silentchad2004:
using data mining, conventional mining, divination, and star charts I've uncovered shocking lore implications involving the 1999 teen choice awards, eddie's skull circumference, and the last herakleopolitan pharaohs that challenge everything you thought you knew about james. it all starts with the hex code for his jacket, which I'm sure many of you already noticed is #303828, a clear reference to the roland TB-303 commonly used in chicago acid house. to understand this better we'll first need to return to the topic of jean baptiste point du sable's whereabouts in 1780 and how they tie in directly with merikare of the 10th dynasty[...]

the fans:
obviously. it's soo obvious

masahiro ito:
😭😭😭

I miss this game a lot. The overall product is just alright, but The Crew 1 had a game structure that I am frankly shocked that Ubisoft didn't run into the ground, because they really had something here. Thanks to game depending on centralized servers, NOBODY CAN PLAY THIS GAME ANYMORE!!! YAAAAAAAY! Death to everything!

I cannot put into words what it feels like when you're tearing ass in the car of your choice that you built up an attachment to because of the spent time upgrading it through numerous challenges -- across the largest fucking map for any game I have ever played. There is-...there was nothing else like it. I can't get this pick up and play thrill from other games besides like Forza Horizon 4 but that game isn't nearly as good in it's game structure.

Because of objective variety and map size, The Crew had thousands of mini challenges and objectives... and due to sheer map size, there was room for way, way more. I am not a car guy, but the cars on offer for just the base version were cool. I bought some DLC cars, but I just enjoyed grinding out better parts with the starter Dodge Challenger. I'm basic, but there's just about every type of major car brand here so you get to be your own snooty little shithead in your utmost ideal commercial car if you really wanted. You didn't even necessarily have to buy any DLC to get something you would like. I know, shocking.

This game does, well, DID do car upgrades really well. You had a Bronze, Silver, Gold ranking for every race and challenge and depending on how well you did, you were given a random part for your car that was either slightly or greatly better than what you were working with. Didn't matter what car you were driving, as long as you completed the challenge with the car you wanted to upgrade the parts for, you were guaranteed an upgrade. It was fucking awesome. I hadn't seen such a fun upgrade system since Racing Lagoon on PS1. That makes two racing games that I have played in my entire life that had fun car parts systems that made you want to do every challenge like crazy. One of those games is completely unplayable now. This gaming genre doesn't fucking suck shit out of a dickhole, guys. I swear.

Ok look, it's Ubisoft game. The "story" is eye-rollingly boring and generic. It doesn't really matter to me because The Crew is 100% a game you could have just turned the volume to 0% to play your own shit and it would mesh well with the game experience. What I will shit on this game for endlessly is that driving at night is awful due to a lack of lighting outside of major metropolitan areas. The day and night cycle was really, really slow. You drive out into the country at night and you could literally be staring at pitch black for an hour.

Despite it's generic presentation, The Crew was great. Great potential to be even better that never happened because The Crew 2 had to have planes or something. I popped back into the Crew 1 a year ago because I missed it and had so much fun. The game was still populated by thousands of console users, too. Now the memory of how cool it was is relegated to people who paid for it and are mad as fuck that they can't play it anymore (me).

I personally think it's really cool that a company dominated by notable unconvicted rapists can take away a product people paid money for with an undefined life span not dictated by the EULA and throw it in the trash after it's not shiny and new anymore because...there's better products? Skull & Bones? A watered down Forza clone they called Crew 3? Hello?! These games are the new hotness. You just don't get it. These games are like super cool. Pay no attention to low sales and breakneck speed of employee overturn. Please look forward to Ghost of Tsu- I mean Assassin's Creed Nippon or whatever. Suck the $180 Ultimate Edition of my dick and balls.

Not a great sign for the industry right now that every review of things I like are turning into eulogies.

I picked this up as a continuation of my JRPG Journal series but quickly realized that this is much more than just an anime video game

So no, this is not WEAreVermit's JRPG Journal Entry 8

This is 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim

I only learned of this game about a month ago and quickly added it to my backlog. The reason I play games is not for fun gameplay or cool characters. The reason I love this medium so much is because the narratives that can be told through it push past the storytelling of almost every other medium. So when I heard that this game was renowned for its exceptional narrative, well I knew it was my next playthrough.

It is that hype of having such an incredible narrative that ultimately stops me from giving this the perfect score. Don't get me wrong, the story is excellent and told exceptionally well. There are reveals and twists and turns around every corner with each storyline creating new questions just as the old ones are answered. My brain was on fire the entire time I played this game. The entire time I wasn't playing this game I was just thinking of it. Connecting the dots and putting the timeline together. That is just about the highest praise that I can give this game. The staying power. It is also the reason why I can see myself warming up to this game even if I do have some caveats with the narrative and maybe grow to give this a full 5 stars. Because it certainly is unique. It is as unique as it is derivative. You can clearly see all these inspirations from all pieces of sci-fi history and it is clear that the writer has such a deep love and passion for high concept sci-fi. It also is full of random anime nonsense that kind of brings some storylines to a grinding halt.

Characters like Iori and Natsuno are well written, but their storylines are just boring. Almost nothing happens and all the cool parts of their stories occur in other character's stories. I like the idea that the intricate spiderweb of stories can connect the 13 protagonists but pretty much everyone else is the main character of their own story. It felt like Iori and Natsuno were just there for the ride. Especially their love interests. They just met and fell in love. Kind of rushes through some concepts that I think could have strengthened their characters. But everyone else I think are really interesting and incredibly well written. If I had to pick a top 5 it'd be
1.) Nanji Ogata
2.) Yuki Takamiya
3.) Takatoshi Hijiyama
4.) Renya Gouto
5.) Tomi Kisaragi

These storylines had me the most intrigued and excited to continue. Nanji was just such a cool character and his storyline tied into SO MANY others that it just worked the most for me. Ei is probably 6th on that list. Truth be told all of these stories were excellent (except for Iori's and Natsuno's) that it would be really hard to rank them all properly. I don't want to spend so much time talking about the story because that's literally the whole game so I'll just end it with this.

I LOVE THE ENDING.

(Thematic spoiler incoming)



I love that it is a happy ending. The whole epilogue had me smiling the entire time. It is such a beautiful way to end this journey. Most high-concept sci-fi ends on bleak notes or thematically dark endings. I love how much the story makes sense and connects by the end and that we actually get to see what these characters are up to after the fact.

Good endings don't happen enough in video games and sticking the landing was something I was so worried about when playing this game, but it more than suffices to end this intricate weaving narrative. I do not want a sequel. I would hate to see such a picture-perfect ending be ruined even if a sequel could be just as good. I'm happy leaving this one where it is.

Onto gameplay which is a whole completely different mode. Destruction is where the mech vs kaiju gameplay comes into play and I have to say, for having such an emphasis on story this game's combat is actually ridiculously fun. Something about this combat scratched my brain and I would spend my days playing the story and nights before bed remote playing the destruction mode to my Steamdeck (who needs a Playstation Portal when you got a modded steamdeck). The combat, with its top-down angular camera and realtime with pause/turn based mechanics really reminded me of a more fast and amped up to 11 version of a Larian Studios game. Turn based is always much more fun when you get to control objects in a 3D space (even if in this game they are just pixels on a digital map). I see that the 4th area unlocked and if I ever need a podcast game with endless arenas to destroy mecha kaiju in I'll probably keep returning to this game. For what could have been an afterthought, Destruction was just as fun for me as playing through the story was.

If I did have any downside it would be that this story cannot be properly experienced more than once. It is told in such a visual novel way that this would probably drag if you already know where the story is heading. I could see how maybe connecting the dots from the beginning would be cool but by the end you'd "get it" and it wouldn't be as interesting. But in a way, that is an upside. That means that this experience is so well done that it makes that first playthrough one of the most memorable in your entire gaming career.

Needless to say I get the hype. I had some expectations going in but no matter what you have in mind I'm sure you'll be sufficed one way or another.

It came back worse in every way which is like super impressive.

There is room for a free to play Smash clone for sweaty losers, but the problem is being a diluted Smash clone is just not good enough when Smash feels so much better to play.

Like Nintendo hates you for liking Smash and will never bring the game to platforms beyond their own, so there's room to eat some of it's lunch on Steam. Compared to Smash, Multiversus is too slow and too floaty for it's own good and just won't cut it long-term as a competitor or a fun PLATFORM FIGHTER.

The name Multiversus sucks, the menus are a fucking nightmare, and the 2v2 emphasis isn't even really a thing anymore so it has no identity beyond it's intellectual properties.

We need a different contender in the space.

What made me really excited for this game (besides the dope ass visual style), was this awesome trailer with the song Holly by Sleigh Bells. Bro this trailer made me so hype. But... in the game there isn't really any music at all :(

It just kinda has a lot of ambient loud noise which can get a bit annoying. This game would be so cool paired with a killer soundtrack and it makes me sad that there isn't one. Because the style is there already, Children of the Sun's art is super enrapturing.

And then in terms of gameplay, it's solid. The levels amps up in difficulty and scale throughout the game and by the end, the puzzle of killing everyone in the level is super fun. The last like five or so levels were great and I would've liked it if the game had some more like that. Children of the Sun doesn't overstay its welcome, clocking in at just over three hours. But I would've liked a bit more.

Definitely worth checking out.

Senua's Saga: Hellblade II - The Power of Names

This is a weird one to talk about. Firstly, this is not like the first game. It is more of an action-adventure with scenes of spectacle than a personal journey like Senua's Sacrifice was.

I think judging the game in front of me is hard

I can't use the same scale I would on other games.

Simply put, this game is probably not worth $50 to most people. It might not even be worth the $10 on gamepass like I spent.

But is that fair. In ~7 hours I played through the most incredible looking game of my lifetime. I played through sequences that had the cinematography nerd in me FREAK OUT! I have this bodily response to seeing one take cameras where I literally laugh and smile at the pure spectacle of it all and despite this being a video game multiple action sequences felt like I was in control of an incredible one-take action scene. The entire time I played this I wished my dad was watching just to show him how insane this game looked. Looks aren't everything in a story but damn did this feel like I was playing a Roger Deakins/Greg Frazier picture.

The bad is quite apparent. The narrative isn't as poignant as the original's. Senua is isn't the main narrative point anymore and it rehashes some of the ideas present in the first game to much less effect. There are 3 other main-side characters that are just there to give Senua people to talk to it seems. I REALLY liked Thorgestr, was mild on Fargrimr and didn't like Astridr. The game doesn't let you sit with any of these characters long enough to grow to care and the reason I liked Thorgestr so much is how the narrative reflects Senua's father to his father. The ending seemed to really bring out the point that "They are not their fathers' " and I found it really poignant but then the game ends doing one of Senua's internal monologues with visuals showing her inner turmoil and we don't get to see any of the immediate aftermath to the situation we just played.

It really left me on a sour note. Because truthfully, I don't want another Hellblade game. I think milking Senua would be pointless. I'm glad the sequel showed how overcoming trauma is not just a one and done sequence. Even if you can overcome your demons once they can resurface and that's a very realistic and important idea to convey. Senua is a very troubled and fallible hero and I REALLY like that. The way this game ends leaves room for a sequel that we do not need to see. Senua has a choice to make at the end and we do not see it. We see her grapple with each decision and see the black and the white take shape before the credits roll.

I hate to make this comparison but it really feels like I was playing an arthouse movie. If not arthouse then a pretentious A24 movie with a purposefully ambiguous ending. The one's that filmbros talk about to no end. I hate that comparison because this game does have value. It just takes the right audience or person to see that value.

If you value an interesting narrative with thrilling and horrifying sequences and beautiful visuals then I think this game might be that arthouse A24/Neon picture you've always dreamed of playing

If you want an escalation of the themes present in Senua's Sacrifice with a similar narrative and amped up gameplay you will be disappointed.

If you expected a full-length game with skill trees and upgrades then this is not the game for you

If you want interesting puzzles and gameplay with fun and interesting combat then this is not the game for you.

That is the name of the game with this one I'm afraid
The power of that name is up to you

Names give meaning but what that name (category) means to you is deeply personal and of one's own taste. I can only say that I did enjoy this game. While I did not have fun, I had a genuinely good experience and appreciated Ninja Theory's hard work.

The only undeniable thing about this game is that it is certainly the most realistic looking game ever made. That fight with Thorgestr at the beginning of the game literally looked like live action choreography.

I also have one more thing to say but it didn't really fit into my larger point so I'm putting it here. Game length. A lot of people have a problem with this game's length and I think that is the most subjective gripe to have about a game. Because 1.) this game has a complete beginning, middle, and end that ends with the completion of the main objective that the game sets out at the very beginning and 2.) If anything this game might be a little too long. It meanders in its puzzle sections and the second giant section. When you reach the underground section the game just repeats the same puzzles over and over again and throws waves of enemies at you periodically so the player doesn't get bored but you can practically see the code on that part. Judging a game on its length is really weird because I can see the argument that you spent $50 bucks and want a decent amount of time but the work done by Ninja Theory to make this game look and sound this great is, in my mind, worth that price tag. Hard work is expensive and this experience is not cheap. Personally if this game, which is oppressive and stressful and not very fun, were any longer I'd have hated it.

I deeply appreciate elden ring, but, by the 40 hour mark it ran out of ways to keep me engaged outside of its core, punishing, combat loop.

elden ring marks fromsoft's first foray into the open world genre, and it largely is a success. the audio-visual presentation is brilliant, and the landscapes are striking. but here, unlike the open vistas of say, Breath of the Wild, each step further into the expanse is met with dread. my favorite moment, stepping into a seemingly bottomless well to reach the underworld for the first time, seemed to mark a change in tempo. there was a (simple) puzzle, a beautiful, almost tragic, boss, and an inviting beauty to a dark sky, starlit by the glimmer of cave rocks.

that type of exploration is the exception, not the rule. for most of the journey, you are a hammer, and the world is an excuse to present a series of nails. this singular focus on combat works in more poetic expanses, such as Shadow of the Colossus, but its unerring violence chewed away at the sense of discovery that so enthralled me during its opening hours.

my favorite open world games are ones that encourage discovery and engagement in ways beyond combat. here, the occasional fetch quests and story moments are so obfuscated by wonky design, that it's almost impossible to track unless you're playing with a wikia or a pen and paper in hand. this type of discovery works well in the more staged worlds of Dark Souls and Sekiro, but feels less at home in the massive world of Elden Ring.

I wanted to replay this game before the dlc dropped but also I wanted to try and experience the game that everyone else seemed to enjoy WAY more than I did the first time round. I've replayed every Souls game multiple times even the ones I don't really like. I've seen the end credits roll on Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, and Dark Souls 2 multiple times and tried my hardest to get the most out of those games that I struggled to connect with. (This actually made me really love Dark Souls 2 despite its flaws and it's probably my favorite Dark Souls title)

All that to say is that when I did beat Elden Eing for the first time back in 2022 I didn't get it.

It was certainly a great game and one that I appreciated much more than I personally enjoyed.

Returning to this title has opened my eyes a little. I still don't love it as much as everyone else. Something just hasn't fully connected but I enjoyed myself WAY MORE this go around.

It might be the contrarian in me but I had to learn to play this game my way. It's probably why instead of some Katana or Greatsword build I chose the weapon class with the least amount of weapons in it. I used a duelwield Nightrider flail set. One I made scale with Dex and the other I made inflict frost buildup. I've never seen anyone else use Flails in this game and I figured I'd try them out. Definitely combines my love of dex builds with this game's stance mechanic that had me downing bosses in 3 jumping attacks. This build is only possible if you have a friend drop you the second Night rider flail or if you're in NG+. I wanted to have fun so I just had my boy give it to me in exchange for something he wanted to try.

While not extremely overpowered the build made my playstyle very fun. I hate using shields since Bloodborne and Sekiro are my two favorite Souls titles. I also refrained from using summons this go around because if Kai Cenat can do it than so can I.

In this new run I found myself not bound by expectation or build. I did what I wanted and played with the only rule being no summons. This playthrough really tested my skills as a souls player and in that reignited the challenge of the souls games I've not felt since first beating Dark Souls 2 for the first time. Beating that game was such a rewarding feeling. It felt like I overcame so much and earned the right to see those endcredits. I had the same feeling after beating Sekiro and Bloodborne for the first times.

I've searched for this feeling ever since and only Lies of P got close to giving it to me with the Nameless Puppet boss at the end.

This feeling was achieved in this playthrough

Just my tarnished, a few incantations, and two fails

We overcame the Lands Between

Now truth be told I haven't actually seen the credits yet. I stopped right after Godfrey. I haven't fought the Elden Beast yet because I want to know if the DLC will add a new ending. So I'm right at the end but am refraining until Shadow of the Erdtree.

But needless to say I now see what people see when they think about Elden Ring

Little Kitty, Big City. Hitting the gritty. Better than Stray by a bitty. Controls nifty, but sometimes mingy. "Worth $12.50", if I were grifty.

Nah, fuck that cringe shit. Look - the game is fine. Has some of the same misgivings as Stray such as the handholding and need for unfair amounts of precision on jumps, but unlike Stray, you can control your orientation and it's not as slow-going. The amount of customization (hats, some of which are functional) and the cheerful soundtrack both serve as highlights.

Alright let's start this off right. I have played all versions of P3 before this and I have to say, overall, this is the best version of Persona 3. It did get a bunch of nice new things, but the budget for this game seems way more reasonable and lower scale than you might expect. It really does feel like the ultimate PS2 RPG in that respect. It's about as faithful of a remake you could possibly ask for. I had so much fun with this release, I tore through it in less than two weeks.

Seriously, everything's been remade to spruce up the P3 experience that oldheads can appreciate, and at the same time make people who started the series with Persona 5 comfy. I cannot believe it struck such a balance. The dev team put a lot of thought into everything.

What I like most about Reload is the quality of life improvements on the dungeons. The dungeon crawling is no longer is sloggish nightmare in order to get what you need (XP, Money, Personas). You only need to grind if you really want to to get ahead for the next cropping of sections. It really makes a world of difference being able to spend 2-3 hours in a cropping of floors getting what you need and then optimizing the next month with social links. I used to hate doing the dungeon parts of the game and now I easily see it as one of the best parts. Persona 4 could REALLY use this kind of balancing and quality of life upgrades.

It's only flaw is being too committed to original releases. The plot is pretty slow for the first few months. The Arcana Link side stories are not nearly as interesting. The S.E.E.S. crew is not nearly as interesting as the P4 or P5 crew. I am happy to report Junpei has been fixed to be your typical bonehead idiot than really obnoxious creep. Everyone else is more or less the same. My favorite link Maya is a blast from the past. She is cringe and uses 2005 1337sp34k. She is playing the long shut down Shin Megami Tensei MMO that the game admits was destroyed by World of Warcraft. She's an alcoholic who bitches to teenagers about how much her boss sucks. Definite wife material.

If you've played a Persona game before, I suggest cranking up that difficulty because by the end of the 3rd month I was fucking busted. The only real difficulty on Regular is people not knowing how the game wants you to play, and of course figuring out a certain monster's weaknesses. Thanks to Fuuka's abilities, you can figure out any creature's weakness right away. The only real challenging fights on a Regular level are the sponge-y creatures that have no weaknesses at all and is essentially a party item/SP drain, but from how dungeons work now you'll be loaded with minor healing items to get through most things without thinking twice.

Persona 5 Royal is a better game when it comes to interactions with characters and world-immersion, but Persona 3 Reload is just a better playing RPG that cuts out all the fat and gets to the shit you really want out of the rather old school dungeon stuff. All the new abilities and quality of life features make this a must play even if you have played Persona 3 before. If you are the brainrotted type who thinks Persona 5 is only RPG on the planet worth playing then you MIGHT be looking at your second ever RPG. Congratulations!

I cannot wait for The Answer Episode Aigis in the fall. I cannot wait for the female MC route to come out even though its existence has been denied by devs, but you are fucking crazy if you believe them and think it's not happening. I am going to sell feet pics in 4K and probably going to have a good time doing it.

Play me out, Lotus Juice:

DISTURBING THE PEACE!
LOOK INTO MY EYES!
NOW TELL ME THE THINGS YOU'RE LAUGHING ABOUT BEHIND MY BACK!