Phvortt
2017
This review contains spoilers
It's definitively an overall good game, however a lot o small things threw me out of the experience.
I understand that when making a Souls-Like developers need to find new and interesting ways to make it different from the Souls Series, and I really think they nailed it here, chopping different body parts to get new equipment is quite enjoyable, the "Core Level" and "Core Points" System is very interesting and opens up the game to different builds and the environments are AMAZING, I really enjoyed how every scenario is very distinct from each other, even with pretty much every map consisting of pure metal building, it still feels super unique.
However, I found it to be quite inconsistent and felt like a lot of my deaths were due to numerical values instead of skill. For a long time in my playthrough I sought after those huge armors with big defense values, that's usually how I like to play, but even when I got these piece of equipment and leveled then up to max, I was still getting INSANE amounts of damage, so I thought "If I can't tank the damage, I'll just try my best to dodge everything" but the dash your character feels like it has no I-frames, I played the entire game dying to 1 or 2 hits or undodgeble 2-hit-combos, I only realized that the only way to circumvent this was filling my character up with a bunch of extra health mods in the literal end section of the game, you can absolutely see this as me just being a bad casual, but oh well, still finished the game felling this way and a lot of other people too.
As for the story, I feel like they had a very good pacing, giving pieces of it to the player throughout the game, I was very interested in seeing how things would play out, but it really bothered me how NO ONE explains what Project Resolve and Utopia actually are. Sure, I get it, Resolve is trying to rebuild the ozone layer by sending rockets into it... ok, but how the fuck does that work? At least give me some scientific mumbo jumbo to make it more believable. As for the end section, it really is disappointing, out of the blue the game introduces these new forms of live, both mechanical and organic, assimilating human life into it, without a single thought to try and foreshadow their existence, it really felt random and unrelated to the whole Resolve-Utopia thing... and both endings are very disappointing, just bland and carried no weight.
Overall, still worth playing if you enjoy soul-likes, just wait for a nice sale.
I understand that when making a Souls-Like developers need to find new and interesting ways to make it different from the Souls Series, and I really think they nailed it here, chopping different body parts to get new equipment is quite enjoyable, the "Core Level" and "Core Points" System is very interesting and opens up the game to different builds and the environments are AMAZING, I really enjoyed how every scenario is very distinct from each other, even with pretty much every map consisting of pure metal building, it still feels super unique.
However, I found it to be quite inconsistent and felt like a lot of my deaths were due to numerical values instead of skill. For a long time in my playthrough I sought after those huge armors with big defense values, that's usually how I like to play, but even when I got these piece of equipment and leveled then up to max, I was still getting INSANE amounts of damage, so I thought "If I can't tank the damage, I'll just try my best to dodge everything" but the dash your character feels like it has no I-frames, I played the entire game dying to 1 or 2 hits or undodgeble 2-hit-combos, I only realized that the only way to circumvent this was filling my character up with a bunch of extra health mods in the literal end section of the game, you can absolutely see this as me just being a bad casual, but oh well, still finished the game felling this way and a lot of other people too.
As for the story, I feel like they had a very good pacing, giving pieces of it to the player throughout the game, I was very interested in seeing how things would play out, but it really bothered me how NO ONE explains what Project Resolve and Utopia actually are. Sure, I get it, Resolve is trying to rebuild the ozone layer by sending rockets into it... ok, but how the fuck does that work? At least give me some scientific mumbo jumbo to make it more believable. As for the end section, it really is disappointing, out of the blue the game introduces these new forms of live, both mechanical and organic, assimilating human life into it, without a single thought to try and foreshadow their existence, it really felt random and unrelated to the whole Resolve-Utopia thing... and both endings are very disappointing, just bland and carried no weight.
Overall, still worth playing if you enjoy soul-likes, just wait for a nice sale.
2019
This review contains spoilers
The definitive version of Persona 5! The new characters and features are absolutely superb and giving more time for Akechi to shine, as the edgy man himself, was marvelous!
My only criticism of the game is that it is VERY EASY, even on harder difficulties, but it still makes for an incredible, unbelievable and unforgettable experience!
My only criticism of the game is that it is VERY EASY, even on harder difficulties, but it still makes for an incredible, unbelievable and unforgettable experience!
2022
This review contains spoilers
I did enjoy the overall game and experience, but only for the first 25 hours of gameplay; after that point, I was already praying to get to the ending as fast as possible.
I´ve seen many people say this, but it really does feel like this game tried to appeal to everyone in the SMT and Persona fandoms. In doing that, it ended up failing and not reaching the interest of any side of fans.
For the positive things, I did enjoy the characters artwork and design (except Arrow and Milady, but you do get used to them), and I really like Ringo`s and Saizo`s expressions on their portraits. Combat itself felt pretty enjoyable; I enjoyed most of it. Normal encounters, bosses, and challenge battles were fun. Fusing new demons and getting their gifts, acessories, and mistiques were fun to do and did make me feel stronger through the game. Some songs are good; none of them are extraordinary, but they do fit in very well.
That´s about it for the good part; as for the negatives, dungeons, the Soul Matrix, story, characters, and side quests are very mediocre. The initial dungeons you go to are fine; there are not many cool mechanics in them, but it works, but the final dungeons and the last floors of the Soul Matrix are just horrible; they are made out of a terrible gimmick and just force you to walk for so much time to get to places.
The story was all over the place; they had cool concepts and possibilities open for them, but they took the most boring path, never really diving deep into any of them. Never really explaining what covenants are and not giving enough motivation for characters decisions, such as Figue's, which ended up feeling like an annoyance rather than an important, heartfelt decision.
Characters are pretty whatever, but Ringo and Saizo are the best ones; they have the best lines and most enjoyable interactions out of the rest of the group.
Side Quests (Requests) were all very boring to do; almost all of them required you to backtrack through an old dungeon, with a lot of them making you walk around blindly until you find your objective, which was just annoying to do.
Overall, in my mind, this game can be defined as "good ideas and concepts, but they are never realized, expanded upon, or executed in any particularly good way." If you have Xbox Game Pass, maybe play it if you enjoy this type of RPG; otherwise, I would not recommend a purchase.
I´ve seen many people say this, but it really does feel like this game tried to appeal to everyone in the SMT and Persona fandoms. In doing that, it ended up failing and not reaching the interest of any side of fans.
For the positive things, I did enjoy the characters artwork and design (except Arrow and Milady, but you do get used to them), and I really like Ringo`s and Saizo`s expressions on their portraits. Combat itself felt pretty enjoyable; I enjoyed most of it. Normal encounters, bosses, and challenge battles were fun. Fusing new demons and getting their gifts, acessories, and mistiques were fun to do and did make me feel stronger through the game. Some songs are good; none of them are extraordinary, but they do fit in very well.
That´s about it for the good part; as for the negatives, dungeons, the Soul Matrix, story, characters, and side quests are very mediocre. The initial dungeons you go to are fine; there are not many cool mechanics in them, but it works, but the final dungeons and the last floors of the Soul Matrix are just horrible; they are made out of a terrible gimmick and just force you to walk for so much time to get to places.
The story was all over the place; they had cool concepts and possibilities open for them, but they took the most boring path, never really diving deep into any of them. Never really explaining what covenants are and not giving enough motivation for characters decisions, such as Figue's, which ended up feeling like an annoyance rather than an important, heartfelt decision.
Characters are pretty whatever, but Ringo and Saizo are the best ones; they have the best lines and most enjoyable interactions out of the rest of the group.
Side Quests (Requests) were all very boring to do; almost all of them required you to backtrack through an old dungeon, with a lot of them making you walk around blindly until you find your objective, which was just annoying to do.
Overall, in my mind, this game can be defined as "good ideas and concepts, but they are never realized, expanded upon, or executed in any particularly good way." If you have Xbox Game Pass, maybe play it if you enjoy this type of RPG; otherwise, I would not recommend a purchase.
2019
A good improvement on the first game. Gameplay is fun, I find it to be kinda easy, but not extremely. I did not enjoy the Boss fights very much, they are ok, but felt very underwhelming to me. I was interested in the story since The Surge 1, and it really became boring to me near the end. Overall a good game, would recommend buying during a sale.
To me, this game nailed the artistic side that video games have, I really liked the style, the music, the characters, the voice acting and even the story was enjoyable, although not incredible either.
However, I am really disappointed in the gameplay, the whole premise was to fight in sync with the music... but i never ONCE felt that, combat is extremely simplistic and boring, the "transformation" ability feels like a waste of a character mechanic and walking around the world felt very pointless. If the main content of the game is to fight bosses, I would very much prefer a more in-depth and interesting combat system instead of collecting items in the world and talking to character that don't add or matter to the gameplay or narrative. I enjoyed it the most during DK West boss fight, because I didn't have to fight him normally.
However, I am really disappointed in the gameplay, the whole premise was to fight in sync with the music... but i never ONCE felt that, combat is extremely simplistic and boring, the "transformation" ability feels like a waste of a character mechanic and walking around the world felt very pointless. If the main content of the game is to fight bosses, I would very much prefer a more in-depth and interesting combat system instead of collecting items in the world and talking to character that don't add or matter to the gameplay or narrative. I enjoyed it the most during DK West boss fight, because I didn't have to fight him normally.
2009
Weird ass game! I did enjoy the gameplay, it could be much better, but i didn't get tired of it through the entire run of the game, but I also stopped playing after the story ended, if I were to try the other game mode I am absolutely sure that I would get really tired of the mechanics.
The story is what keeps the campaign most interesting throughout it's entirety, the ending is quite disappointing though.
I would recommend buying it during a sale, it could be worth your time!
The story is what keeps the campaign most interesting throughout it's entirety, the ending is quite disappointing though.
I would recommend buying it during a sale, it could be worth your time!
2006
Fantastic!
Really enjoyed the gameplay and the story, those cutscenes with the in-game models are just superb to me! I just can't give it a 5-star review because of the survivors's AI, the clunky aim system and just how much the game seems to be focused in the top-right corner of the map, on which you'll be spending most of your time.
Overall, very solid game and very fun!
Really enjoyed the gameplay and the story, those cutscenes with the in-game models are just superb to me! I just can't give it a 5-star review because of the survivors's AI, the clunky aim system and just how much the game seems to be focused in the top-right corner of the map, on which you'll be spending most of your time.
Overall, very solid game and very fun!
Very good game!
Really enjoyed doing most of everything, even considered going after all achievements. Took me a bit to really get into it, but when I did, it was really fun!
Strong recommend!
Really enjoyed doing most of everything, even considered going after all achievements. Took me a bit to really get into it, but when I did, it was really fun!
Strong recommend!
This review contains spoilers
Honestly, i'm very disappointed.
Combat, story and progression felt much worse than The Stick of Truth. Plus, I faced a lot of bugs during the ENTIRE duration of the game, every time I entered ANY battle, every character would stay still for a good 10 seconds before anyone took action and i got softlocked because of the charm mechanic three times, making me reset the game.
I didn't like how the progression system NEVER makes you feel more powerful, it only makes you "scale" to the enemies's power points and that's about it. I never felt weak or strong in any battle, they all felt alike and lasted pretty much the same. Boss fights are okay, but they make you fight the kids way too many times and the final battle is really boring.
The story has good moments, but the time between them is just very long and tedious, a huge cause of this is the awkward positions of fast travel points around town, it makes you walk around for quite a long time through places you already collected everything, making it just a chore to walk huge distances to get to a mission point.
Story felt kinda weak to me, the scale of thing in the first game felt bigger and more impactful. You also don't see a lot of interesting places in this game, compared to the ones in The Stick of Truth.
Overall, I did enjoy it in some points, but it mostly feels like a downgrade from the first game.
Combat, story and progression felt much worse than The Stick of Truth. Plus, I faced a lot of bugs during the ENTIRE duration of the game, every time I entered ANY battle, every character would stay still for a good 10 seconds before anyone took action and i got softlocked because of the charm mechanic three times, making me reset the game.
I didn't like how the progression system NEVER makes you feel more powerful, it only makes you "scale" to the enemies's power points and that's about it. I never felt weak or strong in any battle, they all felt alike and lasted pretty much the same. Boss fights are okay, but they make you fight the kids way too many times and the final battle is really boring.
The story has good moments, but the time between them is just very long and tedious, a huge cause of this is the awkward positions of fast travel points around town, it makes you walk around for quite a long time through places you already collected everything, making it just a chore to walk huge distances to get to a mission point.
Story felt kinda weak to me, the scale of thing in the first game felt bigger and more impactful. You also don't see a lot of interesting places in this game, compared to the ones in The Stick of Truth.
Overall, I did enjoy it in some points, but it mostly feels like a downgrade from the first game.
2019
Damn, I did not expect to enjoy "The Walking Game" so much! I saw people spewing way too much dog shit about the game online that I expected it would really be a boring walking simulator, but wow, that is a complete lie.
I enjoyed getting through every delivery, facing the terrain as the challenge, find ways around my obstacles and planning my routes. I really liked how I felt like I was progressing, getting new gear and new building to help myself and other players get across different types of land and face enemies in new ways. I even built a big ass network of zip-lines to make every delivery as easy as possible, it was really fun and I hope that it helps other players!
I also really likes the story, my only complaint is that some cutscene sequences, near the end mostly, take a VERY LONG time to end and let you save, but besides that, I really enjoyed it!
I enjoyed getting through every delivery, facing the terrain as the challenge, find ways around my obstacles and planning my routes. I really liked how I felt like I was progressing, getting new gear and new building to help myself and other players get across different types of land and face enemies in new ways. I even built a big ass network of zip-lines to make every delivery as easy as possible, it was really fun and I hope that it helps other players!
I also really likes the story, my only complaint is that some cutscene sequences, near the end mostly, take a VERY LONG time to end and let you save, but besides that, I really enjoyed it!
2018
Man... I feel really disappointed, I really liked Darksiders 1 and LOVED Darksiders 2. I really enjoyed the RPG mechanics in the second game, the world and going after side-quests. I know how they changed the game from 1 to 2, and hoped this one would evolve even further their core-mechanics... instead, we got a souls-like game...
I really don't understand the decision to go that direction, I find it to be so fucking weird how you collect green souls and they don't heal you, they fill your Estus Flask, how you die and have to go back and collect your souls, how every enemy can just two-shot you and many other things too.
I also never felt like I was getting stronger, I upgraded a shit ton and felt like nothing changed. I don't know, just was not having fun, I really tried giving it a chance.
I really don't understand the decision to go that direction, I find it to be so fucking weird how you collect green souls and they don't heal you, they fill your Estus Flask, how you die and have to go back and collect your souls, how every enemy can just two-shot you and many other things too.
I also never felt like I was getting stronger, I upgraded a shit ton and felt like nothing changed. I don't know, just was not having fun, I really tried giving it a chance.
2023
This review contains spoilers
Honestly, I ended up really enjoying the game after getting used to the gameplay loop.
I am a huge Persona fan, so my expectations were definitely higher than they should be and that was probably the cause of my initial shock and discontent. However, after getting used to it, I really started to enjoy the loop, the gameplay and even got involved with the story.
The story is pretty much the main hook to keep you playing, since the game really likes the visual novel part of it. I know that all Persona games are like that, but at least the other ones had some 3D characters and environments to look at and take in the scene. I don't really mind the visual novel portion, but I can imagine being a huge turn off for many people. Anyways, I did enjoy the story and the new characters, they're not on the same level of quality as Maruki and Kasumi, but I did enjoy them a lot!
It's pretty much inevitable at this point that some characters are gonna get mischaracterized when Persona Spin-offs come out and I really felt that when it came down to Yusuke and Morgana. The game is ALWAYS pushing the joke of how poor and hungry Yusuke is, same with Morgana and how he's not a cat!!! I don't know if most people fell like this, but I really don't understand why push these jokes so much when they are not even that prominent in the original source. Admittedly, I played P5R a while ago, but I did not get the impression that these kinds of jokes were constant there, so I don't see why it is here. Not that big of a deal, just annoying.
Gameplay is fun, it's not really a "battle", it's more like puzzles. Skills and Sub-Personas does make it a little bit open to different strategies but i personally didn't feel like it changed things that much.
I overall had a really good time with it. If you really like Persona and don't mind visual novels, you're gonna enjoy it too!
I am a huge Persona fan, so my expectations were definitely higher than they should be and that was probably the cause of my initial shock and discontent. However, after getting used to it, I really started to enjoy the loop, the gameplay and even got involved with the story.
The story is pretty much the main hook to keep you playing, since the game really likes the visual novel part of it. I know that all Persona games are like that, but at least the other ones had some 3D characters and environments to look at and take in the scene. I don't really mind the visual novel portion, but I can imagine being a huge turn off for many people. Anyways, I did enjoy the story and the new characters, they're not on the same level of quality as Maruki and Kasumi, but I did enjoy them a lot!
It's pretty much inevitable at this point that some characters are gonna get mischaracterized when Persona Spin-offs come out and I really felt that when it came down to Yusuke and Morgana. The game is ALWAYS pushing the joke of how poor and hungry Yusuke is, same with Morgana and how he's not a cat!!! I don't know if most people fell like this, but I really don't understand why push these jokes so much when they are not even that prominent in the original source. Admittedly, I played P5R a while ago, but I did not get the impression that these kinds of jokes were constant there, so I don't see why it is here. Not that big of a deal, just annoying.
Gameplay is fun, it's not really a "battle", it's more like puzzles. Skills and Sub-Personas does make it a little bit open to different strategies but i personally didn't feel like it changed things that much.
I overall had a really good time with it. If you really like Persona and don't mind visual novels, you're gonna enjoy it too!
Very fun and challenging! I recommend playing on merciless mode to make the battles feel like actual battles, unlike the main game that feels like puzzles.
Paint mechanic is fun, story is nice and being able to see Akechi and Kasumi is really enjoyable to me!
My only criticism goes to the kinda rushed ending and how Jerri just jumps into god-form and no one really cares. Personally, I felt it could be an opportunity to explore the best thing Royal left for us: Edgy/Royal/Crazy Akechi, as I really loved him that way. Just a personal wish of mine, not really fair to use as criticism.
Paint mechanic is fun, story is nice and being able to see Akechi and Kasumi is really enjoyable to me!
My only criticism goes to the kinda rushed ending and how Jerri just jumps into god-form and no one really cares. Personally, I felt it could be an opportunity to explore the best thing Royal left for us: Edgy/Royal/Crazy Akechi, as I really loved him that way. Just a personal wish of mine, not really fair to use as criticism.
I did not expect to like this game so much! I enjoyed playing so much that I even got all achievements on steam.
I think that the strongest suit of the game goes to Gameplay, what seems to be an extremely simple combat system (Press Circle to attack and Square to dodge) ends up being extremely addictive when combined with all your secondary actionable skills, Warping, switching weapons, Arminger and switching to other characters with their own mechanics. I really liked how they managed to make long battles not feel like you are just hitting a meat wall with way too much HP, thanks to all the battle mechanics and how it actually depends on how you use of all your tools to progressively take down the enemies faster.
The cycle of doing the side quests, hunts, getting gear and fighting big monsters was really enjoyable to me, switching weapons, characters and other characters to face battles in different ways really got me hooked on playing it to completion.
I did enjoy the characters, their personalities, the story and those big cinematic moments. Although I think they are really good, I would not say they are as good as they could have been.
After playing the game, I researched all that Versus XIII situation I kept hearing about and I think that the troubled development of the game does show in a lot of places. I definitively don't think it ruins the game or anything, but it just feels odd. For example, the game feels like it has so many stories of characters, world building and a message that is wants to tell, but for some reason it is all scattered around on movies, animations and 4 DLCs that, despite deepening the main characters of the game, are meant to be played AFTER finishing the main story, essentially trowing all that character development into nowhere.
I really think that the story would have been much more impactful if those scattered resources were focused on the main game to deepen your relationship and understanding of the other characters.
I also think that the game has some really bad design decisions that end-up being a huge time waster for no good reason. For example, not fast travelling and actually going for the manual/automatic road trip is terribly boring, you do nothing on the car but wast time. I do realize they wanted to go for a "Road Trip with friends" vibe, but it just does not work.
In conclusion, I think it's a pretty solid game and deserving of your time!
I think that the strongest suit of the game goes to Gameplay, what seems to be an extremely simple combat system (Press Circle to attack and Square to dodge) ends up being extremely addictive when combined with all your secondary actionable skills, Warping, switching weapons, Arminger and switching to other characters with their own mechanics. I really liked how they managed to make long battles not feel like you are just hitting a meat wall with way too much HP, thanks to all the battle mechanics and how it actually depends on how you use of all your tools to progressively take down the enemies faster.
The cycle of doing the side quests, hunts, getting gear and fighting big monsters was really enjoyable to me, switching weapons, characters and other characters to face battles in different ways really got me hooked on playing it to completion.
I did enjoy the characters, their personalities, the story and those big cinematic moments. Although I think they are really good, I would not say they are as good as they could have been.
After playing the game, I researched all that Versus XIII situation I kept hearing about and I think that the troubled development of the game does show in a lot of places. I definitively don't think it ruins the game or anything, but it just feels odd. For example, the game feels like it has so many stories of characters, world building and a message that is wants to tell, but for some reason it is all scattered around on movies, animations and 4 DLCs that, despite deepening the main characters of the game, are meant to be played AFTER finishing the main story, essentially trowing all that character development into nowhere.
I really think that the story would have been much more impactful if those scattered resources were focused on the main game to deepen your relationship and understanding of the other characters.
I also think that the game has some really bad design decisions that end-up being a huge time waster for no good reason. For example, not fast travelling and actually going for the manual/automatic road trip is terribly boring, you do nothing on the car but wast time. I do realize they wanted to go for a "Road Trip with friends" vibe, but it just does not work.
In conclusion, I think it's a pretty solid game and deserving of your time!
2024
This review contains spoilers
Persona 3: FES is my favorite game of all time, just the first announcement of this remake made me tear up and scream like a little kid. It makes me so happy to say that it was incredibly worth it, that it provided me an amazing experience and made me cry even harder than my first time with this story.
Graphics, gameplay, story and presentation are all top-notch to me, considering I am extremely biased. But I do believe that anyone who likes turn-based RPGs, persona fan or not, would agree as well.
The new features such as Shift, Linked Episodes, Monad Passages and more, all felt really good and fitting to make the gameplay loop more modern and fun. The new contributions to the story, even though there are not THAT many, really helped with some of the shortcomings of the original game. Specially with Strega, their motivations and reasoning.
I could honestly go on and on about how much I love this game and how important it is to me, but due to my huge bias and laziness, I'm just going to mention some of my personal criticism to the game.
One disappointment I had was the lost opportunity they had to make Ikutsuki's plot twist feel less out of nowhere, but they pretty much gave him nothing, not even a mention of his son, family or anything at all. He only got a small tint of a clue as to why he did what he did, through a singular line in a monad reward text... kinda lame.
Not launching with The Answer Story is also a shame, though I feel like it's understandable, since it feels like the community tends to not like it very much. However, I do think they are going to add it later and charge for it, which is kinda scummy. Just like on-release DLCs and the ever present looming possibility of a relaunch with extra content and no-way to get it without buying the full game again, also scummy.
In conclusion, just play the game! It's fantastic!!
Graphics, gameplay, story and presentation are all top-notch to me, considering I am extremely biased. But I do believe that anyone who likes turn-based RPGs, persona fan or not, would agree as well.
The new features such as Shift, Linked Episodes, Monad Passages and more, all felt really good and fitting to make the gameplay loop more modern and fun. The new contributions to the story, even though there are not THAT many, really helped with some of the shortcomings of the original game. Specially with Strega, their motivations and reasoning.
I could honestly go on and on about how much I love this game and how important it is to me, but due to my huge bias and laziness, I'm just going to mention some of my personal criticism to the game.
One disappointment I had was the lost opportunity they had to make Ikutsuki's plot twist feel less out of nowhere, but they pretty much gave him nothing, not even a mention of his son, family or anything at all. He only got a small tint of a clue as to why he did what he did, through a singular line in a monad reward text... kinda lame.
Not launching with The Answer Story is also a shame, though I feel like it's understandable, since it feels like the community tends to not like it very much. However, I do think they are going to add it later and charge for it, which is kinda scummy. Just like on-release DLCs and the ever present looming possibility of a relaunch with extra content and no-way to get it without buying the full game again, also scummy.
In conclusion, just play the game! It's fantastic!!