I was gonna write up a whole blog post about this, but upon reflection I don't have a whole lot to say. It's a good remake, one that updates the source material so it feels like it hasn't aged a day, but keeps the core of the original intact. For ex, cutting out transphobic jokes, and adding more opportunities to bond with your team, are both much appreciated changes.

That being said there's some things that I feel got lost in translation. For one, a couple of the original's animated cutscenes are now in engine, and every time that happened they were just much blander, which was disappointing. That's my one concrete criticism.

Beyond that, I don't like new tartarus as much as old tartarus. It feels like there's too much going on, like the game is pulling away from its dungeon crawler roots, and it just makes it a little tough to completely chill out while exploring like I did in the original. Plus your teammates talk a LOT more, which went from endearing to annoying after about 30 hours of it.

The other criticism I have is just about the general feeling of the game. Persona 3 is now a modern game, one that bends over backwards to make things nice and convenient for you. Social Links seem more stable, it's harder to get locked into things, etc. And that's not a bad thing, but I think there's a little lost when you move a game that used to be somewhat hostile to players into a more welcoming direction, especially a game with themes and tone like Persona 3. It feels like the balance between social sim and wish fulfillment sim has been tipped even further towards the latter. I appreciate that they seem to have made it impossible to 100% the game in one run though, you have to actually choose which relationships to foster.

Again, it's a good remake, one with the original atmosphere fully intact (once you bring the default brightness down 3 or 4 pips), and it's one that to 90% of people I would recommend over the original. But even if this had all of the content that'd ever been released for persona 3, I don't think I'd call this the definitive best version.

This game really is amazing and a new favorite of mine! I was worried that the anime style was going to get in the way of the writing, but thankfully that was not the case. It definitely suffers from anime tropes, but it rarely gets in the way when the game decides to get serious. In its strongest moments the story doesn't pull its punches, exploring its themes in ways that really impacted me.

The characters in this game are so loveable, I ended up getting really attached to them over the 125 hours it took to beat it. From the moment I first met Ryuji I knew I was going to love him, and while some of the main cast took a bit longer for me to like, by the end every single one of the Phantom Thieves were near and dear to me. Even the side characters were really likeable, the ones I thought I was going to hate redeeming themselves when I finished their confidant. I felt like tearing up having to say goodbye to them at the end of the game, and when the credits rolled and With the Stars and Us playing I couldn't stop myself.

Persona 5 really has everything. It oozes style with its jazzy music and red color themed visuals, the turn based combat system is the most fun I've had in a jrpg ever with setting up all out attacks by exploiting weaknesses, and it had a really impactful and enjoyable main narrative that actually made me want to get up and get out there. It is really long, but I think it deserves its length. Really recommend it!

My first Zelda game. Probably not the best one to start on typically, but it led Zelda to become my favorite franchise. And I still think Phantom Hourglass is a lot of fun!

The temple of the Ocean King gets a lot of hate, but I've always enjoyed it. The time limit is forgiving and coming back with new items to do things more effectively scratches that metroidvania itch.

Really solid use of the DS hardware, and it was really fun to trade ship parts with friends back in the day. I think you had to grow up with this one to fully appreciate it, as looking back it is a simple and nonessential Zelda experience.

É até difícil falar sobre Death Stranding, fazia tempo que eu não ficava fissurado assim em um jogo, e pra ser sincero, eu torci o nariz pra ele na época que saiu, fui pela cabeça do pessoal dizendo que era ruim, maçante e desinteressante, mas acabei achando o total oposto, e sem dúvidas o jogo se consagra como um dos melhores jogos já feitos, melhor que vários Metal Gear ainda, infelizmente acabou sendo um jogo meio apagado por uma gameplay que não é pra todo mundo e um começo bem lento, recheado de cutscenes longas.

Começando pela gameplay que foi um dos pontos mais criticados pelo público em geral, acabou sendo uma das coisas que eu mais curti, sinto que encontrei um jogo feito pra mim, nunca pensei que fazer entregas fosse ser algo tão divertido, mesmo nos trechos torturantes da montanha de neve ainda era extremamente divertido, cada adversidade no caminho, cada equipamento que vai variando a gameplay de diferentes formas, perdi horas só fazendo tirolesas pelo caminho, no geral, fazer entregas é simplesmente sensacional, apesar de ter pontos em que de fato acaba sendo meio estressante, principalmente no finalzinho que o jogo te força a atravessar o mapa inteiro com uma desculpa bem bestinha. Sobre o combate, é bem simples e funcional, a porradaria tem impacto, as armas tem bastante variação até e são divertidas de se usar, um ponto bem legal é que se você matar um inimigo humano sem querer, você precisa cremar o corpo dele pra não causar uma obliteração. O tal novo genêro do Kojima chamado Strand acabou me surpreendendo também, as estruturas dos outros jogadores são uma mão na roda depois de conectar na rede quiral e elas ainda conseguem se conectar com as estruturas que você cria durante o gameplay.

O gráfico do jogo é simplesmente fantástico, as expressões faciais, modelos e até o mapa apesar de se resumir a terra e pedra são muito bem feitos, cada detalhezinho do jogo é extremamente bem pensado e mesmo 4 anos depois não parece ter envelhecido nem um pouco, o jogo consegue transparecer totalmente cada expressão e reação dos atores, que por sua vez deram um puta show no jogo, principalmente o mito do Mads Mikkelsen. E o gráfico do jogo que já é do caralho, acaba sendo somado com uma trilha sonora impressionante, fiquei viciado na grande maioria das músicas, ouvi Don't Be So Serious e Ludens diversas vezes, e apesar do jogo não ter um Walkman igual em Metal Gear, cada vez que uma música tocava durante as entregas era muito bem encaixado, a sensação de desolação e solidão que esse jogo transmite é uma parada bem única.

Por fim, tem o melhor ponto do jogo que é a história, pensei que ela seria bem confusa e difícil de entender, mas é justamente o oposto, o jogo te insere no universo dele muito bem já nas primeiras horas e cada ponto-chave da história é explicado de forma muito natural e te mantém preso durante a gameplay toda, é evidente que o jogo força diversas bizarrices sem motivo algum, mas todas elas são bem explicadas, o universo apresentado no jogo é interessantíssimo e é uma das melhores obras de ficção científicas já feitas, a forma com que o Kojima "previu" a época de pandemia foi brilhante, deixando ainda mais em evidência como as pessoas precisam se conectar mesmo em tempos difíceis, ninguém consegue sobreviver sozinho ainda mais em um mundo onde as pessoas se afastam cada vez mais, estudar em EAD, trabalhar de home office, o avanço das inteligências artificiais e da internet, tudo isso acaba fazendo com que as pessoas nem se vejam mais e o jogo acaba reforçando ainda mais como as pessoas devem se conectar. Cada personagem principal é bem desenvolvido e traz uma backstory maneira, destaque pro Heartman que é um dos melhores personagens do jogo, os twists da história também são muito bem inseridos, e tudo vai se amarrando com maestria até o último segundo do jogo, cada coisa introduzida lá no começo é usada durante o jogo todo sem você nem perceber.

No geral é um dos melhores jogos que eu já joguei e eu considero nota 10 apesar de ter alguns probleminhas, com certeza não é pra todo mundo, mas é uma obra que traz muita personalidade e inovação em uma época onde todos os jogos são muito parecidos e não trazem nada de novo, só apostam no seguro. Espero que Death Stranding 2 seja ainda melhor.

Simply fantastic. The leap between the PS1 and the PS2 is always baffling to me. In my opinon MGS2 is better than it's predecessor in almost every way - the graphics are breathtaking for 2001, if I saw that rain back then my head would explode. The gameplay - the most important aspect - is TIGHT. MGS2 gives you so many more options, so much more freedom, everything feels so responsive and smooth, in no small part thanks to the 60 fps, and you finally get to engane in Tactical Espionage Action, with it taking center stage instead of the bosses this time around. A good call in my opinion. The combat is also much better though, with the addition of new weapons and first-person aiming.

I have already touched on presentation before, but let me emphasize - the jump from 1 to 2 is astonishing, not only graphically but also in terms of cutscene direction, animation and basically everything surrounding it, including music and voice acting.

While I appreciate the simplicity of MGS1's story, I must say I enjoyed 2's way more. Without getting into details - it's a fantastic conspiracy plot that surprised me and kept me intrigued throughout, asking difficult questions and leaving me off with a beautiful, if a bit obvious, message from Kojima. Also, Raiden really grew on me during the course of the story. I like him.
Although I did get a bit annoyed at all the cutscenes at a certain point. Felt like a damn movie sometimes.

The one thing that MGS1 did better was the atmosphere. Shadow Moses was such a fantastic setting and comparing the Shell to it feels almost unfair.

One of the rare cases where the obvious tech demo for the accelerometer try actually to build a game instead of being a mere showcase. The idea of doing each level with a unique concept like Mario (and funnily enough, unlike Kirby platformers) is neat! But their choice of going for the most frustrating and punishing level design they could think make the game a chore (what is really like 90s Kirby games!). Sometimes the game also prefer the weird tech instead of the better design options. Particularly the jump, which is not functionable at all.

I'm glad that this exist but is a very passable game