We are forever cursed to wonder what a definitive version of Persona 3 would look like. To echo the sentiment of everyone: the decision to not include the female protagonist from P3P or other additional content from P3 FES was bizarre, and it's a decision that haunts an otherwise incredible remake.

I finished Persona 3 FES on PS2 a few years ago, and warts and all, I found it to be a really profound experience. I'm really happy more people will get to experience this narrative, and I hope they find it to be even half as cathartic as I did.

It's a game centered around death that makes the case our lives are beautiful because they end, and that the day-to-day moments where we find small joys and connections amount to something in total we have no words for.

If you enjoyed P4G or P5R, definitely give this one a chance. And while you're at it, maybe play FES and P3P too. Perhaps it's fitting we now have three versions of 3.

Tedious, durational bliss. A reclamation of time through singular labour. The hyperconnected, hyperonline, hyperalways world of today does not allow us to take a step back and enjoy an act for its own sake, and the simplicity of counting grains of rice digitally, as in Marina Abramovic's Counting the Rice exercise forces the mind to slow down. So caught up in the act of counting, of organising, of breaking down an insurmountable task into something able to be completed that no thought intruded, no anxiety fomented. Me, and the rice. Even trying to bring stimulus into the space through music, or the spoken word brings into focus the distracting nature of the world. It did not serve to entertain or assist my task, it served to keep me from its total completion.

As Abromavic argues, "the only time we don't think, it is scientifically proven, is when we sneeze and when we orgasm," but through a slow, intentional act we can approach something close to the thoughtless state. For hours my mind was rice, and all was as it should be.

A short and bittersweet game about family and culture. As someone with not a lot of experience with either, I still enjoyed the experience of this game but feel it would have a deeper impact on someone with a rich culture and/or deep family connections.

That said, I still enjoyed the cooking gameplay and figuring out how to make things from weathered cookbook pages and then later on where it twists that concept a bit with the addition of cultural stuff. I especially liked that you can choose an option for flavor text that informs you more about the dish and how it relates to the culture in a soft welcoming way like a conversation or a memory and not just having it be like cold facts in plain text in some options menu. The game Tchia from this year could take a page from this game's book on how to incorporate real world heritage and traditions into your game. Oh well.

Great lil story told through cooking. It was maybe two hours long tops but I found to to be pretty profound for what it is. Only something I would recommend to people who I know would like this sort of thing or are open to something a lil different but to those people I think they'll really find something to love.