Before starting, I will inform you that I passed the original part and here I will compare them. All the characters in the remake look nicer (except gg). The environment looks specific and crooked in places, which sometimes gets in the way, but you can quickly get used to it. The gameplay has become more modern and in some places more convenient, but because of these amenities, the mechanics have been simplified in some places, which cannot be overlooked. Those who played the original probably steamed up on stealth missions hiding every body, so in the remake, not every stealth is necessary, since there is almost no stealth here. The plot in the remake has not been changed, everything is as it should be (only to whom?). As a result, we have a slightly improved version of the game, whose fans have been waiting for more than ten years for its sequel to be released. I advise new players to play this, and those who are waiting should wait further. It is quite natural that the game failed.

the community tanking this game's reputation by suggesting that everyone play a version that makes the level and encounter design infinitely worse makes me so upset. surpasses the original in every way for me personally, whether that's in the world, bosses, or even characters you meet along your journey. please don't fucking play scholar though that shit made me hate this game for the longest time. and also just because miyazaki wasn't the director doesn't mean the game is automatically bad lol, souls doesnt start and end with him in the director's chair as the end all be all, and dark souls 2 is proof of that.

Mega Man 9 seemingly came out of nowhere as an excellent addition to the Mega Man series that felt like it would start the ball rolling to not only appease fans of the old games, but also bring in new younger fans. Mega Man 10, in my opinion, put a quick and sturdy stop to the proverbial ball. 

Mega Man 10 is the only game in the series that brings nothing new to the series. Mega Man 1 obviously started it all. Mega Man 2 added more bosses, a password/save system, and E Tanks. Mega Man 3 added Proto Man and Rush as well as sliding, Mega Man 4 added item purchasing, the charge shot, and, for a minute. a new "main villain." Mega Man 5 is by far the closest to Mega Man 10 with really only adding beat, which is a nuke bird so still pretty cool. Mega Man 6 added new rush adapters and energy balancer. Mega Man 7 added bolts to collect to use as money for a shop you can go to between levels, changed the bosses from 8 to two sets of four, ushered in the 16 bit era, and most importantly introdeced Bass and Treble. While I'm not a fan of eight they tried many new things with cutscenes, voice acting,  much improved graphics, and improved sounds. Mega Man 9 is a super polished NES style that introduced playing as Proto Man and time trials. Mega Man 11 came with new graphics and the double gears system.

Mega Man 10 not only added nothing new at all but it followed the polished Mega Man 9 and instead of continuing in its footsteps he ditches the amazing level design and instead sacrifices all level design for set pieces. The doubled down on the bad level design with terribly placed traps and enemies that jump out of holes that will stop you in your tracks so that you fall into a insta kill hole. Let me give you an example of both of these things. The worst level in the history of Mega Man is, in my opinion, Commando Man’s stage. There are several rooms with instakill spikes, insta kill pits, where in most of them are enemies that shoot up out of no where while a sand storm will randomly pops up and blows you forward or backward. Doesn’t sound to bad. Here comes the set piece over level design. When the sandstorm comes you can’t see anything. On top of all this the if you run against the wind you won’t stay in the same spot so you can’t just run in place to fight out the sandstorm. You basically have to guess if you’re in the right spot and if you’re not you will find out immediately because you’ll be dead. It’s maybe the worst level design I’ve ever seen in a competent level game. The game is littered with this nonsense but this level is the most egregious by far.

As big of a fan as I am of the Blue Bomber and as sad as I am to report this I just can’t recommend this game.

My Mega Man Rankings:

https://www.backloggd.com/u/DVince89/list/my-mega-man-rankings/

My 2024 games ranked:

https://www.backloggd.com/u/DVince89/list/games-i-played-in-2024-ranked-1/

I make no secret of the fact that Valkyria Chronicles is my favourite video game series of all time. The wallpapers on all my computers, phones and handhelds are various images from the series. I talk about it with ceaseless emotion to anyone unfortunate enough to listen. I own a couple of artbooks, and I once got scammed trying to buy a Selvaria Bles figurine for a price that was too good to be true (I got the refund, though it took a month). Through the years, I've championed the series to the point that almost a dozen people have bought an entry simply because I would not shut the fuck up about it. Sega should hire me.

Here it is: the game that started it all. Valkyria Chronicles is a brilliant, innovative, emotional, gorgeously designed and somewhat flawed game that, sadly, has never risen to the place it deserves in the RPG pantheon. It has attracted a decent cult following which spends the greater portion of its time dunking on the game's main cheese strategy than anything else. Nobody hates Metallica more than Metallica fans, as they say.

Yet on a non-autistic run, this is an incredible game. It delivers turn-based strategy and real-time tactics in one addictive package. It's unique and open-ended: depending on your decisions, battles may feel like a walk in the park or a desperate crawl through the trenches of hell. When I first played through this game, it was surprisingly hard - enemies are extremely unforgiving with opening up interception fire on your units, aiming for your weak spots, and they're always given the high ground. I recommend playing this game blind for that reason, so you can become your own Sun Tzu and focus on bolstering your units, using them for their intended roles, and maintaining a steady advance rather than a subdued steamroll. On your first playthrough, you don't want to get fixated on the game's biggest flaw: the focus on speed.

As the game bases your rank and rewards for each battle solely on the number of turns you took to achieve your objective, it's impossible not to attempt cheese strategies once the endless bleating of 'Alicia scout rush' reaches your ears. Do not google this phrase. Go play the game now if you haven't already, and then come back. On my most recent playthrough, I'll say that this strategy only really works for three of the game's story battles, because of how long it takes to unlock the required materials, but that hasn't stopped it from becoming one of the game's more infamous aspects.

It is true that Valkyria Chronicles' ranking system is its biggest flaw. While you may receive extra materials, as well as EA's famous 'sense of pride and accomplishment,' for killing special enemies, these choices do not impact your rating - only the number of turns you took. A more weighted approach would have been better, particularly as A ranks are impossible to receive on later missions on an honest playthrough. So don't focus on rankings on your first run, and enjoy the game the way it's meant to be played: as a hybrid of turn-based and action RPG, of strategy and tactics, maneuvering and attacking your way to victory and glory and freedom of the land.

Valkyria Chronicles isn't award-worthy just for its gameplay, however. The game's beautiful watercolour aesthetic, gorgeous character design and battlefield presentation are not to be missed. From the comic-book style 'Ka-Boom!'s, 'vroom-vroom's and 'ratta-tatta-ta's of movement and attacks, to the seamless switch from 2D overhead to 3D third-person graphics as you begin a turn, this is an inspired, visually spectacular experience. It was one of the first games to present an anime art style in 3D with such success, and it laid the groundwork for how JRPGs would look for years to come. As usual, Valkyria Chronicles does not get credit for this.

The story is satisfying, with the World War II-inspired setting being the highlight. Valkyria Chronicles is not shy about its real-world parallels, but at the end of the day it's still a fantasy game. The plot has a few weak spots, which may be exacerbated by the mediocre English voice acting (the option to select Japanese voices is available.) But it's never egregious enough to alienate the player. Not when the characters are this likeable. Not when the soundtrack is so stirring it still gives me goosebumps. Valkyria Chronicles is endlessly compelling: the story makes you eager for more gameplay, during which you're enthusiastic for the next bit of story.

The PC port is superb, with not one glitch or flaw in all my time with it. It also includes a couple of DLC chapters, but they were made back when publishers were still figuring out how they could milk more money out of games, and they are fairly inessential. I should warn you, though: this game does not have autosave, and you do not want to overwrite your New Game+ data with a separate playthrough or DLC chapter's save, as you will lose that progress.

Got all that? Now go play it, because despite its imperfections, Valkyria Chronicles is fantastic. It was one of the most original, lovingly crafted games ever made when it came out in 2008, and it's still enjoyable today. The sequel was even better.

occupies a unique place in the souls universe as the most depressing in atmosphere, and at the same time shortest experience - oddly making it the one most eager to release you from its anguish.

love many great things about it, but for now i'll leave you with how lovely it is to see the maiden in black changing her spot everytime you arrive back at the nexus - chilling on the stairs being my fave. how exciting and mysterious yet ultimately silly the lead-up and eventual fool's idol encounter is (definitely got the boss tune!!!). a throughline of bold and absurd decisions resulting in an idiosyncratic game that i couldn't help but embrace wholeheartedly.

Attempting to pull the same trick a 2nd time, the shared Zero and X series are revived as ZX (tho in truth its much more Z than X). This time however comes with a significant shift in the (albeit somewhat simple) form of a metroidvania style map. As a party favor to all the 12 year old boys out there (me) this time around Mega Man doesnt absorb the powers of bosses but instead gains the forms of the “Mega Men” introduced in the Zero series.

So really, what this ends up feeling like is some sort of self-published tribute album where the idea of “Mega Man” is a title assumed by distinguished individuals, like Hattori Hanzo or Santa Claus. You get to “be” all your favorites, itemized and packaged into conveniently collectible floating cubes - its a really simplified premise but its also a really fun framework. Not only are bosses the sleekest theyve ever been but theres a reward for avoiding their crit spots to preserve the precious Mega Man cubes, and small changes like this feel like the right kinds of innovation on a really tried and really true formula for boss design.

Valkyria Chronicles 2 is the game I've championed most in my entire life; it has been unfairly maligned by the few who've heard about it, including by its own series fanbase. From the moment it was announced, this game was fighting an uphill battle - it was on the PSP, a handheld that was very much despised at the time, and not many people were willing to even give it a fair shake. It was a sequel to one of the most beautiful, originally designed PS3 games - how could a handheld version ever hope to measure up?

This parody video I watched before playing the game for the first time encapsulates the many criticisms faced by Valkyria Chronicles 2. A school setting? Preposterous! Valkyria Chronicles is a game for macho men who smoke Marlboros. Never mind that it's such an anime game that they adopt a pig with wings as their pet mascot, this is blasphemy!

A commercial failure in the West, so much so that the third game didn't even get localized, most people are willing to take VC2's criticisms at face value. But where it has languished in the public imagination, it sure captured mine. It did when I was 12, and it still does now that I'm 25. This is the number one contender for my favourite game of all time, with only Resident Evil 4 giving it a run for its money. I hope that by reading this, a few more people will be willing to give this game its fair shot, especially now that we're looking back and realizing the PSP was actually a pretty good system.

Valkyria Chronicles 2 is the best game in the series. Unable to deliver the huge, singular maps of the original game, it opted for smaller environments interlinked by base camps. This makes it a great deal more strategic than VC1, and incentivizes using more characters. Where VC1 was built around bolstering your units, whether through orders or physical support, and rushing the objective, VC2 grants you a motive to cut your enemy off. Units can be deployed from base camps immediately, instead of having to wait a turn. This means you can blitz enemy camps with your infantry to take them over, then deploy specialized anti-tank and shielded units from that same camp to clear them out. Lancers, hobbled in the first Valkyria Chronicles due to their low mobility, are far more useful this time around, and environmental effects can be negated or negotiated through proper customization of your tank or APC.

Orders (instabuffs given by your leading unit) are now more costly, lessening their potential for abuse from the first game. There are more specialized objectives than simply taking over base camps or killing all enemies: you may need to retrieve hidden packages around the map, or escort a vehicle across the battlefield without letting the enemy blow it up. It's clear to see that not only did this game manage to retain the core gameplay of the PS3 original, it improved it. Valkyria Chronicles 2 is painfully addictive, better balanced, and far more strategic.

The only flaw is the randomized credit system, which may decline to give you the required materials to change your characters to a different class. You can plan out by viewing what credits a mission gives in the briefing, and you can use your units accordingly, but luck is still involved.

This is an unpopular opinion, even among the series fanbase, but having replayed both games now I can say it with confidence: VC2 outshines VC1 even in its story. The premise of a civil war was one begging to be explored after the revelations of the original game. The 'school setting' is a military academy in a country whose army is so depleted through the events of the first game that soldiers-in-training now have to act as full soldiers. The villains are compelling, the protagonists are likeable, the English voice acting is vastly improved, and Raita Honjou's character designs still captivate. The story events are no longer rendered in real time, but the character portraits are satisfactory - in all honesty, an improvement, as less time is wasted waiting for their animation to complete - and the FMVs are beautiful anime cutscenes by A-1 Pictures.

I've played the Valkyria series many times in my life, and none of them have as memorable a cast as this one. The removal of permadeath (now 'dead' characters simply get hospitalized for the next three missions) is a welcome decision, because in the first game, there was always that temptation to avoid using non-leader units, because they could die permanently and force you to either restart the battle, or carry on without them. They were also far less fleshed out. In Valkyria Chronicles 2, every single side character has a story arc of their own, encouraging you to get to know them better and keep using them in battles - to have them grow on you both as people, and as soldiers. Of course, some homages to anime tropes are particularly blatant - one character straight up poses like Kira from Death Note - but so what? Why does VC2 in particular get singled out for being 'too anime?' Did the first game's designs not clue people in?

We knew VC2 could never match up to the PS3 original's spectacular visuals, but even by PSP standards, the graphics are nothing special. Character models are low-polygon with flat and basic textures, and there isn't a great deal of detail to the environments. That said, it's not a bad-looking game. The tank models are quite impressive, and everything that is necessary is easily visible. Do I wish this game looked better? Certainly. But it's not a huge sacrifice. From a gameplay perspective, nothing's been cut back on. The maps are rife with potential for strategic decisions, for defilade, for judging which unit can cover how much distance - and while it cannot port over VC1's raw beauty, it still brings over its personality. Machine guns still go RATTATATATA, laser attacks go FOOM FOOM FOOM FOOM FOOM, mortars go BAKOOM!, tanks go VRM VRM VRRRRM, and it's all backed up by good sound design and a stellar soundtrack. Those action onomatopes always entertained me, okay? They're important.

For me, Valkyria Chronicles 2 is a game that keeps on giving. Even after the credits roll, it has so much substance. This game deserves a reappraisal, and perhaps a remake for an audience that would be more receptive to it - anime is more mainstream now, the PSP isn't as hated, small-scale games are better appreciated instead of being lambasted for a lack of polygons, and men are allowed to vape grape juice. Sadly, I don't think it will ever happen. This is the red-headed stepchild with a red-headed protagonist of the series, and it will always be the scapegoat for why Valkyria Chronicles never had much of an impact in the West. But I urge you to play it regardless. Mired in the swamp of pre-judgement - the graphics aren't as pretty, the characters are too cliche, the Valkyrias' titties are too big or aren't big enough - this is, in truth, Valkyria Chronicles at its incredible peak. What a game. How much it has meant to me over the years.

Give this game a chance. Do it for me. I'll be your best friend.

What a dissapointment. Easily the weakest of the Yakuza games I've played thus far, with a bloated yet flatline of a plot and way too much side content, Yakuza 8 is a complete slog. I'm 25 hours into the game and the main storyline hasn't inched a budge. Ridiculous, fortunately I wasn't scammed by buying it for full price, but this is just so rough.

Kasuga Ichiban is a character who feels completely lost here, devoid of purpose after his native storyline finished in 7, now consigned to wander aimlessly looking for a mother nobody cares about because Yakuza doesn't care about women. Kiryu is here, he has cancer now. The rest of the cast is fine, but they all feel like retreads of prior cast members.

I'm genuinely so sad, 7 was the game that made me love Yakuza, and it's immediate sequel is a boring nothingburger of a game way longer than it has any right to be. I was hoping so hard it would be great, and I was just bored instead.

The year is 2017, a few days after Christmas was over. I got a game that I knew some things of, but I still wasn't 100% sure what to expect. After the game was downloaded onto my PS3's Hard Drive, I started it up.
The game gave me a beautifully animated opening cutscene to watch, with a black and red color scheme. Each character shown had their own unique personality and the music was a great listen!

But then, after that video ended, the game thrusted me into a sequence of trains passing by. I saw the silhouette of the small cat I had seen prior running towards the screen. He hit the camera and then I saw the rest of the main cast. All while this song was playing.

I was now in the world of Persona 5.

Okay, now to provide some backstory to this. When Persona 5 got popular during its initial international 2017 release, it wasn't the first time I had heard about the series. I had heard about the series' name in passing before, thanks to a video on YouTube using a Persona 3 song as its outro. (The song was Joy, if you're curious).
I heard a bit of Persona 3's and 4's soundtracks, but not too much, as I ended up getting distracted by other songs from other games and media.
When Persona 5 got popular, I was reminded of the series, and decided to do a bit more research. What I came across was some parody videos of Persona 5, with the one sticking out the most to me being Yusuke's "Gay or European" animatic.
The characters of Persona 5 stuck out to me a bunch with all of their different personalities and designs. And the overall style of the game was phenemonal and it was super pleasing to my eyes! And that's in addition to the game's soundtrack, which I'll discuss more later.

Thing is... Persona 5 is a turn-based RPG. That put me off a bit, since I tend to be very picky about my RPGs, and turn-based ones don't tend to persuade me much. I mean, it was during 2017 that I found one of my favourite games of all time in Xenoblade Chronicles, but that was an action RPG and not a turn-based one. Was I going to like Persona 5?

Well, I got the game a few days after Christmas after seeing the Ultimate Edition of the game on sale for around 45 bucks. I wasn't an adult at the time, so it was my dad that got it for me.

Starting the game, I was once again enjoying the artstyle of the menus and of the gameplay, and I think I'll start there.
Persona 5 has a great sense of style! The Persona series has this tradition of each game having its own unique color. Persona 1 has purple, 2 has red, 3 has blue, and 4 has yellow. Persona 5 decides to use red once again, but it contrasts against black, offering a nice red and black color scheme that you'll see in much of the game's UI.
While Persona 5's UI is not the easiest to read, it's one of the most stylish out there, providing fluid 3D animations with flat, bold colors. The fonts seen on the menus are reminiscent of the calling cards the Phantom Thieves send in the game, having letters in a word being different from one another, like if they were taken from different parts of various newspapers.

And this applies to the gameplay as well! Stuff as simple as the battle menu is overly stylish and the attacks themselves have a lot of visual effects surrouding them. And that's the thing, if the game only had 3D animations or 2D ones, the game could've felt undercooked or flat. But the combination of those two help the game feel unique!
And the thing is, Persona 5 is not the first Persona game to do something like this. From what I've seen, Persona 4's UI was also pretty stylish by itself. It feels like one of those "Persona 4 walked so that Persona 5 could run", and this is not to discredit Persona 4, by the way.

The anime cutscenes seen in the game are also great to watch, even if they're not too common. Although since they're not too common, it makes it so when one appears, they end up feeling more special!
And continuing on the game's persentation, the soundtrack of this game is FANTASTIC!! As a person who is an imense lover of the jazz genre, having a game that pays a giant tribute to it is amazing. Of course, not every single song of the game is of that genre, but a lot of them are. There are so many songs from Persona 5 that I love, like Layer Cake; Phantom; Price; Alleycat; The Days when my Mother was there; Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There; Beneath the Mask, and of course, Last Surprise.
That last one was quite the meme for a while, but I still love it even with that. It's just a very catchy battle theme that surprisingly, never really annoyed me in spite of its frequent use throughout the game.

But of course, what is the story of this game about?
Considering it's an RPG, this game will take players a long time to beat. I remember my original playthrough of this game took a little over 86 hours to finish, and that's because the game has a lot of dialogue and a lot to uncover.
Honestly, I find it a bit difficult to describe the game's plot without spoilling it, but I'll try my best.

To keep it simple, a dude who tried to save a woman from getting sexually assaulted, gets sued by the perpetrator. Because of this, he is put under probation and moved outside of his rural town into the city of Tokyo. There, he is put under custody of Sojiro Sakura, the owner of a coffee & curry shop named Leblanc.
After he gets settled into his new school, he is weirdly transported into the inside of a palace where he awakens his Persona, described as the physical manifestation of one's will. He meets a cat-like creature named Morgana, who helps him get used to these Palaces, and meets a guy named Ryuji Sakamoto, who he bonds quickly.
The Palaces are the manifestation of one's desire, as when a desire is so big, it gains a Palace and a Treasure associated with it. These Palaces take place inside of a cognitive world named the Metaverse, unable to be seen by most people.
From there, the story takes many twists and turns, as the protagonist's team grows larger and they call themselves the Phantom Thieves.

The game's plot definitely tackles some very interesting themes, ranging from corruption to rebellion and the fight against injustice. The game is not really subtle about the latter, and sometimes can get a bit repetitive with that, but the differing situations that the Phantom Thieves encounter throughout the game help it stay fresh whenever it feels like it's starting to get stale.

In addition, the game's voice acting is really well made! Considering the game's large number of characters, we have plenty of voice actors, ranging from Max Mittelman, Cherami Leigh, Erika Harlacher, Matthew Marcer, Cassandra Lee Morris, and so much more! Definitely the standout for me, personally, is Xander Mobus as the protagonist (or Joker, his codename). He may not have many lines, as he's the silent type, but whenever he speaks, he just sounds cool.
All of the actors do a fantastic job as their characters and it helps the game immerse you more into its world and characters.

While many of the personality types seen in the main cast aren't necessarily 100% unique within the Persona series, or even in RPGs in general, I came to love them for how well they were written, and just seeing their many interactions.

And that leads me into my next topic, the gameplay! The Persona series is generally known for having two sides to its gameplay. On one hand, you have the turn-based RPG, which in the case of this game, you go to palaces, you fight enemies, you level up and eventually you fight a boss.
On the other hand, you have the social simulation elements, where in Persona 5, you walk around Joker's high-school and the many streets of Tokyo, where you talk to various characters, form bonds with them and do various activities to increase stats like Charm or Guts.

Persona 5 continues that formula established in previous titles but, in this case, I can't really compare it to them, because I haven't played the other Persona games. However, from what I've heard, Persona 5 decides to make each of the dungeons (the Palaces) unique and with their own level design. There aren't any randomized rooms, and all of them have their own unique aesthetic and puzzles to solve.
With the exception of one particular palace (cough Okumura cough), I had a lot of fun traversing through the Palaces.
In addition, even though this game is a turn-based RPG, I didn't really mind the gameplay, but I think that's also because of one little tiny detail... I played the game on the easiest difficulty.
Yeah, I was getting a bit frightened early on in my playthrough, and decided to make things easier, so I wouldn't really stress out over the game's time limit, which I'll discuss in a bit.
Even with that though, while the game isn't revolutionary with its RPG mechanics, I did enjoy them. Like the One More mechanic or the Baton Pass move. These are relatively simple mechanics that allow the characters to continue their streak of attacks and pass their turn to another character, respectively, but they keep the game's system from getting stale.

Another interesting thing about the battle system is that you can recruit enemies into your team, very similarly to the Shin Megami Tensei series (part of the Megami Tensei franchise, just like the Persona series). If you hit an enemy with their weakness, you'll initiate a Hold-Up! You can either cancel it, do a finishing move with the All-Out Attack (which is badass) or initiate a conversation where, by picking the right options, you can let the enemy become one of Joker's personas.
This is a pretty cool mechanic, honestly, as it allows each enemy to have their own little personality, and it makes the process of obtaining them more interesting. From what I researched, previous Persona games didn't have this feature, so it's nice seeing it in Persona 5.
In addition, the game also has a big dungeon that you'll slowly progress through more and more throughout the game, called Mementos. The floors on this one are randomly generated, but they provide a way for the player to grind for experience or to complete certain side-quests.

Switching things over to the social simulation part of the game, this is where the game introduces the concept of time. Like Persona 3 and 4, time always passes whenever you do an activity of any kind. Whether that be eating an hamburger at a restaurant, visiting a Palace or going to sleep, one must consider how they organize their day to make efficient progress.
Unlike games like Majora's Mask for example, time isn't always passing, and you are able to take your time making decisions and planning out your next move. Even the game itself encourages this, as the loading screens will usually say "Take Your Time", which I like.

Probably the biggest thing you can do in these segments is establishing Confidants with people. Confidants are a series of conversations that Joker can have to form bonds, and by getting these to Rank 10, he can receive new abilities that help his team's journey in the Palaces. Not only that, but you are able to learn more about the various characters that you meet, including the Phantom Thieves themselves.
You can even potentially romance some of these characters if you get them to a high enough rank.
I wasn't able to finish all of the Confidants during my playthrough, but I did finish a couple and I even got to romance someone... can you guess who it was?
These are just really nice to listen to and interact with. It's not a new thing to the Persona series, I realize, but I find this to be an incredibly strong way of optional story-telling that expands on the game's world.

And that's one of the things that I love the most about Persona 5, its world and its characters. They're all relatable in various ways, and they're all uniquely designed. Of course, depending on who you ask, some of them might be more interesting than others, and I agree there were some that I cared for more than others, but I think all of them are varied and tell interesting mini-stories.

Additionally, like mentioned earlier, you can do activites that let you increase one of 5 stats: Guts, Charm, Proficiency, Kindness and Knowledge. These not only allow you to progress certain Confidants, but allow Joker to make certain things easier, like building weapons to be used in Palaces, or study better for any quizzes or exams he might get in school.

Persona 5 for me was a getaway into more complex games. With the exception of Xenoblade 1, I hadn't played many games that took many hours to beat, nor had very big stories that talked about mature topics.
The game might be rated PEGI 16 here in Europe, but like I said previously, the game is not shy about discussing topics such as sexual abuse, plagiarism, greed, corruption and the true meaning of justice. There is certainly a discussion to be had whether or not the game presents these themes well, but in my opinion, I think it does.
Maybe some of the themes could end up feeling slightly less undercooked than others, but when I was playing this game for the first time, I found a lot of what it presented very intriguing.

And thanks to Persona 5, I got more curious about other more mature games, which would eventually lead me to discover series such as Yakuza or Halo.

Would I classify Persona 5 as a perfect game? No, not really. There are certainly things that can be seen as either repetitive or undercooked about it, but even with the game being part of a genre that I'm not the biggest fan of, Persona 5 left me with a great experience through and through, that I'll never forget.

Fin.

After revisiting the first Darksiders and really liking the game due to it being a generally great 3D Zelda clone, but also being unique enough to bring it's own strengths to the table, I was really looking forward to getting into the sequel starring War's brother, Death. I was keen on getting more of that rewarding exploration action/adventure dungeon hopping gameplay that we all love 3D Zelda for.

There was still a lot of potential Darksiders 1 had that I was hoping Darksiders 2 would reach. Unfortunately, Darksiders 2 doesn't take the strengths of it's predecessor and tries to enhance qualities that were lacking, but rather does it's own new thing. As we like to compare Darksiders 1 to a 3D Zelda game, I like to compare Darksiders 2 to a Prince of Persia game with a touch of Diablo.

The game's greatest strength is it's combat. While it's predecessor's combat wasn't anything amazing, but still fun, Darksiders 2 gives you a nice diverse flexible combat system something closer to a DMC or Bayonetta game. You have your primary weapon, the scythe, and many different types of secondary weapons to choose from such as Hammers, Glaives, Fists etc.

The part I did NOT like was the diablo aspect of it. As you explore and open chests or kill enemies, you will find random loot such as weapons, armor, money, the general stuff. The system is very similar to Diablo where get plenty and plenty of weapon and armor drops with varying stats that you will constantly need to replace over your obsolete under-levelled weapons and armor. In a Diablo game, this system works as the game is designed around it. In Darksiders, this system almost ruins the game for me as it makes these finds very disposable and just destroys the rewarding feeling of exploration and finding chests, because as opposed to Darksiders 1 where you get cool permanent upgrades such as health and magic when you explore, in Darksiders II you know you're just going to get another weapon or armor that you will instantly replace with a stronger weapon/armor that you find a couple of minutes later. There are so many instances where I find an entire optional dungeon with it's own unique boss, and expect some amazing reward, but instead you get another disposable weapon that is already too underlevelled for you. At this rate there really is no point to exploration and just beeline the story, as the best weapons and armor will just come to you as you progress.

One of the elements I wish Darksiders 1 had more of were the dungeons. Every dungeon in that game was amazing and unique, but there were only 4 or 5. In Darksiders 2 that wish is fulfilled... but man what a monkey's paw this is. There are so many dungeons in this game, I think even more than any 3D Zelda game, they're huge and overstay their welcome, including a handful of optional dungeons. But most of these aren't fun. These dungeons aren't the typical clever Zelda type of dungeons, these are closer to Prince of Persia where you are still solving puzzles, but there is more of an emphasis of using wall running and climbing to activate switches and pull levers, rather than a way to solve puzzles with a new an interesting tool you just acquired. You will also be doing a LOT of combat in these dungeons to the point where it starts to feel tedious. I understand that they wanna stress that combat is their strongest suit, but I feel like some of these dungeons are SO long just because they wanna add as many combat sections as they need.

The world, location and story of Darksiders II is no where near as compelling as the first Darksiders. Death's story is not as impactful as War's. The only thing the story brings to the table is the question of what Death was doing during War's imprisonment of the first game. Story-wise, you can completely skip and game and you won't miss out on what's happening overall. The story feels more like an afterthought to just give Death an excuse to do what he's doing. Even the characters introduced are not interesting at all.

The world design does not feel as creative as Darksiders 1, which had an amazing world that merged a post-apocalyptic earth with hellish and divine structures in diverse locations such as deserts, haunted cathedrals, lava chateaus and more. Darksiders II's world is a mix of fairly generic fantasy locations such as Norse inspired plains, and ashy demon realms. 80% of the dungeons feel like they have the same theme of bricky cathedrals overrun by vegetation. It was just so boring all around. They even bring back the post apocalyptic earth level, but it is so much worse as it is a excuse for an hour long really bad third person shooter section of the game.

I was really disappointed in Darksiders II, and already got bored around the 5 hour mark. I wanted to see it through to the end to see if it got better, but never did. While there were some cool moments that got my hopes up, like scaling that massive ghost ship, the game returned to the slog it was right after those cool sections. Darksiders really had the potential to be an amazing franchise, but I feel like Darksiders II prematurely poisoned it before it could fully grow it's legs to run, by becoming the run of the mill action RPG that every action game of the time started to become. This should have sticked to more of the Zelda formula the first game had as I feel like building on that would have grown the franchise to the level it aspired to be.