Spore was such an innovative and ambitious game when it came out and still remains a unique and worthwhile experience. That being said, there are so many glaring problems that leave me wishing there was a sequel or successor to come out to correct them.

First of all, the whole game is simplified to be as user friendly as possible while sacrificing so much potential of what this game could have been.

The cell and creature creators make what looks more like cartoonish blobs than believable organisms, the tribal and civ stages feel like teaser mini-games, and the space stage gameplay essentially boils down to fetch-quest missions and collecting spice.

By today's standards, just about every feature (planet terraforming, vehicle creation, city building, etc.) is a small gimmick rather than a meaningful or impactful game mechanic. Collectively, this is what Spore feels like; lots of trinkets to toy around with until, inevitably, you get bored and stop playing.

Still, 16 years later, no game has taken the reigns to fill the niche that Spore has made and correct the mistakes.

Confidant who is hyperfocused on burning ants: Alright Joker... it's a deal then... I'll be your ant burning friend from here on out
*flashback animation*
My sexy hag prosecutor: You must have had some kind of insect combustion expert on your team.. who was it!! TALK!!!!
Me, popping a stiffy so hard I'm about to pass out: i think i hauve mental shutdown syndrome

Great game, ultimately still strictly worse than the other 2 modern Personas if you care about anything else than presentation. Concept is great - who doesn't love silly Lupin heists? The story immediately drills into the core of Planet slop at the start of the Medjed arc and doesn't recover for more than brief moments of JRPG cheese (I like the gooey cheese though). All the Social Links (that's what they're called man) are pretty good, but none are really great unless it's like the two that I missed. The soundtrack? It's great. The UI? Okay this might get assassins sent after me but to me it's very busy for a UI and I think it's a bit overrated in terms of being the be all end all of design for that reason. It is beautiful though.

I really like the additions to the combat system, despite it all feeling a bit overtuned - I died like three times in my entire playthrough and 2 of them were due to not having high enough damage and 1 of them was me nuking myself on a reflect. The baton passing, extra elements and Social Link buffs really help One More stand out as Not Just Press Turn But Worse (it still is worse, but you know, it helps, and it's fun).

Honestly after P3 the whole time management system and Social Links kinda feels tacked on to the other Persona games. Like it was meant for that game in particular and makes total sense with the theme whereas here they are just... systems that surround a JRPG. If that makes any sense. If I'm crazy you can shoot me in the head.

I stopped at the third semester. "Why"? I shouldn't have to justify that. Why didn't you? You should explain yourself. The story is over. If you continued to play for 30 hours you don't care about story do you? You don't give a shit about storytelling at all. You just care about characters and seeing them interact in little set pieces. You're a poser. You just want to play with dolls in your head because the cast functions as premade OCs for your fanfiction when you can't write your own. You're having the Phantom Thieves step in for real relationships in your life. You're pathetic. Sorry.. sorry about that. I don't know what came over me. Forgive me.

Nitpicky Rant Minor Spoiler Asshole Lightning Round:
- I think JRPG creators have realized 60% of people only play the first act and that's why a lot of modern JRPGs are frontloaded nosedive halfway in. Much research to be done here.
- Morgana has decided 30% of my nights simply can't be used for anything
- Please do not give me insanely overpowered DLC items for no reason you crazy bastards
- Why are we still pretending Persona protagonists can be self insert? Please just name him next time. He's stuck in this weird limbo where he's an unvoiced blank slate but also randomly will have lines. Give it up Atlus.
- Could not fuck Akechi Goro
- Morgana cat form? Cute. Cuddly. What a little guy. Love him. Morgana Metaverse form? I'm going to kick him over a building.
- Ban all localization from saying "kek"
- Having the optional dungeon turn mandatory in the final act is insane, it didn't affect me but for those it did I am so sorry
- The in media res flashback structure contributes absolutely nothing other than to do a "Ohhh I actually forgot crucial details" plot twist, it's basically just there to be there
- "The Councillor" Tarot? Really? Come on.
- The final dungeons(s) are basically completely disconnected from the theming of the rest of the game which makes them seem really out of nowhere and lame
- Like 3-4 instances of Japanese being spoken but no subs anywhere. "Just play in English" Haha, no, obviously. Don't be fucking stupid
- Demon negotiation is actually just SMT But Lame
- We have yet to find a good way to hide elemental weaknesses and then show them later and this is no exception

Tails is gone. Tails is back. He's gone. he's dead.
Tails only contribution to this game is to be a burden. He contributes nothing. He breathes my bubbles. He crumbles my platforms. He does nothing to deserve being at my side. He's the worst partner I could have ever asked for.

I couldn't imagine playing without him.

This game is less hell than Sonic 1. The final boss however is Moloch.

I have beaten this game 4 times in my life.
Every time I play this game, I feel dread.

I say to myself "Chapter 1-1 was good. I like the Africa setting".
I make it to chapter 1-3. "It's all downhill from here" I say to my friend.
Chapter 3-1 appears. "This is the worst chapter in the game" I say.
Chapter 5-3 appears - "This is the worst chapter in the game - I hate this chapter".
I beat the game. "This game sucks" I say to myself.

3 years pass.

"resident evil 5 is good" I proclaim.
"Aside from a few shit chapters, this game is awesome. It's shittier than 4 but it's still fun!"
I relaunch the game to play with my friend.

"this game is so clunky it's fucking awesome".
Chapter 2-1 appears. "The swamp is the last good part of the game".
I spend the next 5 chapters saying that we're at the worst part of the game.
The game ends.
"Wow I hate the entire ending sequence of this game - I never want to play this game again".

5 more years pass.

"Yeah I'll play resident evil 5 with you"

I have Stockholm syndrome. I am dying.

This game is spooky, the contorting face mechanic is fun and original, the story, ARG elements, and meta references are cool. I liked learning about the characters and getting endings was satisfying. I also really enjoyed the soundtrack. It's worth playing.

You replay the game to get different endings, each with a different tarot card's name. The game overstays its welcome with some of said endings being hilariously contrived and I personally would not be bothered to figure out how to get them without a guide. Maybe that's more of a testament to me than the game, but needing to sit through that interrogation scene 3+ times was tiresome.

I like how the game is stylised, but the dithering makes certain scenes with high detail (ie. a burned out house, a theatre) look like boiled shit. Also there's a couple chase scenes that are ass.

I dunno man this shit is rough. I am 6 hours in and there is one attack and bosses die in less than 10 hits. I didn't grind for at all, and yet I seem to one shot everything. The story is extremely primitive and yet totally fails to be charming (compared to say, the early DQs). I was prompted to drop this when I genuinely dozed off mid combat. I may be an extremely biased turn based apologist, but this is infinitely more boring than giving commands.

This is the second time I put off a Mana game for simply being boring and seemingly directionless. Maybe it's just not for me. Or maybe I'm objectively right and everyone who disagrees is wrong. Only time will tell.

Hm....
Personally, I think games should be more obtuse.
I mean this genuinely.

I didn't press F1 until hour 10 and realize that I can use skills on things. This was awesome.
That item on the ground? Personally I don't want it to be distinguishable from the background to any degree.
A timer marking my imminent loss causing anxiety anytime I waste time? This is awesome. Your daughter is kidnapped? Sorry bro - I got shit to do.
Peak obtuseness was me realizing that reading a book and failing a repair passed like 12 hours of time. At this point the radx I took started to wear off (the radiation system is also obtuse and awesome), and my character casually remarks that their hair is falling out and their body is hemorrhaging.

I go back to a certain area after a certain amount of time passes... OOPS! Gorsh, golly!
>I beat the game but I took a little bit too long
A GA A HORSH
You specced 1 intelligence and 1 agility ? ? That's real.

Half the settlements don't know a single thing about each other, aside from traders. This weird separation combines with how desolate the wasteland actually is, is super good.
My favorite example of this is every settlement acting like you're an insane child for believing in Deathclaws. Meanwhile, in a certain settlement, the citizens are like "Deathclaws? points they're over there. We can't go over there any more because of thems. We hired guards to stop them from MAIMING us"

Ok final thought - the Mutant threat? Awesome. Mutants one hit killing me? Awesome. A mutant escorting me to an end game location, only to either have me instant game over or beat me within an inch of my life, lock me up, and take all my items? These things are awesome. Didn't save recently? you're an imbecile.

teleports into Todd Howards home
Can I get more of this?
The gunplay in fallout 4 was awesome ........ BUT STOP!!! KNOCK IT OFF. no more speaking protgagnoinst.. Givem e .. world record for dialogue in gaming! spits at mr Howie NO MORE 4 CHOICES THAT ARE THE SAME?!? HAD TO MOD THAT OUT BRO!!!! Borderlandas looting ???? BLEEDING EFFECT ON MY GUN ; RNG DEATHCLAW ALPHA NUMERICAL DEAATHCLAW MOTHER +6,000XP holding bleeding sledgehammer and raider left arm? NO! Starfield ELDERS SCORL??? QUIT IT NO gets strappedi nto the sl;op feeding machine



NO * * NO

Small town. A few brahmin herds, and a single watering hole. I step into the musty saloon. A local girl slithers up to me, complaining about her quiet farm life. She tells me about a local Vault - Vault 15. She mentions it by name. I press the "ask about" button and ask her about Vault 15. "Never heard of it" she says. I try to ask her about anything else whatsoever. She's never heard of anything. Alright. Keep your secrets honey... I tell the local gay man, Ian, he will get paid if he follows me forever until his eventual inevitable death. He agrees immediately and eagerly, because I am very "good at speaking".

We wander to the Vault that doesn't exist. We wander back, because we forgot to bring 50 ropes. We try again - the dungeon takes 10 minutes and nothing happens. A weapon is hidden in the bathroom smeared by 10 layers of poop, piss, pixels and blood. We find what we came here for (it's nothing), and go back to town. "Noo you gotta save my girl she's gonna get boiled in shit". I find the raider camp - I tell them I will fuck their mom. They let the girl go for some reason.

8 hours later my dog and all 3 of my friends I tricked in the same way as Ian the Twunk die in a single dungeon because they won't wear any clothes thicker than a dress shirt. It's a Mad Max reference or something. The travel time on the overworld gives me time to think. I think about the giant, barren wasteland. I think about how far and dangerous there is between settlements. I think about how no one has grabbed a broom in 100 years. I think about telling murder mutants where my family lives. I don't know what my meds do and I'm not sure how to find out. I found a backpack in this videogame that I simply couldn't figure out how to use - What? I think about why I have 4 CHA instead of 1. I think about the 2 hours I spent getting this game to run on a modern PC and a 4K monitor. I think about so far only having found one character that allows me to sex and cum in the entirety of California. It's lonely out here. Many games would throw sex and cum at me. Fallout? In Fallout it's about the lack thereof.

Eventually my player character completes their quests and drowns in an ocean of jank - jank that would later continue on through an entire genre shift, a new company, several new engines and somehow be recognizable still as the same old jank. After being stuck for half an hour I had to google an alternate solution for one of the final dungeons because it bugged out on me. Luckily there was one, because many quests don't have that kind of privilege. Some bugs in this game somehow persist in Todd Howards' Starfield. No one knows how. It's beautiful in a sense. A red string of jank.

This game is unfinished - like half the quests have cut content and an entire act of the game got left on the floor. It's a good basis. I hope the sequel will use it well. I hope someone mods it for Steam Deck controls.