Pulls the unthinkable in a Final Fantasy game in relegating the world narrative and all its spectacular cutscenes to radio chatter, to things happening beyond the horizon. What we do does not matter: this is the eternal road trip before the end of the world. The camping and sleeping mechanics enforce a camaraderie that matches that of the Dragon Quest series, while the save mechanic, requiring us to look through photographs taken by an in-game character before bed, sentimentalises things even further, and even works as a testament to freedom in emergence. In this world where time does not move, where we repeat the same routines, the photograph is evidence of life's infinite difference, of the world always becoming other. The way we are pressured into relinquishing agency so another in-game character can drive us places is also fascinating for the way it underscores the negotiation of human and nonhuman actants in gaming generally. Mostly it's in service of the game's sweet eternity, a gentle melancholy that renders every settlement a pit stop, a Route 66 simulacrum where the landscape's littered by ghost towns that, oddly enough, look more alive than these ones.

The 'closed' half is the most fatalistic these things have ever been. Genuinely upsetting stuff.

Wholly uncompromising in its grandiose, buckling vision. Crumbling under the weight of its world of ideas. Breakneck and glacial, confused and confusing. To call it a flawed masterpiece is an admission that it is a masterpiece all the same.

The plot is frequently limp, characters incensed by seemingly random motivations. The world folds out into eternity while railroading the Regalia to a two lane highway. The ache for reprieve from ballooning stakes goes eternally unanswered. What starts as a granting of ever more freedoms becomes a collapse of everything being taken away from the player bit by bit. An unceasing tide of fetch quests forgotten in a shift to eternal linearity. Yet none of this takes away from the experience, it only reinforces a consistent theme of loss and trade-offs.

The first playable moments bring this into laser focus. The iconic Regalia, a literal symbol of freedom carries nothing but unfulfilled promises as it is laboriously pushed across the desert. When it is repaired, Noctis receives a single opportunity to drive his steed, only to discover he is no more in control of it behind the wheel than he is as a passenger. It is often a hindrance, barely moving at night, unable to ever meaningfully approach points of interest, as manoeuvrable as a train on the tracks. Yet each time it is taken away, the notion of freedom dissipates, eventually passing forever into history. Similarly, the temporary departure of party members makes what were once mechanical nothings into tangible absence; Gladio, Prompto and Ignis all bringing something crucial yet invisible to the dynamics of the party and combat.

This typifies what the Final Fantasy XV experience is; one of dashed expectation. Chase down your MacGuffin of a betrothed only for her to fade away. Collect a litany of ingredients, lures, paint jobs, CDs, quests, hunts, medals all for it to become meaningless in an instant, no indication that the time for a relaxed approach has drawn to a close. The only fragment of a 'road trip with the boys' being memories made concrete through Prompto's photographic documentation of the journey. Much as one might scoff at an overabundance of filters, selfies, extreme angles, and inadvertent captures of Gladio's ass, these joyful glimmers of what was and could have been resonate with nostalgic depression. When our story draws to a close, all we have to remember it by are our memories. Wishes that it had gone better, not just for ourselves, but for those who would walk a doomed path.

I don't generally like being vulnerable, publicly. Even my most personal write-ups tend to be at least a little bit structured to guide around pain points that I'd rather not disclose, boiling down thoughts to more readable ideas that I don't need to haunt me. I don't really have that luxury today.

My uncle died yesterday, and we were close enough to where today I woke up staring up at the ceiling regretful, toiling around in my own head with a fog of thoughts that even now still permeates. I went through the rest of the day so far trying desperately to act as if nothing happened, driving with FFXIV music blaring out the car speakers, taking care of responsibilities with the best smile I could feign. Then I got home, and loaded up this game again, drawn to it searching for comfort. After an hour I started rewatching cutscenes, reading things about the game again trying to reexperience the same feelings that brought me solace. The game's chock full of them after all, with a dying man sitting at the bench with you giving last thoughts on a world and life he knows has dealt him the worst hand, to a scummy kid who is envious of his brother and still is even after his death not realizing how much he's trying to fill that hole in his heart that's been left. An old couple welcomes me in with smiles on their faces as they continue to grieve, just my presence being enough to remind them of what once was, but still they look forward hopeful.

I'm crying again as I attach myself to these stand-ins for loss, those depressing but not lonesome stories that help me grieve on my own time. This aura permeates through the entire narrative, as characters not so much different from my feelings of today pull off the same images of trying to act like everything's ok, and even the most naive cocky individual of the party has to come to terms with a hospitalized lover who he now wishes more than ever that he could've spent just one more minute with. I wish I had more time too, the last memory of my uncle is going to be me moving around stuff in his house while he can barely move about his home, and then after helping when he offers me and another sibling to stay and watch a movie with him, I say that I have to go home as it's getting too dark to drive. I still don't know whether my leaving was out of apathy, or cowardice, and I don't know which is worse.

And this game rejects apathy, it pushes to understand these feelings I struggle with today, an ENTIRE cult founded to bring the fall of all is juxtaposed with a desire from those who have suffered the most to keep living. A disgusting choice is thrusted towards the player and what's best isn't to remain ignorant but it is to defy this fucking downfall. It's hopeful, in the end, not wallowing in sorrow, even when the ending is still painful.

Not to say that this is a perfect simulacrum of these discordant thoughts, the combat ensues listlessness even in this version that tries to right wrongs of the flawed original. You walk multiple floors fighting enemies on passable at best strategies thinking about how it'd be nice if we were back several minutes ago to feel feelings at a scene again. There's even what would become late Atlus's problematic bullshit with hots-for-teachers and terrible handlings of lgbt, and that only spreads more poison over time for me. It just makes me angry, bile held and punches I wish I could throw at something other than air.

But the game still very much speaks to me, just putting out these thoughts after every couple minutes of tears and thinking of what this MEANS to me, what it represents, what it is, is helpful. I don't know if I can entirely recommend, or hope that the same will stand true for most individuals, not that it matters I guess. Please spend time with your loved ones if you can, I'm surely about to drive once more to be with family and mourn together while I still struggle not to fall myself.

Played about 30 hours so far, in mid to late June. Will probably update once I'm done but I have a lot of thoughts I need to get out first.

Persona 3 FES is my favorite game of all time. I have a lot of very strong feelings and nostalgia for it, just to give some context on where I am coming from. So far I have mixed feelings on this remake.

I am not a fan of some of the gameplay mechanics that were changed in the name of "modernizing" or "bringing persona 3 up to the modern persona standard". Persona 3 was Atlus' first try at making this kind of calendar-based social sim visual novel jrpg and they leaned very heavily into those elements and it was something that was very unique and enjoyable. The themes of time and death in the story also tied into these mechanics and made the game feel like a very cohesive and immersive experience. Things like tiredness and sickness made it so you had to plan which days you would go to Tartarus carefully and (tried) to prevent you from getting to a border floor in one night which added a nice layer of immersion. The AI controlled party members made you feel like you're the leader of SEES and it was cool to see your teammates learn and improve and learn new tactics as the team's relationship improved. Reload removes some these "annoying" things to make it more palatable, and I feel like it ends up losing some of its charm and feels more like a homogenized persona game, not too distinct from 4 or 5.

Also isn't it absolutely baffling that this game lets you rewind days? The entire point of Persona 3 is that time only marches forward, death is inevitable, your time is limited and you can't get it back so you need to embrace living with purpose, reject apathy, use your time wisely on things that are meaningful and important to you and make the most out of the time you have, etc. And this message is so perfectly woven into all of the gameplay mechanics and systems. And then Reload just says screw all that and lets you rewind to previous days anyway? Like what??? Sure you could just reload a save like in the original and in any other game but this is a brand new mechanic made for this remake.

Shadows are now extremely easy to avoid and get first strike on which removes a lot of fear and tension I felt exploring Tartarus in FES. (maybe this is a good thing since you don't have to hear the Mass Destruction remix) The Tartarus overhaul is visually great and a lot of fun to explore. The UI while exploring tartarus is just too much. The map takes up too way much space, I don't need to see all of the controls spelled out for me, I don't need a pseudo quest log in the top right telling me what my next objective is. It might seem nitpicky and maybe it is but I find it harms the game's atmosphere and makes Tartarus feel less immersive and scary and threatening. Theurgy is a fun new mechanic that doesn't feel broken so far. I really like how they tied the character's personalities into how they charge their gauge. I'm playing on merciless and the difficulty has been good. Hard but not too hard. I recommend it if you're familiar with persona or smt games.

The remixed music I've heard so far ranges from decent to bad. I do like the remixes of When the Moon Reaches for the Stars (shame they removed the "your love came all over me" line) and Want to be Close. Not perfect or better than the original tracks but still enjoyable. The Mass Destruction remix is mostly good but is held back by some weird mixing. I honestly like the new singer/vocals and the instrumentation mostly sounds great, but who's idea was it to make the farting frog synth so high in the mix? Did someone with ears actually listen to this and think it was ok? Unavoidable battle also has some weird mixing. Why is the bass so loud for those first 4 notes? The guitar and drums sound way too flat and clean. The intensity and chaos of the original is lost completely. Thankfully the new tracks so far are pretty good. Color Your Night is great and its nice change of pace to hear lotus juice sing, although I think the Persona 5-y keyboard intro is a bit out of place. Also why is there no option to just use the original soundtrack?

The game on a technical graphical level looks really good. The character models look great and its cool to see them lip-syncing with the dialogue. The in game cutscenes look good but do end up replacing some anime scenes from the original like the protagonists awakening and the introduction to the dark hour. The in game stuff just doesn't hit the same but hopefully they can improve on it for future persona titles or go back to doing more anime cutscenes. The game is a bit too saturated and bright at times. I don't think its as bad as some other people say but it is odd in places like the lounge. The new animated opening is great. I couldn't help but crack a smile at the Burn My Dread fakeout. The persona models are sadly blurry and jaggy and I'm not sure why. Reload also has a kind of unreal enginey "nintendo hire this man" overuse of motion blur when you sprint around. Thankfully is can be turned off on PC by editing a text file. (there's a guide on steam) The menu UI is stunning and fun to look at. Social links are now fully voiced which is great. The new voice work for the main cast is nice but I'm too attached to the original to judge it fairly. Junpei sounds slightly off at times and delivers certain lines weirdly. Yukari sounds way too timid and generic. Akihiko's VA gives the character a different more aggressive vibe at times. Mitsuru sounds almost exactly the same and Fuuka sounds great. The new link events with male party members are nice. I've only seen the first one for Junpei so far but he was characterized well in it.

Sadly neither The Answer nor the femc were included in Reload which is a shame. People have found files in the game suggesting the Answer will be released later as paid DLC which is depressing. The $70 price tag and $30 day 1 DLC for this game is also depressing but not surprising. Reload could have been the ultimate version of Persona 3 at least in terms of features and content changed/lost between FES and portable but unfortunately it is not.

This review probably comes off as very whiny and overly critical or nostalgic but its just because I have so much love for FES. I am still very much enjoying Reload and can see myself enjoying it the more I play. I just think some of the charm and atmosphere was lost along the way and it ultimately could've been something more.

Absolutely beautiful.

Back to back bangers creating a cohesive aesthetic to chomp down on every minute, with heartpounding tracks to navigate ingame as well as listen to. It's a pleasant joyride that I enjoyed for the entire hour and a half-ish it lasted.

I'm going to be the jerk here and list a couple gripes, like how disorienting a couple of the tracks around The Hermit were and some things that just didn't seem reactable at first and required replays to get higher ranks on.

But overall, I think if you were interested in the trailer at all, if that music or the art spoke to you in any way you absolutely should give Sayonara Wild Hearts a try, so you as well can find some harmony of your own. (8/10)

"people shit on the library mission all the time, but they forget that the rest of the game is designed just as terribly"
~someone who didn't know shit about shit (2020)

i've been a halo fan for nearly my entire life, but the earliest memories i have of combat evolved are hazy at best. in reality, i am a halo 3 diehard and that game has been the benchmark i've used to judge the series by since 2007

such was the mentality i carried into CE's 2011 anniversary release, where i not only completely misunderstood its level design, but also willingly botched its incredible visuals via the god forsaken toggle for 343's flashlight-phobic and all-around heinously unfaithful overhaul

where halo 3 boasts a wide range of vibrant landscapes and fast-paced, mostly bite-sized levels, CE takes a slower, more methodical and surprisingly tactical approach to shooting (mostly because meleeing isn't as useful as it would later become). stages are designed less around their geometry and more their enemies - all of which are competent foes that pose reasonable threats, especially on legendary, which i feel is the best and only difficulty that demands a solid grasp of the game's mechanics and highlights how useful every weapon really is

the assault rifle particularly gets a lot of undeserved flak. it's a real piece of shit if you just spray and pray, but if you know how to manage your recoil (i.e. tapping the trigger in bursts) it becomes a nigh invaluable midrange tool that can effortlessly dispose of anything that isn't shielded. and when you can keep elites busy dodging grenades (which should be simple, because you usually have 8 of them stocked) it's pretty effective on them as well

and regarding the elephant in the room that is "the library": y'all are still babies. how can you be upset about the stage that finally allows you to use a shotgun nonstop?! the flood are some of the most fun to fight enemies in any shooter, the weapon selection they offer is infinite, and yet you're upset that the halls are same-y in a game where all of the halls are same-y?? are you fucking mad?!?!

that last remark isn't a slight towards the stages at large, either. in fact, i find myself commending levels i've previously bitched about vehemently - most notably "assault on the control room" and its counterpart "two betrayals". the fuck was i even thinking before? one variant is purely ground-based and the other spends half its duration in the air. that's not even mentioning the completely remixed enemy variety or how differently paced the two missions are altogether

oh yeah - cool narrative too. it's simple, but still very interesting especially after completing the marathon trilogy and knowing how similar the two franchises are; right down to details like the flood initially being a scrapped concept from marathon 2 and the forerunners being very similar to the jjaro in general

anyway, very good game. 3's still better though!