they have the speed flow great, while having you complete 4 objectives that can be easy to do so, now obviously you could say "shouldn't it be a challenge to complete the levels and get an S Rank" absolutely, however what shouldn't happen is having the levels that are made for speed, become essentially a looking around the world in order to find a red ring.
The missions consist of 4 missions to complete:
COMPLETE THE LEVEL
S RANK
ALL RED RINGS
GET A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF RINGS TO THE END
The game lacks lives as this experience is more so a new experience, so entering levels does not have any punishment in terms of having to start all over. Instead any progress made stacks on top of the time you died on, so if you're planning on getting the S Rank, and you die, you might as well restart the level and try again.
The open zones consist of this same pattern of gameplay, but having the ability to explore these areas is refreshing especially with the background music which can be peaceful to run around in.
Essentially you have to do challenges to open up the map, which later you can see the entire map, as well as portals (levels), locations of chaos emeralds, side stories/interactions with Sonic and his friends, the fishing levels, and Hermit and Grand Kocos.
After completely all the levels, getting all the chaos emeralds, and gaining memory items for you friends and Sage, you get to fight these amazingly Grand Spaken new bosses for a Sonic game.
I love Metal Sonic, he's my favorite Sonic character, only thing is that Sega's over reliance on him was a detriment as they never seemed to be able to make a new enemy that wasn't up to the level of Metal or Chaos.
All that Changes with the Titan bosses, giving you 4 amazing epic boss battles with you controlling Super Sonic and absolutely decimating them with every combat attack you learn.
The boss fights are amazing, as are the mini boss fights within the open zone, as the incentive with defeating said openzone minibosses is they give you items to use either to open portals, open the chaos emeralds containment.
The game has this funny as hell, and easy to master fishing mini game with Big the Cat, who has no clue why he's in the ancients area, but like in Sonic Adventure 2, he's just there in the world.
The fishing minigame is fun and beneficial as it's easy to just cast for fish, and then grab the fish when you press the button at the right time.
You fish via collecting these fishing coins all throughout the world, which as you fish and collect fish of different varieties, give you tokens and sometimes (rarely) golden tickets in order to exchange for things like:
Eggmans Memos (24 in total) - 15🪙
Chaos Key (there's usually a limit but max you need is about 20, but you can get more for some reason lol) - 5 🪙
Portal Keys -5🪙
Memory Piece for (Amy/Knuckles/Tails/Sage) - 5🪙
Defense fruit - 2🪙
Attack fruit - 2🪙
Kocos - 3🪙
In the fishing minigame it varies in terms of what world you're in for the amount of tokens you'll recieve, I suggest spending time in all 4 just to boost Sonics Power, Defense, and speed to help you out. The best fishing spot is on the last island however as if you catch rare fish it gives you about 48 tokens (maximum amount of tokens you can hold from fishing is 999)
Which you can just spam on Big's token shop and get a bunch of attack and defense fruit, or kocos.
The attack and defense fruit go to the Hermit Koco who automatically stacks it onto Sonic's Current attack and defense, and gets applied automatically, so you could go from level 1 to level 64 if you collected alot, though if you did the big fishing mini game and bought a bunch of fruit, you can get to 99.
The Grand Koco asks for you to collect Kocos throughout the open zone as well as the fishing mini game from exchanging tokens, as you collect 10 and give them to the Grand Koco, he allows you to decide whether you want to add it to Sonic's speed or Ring Count. The issue is with this is you have to level it up one at a time and go in a cycle of:
"Increase sonics speed"
Level 1-> Level 2
"Can never be too fast can we? Would you like to increase something else?"
Options:
"No thanks"
"Increase Speed"
"Increase Ring Capacity"
Rinse and repeat until:
1. You've run out of Kocos in order to level up
2. You have an abundance of Kocos to where you're maxed out on Speed and Ring Capacity so you no longer need to speak to the Grand Koco.
The story is amazing as it features a lot of heart warming and friendly moments between Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Sage.
The writer Ian Flynn, who writes for the IDW comics did a fantastic job adding more emotion, lore, and care to the story with the Ancients/Koco (who look like ancestors/similar to Chaos [main villain from Sonic Adventure])
We see a more caring and expressive Robotnik/Eggman with Sage, and we get a lot of amazing call backs to:
Sonic Unleashed
Sonic Riders
Sonic 1, 2, and 3
Sonic Forces
Sonic Unleashed
Sonic Colors and Lost World
Sonic story book duology
Sonic Adventure 1 and 2
Etc.
As well as referencing characters from said games, and even having idw comic characters mentioned.
The issues with game are as follows:
While having an amazing variety of boss fight themes, and the level music being good as well, I wish for a little more variety.
The levels too could've used either more call back stages rather than just:
GREEN HILLS
SKY SANCTUARY
CITY ESCAPE
CHEMICAL PLANT
They could've used levels from Sonic Rush, Colors, The story book game levels, Unleashed worlds, even 06 with crisis city.
Another issue is with the open zone in terms of the pop in, I feel they could've masked the pop in with either making it so the world had a fog to mask the pop in like Silent Hill 2 or could've rendered all objects in so that it didn't look weird.
The controls need a bit more adjustment as they feel abit janky, however Sonic himself is great to control and feels fast to control, that IGN GAMEPLAY reveal shows how bad the people who play games are as they made it seem like the controls didn't work when they work fine, the person who was controlling just sucks ass at video games.
Overall I had a wonderful time with Sonic Frontiers, I hope for the next Sonic game they keep Ian Flynn as the writer and have more characters present, this a great step forward for Sonic, and I can't wait to see whats next! I absolutely recommend this game 😁🙏🏻❤️
Has a great story and is a good remake of Dead or Alive 1-4 to get people caught up before Dead or Alive 5, also it's really fun on 3DS which is surprising, highly recommend this game if you haven't played Dead or Alive.
So this game went through hell and back to convince fans of Marvel games that anything other than Spiderman can be fun, I'm so happy this game turned out great, especially after the shit that was Avengers, this game deserves all the praise and awards it got. This game is so fun, with amazing characters in Gamora, Drax, Nikki, Ko-Rel, Rocket, Groot, Peter Quill/Star Lord, and Last but certainly not Least, best dog Cosmo!
This game was a pleasure to play through. The story and actions is amazing. The characters are perfect characterizations. The humor is really funny. The emotional parts hit harder than ever. The game is a pleasure to play and deserves the praise it got, if you were unsure about playing this game, I highly urge you to play it.
This game was a pleasure to play through. The story and actions is amazing. The characters are perfect characterizations. The humor is really funny. The emotional parts hit harder than ever. The game is a pleasure to play and deserves the praise it got, if you were unsure about playing this game, I highly urge you to play it.