Quite possibly one of the greatest RPGs I have ever played. I remember trying out this game, confident in my MegaTen skills after beating Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4, only to receive a brutal kick to the face for having no Etrian Odyssey experience whatsoever. I decided to give it another go after beating Etrian 1 and 2, and boy am I glad I did.

The gameplay combines crucial EO elements (Teams of 5 separated into two rows, map drawing, status ailments being somewhat useful), with bits and pieces of Persona elements thrown in the mix (Using personas/Fusing personas, obviously using the casts of Persona 3 and 4, as well as re-using the enemies from said games). It still contains the classic Atlus difficulty as well as the early-on EO difficulty, but this time it only feels challenging, not frustrating.

In terms of story, this game has one of the best stories (In my opinion) in the series. I won't spoil it in case you guys want to play it for yourself, but essentially, the casts of Persona 3 and 4 become trapped in a culture festival in another world, with some of the displays being the labyrinths you traverse through. They then meet two original characters and together, they try to find their way back to their own world as well as find out reason they were trapped here to begin with.

The soundtrack is great (especially the boss themes) and with gameplay that's fun yet challenging and never feels repetitive (One of my biggest gripes with the Etrian series), its no wonder I gave this game 5 stars

But you want to know what the best part is?

THEY FIXED ETRIAN'S MATERIAL GATHERING SYSTEM

Thank the fucking lord for that. Etrian's material gathering system sucked major ass because it forced you waste precious skill points just for a little extra money and more weapons/armor. But this game doesn't have skill points so instead they have it to where you can just gather materials at a power spot 3-5 times without the need for any special skills. I swear to god when I found out, I saw the light and heard God's heavenly choir and trumpets playing.

So yeah, pretty great game overall. If you're an Etrian fan, this is an easy recommendation. But if you're a Persona/MegaTen fan, I recommend playing at least Etrian 1 first.

"No one can change the past. The only thing we can do is strive to make up for our mistakes. Why must we make up for our mistakes, you ask? Because in doing so... we can find the way back to our path. And once we've found our path, we can move on from our past mistakes toward a brighter future." -Phoenix Wright, Rise from the Ashes

The Ace Attorney series is about a man named Phoenix Wright and his tales as a defense attorney. The series has always been known as a non-gameplay heavy series, and even so, it is still a series I would recommend you pick up story-wise.

However, because of that, I would quickly run out of things to say if I were to just talk about this game in general. Thus, I will talk about each of the cases as well rank them based on how much I liked them.

First Turnabout- Phoenix defends his troublemaker friend after he is accused of murder.

Not really much to say about this one. It does a somewhat good job introducing the characters and world of AA, but gets outshined in that regard by the next case. The main problem is that it's extremely short, like you can beat this case in 5 minutes. It's good at explaining the main mechanics though. Ranking: 5th/5th

Turnabout Sisters- Phoenix defends the younger sister of his mentor while facing off against his childhood friend, Miles Edgeworth.

Now THIS is where the game starts to kick things off. Introducing important characters, setting up a big plot point that would become important later on in the game, this case sets the expectations of what you would come across in the series. It's also pretty short, but not 5 minutes short like the previous case. The one I really dislike about this case is how they shove Phoenix into the backseat to explore some of the other character's lore for the rest of the game. Ranking: 3rd/5th

Turnabout Samurai- Phoenix defends an actor on a kid's show who is accused of killing his co-star.

Not every case in the series is going to be some insane lore-building case, so sometimes you'll get filler cases like this one. That doesn't mean they're all bad though. This one is alright, it doesn't have anything too crazy in it. Unlike the two previous cases, this case's problem is that it's too long. It has three days of trials and investigations, which add up to six segments, which is especially long for a filler case. But I still think it's more interesting than the first case. Ranking: 4th/5th

Turnabout Goodbyes- Phoenix defends Edgeworth while also investigating an incident 15 years ago that turned Edgeworth into a cold and cruel prosecutor.

Now this is PEAK right here!!!! Having Phoenix face against his childhood friend-turned-rival's tragic past to thank him for being the reason why he is now a defense attorney. Standing up for Edgeworth when no one else will because he did the same for Phoenix, even though it meant going head-to-head in court against a man who could be considered the greatest prosecutor in the world. Yuuuup, that's peak yaoi right there. It's the same length as Turnabout Samurai, but it doesn't feel like it's too long. In my opinion this case is one of the best in the series. Ranking: 1st/5th

Rise from the Ashes- Phoenix defends the Chief Prosecutor with the help of her sister while also investigating a case that happened 2 years ago that's strangely connected to the case at hand.

Originally, Ace Attorney got it's start on the GBA, but when it was ported to the DS, this case was added to make use of some of the aforementioned handheld's features. In terms of writing, I think it's on par with Turnabout Goodbyes. But while Turnabout Goodbyes had the cases before it to create a build up for it, Rise from the Ashes doesn't have that. It's just a standalone case, so it doesn't have much of an impact like it's predecessor. I also hope whoever designed the jar puzzle was fired and banned from ever working on a video game again. Ranking: 2nd/5th

Talking about the game in general, the soundtrack is alright and characters are pretty good (Edgeworth is my favorite AA character for future reference). I also liked how the game being non-gameplay heavy makes it easy for anyone to pick this game up and enjoy (except for that jar puzzle, that shit sucks ass). As mentioned before, I don't like how they just shove Phoenix to backseat to expand on other character's lore (a common problem this series has). But, overall, yeah this game was pretty great and I'd recommend it if you like story driven games.

With Etrian 2 leaving a somewhat bitter taste in my mouth, I decided to move on to Etrian 3, hoping that it would be better than the last, and it was.

Etrian 3 added a lot of new stuff, such as seafaring, subclasses for even more customization, and new classes that replace the old ones.

Gameplay is still the usual, with some new tweaks, such as campsites on each floor as a healing spot (provided you bring a tent), Limit attacks that your team can use when their limit bars are full (Boost, Force, and now Limit, they really don't know what they want to do with that thing) and Stratums being four floors instead of 5.

I honestly had a blast with this game, subclasses were fun to use and the soundtrack is as good as ever. Material gathering still sucks, but it's not as obnoxious as it was in 2.

This one is my new favorite entry of the Etrian series, so I would give it five stars, right?

However...

The third Stratum in this game is by far the WORST dungeon I have ever experienced. It was so bad, I almost shelved this game, in fact, when I finally beat it, I didn't touch the game for a month because it was so awful. It's infested with damage tiles, the puzzles make the floors feel longer then they already are, and it has enemies that can kill you even if you're prepared.

Even though the third Stratum is complete dogshit, that's really the only bad thing this game has. Honestly, I'd say this game is a better entry point for the EO series than 1 is. I'd recommend this game and would ask you to just please push through the third Stratum.

While I will say that this is a classic worth playing, I must also admit that this game is a bit dated and that some parts, especially the difficulty spikes, can be off putting to some.

Mother, or Earthbound Beginnings to some, is a RPG that started the Mother/Earthbound series, which is known for it's parody elements and weirdness.

After his great grandparents strange disappearance 80 years ago, Ninten (who just awakened his psychic powers) must now travel around the world in order to put a stop to the strange occurrences happening around him. Along the way, he'll meet Lloyd, a gifted student who's bullied for his lack of physical strength, Ana, a girl who also possesses psychic powers (although hers are offense-orientated compared to Ninten's defense-orientated powers), and Teddy, a gang leader who wishes to avenge his parents death.

It plays a lot like most RPGs, but most RPGs probably don't have you fight hippies or trees that explode upon defeat, so it definitely gets some points for being unique.

In terms of difficulty, as mentioned before, this game has a few difficulty spikes (especially during Mt. Itoi) where you're just forced to grind for a bit and hope the enemies don't kill you. Speaking of enemies, this game uses random encounters, meaning sometimes you can't even go 3 steps without encountering an enemy that could probably kill you.

Also, I'm not sure if the way you learn PSI skills are random or not. I hope they're random because why the hell would they intentionally make it to where Ninten learns Life Up Alpha at the beginning of the game but doesn't learn Life Up Beta until right before the goddamn final boss.

But even with the problems this game has, I still had some fun with it. I'm also glad that the best armors and weapons are just stuff you can find/buy instead of the 1/128 bullshit this game's sequel uses.

The soundtrack is also pretty good (especially the train/credits theme), even for a NES/Famicom game. I also like the eight melodies and how they are WAY more important here than in Earthbound.

I think this game is proof that older games are definitely worth playing, so if you enjoy some of the more older RPGs (early Dragon Quest/Final Fantasy, Digital Devil Story, etc.), you should give this game a play, just promise me you won't cry until the end.

To be honest, the reason it took me so long to beat this game was because the third stratum in Etrian 3 kind of ruined the thought of playing video games for a while (It's such dogshit that I'm talking shit about it in a review for another game!).

At first, I was little turned off by the fact that demons can't level up in this game (something I'm used to in the MegaTen games I've played), but I've got over it and actually enjoyed this game a lot.

Gameplay-wise, it obviously shares a lot of core MegaTen mechanics with other games (summoning demons, fusing them to create stronger ones, etc.), but it has some mechanics that are exclusive to the Devil Summoner series, such as Demon Loyalty, and Zoma Fusion.

Zoma Fusion was ok, it allowed you to create your own demon with it's own skillset, but it was only helpful during the mid-game, at least for me. Demon Loyalty (which is where demons have personality types and having them respond accordingly to those types increase their loyalty to you) on the other hand, is a great mechanic that might seem limiting and complex at first, but once you figure it out, it gives demons a little bit of individuality that they don't get in the mainline games.

This game has a great story, where the protagonist obtains a gun-looking computer that unleashes a demon that possesses his friend. Together, they fight against a secret society that conspires to steal everyone's souls to summon a demon that will destroy the world. I don't want to spoil the story, but it gets pretty crazy.

The soundtrack is good and so was the voice acting, especially Cassandra Lee Morris' performance as Hitomi/Nemissa. I also liked the Vision Quests and how they used the perspectives of other minor characters to progress the story, as well as the first Vision Quest being used to help the player get a feel of how the game plays. The dungeons were good as well, and unlike some dungeons whose name I will not repeat, they don't feel like a slog to get through.

It's a MegaTen game so some of the random encounters can feel unforgiving sometimes, but overall, I'd say you should check this game out if you like JRPGs. If you're a MegaTen fan, then this game is a must play

After having such a great time with Persona Q, of course I would have to play Persona Q2. Gameplay-wise, it's an improvement over the previous entry, but in other ways, I can't help but say that it doesn't really live up to the greatness of Q1.

The story is similar to that of Q1, the casts of Persona 3 and 4 are trapped (this time in a movie theater instead of a school festival) and they must explore the labyrinths this strange world contains in order to leave. This time, however, they are joined by the cast of Persona 5, as well as the female protagonist from Persona 3 Portable.

One of my complaints about this game's story is that in Persona Q, you could choose which protagonist takes on the role of the "main character" so to speak. This meant that there was a Persona 3 side and a Persona 4 side to the story that allowed their respective cast to flourish. In Q2 however, the title of "main character" is automatically given to the protagonist of Persona 5, meaning that most interactions in the game, in some way or another, revolved around the cast of Persona 5 (if an interaction didn't revolve around them, it usually revolved around P3P's female protagonist, but I'll talk about that in a second).

One of the things I DID like in Q2 is the use of P3P's female protagonist. In game, when she "reunites" with the rest of the P3 cast, she finds that they are from another world, where she doesn't even exist. Although they are optional, there are side quests where she can bond with P3's cast and even perform unison attacks with them, showing that the bonds P3P's female protagonist has with her friends is still there, even if they haven't met her until now.

As for the gameplay, like I said, it's an improvement over Q1. More elements to use, party members having more diverse skillsets compared to Q1, all-out attacks now being able to be used when all enemies are knocked down instead of how many party members have boost.

One tiny problem I have is how you get personas in this game. In Q1, the game gave you personas whenever the hell it felt like doing so after a battle, it might seem like a bad thing, but they weren't exactly uncommon. In Q2, there are designated enemies that give personas upon defeat (replacing the rare golden hands in Q1). They're super bulky, but die instantly to an all-out attack. The problem is trying to knock them down, as they resist physical so you have to go through each of the 8 elements to see which one they're weak to. It's easy to tell early on from their names, but at the endgame you have to figure it out yourself, and at that point they already have skills that can screw everything up, if not just outright fucking kill you.

While the dungeons were still fun to go through, they were a step down compared to Q1's. My favorite dungeon from Q1 was the Inaba Pride Exhibit (I was shocked to learn it's considered the worst dungeon) because of it's puzzles, where you had to think things through. Q2 didn't really have any puzzles like that, they were all ones that took ten seconds to solve. Each dungeon had a theme/message to it, but they were just slightly differently worded versions of "be who you want to be, don't conform to everyone else's standards".

Even with all the problems/nitpicks I had with this game, it's still a really good game, even if I do think Q1 is better. I'd say you could play this game without playing Q1, but I'd recommend you play an Etrian Odyssey game and/or Persona game before playing, just so you know what to expect in terms of how the game works.

I'm writing this just after beating the game and while I will admit this game is still a good game, it's just not as enjoyable as the first one.

For starters, the difficulty has been ramped up in comparison to EO1. FOEs no longer give out exp, TP cost has been dramatically increased for almost all skills, a lot of the old classes have been nerfed, gathering resources has somehow become even worse (I'm hoping in future games they revamp the gathering system so that you don't have to waste precious skill points on it), and a lot of the enemies have become a lot more tedious and unforgiving.

While I'm on the topic of the gathering system, is it just me or are there more fetch quests that ask you to get rare items than there were in EO1? The rare items also seem a lot more rarer too.

If there is one thing this game has over EO1, it's that the soundtrack is a MASSIVE improvement. It's also an exact replica of the original EO2 soundtrack but this one sounds a lot better than the first one.

In terms of aesthetics, I also think this game has better stratums than EO1. In fact, I think Frozen Grounds and Petal Bridge might be the best stratums in the series (at the time of writing this, I have only played 1 and 2 so if i somehow find better stratums I'll edit this).

So yeah, overall I'd say this game shares a lot of the stuff that make the first game great, but is bogged down by the difficulty increase. So while I do recommend you play this game, I only recommend you play it if you enjoyed the first one and wouldn't be surprised if you said you skipped this one.

PaRappa defined the rhythm genre. Lammy perfected it.

I've played PaRappa 1 and 2 before and now I've finally got around to playing this game. I can proudly say that not only is this the best rhythm game I've played, but also one of the best games I've played.

The gameplay is simple, you get a sequence of buttons to press and you have to press them in time with the stage's song. Simplistic, but really fun.

An improvement this game has over PaRappa 1 is that the timing in UJL is much better than in PaRappa 1. But it still has a welcome amount of difficulty, unlike PaRappa 2, which I felt was too easy.

I deducted half a star because the difficulty for stages 6 and 7 can feel frustrating sometimes, but otherwise a really great game that, along with PaRappa 1, became a pioneer for the rhythm game genre.

It also gave us the best cutscene of all time

"It doesn't matter how many underhanded tricks a person uses... The truth will always find a way to make itself known. The only thing we can do is to fight with the knowledge we hold and everything we have. Erasing the paradoxes one by one... It's never easy... We claw and scratch for every inch. But we will always eventually reach that one single truth. This I promise you." -Miles Edgeworth, Farewell, My Turnabout

Taking place a few months after the first Ace Attorney game, Justice for All has Phoenix defending his clients once again, while dealing with the sudden disappearance of Edgeworth.

While this game doesn't have an exclusive DS case like its predecessor, it does introduce a new mechanic called Psyche-Locks, as well as more important characters that make later appearances in the series.

Now then, let's move on to the cases, shall we?

Lost Turnabout- Phoenix must defend his client while dealing with a case of sudden amnesia.

This case blows. The amnesia thing was stupid and the only reason the writers came up with it was so that they had an excuse to bring up the tutorial again. The culprit was also terrible and while I think he's funny, I also think he is one of the worse culprits in the series. At least this case isn't too short like the First Turnabout (which I still prefer over this one). Ranking: 3rd/4th

Reunion, and Turnabout- Taking place a few months before the Lost Turnabout, Phoenix must once again defend his mentor's sister, Maya, after a spirit channeling gone wrong.

This case feels like it's supposed to be a successor to Turnabout Sisters. It introduces the aforementioned Psyche-Locks mechanic where Phoenix uses the evidence/profiles he has to "unlock" the secrets people are hiding. It helps make the game feel less like a visual novel, and more like an actual game. I liked this case's culprit as well, more than I liked Turnabout Sisters' culprit. A pretty solid case overall. Ranking: 2nd/4th

Turnabout Big Top- Phoenix defends a world-famous magician after he is accused of murdering his ringmaster.

Every group chat got the: pedophile, sheltered child, pedophile, guy who's okay with murdering said child, pedophile, Moe the clown. ...Holy shit I think I joined the Berry Big Circus.

This case is 100% dogshit. Every other character you meet is a pedophile, some of the logic is shitty, the culprit isn't introduced until damn near the end so by the time you do meet him it's already so obvious, not to mention they gave him a sad backstory so that you would forget that he was planning to kill a child. Moe was funny though, and I'm actually a little sad that we never see him as the ringmaster later in the series. Ranking: 4th/4th

Farewell, My Turnabout- Phoenix must defend an actor after an assassin kidnaps Maya and will only let her go if Phoenix gets an complete acquittal for said actor.

The Lost Turnabout and Turnabout Big Top were only trials to see if you are worthy enough to witness the peak writing of this case. This case is truly one of the best in the series, even better than Turnabout Goodbyes in my opinion, even though Farewell, doesn't have the buildup that Goodbyes had. Edgeworth returning, revealing he left after Phoenix's damage to his perfect record forced him to think about what it truly means to be a prosecutor. Now, it's Phoenix's turn, as he must think about what it truly means to be a lawyer, as he is forced to defend a guilty client. The culprit is also really good and is one of my favorites ( I just like culprits who are masterminds in disguise). This case was supposedly meant to be the final case of the Ace Attorney series, but considering that later games take up new protagonists, I think this case would be better if was the end to Phoenix's saga, instead of the series as a whole. Ranking: 1st/4th

While Farewell, My Turnabout is peak, the rest of the game is kind of shit. The soundtrack is alright, but pales in comparison to its predecessor. It's still a game you should play if you were a fan of the first game.