Alright let's start this off right. I have played all versions of P3 before this and I have to say, overall, this is the best version of Persona 3. It did get a bunch of nice new things, but the budget for this game seems way more reasonable and lower scale than you might expect. It really does feel like the ultimate PS2 RPG in that respect. It's about as faithful of a remake you could possibly ask for. I had so much fun with this release, I tore through it in less than two weeks.

Seriously, everything's been remade to spruce up the P3 experience that oldheads can appreciate, and at the same time make people who started the series with Persona 5 comfy. I cannot believe it struck such a balance. The dev team put a lot of thought into everything.

What I like most about Reload is the quality of life improvements on the dungeons. The dungeon crawling is no longer is sloggish nightmare in order to get what you need (XP, Money, Personas). You only need to grind if you really want to to get ahead for the next cropping of sections. It really makes a world of difference being able to spend 2-3 hours in a cropping of floors getting what you need and then optimizing the next month with social links. I used to hate doing the dungeon parts of the game and now I easily see it as one of the best parts. Persona 4 could REALLY use this kind of balancing and quality of life upgrades.

It's only flaw is being too committed to original releases. The plot is pretty slow for the first few months. The Arcana Link side stories are not nearly as interesting. The S.E.E.S. crew is not nearly as interesting as the P4 or P5 crew. I am happy to report Junpei has been fixed to be your typical bonehead idiot than really obnoxious creep. Everyone else is more or less the same. My favorite link Maya is a blast from the past. She is cringe and uses 2005 1337sp34k. She is playing the long shut down Shin Megami Tensei MMO that the game admits was destroyed by World of Warcraft. She's an alcoholic who bitches to teenagers about how much her boss sucks. Definite wife material.

If you've played a Persona game before, I suggest cranking up that difficulty because by the end of the 3rd month I was fucking busted. The only real difficulty on Regular is people not knowing how the game wants you to play, and of course figuring out a certain monster's weaknesses. Thanks to Fuuka's abilities, you can figure out any creature's weakness right away. The only real challenging fights on a Regular level are the sponge-y creatures that have no weaknesses at all and is essentially a party item/SP drain, but from how dungeons work now you'll be loaded with minor healing items to get through most things without thinking twice.

Persona 5 Royal is a better game when it comes to interactions with characters and world-immersion, but Persona 3 Reload is just a better playing RPG that cuts out all the fat and gets to the shit you really want out of the rather old school dungeon stuff. All the new abilities and quality of life features make this a must play even if you have played Persona 3 before. If you are the brainrotted type who thinks Persona 5 is only RPG on the planet worth playing then you MIGHT be looking at your second ever RPG. Congratulations!

I cannot wait for The Answer Episode Aigis in the fall. I cannot wait for the female MC route to come out even though its existence has been denied by devs, but you are fucking crazy if you believe them and think it's not happening. I am going to sell feet pics in 4K and probably going to have a good time doing it.

Play me out, Lotus Juice:

DISTURBING THE PEACE!
LOOK INTO MY EYES!
NOW TELL ME THE THINGS YOU'RE LAUGHING ABOUT BEHIND MY BACK!

This is such a miracle of a game, there is literally so much content to dive into. The social simulation is easily the most engaging aspect, and every character is so fun and their storylines are really entertaining. After beating it, I feel like a chapter of my life has concluded.

There are a few changes I would make to possibly streamline the experience. If I'm waiting for a deadline to come up, I don't think I need to read a long text chain about it every single night. Several palaces seriously outstay their welcome, and not knowing how to fuse the ultimate personas you unlock kind of sucks. I also really wish the bosses made better use of the Baton Pass system, as it's the best thing the combat has going for it (although I realize the system was reworked for Royal)

I really did go into Reload fully expecting to not like it as much as FES but I've never been more glad to say I was wrong. Is it the definitive way to play Persona 3? That's up for debate, but I would absolutely lean more towards recommending Reload over the originals. It fixes a lot of the gripes I have with FES, such as Party Control and the fatigue system, and while that old PS2 aesthetic style is hard to top, it cannot be understated just how gorgeous P3R really is. The new VAs do a wonderful job, and even the ones I wasn't huge on at first grew on me quite fast. Truth be told, the only thing that is a little hit or miss is the new soundtrack, with some tracks being absolute standouts but others not quite hitting the mark compared to the PS2 release, but thats fully up to opinion. Also this game made me cry which isn't fair, how dare it.

Seeing Animal Well getting so many perfect scores kind of put me on the offensive with it, and that's not fair. I should be looking at it in a vacuum, removed of comparisons to other Metroidvanias, and the opening gambit of a comedy YouTuber who had the gall to start his own publishing house. It's a game that invites scrutiny, but not on those criteria.

The core of Animal Well is its sense of physicality. There's a very grounded and well-supported sense of logic behind each puzzle and obstacle. There doesn't appear to be any attention given to lore or narrative (and if there is, it's hidden behind additional challenges in the post-game). Your player character is essentially a walking sprite tile, with little other defining features. You get a sense of how high they jump and how fast they move, and that's all you learn about them. As far as I can tell, they don't even have a name. The design's focus is on utility above all else. You gain an inventory of toys, and find out how they can be used in a range of different scenarios. Unlike a lot of games in the genre, your items don't feel like elaborate keys, only introduced to solve specific sets of puzzles, but useful tools that you'll need to experiment with to discover their full value.

The game's ruthlessly abstract, rarely giving any explanation of its ideas. You have to figure it all out through experimentation. It wraps itself up in neon pixels and ambient soundscapes, and you just pick away at it, slowly uncovering more of the map and gaining a deeper understanding of how to traverse it. I spent hours doddering around with puzzles before I realised what I was focusing on was optional post-game content, and discovered what my immediate objective was supposed to be. I have to go really far back to find other games that took such a hands-off approach. Like, 8-bit microcomputer far back. And none of those games could dream of approaching this level of complexity. The closest modern comparison I can think of is VVVVVV, and that's, what, fourteen years old now? I think you only get these games when one guy makes the whole thing himself, and spends an entire console generation tinkering around with ideas, reworking the entire thing each time some new mechanic has an unintended knock-on effect. When someone never has to get a team on-board with their logic, and can just play around with the esoteric ruleset that lives in their own head.

Animals appear to be the game's one constant theme, and I think it's probably just because the developer liked them and they're fun to draw. It doesn't appear to be making any statement about real-world animals, and they all appear in different scales with clashing art styles. Some are cartoony, some are realistic, some have complex logic and a wide range of movement, some are very constrained and function as part of the fundamental level design. They're just a soft face on an otherwise abstract gamepiece. They're not the point. It almost seems coincidental that so many of the things that the game's made up of are animals. Play this game for the experimental approach to Metroidvania design, and the ever-expanding depth. Don't play it because it has Animal in the name.

It's a good game, but it feels a little cold to me. Like they didn't want to give us something to love. I'm not saying it should have Kirby in it (not that I'd complain, but the suggestion would undermine the point I'm making), but a big part of what I love about Metroid is how cool Samus is, and how exciting it is to see her doing cool stuff. Animal Well can feel a little like playing with a desktoy or something. It's so barebones in its expression of character and worldbuilding, and that's not going to be a problem for a lot of people, but it makes me feel a little too detached from it. Again, I can try to appreciate it on its own merits, but it's my main complaint. Maybe it's childish, but I like being the cool hero on the big adventure. Metroid Dread makes this look like Minesweeper.

PokéRogue is, in my opinion, very much too ambitious for its own good. It's an insane endeavor, for a browser game, to do all that it does (and indeed, even just on a mechanical level, a lot of abilities and moves are still not implemented, though obviously that will pass with time), and at a base level, it does it pretty well. Along the way to the final boss, you'll fight a bunch of wild pokemon trainers, gym leaders, E4+Champion and a rival, and after every fight you get a random item. It adapts Pokémon to a roguelite formula fantastically well- the more Pokémon you get, the more eggs you hatch, the more options you unlock. And on the other hand, every run is different, because while you will eventually start with your absolute best aces, you'll have to fill up the rest of the team with whatever else you run into (probably something like a Gyarados and an Ursaluna, if you're like me).

That is all well and good, but where it falls apart is just how much stuff there is. Mainline Pokémon has over 1000 critters now, 900+ moves and 300+ abilities- that is all just way too much for one game to feature. This isn't about Dexit, there's never been a Pokémon game where more than like, 150-200 Pokémon are available to catch before the credits roll, and I might still be highballing that number. And those games are some 20 hours long if you're rushing, PokéRogue is only... well it's like, 3 hours long, but we'll get to the length in a second. My point is, this is just too much. The sheer number of options means they cannot possibly be balanced at all, which paradoxically makes the game feel more repetitive because why the hell would I use most Pokémon when I could use much more versatile and minmaxed equivalents? A Pidgeot is never going to hold a candle to a Staraptor, and why would I ever use a Donphan when I have access to Great Tusk for just a few points more? Worse than that, only a few select strategies are really viable. By the late game every boss 'mon is going to be holding a few Lum Berries, which is going to make status effect-based strategies fare pretty poorly. On the other hand, stat boosts last until you enter a trainer battle, so anything that can do those well is automatically high tier (You can't take those buffs into Gym Leader fights, but you can against boss wild Pokémon. Plus, with the somewhat janky AI, you can definitely find some opportunities to set up a sweep). Also, the final boss and the Rival's ace are always the same, so you'll really want to build around them by the end. Starting with anything other than the "ol' reliables" you'll inevitably get a few of quickly begins to feel like a self-imposed challenge, and with how incredibly fucking long the game is, that's just not appealing.

Length, in fact, is in my opinion PokéRogue's biggest flaw. When I said the game took about three hours to beat, I was not kidding, runs go between 3 and 4 hours which is just nuts for a game that's mostly going to be you clicking the same move on a wild Pokémon 20 levels weaker than yours. It just doesn't need to be like that, too. You can get up to level 200 compared to the official games' cap at 100, but learn-sets still go up to 100 so the latter half of your journey will be a lot more samey (unless you replace some of your Pokémon, but it's not like the new ones will be learning anything new on their own too), and so much of any playthrough is just fighting wild Pokémon that it's really easy to see how a lot of that could be cut off. Make every 10th floor from 10 to 80 be a gym leader fight, 80-90 is the E4 and 90-100 is the finale, and you've cut off the runtime in half and the amount of actual content seen by like, 5%. The difficulty might feel better, too- a lot of the game is trivial, but you're eventually going to hit a brick wall that just sweeps you and have to restart from scratch (or just reload your browser page and start the fight over...). I just don't understand why this free game feels the need to have so much padding, there's even an infinite mode for those who do want the game to go on longer, but at least for me it does ruin a lot of the fun- it's incredibly addictive, so it's common for me to want to start a run, but I know that halfway through I'll be absent-mindedly clicking Waterfall after setting up a few Dragon Dances with my Gyarados, while watching a Youtube video. So I dunno, extremely impressive effort, but I do feel the result is only kind of ok.

Pokerouge is the most fun I've had with a Pokemon game in quite some time, it really understands what it wants to be. It's extremely replayable and encourages trying new teams and strategies in a way that mainline games do not. Playing Pokemon normally is too braindead, playing nuzlocke is too luck based, Pokerouge nails the difficulty here.

Thing is, the difficulty can really, really spike sometimes, like you will be on top of the world and then swept like nothing. It's pretty padded in that regard, you plow through the game for about 20 minutes then have to be sweaty for about 5, it doesn't really have agood rhythm. Certain trainers have their teams buffed to a ridiculous degree, it's nothing anyone could see coming the first couple plays through.

But yeah it's pretty good, been playing it a lot these past couple weeks and hasn't lost any appeal. Just glad Nintedo hasn't put their ban hammer on it yet.

While I don't think this is my favorite Metroidvania I've played so far, I think it's best in its class.

Playing Hollow Knight after playing my first few Metroidvanias, rather than before, set my expectations in a strange place for the game. I've heard so much talk about it, and witnessed even more excitement for the ever-illusive Silksong. I went into it expecting a masterpiece of not only the genre, but of everything that constitutes a great game.

I liked the story, even if it seemed a bit dense at times with all the bugs whispering gibberish into my ear. I'm the guy destined to become the new John Hollow. I'm pretty sure that's obvious, so I'm not marking this as a spoiler. Okay, cool. I was led astray so many times by NPCs who, it seems, you talk to in the first 10 minutes of the game and then have to revisit in the 90th percentile??? Obviously a bit of an exaggeration, but the layering of side quests and their progression is definitely the most complicated out of most games I've played. I don't think that's a bad thing either. I think it's done well enough and more of a reason to be more present when playing the game if you care about the story and its characters a lot.

I think it's easy to sometimes get swept up in the monotony of running back and forth throughout MVs. I touched on this in my Blasphemous reviews; it's incredible how there's a point around 40% percent through these games where you're slow, and the map is big. You're aware of countless areas that are unexplored, but you're lacking the abilities to get to them. This was me more than ever on HK. I loved exploring the map, but I think it's incredibly punishing. I can't imagine someone new to MVs having fun platforming on this game in the beginning. Granted, I'm not the greatest platformer in the world, but I'm certainly not the worst. See below.

I DID NOT FINISH PATH OF PAIN. FUCK THAT. FUCK THE DEVS. SICKOS.

The art direction is extremely cohesive. I didn't feel like anything in the game was out of place. From the sprawling backgrounds, to the enemy design, and the animations, I loved the way this game looked. The environments transitioned color pallets beautifully. I adore when a game isn't afraid to go all out with the colors while still keeping with their aesthetic. The orange of the infection is burned into my brain like one of the blobs was the sun and stared at it too long. Oh, and who knew so many amazing designs could be based around bugs? Looking back, it sounds so obvious because they're like the naturally gifted knights of the animal kingdom. They're quite literally born with armor over their bodies. If any of the bugs in HK were human-sized, I think we'd be doomed.

Combat is great and so are the bosses. I think the weapon upgrade system is balanced, as it incentivizes exploration and challenges the player to fight more bosses. Magic seems OP as hell, as usual. Magic users have tiptoed the line of baby gaming for far too long. It's time we banned all uses of magic from games. But seriously, the balancing of spirit when it comes to magic and healing is well done. Healing? What's that? Seems like they only put it in the game to use outside of combat. You definitely don't want to use it in a boss fight. I think the boss is coded to go ape mode when you start channeling spirit. Once you figure that out, I think you enjoy the combat even more. It reminds me of Sekiro in a way because you have to dance with the boss at a certain rhythm. While there is no parry (kinda) you still have your jumps and dashes to guide you across the dance floor.

The music hit all the notes. It was somber, energizing and grand. I sometimes felt like I was walking the pews at a funeral or receiving a medal for being the people's champion. I especially loved the Mantis Lords track. Inject that shit into my veins. It's incredible to me how so many studios can create such distinctive sounds for their games. Video game soundtracks are a genre of art that is probably the most ignored by the public. Anyway, listen to and appreciate more OSTs. If you're reading this on a video game review site, I'm sure I don't have to tell you that.

Overall, I loved Hollow Knight. Like with any title, there are small annoyances, but they pale in comparison to the radiance displayed during the high points of this game. I fully understand why Silksong is longed for. I fully understand why HK holds a special place in the hearts of many, as it now does mine. As always, I'm thankful to exist during a time when I can experience games like this. There's so much beauty in playing a game you always knew about but never gave a chance.

I was really looking forward to this game because persona 5 ost PLUS a rythmn game just sounds... PERFECT

And dont get me wrong, I did have SOME FUN, for a few hours.. Then you just realise they reuse the same song (just as mixes) over and over with their being only around 6-8 unique songs out of the MASSIVE catalogue they had to work with.

Im honestly happy I got this game through like a 90 percent off sale, that makes me feel it was okay for what I paid.

I also enjoyed some of the social events more than others, some came off as if different writers were given stereotypes of said characters like 'Futaba is the nerdy one who is an otaku who lost her mother' and that is just her character throughout the game. It makes them come across as 2 dimensional ignoring the base games confidaant ranks imo, SADLY!!! 😭😭