Persona 5 Royal is a masterclass of the JRPG genre. The game's enriching story about freedom and individuality and how we as humans strive for it is truly remarkable, and the events and characters that take place within that story are created to not only portray those themes but to embody them. The loveable cast of characters truly allow you to get immersed within this world, wanting you to discover every single thing about them and how they lived their lives up until this moment. The characters are supported by a star-studded cast of actors whether you choose the Sub or Dub, with each one giving a stellar performance that truly makes these characters feel real. It creates a sense of friendship with each character and creates memorable moments that will stick with you.

The gameplay is incredibly polished and unique with each encounter being different from the last with the ability to utilize the multiple ever-evolving skills of your partners in tandem with your own army of Personas that you have specifically built. The Persona style "weakness" system has been fine-tuned to perfection, making you feel powerful as you successfully exploit your enemies to finally unleash a powerful All-Out-Attack. The Social-Link system or "Confidant System" has been completely reworked from the past two games, expanding upon what Persona 3 and 4 started to create the best version of it in the series. Each of the Confidant's stories can range from funny, to heartwarming, to soul-crushing, and it's incredibly satisfying to see how each of the characters' problems is resolved through dialogue or sometimes even action.

The masterful score created by Shoji Meguro is the top in its class and is probably the best score in a Persona franchise. The Jazz-themed tunes can range from a fast-paced action tune that really pumps you up for what's ahead or to a gloomy, almost serene tune that allows the player to reflect, setting the tone for whatever lies ahead on an adventure.

The content that Royal provides is massive, with me clocking in 125 hours on my first playthrough. The amount of content added to expand and fix the previous game is extraordinary, as it seems every element of the original game was overhauled to perfection. The added content of the Spring Semester is truly a masterpiece on its own, shifting the original meaning behind Persona 5 forcing the player to truly think about their actions, and if they are truly doing the right thing being a Phantom Thief. This is also helped by the truly amazing antagonist, who has quickly become one of the best villains in gaming history.

I could go on about just how great this game is, but it would take hours on end to describe every single thing this game has to offer.

Persona 5 Royal is less of a game and more of something you must experience. Atlus has made a work of art that seems almost impossible to beat, cementing itself as not only the Greatest JRPG of All-Time but as one of gaming's truest marvels.

Persona 3 FES created modern-day Persona.

Persona was a series stuck in the shadow of its more popular father series Shin Megami Tensei. Persona 1 and Persona 2 are good games on their own but they never truly add much to help cement themselves away from MegaTen. Persona 3 changed that.

Persona 3 may be outdated in multiple ways but without it, Persona would not be where it is today. Persona 3 created many gameplay and story mechanics that have become staples of the franchise such as the now-iconic Social Link system, the Fusion system, Velvet Room Attendants with the addition of Elizabeth, and the Calender system which is now the largest aspect of the franchise.

The characters throughout are all fleshed out and unique, as we see them all grow from struggling high schoolers to strong leaders as the game progresses. The voice cast is also great, as is a staple with most Persona games.

The story of Persona 3 FES is one of sadness and death, and how we as humans need to accept that. Yet, even with its dark tone, it contains a sense of hope throughout. It's one of the greatest stories in the franchise if not THE greatest if I wasn't a fanboy of Persona 5. It really struck a nerve with me, and the ending of the game is incredibly special and iconic. Atlus truly did an amazing job here.

The music is also amazing. Shoji Meguro's dark score helps expand the feeling of dread, but also adds a sense of beauty to the overall world.

The gameplay while fun can be outdated as FES disallows you to control your partners, creating a lot of tense moments because of the lack of AI intelligence. However, if you emulate the game, this can easily be fixed by a mod. The Answer is the new addition to the base game of Persona 3, and while it adds new story beats it is very hit or miss compared to the original story, focusing on the character of Aigis and her perspective on life.

Even with these issues, Persona 3 FES is a modern staple of gaming. It gave birth to new mechanics that eventually lead to Persona's boom popularity with Persona 4 and Persona 5. It's one of the best in the franchise, and my second favorite game in the mainline series.

Persona 5 Strikers certainly is a worthy successor to Atlus' 2017/2020 masterpiece.

The Phantom Thieves' sequel story was a joy the whole way through, and I'm incredibly happy to have been apart of it. The writing is on par with the original and Royal, and while this game is more of a "fan service-y" type deal, Atlus made sure to not forget about what made Persona 5 great in the first place, creating a fun road trip adventure that didn't need to be told, but I'm glad it was. Seeing the thieves older and wiser while also keeping their charm and traits from the original made me smile, and allowed me to truly see just how much these characters have grown.

The Musou style combat mixed in with Persona turn-based elements came together perfectly, and while the camera can be a bit weird sometimes, the combat always remained fluid and fun and never got boring even until the very end of the game. Persona fusion also makes a return, and while I have my quarrels with the new PP system, Persona Fusion is still crazy fun to do, allowing the player to create some incredibly OP Persona's that just shred enemies to a fine shadowy paste.

I became a huge Persona fan after playing Royal back in August. I never really was a JRPG guy, but for some reason, Persona 5 always piqued my interest, and when I finally played it I fell in love. The Phantom Thieves are probably my favorite cast of video game characters period, and after 6 months of playing through the entire franchise, I was incredibly happy to be with the thieves on another adventure. I just hope this isn't their last.

I played this during my prime Persona obsession caused by playing Persona 5 Royal for 2 weeks straight, and I will admit I was a little biased. Persona 5 Royal is my favorite game in the franchise so far, and with this games very ancient looks and gameplay compared to p5's I was hesitant to play this worrying that I would hate it upon the first 3 hours of the game.

Boy was I wrong.

Persona 4 Golden is another fantastic game in and of itself. It may look old and dated, but the story is still as good as ever and it helped lead the way for Atlus to spread its wings far enough to create the extravagant Persona 5. The story is creative and heart-wrenching, each character in the Investigation Team and everyone outside of it are all great and flowing with personality, and the town of Inaba helps create this sense of charm that really ties everything together. Persona 4 is another prime example of why this series is so beloved, and while I do have some quarrels with the story and characters compared to the other games, I'm still incredibly happy that I gave this game a chance.

As a long-time fan of the Borderlands franchise, I think this game both falls incredibly short of its predecessor while also surpassing it entirely. The gunplay is absolutely addicting. You can tell the developers have put their heart and soul into every single weapon in the game making each one more unique than the next while also revamping some old classics. It flows great feels great to use almost any gun, and the vault hunter builds you can make are incredibly creative and fantastic to test and play, allotting for many, many playthroughs just to test every build and legendary weapon. The car combat is also a lot of fun, and the amount of customization given to the player is jarring to say the least. This game has so many positives but is held back by its two major flaws: Weak Writing and a Weak Story.

The story in Borderlands three seems lazily written for a franchise that's had a very fun and exciting story for the past three games (Bl1, Bl2, Tales) and the villains are nothing compared to one of gaming's greatest villains, Handsome Jack. The jokes are way out of touch with most of modern society, and just seem immature compared to Borderlands 2 whose jokes still hold up relatively well today. The characters are also incredibly done down with only a select few being actually entertaining and interesting, and sadly we hardly get to see them. It seems as if Borderlands lost its charm, or at the very least lost its meaning.

Even with that complaint, this game cannot be passed up. The gameplay itself makes up for the story because you're able to skip most of the cringe cutscenes anyway. If you have friends this game is an absolute blast and probably the best way to play this game. I recommend waiting for a sale because 50 dollars for the full game+DLC is a very good price for a game that's still being supported. It's a great game with a terrible story, but it's still a game that cannot be looked over because of how much fun it is.

I think This game does a lot of stuff right and a lot of stuff wrong. It's nowhere near a bad game, I honestly think it's very good, it just lacks in a lot of elements that many players including me were expecting.

The combat is incredible. Each form is incredibly unique as each one serves a purpose. Leveling up the stances to become a power-house samurai was incredibly satisfying, and I even found myself going out of my way to just hit random caravans just for fun. Stealth, on the other hand, is incredibly dense and sometimes boring. Enemies have the IQ of a pinecone, and unless you do something incredibly stupid you will never be spotted even on a harder difficulty. It makes a main form of gameplay seem useless as players would rather charge head-on with the samurai route instead of experiencing the ghost route because of how boring stealth is.

The world itself is beautiful and offers a lot to do as you explore the Japanese Island of Tsushima. Following the wind for your destination is an amazing idea, and the lack of a hud truly makes you feel immersed. This is my opinion, is the best aspect of the game as it is truly incredible.

The story is a tale of honor and tradition as well as there pros and cons. Jin Sakai is a very interesting character, and I loved experiencing his journey from a noble samurai to the elusive Ghost. The supporting cast can range from amazing to serviceable, but It never dips down to downright bad. The missions in the story can range from creative story-beats to your average run-of-the-mill assassins' creed stealth mission that can restrict the way you play the game. While the story is great, the lack of player choice promised in the game really brings it down for me. Your actions whether you play "Ghost" or "Samurai" has little to no difference in the story or the world until the very end, and I hope in the sequel they allow the player's choices and playstyle to be more meaningful than they were in here.

Ghost of Tsushima is a very well-polished game. It's a game not without its issues, but one that's still worth playing.

Cyberpunk does a lot of stuff right, and a lot of stuff wrong. It's glitchy, lags like hell, and is sometimes downright broken. However, the world. story and characters are top-notch. You could tell that CD Projekt Red wanted to create something spectacular but was pushed by many higher-ups to reach a deadline. I had a lot of fun with this game even with its many flaws, and I hope to see it get out of this slum and be reborn as the great game it was supposed to be.

Edit: It kinda did with the release of Edgerunners, and I'm happy to see the game thriving after a rough launch. Can't wait to see you in Night City chooms!

Probably one of the most controversial and divisive games of last year, The Last of Us Part 2 was a big disappointment to me in more ways than one. I don't particularly think it's a bad game, it's just lackluster and stumbles on itself as the story progresses. The gameplay on the hardest difficulty is a lot of fun and every encounter was incredibly stressful but rewarding when I was finally able to get past it. Each encounter can be beaten in a variety of ways, and you can tell that Naughty Dog really wanted to make combat amazing. Ellie's story was a lot of fun, and while some moments were bleh, it truly lived up to the original game with its downtime and character-driven dialogue. However, by the time Abby's story comes around everything feels like it halts to stop as each encounter begins to feel draining and incomplete as the game begins to restrict you more. While the performances are great the game never gives you a good reason to like Abby's crew, creating unique characters from the outside but on the inside, they are very dense and outright dumb at times. It's sad to see where this sequel went, and while I disagree with all the blatant hate, it's hard for me truly like this game because of its flaws.