Game's a gem, tbh.

The story is at its best when it's the most grounded. All of the paranormal twists are pretty easy to see coming and by far the most interesting story beats are when it's about adults trying to navigate their lives.

Puzzles were mostly good. The game seemed to me to struggle to figure out how to manage boss fights, with only the final boss providing any real sense of urgency. However, even then, the boss doesn't really increase the difficulty of the level very much at all.

Don't think I'll care too much about the gameplay to try Hard mode or the "remixed" puzzles, but I'm glad those options were there for anyone who wants to replay the game. With replays in mind, I have to say that, although I was excited by the prospect of a branching story with multiple endings, I finished with the Katherine ending and don't really feel the need to see the others. Maybe on YouTube if I feel the need.

Overall, it's a unique experience and one that I'm glad to have been through. Having a number of the P4 and P5 English voice cast is a joy as well.

I feel dirty for abandoning a game after such a short amount of time, but boy did I just not vibe with this one. I finally convinced myself to sign up for Gamefly for this game - I had fond memories of playing LM1 and wanted to get into LM3 this Spooky Szn, but I wasn't sure if I'd want to pay $60 for it. I was more right than I had expected.

Yes, it looks nice, but whatever charm this game gives off to other people is apparently lost on me. I guess Luigi being continually fainthearted comes off as funny or cute to some, but it just confused me every single time. Is he unaware of how many ghosts we've already been able to Hoover up without breaking a sweat? There's a real lack of enemy variety, and even the bosses quickly feel same-y due to the shallow gameplay. You can flash, suck, and blow (heh), and every enemy gets easily beaten by one or two of those actions. You just figure out if you need to blow something at the boss or flash them before you're able to do the sucking. I know it's a children's game, but it so often felt like a game for toddlers.

It's unfair for me to criticize much of this game after only 6 hours with it, I know. Maybe it gets more challenging or interesting later on, but I wasn't feeling any indication from the game that it would. The puzzles are hit-or-miss in their challenge, and therefore so is the subsequent sense of accomplishment for solving them, and the janky aiming controls so often made the most basic gameplay mechanics feel like a chore. I already feel like I'd "got it" and that the rest would be more of the same. Maybe I'm just no fun.

So, why keep playing? To see the different themes for each floor? To hope that they introduce a gameplay mechanic interesting enough to be engaging? To wait for the game to offer up anything at all that might make me feel rewarded for solving, beating, or otherwise completing it?

No thanks, this Gamefly thing is new to me and I'm excited to get Nier Replicant next.