ST0RMY
2015
It took me a good 5 years or so to finally get around to playing this game in full. At first I kind of hated it because I had no fucking clue what to do, but when I finally figured out what to do in the intro (read: a friend told me lol) it clicked and I loved this game to bits. Can't wait until I can get my hands on the second game because this was an absolute treat. I love weird little RPG Maker titles and this definitely is the most bizarre one I've played to date.
2011
I still replay this damn game all the time. Good fuckin shit, aside from Bed of Chaos lol.
2009
What a fantastic game. My only real gripes are the item load + Valley of Defilement as a whole, but this may be on par with Dark Souls 1 in my eyes. Absolutely adored this to bits.
This is a game that is definitely an acquired taste. It took me quite a bit of persistently coming back to it before I finally got past the "filter" and enjoyed myself once I unlocked the compendium. I did okay past here.
The story has little dialogue compared to most JRPGs I feel, the main story suffices in getting the point across but if you want a bit of a bigger picture you should talk to NPCs a lot (Why are you playing a JRPG and not doing this anyways?). DEFINITELY use a guide if you get stuck in some dungeons though, though your patience level may be better than mine.
I went for the Musubi ending and was very satisfied with the ending I got and I'm already looking forward to my eventual replay so I can do True Demon Ending or something. That means a lot considering I am VERY flippant about watching and playing stuff, so the fact I'm so eager to replay it despite this should speak volumes.
Fantastic game overall, though my personal recommendation? Play whatever difficulty you want, and go for whatever Reason you want for the ending. A lot of the appeal of SMT is seeing where your choices take you ending wise, at least imo. This game sold me more on the MegaTen franchise than any video essay ever has, I see the light now.
The story has little dialogue compared to most JRPGs I feel, the main story suffices in getting the point across but if you want a bit of a bigger picture you should talk to NPCs a lot (Why are you playing a JRPG and not doing this anyways?). DEFINITELY use a guide if you get stuck in some dungeons though, though your patience level may be better than mine.
I went for the Musubi ending and was very satisfied with the ending I got and I'm already looking forward to my eventual replay so I can do True Demon Ending or something. That means a lot considering I am VERY flippant about watching and playing stuff, so the fact I'm so eager to replay it despite this should speak volumes.
Fantastic game overall, though my personal recommendation? Play whatever difficulty you want, and go for whatever Reason you want for the ending. A lot of the appeal of SMT is seeing where your choices take you ending wise, at least imo. This game sold me more on the MegaTen franchise than any video essay ever has, I see the light now.
2023
fantastic flow to movement once you get it down. god fuckin damn
:D
2022
holy fucking shit this was AWESOME, that's all i can really say as of right now.
2013
This review contains spoilers
I did initially play this back in 2013, but due to life circumstances + my constant lack of sleep at the time I didn't remember much aside from key comedic moments. (Trevor falling over the fence and Franklin laughing his ass off come to mind, and that almost didn't make it into the game considering that was all improvised) As a result I didn't remember key things like TREVOR'S ENTIRE FUCKING MINDSET and such. Having replayed it though, I do heavily appreciate what this game was going for. It seems like it's building off of 4's themes of the American dream not being all that it's cracked up to be, albeit in a much more comedic and almost TV-series esque way. I definitely enjoyed the tone of this game, even if I prefer how dark and unforgiving Liberty City is portrayed as in 4.
Trevor is probably my favorite character, and a lot of GTA 5 fans say the same but over the years I only remembered him as "that funny crazy guy that wakes up nearly butt naked on the beach when I swap over to him" and not the deeply flawed and honestly sympathetic guy he is. No doubt he's a bad, terrible, downright unforgivable person, but I can't help but feel for the guy considering just how BADLY Micheal screwed him over and continued to screw him over throughout the course of this game. I love how there was a sort of "ticking time clock" element to the fact that he was bound to eventually figure out the truth about what happened in the original heist at the beginning of the game, that of course being that Micheal had Trevor and Brad set up from the start so he could attempt to get out of his life of crime and come out clean, no strings attached. Not to say I don't sympathize with Micheal for wanting a fucking normal life for his family, but I feel for Trevor a lot more considering just how much Micheal manipulated the guy and then left him thinking that their best friend was alive and well and not in the plot where he THOUGHT Micheal was buried. A thing I like about Trevor in the A and B choices at the end of the game is that no matter who you decide to kill as Franklin, Trevor fucking hates it because you're "being a Judas". Despite everything Mike put him through, Trevor doesn't wanna backstab M like he did to T, and tells you that you and Mike were meant for each other. If you have Franklin run into Trevor post-credits during this ending, Trevor warns Franklin to stay the fuck away from him. And a thing I picked up on when you decide to kill T instead of M is that he could opt to kill you on the spot but instead he calls you a Judas and drives off. He's genuinely heartbroken that you turned out to be a backstabbing bastard like Mike. He may be a crazy, unpredictable son of a bitch but he does have very strong core beliefs and that's what makes me like him SO MUCH. Micheal and Franklin are both likeable too, but I wound up clicking with Trevor the most, so you hear about T this review. Lol.
As for quick thoughts about Mike and Frank, I feel like Franklin's story was a little undercooked, but I still like the guy. Him and Lamar are probably one of my favorite duos in gaming in general, they're really fun to listen to whenever you get time with them in game. Micheal is honestly the least likeable of the 3 to me, but I do sympathize with him just trying to get his hands clean of this shit so he can go back to living life with his family, however much they may hate him. I just fucking loathe how he chose to go about doing this, and honestly he's not even that great of a father or a husband either. I know I'm literally playing as fucking crime dudes but Micheal frustrated me the more I played as him, it was cathartic seeing Trevor frustratedly yell at Mike for being a shitty dad. He feels like the kind of character I'd be doing jobs for in past GTA games, not one of my main protagonists.
I won't get into the actual story, but the stuff with the FIB and whatnot was pretty tense and engaging, though I thought the reason for Frank having to either kill Mike or Trevor was contrived though. I went with C) Deathwish for my ending because GTA Online basically confirmed it to be canon and it's the ending I personally like the most, even if I don't really think Micheal deserves to get off scot-free after how he manipulated the everloving piss out of Trevor and others.
Gameplay wise, it's both a step up and down from GTA 4. I don't like how almost weightless the cars feel in comparison to 4, it's really fucking jarring. Gunplay is as solid as ever though, not to toot my own horn but I'm pretty cracked at this game on controller. I can get headshots pretty damn easily. The weapon wheel is definitely a feature I wish I had in past GTA games, and it's neat having a lot of features come back from GTA:SA... even if I think said features kinda bloat the game a bit, same goes for San Andreas. I know that's a seriously fucking spicy take but I kinda don't like just how big SA and 5 are, I feel like most of my time is spent driving to and from missions rather than simply playing the missions and that gets really irritating about 15 hours in. I like how laser focused GTA 4 is, everything feels like it serves some sort of purpose to the world. I dunno, maybe I'm just an old woman bitching at a cloud.
Overall though, very fun time with this game and I can see myself coming back to it in the future. Maybe I'll finally swallow my pride and hop on GTAO more often too.... Maybe. I don't know.
Trevor is probably my favorite character, and a lot of GTA 5 fans say the same but over the years I only remembered him as "that funny crazy guy that wakes up nearly butt naked on the beach when I swap over to him" and not the deeply flawed and honestly sympathetic guy he is. No doubt he's a bad, terrible, downright unforgivable person, but I can't help but feel for the guy considering just how BADLY Micheal screwed him over and continued to screw him over throughout the course of this game. I love how there was a sort of "ticking time clock" element to the fact that he was bound to eventually figure out the truth about what happened in the original heist at the beginning of the game, that of course being that Micheal had Trevor and Brad set up from the start so he could attempt to get out of his life of crime and come out clean, no strings attached. Not to say I don't sympathize with Micheal for wanting a fucking normal life for his family, but I feel for Trevor a lot more considering just how much Micheal manipulated the guy and then left him thinking that their best friend was alive and well and not in the plot where he THOUGHT Micheal was buried. A thing I like about Trevor in the A and B choices at the end of the game is that no matter who you decide to kill as Franklin, Trevor fucking hates it because you're "being a Judas". Despite everything Mike put him through, Trevor doesn't wanna backstab M like he did to T, and tells you that you and Mike were meant for each other. If you have Franklin run into Trevor post-credits during this ending, Trevor warns Franklin to stay the fuck away from him. And a thing I picked up on when you decide to kill T instead of M is that he could opt to kill you on the spot but instead he calls you a Judas and drives off. He's genuinely heartbroken that you turned out to be a backstabbing bastard like Mike. He may be a crazy, unpredictable son of a bitch but he does have very strong core beliefs and that's what makes me like him SO MUCH. Micheal and Franklin are both likeable too, but I wound up clicking with Trevor the most, so you hear about T this review. Lol.
As for quick thoughts about Mike and Frank, I feel like Franklin's story was a little undercooked, but I still like the guy. Him and Lamar are probably one of my favorite duos in gaming in general, they're really fun to listen to whenever you get time with them in game. Micheal is honestly the least likeable of the 3 to me, but I do sympathize with him just trying to get his hands clean of this shit so he can go back to living life with his family, however much they may hate him. I just fucking loathe how he chose to go about doing this, and honestly he's not even that great of a father or a husband either. I know I'm literally playing as fucking crime dudes but Micheal frustrated me the more I played as him, it was cathartic seeing Trevor frustratedly yell at Mike for being a shitty dad. He feels like the kind of character I'd be doing jobs for in past GTA games, not one of my main protagonists.
I won't get into the actual story, but the stuff with the FIB and whatnot was pretty tense and engaging, though I thought the reason for Frank having to either kill Mike or Trevor was contrived though. I went with C) Deathwish for my ending because GTA Online basically confirmed it to be canon and it's the ending I personally like the most, even if I don't really think Micheal deserves to get off scot-free after how he manipulated the everloving piss out of Trevor and others.
Gameplay wise, it's both a step up and down from GTA 4. I don't like how almost weightless the cars feel in comparison to 4, it's really fucking jarring. Gunplay is as solid as ever though, not to toot my own horn but I'm pretty cracked at this game on controller. I can get headshots pretty damn easily. The weapon wheel is definitely a feature I wish I had in past GTA games, and it's neat having a lot of features come back from GTA:SA... even if I think said features kinda bloat the game a bit, same goes for San Andreas. I know that's a seriously fucking spicy take but I kinda don't like just how big SA and 5 are, I feel like most of my time is spent driving to and from missions rather than simply playing the missions and that gets really irritating about 15 hours in. I like how laser focused GTA 4 is, everything feels like it serves some sort of purpose to the world. I dunno, maybe I'm just an old woman bitching at a cloud.
Overall though, very fun time with this game and I can see myself coming back to it in the future. Maybe I'll finally swallow my pride and hop on GTAO more often too.... Maybe. I don't know.
2007
fucking great