jstndstrctn
BACKER
Higurashi is a flawed masterpiece. It's my first serious trip to the town of Hinamizawa since watching the anime in about 2014. Events of the first chapters rang clearly in my head, but the second half, especially the latter two chapters, I'm not even sure if half that information was stuff I knew or not!
As could be expected from a VN, it offers a much more detailed look at the characters and events of June of 1983. And it is brilliant. Ryukishi07 is one of the best authors of our time, even if he is at times, overly indulgent & questionable. That said, it's an incredible ride.
The horror is excellent, and executed so well. While the club games' do tend to slow the pacing, their setup contrasts the horrific nature of what happens that summer. Despite the dip in pace when you start up the next arc, you are always, met with that loading screen--nothing but the sounds of the Higurashi. The further in you get, the more dread & ominous that menu feels. The concepts themselves are horrifying, if you really put yourself into the muck & suspend your disbelief. The sound of an extra footstep behind you. The tension of being a lone newcomer, as two of your 'friends' stalk you. The idea that someone could follow you, having perfected your walking pattern to seamlessly blend in. There are a lot of outright great creepy ideas that up the tension.
Blending the concept of horror around children is also great. We have a subversion where we are left to deal with two truths. 1. It is scary, being a child. Having less agency over yourself, your friends, and their situations, and the fact that you can just be sheerly overpowered with force or mind by adults puts you at a scary disadvantage. But maybe more crucial is 2. The fact that children themselves are creepy, and scary. You can see this come into play with the first chapters especially--just the idea of a child staring into your soul and knowing you, knowing more than they should, knowing your habits, there is such a strange ominous nature that children can take on. And while Higurashi makes it feel intentional, in real life, sometimes children are just kind of odd in a non-intentional way. I think this work plays with both of these ideas interestingly.
But unfortunately there's also a lot, even for a veteran of suspension of disbelief such as I, that kind of breaks it. And a lot of that happens in those last two chapters.
As addressed in Umineko, Higurashi didn't really offer the most fair mystery. After reading the writer's rooms, I understand some of the logic, but it moreso made sense to me in hindsight rather than how to solve it with what was given. Some things just outright blindside you, and the discussion of the rules and how to beat them, honestly went over my head. It made some sense afterwards, but. At times the absurdity is hilarious and charming, and others, it's kind of like hmm ok. One of the big issues is that being in VN format, it is often hard to visualize the SCALE of events taking place. They would say "oh there's 20 guys here" but then it feels like an actual endless army in the descriptions. And maybe that is just the scale of putting danger to children, vs me reading as an adult, so maybe it does work? But at times it was hard to grasp, for me.
The last two chapters really take away that horror aspect, and replace it with intense, action. And it kind of suffers for it. There are still some wild and horrific elements going on, but it does sort of miss the mark for me. I was still gripped with the final conflict, but the tonal shift was very apparent.
All in all, I'm glad I went back to read this. Finishing just days before the fateful June 19th, 1983, I was able to re-explore and re-introduce myself to these characters. And there, I found much that I'd forgotten.
Something as legendary as Higruashi could be sort of brushed off as the years go by--not that it could ever be forgotten, but as more media has come out, or as you've grown older, it may be just a chuckle of your first horror in the rearview. I'd personally started to think of it as my own 'baby's first horror anime' and moreso thought of it as a meme. And while there are many, and much potential for memeing on it, it's regardless, a great work, that is intense, brutal, and... honestly quite forgiving. The characters are all interesting, with deep motivational things, and the more you learn about it, the more you get through these arcs, information is splendidly revealed.
I loved the playing with VN that I've come to expect. Text colors changing to indicate something. Subverting the reader with a new perspective that adds much more to it. There's a lot of interesting stuff going on.
And mostly I am glad to re-contextualize it with my knowledge of Umineko. There is so much I've discovered within Higurashi to now analyze at a higher level, now that I can see the threads that Ryukishi07 was working with, and how he took many ideas, even minor ones, and spun them from the imperfect thread of the Higurashi into the Gold of Umineko. It is amazing, that this guy produced these two works, and spun some of the best fiction I've ever encountered. In my heart it's a 5* even if I think objectively some of the pacing & fluff detract it a bit. Ryukishi is the GOAT, and I was able to appreciate this much more with my knowledge of these two works.
As could be expected from a VN, it offers a much more detailed look at the characters and events of June of 1983. And it is brilliant. Ryukishi07 is one of the best authors of our time, even if he is at times, overly indulgent & questionable. That said, it's an incredible ride.
The horror is excellent, and executed so well. While the club games' do tend to slow the pacing, their setup contrasts the horrific nature of what happens that summer. Despite the dip in pace when you start up the next arc, you are always, met with that loading screen--nothing but the sounds of the Higurashi. The further in you get, the more dread & ominous that menu feels. The concepts themselves are horrifying, if you really put yourself into the muck & suspend your disbelief. The sound of an extra footstep behind you. The tension of being a lone newcomer, as two of your 'friends' stalk you. The idea that someone could follow you, having perfected your walking pattern to seamlessly blend in. There are a lot of outright great creepy ideas that up the tension.
Blending the concept of horror around children is also great. We have a subversion where we are left to deal with two truths. 1. It is scary, being a child. Having less agency over yourself, your friends, and their situations, and the fact that you can just be sheerly overpowered with force or mind by adults puts you at a scary disadvantage. But maybe more crucial is 2. The fact that children themselves are creepy, and scary. You can see this come into play with the first chapters especially--just the idea of a child staring into your soul and knowing you, knowing more than they should, knowing your habits, there is such a strange ominous nature that children can take on. And while Higurashi makes it feel intentional, in real life, sometimes children are just kind of odd in a non-intentional way. I think this work plays with both of these ideas interestingly.
But unfortunately there's also a lot, even for a veteran of suspension of disbelief such as I, that kind of breaks it. And a lot of that happens in those last two chapters.
As addressed in Umineko, Higurashi didn't really offer the most fair mystery. After reading the writer's rooms, I understand some of the logic, but it moreso made sense to me in hindsight rather than how to solve it with what was given. Some things just outright blindside you, and the discussion of the rules and how to beat them, honestly went over my head. It made some sense afterwards, but. At times the absurdity is hilarious and charming, and others, it's kind of like hmm ok. One of the big issues is that being in VN format, it is often hard to visualize the SCALE of events taking place. They would say "oh there's 20 guys here" but then it feels like an actual endless army in the descriptions. And maybe that is just the scale of putting danger to children, vs me reading as an adult, so maybe it does work? But at times it was hard to grasp, for me.
The last two chapters really take away that horror aspect, and replace it with intense, action. And it kind of suffers for it. There are still some wild and horrific elements going on, but it does sort of miss the mark for me. I was still gripped with the final conflict, but the tonal shift was very apparent.
All in all, I'm glad I went back to read this. Finishing just days before the fateful June 19th, 1983, I was able to re-explore and re-introduce myself to these characters. And there, I found much that I'd forgotten.
Something as legendary as Higruashi could be sort of brushed off as the years go by--not that it could ever be forgotten, but as more media has come out, or as you've grown older, it may be just a chuckle of your first horror in the rearview. I'd personally started to think of it as my own 'baby's first horror anime' and moreso thought of it as a meme. And while there are many, and much potential for memeing on it, it's regardless, a great work, that is intense, brutal, and... honestly quite forgiving. The characters are all interesting, with deep motivational things, and the more you learn about it, the more you get through these arcs, information is splendidly revealed.
I loved the playing with VN that I've come to expect. Text colors changing to indicate something. Subverting the reader with a new perspective that adds much more to it. There's a lot of interesting stuff going on.
And mostly I am glad to re-contextualize it with my knowledge of Umineko. There is so much I've discovered within Higurashi to now analyze at a higher level, now that I can see the threads that Ryukishi07 was working with, and how he took many ideas, even minor ones, and spun them from the imperfect thread of the Higurashi into the Gold of Umineko. It is amazing, that this guy produced these two works, and spun some of the best fiction I've ever encountered. In my heart it's a 5* even if I think objectively some of the pacing & fluff detract it a bit. Ryukishi is the GOAT, and I was able to appreciate this much more with my knowledge of these two works.
A fun, short little mystery game. The humor, writing, style, music, production is great! There isn't much replay value, and while the mystery isn't extremely complex, there are nice little clues & subtle shadowing that make more sense as you go. Also my GOAT Brian David Gilbert was here. That's POG. I'd like to see a sequel some time!
This game rocks. The zany dialogue. The intensely dramatic cutscenes detailing the king's backstory. The mUSIC. And honestly the scale of the levels is awesome. There are some fun little gimmicks to some of the levels, that I enjoyed as well. The thing that makes it a bit tough is how well you can master the sort of odd controls, sometimes I was sort of fighting against it. But overall I just really had a great time with this.
First time playing this, a cool first entry. The colorization is great, and it was fun seeing the origins of Kirby. There is a lot of cute charm & style still, despite being such an early endeavor.
I had Mario Tennis (gbc) as a kid, and I really liked it then. But I didn't realize that the GBA release was also an RPG! This plus the knowledge both were done by Camelot of my beloved Golden Sun... seeing the Golden Sun style seep into this was really cool, I loved the music & the pixel art is amazing. Overall just an upgrade from the GBC game, I really liked the matches being shorter, 2 game sets vs 6 was such a good improvement as the GBC title dragged like crazy. I pogged out of my mind when late game opponents' power shots are straight up using Psynergy against you lmao, and I liked how the rivals were all jerks lol. Really fun game & cast.
2024
I had a great time playing this game, exploring the world, and finding secrets / hidden items. The soundtrack is 1000% my sort of deal, it's incredible. However there are a lot of weak links that keep it from being truly amazing.
#1, the characters are incredibly weak. Eve is the most nothing protagonist I've seen in a while. Yeah she has cool animations when she kills some of the bosses, but other than that she's totally sauceless. I like the customization of her hair, outfits, however, it erases the strong identity a character like 2B or Bayonetta has. They are the most likely candidates for comparison, and Eve has N O T H I N G going for her personality to even put her on the same level as either of them. (And I also think 2B is boring, A2 & Kaine are way cooler chars in that series, but like, Eve is far more boring than all that). Adam, Lily, the support cast are just sort of there, and only really exist to hit you with a "twist" that you can see coming within the first hours of gameplay.
#2, the story, is just fine. There are some really good beats here, but it's so insanely derivative of Nier, that it made me just like, ok, I just want to go play Nier again now... it's fine to be inspired by your faves, but look at Alan Wake 2. Takes crazy inspo from Twin Peaks, but isn't, just Twin Peaks reskinned. It has its own identity and commentary etc on top of what influenced it. Stellar Blade, adds nierly nothing.
#3: the great desert. I took extreme issue w this area of the game. It's the second new bigger more open area in the game and they're both fucking deserts. That's weak. Not only that, but comparing to FF7 Rebirth's vast, sprawling areas & incredible topography, this is just a huge, waste of space & time desert that is largely flat, with just a few more explorable areas separated by minutes of running. It's poorly done. After the beginning of the game guides you through linear, tightly, smartly designed areas that have tons of small offshoot paths to explore, getting dumped into 2 large worthless wastelands back to back grinds the game's speed to a halt. which leads me to #4.
#4: pacing / endings. This is a really big misstep imo. There is a point of no return in the game that is about 60% through it, and in order to get the real ending you basically have to do the majority of all side content. This completely t-bones the pacing of the game, bc you are forced to spend an excess of time here wrapping up anything you want to take care of. In fact, my first run's playtime was DOUBLED at this segment. The game itself isn't really all that crazy long, but there is so much fluff in here, it's kind of a detriment, as you will not be progressing the story for a long while if you go for completionist stuff in this segment. The split at this junction gates you off from a lot of quests, and other things, and the balancing is bad. Once you're done w this you can go get one of the 3 endings. Now, there is only one save file. So if you want to plat the game, or maybe you just care about seeing all the diff ends, you can either: A: desync your PS5 from auto uploading save data, so that you can get 2 endings on 1 run, (you will, I guess, NEED to do 2 playthroughs regardless) B: defeat the final boss without dying--this will prevent you from being sent back and forced into an autosave so you can pick up at the final camp. So then you're forced to replay the game to get the other thing you missed.
#5 minor gameplay: the platforming can be extremely wonky, and there are some other minor complaints, like the lack of a map in many, but not all areas, and then the fact you don't have access to your robot doing anything until 25% through the game. The game is just trying to slowly dole out some mechanics here, but for me I found it kind of lame for the first 1/4 of the game--just too big a chunk of main progress imo for it to work. Fishing also kinda sucks unfortunately, I got more used to it, but. eh.
Nier gets away with this repetition of multiple endings because you gain different gameplay mechanics and different perspectives into the storyline. In Stellar Blade, this is not the case. It is truly just. The same game. But now you can unlock some outfit alt color variants which is fun.
I loved the soundtrack, the gameplay really gel'd with me; I didn't expect sluggish souls like 1v1's, but it really grew on me. Parrying was satisfying to me. I liked the design of the smaller, tighter levels. The graphics, textures, etc are great. The gameplay is probably better / smoother than Nier for sure. Overall I really liked it, and my personal experience is prob more like an 8/10 because I found it generally, extremely fun, but I can't in good conscious rate it higher bc it's not on THAT level, it doesn't succeed on every front.
#1, the characters are incredibly weak. Eve is the most nothing protagonist I've seen in a while. Yeah she has cool animations when she kills some of the bosses, but other than that she's totally sauceless. I like the customization of her hair, outfits, however, it erases the strong identity a character like 2B or Bayonetta has. They are the most likely candidates for comparison, and Eve has N O T H I N G going for her personality to even put her on the same level as either of them. (And I also think 2B is boring, A2 & Kaine are way cooler chars in that series, but like, Eve is far more boring than all that). Adam, Lily, the support cast are just sort of there, and only really exist to hit you with a "twist" that you can see coming within the first hours of gameplay.
#2, the story, is just fine. There are some really good beats here, but it's so insanely derivative of Nier, that it made me just like, ok, I just want to go play Nier again now... it's fine to be inspired by your faves, but look at Alan Wake 2. Takes crazy inspo from Twin Peaks, but isn't, just Twin Peaks reskinned. It has its own identity and commentary etc on top of what influenced it. Stellar Blade, adds nierly nothing.
#3: the great desert. I took extreme issue w this area of the game. It's the second new bigger more open area in the game and they're both fucking deserts. That's weak. Not only that, but comparing to FF7 Rebirth's vast, sprawling areas & incredible topography, this is just a huge, waste of space & time desert that is largely flat, with just a few more explorable areas separated by minutes of running. It's poorly done. After the beginning of the game guides you through linear, tightly, smartly designed areas that have tons of small offshoot paths to explore, getting dumped into 2 large worthless wastelands back to back grinds the game's speed to a halt. which leads me to #4.
#4: pacing / endings. This is a really big misstep imo. There is a point of no return in the game that is about 60% through it, and in order to get the real ending you basically have to do the majority of all side content. This completely t-bones the pacing of the game, bc you are forced to spend an excess of time here wrapping up anything you want to take care of. In fact, my first run's playtime was DOUBLED at this segment. The game itself isn't really all that crazy long, but there is so much fluff in here, it's kind of a detriment, as you will not be progressing the story for a long while if you go for completionist stuff in this segment. The split at this junction gates you off from a lot of quests, and other things, and the balancing is bad. Once you're done w this you can go get one of the 3 endings. Now, there is only one save file. So if you want to plat the game, or maybe you just care about seeing all the diff ends, you can either: A: desync your PS5 from auto uploading save data, so that you can get 2 endings on 1 run, (you will, I guess, NEED to do 2 playthroughs regardless) B: defeat the final boss without dying--this will prevent you from being sent back and forced into an autosave so you can pick up at the final camp. So then you're forced to replay the game to get the other thing you missed.
#5 minor gameplay: the platforming can be extremely wonky, and there are some other minor complaints, like the lack of a map in many, but not all areas, and then the fact you don't have access to your robot doing anything until 25% through the game. The game is just trying to slowly dole out some mechanics here, but for me I found it kind of lame for the first 1/4 of the game--just too big a chunk of main progress imo for it to work. Fishing also kinda sucks unfortunately, I got more used to it, but. eh.
Nier gets away with this repetition of multiple endings because you gain different gameplay mechanics and different perspectives into the storyline. In Stellar Blade, this is not the case. It is truly just. The same game. But now you can unlock some outfit alt color variants which is fun.
I loved the soundtrack, the gameplay really gel'd with me; I didn't expect sluggish souls like 1v1's, but it really grew on me. Parrying was satisfying to me. I liked the design of the smaller, tighter levels. The graphics, textures, etc are great. The gameplay is probably better / smoother than Nier for sure. Overall I really liked it, and my personal experience is prob more like an 8/10 because I found it generally, extremely fun, but I can't in good conscious rate it higher bc it's not on THAT level, it doesn't succeed on every front.
2022
Super short, but the vibes are powerful. Atmosphere is great, creepy, the low poly style is nice.
500th game finished, woo!
I've played Pokemon since I got Yellow version when I was like, idk 7, and if I had to point at a gen and say "that's my least fave" it has always, even from when I was a child, been gen 2. While Johto boasts immaculate VIBES, we've all heard the complaints. Terrible level curve. New Pokemon not even accessible til post game, when you can't integrate them into your parties in meaningful ways. Very little variety despite an additional 100 added. The immense feat of pulling off two regions, yet having to butcher the second to make it work. A barely there narrative to get you through the Kanto revisit.
Polished Crystal is about as perfect as gen 2 could possibly get. It doesn't have the wonderful Pokemon following of HGSS, and while HGSS > the ogs, Polished Crystal surpasses both.
With added routes that tastefully sprawl the areas of Johto into one cohesive map, new areas, dozens of easter eggs, returning characters spanning new / future gens, abilities, the optional addition of natures, a MUCH better level curve, better Pokemon variety, new moves, fairy typing... the level of care & quality of life added is immense! I was constantly surprised by the things I found. Armored Mewtwo? Jessie / James? Flying, surfing Pika variants? Alolan variants. There are sooo many more things to discover.
There is a RNG based wonder trade with NPCs built into the game, which is nuts to me. The difficulty has been ramped up, in a way that is not really outright cruel, but definitely tougher than the average pokemon game.
There is ONE misstep here. And that's the final post game bit. You eventually hit a point where your Pokemon are prob 70-80, and in order to fight the top trainer (fully kitted with positive natures, comp movesets, and full EV training, which, btw, in this game, you can add 252 to every stat...) it's a brutal grind to the last challenges. Occasionally, I think some of the difficulty is a little whacky. This is largely balanced, but one ex, Falkner having Roost access early game... there is so little you can do to out damage the healing, at that point in the game, it was a little silly. And there's a few other moments where it felt if you didn't do one specific strategy you were in trouble.
Still, this is an absolute masterpiece. It felt like re-experiencing this game for the first time, and it made me like it more than I ever have.
I've played Pokemon since I got Yellow version when I was like, idk 7, and if I had to point at a gen and say "that's my least fave" it has always, even from when I was a child, been gen 2. While Johto boasts immaculate VIBES, we've all heard the complaints. Terrible level curve. New Pokemon not even accessible til post game, when you can't integrate them into your parties in meaningful ways. Very little variety despite an additional 100 added. The immense feat of pulling off two regions, yet having to butcher the second to make it work. A barely there narrative to get you through the Kanto revisit.
Polished Crystal is about as perfect as gen 2 could possibly get. It doesn't have the wonderful Pokemon following of HGSS, and while HGSS > the ogs, Polished Crystal surpasses both.
With added routes that tastefully sprawl the areas of Johto into one cohesive map, new areas, dozens of easter eggs, returning characters spanning new / future gens, abilities, the optional addition of natures, a MUCH better level curve, better Pokemon variety, new moves, fairy typing... the level of care & quality of life added is immense! I was constantly surprised by the things I found. Armored Mewtwo? Jessie / James? Flying, surfing Pika variants? Alolan variants. There are sooo many more things to discover.
There is a RNG based wonder trade with NPCs built into the game, which is nuts to me. The difficulty has been ramped up, in a way that is not really outright cruel, but definitely tougher than the average pokemon game.
There is ONE misstep here. And that's the final post game bit. You eventually hit a point where your Pokemon are prob 70-80, and in order to fight the top trainer (fully kitted with positive natures, comp movesets, and full EV training, which, btw, in this game, you can add 252 to every stat...) it's a brutal grind to the last challenges. Occasionally, I think some of the difficulty is a little whacky. This is largely balanced, but one ex, Falkner having Roost access early game... there is so little you can do to out damage the healing, at that point in the game, it was a little silly. And there's a few other moments where it felt if you didn't do one specific strategy you were in trouble.
Still, this is an absolute masterpiece. It felt like re-experiencing this game for the first time, and it made me like it more than I ever have.
2000
Full of style & great ideas, it was fun to finally play this. There's a lot of fun companions and interesting locales, chapter 7 was def my favorite. Overall, I felt that the game is a bit tedious, though its parts are solid on their own.
Fun, neat, cute. Princess Peach is a badass. I thought it was interesting how they devised different play styles of levels / puzzles, even though it's a very simple game.
It's Princess Peach so auto 5/5 from me, chief.
It's Princess Peach so auto 5/5 from me, chief.
2021
Tbh, not my fave FF. I remember playing the DS version, though I was a lot younger, and it would've been one of the earlier ones that I played through fully. I did feel I had a positive time with it then, but wonder how it'd hold up now...
The introduction of jobs was really interesting, and this game has some cool ass bosses. Of the original trilogy from the pixel remasters, I think it's my least favorite, as the story is really pretty subdued. The best part of the game for me was the final dungeons which absolutely ripped, and constituted probably 1/5 of my entire playtime lol. Mayhaps too long? A lot of the backstory etc is loaded into that end game bit.
As with the other pixel remasters the sprite work, attack animations, and re-orchestrated soundtrack are wonderful.
Also now that I have XIV under my belt this game gave me a lot of wojack pointing energy. I'm glad to have played it again regardless, as I needed a refresh on the early entries of FF. I am really looking forward to playing the rest of the pixel remasters.
The introduction of jobs was really interesting, and this game has some cool ass bosses. Of the original trilogy from the pixel remasters, I think it's my least favorite, as the story is really pretty subdued. The best part of the game for me was the final dungeons which absolutely ripped, and constituted probably 1/5 of my entire playtime lol. Mayhaps too long? A lot of the backstory etc is loaded into that end game bit.
As with the other pixel remasters the sprite work, attack animations, and re-orchestrated soundtrack are wonderful.
Also now that I have XIV under my belt this game gave me a lot of wojack pointing energy. I'm glad to have played it again regardless, as I needed a refresh on the early entries of FF. I am really looking forward to playing the rest of the pixel remasters.
2024
Taking the GOAT & making it even better, this was a great remake of Atlus' best. There is not an entry in this series with stronger themes & tighter writing than P3. From the cast, the social links, there is growth among everyone, as the game reflects bittersweetly on life, death, grief, and the purpose of life. It is a beautiful narrative, that I don't feel they'll ever be able to match that again. Some QoL upgrades to combat & other things make this an incredible journey. There is some really great VA work here, Junpei went crazy. I'm not really bothered with the re-working of the VA's, or the soundtrack changes, tbh. They are good interpretations in their own right.
The art style is incredible, visually stunning. Tartarus looks so good, with its interesting floor designs. The game in general benefits so much from the strong sense of dread, permeated by the ever present, small sparks of hope. There is a deep mystery and ominous feeling throughout that 5 utterly abandoned. All of the social links share deep connections to life, death, grief, and the tarot. I think the Sun link of P3 is one of the best & most interesting the series has had. The sun typically is a new life, rebirth, a dawn. However, we see a man who is terminally ill and trying to come to terms of what the purpose of his life was. It is truly a beautiful reflection, and an interesting subversion of the card's meaning. I think what I admire so much about this game's links is the fact that many aren't just the people you'd expect to befriend. You become friends with an alcoholic monk, a deeply flawed gourmet, and a really greedy & sketchy salesman. In life, we sometimes cross path with people & befriend, or at least connect and learn from people we don't expect. I think Persona 3's links feel less contrived, because there is some element of "ok I'm really just going to deal with this person's super odd flaw / problem right now I guess." The link involving the MMO is also so funny, and emblematic of the time.
I first experienced P3 with P3P 10 years ago, almost exactly, and it blew me away. I hadn't played anything like it, and it really revitalized my love for RPGs and greatly invigorated my interest in visual novels. It was immediately one of my fave games of all time, and this has re-solidified that feeling.
For my petty moment of the year: P5 could never. Replaying Persona at its best has made me infinitely more disappointed with how bloated, redundant, obvious, and impersonal P5 is. I can see where P5 tried to re-spin some of the ideas that were present in P3, to much lesser effect. I can only hope Atlus will surprise me with the next entry, because while P5R did improve, I cannot deal with another slog of playing the same mediocre 100+hr game twice in a row again.
Also P3's soundtrack is just better, I do not care. Yea, production, dumb lyrics, whatever, you clearly are not a 00's jrock/jpop person. I will take nonsense lyrics over on the nose cringe any day.
The art style is incredible, visually stunning. Tartarus looks so good, with its interesting floor designs. The game in general benefits so much from the strong sense of dread, permeated by the ever present, small sparks of hope. There is a deep mystery and ominous feeling throughout that 5 utterly abandoned. All of the social links share deep connections to life, death, grief, and the tarot. I think the Sun link of P3 is one of the best & most interesting the series has had. The sun typically is a new life, rebirth, a dawn. However, we see a man who is terminally ill and trying to come to terms of what the purpose of his life was. It is truly a beautiful reflection, and an interesting subversion of the card's meaning. I think what I admire so much about this game's links is the fact that many aren't just the people you'd expect to befriend. You become friends with an alcoholic monk, a deeply flawed gourmet, and a really greedy & sketchy salesman. In life, we sometimes cross path with people & befriend, or at least connect and learn from people we don't expect. I think Persona 3's links feel less contrived, because there is some element of "ok I'm really just going to deal with this person's super odd flaw / problem right now I guess." The link involving the MMO is also so funny, and emblematic of the time.
I first experienced P3 with P3P 10 years ago, almost exactly, and it blew me away. I hadn't played anything like it, and it really revitalized my love for RPGs and greatly invigorated my interest in visual novels. It was immediately one of my fave games of all time, and this has re-solidified that feeling.
For my petty moment of the year: P5 could never. Replaying Persona at its best has made me infinitely more disappointed with how bloated, redundant, obvious, and impersonal P5 is. I can see where P5 tried to re-spin some of the ideas that were present in P3, to much lesser effect. I can only hope Atlus will surprise me with the next entry, because while P5R did improve, I cannot deal with another slog of playing the same mediocre 100+hr game twice in a row again.
Also P3's soundtrack is just better, I do not care. Yea, production, dumb lyrics, whatever, you clearly are not a 00's jrock/jpop person. I will take nonsense lyrics over on the nose cringe any day.
PEAK. FF7 is my fave game of all time, and here, it is ramped up to max, done better than I could've thought. The soundtrack is insane, the world is beautiful. Every new location looks like you are playing the beauty of concept art, fully visualized. It is amazing how hard they went to expand the universe & every iconic moment from the game is brought into full depth. Things I never thought would be made into a 'whole thing', are brought into actual, fleshed out sections of game. Seeing how they expanded upon these moments, adding new perspectives and looks into the world of FF7... I think this, along with RE4's recent remake, are shining examples of modernizing classics. This is how remakes should be. There is no value in merely 1:1 re-adapting a work. It can be fine, and sometimes necessary to get versions up to speed (see, Persona 3 Reload, although, even that has its differences).
Wondering what would happen, what might be changed, what paths they would take to the end, and theorizing, left me in a constant state of anxiety. I was gripped. The combat is a wonderful blend of action & turn based rpg, and, while I know Final Fantasy isn't that series, I wouldn't have been disappointed to see this sort of combat reflect more heavily in the other mainline entries. It's great.
This is a VIDEO GAME. Unlike the drivel of most western AAA games, this is filled with things that feel very 'aracadey' and 'gamey'. This honestly makes the game feel, in some ways, like Yakuza. Whacky side quests, weird, funny NPCs--the Queens Blood card game is fun as hell, & the people you play against are largely hilarious borderline sociopaths & sometimes, a random animal. Some side quests are just plain silly, much better than the first game, entertaining. That said, there is quite a lot of the typical AAA checklist sort of content. It's nothing incredible, but it's what you'd expect. At this point, these kind of side activities, feel like a lot, but it's standard fare for bearing the burden of featuring a modern open world. Doing the side quest gives access to some good materia & other equipment, etc, so it does feel there is a point to it.
Character writing is immaculate. Everyone is given such a depth & range of emotion. Party interactions are numerous, you can really see every character's feelings brightly on display. There is a deep foreboding across the work, as events play out. I never thought I could love this cast of characters more than I did, but here we are. The acting is incredible. From the opening hours of Nibelheim, with the haunting performance of "Cloud" acting like Zack, is just absolutely peak. There are so many tiny, small details, throughout the game, the characters, their interactions, the way they micro react to certain events and dialogue... there is so so so much love and respect for the 7 universe throughout this game, it is incredible.
-very minor suggestions of spoilers ahead-
And man some of those bosses went insane. We get capped with an incredible final dungeon that is an onslaught of tough enemies capped by one of the craziest fights I've had. I can't remember a game going so hard in a final dungeon / boss sequences in a long while.
My time with this is far from over, but it was a great time, and I loved it start to finish. Overall, Rebirth is an absolute masterpiece, the craziest thing Square has put together in idk how long. I could really not have expected more from this game. It surpassed my expectations on every front.
Wondering what would happen, what might be changed, what paths they would take to the end, and theorizing, left me in a constant state of anxiety. I was gripped. The combat is a wonderful blend of action & turn based rpg, and, while I know Final Fantasy isn't that series, I wouldn't have been disappointed to see this sort of combat reflect more heavily in the other mainline entries. It's great.
This is a VIDEO GAME. Unlike the drivel of most western AAA games, this is filled with things that feel very 'aracadey' and 'gamey'. This honestly makes the game feel, in some ways, like Yakuza. Whacky side quests, weird, funny NPCs--the Queens Blood card game is fun as hell, & the people you play against are largely hilarious borderline sociopaths & sometimes, a random animal. Some side quests are just plain silly, much better than the first game, entertaining. That said, there is quite a lot of the typical AAA checklist sort of content. It's nothing incredible, but it's what you'd expect. At this point, these kind of side activities, feel like a lot, but it's standard fare for bearing the burden of featuring a modern open world. Doing the side quest gives access to some good materia & other equipment, etc, so it does feel there is a point to it.
Character writing is immaculate. Everyone is given such a depth & range of emotion. Party interactions are numerous, you can really see every character's feelings brightly on display. There is a deep foreboding across the work, as events play out. I never thought I could love this cast of characters more than I did, but here we are. The acting is incredible. From the opening hours of Nibelheim, with the haunting performance of "Cloud" acting like Zack, is just absolutely peak. There are so many tiny, small details, throughout the game, the characters, their interactions, the way they micro react to certain events and dialogue... there is so so so much love and respect for the 7 universe throughout this game, it is incredible.
-very minor suggestions of spoilers ahead-
And man some of those bosses went insane. We get capped with an incredible final dungeon that is an onslaught of tough enemies capped by one of the craziest fights I've had. I can't remember a game going so hard in a final dungeon / boss sequences in a long while.
My time with this is far from over, but it was a great time, and I loved it start to finish. Overall, Rebirth is an absolute masterpiece, the craziest thing Square has put together in idk how long. I could really not have expected more from this game. It surpassed my expectations on every front.
Death Mark II brings us back to the spirit hunter series' trademark creepiness. While its highs never touch those of NG, or probably even the original, this game does spin an enjoyable mystery. I enjoyed this game myself, but I had a few gripes, most of which are probably explained when finding out the game was crowd funded. The first entry did get decent sales in its release, and NG, less so. I think given the stats, it's pretty cool a third game was released. That said, placing the game entirely in the school makes some sense given the overarching narrative, but I found the variety of creepy locales lacking. Schools are overdone, and I couldn't help compare to Another or Corpse Party. I wasn't really too into the running around aspect, but I think it does make sense--I remember becoming annoyed with some of the circular backtracking in the dungeon crawling way it was handled in the first two entries. So I think this is an improvement in gameplay held back by the budget. It could've had more atmosphere, I think. I think this style is almost too cute, contrasting with the horrible deaths & grotesque things this series is known for.
Spoilers are very light, mostly just talking about mechanics etc.
For me, this is peak fiction. I laughed, cried, and I had a great time with the combat system's revisions. The mini games are insane, as per usual. We have an intricate plot with interesting new characters, juxtaposed with a protagonist uncovering the links, while being more introspective & reminiscing on their life & the franchise as a whole. Music rips, game is beautiful, HDR LAD goes hard. I think the villain is a bit lackluster, but we also have Yamai who is one of the coolest sort of antagonists in the series. I'm not too disappointed, as I think they've largely knocked this game out of the park. Knockbacks / positionals were a great feature. Skill inheritance & a slightly revamped leveling up... while the DLC is another story, I enjoyed being able to conquer the optional dungeons without an insane amount of grind unlike the final millennium tower in LAD7. The way they handled some things were just awesome, max peak. Kiryu being able to break through the RPG, having style switching was epic. Overall I loved my time with this game, it is something I will probably not feel again for a long time! There is a certain thing that has been instilled in playing this franchise as a whole--growing with Kiryu, Kamurocho, these other characters, seeing how the world they live in evolves and changes as you yourself do... it's peak, and I don't think many, or any other franchise can instill that feeling.
For me, this is peak fiction. I laughed, cried, and I had a great time with the combat system's revisions. The mini games are insane, as per usual. We have an intricate plot with interesting new characters, juxtaposed with a protagonist uncovering the links, while being more introspective & reminiscing on their life & the franchise as a whole. Music rips, game is beautiful, HDR LAD goes hard. I think the villain is a bit lackluster, but we also have Yamai who is one of the coolest sort of antagonists in the series. I'm not too disappointed, as I think they've largely knocked this game out of the park. Knockbacks / positionals were a great feature. Skill inheritance & a slightly revamped leveling up... while the DLC is another story, I enjoyed being able to conquer the optional dungeons without an insane amount of grind unlike the final millennium tower in LAD7. The way they handled some things were just awesome, max peak. Kiryu being able to break through the RPG, having style switching was epic. Overall I loved my time with this game, it is something I will probably not feel again for a long time! There is a certain thing that has been instilled in playing this franchise as a whole--growing with Kiryu, Kamurocho, these other characters, seeing how the world they live in evolves and changes as you yourself do... it's peak, and I don't think many, or any other franchise can instill that feeling.