Ya like Jazz?

Persona is a series that is currently in its 25th Year, and like most people who call themselves fans, I surely was not present for most of that. My first inkling of the series came from a buddy who was really into Persona 4, and especially its one dimensional, boring, and surface level character Chie. It was through his constant mentioning of the game and playing the OST to Persona 4 and 5 every damn time we got in the car that I finally became a little invested in Persona. I didn’t play 5 for years because, I was a college student who couldn’t afford buying multiple consoles so I settled on getting a switch and in the end I’m glad I made that decision because of later games I will review/have rated. When I began working I bought a PS4 solely for the purpose of playing FF7R as I am a bigtime Final Fantasy fan, but then I remembered the added benefit of owning a PlayStation meant I could finally play the game that had graced my ears in name for years on end. I finally purchased Persona 5 Royal and was absolutely blown away by literally everything the game had to offer.

Initially I thought Persona was just famous for its Shoji Meguro composed OST’s (Which are absolutely fantastic and P5R is easily in my top 5 OST’s) but there is so so so much more in the game than that. Style, one word for Persona 5 is style. Persona 4 (which I’ve since played) has an aesthetic and is a phenomenal game in its own right, but it is definitely a product of the PS2 era and lacks the flashiness it could use. Persona 5 however? That game is the epitome of suave, the menus, characters, dungeons all have a degree of swagger that put every JRPG and really every game to shame. The use of the colour red as an accent to just about every design choice was impeccable. The concept of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts plays into this world with ease, acting as Robin Hood type swooping into the hearts of society’s most corrupt individuals and changing them to become better people is so damn cool.

Every dungeon feels like the artists and designers LOVED making the game. Kamoshida’s castle begins the game on a high note, but the place that really blew my mind away was the palace that Yosuke finds himself the subject of. I will avoid spoilers here but I just wanted to mention how much I loved spending time in the dungeons of Persona 5 and wish any other game could hold a candle to the way Atlus and the Persona team handled them.

Characters are hit or miss in Persona 5 with the main cast being fairly in depth, especially so for being teenagers, but a little one dimensional at times. Makoto for example is basically just the anime “student class president” archetype which really grinds my gears after watching one too many Slice of life’s. Though I felt characters like Haru, Yosuke, Futaba, and Sae all grew substantially through the 120+ hours of game time, enough for them to feel like friends I would have had back then.
Persona 5 Royal is a masterclass in presentation with an exciting story, fantastic dungeons, and a memorable cast that has cemented it as one of the greatest games ever made.

How do you put the last six years of your life into a fifty+ hour experience and have it succeed? Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker did just that.

Endwalker is an emotionally unrelenting journey throughout the history of Eorzea and the conflict that has existed since time began. We explore what it means to survive, long, and hope. We understand the plight of those who came before us, and look to those around us in our times of need. Naoki Yoshida, Masayoshi Soken, and the hundreds of others that have worked on this story thus far created an absolutely phenomenal ending to an unforgettable saga.

Beautiful zones, great music, and a story that rivals if not succeeds most non MMO's all exist within FFXIV: Endwalker. Fans of the game and newcomers alike will feel exceedingly vindicated playing through the game and completing the jawdropping expansion.

I've owned Final Fantasy XIV for six years. I've joined an FC and met many new friends who I will continue to know and cherish for years to come. It's with this that completing FFXIV: Endwalker doesn't feel like beating a video game, yet closing one of the greatest chapters of my life.

EDIT: There is a notice of; "This review was written before the game released" on the top of of what I have written. This review was written post release of Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker's early access period, which probably was also before the game's retail release date.

The Witcher 3 is, now that I've played it, officially a part of the Holy Trinity of Western RPG's with Red Dead Redemption 2 and Mass Effect 3 due to its tremendous character writing, unparalleled world building and lore, and overall style. Seriously, there is not one thing about this game that after completion, I felt it needed.

Characters in the Witcher, be it in the games, show, or books, are the definitive strongsuit and most important aspect as set in place by Andrzej Sapkowski way back in the 90's when first creating the story of Geralt that would eventually sweep the world by storm. Everybody in the series matters, nobody is intrinsically good, nobody is faultless. Geralt of Rivia, who is probably the greatest protagonist in video game history is a man of imperfection, a mutated shell of a human whose history is marred with bloodshed and tragedy. Geralt never looks back though, he is a pragmatist with a heart. I've never encountered a character in a series who is as multi-faceted and believable as Geralt. He bows to nobody and adheres to his own code, owes no alleigances to men of state or people of power, loves those who he wants to love, and is confident in his staggering ability in combat. One beautiful aspect of the series is how often you split between fighting and conversation, as the history of the continent and people within are decided by Geralt's words, which he carefully must pick and cater to those he speaks with. He is a sly and cunning man, and always cognizant of the intentions of those around him, he is no fool. He knows his love for Ciri, Yennefer, and Vesimir can lead him astray, but his abilties make up for it.

The protagonist Geralt takes center stage as the player character and decision maker within the story, but every single character within the world crafts what is the greatest low-fantasy adventure and most well fleshed out world in video game history. Secondary characters like Yennefer, Triss, Vesimir, Ciri, Dandelion, Zoltan, Keira, Djikstra, Ehmyr, and many more add an invaluable amount to not only the story, but the passion behind the player's actions. Each character has their own unique motives, their own special relationship to Geralt and the others around, their own piece that fits together for the final puzzle. You spend hours seperately with each of these characters, disputing romance, debating politics, bargaining, and laughing in good faith. The depth that The Witcher 3 goes in to with your supporting cast, without ever overstaying its welcome is only paralleled with one game, Red Dead Redemption 2. I only want to spend MORE hours with the Witchers of Kaer Morhan, with the two beautiful Sorceresses in Triss and Yennefer learning about their world and complicated relationships with Geralt, with the beautiful and evasive Cirilla, and countless others. Few games are like the Witcher 3 and have you smiling when you reunite with characters from previous games or books, when I met with Roche for the first time I jumped with joy, same as with the lovable duo of Dandelion and Zoltan. I can not drive the point home enough, these side characters are some of the most fleshed out peers and comrades of any video game ever. Even the more minor characters, involved in singular quest chains like the Bloody Baron, Cerys, or [REDACTED DUE TO SPOILERS] leave a mark that you shant forget, as their memories and experiences add an extreme amount to the overall journey.

Now, this is clearly evident to anybody who has seen the show or read any of the books, but aside from the characters, the thing that lays the groundwork for the Witcher's success as a game franchise is the beautiful worldbuilding by Andrzej Sapkowski. EVERYTHING from the Eastern-European influenced folklore to the medieval European architecture and setting is meticulously laid out with extreme thought and care. The cities withing the Witcher 3 feel like real Medieval cities reflecting of their culture. The royal castle of Vizima feels like that befitting of a grand emperor, the free city of Novigrad is one of the most impressive and fleshed out cities in any video game in the history of the medium, and the multiple communities within Skellige are a thing of Scandinavian beauty. The towns and world were so beautiful to traverse, many a moment was spent stopping and staring at the colorful countrysides. Disclaimer, I did play this game with a 4K texture pack enabled to make the pretty things more pretty. But man, I could speak for days about how REAL this felt as a fantasy setting. There is a perfect balance of power within the universe of the Witcher, and that is evident in its third entry. Sorceresses are extremely powerful, yet their volatility is too high for excessive power usage. The Wild Hunt are an impressively scary force, however they are kept in check by certain abilities that will be explained. Geralt and the Witchers themself are the strongest of human warriors, however they are the last of a dying breed. The power in the Witcher series is kept in check by wit and chess-like geopolitics, as it would be in an actual medieval setting. Not by a superhero or undefeatable protagonist. The Witcher is a carefuilly crafted universe of lore that has been in motion for nearly thirty years, culminating with the effort that it took to get to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Each narrative empowering, passionate, and given an incredible amount of thought.

The music of the Witcher 3 is something of note as well, and those who have played this game can easily find a common ground in this aspect, whether they liked the other aspects or not. These songs are long and drawn out, borrowing aspects from Medieval instruments and fantasy choruses and sounds. Each song, whether its for a specific zone or character, couples with the mood and settings perfectly without any shadow of a doubt. I paused when I was riding the trusty steed Roach through the winding hills of Skelige as the beautiful soundtrack played and looked at the open ocean. I was in awe, completely lost in the world. I felt like Geralt, wind howling and hitting my face on a horse looking over a familiar crag. It's moments that games like this and RDR2 nail that have the player completely divulged into the immersive nature that they put forth.

The only knocks I can give the Witcher 3 is the combat being far less than stellar in difficult and rigidity, and the ham-fisted relationship with Yennefer that is more of a qualm I have with the series as a whole. The former is excusable with the addition of the points I made above, however the latter irked me to a fairly large degree. I don't like Yennefer, full stop, which is interesting because she is clearly Geralt's canon love interest if you know anything about the series or have played even a few minutes of this game. The topic of whether I like her or not is strictly an opinion of subjective nature and each player is left to their own vices in that regard, however my qualm for this post is moreso how the game deals with that if you pick Triss as your romantic option. The game does a mostly great job in dealing with this, even hiding nuggets of voice lines in conversation about the awkwardness of having Yennefer around when you're romantically involved with the sorceress you spent time with in the last few games. It does get a little awkward sometimes when there are plot elements that pair you with Yennefer and imply that she is your betrothed, but as this review is a five star review, that is clearly not enough to detract any major points away from the game.

I had not played the Witcher 3 until now because I was not a fan of the low-fantasy medieval setting. Once I played the Witcher 2, I became invested and watched the show, read some books, and became completely enthralled in the world of Geralt. With the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt you have a tremendously crafted narrative, flawlessly written memorable and diverse characters, a lively fleshed out world with a cavernous lore and history, and a magnificent soundtrack that thrusts immersion into the the player.

I strongly recommend The Witcher 3 to those who are looking for a narrative video game journey that they will not forget.

Honestly, it should come as no surprise to me now after completing the Witcher 3 main game, but I am geniunely shocked at how great of an experience that Blood and Wine was. CD Projekt Red managed to create a whole new setting, cast of characters, and group of villains for Geralt to encounter (ideally) after the events of the Wild Hunt that was so good it can rival and outmatch the feelings I've had from playing full game relases.

The land of Toussaint is downright beautiful, taking place in a fictitious rendition of a Southern France or Northern Italy, in which beautiful flowering fields populate the countryside. Much like I did in Skellige in the Wild Hunt, many a times did I find myself stopping while running or galloping on Roach to give a gander to the environment around me. Again playing with a 4K pack and with most graphical fidelity settings on, I felt like I was experiencing something real with how picturesque the setting was. The city of Beauclair was akin to Novigrad in its teeming with life, however a much more classy architectural feel and populous resided within.

Characters, the series' greatest strength, were again a strongsuit in this expansion. Anna Henrietta was as daring and cunning as she is beautiful, Regis (a book callback) was an elegant and charismatic partner for Geralt, and Damien was a more-than-meets-the-eye second in command. There were plenty of other characters who made the experience memorable, however I would spend another lengthy review speaking on how great they were.

Blood and Wine is easily one of the best expansions/DLC's to have ever existed, full stop. This is a MUST buy for fans of the Witcher 3.

"I love being an Assassin!" I say, pelting the island of my target with cannon fire.


I'm not a huge fan of AC, let's just get that out of the way. But I do love pirates, so I was sold on this premise immediately. Fortunately, this game gives possibly the best pirate experience in gaming. The main thing holding it back is the series it comes from.

This is still very much an ubisoft open world and is annoyingly dotted with an excess of collectables and activities. Pursuing everything will surely burn a player out and cause resentment. I absolutely recommend only seriously pursuing templar keys, as they at least have missions and stories that are worth experiencing. I make it a point every playthrough to turn my back on the tutorial islands collectibles and sail away. If completionism is important to you, be cautious with this one.

Contrary to what you may hear, this game is also very much an AC game. That's honestly fine, the stealth in this game isn't very deep but it does have enough gadgets to stay interesting. What isn't fine is the shear amount of tailing missions in this game! They are everywhere! I let out an audible "Jesus fucking Christ" upon being told I had to stealthily tail a FUCKING GALLEON on my boat. I was absolutely flabbergasted. And then there are the modern day sections, which just strangle the pacing.

With that said, if you can look past these aspects, you will find a wonderful pirate adventure underneath. Watching your vessel bounce with the (visually great) waves as your crew sings sea shanties is absolutely whimsical and avoids the usual fatigue open-world travel typically bring. You move fast enough that making a bee-line towards your destination doesn't take much time at all. It's even faster to get distracted and start naval battles (or ending ones that have already started without you).

Thankfully, ship combat is very satisfying and has plenty of options to remain fresh throughout this games runtime. Ramming, mortars, a few flavors of cannon fire, and the reliable swivel cannon are all useful and fun tools. Enemy ships and forts also have and utilize these tools, and they are pretty aggressive with them. There's enough depth and challenge to ship combat to keep it from ever getting boring.

(I don't know where to put this, but the fact that you can bring your ship on assassination missions is fucking hilarious and I love that I can just mortar an entire island instead of being stealthy.)

Sword fighting is sadly a tad under baked. It can look and play really stylish, but that requires a lot more work from the player than the optimal strategy of killing anyone from a counter. Most enemies can die from two button presses, ruining any reason to experiment and find all the cool kill animations. Targeting enemies can also be rather buggy and make sword fighting a clumsy mess. Messy combat is very pirate, but also very annoying.

Lastly, the story is pleasant enough, with our protagonist meeting charming approximations of histories best sea dogs while on his desperate journey of chasing a treasure most don't believe in. Characters are well acted and fun to watch, but the overall journey is a tad long and awkwardly paced. Ending still hit me pretty hard though.

It is sad that we may never see a pirate game like this again, especially given how horrific Skull and Bones development has been. Even despite its foundations as an AC game holding it back, this is an absolutely lovely pirate adventure worth experiencing.

THIS is how you fuck up a comeback. Packed to the brim with pointless micro-transactions and really fucking stupid humour accompanied by a long ass and boring plot. The RPG elements are milked to the max, making this game such a chore to get through, largely contributing to it's length. That's not to say there's nothing I don't like about this game. I think if you play it on it's own, separate from Assassin's Creed, it's a pretty decent game. Best thing here is exploring cities like Athens and Sparta, just exploring Greece in general; it's really fascinating.

A masterpiece. I honestly don't care about the sometimes tedious hacking sections of 9S' playthrough. I don't care that the writing becomes a little cryptic, confusing, and hard to parse near the end. And I (mostly) don't care about the fact that Adam and Eve are pretty ineffectual and unengaging villains that only serve as a vaguely-interesting counterpart to 2B and 9S. I don't care. Every now and then a game comes along that's just 'perfect for me', and this is one of those games.

But in Nier: Automata's defense, it's really fucking close to being perfect. The movement is sleek, slick, and streamlined as hell, the actual combat loop is simple but engaging and punchy, and the way it combines hack-n-slash action gameplay with RPG and shmup mechanics is practically flawless. You can actively choose to remove parts of your HUD to make room for more upgrades, an inspired and intriguing choice that makes the game feel meta. The soundtrack is grandiose, heavenly, and elegant, the wonderfully sad and empty game world paints a compelling picture of apocalyptic pathos, and the philosophical story and its small cast of impeccably fleshed-out main characters wrenches some gut-punch emotions out of the player that most anime-esque games simply are unable to (I mean, shit, even the Pods, the fucking Pods that follow the androids around, get some legitimate character development). 2B's final mission is perhaps the greatest gaming moment of the 2010's, second only to something like the Sans boss battle from Undertale. It is a lengthy and stunning display of violence, death, chaos, and - at the very end - slow, painful, and glitchy, yet quiet and peaceful, goodbyes. It hits every possible mechanical, narrative, and emotional note it needs to, and right when you think the game's peaked mechanically, it truly peaks at the end with the absolutely thrilling and gripping Tower mission shared between 9S and A2. The dual-perspective elevator sequence is so legitimately heart-pounding and exciting that you actually forget it's taking place in a fucking elevator.

This game is so crazy fucking good that it can believably balance scenes of characters crying about how beautiful the world is with a mechanic where you can blow up 2B and get to see her shapely ass on full display. You can get an achievement for looking at her ass upwards of ten times with the in-game camera, and yet none of it detracts from how moving, serene, and strangely mature this game can really be. Who cares how pretentious it is to call Nier: Automata, a game about a hot BDSM french-maid hitting things with a floating sword, a work of art? Objectivity is a fucking fantasy, and Nier: Automata is really, really good. 5 / 5.

Great game! You will need some logical thinking and analysis, and be happy to finally stop listening the music after a right OBJECTION!

Even if you're not a visual novel fan, you should try it.

Of course, lacks on replay factor. But it's nothing a few years of forgetting will not resolve.

my favorite game ever of all time in the whole entire world!!!! from it's art to it's music to it's story & characters p3p is a never ending source of inspiration to me, seriously, i can't imagine my life w/o it. p3p truly does mean the world to me

the game's message of "yes, one day u will die, but the time u have in this world is precious. the world may be cruel & unforgiving at times & make it seem like death is the only way out but, as long as u have a reason to keep on living, u can fight for a better tomorrow" is heart touching. maybe it's a little silly to say but it gives me the courage to keep on fighting too

i'll stop myself here b4 this becomes an essay but rlly, if ur interested pls check it out! it has it's flaws ofc, no game is perfect after all, but p3p rlly is such a shining star of a game, i think everyone should play it at least once :]

Final Fantasy 3: O Retorno de Final Fantasy 1.
Talvez devido à recepção de Final Fantasy 2, este jogo pegou a premissa do primeiro título da franquia e a renovou com um mundo mais interessante e um conjunto imenso de classes chamadas de Jobs para expandir as opções dos jogadores e é divertido, porém, é inegável que ocorre uma manipulação da party do jogador por meio da distribuição de equipamentos durante o desenvolvimento do enredo e isso é algo um tanto quanto desestimulante. Ademais, as novas pixel arts, animações e trilhas sonoras estão excelentes.

The great beginning of the legendary trilogy! To this day, the game is the best space opera in this genre. Everything looks very interesting and exciting, from the character creation screen and its story to the ending, which depends on your decisions throughout the game. The game gives a sense of the event's scale and importance. The depicted universe is well developed and detailed. It is interesting to reveal its secrets and the depth of history. Each character you interact with has an interesting background and can develop in their own way depending on your decisions. All these details add depth and intrigue to the plot.
The gameplay is varied and dynamic, combining different weapons and abilities. The exploration of distant planets is usually not very exciting. Mostly, it all comes down to finding resources and hidden bases in almost empty monotonous locations. A large amount of resources can create problems because after the missions to sort out endlessly deep baggage.
The graphics are suitable for their time. The musical accompaniment is wonderful and atmospheric.
The game can be played multiple times.

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Música que esquenta a alma e personagens que roubam corações( inclusive o de quem está jogando).

Esse jogo resolve praticamente todos os problemas de um JRPG - Grinding eterno, falta de dinamicidade no combate e uma lerdeza sufocante que já me fez desistir de vários jogos -, com o uso de mecânicas criativas e revitalizantes para o gênero, além de apresentar tudo isso com uma direção artística impecável.

Contrabalanceando a ação, o jogo funciona como uma visual novel na qual você aprofunda seus laços com seus companheiros de equipe, e outras pessoas que te ajudam na jornada( até romance!)

Um jogo indispensável para qualquer pessoa que gosta de Música , JRPGs (ou quer conhecer o gênero), Visual Novels ou simplesmente se você procura um jogo que vai ficar guardado na memória.