Version played: 2.20

So close to perfection but I do have an issue with some of the difficulty balancing, especially in Johto early on. Maybe giving every gym 5 Pokemon isn't always the best idea.

But outside of that the difficulty isn't too crazy. This definitely isn't a difficulty hack. It is, as the name implies, a more polished version of Crystal. You can run, there's extra content, all Pokemon are capturable without trading, the story in Kanto has been GREATLY expanded and almost feels better than how it was done in HGSS even.

In fact Kanto is where this hack really shines. There's a bunch of extra content in it that mostly feels like "oh, well that makes sense" and doesn't feel like something that was just randomly added in. Some of the content ties into Pokemon the Movie 2000, other parts are cameo fights from former Kanto E-4 and characters.

There's also a very nice surprise at the very, very end too but I haven't finished that fight yet. The true final boss is a super boss in every way possible. Nearly lv 100 team and has some legendaries. I still haven't beaten yet and I'm not sure when I will. It's also NOT Red, though that fight is still in this game.

Basically I recommend this to anyone looking for a good Gen 2 hack. It's one of the better ones besides Crystal Clear and it's nice to see a version of Gen that is almost even more enhanced than the Remakes we got in every way except graphics.

Major improvement for Like a Dragon 7. The battle system and job system are tweaked to be a lot more fun. Positioning matters and the new jobs are just simply more fun. Some familiar ones do return though.

Story is good and almost as twisty as Like a Dragon 7. Maybe I'd say that this one starts off stronger and ends juuust a tad weaker, but even so the mystery behind Akane makes for a fantastic start to the game.

The Hawaii map is great. I played this one with the Japanese dub and was nice hearing the mix of Japanese and American English actors whenever they decided to use them. There's a few weird ones, like Bryce having this very thick Japanese accent, but some of the side characters like the Cops, gang members, and some random civilians have excellent English that added to the immersion.

One of my biggest complaints about LAD 7 was the difficulty balancing. It felt like there were at least 2-3 moments where you had to grind, usually at an arena or a boring underground place. I never really had to grind in Infinite Wealth. I decide to grind 1 single time for the final boss at the Tartarus-esque dungeon, but this was actually kinda fun compared to the options LAD 7 offered you.

I did have a few issues here and there, the biggest one being the length of the mini-game tutorials. There's only really two big offenders. Sujimon and the Dondoko Island Mini-game.

The Dondoko Island tutorial did NOT have to be 1-2 hours long and I hope that they consider adding an option to skip it in a future update. I do not care for Dondoko and I'm sure i'm not the only one. It interrupts a part of the story where things are starting to get really good too and is a total pace breaker.

But enough complaining about the island, after all it was after just about an hour and thirty minutes out of a 72ish hour game.

Big props to the music team. Some of the battle themes are absolute fire. Slugfest and the Palekana battle theme are hype shit.

Overall, I would say that I really enjoyed this one! Like a Dragon 7 left me with some mixed feelings. It was a great, but frustrating game for me. The team seemed to learn that gating progress behind money and grinding isn't always fun and it shows. One of my favorite features was showing the recommended level and level of equipment for each story mission.

It isn't my game of the year but it's a fantastic game through and through.

Controls and plays better than DK Land 1, but is less unique. No exclusive environments, levels are different but feel like easier versions of their SNES counterparts. Definitely DKC2, but for car rides.

But the levels are different! But its the same gimmicks as DKC2 SNES.

Also the sprites glitch a lot. Sometimes it felt like a bootleg. It seems to do this on native hardware, emulation, and the Analogue Pocket so its just a game thing. Really weird.

Why does a Crocodile live in a penthouse in a city?

Either way its basically DKC 1.5 and its neat. Some fun levels if you exclude the arrow platform ones.

Play it in GBC mode to save yourself some headaches.

No game is perfect but this is the type of game I've wanted out of the JRPG genre since the PS4. It feels like everything FF XV was supposed to be.

A big budget, open world game that knows when to buckle down and go linear for a while to tell its story.

And there's actually fun activities to do in said open world too! I did all the intel for Chadly, did every sidequest bar the last one, played Queen's Blood, spent time with the plethora of mini games (most fun, minus the RTS ones)

Felt like I was doing something different each time I turned on the game. And thats FUN. Even putting the story aside, I was a little sad when I ran out of content. Its just all so damn fun. I didn't want this game to end.

I also love that they embraced how goofy this game could be and turned it up to 11. There's so many hilarious, spectacle moments, but it still knows when to take its story seriously.

The battle system is just Remake's but better. Not much to discuss there.

I will say the ending i'm a little mixed on. If it sticks the landing this might be one of the coolest gaming trilogies of all time. Its giving big Rebuild of Evangelion vibes and that could either go to an amazing place, or mess up big time at the end. Rebuild stuck the landing, hoping the same happens for FF7.

Either way, holy shit this game is spectacular. THIS is the direction I want FF to go in. I was disappointed in XVI for a number of reasons. The battle system in Remake and Rebirth is perfection and I want them to continue to expand and spin-off on it.

This remake single handedly took a game that I just thought was a very good PS2 RPG and turned it into something really special. I don't think it's my favorite in the Persona series still, but everything this remake adds to the character development, the narrative, the music, and the gameplay makes all the best parts of Persona 3 sing.

I get that it isn't technically definitive. It's missing FeMC and all the content that came with that, and The Answer (Before it gets released as DLC, I hope they overhaul the gameplay!)

But this is basically the "Journey" in it's best form. I'll not going to talk about any real negatives in this review because they are all pointless nitpicks.

Linked episodes? All kino and give the male cast the development they really needed in the original game. Surprisingly well written too.

Tartarus? It's actually fun. I still slightly prefer Persona 5's handcrafted dungeons but P3R does the whole procedural generation thing a lot better, and all the Tartarus blocks look gorgeous.

Even the gardening/cooking/watching TV/walking Koromaru sections give the characters a lot more time together. Fully voiced too.

Theurgies are a great addition to the gameplay. I can see some people finding it to be a bit too easy on normal but harder difficulties do exist. Shift is a great addition to combat too, making normal battles less of a chore, while still retaining the challenge a boss should pose.

As for the voice acting... It's a better dub. The old dub isn't bad but this dub feels better directed, and all the characters have voices that are either incredibly similar to their original one, or fit the same vibe. The only odd one out is Akihiko, but I feel like Alejandro did a fantastic job with his performance and probably has more nuance than Liam's original peformance... though I will say I do feel like 2024 Liam could have pulled it off as well. I blame the lack of variety in his voice on the direction and not Liam himself.

Every menu looks stylish and its fun to browse through, similar to Persona 5. It doesn't look like Persona 5 though... it's just a stylish menu.

I was originally someone who was worried about this remake. The change in the English voice cast, and the idea that a few things might've been axed. But everything in this remake only stands to elevate the game. The expanded ending is really something special too. Everything added to Persona 3 Reload doesn't lose the feel of the original, and only enhances the gameplay and the story's narrative themes. 10/10 experience.

A great story brought down by a few annoying characters and very repetitive writing.

I thought that overall this was a nice take on the mystery genre and I like the lore of Kanai Ward enough. There are a lot of good twists which are basically the foundation of whether I find these games enjoyable or not. The last two chapters definitely deliver on that front.

I actually didn't find Shinigami that annoying though! It was mostly Desuhiko and Fubuki.

Basically, this game didn't exactly blow my mind like some of the other greats in this genre, but it's definitely a good time.

Story is a major step up from the previous games and the symbiote combat is fun as hell. I like vidya Peter and Miles a lot. Near the end of the game there's tons of great moments.

Sadly the side activities are a little boring in this one. Miles Morales still had the best ones.

Mysterio's activity turning out to just be combat challenges is so disappointing given how creative the first one was. So much potential. But thats probably my biggest actual gripe with the game. The actual side stories like the Cult of the Flame and Miles school life are actually really good.

Its obviously not as good as the SNES version but its actually a good port. The physics feel slightly different but the game is overall, easier. But the QOL changes are nice, especially since you can check collectables in levels. Its too bad this is all only exclusive to the GBA port.

As for the colors, I get what its going for with the Analogue Pocket's "Original GBA Filter". Its not perfect but it makes the colors look more normal even if there is a brown tinge to it. This game was obviously designed with non-backlit screens in mind and will look awful on modern displays.