JustSri
Dark Souls 2 is an interesting game. It has a great many mechanics that people, including myself, struggle with. It definitely plays pretty differently to DS1, especially in the early game. I was initially super frustrated with stuff like the health penalty or the sheer number of enemies per level (I do enjoy the thematic importance of the health penalty, but it definitely didn't help my early game experience of beating my head over and over). But I feel like once I actually got past the first area, and got an item that was able to mitigate the health penalty, I started to enjoy it a lot more.
Dark Souls 2 is a different game to 1 immediately in terms of the world design. You get the ability to warp anywhere from the outset, and so each area ends up feeling more disconnected from the whole. But I think this really works for what 2 is going for! One thing I really enjoy about this game is that is that the vibes of the world while being very atmospheric and cool, also can change quite a bit depending where you are. At the end of the day, a souls game is an adventure game where you go through many areas vanquishing bosses and overcoming your inexperience, and to that end Dark Souls 1 had a clear artistic vision with its interconnected and cohesive world where everything fit together somehow, but I think 2 being disconnected also works because I feel like the game has a general dream-like quality to it that I think its world design contributes to. Some of the areas being next to each other makes just like no sense but I think I enjoy that, because it manages to continually make the areas feel different and you never feel safe, you never feel like it falls into a pattern. They all feel isolated and in their own pocket and I feel like this makes the areas feel that much more creepy and fantastical. Which really helps.
The atmosphere and vibes of the world in general are awesome. It feels like each time you discover something you've found something that isn't right, that doesn't feel comfortable. Which yeah, it's not supposed to and it rules. I think it helps even more that the rules of the lore of DS1 are played fast and loose with, because I feel like the cryptic storytelling of Dark Souls fits with this perfectly. Not just because I feel like the freedom afforded by this allows Dark Souls 2's general narrative to come into its own in a really good way - it is able to build on the general framing of Dark Souls 1 and uses it to build and enhance on its themes that manages to create something I actually care about a fair bit and think is philosophically awesome - it also means that Dark Souls 1's events feel like this half forgotten dream, that adds further to the unsettling vibes of the areas in general. Events are not that set in stone and they're not supposed to be in a world where thousands of years can pass before you get to see their effects. And they loom like this shadow of myth that I think really perfectly captures a really unique approach to the feel of a world where gods and monsters and magic continually influence it that I don't think I've seen very much. I don't know how better to explain why the atmosphere is this good, but it's just really cool. I haven't been commenting on the individual lore of this series so far because I didn't find a good place to, but I really also enjoy piecing together this world from item descriptions, cryptic NPC dialogue, etc. It makes me feel like an archeologist observing a world where there are a million things more important than me.
Now when it comes to the gameplay of this game, I feel like I don't have much new things to say about why the loop of this hyper difficult style of game appeals to me so much that I didn't already say in the previous review for DS1. So I'll instead jump into trying to describe why DS2 was a more fun game to me than 1. DS2 may have some bad mechanics but it also has some awesome ones. Power stancing added a whole new dimension to this game that made me care a lot more about my weapons in general. Stat reallocation actually allowed me to strategize much more interestingly as I would use different loadouts for different bosses and I'm so stoked I was allowed to do this. There are definitely some other mechanics I am not mentioning, too.
The area design of DS2 is also just, really enjoyable, and I'd say on an individual level even better than 1? It feels more Zelda coded than 1, in some areas even very directly, which was a big plus for me as a big Zelda fan. But in general I feel like, the 50 million enemies notwithstanding (which I do understand is a big issue), that they're more satisfying to overcome and traverse.
The bosses are probably similar in quality to 1. Overall it has a slight edge over DS1 I think, but only slight, considering it has much more than 1 and as a result also has more bad bosses than 1. But it isn't a number that is unforgivable to me, so it's fine.
The DLC is the one area I would make an exception for the above point. Even with each DLC optional area and optional boss that managed to be just. really miserable. The main parts of all of the three DLC were so good that I don't care. The bosses are all just fucking awesome and the areas are so so fun to go through, definitely my favourite areas in the series so far and having my favourite bosses in the series so far.
Overall I'd say the reason I prefer 2 to 1 is that it has a lot of little differences that coalesce into a game that's much more sricore as a result. Cannot wait to play the rest of the series.
Dark Souls 2 is a different game to 1 immediately in terms of the world design. You get the ability to warp anywhere from the outset, and so each area ends up feeling more disconnected from the whole. But I think this really works for what 2 is going for! One thing I really enjoy about this game is that is that the vibes of the world while being very atmospheric and cool, also can change quite a bit depending where you are. At the end of the day, a souls game is an adventure game where you go through many areas vanquishing bosses and overcoming your inexperience, and to that end Dark Souls 1 had a clear artistic vision with its interconnected and cohesive world where everything fit together somehow, but I think 2 being disconnected also works because I feel like the game has a general dream-like quality to it that I think its world design contributes to. Some of the areas being next to each other makes just like no sense but I think I enjoy that, because it manages to continually make the areas feel different and you never feel safe, you never feel like it falls into a pattern. They all feel isolated and in their own pocket and I feel like this makes the areas feel that much more creepy and fantastical. Which really helps.
The atmosphere and vibes of the world in general are awesome. It feels like each time you discover something you've found something that isn't right, that doesn't feel comfortable. Which yeah, it's not supposed to and it rules. I think it helps even more that the rules of the lore of DS1 are played fast and loose with, because I feel like the cryptic storytelling of Dark Souls fits with this perfectly. Not just because I feel like the freedom afforded by this allows Dark Souls 2's general narrative to come into its own in a really good way - it is able to build on the general framing of Dark Souls 1 and uses it to build and enhance on its themes that manages to create something I actually care about a fair bit and think is philosophically awesome - it also means that Dark Souls 1's events feel like this half forgotten dream, that adds further to the unsettling vibes of the areas in general. Events are not that set in stone and they're not supposed to be in a world where thousands of years can pass before you get to see their effects. And they loom like this shadow of myth that I think really perfectly captures a really unique approach to the feel of a world where gods and monsters and magic continually influence it that I don't think I've seen very much. I don't know how better to explain why the atmosphere is this good, but it's just really cool. I haven't been commenting on the individual lore of this series so far because I didn't find a good place to, but I really also enjoy piecing together this world from item descriptions, cryptic NPC dialogue, etc. It makes me feel like an archeologist observing a world where there are a million things more important than me.
Now when it comes to the gameplay of this game, I feel like I don't have much new things to say about why the loop of this hyper difficult style of game appeals to me so much that I didn't already say in the previous review for DS1. So I'll instead jump into trying to describe why DS2 was a more fun game to me than 1. DS2 may have some bad mechanics but it also has some awesome ones. Power stancing added a whole new dimension to this game that made me care a lot more about my weapons in general. Stat reallocation actually allowed me to strategize much more interestingly as I would use different loadouts for different bosses and I'm so stoked I was allowed to do this. There are definitely some other mechanics I am not mentioning, too.
The area design of DS2 is also just, really enjoyable, and I'd say on an individual level even better than 1? It feels more Zelda coded than 1, in some areas even very directly, which was a big plus for me as a big Zelda fan. But in general I feel like, the 50 million enemies notwithstanding (which I do understand is a big issue), that they're more satisfying to overcome and traverse.
The bosses are probably similar in quality to 1. Overall it has a slight edge over DS1 I think, but only slight, considering it has much more than 1 and as a result also has more bad bosses than 1. But it isn't a number that is unforgivable to me, so it's fine.
The DLC is the one area I would make an exception for the above point. Even with each DLC optional area and optional boss that managed to be just. really miserable. The main parts of all of the three DLC were so good that I don't care. The bosses are all just fucking awesome and the areas are so so fun to go through, definitely my favourite areas in the series so far and having my favourite bosses in the series so far.
Overall I'd say the reason I prefer 2 to 1 is that it has a lot of little differences that coalesce into a game that's much more sricore as a result. Cannot wait to play the rest of the series.
2019
I didn't realise this was an entry. Anyways this is the best fucking version of Majora's Mask please play.
Endwalker, which is the second Ishikawa-written expansion and the conclusion to the long Hydaleyn/Zodiark saga, is probably the most ambitious and story/cutscene heavy expansion so far. The question of whether it lived up to its potential thus becomes threefold:
1) Did it satisfy as a story on its own?
2) Did it satisfy as a concluding arc to everything that was built up until now?
3) Did it live up to the first major expansion written by Ishikawa?
The answer to all of these ultimately is yes for me, but some of them have asterisks to them, more than others. Endwalker is an absolutely fantastic story that is worthy of the quality threshold that Shadowbringers set, but it also has a fair bit of narrative issues in a way that Shadowbringers somehow magically avoided in every way. At the same time, it has some of the most emotionally potent storytelling and the best scenes in the game so far, which is to say the story of its quality is far from simple.
Let's start off with what I liked, which is a lot. I think Endwalker has excellent themes that are explored and reinforced with a level of extensiveness that feels really unique for this game, it's present in every single section of the game in one way or another, and as a result it is allowed to get a lot of different and varied depictions that really play into each other and makes it all the more emotionally powerful and valuable for me, it really sounds like something that would be simple but it manages to be a beautiful celebration of the strength of the human will and the things worth fighting for in life. Again, I know this sounds simple but the places Endwalker takes it are great. Whenever this aspect is in the forefront I pretty much have no issues, it even manages to give of one of the villains some pretty interesting screentime. Endwalker is just as a story filled with so much love and empathy and it's hard to dislike any of that.
But it isn't like any of this is not concrete either, I think it leads to some storytelling sections being really effective. In particular one of them stands out as the best part of Endwalker and probably the game in general as a result.
Which leads into another aspect I want to talk about, I love that Endwalker remembers the themes and lessons of the past expansions and all of them are displayed here really interestingly in the context of the story going on. There were definitely also plot moments where a lot of the allies from previous stories came together, as you would expect of something like this, but I found myself consistently more charmed with this as it applied to the main characters and themes.
In particular, I think Endwalker as a sequel to Shadowbringers is like absolutely excellent, I think the themes of Endwalker do a lot to complement Shadowbringers' and it also has a lot of incredible things that address a lot of questions some of which you didn't even know you had with Shadowbringers that overall makes me satisfied with the way Shadowbringers was treated here.
As far as character writing goes.. I'd say Endwalker is largely really good. The scions have some of their absolute best stuff yet, and some of the side characters are kind of mindblowingly excellent here, one in particular serves as the ultimate expression of Endwalker's main themes and left me thinking about them for a long time (and I still am.) However, unfortunately I would also say that Endwalker has a few duds in the side cast, where they have interesting ideas and writing but unfortunately fail to properly pay them off, and it's especially frustrating in the case of one particular character and sours my opinion of some of the story sections.
Which leads nicely into my thoughts on Endwalker's issues. I think the main theme is that it is really good at giving you set up to things but is just not good at paying some of them off. I was quite disappointed with the way they handled some story sections and it made me wonder why they set this up in this way at all. I am at least glad that the final trial and everything surrounding it is filled with the same emotional weight that I mentioned loving in the themes, and to me it is a moment that is almost as hype as base Shadowbringers' final trial.
Anyways once we have the complicated stuff out of the way, I would like to say the music is fucking excellent of course it was did you really expect anything else.
The duties are also genuinely the best duties in the game, I'd surprisingly say I love most if not all of them and I think they just are really good at making them consistently fun now.
The areas are also very memorable here, while I may have issues with story resolutions I think they are just really good at being atmospheric and great locations to explore.
Now, in this review I will switch to talking about Post-Endwalker. Despite me considering it a different entity entirely in terms of MSQ I still think this is a better place than any to discuss it.
The trial series... doesn't exist for this one, as they seem to have put all of that into the MSQ itself this time around. Which is a good time to talk about the MSQ - it's okay. It has some nice aspects and it is definitely decently written but to me it's the biggest lull we've had since Post-ARR (though like do not get me wrong it is definitely better than that for sure). At least the trials are pretty damn fun, like I said great duties.
The normal raids are quite fun too. While I overall prefer Eden, Panda is still an enjoyable story tackling a really novel concept that I am glad that they are addressing, and the fights are satisfying and fun as expected of them. The music in them in particular is also really good.
The (unfinished, so some of this will change when we get the third one) alliance raids are really really fun, I enjoy them both in terms of mechanics and especially music which is honestly shockingly good (and that's saying something for this game). Story wise it has been okay so far but I really like the potential for the lore because it has been giving us a lot of interesting stuff to think about.
And yeah.... I think that's about it? Endwalker is really damn good and super worth playing. It is not the cohesive and well put together masterpiece that Shadowbringers quite is, but it makes up for it nonetheless!
1) Did it satisfy as a story on its own?
2) Did it satisfy as a concluding arc to everything that was built up until now?
3) Did it live up to the first major expansion written by Ishikawa?
The answer to all of these ultimately is yes for me, but some of them have asterisks to them, more than others. Endwalker is an absolutely fantastic story that is worthy of the quality threshold that Shadowbringers set, but it also has a fair bit of narrative issues in a way that Shadowbringers somehow magically avoided in every way. At the same time, it has some of the most emotionally potent storytelling and the best scenes in the game so far, which is to say the story of its quality is far from simple.
Let's start off with what I liked, which is a lot. I think Endwalker has excellent themes that are explored and reinforced with a level of extensiveness that feels really unique for this game, it's present in every single section of the game in one way or another, and as a result it is allowed to get a lot of different and varied depictions that really play into each other and makes it all the more emotionally powerful and valuable for me, it really sounds like something that would be simple but it manages to be a beautiful celebration of the strength of the human will and the things worth fighting for in life. Again, I know this sounds simple but the places Endwalker takes it are great. Whenever this aspect is in the forefront I pretty much have no issues, it even manages to give of one of the villains some pretty interesting screentime. Endwalker is just as a story filled with so much love and empathy and it's hard to dislike any of that.
But it isn't like any of this is not concrete either, I think it leads to some storytelling sections being really effective. In particular one of them stands out as the best part of Endwalker and probably the game in general as a result.
Which leads into another aspect I want to talk about, I love that Endwalker remembers the themes and lessons of the past expansions and all of them are displayed here really interestingly in the context of the story going on. There were definitely also plot moments where a lot of the allies from previous stories came together, as you would expect of something like this, but I found myself consistently more charmed with this as it applied to the main characters and themes.
In particular, I think Endwalker as a sequel to Shadowbringers is like absolutely excellent, I think the themes of Endwalker do a lot to complement Shadowbringers' and it also has a lot of incredible things that address a lot of questions some of which you didn't even know you had with Shadowbringers that overall makes me satisfied with the way Shadowbringers was treated here.
As far as character writing goes.. I'd say Endwalker is largely really good. The scions have some of their absolute best stuff yet, and some of the side characters are kind of mindblowingly excellent here, one in particular serves as the ultimate expression of Endwalker's main themes and left me thinking about them for a long time (and I still am.) However, unfortunately I would also say that Endwalker has a few duds in the side cast, where they have interesting ideas and writing but unfortunately fail to properly pay them off, and it's especially frustrating in the case of one particular character and sours my opinion of some of the story sections.
Which leads nicely into my thoughts on Endwalker's issues. I think the main theme is that it is really good at giving you set up to things but is just not good at paying some of them off. I was quite disappointed with the way they handled some story sections and it made me wonder why they set this up in this way at all. I am at least glad that the final trial and everything surrounding it is filled with the same emotional weight that I mentioned loving in the themes, and to me it is a moment that is almost as hype as base Shadowbringers' final trial.
Anyways once we have the complicated stuff out of the way, I would like to say the music is fucking excellent of course it was did you really expect anything else.
The duties are also genuinely the best duties in the game, I'd surprisingly say I love most if not all of them and I think they just are really good at making them consistently fun now.
The areas are also very memorable here, while I may have issues with story resolutions I think they are just really good at being atmospheric and great locations to explore.
Now, in this review I will switch to talking about Post-Endwalker. Despite me considering it a different entity entirely in terms of MSQ I still think this is a better place than any to discuss it.
The trial series... doesn't exist for this one, as they seem to have put all of that into the MSQ itself this time around. Which is a good time to talk about the MSQ - it's okay. It has some nice aspects and it is definitely decently written but to me it's the biggest lull we've had since Post-ARR (though like do not get me wrong it is definitely better than that for sure). At least the trials are pretty damn fun, like I said great duties.
The normal raids are quite fun too. While I overall prefer Eden, Panda is still an enjoyable story tackling a really novel concept that I am glad that they are addressing, and the fights are satisfying and fun as expected of them. The music in them in particular is also really good.
The (unfinished, so some of this will change when we get the third one) alliance raids are really really fun, I enjoy them both in terms of mechanics and especially music which is honestly shockingly good (and that's saying something for this game). Story wise it has been okay so far but I really like the potential for the lore because it has been giving us a lot of interesting stuff to think about.
And yeah.... I think that's about it? Endwalker is really damn good and super worth playing. It is not the cohesive and well put together masterpiece that Shadowbringers quite is, but it makes up for it nonetheless!
2017
NieR: Automata is a magnificent game and one of the best stories I've experienced period.
Automata builds upon Taro's unique and wild ideas in Replicant and puts a new and interesting spin on them while expanding them tenfold, creating a considerably more complex tapestry of rich themes covering a lot of grand and ambitious ground that sticks the landing in a hard way, creating a deeply meditative story that balloons in complexity upon thinking about even one aspect of it, like this game is extremely interpretable in a meaningful way where all the interpretations add in an interesting way to both the overall story and the characters.
The sidequests are definitely a significant part of this, they flesh out the world and characters more little by little, facing you with some very interesting scenarios and questions about our nature and how we exist in the world, and as a result probably end up being the best set of sidequests I've experience in a game by far.
Of course, my intense praise of the themes and sidequests wouldn't hit as hard as they do if the game didn't handle its big payoff of the central theme and characters as magnificently as they do. I definitely admit that my favourite parts of the game, the characters of 2B and 9S, can appear to be a slowburn, but if you notice how the themes and ideas play into their characters, you'll find that they're really rewarding and for me very emotionally investing, and combined with how good their character conclusions end up being, it made for some of my favourite characters ever. And also, Ending E is probably one of the best thematic payoffs for any game in general.
The presentation of the game is also incredible, a big step up even from the remake of Replicant with beautiful locations and environments that just add to the feeling of existing in the very well fleshed out world in a big way. And like, the music is obviously fantastic, but you didn't need me to tell you that.
Gameplay wise, it definitely started out quite fun to me but overall I'd say the hack and slash combat got fairly old by the end. The exception to this I'd say is that some bosses particularly in route A are really good, they're just really memorable encounters that are fun to fight. However, on the hacking minigames side... I actually really enjoy it for whatever reason. I just love the hacking what can I say.
So yeah, overall I'd say NieR: Automata is a fantastic story, especially for those who enjoy stories which are very thematically cohesive and rich.
Automata builds upon Taro's unique and wild ideas in Replicant and puts a new and interesting spin on them while expanding them tenfold, creating a considerably more complex tapestry of rich themes covering a lot of grand and ambitious ground that sticks the landing in a hard way, creating a deeply meditative story that balloons in complexity upon thinking about even one aspect of it, like this game is extremely interpretable in a meaningful way where all the interpretations add in an interesting way to both the overall story and the characters.
The sidequests are definitely a significant part of this, they flesh out the world and characters more little by little, facing you with some very interesting scenarios and questions about our nature and how we exist in the world, and as a result probably end up being the best set of sidequests I've experience in a game by far.
Of course, my intense praise of the themes and sidequests wouldn't hit as hard as they do if the game didn't handle its big payoff of the central theme and characters as magnificently as they do. I definitely admit that my favourite parts of the game, the characters of 2B and 9S, can appear to be a slowburn, but if you notice how the themes and ideas play into their characters, you'll find that they're really rewarding and for me very emotionally investing, and combined with how good their character conclusions end up being, it made for some of my favourite characters ever. And also, Ending E is probably one of the best thematic payoffs for any game in general.
The presentation of the game is also incredible, a big step up even from the remake of Replicant with beautiful locations and environments that just add to the feeling of existing in the very well fleshed out world in a big way. And like, the music is obviously fantastic, but you didn't need me to tell you that.
Gameplay wise, it definitely started out quite fun to me but overall I'd say the hack and slash combat got fairly old by the end. The exception to this I'd say is that some bosses particularly in route A are really good, they're just really memorable encounters that are fun to fight. However, on the hacking minigames side... I actually really enjoy it for whatever reason. I just love the hacking what can I say.
So yeah, overall I'd say NieR: Automata is a fantastic story, especially for those who enjoy stories which are very thematically cohesive and rich.
(Placeholder mini-review, to be replaced by a detailed spoiler review at a later date)
Warning: This review won't contain any actual spoilers but has a lot of opinions that could prime your experience
Trails of Cold Steel 4 is simultaneously the best and worst Trails game of them all.
For all the harem scenes, some failed character payoffs, questionable plot elements, weird presentation of a theme and admittedly underwhelming conclusion,
there's genuinely the strongest first third of a trails game featuring some of the most memorable scenes in the series, consistently great NPC conversations highlighting some while simple very fascinating ideas about war and the dynamics of nationalism, probably the best set of sidequests in the series and some genuinely great character payoffs and indeed overall stuff that acts as a genuine celebration of the series as it goes a long way in justifying its use of returning characters and plot elements from all of the series so far, which just adds to the stakes and emotional investment and results in some absolutely banger scenes. The ideological leaning of the heroes in general feels much more meaningful here than in CS2 by far and it is certainly a much better execution of its ideas overall.
Not to mention the gameplay in general is a great time. Now I will say the combat is definitely not particularly amazing, but it's still one of the better systems in the series and at least for me it was pretty enjoyable just using my characters to optimally take down enemies, breaking the game as much as possible. Some bosses can be legit good too, but overall the game can be too easy I'd say. On the other hand, this game does contain the best minigames in the series and the QoL has quite literally never been better so you can very realistically get all the missables with no trouble at all.
Ultimately where you stand on this game is whether you think the good outweighs the bad or not, and how much either the good or bad affects you. For me, somewhat unexpectedly, the good happened to outweigh the bad to a frankly scary extent, and while this isn't downplaying the bad I will still say I loved this game a lot.
Warning: This review won't contain any actual spoilers but has a lot of opinions that could prime your experience
Trails of Cold Steel 4 is simultaneously the best and worst Trails game of them all.
For all the harem scenes, some failed character payoffs, questionable plot elements, weird presentation of a theme and admittedly underwhelming conclusion,
there's genuinely the strongest first third of a trails game featuring some of the most memorable scenes in the series, consistently great NPC conversations highlighting some while simple very fascinating ideas about war and the dynamics of nationalism, probably the best set of sidequests in the series and some genuinely great character payoffs and indeed overall stuff that acts as a genuine celebration of the series as it goes a long way in justifying its use of returning characters and plot elements from all of the series so far, which just adds to the stakes and emotional investment and results in some absolutely banger scenes. The ideological leaning of the heroes in general feels much more meaningful here than in CS2 by far and it is certainly a much better execution of its ideas overall.
Not to mention the gameplay in general is a great time. Now I will say the combat is definitely not particularly amazing, but it's still one of the better systems in the series and at least for me it was pretty enjoyable just using my characters to optimally take down enemies, breaking the game as much as possible. Some bosses can be legit good too, but overall the game can be too easy I'd say. On the other hand, this game does contain the best minigames in the series and the QoL has quite literally never been better so you can very realistically get all the missables with no trouble at all.
Ultimately where you stand on this game is whether you think the good outweighs the bad or not, and how much either the good or bad affects you. For me, somewhat unexpectedly, the good happened to outweigh the bad to a frankly scary extent, and while this isn't downplaying the bad I will still say I loved this game a lot.
2016
This game is amazing but I am never finishing it.
As far as puzzle games go this game has some extremely good ideas that makes for really enjoyable puzzles ramping up in complexity, and the simple choice to force you to figure the puzzle mechanics out on your own gives you a deeper engagement with the game that makes it fulfilling in a big big way.
... and I really just wish they were put into a more accessible game. For as much as I love it I just keep getting gated by that one puzzle that hits my brain limit. Some particular points are too insane for me and I keep finding a point like that no matter how many times I try to come back to this game, so it's a shame that I have to say this game as much as I enjoyed it isn't one that is getting finished. Like I said, I hope more puzzle games take inspiration from this one just more accessible, I may unfortunately have been too dumb for this one.
As far as puzzle games go this game has some extremely good ideas that makes for really enjoyable puzzles ramping up in complexity, and the simple choice to force you to figure the puzzle mechanics out on your own gives you a deeper engagement with the game that makes it fulfilling in a big big way.
... and I really just wish they were put into a more accessible game. For as much as I love it I just keep getting gated by that one puzzle that hits my brain limit. Some particular points are too insane for me and I keep finding a point like that no matter how many times I try to come back to this game, so it's a shame that I have to say this game as much as I enjoyed it isn't one that is getting finished. Like I said, I hope more puzzle games take inspiration from this one just more accessible, I may unfortunately have been too dumb for this one.
There's many things you could accuse this game of but one thing you can't accuse it of is the lack of a meaningful creative vision. Yoko Taro presents to us a frankly tedious slog of a game. This remake does things to help I've heard, like the combat is pretty fun here and the bosses are good. But this doesn't really stop it from being a slog nonetheless, the specifics of which I'll go into later. Regardless, Yoko Taro takes this purposeful slog of a game and uses it to present us with some very unique characterization and makes us feel the headspace of the protagonist in a way I haven't seen before, and I have to admit it's effective. This game's strongest aspect is most certainly its creative character writing which really uses the full extent of its medium, as well as genre tropes/subversions to deliver us this character writing. I'd like to highlight how the sidequests work in service of this in particular, most of them are honestly shit (with one or two notable exceptions) and some are so monumentally tedious that I didn't finish them (which makes me think some quests are the way they are because Taro just wanted to make them that way, even if he did have a vision). But I didn't actually mind this, given that it like several other things about the game serves to make us feel misery and that definitely adds to the game. Now, do I think all of this misery was justified?
The answer, sadly is no. The one exception to this is perhaps the biggest and most prolific example of this game being tedious to play, that being the route system. I'll go into my detailed thoughts regarding the narrative later, but the route system had absolutely no good reason to be as tedious as it did and whatever benefits you would get from it in the metanarrative I feel didn't outweigh the sheer way the game eroded itself. But if repetition was the only sin of this game, I'd forgive it (or I mean I wouldn't, but at least I'd forgive it more than my main issue with the system).
Let's get to the main themes. Honestly, I like what the game is going for overall in terms of themes. Like, I get what Taro is trying to tell us, and when he uses it to bolster his most interesting characters it's great revelatory storytelling. Nier and Kaine in particular stand out as characters who benefit a lot from this style (though I'd say the latter much more than the former). But I'd say the way he presents the revelations that route B gives us is for the most part painfully simplistic and not well fleshed out enough, it effectively was a hammering home of a point over and over that I already understood by route A and while B's scenes had value and honestly like I said I liked the point the game was making, they weren't anywhere near enough to justify this game's length and repetition. By the end the conflict of this game only really benefited the main characters for me and that falls way short of what I feel the game wanted me to think. Not to mention the worldbuilding details that probably would've served to make the overall themes more interesting are just handwaved, leaving the overall narrative to be in an awkward state until ending E which admittedly is good and definitely a nice send off to the narrative. But overall yeah, good unique storytelling but not always worth the hassle.
I would like to at the end mention the music though. Absolutely phenomenal stuff even in the remake and definitely one of my favourites now.
The answer, sadly is no. The one exception to this is perhaps the biggest and most prolific example of this game being tedious to play, that being the route system. I'll go into my detailed thoughts regarding the narrative later, but the route system had absolutely no good reason to be as tedious as it did and whatever benefits you would get from it in the metanarrative I feel didn't outweigh the sheer way the game eroded itself. But if repetition was the only sin of this game, I'd forgive it (or I mean I wouldn't, but at least I'd forgive it more than my main issue with the system).
Let's get to the main themes. Honestly, I like what the game is going for overall in terms of themes. Like, I get what Taro is trying to tell us, and when he uses it to bolster his most interesting characters it's great revelatory storytelling. Nier and Kaine in particular stand out as characters who benefit a lot from this style (though I'd say the latter much more than the former). But I'd say the way he presents the revelations that route B gives us is for the most part painfully simplistic and not well fleshed out enough, it effectively was a hammering home of a point over and over that I already understood by route A and while B's scenes had value and honestly like I said I liked the point the game was making, they weren't anywhere near enough to justify this game's length and repetition. By the end the conflict of this game only really benefited the main characters for me and that falls way short of what I feel the game wanted me to think. Not to mention the worldbuilding details that probably would've served to make the overall themes more interesting are just handwaved, leaving the overall narrative to be in an awkward state until ending E which admittedly is good and definitely a nice send off to the narrative. But overall yeah, good unique storytelling but not always worth the hassle.
I would like to at the end mention the music though. Absolutely phenomenal stuff even in the remake and definitely one of my favourites now.
2019
This review contains spoilers
Persona 5 Royal, one of the games of all time
It is a game of weird extremes. Great gameplay loop and extremely addicting to play (albeit the one, minor, issue is that it isn't challenging enough), as my introduction to this battle system and the fusion system it was very compelling to me, the dungeons were very well designed and unique. Obviously the ones that did something with their characters (Futaba, Sae, the Royal one) were my favs, but they were consistently great to play through (except 5 I think low key fuck that one). Bosses like I said generally were not that great but some were good and that's also honestly fine, under this system I enjoyed manipulating even mob battles and that's impressive. Obviously the confidant system is also just super cool and the way you unlock different abilities is so good, making you want to progress (the admittedly not generally that great in terms of writing) confidants. Plus some of the minigames are fun. Mementos is weird where I enjoy grinding in it because it's useful and I like seeing myself get level ups etc and it has benefits but the design is less interesting and it can get a bit grating, the unique dungeons are easily the best part of the game.
Also here's my hottest Persona 5 Royal take: the OST is only pretty good. It has a bunch of bangers and is generally great to listen to but it's not QUITE my thing.
The characters I'll get to in detail later, but one thing that's super fun and well done about the game is that the interactions between them are genuinely fun and I like that everyone in the gang brings their own unique roles and quirks, and it definitely has bits of really fun characterization, like Yusuke being, Yusuke or with Futaba where it's people helping her get over her social anxiety. So much of this game is infected with anime but this is like the one part that feels refreshingly not that (most of the time, anyways) so I appreciate it.
Storywise it's useful to break it down into Arcs and go from there
Arc 1: I think this arc has a genuinely strong setup, the social atmosphere of the school, the oppressive hold Kamoshida has over it, how literally even parents or teachers who are in on it will not call him out, and the depth of the abuse and effect on the students was a genuinely strong way to give stakes to this arc. Plus, it is quite interesting that in a way the lack of consequences for Kamoshida also distorted his desires and ego to the point of obscenity. Unfortunately, I have issues with this arc too! Ryuji is generally great here, have no problems with his role. The way he is scorned by Kamoshida by having genuine anger in an unfair situation speaks to how sometimes the emotions of people like him aren't taken seriously by adults and he's expected to be a saint in a situation where there's clearly a direct aggressor. I like how much that motivates his desire to save people from Kamoshida, despite as we'll later see, him being not appreciated by his track team even after then. So yeah he's cool! But Ann is a proper fucking mess wrt the way her sexualization and body image is presented to us, I think what the game wants to do has some good stuff but the way it gets executed ends up falling flat. Ann as a victim of a groomer who does the same thing he does to Ryuji, just in a different way that speaks interestingly to both Kamoshida and Ann herself, is genuinely quite interesting.
Ann as a victim of a groomer, also, is presented as sexy by the game consistently, from subtle things like Joker having the option to say he's jealous of Shadow Kamoshida and cognitive Ann, to direct things like Ann's incredibly sexual animations and general design and fucking her attacks (she has a whip, her follow up attack imitates a dominatrix), not to mention she is not even COMFORTABLE in the outfit, and even if you take the best faith reading of her reclaiming her sexuality, it still comes off as the game trying to justify to us hard that this high school girl is mature beyond her years and in touch with her sexuality! This is why it's ok for the game to present her as a sex object consistently. Urgh. Also this is the first time we see the signature change of heart thing and it really ends up hurting the moral conflict it could've had, which is a shame cause the arc otherwise had a pretty cool setup. But either way, some good stuff here and some awful stuff here.
Arc 2: This arc is less immediately compelling, the horrible things the villain are doing are less fleshed out and as a result the stakes don't feel as strong here, but there's a genuinely interesting aspect, to me, with the way Madarame treats his art pupils and art, speaks to how nihilistic art is in the context of extreme capitalism the way Madarame is experiencing where he makes a ton of money off of his pupils for art he doesn't make, and he genuinely doesn't regret it. Also Yusuke's conflict and its resolution is strong, he's the first character in the game I have no real problems with.
Arc 3: Unlike Arc 1 or 2's villains, there's nothing about Kaneshiro that is worth talking about at all, the game essentially goes gangs are evil and greedy and bad you guys 😭 but what I do like is Makoto's conflict and the way she, initially presented as a villain to us, comes to manifest the will of rebellion because she's sick of the weight of expectations on her, and of adults exploiting her, so we get another character who is like, good here!
Arc 4: Finally, some good fucking food. Not only is the setup of the arc unique (there's no (underwritten) villain to take down, it's someone who wants their heart stolen by the Phantom Thieves, meaning it's ripe for character exploration), but we get some pretty shocking yet cool development for Sojiro as well, adding dimension to him when he sorely needed it. Futaba is naturally the star of the show, her entire condition and the way she convinced herself of her being hated by her mom just because of the sheer trauma she went through by losing her, and the way that the resolution of the arc is actually her taking the initiative and being the main player in stealing her own heart, is good (if I don't specifically call it out like this, assume I think the change of heart plot point is bad!). Plus, it's great that the aftermath of the arc shows us just spending time with Futaba and rehabilitating her into society, very heartwarming and it makes me happy.
Arc 5: This arc is extremely fucking funny. What is Morgana's arc you were already the least likeable being in the universe and now you're suddenly trying to make me feel sorry for you? Even disregarding my personal opinion on him uptil then, his "arc" is really not well setup at all and the resolution is also naturally liked, rushed lol.
We have the other focus "character" Haru, and she's also fucking funny. I like her character in concept and I would like her beyond that concept too if an entire character wasn't resolved in a single scene and pretends like that's enough. Also Haru's dad is a Kaneshiro tier villain "what if Jeff Bezos was evil". That being said, Arc 5 has one good aspect, and that is the ending. The way the situation was turned completely on the Phantom Thieves and it feeds into the fact that their pursuit of villains whose heart to change was in fact slowly descending into jerking themselves off for fame rather than genuinely social change is cool! Still a bad arc though
Arc 6: More good fucking food. Not only does the set up of the arc lead on from the end of 5 in a cool way, Akechi taking center stage here is awesome. The way he has the PT in his palms and essentially teams up with them because he agrees with them in this instance and is willing to do this to take down Sae (or is he..?). And this is even without mentioning the star of the show: Sae! Sae is a very well fleshed out villain, which I didn't expect after the entire game doing its hardest to make sure I can't take her seriously outside of scenes with Makoto. Her relationship with Makoto is genuinely cool but I'd say this benefits Sae more than it does Makoto. The way she's bought into an inherently unfair system and the way she believes this so strongly because the person she loved the most died for going against this kind of system, the way she as a woman in a male dominated world would have even more reason to buy into the inherently ruthless system that would already discriminate against her for being "soft", and above all the consistently clever presentation of the palace as a metaphor for the legal system, all of this is great stuff and I could write even more about her if I wanted to. The ending of this arc, finally allowing us to see what happened after the flashback, was cool! The twist that Akechi was a villain and the twist that they knew all along is pretty cool, the details of the plan are fun, but I'm mainly interested in Akechi here. The twist (even without future content of his) is such a massive shock to the system and in a way recontextualization of what he's been doing so far, and uptil then he was already a pretty interesting character in the way he opposed the Phantom Thieves yet he himself also followed a greater power structure in the cops mostly uncritically. Yet we see that there's something greater at work here and this was all intentional deceivery. Pancakes. Fucking Pancakes man.
Arc 7: This is good fucking food but in the capacity that if you pretended that.
OK imagine this. You order an appetizer, a main course item 1, main course item 2 and a dessert. And the main course item 2 is the best thing you've had but everything else is bland. This is how this arc is good food, it's not as good as 4 or 6 due to the lack of consistency. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Shido is a return to form for this game, a boring villain with very basic and toothless social commentary like Kaneshiro or Haru's dad. He sure is a powerful politician with power over people and he also sure orchestrated everything in the game (which is probably something people more invested in the plot loved, but I felt like was boring and not that interesting at all, like who cares he's still cookie cutter). Shido's content stretches across most of the arc, being a significant part of the lead up to the palace, and a significant player in the calling card + boss stretch.
But there's a player I failed to mention. Goro Akechi.
Goro Akechi pops off so hard here it isn't even funny. The more we learn about his character, the way his image was a constructed facade under Shido, the way it relates to his complex of being an undesired child and hating the way he was controlled by his father, the sheer recontextualization of his character is unimaginably fun and awesome, like the way he is presented throughout the game is so fucking unique and it comes to a head here. And the boss fight with him, wow. It's such a tragic scene, the way he clearly wants a better life for himself and to be loved, yet thinks he's too far gone and undeserving of the attention. Goood stuff my man goood stuff. His sacrifice too.....
Arc 8: This is weirdly good food, and this may be my actual hot take, but this arc is honestly quite good! I think there's really something awesome about the way this arc examines an idea that, maybe the change of heart ideology was bad actually. It's not allowed to be effective because the way this arc just presents the idea and plays it straight falls a little flat owing to the fact that it just wasn't a natural progression of the idea, but for what it is worth it's actually quite cool that the game suddenly allows itself to be self critical about its perported ideology. I'm trying to think about something else this arc did, but I can't come up with it. I suppose it did the classic JRPG trope of take down god in a massive supernatural final dungeon type space but like I don't care about that. Again, the inherent fact that this game is Persona 5 Royal keeps this arc from being more effective than it could, but it's otherwise quite interesting imo.
Arc 9: Holy shit holy shit. I am not okay after experiencing this arc, on multiple levels. The way it is set up as a metaphor for regrets in life and averting your eyes from the trauma, first, even on a surface level without involving Maruki, is genius. The way Akechi is alive here after saving you at what should've been the end of base P5 reads as a clever metacommentary on that particular ending, the way the phantom thieves mostly accept their fate in this world initially, the way at the end of the arc Joker faces the real consequences of undoing Maruki's world and how they have to put in actual effort to get him back! It's already solid as even the Phantom Thieves' shenanigans reinforce the sheer thematic value of this arc. But then we're obviously ignoring the main stars of the show here: Sumire, Akechi and most of all, Maruki.
I haven't brought up Sumire or Maruki much in this review, because their main plot relevant roles are in this arc. And like, that's an issue for Sumire, while it isn't for Maruki, but I'll get into that later cause it's more of a focused character review thing.
Sumire's role in this arc is quite good, the recontextualization that the role she was performing was her dead sister's, all because Maruki literally changed her cognition lends it credibility and uniqueness as a plot point, and the way this feeds into it all being a long term trauma response because she couldn't fucking stand living with herself after what happened? And the fact that this feeds into Maruki's characterization, like the fact that he saw a traumatized girl and thought yeah I should do this to her, makes it interesting on its own. And like, the best thing about this relationship between the two is, like Maruki, the game depicts it in a morally nuanced way. It doesn't pretend that the cognition didn't help Sumire in its own way, because it definitely acted as a stopgap for her trauma and allowed her to live a happy and fulfilling life, yet this clearly isn't the best thing long term because it's running away from the truth and like, the writing in this arc is so clever because I just end up fucking describing Maruki again by describing his relationship with Sumire and hfhhdhhds THIS ARC IS SO GOOD.
Akechi on a surface level is already great in this arc because all pretense of him being a nice boy detective on your side is dropped, leading him to show his unhinged murderous side stoked by Shido's errands free, and holy shit is this entertaining. I genuinely wished this arc would only progress with Sumire and Akechi because Akechi's lines replacing what would normally be Makoto's/Futaba's/Morgana's are so extremely entertaining and hilarious!
He give me Nagito vibes in this aspect, in a very good way.
But the way his deeper more important plot relevant role is depicted came as a genuine fucking shock to me and in a way that deepened my love for his character. The fact that he in the real world is in fact dead, knows this and does not fucking care because he'd rather be dead then be under the thumb of another shitty controlling person in power, and the fact that he decides to help you rebel against Maruki even though you'd think he has no real stake in this, the fact that he doesn't care about his life despite you pointing out to him that his life really is not a trivial matter, doesn't matter to him. Because the kind of person he is, the kind of things he went through, none of these allow him to just simply accept a life in this world (i.e., an actual fucking LIFE), because he'd rather be dead than do that. God this man makes me so emotional. And all while being the kind of person to call an enemy a sad little weakling. He is so fucking good.
And Maruki... I honestly don't know if I have all the words to do Maruki justice here, but I will sure as hell try. Building off of what is the best confidant in the game already, Maruki's characterization here comes front and centre as we go through his excellently constructed palace. Let me take a moment here to describe how genius his palace is, the way it is designed to slowly get us used to his ideology and why he did it. The way you have to literally analyze his character to get through the exam room sequence. God it's all so fucking good and like. Maruki. Maruki. I need to calm myself down, but Maruki. Him being so deep into his being wounded by his girlfriend's "death" that he takes it upon himself to study cognitive psience to help people never feel pain again, by averting people from the truth and eliminating every source of pain in their life. It is painfully, tragically sympathetic, even for how overtly bad it is. Like I said this arc is amazing at depicted him in a nuanced way.
The sheer depth of how far gone he is, where he essentially views pain as something that should be removed and optimized, and how the only thing that you deserve is to live a happy life and go through nothing hard, I feel like I am underselling how good he is by writing it like this, I just don't have the proper wording to describe it adequately. I just love him and the way he behaves as a very reasonable villain who still is presumably willing to kill the Phantom Thieves when they don't conflict his vision for the world.
And the fact that he is in some way more complex than he lets on, the recontextualization that he is also running away from trauma via him inducing a very unsuccessful experiment in his most desperate hour on his girlfriend means that in some way he too is a hypocrite, he is unsuccessful at repressing the trauma he thinks no one should have, yet in being motivated by this he inherently has to acknowledge that it exists and hurts him.. to that end he now comes of as someone who sacrifices his own happiness for the greater good of everyone else's happiness, and like man isn't this dude extremely normal?
I think I'm running out of ways to talk about Maruki that won't come off as repeating what I already said, so let me highlight two things:
a) the final one on one with him is so fucking raw. It is a pure expression of emotions from a man who knows he has failed in his grand quest that he put so much emotional stake on, and it is an amazingly performed scene. R.I.P Billy Kametz and his amazing performance as Maruki.
b) him removing the source of his girlfriend's trauma by rewriting her entire cognition of her life, having done it after forming a contract with a Persona... hey doesn't this sound an awful lot like the Phantom Thieves? This I think further reinforces how genius this arc's writing is. It reads as another criticism of the Phantom Thieves' ideology by displaying another logical extreme of it. And like, Yaldaboath's arc did this too, but it was more in a large scale, metaphorical sense, and while that doesn't make it bad, tying it here to an amazingly written character and making the stakes and thematic criticism feel that much more personal means that this arc is a much better thematic conclusion (imo) to Persona 5. At this point the only issue is again the progression isn't natural but like literally who cares when this arc is so amazingly written!
I think this also speaks to an awesome aspect of his character that I didn't mention so far in detail, that is his confidant. His entire confidant is essentially him getting to know Joker and talking to him about the Phantom Thieves and their MO, and it's like so clever that we see he already knew who exactly he was talking to at that point, because it means all this time he was projecting his own ideology and desire to actualize his ideal world onto them, because they in essence also do the thing Maruki is doing just in a different context and with different steps. And damn if this doesn't make Maruki even more peak fiction??????????
I think I've ran out of words to write about the main story, which is good because I'd just ramble about the third semester all day long if you really gave me the chance to. Anyways at this point, we have some miscellaneous rankings and then further character notes to get through:
Palace ranking (overall, considering both story and gameplay):
9 >> 6 > 4 > 7 > 8 > 3 > 1 > 2 > 5
Palace music themes:
9 > 6 > 4 > 3 > 8 > 2 > 1 > 7 > 5
Palace Bosses (gameplay wise):
7 > 8 > 9 > 5 > 2 > 6 > 1 > 3 > 4
Anyways, let's do a final character roundup with thoughts I didn't have the chance to mention before now
Goro Akechi: We deserved a romance
Sae Nijima: It's the most hilarious thing in the world how she asks you about every little detail about more than half a year's worth time, all in a single interrogation session that is apparently supposed to be short, to top it all off your bond becomes fucking 10.
Futaba: I like her confidant it's super nice and just adds to the nice overall arc of rehabilitating her more into society.
Mishima: His confidant is pretty cool, I like the way he progresses into being obsessed with the fame and his eventual realization that he's fucking wrong, a breath of fresh air in the otherwise generally mediocre pool of confidants.
Yusuke: He is one of the most entertaining members of the Phantom Thieves in the group dynamic thing I mentioned earlier, he's just super endearing and even his confidant treats the fallout of his emotions from the Madarame arc really quite nicely.
Kasumi: I really wish Kasumi was in the game more, this would've made her significantly better. Like her plot beats and general personality and interactions with Joker all work quite well it's just she really does not feel integrated into the main plot effectively at all and she would've had more of an impact if she was imo. Compare this to Maruki who just chills as a school therapist in the school and his confidant is just you talking about something interesting and plot relevant for a while, heck he even has a plot relevant reason to join. Definitely liked Kasumi still but disappointed in the way they dealt with her.
Sojiro: Sojiro's confidant is one of my favourites in the game for good reason, it's just a really nice way to add dimension to his relationship with Futaba, his struggles and the way he found it hard to deal with a kid who is so clearly traumatized, and how this tied into why he took in Joker, all good stuff.
Makoto: Her relationship with her sister I want to highlight again is quite good, I like the way Sae has some very selfish yet painfully understandable feelings about raising Makoto alone, and the way Makoto both recognizes this yet is initially frustrated and hurt by this is p cool. Her confidant is very meh I don't think it has much to offer for her in the character department
Ryuji: I already talked about how I like his main story role and his confidant so let me tell you the game ruins him and he experiences a quality dip harsher than most characters in the game for it, all because the game wanted to fucking have its pervert and Ryuji dumb gags. They are one dimensional and boring and do not serve any purpose whatsoever and Persona 5 Royal is a video game it is an extended edition of Persona 5 and it sure added changes
Tae: Her confidant is like fine idk. It is a nice conflict but not that interesting
Shiho: She should've shown up more because Ann was sorely missing things that made her good.
Haru: Her confidant is as lol as her main story role idk how else to say it, talking about Haru tires me.
Kawakami: The only reason I won't rant as much about Kawakami as I do other characters is because there is another female character whose relationship to sexual roles is screwed up massively by the game but like. She is a maid enticing a minor to use her services like I know it is not intentional on either person's part on a surface level but it is like painfully fetishized even without the romance existing and not to mention she is doing sex work for money and even her confidant says how she may need to move onto more explicit sex work fields for more money and yet the game never does anything with this whatsoever. This is all to say that even without the romance she's awful so her being romanceable drives her into the ground.
Ann: I don't have any more energy to rant about Ann but her confidant is awful yeah let me keep being a sex object but this time I want to be one
Joker: Joker as a silent protagonist, an uncritically examined self-insert silent protagonist is the ultimate zenith of bad writing, there's so much to say about how hollow he is as a character and how awful the aspect of him being the best guy ever and dating multiple women despite having no character is awful but again I do not have the energy in me to explain this, I hope it's self explanatory because I am not explaining it.
Morgana: What if a mascot character was an offensive misogynistic annoying irritating perverted little shit that needs to get burnt alive 10 times over.
Emet-Selch.
The MSQ is pretty great, though I feel it's too slow paced at times without much satisfying reason for it. Plus some of the patch MSQs had lulls. In general while the world is very very well fleshed out I didn't find it particularly impressive in terms of the characters or plotlines unique to those areas. The Scions got a considerable boost as characters here too and it's pretty impressive jow they were redeemed. But man the high high points were awesome, ESPECIALLY the last leg of 5.0 and the poignant themes relating to heroism, loss, etc. (but mostly the first one I'd say), as well as some fantastic original characters in Emet-Selch, Exarch, Elidibus and perhaps others I'm forgetting.
Holy shit the side content though that's fucking fantastic. Eden and YoRHa were the most fun I've had in a game this year, and Werlyt as well as Eden had great stories.
In general the trials and dungeons in ShB MSQ were also the best the game has had till now and very fun to play. The music is also awesome, maybe my favourite.
RIDING HOOOOME
The MSQ is pretty great, though I feel it's too slow paced at times without much satisfying reason for it. Plus some of the patch MSQs had lulls. In general while the world is very very well fleshed out I didn't find it particularly impressive in terms of the characters or plotlines unique to those areas. The Scions got a considerable boost as characters here too and it's pretty impressive jow they were redeemed. But man the high high points were awesome, ESPECIALLY the last leg of 5.0 and the poignant themes relating to heroism, loss, etc. (but mostly the first one I'd say), as well as some fantastic original characters in Emet-Selch, Exarch, Elidibus and perhaps others I'm forgetting.
Holy shit the side content though that's fucking fantastic. Eden and YoRHa were the most fun I've had in a game this year, and Werlyt as well as Eden had great stories.
In general the trials and dungeons in ShB MSQ were also the best the game has had till now and very fun to play. The music is also awesome, maybe my favourite.
RIDING HOOOOME
The best way I'd describe this game is the best Trails has been in a lot of aspects and the worst in a select few. This game delivers the most satisfying Trails experience in terms of the NPCs, worldbuilding, minigames, combat even, and to top it all off goes absolutely ham with the kind of interconnected storytelling that makes Trails special, in a way that feels incredibly natural and justifies the plot of this game feeling as big as it is. But even when we get down to the main plot and characters, both aspects are pretty great for a setup game. It's super long and drawn out at times yes and the structure is pretty much akin to CS1 but I cannot say I minded that when they nailed so many aspects to appeal to me. The one big flaw I'd say I wish this game didn't have was doubling down on the awful harem aspects/CS style tropeyness of scenes and interactions. So maybe this game's sheer quality is a monkey's paw. But fuck me, this blew me away otherwise.
Miserable traversal and overworld, overall meh to fine dungeons besides one, meh bosses besides the final one. Music and art are gorgeous, finale is notably good and this game has the best Ganon out of them all. Overall definitely not for me
Apparently my computer seems to be able to emulate Wii U sorry
2012
Actually surprisingly heartwarming messaging with the routes overall leaning net good rather than bad is what I remember. I remember it fondly for being one of my very early VNs
2013
I SWEAR TO YOU GUYS I WILL PLAY THE OTHER GAMES AND COME BACK TO THIS AGAIN.
Need to replay this for the same reason as the base game.