WOWOWOW this game was so much fun

I'm so pleasantly surprised. Rise of the Ronin was insanely enjoyable, so much better than I ever imagined. I kinda assumed it would just be a fun 15-20 hour long samurai game with sorta decent map and a very basic story.... so happy to say that I was wrong.
Rise of the Ronin features one of the BEST character creators I've seen. I was actually happy with multiple different designs instead of being very unsure and going back and forth on options like other games. I'll be honest, there's a chance I enjoy this game a lot less if I'm just playing as some basic ass ronin LOL. Oh, and once you get into the game there's even more customization to do! I loved being able to mix and mix all sorts of different clothing I collected throughout the game, there's a lot of nice stuff to choose from. Character design in general was just so good.
The gameplay is 100% the star of the show here. I had an absolute blast the entire 51 hours I spent playing-- and I only used two different weapon types. There's the katana, two sword style, greatsword, odachi, bayonet, sabre, spear, polearm, oxtail.... and a gun LOL. I was pretty basic and just used the katana & paired swords for the entire game, but that was more than enough variety because of all the different combat styles you can choose from. Without thinking about it too hard, I wanna say Rise of the Ronin has top 3 combat in games? idk I really liked it! I guess the one bad thing about the gameplay is... the actual gameplay loop is sorta samey? But I didn't really care tbh. Most missions followed the same premise but I still found it all very fun.
What really shocked me was the story. Now it isn't anything too crazy, this is no God of War Ragnarok, Red Dead II, or Persona.. but omg was it great entertainment. It's pretty engaging, atleast to me it was, and there's so many characters you can talk to and form bonds with (similar to persona confidants i guess 😭). There's 3 acts to the story and each one was more exciting. I was also surprised to find myself really liking one of the characters! Ryoma is just chill as hell.
I guess the only area that let me down was the graphics... but at the same time I don't really care about that and they still looked pretty good-- just not THE PLAYSTATION 5 EXPERIENCE good. I just set the game to prioritize fps and enjoyed my time.
Edit: okay my one real complaint is that my headband and cool swords don't appear in cinematic cutscenes. the swords are replaced with basic black ones and my character has simply no headband at all-- but this hardly bothered me lol

So yeah, big fan of Rise of the Ronin tbh. I would say it's my Game of The Year but Persona 3 Reload came out.... but that's technically a remake so...... my NEW Game of the Year goes to Rise of the Ronin! Defos a new all time favorite.... I cannot express enough just how much fun it was.

9/10- could see it being slightly lowered if I actually get into other samurai games (Ghost of Tsushima)

GOT THE PLATINUM AT 62 HOURS PLAYED!! 11 more after beating the main game!

This dogshit game is saved by the last act tbh after you beat kandori. The cast feels more like friends and people who have deep relationships with each other, and maki is a pretty cool character. But still, this doesn’t mean that 75% of this game is utterly terrible, and the combat is still ass throughout the entire game with a final boss that is just a sponge for damage.(one of the most boring fights ever) There is obvious good qualities to this game but the spawn rates, the terrible and broken negotiation system(some options will work and then not work on the same enemy), charm status being broken, random enemies with insta kill attacks, boring long dungeons that are mazes and etc. Really the only decent/good qualities I’m talking about come near the end of the game, and it has nothing to do with gameplay. Yes the cast is decent, but nothing special in the grand scheme of things, and the same can be said about the story but I would say the story is barely on the point of decent, more so the themes and message that the game tries to portray are the decent quality about it. It leans into what we would see in later persona titles, like your true-self and accepting all the good and bad qualities of you. So it was nice to see that, but overall I would say this game is not worth your time and if you really want to experience it, I would say just watch a playthrough. The pain and suffering is not worth it.

Overall:3/10

Edit: ok the feel good ending is not enough substance at the end of the day, I still hate this game so new rating 2/10. Story is meh and characters are decent still so I will check out manga.

FINALLY FINISHED A REPLAY OF V3

i've done annual danganronpa replays every year (except last year) and every single time we got to v3, we always happened to stop on chapter 3. -when i say we i mean the new persona i'm playing the game with-.

honestly, a lot of the game was better than i remembered. 2-3 is a little bit of a drag at times but chapter 1, 4 and 5 are all so good... especially chapter 5. kaito means so much to me personally because of where i was at in life when i first played this game. love it.

when i played v3 for the first time... i hated the ending! despised it! it almost ruined the entire series for me!
but it wasn't as bad this time around. i still really dislike the mastermind and i'm not a big fan of the trope but it isn't game/series ruining like i once believed it to be. honestly the ending could've been genuinely good if the writing was better... because it felt so much weaker than ever before during chapter 6. outside of the main character that is.

oh also, the cast is just so weak overall. a lot of the characters with good personalities and traits {{spoilers kinda | ᵈⁱᵉᵈ ᵗᵒᵒ ᵉᵃʳˡʸ}}. the top 4-5 are very strong but the rest is just so ugh. the chapter 1 victim had so much wasted potential!!!!!!!!!!!

but yeah, i like danganronpa v3. i love danganronpa. happy i came around to not HATING chapter 6 like i used to....... but it's still not great

"𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉"

"𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏?"

"𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕... 𝑹𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅"

"𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝑺𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒂 𝑴𝒂𝒏 𝑪𝒂𝒏 𝑻𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝑼𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅"

Persona 3 Reload: E a Morte que Recorre a História

Morte... Facilmente um dos temas mais difíceis de se abordar em uma obra seja ela literária, áudio, visual, e qualquer outro tipo de obra que pode vir em nossas mentes atualmente... Da primeira a sétima arte, a morte é algo que sempre ronda aqueles que buscam representar qualquer tipo de sentimento, isso pois:

A Morte é algo que ronda a realidade o tempo inteiro...

Sinceramente, concordo com o texto acima... Para mim, ao menos a morte é o último sono do homem antes do retorno de meu Senhor... Enxergo ela como de fato, o descanso antes do fim.... Mas isso pois, acredito também em uma esperança depois do fim.

Mas isso de fato não vem a tona no momento, o foco agora é Persona 3 Reload... Um jogo que, enquanto obra, é fantástico, entrega visuais de muita qualidade, personagens extremamente bem escritos, e uma história de tirar o folego...

E de fato, as definições que acabei de dar podem ser usadas para qualquer outra obra... Descritas como genéricas... Isso pois, eu não consigo transmitir a experiência que é Persona 3...

Por isso acredito que a melhor forma de vivenciar tudo o 'que esse jogo apresenta, e os conceitos filosóficos, que embora eu discorde, não deixam de ser extremamente bem apresentados para aquilo que a obra se propõem a ser...

Também afirmo que Persona 3 Reload deve ser vivido...

Jogado, testado, experienciado, para que assim você possa tirar suas conclusões de tudo que aqui é discutido... O jogo é enorme, tem muitas coisas pra fazer, e o final me deixou encucado... Embora de fato já tenha encontrado a resposta do o 'que a morte representa, ao menos para mim... As perguntas feitas nessa obra, são maduras, e em minha opinião, necessárias, para qualquer pessoa, seja alguém com muita experiência e conhecimento, ou não...

"𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ 𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠?"

"𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ 𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑌𝑜𝑢?"

De fato, compreendo as criticas feitas ao Reload, por não conter todo o conteúdo já feito para Persona 3...

Mas devo dizer que é uma experiência para uma vida mesmo assim.... Sim eu recomendo... Por favor, vá e jogue se tiver oportunidade...

Para Persona 3 Reload 9.8/10 ou 5/5... Uma experiência para a vida toda...

An Incredible Video Game.

but despite it being an incredible game, it has some flaws. Harry/Venom & Kraven sadly fell a little short for me. I was expecting a lot more out of both of them but both their endings felt a bit underwhelming. A lot of the writing felt way too safe, defos not as good as it's predecessor which is unfortunate. IDKKKKKK I just felt like there should've been more. OHOHOHOOH OHHHH ALSO THAT FUCKASS MILES SUIT IS SO BAD I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY MADE US USE THAT FOR THE FINAL MISSION I HATE IT SO MUCHHHH INSOMIAC NEVER BRING IT BACK PLEEEEEEASSSEEEEEE

Now don't get me wrong, I still really loved this game and had an EXCELLENT TIME. Literally every single aspect of the gameplay was so much better. The swinging makes the first Spider-Man game feel like shit which is just insane/??? Combat is still one of the best in gaming too so slay slay slay. And I know I said I had some issues with the writing, but it wasn't all underwhelming. I really liked Miles' storyline this game and I am SOOOO excited for what he does next. Everything elese except some of my issues with the villains was pretty solid too! The villains weren't even bad either, Kraven and Venom are both very fierce and have a nice aura to them... I just thought there could've been more overall there.

Spider-Man 2 was extremely good. A great sequel to an already amazing game. The teasers at the end were so intriguing, can't wait for Insomniac to take us on another swing down New York City!!

Neon White started off very strong but as the game kept going on, I started to care less and not have as much fun..

I think the level design and overall concept is amazing. For the first 3 hours of play time I really thought this could be a 4.5.... but my drive to even boot it up ended up dying down. My nitpicky issue(s) is that the music got kinda meh for my taste but like who cares. For me it just took me out of the game having to turn it off but that wouldn't bring it down much. I also wish I had more Steam friends to compare times.
What I didn't like was playing all these levels while not really having anything to follow... I was just doing random levels which is not as fun for me. I know there is an actual plotline but THE VISUAL NOVEL IS SO FUCKING AWFULLL LOL. After awhile I had to start skipping it all because wow it just hurt! The appeal of this game is obviously the actual levels and speedruns, I just wish it felt like there was more of a purpose to do what I'm doing rather than going for ace/dev times.

So basically what I'm saying is
Neon White just isn't for me! I'd still reccomend this game to a lot of people because the levels themselves are still great and it's mechanically brilliant. I just got kinda bored... maybe the game being shorter would've helped me personally.

this game blew my expectations out of the water holy shit. the popular opinion (at least in my circles) for this game were worry and uncertainty if they could do it again. at the risk of sounding like a shill i was always confident this game would be amazing, i mean it's zelda! nintendo knows how to make zelda, but similar to everyone else i just kinda figured it'd be impossible to do anything quite like they did with the original breath of the wild. i said something to a friend before launch along the lines of "i think it will objectively be better but the original has a special kind of magic that means no one will like tears of the kingdom more" and i truly think that would have been the case if this game wasn't just THAT much better in every regard.

immediately the game starts with a bigger focus on the story and that's a good thing here. it's never too much of a focus it interrupts your fun exploration and gameplay but when you want to seek it out it's incredibly more engaging and interesting than i'd argue anything from any other zelda game. i won't dive into spoilers but i will say this is the most invested i've been in a zelda story easily. i don't think every zelda story has been bad, in fact they're at worst still decent but i feel like they've always been on the precipice of being good/great... none more than breath of the wild. it had some markings of something interesting but you kind of have to try really hard to get much out of it. it felt like it had the most potential of any zelda game story wise and at least to me it ended up being a huge afterthought. i didn't mind the lack of focus on the story in botw, the game itself made up for it and then some and this game would have been the same realistically but they went a lot more in on the story and it paid off! it's a nintendo game so it isn't the greatest most beautifully written epic but being as massive of a zelda fan i've always been this is the first time i've been so invested in the story of a zelda game that i've cried (multiple times even!) and that just feels so incredibly satisfying.

gameplay is obviously pretty identical aside from the obvious new main abilities. they're all amazing! i was a bit worried i'd miss the original botw items (i do still kinda miss free endless bombs lol) but these more than made up for it. ultrahand is the main star here, the main focus for puzzles and wacky machines you can build and it's a phenomenal ability! the rotation controls take a bit of getting used to but it eventually becomes pretty second nature. fuse is the other big stand out, it originally feels pretty satisfying being able to combine boulders and such onto your weapons and make sledgehammers/axes pretty much anywhere but it's a lot more fun than even that! it's really cool to see how the different fusions transform weapons, some monster parts look incredibly cool but the part i slept on for a bit was how crazy you can get with shield fusing. from springs/rockets/bombs to launch you super high into the sky to combining flamethrowers or beams for offense is really cool and fun to do! recall and ascend are more straight forward than the other 2 but still immensely satisfying and fun to use. these abilities all make the already fun engine even better! i was a bit worried going into the game that ultrahand especially would be a bit too complicated and confusing but they've reached a magical middle ground where you can make very simple contraptions for what you need to complete a puzzle or accomplish a goal but also added an incredibly deep system that can be used to make the most insane and bizarre machines you've ever seen if you're willing to put the time in to it.

the biggest improvement to the gameplay is the world itself and the quests inside it. i realize that's like the entire game but it genuinely is a pretty big step above. the big worry was the world would feel too samey, but even ignoring the sky islands and the depths the main world of hyrule feels so unique and special here. it has that same sense of magic i got in the original game because everything is just so new and exciting! the world is much more full of interesting areas like caves and wells but even big areas from the original are revitalized with new set pieces or new quests to do. the world also just feels extremely more lived in! there's so many NPCs you meet multiple times throughout the world and even smaller characters without quests have fun dialogue and interactions. side quests especially feel like such a big upgrade here. there's still a few filler quests (get me 10 mushrooms lol!) but without even getting into main quests so many side quests and adventures are so satisfying and feel like they're important enough to feel like a main quest. that being said, the main quests are really cool and fun! the story as i said before is a huge improvement, but the dungeons and bosses are so much better than the divine beasts and ganon blights and were a big joy to see. i still am a bit weary to say the dungeons reach quite the same level of some traditional zelda games but i still really do like how they're done here. they feel much more open so there's less of that frustrating feeling of being stuck, you can always just come back later and do a different puzzle. i will say at least personally the puzzles generally felt a decent bit easier than the average zelda dungeon puzzles but i think that's also a byproduct of there being such a large amount of solutions to most puzzles which works in the games favor so it didn't bother me too much. the whole ending sequence was fucking phenomenal and easily the greatest zelda finale and one of the better final boss payoffs in any game i've played! the music throughout the whole game was a step above botw but especially in the final few cutscenes genuinely got me feeling so nostalgic and had me tearing up.

i truly have endless things i could praise and gush about with this game. that's without even doing everything i wanna do! every time i play there's a new thing to love and freak out about because it's bursting at the seams with content and new fun things.

it's just so unbelievable what they've done here. it's gonna be a point that everyone will repeat endlessly for years to come, but it's because of how absurdly true it is. for this team to make breath of the wild, universally agreed upon to be one of the greatest games ever and then follow it up with a game that makes that game look like it was just a demo of what this style could do for zelda is fucking crazy. that combined with it being the same hardware and how much technical magic they needed to get this game to function and run the way it does, it'll be something everyone points to in absolute awe for years and years to come. they absolutely fucking nailed it, this game is an unbelievable joy to play and easily one of the greatest games ever made.