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Persona 3 Reload
2024
This review contains spoilers
"Tell this asshole if he wants to learn how to (re)make my product (game), he's gotta do it my way, the right way!" - Jesse Pinkman
Persona 3 Reload is ultimately a barely passable remake of what I consider the greatest game ever made. I find a large amount of the game’s flaws go ignored among the myriad conveniences the game adds, but they make the game feel like something of a hollow shell of what it used to be.
This can be seen in every aspect of the game, from the very beginning, It’s been well documented already, but the atmosphere that was dripping from the animated cutscenes of the original is completely absent. The opening scene that disorients you, makes you feel as if nothing is as it should be, is replaced with Persona 5 cutscene.mp4. It conveys the story, and that’s all it does – it’s an extension of the same flaws that purveyed Portable. This is an unfortunate trend, as in taking a variety of elements from a game that already seemed to fundamentally misunderstand the source material, it worsens it further. It draws worthless lines from portable that are only there to compensate for a lack of visuals, adds menial things like Junpei’s perversion joke in the train scene, and most offensive, adds the Portable exclusive scene after Minato returns from the final battle. Where the original cut directly from Aigis crying to 3/5, the group now have to announce their individual reactions, turning one of the most beautifully poignant scenes in the game into something standard, dull, and thoughtless.
The modern sheen the game has feels like a coat of paint that hides Reload being a fundamentally worse, less cohesive piece of art than the original. The lighting in the dorm is ruined, draining the atmosphere from one of the most prominent and beloved locations in the game. The dramatic, perfectly framed lighting of the Nyx fight (conveyed acutely in the dancing game) is replaced with…pure green, as is thoughtlessly thrown at every other dark hour scene in the game, which betrays a total lack of thought or care, and makes the game feel like a total rush job. The Orpheus awakening scene, previously a definitive tone setter that acts as the most striking piece of imagery and sound design in the series, can now only be described as underwhelming. Most to all of the little animations the models would enact that made SEES feel so well characterised and alive are absent – and why? For all the bells and whistles the game feels like a sanded down version of what was ultimately a very small-scale game.
Most script changes feel thoughtless and for the worse, making many lines less impactful for no good reason – I can appreciate the attempt to provide a more accurate script to the Japanese version, and this works in some cases, but scenes like Akihiko’s awakening are betrayed by this. Nearly every line change here feels like it lessens the impact of the scene, with worse framing to boot. This is demonstrative of a fundamental lack of understanding of the original that can be seen in the worsening of Akihiko’s character, now adjusted and simplified to be more like his P4U counterpart, one of the most horribly flanderised depictions of a character that I’ve ever seen. I don’t know why anyone on the team thought this was a good idea. Most of the cast do not suffer as much as Akihiko does, but characters like Mitsuru do to a lesser extent, with traits being further emphasised to fit into molds that have been further solidified since the release of the original. One of my favourite scenes in the game is the meeting on the roof between Minato and Junpei, acting as a perfect capstone to one of the most well-thought-out arcs and dynamics in the original game. In reload, it gets replaced with a relatively generic feeling scene between the second-year trio, for seemingly no reason – Junpei does have a link episode that I assume was meant to compensate, but it fails entirely to capture what made that scene great and ends up totally forgettable.
Nearly all of the music is definitively worse – there are highlights, such as the new remix of changing seasons, but the majority have a strangely amateur quality, with the mixing feeling frequently unprofessional. Much of the instrumentals lose all of the impact they once had and Mass Destruction is infamous for this, but for me the worst example of it is in Iwatodai Dorm. I do admittedly love the new vocals, but they can’t save how poor the rest of it sounds. What makes this even more confusing is that all of the original songs are incredible, with Colour Your Night being one of my favourite songs in the franchise, an issue that I can only imagine was from trying to hard to be different from what was already perfect.
Lastly I’ll bring up where I think the game shines – a few key areas that I think fail to elevate the overall package. The combat is wonderfully fun and fluid, and I think theurgies are a satisfactory evolution of the showtime mechanic, but this is undercut by how ludicrously easy the game becomes with barely any effort, an issue that extends to even merciless. While the original was ultimately not a hard game, Reload becomes essentially thoughtless if you know what you’re doing. The combat animations are one of my favourite things the game does, with the way each character shifts to the other never getting tiresome, conveying their personalities and dynamics perfectly. Another is a few of the new character pieces added – I think the game massively elevates Shinjiro and Ken, the tragedy of both characters being emphasised in a way that only makes them more compelling, and Ryoji especially benefits from the greater degree of screentime Reload gives him. I’m glad the bond between him and Minato is now firmly grounded in a version other than the movies.
Personally, I think Persona 3 Reload is a disappointment, and not because it fails to be the “definitive” version many begrudged it for not being. It misunderstands, ignores and discards much of what made the original great, and it fails in aspects I could have never anticipated it would; I think the way the original uniquely excels deserves to be recognised. I still like the game overall, because the skeleton is one of my favourite things ever. But if I had to choose between Reload’s existence and a simple port of FES that bumped up the framerate, it would be an incredibly easy choice; a game that feels so deliberate against a pale imitation.
Persona 3 Reload is ultimately a barely passable remake of what I consider the greatest game ever made. I find a large amount of the game’s flaws go ignored among the myriad conveniences the game adds, but they make the game feel like something of a hollow shell of what it used to be.
This can be seen in every aspect of the game, from the very beginning, It’s been well documented already, but the atmosphere that was dripping from the animated cutscenes of the original is completely absent. The opening scene that disorients you, makes you feel as if nothing is as it should be, is replaced with Persona 5 cutscene.mp4. It conveys the story, and that’s all it does – it’s an extension of the same flaws that purveyed Portable. This is an unfortunate trend, as in taking a variety of elements from a game that already seemed to fundamentally misunderstand the source material, it worsens it further. It draws worthless lines from portable that are only there to compensate for a lack of visuals, adds menial things like Junpei’s perversion joke in the train scene, and most offensive, adds the Portable exclusive scene after Minato returns from the final battle. Where the original cut directly from Aigis crying to 3/5, the group now have to announce their individual reactions, turning one of the most beautifully poignant scenes in the game into something standard, dull, and thoughtless.
The modern sheen the game has feels like a coat of paint that hides Reload being a fundamentally worse, less cohesive piece of art than the original. The lighting in the dorm is ruined, draining the atmosphere from one of the most prominent and beloved locations in the game. The dramatic, perfectly framed lighting of the Nyx fight (conveyed acutely in the dancing game) is replaced with…pure green, as is thoughtlessly thrown at every other dark hour scene in the game, which betrays a total lack of thought or care, and makes the game feel like a total rush job. The Orpheus awakening scene, previously a definitive tone setter that acts as the most striking piece of imagery and sound design in the series, can now only be described as underwhelming. Most to all of the little animations the models would enact that made SEES feel so well characterised and alive are absent – and why? For all the bells and whistles the game feels like a sanded down version of what was ultimately a very small-scale game.
Most script changes feel thoughtless and for the worse, making many lines less impactful for no good reason – I can appreciate the attempt to provide a more accurate script to the Japanese version, and this works in some cases, but scenes like Akihiko’s awakening are betrayed by this. Nearly every line change here feels like it lessens the impact of the scene, with worse framing to boot. This is demonstrative of a fundamental lack of understanding of the original that can be seen in the worsening of Akihiko’s character, now adjusted and simplified to be more like his P4U counterpart, one of the most horribly flanderised depictions of a character that I’ve ever seen. I don’t know why anyone on the team thought this was a good idea. Most of the cast do not suffer as much as Akihiko does, but characters like Mitsuru do to a lesser extent, with traits being further emphasised to fit into molds that have been further solidified since the release of the original. One of my favourite scenes in the game is the meeting on the roof between Minato and Junpei, acting as a perfect capstone to one of the most well-thought-out arcs and dynamics in the original game. In reload, it gets replaced with a relatively generic feeling scene between the second-year trio, for seemingly no reason – Junpei does have a link episode that I assume was meant to compensate, but it fails entirely to capture what made that scene great and ends up totally forgettable.
Nearly all of the music is definitively worse – there are highlights, such as the new remix of changing seasons, but the majority have a strangely amateur quality, with the mixing feeling frequently unprofessional. Much of the instrumentals lose all of the impact they once had and Mass Destruction is infamous for this, but for me the worst example of it is in Iwatodai Dorm. I do admittedly love the new vocals, but they can’t save how poor the rest of it sounds. What makes this even more confusing is that all of the original songs are incredible, with Colour Your Night being one of my favourite songs in the franchise, an issue that I can only imagine was from trying to hard to be different from what was already perfect.
Lastly I’ll bring up where I think the game shines – a few key areas that I think fail to elevate the overall package. The combat is wonderfully fun and fluid, and I think theurgies are a satisfactory evolution of the showtime mechanic, but this is undercut by how ludicrously easy the game becomes with barely any effort, an issue that extends to even merciless. While the original was ultimately not a hard game, Reload becomes essentially thoughtless if you know what you’re doing. The combat animations are one of my favourite things the game does, with the way each character shifts to the other never getting tiresome, conveying their personalities and dynamics perfectly. Another is a few of the new character pieces added – I think the game massively elevates Shinjiro and Ken, the tragedy of both characters being emphasised in a way that only makes them more compelling, and Ryoji especially benefits from the greater degree of screentime Reload gives him. I’m glad the bond between him and Minato is now firmly grounded in a version other than the movies.
Personally, I think Persona 3 Reload is a disappointment, and not because it fails to be the “definitive” version many begrudged it for not being. It misunderstands, ignores and discards much of what made the original great, and it fails in aspects I could have never anticipated it would; I think the way the original uniquely excels deserves to be recognised. I still like the game overall, because the skeleton is one of my favourite things ever. But if I had to choose between Reload’s existence and a simple port of FES that bumped up the framerate, it would be an incredibly easy choice; a game that feels so deliberate against a pale imitation.
Persona 3 Reload
2024
disturbing the peace.
We Happy Few
2016
The game is so overhated it’s crazy. The gameplay is pretty good and the story, characters, atmosphere, world and voice acting is unbeatable. Anyone who says this game “Had potential but didn’t deliver”, are just straight up lying, didn’t play the game for more than 5 seconds or just echo what others say.
Darkest Dungeon II
2021
This game is not for everyone. For fans of the first, it's a completely separate beast, keeping only the difficulty and the art style. However, to me, this game has too much going for it to make me want to rage quit. While there are some aspects done better in the first game, the combat has much more to do. New ways to play with heroes like the paths and the affinity system make it much more interesting and engaging. The music, just like the first, is top notch, and a lot of the tracks are even better than ones in the first. The biggest drawback to many people is the apparent difficulty, with how some situations feel absolutely unbeatable, and the complete shift into a roguelike (along with features gone from the first game like the town management and permanently losing heroes forever). I've never had a problem with a lot of these complaints though, and to me, this game is everything I loved about the first game but better.
Darkest Dungeon II
2021
Darkest Dungeon 1 is a titan of a game and probably the closest a game will get to being perfect. There is no way to make a sequel to that game without either:
A) Repeating what you already did and getting compared directly to the 1st one (an impossible standard)
B) Going in a completely new direction and picking and choosing what you take from the 1st game (and people being mad that it's different)
DD2 goes in a new direction and loses a lot of what the first game had because of it, and that's ok because DD1 still exists and you can go play it. It follows a more modern "roguelike" format and progression system which emphasizes experimentation and removes a lot of the longer dread and stress than DD1 had.
My only real issue with the game is that I don't know if the change, which removed a lot of what made the 1st one special, added enough of its own sauce to really stand out as a complete game - but that may change as I continue playing or from person to person.
A) Repeating what you already did and getting compared directly to the 1st one (an impossible standard)
B) Going in a completely new direction and picking and choosing what you take from the 1st game (and people being mad that it's different)
DD2 goes in a new direction and loses a lot of what the first game had because of it, and that's ok because DD1 still exists and you can go play it. It follows a more modern "roguelike" format and progression system which emphasizes experimentation and removes a lot of the longer dread and stress than DD1 had.
My only real issue with the game is that I don't know if the change, which removed a lot of what made the 1st one special, added enough of its own sauce to really stand out as a complete game - but that may change as I continue playing or from person to person.
Darkest Dungeon II
2021
The devs tried something completely new with Darkest Dungeon 2, which is a very good thing. Unfortunately, if you are a monkeybrain like myself who simply wanted 'more of the same', this game doesn't really hit the dopamine receptors.
They scrapped the roguelike element of managing a town and replaced it with a "skill tree" looking thing.
Not all characters from DD1 made it into DD2, namely the fan favourite Crusader. Some characters are completely different from DD1, which is also a bummer for me (namely Bounty Hunter and Flaggelant).
This game feels a lot less grindy, and more episodic, if that makes sense. It's more like you're doing a campaign, where you build a team to fight a boss and that's it.
In DD1, you would sometimes go out for missions just to gather resources - in DD2 you don't really have that.
Progression feels dumbed down, and there's no 'levelling characters' anymore. You either get the upgraded skill or you don't.
The game is also a lot more consistent than DD1, which should be a good thing! Yet, in practice, this consistency means nothing feels special anymore. It also dumbs down the team building aspect.
It was still fun to play, and I imagine someone who was frustrated with DD1's RNG system or grinding could heavily appreciate this game, but these two games are nothing alike in practice.
If you loved DD1, you could give this game a shot, but beware it is very very different.
They scrapped the roguelike element of managing a town and replaced it with a "skill tree" looking thing.
Not all characters from DD1 made it into DD2, namely the fan favourite Crusader. Some characters are completely different from DD1, which is also a bummer for me (namely Bounty Hunter and Flaggelant).
This game feels a lot less grindy, and more episodic, if that makes sense. It's more like you're doing a campaign, where you build a team to fight a boss and that's it.
In DD1, you would sometimes go out for missions just to gather resources - in DD2 you don't really have that.
Progression feels dumbed down, and there's no 'levelling characters' anymore. You either get the upgraded skill or you don't.
The game is also a lot more consistent than DD1, which should be a good thing! Yet, in practice, this consistency means nothing feels special anymore. It also dumbs down the team building aspect.
It was still fun to play, and I imagine someone who was frustrated with DD1's RNG system or grinding could heavily appreciate this game, but these two games are nothing alike in practice.
If you loved DD1, you could give this game a shot, but beware it is very very different.
Fallout: New Vegas
2010
This write-up will consider only the base-game.
A game this good, a game this good so often talked about, a game this good in a nigh-extinct manner, cannot help but attract imprecise praise. By some, New Vegas is a refreshing turn away from the omni-simplistic Bethesda present to the morally, mechanically complex Interplay past. My most controversial take is as follows. This line of thinking dramatically underappreciates the skeleton of Fallout 3: the VATS, the shooting, the boneless physics, the ability to walk and crab-walk any direction in the Mojave. These qualities, continuing onwards from Fallout 3, contribute to the sense of freedom just as much as all the items in that now-familiar list, of "How Obsidian Showed Bethesda What's What": deeper companions, the factions, the endearing world, the threshold skill checks, that one Vault where the dwellers were forced to kill each other, being able to throw the loser NCR general off the Hoover Dam.
That sense of freedom to define the self and the world is why many fans regard New Vegas so highly. Over 3, 4, 76 for sure, but as those people will more cautiously insinuate, over the originals 1 and 2 as well. I am sympathetic. I like Obsidian and sometimes Bethesda. And to have their such genre-defining idiosyncrasies come together remains a mysteriously unsung miracle. But prior to the intervention of the DLCs, the true revelation of Avellone and Obsidian's narrative colors, many ways the true story of New Vegas and the grand conclusion to all of Fallout, New Vegas as is lacks a particular intensity, a particular focus.
Fallout 2 suffered much the same way. But consider some of its scenes in order. That game starts with the gunning down of the dwellers by the Enclave soldiers more power armor than people. We then endure an interminable procession of games forum in-jokes that remind us more of the annoying present than the fearsome future. But at is final moments we are ambushed. We see one of those power armor reveal its green flesh, fanatic voice, and broken mind: the infertile monster-cub of the wasteland reared in Old World prejudice, resistant to diplomacy that served you unfailingly for both games. And after this immovable beast is torn to shreds by the last hurrah of turrets and turn-based combat, its torso crawls towards you, much like the mutilated corpse of the overseer in the previous game tried to crawl back to his home, gunned down by your ancestor who had been betrayed by the very ones for whom he given it all. This irradiation of the soul, of Frank Horrigan, the United States, your characters, the world in the way, persists as a lingering image over your rescued tribe, over the possibility of renewal, right alongside some Monty Python reference. Even as some things change, other things - other things never change.
For the ingenuity of its parts, of both Obsidian and Bethesda make, I cannot place New Vegas behind Fallout 2. But that sense of soul and its ambiguous destiny are what is missing in the base game of New Vegas, and it is to me the surest sign of the rushed development cycle. The options are there on the grand scale: old democracy, old fascism, old despotism, maybe a new freedom. These people quote Hegel, conceal their frailties, forget their regrets, and push on to bring forth another unchanging instance of War. Smaller scale too: a widower soldier's rage, a mutant's memories, a scribe's vanishing place in the world, that one Vault we all praise for its experiments on mob mentality and individual weakness, Benny's sorry ass in the arena or on the cross. The Courier is a capable agent, doing this, doing that for this and that reason with this or that skill. But as his imprint grows in town, city, world, and history, what does that say on that final level beyond and within? One could argue Fallout 1 and 2 never 'said' anything in the end. But it certainly sounded like something. All that power to choose one's destiny coming up against loneliness, betrayal, schizoid uncertainty, and just a little handful of light and companionship and a still wasted world so undersized in the palm of a power armor suit. The problem is that New Vegas, in its base form, is not haunted. The rickety machine for all its charms still hasn't the ghost.
No wonder then, that the DLCs were so loud, so brazen in reversing the exorcism forced by their infamously troubled release schedule. For their own various faults, that line of add-ons truly added on, no less than the thickest fog of old world blues threatening to sadden the world, once with its absence and again with its rebirth. In the meantime, one marvels at the bloodless body. And to be sure, whatever spirit is to be returned must just as equally thank the skilled make of its vessel. The musculature, the sinews, the connective tissue, the way it moves and the places it goes, the way it handles itself and keenly observes, the way speaks and sneaks, the way it all but has proven the things it can do, the places it can go. And its fault I have laid out a tad harshly perhaps is no fault of its own, but circumstance. It was just shot in the head; it will get up, get out of this little town too small for its ambition. We will get to New Vegas soon.
A game this good, a game this good so often talked about, a game this good in a nigh-extinct manner, cannot help but attract imprecise praise. By some, New Vegas is a refreshing turn away from the omni-simplistic Bethesda present to the morally, mechanically complex Interplay past. My most controversial take is as follows. This line of thinking dramatically underappreciates the skeleton of Fallout 3: the VATS, the shooting, the boneless physics, the ability to walk and crab-walk any direction in the Mojave. These qualities, continuing onwards from Fallout 3, contribute to the sense of freedom just as much as all the items in that now-familiar list, of "How Obsidian Showed Bethesda What's What": deeper companions, the factions, the endearing world, the threshold skill checks, that one Vault where the dwellers were forced to kill each other, being able to throw the loser NCR general off the Hoover Dam.
That sense of freedom to define the self and the world is why many fans regard New Vegas so highly. Over 3, 4, 76 for sure, but as those people will more cautiously insinuate, over the originals 1 and 2 as well. I am sympathetic. I like Obsidian and sometimes Bethesda. And to have their such genre-defining idiosyncrasies come together remains a mysteriously unsung miracle. But prior to the intervention of the DLCs, the true revelation of Avellone and Obsidian's narrative colors, many ways the true story of New Vegas and the grand conclusion to all of Fallout, New Vegas as is lacks a particular intensity, a particular focus.
Fallout 2 suffered much the same way. But consider some of its scenes in order. That game starts with the gunning down of the dwellers by the Enclave soldiers more power armor than people. We then endure an interminable procession of games forum in-jokes that remind us more of the annoying present than the fearsome future. But at is final moments we are ambushed. We see one of those power armor reveal its green flesh, fanatic voice, and broken mind: the infertile monster-cub of the wasteland reared in Old World prejudice, resistant to diplomacy that served you unfailingly for both games. And after this immovable beast is torn to shreds by the last hurrah of turrets and turn-based combat, its torso crawls towards you, much like the mutilated corpse of the overseer in the previous game tried to crawl back to his home, gunned down by your ancestor who had been betrayed by the very ones for whom he given it all. This irradiation of the soul, of Frank Horrigan, the United States, your characters, the world in the way, persists as a lingering image over your rescued tribe, over the possibility of renewal, right alongside some Monty Python reference. Even as some things change, other things - other things never change.
For the ingenuity of its parts, of both Obsidian and Bethesda make, I cannot place New Vegas behind Fallout 2. But that sense of soul and its ambiguous destiny are what is missing in the base game of New Vegas, and it is to me the surest sign of the rushed development cycle. The options are there on the grand scale: old democracy, old fascism, old despotism, maybe a new freedom. These people quote Hegel, conceal their frailties, forget their regrets, and push on to bring forth another unchanging instance of War. Smaller scale too: a widower soldier's rage, a mutant's memories, a scribe's vanishing place in the world, that one Vault we all praise for its experiments on mob mentality and individual weakness, Benny's sorry ass in the arena or on the cross. The Courier is a capable agent, doing this, doing that for this and that reason with this or that skill. But as his imprint grows in town, city, world, and history, what does that say on that final level beyond and within? One could argue Fallout 1 and 2 never 'said' anything in the end. But it certainly sounded like something. All that power to choose one's destiny coming up against loneliness, betrayal, schizoid uncertainty, and just a little handful of light and companionship and a still wasted world so undersized in the palm of a power armor suit. The problem is that New Vegas, in its base form, is not haunted. The rickety machine for all its charms still hasn't the ghost.
No wonder then, that the DLCs were so loud, so brazen in reversing the exorcism forced by their infamously troubled release schedule. For their own various faults, that line of add-ons truly added on, no less than the thickest fog of old world blues threatening to sadden the world, once with its absence and again with its rebirth. In the meantime, one marvels at the bloodless body. And to be sure, whatever spirit is to be returned must just as equally thank the skilled make of its vessel. The musculature, the sinews, the connective tissue, the way it moves and the places it goes, the way it handles itself and keenly observes, the way speaks and sneaks, the way it all but has proven the things it can do, the places it can go. And its fault I have laid out a tad harshly perhaps is no fault of its own, but circumstance. It was just shot in the head; it will get up, get out of this little town too small for its ambition. We will get to New Vegas soon.
Lethal Company
2023
top 10 lethal company funny moments except YOU are the funny
Persona 5 Royal
2019
My wife is refusing to speak to me again. I keep telling her that I'm speaking to my waifu Futaba, and that we are only theorising our future together. She says I have 4 days to pack all my things.
Very conflicted feelings on this one…
The themes, art direction, voice acting, music, plot (kinda, will touch on it later) are all fantastic. All worthy of a top tier AAA game, and worthy of the hype attached to anything Kojima touches, BUT the presentation lets it down massively.
All of the above are phenomenal but the gameplay is so tedious, it’s halfway there to something great and just falls flat. I can understand why someone would love this but it’s not for me. Stealth/combat could be very fun but there’s just some tall grass and the strand weapon thing for takedowns, guns are uninteresting, hand to hand combat consists of a single 3 hit combo and a jump attack. The BT territory sections could also be very fun and engaging but they’re not, early on they’re gripping and feel very horror-esque but it’s not long before you just run through them with a Speed Skeleton or a Trike.
The meat of the game is traversal, and here I can see the appeal. I just felt like there was too much meandering and tedious journeys, to the point where it made it difficult to care about any of the cast beyond a few of the main characters. I can’t recall the name of a single person or story of any of the people at the way station things that I was constantly delivering to. Maybe this is on me, but by about 30% into the game I wasn’t giving any thought whatsoever into how I traverse areas, I’d simply craft a Bike, bring a few PCCs to keep it fully charged when I can, a Speed Skeleton, and just raw dog it to my destination lol. They kept throwing new items at me that would make my journey “easier” but why would I go through the hassle of carrying more cargo when I can just zip A-Z with the bike? Vibes are good tho
The story… idk how to feel. I think it’s solid but it’s presented so awfully. Boring exposition dumps, filler, uninteresting side characters, convoluted menus, “lore” hidden behind walls and walls and walls of text, and much more that just muddy what could be a more enjoyable experience. Kojima is just trying too hard. The game is also longer than it needed to be. I think cutting down from roughly 35 hours to 25 would do the game wonders, but I guess that would cause issues considering over half the game would then be cutscenes… I guess that’s why the game is statpadded with so much nonsense in the first place.
There genuinely is something really phenomenal here but very deep under the surface, because of the poor presentation it comes off as pretentious, self absorbed, pseudo intellectual, fake deep HOOPLA.
Some positives… I LOVE that Kojima doesn’t shy away from the fact that this is a video game. He fully embraces that whether it be through the hilarious 4th wall breaks, health bars in the Higgs fight, Heartman giving the players thumbs up, etc etc. very good
The core theme is about the strands (lol) that connect us to each other, and if anything, they nailed this on the head through the narrative and the gameplay. Out in the world you’ll never encounter another player, and you’ll never talk to another player, but you will find yourself rejoicing when you find a structure left behind by another player when you’re in a pinch. You’ll feel useful when you get the notification that another player used your structure that you left behind, you’ll spam likes on every structure to others know it was useful. Basically, it’s a very good feeling and it best emphasises selflessness and extending a helping hand out of kindness to a stranger through video games in a way never done. The closest comparison I can think of is NieR Automata’s Ending E, but like this is a whole game out of that credits sequence. sometimes I did dismantle my structures after finding a crazy route tho sorry lol I’m gatekeeping 😅😅 and thank you to every player that left generators everywhere, you made blitzing through everything with just a bike and speed skeleton easier
Some phenomenal characters in Cliff, Fragile, Malingen/Lockne and Die Hardman. Higgs had potential but eventually he became uninteresting, look forward to seeing what he’s cooking in the sequel. Cliff specifically tho… I don’t know if it’s because I’m just a huge Mads Mikkelsen fan but he’s one of my favourite video game characters already. What a man.
The soundtrack is some of the best you’ll find in the medium, just wish there were more moments where music would cut in while you’re out doing your deliveries. The game is very good looking, the face work is unreal all the actors killed it.
ok I’m done lol. Everything good but presented like ass making that everything not so good, brings an 8 or 9 down to a 4 or 5 it’s a huge shame
TLDR; just watch the cutscenes on YouTube
The themes, art direction, voice acting, music, plot (kinda, will touch on it later) are all fantastic. All worthy of a top tier AAA game, and worthy of the hype attached to anything Kojima touches, BUT the presentation lets it down massively.
All of the above are phenomenal but the gameplay is so tedious, it’s halfway there to something great and just falls flat. I can understand why someone would love this but it’s not for me. Stealth/combat could be very fun but there’s just some tall grass and the strand weapon thing for takedowns, guns are uninteresting, hand to hand combat consists of a single 3 hit combo and a jump attack. The BT territory sections could also be very fun and engaging but they’re not, early on they’re gripping and feel very horror-esque but it’s not long before you just run through them with a Speed Skeleton or a Trike.
The meat of the game is traversal, and here I can see the appeal. I just felt like there was too much meandering and tedious journeys, to the point where it made it difficult to care about any of the cast beyond a few of the main characters. I can’t recall the name of a single person or story of any of the people at the way station things that I was constantly delivering to. Maybe this is on me, but by about 30% into the game I wasn’t giving any thought whatsoever into how I traverse areas, I’d simply craft a Bike, bring a few PCCs to keep it fully charged when I can, a Speed Skeleton, and just raw dog it to my destination lol. They kept throwing new items at me that would make my journey “easier” but why would I go through the hassle of carrying more cargo when I can just zip A-Z with the bike? Vibes are good tho
The story… idk how to feel. I think it’s solid but it’s presented so awfully. Boring exposition dumps, filler, uninteresting side characters, convoluted menus, “lore” hidden behind walls and walls and walls of text, and much more that just muddy what could be a more enjoyable experience. Kojima is just trying too hard. The game is also longer than it needed to be. I think cutting down from roughly 35 hours to 25 would do the game wonders, but I guess that would cause issues considering over half the game would then be cutscenes… I guess that’s why the game is statpadded with so much nonsense in the first place.
There genuinely is something really phenomenal here but very deep under the surface, because of the poor presentation it comes off as pretentious, self absorbed, pseudo intellectual, fake deep HOOPLA.
Some positives… I LOVE that Kojima doesn’t shy away from the fact that this is a video game. He fully embraces that whether it be through the hilarious 4th wall breaks, health bars in the Higgs fight, Heartman giving the players thumbs up, etc etc. very good
The core theme is about the strands (lol) that connect us to each other, and if anything, they nailed this on the head through the narrative and the gameplay. Out in the world you’ll never encounter another player, and you’ll never talk to another player, but you will find yourself rejoicing when you find a structure left behind by another player when you’re in a pinch. You’ll feel useful when you get the notification that another player used your structure that you left behind, you’ll spam likes on every structure to others know it was useful. Basically, it’s a very good feeling and it best emphasises selflessness and extending a helping hand out of kindness to a stranger through video games in a way never done. The closest comparison I can think of is NieR Automata’s Ending E, but like this is a whole game out of that credits sequence. sometimes I did dismantle my structures after finding a crazy route tho sorry lol I’m gatekeeping 😅😅 and thank you to every player that left generators everywhere, you made blitzing through everything with just a bike and speed skeleton easier
Some phenomenal characters in Cliff, Fragile, Malingen/Lockne and Die Hardman. Higgs had potential but eventually he became uninteresting, look forward to seeing what he’s cooking in the sequel. Cliff specifically tho… I don’t know if it’s because I’m just a huge Mads Mikkelsen fan but he’s one of my favourite video game characters already. What a man.
The soundtrack is some of the best you’ll find in the medium, just wish there were more moments where music would cut in while you’re out doing your deliveries. The game is very good looking, the face work is unreal all the actors killed it.
ok I’m done lol. Everything good but presented like ass making that everything not so good, brings an 8 or 9 down to a 4 or 5 it’s a huge shame
TLDR; just watch the cutscenes on YouTube
Darkest Dungeon II
2021
A total overhaul of what quickly became a classic formula, DD2 is both fresh and alienating. Instead of a 50 hour hell-march, you play Oregon Trail with DD mechanics. Its revised combat is engaging and brings a lot to the turn based table, but a current lack of content may harm player retention. Despite its shortcomings, I would like to see more sequels attempt such radical shifts in focus.
Darkest Dungeon II
2021
Having played this and DD1, I think I slightly prefer DD2. Ultimately, I think the highs are not quite as high as the first game, but the lows are not nearly as low.
Both games are very hard, and will take a long time to complete, but I think the run-based nature of DD2 makes the play length easier to swallow. I have an easier time jumping back into this game and remembering what I was doing compared to DD1.
I also like that this game leans into the classes being unique characters with their own backstories. This was only hinted at in DD1, so it always felt very weird to me that I was getting an infinite supply of highwaymen with the same sprites and tragic backstory.
The art style and battle system continue to be sick.
Both games are very hard, and will take a long time to complete, but I think the run-based nature of DD2 makes the play length easier to swallow. I have an easier time jumping back into this game and remembering what I was doing compared to DD1.
I also like that this game leans into the classes being unique characters with their own backstories. This was only hinted at in DD1, so it always felt very weird to me that I was getting an infinite supply of highwaymen with the same sprites and tragic backstory.
The art style and battle system continue to be sick.
solid. not as good as the first but still good. it didn't meet my expectations tbh but overall still had a fun time with it
Baldur's Gate 3
2020
Greatest of all time. Zenith of the medium. Hallmark of media. Gold standard of storytelling. Apogee of creativity. Vertex of invention. Crest of ingenuity. Acme of imagination. Pinnacle of innovation. Epic of epics. Legend among legends. Peak fucking fiction.
Honkai: Star Rail
2023
I honestly never ever thought I'd play a gacha, let alone a MHY game but I really really enjoy star rail. I feel no pressure to spend money, I really like the story and characters and though it takes a while to get started the gameplay gets very fun especially at a high level. The lesbians are also off the charts which is important to any game.