JapaniKatti
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After taking a break from the series for quite some time, I had made my return to TwinBee through the second game, Stinger, and as a whole, I thought it was good, but nothing more than that. Since I was so new to shmups back when I reviewed the original TwinBee, I ended up liking that game a whole lot, but now that this genre is part of my DNA, I could see that this game, while still being solid enough for shmup fanatics to have a good time with, isn’t really doing anything too new or crazy not just for the genre, but also for the TwinBee series, aside from turning the screen to a different angle for some stages. Despite that though, I guess the game was successful enough to where it would see a sequel after a 2-year hiatus, and unlike the last two, we wouldn’t end up getting this game over in Western territories, which means they can get as weird as they want to with this next entry, which is perfect for this series. Japan would eventually get this next entry in the form of TwinBee 3: Poko Poko Daimao, or as the English translation calls it, TwinBee 3: The Terror Trunk.
I wasn’t expecting too much when I went into this game, as based on what I was seeing, I had a good feeling about what I was getting into. Since this was released exclusively for the Famicom once again (and I guess for the I-revo too, but let’s be real, what the fuck is an I-revo), it probably wasn’t gonna do that much to change up the gameplay, and was just gonna be another good round of TwinBee goodness for big fans of the franchise. One quick playthrough later, my theory was then proved correct, as the game does make some slight changes to the formula that had been established before in the first game and Stinger, but for the most part, what you see is what you get here. Nevertheless, it was still another solid entry in the TwinBee series, and ones that fans of the series and shmup fanatics in general could get enough out of for how short it is.
The story is very simple here, where one day, GwinBee was out running an errand and presumably enjoying life, when suddenly, he is kidnapped by the evil Poko Poko, and imprisoned in a far away land, so it is up to GwinBee’s older siblings, TwinBee and WinBee, to step up to the plate and take down Poko Poko once and for all, which is not only a very relatable plot (don’t ask), but it is one that is likable enough to get you out there shooting down ships….. even if the plot is never explained in the actual game, but eh, who cares. The graphics are pretty much the same as Stinger for the most part, although the sprites for TwinBee and the others have seen some improvements, and the bosses in particular have fantastically weird designs, so it all looks pretty good, the music is good, having plenty of standard sounding tunes that you would typically find in any NES/Famicom game, but none of the tracks stand out as memorable, and the gameplay/control is pretty much unchanged from that of the previous games, which makes sense given what kind of series this is, and it still ends up being fun enough regardless.
The game is a vertical shmup, where you take control of either TwinBee or WinBee, go through a set of five stages that take you through many fantastical generic worlds, shoot down everything that you see using either your standard shot or by throwing bombs onto the ground, gather plenty of different power-ups by gathering bells and shooting them up to get the specific power-up that you oh so desire, and take on several bosses that will definitely weird you out way more than any of the standard enemies will, but will also be fairly easy if you have the right tools in order to take them on with. It is a third serving of good ol’ TwinBee goodness, taking what had been done in previous games and slightly enhancing them to where I would say this is the best in the series, if not by that much at all.
Unfortunately, this game returns to the strictly vertical style that it had in the original TwinBee, getting rid of the horizontal stages that were seen in Stinger, which I would be more upset about, but given how there were barely any stages like that in the previous game, I didn’t mind it all too much. What you need to be focusing on instead is the main gameplay, which, while remaining mostly the same as the previous two games, does add some new features that hadn’t been seen previously. The game as a whole is still a good amount of fun, shooting down plenty of these bad guys in the air and on the ground, doing your best to avoid any projectile coming towards you, and trying to get as many great power-ups as you can, such as the returning options and LASER that I love so much, and even new additions like the shield that will protect you from quite a few hits, which is REALLY helpful, especially against bosses. Additionally, there is also an options menu that you can check out before the main game, where you can adjust your difficulty, who you play as, how many lives you have, and even what stages you wanna tackle first. It doesn’t change the gameplay up too much as far as I know, but these options are very much appreciated, especially for newcomers who may not be so used to TwinBee or the shmup genre as a whole.
Aside from all that though, again, what you see is what you get with this game. Ya fly around, ya shoot and bomb stuff, ya get bells that will make you more powerful, ya combine power-ups together, and ya get terrified by this abomination that you have to fight at the end of the game. It is a very standard shmup experience, one that doesn’t offer too much change or variety throughout its stages, which I’m perfectly fine with, but others probably would get bored pretty quickly. What I am not fine with, on the other hand, is how short this game is as a whole, with there being only five stages as opposed to the previous two games, which had ten and seven stages respectively. Sure, neither of those games were that long either, but I just wonder why the number of stages keeps decreasing the further and further we go, giving us less game to enjoy here. Don’t worry though, because from what I’ve researched here, the next game in the series does make up for this by increasing the number of stages from five to……… six. Hey, better that then nothing, I guess.
Overall, despite a major lack of change and the shortened length compared to previous titles, TwinBee 3 is still yet another solid entry in this niche series of shmups that we have here, keeping the gameplay as solid and fun as before, giving you plenty of sweet power-ups to try out and keep ahold of, and plenty of weird things to see before you eventually beat the game. I would recommend it for those who were big fans of the previous two games, as well as those who are big shmup fanatics in general, because it is a decent way to kill a half-hour or so, and you will most likely have a good amount of fun doing it. So now, if you excuse me, I am gonna go try to find out how the hell TwinBee and his siblings are living creatures, and how ship people can have siblings and families. See you all next time!
Game #621
I wasn’t expecting too much when I went into this game, as based on what I was seeing, I had a good feeling about what I was getting into. Since this was released exclusively for the Famicom once again (and I guess for the I-revo too, but let’s be real, what the fuck is an I-revo), it probably wasn’t gonna do that much to change up the gameplay, and was just gonna be another good round of TwinBee goodness for big fans of the franchise. One quick playthrough later, my theory was then proved correct, as the game does make some slight changes to the formula that had been established before in the first game and Stinger, but for the most part, what you see is what you get here. Nevertheless, it was still another solid entry in the TwinBee series, and ones that fans of the series and shmup fanatics in general could get enough out of for how short it is.
The story is very simple here, where one day, GwinBee was out running an errand and presumably enjoying life, when suddenly, he is kidnapped by the evil Poko Poko, and imprisoned in a far away land, so it is up to GwinBee’s older siblings, TwinBee and WinBee, to step up to the plate and take down Poko Poko once and for all, which is not only a very relatable plot (don’t ask), but it is one that is likable enough to get you out there shooting down ships….. even if the plot is never explained in the actual game, but eh, who cares. The graphics are pretty much the same as Stinger for the most part, although the sprites for TwinBee and the others have seen some improvements, and the bosses in particular have fantastically weird designs, so it all looks pretty good, the music is good, having plenty of standard sounding tunes that you would typically find in any NES/Famicom game, but none of the tracks stand out as memorable, and the gameplay/control is pretty much unchanged from that of the previous games, which makes sense given what kind of series this is, and it still ends up being fun enough regardless.
The game is a vertical shmup, where you take control of either TwinBee or WinBee, go through a set of five stages that take you through many fantastical generic worlds, shoot down everything that you see using either your standard shot or by throwing bombs onto the ground, gather plenty of different power-ups by gathering bells and shooting them up to get the specific power-up that you oh so desire, and take on several bosses that will definitely weird you out way more than any of the standard enemies will, but will also be fairly easy if you have the right tools in order to take them on with. It is a third serving of good ol’ TwinBee goodness, taking what had been done in previous games and slightly enhancing them to where I would say this is the best in the series, if not by that much at all.
Unfortunately, this game returns to the strictly vertical style that it had in the original TwinBee, getting rid of the horizontal stages that were seen in Stinger, which I would be more upset about, but given how there were barely any stages like that in the previous game, I didn’t mind it all too much. What you need to be focusing on instead is the main gameplay, which, while remaining mostly the same as the previous two games, does add some new features that hadn’t been seen previously. The game as a whole is still a good amount of fun, shooting down plenty of these bad guys in the air and on the ground, doing your best to avoid any projectile coming towards you, and trying to get as many great power-ups as you can, such as the returning options and LASER that I love so much, and even new additions like the shield that will protect you from quite a few hits, which is REALLY helpful, especially against bosses. Additionally, there is also an options menu that you can check out before the main game, where you can adjust your difficulty, who you play as, how many lives you have, and even what stages you wanna tackle first. It doesn’t change the gameplay up too much as far as I know, but these options are very much appreciated, especially for newcomers who may not be so used to TwinBee or the shmup genre as a whole.
Aside from all that though, again, what you see is what you get with this game. Ya fly around, ya shoot and bomb stuff, ya get bells that will make you more powerful, ya combine power-ups together, and ya get terrified by this abomination that you have to fight at the end of the game. It is a very standard shmup experience, one that doesn’t offer too much change or variety throughout its stages, which I’m perfectly fine with, but others probably would get bored pretty quickly. What I am not fine with, on the other hand, is how short this game is as a whole, with there being only five stages as opposed to the previous two games, which had ten and seven stages respectively. Sure, neither of those games were that long either, but I just wonder why the number of stages keeps decreasing the further and further we go, giving us less game to enjoy here. Don’t worry though, because from what I’ve researched here, the next game in the series does make up for this by increasing the number of stages from five to……… six. Hey, better that then nothing, I guess.
Overall, despite a major lack of change and the shortened length compared to previous titles, TwinBee 3 is still yet another solid entry in this niche series of shmups that we have here, keeping the gameplay as solid and fun as before, giving you plenty of sweet power-ups to try out and keep ahold of, and plenty of weird things to see before you eventually beat the game. I would recommend it for those who were big fans of the previous two games, as well as those who are big shmup fanatics in general, because it is a decent way to kill a half-hour or so, and you will most likely have a good amount of fun doing it. So now, if you excuse me, I am gonna go try to find out how the hell TwinBee and his siblings are living creatures, and how ship people can have siblings and families. See you all next time!
Game #621
Se um dia você se perguntou como seria um Sonic no Game Boy Color, sua resposta está parcialmente aqui. Só que em um portátil obscuro que ninguém liga.
Ele é uma mistura de Sonic 2 com pouco processamento, mas é lindo ver seus gráficos coloridos num dispositivo portátil chinês.
A jogabilidade é simples e fácil. Se você quiser pegar as Emeralds, o ritmo pode ficar meio lento, mas pelo menos o special stage dele é aquele divertidinho do Sonic 2.
Só sofri um pouco com a fase aquática, que tem umas flechas com timing bem traiçoeiro e um Knuckles meio aleatório como boss. Até agora não entendi em qual momento ele pode sofrer dano ou não, e as argolas insistiam em pular pra fora da tela à cada hit.
No geral, vale a pena? Pela curiosidade sim... e pela maratona de Sonic's também.
Enquanto ao NGPC, até baixei mais uns 3 ROMs da biblioteca dele, mas vai ser difícil eu parar pra jogar kkk
Ele é uma mistura de Sonic 2 com pouco processamento, mas é lindo ver seus gráficos coloridos num dispositivo portátil chinês.
A jogabilidade é simples e fácil. Se você quiser pegar as Emeralds, o ritmo pode ficar meio lento, mas pelo menos o special stage dele é aquele divertidinho do Sonic 2.
Só sofri um pouco com a fase aquática, que tem umas flechas com timing bem traiçoeiro e um Knuckles meio aleatório como boss. Até agora não entendi em qual momento ele pode sofrer dano ou não, e as argolas insistiam em pular pra fora da tela à cada hit.
No geral, vale a pena? Pela curiosidade sim... e pela maratona de Sonic's também.
Enquanto ao NGPC, até baixei mais uns 3 ROMs da biblioteca dele, mas vai ser difícil eu parar pra jogar kkk
Omori
2020
this is really a somber game. it makes that clear to you within a few minutes of playing, it feels like you're setting yourself on fire ad nauseam, leaving you feeling empty inside. while my thoughts on a large bulk of the middle of the game are complicated, the final act packed a serious punch. i don't actually know if the game is good because i wasnt really warmed up to turn-based combat at the time but the narrative drew me in with its deep and resounding dread that was unrelenting. i was incredibly moved by the themes and messaging of this game. it really hit home for me and i found myself in tears because i saw a lot of who I used to be reflected on the screen. it can be really painful when the media and art portray something so personal. words cannot express how i felt after playing this game.
omori is of course not an easy work. it gets under your skin and stays in your memory like very few games do. the game confronts uncomfortable truths and doesnt shy away from heavy topics, especially the theme of being unable to separate oneself from guilt hit me really hard. this video game does more than narrate. it tells a touching story about feelings taking you along with it to the point where it still remains touching once youre done with the game. This game has given me so many emotions. in truth, I love it with all my heart. It teaches the value of empathy, and id absolutely recommend it. its significance extends beyond personal preference.
omori is of course not an easy work. it gets under your skin and stays in your memory like very few games do. the game confronts uncomfortable truths and doesnt shy away from heavy topics, especially the theme of being unable to separate oneself from guilt hit me really hard. this video game does more than narrate. it tells a touching story about feelings taking you along with it to the point where it still remains touching once youre done with the game. This game has given me so many emotions. in truth, I love it with all my heart. It teaches the value of empathy, and id absolutely recommend it. its significance extends beyond personal preference.
Caramba, essa DLC é muito boa. Apesar de muito curta, adorei me aventurar por ela. Logo no começo ela já nos coloca em uma situação muito confusa, e é claro que logo já começa o terror e a tensão, que são ótimos! Pensei que ela seria maior, mas depois de completa-la acho que o seu tempo é perfeito para oque ela propõe. Assim como a campanha principal joguei na dificuldade normal, e nessa DLC morri apenas uma vez, me surpreendendo voltando do inicio, bem típico desse jogo. Logo conclui com tranquilidade.
I really don't like being negative about games this old, it's insanely incredible that anything this polished even got made back then, and compared to the unpolished messes that get called AAA today it certainly shines.
But its... rough.
The first zelda already did the sense of exploration, use of tools, clever dungeons, etc... this game, does it bigger, but without really expanding on it.
The tools don't feel that cohesive nor intuitive, interactions feel very arbitrary, even unfinished.
Someone else put it much better than I did, there's no sense of place, stuff doesn't do what I want it to, all of it leads to frustration.
Sadly, by the 9th dungeon I realized I just wasn't having any fun. I never really wanted to explore the world because it felt tedious, dungeons felt kinda bullshit and samey, nothing felt like the magic of a beloved classic to me.
I did have plenty of fun in the first half, and some of what this game has to offer is genuinely charming and ambitious.
But personally, I rate games based on how much fun I had with them, how much joy they sparked. And this one didn't spark that much. So while dumbass licensed games for the PSP get 5s from me, this just gets a 3. Sorry to anyone this deeply offends.
But its... rough.
The first zelda already did the sense of exploration, use of tools, clever dungeons, etc... this game, does it bigger, but without really expanding on it.
The tools don't feel that cohesive nor intuitive, interactions feel very arbitrary, even unfinished.
Someone else put it much better than I did, there's no sense of place, stuff doesn't do what I want it to, all of it leads to frustration.
Sadly, by the 9th dungeon I realized I just wasn't having any fun. I never really wanted to explore the world because it felt tedious, dungeons felt kinda bullshit and samey, nothing felt like the magic of a beloved classic to me.
I did have plenty of fun in the first half, and some of what this game has to offer is genuinely charming and ambitious.
But personally, I rate games based on how much fun I had with them, how much joy they sparked. And this one didn't spark that much. So while dumbass licensed games for the PSP get 5s from me, this just gets a 3. Sorry to anyone this deeply offends.
Daily Dadish
2023
Daily Dadish is the 4th installment of the Dadish series of 2D platformers. If you've played any of the previous games (I recommend them all) you'll be familiar with the gameplay, namely that the titular Dadish has no attacks, what with him being a radish and all. Despite this setback he uses precision platforming and funny dialogue to travel all over the world to rescue his large brood. The thing that sets Daily Dadish apart from the previous games is that you have exactly 24 hours to play each level before it's gone again for another year. So if you want to get the most out of this game, it needs to become a daily part of your life for at least a year.
Daily Dadish's "gimmick" frustrated me at first. It's not a fun feeling to boot up a game you just bought, play for a few minutes, then be told you have to wait until midnight to try another level. But as time passed, I looked forward to each day's new level. It became a fun routine! That is until, after months of diligence, I slipped up. I missed a day and felt my heart sink. And that's when DD's most unique feature became its biggest flaw. It really made me feel terrible for missing a day, in a way I didn't like. It certainly is interesting seeing a game utilize FOMO like this without trying to wretch money from players with microtransactions. But ultimately, I prefer the standard level to level game design the previous games followed. This is a fun game, but should ONLY be played after someone has completed all the previous Dadish titles but still craves more.
Also there's a leap day level?! Like, I respect the craftsmanship but how would I have known that?!
Daily Dadish's "gimmick" frustrated me at first. It's not a fun feeling to boot up a game you just bought, play for a few minutes, then be told you have to wait until midnight to try another level. But as time passed, I looked forward to each day's new level. It became a fun routine! That is until, after months of diligence, I slipped up. I missed a day and felt my heart sink. And that's when DD's most unique feature became its biggest flaw. It really made me feel terrible for missing a day, in a way I didn't like. It certainly is interesting seeing a game utilize FOMO like this without trying to wretch money from players with microtransactions. But ultimately, I prefer the standard level to level game design the previous games followed. This is a fun game, but should ONLY be played after someone has completed all the previous Dadish titles but still craves more.
Also there's a leap day level?! Like, I respect the craftsmanship but how would I have known that?!
For a DLC, the Pale Reach is outrageously short. Only 17 more fish to catch and a short questline with 5 steps is NOT worth it at full price. I spent 4 euros on this with a discount, and it was only 1 hour of new content. The visuals are great and the vibe is as spooky as the base game, but this is a rip-off.
Devil's Third
2015
fucking peak, I simultaneously can and can't believe this game was ravished so critically in its time. Like, did we even play the same game???? I honestly booted this game up as a joke since my Wii U was plugged in for shovel knight, and ended up getting really invested to the point of playing through the whole thing.
The narrative is pretty much a bonafide example of a japanese developer making a western-leaning action plot, and I mean that in only the best ways. There's tons of political jargon and inter-continental relation talk that borders that fine line between advancing the plot in a sensible way while still sounding complicated and serious. The cast of characters all have their own exaggerated morals and views of the world alongside their borderline tangential relationship to our protagonist where things feel personal between them but never really established nor developed any further. There's all the action setpieces you'd expect like puching through a jail full of cartoonishly insane tenants, blasting helicopters singlehandedly in your generic western battlefield, going through a house-of-the-dead-ass hospital filled with zombies, going through the cool japan castle level filled with cyborg ninjas, snowy mountains complete with a crazy vehicle segment, this game has it ALL. Instead of having anything tongue-in-cheek about how absurd that some shirtless dude with a gun and a sword and his crew of generic mechanically-enhanced supersoldiers can make it through all this insanity, the game plays everything dead fucking straight. There's not a hint of irony going on about this overly complex and flashy plot that mostly amounts to the same generic action movie tropes, and I ate up every goddamn second of it and lost my shit at every crazy moment the game threw at me. If you are a fan of like the Metal Gear series, the Ace Combat series, Resident Evils 4-6 in particular, or pretty much any Clover/Platinum game or Suda51 action title, you probably already know exactly what kind of vibe this games going for and will likely hella fuck with it just as much as I did.
If this game was just a goofy stupid setpiecy title that'd be one thing, but the actual gameplay is really fucking solid too! Yeah, the game definitely looks and runs more like an xbox 360 game from 2008 than a AAA Wii U title from 2015 (not really like there's much of a difference between the two in the first place), but honestly I do not give a singular shit about graphics and even found plenty of parts to look really nice regardless. The game is directed by our boy Tomonobu Itagaki, and while that sounds like a pretty red flag for me personally given how much Ninja Gaiden Sigma PTSD I still suffer from, in this game he was able to adapt his Itagaki-isms to a way where it's not total cock and ball torture to push through. In this game you have a gun to shoot things and play like a cover shooter, a sword to combo people in melee combat, and extra moves like grenade throwing and dash sliding for extra options for mobility and offense. I noticed while playing that I was doing everything I could to get from one battle sequence to the other because I found the combat that engaging, which isn't even something I do for some fully-blown character action games. The game and its levels are definitely designed in a way where while you CAN just focus on one over the other and either play the game entirely like Gears of War or like Ninja Gaiden, it's at its peak when you stay on your toes and utilize each weapon equally. I found the most fun in focusing on melee for primarily killing people and using the guns only for particularly long-distance targets that I'd die trying to run to, or to occasionally use in order to thin out crowded rooms a bit before running in like a lunatic with a knife. Hitting and killing people with melee in particular earns you meter which can be spent on activating a super mode that makes you mostly invulnerable while active and gives a heavy melee buff, and you can even activate it during scripted enemy attack sequences which means at any time you can have a panic button if things start going south. The bosses are also really fun and each one serves as a pretty different test of each of your different skills (even if some of the later game bosses get pretty cheap with instant kill attacks). It's basically 3D Ninja Gaiden but with high-speed third person shooting thrown in and not ludicrously difficult. What the fuck isn't there to like about that???
It's a banger fucking video game, shoutouts to Nintendo of all fucking people for actually being the guys to see the worth in something like this enough to publish it. It makes sense why this game reviewed so low because like in 2015 people were more wanting to see what the PS4/Xbone generation had to offer and didn't really have the time or energy to give a late wii U Unreal Engine 3 game much the light of day at all, and I lowkey get that. Nowadays though, where I feel like people are more willing to look past that kind of thing, I think it makes sense why this game has such a devoted cult fanbase. I wish I was able to try out the online mode when it was alive because of what I've heard from secondhand accounts it was apparently fun as FUCK and after playing through the singleplayer I can very much believe it. You goddamn KNOW if some fan servers pop up for this game, I'm there day one. The game is insanely difficult to get nowadays because Nintendo of America apparently lost faith in the title near the end of its development similarly to Disaster Day of Crisis (which honestly this game shares a lot in common with in terms of camp, guess Nintendo of America has horrible taste but at least they released this game here in SOME capacity vs just outright not for that game), and as such combined with the fact that the Wii U eshop is rip in kill, this game is a fuckpile of money to buy physically. I had my chance to get this game physically for 40 bucks back in its time but decided against it because I was a broke-ass high schooler and now its like 10 times that price and I have every US first party Wii U game physically except this and fuckin Mario Tennis Ultra Smash. Considering that it's extremely unlikely this game will ever get a rerelease, I'd def suggest giving this game a go under any means necessary without having to sell your liver. This game deserves to be played by more people that can appreciate what it does instead of being known as "that shitty expensive wii U game".
The narrative is pretty much a bonafide example of a japanese developer making a western-leaning action plot, and I mean that in only the best ways. There's tons of political jargon and inter-continental relation talk that borders that fine line between advancing the plot in a sensible way while still sounding complicated and serious. The cast of characters all have their own exaggerated morals and views of the world alongside their borderline tangential relationship to our protagonist where things feel personal between them but never really established nor developed any further. There's all the action setpieces you'd expect like puching through a jail full of cartoonishly insane tenants, blasting helicopters singlehandedly in your generic western battlefield, going through a house-of-the-dead-ass hospital filled with zombies, going through the cool japan castle level filled with cyborg ninjas, snowy mountains complete with a crazy vehicle segment, this game has it ALL. Instead of having anything tongue-in-cheek about how absurd that some shirtless dude with a gun and a sword and his crew of generic mechanically-enhanced supersoldiers can make it through all this insanity, the game plays everything dead fucking straight. There's not a hint of irony going on about this overly complex and flashy plot that mostly amounts to the same generic action movie tropes, and I ate up every goddamn second of it and lost my shit at every crazy moment the game threw at me. If you are a fan of like the Metal Gear series, the Ace Combat series, Resident Evils 4-6 in particular, or pretty much any Clover/Platinum game or Suda51 action title, you probably already know exactly what kind of vibe this games going for and will likely hella fuck with it just as much as I did.
If this game was just a goofy stupid setpiecy title that'd be one thing, but the actual gameplay is really fucking solid too! Yeah, the game definitely looks and runs more like an xbox 360 game from 2008 than a AAA Wii U title from 2015 (not really like there's much of a difference between the two in the first place), but honestly I do not give a singular shit about graphics and even found plenty of parts to look really nice regardless. The game is directed by our boy Tomonobu Itagaki, and while that sounds like a pretty red flag for me personally given how much Ninja Gaiden Sigma PTSD I still suffer from, in this game he was able to adapt his Itagaki-isms to a way where it's not total cock and ball torture to push through. In this game you have a gun to shoot things and play like a cover shooter, a sword to combo people in melee combat, and extra moves like grenade throwing and dash sliding for extra options for mobility and offense. I noticed while playing that I was doing everything I could to get from one battle sequence to the other because I found the combat that engaging, which isn't even something I do for some fully-blown character action games. The game and its levels are definitely designed in a way where while you CAN just focus on one over the other and either play the game entirely like Gears of War or like Ninja Gaiden, it's at its peak when you stay on your toes and utilize each weapon equally. I found the most fun in focusing on melee for primarily killing people and using the guns only for particularly long-distance targets that I'd die trying to run to, or to occasionally use in order to thin out crowded rooms a bit before running in like a lunatic with a knife. Hitting and killing people with melee in particular earns you meter which can be spent on activating a super mode that makes you mostly invulnerable while active and gives a heavy melee buff, and you can even activate it during scripted enemy attack sequences which means at any time you can have a panic button if things start going south. The bosses are also really fun and each one serves as a pretty different test of each of your different skills (even if some of the later game bosses get pretty cheap with instant kill attacks). It's basically 3D Ninja Gaiden but with high-speed third person shooting thrown in and not ludicrously difficult. What the fuck isn't there to like about that???
It's a banger fucking video game, shoutouts to Nintendo of all fucking people for actually being the guys to see the worth in something like this enough to publish it. It makes sense why this game reviewed so low because like in 2015 people were more wanting to see what the PS4/Xbone generation had to offer and didn't really have the time or energy to give a late wii U Unreal Engine 3 game much the light of day at all, and I lowkey get that. Nowadays though, where I feel like people are more willing to look past that kind of thing, I think it makes sense why this game has such a devoted cult fanbase. I wish I was able to try out the online mode when it was alive because of what I've heard from secondhand accounts it was apparently fun as FUCK and after playing through the singleplayer I can very much believe it. You goddamn KNOW if some fan servers pop up for this game, I'm there day one. The game is insanely difficult to get nowadays because Nintendo of America apparently lost faith in the title near the end of its development similarly to Disaster Day of Crisis (which honestly this game shares a lot in common with in terms of camp, guess Nintendo of America has horrible taste but at least they released this game here in SOME capacity vs just outright not for that game), and as such combined with the fact that the Wii U eshop is rip in kill, this game is a fuckpile of money to buy physically. I had my chance to get this game physically for 40 bucks back in its time but decided against it because I was a broke-ass high schooler and now its like 10 times that price and I have every US first party Wii U game physically except this and fuckin Mario Tennis Ultra Smash. Considering that it's extremely unlikely this game will ever get a rerelease, I'd def suggest giving this game a go under any means necessary without having to sell your liver. This game deserves to be played by more people that can appreciate what it does instead of being known as "that shitty expensive wii U game".
Classic ARPG that has aged quite well in large part due to its mythological setting.
+ diverse maps with a lot more bright open areas than is usual in the genre
+ free build customization allowing for countless viable strategies
+ remarkably striking soundtrack
+ fairly long (20+ hours) culture-hopping adventure plot
+ solid core gameplay with satisfying combat and basic convenience features
+ some challenges right from the start
+/- no permanently missable side content
- exposed DLC skills in the base game
- simplistic narrative lacking in memorable climaxes
- slow experience gains and low item drop rates making later chapters a massive grind
+ diverse maps with a lot more bright open areas than is usual in the genre
+ free build customization allowing for countless viable strategies
+ remarkably striking soundtrack
+ fairly long (20+ hours) culture-hopping adventure plot
+ solid core gameplay with satisfying combat and basic convenience features
+ some challenges right from the start
+/- no permanently missable side content
- exposed DLC skills in the base game
- simplistic narrative lacking in memorable climaxes
- slow experience gains and low item drop rates making later chapters a massive grind
Dynamite Headdy
1994
Dynamite Headdy is a very mixed bag with some things I loved and thing I hated. Ending in a game that I felt extremely mid about.
As always, I'll start with the positives. Far and away the star of the show is the visuals and music. Not that I have a long library of Genesis games I've played but it may be the best mix of visuals and music. The colors pop on every level and every character and just visually a marvel for the early 90's.
The gameplay is super simple but the way they take your simple move set and use it in complex ways through intelligent level design. The levels aren't just great but several of the levels have amazing names, with the first amazingly named level of Toyz in the Hood.
While the level design ideas were awesome the gameplay is extremely basic. The upgrades are also very basic with most fights leaving you wanting more variety. Except for the few times the do give you variety which ends up being awful. What I mean by that is most of the time you or the enemy is standing still giving you time to aim and fire your head in one of 8 directions to hit them. Well sometimes the enemy is either moving way to fast to both aim and dodge. Or even worse the enemy grabs you flailing you around where you have to aim your head at the enemy while it's moving and you're moving (against your control) and trying to aim your head while that's all going on. It's annoying, infuriating at times, and extremely stupid in my humble opinion. I do think the difficulty is unbalanced, as sometimes it was a breeze to run through a level or boss and sometimes the bosses were insane with balancing dodging and attacking.
Overall, I think it's a fine game. I could easily see someone saying the love it but I could also see reasons people may hate it. If the gameplay was a little different I feel I would probably rate this game much higher.
My 2024 rankings:
https://www.backloggd.com/u/DVince89/list/games-i-played-in-2024-ranked-1/
As always, I'll start with the positives. Far and away the star of the show is the visuals and music. Not that I have a long library of Genesis games I've played but it may be the best mix of visuals and music. The colors pop on every level and every character and just visually a marvel for the early 90's.
The gameplay is super simple but the way they take your simple move set and use it in complex ways through intelligent level design. The levels aren't just great but several of the levels have amazing names, with the first amazingly named level of Toyz in the Hood.
While the level design ideas were awesome the gameplay is extremely basic. The upgrades are also very basic with most fights leaving you wanting more variety. Except for the few times the do give you variety which ends up being awful. What I mean by that is most of the time you or the enemy is standing still giving you time to aim and fire your head in one of 8 directions to hit them. Well sometimes the enemy is either moving way to fast to both aim and dodge. Or even worse the enemy grabs you flailing you around where you have to aim your head at the enemy while it's moving and you're moving (against your control) and trying to aim your head while that's all going on. It's annoying, infuriating at times, and extremely stupid in my humble opinion. I do think the difficulty is unbalanced, as sometimes it was a breeze to run through a level or boss and sometimes the bosses were insane with balancing dodging and attacking.
Overall, I think it's a fine game. I could easily see someone saying the love it but I could also see reasons people may hate it. If the gameplay was a little different I feel I would probably rate this game much higher.
My 2024 rankings:
https://www.backloggd.com/u/DVince89/list/games-i-played-in-2024-ranked-1/
Persona 5 Royal
2019
This review contains spoilers
Persona 5/Persona 5 Royal is another legendary JRPG and has been on my JRPG bucket list to play. Much like the previous review of Chrono Trigger, Persona 5 needs little introduction. It is considered a modern classic and a must play JRPG for many and I’m sure was an introduction to JRPGs to many as well. And for good reason. Persona 5 Royal is radiating with style and is sure to catch anyone’s eye by visuals alone. But P5R packs so much more than just outstanding stylized visuals. It packs a powerful punch of music, style, story, soul, and the heart of rebellion in one cohesive package. While the game is a massive undertaking, (My playthrough finishing at 193 hours), it is well worth it in the end. While not my personal favorite JRPG I’ve ever played, it is certainly up there and I easily see why this game holds a special place in the hearts of many.
TLDR at the end
Please note, this review will contain spoilers. I will make it clear before post any spoilers, but if you’re sensitive to any spoilers, I recommend jumping down to the TLDR
History
I have a somewhat unique history with Persona 5. I started my original playthrough of it in December of 2018. The month Joker got announced in Super Smash Bros Ultimate and before Persona 5 Royal was released. I had streamed it and never finished it. I don’t exactly remember why I never finished it. But at the time, I did struggle with some of the more visual novel/life sim aspects of the game. I’m personally not much of a life sim gamer. Other than Persona my main life sim games I’ve played were Animal Crossing and Sims and very casually. I ended up putting it down for a combination of not feeling it exactly and also likely just another game I was really looking forward to coming out. It was always a game I had wanted to come back to. But never had the motivation to restart.
Fast forward and we come to the release of SMT V on the switch. I played and absolutely loved SMT V. The pacing balance of the game felt much better to me. SMT V is largely combat and exploration focused. Once I finished SMT V, I was under the impression that maybe I’m more of a SMT person than Persona when it comes to this series. And this year, after SMT V and some of the original Persona 5 under my belt, I thought it was time to return to Persona 5 with the Royal version. My girlfriend and I had also just moved in together and she was interested in Persona 5. So I thought there was no greater time! And I’m happy to report back that I was correct! This time Persona 5 Royal hit and it hit hard!
Premise
The premise of Persona 5 is that you play as the Phantom Thieves of Heart, who steal the hearts of criminals. The Phantom Thieves are a group of misfit kids who have been wronged by society and are trying to make it better. Led by Joker (Who I named SNICKELS SNUCKLES because I didn’t find the lower case letters) who is arguably the most wronged. He was persecuted for a crime when he was attempting to defend someone. You’re then sent away to live in a cafe attic and go to a different school as your probation. You and your crew discover a world made out of human cognition which allows you to infiltrate criminals' “Palaces”, which are places manifested out of people’s distorted desires, so that you can change their heart in the real world. While at the same time you’re trying to live a regular life as a student in the real world and conceal your identities.
Within the cognitive world, which is called the metaverse(Much cooler than the Zuck’s metaverse), your crew awakens to their powers to call upon their Persona. Their Persona is the other selves within them and allows them to fight in the metaverse. Joker is in a unique position where he is able to obtain multiple Personas which plays an important role in the story.
Gameplay
The gameplay, much like the story, is largely split into 2 parts. There’s the life sim part where you live as a student in the real world, improving relationships with your confidants, go shopping, improve your social stat and more. The second part of the game takes place in the metaverse where you become the phantom thieves, infiltrate palaces, (which to put it simply are this game's dungeons) participate in turn based battles and collect/fuse personas.
Life Sim/Visual Novel
The game takes place in a fictional version of modern day Tokyo. So you get to explore a lot of various parts of Tokyo such as Shibuya, Akihabara, Shinjuku, and more. A lot of this part of the game is time management. The game starts off pretty slow in terms of what you’re allowed to do. But once the game picks it bombards you with options. Almost to the point where I felt overwhelmed at times. You’ll have so many things to do and be pulled in so many different directions on what you feel needs to be done. You’ll have access to a total of 24 different confidants, which are your friends and allies that have friendship meters. Meeting certain bars on their friendship meters unlocks various skills that are used in helping you in the other half of the game. These skills aren’t the only motivators though. Many of these characters have really interesting stories to pursue. From the goth doctor who runs the local clinic, the school counselor who’s wanting to help everyone, your father figure in LeBlanc who I lovingly call coffee dad, the politician who’s trying to raise awareness and run for office to help lead the country in a better direction and more. However there are some of the confidants who just aren’t aren’t as interesting or offer weaker skills. They aren’t all equal. But what their story has in store or what skills they provide can largely depend on what you find interesting or helpful. But there are for sure some fundamentally weaker skills on offer from some of them. Sometimes to proceed with these stories, the game will require you to have certain social stats at a certain level. There are 5 different stats and you can have 5 different levels. Part of the game is training these stats so you can get past the roadblocks the game has set for you. Other things to do in the life sim part includes visiting new locations and giving characters gifts, you can shop at stores, which to be honest half way through the game didn’t feel super helpful as a lot of the items/armor you get from the metaverse are better, and eventually work your way to going on dates with your favorite character! Unfortunately there are only female romance options for Joker. So there can’t be any Akechi x Joker action happening although if I could’ve I would’ve.
JRPG Dungeon Crawling
The other half of the game takes place in the Metaverse and while in the metaverse Joker and crew become the phantom thieves. There’s 2 primary reasons to go into the Metaverse. There will be story dungeons that you’ll need to traverse. And there’s Mementos, which is a dungeon that is the public's palace. The story dungeons are much more elaborate and detailed than Mementos. In the story dungeons you’ll be traversing fighting shadows (Which are what they just refer to the enemies) and collecting Personas. The combat in Persona, if you haven’t played any or any of the SMT games, is the signature press turn system. It’s a little different in Persona vs SMT though. There’s a list of elements that exist in the game, and enemies have a variety of resistances, immunities and weaknesses. The game is all about focusing weaknesses. You want to hit an enemy's weakness and doing so knocks down an enemy and gives you an extra turn. The extra turn also allows you to perform a baton pass, which allows you to give the extra turn to a different party member. This is useful in case the party member doesn’t have the other spell that matches the enemy weakness but another does. Enemies are also able to be knocked down if they are hit with a critical hit. Which can happen randomly but there’s moves with increased chances or moves that just flat out increase the chances to crit. If you’re able to successfully knock down all the enemies in a fight you’re able to pull off an all out attack which does massive damage. For most fights this is where a fight will end, but with mini bosses and bosses the fights will usually go on. While in combat though, after you’ve knocked down enemies you’re able to talk to them and recruit them. Which is one way in which Joker can collect more Personas. You can also merge Personas to create even more powerful Personas. Something that I find really cool about the game is that the Personas are all actual demons/deities from various cultures around the world. It’s really cool to see Kelpies, Angels, Pixies and more all mixed in and it feels very cohesive.
The dungeon crawling mentioned above takes place in the main story dungeons which are much more guided and elaborate. You are timed on how long you can take to finish these dungeons and at the end you have to send a calling card to the person in the real world so that you can steal their distorted desires. The other half of the dungeon crawling is through a place called Mementos. The dungeons of Mementos are a distorted version of Tokyo’s subway system and is a randomly generated dungeon. There’s many floors to this dungeon that open up through various points in the story. Mementos is a massive randomized dungeon but it’s also got a very important role to play in the story.
There’s a lot more to each of these parts of the game than I can list. But this is the major breakdown of the games system. I’ve had a love for JRPGs for a long time and have played a lot of them. The Press Turn system is a really fun take of turn based combat. And as mentioned above I’m not super into Life sims/dating sims/or visual novels. But this does a really good active blend of it all. I love that they actively integrate into each other beautifully. It can be really addictive to rush through a dungeon just so you can go back to talking to your friends every day getting more and more boons and buffs.
Story
The story of Persona 5 Royal is pretty good if not a little long winded and somewhat predictable. I’m not sure if this is from an aversion to visual novels (I think Digimon Cyber Sleuth really did a number on my tolerance of VNs) but it can be a little slow at times. But never actively bad or disinteresting. And I’m not sure if it’s me replaying a good bit (I originally got to the 3rd dungeon) but I did catch on to some foreshadowing and I called out and nailed some plot twists. I also accidentally got spoiled to some later plot points, somehow only while actively playing though and this games been out for a long time now. All that to say, these are all very active and valid reasons it could’ve left me feeling less engaged. But in spite of all that, the game still had me yowling and screaming at parts that I won’t spoil in this section. Even despite seeing through some of the story, having some spoiled and my disdain of VNs, I absolutely loved the story. It’s heartfelt, soulful, and I think strikes at the heart and soul of disenfranchised youth. I think if I were to have finished this game when I was in my teenage years up to my early 20s this would’ve had an extremely profound effect on me. There’s something about a game that’s set in modern times, taking down corrupt criminals with the power of friendship that strikes the soul. Is it cliche, especially for a JRPG? Yeah of course. Does it fucking rock? You bet your sweet bippy it does.
Difference Between P5R and base P5
Now before I get into talking about some of my favorite bits and then some gripes, I wanted to note that there’s some differences between P5R and base P5. Primarily it’s quality of life improvements. For example, one of the pieces of equipment you have is a gun, in base Persona you had 1 whole magazine for your gun per dungeon run. Which may not sound like much but when each gun has like 8 bullets or less, you’d find yourself needing your gun and not having any ammunition despite it not making much sense. In Royal, you have 1 mag per fight. So now it comes back each fight. Which in my opinion just makes sense. There’s various other improvements like that, I may not know everything that was improved/changed because I never finished base Persona. But another big part is that there are new characters added and a whole additional segment of the story. You have to meet certain criteria to access this additional content. Which I won’t tell you what the criteria is here, but if you want to know there’s an excellent spoiler free guide for that
Spoiler Free P5R Guide
But this is genuinely the best part of the game. It’s kind of astonishing to me that it can be missed since it’s just that good. But it goes to show Atlus confidence with the game as a whole.
Favorite Parts & Characters (CONTAINS SPOILERS)
All that leads perfectly into what is surely just going to be me gushing about some of my favorite parts of the game. For those looking for a spoiler free experience this is where I recommend you stop reading and jump to the next section or TLDR.
My favorite characters are easily Sojiro and Futaba and the found family relationship they have. It is incredibly heartwarming and the moments where I made Sojiro happy are some of the only moments I cried at the game. Something about how Sojiro and Futaba are written is absolutely wonderful to me. I think found families are important, especially for those who may not have the best relationship with their actual families. To have Sojiro go from a coffee dick head kind of ladies man to be revealed as a loving caretaker to the daughter of the woman he clearly loved was so wonderful. Such a touching part of the story and is one of my overall highlights.
I do also really like Yusuke, much less of a reason behind that one than Sojiro, I just kind of like how he’s a weird lil art kid and says unhinged shit.
I didn’t really like Akechi at first. To be honest I’m not sure if I even do currently. But the transformation he has is really cool to see in the extended royal part of the story. That being he’s an absolute psychopath and there’s clearly some sexual tension between him and Joker. Clearly. But I also really like how he’s such a good foil to Joker. Joker is the scrappy gentleman thief who’s persecuted by the law, and Akechi being the highly composed ace detective seeking to take him down, only to be revealed as a homicidal maniac. And honestly I only like that after the Royal part. If the addition of the Royal story hadn’t been there I think a part of me would’ve been disappointed. Because throughout the game Akechi was the only real push against the Phantom Thieves and their vigilantism. To have the only real moral opposition to turn out to be a psycho kind of dulls the moral question
However ALL of the Royal expansion answers that. And it is truly the absolute best part of the game. The reveal of Dr. Maruki being a villain and him having the power to solve all the world's problems but he re-writes reality. Rewriting people’s hardships and struggles that define them. To erase people’s memories to make them happy. Happy living in a false reality. It’s so compelling after the playtime of the game. It’s hard to imagine this game without this part added to it. It is the perfect ending to it and puts up an actual moral question. What it is that they fight for, what does it mean to have what you fight for erased to make life happier? Does one singular person deserve to have such power? So good.
Gripes/Nitpicks
There’s not a whole lot that I have to say that is super negative but I do have some thoughts. My primary complaint is that the game is sometimes just too wordy and long. I think there’s just some parts where there doesn’t need to be as much talking. There’s multiple points in the game where you’ll have a discussion in a cutscene, then you’ll have a discussion about the same thing via the game's text chat system with the characters. And sometimes it does that but with an additional talking scene about the same exact topic right after that. And sometimes the stuff said is not super interesting. It’s enough and I don’t want to call it filler because I don’t feel that strongly about it but I feel like there are definitely moments it could be more succinct
My other primary complaint is that sometimes the game is just too handholdy. There’s a lot of times in dungeons where it’s what I would consider a pretty basic puzzle mechanic (which to be fair it’s because I’ve played a lot of JRPGs with dungeons) and it gives me a play by play on what to do. Not entirely invalidating the puzzle but a lot of times just not letting me give it a chance to figure it out. Which I like figuring puzzles out in games. It wouldn’t be as bad if it was largely held off for the earlier parts of the game. But this goes all the way into the final dungeon of the game. It explains the puzzles just way too much. And while the final puzzle of the final dungeon made me push my brain a bit (for a will seed, not even the door to proceed) it largely just explains away its puzzles.
My final issue is that I just find some of the characters to be annoying or not super interesting or compelling. Characters like Ryuji or Mishima I find to be particularly annoying. There’s an arc in the game where Ryuji just feels excessively horny and is like “I wanna tell babes I’m a phantom thief to get some pussy” And Mishima is also a horny dude. The weird horny characters just didn’t do it for me and I find it to be generally more annoying than funny. Morgana has this aspect too but Morgana gets less annoyingly horny as the game goes on while Ryuji and Mishima get more. And then some of the side confidants I just find kind of uninteresting. I’d go more into it but it’d be listing some spoilers so I won’t. But some of them I just didn’t get super invested into which made doing their side stories for their buffs a little tedious.
TLDR
Persona 5 Royal is an absolute wonder of a game. It is really no wonder why this is so many people’s favorite game. I think this game is an excellent JRPG and an excellent way for people to get into the genre. The biggest issue I think this game would hold for most people is that it’s just a pretty long game and at times can feel a little drawn out. But none of that stopped me from loving the game. I would record myself yelling at the screen at character reveals and send it to friends who have already played the game. I was truly addicted to this game. The game instilled me at the end with the feeling only a fun loving Ghibli movie can give you at the end. This game easily earns its spot as one of the best JRPGs made, especially of the best JRPGs of modern times. (even if it is almost 10 years old). I highly recommend you play Persona 5 Royal if you’re at all interested. Just know that it can be lengthy and there’s some anime tropes in there that could hinder your enjoyment of the game if you have a low tolerance for that kind of stuff.
TLDR at the end
Please note, this review will contain spoilers. I will make it clear before post any spoilers, but if you’re sensitive to any spoilers, I recommend jumping down to the TLDR
History
I have a somewhat unique history with Persona 5. I started my original playthrough of it in December of 2018. The month Joker got announced in Super Smash Bros Ultimate and before Persona 5 Royal was released. I had streamed it and never finished it. I don’t exactly remember why I never finished it. But at the time, I did struggle with some of the more visual novel/life sim aspects of the game. I’m personally not much of a life sim gamer. Other than Persona my main life sim games I’ve played were Animal Crossing and Sims and very casually. I ended up putting it down for a combination of not feeling it exactly and also likely just another game I was really looking forward to coming out. It was always a game I had wanted to come back to. But never had the motivation to restart.
Fast forward and we come to the release of SMT V on the switch. I played and absolutely loved SMT V. The pacing balance of the game felt much better to me. SMT V is largely combat and exploration focused. Once I finished SMT V, I was under the impression that maybe I’m more of a SMT person than Persona when it comes to this series. And this year, after SMT V and some of the original Persona 5 under my belt, I thought it was time to return to Persona 5 with the Royal version. My girlfriend and I had also just moved in together and she was interested in Persona 5. So I thought there was no greater time! And I’m happy to report back that I was correct! This time Persona 5 Royal hit and it hit hard!
Premise
The premise of Persona 5 is that you play as the Phantom Thieves of Heart, who steal the hearts of criminals. The Phantom Thieves are a group of misfit kids who have been wronged by society and are trying to make it better. Led by Joker (Who I named SNICKELS SNUCKLES because I didn’t find the lower case letters) who is arguably the most wronged. He was persecuted for a crime when he was attempting to defend someone. You’re then sent away to live in a cafe attic and go to a different school as your probation. You and your crew discover a world made out of human cognition which allows you to infiltrate criminals' “Palaces”, which are places manifested out of people’s distorted desires, so that you can change their heart in the real world. While at the same time you’re trying to live a regular life as a student in the real world and conceal your identities.
Within the cognitive world, which is called the metaverse(Much cooler than the Zuck’s metaverse), your crew awakens to their powers to call upon their Persona. Their Persona is the other selves within them and allows them to fight in the metaverse. Joker is in a unique position where he is able to obtain multiple Personas which plays an important role in the story.
Gameplay
The gameplay, much like the story, is largely split into 2 parts. There’s the life sim part where you live as a student in the real world, improving relationships with your confidants, go shopping, improve your social stat and more. The second part of the game takes place in the metaverse where you become the phantom thieves, infiltrate palaces, (which to put it simply are this game's dungeons) participate in turn based battles and collect/fuse personas.
Life Sim/Visual Novel
The game takes place in a fictional version of modern day Tokyo. So you get to explore a lot of various parts of Tokyo such as Shibuya, Akihabara, Shinjuku, and more. A lot of this part of the game is time management. The game starts off pretty slow in terms of what you’re allowed to do. But once the game picks it bombards you with options. Almost to the point where I felt overwhelmed at times. You’ll have so many things to do and be pulled in so many different directions on what you feel needs to be done. You’ll have access to a total of 24 different confidants, which are your friends and allies that have friendship meters. Meeting certain bars on their friendship meters unlocks various skills that are used in helping you in the other half of the game. These skills aren’t the only motivators though. Many of these characters have really interesting stories to pursue. From the goth doctor who runs the local clinic, the school counselor who’s wanting to help everyone, your father figure in LeBlanc who I lovingly call coffee dad, the politician who’s trying to raise awareness and run for office to help lead the country in a better direction and more. However there are some of the confidants who just aren’t aren’t as interesting or offer weaker skills. They aren’t all equal. But what their story has in store or what skills they provide can largely depend on what you find interesting or helpful. But there are for sure some fundamentally weaker skills on offer from some of them. Sometimes to proceed with these stories, the game will require you to have certain social stats at a certain level. There are 5 different stats and you can have 5 different levels. Part of the game is training these stats so you can get past the roadblocks the game has set for you. Other things to do in the life sim part includes visiting new locations and giving characters gifts, you can shop at stores, which to be honest half way through the game didn’t feel super helpful as a lot of the items/armor you get from the metaverse are better, and eventually work your way to going on dates with your favorite character! Unfortunately there are only female romance options for Joker. So there can’t be any Akechi x Joker action happening although if I could’ve I would’ve.
JRPG Dungeon Crawling
The other half of the game takes place in the Metaverse and while in the metaverse Joker and crew become the phantom thieves. There’s 2 primary reasons to go into the Metaverse. There will be story dungeons that you’ll need to traverse. And there’s Mementos, which is a dungeon that is the public's palace. The story dungeons are much more elaborate and detailed than Mementos. In the story dungeons you’ll be traversing fighting shadows (Which are what they just refer to the enemies) and collecting Personas. The combat in Persona, if you haven’t played any or any of the SMT games, is the signature press turn system. It’s a little different in Persona vs SMT though. There’s a list of elements that exist in the game, and enemies have a variety of resistances, immunities and weaknesses. The game is all about focusing weaknesses. You want to hit an enemy's weakness and doing so knocks down an enemy and gives you an extra turn. The extra turn also allows you to perform a baton pass, which allows you to give the extra turn to a different party member. This is useful in case the party member doesn’t have the other spell that matches the enemy weakness but another does. Enemies are also able to be knocked down if they are hit with a critical hit. Which can happen randomly but there’s moves with increased chances or moves that just flat out increase the chances to crit. If you’re able to successfully knock down all the enemies in a fight you’re able to pull off an all out attack which does massive damage. For most fights this is where a fight will end, but with mini bosses and bosses the fights will usually go on. While in combat though, after you’ve knocked down enemies you’re able to talk to them and recruit them. Which is one way in which Joker can collect more Personas. You can also merge Personas to create even more powerful Personas. Something that I find really cool about the game is that the Personas are all actual demons/deities from various cultures around the world. It’s really cool to see Kelpies, Angels, Pixies and more all mixed in and it feels very cohesive.
The dungeon crawling mentioned above takes place in the main story dungeons which are much more guided and elaborate. You are timed on how long you can take to finish these dungeons and at the end you have to send a calling card to the person in the real world so that you can steal their distorted desires. The other half of the dungeon crawling is through a place called Mementos. The dungeons of Mementos are a distorted version of Tokyo’s subway system and is a randomly generated dungeon. There’s many floors to this dungeon that open up through various points in the story. Mementos is a massive randomized dungeon but it’s also got a very important role to play in the story.
There’s a lot more to each of these parts of the game than I can list. But this is the major breakdown of the games system. I’ve had a love for JRPGs for a long time and have played a lot of them. The Press Turn system is a really fun take of turn based combat. And as mentioned above I’m not super into Life sims/dating sims/or visual novels. But this does a really good active blend of it all. I love that they actively integrate into each other beautifully. It can be really addictive to rush through a dungeon just so you can go back to talking to your friends every day getting more and more boons and buffs.
Story
The story of Persona 5 Royal is pretty good if not a little long winded and somewhat predictable. I’m not sure if this is from an aversion to visual novels (I think Digimon Cyber Sleuth really did a number on my tolerance of VNs) but it can be a little slow at times. But never actively bad or disinteresting. And I’m not sure if it’s me replaying a good bit (I originally got to the 3rd dungeon) but I did catch on to some foreshadowing and I called out and nailed some plot twists. I also accidentally got spoiled to some later plot points, somehow only while actively playing though and this games been out for a long time now. All that to say, these are all very active and valid reasons it could’ve left me feeling less engaged. But in spite of all that, the game still had me yowling and screaming at parts that I won’t spoil in this section. Even despite seeing through some of the story, having some spoiled and my disdain of VNs, I absolutely loved the story. It’s heartfelt, soulful, and I think strikes at the heart and soul of disenfranchised youth. I think if I were to have finished this game when I was in my teenage years up to my early 20s this would’ve had an extremely profound effect on me. There’s something about a game that’s set in modern times, taking down corrupt criminals with the power of friendship that strikes the soul. Is it cliche, especially for a JRPG? Yeah of course. Does it fucking rock? You bet your sweet bippy it does.
Difference Between P5R and base P5
Now before I get into talking about some of my favorite bits and then some gripes, I wanted to note that there’s some differences between P5R and base P5. Primarily it’s quality of life improvements. For example, one of the pieces of equipment you have is a gun, in base Persona you had 1 whole magazine for your gun per dungeon run. Which may not sound like much but when each gun has like 8 bullets or less, you’d find yourself needing your gun and not having any ammunition despite it not making much sense. In Royal, you have 1 mag per fight. So now it comes back each fight. Which in my opinion just makes sense. There’s various other improvements like that, I may not know everything that was improved/changed because I never finished base Persona. But another big part is that there are new characters added and a whole additional segment of the story. You have to meet certain criteria to access this additional content. Which I won’t tell you what the criteria is here, but if you want to know there’s an excellent spoiler free guide for that
Spoiler Free P5R Guide
But this is genuinely the best part of the game. It’s kind of astonishing to me that it can be missed since it’s just that good. But it goes to show Atlus confidence with the game as a whole.
Favorite Parts & Characters (CONTAINS SPOILERS)
All that leads perfectly into what is surely just going to be me gushing about some of my favorite parts of the game. For those looking for a spoiler free experience this is where I recommend you stop reading and jump to the next section or TLDR.
My favorite characters are easily Sojiro and Futaba and the found family relationship they have. It is incredibly heartwarming and the moments where I made Sojiro happy are some of the only moments I cried at the game. Something about how Sojiro and Futaba are written is absolutely wonderful to me. I think found families are important, especially for those who may not have the best relationship with their actual families. To have Sojiro go from a coffee dick head kind of ladies man to be revealed as a loving caretaker to the daughter of the woman he clearly loved was so wonderful. Such a touching part of the story and is one of my overall highlights.
I do also really like Yusuke, much less of a reason behind that one than Sojiro, I just kind of like how he’s a weird lil art kid and says unhinged shit.
I didn’t really like Akechi at first. To be honest I’m not sure if I even do currently. But the transformation he has is really cool to see in the extended royal part of the story. That being he’s an absolute psychopath and there’s clearly some sexual tension between him and Joker. Clearly. But I also really like how he’s such a good foil to Joker. Joker is the scrappy gentleman thief who’s persecuted by the law, and Akechi being the highly composed ace detective seeking to take him down, only to be revealed as a homicidal maniac. And honestly I only like that after the Royal part. If the addition of the Royal story hadn’t been there I think a part of me would’ve been disappointed. Because throughout the game Akechi was the only real push against the Phantom Thieves and their vigilantism. To have the only real moral opposition to turn out to be a psycho kind of dulls the moral question
However ALL of the Royal expansion answers that. And it is truly the absolute best part of the game. The reveal of Dr. Maruki being a villain and him having the power to solve all the world's problems but he re-writes reality. Rewriting people’s hardships and struggles that define them. To erase people’s memories to make them happy. Happy living in a false reality. It’s so compelling after the playtime of the game. It’s hard to imagine this game without this part added to it. It is the perfect ending to it and puts up an actual moral question. What it is that they fight for, what does it mean to have what you fight for erased to make life happier? Does one singular person deserve to have such power? So good.
Gripes/Nitpicks
There’s not a whole lot that I have to say that is super negative but I do have some thoughts. My primary complaint is that the game is sometimes just too wordy and long. I think there’s just some parts where there doesn’t need to be as much talking. There’s multiple points in the game where you’ll have a discussion in a cutscene, then you’ll have a discussion about the same thing via the game's text chat system with the characters. And sometimes it does that but with an additional talking scene about the same exact topic right after that. And sometimes the stuff said is not super interesting. It’s enough and I don’t want to call it filler because I don’t feel that strongly about it but I feel like there are definitely moments it could be more succinct
My other primary complaint is that sometimes the game is just too handholdy. There’s a lot of times in dungeons where it’s what I would consider a pretty basic puzzle mechanic (which to be fair it’s because I’ve played a lot of JRPGs with dungeons) and it gives me a play by play on what to do. Not entirely invalidating the puzzle but a lot of times just not letting me give it a chance to figure it out. Which I like figuring puzzles out in games. It wouldn’t be as bad if it was largely held off for the earlier parts of the game. But this goes all the way into the final dungeon of the game. It explains the puzzles just way too much. And while the final puzzle of the final dungeon made me push my brain a bit (for a will seed, not even the door to proceed) it largely just explains away its puzzles.
My final issue is that I just find some of the characters to be annoying or not super interesting or compelling. Characters like Ryuji or Mishima I find to be particularly annoying. There’s an arc in the game where Ryuji just feels excessively horny and is like “I wanna tell babes I’m a phantom thief to get some pussy” And Mishima is also a horny dude. The weird horny characters just didn’t do it for me and I find it to be generally more annoying than funny. Morgana has this aspect too but Morgana gets less annoyingly horny as the game goes on while Ryuji and Mishima get more. And then some of the side confidants I just find kind of uninteresting. I’d go more into it but it’d be listing some spoilers so I won’t. But some of them I just didn’t get super invested into which made doing their side stories for their buffs a little tedious.
TLDR
Persona 5 Royal is an absolute wonder of a game. It is really no wonder why this is so many people’s favorite game. I think this game is an excellent JRPG and an excellent way for people to get into the genre. The biggest issue I think this game would hold for most people is that it’s just a pretty long game and at times can feel a little drawn out. But none of that stopped me from loving the game. I would record myself yelling at the screen at character reveals and send it to friends who have already played the game. I was truly addicted to this game. The game instilled me at the end with the feeling only a fun loving Ghibli movie can give you at the end. This game easily earns its spot as one of the best JRPGs made, especially of the best JRPGs of modern times. (even if it is almost 10 years old). I highly recommend you play Persona 5 Royal if you’re at all interested. Just know that it can be lengthy and there’s some anime tropes in there that could hinder your enjoyment of the game if you have a low tolerance for that kind of stuff.
Bowser Jr.'s Journey
2018
From what I played the story was pretty enjoyable. The problem is that it's not fun to play. It's only slightly better than the last remake's extra story because at least they do some interesting stuff with Jr.
But yeah, just watch the cutscenes on YouTube.
But yeah, just watch the cutscenes on YouTube.
A much needed addition to The Talos Principle II; The base game can feel a bit boring at times, due to barely scratching the surface of possibilities and lengthy cutscenes. However, Road to Elysium (especially the third storyline, Into the Void) brings a range of new and exciting puzzles and a head-scratching difficulty level, which the base game was devoid of.
Some of the more "slow" mechanics of TP2 were left out of the puzzles of the DLC, which was a welcome design choice for me. Having to wait for a moving pad and moving platforms was definitely testing my patience, but the DLC rarely utilised these aspects, so the puzzle experience became much more enjoyable for me.
The story of the DLC is comparable to the base game; some fun insights into what makes us human. Nothing too interesting, but not horrible either. Throwbacks to some of the jokes in the base game were chuckle-inducing, though.
I can truly say that The Talos Principle as a series has reached a most satisfying ending with this DLC. I sincerely hope that Croteam just leaves it a lone from now on, because more mechanics and/or iterations of puzzles would just feel the same after this.
Some of the more "slow" mechanics of TP2 were left out of the puzzles of the DLC, which was a welcome design choice for me. Having to wait for a moving pad and moving platforms was definitely testing my patience, but the DLC rarely utilised these aspects, so the puzzle experience became much more enjoyable for me.
The story of the DLC is comparable to the base game; some fun insights into what makes us human. Nothing too interesting, but not horrible either. Throwbacks to some of the jokes in the base game were chuckle-inducing, though.
I can truly say that The Talos Principle as a series has reached a most satisfying ending with this DLC. I sincerely hope that Croteam just leaves it a lone from now on, because more mechanics and/or iterations of puzzles would just feel the same after this.
Got bored and gave up halfway through.
I like the BIS foreshadowing in the story. It reminded me of a better game I should be playing instead of this garbage.
I like the BIS foreshadowing in the story. It reminded me of a better game I should be playing instead of this garbage.
Unpacking
2021
very short and simple but super cute