WEAreVermit
2022
I wanted to replay this game before the dlc dropped but also I wanted to try and experience the game that everyone else seemed to enjoy WAY more than I did the first time round. I've replayed every Souls game multiple times even the ones I don't really like. I've seen the end credits roll on Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, and Dark Souls 2 multiple times and tried my hardest to get the most out of those games that I struggled to connect with. (This actually made me really love Dark Souls 2 despite its flaws and it's probably my favorite Dark Souls title)
All that to say is that when I did beat Elden Eing for the first time back in 2022 I didn't get it.
It was certainly a great game and one that I appreciated much more than I personally enjoyed.
Returning to this title has opened my eyes a little. I still don't love it as much as everyone else. Something just hasn't fully connected but I enjoyed myself WAY MORE this go around.
It might be the contrarian in me but I had to learn to play this game my way. It's probably why instead of some Katana or Greatsword build I chose the weapon class with the least amount of weapons in it. I used a duelwield Nightrider flail set. One I made scale with Dex and the other I made inflict frost buildup. I've never seen anyone else use Flails in this game and I figured I'd try them out. Definitely combines my love of dex builds with this game's stance mechanic that had me downing bosses in 3 jumping attacks. This build is only possible if you have a friend drop you the second Night rider flail or if you're in NG+. I wanted to have fun so I just had my boy give it to me in exchange for something he wanted to try.
While not extremely overpowered the build made my playstyle very fun. I hate using shields since Bloodborne and Sekiro are my two favorite Souls titles. I also refrained from using summons this go around because if Kai Cenat can do it than so can I.
In this new run I found myself not bound by expectation or build. I did what I wanted and played with the only rule being no summons. This playthrough really tested my skills as a souls player and in that reignited the challenge of the souls games I've not felt since first beating Dark Souls 2 for the first time. Beating that game was such a rewarding feeling. It felt like I overcame so much and earned the right to see those endcredits. I had the same feeling after beating Sekiro and Bloodborne for the first times.
I've searched for this feeling ever since and only Lies of P got close to giving it to me with the Nameless Puppet boss at the end.
This feeling was achieved in this playthrough
Just my tarnished, a few incantations, and two fails
We overcame the Lands Between
Now truth be told I haven't actually seen the credits yet. I stopped right after Godfrey. I haven't fought the Elden Beast yet because I want to know if the DLC will add a new ending. So I'm right at the end but am refraining until Shadow of the Erdtree.
But needless to say I now see what people see when they think about Elden Ring
All that to say is that when I did beat Elden Eing for the first time back in 2022 I didn't get it.
It was certainly a great game and one that I appreciated much more than I personally enjoyed.
Returning to this title has opened my eyes a little. I still don't love it as much as everyone else. Something just hasn't fully connected but I enjoyed myself WAY MORE this go around.
It might be the contrarian in me but I had to learn to play this game my way. It's probably why instead of some Katana or Greatsword build I chose the weapon class with the least amount of weapons in it. I used a duelwield Nightrider flail set. One I made scale with Dex and the other I made inflict frost buildup. I've never seen anyone else use Flails in this game and I figured I'd try them out. Definitely combines my love of dex builds with this game's stance mechanic that had me downing bosses in 3 jumping attacks. This build is only possible if you have a friend drop you the second Night rider flail or if you're in NG+. I wanted to have fun so I just had my boy give it to me in exchange for something he wanted to try.
While not extremely overpowered the build made my playstyle very fun. I hate using shields since Bloodborne and Sekiro are my two favorite Souls titles. I also refrained from using summons this go around because if Kai Cenat can do it than so can I.
In this new run I found myself not bound by expectation or build. I did what I wanted and played with the only rule being no summons. This playthrough really tested my skills as a souls player and in that reignited the challenge of the souls games I've not felt since first beating Dark Souls 2 for the first time. Beating that game was such a rewarding feeling. It felt like I overcame so much and earned the right to see those endcredits. I had the same feeling after beating Sekiro and Bloodborne for the first times.
I've searched for this feeling ever since and only Lies of P got close to giving it to me with the Nameless Puppet boss at the end.
This feeling was achieved in this playthrough
Just my tarnished, a few incantations, and two fails
We overcame the Lands Between
Now truth be told I haven't actually seen the credits yet. I stopped right after Godfrey. I haven't fought the Elden Beast yet because I want to know if the DLC will add a new ending. So I'm right at the end but am refraining until Shadow of the Erdtree.
But needless to say I now see what people see when they think about Elden Ring
Senua's Saga: Hellblade II - The Power of Names
This is a weird one to talk about. Firstly, this is not like the first game. It is more of an action-adventure with scenes of spectacle than a personal journey like Senua's Sacrifice was.
I think judging the game in front of me is hard
I can't use the same scale I would on other games.
Simply put, this game is probably not worth $50 to most people. It might not even be worth the $10 on gamepass like I spent.
But is that fair. In ~7 hours I played through the most incredible looking game of my lifetime. I played through sequences that had the cinematography nerd in me FREAK OUT! I have this bodily response to seeing one take cameras where I literally laugh and smile at the pure spectacle of it all and despite this being a video game multiple action sequences felt like I was in control of an incredible one-take action scene. The entire time I played this I wished my dad was watching just to show him how insane this game looked. Looks aren't everything in a story but damn did this feel like I was playing a Roger Deakins/Greg Frazier picture.
The bad is quite apparent. The narrative isn't as poignant as the original's. Senua is isn't the main narrative point anymore and it rehashes some of the ideas present in the first game to much less effect. There are 3 other main-side characters that are just there to give Senua people to talk to it seems. I REALLY liked Thorgestr, was mild on Fargrimr and didn't like Astridr. The game doesn't let you sit with any of these characters long enough to grow to care and the reason I liked Thorgestr so much is how the narrative reflects Senua's father to his father. The ending seemed to really bring out the point that "They are not their fathers' " and I found it really poignant but then the game ends doing one of Senua's internal monologues with visuals showing her inner turmoil and we don't get to see any of the immediate aftermath to the situation we just played.
It really left me on a sour note. Because truthfully, I don't want another Hellblade game. I think milking Senua would be pointless. I'm glad the sequel showed how overcoming trauma is not just a one and done sequence. Even if you can overcome your demons once they can resurface and that's a very realistic and important idea to convey. Senua is a very troubled and fallible hero and I REALLY like that. The way this game ends leaves room for a sequel that we do not need to see. Senua has a choice to make at the end and we do not see it. We see her grapple with each decision and see the black and the white take shape before the credits roll.
I hate to make this comparison but it really feels like I was playing an arthouse movie. If not arthouse then a pretentious A24 movie with a purposefully ambiguous ending. The one's that filmbros talk about to no end. I hate that comparison because this game does have value. It just takes the right audience or person to see that value.
If you value an interesting narrative with thrilling and horrifying sequences and beautiful visuals then I think this game might be that arthouse A24/Neon picture you've always dreamed of playing
If you want an escalation of the themes present in Senua's Sacrifice with a similar narrative and amped up gameplay you will be disappointed.
If you expected a full-length game with skill trees and upgrades then this is not the game for you
If you want interesting puzzles and gameplay with fun and interesting combat then this is not the game for you.
That is the name of the game with this one I'm afraid
The power of that name is up to you
Names give meaning but what that name (category) means to you is deeply personal and of one's own taste. I can only say that I did enjoy this game. While I did not have fun, I had a genuinely good experience and appreciated Ninja Theory's hard work.
The only undeniable thing about this game is that it is certainly the most realistic looking game ever made. That fight with Thorgestr at the beginning of the game literally looked like live action choreography.
I also have one more thing to say but it didn't really fit into my larger point so I'm putting it here. Game length. A lot of people have a problem with this game's length and I think that is the most subjective gripe to have about a game. Because 1.) this game has a complete beginning, middle, and end that ends with the completion of the main objective that the game sets out at the very beginning and 2.) If anything this game might be a little too long. It meanders in its puzzle sections and the second giant section. When you reach the underground section the game just repeats the same puzzles over and over again and throws waves of enemies at you periodically so the player doesn't get bored but you can practically see the code on that part. Judging a game on its length is really weird because I can see the argument that you spent $50 bucks and want a decent amount of time but the work done by Ninja Theory to make this game look and sound this great is, in my mind, worth that price tag. Hard work is expensive and this experience is not cheap. Personally if this game, which is oppressive and stressful and not very fun, were any longer I'd have hated it.
This is a weird one to talk about. Firstly, this is not like the first game. It is more of an action-adventure with scenes of spectacle than a personal journey like Senua's Sacrifice was.
I think judging the game in front of me is hard
I can't use the same scale I would on other games.
Simply put, this game is probably not worth $50 to most people. It might not even be worth the $10 on gamepass like I spent.
But is that fair. In ~7 hours I played through the most incredible looking game of my lifetime. I played through sequences that had the cinematography nerd in me FREAK OUT! I have this bodily response to seeing one take cameras where I literally laugh and smile at the pure spectacle of it all and despite this being a video game multiple action sequences felt like I was in control of an incredible one-take action scene. The entire time I played this I wished my dad was watching just to show him how insane this game looked. Looks aren't everything in a story but damn did this feel like I was playing a Roger Deakins/Greg Frazier picture.
The bad is quite apparent. The narrative isn't as poignant as the original's. Senua is isn't the main narrative point anymore and it rehashes some of the ideas present in the first game to much less effect. There are 3 other main-side characters that are just there to give Senua people to talk to it seems. I REALLY liked Thorgestr, was mild on Fargrimr and didn't like Astridr. The game doesn't let you sit with any of these characters long enough to grow to care and the reason I liked Thorgestr so much is how the narrative reflects Senua's father to his father. The ending seemed to really bring out the point that "They are not their fathers' " and I found it really poignant but then the game ends doing one of Senua's internal monologues with visuals showing her inner turmoil and we don't get to see any of the immediate aftermath to the situation we just played.
It really left me on a sour note. Because truthfully, I don't want another Hellblade game. I think milking Senua would be pointless. I'm glad the sequel showed how overcoming trauma is not just a one and done sequence. Even if you can overcome your demons once they can resurface and that's a very realistic and important idea to convey. Senua is a very troubled and fallible hero and I REALLY like that. The way this game ends leaves room for a sequel that we do not need to see. Senua has a choice to make at the end and we do not see it. We see her grapple with each decision and see the black and the white take shape before the credits roll.
I hate to make this comparison but it really feels like I was playing an arthouse movie. If not arthouse then a pretentious A24 movie with a purposefully ambiguous ending. The one's that filmbros talk about to no end. I hate that comparison because this game does have value. It just takes the right audience or person to see that value.
If you value an interesting narrative with thrilling and horrifying sequences and beautiful visuals then I think this game might be that arthouse A24/Neon picture you've always dreamed of playing
If you want an escalation of the themes present in Senua's Sacrifice with a similar narrative and amped up gameplay you will be disappointed.
If you expected a full-length game with skill trees and upgrades then this is not the game for you
If you want interesting puzzles and gameplay with fun and interesting combat then this is not the game for you.
That is the name of the game with this one I'm afraid
The power of that name is up to you
Names give meaning but what that name (category) means to you is deeply personal and of one's own taste. I can only say that I did enjoy this game. While I did not have fun, I had a genuinely good experience and appreciated Ninja Theory's hard work.
The only undeniable thing about this game is that it is certainly the most realistic looking game ever made. That fight with Thorgestr at the beginning of the game literally looked like live action choreography.
I also have one more thing to say but it didn't really fit into my larger point so I'm putting it here. Game length. A lot of people have a problem with this game's length and I think that is the most subjective gripe to have about a game. Because 1.) this game has a complete beginning, middle, and end that ends with the completion of the main objective that the game sets out at the very beginning and 2.) If anything this game might be a little too long. It meanders in its puzzle sections and the second giant section. When you reach the underground section the game just repeats the same puzzles over and over again and throws waves of enemies at you periodically so the player doesn't get bored but you can practically see the code on that part. Judging a game on its length is really weird because I can see the argument that you spent $50 bucks and want a decent amount of time but the work done by Ninja Theory to make this game look and sound this great is, in my mind, worth that price tag. Hard work is expensive and this experience is not cheap. Personally if this game, which is oppressive and stressful and not very fun, were any longer I'd have hated it.
I have this great appreciation for pieces of media that contain stories or messages that can only be properly conveyed in that medium. There's a novel called House of Leaves that tells a story that can only be a novel. It can't be a movie or a tv show or anything other than a novel. In my Graphic Novel as Lit course we read a graduate thesis published into a graphic novel called "Unflattening" and in it, the author broke down the inner workings of a graphic novel all through pictures and minimal dialogue. He tells a story through the medium of a graphic novel that can only be a graphic novel.
My point being is this
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is the first game I've played that can only be a video game. A big claim, I know, yet I firmly believe it. A JRPG can be easily adapted into an anime series, The Last of Us and Uncharted have both been adapted to both great and less-than-stellar receptions, but they could be done.
If some producer or director tried to turn this into a movie it would lose so much of what makes this special. The uncomfortable feeling of playing this game. The 3D binaural audio that made me sick to my stomach, the uncomfortably close camera that puts the player into the heart and soul of Senua; that stellar ending sequence where the player has to keep fighting until they can no longer fight at all. Not to mention the other stellar sequences in this game like the blindness puzzle that scared the hell out of me. All of it can only be played. I'd reckon if you watched a playthrough you wouldn't be able to experience the struggle that the game makes the player feel.
The gameplay works in perfect parody with the narrative. each fight is a fight against Senua's inner demons. While not incredibly in depth or engaging the combat works to sell the insanely chaotic and frenetic state of Senua's psyche.
My ONLY gripe is that the game ends with the most cliché "See you in the next adventure" with the most unfitting needle drop. It left such a bad taste in my mouth that I couldn't give the game a 5/5
Also, I don't think I ever want to replay this. It was a worthwhile experience but it certainly was anything but fun. Like I said, this game made me sick to my stomach and stressed out. I do recommend it but probably a one and done experience.
My point being is this
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is the first game I've played that can only be a video game. A big claim, I know, yet I firmly believe it. A JRPG can be easily adapted into an anime series, The Last of Us and Uncharted have both been adapted to both great and less-than-stellar receptions, but they could be done.
If some producer or director tried to turn this into a movie it would lose so much of what makes this special. The uncomfortable feeling of playing this game. The 3D binaural audio that made me sick to my stomach, the uncomfortably close camera that puts the player into the heart and soul of Senua; that stellar ending sequence where the player has to keep fighting until they can no longer fight at all. Not to mention the other stellar sequences in this game like the blindness puzzle that scared the hell out of me. All of it can only be played. I'd reckon if you watched a playthrough you wouldn't be able to experience the struggle that the game makes the player feel.
The gameplay works in perfect parody with the narrative. each fight is a fight against Senua's inner demons. While not incredibly in depth or engaging the combat works to sell the insanely chaotic and frenetic state of Senua's psyche.
My ONLY gripe is that the game ends with the most cliché "See you in the next adventure" with the most unfitting needle drop. It left such a bad taste in my mouth that I couldn't give the game a 5/5
Also, I don't think I ever want to replay this. It was a worthwhile experience but it certainly was anything but fun. Like I said, this game made me sick to my stomach and stressed out. I do recommend it but probably a one and done experience.
This was a shell of a good time and one of my favorite Shoals likes so far
Aggro Crab deserves so much praise for what they did with Another Crab's Treasure. This was such a well thought out and surprisingly well written. Everything from the art, to the gameplay, to the story all feels like the devs put so much passion and heart into this game. I saw an interview with this game's creative director that the team decided to make this a souls like that nintendo would have made and it sort of feels like that. We call this Crab souls but in actuality it's Platform Souls. I've never been to into platformers but this game got through that wall for me.
But I do think that this game's narrative is such a welcome surprise. No major spoilers but that game's last area is a bleached coral reef and if you don't get the game's message by the end you're being purposely dense. This whole theme is the point of every aspect of this game. The currency is microplastics. The shells you use are trash, your weapon is a fork thrown into the ocean, and every area is literally littered with trash. It turns what's supposed to be baby's first souls game into a vessel for a very important and poignant message. This game literally had me laughing and smiling and then considering my carbon footprint on the earth.
Aggro Crab deserves a lot of praise and I cannot wait to see what they do next.
Aggro Crab deserves so much praise for what they did with Another Crab's Treasure. This was such a well thought out and surprisingly well written. Everything from the art, to the gameplay, to the story all feels like the devs put so much passion and heart into this game. I saw an interview with this game's creative director that the team decided to make this a souls like that nintendo would have made and it sort of feels like that. We call this Crab souls but in actuality it's Platform Souls. I've never been to into platformers but this game got through that wall for me.
But I do think that this game's narrative is such a welcome surprise. No major spoilers but that game's last area is a bleached coral reef and if you don't get the game's message by the end you're being purposely dense. This whole theme is the point of every aspect of this game. The currency is microplastics. The shells you use are trash, your weapon is a fork thrown into the ocean, and every area is literally littered with trash. It turns what's supposed to be baby's first souls game into a vessel for a very important and poignant message. This game literally had me laughing and smiling and then considering my carbon footprint on the earth.
Aggro Crab deserves a lot of praise and I cannot wait to see what they do next.
2020
I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would but ultimately this let me know that I don't have a love for Musou games. I will say I always thought those types of games lacked engaging combat systems to keep me entertained for a full game length and while I will say I did enjoy this it did get stale near the latter half
I picked this up as a Persona fan and not a Musou fan and so while enlightening as my first foray into this genre of game I don't think it's for me.
The thing I enjoyed the most about this game (other than the kick-ass soundtrack that added numerous bangers to my lifting playlist) was that it continued the story of Persona 5. It is a full-fledged sequel at least in a narrative sense. It shows the characters age up a little and lets us spend another summer with a group of people that feel almost like a family to the player after so many hours spent together. However, the narrative strength comes with a caveat. I really wish this story was told in a real Persona gameplay setting. Imagine if some of the Persona games got sequels like some of the more successful Final Fantasy games did. My biggest gripe with the Persona series after playing 3, 4, and now 5 is that the series hasn't evolved in the 18 years since Persona 3's release in 2006. It's all been minor gameplay and system changes that hasn't really shook the formula. I feel like that gripe with be completely null and void if they just made sequels to the existing games. I'd love a real sequel to Persona 4 with those characters. It wouldn't have to shake the system and I'd still enjoy it. I liked the narrative of P5 Strikers enough to where I REALLY WISH that we got to play this as a legitimate Persona 5 sequel like FFX2. This gameplay didn't keep me engaged. The fights never really scaled to me. They were all either super easy or downright impossible and I didn't feel a lot of middle ground. The sidequest request system is absolutely horrendous and made traversing each prison a nightmare. Having to go back to a specific spot without a marker is not a big ask but it's not that type of game mate. Truth be told I'd have really just preferred about any other gameplay style other than this. I will say I had a Frank Reynolds Moment (the "I get it" It's always sunny meme) at the end of the first Prison where Joker and the Phantom Thieves all have a sick anime intro to one of the final battles. I'm not big on anime but have slowly been trying to acquire a taste and that scene was absolutely awesome. Sometime style beats substance and that was one of those time.
I wish I enjoyed this more but that's on me. Definitely don't try and finish games that you're not enjoying. It just makes the experience that much worse, but what's here is great. Definitely a lot of fun but very repetitive. There's no social system to make the sections outside of the metaverse fun or memorable. So the only thing you are working towards is the story and since when have JRPG narratives been anything to write home about?
I'm just yapping at this point so I'll end it with this. If you're a fan of Persona 5 for its gameplay and systems and want to play this because you want more of that. Skip this. If you are a fan of the characters and want to experience more of them then give it a shot. The new characters it adds and the villains you face off against are all pretty decent. Just give the game a watch on youtube if you think the gameplay isn't your style.
I picked this up as a Persona fan and not a Musou fan and so while enlightening as my first foray into this genre of game I don't think it's for me.
The thing I enjoyed the most about this game (other than the kick-ass soundtrack that added numerous bangers to my lifting playlist) was that it continued the story of Persona 5. It is a full-fledged sequel at least in a narrative sense. It shows the characters age up a little and lets us spend another summer with a group of people that feel almost like a family to the player after so many hours spent together. However, the narrative strength comes with a caveat. I really wish this story was told in a real Persona gameplay setting. Imagine if some of the Persona games got sequels like some of the more successful Final Fantasy games did. My biggest gripe with the Persona series after playing 3, 4, and now 5 is that the series hasn't evolved in the 18 years since Persona 3's release in 2006. It's all been minor gameplay and system changes that hasn't really shook the formula. I feel like that gripe with be completely null and void if they just made sequels to the existing games. I'd love a real sequel to Persona 4 with those characters. It wouldn't have to shake the system and I'd still enjoy it. I liked the narrative of P5 Strikers enough to where I REALLY WISH that we got to play this as a legitimate Persona 5 sequel like FFX2. This gameplay didn't keep me engaged. The fights never really scaled to me. They were all either super easy or downright impossible and I didn't feel a lot of middle ground. The sidequest request system is absolutely horrendous and made traversing each prison a nightmare. Having to go back to a specific spot without a marker is not a big ask but it's not that type of game mate. Truth be told I'd have really just preferred about any other gameplay style other than this. I will say I had a Frank Reynolds Moment (the "I get it" It's always sunny meme) at the end of the first Prison where Joker and the Phantom Thieves all have a sick anime intro to one of the final battles. I'm not big on anime but have slowly been trying to acquire a taste and that scene was absolutely awesome. Sometime style beats substance and that was one of those time.
I wish I enjoyed this more but that's on me. Definitely don't try and finish games that you're not enjoying. It just makes the experience that much worse, but what's here is great. Definitely a lot of fun but very repetitive. There's no social system to make the sections outside of the metaverse fun or memorable. So the only thing you are working towards is the story and since when have JRPG narratives been anything to write home about?
I'm just yapping at this point so I'll end it with this. If you're a fan of Persona 5 for its gameplay and systems and want to play this because you want more of that. Skip this. If you are a fan of the characters and want to experience more of them then give it a shot. The new characters it adds and the villains you face off against are all pretty decent. Just give the game a watch on youtube if you think the gameplay isn't your style.
JRPG Journal Entry 7 - Nier: Automata - The End of Yorha Edition
This is certainly a game of lofty ambitions. It requires at least three playthroughs and a not so small amount of patience. I'll go playthrough by playthrough and discuss strengths and weaknesses. I feel like just spouting my feelings any other way would do this game a disservice.
Playthrough 1/A
Starting with playthrough 1 and this game's opening level. It might be this game's biggest strength. It's opening level is certainly one of the best openings to any video game I've ever played. Going from Mobile Suit gundam, to DMC lite combat, to sidecroller camera, to bullet hell shooter, to fighting a building sized boss and then using its arm as a sword to kill it is INSANE. It immediately sold me on this game. While the game will hit some bumps in pacing and story, I will always remember how batshit insane this opening was. It was like playing an E3 demo that actually lived up to the hype. The story and the characters might be a little much at times but I would be lying if I said I didn't love 2B and 9S's relationship Especially with the added context of the other endings. It makes their relationship so tragic. But seeing 2B lower her guard and let herself get more and more attached to 9S is really sweet and really well developed. The way the game makes you learn and understand the robots is really well done as well. It draws parallels to humanity. The robots have an amusement park and they're pacifists. They just want to make people smile and have a good time. Same with Pascal's Village. They present you with the idea that robots are evil and the game opens showing you the threat of these creatures only to slowly peel back the tape on the idea that there is more to these machines than meets the eye. The side quest where you have to escort a scared machine back to her sister in the desert was really sweet. 9S is trying to comfort this machine even if he doesn't even believe that they can have feelings or thoughts of their own. Yet he still does the right thing and so does 2B. It makes the player question if Yorha is really the right side of things and without discussing spoilers it brings up the right questions in the right ways that makes this game memorable and well thought out.
A weakness of this playthrough would be some off pacing and weak sidequests. Some of them are just typical go here kill that type of quests. There are certainly diamonds in the rough and some awesome sidequests that push this game's themes and ideas but they are too far and few between. The ending of the first playthrough is very sudden and you have to playthrough the same story but as 9S and depending on how thorough you are it can take just as long to reach the second ending to get any resolution.
Playthrough 2/B
The opening sucks. To be fair I ran out of healing items at the end of my first playthrough and I really liked how tense that made the last battle but since I opened up the second playthrough without a way to heal myself I threw myself against a wall for about an hour before I just decided to play on easy until this segment was done. But I don't think it was fun either way. This is easily the lowpoint of the whole game. You get to playthrough the same story but you get to talk to 9S's pod and operator. His operator is boring and his pod is just a female robot voice. So nothing much is different except instead of having a secondary weapon that can use heavy attacks you have a hacking ability. This is kind of a strength and a weakness because having the option to just halve the healthbar of any enemy, other than bosses, whenever you wanted is a big buff but the minigame gets very boring very fast. I felt like half my 9S playthrough was spent playing the bullet-hell hacking minigame. So 9S's gameplay is just an instant win hack button, and mashing the attack button and mashing the easiest dodge mechanic in any action game. I didn't rush this playthrough because I wanted to be fair but I didn't find any of the 9S exclusive quests or sideactivities very interesting or memorable. And it's the same ending mostly. The only real change is getting these lore scenes intersperced throughout the playthrough at significant moments in the story that give context to the wider world. It is fine but it grinds the playthrough to a halt and it's already slow since everything you're doing you've already done before. I didn't give the first playthrough a grade but I'd give it like an 8 or 8.5/10 but this one would get like a 5.5 or 6/10.
Playthrough 3/C
This is the meat and potatoes right here. All the same gameplay gripes are here. By the time I was done with this playthrough my hand was hurting because of the amount of holding down the autotarget button, holding down the shoot button, and mashing the attack and dodge button. The combat got really lame by the end of the game and a lot of this playthrough has you go through several waves of enemies in-between story beats. So While playthrough C has to best story beats and a really strong opening and ending sequences, it over-relies on a gameplay loop that got really stale after 30 hours. Playing as A2 was really fun. Cherami Liegh is just the queen of voice acting because I knew it was her the second she spoke. I think giving her devil trigger (lol) was enough of a gameplay difference between her and 2B that I wasn't bothered. I will say I think 2A's story is much more engaging than 9S's. 2A goes through a similar arc that 2B and 9S went through learning how not all machines are evil and the Pascal bits in 2A's story are deeply moving and emotional. I would say that climbing the towers as 9S were snoozefests but only the first one was both boring and easy. The latter 2 were infuriating and unengaging. The second one was just a hackathon that got progressively more and more annoying. And the last one is just another wave of enemies per floor that gets bullshit when you meet the kamikazi drones for the first time. I forgot to mention that this game doesn't have an auto save and the last playthrough doesn't give you a lot of options to save between missions. So I died in a bullshit way and was thrown back like 20 minutes due to some poor saving opportunities. The end was really good. This was my last playthrough but I did do the cursory look over the other route D and E endings to give me the full context. The choice at the end of route c is really nice story wise but I will say that it feels too black and white. The game makes this decision feel too binary. You're with 9S the entire game and only spend the final third with A2 yet one is clearly the good ending and one is clearly the bad one. Like I didn't feel as conflicted as I should. I will say the game probably wasn't trying to make you feel conflicted but if a choice's consequences are THAT clear they should be.
I have no real transition to talk about this but the game has some MAJOR glitches on the nintendo switch. I would heavily recomment playing this on any other system. It has nothing to do with the way the game runs. I was shocked at how well the game ran and how stable the frame rate was. This game runs better than Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom does and they're designed by Nintendo! The big problem with this game is that it will often get stuck in loading screens. If the Yorha boot menu does not show up during a loading screen then you're game is just frozen. This happened upwards of ten times in my playthrough. In a game where there are no autosaves, this glitch is game breaking. I got into the habit of saving every chance I had and would save every time I fast traveled because I was afraid the game would just stop working. So when the game works it works beautifully, but every time you enter a loading screen you're playing a roulette game that has like a 1/10 chance of screwing you over. I also encountered a funny glitch where I broke the camera free of the side-scroller effect and saw the other half of the world I wasn't supposed to but that's my bad and not the game's. The game also froze the first time it went into the hacking minigame mid combat. So I'd recommend staying in handheld mode for some of the more technically demanding parts of this game.
So other than some weak gameplay that struggles to carry the game to the end and some bumpy pacing the game is pretty excellent. I don't think its some masterpiece. The theme is battered over the player's head too much for it to carry itself as far as people think it goes. It certainly was a great time and one worth playing but I certainly don't have the love for this game that most of the internet does. The technical state of the game is really crappy because it works 99.9% of the time but the one time it freezes you could lose god knows how many hours depending on how often you save. Still, it's a damn good time and one I'd recommend anyone's way who loves high concept sci-fi and action games
This is certainly a game of lofty ambitions. It requires at least three playthroughs and a not so small amount of patience. I'll go playthrough by playthrough and discuss strengths and weaknesses. I feel like just spouting my feelings any other way would do this game a disservice.
Playthrough 1/A
Starting with playthrough 1 and this game's opening level. It might be this game's biggest strength. It's opening level is certainly one of the best openings to any video game I've ever played. Going from Mobile Suit gundam, to DMC lite combat, to sidecroller camera, to bullet hell shooter, to fighting a building sized boss and then using its arm as a sword to kill it is INSANE. It immediately sold me on this game. While the game will hit some bumps in pacing and story, I will always remember how batshit insane this opening was. It was like playing an E3 demo that actually lived up to the hype. The story and the characters might be a little much at times but I would be lying if I said I didn't love 2B and 9S's relationship Especially with the added context of the other endings. It makes their relationship so tragic. But seeing 2B lower her guard and let herself get more and more attached to 9S is really sweet and really well developed. The way the game makes you learn and understand the robots is really well done as well. It draws parallels to humanity. The robots have an amusement park and they're pacifists. They just want to make people smile and have a good time. Same with Pascal's Village. They present you with the idea that robots are evil and the game opens showing you the threat of these creatures only to slowly peel back the tape on the idea that there is more to these machines than meets the eye. The side quest where you have to escort a scared machine back to her sister in the desert was really sweet. 9S is trying to comfort this machine even if he doesn't even believe that they can have feelings or thoughts of their own. Yet he still does the right thing and so does 2B. It makes the player question if Yorha is really the right side of things and without discussing spoilers it brings up the right questions in the right ways that makes this game memorable and well thought out.
A weakness of this playthrough would be some off pacing and weak sidequests. Some of them are just typical go here kill that type of quests. There are certainly diamonds in the rough and some awesome sidequests that push this game's themes and ideas but they are too far and few between. The ending of the first playthrough is very sudden and you have to playthrough the same story but as 9S and depending on how thorough you are it can take just as long to reach the second ending to get any resolution.
Playthrough 2/B
The opening sucks. To be fair I ran out of healing items at the end of my first playthrough and I really liked how tense that made the last battle but since I opened up the second playthrough without a way to heal myself I threw myself against a wall for about an hour before I just decided to play on easy until this segment was done. But I don't think it was fun either way. This is easily the lowpoint of the whole game. You get to playthrough the same story but you get to talk to 9S's pod and operator. His operator is boring and his pod is just a female robot voice. So nothing much is different except instead of having a secondary weapon that can use heavy attacks you have a hacking ability. This is kind of a strength and a weakness because having the option to just halve the healthbar of any enemy, other than bosses, whenever you wanted is a big buff but the minigame gets very boring very fast. I felt like half my 9S playthrough was spent playing the bullet-hell hacking minigame. So 9S's gameplay is just an instant win hack button, and mashing the attack button and mashing the easiest dodge mechanic in any action game. I didn't rush this playthrough because I wanted to be fair but I didn't find any of the 9S exclusive quests or sideactivities very interesting or memorable. And it's the same ending mostly. The only real change is getting these lore scenes intersperced throughout the playthrough at significant moments in the story that give context to the wider world. It is fine but it grinds the playthrough to a halt and it's already slow since everything you're doing you've already done before. I didn't give the first playthrough a grade but I'd give it like an 8 or 8.5/10 but this one would get like a 5.5 or 6/10.
Playthrough 3/C
This is the meat and potatoes right here. All the same gameplay gripes are here. By the time I was done with this playthrough my hand was hurting because of the amount of holding down the autotarget button, holding down the shoot button, and mashing the attack and dodge button. The combat got really lame by the end of the game and a lot of this playthrough has you go through several waves of enemies in-between story beats. So While playthrough C has to best story beats and a really strong opening and ending sequences, it over-relies on a gameplay loop that got really stale after 30 hours. Playing as A2 was really fun. Cherami Liegh is just the queen of voice acting because I knew it was her the second she spoke. I think giving her devil trigger (lol) was enough of a gameplay difference between her and 2B that I wasn't bothered. I will say I think 2A's story is much more engaging than 9S's. 2A goes through a similar arc that 2B and 9S went through learning how not all machines are evil and the Pascal bits in 2A's story are deeply moving and emotional. I would say that climbing the towers as 9S were snoozefests but only the first one was both boring and easy. The latter 2 were infuriating and unengaging. The second one was just a hackathon that got progressively more and more annoying. And the last one is just another wave of enemies per floor that gets bullshit when you meet the kamikazi drones for the first time. I forgot to mention that this game doesn't have an auto save and the last playthrough doesn't give you a lot of options to save between missions. So I died in a bullshit way and was thrown back like 20 minutes due to some poor saving opportunities. The end was really good. This was my last playthrough but I did do the cursory look over the other route D and E endings to give me the full context. The choice at the end of route c is really nice story wise but I will say that it feels too black and white. The game makes this decision feel too binary. You're with 9S the entire game and only spend the final third with A2 yet one is clearly the good ending and one is clearly the bad one. Like I didn't feel as conflicted as I should. I will say the game probably wasn't trying to make you feel conflicted but if a choice's consequences are THAT clear they should be.
I have no real transition to talk about this but the game has some MAJOR glitches on the nintendo switch. I would heavily recomment playing this on any other system. It has nothing to do with the way the game runs. I was shocked at how well the game ran and how stable the frame rate was. This game runs better than Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom does and they're designed by Nintendo! The big problem with this game is that it will often get stuck in loading screens. If the Yorha boot menu does not show up during a loading screen then you're game is just frozen. This happened upwards of ten times in my playthrough. In a game where there are no autosaves, this glitch is game breaking. I got into the habit of saving every chance I had and would save every time I fast traveled because I was afraid the game would just stop working. So when the game works it works beautifully, but every time you enter a loading screen you're playing a roulette game that has like a 1/10 chance of screwing you over. I also encountered a funny glitch where I broke the camera free of the side-scroller effect and saw the other half of the world I wasn't supposed to but that's my bad and not the game's. The game also froze the first time it went into the hacking minigame mid combat. So I'd recommend staying in handheld mode for some of the more technically demanding parts of this game.
So other than some weak gameplay that struggles to carry the game to the end and some bumpy pacing the game is pretty excellent. I don't think its some masterpiece. The theme is battered over the player's head too much for it to carry itself as far as people think it goes. It certainly was a great time and one worth playing but I certainly don't have the love for this game that most of the internet does. The technical state of the game is really crappy because it works 99.9% of the time but the one time it freezes you could lose god knows how many hours depending on how often you save. Still, it's a damn good time and one I'd recommend anyone's way who loves high concept sci-fi and action games
2019
JRPG Journal Entry 6 - Persona 5 Royal
Persona 5 Royal is now the third Persona game I've played in the last 4 months. Just for some quick calculations I finished P4 after 64 hours, I finished Persona 3 Reload after 67 hours, and because I started Persona 5 Royal on spring break I took it down in 110 Hours over 16 days. So that's roughly 241 hours give a few hours for save reloads and whatnot.
This game is massive. I went into the Persona series knowing the games were long but I've always was able to shave some time off of the estimated hours to completion. With Persona 5 I added 10 hours to the average completion time. This game, uncharacteristically I should add, made me take my time. Don't get me wrong, A LOT of the same criticisms I have with Persona 3 and 4 are here and this game has absolutely the worst section/arc/level in the ENTIRE series. But it also has some of its highest moments and it is all tied together with an excellent score to boot too.
So let's start with the positives. Gameplay has never been better. The introduction of Baton Pass makes the turnbased combat feel that much more fluid and reactive. The "one-more" system that Atlus uses for the Persona series has never been better. Persona 3 reload feels like a step down gameplay-wise. The introduction of actual level design when it comes to the Palaces are this game's biggest upgrade. Persona has always been a dungeon crawling/sim jrpg, and the dungeon crawling aspects have sorely lacked in the design department. With Persona 5 we get 8 completely designed and explorable Palaces/Dungeons that are actually make the game fun to play when not in combat.
As someone who was in high school in 2017 when this game came out, I GENUINELY feel like the dialogue in this game, as cringey and unbearable it is at time, is actually quite good and realistic. Trust me, I definitely sounded like Ryuji, Futaba and Yusuke at several points in my High School development.
Props to the localization team that did a really good job. While the story certainly showcases separate societal values and jokes, the localization feels really good. The characters in this game (minus Morgana and sadly Haru) are all incredibly well developed and voice acted. (I feel the need to highlight Cheramie Leigh as Makoto. You might remember that name from Female V in Cyberpunk. She is stellar in this game and made Makoto literally my favorite character probably in this series.) I still do like the cast of Persona 4 more due to everyone in that game getting the proper amount of time to have an arc. But it isn't as wide a gap between casts. I love them both in their own ways. SEES was cool and all but I need some actual friendships to actually have the power of friendship overcome the God of Control or whatever other God the main cast has to defeat. The side cast is also really stellar. Sojiro being the absolute best non-team member character in the whole series. When he called Futaba his daughter and Futaba called him "Dad" I literally teared up. An easy tug on the heartstrings? Maybe, but it still works and I loved Sojiro.
I have a bit of a hot take I think but I absolutely think that the protagonist of Persona 5 is the only protagonist with any sense of a character or a character arc. Ren Amamiya has a backstory that helps to define his character before we are given control of him. So if the player does wish to roleplay we have an idea of who Ren is before the game starts. Comparing him to Makoto and Yu is a no brainer. And I'm only talking about the games. Not the Anime adaptations. Makoto is given a backstory about dead parents and an MP3 player and Yu is only said to have transferred and is living with his uncle in Inaba. Throughout the game, depending on how you play both of these characters do not have any arc or defining moment that defines their character outside of being the blank protagonist. Ren is still a boring character compared to everyone else in the game but he is still hands down to best Persona protagonist.
Alright, time for the negatives. This game overstays its welcome. This is a problem that I didn't feel with Persona 4. It started to creep into view in the last ten hours I spent in Persona 3 Reload. Even thought I did enjoy my time spent in this game, the second the Royale ending starts after the original ending I felt that the game was going on too long. The DLC Royal ending bits are added into the game much better than Marie and her story is done in Persona 4 Golden. I will admit I didn't even know Kasumi was DLC until I saw her Social Link ended at 5 and I was like "Wait, is she DLC?" I did some research and with only about a day to spare I got Maruki to rank 10 and unlocked the third semester. The thing is, once I learned that Kasumi and Maruki were DLC it felt painfully out of place whenever the game would grind to a halt to put them into a part of the story they originally had no place in. So put yourself in my shoes, I know that there is another palace after Shido's, I know it is Maruki's, but the game is ending. I just defeated Yaldaboath and the game is ending. This winding down of the story I thought was excellent. It got to the point where I wish we saw some end credits and had the option to start the Maruki DLC in the main menu. But that's just a gripe I guess, BUT it is one that hampered my enjoyment of the last 30 hours.
That was a really roundabout way to say the game has pacing issues but I never promised this would be a quick one.
Onto the absolute worst part of any Persona game I've played so far, Okumura's Palace. The palace itself I didn't hate. It was the worst Palace but I still enjoyed it more than any randomly generated dungeon. The real problem with it is the Shadow Okumura Boss fight. This is the single worst boss fight I've experienced in any JRPG thus far. The Palace overstays its welcome and then you are forced to fight like 6 waves of robots that you HAVE TO KILL IN 2 TURNS otherwise he spawns more in and you can't hurt him. I shouldn't have to research a boss in order to fight it. I died like 5 times before I even got far enough to understand the fight. I took a frustration break and researched the fight in between my 5th and 6th attempt. This was a difficulty spike that was completely artificial and unfair in a game that I think really did a good job balancing the difficulty. Persona 4 really had me thinking strategically otherwise every boss would hand your ass to you. Persona 3 Reload was a breeze and I honestly regret playing that on Normal difficulty. Other then this boss fight I think every other boss is well balanced and a fun challenge to overcome. I'm a little dissappointed that Shadow Maruki really only has a one phase fight but I understood that fight almost from the get go so I had a lot of fun with it.
The most annoying main cast member in all of Persona is Morgana. I absolutely hated him and would refuse to put him in my party until I found it absolutely necessary. The next game really needs to chill it with the animal/mascot figure that is absurdly attracted to one of the underage girl cast members. I know I said I didn't really like Haru and I do feel sad about that one. She is a late addition to the cast and one that has absolutely no fan fair. She joined and that was that. I didn't even know she had a social link until I saw she was on the roof. She never sent a text like the other characters and so I didn't even level her up once until after the Shido fight. And still, her social link is pretty lame. A lot of lame coffee talk and poor rich girl shenanigans. She is really nice and calm. She is a pleasure to see interact with the team but she just did almost nothing for me character-wise. Everyone else on the cast, including Akechi, I really liked.
I'm so tired right now I'm not even sure that this review makes sense but I literally couldn't sleep if I didn't type out these thoughts. So this is an excellent game. Cost per hour is insane. I spent $30 bucks on this and I got 3 times that back in hours per dollar. That is pretty commendable seeing as a good majority of this game is really good to really solid.
However, this game is weighed down by it's annoying characters like Morgana and Mishima, and actually might be too long. After 90 hours I was REALLY feeling the length and I had another 20 hours left.
Either way, this was still an excellent time and a game that I won't soon forget. I really am glad to have experienced this series and while I think this might objectively be the best of the series, my heart will always belong to Persona 4.
I can officially say that Persona 6 is one of my most anticipated games of all time and one I am glad to have learned to love. Hopefully my next review will finally be for Nier Automata. Thank you for reading,
The score is excellent as ever, but I have a caveat. Persona 4's score has me whistling and singing to myself all throughout the house. Persona 3's OST had me working out to Mass Destruction and lip singing "Disturbing the Peace..." The music here is still incredible, but I wasn't feeling them as much as the other 2 scores. This one was hyped up too. I heard some of this music before I'd even played a Persona game. The only real earworm/GOAT song I feel is on the track is "River in a Desert." That one might be the best Persona boss theme out of all the one's I've played.
Persona 5 Royal is now the third Persona game I've played in the last 4 months. Just for some quick calculations I finished P4 after 64 hours, I finished Persona 3 Reload after 67 hours, and because I started Persona 5 Royal on spring break I took it down in 110 Hours over 16 days. So that's roughly 241 hours give a few hours for save reloads and whatnot.
This game is massive. I went into the Persona series knowing the games were long but I've always was able to shave some time off of the estimated hours to completion. With Persona 5 I added 10 hours to the average completion time. This game, uncharacteristically I should add, made me take my time. Don't get me wrong, A LOT of the same criticisms I have with Persona 3 and 4 are here and this game has absolutely the worst section/arc/level in the ENTIRE series. But it also has some of its highest moments and it is all tied together with an excellent score to boot too.
So let's start with the positives. Gameplay has never been better. The introduction of Baton Pass makes the turnbased combat feel that much more fluid and reactive. The "one-more" system that Atlus uses for the Persona series has never been better. Persona 3 reload feels like a step down gameplay-wise. The introduction of actual level design when it comes to the Palaces are this game's biggest upgrade. Persona has always been a dungeon crawling/sim jrpg, and the dungeon crawling aspects have sorely lacked in the design department. With Persona 5 we get 8 completely designed and explorable Palaces/Dungeons that are actually make the game fun to play when not in combat.
As someone who was in high school in 2017 when this game came out, I GENUINELY feel like the dialogue in this game, as cringey and unbearable it is at time, is actually quite good and realistic. Trust me, I definitely sounded like Ryuji, Futaba and Yusuke at several points in my High School development.
Props to the localization team that did a really good job. While the story certainly showcases separate societal values and jokes, the localization feels really good. The characters in this game (minus Morgana and sadly Haru) are all incredibly well developed and voice acted. (I feel the need to highlight Cheramie Leigh as Makoto. You might remember that name from Female V in Cyberpunk. She is stellar in this game and made Makoto literally my favorite character probably in this series.) I still do like the cast of Persona 4 more due to everyone in that game getting the proper amount of time to have an arc. But it isn't as wide a gap between casts. I love them both in their own ways. SEES was cool and all but I need some actual friendships to actually have the power of friendship overcome the God of Control or whatever other God the main cast has to defeat. The side cast is also really stellar. Sojiro being the absolute best non-team member character in the whole series. When he called Futaba his daughter and Futaba called him "Dad" I literally teared up. An easy tug on the heartstrings? Maybe, but it still works and I loved Sojiro.
I have a bit of a hot take I think but I absolutely think that the protagonist of Persona 5 is the only protagonist with any sense of a character or a character arc. Ren Amamiya has a backstory that helps to define his character before we are given control of him. So if the player does wish to roleplay we have an idea of who Ren is before the game starts. Comparing him to Makoto and Yu is a no brainer. And I'm only talking about the games. Not the Anime adaptations. Makoto is given a backstory about dead parents and an MP3 player and Yu is only said to have transferred and is living with his uncle in Inaba. Throughout the game, depending on how you play both of these characters do not have any arc or defining moment that defines their character outside of being the blank protagonist. Ren is still a boring character compared to everyone else in the game but he is still hands down to best Persona protagonist.
Alright, time for the negatives. This game overstays its welcome. This is a problem that I didn't feel with Persona 4. It started to creep into view in the last ten hours I spent in Persona 3 Reload. Even thought I did enjoy my time spent in this game, the second the Royale ending starts after the original ending I felt that the game was going on too long. The DLC Royal ending bits are added into the game much better than Marie and her story is done in Persona 4 Golden. I will admit I didn't even know Kasumi was DLC until I saw her Social Link ended at 5 and I was like "Wait, is she DLC?" I did some research and with only about a day to spare I got Maruki to rank 10 and unlocked the third semester. The thing is, once I learned that Kasumi and Maruki were DLC it felt painfully out of place whenever the game would grind to a halt to put them into a part of the story they originally had no place in. So put yourself in my shoes, I know that there is another palace after Shido's, I know it is Maruki's, but the game is ending. I just defeated Yaldaboath and the game is ending. This winding down of the story I thought was excellent. It got to the point where I wish we saw some end credits and had the option to start the Maruki DLC in the main menu. But that's just a gripe I guess, BUT it is one that hampered my enjoyment of the last 30 hours.
That was a really roundabout way to say the game has pacing issues but I never promised this would be a quick one.
Onto the absolute worst part of any Persona game I've played so far, Okumura's Palace. The palace itself I didn't hate. It was the worst Palace but I still enjoyed it more than any randomly generated dungeon. The real problem with it is the Shadow Okumura Boss fight. This is the single worst boss fight I've experienced in any JRPG thus far. The Palace overstays its welcome and then you are forced to fight like 6 waves of robots that you HAVE TO KILL IN 2 TURNS otherwise he spawns more in and you can't hurt him. I shouldn't have to research a boss in order to fight it. I died like 5 times before I even got far enough to understand the fight. I took a frustration break and researched the fight in between my 5th and 6th attempt. This was a difficulty spike that was completely artificial and unfair in a game that I think really did a good job balancing the difficulty. Persona 4 really had me thinking strategically otherwise every boss would hand your ass to you. Persona 3 Reload was a breeze and I honestly regret playing that on Normal difficulty. Other then this boss fight I think every other boss is well balanced and a fun challenge to overcome. I'm a little dissappointed that Shadow Maruki really only has a one phase fight but I understood that fight almost from the get go so I had a lot of fun with it.
The most annoying main cast member in all of Persona is Morgana. I absolutely hated him and would refuse to put him in my party until I found it absolutely necessary. The next game really needs to chill it with the animal/mascot figure that is absurdly attracted to one of the underage girl cast members. I know I said I didn't really like Haru and I do feel sad about that one. She is a late addition to the cast and one that has absolutely no fan fair. She joined and that was that. I didn't even know she had a social link until I saw she was on the roof. She never sent a text like the other characters and so I didn't even level her up once until after the Shido fight. And still, her social link is pretty lame. A lot of lame coffee talk and poor rich girl shenanigans. She is really nice and calm. She is a pleasure to see interact with the team but she just did almost nothing for me character-wise. Everyone else on the cast, including Akechi, I really liked.
I'm so tired right now I'm not even sure that this review makes sense but I literally couldn't sleep if I didn't type out these thoughts. So this is an excellent game. Cost per hour is insane. I spent $30 bucks on this and I got 3 times that back in hours per dollar. That is pretty commendable seeing as a good majority of this game is really good to really solid.
However, this game is weighed down by it's annoying characters like Morgana and Mishima, and actually might be too long. After 90 hours I was REALLY feeling the length and I had another 20 hours left.
Either way, this was still an excellent time and a game that I won't soon forget. I really am glad to have experienced this series and while I think this might objectively be the best of the series, my heart will always belong to Persona 4.
I can officially say that Persona 6 is one of my most anticipated games of all time and one I am glad to have learned to love. Hopefully my next review will finally be for Nier Automata. Thank you for reading,
The score is excellent as ever, but I have a caveat. Persona 4's score has me whistling and singing to myself all throughout the house. Persona 3's OST had me working out to Mass Destruction and lip singing "Disturbing the Peace..." The music here is still incredible, but I wasn't feeling them as much as the other 2 scores. This one was hyped up too. I heard some of this music before I'd even played a Persona game. The only real earworm/GOAT song I feel is on the track is "River in a Desert." That one might be the best Persona boss theme out of all the one's I've played.
I didn't replay the game but I am slowly but surely chipping away at that Platinum, gearing up for a Hard Mode run.
I just was reminiscing to early December last year when the Game Awards show was going on and Loren Allred performed "No Promises to Keep." I hadn't even thought about playing FFVII Remake let alone knowing I was gonna play Rebirth.
I think I had just started Persona 4 and was really taking my time with that.
I picked up Remake because I knew I was gonna get laid off from my job and I knew if I subscribed to Playstation Plus I'd be able to play a bunch of games through the subscription.
So I'm broke, I no longer have a job, I'm taking 5 classes and drowing in school work, barely able to make ends meet and for my birthday I received Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Truth be told, I'd have probably had to have waited to play this game if I didn't get it for my birthday. I tear through this game like it's my job, like it's my major. 20 days later I complete the game and I cannot stop thinking about it. Shortly after beating it I write my review and put it in my top 5.
A week later I can't stop listening to the soundtrack. I was just at a Comic Con and I spent what little money I have on posters from Final Fantasy VII. I'm constantly listening to what is probably now my favorite video game score of all time.
I'm brought back to "No Promises to Keep."
Some random song I heard while eagerly awaiting Baldur's Gate 3 to win GotY.
3 months later whenever I hear the song I am brought to tears. Remembering the time I sunk, the game I experienced, the characters that made this experience as unforgettable as it was.
I'm not even that excited for part 3, I'm just stuck on Rebirth. It's an experience I won't forget. One that I CANNOT forget. I haven't been this moved by a game since The Last of Us Part II. I cried when Joel died but I was able to move passed that. I was able to remember what that game made ne feel and it became a life changing experience. I am having a similar life changing experience with Rebirth. I don't know exactly why I am feeling this way. Maybe it's just how quickly I wrote off this whole Genre. This whole world of games. Persona 4 and Rebirth and two of the best games I EVER played. And I wouldn't dare even imagine playing them mere months ago.
I am literally applying to jobs right now not to pay for classes, but to be able to see the Final Fantasy Orchestra in August when they play in LA.
I'm not the same person I was and it is because of these games.
When people say that "games aren't art" or that "it's still a burgeoning medium" I am appalled. 10 years ago we got The Last of Us. 6 years prior to that we had Bioshock. Before that Half-Life 2, in 97 we had the original Final Fantasy VII. Games have always been art. Since their inception they have been the most superior way to experience characters and stories. If I watched this game I'd have hated it. But playing it, experiencing it, watching as the fourth wall itself dissappears and you are left feeling like you are in a whole new world is something only video games have ever done. This is one such game that reminds me of that, that inspires my creativity and gives me hope for the future of this medium.
Gaming is not dead. It has never been more alive
I just was reminiscing to early December last year when the Game Awards show was going on and Loren Allred performed "No Promises to Keep." I hadn't even thought about playing FFVII Remake let alone knowing I was gonna play Rebirth.
I think I had just started Persona 4 and was really taking my time with that.
I picked up Remake because I knew I was gonna get laid off from my job and I knew if I subscribed to Playstation Plus I'd be able to play a bunch of games through the subscription.
So I'm broke, I no longer have a job, I'm taking 5 classes and drowing in school work, barely able to make ends meet and for my birthday I received Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Truth be told, I'd have probably had to have waited to play this game if I didn't get it for my birthday. I tear through this game like it's my job, like it's my major. 20 days later I complete the game and I cannot stop thinking about it. Shortly after beating it I write my review and put it in my top 5.
A week later I can't stop listening to the soundtrack. I was just at a Comic Con and I spent what little money I have on posters from Final Fantasy VII. I'm constantly listening to what is probably now my favorite video game score of all time.
I'm brought back to "No Promises to Keep."
Some random song I heard while eagerly awaiting Baldur's Gate 3 to win GotY.
3 months later whenever I hear the song I am brought to tears. Remembering the time I sunk, the game I experienced, the characters that made this experience as unforgettable as it was.
I'm not even that excited for part 3, I'm just stuck on Rebirth. It's an experience I won't forget. One that I CANNOT forget. I haven't been this moved by a game since The Last of Us Part II. I cried when Joel died but I was able to move passed that. I was able to remember what that game made ne feel and it became a life changing experience. I am having a similar life changing experience with Rebirth. I don't know exactly why I am feeling this way. Maybe it's just how quickly I wrote off this whole Genre. This whole world of games. Persona 4 and Rebirth and two of the best games I EVER played. And I wouldn't dare even imagine playing them mere months ago.
I am literally applying to jobs right now not to pay for classes, but to be able to see the Final Fantasy Orchestra in August when they play in LA.
I'm not the same person I was and it is because of these games.
When people say that "games aren't art" or that "it's still a burgeoning medium" I am appalled. 10 years ago we got The Last of Us. 6 years prior to that we had Bioshock. Before that Half-Life 2, in 97 we had the original Final Fantasy VII. Games have always been art. Since their inception they have been the most superior way to experience characters and stories. If I watched this game I'd have hated it. But playing it, experiencing it, watching as the fourth wall itself dissappears and you are left feeling like you are in a whole new world is something only video games have ever done. This is one such game that reminds me of that, that inspires my creativity and gives me hope for the future of this medium.
Gaming is not dead. It has never been more alive
This review contains spoilers
JRPG Journal Entry 5 - Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
When I went into Final Fantasy VII Remake as my first entry into my JRPG journey, I came in hesitant. By the time I beat that game 41 in-game hours later I was curious enough to know more so I purchased Crisis Core and went in a little less skeptical. By the time I finished Crisis Core I was a little peeved. It made the ending of Remake kinda suck. But nevertheless, a state of play later and I was sold. This game looked like it was gonna be a monster, grand in scale and in scope. And it was. I could have easily spent another 15-20 hours trying to 100% the game and complete all the minigames but I was riding a high. I knew if this game overstayed its welcome, and it severely does at certain points, that I would sour on it and that was the last thing I wanted to happen. So, what makes this game a 5/5 for me.
Call me crazy but it's the characters. The story is wibly wobly timey wimey BULLSHIT! But it's not about the destination, it is about the Journey and games, specifically JRPGs, are all about the journey. Trust me, all you need to do is be open to where the characters will take you and you will be transcended as I was. Each character, even Cait Sith who I really don't care for, has a specific mission that focuses on them. They'll be the main character for a while and these moments are really welcome in a game where the main character is one of the stoic strong, silent types that are kind of not interesting until the plot demands it. Tifa's mission when she leads the girls on a rescue mission into the Mako Reactor in Gongaga is STELLAR and I really loved taking a break from the main story to take a minecart ride with Yuffie, Tifa, and Barret. There was one character above all that really stole the scene for me at least.
Aerith is now in my top 5 favorite video game characters of all time. I've been gaming my whole life and even though I never played a Final Fantasy game before Remake, I knew one thing; Aerith dies. We see at the end of Remake that fate can be altered and from that moment I thought, "Hey, maybe this character that I've kinda grown to love could survive." Rebirth really tries to give you hope on that front. In the back of my mind though, I knew that I was getting more and more attached to a dead character. So when it happened and Cloud blocked the attack only for a literal reality check to strike and kill her anyway, I cried my eyes out. She was my date in both of the Golden Saucer chapters. I really fell hard for her and the more I grew to care, I knew it would hurt more when the game inevitably tore my heart out. The game really wore me down. She has my favorite bits in Remake because of how calming and chill those first few chapters with her and Cloud are. Here it is the amount of time spent with her that really made me attached. 96 hours is not a short amount of time. Counting the 41 hours I spent in Remake and the 14 I spent on Crisis Core then my journey 151-hour journey has been spent being worn down by the charm of this world and its characters.
I feel like I enjoyed this game as much as I did because I played it in succession. Remake, Crisis Core, and now Rebirth. I saw the hours tick away and I saw myself become a massive fan over the course of those 151 hours.
That being said this game has a lot of things wrong with it, chief amongst them is the incessant amount of minigames. There's a new minigame every couple hours and just when you think they can't add anymore you have to wrangle a chicken with a line of feed and you're left wondering just why the hell are you playing this game anymore? The open world helps to fix a lot of the pacing issues I had with the last game. It being more linear the sections felt break neck and never left a lot of room to breathe. Here you get to progress the story at your own pace, or if you have the open world game sickness like I do then whenever all the map objectives are complete. That's a two pronged fix because yes, being able to progress at your own pace is really nice, but the open world and it's myriad of side activities can get really boring really fast. It is really no better than a Ubisoft open world. I swear once I got to lower Correl in the desert with the buggy I got PTSD flashbacks to Mass Effect Andromeda. Other than the open world not being interesting I would say that some of the story missions do suck. I really hated playing as Cait Sith in Nibel and having to do a story mission as Red XIII with his new SUPER ANNOYING voice was really stupid.
That being said, the game feels like it earns those filler moments. Like when they go to Costa Del Sol and have a beach episode. Both times when you go on a date at the Golden Saucer is really fun. The Loveless performance was awesome. Got S-tier my first try. When Aerith performed her song I was smiling and laughing the whole time. After 151 hours, these characters feel like family. So I am more than happy to spend some time doing silly things with them, especially if it makes Aerith happy.
As much as I love Aerith, I do think there is one more thing about this game I love more. And that is its Score. This is hands down one of the best Video Game OSTs I've ever heard. There are so many different tracks that play for small things and they are almost all incredible. Tifa's theme might be my actual favorite piece from any video game ever. It is so beautiful. I would kill to see that live Orchestra Tour I know they are doing later this year. Hearing that main theme live would bring me to tears! I am so sad that I'll have to wait 4 more years if not more, to see the conclusion. I might just have to play the original Final Fantasy VII to fill the void I am feeling right now. I'd be shocked if whatever comes next can even compete with this game though. I seriously think this will be the best of the three games. I'm down to be wrong but we shall see.
I've wasted enough of your time, thank you for reading and now I gotta go feel the empty void in my heart because that post-game depression is hitting really hard with this one.
EDIT: Yeah I think this might be a top five for me
When I went into Final Fantasy VII Remake as my first entry into my JRPG journey, I came in hesitant. By the time I beat that game 41 in-game hours later I was curious enough to know more so I purchased Crisis Core and went in a little less skeptical. By the time I finished Crisis Core I was a little peeved. It made the ending of Remake kinda suck. But nevertheless, a state of play later and I was sold. This game looked like it was gonna be a monster, grand in scale and in scope. And it was. I could have easily spent another 15-20 hours trying to 100% the game and complete all the minigames but I was riding a high. I knew if this game overstayed its welcome, and it severely does at certain points, that I would sour on it and that was the last thing I wanted to happen. So, what makes this game a 5/5 for me.
Call me crazy but it's the characters. The story is wibly wobly timey wimey BULLSHIT! But it's not about the destination, it is about the Journey and games, specifically JRPGs, are all about the journey. Trust me, all you need to do is be open to where the characters will take you and you will be transcended as I was. Each character, even Cait Sith who I really don't care for, has a specific mission that focuses on them. They'll be the main character for a while and these moments are really welcome in a game where the main character is one of the stoic strong, silent types that are kind of not interesting until the plot demands it. Tifa's mission when she leads the girls on a rescue mission into the Mako Reactor in Gongaga is STELLAR and I really loved taking a break from the main story to take a minecart ride with Yuffie, Tifa, and Barret. There was one character above all that really stole the scene for me at least.
Aerith is now in my top 5 favorite video game characters of all time. I've been gaming my whole life and even though I never played a Final Fantasy game before Remake, I knew one thing; Aerith dies. We see at the end of Remake that fate can be altered and from that moment I thought, "Hey, maybe this character that I've kinda grown to love could survive." Rebirth really tries to give you hope on that front. In the back of my mind though, I knew that I was getting more and more attached to a dead character. So when it happened and Cloud blocked the attack only for a literal reality check to strike and kill her anyway, I cried my eyes out. She was my date in both of the Golden Saucer chapters. I really fell hard for her and the more I grew to care, I knew it would hurt more when the game inevitably tore my heart out. The game really wore me down. She has my favorite bits in Remake because of how calming and chill those first few chapters with her and Cloud are. Here it is the amount of time spent with her that really made me attached. 96 hours is not a short amount of time. Counting the 41 hours I spent in Remake and the 14 I spent on Crisis Core then my journey 151-hour journey has been spent being worn down by the charm of this world and its characters.
I feel like I enjoyed this game as much as I did because I played it in succession. Remake, Crisis Core, and now Rebirth. I saw the hours tick away and I saw myself become a massive fan over the course of those 151 hours.
That being said this game has a lot of things wrong with it, chief amongst them is the incessant amount of minigames. There's a new minigame every couple hours and just when you think they can't add anymore you have to wrangle a chicken with a line of feed and you're left wondering just why the hell are you playing this game anymore? The open world helps to fix a lot of the pacing issues I had with the last game. It being more linear the sections felt break neck and never left a lot of room to breathe. Here you get to progress the story at your own pace, or if you have the open world game sickness like I do then whenever all the map objectives are complete. That's a two pronged fix because yes, being able to progress at your own pace is really nice, but the open world and it's myriad of side activities can get really boring really fast. It is really no better than a Ubisoft open world. I swear once I got to lower Correl in the desert with the buggy I got PTSD flashbacks to Mass Effect Andromeda. Other than the open world not being interesting I would say that some of the story missions do suck. I really hated playing as Cait Sith in Nibel and having to do a story mission as Red XIII with his new SUPER ANNOYING voice was really stupid.
That being said, the game feels like it earns those filler moments. Like when they go to Costa Del Sol and have a beach episode. Both times when you go on a date at the Golden Saucer is really fun. The Loveless performance was awesome. Got S-tier my first try. When Aerith performed her song I was smiling and laughing the whole time. After 151 hours, these characters feel like family. So I am more than happy to spend some time doing silly things with them, especially if it makes Aerith happy.
As much as I love Aerith, I do think there is one more thing about this game I love more. And that is its Score. This is hands down one of the best Video Game OSTs I've ever heard. There are so many different tracks that play for small things and they are almost all incredible. Tifa's theme might be my actual favorite piece from any video game ever. It is so beautiful. I would kill to see that live Orchestra Tour I know they are doing later this year. Hearing that main theme live would bring me to tears! I am so sad that I'll have to wait 4 more years if not more, to see the conclusion. I might just have to play the original Final Fantasy VII to fill the void I am feeling right now. I'd be shocked if whatever comes next can even compete with this game though. I seriously think this will be the best of the three games. I'm down to be wrong but we shall see.
I've wasted enough of your time, thank you for reading and now I gotta go feel the empty void in my heart because that post-game depression is hitting really hard with this one.
EDIT: Yeah I think this might be a top five for me
2000
This is the game I remember watching my brothers play before I knew what a video game was.
I've had the "Heavenly Village" theme stuck in my head for 20 years. It wouldn't be until quite a few years later I would learn that Akira Toriyama worked on the world of Dragon Quest. So his untimely death has got me reminiscing a little bit.
While I personally only played this game for a few hours maybe two or three times tops it left an everlasting imprint on my psyche.
Something about this game never left me.
Something about this game has bugged me for 20 years.
Maybe Toriyama's untimely passing really hit me.
But I started out this year literally saying "I want to play JRPG's" and everytime I picked one up I would remember Dragon Quest VII on my PS1.
This feeling I have, if not coincidental, then fate then
I will play this game to completion
I will finally finish what I started when I was 3 years old and couldn't even read.
I told my brother that Toriyama had a hand in Dragon Quest and it literally made him cry. It's making me kinda tear up right now so maybe I oughta finally get on with it.
I started a new game just to check if the copy still worked and when that menu booted up. When I saw that opening cutscene. When I heard Heavenly Village again for the first time in almost 20 years. I HAVE to play this game. Not for 22 year old James. But for that little kid who watched his brothers play this game over and over again only to forget to save or lose the memory card or pick up a new game. I owe it to me, to them, and to Toriyama to see this through.
This is literally the game I haven't stopped thinking about for 20 years. It has been there for as long as I remember and I'm not even sure we ever got to see combat since that's apparently at the 2 to 3 hour mark.
I've had the "Heavenly Village" theme stuck in my head for 20 years. It wouldn't be until quite a few years later I would learn that Akira Toriyama worked on the world of Dragon Quest. So his untimely death has got me reminiscing a little bit.
While I personally only played this game for a few hours maybe two or three times tops it left an everlasting imprint on my psyche.
Something about this game never left me.
Something about this game has bugged me for 20 years.
Maybe Toriyama's untimely passing really hit me.
But I started out this year literally saying "I want to play JRPG's" and everytime I picked one up I would remember Dragon Quest VII on my PS1.
This feeling I have, if not coincidental, then fate then
I will play this game to completion
I will finally finish what I started when I was 3 years old and couldn't even read.
I told my brother that Toriyama had a hand in Dragon Quest and it literally made him cry. It's making me kinda tear up right now so maybe I oughta finally get on with it.
I started a new game just to check if the copy still worked and when that menu booted up. When I saw that opening cutscene. When I heard Heavenly Village again for the first time in almost 20 years. I HAVE to play this game. Not for 22 year old James. But for that little kid who watched his brothers play this game over and over again only to forget to save or lose the memory card or pick up a new game. I owe it to me, to them, and to Toriyama to see this through.
This is literally the game I haven't stopped thinking about for 20 years. It has been there for as long as I remember and I'm not even sure we ever got to see combat since that's apparently at the 2 to 3 hour mark.
2024
JRPG Journal Entry 4 - Persona 3 Reload
This might be the first JRPG I've played where I had 1.) my ear to the ground of the fandom. Meaning I went in knowing that this is many Persona fans' favorite Persona game and that created certain expectations. 2.) I also went in with some experience in this genre now. While not a veteran, after 3 AAA RPG's and 1 PSP game I feel pretty seasoned.
So this game lived up to a lot of the hype, but in a few key areas it lacked for me. The gameplay and the animation are PEAK! This game oozes style and, from what I've seen, this is largely due to the amount of style that ATLUS brought to P5 which I will definitely play by the end of the year.
I enjoyed most of the dungeon variants for the most part. I forgot the name but the colorful small dungeon variant really sucked. Also, the whole dungeon just being Tartarus is kinda lame. It got really repetitive after the first two variants. Especially because after unlocking Theurgies the turn-based combat does not evolve at all. So after about 20 hours the game just stays the same. I'm not knocking the gameplay loop because I put 67 hours in this game in 12 days. Rougly 6 hours a day grinding when I should be studying for midterms. (I'm getting FFVII Rebirth for my birthday so I did speed through this). In my defense, If I did not rush through this I would have probably dropped it. The last about 10 hours I was so done with the gameplay loop. That isn't that big of a gripe because it is a true gem of a game that can remain interesting and entertaining for 30 hours let alone 67.
The characters I found either really boring or really annoying. The main cast of P4 were all a bunch of idiots but they all felt like good friends and they all grew on you by the end. Here, they are all brought about by circumstance and they don't entirely feel connected in a realistic way. This is very much more shonen anime than slice of life anime. Forgive me if I got those terms wrong but I'm just using my frame of reference. At first I disliked Junpei but after Chidori died I felt bad for him and then he never left my party. My main party consisted of Yukari, Junpei, and Mitsuru. I LOVED Aragaki (Gameplay-wise) but the game had to kill him! That part felt really artificially sad. Maybe if he stuck around for more than one month it would have been more impactful but it was more annoying because I leveled him up and then he didn't show up when I had to fight the boss so I had to use an underleveled Koromaru. Speaking of, Koromaru is awesome but just because he's a dog. At least the pet/animal of the group this time DOES NOT SPEAK OR SEXUALLY HARASS WOMEN!!!! I"M LOOKING AT YOU TEDDIE!
Koromaru rocks. Ken Amada is pretty weird. It is weird enough having highschoolers fight gods but a 6th grader is a bit much. My "anime suspension of disbelief" can only go so far and Ken really stretches it. Also, by the time he joined the team they really battered down the message of "EVERYONE ON THE TEAM LOST THEIR PARENT'S" and it really grinded me. EVEN KOROMARU LOST HIS FREAKING DAD!!! Like I get it. Loss and what not.
There was not a lot of filler which I assume people like about P3 but I found the filler of P4 really helpful in developing the characters and the friendship that is supposed to be there. For instance, I have to be the most charming guy in school to hang out with Yukari even though by the time her Social Link is available Makoto would have been friends with her for about 4 months. That's like the first two layers of Tartarus! The social links in this game do not feel like friendships. They feel like transactions. The only one's I really liked were Fuuka's, Mitsuru's and Aigus'. Aigus's was actually like incredible too. I was actually surprised by the writing there.
The story felt a little too grand for a bunch of high schoolers. My only frame of reference is Persona 4 and I know they also stop the end of the world but that plot doesn't even come up until the, most likely for first time players, last battle. Here we are thrusted into the Dark Hour, blow our heads open with a nerf gun to summon a Persona and by the end of my 67 hours I summoned the embodiment of Death and God. It gets a little out of hand. Teenagers die! I'm not saying that can't happen, but it feels really disingenuous at times. And then they write around it by saying "Oh they took the suppressant drugs so they were gonna die anyway." I have a lot of gripes with the story and the way they handle death is probably my biggest gripe. Aragaki dies suddenly, but in a way that gives his death little weight other than character development for a muscle-headed idiot (Akihiko) and a 6th Grader (Amada). By the time he dies the player either used him once and thought nothing of it, was annoyed by his attitude, or liked him for some reason I cannot grasp. Do not even get me started on Makoto's (the player character's) death. I had to look that shit up because the game had to end on a "dark and serious moment since this came out in 2006 and all games had to be dark and serious." He gave his life to save humanity but it is not clear at all that that is what we did. We stood up to evil using the power of friendship, not for one second did I think that the player character would die as a result of this. I do not like this for one major reason; THE PLAYER CHARACTER DOES NOT HAVE AN ARC! This isn't those anime movies where Makoto becomes less and less apathetic. This is a game where the player (me) gets to play Makoto the same way. Be nice and congenial. Help out your friends and people at school. The death feels unearned. Especially since I was over-leveled and did not struggle at all with Nyx's boss fight. So yeah the game ends on a sour note for me but I did save probably the best positive of this game for last.
THE MUSIC
It's a bop. Nyx's boss theme is stellar. Using the Velvet Room theme is incredible. A lot of people say that this is the best Persona Soundtrack and they might be objectively right. I still personally love P4's tracks more, this soundtrack has a lot more gravitas. The smaller tracks feel earned and the boss themes are similarly fought for. Music is never bad in Persona and here it certainly is the best thing I got out of a 67 hour Persona 3 run.
I will definitely play and complete Persona 5 by the end of the year but I think I've had my fill of turn-based JRPG's for a little while. Like I said, I'm getting FFVII Rebirth in Friday and I still have to make my way through Nier Autamata in the background on my switch. I think after 63 hours of Persona 4 Golden and 67 hours of Persona 3 Reload I have earned the real-time action genre.
This might be the first JRPG I've played where I had 1.) my ear to the ground of the fandom. Meaning I went in knowing that this is many Persona fans' favorite Persona game and that created certain expectations. 2.) I also went in with some experience in this genre now. While not a veteran, after 3 AAA RPG's and 1 PSP game I feel pretty seasoned.
So this game lived up to a lot of the hype, but in a few key areas it lacked for me. The gameplay and the animation are PEAK! This game oozes style and, from what I've seen, this is largely due to the amount of style that ATLUS brought to P5 which I will definitely play by the end of the year.
I enjoyed most of the dungeon variants for the most part. I forgot the name but the colorful small dungeon variant really sucked. Also, the whole dungeon just being Tartarus is kinda lame. It got really repetitive after the first two variants. Especially because after unlocking Theurgies the turn-based combat does not evolve at all. So after about 20 hours the game just stays the same. I'm not knocking the gameplay loop because I put 67 hours in this game in 12 days. Rougly 6 hours a day grinding when I should be studying for midterms. (I'm getting FFVII Rebirth for my birthday so I did speed through this). In my defense, If I did not rush through this I would have probably dropped it. The last about 10 hours I was so done with the gameplay loop. That isn't that big of a gripe because it is a true gem of a game that can remain interesting and entertaining for 30 hours let alone 67.
The characters I found either really boring or really annoying. The main cast of P4 were all a bunch of idiots but they all felt like good friends and they all grew on you by the end. Here, they are all brought about by circumstance and they don't entirely feel connected in a realistic way. This is very much more shonen anime than slice of life anime. Forgive me if I got those terms wrong but I'm just using my frame of reference. At first I disliked Junpei but after Chidori died I felt bad for him and then he never left my party. My main party consisted of Yukari, Junpei, and Mitsuru. I LOVED Aragaki (Gameplay-wise) but the game had to kill him! That part felt really artificially sad. Maybe if he stuck around for more than one month it would have been more impactful but it was more annoying because I leveled him up and then he didn't show up when I had to fight the boss so I had to use an underleveled Koromaru. Speaking of, Koromaru is awesome but just because he's a dog. At least the pet/animal of the group this time DOES NOT SPEAK OR SEXUALLY HARASS WOMEN!!!! I"M LOOKING AT YOU TEDDIE!
Koromaru rocks. Ken Amada is pretty weird. It is weird enough having highschoolers fight gods but a 6th grader is a bit much. My "anime suspension of disbelief" can only go so far and Ken really stretches it. Also, by the time he joined the team they really battered down the message of "EVERYONE ON THE TEAM LOST THEIR PARENT'S" and it really grinded me. EVEN KOROMARU LOST HIS FREAKING DAD!!! Like I get it. Loss and what not.
There was not a lot of filler which I assume people like about P3 but I found the filler of P4 really helpful in developing the characters and the friendship that is supposed to be there. For instance, I have to be the most charming guy in school to hang out with Yukari even though by the time her Social Link is available Makoto would have been friends with her for about 4 months. That's like the first two layers of Tartarus! The social links in this game do not feel like friendships. They feel like transactions. The only one's I really liked were Fuuka's, Mitsuru's and Aigus'. Aigus's was actually like incredible too. I was actually surprised by the writing there.
The story felt a little too grand for a bunch of high schoolers. My only frame of reference is Persona 4 and I know they also stop the end of the world but that plot doesn't even come up until the, most likely for first time players, last battle. Here we are thrusted into the Dark Hour, blow our heads open with a nerf gun to summon a Persona and by the end of my 67 hours I summoned the embodiment of Death and God. It gets a little out of hand. Teenagers die! I'm not saying that can't happen, but it feels really disingenuous at times. And then they write around it by saying "Oh they took the suppressant drugs so they were gonna die anyway." I have a lot of gripes with the story and the way they handle death is probably my biggest gripe. Aragaki dies suddenly, but in a way that gives his death little weight other than character development for a muscle-headed idiot (Akihiko) and a 6th Grader (Amada). By the time he dies the player either used him once and thought nothing of it, was annoyed by his attitude, or liked him for some reason I cannot grasp. Do not even get me started on Makoto's (the player character's) death. I had to look that shit up because the game had to end on a "dark and serious moment since this came out in 2006 and all games had to be dark and serious." He gave his life to save humanity but it is not clear at all that that is what we did. We stood up to evil using the power of friendship, not for one second did I think that the player character would die as a result of this. I do not like this for one major reason; THE PLAYER CHARACTER DOES NOT HAVE AN ARC! This isn't those anime movies where Makoto becomes less and less apathetic. This is a game where the player (me) gets to play Makoto the same way. Be nice and congenial. Help out your friends and people at school. The death feels unearned. Especially since I was over-leveled and did not struggle at all with Nyx's boss fight. So yeah the game ends on a sour note for me but I did save probably the best positive of this game for last.
THE MUSIC
It's a bop. Nyx's boss theme is stellar. Using the Velvet Room theme is incredible. A lot of people say that this is the best Persona Soundtrack and they might be objectively right. I still personally love P4's tracks more, this soundtrack has a lot more gravitas. The smaller tracks feel earned and the boss themes are similarly fought for. Music is never bad in Persona and here it certainly is the best thing I got out of a 67 hour Persona 3 run.
I will definitely play and complete Persona 5 by the end of the year but I think I've had my fill of turn-based JRPG's for a little while. Like I said, I'm getting FFVII Rebirth in Friday and I still have to make my way through Nier Autamata in the background on my switch. I think after 63 hours of Persona 4 Golden and 67 hours of Persona 3 Reload I have earned the real-time action genre.
2020
JRPG Journal Entry 3 - Persona 4 Golden
While technically my first JRPG that I've played, I did pick up FFVII Remake and Crisis Core Reunion and finished those while still working my way through this game's GARGANTUAN story.
I remember buying this game because of a sale that the Nintendo Store had while I was looking for games to play on a system I bought specifically to play Tears of the Kingdom.
My switch literally laid dormant from August 3rd (The release date of Baldur's Gate 3) until I purchased Vampire Survivors for the console in november.
SO I decided when I purchased Persona 4 Golden to break out of my shell and really give these JRPG's a shot. I picked up and put this game down a bunch, but once I finished FFVII and Crisis Core I had an insatiable itch. One that was more than satisfied by Persona 4. I beelined this game. I think I had 32 hours on Friday of last week. Today is tuesday, just 4 days later and I completed a 63 hour run. I put 31 hours in 4 days. I feel like I've been transported to when I first played games like The Witcher 3, Fallout New Vegas, or Horizon: Zero Dawn. I never thought I'd fall in love with a game like this again. Every few years I find myself playing a game that reminds me why I still play games in the first play. It reminded me why I love this medium and why I do what I do.
So let's get into why I love this game
This game broke me down slowly but surely.
It's gameplay and systems are so simple yet so addicting and it always had me coming back to this game. I would put it down for weeks at a time but I'd find a lull, put my switch on and continue right from where I left off and still enjoy myself just as much.
The best thing about this game is the Social System that helps develop the incredible characters that this game introduces (other than Teddie). It had me get close to the game's cast, use specific Persona types to get closer to certain characters, and really just developed the story of these characters way further than I thought they would. It made literally every character it introduces memorable. Not even just the Main characters but the side one's as well. Ayane, Ai, and Sayoko are all well developed. You can become closer with Dojima and Nanako. Whenever this game has you interact with Nanako my heart melted. They did such a good job writing an innocent little girl that you have to become a surrogate older brother to. Seriously great writing on Atlus's part. I don't tend to find Anime/JRPG narratives well executed but I think I want to correct that to Shonen anime. The one's with heroes fighting villains that speak their mind and have horrible dialog. My favorite anime is really the slice of life stuff. Things like "A silent Voice" and "Liz and the Blue Bird" which tell very human stories and will add a layer of complexity through the medium of Anime itself. Persona 4 is that slice of life high school perspective twisted with the JRPG mechanics that make it gamey and actiony. It makes me really appreciate anime more and made me give the Persona 4 Animation series a shot (which I am really enjoying right now). Also the way this game tackles subjects like masculinity and sexuality and even gender identity is surprisingly well done. They really only explore these ideas with two characters. Naoto and Kanji but for the most part they are done well. I know that these parts may not have gone far enough to explore these themes properly but 1.) for the time this game came out and 2.) the fact that a Japanese studio even tried this storyline out is surprising enough and worth congratulating. It is a great way to develop these characters and not have everyone be your best friend or lover
Let's talk about some of the negatives this game has. This game really had me do some research into common Japanese values as some of the writing choices really had me scratching my head. Why did we need not one but two pervert teachers? Why was there a nurse that kind of sexually harasses and maybe assaults the main character? Yosuke is a cool character but he has these really immature, perverted tendencies that makes his character unbearable at some points. Teddie is just like this THE ENTIRE GAME and it really rubbed me the wrong way. Some of these scenes are played for laughs but a lot of them are uncomfortable. I'm 22 and I DO NOT want to be playing a game where some high school guys try to peak over a fence to get a look at naked high school girls. This game is rated M. It has a really mature story and themes. If they want to add that stuff in then I say make it take place in college (even still, I don't want these character to try and look at nude girls unconsentually) But then that adds in a whole layer of complexity. The narrative wouldn't really work the same but I think it would be an easy enough rewrite. Anyways, once you get passed all that you get a wonderful game and a wonderful experience. Also, I didn't even want to romance Rise as I already romanced Yukiko but the Japanese think that comforting a crying friend and hugging them is getting to second base or something. I've comforted a friend who cried and hugged them in real life. It is what friends do, it doesn't mean I love them. Jeez. That's just a specific thing I particularly disliked.
Definitely worth the time and the money. I think I spent like 12 bucks on this and got 63 hours worth. I cannot wait to play Persona 3 reload and Persona 5 royal.
Something I would love to see in a Persona game I know that none of them have (except P3P) is a female protagonist. I feel like that would be such a cool thing to do. I mean, it's 2024 and Persona 3 reload took that point out. I hope it is a DLC or something because I think going through these games as a girl would be really insightful. It'd definitely give some people an eye into the way that dudes treat women in this series. Something that really like disgusted me playing this game and not in a "this game is horrible" way but in a "jeez that could have been so much more dark" is when Rise and Yukiko get drunk from "Non-alcoholic drinks." I have seen people get really confused and wonder why they get drunk off of "ambience." I remember getting through that point of the game and laughing it off only to have that scene pop into my head and realize that Rise and Yukiko got roofied. A lot of people didn't read between the lines on that one. The two characters that got the most sexual harassment in the entire game got "drunk" from drinking virgin drinks? Atlus is wild for that ngl. That one is hard to play off but I think since they are there with friends and they are taken care of it is alright.
Jeez, the way I talk about this game I make it sound horrible, but it is not. Really, It is an incredible time. Even if some of the aspects did not age well it tells a great story with great characters and themes. Other than certain specific characters like Teddie and Marie (Marie you can definitely tell was not in the base game at all and I mean that in a derogatory way) who are not really interesting the game does an incredible job writing and developing these characters and advancing a story that is rather heavy in its themes and ideas.
TLDR: If you like Pokemon, first of all why? Second of all, this is that but actually with interesting design and gameplay with a good story. (Didn't see that coming did you?)
While technically my first JRPG that I've played, I did pick up FFVII Remake and Crisis Core Reunion and finished those while still working my way through this game's GARGANTUAN story.
I remember buying this game because of a sale that the Nintendo Store had while I was looking for games to play on a system I bought specifically to play Tears of the Kingdom.
My switch literally laid dormant from August 3rd (The release date of Baldur's Gate 3) until I purchased Vampire Survivors for the console in november.
SO I decided when I purchased Persona 4 Golden to break out of my shell and really give these JRPG's a shot. I picked up and put this game down a bunch, but once I finished FFVII and Crisis Core I had an insatiable itch. One that was more than satisfied by Persona 4. I beelined this game. I think I had 32 hours on Friday of last week. Today is tuesday, just 4 days later and I completed a 63 hour run. I put 31 hours in 4 days. I feel like I've been transported to when I first played games like The Witcher 3, Fallout New Vegas, or Horizon: Zero Dawn. I never thought I'd fall in love with a game like this again. Every few years I find myself playing a game that reminds me why I still play games in the first play. It reminded me why I love this medium and why I do what I do.
So let's get into why I love this game
This game broke me down slowly but surely.
It's gameplay and systems are so simple yet so addicting and it always had me coming back to this game. I would put it down for weeks at a time but I'd find a lull, put my switch on and continue right from where I left off and still enjoy myself just as much.
The best thing about this game is the Social System that helps develop the incredible characters that this game introduces (other than Teddie). It had me get close to the game's cast, use specific Persona types to get closer to certain characters, and really just developed the story of these characters way further than I thought they would. It made literally every character it introduces memorable. Not even just the Main characters but the side one's as well. Ayane, Ai, and Sayoko are all well developed. You can become closer with Dojima and Nanako. Whenever this game has you interact with Nanako my heart melted. They did such a good job writing an innocent little girl that you have to become a surrogate older brother to. Seriously great writing on Atlus's part. I don't tend to find Anime/JRPG narratives well executed but I think I want to correct that to Shonen anime. The one's with heroes fighting villains that speak their mind and have horrible dialog. My favorite anime is really the slice of life stuff. Things like "A silent Voice" and "Liz and the Blue Bird" which tell very human stories and will add a layer of complexity through the medium of Anime itself. Persona 4 is that slice of life high school perspective twisted with the JRPG mechanics that make it gamey and actiony. It makes me really appreciate anime more and made me give the Persona 4 Animation series a shot (which I am really enjoying right now). Also the way this game tackles subjects like masculinity and sexuality and even gender identity is surprisingly well done. They really only explore these ideas with two characters. Naoto and Kanji but for the most part they are done well. I know that these parts may not have gone far enough to explore these themes properly but 1.) for the time this game came out and 2.) the fact that a Japanese studio even tried this storyline out is surprising enough and worth congratulating. It is a great way to develop these characters and not have everyone be your best friend or lover
Let's talk about some of the negatives this game has. This game really had me do some research into common Japanese values as some of the writing choices really had me scratching my head. Why did we need not one but two pervert teachers? Why was there a nurse that kind of sexually harasses and maybe assaults the main character? Yosuke is a cool character but he has these really immature, perverted tendencies that makes his character unbearable at some points. Teddie is just like this THE ENTIRE GAME and it really rubbed me the wrong way. Some of these scenes are played for laughs but a lot of them are uncomfortable. I'm 22 and I DO NOT want to be playing a game where some high school guys try to peak over a fence to get a look at naked high school girls. This game is rated M. It has a really mature story and themes. If they want to add that stuff in then I say make it take place in college (even still, I don't want these character to try and look at nude girls unconsentually) But then that adds in a whole layer of complexity. The narrative wouldn't really work the same but I think it would be an easy enough rewrite. Anyways, once you get passed all that you get a wonderful game and a wonderful experience. Also, I didn't even want to romance Rise as I already romanced Yukiko but the Japanese think that comforting a crying friend and hugging them is getting to second base or something. I've comforted a friend who cried and hugged them in real life. It is what friends do, it doesn't mean I love them. Jeez. That's just a specific thing I particularly disliked.
Definitely worth the time and the money. I think I spent like 12 bucks on this and got 63 hours worth. I cannot wait to play Persona 3 reload and Persona 5 royal.
Something I would love to see in a Persona game I know that none of them have (except P3P) is a female protagonist. I feel like that would be such a cool thing to do. I mean, it's 2024 and Persona 3 reload took that point out. I hope it is a DLC or something because I think going through these games as a girl would be really insightful. It'd definitely give some people an eye into the way that dudes treat women in this series. Something that really like disgusted me playing this game and not in a "this game is horrible" way but in a "jeez that could have been so much more dark" is when Rise and Yukiko get drunk from "Non-alcoholic drinks." I have seen people get really confused and wonder why they get drunk off of "ambience." I remember getting through that point of the game and laughing it off only to have that scene pop into my head and realize that Rise and Yukiko got roofied. A lot of people didn't read between the lines on that one. The two characters that got the most sexual harassment in the entire game got "drunk" from drinking virgin drinks? Atlus is wild for that ngl. That one is hard to play off but I think since they are there with friends and they are taken care of it is alright.
Jeez, the way I talk about this game I make it sound horrible, but it is not. Really, It is an incredible time. Even if some of the aspects did not age well it tells a great story with great characters and themes. Other than certain specific characters like Teddie and Marie (Marie you can definitely tell was not in the base game at all and I mean that in a derogatory way) who are not really interesting the game does an incredible job writing and developing these characters and advancing a story that is rather heavy in its themes and ideas.
TLDR: If you like Pokemon, first of all why? Second of all, this is that but actually with interesting design and gameplay with a good story. (Didn't see that coming did you?)
I have tried to complete this game since its initial release in 2020. It never captured me. I tried so hard to get into it; played it for about 10 hours and dropped it. Bought the director's cut on PS5 when that came out and told myself I was gonna beat it. Played for 20 hours and dropped. Picked it up a few months later and got to Act III and dropped it again. Two Years later I have finally completed the game and I gotta say
This game's narrative is really unintersting.
Jin's dilemma
Stay honorable and watch the Mongols destroy Tsushima and Japan or become the Ghost and defeat the Mongols at all costs.
I HATE that Samurai Honor cliche
It is something that I cannot empathize with.
Lord Shimura is an idiot and a horrible person. I never related to this struggle. Honor or save the lives of your people. It is a no brainer. So watching Jin Struggle over a game that has the most repetitive missions with really forgettable characters really never stuck with me.
That being said there are still some incredible things in this game.
The absolute best thing about this game is its visual fidelity.
By no means is it the most graphically powerful game, but it is the most beautiful game on playstation. I can only imagine what the sequel will look like.
There are two characters in this game that are very interesting and made me want to play the game more to see their arcs unfold. Yuna who is Jin's partner and unspoken love interest. The scene where they share a drink while waiting for the Mongols is the best scene in the game and it is not even close.
The second character was Tomoe. Lord Ishikawa's prodigy. We are introduced to her as a character in the last 3 hours of the game and she is more memorable than pretty much the entire cast.
The ending of the game is EXCELLENT.
I mean it
I HATED a lot of this game but the ending is perfect.
The Khan's boss fight not being a duel is such a smart idea. Allowing Jin to overcome him with the Ghost tools instead of just his samurai skills is really really great. And don't even get me started on the Shimura Duel. The most visually striking boss fight in any game and one that has a lot of heart in it even if I really disliked Shimura up to this point.
So, in conclusion; I found this game to be a lot of style over substance. If this game was like a $40 15 hour game then I'd be less harsh but a lot of this game is very repetitive and the story is just not up to snuff with the other Playstation Exclusives
Having this originally release a month after The Last of Us Part II did this no favor in my eyes. I went from the best narrative in gaming to a standard one and It made me lose interest so quickly.
I know I'm in the minority of this but hey, I finally beat it. I can finally officially give my thoughts and have some grounding to it.
This game's narrative is really unintersting.
Jin's dilemma
Stay honorable and watch the Mongols destroy Tsushima and Japan or become the Ghost and defeat the Mongols at all costs.
I HATE that Samurai Honor cliche
It is something that I cannot empathize with.
Lord Shimura is an idiot and a horrible person. I never related to this struggle. Honor or save the lives of your people. It is a no brainer. So watching Jin Struggle over a game that has the most repetitive missions with really forgettable characters really never stuck with me.
That being said there are still some incredible things in this game.
The absolute best thing about this game is its visual fidelity.
By no means is it the most graphically powerful game, but it is the most beautiful game on playstation. I can only imagine what the sequel will look like.
There are two characters in this game that are very interesting and made me want to play the game more to see their arcs unfold. Yuna who is Jin's partner and unspoken love interest. The scene where they share a drink while waiting for the Mongols is the best scene in the game and it is not even close.
The second character was Tomoe. Lord Ishikawa's prodigy. We are introduced to her as a character in the last 3 hours of the game and she is more memorable than pretty much the entire cast.
The ending of the game is EXCELLENT.
I mean it
I HATED a lot of this game but the ending is perfect.
The Khan's boss fight not being a duel is such a smart idea. Allowing Jin to overcome him with the Ghost tools instead of just his samurai skills is really really great. And don't even get me started on the Shimura Duel. The most visually striking boss fight in any game and one that has a lot of heart in it even if I really disliked Shimura up to this point.
So, in conclusion; I found this game to be a lot of style over substance. If this game was like a $40 15 hour game then I'd be less harsh but a lot of this game is very repetitive and the story is just not up to snuff with the other Playstation Exclusives
Having this originally release a month after The Last of Us Part II did this no favor in my eyes. I went from the best narrative in gaming to a standard one and It made me lose interest so quickly.
I know I'm in the minority of this but hey, I finally beat it. I can finally officially give my thoughts and have some grounding to it.
JRPG Journal Entry 2 - Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII - Reunion
Much like the title, this game is a mouthful, overlong, stuffed with meaningless sidequests and missions that do little than advance the already meager gameplay.
IS this a good game?
By most definitions. No
It is however, a game far greater than the sum of its parts.
Crisis Core is at its best when Zack is being a hero and living up to his dream. His interactions with Angeal, Sephiroth, Cloud, and Aerith range from good to incredible.
Oh my god. Aerith's "HELLOOOO" never fails to make me smile. While she was certainly more eye candy and less of a character in this game, my love of her transcends timelines and I have to say that as long as Aerith is in the game I'll probably enjoy it somewhat.
The gameplay loop is so integrally tied to its combat.
So every sidequest and main quest ultimately leads to a combat encounter. That wouldn't be bad but the combat in this game struggles to remain entertaining after the first few chapters
Once the enemies start to do more damage and Zack starts being able to kill enemies in a few magic spells does the combat lose its focus. The game encourages you to complete as many of its 'Missions' that you can do. Completing these missions will make Zack stronger in levels and equipment. Giving him more powerful materia to use higher level magic and attacks. This loop makes trivializes the game. By the time I was in chapter 4 I was so overpowered I was killing everyone in a few hits. Not to mention the Missions get very stale after the first few times you complete them. Me being me, I had this compulsion to complete as many of them as I could and it almost ruined the game for me. I literally had to stop doing them altogether because I wouldn't be able to finish the game.
One thing I will say is if you are a completionist of any kind, play this on the switch where Trophies do not exist. I went in wanting that Platinum and I gave up because I would hate this game by the end.
ALSO, GENESIS NEEDS TO SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I skipped his final monologue cutscene before his bossfight because I could not take him anymore.
That 4 year reveal though was really tight. Good shit.
Rockstar really asked Square if they could copy their homework but just change it a little bit. Zack's death is really well done. I lasted as long as I possibly could but could not come out alive. As good as that ending is, it makes the fact that he survives? kind of at the end of remake. That kind of ruins a perfect ending if you ask me. It also kind of destroys any kind of reason why Cloud does what he does in FFVII. I played this game because I wanted to know more about Zack and while I learned what I wanted to, I also have more gripes with VII Remakes storylines. I think it's timelines bullcrap is really confusing and I do not think it is any good for a newcomer like me.
Well, that's all I got until Rebirth
I'm not gonna lie. I thought I would never play these games. I had a flashback to 2016 when the FFXV Platinum Demo came out. I was 14 and I remember that being the first time I ever picked up a FF game. I was not sold to be honest. But to think I've come around so hard on this series is really interesting to me. I really want to play more of these games. I have FFXV due to playstation plus and I am really looking for to getting around to FFXVI when I'm done with XV. I really turned around on this genre of games and I'm very happy I did so. FFVII Rebirth legit looks like one of the best games that will be released. That state of play made it look like Remake was a tech demo. Me from 8 years ago would shudder at the thought of playing let alone beating a JRPG. Hell, me a month ago would think I'm a little crazy for doing this. I'm happy to say that I've changed. I'm drinking the kool-aid and I'm here for. Can't wait for Rebirth.
Much like the title, this game is a mouthful, overlong, stuffed with meaningless sidequests and missions that do little than advance the already meager gameplay.
IS this a good game?
By most definitions. No
It is however, a game far greater than the sum of its parts.
Crisis Core is at its best when Zack is being a hero and living up to his dream. His interactions with Angeal, Sephiroth, Cloud, and Aerith range from good to incredible.
Oh my god. Aerith's "HELLOOOO" never fails to make me smile. While she was certainly more eye candy and less of a character in this game, my love of her transcends timelines and I have to say that as long as Aerith is in the game I'll probably enjoy it somewhat.
The gameplay loop is so integrally tied to its combat.
So every sidequest and main quest ultimately leads to a combat encounter. That wouldn't be bad but the combat in this game struggles to remain entertaining after the first few chapters
Once the enemies start to do more damage and Zack starts being able to kill enemies in a few magic spells does the combat lose its focus. The game encourages you to complete as many of its 'Missions' that you can do. Completing these missions will make Zack stronger in levels and equipment. Giving him more powerful materia to use higher level magic and attacks. This loop makes trivializes the game. By the time I was in chapter 4 I was so overpowered I was killing everyone in a few hits. Not to mention the Missions get very stale after the first few times you complete them. Me being me, I had this compulsion to complete as many of them as I could and it almost ruined the game for me. I literally had to stop doing them altogether because I wouldn't be able to finish the game.
One thing I will say is if you are a completionist of any kind, play this on the switch where Trophies do not exist. I went in wanting that Platinum and I gave up because I would hate this game by the end.
ALSO, GENESIS NEEDS TO SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I skipped his final monologue cutscene before his bossfight because I could not take him anymore.
That 4 year reveal though was really tight. Good shit.
Rockstar really asked Square if they could copy their homework but just change it a little bit. Zack's death is really well done. I lasted as long as I possibly could but could not come out alive. As good as that ending is, it makes the fact that he survives? kind of at the end of remake. That kind of ruins a perfect ending if you ask me. It also kind of destroys any kind of reason why Cloud does what he does in FFVII. I played this game because I wanted to know more about Zack and while I learned what I wanted to, I also have more gripes with VII Remakes storylines. I think it's timelines bullcrap is really confusing and I do not think it is any good for a newcomer like me.
Well, that's all I got until Rebirth
I'm not gonna lie. I thought I would never play these games. I had a flashback to 2016 when the FFXV Platinum Demo came out. I was 14 and I remember that being the first time I ever picked up a FF game. I was not sold to be honest. But to think I've come around so hard on this series is really interesting to me. I really want to play more of these games. I have FFXV due to playstation plus and I am really looking for to getting around to FFXVI when I'm done with XV. I really turned around on this genre of games and I'm very happy I did so. FFVII Rebirth legit looks like one of the best games that will be released. That state of play made it look like Remake was a tech demo. Me from 8 years ago would shudder at the thought of playing let alone beating a JRPG. Hell, me a month ago would think I'm a little crazy for doing this. I'm happy to say that I've changed. I'm drinking the kool-aid and I'm here for. Can't wait for Rebirth.
Just wanted to Flex that I did spend $100 on Firefly edition to get the steelbook of a game I already bought just to play it in PS5 graphics with absolutely no change to the gameplay whatsoever.
I don't give a shit.
I LOVE THIS GAME
The Last of Us Part 1 is bulletproof. Say what you want about Part II, even though I know that game is better. Part I is such a landmark for me as a human being that I have to come back to it every couple of years like a pilgrimage of sorts. I am so excited to replay Part II with director's commentary. I just want to play through FFVII remake before I replay it. See ya then.
I don't give a shit.
I LOVE THIS GAME
The Last of Us Part 1 is bulletproof. Say what you want about Part II, even though I know that game is better. Part I is such a landmark for me as a human being that I have to come back to it every couple of years like a pilgrimage of sorts. I am so excited to replay Part II with director's commentary. I just want to play through FFVII remake before I replay it. See ya then.