This game made me wish we just got a Persona 3 sequel about Mitsuru and Aigis forming the Shadow Ops and it stayed a JRPG. Labrys was great. And having a verbal protagonist was great. I liked playing as Teddie. Those are all the nice things I have to say.

I did not like the visual novel storytelling. The characterization was bad. The plot was just a rehash of both Persona 4 and Persona 1, even recycling some of the Investigation Team's character development. The reason for fighting was super contrived and playing through the same story repeatedly but just changing the POV character while all contradicting each other did not make for an engaging story. I did not like Persona 4 Golden and I did not expect this game to be worse, but it was so much worse.

A very cozy game with characters I was sad to say goodbye to by the end of the game. Hinako isn't the strongest protagonist but she is no-nonsense which creates some very interesting dynamics or comedic reactions. I actually really liked the enemy designs, and the battle system wasn't bad either. The music was very calming as well. I just wish there was more to do in the school. Also, I never fully understood the dating/social sim aspects.

I discovered this game from researching Persona-likes and while it wasn't exactly what I was looking for, it scratched the itch enough.

I really love this game. The visuals, the music, the concept and ideas, but I cannot deny its flaws.

First off, it was clearly designed as a next gen game. The PS4 version had load times of about 15 seconds. I can't even imagine how the Switch ran, but when I eventually got a PS5 and downloaded the PS5 version of the game, loadtimes were maybe 3 seconds. Same for my friend's gaming PC. I don't know what happened during development but that definitely left a stain on the game's reputation.

Regardless, I persisted. I fell in love with the game from a single trailer. I bought it digitally because I couldn't wait to play it. Then I bought a PS4 copy for my collection. Then bought the PS5 special edition used on Mercari. I love the visuals, I think splitting the screen between past, present, and future was an awesome idea that can only really be done in the medium of a video game. The combat was serviceable, but I wasn't a fan of the random encounters. They would have been tolerable if the loadtimes weren't awful. Also, I noticed the encounter rate wasn't consistent, which didn't help when there were 2 difficulty spikes during the relatively easy playthrough and suddenly I needed to grind.

The ending was weird to say the least. It should have been so much more emotional than it actually was, but only one character really had an appropriate reaction. In fact, the BAD ending was actually so much more interesting and could be its own game.

This is my favorite indie game. It will always hold a special place in my heart, but I cannot recommend it to anyone who isn't playing on a next gen platform. I might replay it on PS5 someday to see if my love still holds up.

I loved this game. But I'm biased because I'm a sucker for Arthurian anything. Sonic with a sword? Such a fun time. Also the storybook aesthetic and Sonic's characterization were beautiful.

A hubworld would have been awesome though, imagine getting to explore Camelot!!

If it didn't have motion controls, my rating would be higher. Not that they were difficult, but because my wrist hurt for days after my first time playing and I didn't touch my Wii U again for a week or two. The game is also way too short, I wish we got to see the final boss' perspective a bit more because I don't hate their motivation but it could have used more fleshing out.

HD Remake PLEASE

I was an avid Unleashed defender for a while. I'm in the minority here, I prefer the nighttime stages to daytime stages. I am mainly an RPG player and the combat was more engaging to me than highspeed platforming is. I'm not a fan of the boost because it creates this necessity for huge levels with large sections just blown past. Once I beat the game, I think I became more critical of it, but I think it was genuinely just a skill issue because I struggled a lot in the daytime levels and it killed my love of the game. And the medal requirement was annoying.

Eggmanland was insane though. I hate it but I also kind of love it.

This was my first rogue-like, and it was quite a culture shock as someone who came from JRPGs. According to my friends, this has more story than any other rogue-likes they've played. I will not be playing other rogue-likes besides Hades II.

Cool visuals. I applaud that everyone is fully voiced and by such a small cast. Banger music. I'm not a fan of Hades & Persephone but I liked the unique takes on all these mythological figures. And all the small stories combined with the fact that everyone was aware of every death and had consistently changing dialogue really made the game feel so alive.

The biggest caveat to this game is to truly appreciate it, it requires you to be familiar with Gen 4 lore. Otherwise, an incredibly fresh take on the series and I want more for sure. Fingers crossed for Legends: Kyurem.

I would have liked a big more of a story or fleshing out of the cast, but the gameplay was enough to carry the game. It was upsetting that Scarlet & Violet, while great, removed all the great aspects of Legends: Arceus.

I think my biggest criticism is that this is an isekai. It really didn't need to be. My second biggest is that a lot of the Hisui Pokémon are really ugly.

The first Pokémon game I was ever disappointed with. This isn't a unique opinion but everything started going downhill from X & Y. This marked a turn in the series where the games got progressively more hand-holdy, which is insane considering Pokémon was already "Baby's First JRPG." Mega Evolution began this trend of gimmick forms replacing new Pokémon, with Kalos only introducing 72 new Pokémon.

The story and characters were very underwhelming. The manga adaptation is pretty good from what I've read.

TL;DR: The game is mid.

I liked the music, combat, art direction (the portraits' expressions were great and I hope Atlus keeps that), cast, and the story was okay. A verbal protagonist was such a refreshing change.

But the dungeon design really kills it. For starters, you couldn't toggle running until three months after the game released when Atlus patched it. You needed to unlock a skill and then manually open a menu to use it every time. And the dungeons were just corridors and repetitive locations. 2 docks, 3 subway tunnels, and the "totally optional but required for the true ending" dungeon became so tedious. I reached the final dungeon and I just don't want to finish the game. These teleporting puzzles aren't fun. I will someday, but not soon.

A fun action RPG with a dash of the turn-based spirit of Persona, Persona 5 Strikers is a worthwhile sequel to Persona 5/Royal. And for context, it is not a Musou game, it is a Musou inspired action RPG. Before the game released in the west, I heard many say not to expect strong characterization.

This could not have been further from the truth. P5S takes the lessons the cast learned from the prequel and has them apply what they learned, really emphasizing one of P5's secondary themes: empathy. Numerous antagonists are revealed to have been taken advantage of and only ended up in their position due to the temptation of power, and our heroes free them from their prisons (literally) by appealing their hearts as opposed to forcibly changing their cognition so they feel guilt.

The music is the best in the series.
Sophia and Zenkichi, despite being rehashes of previous characters in the series, are fantastic additions to the cast and I would adore seeing them in the future.

Now some cons. The final boss story-wise was a letdown, but contextually made sense. I don't mind the loss of Confidants or the passage of time, but the constant leaving and re-entering of Jails to heal was annoying. The plot does recycle some elements from the prequel. While it's not a 100% rehash, I expected better from Atlus. Nothing deal breaking though, I still greatly enjoyed the story.

Many say this game cannot be a sequel to Royal, but mind you Royal does not end significantly different enough from the original Persona 5. The events more or less play out the same, either ending can lead to Strikers. If you like the Phantom Thieves, I highly recommend this game, but do not play it unless you get either of Persona 5 Royal's endings.