"Why do we put so much value on truths if all they do is crush us?"

Lost Judgment is an astounding achievement. It's without a doubt one of the the most engrossing and richly complex narratives I've ever experienced in a video game. I'm floored by how good this game is, and it's one that I'll be thinking about for a long, long time.

I've always known that RGG can craft a complicated story with good writing and fun twists, but they've taken it to another level with Lost Judgment. This is by far their darkest story yet, and it tackles some extremely heavy themes with deftness and respect. I found myself getting really emotional as the game progressed and was really impressed with just how raw the story can get. I also haven't been this engrossed in a narrative in a while - I practically skipped all of the side content to continue the main story cause I just had to see how it evolved.

The main antagonist of Lost Judgment might just be my favorite in the series. They represent a really great foil for Yagami and really get him (and me) to question whether the law is infallible and if it can truly protect everyone equally. It's a really powerful message and it's embodied by the antagonist perfectly.

The gameplay is once again a blast and feels like it's been refined to near perfection here. Yagami is an absolute machine and it's so fun to just mow down goons with his arsenal of styles and moves. The game felt a bit too easy at times, but other than that it was a ton of fun to play through - I'm not the biggest action combat/beat em up combat person but the Yakuza/Judgment games have always thoroughly entertained me with their gameplay.

I really, really loved my time with this. It had been on my list for a while after I played and loved Judgment, and I can say that this game surpassed its predecessor in almost every way. I've grown to love every single game that RGG has put out in this series/spin-off and this is up there with Like a Dragon 7 as their best work yet, although with a quality bar as high as theirs it's hard to make meaningful comparisons between the games. Games like Lost Judgment are why I consider video games just as much an art form as literature or cinema, and I'm so glad I got to experience this firsthand.

An excellent end to Burial at Sea and so much better than Episode 1. The way this was able to connect to the first Bioshock was incredible, and I found myself fascinated by the story for its entire (brief) runtime. Gotta give a special shoutout to Courtnee Draper - her performance as Elizabeth was excellent for the entire game but she really took it to another level with Episode 2. She brought so much raw emotion to the performance, and I think that's what really elevated this for me. Really, really glad I finally managed to play this DLC; I'm sad that my Bioshock journey has come to an end but I'm so glad it happened - these have become some of my favorite gaming experiences of all time.

It's been over 10 years since I played Bioshock Infinite, and I thought that since I've played Bioshock + Bioshock 2 for the first time this year, I should also give this a replay. It's definitely aged poorly in some ways compared to what I remember, but it's also stronger in some ways as well.

The gameplay here feels like a large step back from the first two games. The fact that you're only allowed to carry two guns is baffling to me, since part of the fun of the previous games was being able to switch on the fly if you needed to and experiment with different guns without constantly needing to pick up + drop them. I wasn't a huge fan of the abilities (vigors) here compared to the previous entries either - I ended up sticking with only 1 or 2 since they were the most helpful, and the others just didn't feel as fun to use.

Infinite felt a lot more linear than I remembered. It's cool being able to explore Columbia, but it often felt like you were shuttled from one combat arena to another without the ability to explore too much. The beginning of the game is strongest when it comes to introducing you to the world and allowing you to get a sense of it; the rest of the game feels confined in comparison.

I remember playing this 10 years ago as my first Bioshock game and thinking it was a fun enough shooter with cool powers and a weirdly complex story that I don't think I fully grasped. Now that I'm a bit older I can appreciate the game's narrative for what it is, and I do have to give it props this time around. Although the story as a whole isn't as strong as its predecessors, it still manages to be thought-provoking and just crazy enough to come off as interesting, although it does feel needlessly complicated in the final 3rd. The ending is the strongest part of the story, and I completely forgot the twist until right before it happened. I don't think the game's themes around racism and white supremacy have aged particularly well - I'm sure this felt like it was pushing the envelope in 2013 but feels dated and heavy-handed a decade later.

Elizabeth as a companion character is excellent and is a major high point of the game for me. She's up there with Atreus (I know he gets a lot of shit but I genuinely think he's a great companion) and Ellie as one of gaming's best. She's well characterized and has a really solid arc, and her ability to find you ammo and money is a great touch. I think the game would've been a lot less fun if you just had Booker monologuing to himself.

All in all, Infinite is a good game but my least favorite in the series. It's a competent shooter that lacks the same intriguing atmosphere that the first two games were characterized by, but I also recognize that Infinite is its own body of work and I respect that. I appreciated the complex story and really do give props to this series for having some excellent twists. Elizabeth is one of the stronger characters I've seen in a game in a while, and while the gameplay left something to be desired, it felt fun enough to get me through the game. I never got to the DLC when I first played this so I'm curious to see how it expands on the story.

After spending over 75 hours with Persona 3 Reload, I feel like I've come to understand this game really well, and there's a lot to take in about it.

The narrative here is really, really good. Now that I've played 3, 4 and 5 I'm really surprised by just how strong the stories for these games are. I was a bit incredulous when I heard that the Persona series usually involves high school students but I've really come to appreciate the depth that Atlus brings to these characters and their stories, and 3 is no exception. It tackles ideas of mortality, existentialism and grief in very powerful ways, and the ending was very good. I had to take a moment to collect myself during the final scene, and that to me is always a sign of a really great finale.

The cast this time around is just as good as the other games I've played. It's hard to say that one is better than the other since each group has their own vibe but I really loved 3's cast. Most of the Social Links are well written and interesting to watch unfold, and several of the character arcs were particularly well done. I was pretty impressed with the voice acting for the characters - although there's a lot of dialogue in this game I felt like the voice work really elevated the writing most of the time.

The gameplay is your typical Persona turn-based system but with a few added twists this time around. I had a lot of fun with it for the most part - I've come to enjoy the mechanic of exploiting enemy weaknesses for extra turns. I did find myself using the same party for pretty much the entire time and wish I had experimented more with other characters, but that's something I can save for an inevitable replay sometime down the road.

One area where I think Reload does falter a bit is in its pacing. The first and last third of this game are great and it feels like the story keeps up a good momentum with interesting twists and revelations. The middle third really felt like it dragged at points though; it often felt like I was just rushing through the days to get to the next story beat because things felt so slow. I appreciate the ability to balance social sim and dungeon-crawling in these games, but it felt a bit too slow in the middle of the game for me.

I've been looking forward to playing Persona 3 in some form for a long time now. I had started FES a while back and got a few hours in, but once I heard a remake was coming I decided to hold off on FES and play Reload instead. As someone who appreciates a darker and more grounded story that tackles difficult themes, I had heard high praise for 3's story and it didn't disappoint. Although the pacing felt pretty off in some places, Reload's strong story, fun combat and lovable cast of characters easily overshadow any faults I have with the game. Glad to finally have this classic under my belt.

This might be the one game that I own that I've started and stopped the most times over the years. I became so familiar with the first 2-3 hours of this game because I had played it so many times before switching to something else and not going back to it. I finally decided to sit down and properly play it and I'm happy to say that it was worth the experience.

As someone who values narrative over anything else and will often poke around online to find games with great narratives, it's no surprise that Bioshock came up fairly often. I've known for a while that there was some sort of "big twist" in the game that has become infamous, but I didn't know what exactly it was or when it would happen. As I played the game I sorta got the gist of what I thought it would be, but I was still fairly surprised by what happened.

The narrative here is the game's biggest strength, and I was really impressed by the quality of the writing. The fact that there are minimal in-game cutscenes and that most of the dialogue + exposition happen over radio is a cool choice that I think paid off here. It allowed the game's environmental and sound design to do the heavy lifting, particularly the environmental design.

Bioshock may have the best use of environmental storytelling that I've ever seen in a video game. Rapture is a fuckin cool setting, no doubt about it, and I learned so much about this world simply by exploring it. The audio diaries were a neat way to expand on the world, although I did find that the audio could be a bit hard to discern if there were enemies around who wouldn't stop talking. The different locations all felt unique and eerie in their own ways, and I never felt like I got bored with any of them and wanted to explore every inch of them.

The combat felt fine enough, nothing too special. Being able to swap between the powers and weapons was fun, and the sheer number of powers made for some fun combinations as my playthrough went on. The actual gun fights could feel a bit janky at times, but it's something I can forgive since I wasn't playing Bioshock for the gameplay.

I'm really glad I was able to finally cross this one off the backlog. As someone who has come to more deeply appreciate gaming as art in the last few years, Bioshock always felt like a must-play but I was never able to commit the time and energy for it. This was a blast to play, and I really did love the story that was told and count it among the best I've played. I've heard more mixed things about Bioshock 2, but I'm ready to experience it for myself firsthand.

The best playing of the three Max Payne games but my least favorite story as well. Rockstar absolutely nailed the gunplay here - being able to slow down time and headshot every enemy in 5 seconds never got old. The guns were fun to use and the levels were varied, although it did fall into the early 2010s shooter trap of "run here, cutscene, shootout, run here, cutscene, shootout, repeat" after a while. I feel like Max's character was a bit under-baked compared to the previous entries, although the quippy one-liners and sense of malaise in the performance was just as good if not better than Max Payne 1 + 2. As a Max Payne game, 3 felt like a bit of a step backward (which isn't surprising given that this was Rockstar's attempt at the series) but as a shooter it's an absolute blast. Glad I was able to finish out the trilogy.

FF7 Rebirth is a behemoth of a sequel that improves on Remake's formula in almost every way. I had really high hopes for this game since Remake is one of my all-time favorites, and Rebirth managed to meet and surpass almost all of those expectations. It isn't without its faults, but its strengths are remarkable compared to its weaknesses.

This game's strongest asset is its gameplay - there's just SO much to do in this game. Although I did get a bit fatigued at the open world map marker design after a bit, I found that there was always something to do to switch things up. Between the mini-games, combat simulator missions and exploration I always felt like I had something to do and always had something to switch to whenever I was getting bored. The combat is just as good as Remake, and the addition of the synergy abilities are a great touch that makes combat feel even more fluid and cinematic.

The performances are, once again, amazing. Getting the gang back together from Remake was a joy, and the addition of new characters to the party made the experience that much better. I really love the voice cast for these games - I feel like they capture the essence of the characters perfectly and there wasn't a bad performance among them.

I think something that I have more mixed opinions on is the story, although my feelings lean more positive. I just found the plot to be needlessly complicated at times - I'm sure watching some Final Fantasy Union story videos will help clear things up, but I feel like it unnecessarily bogged down what was already an amazing story. I think the story is very strong overall with some incredibly poignant and emotional moments, but it also felt like it went off the rails after a certain point. I also wasn't super thrilled with how it ended - I know the remake trilogy is taking some liberties with the story to try and create a new experience, but I just wished the ending resonated with me a bit more. I'm hoping on a repeat play-through I'll be able to fully enjoy the narrative a bit more.

It seems like Rebirth was well worth the wait. It doubles down on all the things that made Remake great while adding its own flourishes here and there with the inclusion of an absolutely massive open world that more often than not was a blast to explore. Although I wish the narrative had done a bit more for me, the incredibly fun gameplay, stellar performances/graphics and beautiful soundtrack make Rebirth an amazing gaming experience overall. I know it'll be a while before we get the last game, but I'm already counting down the days.

I love this series so much. Another absolute triumph from RGG that easily cemented itself in my top 3.

As much as I will always love Kiryu, Ichiban has grown on me immensely between LAD7 and Infinite Wealth. His relentless optimism, goofiness and loyalty is the perfect foil for Kiryu's cool, tough and solemn demeanor. They complement each other perfectly, and Infinite Wealth did an amazing job at giving them both a time to shine.

The gameplay is a ton of fun and is very much an improvement from the already great turn-based combat of 7. Mixing and matching skills from different classes, utilizing combo attacks, finding the perfect team synergy for each battle - I never got bored of the combat. I felt fairly over-leveled by the end of the story, but the final boss still put up a decent fight that felt fair.

The amount of content in this game is absolutely absurd. I like to focus on the story during my first play-through of a game, although I did manage to do a good chunk of side stories and optional activities but still feel like I barely scratched the surface. I have a lot of clean-up to do, but with so much variety in the activities I know I'll never get bored trying to finish everything and get the platinum, which I absolutely want to do with how good this game is.

The story was also excellent, although I think I liked 7's just a bit more. I'm always impressed by how well RGG can connect all of these seemingly random plot points together into a cohesive whole, as well as how big they can make the stakes feel in each game. Just when I think they couldn't possibly come up with something as grandiose as their previous game, they always manage to outdo themselves in the next entry. I appreciated the globe-trotting adventure of Infinite Wealth, and being able to flip between the two locations and parties (with no spoilers) kept things fresh and allowed the game to keep moving at a good pace. Couple that with their ability to tackle complex themes like the homelessness epidemic, wealth inequality and the harmful effects of Internet virality and you have a really amazing narrative overall.

Before I had played LAD7 I first played through the previous games in the series to catch myself up. Going into 7 I felt really connected to this story and these characters and this world, and I was nervous that with the longer wait between 7 and Infinite Wealth that I would lose that sense of connection and have a hard time feeling immersed in the world. I'm happy to say that isn't the case - playing Infinite Wealth felt like coming home in a sense, and it didn't feel like I had missed a beat when I loaded it up for the first time. This is a really special series to me, and I'm already counting down the days until we hear about the next adventure for this goofy, lovable found family.