Damn.
I've played Persona 4 Golden and 5 before this game, and always heard of what a gem this game is, and it really does deliver. Persona 3 Reload has a lot of issues, but for all it's flaws, it has one of the most elegant stories in JRPGs I've ever seen. Too be fair this was a comfort game for my otherwise traumatic front third of the year, but honestly, I'm fine with that.

To not draw too many comparisons, if Persona 4 Golden has a good mix of story and gameplay, and Persona 5 is a little better in gameplay, but less hard-hitting in story, Persona 3 is the opposite pendulum swing to me. It's a game that makes up for it's rather simplistic and crude gameplay that has clearly struggled to become modern, with a rich narrative and characters that now rank among my favorites in the series.

I do not have the authority in JRPGs to really go into depths here, but for me, the game is a generally great experience, but was massively dragged down by it's central dungeon being a monumental drag and the combat not really being used to it's fullest effect. I was early-on gonna give the game that extra .5 just out of how much I was enjoying it, but around the 20-40 hour mark the game becomes a very long slog, especially so in the dungeon delving. Playing on Hard was laughably easy for me (as Persona 4 Golden is my mental standard for hard in these games) but I'll be sure to give NG+ a solid shot with the hardest difficulty at some point.

Simply, I love it, great experience overall, and would really recommend to newcomers to JRPGs as a temper test, to really weed out those who can find themselves loving the genre.

However, for me, this game is going to hold in my mind for awhile, it really helped me escape from a toxic and dark headspace, so I'm giving it my love despite the gameplay flaws I think shine through the otherwise bulletproof game.

I knew this game had a reputation when it came to life-sim pseudo-novels, but damn, still I was impressed.

Exocolonist is a game about tragedy, and subverting it. It's a game that requires you to run through it a myriad of times, similar to Signs of the Sojourner or Citizen Sleeper, but this game really does LEAN into the replay value by having run-based knowledge play into future runs. Oh you knew that dog was there? BAM, explosive trap.

This game does a lot in a short run and it's written beautifully, every character is unique and special in their own way, you get to see stupid kids you play ball with turn into militaristic turncoats, or isolationists bloom into explorers. There is a lot and I can't do justice to how well the characters are written and how well the development plays out. There are many mini-events, side-stories, side-quests, entire hidden areas and events. Each of my runs really felt unique each time, even if spamming tasks to raise scores became a bit of a chore.

The only complaints I really have are my not-too-much-love for the overworld design and some of the repetitive aspects of the game, but even if you do eerily-similar things, you still get massive sweeping changes you'd not have noticed before. I will warn you though, the first run is going to beat the ever-loving sh-t outta you, things will happen, you won't know how, and you'll need to learn how to get further. It's like the game sets you up to fail, to convince you to continue forward.

It's really a great game and deserves the praise it gets. While I'm unsure if it's systems work as well in-unison as some other titles like Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, or even Beacon Pines in some regards. It definitely plays it's hand well and got me addicted to keep running it over and over.

Simply great.

Phas has been falling off for quite a while, and this game was brought to my attention by a friend, and after playing it I really don't think we'll have a good element of that "survival hunting" game ever again (yes ik lethal company exists but that's a bit different).

This game just suffers from too much stuff and too many things. Too much evidence to go through, too many unclear or confusing mechanics, and not enough actual fun. They took what has made Phas a chore and centered the game around those mechanics and less about the "goof with friends" style of game.

Overall, pretty mediocre.

Kicked a barrel, exploded, 10/10

In seriousness, it's a game with just... a lot. I feel like the more I play I become both more confused and yet learn more, a lot of this game is encouraging breaking it and I really enjoy that element of it a lot. The focus on just breaking each element apart one by one, making stupid as hell wand builds, and then getting killed by something you didn't understand is such a stupidly frustrating and fun game loop.

I would give it higher if I had half the brain to figure out half of what is going on, and didn't rage quite and uninstall every hour I played. Really stupid, ridiculously fun, and a game that makes no sense, in the best ways. Big props to the community too, they are saints.