This is a review of A Realm Reborn, not any of the post 2.0 patches or any other expansions.

This was an incredible time. The Main Story Quests honestly weren't anything special but it did have some awesome moments and great characters, it's a pretty basic Final Fantasy game in that regard, but it's not just a basic Final Fantasy game because it's also a MMO. I haven't played an actual MMO before, the only things like it I've played is Xenoblade Chronicles which has a relatively similar playstyle but way less intricate. But I had an incredible time fighting all these monsters, especially the Primals. The only issue is grinding levels is incredibly tedious and it discouraged me from exploring other jobs since I already had 1 job so high. But more than the story, more than the combat, more than anything, this game excels at the community. I've met so many unbelievably nice and sincere people playing this game. You can just walk around any hub and find people performing musical pieces, or danced, or full rock band covers, it's awe inspiring. Every city feels so lived in because you can see all these real people walking around and doing their own thing, it's incredible to witness and be a part of. This is truly a game you can sink so many hours into. And that's exactly what I plan on doing.

This is just a phenomenal game. Heather as a character has so much depth and the continued story from 1 slowly being revealed make this so incredibly intriguing to go through. The game itself is horrifying, I've never been more scared in my life. Open doors were more terrifying than locked ones. The way it crawls into your head and makes you sweat knowing what just might be on the other side, there's nothing like it for me. Though some may be subtle, the themes present are really hard hitting and when you dig deeper, are more than just occult nonsense. If you could give eternal paradise to mankind, just how far would you be willing to go? Would you sacrifice yourself? Maybe you simply don't care. What do you do when your beliefs are challenged? When people mock you? How far would you go to save someone you care so deeply about? These are all questions you can be affronted with, yet there's no clear answer, and that's what I believe this game is about. It's also about pissing your pants. Another very strong aspect is the relief via comedy. It balances sheer horror and panic with silly lines and quips that are accurate to an early 2000s teenager. I cannot tell you how much of a wave of relief and tranquility washed over me when Heather made that goofy joke at the end, I knew the terror was over and I could rest. The sound design was impeccable, always keeping me on edge and aware with enough fake outs to keep me paranoid and unsure of reality. All Claudia wanted was Paradise, yet she made it Hell. What's the difference anyway?

I held off on reviewing this because I haven't completed The Answer yet but as it turns out there's a separate log for that so here we go. This won't be a real review because I've already said everything in my P3P review but I'll talk about the version differences. I'm gonna say it, I like the combat. the tactics menu is really interesting and it plays really well into the themes of each characters being their own which is very important to the story. Of course the 3D environments are amazing and the character models have their PS2 charm. One of the greatest games of all time.

There's really nothing I could say about the game that hasn't been said before. My first playthrough was the enhanced edition on PC but after that I really felt like I should experience the original PS2 version and get all the endings so I did, and it really did elevate the experience. Silent Hill 2 is one of the most introspective games I think I'll ever play and I'll always carry a little bit of it with me. Akira Yamaoka the music and sound producer for the game is what makes this game perfect. The ambience is haunting, yet it can calm you, though you may be calm, you know you're still trapped. The credits themes really hit hard, I cannot re-encapsulate that feeling of hearing Angel's Thanatos during the In Water ending, it was powerful. He even recorded over 100 different footsteps to make walking around sound and feel more real, that's simply incredibly and shows how much they cares about this game. This is a game of passion and emotion. I also want to mention the performance of Monica Taylor Horgan, the voice of Mary and Maria. I find myself at a loss for words trying to describe it, it's really something that ought to be experienced, it's not something you can just be told about. I'd be remiss not to mention the gameplay, even though gameplay is not the main focus it's still a large part of the game. The combat is what you can expect from a tank control survival horror game so it's pretty mediocre, but the puzzles and exploration are amazing. The puzzles are an overall step up from SH1 in my opinion and are really interesting on higher difficulties too. I'll leave off this review with something that I'll be thinking about for a long time.
"I can't tell you to remember me, but I can't bear for you to forget me."

This is one of the PS1 games that has aged wonderfully. It really just felt like an action movie, but a game. It had a bunch of cheesy humor and tense moments. Just a good game. The story gets complicated and with how many nouns and names they throw around it's difficult for me to grasp everything that's happening on first pass, but I like games like that because it gives me something to do after I beat the game, I love researching about games. I really liked how much it's a sequel to Metal Gear 2, they didn't try to hide it and they didn't sacrifice anything to make this game "more accessible" like most sequels do and that's pretty cool. I think I'll like the Metal Gear saga. I didn't like how they did Snake and Meryl though, I feel like they should've spent more time on that and had Snake struggling to trust her a bit more. That ending was cheesy as hell too, but that adds to the charm a little. I'm excited for 2.