I really don't care for the direction this game takes. The first AITSF game was not a masterpiece but I consider it to be a great return to form for Uchikoshi, and I was glad to see that his team could output quality-looking stuff after VLR and ZTD were a bit disappointing in the visuals department, and the writing, characters, and the very cool gameplay idea of Somnium, having to wade through and play along with the logic of someones dream to direct them to revealing information which furthers your case, was really really awesome. I was very happy with it.

While AINI continues to improve on the visuals department, I'm really sorry to see that it's a downgrade in pretty much every other department.

Characters have their personalities gimped or are mostly shelved only to make returning gags from AITSF or are the victim of M Night Shyamalan tier twists, the story lacks a real meaningful hook and the ongoing mystery simply is not as interesting as either of the AITSF routes and often takes hilariously stupid turns that harm not only this game but the original too, and ohhh god they destroyed any complexity in regards to Somnium. Gone is every object having multiple ways to interact with it, gone is the creative thinking asked of the player to steer somnium in the right direction, and gone is the branching that somniums used to provide within the story. The somniums were the highlight of the original whenever they came up, and now it's just a linear chore of a break from the linear chore of a story. Even Zero Time Dilemma, despite being a complete mess story and presentation-wise, still managed to deliver a fulfilling gameplay loop on-par with 999 & VLR, there's no excuse here.

It's depressing, I had a lot of faith in both the team and the sequel, but it's a complete rejection of what I enjoyed in the original. Why did the team take it in this direction, I wonder? Who knows. May Team Zero Escape move on to another original IP because they've squandered this one.

Returns the series to a lot of its more classic PS2 elements but at the cost of feeling a little lifeless and dull whilst not in mission, and lacking anything big to mess around with really when the story is all done. Worse cheats, worse weapons, worse vehicles, AI doesn't even feel as good as in 4's. Story is memorable mostly as a result of heists and strong characters, but it's something I've only ever replayed at length once, for the Xbox One rerelease. Want GTA6 to strike that balance between great story and great sandbox.

Still holds up, it's a very different approach to modern GTA than V but I'm glad for it, gives the game its own identity and charm. Gameplay can range from tight to floaty in different aspects, a bit too realistic maybe but still plenty of fun to mess around with. Main story never really stuck with me although I do like most of the characters. DLC is overall good, Lost & Damned is a little come-and-go but Ballad of Gay Tony is very good all around. Lost many many hours to its simple multiplayer too, much preferred to the regimented GTA Online.

Persona 3 FES is quite possibly my favourite game of all time. I cannot see this title as anything else other than a bastardisation of all the reasons why I love that game so much. The combat system is gutted of all its complexity, the game dumbed down in difficulty with the addition of party control but no attempt to rebalance the title around this. The day-to-day gameplay has been reduced to scrolling a cursor around shitty JPEGs. No more fusion spells. No more choice of weapon which means very little reason to dabble in weapon fusion. All the changes devalue the original, the mechanically complex title always going for something new. Persona 4 is not a good blueprint for Persona gameplay, it itself also being a massively stripped down version of 3. Also lacks the Answer. The only good thing here is the new protagonist, but outside of the new social links and music, there is very little different to the main experience if you pick her.

I don't understand how losing so much just to avoid learning how to use the tactics menu is worthwhile. Have half the people moaning about it even given FES a fair shake? I doubt it. Do yourself a favour and try it for once. Seriously try it, no whining. You're in for a much better, fun, and fulfilling experience once you get over the initial mental hump of AI control. They're actually quite intelligent and do what you want as long as you give them the right tactics. People are way too adverse to the idea of a unique system that goes for something different.