TheWhat13
2020
This game is one of the most generic games I have ever seen. The story is laughably bad, in part because of how predictable it is, with characters so archetypal and uninteresting that I started to believe that they were supposed to be a parody of other post apocaliptyc sci-fi worlds.
But who cares about story right ? I'm a gameplay guy, so what does the gameplay have to offer. The core concept isn't that bad to be honest. It's not extremely original, but it does have its moments. As for the execution, oh dear. Most of the game's problems with the core gameplay come from the fact that what determines if you can grab onto a wall or a rail or if you can dash doesn't depend on where your left stick is, but where your character is looking. If you're looking directly the wall, you won't be able to wall-run on it, you have to look in the direction you want to go. This is super dumb. Firstly, it's counterintuitive: my momentum is in one direction, but if I look the opposite way before reaching a wall I can do a complete, instant 180 turn with no regards to my momentum. Secondly, it leads to a lot of frustrating falls. If you're trying to pary a shot coming from behind you, you're going to fall. Thirdly, some of the level design doesn't take this stupid gameplay mechanic into account. In of the last levels, there's a section where you're sliding on multiple rails and have to jump from one to the other. In the middle of this section, there are two rails perpendicual from one another. Guess what ? If you don't turn your head 90 degrees in the second and a half between you leaving one rail and grabing onto the other, you character will grab the rail, and immediatly jump off. It's vaffling to me that in a game about parkour, momentum doesn't decide your direction, but where your eyes are does.
The cybervoid is hilariously bad. i legit cracked up when this game about a cyber ninja doind parkour in the future asked me to do a f*cking tetris puzzle. There's also a labyrinth later in the game because this is a bad video game so, like every bad video game, it needs to have a labyrinth.
The aesthetic of the Cyberworld is terrible as well, which is something you can say about 80% of the games' levels. Simply put, the world of Ghostrunner doesn't feel lived in, it feels like a mario bros level in 3D with a cyberpunk look, and not a good one at that.
On a positive note, the boss levels are decent, especially the first one. The final boss is laughable, as it amounts to "dodge, jump, dodge, jump, attack."
This game blows a fat one. I'm surprised I even played it all the way through, as it apart from a concept that's quite fun, it doesn't deliver anything surprising, as well as butchering the concept in its execution.
But who cares about story right ? I'm a gameplay guy, so what does the gameplay have to offer. The core concept isn't that bad to be honest. It's not extremely original, but it does have its moments. As for the execution, oh dear. Most of the game's problems with the core gameplay come from the fact that what determines if you can grab onto a wall or a rail or if you can dash doesn't depend on where your left stick is, but where your character is looking. If you're looking directly the wall, you won't be able to wall-run on it, you have to look in the direction you want to go. This is super dumb. Firstly, it's counterintuitive: my momentum is in one direction, but if I look the opposite way before reaching a wall I can do a complete, instant 180 turn with no regards to my momentum. Secondly, it leads to a lot of frustrating falls. If you're trying to pary a shot coming from behind you, you're going to fall. Thirdly, some of the level design doesn't take this stupid gameplay mechanic into account. In of the last levels, there's a section where you're sliding on multiple rails and have to jump from one to the other. In the middle of this section, there are two rails perpendicual from one another. Guess what ? If you don't turn your head 90 degrees in the second and a half between you leaving one rail and grabing onto the other, you character will grab the rail, and immediatly jump off. It's vaffling to me that in a game about parkour, momentum doesn't decide your direction, but where your eyes are does.
The cybervoid is hilariously bad. i legit cracked up when this game about a cyber ninja doind parkour in the future asked me to do a f*cking tetris puzzle. There's also a labyrinth later in the game because this is a bad video game so, like every bad video game, it needs to have a labyrinth.
The aesthetic of the Cyberworld is terrible as well, which is something you can say about 80% of the games' levels. Simply put, the world of Ghostrunner doesn't feel lived in, it feels like a mario bros level in 3D with a cyberpunk look, and not a good one at that.
On a positive note, the boss levels are decent, especially the first one. The final boss is laughable, as it amounts to "dodge, jump, dodge, jump, attack."
This game blows a fat one. I'm surprised I even played it all the way through, as it apart from a concept that's quite fun, it doesn't deliver anything surprising, as well as butchering the concept in its execution.
2017
This review contains spoilers
Little Nightmares is very similar to INSIDE in concept, but in execution, it just isn't as good, at least in my opinion.
I played for and hour and a half, and was simultaneously bored to death and fascinated. On the one hand, the game does have memorable and shocking moments, seeing a child starve to the point where he lets himself capture like a rat will stick with me. But on the other, the game's pacing is off. Most of the time, the game is slow, but suddenly the game will make you have to think on your feet. This is more of an action, instinctual-oriented game than INSIDE, which focused more on puzzle, but the thing is the action only kicks in after walking for what feels like forever.
The art style and animation's aren't anything to ride home about either. Usually, 2D games (or rather 3D games presented like 2D games) really shine with their art, but Little Nightmares feels like any other game I've ever seen. The decors can get interesting, but most of them are really bland and forgettable. In only and hour and a half of playtime, there were two distinct occasions where I thought the game had made me respawn ten minutes back because of how similar the rooms looked.
Also, small quirk, but the game doesn't give you any tutorials, except if you're stuck which is just dumb. Like yeah I see the point, but just put the "press X to do this" prompt immediatly and don't let me look like a dumbass not managing to solve a puzzle for 2 minutes because I don't know that there's a sprint button.
I played for and hour and a half, and was simultaneously bored to death and fascinated. On the one hand, the game does have memorable and shocking moments, seeing a child starve to the point where he lets himself capture like a rat will stick with me. But on the other, the game's pacing is off. Most of the time, the game is slow, but suddenly the game will make you have to think on your feet. This is more of an action, instinctual-oriented game than INSIDE, which focused more on puzzle, but the thing is the action only kicks in after walking for what feels like forever.
The art style and animation's aren't anything to ride home about either. Usually, 2D games (or rather 3D games presented like 2D games) really shine with their art, but Little Nightmares feels like any other game I've ever seen. The decors can get interesting, but most of them are really bland and forgettable. In only and hour and a half of playtime, there were two distinct occasions where I thought the game had made me respawn ten minutes back because of how similar the rooms looked.
Also, small quirk, but the game doesn't give you any tutorials, except if you're stuck which is just dumb. Like yeah I see the point, but just put the "press X to do this" prompt immediatly and don't let me look like a dumbass not managing to solve a puzzle for 2 minutes because I don't know that there's a sprint button.
2017
Never have I played a game that nails what it wants to be so much. Cuphead is a beautiful game, with amazing ambiance thanks to memorable music, characters that are full of charm and beautiful animation work.
Gameplay can however be hurt by this. Shooting is very imprecise, as any projectile coming at you from an odd angle will be in the deadzone of your basic shot. In order to fill the base shots problems though, you can buy different shots, that cover a wider range, or even are guided to potential targets. However, I have two problems with these. Firstly, you need to buy these in a shop, and I feel like the item descriptions in said shop really don't do a good job. Having short videos to show what the shot does would've been favorable in my opinion. Secondly, I do feel like the base shot should be more versatile than it is, because in a game like cuphead, with so much going on at the same time, you need to be able to react quickly. I understand why they didn't give you full 360° degree shooting (that would be dreadful), but maybe having 12 directions rather than 8 would've been better.
Also, the game sometimes wants to do too much visually speaking. There is a fight in the game against a bee, the bottom of the screen is covered by a transparent yellow liquid which bubbles and moves around, like a sea agitated by waves, and honey is falling from the sides of the screen. The background is also more agitated than a lot of the fights in the game. The thing is, all this info is useless: the honey doesn't hurt you, neither does the yellow liquid, and the background is just decor. This fight is a prime example of the game putting style over gameplay: there is way too much going on, making it really hard to focus on the fight because so much movement is going on, begging for your eyeballs' attention.
Also, the game often traps you into taking damage unfairly. Basically, the boss fights often have independant factors form the main enemy running around (smaller enemies, decor collapsing etc...) and the game isn't programmed in a way to stop those two independant elements from traping the player. So basically, you could have a crumbling decor not allowing you to jump above you and a projectile that requires you to jump to avoid it activated at the same time, leading to frustrating damage.
I found it immensily frustrating that only two jump heights exist, with no "small jump" option. It made some sections quite frustrating.
Finally, 4/6 run and gun levels suck ass.
Cuphead is really amazing, and is a title worthy of the praise it gets for its visuals and general ambiance. However, in gameplay, some weird choices about mechanics can lead to a lot fo frustrating deaths. Maybe it's a skill issue, but I really do believe that this game could've been way less frustrating than what it is.
Gameplay can however be hurt by this. Shooting is very imprecise, as any projectile coming at you from an odd angle will be in the deadzone of your basic shot. In order to fill the base shots problems though, you can buy different shots, that cover a wider range, or even are guided to potential targets. However, I have two problems with these. Firstly, you need to buy these in a shop, and I feel like the item descriptions in said shop really don't do a good job. Having short videos to show what the shot does would've been favorable in my opinion. Secondly, I do feel like the base shot should be more versatile than it is, because in a game like cuphead, with so much going on at the same time, you need to be able to react quickly. I understand why they didn't give you full 360° degree shooting (that would be dreadful), but maybe having 12 directions rather than 8 would've been better.
Also, the game sometimes wants to do too much visually speaking. There is a fight in the game against a bee, the bottom of the screen is covered by a transparent yellow liquid which bubbles and moves around, like a sea agitated by waves, and honey is falling from the sides of the screen. The background is also more agitated than a lot of the fights in the game. The thing is, all this info is useless: the honey doesn't hurt you, neither does the yellow liquid, and the background is just decor. This fight is a prime example of the game putting style over gameplay: there is way too much going on, making it really hard to focus on the fight because so much movement is going on, begging for your eyeballs' attention.
Also, the game often traps you into taking damage unfairly. Basically, the boss fights often have independant factors form the main enemy running around (smaller enemies, decor collapsing etc...) and the game isn't programmed in a way to stop those two independant elements from traping the player. So basically, you could have a crumbling decor not allowing you to jump above you and a projectile that requires you to jump to avoid it activated at the same time, leading to frustrating damage.
I found it immensily frustrating that only two jump heights exist, with no "small jump" option. It made some sections quite frustrating.
Finally, 4/6 run and gun levels suck ass.
Cuphead is really amazing, and is a title worthy of the praise it gets for its visuals and general ambiance. However, in gameplay, some weird choices about mechanics can lead to a lot fo frustrating deaths. Maybe it's a skill issue, but I really do believe that this game could've been way less frustrating than what it is.
2021
I was surprised by this game, in a good way. The gameplay is solid, fun and surprisingly varied. I wanted to see the game to its end, but I eventually ragequitted because the checkpoint system in this game is awful, and I just couldn't be bothered to continue. Also, your legs in this game are so annoying, they get in the way all the time, and you have no way to control them except for lifting them (which is useless). Great concept, surpringly well executed, but with a few key flaws that will frustrate you.
I would love to be good at this game but I'm not, and even with my critical condition of "being bad" I still had a blast on the two hours I played this.
2011
This is a review of the solo campaign exclusively
Portal 2 is a very good game, which made the very... audacious choice to make a whole game out of the worst part of its predecessor, and to expand into more than "just" a puzzle game.
The game starts off really well: you get the double-portal gun really quickly, the puzzles are really smart very early on... The first game took ages to get interesting, with the first hour and a half being carried by GladOS, but this one kicks right off with an amazing one-two punch of gameplay and writing, with Wheatley is an absolute treat. Throughout, the game is funny, and the puzzles are never bad.
However, once the game reaches its second part, it decides to repeat the worst part of Portal 1: trading the test rooms for a realistic decor. Now don't get me wrong, this isn't nearly as bad as in the first game, as the puzzles are still great, but it is still so inferior to the rest of the game. Firstly, gameplay-wise, it too often ends being a game of "find the white surface hiding in these boring ass-green walls." Even though some tremendous progress has been made by introducing the blue and orange gels, which really carry these sections, these levels are too large to feel as perfectly crafted as the test-rooms. Simply, the test rooms feel like they are all perfect bangers, that don't have any downtime between them. In these realistic decors, you have to travel from one puzzle to the next, and it's just so boring. Secondly, from a story perspective, the game suddenly takes itself so seriously, with the lore of Aperture Science being revealed. And sure, the story isn't bad, but at the same time, I really don't care. Yeah Cave Johnson is pretty funny, and so is Caroline, but they can't compare to GladOS or Wheatley. Also, I'm not playing portal for the story, so the story being used to justify leaving better areas gameplay-wise does leave a bitter taste in my mouth, especially since half the game takes place in this realistic environment.
Even when you get back to test-rooms, the game, because of story reasons I won't dive into, has to make you go through 4 or 5 purposefully bad rooms, and like... yeah the story dictates it, but maybe you should've written the story around the gameplay and not the other way round ? This is symptomatic of my main problem with the game: Valve clearly wanted to tell a story first and foremost (which is understandable given the amazing character that is GladOS), and make a puzzle game after. Problem is, a game's priority should always be gameplay, especially a puzzle game. If your story hinders gameplay, change your story to work around it.
I know it may sound weird, because all Valve did was try to make this series into a bigger game, and expand. Portal wasn't going to last forever if it just repeated "white backgrounds" forever, while only introducing new gimmicks. But the thing is, the original portal felt like it was underdeveloped, like more could've been done with it, like it didn't fully exploit its amazing potential. Portal 2 could've been all white rooms and still been amazing, because it could've been the delivery on the promise that Portal showed. Instead of realising a series potential, Portal 2 moves on to try to reinvent a series that hadn't gotten tired yet, and really misses out the chance it had to be the best puzzle game of all-time.
Portal 2 is a very good game, which made the very... audacious choice to make a whole game out of the worst part of its predecessor, and to expand into more than "just" a puzzle game.
The game starts off really well: you get the double-portal gun really quickly, the puzzles are really smart very early on... The first game took ages to get interesting, with the first hour and a half being carried by GladOS, but this one kicks right off with an amazing one-two punch of gameplay and writing, with Wheatley is an absolute treat. Throughout, the game is funny, and the puzzles are never bad.
However, once the game reaches its second part, it decides to repeat the worst part of Portal 1: trading the test rooms for a realistic decor. Now don't get me wrong, this isn't nearly as bad as in the first game, as the puzzles are still great, but it is still so inferior to the rest of the game. Firstly, gameplay-wise, it too often ends being a game of "find the white surface hiding in these boring ass-green walls." Even though some tremendous progress has been made by introducing the blue and orange gels, which really carry these sections, these levels are too large to feel as perfectly crafted as the test-rooms. Simply, the test rooms feel like they are all perfect bangers, that don't have any downtime between them. In these realistic decors, you have to travel from one puzzle to the next, and it's just so boring. Secondly, from a story perspective, the game suddenly takes itself so seriously, with the lore of Aperture Science being revealed. And sure, the story isn't bad, but at the same time, I really don't care. Yeah Cave Johnson is pretty funny, and so is Caroline, but they can't compare to GladOS or Wheatley. Also, I'm not playing portal for the story, so the story being used to justify leaving better areas gameplay-wise does leave a bitter taste in my mouth, especially since half the game takes place in this realistic environment.
Even when you get back to test-rooms, the game, because of story reasons I won't dive into, has to make you go through 4 or 5 purposefully bad rooms, and like... yeah the story dictates it, but maybe you should've written the story around the gameplay and not the other way round ? This is symptomatic of my main problem with the game: Valve clearly wanted to tell a story first and foremost (which is understandable given the amazing character that is GladOS), and make a puzzle game after. Problem is, a game's priority should always be gameplay, especially a puzzle game. If your story hinders gameplay, change your story to work around it.
I know it may sound weird, because all Valve did was try to make this series into a bigger game, and expand. Portal wasn't going to last forever if it just repeated "white backgrounds" forever, while only introducing new gimmicks. But the thing is, the original portal felt like it was underdeveloped, like more could've been done with it, like it didn't fully exploit its amazing potential. Portal 2 could've been all white rooms and still been amazing, because it could've been the delivery on the promise that Portal showed. Instead of realising a series potential, Portal 2 moves on to try to reinvent a series that hadn't gotten tired yet, and really misses out the chance it had to be the best puzzle game of all-time.
2022
SPOILER FREE SUMMARY
God of War Ragnarök has a better story than its predecessor, and gameplay, whilst not substantially better, still feels fresh and more exciting than its predecessor. The game doesn't fully deliver on the story promises of the first few hours, and is dragged down by a few awfully linear, slow, and long sections, but overall, it is an excellent game, that is but a few milimeters away from a perfect score.
SPOILERY REVIEW
----------
God of War Ragnarök is a near-perfect sequel, in the sense where it builds upon the first game marvelously. After playing Ragnarök, gameplay and story-wise, I see no reason to go back to its 2018 counterpart. But, while 90% of the game feels perfected, with Santa Monica Studios building on an already excellent base, you can really feel that 10% of the game is completely new and in that sense, unpolished. Those last 10 % are the Atreus sections.
I spent 48 hours completing this game, and I must've played maybe 5 hours as Atreus total. Not a big deal right ? Wrong. Those 5 hours felt like ten. It's to the point where I can't this game a perfect score because of the Atreus sections (even though other minor gripes add up, further discouraging me). Don't get me wrong, I was hyped as hell when i was given control of Atreus, and the first section was really cool. Yeah, the combat wasn't great, but for short, story driven sections that would happen once or twice during the game, it wouldn't be a big deal. Problem is, you play as Atreus on 6 different occasions, and two of those occasions are at least three quarters of an hour long, where you do such interesting things as picking fruits or, and I'm not kidding, climbing a wall for five-ten straight minutes. I don't mind climbing in video games, as long as the sights are worth seeing, but this is overkill.
Atreus is the only overwhelmingly poor part of this game. The rest of it is at least good. There are two poorer aspects I would like to evoke. Firstly, this game being cross-gen really hinders it from a pacing perspective. The game is forced to include hidden loading screens because of the PS4, which is just annoying when you know that your version of the game doesn't need those loading times. On PS5, when you travel between realms and the characters don't tell a story, the loading time is instantaneous, but they still had to put in the waiting room that is the realm between realms to accomodate the PS4. It's not major, but it is a shame, and we're two years into the PS5's life cycle by now, everyone who really wants a PS5 can get one now, it would be nice if this game was the last cross-gen release.
The story is epic, in the litteral sense of the word. it feels like you are playing through a mythological tale, rather than playing through a story with mythological lore. The beginning of the game really takes it time to set the scene, establish the dynamics between different characters, build tension between Atreus and Kratos, Kratos and Freya, Odin and Kratos and Atreus, tension between the prophecy of Ragnarök and the characters wishes... There is a lot of tension in the relationships, to the point where it is genuinely hard to see how the writers are going to conclude every storyline and I was really excited to see how Ragnarök would play out. But then, everything just started to resolve itself. Tension with Freya ? Go for a walk around her home-realm and it's solved like nothing happened. Tensions between Atreus and Kratos ? Nope, it just goes away after Atreus LITTERALY WENT RIGHT TO ODIN AND COULD'VE BEEN BRAINWASHED BY HIM. It's to the point where the conclusion to every story doesn't make. i'm not against this game having a good ending, but it's just that the tension between characters blows off way too early. The scene before the final fight with Odin should be this really stressful resolution to all the tension between different characters, but ends up being predictable because all doubt about the different characters intent in regards to one another has been solved. Kratos and Atreus are bound to the ground, Freya arrives: had the tension not been completely wiped out between these characters, you could've had a tease of Freya maybe turning on Kratos to avenge her son, and then face Odin one on one. Later, Atreus has a choice to make between his father and Odin, but there is no doubt about the fact he'll choose Kratos, because he keeps saying that he doesn't trust Odin, and he never even starts to trust Odin. Basically, it just feels like this game's story had an insane amount of gunpowder, and instead of just blowing up, it blows away in the wind. Don't get me wrong, the story isn't bad, it's epic and the first half is some of the best characterization I've seen in a video game in a while, but it doesn't deliver on its promise.
Now for the purely good parts of the game. Combat has somehow been made better, thanks to the momentum mechanic and the introduction of the Draugnir Spear (which is maybe introduced a bit too late since at that point, I was so established in my usaged of the Blades and the Axe that I felt like going to the spear would just be inneficient). Traversal has been made immensely better thanks to the Blades now serving as a grapling hook, helping the game feel better paced in exploration sequences (even though it does lead to me kinda rolling my eyes when I need to climb somethign the old fashioned way as it feels like I could just grapple up).
However, the real x-factor of this game is the presence of all 9 realms. Even though only 6 are truly interesting (Asgard can only be played through in story sequences, Jötunheim is worthless outside of the Atreus section and Helheim doesn't have a lot of side content), they all feel fleshed out. Alfheim has a huge (but small by comparison) desert to explore that will take a good three hours to complete, Svartalfheim is truly huge with lots to do (and looks amazing) and Vanaheim is ridiculously huge. There is a whole region that is completely optional and that just keeps on going. That region alone will take you 5-7 hours to complete, which you can add to the original 3-5 hours of extra content in the main region. This game went all out on the size and content of the realms, which makes it a bit annoying that the artefacts returned. They do give you hacksilver, but I was crawling under hacksilver after a few hours (i don't know why, but it felt like this game was way more generous with money than the first game) so their main interest is the trophies. Sidequests are now more interesting, as way less of them are given by spirits it feels like (except in Vanaheim which is a bit dissapointing in this regard). Favours are way more story-driven now, exploring the past of different characters like Mimir or Freya, as well as building the relationship between Kratos and Atreus. The themes of the story (parenthood, accepting the past and trying to be better, trust in your allies etc...) are often explored in the side quests, which makes it a nice, coherent package. I was surprised, but I actually really enjoyed raven-hunting this time around: there 48 (compared to the 51 in God of war 2018) which is quite small when you put into perspective with the size of the map. Furthermore, there is actual purpose to collecting them now, with equipment being given to you for (more or less) every 8 ravens collected.
I was however a bit dissapointed by the optional fights. Even though the common enemy selection is more varied than in the first game, the optional boss fights do feel a bit redundant. You fight a lot of the same dragons but with different elements (even though the sidequest of dragon hunting is really cool), there is only one optional valkyrie (which is an awesome fight) and the replacement for valkyries, Berseker souls, do feel awfully samey. The final berseker's moveset is nothing more than a combination of all the different bersekers you've killed, and that's what the final valkyrie was in the last game, but in this game I already couldn't tell apart two berskeker fights in terms of moveset (except when I was facing multiple at once sure) so the king just felt like any other berseker, but with more health and who deals more damage.
God of War Ragnarök has a better story than its predecessor, and gameplay, whilst not substantially better, still feels fresh and more exciting than its predecessor. The game doesn't fully deliver on the story promises of the first few hours, and is dragged down by a few awfully linear, slow, and long sections, but overall, it is an excellent game, that is but a few milimeters away from a perfect score.
SPOILERY REVIEW
----------
God of War Ragnarök is a near-perfect sequel, in the sense where it builds upon the first game marvelously. After playing Ragnarök, gameplay and story-wise, I see no reason to go back to its 2018 counterpart. But, while 90% of the game feels perfected, with Santa Monica Studios building on an already excellent base, you can really feel that 10% of the game is completely new and in that sense, unpolished. Those last 10 % are the Atreus sections.
I spent 48 hours completing this game, and I must've played maybe 5 hours as Atreus total. Not a big deal right ? Wrong. Those 5 hours felt like ten. It's to the point where I can't this game a perfect score because of the Atreus sections (even though other minor gripes add up, further discouraging me). Don't get me wrong, I was hyped as hell when i was given control of Atreus, and the first section was really cool. Yeah, the combat wasn't great, but for short, story driven sections that would happen once or twice during the game, it wouldn't be a big deal. Problem is, you play as Atreus on 6 different occasions, and two of those occasions are at least three quarters of an hour long, where you do such interesting things as picking fruits or, and I'm not kidding, climbing a wall for five-ten straight minutes. I don't mind climbing in video games, as long as the sights are worth seeing, but this is overkill.
Atreus is the only overwhelmingly poor part of this game. The rest of it is at least good. There are two poorer aspects I would like to evoke. Firstly, this game being cross-gen really hinders it from a pacing perspective. The game is forced to include hidden loading screens because of the PS4, which is just annoying when you know that your version of the game doesn't need those loading times. On PS5, when you travel between realms and the characters don't tell a story, the loading time is instantaneous, but they still had to put in the waiting room that is the realm between realms to accomodate the PS4. It's not major, but it is a shame, and we're two years into the PS5's life cycle by now, everyone who really wants a PS5 can get one now, it would be nice if this game was the last cross-gen release.
The story is epic, in the litteral sense of the word. it feels like you are playing through a mythological tale, rather than playing through a story with mythological lore. The beginning of the game really takes it time to set the scene, establish the dynamics between different characters, build tension between Atreus and Kratos, Kratos and Freya, Odin and Kratos and Atreus, tension between the prophecy of Ragnarök and the characters wishes... There is a lot of tension in the relationships, to the point where it is genuinely hard to see how the writers are going to conclude every storyline and I was really excited to see how Ragnarök would play out. But then, everything just started to resolve itself. Tension with Freya ? Go for a walk around her home-realm and it's solved like nothing happened. Tensions between Atreus and Kratos ? Nope, it just goes away after Atreus LITTERALY WENT RIGHT TO ODIN AND COULD'VE BEEN BRAINWASHED BY HIM. It's to the point where the conclusion to every story doesn't make. i'm not against this game having a good ending, but it's just that the tension between characters blows off way too early. The scene before the final fight with Odin should be this really stressful resolution to all the tension between different characters, but ends up being predictable because all doubt about the different characters intent in regards to one another has been solved. Kratos and Atreus are bound to the ground, Freya arrives: had the tension not been completely wiped out between these characters, you could've had a tease of Freya maybe turning on Kratos to avenge her son, and then face Odin one on one. Later, Atreus has a choice to make between his father and Odin, but there is no doubt about the fact he'll choose Kratos, because he keeps saying that he doesn't trust Odin, and he never even starts to trust Odin. Basically, it just feels like this game's story had an insane amount of gunpowder, and instead of just blowing up, it blows away in the wind. Don't get me wrong, the story isn't bad, it's epic and the first half is some of the best characterization I've seen in a video game in a while, but it doesn't deliver on its promise.
Now for the purely good parts of the game. Combat has somehow been made better, thanks to the momentum mechanic and the introduction of the Draugnir Spear (which is maybe introduced a bit too late since at that point, I was so established in my usaged of the Blades and the Axe that I felt like going to the spear would just be inneficient). Traversal has been made immensely better thanks to the Blades now serving as a grapling hook, helping the game feel better paced in exploration sequences (even though it does lead to me kinda rolling my eyes when I need to climb somethign the old fashioned way as it feels like I could just grapple up).
However, the real x-factor of this game is the presence of all 9 realms. Even though only 6 are truly interesting (Asgard can only be played through in story sequences, Jötunheim is worthless outside of the Atreus section and Helheim doesn't have a lot of side content), they all feel fleshed out. Alfheim has a huge (but small by comparison) desert to explore that will take a good three hours to complete, Svartalfheim is truly huge with lots to do (and looks amazing) and Vanaheim is ridiculously huge. There is a whole region that is completely optional and that just keeps on going. That region alone will take you 5-7 hours to complete, which you can add to the original 3-5 hours of extra content in the main region. This game went all out on the size and content of the realms, which makes it a bit annoying that the artefacts returned. They do give you hacksilver, but I was crawling under hacksilver after a few hours (i don't know why, but it felt like this game was way more generous with money than the first game) so their main interest is the trophies. Sidequests are now more interesting, as way less of them are given by spirits it feels like (except in Vanaheim which is a bit dissapointing in this regard). Favours are way more story-driven now, exploring the past of different characters like Mimir or Freya, as well as building the relationship between Kratos and Atreus. The themes of the story (parenthood, accepting the past and trying to be better, trust in your allies etc...) are often explored in the side quests, which makes it a nice, coherent package. I was surprised, but I actually really enjoyed raven-hunting this time around: there 48 (compared to the 51 in God of war 2018) which is quite small when you put into perspective with the size of the map. Furthermore, there is actual purpose to collecting them now, with equipment being given to you for (more or less) every 8 ravens collected.
I was however a bit dissapointed by the optional fights. Even though the common enemy selection is more varied than in the first game, the optional boss fights do feel a bit redundant. You fight a lot of the same dragons but with different elements (even though the sidequest of dragon hunting is really cool), there is only one optional valkyrie (which is an awesome fight) and the replacement for valkyries, Berseker souls, do feel awfully samey. The final berseker's moveset is nothing more than a combination of all the different bersekers you've killed, and that's what the final valkyrie was in the last game, but in this game I already couldn't tell apart two berskeker fights in terms of moveset (except when I was facing multiple at once sure) so the king just felt like any other berseker, but with more health and who deals more damage.
2016
INSIDE is unique as it is the first game I have played, or the first piece of art I have experienced, to not really have a story, but still has themes and a message. It's very open to interpretation (I'm still debating if this is a game about socialism or about a parralel universe where a nazi-like regime is instaured), but will not leave you incensitive.
As for gameplay, the puzzles are smart, set a great oppressive ambiance. There are a lot of very strong moments, because of the oppressive ambiance, that will force you to do horrid things to survive. Also, the animations are suprisingly smooth and the artstyle, whilst not perfect, is nice to look at most of the time.
As for gameplay, the puzzles are smart, set a great oppressive ambiance. There are a lot of very strong moments, because of the oppressive ambiance, that will force you to do horrid things to survive. Also, the animations are suprisingly smooth and the artstyle, whilst not perfect, is nice to look at most of the time.
2014
If you want to play the most generic, mid-2010s open world game filled with meaningless and uninteresting activities which allow you to "free a neighborhood", with a bone-dry combat system and a story that feels like it's missing half of its parts, look no further.
Still, the morality system, the ok characters (who had the potential to be great) and, overall, the potential of a lot of this games' individual element to be great does justify this getting a few points.
Still, the morality system, the ok characters (who had the potential to be great) and, overall, the potential of a lot of this games' individual element to be great does justify this getting a few points.
2020
If DOOM 2016 was a blast of testosterone, DOOM Eternal is a rush of adrenaline.
At its core, the game is the same as its predecessor, however the game's improved movement thanks to its fast-paced nature is the key to unlocking this rebooted DOOM series' full potential.
Because it's now fun to move around, weither in combat or out of it thanks to some decent platforming elements, you want to explore more. Because of this, Bethesda couldn't just put you in forgettable, generic levels made with a colour palette of grey, black and washed out browns, like most FPS' and, it has to be said, most levels of DOOM 2016. The decors are so godamn pretty in this game. I remember no level from DOOM 2016, but every single one of the levels in DOOM Eternal left an impression on me.
The only real problem with this game is the introduction of a few enemies that kinda suck. Marauders for example are ridiculous in how much time they require to kill, how quick they are and how little a time frame you have to shoot them. The game does lack a bit of variety for how long it is. IF it was three levels shorter, the selction would've been more than fine, but with an FPS that lasts more or less 15 hours, which are stacked with tenths and tenths of encounters, the current roster does end up feeling pretty repetitive.
At its core, the game is the same as its predecessor, however the game's improved movement thanks to its fast-paced nature is the key to unlocking this rebooted DOOM series' full potential.
Because it's now fun to move around, weither in combat or out of it thanks to some decent platforming elements, you want to explore more. Because of this, Bethesda couldn't just put you in forgettable, generic levels made with a colour palette of grey, black and washed out browns, like most FPS' and, it has to be said, most levels of DOOM 2016. The decors are so godamn pretty in this game. I remember no level from DOOM 2016, but every single one of the levels in DOOM Eternal left an impression on me.
The only real problem with this game is the introduction of a few enemies that kinda suck. Marauders for example are ridiculous in how much time they require to kill, how quick they are and how little a time frame you have to shoot them. The game does lack a bit of variety for how long it is. IF it was three levels shorter, the selction would've been more than fine, but with an FPS that lasts more or less 15 hours, which are stacked with tenths and tenths of encounters, the current roster does end up feeling pretty repetitive.
2007
This game has everything to be great. The pitch is great, the puzles are fun, the only character in the game is very funny. However, you can just feel that the game doesn't deploy its full potential. Just by playing the bonus rooms, you realise how little the base game exploits its mechanics, and relies a bit too much on the "fast thing comes in, fast thing comes out" mechanic, even though there were a hundred different ways to use the portal mechanic. Plus, the last trunk of the game dragged for too long.
However, the one thing this game suprised me with was its eery ambiance. The writings on the wall you can find behind the test room, the weird jokes made by GladOs, all lead you to believe that something is wrong.
This game was made to have a sequel, because of how under-exploited it feels, but it perfectly mixes humour and horror.
However, the one thing this game suprised me with was its eery ambiance. The writings on the wall you can find behind the test room, the weird jokes made by GladOs, all lead you to believe that something is wrong.
This game was made to have a sequel, because of how under-exploited it feels, but it perfectly mixes humour and horror.
I'm going to get torn to pieces for this...
This game is a step in the right direction. I always hated Pokémon as a game, but always wanted to love the series. I love the pokemon mythos, the ambiance, and the character design, but the repetitive gameplay and uninteresting stories (except black and white) meant the only Pokémon game I ever finished was X and Y (because I didn't need to grind XP to beat it).
So when I heard how amazing this game was, I was excited to take a look at it ! My brother, who is a huge pokémon fan, bought it at launch, so I didn't have to buy it myself, which I'm very happy about given that I do not like this game.
It's a real shame, as I was hooked by the game at first. My first 6 hours, I was addicted, thanks to the really good gameplay at hand here. never in a thousand years did I think that I would compliment a Pokémon's gameplay, but I have to say, catching pokémon by sneaking around them is insanely fun and addictive. The fights being so short is also a plus, and the whole ordeal felt dangerous. The fact that pokémon can attack you, and that even a weak pokémon will do a lot of damage if he gets a chance to attack makes the game more interesting strategically speaking. It also really feeds into the idea that pokémon, in these ancient times, are to be feared.
However, once I came out of the second zone, the game just stopped being interesting. The first two zones were great thanks to this amazing basis for a new formula, the mounts were really well executed as you could call them with the press of a button, but I was expecting developments to this formula that never came. If you've played the first zone of this game, you've played everything this game has to offer, and that isn't saying much. In every zone you get in, capture everyting in sight to fill the pokédex, get a new mount, fight the noble pokémon (which is a fun fight, but it's a shame that it's basically the same thing five times) This is a good basis, but it is very far from being enough to fill a whole game, let alone spawn a new subseries. Yeah new mounts are unlocked, allowing you to go on water, fly, and climb. But this does not change the core gameplay loop.
To be fair though, the fights have been made better. Quick and Strong style add an interesting risk/reward mechanic, and having the type advantage doesn't necessarily mean a one-shot anymore (even though you're insured the win).
So the gameplay is pretty good, for its first hours at least, which is the sole reason why this is getting 2 stars.
The story is not interesting in the slightest. Again, there was so much potential, but uninteresting characters whom you'll forget the names of just appearing behind you to tell you that you have to go and beat a noble pokémon isn't an interesting story; It's a shame, as a story about mythological pokémon times, featuring tensions between two clans with a group of strangers coming to explore the land caught in the middle, with the protagonist coming from the sky to spark the fire that is clearly waiting to happen here would've made a fascinating story if oriented towards adults... But pokémon is for children. I get it, of course, but... why give us the interesting premisce of inter-group tensions if it's a game for children ? I will say though, the story does get a bit more somber towards the end, but I stopped playing at that moment, because I did not want to play this game anymore. Basically, for 90% of this game, the story blows a fat one, and, from what I can tell, it picks up at the end, right at the moment where you're completely worn out on the gameplay, and the game tells you you need to keep playing.
The characters are horrible I hate all of them/ am dissapointed that the few ok ones weren't developped more. The pokémon professor is by far the worst.
The music is surprisingly dissapointing.
I won't talk about the technical performances outside of this mention, because I don't like beating dead horses
The landscapes are not very interesting, despite their cool old japanese painting art style. I hope you like flat grassy plains because that's what you're getting (and my favourite game of all-time is Breath of the Wild, which means I love grassy plains, but these ones are just boring. In BOTW, the plains have a volume to them, first because the grass actually looks eralistic as it moves in the wind, but also because the land isn't flat).
This game just isn't the best. Yes there is potential. yes I would take a look at a sequel. But this game is way overhyped. As always, the standard for Pokémon company are insanely low, and anything that clears the bar is considered amazing by desparate fans trying to convince themselves that Pokémon isn't one of the worst video game series on Earth, which is a hell of a shame. The same happens with Call of Duty games, or any EA game for that matter.
Sorry Pokémon fans, hope you don't hate me for saying your favourite franchise sucks. If you want to trigger me in return, tell me that Jedi : Fallen Order is the Pokémon Legends Arceus of Star Wars games and I'll scream and shout and throw a tantrum in the comments.
This game is a step in the right direction. I always hated Pokémon as a game, but always wanted to love the series. I love the pokemon mythos, the ambiance, and the character design, but the repetitive gameplay and uninteresting stories (except black and white) meant the only Pokémon game I ever finished was X and Y (because I didn't need to grind XP to beat it).
So when I heard how amazing this game was, I was excited to take a look at it ! My brother, who is a huge pokémon fan, bought it at launch, so I didn't have to buy it myself, which I'm very happy about given that I do not like this game.
It's a real shame, as I was hooked by the game at first. My first 6 hours, I was addicted, thanks to the really good gameplay at hand here. never in a thousand years did I think that I would compliment a Pokémon's gameplay, but I have to say, catching pokémon by sneaking around them is insanely fun and addictive. The fights being so short is also a plus, and the whole ordeal felt dangerous. The fact that pokémon can attack you, and that even a weak pokémon will do a lot of damage if he gets a chance to attack makes the game more interesting strategically speaking. It also really feeds into the idea that pokémon, in these ancient times, are to be feared.
However, once I came out of the second zone, the game just stopped being interesting. The first two zones were great thanks to this amazing basis for a new formula, the mounts were really well executed as you could call them with the press of a button, but I was expecting developments to this formula that never came. If you've played the first zone of this game, you've played everything this game has to offer, and that isn't saying much. In every zone you get in, capture everyting in sight to fill the pokédex, get a new mount, fight the noble pokémon (which is a fun fight, but it's a shame that it's basically the same thing five times) This is a good basis, but it is very far from being enough to fill a whole game, let alone spawn a new subseries. Yeah new mounts are unlocked, allowing you to go on water, fly, and climb. But this does not change the core gameplay loop.
To be fair though, the fights have been made better. Quick and Strong style add an interesting risk/reward mechanic, and having the type advantage doesn't necessarily mean a one-shot anymore (even though you're insured the win).
So the gameplay is pretty good, for its first hours at least, which is the sole reason why this is getting 2 stars.
The story is not interesting in the slightest. Again, there was so much potential, but uninteresting characters whom you'll forget the names of just appearing behind you to tell you that you have to go and beat a noble pokémon isn't an interesting story; It's a shame, as a story about mythological pokémon times, featuring tensions between two clans with a group of strangers coming to explore the land caught in the middle, with the protagonist coming from the sky to spark the fire that is clearly waiting to happen here would've made a fascinating story if oriented towards adults... But pokémon is for children. I get it, of course, but... why give us the interesting premisce of inter-group tensions if it's a game for children ? I will say though, the story does get a bit more somber towards the end, but I stopped playing at that moment, because I did not want to play this game anymore. Basically, for 90% of this game, the story blows a fat one, and, from what I can tell, it picks up at the end, right at the moment where you're completely worn out on the gameplay, and the game tells you you need to keep playing.
The characters are horrible I hate all of them/ am dissapointed that the few ok ones weren't developped more. The pokémon professor is by far the worst.
The music is surprisingly dissapointing.
I won't talk about the technical performances outside of this mention, because I don't like beating dead horses
The landscapes are not very interesting, despite their cool old japanese painting art style. I hope you like flat grassy plains because that's what you're getting (and my favourite game of all-time is Breath of the Wild, which means I love grassy plains, but these ones are just boring. In BOTW, the plains have a volume to them, first because the grass actually looks eralistic as it moves in the wind, but also because the land isn't flat).
This game just isn't the best. Yes there is potential. yes I would take a look at a sequel. But this game is way overhyped. As always, the standard for Pokémon company are insanely low, and anything that clears the bar is considered amazing by desparate fans trying to convince themselves that Pokémon isn't one of the worst video game series on Earth, which is a hell of a shame. The same happens with Call of Duty games, or any EA game for that matter.
Sorry Pokémon fans, hope you don't hate me for saying your favourite franchise sucks. If you want to trigger me in return, tell me that Jedi : Fallen Order is the Pokémon Legends Arceus of Star Wars games and I'll scream and shout and throw a tantrum in the comments.
2021
This game is really cozy. It has good music, great aesthetics, beautiful decors, and the gameplay is chill. It is a bit repetitive though, which is normal for a short game like this. Not the best indie game I've played, but it's very relaxing.
2019
This review contains spoilers
Crunching down an 82 hour experience into a short review is going to be insanely hard. I already know I'm going to re-read this in a few weeks time and say "Oh I forgot to talk about this". So I'm sorry in advance.
Persona 5 was already one of my favorite games of all-time. It did have a problems though. The main problems I remember having was Mementos being a bit of a chore and the game taking its time to kick into gear, as well as having too many times where you were "on rails", with Morgana ordering you to sleep for example.
Persona 5 Royal doesn't necessarily fix these problems, but it does make those weak points better. The addition of José to Mementos is easily the best fix to one of the base game's problem, as he gives you a reason to go to Mementos. In Mementos, you can now pick up flowers and stamps. The first ones allow you to buy (very useful) items from José, and the stamps allow you to "change mementos' cognition", basically meaning that you can apply boosters to how much money, items and XP you get while in Mementos. This may seem like nothing, but it made going to Mementos feel worthwhile. In the base game, I explored Mementos because the game told me to first and foremost, and I found comfort in knowing I would at least be getting some XP and money. In Royal, I went because I felt like it would be an easy, less grindy way to get XP, items and money, all thanks to José. It's a simple fix, but it's very efficient.
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Apart from these small tweaks, Persona 5 Royal adds a ton of content to the base game. mainly, it adds the Thieves' Den, new combat mechanics and an extra story-arc.
The thieves den may be my favorite addition to the game. After long play sessions, I would often go and visit it, just to chill and enjoy the jazz music and play some tycoon. It's a great idea, basically a virtual museum where you can expose statues of the foes you defeated, of the personas that helped you along the way and remind yourself of great memories through photos or cutscenes. I will say though, I would've liked more spaces to put statues and getting to choose where to put the different pieces of art you bought. Having the possibility to have statues of the second and third personas of everyone would've been nice too.
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The new combat mechanics are pretty great. The best change is that now, guns have limited rounds per battle instead of rounds being limited per infiltration, which is such a game changer. I found myself using them way more often in this playthrough.
The hookshot is amazing, really helps the game feel more epic and makes Joker so much cooler than he already is. It's also used to ambush enemies, with the "chainé hook", which gives you a chance to inflict an ailment to an enemy before even starting the fight, which is incredibly useful if you're going against a foe that doesn’t have a weakness.
The will-seeds also have a direct effect on combat. The most apparent one is, of course, the amazing crystals they morph into. The Okumura and Shido crystals spring to mind as particularly good accessories. But they also allow you to use more magic, as collecting them restores a good amount of SP per will seed (I'd say somewhere around 10%, but I'm not sure). Given that there's three per palace, that makes around 30% SP being restored, which is a game changer, as it allows you to use more magic attacks, and not be as shy about tackling a strong foe that what you could be in the past.
Also, you can now get more SP by doing Baton Passes, as long as you have maxed out that party member's baton pass stat, which you do at the all new darts and billards hangout spot. Darts is an extremely fun minigame in of itself, and is very useful, as it boosts HP and SP recovery through baton passes and increases the attack buff, as well as making you deepen your bonds with the other phantom thieves. Billards allows you to increase the usefullness of technical attacks as well as deepen your bond with your teammates. Once you reach the max level at billards, a technical attack will guarantee you to down the enemy, as well as inflicting a lot more damage. Darts and billards may be the best change to the overall balance of Persona 5, as it allows you to try very different strategies to what you're used to, and also allows you to not use as much SP, not only because you recover some with baton pass, but also because physical attacks become a viable alternative to exploiting a foe's weakness thanks to the baton pass. So instead of using Ann to target a fire weakness, then baton pass to Ryuji to target and electrical weakness, you can just use one to target a weakness, and use the other to use a physical attack on the other enemy and take off a huge chunk of health. In this scenario, you’ve done as much damage as in the base game, while using half the SP. Sure, you don’t use the all-out attack as often, but all-out attacks were maybe a bit too useful in the base game.
The most apparent change in gameplay is probably showtime attacks, and I'm personally very mixed on them. They look great and fit the tone and presentation of the game very well, but they are a tad too OP, because they trigger in these circumstances (not all circumstances are listed here, just the problematic ones): Joker is in danger (ailment or low health for example) / a party member has been killed / the party member whose turn it is has just gotten back up from being downed and wants his "revenge". Basically, showtime attacks trigger when you're in trouble and about to possibly lose the fight, which is so dumb. you may say that in that case, I should say that Oracle's interventions, or Harisen recovery or a party member sacrificing himself for Joker is dumb as well. Good point, but there is a major difference here. First, on the scale of the fight, showtime attacks nearly always kill the enemy they're targeting, meaning you went from losing the fight to winning the fight with a simple button press. The other passive skills I mentioned only rebalance the fight, by no means have you won by avoiding Joker's death or getting a stat buff, you only avoided losing. Secondly, on a larger scale, unlocking the aforementioned passive skills requires you to deepen your bonds with the phantom thieves and select them in your party. There's a strategy to it, you may choose a party member over another because they have this passive skill. In the meantime, every party member has a showtime attack, and they unlock through story progression, so they feel like the game giving me the win, rather than the game congratulating me for understanding the relationship mechanics by giving me a second chance. Overall, I'm happy these showtime attacks are here because they look great, It's just a shame that I had to restrain myself from using them, as I only allowed myself to use them when I was pretty much certain I would win the fight.
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And finally, the added story content. The game features a new location, that being Kichikoji, which is very cool, as it has the aforementioned darts and billards, as well as a jazz bar you can buff party member's stats at. The temple gives more SP to joker, but given that hanging out with Doctor Maruki does that as well, it isn't very useful.
The biggest changes are the apparition of three new confidants and, of course, the playable third term. Let's go by ascending order of who I though was best.
Yoshizawa-san is amazing at first, but in my opinion gets pretty insufferable by the end. She was my favourite confidant until the story starts focusing around her. Hanging out with her is fun, as she is a lovable character that's full of charm. But once the third term starts, her ark feels like it just stops. I swear there are at least three moments in her arc that are basically the same beat over and over again. This is tagged spoiler so I'm going to spoil : her awakening, when she helps out in Sae's palace (which really builds intrigue when you first play through that section at the start of the game but is really out of place when you place it in the context of the story at that moment tbh), and her "second awakening" after she fails to bring forth her persona during the second infiltration of Maruki's palace. When she first awakens to her persona, I was so hyped because it felt like she had finally properly arrived in the main plot rather than just being a new confidant... then she disapears. Then she comes back in Sae's palace ! but she disappears again from the final act of the base game because "it's too dangerous for her". So by her third "big character moment", I wasn't really interested. She does have pretty good confidant skills though, as she is the one that unlocks chainé hook.
Next, Maruki. Hanging out with him grants you 5 extra SP, which is very useful, and gives you « Flow » and « Detox ». The first gives a random chance for Joker to have a big attack boost at the begining of a fight, the latter allows him to cure any ailment, again with a random chance. These are very useful. Also, his arc is very interesting, both as a confidant and a palace ruler. He asks really interesting question and his character is a very mature, interesting and uplifting vision of what it means to grieve and get back up, as well as the importance of fighting back when life fights you, and not let yourself die in the gutter of destiny.
Finally, best boy Goro Akechi, the singe best character in this game. He was great in the first game, but his relationship with Joker felt forced. I never really bought their twisted rivalry/friendship. In short, I felt like Akechi was a great character, but did not buy his relationship to Joker. Having him as a confidant fix this problem. You really feel that Akechi loves having a rival in the form of Joker which makes the latter a friend, but hates that he's better than him, which makes him public enemy number one. Having to beat him in a one on one fight to grow closer to him is a prime example of this weird relationship the pair have. If you liked Persona 5, I'd say this extended focus on Akechi on its own is a good enough reason to go back. I love the fact you get to have his evil version as a party member. His all-out attack animation changing to read « I decide the truth » after it reading « I shall bring forth the truth » is amazing characterization.
As for the extra semester and palace... It's good. I must admit, going from fighting a god to fighting your therapist isn't exactly the best story structure. Of course they didn't want to change the base game's story and ending, so they had to do this weird thing, but I would've preferred if you fought Maruki a few months after the god of control. You could, for example, let the original ending play out, and then have Joker come back to Tokyo a few months later and discover that everyone is living in Maruki's reality. I feel like that would've been better. The palace was very big, which is good. i do have to say though, I would've appreciated it if the developer's had introduced an adaptative difficulty to this final palace. See, I was level 88 when I started Maruki's palace because I had fought the Reaper earlier on (which I highly recommend doing, as it he gives you like 5 extra level sin one fight and makes Shido your b*tch during his fight), which made me a lot stronger than almost every enemy in the palace, making it so that I didn't even have to fight them, as I had unlocked the insta-kill ability through Ryuji, allowing you to gain XP, money and items from a fight, without doing said fight, as long as you're at least five levels more powerful than the shadow and you run at them while also ambushing them. So I would say it was too easy for someone who had put effort into doing every fight in the game. The boss fight is cool though, and the ending is magnificent, and does feel worthy of replacing the original one, even though it doesn't feel as climactic.
Persona 5 Royal is still Persona 5 at the end of the day, it's just been made better in every way. I see no reason to replay the base game after this one. Should you buy Royal if you played through the base game ? Yes. Absolutely. Not for the story content, or any other addition this game makes. You should buy this game because you should replay Persona 5, as I felt it was much better than it already was on a second playthrough, when you know which confidants you like, which are useful, what activities are worthy of your time and so on. And if you're going to play Persona 5 again, might as well play the best version of it. Just prepare yourself to be as heartbroken as you were the first time you left your virtual best friends behind.
Persona 5 was already one of my favorite games of all-time. It did have a problems though. The main problems I remember having was Mementos being a bit of a chore and the game taking its time to kick into gear, as well as having too many times where you were "on rails", with Morgana ordering you to sleep for example.
Persona 5 Royal doesn't necessarily fix these problems, but it does make those weak points better. The addition of José to Mementos is easily the best fix to one of the base game's problem, as he gives you a reason to go to Mementos. In Mementos, you can now pick up flowers and stamps. The first ones allow you to buy (very useful) items from José, and the stamps allow you to "change mementos' cognition", basically meaning that you can apply boosters to how much money, items and XP you get while in Mementos. This may seem like nothing, but it made going to Mementos feel worthwhile. In the base game, I explored Mementos because the game told me to first and foremost, and I found comfort in knowing I would at least be getting some XP and money. In Royal, I went because I felt like it would be an easy, less grindy way to get XP, items and money, all thanks to José. It's a simple fix, but it's very efficient.
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Apart from these small tweaks, Persona 5 Royal adds a ton of content to the base game. mainly, it adds the Thieves' Den, new combat mechanics and an extra story-arc.
The thieves den may be my favorite addition to the game. After long play sessions, I would often go and visit it, just to chill and enjoy the jazz music and play some tycoon. It's a great idea, basically a virtual museum where you can expose statues of the foes you defeated, of the personas that helped you along the way and remind yourself of great memories through photos or cutscenes. I will say though, I would've liked more spaces to put statues and getting to choose where to put the different pieces of art you bought. Having the possibility to have statues of the second and third personas of everyone would've been nice too.
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The new combat mechanics are pretty great. The best change is that now, guns have limited rounds per battle instead of rounds being limited per infiltration, which is such a game changer. I found myself using them way more often in this playthrough.
The hookshot is amazing, really helps the game feel more epic and makes Joker so much cooler than he already is. It's also used to ambush enemies, with the "chainé hook", which gives you a chance to inflict an ailment to an enemy before even starting the fight, which is incredibly useful if you're going against a foe that doesn’t have a weakness.
The will-seeds also have a direct effect on combat. The most apparent one is, of course, the amazing crystals they morph into. The Okumura and Shido crystals spring to mind as particularly good accessories. But they also allow you to use more magic, as collecting them restores a good amount of SP per will seed (I'd say somewhere around 10%, but I'm not sure). Given that there's three per palace, that makes around 30% SP being restored, which is a game changer, as it allows you to use more magic attacks, and not be as shy about tackling a strong foe that what you could be in the past.
Also, you can now get more SP by doing Baton Passes, as long as you have maxed out that party member's baton pass stat, which you do at the all new darts and billards hangout spot. Darts is an extremely fun minigame in of itself, and is very useful, as it boosts HP and SP recovery through baton passes and increases the attack buff, as well as making you deepen your bonds with the other phantom thieves. Billards allows you to increase the usefullness of technical attacks as well as deepen your bond with your teammates. Once you reach the max level at billards, a technical attack will guarantee you to down the enemy, as well as inflicting a lot more damage. Darts and billards may be the best change to the overall balance of Persona 5, as it allows you to try very different strategies to what you're used to, and also allows you to not use as much SP, not only because you recover some with baton pass, but also because physical attacks become a viable alternative to exploiting a foe's weakness thanks to the baton pass. So instead of using Ann to target a fire weakness, then baton pass to Ryuji to target and electrical weakness, you can just use one to target a weakness, and use the other to use a physical attack on the other enemy and take off a huge chunk of health. In this scenario, you’ve done as much damage as in the base game, while using half the SP. Sure, you don’t use the all-out attack as often, but all-out attacks were maybe a bit too useful in the base game.
The most apparent change in gameplay is probably showtime attacks, and I'm personally very mixed on them. They look great and fit the tone and presentation of the game very well, but they are a tad too OP, because they trigger in these circumstances (not all circumstances are listed here, just the problematic ones): Joker is in danger (ailment or low health for example) / a party member has been killed / the party member whose turn it is has just gotten back up from being downed and wants his "revenge". Basically, showtime attacks trigger when you're in trouble and about to possibly lose the fight, which is so dumb. you may say that in that case, I should say that Oracle's interventions, or Harisen recovery or a party member sacrificing himself for Joker is dumb as well. Good point, but there is a major difference here. First, on the scale of the fight, showtime attacks nearly always kill the enemy they're targeting, meaning you went from losing the fight to winning the fight with a simple button press. The other passive skills I mentioned only rebalance the fight, by no means have you won by avoiding Joker's death or getting a stat buff, you only avoided losing. Secondly, on a larger scale, unlocking the aforementioned passive skills requires you to deepen your bonds with the phantom thieves and select them in your party. There's a strategy to it, you may choose a party member over another because they have this passive skill. In the meantime, every party member has a showtime attack, and they unlock through story progression, so they feel like the game giving me the win, rather than the game congratulating me for understanding the relationship mechanics by giving me a second chance. Overall, I'm happy these showtime attacks are here because they look great, It's just a shame that I had to restrain myself from using them, as I only allowed myself to use them when I was pretty much certain I would win the fight.
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And finally, the added story content. The game features a new location, that being Kichikoji, which is very cool, as it has the aforementioned darts and billards, as well as a jazz bar you can buff party member's stats at. The temple gives more SP to joker, but given that hanging out with Doctor Maruki does that as well, it isn't very useful.
The biggest changes are the apparition of three new confidants and, of course, the playable third term. Let's go by ascending order of who I though was best.
Yoshizawa-san is amazing at first, but in my opinion gets pretty insufferable by the end. She was my favourite confidant until the story starts focusing around her. Hanging out with her is fun, as she is a lovable character that's full of charm. But once the third term starts, her ark feels like it just stops. I swear there are at least three moments in her arc that are basically the same beat over and over again. This is tagged spoiler so I'm going to spoil : her awakening, when she helps out in Sae's palace (which really builds intrigue when you first play through that section at the start of the game but is really out of place when you place it in the context of the story at that moment tbh), and her "second awakening" after she fails to bring forth her persona during the second infiltration of Maruki's palace. When she first awakens to her persona, I was so hyped because it felt like she had finally properly arrived in the main plot rather than just being a new confidant... then she disapears. Then she comes back in Sae's palace ! but she disappears again from the final act of the base game because "it's too dangerous for her". So by her third "big character moment", I wasn't really interested. She does have pretty good confidant skills though, as she is the one that unlocks chainé hook.
Next, Maruki. Hanging out with him grants you 5 extra SP, which is very useful, and gives you « Flow » and « Detox ». The first gives a random chance for Joker to have a big attack boost at the begining of a fight, the latter allows him to cure any ailment, again with a random chance. These are very useful. Also, his arc is very interesting, both as a confidant and a palace ruler. He asks really interesting question and his character is a very mature, interesting and uplifting vision of what it means to grieve and get back up, as well as the importance of fighting back when life fights you, and not let yourself die in the gutter of destiny.
Finally, best boy Goro Akechi, the singe best character in this game. He was great in the first game, but his relationship with Joker felt forced. I never really bought their twisted rivalry/friendship. In short, I felt like Akechi was a great character, but did not buy his relationship to Joker. Having him as a confidant fix this problem. You really feel that Akechi loves having a rival in the form of Joker which makes the latter a friend, but hates that he's better than him, which makes him public enemy number one. Having to beat him in a one on one fight to grow closer to him is a prime example of this weird relationship the pair have. If you liked Persona 5, I'd say this extended focus on Akechi on its own is a good enough reason to go back. I love the fact you get to have his evil version as a party member. His all-out attack animation changing to read « I decide the truth » after it reading « I shall bring forth the truth » is amazing characterization.
As for the extra semester and palace... It's good. I must admit, going from fighting a god to fighting your therapist isn't exactly the best story structure. Of course they didn't want to change the base game's story and ending, so they had to do this weird thing, but I would've preferred if you fought Maruki a few months after the god of control. You could, for example, let the original ending play out, and then have Joker come back to Tokyo a few months later and discover that everyone is living in Maruki's reality. I feel like that would've been better. The palace was very big, which is good. i do have to say though, I would've appreciated it if the developer's had introduced an adaptative difficulty to this final palace. See, I was level 88 when I started Maruki's palace because I had fought the Reaper earlier on (which I highly recommend doing, as it he gives you like 5 extra level sin one fight and makes Shido your b*tch during his fight), which made me a lot stronger than almost every enemy in the palace, making it so that I didn't even have to fight them, as I had unlocked the insta-kill ability through Ryuji, allowing you to gain XP, money and items from a fight, without doing said fight, as long as you're at least five levels more powerful than the shadow and you run at them while also ambushing them. So I would say it was too easy for someone who had put effort into doing every fight in the game. The boss fight is cool though, and the ending is magnificent, and does feel worthy of replacing the original one, even though it doesn't feel as climactic.
Persona 5 Royal is still Persona 5 at the end of the day, it's just been made better in every way. I see no reason to replay the base game after this one. Should you buy Royal if you played through the base game ? Yes. Absolutely. Not for the story content, or any other addition this game makes. You should buy this game because you should replay Persona 5, as I felt it was much better than it already was on a second playthrough, when you know which confidants you like, which are useful, what activities are worthy of your time and so on. And if you're going to play Persona 5 again, might as well play the best version of it. Just prepare yourself to be as heartbroken as you were the first time you left your virtual best friends behind.
2016
I feel so bad for giving a game that clearly is a passion project such a low grade, especially because it really has its charm and a lot of breathtaking moments. My problem is that those breathtaking moments are surrounded by nothingness, in terms of gameplay at least.
If you want me to boil down why I didn't particurlaly enjoy my time with this game, I can do that quite easily : it shouldn't be a game. This would've been an amazing short-film, but as a game, all you do is press down on the triger and move the left stick around to move. That's it.
Sure, the environments are breathtaking, the story charming and some sequences are magnificent, but over a two hour playtime, those moments constituted 5, maybe 10 minutes. What's worse is that those great moments are basically all the same conceptually, but with a different setting.
Please make this into a short-film...
If you want me to boil down why I didn't particurlaly enjoy my time with this game, I can do that quite easily : it shouldn't be a game. This would've been an amazing short-film, but as a game, all you do is press down on the triger and move the left stick around to move. That's it.
Sure, the environments are breathtaking, the story charming and some sequences are magnificent, but over a two hour playtime, those moments constituted 5, maybe 10 minutes. What's worse is that those great moments are basically all the same conceptually, but with a different setting.
Please make this into a short-film...