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This game exceeded even my highest expectations in almost every way.
I could talk about it for hours but as with Remake I don't think it's possible for me to do it justice, it's peak. I've spent over 200 hours with FF7 Rebirth now and I could easily jump back in for a 3rd playthrough today.
This game is such an achievement, and home to some of the most beautiful scenes, characters and music in memory. If the final part is able to do even half as many things as well as this does, then we're in for a phenomenal trilogy of games.
As an aside, getting the platinum for this was insanely fun and surprisingly easy ... until the last few combat simulations. It took me around 40 hours over 5 days to get them done. I am begging that part 3 is easier š„¹
Thanks for reading folks, hope you're all doing well!š
I could talk about it for hours but as with Remake I don't think it's possible for me to do it justice, it's peak. I've spent over 200 hours with FF7 Rebirth now and I could easily jump back in for a 3rd playthrough today.
This game is such an achievement, and home to some of the most beautiful scenes, characters and music in memory. If the final part is able to do even half as many things as well as this does, then we're in for a phenomenal trilogy of games.
As an aside, getting the platinum for this was insanely fun and surprisingly easy ... until the last few combat simulations. It took me around 40 hours over 5 days to get them done. I am begging that part 3 is easier š„¹
Thanks for reading folks, hope you're all doing well!š
Quantum Break
2016
Remedy has to stop giving all their "good stories but half-baked gameplay" IPs to Microsoft because this game is just begging for an Alan Wake 2-tier sequel. There are a few moments where the otherwise standard (but very well-written) time travel plot veers ever so briefly into rad as hell territory, but those aspects of the narrative never get their proper moment in the sun and are largely left for us to speculate about. I would love to see what Sam Lake and his merry band of madlads cook up with those concepts now that the foundation of this world has been firmly established, but alas, Quantum Break is likely locked up in the Recycle Bin alongside Internet Explorer for the foreseeable future. Ah well, at least we've got legally distinct Tim(e) Breaker and Warlin Door now.
I'd give this a solid "check it out" even if I can only muster to rate it "good", because there's a wonderful sense of ambition on display here. Like, love it or hate it, you're not gonna find another game that plays full, live-action TV show episodes with dynamic content based on decisions you made in the gameplay segments in between its narrative chapters. Most people would call that very concept absurd just due to simple logistics, but Remedy will not be dissuaded by such mundane troubles. Sure, the episodes are shot like the digital display ads you might find in a dentist's office between fillings, but goddamn I'll give them props for going for it all the same.
Of course, it helps that Lance Reddick brings his best to every scene he's in, because that's just how he rolls. Rest in peace, man - gone too soon for real.
I'd give this a solid "check it out" even if I can only muster to rate it "good", because there's a wonderful sense of ambition on display here. Like, love it or hate it, you're not gonna find another game that plays full, live-action TV show episodes with dynamic content based on decisions you made in the gameplay segments in between its narrative chapters. Most people would call that very concept absurd just due to simple logistics, but Remedy will not be dissuaded by such mundane troubles. Sure, the episodes are shot like the digital display ads you might find in a dentist's office between fillings, but goddamn I'll give them props for going for it all the same.
Of course, it helps that Lance Reddick brings his best to every scene he's in, because that's just how he rolls. Rest in peace, man - gone too soon for real.
The textbook definition of a flawed masterpiece.
It's no secret that the original Final Fantasy VII is a legendary game that changed the gaming landscape forever - would a remake ever be able to live up to it? Well, I'd say it depends on what you're looking for. I've only played the original FF7 up until the Shinra Building, so I can't really answer this question more in detail, but I can tell you the remake (and possibly the rest of the trilogy) is an exceptional experience, IF you're willing to accept something different. This might sound weird, so let me explain.
Final Fantasy VII Remake is not an 1:1 remake of the iconic original game. Without spoiling anything, it's trying something new in the already established world of Midgar in the hope of pleasing both fans of the original game and newcomers entirely new to the franchise or Final Fantasy VII in general. I'm not trying to give too much away, but basically, there are those new mysterious entities, and a common complaint is them being too involved in the plot. I wasn't a fan of those either for a long time, but after finishing the game and understanding their purpose, I reflected on their inclusion for a bit and then thought they were integrated fairly well actually. To sum things up, FF7R doesn't replace FF7 at all; they both have the same major plot beats, characters and everything, but are heading into different directions. This way there are new surprises in store for returning players, but it also brought out frustrations in others, since now will never be a "true" remake of the original game - and I can totally understand that sentiment.
The identity of 7R however wasn't the reason why I called it a flawed masterpiece in the opening sentence, instead it's some things that still could have been better. Even though I had a fantastic time with the game as a whole, I feel the need to still address those problems, as I'm not only writing those reviews for myself, but also to help others. With that out of the way, the most apparent flaw is the amount of filler content every now and then. A good example of this is near the end of the game, where the party backtracks to a previous dungeon as part of the story to retrieve an important item for another character. The issue at hand: a monster has stolen this key item! This results in a 30-minute segment of tracking down the monster by backtracking through the exact same segments of this dungeon used previously in the game. At least you get a sweet resolution for that character at the end, so it's not all for naught. But coming back to the dungeon/level design, that's a point I have mixed thoughts on. On one hand, Midgar in the original game was incredibly linear and the world only really opened up later, on the other hand, the remake could have fixed this - but this is where they decided to stay faithful! The Hallway Simulatorā¢ complaints are entirely justified, however it never was that much of a problem for me, since those dungeons look pretty atleast and you get many fun conversations with your party members along the way, so it doesn't feel like the game is trying to waste your time.
Generally the setpieces are more lively than ever before, the little details everywhere and the new third-person camera make for a so much more immersive experience than the top-down view of the original game. My favorite example is the Wall Market chapter in the remake, the lighting and bustling streets really sold me on the festive vibe the devs were going for. The entire segment was a real joy to play through and it is a prime example of extending the overall playtime in a meaningful way. This also applies for the Collapsed Expressway and Train Graveyard in the remake for me, for fans of the original game those areas might be too long (as they were only one to two screens long in the original game), but I loved how the devs expanded on those already established locations, it adds to the sense of scale in the massive dystopian city of Midgar. In general, I believe this "sense of scale" is exceptionally well done throughout the game, there are several occasions where you can just gaze in awe upon the towering buildings of the city from below or some other parts where you can look from a high point into the far distance and see all the detailed infrastructure on the horizon, it's genuinely impressive how they handled it.
You know what else is genuinely impressive? The combat in 7R. It still follows the same rules as the original ATB system, but with more player agency. Instead of just waiting for some bar to fill, you can block and dodge enemy attacks (ironically, blocking is better 90% of the time, as the dodge has no i-frames!) or deal some physical damage by yourself. All of this is accompanied by intuitive switching between characters in the middle of a fight in order to exploit enemy weakness with certain Materia or gain access to different skills and movesets. With the return of the Materia system, every party member can be individually built to one's likings - you may turn someone into an Electric AoE damage dealer or give everyone in the group an Ice Materia for some reason, there's a lot of different combinations! Summons are also back and they look just as cool here as you would expect. Unfortunately they're not available too often, but on the flip side this means their appearances against hard bosses are even more satisfying.
Now, I don't think anything has to be said about the soundtrack. It's a Final Fantasy game, so obviously it's near perfection. Uematsu and the crew put a lot of heart into the new songs and remixes and it shows. There are so many good tracks and it's hard to choose favorites, but one overworld song that particularly stands out to me for being surprisingly captivating is the theme of the Collapsed Expressway. In terms of battle themes, the Ghoul fight is an incredible new composition and if we're talking about remixed songs, [this video contains spoilers!] the iconic One-Winged Angel got an utterly fantastic orchestral rendition in the remake. They really went all out in remaking an already superb soundtrack and certainly didn't miss.
So yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to playing Rebirth eventually, but I'll probably play through the original FF7 first (hopefully in the near future). I love those characters and this world so much and I can't wait to see where their adventure is going next!
It's no secret that the original Final Fantasy VII is a legendary game that changed the gaming landscape forever - would a remake ever be able to live up to it? Well, I'd say it depends on what you're looking for. I've only played the original FF7 up until the Shinra Building, so I can't really answer this question more in detail, but I can tell you the remake (and possibly the rest of the trilogy) is an exceptional experience, IF you're willing to accept something different. This might sound weird, so let me explain.
Final Fantasy VII Remake is not an 1:1 remake of the iconic original game. Without spoiling anything, it's trying something new in the already established world of Midgar in the hope of pleasing both fans of the original game and newcomers entirely new to the franchise or Final Fantasy VII in general. I'm not trying to give too much away, but basically, there are those new mysterious entities, and a common complaint is them being too involved in the plot. I wasn't a fan of those either for a long time, but after finishing the game and understanding their purpose, I reflected on their inclusion for a bit and then thought they were integrated fairly well actually. To sum things up, FF7R doesn't replace FF7 at all; they both have the same major plot beats, characters and everything, but are heading into different directions. This way there are new surprises in store for returning players, but it also brought out frustrations in others, since now will never be a "true" remake of the original game - and I can totally understand that sentiment.
The identity of 7R however wasn't the reason why I called it a flawed masterpiece in the opening sentence, instead it's some things that still could have been better. Even though I had a fantastic time with the game as a whole, I feel the need to still address those problems, as I'm not only writing those reviews for myself, but also to help others. With that out of the way, the most apparent flaw is the amount of filler content every now and then. A good example of this is near the end of the game, where the party backtracks to a previous dungeon as part of the story to retrieve an important item for another character. The issue at hand: a monster has stolen this key item! This results in a 30-minute segment of tracking down the monster by backtracking through the exact same segments of this dungeon used previously in the game. At least you get a sweet resolution for that character at the end, so it's not all for naught. But coming back to the dungeon/level design, that's a point I have mixed thoughts on. On one hand, Midgar in the original game was incredibly linear and the world only really opened up later, on the other hand, the remake could have fixed this - but this is where they decided to stay faithful! The Hallway Simulatorā¢ complaints are entirely justified, however it never was that much of a problem for me, since those dungeons look pretty atleast and you get many fun conversations with your party members along the way, so it doesn't feel like the game is trying to waste your time.
Generally the setpieces are more lively than ever before, the little details everywhere and the new third-person camera make for a so much more immersive experience than the top-down view of the original game. My favorite example is the Wall Market chapter in the remake, the lighting and bustling streets really sold me on the festive vibe the devs were going for. The entire segment was a real joy to play through and it is a prime example of extending the overall playtime in a meaningful way. This also applies for the Collapsed Expressway and Train Graveyard in the remake for me, for fans of the original game those areas might be too long (as they were only one to two screens long in the original game), but I loved how the devs expanded on those already established locations, it adds to the sense of scale in the massive dystopian city of Midgar. In general, I believe this "sense of scale" is exceptionally well done throughout the game, there are several occasions where you can just gaze in awe upon the towering buildings of the city from below or some other parts where you can look from a high point into the far distance and see all the detailed infrastructure on the horizon, it's genuinely impressive how they handled it.
You know what else is genuinely impressive? The combat in 7R. It still follows the same rules as the original ATB system, but with more player agency. Instead of just waiting for some bar to fill, you can block and dodge enemy attacks (ironically, blocking is better 90% of the time, as the dodge has no i-frames!) or deal some physical damage by yourself. All of this is accompanied by intuitive switching between characters in the middle of a fight in order to exploit enemy weakness with certain Materia or gain access to different skills and movesets. With the return of the Materia system, every party member can be individually built to one's likings - you may turn someone into an Electric AoE damage dealer or give everyone in the group an Ice Materia for some reason, there's a lot of different combinations! Summons are also back and they look just as cool here as you would expect. Unfortunately they're not available too often, but on the flip side this means their appearances against hard bosses are even more satisfying.
Now, I don't think anything has to be said about the soundtrack. It's a Final Fantasy game, so obviously it's near perfection. Uematsu and the crew put a lot of heart into the new songs and remixes and it shows. There are so many good tracks and it's hard to choose favorites, but one overworld song that particularly stands out to me for being surprisingly captivating is the theme of the Collapsed Expressway. In terms of battle themes, the Ghoul fight is an incredible new composition and if we're talking about remixed songs, [this video contains spoilers!] the iconic One-Winged Angel got an utterly fantastic orchestral rendition in the remake. They really went all out in remaking an already superb soundtrack and certainly didn't miss.
So yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to playing Rebirth eventually, but I'll probably play through the original FF7 first (hopefully in the near future). I love those characters and this world so much and I can't wait to see where their adventure is going next!
92 hours clocked in and I still want to go back for more. This is a dream game. This is a landmark title in my personal gaming history. Remake felt a similar way but in a much more contained way. I adore it and everything it set out to do, but it was clearly a fraction of what was to come. Rebirth sits among the best experiences Iāve ever had with a video game. It reminded me of the first time I played Xenoblade Chronicles 1, being blown away by every environment and piece of music. It brought me back to playing Kingdom Hearts 2 for the first time with its constant narrative mystery and ridiculously fun and snappy combat. I canāt fully express how impossible it feels that this exists. Maybe to some itās nothing more than The Witcher 3 with JRPG elements, but the way this game approaches the series legacy and history is unlike any remake Iāve seen, including the previous entry. It completely understands the spirit of the original. So many mini games that are actually fun. A card game thatās finally better than triple triad. It has the best towns Iāve experienced in any jrpg. In general it really revived the idea of the jrpg town being a place to look forward to and interact with. Too often do post 16-bit jrpg towns act as simple checkpoints and rest stops. Thereās wonderful exceptions of course like DQXI, though it does feel rare.
Not a single side quest lost my interest either. A lot of them have unique mechanics or expand on some aspect of the world in an engaging way. It puts Remakeās side quests to horrendous shame. Even if the quest itself is a standard monster hunt, the developers know that the characters are the most important aspect of the story and turn every quest into a bonding experience. It adopts a dating-sim approach in a way. Choices pay off and almost feel like a personality test. Despite my efforts to go on the gold saucer date with Aerith, I ended up getting paired with Red. Heās my favorite character and the game knew that. Itās a very clever and simple little trick it pulls. Iām sure with more intent to artificially raise my relationship with certain characters I could have forced different scenes to play out, but I really loved the natural results I ended up with.
Playing this every day after work with my fiancƩ was a warm and comfortable tradition. The amount of emotions we experienced was unforgettable. Rebirth is a legit funny game a lot of the time too, only occasionally having an eye roll of a joke. The way these characters play off of each other and feel like real people is not a surprise after remake, but man is it nice to get 90 more hours of it.
I could go on forever, even without digging into spoilers. I know that Rebirth will likely be even more controversial than Remake, but I love seeing the discussion around it so far. Currently the final chapter is overtaking the conversation, but the wider scope of every chapter in this game warrants discussion. Thereās sooo much here to reflect on.
I also love that we have some big questions answers but not all of them. Iām equally as eager for part 3 as I was for part 2. Something brilliant is happening here, and I hope those who flinch at things being different are able to look through whatās on the surface and see how itās all still here. The discussion on what a remake of FF7 should be will never go away, but I believe what weāre getting is itself a reflection on that. Itās a swan song for these developers and probably their last chance to make this happen before they enter retirement. Discussion around remake felt like it lasted all the way until Rebirth. Rebirth will certainly keep us busy until part 3 is out. I canāt commend the creative team behind this game enough. Not only is this likely the best final fantasy game ever made, but it feels like what a modern final fantasy was always meant to be. Even if the story isnāt fully to your liking, the pacing and exploration on top of the tightly designed combat system and boss fights make for a modern reflection of classic final fantasy. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is special. I canāt help but feel like this will end up as the greatest gaming trilogy of all time.
Not a single side quest lost my interest either. A lot of them have unique mechanics or expand on some aspect of the world in an engaging way. It puts Remakeās side quests to horrendous shame. Even if the quest itself is a standard monster hunt, the developers know that the characters are the most important aspect of the story and turn every quest into a bonding experience. It adopts a dating-sim approach in a way. Choices pay off and almost feel like a personality test. Despite my efforts to go on the gold saucer date with Aerith, I ended up getting paired with Red. Heās my favorite character and the game knew that. Itās a very clever and simple little trick it pulls. Iām sure with more intent to artificially raise my relationship with certain characters I could have forced different scenes to play out, but I really loved the natural results I ended up with.
Playing this every day after work with my fiancƩ was a warm and comfortable tradition. The amount of emotions we experienced was unforgettable. Rebirth is a legit funny game a lot of the time too, only occasionally having an eye roll of a joke. The way these characters play off of each other and feel like real people is not a surprise after remake, but man is it nice to get 90 more hours of it.
I could go on forever, even without digging into spoilers. I know that Rebirth will likely be even more controversial than Remake, but I love seeing the discussion around it so far. Currently the final chapter is overtaking the conversation, but the wider scope of every chapter in this game warrants discussion. Thereās sooo much here to reflect on.
I also love that we have some big questions answers but not all of them. Iām equally as eager for part 3 as I was for part 2. Something brilliant is happening here, and I hope those who flinch at things being different are able to look through whatās on the surface and see how itās all still here. The discussion on what a remake of FF7 should be will never go away, but I believe what weāre getting is itself a reflection on that. Itās a swan song for these developers and probably their last chance to make this happen before they enter retirement. Discussion around remake felt like it lasted all the way until Rebirth. Rebirth will certainly keep us busy until part 3 is out. I canāt commend the creative team behind this game enough. Not only is this likely the best final fantasy game ever made, but it feels like what a modern final fantasy was always meant to be. Even if the story isnāt fully to your liking, the pacing and exploration on top of the tightly designed combat system and boss fights make for a modern reflection of classic final fantasy. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is special. I canāt help but feel like this will end up as the greatest gaming trilogy of all time.
Yakuza 5 Remastered
2019
I never played Yakuza 5 back when it first came out, but even 12 years later the sheer ambitious scope of this game is baffling. Featuring 5 playable protagonists and 5 different settings to explore all across Japan, Yakuza 5 was truly a massive expansion that took the series to new heights never before seen.
Yakuza 5 takes place 2 years after the events of Yakuza 4 and starts out with tensions between the two biggest Yakuza groups in Japan, the Tojo Clan and the Omi Alliance as the truce between them begins to deteriorate and an impending Yakuza war is on the horizon. Former chairman of the Tojo Clan and Yakuza legend Kazuma Kiryu now living in Fukuoka as a taxi driver under the name of Taichi Suzuki gets pulled back into the fold when his friend and current chairman Daigo Dojima goes missing. At the same time Kiryu's adopted daughter Haruka is living in Sotenbori following her dream to become Japan's number 1 pop idol and other stories are unfolding all across different cities in Japan involving ex-convict Taiga Saejima, moneylender Shun Akiyama and former baseball pro Tatsuo Shinada, each with their own dreams they'll do anything to achieve. Just how will all these various characters and their individual dreams connect? I can promise you it's probably not in the way you'd think because the narrative of Yakuza 5 is full of twists and turns and never felt predictable.
Yakuza 5 is written in that Tarantino-esque way and split into 5 different parts with each part having multiple chapters and focusing on fleshing out one character and their story arc at a time before switching to the next one until finally reaching the climatic finale where all the characters and their individual narratives intertwine. Yakuza 5's narrative is both massive and masterfully written. Full of complex plotlines with twists and turns galore and rich and engrossing character arcs enough to equal that of 5 normal games, the narrative of Yakuza 5 stands as one of the best in the series to this point. How far would you go to achieve your dream? What would you be willing to sacrifice?
The narrative isn't the only ambitious thing about Yakuza 5 though, the sheer amount of variety and diversity in every aspect of the game constantly keeps Yakuza 5 feeling fresh. The developers went to great lengths to make every character play and feel different whether in combat or outside of it. From getting to experience Kiryu's job as a taxi driver and street racer (in an homage to Initial D) to Saejima's time spent hunting bears in a small mountain town or Haruka working to increase the reputation of her idol agency by participating in dance battles and publicity events, no two characters feel or play the same and all the various sub stories feel more closely integrated alongside the main plot which helps flesh out the world and side characters much more than any Yakuza game before it.
If you've played a Yakuza game before you know one of the things the series prides itself on is the amount of diversions from the story and Yakuza 5 is no exception from that rule featuring a wealth of side activities and mini-games outside of the story related content. Pool, darts, air hockey, karaoke, various gambling games, a Virtua Fighter 2 arcade cabinet and even Taiko no Tatsujin are just some among the myriad ways to take a break in between story missions.
Speaking of fighting, as mentioned before every facet of Yakuza 5 has so much variety that keeps it constantly feeling fresh after hours upon hours and that includes the combat too with all 5 characters having their own unique battle styles (Haruka not actively engaging in combat and instead having rhythm game based dance battles instead) from Kiryu's classic brawler style to Saejima's grappler and heavy hitting charge attacks or Akiyama's fast-paced athletic footwork there's plenty of combat variety to keep you thoroughly entertained even when fighting low ranking goons in random encounters for hours (and trust me, you'll do a lot of that because the random encounter rate in this game is high)
Yakuza 5 stands tall as a pinnacle of the series, featuring both one of the best narratives in the series (Especially for those who have followed Kiryu's story since the beginning) and some of the most in-depth character arcs as well alongside detailed world-building that breathes life into the world of Yakuza like never before and an unbelievable amount of captivating side content which makes the penultimate game in Kazuma Kiryu's saga a journey that will stick with you long after the credits roll.
Yakuza 5 takes place 2 years after the events of Yakuza 4 and starts out with tensions between the two biggest Yakuza groups in Japan, the Tojo Clan and the Omi Alliance as the truce between them begins to deteriorate and an impending Yakuza war is on the horizon. Former chairman of the Tojo Clan and Yakuza legend Kazuma Kiryu now living in Fukuoka as a taxi driver under the name of Taichi Suzuki gets pulled back into the fold when his friend and current chairman Daigo Dojima goes missing. At the same time Kiryu's adopted daughter Haruka is living in Sotenbori following her dream to become Japan's number 1 pop idol and other stories are unfolding all across different cities in Japan involving ex-convict Taiga Saejima, moneylender Shun Akiyama and former baseball pro Tatsuo Shinada, each with their own dreams they'll do anything to achieve. Just how will all these various characters and their individual dreams connect? I can promise you it's probably not in the way you'd think because the narrative of Yakuza 5 is full of twists and turns and never felt predictable.
Yakuza 5 is written in that Tarantino-esque way and split into 5 different parts with each part having multiple chapters and focusing on fleshing out one character and their story arc at a time before switching to the next one until finally reaching the climatic finale where all the characters and their individual narratives intertwine. Yakuza 5's narrative is both massive and masterfully written. Full of complex plotlines with twists and turns galore and rich and engrossing character arcs enough to equal that of 5 normal games, the narrative of Yakuza 5 stands as one of the best in the series to this point. How far would you go to achieve your dream? What would you be willing to sacrifice?
The narrative isn't the only ambitious thing about Yakuza 5 though, the sheer amount of variety and diversity in every aspect of the game constantly keeps Yakuza 5 feeling fresh. The developers went to great lengths to make every character play and feel different whether in combat or outside of it. From getting to experience Kiryu's job as a taxi driver and street racer (in an homage to Initial D) to Saejima's time spent hunting bears in a small mountain town or Haruka working to increase the reputation of her idol agency by participating in dance battles and publicity events, no two characters feel or play the same and all the various sub stories feel more closely integrated alongside the main plot which helps flesh out the world and side characters much more than any Yakuza game before it.
If you've played a Yakuza game before you know one of the things the series prides itself on is the amount of diversions from the story and Yakuza 5 is no exception from that rule featuring a wealth of side activities and mini-games outside of the story related content. Pool, darts, air hockey, karaoke, various gambling games, a Virtua Fighter 2 arcade cabinet and even Taiko no Tatsujin are just some among the myriad ways to take a break in between story missions.
Speaking of fighting, as mentioned before every facet of Yakuza 5 has so much variety that keeps it constantly feeling fresh after hours upon hours and that includes the combat too with all 5 characters having their own unique battle styles (Haruka not actively engaging in combat and instead having rhythm game based dance battles instead) from Kiryu's classic brawler style to Saejima's grappler and heavy hitting charge attacks or Akiyama's fast-paced athletic footwork there's plenty of combat variety to keep you thoroughly entertained even when fighting low ranking goons in random encounters for hours (and trust me, you'll do a lot of that because the random encounter rate in this game is high)
Yakuza 5 stands tall as a pinnacle of the series, featuring both one of the best narratives in the series (Especially for those who have followed Kiryu's story since the beginning) and some of the most in-depth character arcs as well alongside detailed world-building that breathes life into the world of Yakuza like never before and an unbelievable amount of captivating side content which makes the penultimate game in Kazuma Kiryu's saga a journey that will stick with you long after the credits roll.
Master Collection version
Still an amazing experience, even better with an opened third eye and a better understanding of the mechanics. Absolutely deserving of it's praise and it has actually aged pretty well for it's time. I think that there are still some rough edges that needed polishing, and I'm quite excited to see how that is done in the remake. There are a lot of sections of this game that intrigue me to see with fresh eyes in the remake in general, this game is so great that I'm eager to see whether they improve on or fuck it up.
In any case, one of my favourite games of all time. I feel like, even if the story isn't as complex or as much of a mindfuck as Metal Gear Solid 2, it's still pretty solid for what it sets out to be. The narrative does it's job and it's still very emotional, Naked Snake is the best protagonist in the series, better than even Solid Snake, so that also gives this one an edge over it's predecessors and it's successors. For me, it's the best in the series, pending revision once I replay the others.
Still an amazing experience, even better with an opened third eye and a better understanding of the mechanics. Absolutely deserving of it's praise and it has actually aged pretty well for it's time. I think that there are still some rough edges that needed polishing, and I'm quite excited to see how that is done in the remake. There are a lot of sections of this game that intrigue me to see with fresh eyes in the remake in general, this game is so great that I'm eager to see whether they improve on or fuck it up.
In any case, one of my favourite games of all time. I feel like, even if the story isn't as complex or as much of a mindfuck as Metal Gear Solid 2, it's still pretty solid for what it sets out to be. The narrative does it's job and it's still very emotional, Naked Snake is the best protagonist in the series, better than even Solid Snake, so that also gives this one an edge over it's predecessors and it's successors. For me, it's the best in the series, pending revision once I replay the others.
Beautiful game. RGG I love yall, thank you for the journey, couldn't have asked for anything better. Masterpiece
Some of the best character writing, animation, voice acting & gameplay in any game I've ever experienced with some very awful pacing, especially in the late game. Still trying to decide how I feel about the story but I am willing to wait for the finale before fully giving my judgement.
Persona 3 Reload
2024
Ever been interested in the Persona series? Start with this one!
As a big fan of Persona 3, Reload was the game I was looking forward to the most in 2024 alongside Infinite Wealth, so I did the same as with IW and held off on watching trailers past the announcement one entirely to experience the changes for myself. When the release date came closer, I began to see more and more doomposting for Reload and even considered holding off on buying it because of how negatively this game was treated by others. I'm glad that didn't get to me in the end and I could form my own opinion of the remake of one of my favorite games.
First off, the presentation in Reload is amazing right off the bat, ranging from the upgraded artstyle to the dynamic menus and improved character models, it's just so very pleasant to look at. This also includes animations - the Ultimate moves of the characters look super cool. As someone who only ever really played Portable before, the upgrade in presentation was a huge point for me. Sure, the updated environmental design of the overworld is great, but the cherry on top are the revamped Tartarus blocks. The floors are no longer mere reskins with the same layout, now every block has a detailed new look and a different pattern. Tartarus changes don't stop here though, like the previous top-down camera has been turned into a proper third-person one, which I believe adds to the immersion a lot, despite being so seemingly insignificant at first. Furthermore, exploration is incentivized with mini-bosses being accessible in ordinary floors now alongside the addition of lucrative floor-specific events like locked or special chests. Can't forget the revamped Golden Hands in Reload either, as they provide a large amount of XP now (like in Persona 4) instead of dropping items. A great change for everyone who hated grinding and the new Great Clock random event can boost two of your teammates' levels on a whim, so no one has to fall behind! I believe the new Tartarus has something in store for everyone, so even if you were turned off by the gameplay in the original, giving it a second look might be worth it...
Voice acting in Reload is top notch. I don't share the somewhat popular sentiment of Yukari and Aigis sounding worse than their original counterparts at all, they're probably even my favorite new castings. That being said, personally I wouldn't say there's a single bad casting within the new voice actors, I enjoyed all of their performances. Emotional scenes got me tearing up several times, I got shivers during others. Not to disregard some of the original actors, but Reload really elevated some characters for me, just with their new performances (Yuko, Chidori and Fuuka are great examples). Also love how every social link is completely voiced now, it's a huge boost in immersion. As for social links in general, I'm glad the new Link Episodes exist, they're basically mini social links for the male party members and give you some insight into their life. A great way to add some interaction with them to the game without replacing the already existing social links! The SEES hangouts during nighttime also fulfill a similar role in giving your teammates more screentime without taking up meaningful time (considering the abundance of free time at night in P3), this also includes new events like several study sessions with the team. Those activities aren't just for fun though, you gain new passive abilities for the other members or gain extra knowledge points while studying with the others, the integration is seamless.
The new soundtrack is... good! Not much to say here, I like the remixes of the original songs and the new songs are bangers. Color Your Night is one of the very best vocal tracks in the series and It's Going Down Now still stays hype after listening to it over and over. Shoutout to the new remix of Changing Seasons.
There's a whole lot more to unpack about this game, but for the time being I have said everything that was on my mind. My thoughts are still pretty hazy, despite completing Reload hours ago, but I hope you could get something useful out of my review either way. As always, thanks for reading!
As a big fan of Persona 3, Reload was the game I was looking forward to the most in 2024 alongside Infinite Wealth, so I did the same as with IW and held off on watching trailers past the announcement one entirely to experience the changes for myself. When the release date came closer, I began to see more and more doomposting for Reload and even considered holding off on buying it because of how negatively this game was treated by others. I'm glad that didn't get to me in the end and I could form my own opinion of the remake of one of my favorite games.
First off, the presentation in Reload is amazing right off the bat, ranging from the upgraded artstyle to the dynamic menus and improved character models, it's just so very pleasant to look at. This also includes animations - the Ultimate moves of the characters look super cool. As someone who only ever really played Portable before, the upgrade in presentation was a huge point for me. Sure, the updated environmental design of the overworld is great, but the cherry on top are the revamped Tartarus blocks. The floors are no longer mere reskins with the same layout, now every block has a detailed new look and a different pattern. Tartarus changes don't stop here though, like the previous top-down camera has been turned into a proper third-person one, which I believe adds to the immersion a lot, despite being so seemingly insignificant at first. Furthermore, exploration is incentivized with mini-bosses being accessible in ordinary floors now alongside the addition of lucrative floor-specific events like locked or special chests. Can't forget the revamped Golden Hands in Reload either, as they provide a large amount of XP now (like in Persona 4) instead of dropping items. A great change for everyone who hated grinding and the new Great Clock random event can boost two of your teammates' levels on a whim, so no one has to fall behind! I believe the new Tartarus has something in store for everyone, so even if you were turned off by the gameplay in the original, giving it a second look might be worth it...
Voice acting in Reload is top notch. I don't share the somewhat popular sentiment of Yukari and Aigis sounding worse than their original counterparts at all, they're probably even my favorite new castings. That being said, personally I wouldn't say there's a single bad casting within the new voice actors, I enjoyed all of their performances. Emotional scenes got me tearing up several times, I got shivers during others. Not to disregard some of the original actors, but Reload really elevated some characters for me, just with their new performances (Yuko, Chidori and Fuuka are great examples). Also love how every social link is completely voiced now, it's a huge boost in immersion. As for social links in general, I'm glad the new Link Episodes exist, they're basically mini social links for the male party members and give you some insight into their life. A great way to add some interaction with them to the game without replacing the already existing social links! The SEES hangouts during nighttime also fulfill a similar role in giving your teammates more screentime without taking up meaningful time (considering the abundance of free time at night in P3), this also includes new events like several study sessions with the team. Those activities aren't just for fun though, you gain new passive abilities for the other members or gain extra knowledge points while studying with the others, the integration is seamless.
The new soundtrack is... good! Not much to say here, I like the remixes of the original songs and the new songs are bangers. Color Your Night is one of the very best vocal tracks in the series and It's Going Down Now still stays hype after listening to it over and over. Shoutout to the new remix of Changing Seasons.
There's a whole lot more to unpack about this game, but for the time being I have said everything that was on my mind. My thoughts are still pretty hazy, despite completing Reload hours ago, but I hope you could get something useful out of my review either way. As always, thanks for reading!
Yuffie, who was entirely optional in the original Final Fantasy VII, received a prologue with an awesome supporting character, Sonon. It added a whole new weight to her and her presumed arc in the future heading into the next two installments. She was incredible to play as. I really enjoyed the OST. Had so much energy to match Yuffie. It was short and sweet. Finished it in 4 hours in one sitting. They made her such a dork, sheās the best. The ending, even though I expected it, hit like a truck. Simply beautiful.
Judgment
2018
"Kamurocho, it's a city of dreams where even from the gutters you can shoot for the stars"
Judgment (Judge Eyes in Japan) is a 3rd person beat 'em up/action RPG spin-off of Ryu Ga Gotoku's mainline Yakuza series, but other than taking place in the same city of Kamurocho there's almost no ties to Yakuza and Judgment stands alone as a self contained story separate from the Yakuza series so don't worry about having to play them before Judgment.
In Judgment you play as Takayuki Yagami, a disgraced former defense attorney that got a client he believed to be innocent an acquittal, but they ended up murdering their girlfriend shortly after so believing his "judgement" wasn't sound enough he left the lawyering profession behind. Three years later, still living with the guilt of his failure as a lawyer, Yagami is now a private detective based in the city of Kamurocho, alongside his best friend the ex-yakuza Masaharu Kaito the two run the Yagami Detective Agency and get wrapped up in the mystery of a serial killer known as "the Mole" who kills Yakuza by gouging their eyes out.
Judgment is a murder mystery and what good is a mystery without twists? Thankfully there's plenty of twists and turns in Judgment that will have you guessing all the way until the end and with each new reveal the plot gets even more complex introducing more characters and slowly pulling at the threads of a grand conspiracy until everything is finally unraveled for one of the most climactic finales I've ever experienced in a video game. The way everything comes together in the end and how all the plot threads and characters connect is just absolutely masterful writing and gives such major payoffs in the end.
Another thing worth mentioning is the incredible voice performances both in sub and dub which really help bring this cast of characters to life. I especially have to commend Takuya Kimura and Greg Chun for both making Yagami one of my all time favorite characters.
As with most Yakuza games when not tackling the main story there's a wealth of side content to complete as well. From the 50 "Side Cases" which act as Judgment's form of Yakuza's sub stories and could be anything from helping someone find their lost cat to getting proof of infidelity these smaller cases are how Yagami makes his living paying in both money and experience and they help flesh out the world of Kamurocho better. I will say that one of the side cases which revolves around rival gangs and spans the length of the whole game is cool and one of the best side cases, but the mechanic it introduces with the "Threat Meter" and how the gangs become more aggressive and increase the random encounter rate a lot until you go out of your way to beat the gang leaders becomes tedious and breaks the flow of the story at times.
Along with the side cases there's also a friendship system that allows Yagami to become friends with almost everyone in Kamurocho by helping them with their smaller matters, all these characters have their own minor arcs and also give benefits once they're your friend from giving a discount at a shop to helping in battle or even unlocking new side cases, there's always incentive to befriend everyone you see. There are also plenty of mini-games in Judgement with everything from darts and poker to Mahjong and Shogi or Virtua Fighter 5, Outrun and even a Kamurocho themed rail shooter called "Kamuro of the Dead", plus my personal favorite a VR Mario Party-esque board game called "Dice and Cube" you could spend hours of your time on the mini-games of Judgment alone.
Gameplay of Judgment can be broken down into two types. The first being Yakuza-like beat 'em up combat. During combat Yagami has two different combat styles based on kung-fu, the "Tiger" style which is primarily used for 1v1 fights and the "Crane" style which is used for crowd control against multiple enemies. Yagami can also perform special cinematic finishing attacks known as "EX actions" and even after seeing them for 50+ hours I never get tired of how over-the-top and stylish they are, the martial arts choreography (especially in the boss battles) is just action packed and top notch. A new addition to Judgment that the Yakuza series didn't have is a mechanic known as "mortal wounds" and this happens when a boss or powerful enemy does a charge attack or uses a weapon like a gun or sword on Yagami. It'll permanently shave off a piece of your health bar until you go to the doctor or use a med kit and honestly this is one of my biggest complaints about the game and I don't understand why this was even added because it just breaks the flow of combat and becomes tedious at times.
The second type of gameplay revolves around Yagami being a detective and outside of combat you'll engage in Ace Attorney-like investigation segments where you have to search your surroundings for clues and evidence in a first person mode and when not searching for evidence you'll also have to use disguises and tail suspects in stealth missions and that brings me to my next biggest complaint about the game. There are WAY too many tailing missions and some near the end of the game or during specific side quests get very tedious and felt poorly balanced. I like the concept of tailing and giving the game more of a detective feel and I understand wanting to show off a new mechanic, but they went a bit too overboard with it as far as I'm concerned.
Graphically Judgment is a beautiful game and replaying it on PS5 really helped enhance the realism which really fits the gritty tone of the world and story and the OST is great too with jazzy noir sounding pieces that enhance the detective atmosphere to triumphant and bombastic orchestral tracks that have a very law-and-order feel or crunchy heavy guitar centric tracks for intense boss fights, there's plenty of variety to the OST and it all fits the themes and enhances the atmosphere of the game.
Overall Judgment is an incredible game with a murder mystery narrative full of crazy twists and turns that will keep you guessing and plenty of compelling characters including a fantastic lead protagonist with tons of depth and development further enhanced by great voice acting performances. Featuring hours upon hours of enjoyable side content, fluid and stylish combat full of top notch martial arts choreography and intense boss fights, beautiful graphics and an OST full of memorable tracks and while it's true there's a few flaws and tedious new mechanics such as mortal wounds, tailing missions and the over abundance of random encounters thanks to the threat meter, these are very minor problems that only slightly detract from my over all enjoyment of the game and both the story and combat of the game are so good that I've thought about the game non-stop since the first time I played it 5 years ago and that's ultimately the reason I decided to replay the game and if a game made that strong of an impact on me you can bet I also strongly recommend it and think everyone deserves to have that kind of experience as well and take it from me, Judgment will give you an experience you will not soon forget.
Judgment (Judge Eyes in Japan) is a 3rd person beat 'em up/action RPG spin-off of Ryu Ga Gotoku's mainline Yakuza series, but other than taking place in the same city of Kamurocho there's almost no ties to Yakuza and Judgment stands alone as a self contained story separate from the Yakuza series so don't worry about having to play them before Judgment.
In Judgment you play as Takayuki Yagami, a disgraced former defense attorney that got a client he believed to be innocent an acquittal, but they ended up murdering their girlfriend shortly after so believing his "judgement" wasn't sound enough he left the lawyering profession behind. Three years later, still living with the guilt of his failure as a lawyer, Yagami is now a private detective based in the city of Kamurocho, alongside his best friend the ex-yakuza Masaharu Kaito the two run the Yagami Detective Agency and get wrapped up in the mystery of a serial killer known as "the Mole" who kills Yakuza by gouging their eyes out.
Judgment is a murder mystery and what good is a mystery without twists? Thankfully there's plenty of twists and turns in Judgment that will have you guessing all the way until the end and with each new reveal the plot gets even more complex introducing more characters and slowly pulling at the threads of a grand conspiracy until everything is finally unraveled for one of the most climactic finales I've ever experienced in a video game. The way everything comes together in the end and how all the plot threads and characters connect is just absolutely masterful writing and gives such major payoffs in the end.
Another thing worth mentioning is the incredible voice performances both in sub and dub which really help bring this cast of characters to life. I especially have to commend Takuya Kimura and Greg Chun for both making Yagami one of my all time favorite characters.
As with most Yakuza games when not tackling the main story there's a wealth of side content to complete as well. From the 50 "Side Cases" which act as Judgment's form of Yakuza's sub stories and could be anything from helping someone find their lost cat to getting proof of infidelity these smaller cases are how Yagami makes his living paying in both money and experience and they help flesh out the world of Kamurocho better. I will say that one of the side cases which revolves around rival gangs and spans the length of the whole game is cool and one of the best side cases, but the mechanic it introduces with the "Threat Meter" and how the gangs become more aggressive and increase the random encounter rate a lot until you go out of your way to beat the gang leaders becomes tedious and breaks the flow of the story at times.
Along with the side cases there's also a friendship system that allows Yagami to become friends with almost everyone in Kamurocho by helping them with their smaller matters, all these characters have their own minor arcs and also give benefits once they're your friend from giving a discount at a shop to helping in battle or even unlocking new side cases, there's always incentive to befriend everyone you see. There are also plenty of mini-games in Judgement with everything from darts and poker to Mahjong and Shogi or Virtua Fighter 5, Outrun and even a Kamurocho themed rail shooter called "Kamuro of the Dead", plus my personal favorite a VR Mario Party-esque board game called "Dice and Cube" you could spend hours of your time on the mini-games of Judgment alone.
Gameplay of Judgment can be broken down into two types. The first being Yakuza-like beat 'em up combat. During combat Yagami has two different combat styles based on kung-fu, the "Tiger" style which is primarily used for 1v1 fights and the "Crane" style which is used for crowd control against multiple enemies. Yagami can also perform special cinematic finishing attacks known as "EX actions" and even after seeing them for 50+ hours I never get tired of how over-the-top and stylish they are, the martial arts choreography (especially in the boss battles) is just action packed and top notch. A new addition to Judgment that the Yakuza series didn't have is a mechanic known as "mortal wounds" and this happens when a boss or powerful enemy does a charge attack or uses a weapon like a gun or sword on Yagami. It'll permanently shave off a piece of your health bar until you go to the doctor or use a med kit and honestly this is one of my biggest complaints about the game and I don't understand why this was even added because it just breaks the flow of combat and becomes tedious at times.
The second type of gameplay revolves around Yagami being a detective and outside of combat you'll engage in Ace Attorney-like investigation segments where you have to search your surroundings for clues and evidence in a first person mode and when not searching for evidence you'll also have to use disguises and tail suspects in stealth missions and that brings me to my next biggest complaint about the game. There are WAY too many tailing missions and some near the end of the game or during specific side quests get very tedious and felt poorly balanced. I like the concept of tailing and giving the game more of a detective feel and I understand wanting to show off a new mechanic, but they went a bit too overboard with it as far as I'm concerned.
Graphically Judgment is a beautiful game and replaying it on PS5 really helped enhance the realism which really fits the gritty tone of the world and story and the OST is great too with jazzy noir sounding pieces that enhance the detective atmosphere to triumphant and bombastic orchestral tracks that have a very law-and-order feel or crunchy heavy guitar centric tracks for intense boss fights, there's plenty of variety to the OST and it all fits the themes and enhances the atmosphere of the game.
Overall Judgment is an incredible game with a murder mystery narrative full of crazy twists and turns that will keep you guessing and plenty of compelling characters including a fantastic lead protagonist with tons of depth and development further enhanced by great voice acting performances. Featuring hours upon hours of enjoyable side content, fluid and stylish combat full of top notch martial arts choreography and intense boss fights, beautiful graphics and an OST full of memorable tracks and while it's true there's a few flaws and tedious new mechanics such as mortal wounds, tailing missions and the over abundance of random encounters thanks to the threat meter, these are very minor problems that only slightly detract from my over all enjoyment of the game and both the story and combat of the game are so good that I've thought about the game non-stop since the first time I played it 5 years ago and that's ultimately the reason I decided to replay the game and if a game made that strong of an impact on me you can bet I also strongly recommend it and think everyone deserves to have that kind of experience as well and take it from me, Judgment will give you an experience you will not soon forget.
Not all heroes wear capes, some wear seriously outdated suits.
It's been a long road getting to this point for both myself and Yakuza's main star Kiryu Kazama. Like many people I got into this series with Yakuza 0 through word of mouth in 2017 and wondered what I had missed all that time. There simply isn't another game series like it. It's a Frankenstein's monster whose separate parts on paper don't feel like they should work but amalgamated together they create something magical. They are serious crime dramas, only they are off beat comedies. They are beat 'em ups yet also adventure games, RPGs and dating simulators. It's all of these things and yet none of them. Not all it's ideas work, when they throw so much at the wall some things don't always stick but without fail for me they are always emotional, hilarious and entertaining.
The series' big selling point to me though is actually it's world design. This series along with Deus Ex made me realise I don't dislike open worlds, I dislike vast areas for the sake of being vast with empty meaningless content, sometimes less is more. Yakuza games are open worlds done right, not gigantic bloated icon maps usually used for those descriptions but smaller denser hubs. Locations have meaning, they have personality, the cities feel like characters in the game as much as the cast. If the game tells me to go to a shop or street I normally know where it is without having to bring up a map. They are full of life, small compact and focused.
Yakuza 6's story follows this same thought, whether it was because this was the first game on the Dragon Engine at the time meaning they cut back I don't know but I appreciated the sharper focus on Kiryu rather than the overly large games before that were getting a bit too big for themselves. Kiryu was really the heart of this game, it's his personal story about his own values and dedication to family. Hard to discuss without spoilers but whilst the overall story wasn't quite my cup of tea generally resulting in some pacing issues it still has some fantastic characters, moments and voice acting. This is partially because Yakuza's cinematography for it's cutscenes are a step above most games to me. The camera angles, facial details and expressions have always been extremely impressive but I truly noticed it here.
Like every Yakuza game the side content is often as important as the linear main story. Yakuza 6 scales back on this too but there is still a wealth of content here I spent a lot of my 70 hours playing through on. Spear fishing in an underwater on rails shooter, building up a clan for street fights in a mini strategy game, helping a small baseball team beat their countryside rivals (I'm not into baseball but this is making me consider some other games for it) as well as the usual suspects like cabaret clubs, video chat dating, mahjong and arcade games. It even has the full arcade game of Virtua Fighter 5 as optional content which is pretty crazy as far as a throw away mini game is concerned.
Honestly except some story beats I just don't have anything negative to say about this game. The combat is a little simpler than some other titles though that doesn't concern me much as the moment to moment narrative beats and atmosphere are the core to the series to me. I started it because I needed to play it to play Gaiden as I skipped from 5 to 7 initially but then had a feeling of regret I hadn't played it sooner as the Yakuza magic took hold of me. I love the world, the characters, the side content, exploring and taking in the sights of the locations. Yakuza as I discussed is a lot of things but to someone who grew up as a Sega fan it really shows to me that they still have that spark that made me a fan of theirs in the first place and may it long continue.
+ Hiroshima is a great new location.
+ Cinematography and voice acting are superb.
+ Baseball, spear fishing and clan fighting are pretty fun side content.
+ It's Yakuza.
- Storyline is a little up and down.
It's been a long road getting to this point for both myself and Yakuza's main star Kiryu Kazama. Like many people I got into this series with Yakuza 0 through word of mouth in 2017 and wondered what I had missed all that time. There simply isn't another game series like it. It's a Frankenstein's monster whose separate parts on paper don't feel like they should work but amalgamated together they create something magical. They are serious crime dramas, only they are off beat comedies. They are beat 'em ups yet also adventure games, RPGs and dating simulators. It's all of these things and yet none of them. Not all it's ideas work, when they throw so much at the wall some things don't always stick but without fail for me they are always emotional, hilarious and entertaining.
The series' big selling point to me though is actually it's world design. This series along with Deus Ex made me realise I don't dislike open worlds, I dislike vast areas for the sake of being vast with empty meaningless content, sometimes less is more. Yakuza games are open worlds done right, not gigantic bloated icon maps usually used for those descriptions but smaller denser hubs. Locations have meaning, they have personality, the cities feel like characters in the game as much as the cast. If the game tells me to go to a shop or street I normally know where it is without having to bring up a map. They are full of life, small compact and focused.
Yakuza 6's story follows this same thought, whether it was because this was the first game on the Dragon Engine at the time meaning they cut back I don't know but I appreciated the sharper focus on Kiryu rather than the overly large games before that were getting a bit too big for themselves. Kiryu was really the heart of this game, it's his personal story about his own values and dedication to family. Hard to discuss without spoilers but whilst the overall story wasn't quite my cup of tea generally resulting in some pacing issues it still has some fantastic characters, moments and voice acting. This is partially because Yakuza's cinematography for it's cutscenes are a step above most games to me. The camera angles, facial details and expressions have always been extremely impressive but I truly noticed it here.
Like every Yakuza game the side content is often as important as the linear main story. Yakuza 6 scales back on this too but there is still a wealth of content here I spent a lot of my 70 hours playing through on. Spear fishing in an underwater on rails shooter, building up a clan for street fights in a mini strategy game, helping a small baseball team beat their countryside rivals (I'm not into baseball but this is making me consider some other games for it) as well as the usual suspects like cabaret clubs, video chat dating, mahjong and arcade games. It even has the full arcade game of Virtua Fighter 5 as optional content which is pretty crazy as far as a throw away mini game is concerned.
Honestly except some story beats I just don't have anything negative to say about this game. The combat is a little simpler than some other titles though that doesn't concern me much as the moment to moment narrative beats and atmosphere are the core to the series to me. I started it because I needed to play it to play Gaiden as I skipped from 5 to 7 initially but then had a feeling of regret I hadn't played it sooner as the Yakuza magic took hold of me. I love the world, the characters, the side content, exploring and taking in the sights of the locations. Yakuza as I discussed is a lot of things but to someone who grew up as a Sega fan it really shows to me that they still have that spark that made me a fan of theirs in the first place and may it long continue.
+ Hiroshima is a great new location.
+ Cinematography and voice acting are superb.
+ Baseball, spear fishing and clan fighting are pretty fun side content.
+ It's Yakuza.
- Storyline is a little up and down.
Persona 3 Reload
2024
Everything wrong with FES was made completely obsolete by this game. The fact the game takes 5 months to start is super fucking lmao but hey man after that itās just banger after banger after banger after banger.
The music is great as always and I love the new songs a lot, the OP and ambush battle theme being my favorites in the series for their respective categories. Visual this game is beautiful, flat lighting aside. The style of the UI and the cut ins were super good and I prefer them to Persona 5 actually.
The best part about this is the best parts of the original game are 100% improved upon in Reload. Nothing is worse. Literally nothing. Every scene has become perfect. Junpeiās stuff becoming significantly more enticing because of the new engine and the cinematic feel of the whole game during pre-rendered cutscenes.
The ending was already perfect, and somehow they made it even more perfect in the remake. I donāt know how they did it, but I just got done crying my fucking eyes out after seeing that final scene and seeing persona be the most beautiful it ever has. Aigisās speech at the end is so good. She is absolutely the best character in the game. I love this game so much.
Easiest 10 of my fucking life. I feel like living the best life I possibly can.
The music is great as always and I love the new songs a lot, the OP and ambush battle theme being my favorites in the series for their respective categories. Visual this game is beautiful, flat lighting aside. The style of the UI and the cut ins were super good and I prefer them to Persona 5 actually.
The best part about this is the best parts of the original game are 100% improved upon in Reload. Nothing is worse. Literally nothing. Every scene has become perfect. Junpeiās stuff becoming significantly more enticing because of the new engine and the cinematic feel of the whole game during pre-rendered cutscenes.
The ending was already perfect, and somehow they made it even more perfect in the remake. I donāt know how they did it, but I just got done crying my fucking eyes out after seeing that final scene and seeing persona be the most beautiful it ever has. Aigisās speech at the end is so good. She is absolutely the best character in the game. I love this game so much.
Easiest 10 of my fucking life. I feel like living the best life I possibly can.
It took me a while to really get into Xenoblade, but once I did it became one of my best video game experiences of all time. The combat is unlike anything I've played before; it took me a while to get used to but in the end, I was in love with it. I mained Shulk for the majority of my playthrough and was able to master his moves before switching to Melia in the late game whose combat was trickier to learn but felt very rewarding once I figured it out. Chain attacks were so fun; my usual party for half the game consisted of Shulk, Reyn and Sharla, and I got into such a good flow with these characters when performing chain attacks which felt so satisfying, especially with the score and their voice lines building up the hype in the background.
Some of the boss fights were extremely difficult and required going back and levelling up a lot, which was often achievable through completing side quests from across Bionis. For the most part, the side quests provide small new stories with the people of Bionis who reward you upon completing tasks for them which were quite enjoyable, but there were a lot of filler side quests which followed the formula of 'kill these monsters' or 'find these items' which were not only repetitive and boring, but were often extremely unrewarding. The only time where I found this to be an issue when trying to level up was at the very end of the story, a lot of the side quests unlocked at this point are very late-game stuff which I couldn't complete due to simply being too low a level. This is the only point in the game where I couldn't rely on side quests to help me level up and had to go out of my way to grind experience through fighting monsters, which wasn't very fun, but I took it as an opportunity to try out different characters and party combinations after maining Shulk for most of the game.
Each character has such defining characteristics with so much charm, especially the likes of Reyn and Melia who stood out to me the most throughout the story, alongside other characters you won't meet until late-game. Everyone's gameplay differs drastically, allowing for infinite party combinations to tackle different types of enemies in different areas. The AI isn't always perfect, for example, Sharla won't always heal the party when it's crucial, but the warning feature makes up for this after Shulk sees a vision so you can command your party members to perform specific actions at the cost of a party gauge bar which saved my life a million times.
The story overall is just outstanding. I've never played anything like it. The amount of twists and turns it takes you on, it's a rollercoaster. Learning about the world and the war between Homs and Mechon throughout the story is so cool, details like being able to see Mechonis in the distance in certain areas of Bionis add so much character to the story and the world, it blew me away.
After 75 hours logged on Xenoblade, it's become one of my favourite games of all time and I can't wait to continue my journey in the rest of the series. I recommend this game to everyone for the story alone, it's a must-play.
Some of the boss fights were extremely difficult and required going back and levelling up a lot, which was often achievable through completing side quests from across Bionis. For the most part, the side quests provide small new stories with the people of Bionis who reward you upon completing tasks for them which were quite enjoyable, but there were a lot of filler side quests which followed the formula of 'kill these monsters' or 'find these items' which were not only repetitive and boring, but were often extremely unrewarding. The only time where I found this to be an issue when trying to level up was at the very end of the story, a lot of the side quests unlocked at this point are very late-game stuff which I couldn't complete due to simply being too low a level. This is the only point in the game where I couldn't rely on side quests to help me level up and had to go out of my way to grind experience through fighting monsters, which wasn't very fun, but I took it as an opportunity to try out different characters and party combinations after maining Shulk for most of the game.
Each character has such defining characteristics with so much charm, especially the likes of Reyn and Melia who stood out to me the most throughout the story, alongside other characters you won't meet until late-game. Everyone's gameplay differs drastically, allowing for infinite party combinations to tackle different types of enemies in different areas. The AI isn't always perfect, for example, Sharla won't always heal the party when it's crucial, but the warning feature makes up for this after Shulk sees a vision so you can command your party members to perform specific actions at the cost of a party gauge bar which saved my life a million times.
The story overall is just outstanding. I've never played anything like it. The amount of twists and turns it takes you on, it's a rollercoaster. Learning about the world and the war between Homs and Mechon throughout the story is so cool, details like being able to see Mechonis in the distance in certain areas of Bionis add so much character to the story and the world, it blew me away.
After 75 hours logged on Xenoblade, it's become one of my favourite games of all time and I can't wait to continue my journey in the rest of the series. I recommend this game to everyone for the story alone, it's a must-play.
Cyberpunk 2077
2020
"Just focus on tying up all your loose ends - then you and I are leaving this city once and for all." ~ Judy Ćlvarez
For many, Cyberpunk 2077 will always be remembered as the game with arguably the worst launch next to No Man's Sky. It was a bugfest and the console experience was so bad that refunds were provided from the developers themselves. But I'm not here to talk about the launch - instead I would like to share my personal experience after ~100 hours of playing and getting all available endings, entirely in patch 2.1 and right off the bat with Phantom Liberty (which I reviewed already).
Cyberpunk really shines in terms of presentation. The vibes are incredible, Night City nails the feeling of a dystopian and futuristic metropolis perfectly. You know, flashy neon lights and advertisements are plastered all over the city and the streets are always busy. Another thing that really helps the immersion here is the lighting. An often overlooked aspect, but it's probably the best ambient lighting I've ever seen in a game alongside Red Dead Redemption 2. Do yourself a favor and cruise through Night City on a rainy night, you'll see what I'm talking about. By the way, this is without Raytracing. RTX enabled is a whole different beast, but I didn't keep it on for long, because it was taking a serious toll on my frames and I'm a person who likes to enjoy games with a smooth framerate over graphical fidelity all day.
The main story is solid, albeit not very long. You could probably finish it under 20 hours in total if you're beelining the main quests and ignore the side content. Despite the short runtime, you'll find yourself in a lot of cool setpieces and get acquainted to many great characters, each with their own individual questline. I would definitely recommend playing those quests, since they're a lot more personal than the overarching narrative and really help understanding the struggles and personalities of V's friends better. Speaking of those friends, I think the fluff text messages you get every now and then are a great feature. Makes the world feel more alive and it's always nice to see characters being relevant outside of their own contained substories. Romance is also a neat little mechanic - I really like how CDPR provides extra text messages for your partner, so they ask about V's life every now and then. There's an unique quest where you can also hang out with them at your apartment and talk about stuff, this is repeatable, but unfortunately the dialogue repeats after the first time. Just use your imagination here and you're golden.
Cyberpunk's side content is mainly divided into two different mission types - gigs and side jobs. Gigs are one-time missions where you do a quick job for a fixer of choice, like breaking into an apartment to retrieve some data for a client. How you handle those missions is entirely up to you (unless there's an optional objective you'd like to complete), so you could opt for a stealthy approach or just shoot your way through the enemies. Combat in general is very diverse, you can have Mantis Blade implants inside your arms or blind enemies with hacks - there are so many possible builds. I went with a Netrunner/Gunslinger build, since not many games offer you the opportunity to weaken your opponents by just hacking them! And pistols just feel like the most comfy ranged option to me - a silenced one for stealth and another unsilenced one for loud combat. If you're still unsure on a build, I'd recommend testing some of the iconic weapons (basically the "legendary" weapons of this game), since they come with unique perks. There's a lot of them, so I'm sure some of them will appeal to you. Now, I didn't go in detail about the side jobs, but that's because they're more narrative-driven quests. Some of them feel like the Stranger quests in RDR2, while others have more complex tales to tell. So basically they are a great pastime if you're looking for more worldbuilding in Night City.
If you found yourself asking the whole time "But what about the bugs?", while reading this, then I'll gladly answer that for you. In my 97 hours of playtime I only had a single crash happen (right before writing this review ironically), but since the game autosaves often enough, it was a loss of like 3 minutes only. I haven't encountered a single game-breaking bug, just some small immersion-breakers every now and then, alongside two "real" bugs. This includes various items clipping into the hands of NPCs when they were supposed to put them away and NPCs in general teleporting on rooftops where they aren't supposed to be. The "real" bugs were my V glitching through a wall after a character crashed my car into that wall in a scripted cutscene (had to reload my save) and I've also had enemies walk through a closed garage door once - but that one was rather funny, despite being unfair. There's another problem I'd like to address, but I'm not entirely sure if it's a bug, so I'm not going to label it as one. It's related to quests starting through calls of certain characters. The game explicitly tells you "Wait a day until this character calls you back." and then sometime they just don't call at all, despite 24 hours having passed in-game. Worst offender was when I tried to start the follow-up mission to the companion mission "Off the Leash", the quest giver was supposed to call after one in-game day but it took me two real-time hours (after several virtual days passed already) for that character to call. For your own sanity I recommend doing other gigs or side jobs inbetween, because I'm very sure the calls will come on time if you don't just try to exploit the waiting feature to skip to those quests instantly. Try to let it play out naturally.
Are you a fan of the Edgerunners anime? Well, good news for you! The world of Cyberpunk 2077 also includes small nods to the series, like the graves of the deceased characters at the cemetery. There's also a side job where you can get David's iconic jacket and you can find Rebecca's famous shotgun out in the world too (if you remember the spot she left it in the anime).
The final point I'd like to address in this review is the soundtrack. (Yeah, there are other songs besides I Really Want To Stay At Your House.) While the OST in The Witcher 3 had a calmer, more comforting vibe, Cyberpunk's music fits the high octane combat accordingly, but some of the best tracks come from the sad and serious moments in the game. For car rides, the different radio stations allow you to listen to your music genre of choice. Speaking of the cars, I find it a lot more satisfying to drive to quest locations than to just quick travel there (which I regrettably did a lot in like the first 20 hours of my playthrough). It's just a lot more immersive and driving feels great if you have a car you like. (My personal favorite ride is the Outlaw, great speed and handles well.)
I have talked a lot about this game now. That's because I love it. So if you would ask me if Cyberpunk is worth it, I would definitely recommend you to pick up the base game on sale sometime and go for Phantom Liberty if you want to spend more time in this fantastic world. It's pretty much in a fixed state now and if what I described in this review seems interesting to you, why not give it a go? There were very few moments where I was actually bored, even the beginning is great and brings you pretty fast into the action (unlike a certain cowboy game I have named several times in this review already).
That's all I wanted to share - thanks for reading.
For many, Cyberpunk 2077 will always be remembered as the game with arguably the worst launch next to No Man's Sky. It was a bugfest and the console experience was so bad that refunds were provided from the developers themselves. But I'm not here to talk about the launch - instead I would like to share my personal experience after ~100 hours of playing and getting all available endings, entirely in patch 2.1 and right off the bat with Phantom Liberty (which I reviewed already).
Cyberpunk really shines in terms of presentation. The vibes are incredible, Night City nails the feeling of a dystopian and futuristic metropolis perfectly. You know, flashy neon lights and advertisements are plastered all over the city and the streets are always busy. Another thing that really helps the immersion here is the lighting. An often overlooked aspect, but it's probably the best ambient lighting I've ever seen in a game alongside Red Dead Redemption 2. Do yourself a favor and cruise through Night City on a rainy night, you'll see what I'm talking about. By the way, this is without Raytracing. RTX enabled is a whole different beast, but I didn't keep it on for long, because it was taking a serious toll on my frames and I'm a person who likes to enjoy games with a smooth framerate over graphical fidelity all day.
The main story is solid, albeit not very long. You could probably finish it under 20 hours in total if you're beelining the main quests and ignore the side content. Despite the short runtime, you'll find yourself in a lot of cool setpieces and get acquainted to many great characters, each with their own individual questline. I would definitely recommend playing those quests, since they're a lot more personal than the overarching narrative and really help understanding the struggles and personalities of V's friends better. Speaking of those friends, I think the fluff text messages you get every now and then are a great feature. Makes the world feel more alive and it's always nice to see characters being relevant outside of their own contained substories. Romance is also a neat little mechanic - I really like how CDPR provides extra text messages for your partner, so they ask about V's life every now and then. There's an unique quest where you can also hang out with them at your apartment and talk about stuff, this is repeatable, but unfortunately the dialogue repeats after the first time. Just use your imagination here and you're golden.
Cyberpunk's side content is mainly divided into two different mission types - gigs and side jobs. Gigs are one-time missions where you do a quick job for a fixer of choice, like breaking into an apartment to retrieve some data for a client. How you handle those missions is entirely up to you (unless there's an optional objective you'd like to complete), so you could opt for a stealthy approach or just shoot your way through the enemies. Combat in general is very diverse, you can have Mantis Blade implants inside your arms or blind enemies with hacks - there are so many possible builds. I went with a Netrunner/Gunslinger build, since not many games offer you the opportunity to weaken your opponents by just hacking them! And pistols just feel like the most comfy ranged option to me - a silenced one for stealth and another unsilenced one for loud combat. If you're still unsure on a build, I'd recommend testing some of the iconic weapons (basically the "legendary" weapons of this game), since they come with unique perks. There's a lot of them, so I'm sure some of them will appeal to you. Now, I didn't go in detail about the side jobs, but that's because they're more narrative-driven quests. Some of them feel like the Stranger quests in RDR2, while others have more complex tales to tell. So basically they are a great pastime if you're looking for more worldbuilding in Night City.
If you found yourself asking the whole time "But what about the bugs?", while reading this, then I'll gladly answer that for you. In my 97 hours of playtime I only had a single crash happen (right before writing this review ironically), but since the game autosaves often enough, it was a loss of like 3 minutes only. I haven't encountered a single game-breaking bug, just some small immersion-breakers every now and then, alongside two "real" bugs. This includes various items clipping into the hands of NPCs when they were supposed to put them away and NPCs in general teleporting on rooftops where they aren't supposed to be. The "real" bugs were my V glitching through a wall after a character crashed my car into that wall in a scripted cutscene (had to reload my save) and I've also had enemies walk through a closed garage door once - but that one was rather funny, despite being unfair. There's another problem I'd like to address, but I'm not entirely sure if it's a bug, so I'm not going to label it as one. It's related to quests starting through calls of certain characters. The game explicitly tells you "Wait a day until this character calls you back." and then sometime they just don't call at all, despite 24 hours having passed in-game. Worst offender was when I tried to start the follow-up mission to the companion mission "Off the Leash", the quest giver was supposed to call after one in-game day but it took me two real-time hours (after several virtual days passed already) for that character to call. For your own sanity I recommend doing other gigs or side jobs inbetween, because I'm very sure the calls will come on time if you don't just try to exploit the waiting feature to skip to those quests instantly. Try to let it play out naturally.
Are you a fan of the Edgerunners anime? Well, good news for you! The world of Cyberpunk 2077 also includes small nods to the series, like the graves of the deceased characters at the cemetery. There's also a side job where you can get David's iconic jacket and you can find Rebecca's famous shotgun out in the world too (if you remember the spot she left it in the anime).
The final point I'd like to address in this review is the soundtrack. (Yeah, there are other songs besides I Really Want To Stay At Your House.) While the OST in The Witcher 3 had a calmer, more comforting vibe, Cyberpunk's music fits the high octane combat accordingly, but some of the best tracks come from the sad and serious moments in the game. For car rides, the different radio stations allow you to listen to your music genre of choice. Speaking of the cars, I find it a lot more satisfying to drive to quest locations than to just quick travel there (which I regrettably did a lot in like the first 20 hours of my playthrough). It's just a lot more immersive and driving feels great if you have a car you like. (My personal favorite ride is the Outlaw, great speed and handles well.)
I have talked a lot about this game now. That's because I love it. So if you would ask me if Cyberpunk is worth it, I would definitely recommend you to pick up the base game on sale sometime and go for Phantom Liberty if you want to spend more time in this fantastic world. It's pretty much in a fixed state now and if what I described in this review seems interesting to you, why not give it a go? There were very few moments where I was actually bored, even the beginning is great and brings you pretty fast into the action (unlike a certain cowboy game I have named several times in this review already).
That's all I wanted to share - thanks for reading.