LucasTheYeti
32 reviews liked by LucasTheYeti
Persona 3 Reload
2024
This review contains spoilers
As I played this game, I kept asking myself one question. How am I meant to enjoy this? Not as a dig at the game, but as a consumer, what is this supposed to be for me?
I’ve previously played persona 3 FES, so I can’t experience it as my first voyage into this story, and even with all the new additions, it’s still largely the same product. So, what is persona 3 reload supposed to be for me?
Funnily enough, this question was answered by something that was already in the previous versions of the game. Shinjiro Aragaki. In my original FES run, I avoided him completely since I knew about his death. I didn’t use him in my party and I didn’t interact with him at all. Didn’t wanna get attached to someone I knew I was going to lose, but on a whim I decided to use him in my party when I got him for this playthrough. Once I started using him in my party, I started seeing the appeal of his character. Then I did his new hangout events and started really appreciating and enjoying his character, but his fate still lingered in the back of my mind. Was it really worth investing all this time and effort into someone who I’ll lose?
As I kept playing the game, I decided to try out some more social links I hadn’t finished in my original run, eventually running into Akinari. Another character whose fate I already knew about and had just never gotten around to starting. This is the point where everything clicked for me. His social link lets you know right off the bat that he’s going to die. There’s no saving him. Akinari WILL die, regardless of anything you do. “How is this any different from Shinji?” I thought. I know this man will die, so why am I motivated to spend time with him? The answer I came to involved every single party member, social link, and the game itself. All of these will eventually come to an end.
They don’t die, but you eventually have to get off the elevator. It’s just that some people step off a little earlier than you. Saying goodbye to all these doesn’t make them redundant or useless. Every moment I spent with these characters was my own choice. It wasn’t some IGN guide telling me how to max out everything and make the best use of my time. They would’ve told me to steer clear of using Shinji as a party member. Making these choices for myself, even if they’re not optimal made them matter all that much more. I chose to spend time with Shinji. I chose to accompany Akinari. I chose to spend time with all my party members, not because I wanted the personas you unlock from maxing out the social link, but because they deserved my time. I wasn’t crossing off items on a checklist, but instead I was spending time with friends.
So when I reached that final battle, when I squared off against Nyx, their words reached me. Every single moment I spent with them made it so I earned their support. But eventually, your time comes to step off the elevator. Your time ends with these characters and their world. Sometimes it leaves you wanting to spend more time with them, not ready to leave them behind, but you find that everyone who stepped off before you is already there, waiting for you.
That’s The Answer I reached. Even if you reach a different one than I did, I hope your ride is just as enjoyable as mine was
I’ve previously played persona 3 FES, so I can’t experience it as my first voyage into this story, and even with all the new additions, it’s still largely the same product. So, what is persona 3 reload supposed to be for me?
Funnily enough, this question was answered by something that was already in the previous versions of the game. Shinjiro Aragaki. In my original FES run, I avoided him completely since I knew about his death. I didn’t use him in my party and I didn’t interact with him at all. Didn’t wanna get attached to someone I knew I was going to lose, but on a whim I decided to use him in my party when I got him for this playthrough. Once I started using him in my party, I started seeing the appeal of his character. Then I did his new hangout events and started really appreciating and enjoying his character, but his fate still lingered in the back of my mind. Was it really worth investing all this time and effort into someone who I’ll lose?
As I kept playing the game, I decided to try out some more social links I hadn’t finished in my original run, eventually running into Akinari. Another character whose fate I already knew about and had just never gotten around to starting. This is the point where everything clicked for me. His social link lets you know right off the bat that he’s going to die. There’s no saving him. Akinari WILL die, regardless of anything you do. “How is this any different from Shinji?” I thought. I know this man will die, so why am I motivated to spend time with him? The answer I came to involved every single party member, social link, and the game itself. All of these will eventually come to an end.
They don’t die, but you eventually have to get off the elevator. It’s just that some people step off a little earlier than you. Saying goodbye to all these doesn’t make them redundant or useless. Every moment I spent with these characters was my own choice. It wasn’t some IGN guide telling me how to max out everything and make the best use of my time. They would’ve told me to steer clear of using Shinji as a party member. Making these choices for myself, even if they’re not optimal made them matter all that much more. I chose to spend time with Shinji. I chose to accompany Akinari. I chose to spend time with all my party members, not because I wanted the personas you unlock from maxing out the social link, but because they deserved my time. I wasn’t crossing off items on a checklist, but instead I was spending time with friends.
So when I reached that final battle, when I squared off against Nyx, their words reached me. Every single moment I spent with them made it so I earned their support. But eventually, your time comes to step off the elevator. Your time ends with these characters and their world. Sometimes it leaves you wanting to spend more time with them, not ready to leave them behind, but you find that everyone who stepped off before you is already there, waiting for you.
That’s The Answer I reached. Even if you reach a different one than I did, I hope your ride is just as enjoyable as mine was
The fact that a port, sequel, remaster, or remake does not exist is a terrible tragedy.
I love the narrative structure of the story. Centering around Alexandra Roivas in her grandfather's puzzle-filled, Metroidvania-style mansion, you gradually unlock new parts of the building and new chapters to play.
There's only 4-5 settings, but multiple revisits with different protagonists. They cleverly wrap around eachother throughout time, even encountering previous characters. The puzzle-solving works in tandem with your spellcraft a lot of the time, doubling up as tutorial. Discovering new spells is almost always useful and sequence-breaking to find more early is immensely satisfying.
Of course what everyone remembers is the sanity meter. It's such a brilliant idea that I wish had freer copyright limitations so I could see it implemented in new titles. The hallucinations, feints, and red herrings you and your hero encounter are always entertaining and baffling. My favorite is when a fly starts crawling across your HUD.
There are some shortcomings. The hacking combat and simplistic shooting wears a little thin. I also hate that they added a mechanic where your character runs out of breath after jogging for a while. The fatter characters run out nearly immediately and it really taxes the patience.
Fantastic voice-acting, sound design, and writing. It's not afraid to take bold twists and seep crawling, ancient, arcane fear into your psyche. It's not perfect, but I do love it.
I love the narrative structure of the story. Centering around Alexandra Roivas in her grandfather's puzzle-filled, Metroidvania-style mansion, you gradually unlock new parts of the building and new chapters to play.
There's only 4-5 settings, but multiple revisits with different protagonists. They cleverly wrap around eachother throughout time, even encountering previous characters. The puzzle-solving works in tandem with your spellcraft a lot of the time, doubling up as tutorial. Discovering new spells is almost always useful and sequence-breaking to find more early is immensely satisfying.
Of course what everyone remembers is the sanity meter. It's such a brilliant idea that I wish had freer copyright limitations so I could see it implemented in new titles. The hallucinations, feints, and red herrings you and your hero encounter are always entertaining and baffling. My favorite is when a fly starts crawling across your HUD.
There are some shortcomings. The hacking combat and simplistic shooting wears a little thin. I also hate that they added a mechanic where your character runs out of breath after jogging for a while. The fatter characters run out nearly immediately and it really taxes the patience.
Fantastic voice-acting, sound design, and writing. It's not afraid to take bold twists and seep crawling, ancient, arcane fear into your psyche. It's not perfect, but I do love it.
incredibly underrated game. I’m so glad I found this hidden gem, it’s such a fun time being able to choose from a huge roster of marvel characters to join your party but also being able to insert your own customised character into the fold!??
turn based games were not really for me but if you’re a fan of marvel there’s no way you won’t enjoy this
turn based games were not really for me but if you’re a fan of marvel there’s no way you won’t enjoy this
Armed and Dangerous
2003
This game makes so little sense that it's actually inspiring. I wish games had this little coherence and character these days. Truely a gem
Persona 3 Reload
2024
Ever been interested in the Persona series? Start with this one!
As a big fan of Persona 3, Reload was the game I was looking forward to the most in 2024 alongside Infinite Wealth, so I did the same as with IW and held off on watching trailers past the announcement one entirely to experience the changes for myself. When the release date came closer, I began to see more and more doomposting for Reload and even considered holding off on buying it because of how negatively this game was treated by others. I'm glad that didn't get to me in the end and I could form my own opinion of the remake of one of my favorite games.
First off, the presentation in Reload is amazing right off the bat, ranging from the upgraded artstyle to the dynamic menus and improved character models, it's just so very pleasant to look at. This also includes animations - the Ultimate moves of the characters look super cool. As someone who only ever really played Portable before, the upgrade in presentation was a huge point for me. Sure, the updated environmental design of the overworld is great, but the cherry on top are the revamped Tartarus blocks. The floors are no longer mere reskins with the same layout, now every block has a detailed new look and a different pattern. Tartarus changes don't stop here though, like the previous top-down camera has been turned into a proper third-person one, which I believe adds to the immersion a lot, despite being so seemingly insignificant at first. Furthermore, exploration is incentivized with mini-bosses being accessible in ordinary floors now alongside the addition of lucrative floor-specific events like locked or special chests. Can't forget the revamped Golden Hands in Reload either, as they provide a large amount of XP now (like in Persona 4) instead of dropping items. A great change for everyone who hated grinding and the new Great Clock random event can boost two of your teammates' levels on a whim, so no one has to fall behind! I believe the new Tartarus has something in store for everyone, so even if you were turned off by the gameplay in the original, giving it a second look might be worth it...
Voice acting in Reload is top notch. I don't share the somewhat popular sentiment of Yukari and Aigis sounding worse than their original counterparts at all, they're probably even my favorite new castings. That being said, personally I wouldn't say there's a single bad casting within the new voice actors, I enjoyed all of their performances. Emotional scenes got me tearing up several times, I got shivers during others. Not to disregard some of the original actors, but Reload really elevated some characters for me, just with their new performances (Yuko, Chidori and Fuuka are great examples). Also love how every social link is completely voiced now, it's a huge boost in immersion. As for social links in general, I'm glad the new Link Episodes exist, they're basically mini social links for the male party members and give you some insight into their life. A great way to add some interaction with them to the game without replacing the already existing social links! The SEES hangouts during nighttime also fulfill a similar role in giving your teammates more screentime without taking up meaningful time (considering the abundance of free time at night in P3), this also includes new events like several study sessions with the team. Those activities aren't just for fun though, you gain new passive abilities for the other members or gain extra knowledge points while studying with the others, the integration is seamless.
The new soundtrack is... good! Not much to say here, I like the remixes of the original songs and the new songs are bangers. Color Your Night is one of the very best vocal tracks in the series and It's Going Down Now still stays hype after listening to it over and over. Shoutout to the new remix of Changing Seasons.
There's a whole lot more to unpack about this game, but for the time being I have said everything that was on my mind. My thoughts are still pretty hazy, despite completing Reload hours ago, but I hope you could get something useful out of my review either way. As always, thanks for reading!
As a big fan of Persona 3, Reload was the game I was looking forward to the most in 2024 alongside Infinite Wealth, so I did the same as with IW and held off on watching trailers past the announcement one entirely to experience the changes for myself. When the release date came closer, I began to see more and more doomposting for Reload and even considered holding off on buying it because of how negatively this game was treated by others. I'm glad that didn't get to me in the end and I could form my own opinion of the remake of one of my favorite games.
First off, the presentation in Reload is amazing right off the bat, ranging from the upgraded artstyle to the dynamic menus and improved character models, it's just so very pleasant to look at. This also includes animations - the Ultimate moves of the characters look super cool. As someone who only ever really played Portable before, the upgrade in presentation was a huge point for me. Sure, the updated environmental design of the overworld is great, but the cherry on top are the revamped Tartarus blocks. The floors are no longer mere reskins with the same layout, now every block has a detailed new look and a different pattern. Tartarus changes don't stop here though, like the previous top-down camera has been turned into a proper third-person one, which I believe adds to the immersion a lot, despite being so seemingly insignificant at first. Furthermore, exploration is incentivized with mini-bosses being accessible in ordinary floors now alongside the addition of lucrative floor-specific events like locked or special chests. Can't forget the revamped Golden Hands in Reload either, as they provide a large amount of XP now (like in Persona 4) instead of dropping items. A great change for everyone who hated grinding and the new Great Clock random event can boost two of your teammates' levels on a whim, so no one has to fall behind! I believe the new Tartarus has something in store for everyone, so even if you were turned off by the gameplay in the original, giving it a second look might be worth it...
Voice acting in Reload is top notch. I don't share the somewhat popular sentiment of Yukari and Aigis sounding worse than their original counterparts at all, they're probably even my favorite new castings. That being said, personally I wouldn't say there's a single bad casting within the new voice actors, I enjoyed all of their performances. Emotional scenes got me tearing up several times, I got shivers during others. Not to disregard some of the original actors, but Reload really elevated some characters for me, just with their new performances (Yuko, Chidori and Fuuka are great examples). Also love how every social link is completely voiced now, it's a huge boost in immersion. As for social links in general, I'm glad the new Link Episodes exist, they're basically mini social links for the male party members and give you some insight into their life. A great way to add some interaction with them to the game without replacing the already existing social links! The SEES hangouts during nighttime also fulfill a similar role in giving your teammates more screentime without taking up meaningful time (considering the abundance of free time at night in P3), this also includes new events like several study sessions with the team. Those activities aren't just for fun though, you gain new passive abilities for the other members or gain extra knowledge points while studying with the others, the integration is seamless.
The new soundtrack is... good! Not much to say here, I like the remixes of the original songs and the new songs are bangers. Color Your Night is one of the very best vocal tracks in the series and It's Going Down Now still stays hype after listening to it over and over. Shoutout to the new remix of Changing Seasons.
There's a whole lot more to unpack about this game, but for the time being I have said everything that was on my mind. My thoughts are still pretty hazy, despite completing Reload hours ago, but I hope you could get something useful out of my review either way. As always, thanks for reading!
The Longest Journey
1999
One of the most beautiful and well-written games I've played in my life. Genuine tears were streaming down my face when I finished the epilogue. I haven't played many point-and-click adventure games: only the ones by Humongous Entertainment and Sam & Max, so randomly picking up this game that was super cheap during the steam sale and having it be one of the best pieces of media I've experienced in my life was an insanely pleasant surprise.
The Longest Journey, without going into too many spoilers, is a story about April Ryan, and her connection between the two worlds: Stark (the world of science and law) and Arcadia (the world of magic and chaos). Throughout the story, through April, you travel and experience the struggles of abuse, political censorship, and if war can ever truly be "just". You meet strange people, animals, and mystical creatures that help you along your journey to help reconnect the seperated worlds. Every character is so well thought-out and truly personal, it feels like you're properly meeting someone who has gone through so much in life, their skin moist with the sweat of real fears and missed dreams. Something personal to me that I really enjoyed was the crazy amount of strongly written female characters, ranging from our relatable but brave girl protag, to the realistic and openly accepted lesbian couple, to the old women whose tales we must trust more than our own self. I appreciate that the serious times of the game are allowed their moments, while also having many silly moments that know when to be separate. I went in expecting to hate Crow, as an example, but you don't see him too often for him to become annoying, and when you do see him, it feels like a breath of fresh air to hear his dumb, silly banter. The story is set up perfectly, and clearly had a lot of time and love put into it, with it being absolutely perfectly paced, and one of the better examples of using the Chekhov's Gun trope that I can think of.
My compliants are small, and just involve stuff that old point-and-clicks almost always do, such as having a couple confusing puzzles or actions to continue the story, but for a point-and-click as long and complicated as The Longest Journey I was pretty shocked how few "dead-ends" I ran into. The game also crashed a bit, but I guess it's to be expected when running an older PC game on a modern computer, and I mostly only really had issues with crashes when it didn't mix well with OBS.
The Longest Journey is $3 during the Steam sale - I've already bought and gifted it to 5 of my friends, begging them to put time aside and play this game. It's not going to be a game that touches everyone as emotionally as it touched me, but if you have $3 lying around and 25+ hours to spend, please please give it a chance...
This is the story of the Longest Journey, and I told it in my own words, as told to me by my teacher. As we will continue to tell for many, many years.
5/5
The Longest Journey, without going into too many spoilers, is a story about April Ryan, and her connection between the two worlds: Stark (the world of science and law) and Arcadia (the world of magic and chaos). Throughout the story, through April, you travel and experience the struggles of abuse, political censorship, and if war can ever truly be "just". You meet strange people, animals, and mystical creatures that help you along your journey to help reconnect the seperated worlds. Every character is so well thought-out and truly personal, it feels like you're properly meeting someone who has gone through so much in life, their skin moist with the sweat of real fears and missed dreams. Something personal to me that I really enjoyed was the crazy amount of strongly written female characters, ranging from our relatable but brave girl protag, to the realistic and openly accepted lesbian couple, to the old women whose tales we must trust more than our own self. I appreciate that the serious times of the game are allowed their moments, while also having many silly moments that know when to be separate. I went in expecting to hate Crow, as an example, but you don't see him too often for him to become annoying, and when you do see him, it feels like a breath of fresh air to hear his dumb, silly banter. The story is set up perfectly, and clearly had a lot of time and love put into it, with it being absolutely perfectly paced, and one of the better examples of using the Chekhov's Gun trope that I can think of.
My compliants are small, and just involve stuff that old point-and-clicks almost always do, such as having a couple confusing puzzles or actions to continue the story, but for a point-and-click as long and complicated as The Longest Journey I was pretty shocked how few "dead-ends" I ran into. The game also crashed a bit, but I guess it's to be expected when running an older PC game on a modern computer, and I mostly only really had issues with crashes when it didn't mix well with OBS.
The Longest Journey is $3 during the Steam sale - I've already bought and gifted it to 5 of my friends, begging them to put time aside and play this game. It's not going to be a game that touches everyone as emotionally as it touched me, but if you have $3 lying around and 25+ hours to spend, please please give it a chance...
This is the story of the Longest Journey, and I told it in my own words, as told to me by my teacher. As we will continue to tell for many, many years.
5/5
Sometimes I think back on Mystical Ninja and try to remember if it was as weird as I remember it being, or if that's just my hazy childhood memory of it. And then I watch a video and realized that yeah it's pretty weird, but also rad. I remember being so into this game that I made physical versions of all the weapons using cardboard, markers, and a ton of tape.
Super Mario Odyssey
2017
This review contains spoilers
Y'all can hate Princess Peach for that ending all you want but I say she's a queen for it, I too would be tired of Mario and Bowser's shit at this point tbh
Castlevania
1986
Great and creative platformer for the NES. I have no idea how I would have beaten the game without the holy water (or the "fire bomb" as the manual calls it lmfao) being super fucking broken, but I'm happy to say I beat it nonetheless! I love the variety in additional weapons you can use, and feel as though the whip has to be one of the best things I've gotten to arm myself with in a NES game yet. I would take Simon Belmont's whip over a gun any day!
I just came off of playing a bunch of NES Mario games with Castlevania, so the platforming parts were a bit annoying in comparison, but it's still a good platformer don't get me wrong! I'm just too used to how fluidly Mario can move and even change direction while in air. Come on, Simon! The stairs are overblown in being hated in this game, and I actually found them to be a last minute life-saver from the REAL enemy in the game... how Simon always gets knocked back when hit... UNLESS you're on the stairs, which just gets you some health depleted vs falling off the edge.
I actually don't know if I'm supposed to be playing as Simon Belmont in this game... I just assumed lol. His name isn't dropped in the manual anywhere, and the Nintendo Player guide book I looked at for tips just calls him the "Hero". It's probably brought up later, or I just missed a detail, oh well lol. He is my random muscle man, and I shall call him Simon.
Overall, Castlevania is a fun time, with a satisfying challenge. I probably cheesed it with depending on the holy water too much, but it was still a fairly difficult game! Bless whoever decided to allow players to continue right outside Dracula's final boss area after dying; I probably would have rage quit broke the cartridge if not for that.
3.5/5
I just came off of playing a bunch of NES Mario games with Castlevania, so the platforming parts were a bit annoying in comparison, but it's still a good platformer don't get me wrong! I'm just too used to how fluidly Mario can move and even change direction while in air. Come on, Simon! The stairs are overblown in being hated in this game, and I actually found them to be a last minute life-saver from the REAL enemy in the game... how Simon always gets knocked back when hit... UNLESS you're on the stairs, which just gets you some health depleted vs falling off the edge.
I actually don't know if I'm supposed to be playing as Simon Belmont in this game... I just assumed lol. His name isn't dropped in the manual anywhere, and the Nintendo Player guide book I looked at for tips just calls him the "Hero". It's probably brought up later, or I just missed a detail, oh well lol. He is my random muscle man, and I shall call him Simon.
Overall, Castlevania is a fun time, with a satisfying challenge. I probably cheesed it with depending on the holy water too much, but it was still a fairly difficult game! Bless whoever decided to allow players to continue right outside Dracula's final boss area after dying; I probably would have rage quit broke the cartridge if not for that.
3.5/5
Life is Strange
2015
This review contains spoilers
This game's major choice is between saving a town which hundreds of people inhabit - some annoying, some evil, some alright, but most completely unremarkable in any way - and saving the absolute worst person you know, but the game insists you're in love with.
Life is Strange has some good ideas, and I actually like the tone a lot. But the core of the narrative being Chloe, who SUCKS, is an impossible roadblock to what otherwise could've been a not particularly impressive, but amusing experience. Kate deserved better.
Life is Strange has some good ideas, and I actually like the tone a lot. But the core of the narrative being Chloe, who SUCKS, is an impossible roadblock to what otherwise could've been a not particularly impressive, but amusing experience. Kate deserved better.
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