brujavirtual
73 Reviews liked by brujavirtual
Fallout 4
2015
It’s strange. I’ve tried to play Fallout: New Vegas twice now, and both times I had to stop my playthrough when I inevitably get softlocked out of the game. Even when I could actually play it, it was still plagued with constant crashes and bugs. But for some reason, the only thing I could think of while playing Fallout 4 was how much I’d rather be playing New Vegas.
Very strange decision for the latest entry in your roleplaying game franchise to strip away most of the roleplaying aspects. It ends up feeling more like an action-survival game than an RPG. The simplified roleplaying systems seemingly come in exchange for more in-depth survival mechanics, like weapon and armour customisation, settlement building, and so on but I never actually engaged with these unless I was forced to. The main gameplay loop is based around exploring the map and completing quests, so these overcomplicated systems just kind of exist for the sake of existing, and hunting down resources just to build a guard tower or whatever is just tedious. The moments when I was forced to build a settlement or whatever to complete a quest were some of my least favourite parts of the game, and I hated repairing and upgrading power armour so much that I just sold all of my power armour parts and abandoned it in Diamond City.
I personally like it when an RPG gives you a voiced character with preset details about their backstory, core personality, and motivation. I think it works really well in games like Cyberpunk 2077, the Witcher, or Mass Effect. But the thing about those games is that their missions and narratives are constructed around those characters. In Cyberpunk, V is a mercenary, which justifies why they're taking all of the sidequests in the game even when they don't directly contribute to the main questline. But in Fallout 4, the Sole Survivor doesn't really feel like they belong in this game. Their mission is to save their son, which creates a dissonance when you're taking sidequests or doing anything that doesn't directly contribute to that goal. Their personality is simultaneously blank enough that they aren't interesting to follow but defined enough that they can't really be played as a self-insert or roleplayed in any different ways.
I probably would’ve finished the main quest, but then I was forced to build up the defences at the Minutemen castle and I just don’t want to spend the time scrounging for the resources to do that, taking me away from everything I’ve enjoyed about it. Combat is fun, the soundtrack is pretty good (though New Vegas has a better one IMO), and some of the characters are enjoyable, but the world is kinda disinteresting. It feels like they put so much effort into the settlement building and survival mechanics that they didn’t work on any towns except for Goodneighbour and Diamond City. I could see myself returning to it someday, and maybe I'll like it more if I finish the story, but I don't think I will for a little while.
Very strange decision for the latest entry in your roleplaying game franchise to strip away most of the roleplaying aspects. It ends up feeling more like an action-survival game than an RPG. The simplified roleplaying systems seemingly come in exchange for more in-depth survival mechanics, like weapon and armour customisation, settlement building, and so on but I never actually engaged with these unless I was forced to. The main gameplay loop is based around exploring the map and completing quests, so these overcomplicated systems just kind of exist for the sake of existing, and hunting down resources just to build a guard tower or whatever is just tedious. The moments when I was forced to build a settlement or whatever to complete a quest were some of my least favourite parts of the game, and I hated repairing and upgrading power armour so much that I just sold all of my power armour parts and abandoned it in Diamond City.
I personally like it when an RPG gives you a voiced character with preset details about their backstory, core personality, and motivation. I think it works really well in games like Cyberpunk 2077, the Witcher, or Mass Effect. But the thing about those games is that their missions and narratives are constructed around those characters. In Cyberpunk, V is a mercenary, which justifies why they're taking all of the sidequests in the game even when they don't directly contribute to the main questline. But in Fallout 4, the Sole Survivor doesn't really feel like they belong in this game. Their mission is to save their son, which creates a dissonance when you're taking sidequests or doing anything that doesn't directly contribute to that goal. Their personality is simultaneously blank enough that they aren't interesting to follow but defined enough that they can't really be played as a self-insert or roleplayed in any different ways.
I probably would’ve finished the main quest, but then I was forced to build up the defences at the Minutemen castle and I just don’t want to spend the time scrounging for the resources to do that, taking me away from everything I’ve enjoyed about it. Combat is fun, the soundtrack is pretty good (though New Vegas has a better one IMO), and some of the characters are enjoyable, but the world is kinda disinteresting. It feels like they put so much effort into the settlement building and survival mechanics that they didn’t work on any towns except for Goodneighbour and Diamond City. I could see myself returning to it someday, and maybe I'll like it more if I finish the story, but I don't think I will for a little while.
edit: i feel super bad that this ended up being the top review of this game. i'd rather people's first impressions of any game not be someone complaining about it.
I'm going to try to be nice to this game, especially considering I didn't beat it, but.... man, I don't have a lot of positive things to say.
The reason I ended up playing this indie porn platformer was cuz one of my friends found it while deep diving on Steam. She described it as "Ikaruga meets a metroidvania". I don't particularly like modern metroidvanias. This, however, sounded like an interesting combo. So I checked the Backloggd page and saw the high rating. Another sign that this was probably decent, if nothing else.
I really don't dig the NSFW aspect of this game. I love playing as girls and I have nothing against suggestive character designs! I LOVE Felicia from Darkstalkers. She's so cool. Yet not only are the girls in this game utterly swagless, they're all the exact same, migraine-inducing "fantasy characters but with big boobs". I excused it for the main character (I could go off about her outfits...) and her sensei (ok she has a little swag). It's like EVERY CHARACTER though. Whatever, I'll leave it be. I didn't come here for the porn.
So I'm gonna talk about the two aspects I like first. Although the artstyle itself isn't super unique, I don't think that's a dealbreaker. The game has lots of diverse areas with distinct themes that are all drawn with detailed pixel art! There wasn't a single area I saw that was boring. The UI is also a quite ornately detailed little thing, though i wish it was bigger. As far as music, the OST is decent and has cute midi instruments (PAN FLUTES!!!) that made me smile. That's everything I liked about the game.
I don't see where people are coming from when they call this a great metroidvania. Is it serviceable? Playable? A better vessel for the NSFW content than those shitty flash porn games I used to play as a kid? Yeah, sure. There was a level of effort put into the pacing of the areas and gamefeel. However, I can't think of a single reason to play this unless the only thing stopping you from playing Hollow Knight was the lack of sex.
The quest-givers and character interactions are the most boiler-plate post-ALTTP shit imaginable. The quests themselves are often tedious; not challenging, not fun either. I might enjoy the quests more if I was interested in the rewards (ie: porn). The flipping mechanic that is supposed to be the main draw of the game is the gimmickiest of gimmicks. It adds nothing to gameplay except a few extra inputs during platforming. Yes, I didn't finish the game, but if I get into the bulk of your game and I have not seen a single exciting use of your central mechanic, I think that's an issue to iron out. This is not an Ikaruga metroidvania. This is disappointing. And I'm now starting to understand why Alicesoft are such a huge deal. I often think of their games as "amazing game hindered by the constant porn". I realize now that they are porn that still manages to have interesting and fun gameplay.
This is (far as I'm aware) the developer's first game. I'm not writing them off or telling people not to support them. My point is that I thought FlipWitch was far from the fantastic game it was hyped up to be.
I'm going to try to be nice to this game, especially considering I didn't beat it, but.... man, I don't have a lot of positive things to say.
The reason I ended up playing this indie porn platformer was cuz one of my friends found it while deep diving on Steam. She described it as "Ikaruga meets a metroidvania". I don't particularly like modern metroidvanias. This, however, sounded like an interesting combo. So I checked the Backloggd page and saw the high rating. Another sign that this was probably decent, if nothing else.
I really don't dig the NSFW aspect of this game. I love playing as girls and I have nothing against suggestive character designs! I LOVE Felicia from Darkstalkers. She's so cool. Yet not only are the girls in this game utterly swagless, they're all the exact same, migraine-inducing "fantasy characters but with big boobs". I excused it for the main character (I could go off about her outfits...) and her sensei (ok she has a little swag). It's like EVERY CHARACTER though. Whatever, I'll leave it be. I didn't come here for the porn.
So I'm gonna talk about the two aspects I like first. Although the artstyle itself isn't super unique, I don't think that's a dealbreaker. The game has lots of diverse areas with distinct themes that are all drawn with detailed pixel art! There wasn't a single area I saw that was boring. The UI is also a quite ornately detailed little thing, though i wish it was bigger. As far as music, the OST is decent and has cute midi instruments (PAN FLUTES!!!) that made me smile. That's everything I liked about the game.
I don't see where people are coming from when they call this a great metroidvania. Is it serviceable? Playable? A better vessel for the NSFW content than those shitty flash porn games I used to play as a kid? Yeah, sure. There was a level of effort put into the pacing of the areas and gamefeel. However, I can't think of a single reason to play this unless the only thing stopping you from playing Hollow Knight was the lack of sex.
The quest-givers and character interactions are the most boiler-plate post-ALTTP shit imaginable. The quests themselves are often tedious; not challenging, not fun either. I might enjoy the quests more if I was interested in the rewards (ie: porn). The flipping mechanic that is supposed to be the main draw of the game is the gimmickiest of gimmicks. It adds nothing to gameplay except a few extra inputs during platforming. Yes, I didn't finish the game, but if I get into the bulk of your game and I have not seen a single exciting use of your central mechanic, I think that's an issue to iron out. This is not an Ikaruga metroidvania. This is disappointing. And I'm now starting to understand why Alicesoft are such a huge deal. I often think of their games as "amazing game hindered by the constant porn". I realize now that they are porn that still manages to have interesting and fun gameplay.
This is (far as I'm aware) the developer's first game. I'm not writing them off or telling people not to support them. My point is that I thought FlipWitch was far from the fantastic game it was hyped up to be.
You know what one of the worst things to happen to gaming is? The internet. It's also arguably one of the worst things to happen to humanity in general, but that's a rant for another day. Between YouTubers and video game journalism sites spewing wildly exaggerated praises or criticisms in their write-ups for views, it’s led to a culture where certain titles either get hyper-glorified or mercilessly crapped on for no real reason and with no room for anyone to safely argue against whatever the general consensus may be for fear of reprisal. The Twin Snakes, a remake of the PS1 classic with mechanics added in from its sequel, hasn’t suffered as much from this as others, but there’s still a pretty vocal group out there actively pretending this is some absolute travesty and I really don’t understand why. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve heard their complaints. I just think they’re absurdly overblown.
My theory is that it’s all the result of a sort of snowball effect. Where years of people making perfectly reasonable deductions in online forums and comment sections about areas where the game came up short or could have been better has been regurgitated by the likes of video essayists (shout out to ProudLittleSeal for teaching me that term) in an overstated manner; leading to a hive mind cult that believes and is determined to convince everyone this is an insult to the original’s legacy. It’s not. It honestly wouldn’t bother me if they weren’t so unwilling to let anybody think otherwise, but I swear every time I’ve witnessed someone bring TTS up in a positive light one of its detractors goes out of their way to basically tell them how incorrect their opinion apparently is. Ridiculous, and because that annoys me going to be taking what may be a somewhat similarly antagonistic approach for this review as I discuss the various complaints from its critics and put my own two cents on why I disagree with them out there. Which will be interesting to do since it’s not like they’re stating anything explicitly untrue, merely exaggerated in my opinion.
The most common grievance I’ve seen leveled against this is that the variety of newly implemented gameplay features (first-person aiming, hanging off ledges, ect.) and items (tranquilizer gun, PGS1-T,…) actively break the experience by removing any difficulty from the majority of scenarios. Now, they certainly make things easier and there’s a case to be made that the Revolver Ocelot fight was cheapened as a result of the better aiming system, but I feel as though the brighter enemy AI and their ability to replenish their ranks counteracts your increased amount of capabilities a bit. I also think most don’t realize the challenge they remember from the originator was more a factor of its age than anything. The adventure here is less demanding due to the fact that all was introduced modernizes it so you’re no longer fighting (as much) against an aging design. They’ve made the actual act of playing the first Solid more natural, which is exactly what a remake is supposed to do. It’s not that the opposition was neutered, things are simply no longer as dated. Consequently, the whole narrative about these changes being for the worse doesn’t hold any water in my mind.
However, an area of its denigrators’ frustration I can partially agree with is related to the storytelling. Yet, just not for the reason most commonly cited. That stuff about the cutscenes aping the action of the early 2000s movies that were popular at the time somehow ruining the plot? Not buying it. I get the argument that the altered soundtrack robs the writing and world as a whole of some atmosphere, but my guys and gals are we REALLY moaning over an element of a MGS outing being absurd?! For me the more pressing issue (outside of them removing the sexy camera angles focusing on Sniper Wolf’s body in the torture room scenes) is the re-recorded voice acting. They got nearly the entire cast to return, but either through bad direction or a lack of enthusiasm for the project their performances are phoned in, flat, and suffering from a reduced sense of emotion. It’s still the same great tale of memorable twists and fourth wall breaking moments that have been slightly modified to better fit the GameCube, it only no longer hits as hard thanks to that unfortunate flaw.
As significant as the plot was to Solid’s acclaim back in the day, its weaker delivery here isn’t enough to make me to resent this update when the gameplay improvements are so strong. The question then becomes would I recommend this over the previous iteration? That’s where things get a little complicated, since the answer is no I wouldn’t. Not on account of me viewing it as a kind of adulteration, rather concerns with the modern price of entry. On top of the 1998 release’s retro polygonal graphics and clunky mechanics remaining an huge part of why it continues to be incredibly dang charming after all these years, this version is evidently something of a collectors item nowadays. Meaning that secondhand copies can go for stupidly high. You could honestly grab the PS1 discs and the console itself together for cheaper in most instances.
If you truly don’t care what you pay though, this is still a perfectly viable and acceptable way to get your hands on Hideo Kojima’s borderline masterpiece. The hatred and negativity you’ll find for it from a very outspoken portion of the Metal Gear community is unjustified and hyperbolic. Not to mention rapidly becoming harder and harder to take seriously each passing day in our current era of remakes. I mean, I don’t see anyone upset about RE 4 2023 smoothing out the survival-horror classic and enhancing its playability. Perhaps not the most fitting comparison and it’s tough to warrant why this take would prove valuable to those already familiar with the game in its prior format, but is also perhaps more apt than many would care to admit. Regardless, my ultimate goal has been to express why I believe the views of a group that are attempting to strip this title of its merits are excessive and overly pedantic, which if I haven’t been able to do that by now then no amount of further typing or elaboration is going to help me. So in closing, all I have to say is don’t buy into the opprobrium, ‘cause bad this ain’t.
8.5/10
My theory is that it’s all the result of a sort of snowball effect. Where years of people making perfectly reasonable deductions in online forums and comment sections about areas where the game came up short or could have been better has been regurgitated by the likes of video essayists (shout out to ProudLittleSeal for teaching me that term) in an overstated manner; leading to a hive mind cult that believes and is determined to convince everyone this is an insult to the original’s legacy. It’s not. It honestly wouldn’t bother me if they weren’t so unwilling to let anybody think otherwise, but I swear every time I’ve witnessed someone bring TTS up in a positive light one of its detractors goes out of their way to basically tell them how incorrect their opinion apparently is. Ridiculous, and because that annoys me going to be taking what may be a somewhat similarly antagonistic approach for this review as I discuss the various complaints from its critics and put my own two cents on why I disagree with them out there. Which will be interesting to do since it’s not like they’re stating anything explicitly untrue, merely exaggerated in my opinion.
The most common grievance I’ve seen leveled against this is that the variety of newly implemented gameplay features (first-person aiming, hanging off ledges, ect.) and items (tranquilizer gun, PGS1-T,…) actively break the experience by removing any difficulty from the majority of scenarios. Now, they certainly make things easier and there’s a case to be made that the Revolver Ocelot fight was cheapened as a result of the better aiming system, but I feel as though the brighter enemy AI and their ability to replenish their ranks counteracts your increased amount of capabilities a bit. I also think most don’t realize the challenge they remember from the originator was more a factor of its age than anything. The adventure here is less demanding due to the fact that all was introduced modernizes it so you’re no longer fighting (as much) against an aging design. They’ve made the actual act of playing the first Solid more natural, which is exactly what a remake is supposed to do. It’s not that the opposition was neutered, things are simply no longer as dated. Consequently, the whole narrative about these changes being for the worse doesn’t hold any water in my mind.
However, an area of its denigrators’ frustration I can partially agree with is related to the storytelling. Yet, just not for the reason most commonly cited. That stuff about the cutscenes aping the action of the early 2000s movies that were popular at the time somehow ruining the plot? Not buying it. I get the argument that the altered soundtrack robs the writing and world as a whole of some atmosphere, but my guys and gals are we REALLY moaning over an element of a MGS outing being absurd?! For me the more pressing issue (outside of them removing the sexy camera angles focusing on Sniper Wolf’s body in the torture room scenes) is the re-recorded voice acting. They got nearly the entire cast to return, but either through bad direction or a lack of enthusiasm for the project their performances are phoned in, flat, and suffering from a reduced sense of emotion. It’s still the same great tale of memorable twists and fourth wall breaking moments that have been slightly modified to better fit the GameCube, it only no longer hits as hard thanks to that unfortunate flaw.
As significant as the plot was to Solid’s acclaim back in the day, its weaker delivery here isn’t enough to make me to resent this update when the gameplay improvements are so strong. The question then becomes would I recommend this over the previous iteration? That’s where things get a little complicated, since the answer is no I wouldn’t. Not on account of me viewing it as a kind of adulteration, rather concerns with the modern price of entry. On top of the 1998 release’s retro polygonal graphics and clunky mechanics remaining an huge part of why it continues to be incredibly dang charming after all these years, this version is evidently something of a collectors item nowadays. Meaning that secondhand copies can go for stupidly high. You could honestly grab the PS1 discs and the console itself together for cheaper in most instances.
If you truly don’t care what you pay though, this is still a perfectly viable and acceptable way to get your hands on Hideo Kojima’s borderline masterpiece. The hatred and negativity you’ll find for it from a very outspoken portion of the Metal Gear community is unjustified and hyperbolic. Not to mention rapidly becoming harder and harder to take seriously each passing day in our current era of remakes. I mean, I don’t see anyone upset about RE 4 2023 smoothing out the survival-horror classic and enhancing its playability. Perhaps not the most fitting comparison and it’s tough to warrant why this take would prove valuable to those already familiar with the game in its prior format, but is also perhaps more apt than many would care to admit. Regardless, my ultimate goal has been to express why I believe the views of a group that are attempting to strip this title of its merits are excessive and overly pedantic, which if I haven’t been able to do that by now then no amount of further typing or elaboration is going to help me. So in closing, all I have to say is don’t buy into the opprobrium, ‘cause bad this ain’t.
8.5/10
A legendary parody of Metal Gear Solid that surely ranks up there as one of the funniest games ever made. Few games have communicated comedy through their gameplay mechanics as effectively as killing Revolver Ocelot in about 5 seconds by just going into first person mode and shooting him.
Yeah, obviously it's not the way you should play Metal Gear Solid, because it isn't Metal Gear Solid. It's The Twin Snakes. And it's hysterical.
The cutscenes especially are absolutely incredible. If you complain about Snake surfing on a missile you are factually a loser I'm sorry to be the one to break it to you
Yeah, obviously it's not the way you should play Metal Gear Solid, because it isn't Metal Gear Solid. It's The Twin Snakes. And it's hysterical.
The cutscenes especially are absolutely incredible. If you complain about Snake surfing on a missile you are factually a loser I'm sorry to be the one to break it to you
Sweet and Beautiful, warm and fuzzy, heartfelt and peaceful <3
Reminders and memories of the day to day we live by, and grow by ^w^ Nothing more and nothing less!!!
Reminders and memories of the day to day we live by, and grow by ^w^ Nothing more and nothing less!!!
Persona 3 Reload
2024
This review contains spoilers
"Tell this asshole if he wants to learn how to (re)make my product (game), he's gotta do it my way, the right way!" - Jesse Pinkman
Persona 3 Reload is ultimately a barely passable remake of what I consider the greatest game ever made. I find a large amount of the game’s flaws go ignored among the myriad conveniences the game adds, but they make the game feel like something of a hollow shell of what it used to be.
This can be seen in every aspect of the game, from the very beginning, It’s been well documented already, but the atmosphere that was dripping from the animated cutscenes of the original is completely absent. The opening scene that disorients you, makes you feel as if nothing is as it should be, is replaced with Persona 5 cutscene.mp4. It conveys the story, and that’s all it does – it’s an extension of the same flaws that purveyed Portable. This is an unfortunate trend, as in taking a variety of elements from a game that already seemed to fundamentally misunderstand the source material, it worsens it further. It draws worthless lines from portable that are only there to compensate for a lack of visuals, adds menial things like Junpei’s perversion joke in the train scene, and most offensive, adds the Portable exclusive scene after Minato returns from the final battle. Where the original cut directly from Aigis crying to 3/5, the group now have to announce their individual reactions, turning one of the most beautifully poignant scenes in the game into something standard, dull, and thoughtless.
The modern sheen the game has feels like a coat of paint that hides Reload being a fundamentally worse, less cohesive piece of art than the original. The lighting in the dorm is ruined, draining the atmosphere from one of the most prominent and beloved locations in the game. The dramatic, perfectly framed lighting of the Nyx fight (conveyed acutely in the dancing game) is replaced with…pure green, as is thoughtlessly thrown at every other dark hour scene in the game, which betrays a total lack of thought or care, and makes the game feel like a total rush job. The Orpheus awakening scene, previously a definitive tone setter that acts as the most striking piece of imagery and sound design in the series, can now only be described as underwhelming. Most to all of the little animations the models would enact that made SEES feel so well characterised and alive are absent – and why? For all the bells and whistles the game feels like a sanded down version of what was ultimately a very small-scale game.
Most script changes feel thoughtless and for the worse, making many lines less impactful for no good reason – I can appreciate the attempt to provide a more accurate script to the Japanese version, and this works in some cases, but scenes like Akihiko’s awakening are betrayed by this. Nearly every line change here feels like it lessens the impact of the scene, with worse framing to boot. This is demonstrative of a fundamental lack of understanding of the original that can be seen in the worsening of Akihiko’s character, now adjusted and simplified to be more like his P4U counterpart, one of the most horribly flanderised depictions of a character that I’ve ever seen. I don’t know why anyone on the team thought this was a good idea. Most of the cast do not suffer as much as Akihiko does, but characters like Mitsuru do to a lesser extent, with traits being further emphasised to fit into molds that have been further solidified since the release of the original. One of my favourite scenes in the game is the meeting on the roof between Minato and Junpei, acting as a perfect capstone to one of the most well-thought-out arcs and dynamics in the original game. In reload, it gets replaced with a relatively generic feeling scene between the second-year trio, for seemingly no reason – Junpei does have a link episode that I assume was meant to compensate, but it fails entirely to capture what made that scene great and ends up totally forgettable.
Nearly all of the music is definitively worse – there are highlights, such as the new remix of changing seasons, but the majority have a strangely amateur quality, with the mixing feeling frequently unprofessional. Much of the instrumentals lose all of the impact they once had and Mass Destruction is infamous for this, but for me the worst example of it is in Iwatodai Dorm. I do admittedly love the new vocals, but they can’t save how poor the rest of it sounds. What makes this even more confusing is that all of the original songs are incredible, with Colour Your Night being one of my favourite songs in the franchise, an issue that I can only imagine was from trying to hard to be different from what was already perfect.
Lastly I’ll bring up where I think the game shines – a few key areas that I think fail to elevate the overall package. The combat is wonderfully fun and fluid, and I think theurgies are a satisfactory evolution of the showtime mechanic, but this is undercut by how ludicrously easy the game becomes with barely any effort, an issue that extends to even merciless. While the original was ultimately not a hard game, Reload becomes essentially thoughtless if you know what you’re doing. The combat animations are one of my favourite things the game does, with the way each character shifts to the other never getting tiresome, conveying their personalities and dynamics perfectly. Another is a few of the new character pieces added – I think the game massively elevates Shinjiro and Ken, the tragedy of both characters being emphasised in a way that only makes them more compelling, and Ryoji especially benefits from the greater degree of screentime Reload gives him. I’m glad the bond between him and Minato is now firmly grounded in a version other than the movies.
Personally, I think Persona 3 Reload is a disappointment, and not because it fails to be the “definitive” version many begrudged it for not being. It misunderstands, ignores and discards much of what made the original great, and it fails in aspects I could have never anticipated it would; I think the way the original uniquely excels deserves to be recognised. I still like the game overall, because the skeleton is one of my favourite things ever. But if I had to choose between Reload’s existence and a simple port of FES that bumped up the framerate, it would be an incredibly easy choice; a game that feels so deliberate against a pale imitation.
Persona 3 Reload is ultimately a barely passable remake of what I consider the greatest game ever made. I find a large amount of the game’s flaws go ignored among the myriad conveniences the game adds, but they make the game feel like something of a hollow shell of what it used to be.
This can be seen in every aspect of the game, from the very beginning, It’s been well documented already, but the atmosphere that was dripping from the animated cutscenes of the original is completely absent. The opening scene that disorients you, makes you feel as if nothing is as it should be, is replaced with Persona 5 cutscene.mp4. It conveys the story, and that’s all it does – it’s an extension of the same flaws that purveyed Portable. This is an unfortunate trend, as in taking a variety of elements from a game that already seemed to fundamentally misunderstand the source material, it worsens it further. It draws worthless lines from portable that are only there to compensate for a lack of visuals, adds menial things like Junpei’s perversion joke in the train scene, and most offensive, adds the Portable exclusive scene after Minato returns from the final battle. Where the original cut directly from Aigis crying to 3/5, the group now have to announce their individual reactions, turning one of the most beautifully poignant scenes in the game into something standard, dull, and thoughtless.
The modern sheen the game has feels like a coat of paint that hides Reload being a fundamentally worse, less cohesive piece of art than the original. The lighting in the dorm is ruined, draining the atmosphere from one of the most prominent and beloved locations in the game. The dramatic, perfectly framed lighting of the Nyx fight (conveyed acutely in the dancing game) is replaced with…pure green, as is thoughtlessly thrown at every other dark hour scene in the game, which betrays a total lack of thought or care, and makes the game feel like a total rush job. The Orpheus awakening scene, previously a definitive tone setter that acts as the most striking piece of imagery and sound design in the series, can now only be described as underwhelming. Most to all of the little animations the models would enact that made SEES feel so well characterised and alive are absent – and why? For all the bells and whistles the game feels like a sanded down version of what was ultimately a very small-scale game.
Most script changes feel thoughtless and for the worse, making many lines less impactful for no good reason – I can appreciate the attempt to provide a more accurate script to the Japanese version, and this works in some cases, but scenes like Akihiko’s awakening are betrayed by this. Nearly every line change here feels like it lessens the impact of the scene, with worse framing to boot. This is demonstrative of a fundamental lack of understanding of the original that can be seen in the worsening of Akihiko’s character, now adjusted and simplified to be more like his P4U counterpart, one of the most horribly flanderised depictions of a character that I’ve ever seen. I don’t know why anyone on the team thought this was a good idea. Most of the cast do not suffer as much as Akihiko does, but characters like Mitsuru do to a lesser extent, with traits being further emphasised to fit into molds that have been further solidified since the release of the original. One of my favourite scenes in the game is the meeting on the roof between Minato and Junpei, acting as a perfect capstone to one of the most well-thought-out arcs and dynamics in the original game. In reload, it gets replaced with a relatively generic feeling scene between the second-year trio, for seemingly no reason – Junpei does have a link episode that I assume was meant to compensate, but it fails entirely to capture what made that scene great and ends up totally forgettable.
Nearly all of the music is definitively worse – there are highlights, such as the new remix of changing seasons, but the majority have a strangely amateur quality, with the mixing feeling frequently unprofessional. Much of the instrumentals lose all of the impact they once had and Mass Destruction is infamous for this, but for me the worst example of it is in Iwatodai Dorm. I do admittedly love the new vocals, but they can’t save how poor the rest of it sounds. What makes this even more confusing is that all of the original songs are incredible, with Colour Your Night being one of my favourite songs in the franchise, an issue that I can only imagine was from trying to hard to be different from what was already perfect.
Lastly I’ll bring up where I think the game shines – a few key areas that I think fail to elevate the overall package. The combat is wonderfully fun and fluid, and I think theurgies are a satisfactory evolution of the showtime mechanic, but this is undercut by how ludicrously easy the game becomes with barely any effort, an issue that extends to even merciless. While the original was ultimately not a hard game, Reload becomes essentially thoughtless if you know what you’re doing. The combat animations are one of my favourite things the game does, with the way each character shifts to the other never getting tiresome, conveying their personalities and dynamics perfectly. Another is a few of the new character pieces added – I think the game massively elevates Shinjiro and Ken, the tragedy of both characters being emphasised in a way that only makes them more compelling, and Ryoji especially benefits from the greater degree of screentime Reload gives him. I’m glad the bond between him and Minato is now firmly grounded in a version other than the movies.
Personally, I think Persona 3 Reload is a disappointment, and not because it fails to be the “definitive” version many begrudged it for not being. It misunderstands, ignores and discards much of what made the original great, and it fails in aspects I could have never anticipated it would; I think the way the original uniquely excels deserves to be recognised. I still like the game overall, because the skeleton is one of my favourite things ever. But if I had to choose between Reload’s existence and a simple port of FES that bumped up the framerate, it would be an incredibly easy choice; a game that feels so deliberate against a pale imitation.
Fallout: New Vegas
2010
It crashed 18 times in four hours and I seem to have been softlocked out of the main quest. I want to love Fallout: New Vegas but the game just refuses to let me.
Monster Hunter Rise
2021
MH Rise is the odd crackhead cousin of the Monster hunter family tree: while the other titles are more methodical, slower and more focused on the environmental settings they are building on, Monster Hunter Rise is more about "YO LESGO SPIDERMAN AROUND TO KICK THIS BIRD AND THE USE THE BIRD TO KILL THAT ANIME TIGER BEFORE THE RAMPAGE OR BEARS ARRIVES"
Comparing other MH games to Rise is like comparing the real historical depiction of a ninja with the "Naruto anime ninja" ... which is kinda funny considering the inspirations behind RIse's settings.
Compared to older titles, your movements is fast, energetic, almost limitless... it's soo good that even the monsters struggle to keep up with you (something that luckily the Sunbreak extention fixes heavily). This creates an experience so different compared to the rest of the franchise that is no surprise that it received mixed feelings from the fanbase.
But at the end... you still have a lot of fun with the quirky crackhead cousin: the gameplay is fun and addictive, the design of the monsters is impeccable and full of care as ever, the environments are corgeous (especially considerin Risa was originally a Switch exclusive), and even the story, one of the least interesting parts of a MH game, is able to make to have some slightly touching moments.
One it's own, Monster Hunter Rise works a lot... but if I can suggest something, the extensition Sunbreak fixes a lot of issues of the vanilla game, so I suggest to include that one if you plan to try it.
Comparing other MH games to Rise is like comparing the real historical depiction of a ninja with the "Naruto anime ninja" ... which is kinda funny considering the inspirations behind RIse's settings.
Compared to older titles, your movements is fast, energetic, almost limitless... it's soo good that even the monsters struggle to keep up with you (something that luckily the Sunbreak extention fixes heavily). This creates an experience so different compared to the rest of the franchise that is no surprise that it received mixed feelings from the fanbase.
But at the end... you still have a lot of fun with the quirky crackhead cousin: the gameplay is fun and addictive, the design of the monsters is impeccable and full of care as ever, the environments are corgeous (especially considerin Risa was originally a Switch exclusive), and even the story, one of the least interesting parts of a MH game, is able to make to have some slightly touching moments.
One it's own, Monster Hunter Rise works a lot... but if I can suggest something, the extensition Sunbreak fixes a lot of issues of the vanilla game, so I suggest to include that one if you plan to try it.
Kirby's Adventure
1993
Fun Facts About Kirby’s Adventure:
•When it was in production progress was made
•It sold units
•After it came out there was reception
•The gameplay was playable
•When it was in production progress was made
•It sold units
•After it came out there was reception
•The gameplay was playable
A Short Hike
2019
This is my go-to comfort game. Whenever I've had a particularly shitty day or life is too overwhelming, I can always put my headphones on, turn my phone off, and escape to Hawk's Peak Provincial Park.
Baldur's Gate 3
2020
I know a lot of people absolutely adore Baldur's Gate 3, including a lot of queer people, and as a result I've been really anxious about posting this. I don't want to act like my opinions are objective, I personally hate it when people list their opinions as if they're facts so I'm really sorry if I end up doing that unintentionally. I also want to apologise if this ends up feeling vitriolic or hateful. A 7/10 is a positive score, and I definitely enjoyed my time with Baldur's Gate 3 overall, but I just had some flaws with it and its queer representation that I haven't really seen anyone talk about and I just wanted to write those down here. There might be a couple of minor spoilers here but nothing major.
I was very surprised when I saw that Baldur's Gate 3 had been nominated for multiple queer gaming awards, like the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Video Game or the Gayming Awards, because I found BG3's attempts at LGBTQ+ representation to be... condescending and frustrating, especially with its trans representation.
Firstly, every BG3 romanceable character is playersexual. This alone might not be a flaw. Other games I can think of like I Was a Teenage Exocolonist and Stardew Valley are able to have 'playersexual' love interests while still telling queer stories, and as a result the characters don't feel playersexual so much as they feel like bi/pan representation. BG3 does nothing of the sort. My character's relationship with Shadowheart never felt like it was a queer relationship, it didn't feel like a queer story, because ultimately my character could've been removed and replaced with a man and nothing would change. The only queer couple I can think of in the game are two side characters, Dame Aylin and Isobel, and while they're delightful they didn't really change that I never felt like the game was using my character's relationship as an opportunity for meaningful queer representation.
I've written before about how I dislike it when game devs include genital customisation and describe it as playing a trans character, it feels at best reductive and at worst objectifying. This is also a critique I had of Cyberpunk 2077, but that's able to somewhat mitigate it through the presence of Claire, an interesting and well-written trans character with her own questline and story arc. BG3 has... Nocturne. A character who shows up once and has at most a dozen lines of dialogue, all of which are about a cis character. Because trans people aren't people apart from how we relate to cis people I guess. Hell, it's mentioned that Shadowheart is the entire reason why she "found the strength" to transition in the first place, and she's introduced by her deadname long before you actually see her and learn her actual name. There's no reason to deadname her, Shadowheart knows her as an adult after she's transitioned and earlier games like Tell Me Why don't deadname their trans characters even in flashbacks to their pre-transition selves. Shadowheart is my favourite BG3 character, but it's so frustrating that the game's only trans character is entirely dedicated to making her look great and isn't a person beyond that.
This also extends to a problem with the character creator. While you do have the "nonbinary/other" option for your character's gender, it doesn't really change the fact that the character creator is incredibly binary. Naming them body types 1 and 2 doesn't really change the fact that one is very masculine and the other is very feminine, and this combined with the eight or so set face options for each body type mean that there's really not an option to play as a more androgynous character. Obviously, there's no one way to look nonbinary. But I thought that the lack of options to depict your character really felt like I was being pigeonholed into playing a certain character, both in terms of appearance and personality.
My problems with this game's LGBTQ+ representation weren't my only problems with it. I also had some problems with its combat balancing, story, (some of) the characters, and I never really felt like I was properly roleplaying my character at all. You can ask in the comments if you want me to go into more detail about those, but I felt like its LGBTQ+ representation was a flaw that I've never seen discussed. It feels like it was well intentioned but misguided, and I think it's important to critique it so that the developers can learn from their mistakes and improve next time.
I was very surprised when I saw that Baldur's Gate 3 had been nominated for multiple queer gaming awards, like the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Video Game or the Gayming Awards, because I found BG3's attempts at LGBTQ+ representation to be... condescending and frustrating, especially with its trans representation.
Firstly, every BG3 romanceable character is playersexual. This alone might not be a flaw. Other games I can think of like I Was a Teenage Exocolonist and Stardew Valley are able to have 'playersexual' love interests while still telling queer stories, and as a result the characters don't feel playersexual so much as they feel like bi/pan representation. BG3 does nothing of the sort. My character's relationship with Shadowheart never felt like it was a queer relationship, it didn't feel like a queer story, because ultimately my character could've been removed and replaced with a man and nothing would change. The only queer couple I can think of in the game are two side characters, Dame Aylin and Isobel, and while they're delightful they didn't really change that I never felt like the game was using my character's relationship as an opportunity for meaningful queer representation.
I've written before about how I dislike it when game devs include genital customisation and describe it as playing a trans character, it feels at best reductive and at worst objectifying. This is also a critique I had of Cyberpunk 2077, but that's able to somewhat mitigate it through the presence of Claire, an interesting and well-written trans character with her own questline and story arc. BG3 has... Nocturne. A character who shows up once and has at most a dozen lines of dialogue, all of which are about a cis character. Because trans people aren't people apart from how we relate to cis people I guess. Hell, it's mentioned that Shadowheart is the entire reason why she "found the strength" to transition in the first place, and she's introduced by her deadname long before you actually see her and learn her actual name. There's no reason to deadname her, Shadowheart knows her as an adult after she's transitioned and earlier games like Tell Me Why don't deadname their trans characters even in flashbacks to their pre-transition selves. Shadowheart is my favourite BG3 character, but it's so frustrating that the game's only trans character is entirely dedicated to making her look great and isn't a person beyond that.
This also extends to a problem with the character creator. While you do have the "nonbinary/other" option for your character's gender, it doesn't really change the fact that the character creator is incredibly binary. Naming them body types 1 and 2 doesn't really change the fact that one is very masculine and the other is very feminine, and this combined with the eight or so set face options for each body type mean that there's really not an option to play as a more androgynous character. Obviously, there's no one way to look nonbinary. But I thought that the lack of options to depict your character really felt like I was being pigeonholed into playing a certain character, both in terms of appearance and personality.
My problems with this game's LGBTQ+ representation weren't my only problems with it. I also had some problems with its combat balancing, story, (some of) the characters, and I never really felt like I was properly roleplaying my character at all. You can ask in the comments if you want me to go into more detail about those, but I felt like its LGBTQ+ representation was a flaw that I've never seen discussed. It feels like it was well intentioned but misguided, and I think it's important to critique it so that the developers can learn from their mistakes and improve next time.
Cyberpunk 2077
2020
Cyberpunk has long been one of my favourite sci-fi subgenres. There's something about stories where technology has advanced but society has collapsed, where the capitalist hellscape of our reality has thrown away its mask and is displaying its cruelty upfront that's really interesting to me. Characters in cyberpunk stories walk neon-lit streets where the game is fixed against them, willing to throw everything away for the chance to complete their goal, usually either failing or succeeding after great sacrifice. Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the best examples of this I've seen, especially in video games.
Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the most immersive games I've ever played. You're dropped in the shoes of V, who's on the run from a shaky past and is trying to make it big as a Night City legend. V is one of my favourite video game protagonists, and probably one of my favourite protagonists in general. You have a good amount of leeway to shape their personality and background, but in a way where they actually feel like a present and important character in the narrative rather than a blank slate and nonentity in the story. While I'll admit that I've never played as masc V during any of my four playthroughs (and I haven't been all that impressed by what I've heard), Cherami Leigh gives an absolutely amazing performance as V. I honestly think she should've been nominated for best performance at the game awards.
Much of Cyberpunk 2077's strengths lie in its story, characters, and world. Night City is both alien and all too familiar, and despite the strangeness of their setting and situation the characters in Cyberpunk have realistic feeling motivations and writing, complimented by their excellent performances. Real standouts for me include Judy, Takemura, Claire, and Jackie, as well as Reed, Myers, and Songbird from the DLC (which is incredible in its own right).
This is also complimented by its gameplay. Cyberpunk 2077 decides not to go with the class system of the tabletop RPG its based on for a more skill-focused system. I personally really like this decision for the video game; V is a character in the game rather than a faceless self insert, so having them always play like a Solo (though maybe with a bit of multiclassing into Tech or Netrunner) really fits. On the subject of the tabletop RPG, I'm a really big fan of it (I'm most familiar with Cyberpunk RED because I started getting into tabletop RPGs back in 2017 when I was 13) and it feels like a fitting continuation of that world.
Also, the soundtrack is just incredible. From the game's score and combat music to the in-universe radio stations, every song works together to immerse you deeper into this world. If you haven't heard it, check out Kerry Eurodyne's version of Chippin' In. It's one of my favourite songs on the soundtrack but it only shows up very briefly during a Johnny flashback.
I also feel obligated to discuss the trans representation in this game, as I've criticised other games for their trans rep before. I personally don't really like it when devs include genital customisation and explicitly describe it as "playing a trans character", it feels really reductive at best and kind of objectifying at worse, but nonetheless I first played this during a period of time when I was feeling really shit about myself, and even if it's really dumb, being able to play as a canonically trans badass mercenary made me feel bit better. It's also worth mentioning Claire, an interesting trans character with her own sidequest line and story arc who's one of my personal favourites.
I played this for the first time in February last year; this playthrough was my fourth. Despite its rocky release, Cyberpunk 2077 was able to become one of the best games I've ever played and I can't recommend it enough if you like science fiction, action RPGs, or both.
Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the most immersive games I've ever played. You're dropped in the shoes of V, who's on the run from a shaky past and is trying to make it big as a Night City legend. V is one of my favourite video game protagonists, and probably one of my favourite protagonists in general. You have a good amount of leeway to shape their personality and background, but in a way where they actually feel like a present and important character in the narrative rather than a blank slate and nonentity in the story. While I'll admit that I've never played as masc V during any of my four playthroughs (and I haven't been all that impressed by what I've heard), Cherami Leigh gives an absolutely amazing performance as V. I honestly think she should've been nominated for best performance at the game awards.
Much of Cyberpunk 2077's strengths lie in its story, characters, and world. Night City is both alien and all too familiar, and despite the strangeness of their setting and situation the characters in Cyberpunk have realistic feeling motivations and writing, complimented by their excellent performances. Real standouts for me include Judy, Takemura, Claire, and Jackie, as well as Reed, Myers, and Songbird from the DLC (which is incredible in its own right).
This is also complimented by its gameplay. Cyberpunk 2077 decides not to go with the class system of the tabletop RPG its based on for a more skill-focused system. I personally really like this decision for the video game; V is a character in the game rather than a faceless self insert, so having them always play like a Solo (though maybe with a bit of multiclassing into Tech or Netrunner) really fits. On the subject of the tabletop RPG, I'm a really big fan of it (I'm most familiar with Cyberpunk RED because I started getting into tabletop RPGs back in 2017 when I was 13) and it feels like a fitting continuation of that world.
Also, the soundtrack is just incredible. From the game's score and combat music to the in-universe radio stations, every song works together to immerse you deeper into this world. If you haven't heard it, check out Kerry Eurodyne's version of Chippin' In. It's one of my favourite songs on the soundtrack but it only shows up very briefly during a Johnny flashback.
I also feel obligated to discuss the trans representation in this game, as I've criticised other games for their trans rep before. I personally don't really like it when devs include genital customisation and explicitly describe it as "playing a trans character", it feels really reductive at best and kind of objectifying at worse, but nonetheless I first played this during a period of time when I was feeling really shit about myself, and even if it's really dumb, being able to play as a canonically trans badass mercenary made me feel bit better. It's also worth mentioning Claire, an interesting trans character with her own sidequest line and story arc who's one of my personal favourites.
I played this for the first time in February last year; this playthrough was my fourth. Despite its rocky release, Cyberpunk 2077 was able to become one of the best games I've ever played and I can't recommend it enough if you like science fiction, action RPGs, or both.
Firewatch
2016
Extraordinarily frustrating. For much more good than bad in the end, but I really did need to talk with others about it, it was like "i'm going to destroy a pillow" with the feelings I had left in the brain stew.
It's in one way, fucking ridiculously well written. Delilah is talk on "not real" escaped to relationships as well as an explicit message on confronting memories. Henry is a "failure" and "cowardly" who cannot confront the pains around him ultimately thrust to realize he has to go back home and come to terms with life. Other characters, their relationships and stories whether surrounding Henry or being left behind to be found by Henry are also failures, painful retellings of this conflict with specters these people saw as real. It's all set to this sunset painting, this growing sense of longing shared by all involved for a sunrise we will never see come up for us on screen. We're denied even the beautiful, serene sunset as it goes up in smoke.
But on the other hand, there's actually too much catharsis. Too much foreground, really. What I loved most of what I was playing was how these background elements intersected, how I was left to feel that pain and wince in real time rather than when the reins were clearly torn from me. I don't mean to say that the cuts were bad, in fact they were perfect, it's more how this structure intrinsically needed to throw the perspective in someone else's agency for us to look at and realize we can't become the sludge trapped in the park. A lot of potential really is left to the cutting floor by this move, a timeline where we never feel a bit of catharsis by a mystery left unsolved, or one where we watch ourselves fail again by Henry's own hands, etc etc. This is what's extremely thorny to talk about though. Like can you imagine just walking up to a work, and going, "you know this works really well but it'd be better if you actually just flipped the whole structure to lean the other way thank you". Like who asked? It works for me not for you?
But the result, at least on my end, is that I ended up decoupled from Henry and Delilah's story for a good portion because the disconnect from the first hour and a half to the latter hour and a half set me ablaze. The dialogue and delivery was still incredible but my emotional investment was missing, at least mostly. Mercifully the background actually never left, as the finale to Dave left me moving away from my desk and pushing myself into a pillow for a good minute.
It's ironic really. I think the idea that this "huehue should've been a movie" has things so backwards (and also it's just really fucking bankrupt, like i'm not taking you seriously). There's so much here to add to, via additional player agency, without even taking away from the narrative focused on. I ended up exploring the whole map completely unintentionally, on the way and a couple times off the beaten path just to finish what qualifies as "the side story". I ended up fishing for a while too. In the end the release I'm looking for needed more 'play,' albeit, I'm no editor. This story still has volumes to speak for what it is, like I ended up discovering not through my own hands how Henry's parasocial relationship has an even bigger relevance as we are today.
I do hope there's a dawn for Campo Santo somewhere down the line. They made something truly special here.
It's in one way, fucking ridiculously well written. Delilah is talk on "not real" escaped to relationships as well as an explicit message on confronting memories. Henry is a "failure" and "cowardly" who cannot confront the pains around him ultimately thrust to realize he has to go back home and come to terms with life. Other characters, their relationships and stories whether surrounding Henry or being left behind to be found by Henry are also failures, painful retellings of this conflict with specters these people saw as real. It's all set to this sunset painting, this growing sense of longing shared by all involved for a sunrise we will never see come up for us on screen. We're denied even the beautiful, serene sunset as it goes up in smoke.
But on the other hand, there's actually too much catharsis. Too much foreground, really. What I loved most of what I was playing was how these background elements intersected, how I was left to feel that pain and wince in real time rather than when the reins were clearly torn from me. I don't mean to say that the cuts were bad, in fact they were perfect, it's more how this structure intrinsically needed to throw the perspective in someone else's agency for us to look at and realize we can't become the sludge trapped in the park. A lot of potential really is left to the cutting floor by this move, a timeline where we never feel a bit of catharsis by a mystery left unsolved, or one where we watch ourselves fail again by Henry's own hands, etc etc. This is what's extremely thorny to talk about though. Like can you imagine just walking up to a work, and going, "you know this works really well but it'd be better if you actually just flipped the whole structure to lean the other way thank you". Like who asked? It works for me not for you?
But the result, at least on my end, is that I ended up decoupled from Henry and Delilah's story for a good portion because the disconnect from the first hour and a half to the latter hour and a half set me ablaze. The dialogue and delivery was still incredible but my emotional investment was missing, at least mostly. Mercifully the background actually never left, as the finale to Dave left me moving away from my desk and pushing myself into a pillow for a good minute.
It's ironic really. I think the idea that this "huehue should've been a movie" has things so backwards (and also it's just really fucking bankrupt, like i'm not taking you seriously). There's so much here to add to, via additional player agency, without even taking away from the narrative focused on. I ended up exploring the whole map completely unintentionally, on the way and a couple times off the beaten path just to finish what qualifies as "the side story". I ended up fishing for a while too. In the end the release I'm looking for needed more 'play,' albeit, I'm no editor. This story still has volumes to speak for what it is, like I ended up discovering not through my own hands how Henry's parasocial relationship has an even bigger relevance as we are today.
I do hope there's a dawn for Campo Santo somewhere down the line. They made something truly special here.
Persona 3 Reload
2024
Good game, but the jank of being a clearly priority B project remake shows in all aspects of it: Rather than elevating 3 to the mechanical standards of its successors, Reload is akin more to a fresh coat of paint, adding plenty of needed combat and QoL improvements but still retaining plenty of the jank of the original. Tartarus is still braindead, the pacing of all the different segments of the game are still off with a truckload of pointless empty time in the closing months of the game, most non-endgame Persona's kits and stats feel like they were decided by throwing darts at a board, making the MC feel weirdly gimped for a substantial amount of the game, and there is simply a general lack of meaningful and varied content. Social Links are also fairly underwhelming for the most part, but on the other hand I think many could appreciate their more down-to-earth-ness, and I suppose work well within the themes of this particular game.
Still, it's Persona, it's good and fun even though it definitely overstays its welcome, and I can clearly see why so many people resonate with its meditations on death, though I personally feel like it would've definitely benefitted from not having the subtlety of a sledgehammer in its storytelling. Still, again, this is Persona, a series that is ultimately made for teenagers who have not yet stopped to think about these issues, and so this type of storytelling might be a necessity. Persona 4 was that for me in my teen years, and so I won't hold 3 in any contempt either.
Ultimately Persona 3 is a game about how, when faced with the inevitability of the end of all—life, relationships, family, etc— one must treasure all the diverse bonds we craft during our lives that makes us who we are, which is why you should go and befriend at least two people who are constantly trying to scam you.
Still, it's Persona, it's good and fun even though it definitely overstays its welcome, and I can clearly see why so many people resonate with its meditations on death, though I personally feel like it would've definitely benefitted from not having the subtlety of a sledgehammer in its storytelling. Still, again, this is Persona, a series that is ultimately made for teenagers who have not yet stopped to think about these issues, and so this type of storytelling might be a necessity. Persona 4 was that for me in my teen years, and so I won't hold 3 in any contempt either.
Ultimately Persona 3 is a game about how, when faced with the inevitability of the end of all—life, relationships, family, etc— one must treasure all the diverse bonds we craft during our lives that makes us who we are, which is why you should go and befriend at least two people who are constantly trying to scam you.
Persona 3 Reload
2024
wow i love playing the same game over again in the unreal engine with a shittier ost and (arguably) worse VA cast, except i gotta pay extra for the answer for a grand total of $140.48 canada bux. bravo atlus you've done it again