“We can forget happy things. We can probably forget sad things too. People have the power to forget.” 

I haven't stopped thinking about Mother 3 since i finished it a week ago, and i can confidently say that this is one of my favorite games of all time.
I love everything about it, the characters are awesome and fit perfectly in the world (Duster and Flint are the best ones imo), the music sets a perfect tone for each setting, the gameplay was fun but grindy at times, and the story is probably the most amazing part, with each chapter being interesting in its own way. (The ones i liked the most were chapters 4 and 6).
This was an incredible game and I think that everyone should experience Mother 3 at least once in their lives.

playing it on an iphone in 2015 and with the actual console in 2022, both times i cried, got angry, and felt happy to have played this. Story just keeps going and feels like an RPG adventure with something completely unique to say. There's so much personality contained in such a tiny GBA chip here... this game's OST has like 300 SONGS like DAWG THIS GAME IS 32 MB!!!!!!! Lucas is awesome, kumatora is swaggy, Duster can prolly hit the griddy like crazy, salsa is an OG, Lucas's dad even gets a banger chapter to open the game and the writing is good from the START. and by god the connections to earthbound are so cool, the final chapter of this game is just so, so, good. The adventure is well worth your time, but everyone on the internet has said this way before me, i'm a simple drop in the ocean of praises for Mother 3. I hope if you're reading this looking for a reason to play it, you find it...

Honestly if someone dislikes this I immedietly just fear they can't comprehend media, but most of the time it's because their ex liked it or somethin :shrug emoji:

Maybe it's because I did all of the additional side quests this time. Maybe it's because I'm graduating this semester and this was the first game I played once I entered college. Or maybe I just really clicked with Chrono Trigger's DNA on this playthrough and came upon this realization.
It's not just one aspect of this game that's outstanding.

It's the flow of the nigh flawless, active turn based mechanics (dual tech and triple tech attacks are soooo cool man).

It's the gorgeous and amazingly aged pixel art that can craft a vibrant, whimsical yet often oppressive world in the player's mind despite the limitations of the style.

It's the music that makes you feel amped for battle, nostalgic for the past, hopeful for the future, tearful for what's lost or even just bust a move while trudging through a dilapidated factory.

It's the tightly written time travel narrative that hosts some of my favorite backstories and character interactions in fiction (I'm looking at you Frog, Robo and Lucca).

Chrono Trigger is pure magic from start to finish and feels like lightning in the bottle in nearly every facet of its production.

And in the heart of its magic it leaves a simple yet enduringly powerful message:

How can we hope to craft a better future without embracing and learning from the mistakes of the past?

So I actually played both Judgment and Yakuza 0 before this. I loved them both and was excited to dive into the Yakuza series in order. Well I'm happy to say I do like this game overall, but it definitely has issues imo.

First things first, yes I did play this on my PS2 so I played with the dub. Honestly, it isn't absolutely terrible. I did actually think some moments were effective even with the voice acting. Plus John Dimaggio is in this a lot so that's epic. Obviously though, the dub can be bad a lot of the time too. Sometimes in very funny ways which really works in humorous scenes...and sometimes it happens in very serious scenes which does stink.

The story...was good overall I'd say. It does throw a bunch of lesser little fetch quests and stuff near the middle of the game and then saves the crazy stuff for the very end, which makes it feel a bit unfocused... but it does have some genuinely good moments I feel. Kiryu was surprisingly emotive in this game compared to Yakuza 0, thought that was interesting.

The combat is honestly solid. Once you get used to your entire move set, it's pretty fun. I really like the chunkiness Kiryu has in this game, it feels really good to punch dudes. The encounters can be annoying though, mostly if they have guns. The game feels a but unbalanced where if its a one-on-one fight with a brawler only enemy or boss, it's usually easy. However, if its an enemy with a gun it can be very frustrating. That 2nd to last battle was incredibly annoying, but at least the final fight was fun albeit too easy.

I didn't do many side missions but the ones I did were cool. The fixed camera in Kamurocho was kind of cool, made the town more atmospheric. I liked the ps2 feel this game had compared to Judgment or Yakuza 0.

While I cannot say I liked this nearly as much as Judgment or Yakuza 0, I did enjoy my time with it even if it's pretty flawed. If I played it subbed, it might be a 7 idk but with how I played it...I'll give it a 6.5.

I'm pretty excited for Yakuza 2 cuz I heard it improved on a lot of shit in this game and that it's peak.