I have yet to play more Ys games at the time of this review, having only beaten this, Seven, and Monstrum Nox, but this is quite literally peak Ys and peak Action RPG in general. I'm dead serious, it's up there with Kingdom Hearts 2.

The combat is fast-paced, frantic, simple, yet so rewarding and addicting. The characters are well designed and mostly likeable, and the story is mysterious and intriguing. I may have a bias since it's my first Ys game but god if this wasn't an amazing experience.

Also has a fuckin banger soundtrack and I'm a proud owner of the complete OST on CD. Ripped to FLAC and I always give it a listen in Foobar. It's so damn good.

I first played P3-5 in 2019, and since then I played 4 and 5 a few more times, but never 3 which I always had ranked below them. After finally securing a European copy of FES (very expensive) I decided to finally revisit it that way on my CRT. Man... I GET Persona 3 now. I finally understand why people love it so much. After playing other SMT games and growing accustomed to the difficulty and quirks, it was now a walk in the park and a lot of the criticisms I had don't matter to me anymore. I enjoy grinding Tartarus, the boss fights, really enjoy the higher difficulty than 4 and 5, and I even grew to like the weird stuff - ordering AIs with tactics, tiredness, reverse social links. I guess it made it feel more realistic and made me approach it differently to other RPGs. I tore through the story and didn't find any of the pacing issues I remembered and wow, this is a super consistent story with probably my favorite finale in the series. I don't love all of the cast but they are generally well written. It's undoubtedly the most flawed of the modern Personas and it's not gonna be for everyone, but I love it now. I've been thinking about it so much. 9/10 for the experience

It's kind of funny that people have been making fun of the fact that this game has a hot tub scene within the first hour of the story because when you really think about it the hot tub scene is genuinely one of the most subtle yet still brilliant subversions of that anime trope in any JRPG. It's literally put in the game to demonstrate how the characters are literally asexual and consequently have no modesty about their own bodies, which makes the whole joke of the scene the exact opposite of every other hot tub/sauna scene ever done ever

I've never had a game become one of my all time favourites so instantly, it's been a long wait and it lived up to all expectations and even surpassed them. BRC nails the early 6th generation aesthetics and has an aggressively colorful art style with awesome character designs. Movement and general control is immensely superior to its (glaringly obvious) inspiration Jet Set Radio. It's so smooth and effortless to skate around the walls and ceilings once you've learned the ropes, helped by the addition of a air boost. Level design is all round consistently fantastic. The maps are all dense and much bigger than they first appear, I felt genuine excitement every time I discovered a new secret section which I do not experience often with games anymore. What I wasn't expecting is for the story to be interesting too, while not taking a big focus. It's not entirely perfect - there are quite a few glitches as of the current version and some QOL changes could be made, but nothing hindered my 10/10 enjoyment and I can't wait to 100%. It absolutely oozes soul and it's the most fun I've had with a modern release since 2017. PLAY IT

My feelings about EB are complicated. It's extremely grindy and slow, will often force you to survive with only one or two party members, and deal with all sorts of annoying ailments, massive difficulty spikes, a very cumbersome inventory management and revival system. Despite all that, it's still very alluring. The bizarre way the NPCs are written, the places you'll go and the overall otherworldly atmosphere are fascinating. Visual effects and animated backgrounds are striking and impressive for SNES hardware, as is the sample heavy soundtrack. I adore the creepy undertones that get more full on as Giygas' influence grows, and I'll never forget moments like going to Moonside, or the ending which is one of the best I've ever experienced. I even find myself enjoying combat in a masochistic sorta way. But overall this is an RPG that I love more conceptually, than actually sitting down to play it. I have a lot of respect for it.