An incredible game in so many ways. I loved all the added and expanded scenes. It helped me fall in love with this cast even more. The combat is more of remake but improved upon greatly. The side content is great for the most part and the mini games are really fun with so much variety. I loved that this game felt more character focused and it was a grand adventure with the cast.

My minor complaints would be graphics mode looking so blurry. I didn't love the ending but also of it will depends om where the last game lands. Also some parts pacing drags a bit.

Overall I loved the game and look forward to the conclusion. -4.5/5

This is a sometimes great, sometimes alright game that doesn't quite live up to my expectations but still is a worthwhile game to play if you are into the genre. The concept of the game is really creative, taking the yo-yo and making it the whole game mechanic is a neat idea. Rolling on the yo-yo, swinging from it, and using powerups with it is fun and it does a good job mixing things up as you go through the levels. The worlds do a pretty good job differentiating themselves, and I like the addition of collectables and mini missions in each stage. Bosses aren't amazing but they were each pretty unique, I really liked the last one especially. The issue I have with the game comes down to what I see as a lack of polish, I find that the controls don't always do exactly what you expect them to do and while the game wants you to chain combos together and go fast sometimes that is at odds with the level design and camera (this is a Sonic fan team after all....). I had multiple instances where I would get stuck in objects also and have to reload the game, which starts to take you out of the enjoyment of the game. I also never really grew to love the art style, I didn't hate it but it was just kind of meh to me.

At it's best I think this game has a lot of really great ideas and when you are really flowing it can border on a great 3D platformer, I just wish it was a bit more polished.

Deserves much love and reverence as the genres contemporaries at the time of release and even after all these years. While it borrows from your Crash Bandicoot's, Spyros, Ratchet and the likes, Sly Cooper knowingly does so and still shapes out an exciting globe trotting crime caper oozing with style and personality. A great mix of stealthy platforming and rewarding collecting that incentivizes the player to complete the Theivius Raccoonus with new tricks and abilities. A soundtrack and atmosphere that hits nostalgic notes in my brain for a era of games that I still long for. All rounded out with a wonderful cast of characters and rogues gallery of cheeky villains. Sly flirting with the hot cop whos gunning after his ass, he's just like me for real. Easily one of the 6th generations best platformers.

Side note: I love the diegetic bass notes that play when Sly sleuths around. SOUL!!!!

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.

One of the most unique RPG's I've ever played with incredible story and characters. The game has a nice contrast of being very whimsical but also very dark. The OST is awesome and the combat, although very simple, is enjoyable and has a unique spin on status effects with emotions. In an unexpected way, it's also one of the creepiest games I've ever played (even more than many horror games I've experienced).

Easy recommendation especially for anyone looking for a unique/different experience from a JRPG.

My second time playing FF7 Remake but this time with DLC and on the PS5. I definitely had more fun playing this the second time. The PS5 enhancements make a big difference and the combat feels also more smoother and fun to play. Some of my issues from my first playthrough still persist: terrible side content, horrible driving sections, and a little too much gameplay padding near the end (and this is coming from a gameplay-first guy).

Aside from that, I've come to accept the game for what it is. Still wish this was an actual remake and not a sequel but we'll take what we can get. Enjoyed the story a lot more the second time around. The Yuffie episode is amazing and she's definitely the most fun character to play. Also as a fan of crisis core, I really liked the ending of it.

Incredible game, that ends up delivering a wonderful ending. Top tier cast (Expect for Ken :P) , amazing combat, with a great message.

Main things that hold it back from a 5/5 like other two Persona's I've played.

1. Slowest starting Persona game. You don't get a lot of main party member links till very late and story is a bit slow for me until you get fuuka.

2.Tartarus is less interesting and weaker to 4/5. I liked tv world of 4 and how it had a more story focus to the characters.

3. It's the first game in this style and I feel a lot of things are deeper/improved in 4 and 5.

Playing through FES in 2022 was one of my favorite gaming experiences I've had in quite some time. I guess I didn't realize quite how much until hearing about this remake. No hesitation in wanting to replay a long game like this, and in fact, genuine excitement for what was to come. If this version in 2009 was already one of my favorite games of all time, what would this end up being?

The answer is a truly unforgettable experience, that cements itself as one of my favorite games of all time, and Persona as one of my favorite series of all time.

Everything here is improved, from the improved music, to the combat, to the visuals, to the links, to the voice acting. Almost nothing feels off here. The story remains excellent and in my humble opinion, the best of the big three persona games, with some of the best side links in the series, and some of the best female characters. Makoto is the best protagonist in the series, and, while this game can't quite hit the monumental high and achievement of Persona 5 Royal (including the best OST soundtrack in any game) this game comes damn close to me.

The final boss fight is one of my favorite in all of gaming, and is done total justice here, the game is accessibile and easy if you want it to be (a huge improvement from FES in that way without modding it).

Overall, this game is a dream come true, is probably going to be my GOTY, and quite frankly, one of the crowning achievements for video games in general.

Can't wait to see what Atlus does dipping its toes into the Old Timey Mystical genre next!!!

So this is a big beautiful and sometimes messy game that's hard to articulate into words just what it's all about.

First of all, let's start from the top. The gameplay here is so much improved over LAD7 (which was already fantastic) and Hawaii is just a wonderful sandbox to explore, this was exactly the shot in the arm this series needed.

The story is fantastic most of the way here, there are some dumb things here and there (like every yakuza game if we're being honest) but just such an incredible amount of heart to go along with this. Ichi is an amazing protagonist, as much as I love Kiryu he's totally captured my heart at this point and will hopefully be the guy going forward.

I do have some issues with this game, the biggest one being how bad the game is at telling you things. The final dungeon had no level requirement, and I was a few levels under, making it very difficult to complete. There are many side quests that you do, and if you do them too early you get wiped and the game offers you no way of knowing this. Stuff like this was a massive time waste, and unfortunate, but not enough to hurt this game overall.

The ending is....interesting. I can't say I love or hate it, I have to see where it goes, but it left more questions than answers for me. It still brought out tons of emotion (as did this entire game) and I can't wait to see exactly where they go from here.

I think realistically, this is certainly a top tier Yakuza game, and I wouldn't be shocked at all to see this one go into people's top spot. For me, it's just going to miss out on that, but a genuinely incredible game, that RGG cooked on.

Infinite Wealth is alot to digest when you get down to brass tacks. It's the game that really solidified my belief in RGG Studio's mastery of gameplay loops and feedback systems, with every inch of the game being stuffed with content - every 5 minutes you're knocking off completion list achievements which feed into your personality and bond levels and so on and so forth. My time is never wasted at any point. The combat is engaging and fun and satisfying and is going to make ever returning to Like A Dragon a pain in the ass due to how GOOD all the improvements are. Hawaii as a location is incredible and features some of the best minigames seen in the franchise.

Where I take pause is I don't feel like this was an Ichiban game. This is very much a Kiryu story, right down to the game's theme of atonement. The game tries really hard to figure out a way to get Ichiban to Hawaii and to meet up with Kiryu but it doesn't feel natural in its execution. Additionally, as with all Yakuza games, the game does sag a bit in the middle of the game - but the constant introduction to new systems, jobs and minigames made things feel fresh and exciting, even when the overall narrative was taking a bit of a backseat. I understand that Ichiban is the new protagonist as of Like A Dragon 7, but I feel like his inclusion was an overall detriment to the game's storytelling. His plotline didn't feel nearly as fleshed out or taken seriously by the writers compared to Kiryu's beautifully done storyline.

That being said - Infinite Wealth really proved to me that Ichiban is one of the best JRPG protagonists in gaming right now, and Kiryu Kazuma is one of the most humanly written characters in the medium. Despite my woes with the narrative overall, I was still thoroughly entertained by Ichiban and I have no worries about him being the LAD protagonist in future games.

I did think the ending was very well done, and I think it was respectful enough that it opened and closed some doors narratively. No matter what, Kiryu is treated with the utmost reverence and respect by RGG (even with Toshihiro Nagoshi departing the studio) - and at no point did I feel like the emotional threads were cheap or weakly implemented into the story.

Some minor complaints and nitpicks I have are the lack of level suggestions on substories was frustrating at points as I'd wander into a substory with a fight where I am way below the intended level for the quest. Also, while combat is great, an animation skip for enemies or fast-forward option would've been a great inclusion for the longer, multi-enemy fights where I'm waiting for 6 people to take their turn.

I greatly enjoyed my overall experience with Infinite Wealth and being in Hawaii. I don't know how RGG will one-up themselves with the next mainline entry or where it will go narratively, but I have full confidence in post-Nagoshi RGG Studios to deliver.

Interesting game here, and while I found myself oddly unsatisfied by the end of the game, I can't deny the game has a lot of charm, heart, and overall worth playing.

First of all, a huge shout out to the main Frog himself for gifting me this game, and getting this lovely game removed from my spite list. I had no idea this game was made by the creator of Phoenix Wright, so that was a cool little bonus I discovered going in.

First of all, what I love about this game is the style/the music/ the aesthetic and just the visuals in general. It's truly gorgeous. I have no idea if it looked that good on the DS, but this version looks and sounds genuinely great.

The story is fairly interesting most of the way too, it does take a little while to get cooking, but the "who am I" is always a good narrative hook, and there are plenty of interesting characters to keep you chugging along (inspector Cabanela might be the biggest giga chad I've encountered in a game in some damn time.)

Now all that being said, I am a little down on this for a couple of reasons. One, while I think the core gameplay loop was fun at first, it 100% dragged to me by the end, and was hoping for a better changeup/new mechanic than I got (the escort mission was certainly not it and a lowlight of the game for me).

More importantly though, I can't say I was a fan of the final twist/resolution. Without going into spoilers, it just really wasn't all that satisfying as a result. Certainly not enough to "ruin" the game or anything like that, but just a bit of a downer overall.

For the most part though, I had a good time with this game, and there's certainly a lot here to enjoy, even if I'm a bit more down on this compared to other people.

Long live Capgod tho, amirite?

Wow what a little piece of gaming history here. Look, I went into this game expecting to either drop or get filtered right the fuck out of it. This game is ancient after all and while the pixel remaster did have some modern boosts here, it's still dated, and I figured that this was gonna be a problem for me.

And to be honest I almost did. I got my ass handed to me in the Marsh Cave a few times, and I quit the game, uninstalled it, and was ready to move on. However, something pulled me back a couple hours, and I'm so so glad I did. This game is genuinely really great for it's time, and it's clear why this series has lasted for as long as it has from the very start.

Obviously the story here isn't anything too special, in its humble beginnings, but it's fun making up your own storylines as you go, with your party members. It's so cozy, and the music is wonderful. The combat is super simplistic but quite fun in a weird way, and even grinding is made to be enjoyable here.

This is where I embark on my journey of playing 1-6, and if this is the starting point, I can't WAIT to see what some of these future games have in store for me. Banger.