otario220
15 reviews liked by otario220
Persona 3 FES
2007
This review contains spoilers
You know when persona fans take the Hashino trilogy and say each one is the best in a certain category? The broken record of "3 has the best story, 4 has the best characters and setting, 5 has the best gameplay"? Well, throw that garbage out the window: Persona 3 is the best in everything except dungeons, and even there I'd make the case Tartarus is better than any Mind Palace, at least thematically. How P-studio managed to get so much stuff right on the first go and then fumble on subsequent releases is baffling.
I love this game and want to shower its story with praise, especially how it's not afraid to pull its punches from the start, the stakes and risks of your situation clearly established from the word ‘go’. It admittedly drags halfway through, I'd say the Summer section is probably the weakest part of the game, with the formula having fully set in and with it your complacency. Then October comes in like a truck, smacks you upside the head and yells: “you messed up, this shadow business is not a game, kid”. After that the story gets even better, each event that follows turning up the tension as you fight even harder and try to savour the last moments of your life, the calendar counting down to your eventual passing. Bit of a crap life, sure, but at least you’re not in it by yourself.
The characters of Persona 3 seem pretty shallow at first. Pretty much everyone plays their cards close to their chest, from the main cast to the social link options, with some coming off as especially unlikeable. Yet as you face hardships together and make an effort to better know your pals, as they experience the worst of what their situation has to offer, everyone grows and changes into stronger human beings, which is true even for the robot. Not really for the dog though, he just wants to help and is happy to be along. Good for him. In the case of the party, outside of the tragedy of Shinjiro’s death, and because of it, everyone finds a way to keep on living, striving for new goals with a clarity of purpose. In particular, the awakenings are amazing moments for each character, never feeling forced due to them going in lock-step with the plot, avoiding one of many missteps of future titles. Speaking of awakenings, let’s talk about Junpei.
Junpei starts out as the bro. Loud, jokey and obnoxious, always looking to prove his virility in a childish way. The eternal class clown. And much like a clown it’s an act, as he’s one of the most insecure members of the cast. Yet he never lowers his guard around others. It’s exactly because of his flaws he ends up in danger by the hands of Strega and it’s by facing his demons head on with Chidori that he starts to change. The jokey veneer never flakes off, yet as the months pile on, his core becomes ever more determined, driving him to stare directly into the jaws of death, literally, with a little help from his friends. This culminates with Chidori’s death, her spirit now alive within him, even passing her regenerative abilities onto him in battle, in one of the single best uses of a mechanic I’ve seen in any videogame. By the time March 5 2010 rolls around, Junpei is still the bro, yet he is much closer to really being “da man”.
Since I’ve mentioned battles, let’s settle the CPU party control debate to rest once and for all. In my objective opinion: it’s alright. It helps to further characterize each member other than your as their own person, warts and all. It’s a bit clunky, especially when the menu, as nice as it is, makes tactics switching feel like a bit of a chore. I know, I know, Mitsuru Marin Karin Mind Charge Ice Break, yeah we’ve all heard the joke. Thing is, it works. It’s a restraint which, coupled with the many design choices that are closer to Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne than they are to Persona 4, keeps you on your toes and thinking tactically.
I apologize to fans of Persona 4 and Persona 5 for badmouthing those games. I like them too, yet after playing Persona 3 it’s apparent how both misunderstand and/or misuse the groundwork laid by this title. I get it, 4 had to be made in two years alongside FES, it’s a miracle the game even shipped in the first place, while 5 probably wanted to stick to the plan because that’s the series’ identity after nearly ten years between instalments. Yet this leaves them feeling less complete, like they’re carrying vestigial elements which are there because they have to be or it won’t be a Persona game anymore. I hope this isn’t taken as an insult or as a slight against the series, but as an invitation to grow, to not be afraid of mixing it up and shed off the old skin, just like 3 did. I believe this makes for stronger experiences which, like the Kirijo Group claims, favour the harmony of two over the perfection of one. In this case, harmony of mechanics and story for maximum thematic power. Put that shit in Persona 6, Atlus employee who is definitively real and reading this review.
I love this game and want to shower its story with praise, especially how it's not afraid to pull its punches from the start, the stakes and risks of your situation clearly established from the word ‘go’. It admittedly drags halfway through, I'd say the Summer section is probably the weakest part of the game, with the formula having fully set in and with it your complacency. Then October comes in like a truck, smacks you upside the head and yells: “you messed up, this shadow business is not a game, kid”. After that the story gets even better, each event that follows turning up the tension as you fight even harder and try to savour the last moments of your life, the calendar counting down to your eventual passing. Bit of a crap life, sure, but at least you’re not in it by yourself.
The characters of Persona 3 seem pretty shallow at first. Pretty much everyone plays their cards close to their chest, from the main cast to the social link options, with some coming off as especially unlikeable. Yet as you face hardships together and make an effort to better know your pals, as they experience the worst of what their situation has to offer, everyone grows and changes into stronger human beings, which is true even for the robot. Not really for the dog though, he just wants to help and is happy to be along. Good for him. In the case of the party, outside of the tragedy of Shinjiro’s death, and because of it, everyone finds a way to keep on living, striving for new goals with a clarity of purpose. In particular, the awakenings are amazing moments for each character, never feeling forced due to them going in lock-step with the plot, avoiding one of many missteps of future titles. Speaking of awakenings, let’s talk about Junpei.
Junpei starts out as the bro. Loud, jokey and obnoxious, always looking to prove his virility in a childish way. The eternal class clown. And much like a clown it’s an act, as he’s one of the most insecure members of the cast. Yet he never lowers his guard around others. It’s exactly because of his flaws he ends up in danger by the hands of Strega and it’s by facing his demons head on with Chidori that he starts to change. The jokey veneer never flakes off, yet as the months pile on, his core becomes ever more determined, driving him to stare directly into the jaws of death, literally, with a little help from his friends. This culminates with Chidori’s death, her spirit now alive within him, even passing her regenerative abilities onto him in battle, in one of the single best uses of a mechanic I’ve seen in any videogame. By the time March 5 2010 rolls around, Junpei is still the bro, yet he is much closer to really being “da man”.
Since I’ve mentioned battles, let’s settle the CPU party control debate to rest once and for all. In my objective opinion: it’s alright. It helps to further characterize each member other than your as their own person, warts and all. It’s a bit clunky, especially when the menu, as nice as it is, makes tactics switching feel like a bit of a chore. I know, I know, Mitsuru Marin Karin Mind Charge Ice Break, yeah we’ve all heard the joke. Thing is, it works. It’s a restraint which, coupled with the many design choices that are closer to Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne than they are to Persona 4, keeps you on your toes and thinking tactically.
I apologize to fans of Persona 4 and Persona 5 for badmouthing those games. I like them too, yet after playing Persona 3 it’s apparent how both misunderstand and/or misuse the groundwork laid by this title. I get it, 4 had to be made in two years alongside FES, it’s a miracle the game even shipped in the first place, while 5 probably wanted to stick to the plan because that’s the series’ identity after nearly ten years between instalments. Yet this leaves them feeling less complete, like they’re carrying vestigial elements which are there because they have to be or it won’t be a Persona game anymore. I hope this isn’t taken as an insult or as a slight against the series, but as an invitation to grow, to not be afraid of mixing it up and shed off the old skin, just like 3 did. I believe this makes for stronger experiences which, like the Kirijo Group claims, favour the harmony of two over the perfection of one. In this case, harmony of mechanics and story for maximum thematic power. Put that shit in Persona 6, Atlus employee who is definitively real and reading this review.
Lol, lmao, even.
Look, I'm usually not a contrarian. I rarely have spicy takes. But I do try to be honest with my opinions, and my opinion on this game is that well, it kinda rules!
This kinda ties into my THUG 2 Remix review recently where I talked about a game's flaws enhancing the experience. Well, that idea pretty much defines this game. Everything people shit on this game for I pretty much love. The obtuseness and the horrible translation are so charming I love it.
And the things people do like this game for... are so fucking good. The atmosphere is incredible, with some of the best music on the entire platform.
I think I just really respect this game for it's ambition and find it to be a supremely charming experience. I get why someone wouldn't like this! But I loved it. :)
Look, I'm usually not a contrarian. I rarely have spicy takes. But I do try to be honest with my opinions, and my opinion on this game is that well, it kinda rules!
This kinda ties into my THUG 2 Remix review recently where I talked about a game's flaws enhancing the experience. Well, that idea pretty much defines this game. Everything people shit on this game for I pretty much love. The obtuseness and the horrible translation are so charming I love it.
And the things people do like this game for... are so fucking good. The atmosphere is incredible, with some of the best music on the entire platform.
I think I just really respect this game for it's ambition and find it to be a supremely charming experience. I get why someone wouldn't like this! But I loved it. :)
Decided to start chasing the specific idea of “Fishing Horror.” Isolation, strange creatures of the deep, all within the simple task of catching some fish. It’s a hyper-specific genre, but the hyper-specificity allows for some unique interpretations of how to go about that sort of premise.
Our Lady of the Drowned Lake, Zero Reporter goes for a folklore approach. Brazilian devs present the story of the Water’s Caboclo. A strange man who resides beneath the rivers, lurking about at his own leisure. Either a help or a hinderance, the Water’s Caboclo’s reaction to humans is sort of a roll of the dice. This is somewhat reflected in the game’s central mechanical structure. Each action the fisherman Bento can make is tied to the chance of annoying the Caboclo. Each attempt to reel in a fish get increasingly risky. Normal reeling in starts at about 20%, while a forceful reeling in gets about 40%. If you fail the gamble, your noise meter rises. Once you hit 100% noise… well, nothing happens right away. You have to fish once more before you get confronted by the Caboclo. Once you’re confronted, your fate is up to what you try to offer the Caboclo.
The actual fishing mechanics are not much to write home about. Wandering through the water is… unclear. I expected to bump up against a river-bank or a shoreline, but the actual barriers to sailing is largely made up of invisible walls. Finding the right fishing spots throughout the waves is sort of a mindless search. The largest disappointment is that there’s no real change to the endings. I enjoyed doing research and learning about the folklore, but none of that really came through on an actual ending. The mythology states giving Caboclo tobacco ingratiates him towards, you, but the ending visuals don’t really change. There’s a pleasure in learning about another culture and its folklore, but it doesn’t kind go deeper into them other than aesthetics. Its unfortunate, but its not enough of a dealbreaker to ruin my affection for the efforts.
Our Lady of the Drowned Lake, Zero Reporter goes for a folklore approach. Brazilian devs present the story of the Water’s Caboclo. A strange man who resides beneath the rivers, lurking about at his own leisure. Either a help or a hinderance, the Water’s Caboclo’s reaction to humans is sort of a roll of the dice. This is somewhat reflected in the game’s central mechanical structure. Each action the fisherman Bento can make is tied to the chance of annoying the Caboclo. Each attempt to reel in a fish get increasingly risky. Normal reeling in starts at about 20%, while a forceful reeling in gets about 40%. If you fail the gamble, your noise meter rises. Once you hit 100% noise… well, nothing happens right away. You have to fish once more before you get confronted by the Caboclo. Once you’re confronted, your fate is up to what you try to offer the Caboclo.
The actual fishing mechanics are not much to write home about. Wandering through the water is… unclear. I expected to bump up against a river-bank or a shoreline, but the actual barriers to sailing is largely made up of invisible walls. Finding the right fishing spots throughout the waves is sort of a mindless search. The largest disappointment is that there’s no real change to the endings. I enjoyed doing research and learning about the folklore, but none of that really came through on an actual ending. The mythology states giving Caboclo tobacco ingratiates him towards, you, but the ending visuals don’t really change. There’s a pleasure in learning about another culture and its folklore, but it doesn’t kind go deeper into them other than aesthetics. Its unfortunate, but its not enough of a dealbreaker to ruin my affection for the efforts.
Street Chaves
2003
Atheism leaving my body the moment I hear:
"♩ Seu Madruga se perturba pisa em cima do chapéu, quando ouve falar em alugel ♩"
"♩ Seu Madruga se perturba pisa em cima do chapéu, quando ouve falar em alugel ♩"
Castlevania
1986
Castlevania is a frustrating game, at times unfair, at times made me want to rip my hair out. I had a blast.
There is a lot that's been said about this games movement and how the clunkiness and delay makes for a more interesting, tactical game that you really need to really plan out your moves for. And yeah, that's accurate! It's fun! I'm beginning to really not buy the "games from this generation have aged poorly" shit because damn games like this show that people had really good ideas back then.
Also, I did abuse save states near the end. No, I don't feel bad.
There is a lot that's been said about this games movement and how the clunkiness and delay makes for a more interesting, tactical game that you really need to really plan out your moves for. And yeah, that's accurate! It's fun! I'm beginning to really not buy the "games from this generation have aged poorly" shit because damn games like this show that people had really good ideas back then.
Also, I did abuse save states near the end. No, I don't feel bad.
Harry Whatsapp
Kim Kitsuragi: You should kill yourself NOW.
Titus Hardie: You should kill yourself NOW.
Kim Kitsuragi: I NEED cock detective
Cuno: You should kill yourself NOW.
Garte: You should kill yourself NOW.
Sans Undertale: Can I borrow 500 réal
Kim Kitsuragi: You should kill yourself NOW.
Titus Hardie: You should kill yourself NOW.
Kim Kitsuragi: I NEED cock detective
Cuno: You should kill yourself NOW.
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Sans Undertale: Can I borrow 500 réal
I can't stand this game. It makes my blood boil. I actually had stress-induced damage from Tomb of the Giants. A horrifying, twisted, tormented experience that I never want to see or hear from ever again, in my entire life.
8/10.
No but for real, this game tore me apart. And yet I couldn't help but come back to it, try a new idea, see if anything could break the cycle of failure after insulting failure. It's a broken and toxic relationship that I grew addicted too, and even as I finished the final battle, I couldn't help but be drawn into New Game Plus almost immediately after - but I doubt I'll finish it again.
Dark Souls strikes an uncanny balance. Enemies, even the most basic kinds, do absurd levels of damage, and can stunlock you to death instantly. How is this fair? Well, they can often be stunned just as easily by a combo of your own. Wait, but how is THAT fair? Oh, your attacks (well, good ones) can take a second or so of wind-up, and mistiming it means certain death. That's not fair! Yes it is, because so do the enemies. It's a brutal machine where death awaits you any second if you're unprepared and on your first run through, but you begin to notice those patterns.
It's a well-oiled machine, but like any machine, if you remove one part, the whole thing stops working right. There is no appendix here - if the designers misbalance one thing about this arrangement, shit gets nasty. And I'm of the opinion that there are several parts where this design does indeed fall apart. Anor Londo has many brutal encounter setups that can be a game-ender. The second half of the game in general presents a difficulty spike and a general downturn in design quality. Nowhere is this worse than in the Catacombs, and the Tomb of the Giants.
The Catacombs isn't clever or impressive, just a tedious and boring corridor of enemies. Tomb of the Giants is the same, but you can't see shit. It's the absolute low point of the game, and the bosses don't help matters. And how about those boss fights? Most of them are genuinely solid encounters, but others are detestably unfair and punishing - and one feels like it was just mistakenly programmed. There's dying from a mistake, or from being taken by surprise. But several deaths are genuinely cheap and shitty.
Looking from the outside in on the Souls fanbase, it's especially scary that they (particularly the subreddit) have this odd stance where their beloved games are completely above all criticism (except DS2). Anyone who even implies that several aspects of the game are poorly thought out is buried with a swathe of insults and the same "git gud" rhetoric. The idea that "getting good" is all there is to this game just feeds this elitist, toxic mindset that put myself and many others off from even trying this game. There's really a lot more to it - you might be trying the wrong weapon, or simply specced your character wrong and might need to start over. Not everyone can "git gud", and there's nothing to be ashamed of if you can't beat this game. It is not "easy", just like how bear wrestling isn't easy just because you in particular have done nothing but wrestle bears for the last 30 years. It's an obscenely hard game that beats you into the ground enough until you can see its tricks coming through the blood and tears.
I think the combat rules, in all honestly, I just wish that (especially in the earlygame) there was any room for error (minus grinding forever and speccing entirely into vitality). One mistimed dodge or swing can see you die instantaneously, having to make a long trek back from a checkpoint. The tedium really stinks. And don't ever fucking go human unless you know what you're doing, unless you like getting repeatedly attacked by no-lifers who know more about the game than you ever will, and are dead-set on setting your progress back. At least one of those guys was funny about it.
I'm tearing this game apart because I don't think enough people do, but in spite of all of that it still deserves a lot of praise. When the balance is just right, the design of the game nails the risk/reward like very few other games before or since. Getting backstabs and parries feels amazing, and hunting for secrets never gets old.
Also, world design. Easily, for me, the highlight of the game. A gorgeous fantasy world with a good variety of environments, almost all of which are imposing and feel vaster than they really are. The way in which it wraps around and is almost entirely organically connected, metroidvania style, makes me drool. I don't even like fantasy that much, but this place rules.
Story is what it is - lots of hidden lore you can go out of your way to drown in, but if you just want to kill big angry things you can tell the NPCs to shut the fuck up. Or just fucking kill them! That fucking rules! I mean, I (almost) never did out of fear that I'd be messing up something further along (plus some of them are really nice) but the sheer amount of variation that each run can have depending on your actions around them is really impressive.
Altogether, this is a great game, but one I will never recommend. I hated so much of my time with it, and I might've even suffered dangerous health issues had I have not changed my loadout so drastically to get me through the second half. This game could've killed me, and for that I should detest it. And I do! Fuck this game, fuck what it put me through, never touching it or the Souls series again. In the meantime, I'm going to read up on what I need to know before starting Dark Souls 2! Later.
8/10.
No but for real, this game tore me apart. And yet I couldn't help but come back to it, try a new idea, see if anything could break the cycle of failure after insulting failure. It's a broken and toxic relationship that I grew addicted too, and even as I finished the final battle, I couldn't help but be drawn into New Game Plus almost immediately after - but I doubt I'll finish it again.
Dark Souls strikes an uncanny balance. Enemies, even the most basic kinds, do absurd levels of damage, and can stunlock you to death instantly. How is this fair? Well, they can often be stunned just as easily by a combo of your own. Wait, but how is THAT fair? Oh, your attacks (well, good ones) can take a second or so of wind-up, and mistiming it means certain death. That's not fair! Yes it is, because so do the enemies. It's a brutal machine where death awaits you any second if you're unprepared and on your first run through, but you begin to notice those patterns.
It's a well-oiled machine, but like any machine, if you remove one part, the whole thing stops working right. There is no appendix here - if the designers misbalance one thing about this arrangement, shit gets nasty. And I'm of the opinion that there are several parts where this design does indeed fall apart. Anor Londo has many brutal encounter setups that can be a game-ender. The second half of the game in general presents a difficulty spike and a general downturn in design quality. Nowhere is this worse than in the Catacombs, and the Tomb of the Giants.
The Catacombs isn't clever or impressive, just a tedious and boring corridor of enemies. Tomb of the Giants is the same, but you can't see shit. It's the absolute low point of the game, and the bosses don't help matters. And how about those boss fights? Most of them are genuinely solid encounters, but others are detestably unfair and punishing - and one feels like it was just mistakenly programmed. There's dying from a mistake, or from being taken by surprise. But several deaths are genuinely cheap and shitty.
Looking from the outside in on the Souls fanbase, it's especially scary that they (particularly the subreddit) have this odd stance where their beloved games are completely above all criticism (except DS2). Anyone who even implies that several aspects of the game are poorly thought out is buried with a swathe of insults and the same "git gud" rhetoric. The idea that "getting good" is all there is to this game just feeds this elitist, toxic mindset that put myself and many others off from even trying this game. There's really a lot more to it - you might be trying the wrong weapon, or simply specced your character wrong and might need to start over. Not everyone can "git gud", and there's nothing to be ashamed of if you can't beat this game. It is not "easy", just like how bear wrestling isn't easy just because you in particular have done nothing but wrestle bears for the last 30 years. It's an obscenely hard game that beats you into the ground enough until you can see its tricks coming through the blood and tears.
I think the combat rules, in all honestly, I just wish that (especially in the earlygame) there was any room for error (minus grinding forever and speccing entirely into vitality). One mistimed dodge or swing can see you die instantaneously, having to make a long trek back from a checkpoint. The tedium really stinks. And don't ever fucking go human unless you know what you're doing, unless you like getting repeatedly attacked by no-lifers who know more about the game than you ever will, and are dead-set on setting your progress back. At least one of those guys was funny about it.
I'm tearing this game apart because I don't think enough people do, but in spite of all of that it still deserves a lot of praise. When the balance is just right, the design of the game nails the risk/reward like very few other games before or since. Getting backstabs and parries feels amazing, and hunting for secrets never gets old.
Also, world design. Easily, for me, the highlight of the game. A gorgeous fantasy world with a good variety of environments, almost all of which are imposing and feel vaster than they really are. The way in which it wraps around and is almost entirely organically connected, metroidvania style, makes me drool. I don't even like fantasy that much, but this place rules.
Story is what it is - lots of hidden lore you can go out of your way to drown in, but if you just want to kill big angry things you can tell the NPCs to shut the fuck up. Or just fucking kill them! That fucking rules! I mean, I (almost) never did out of fear that I'd be messing up something further along (plus some of them are really nice) but the sheer amount of variation that each run can have depending on your actions around them is really impressive.
Altogether, this is a great game, but one I will never recommend. I hated so much of my time with it, and I might've even suffered dangerous health issues had I have not changed my loadout so drastically to get me through the second half. This game could've killed me, and for that I should detest it. And I do! Fuck this game, fuck what it put me through, never touching it or the Souls series again. In the meantime, I'm going to read up on what I need to know before starting Dark Souls 2! Later.
1 like to smack his bald head
Ape Escape
1999
The left is like: "I think all humans deserve basic healthcare"
The right is like: "I think poor people should die for not being able to afford a human right"
And I'm just here like: "Heck yeah gonna catch me some apes today let's a go this is so much fun :)"
The right is like: "I think poor people should die for not being able to afford a human right"
And I'm just here like: "Heck yeah gonna catch me some apes today let's a go this is so much fun :)"
the far superior box art
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