xLiliAUS
BACKER
2020
Ghostrunner is a very simple game, and that's not a bad thing! In a similar vein to the Portal games, it knows what it is and doesn't try to be much more than that. A game with a tight and concise focus is a breath of fresh air in an industry thats seems obsessed with open world gather-craftathons and live service failures.
Graduating from the Hotline Miami school of thought, Ghostrunner is a mutual one hit kill game, except crucially unlike Hotline Miami, Ghostrunner never deviates from this rule (I mean did anyone like those big enemies in Hotline? Be honest). Instead, Ghostrunner adds challenge to its enemy design based around your movest. There are enemies with shields from the front, so you have to use your platforming skills to get behind them, there are ninja-like enemies that you have to parry to open them up to the kill. there are guys with a crazy jacked up arm that'll take the aggression to you, so you might wanna bait them to jump and kill them while they're recovering.
There's never a shortage of challenge in each and every combat encounter, which makes me wish there was some platforming challenge to go along with it. Excluding the first "boss" and the final sequence of the game the platforming boils down to holding forward, pressing jump at the end of the wall you're running on, and pressing L2 to grappling hook or slow down the movement of certain geometry. Which I suppose explains why people generally say the final sequence was such a difficulty spike, the platforming mechanics don't really demand you engage with them after the first boss in the same way the combat does. So I went into the end of the game thrilled to see a big, tough platforming challenge because I really enjoyed using all my movement skills during the combat encounters and was sincerely hoping for another platforming boss like TOM.
Being honest, although they are much more cinematic, the combat boss fights are much less interesting to replay than the platforming bosses, one is just a parry timing check, and the other is just surviving until you can bait a certain attack to hit a certain part of the arena. Fairly unengaging stuff, but wow, the T-073-M boss fight is easily my favourite, it's actually a challenge and the most replayable by far.
Likely due to the gameplay being the main focus of Ghostrunner, the story has quite the backseat role, being little more than justification to keep the gameplay train chugging along and for the level design to change locales. Eventually the story takes you into the city of Dharma tower, and the world design is just incredible, especially considering how little of it you'll see as you race through each level without a second thought, it really could've done with giving the player an opportunity and a good reason to stop, like if right at the peak of the city you get a wide, expansive view of all of it all, accompanied by a swell of music to really drive the moment home, ah well.
Overall, Ghostrunner isn't particularly innovative, nor does it have a moving narrative, it just sets out with a single minded goal and achieves it with flying colours, and I respect that.
Graduating from the Hotline Miami school of thought, Ghostrunner is a mutual one hit kill game, except crucially unlike Hotline Miami, Ghostrunner never deviates from this rule (I mean did anyone like those big enemies in Hotline? Be honest). Instead, Ghostrunner adds challenge to its enemy design based around your movest. There are enemies with shields from the front, so you have to use your platforming skills to get behind them, there are ninja-like enemies that you have to parry to open them up to the kill. there are guys with a crazy jacked up arm that'll take the aggression to you, so you might wanna bait them to jump and kill them while they're recovering.
There's never a shortage of challenge in each and every combat encounter, which makes me wish there was some platforming challenge to go along with it. Excluding the first "boss" and the final sequence of the game the platforming boils down to holding forward, pressing jump at the end of the wall you're running on, and pressing L2 to grappling hook or slow down the movement of certain geometry. Which I suppose explains why people generally say the final sequence was such a difficulty spike, the platforming mechanics don't really demand you engage with them after the first boss in the same way the combat does. So I went into the end of the game thrilled to see a big, tough platforming challenge because I really enjoyed using all my movement skills during the combat encounters and was sincerely hoping for another platforming boss like TOM.
Being honest, although they are much more cinematic, the combat boss fights are much less interesting to replay than the platforming bosses, one is just a parry timing check, and the other is just surviving until you can bait a certain attack to hit a certain part of the arena. Fairly unengaging stuff, but wow, the T-073-M boss fight is easily my favourite, it's actually a challenge and the most replayable by far.
Likely due to the gameplay being the main focus of Ghostrunner, the story has quite the backseat role, being little more than justification to keep the gameplay train chugging along and for the level design to change locales. Eventually the story takes you into the city of Dharma tower, and the world design is just incredible, especially considering how little of it you'll see as you race through each level without a second thought, it really could've done with giving the player an opportunity and a good reason to stop, like if right at the peak of the city you get a wide, expansive view of all of it all, accompanied by a swell of music to really drive the moment home, ah well.
Overall, Ghostrunner isn't particularly innovative, nor does it have a moving narrative, it just sets out with a single minded goal and achieves it with flying colours, and I respect that.
I'm not going to attach a score to this review because I don't feel like I played anywhere close to enough of this game to properly assess the quality of it, but maaaaan. So many features, weapons and QoL are just absent from this first iteration of Monster Hunter. There are only 7 weapons, Greatsword, Lance, Sword and Shield, Dual Blades, Hammer, and the Bowguns.
So, in Monster Hunter I primarily play Insect Glaive (which obviously ain't here that shit's 4th gen) and I like to play Bow too (2nd gen) so that left me without an immediate weapon choice going into Freedom. I chose Greatsword. Now there's just one issue with Greatsword in this game, and I did go in knowing this; Greatsword cannot charge, so you just get a really slow standard attack, realistically far too slow to use (I mean holy fuck have you seen Cephadrome in this game???). So I ended up devising another way of playing GS, a hit and run style where I use the unsheath attack which is shockingly fast and seems to still output decent damage. There's just one issue here, the nature of an unsheath attack is that it can only be used while sheathed (duh), so after my one (1) attack I would instantly sheath my weapon and run around waiting for another chance to get my single (one (1)) hit in.
This style was actually quite effective and fun when playing local co-op with my girlfriend, as we could split aggro and allow each other to get heals or better hits in, was genuinely very fun and engaging... But that's during local co-op, and Monster Hunter Freedom kind of necessitates the completion of low rank village (also known as singleplager content) to really have the kind of gear capable of dealing with hub low rank. Now let me tell you, this hit and run method in singleplayer was just agony, I hardly ever got my chance to swing, and the issue of this game having fucked up hitboxes is only exacerbated when there's no one else to take aggro. A very frustating experience overall. I don't think I even completed village 2 star...
Honestly though, I only played this game cuz my girlfriend is a Monster Hunter FIEND, a certifiable nut for this series, so I think I'll be skipping ahead to Freedom Unite and reunite (haha) with my beloved Bow. Though I certainly would want to return to Freedom and give it a proper crack after playing the rest of what Monster Hunter has to offer, maybe I'll play SnS instead when the time comes though...
So, in Monster Hunter I primarily play Insect Glaive (which obviously ain't here that shit's 4th gen) and I like to play Bow too (2nd gen) so that left me without an immediate weapon choice going into Freedom. I chose Greatsword. Now there's just one issue with Greatsword in this game, and I did go in knowing this; Greatsword cannot charge, so you just get a really slow standard attack, realistically far too slow to use (I mean holy fuck have you seen Cephadrome in this game???). So I ended up devising another way of playing GS, a hit and run style where I use the unsheath attack which is shockingly fast and seems to still output decent damage. There's just one issue here, the nature of an unsheath attack is that it can only be used while sheathed (duh), so after my one (1) attack I would instantly sheath my weapon and run around waiting for another chance to get my single (one (1)) hit in.
This style was actually quite effective and fun when playing local co-op with my girlfriend, as we could split aggro and allow each other to get heals or better hits in, was genuinely very fun and engaging... But that's during local co-op, and Monster Hunter Freedom kind of necessitates the completion of low rank village (also known as singleplager content) to really have the kind of gear capable of dealing with hub low rank. Now let me tell you, this hit and run method in singleplayer was just agony, I hardly ever got my chance to swing, and the issue of this game having fucked up hitboxes is only exacerbated when there's no one else to take aggro. A very frustating experience overall. I don't think I even completed village 2 star...
Honestly though, I only played this game cuz my girlfriend is a Monster Hunter FIEND, a certifiable nut for this series, so I think I'll be skipping ahead to Freedom Unite and reunite (haha) with my beloved Bow. Though I certainly would want to return to Freedom and give it a proper crack after playing the rest of what Monster Hunter has to offer, maybe I'll play SnS instead when the time comes though...
2023
Not 5/5 as in flawless masterpiece, but 5/5 as in they made this game for me, personally.
With a parry system strongly reminiscent of Sekiro's (a game which has a combat system I adore) but a splash of Bloodborne's Rally system retooled to not suck absolute ass (fight me) and all this wrapped up in Dark Souls 1-esque level design except it doesn't shit the bed halfway through? Absolute chef's kiss.
So, you can block in this game, in fact (almost) everything except grabs are blockable, but a portion of your health is lost as chip damage, except you can recover that chip through attacking the enemy. How does this improve Bloodborne's Rally system? Simple, when a boss does a million fuckin attacks in 3 seconds if you have the stamina to block it all then ALL THE CHIP YOU TOOK is stored and can be healed, unlike in Bloodborne where only the last hit is healable (fuck you Ludwig). If you time your blocks well you get a parry, which causes no chip, builds up an invisible "Posture" bar (it works kinda like Elden Ring) so to speak, and if you parry enough YOU CAN EVEN BREAK THEIR WEAPON I CANNOT STRESS HOW FUCKING COOL THIS IS!!! When the boss has taken enough "Posture" damage a fully charged R2 will open then up to a Fatal Attack (Elden Ring Critical Hit). This ensures R2 attacks will always have a place in combat, which is something every Souls game has struggled with.
Bosses, mercifully leave enough time for a fully charged R2 if you know when to go for it, Lies of P maintains a great level of boss difficulty that really made me feel like I was playing Dark Souls 1 again, stuck on Taurus Demon all over. Thankfully, Lies of P does not take lessons from Elden Ring's "make them read every input and just spam a million attacks" school of thought, instead bosses are slow, methodical, baiting you to attack them at the wrong time in a way that ALWAYS feel like YOU (I) fucked up.
Yet, in opposition to these slow, methodical bosses, the game really wants you to keep hitting them, a portion of your damage is dealt as chip, and if you don't hit them they WILL heal that chip back, and if you run out of heals you can generate more by landing hits. In Lies of P, patience may be key but hesitation is (still) defeat. I was originally skeptical of the heal regeneration, but it's so hard to generate more than one extra heal, and frankly, it was more often I generated an extra heal during exploration than during a boss fight. When I did generate a heal during a boss that I desperately needed however, the tension really hits.
Lies of P additionally has many ways to modulate your difficulty, between AI summons, Fable Arts, the Wishstone, and infinite respecs, this feels like the conclusion to the idea that you can adjust the difficulty of a Souls game via the mechanics you interact with. Most of this is mandatory, and what isn't is found with just a little exploring. Lies of P may be the most accessible Souls-like thus far, without eventually making these mechanics feel necessary to progression, which just ultimately defeats the point (looking at you, Elden Ring Spirit Ash).
One of the most common criticisms of the game is that it's perhaps too inspired by Souls-likes, namely Bloodborne, and I couldn't disagree more, what is taken from Souls games are often retooled and reworked in an exploration of the mechanics, not a simple copy paste. Not to mention Lies of P brings its own new mechanics to the table in the form of the separation of weapon blade and hilt, you can put a damn dagger blade on a greatsword handle if you so please. Although, I must admit, this concept was not explored nearly as much as it deserved, it is still inspired game design regardless Also the aforementioned breaking enemy weapons this is still the coolest shit ever I do not care how underdeveloped the weapon creation mechanics are because breaking a boss's weapon is REALLY FUCKING COOL DUDE I'M SO SERIOUS!!!
But I mean, I understand that I can't convince anyone to agree that this is the best Souls-like, and I'm okay with that. I just fell in love with the entire game, the music, the characters, the stories, the gameplay, it all spoke to me in a way I can't write or articulate. I'm not kidding when I say I feel like this game was made for me, this shit really spoke to me, and at times I felt like I could speak back, I feel seen. Fuck.
Please don't let Round8 Studio be a one hit wonder, please let the DLC and whatever they make next be as successful as this, please do not let their next game be another Bless Unleashed I am BEGGING.
With a parry system strongly reminiscent of Sekiro's (a game which has a combat system I adore) but a splash of Bloodborne's Rally system retooled to not suck absolute ass (fight me) and all this wrapped up in Dark Souls 1-esque level design except it doesn't shit the bed halfway through? Absolute chef's kiss.
So, you can block in this game, in fact (almost) everything except grabs are blockable, but a portion of your health is lost as chip damage, except you can recover that chip through attacking the enemy. How does this improve Bloodborne's Rally system? Simple, when a boss does a million fuckin attacks in 3 seconds if you have the stamina to block it all then ALL THE CHIP YOU TOOK is stored and can be healed, unlike in Bloodborne where only the last hit is healable (fuck you Ludwig). If you time your blocks well you get a parry, which causes no chip, builds up an invisible "Posture" bar (it works kinda like Elden Ring) so to speak, and if you parry enough YOU CAN EVEN BREAK THEIR WEAPON I CANNOT STRESS HOW FUCKING COOL THIS IS!!! When the boss has taken enough "Posture" damage a fully charged R2 will open then up to a Fatal Attack (Elden Ring Critical Hit). This ensures R2 attacks will always have a place in combat, which is something every Souls game has struggled with.
Bosses, mercifully leave enough time for a fully charged R2 if you know when to go for it, Lies of P maintains a great level of boss difficulty that really made me feel like I was playing Dark Souls 1 again, stuck on Taurus Demon all over. Thankfully, Lies of P does not take lessons from Elden Ring's "make them read every input and just spam a million attacks" school of thought, instead bosses are slow, methodical, baiting you to attack them at the wrong time in a way that ALWAYS feel like YOU (I) fucked up.
Yet, in opposition to these slow, methodical bosses, the game really wants you to keep hitting them, a portion of your damage is dealt as chip, and if you don't hit them they WILL heal that chip back, and if you run out of heals you can generate more by landing hits. In Lies of P, patience may be key but hesitation is (still) defeat. I was originally skeptical of the heal regeneration, but it's so hard to generate more than one extra heal, and frankly, it was more often I generated an extra heal during exploration than during a boss fight. When I did generate a heal during a boss that I desperately needed however, the tension really hits.
Lies of P additionally has many ways to modulate your difficulty, between AI summons, Fable Arts, the Wishstone, and infinite respecs, this feels like the conclusion to the idea that you can adjust the difficulty of a Souls game via the mechanics you interact with. Most of this is mandatory, and what isn't is found with just a little exploring. Lies of P may be the most accessible Souls-like thus far, without eventually making these mechanics feel necessary to progression, which just ultimately defeats the point (looking at you, Elden Ring Spirit Ash).
One of the most common criticisms of the game is that it's perhaps too inspired by Souls-likes, namely Bloodborne, and I couldn't disagree more, what is taken from Souls games are often retooled and reworked in an exploration of the mechanics, not a simple copy paste. Not to mention Lies of P brings its own new mechanics to the table in the form of the separation of weapon blade and hilt, you can put a damn dagger blade on a greatsword handle if you so please. Although, I must admit, this concept was not explored nearly as much as it deserved, it is still inspired game design regardless Also the aforementioned breaking enemy weapons this is still the coolest shit ever I do not care how underdeveloped the weapon creation mechanics are because breaking a boss's weapon is REALLY FUCKING COOL DUDE I'M SO SERIOUS!!!
But I mean, I understand that I can't convince anyone to agree that this is the best Souls-like, and I'm okay with that. I just fell in love with the entire game, the music, the characters, the stories, the gameplay, it all spoke to me in a way I can't write or articulate. I'm not kidding when I say I feel like this game was made for me, this shit really spoke to me, and at times I felt like I could speak back, I feel seen. Fuck.
Please don't let Round8 Studio be a one hit wonder, please let the DLC and whatever they make next be as successful as this, please do not let their next game be another Bless Unleashed I am BEGGING.
To right the countless wrongs of our day, we shine this light of true redemption, that this place may become as paradise. What a wonderful world such would be...
I don't remember what my first exposure to The World Ends with You was, or when. For the longest time I thought it was this video but since replaying the game I'm no longer so sure, the date that video was uploaded is April 15th, 2019, but having combed through old Discord messages, I can see that I had played this game at least by March 14th. Regardless, what I do know is that one day, back in early 2019 I saw The World Ends with You: Final Remix on the shelf at EB Games, and having heard good things about the DS version I picked it up.
I was a lot like Neku, which isn't something I'm proud to admit. I had the same mindset of keeping people out, being unable to "get people", the whole nine yards. Although, maybe that was a learnt behaviour, when I was in high school the group of friends I hung out with had a big falling out and basically split in two overnight. I was told that this happened at my birthday party because I had invited people from both sides and most of them didn't show up or say anything to me. I haven't wanted to celebrate my birthday since.
"Trust your partner" are words spoken to Neku and echoed in his mind throughout the course of the entire game. To have to put your entire faith in someone for the sake of both of you, it's a big ask, and completely impossible with a mindset like that. Despite this, the game never presents Neku's mindset as wrong, instead it is presented as an unfulfilling and unnecessarily more challenging way of living, a key distinction in my mind. If you share Neku's sentiments about life and people you don't have to change, but you'd probably be better off if you did.
I don't think I really internalised these messages when I first played the game, but to be fair I was 17. I do know that I experienced the life changing affects of the game that everyone harps on about at that time, but I don't think I really changed as much as I could have, I don't think I wanted to.
And then I realised I was transgender.
"Listen up, Phones. The world ends with you. If you want to enjoy life, expand your world. You gotta push your horizons out as far as they'll go."
I don't think this is one of those cases where a piece of media causes someone to realise they're trans, although the timing of me playing The World Ends with You to me figuring it out is pretty close.
Suddenly, my world changed just as much as Neku's did except now I was a stranger in my own walled garden, I no longer understood myself, I hardly had a hope of understanding others. I started hormones on 10/09/19, and shortly after I found myself in a local community of trans people. I was pushing out my horizons just a little bit.
I tried to be just like them, talking about subjects I didn't really want to, forcing myself to the point of deluding myself into thinking I did. I was accepted, but only as an accidentally created artificial version of myself I had bludgeoned myself into thinking was who I really was. That I was "discovering" myself. It makes me sick to look back on. It didn't last and I was sinking back into my old mindset of asocial apathy, but at least it was actually me.
I met my girlfriend in this community, and her single influence on me has been more positive and influential for me than any sense of belonging derived from a community I didn't fit in with ever could be.
The World Begins with You
I completed work trainee-ships, I'm getting my life together (maybe only a little bit), and I feel better about myself, not because of a false self of belonging but from an internal sense of direction for my own life. I have hope and prospects for my future, and my ideals are clashing with the people I'm actually keeping around, and I'm letting people in, just a little. While it's true that it's not hard to understand people, it's impossible, I figure I still might as well try.
"Same streets, same crowds too. Yeah, Shibuya hasn't changed a bit, but still, I don't think I can forgive you yet. You don't see it, but, those few weeks were very hard for me. Learning to trust people, having that trust broken. Finding out the town I pegged as small, and stifling, and empty, wasn't any of those things. I'm glad I met you guys, you made me pick up on things I probably would've just gone on ignoring. Trust your partner, and I do. I can't forgive you, but I trust you. You took care of things right? Otherwise Shibuya would be gone, and my world with it. Hey, did I mention, I've got friends now! We're getting together for the first time in a week! See you there?"
Oh yeah btw the games good, the controls are kinda hard to get used to though, funnily enough I think being left handed like me makes the game easier. Fuck the final boss though I dropped my difficulty to easy cuz it just kills you in 4 hits.
I don't remember what my first exposure to The World Ends with You was, or when. For the longest time I thought it was this video but since replaying the game I'm no longer so sure, the date that video was uploaded is April 15th, 2019, but having combed through old Discord messages, I can see that I had played this game at least by March 14th. Regardless, what I do know is that one day, back in early 2019 I saw The World Ends with You: Final Remix on the shelf at EB Games, and having heard good things about the DS version I picked it up.
I was a lot like Neku, which isn't something I'm proud to admit. I had the same mindset of keeping people out, being unable to "get people", the whole nine yards. Although, maybe that was a learnt behaviour, when I was in high school the group of friends I hung out with had a big falling out and basically split in two overnight. I was told that this happened at my birthday party because I had invited people from both sides and most of them didn't show up or say anything to me. I haven't wanted to celebrate my birthday since.
"Trust your partner" are words spoken to Neku and echoed in his mind throughout the course of the entire game. To have to put your entire faith in someone for the sake of both of you, it's a big ask, and completely impossible with a mindset like that. Despite this, the game never presents Neku's mindset as wrong, instead it is presented as an unfulfilling and unnecessarily more challenging way of living, a key distinction in my mind. If you share Neku's sentiments about life and people you don't have to change, but you'd probably be better off if you did.
I don't think I really internalised these messages when I first played the game, but to be fair I was 17. I do know that I experienced the life changing affects of the game that everyone harps on about at that time, but I don't think I really changed as much as I could have, I don't think I wanted to.
And then I realised I was transgender.
"Listen up, Phones. The world ends with you. If you want to enjoy life, expand your world. You gotta push your horizons out as far as they'll go."
I don't think this is one of those cases where a piece of media causes someone to realise they're trans, although the timing of me playing The World Ends with You to me figuring it out is pretty close.
Suddenly, my world changed just as much as Neku's did except now I was a stranger in my own walled garden, I no longer understood myself, I hardly had a hope of understanding others. I started hormones on 10/09/19, and shortly after I found myself in a local community of trans people. I was pushing out my horizons just a little bit.
I tried to be just like them, talking about subjects I didn't really want to, forcing myself to the point of deluding myself into thinking I did. I was accepted, but only as an accidentally created artificial version of myself I had bludgeoned myself into thinking was who I really was. That I was "discovering" myself. It makes me sick to look back on. It didn't last and I was sinking back into my old mindset of asocial apathy, but at least it was actually me.
I met my girlfriend in this community, and her single influence on me has been more positive and influential for me than any sense of belonging derived from a community I didn't fit in with ever could be.
The World Begins with You
I completed work trainee-ships, I'm getting my life together (maybe only a little bit), and I feel better about myself, not because of a false self of belonging but from an internal sense of direction for my own life. I have hope and prospects for my future, and my ideals are clashing with the people I'm actually keeping around, and I'm letting people in, just a little. While it's true that it's not hard to understand people, it's impossible, I figure I still might as well try.
"Same streets, same crowds too. Yeah, Shibuya hasn't changed a bit, but still, I don't think I can forgive you yet. You don't see it, but, those few weeks were very hard for me. Learning to trust people, having that trust broken. Finding out the town I pegged as small, and stifling, and empty, wasn't any of those things. I'm glad I met you guys, you made me pick up on things I probably would've just gone on ignoring. Trust your partner, and I do. I can't forgive you, but I trust you. You took care of things right? Otherwise Shibuya would be gone, and my world with it. Hey, did I mention, I've got friends now! We're getting together for the first time in a week! See you there?"
Oh yeah btw the games good, the controls are kinda hard to get used to though, funnily enough I think being left handed like me makes the game easier. Fuck the final boss though I dropped my difficulty to easy cuz it just kills you in 4 hits.
2016
This review contains spoilers
Spoilers for what happens after the casino palace, an out of context spoiler for the cutscene following the defeat of the final boss, and light Persona 3 spoilers regarding Apathy Syndrome
Persona 5 feels like a game that outgrew its original scope quite significantly. I get this feeling most when looking back to Persona 3, in that game Apathy Syndrome was the antagonist for most of the run time, and Persona 5 has a fictional syndrome that bears resemblance, the Mental Shutdowns and Psychotic Breakdowns (the differences of these really aren't at all clear so I'll just be treating them as the same thing).
Persona 3's Apathy Syndrome has one primary distinction though, it's actually visible in the game world, anywhere you go you will see any number of The Lost corresponding to your progress in the game. Yet, in Persona 5 victims of Mental Shutdowns have absolutely no impact on the game world at all. If you read the TV in Leblanc everyday like I did it will paint a bleak picture of the world, that this is a significant issue, but I step outside and it's as peaceful as ever? Seeing The Lost everywhere gave me a sense of dread and impending doom that Persona 5 just left on the table.
The game also treats the player like they're fucking stupid. It constantly shows you flashbacks to dialogue from a scene or two ago to make sure you really understand that when Ann called Makoto useless its just like how her sister also called her useless like 5 minutes ago. I can't even make this shit up. There are some moments where the flashbacks are used properly but 9/10 times it's bullshit.
My final major issue is that the plot twist following the casino palace fucking sucks. It just demands so much suspension of disbelief that I wasn't willing to afford it after like 85 hours of "society destroying Mental Shutdowns" and bullshit flashbacks. I refuse to believe Futaba couldn't install a bug on Akechi's phone that records both sides of conversation but she could hack into security cameras from the Metaverse to make sure they wouldn't get caught in the interrogation cells. I refuse to believe Akechi is stupid enough to call Shido by name when referring to murder. I have no clue why Nijima had to show Akechi Joker's phone in order to take them into the Metaverse. I'd also like to know when, exactly, Akechi heard Morgana speak in Madarame's palace, one of the few times a flashback could be used properly and it isn't.
However, the game made me feel something, I don't know what that something is even after two days of thinking about it but I do know that Morgana's spiel about the world being a product of cognition made me think about replaying The World Ends with You, so there HAS to be something there. Also the gameplay is great and the characters are almost as lovable as Persona 3's cast.
The peaks of this game are like, 4.5 stars and the valleys are like, 1 star, I'm honestly hesitant to give this game a score at all but my heart tells me 2.5 stars is how I feel so that's what I'm going with.
Persona 5 feels like a game that outgrew its original scope quite significantly. I get this feeling most when looking back to Persona 3, in that game Apathy Syndrome was the antagonist for most of the run time, and Persona 5 has a fictional syndrome that bears resemblance, the Mental Shutdowns and Psychotic Breakdowns (the differences of these really aren't at all clear so I'll just be treating them as the same thing).
Persona 3's Apathy Syndrome has one primary distinction though, it's actually visible in the game world, anywhere you go you will see any number of The Lost corresponding to your progress in the game. Yet, in Persona 5 victims of Mental Shutdowns have absolutely no impact on the game world at all. If you read the TV in Leblanc everyday like I did it will paint a bleak picture of the world, that this is a significant issue, but I step outside and it's as peaceful as ever? Seeing The Lost everywhere gave me a sense of dread and impending doom that Persona 5 just left on the table.
The game also treats the player like they're fucking stupid. It constantly shows you flashbacks to dialogue from a scene or two ago to make sure you really understand that when Ann called Makoto useless its just like how her sister also called her useless like 5 minutes ago. I can't even make this shit up. There are some moments where the flashbacks are used properly but 9/10 times it's bullshit.
My final major issue is that the plot twist following the casino palace fucking sucks. It just demands so much suspension of disbelief that I wasn't willing to afford it after like 85 hours of "society destroying Mental Shutdowns" and bullshit flashbacks. I refuse to believe Futaba couldn't install a bug on Akechi's phone that records both sides of conversation but she could hack into security cameras from the Metaverse to make sure they wouldn't get caught in the interrogation cells. I refuse to believe Akechi is stupid enough to call Shido by name when referring to murder. I have no clue why Nijima had to show Akechi Joker's phone in order to take them into the Metaverse. I'd also like to know when, exactly, Akechi heard Morgana speak in Madarame's palace, one of the few times a flashback could be used properly and it isn't.
However, the game made me feel something, I don't know what that something is even after two days of thinking about it but I do know that Morgana's spiel about the world being a product of cognition made me think about replaying The World Ends with You, so there HAS to be something there. Also the gameplay is great and the characters are almost as lovable as Persona 3's cast.
The peaks of this game are like, 4.5 stars and the valleys are like, 1 star, I'm honestly hesitant to give this game a score at all but my heart tells me 2.5 stars is how I feel so that's what I'm going with.
2007
Full Disclosure; I used an EXP x4000 gain cheat before the final day due to reasons I will explain later, also this review is specifically for The Journey, I will be reviewing The Answer separately once I play it.
Coming hot off the heels of Persona 2: Eternal Punishment I was really, REALLY looking forward to playing the first real Persona game, Persona 3 FES, which is why I'm so disappointed in how let down I am in this game.
Persona 3 FES has an incredibly bare-bones story, with shockingly weak antagonists and a refusal to allow any development of them. At a certain point in the game there seem to literally be no antagonists whatsoever, and the pointlessness of it all would stick more as an intentional meta-narrative story device if I didn't feel like there wasn't an antagonist for the entire rest of the game as well. Also the Yakushima Beach scene has an incredibly, horribly poorly aged transphobic joke which left a sour taste in my mouth for some time.
The social sim half of this game certainly does a lot for differentiating it from its numerous Megaten siblings but it's quite underbaked in FES. Romance of most female characters is forced, which is not the based Ethical Non-Monogamy win it could have been, but then again these characters are teenagers so go play Hades for your polyamoury kick. Eventually I ran out of social sim activities to do at night, which is way more boring than it sounds, and what Social Links I did have available to me I quit halfway through most of the time due to either, A; the aforementioned forced romance, or B; shit like Kenji wanting a date a teacher and Maya being a teacher wanting to date a student. However first attempts are rarely home runs so I'll cut the game some slack for that.
The battle system revamp coming from Eternal Punishment kinda sucks, actually? Knockdowns don't really feel great to use because the enemy can recover from a knockdown and attack in the same turn but your party must waste a turn recovering from that same knockdown, there should be equality here in my opinion. All Out Attacks aren't the most satisfying either once the novelty wears off (fast). Party AI is actually interesting to play around, it's a worthwhile addition to a somewhat uncompelling battle system, and anyone who refuses to play this game without a party control cheat have been lied to about Mitsuru spamming charm, the Tactics menu was invented here for a reason, use it. Shuffle Time as a mechanic is incredibly underwhelming when compared to Eternal Punishment's purely perfected Demon Contact system (despite that system's flaws in Persona Cards), Shuffle Time especially disappoints when 9/10 times the best choice is EXP card, that or money.
The difficulty curve is also just straight fucked. Tartarus guardians will sometimes outlevel the corresponding Full Moon boss for no good reason and spam Maragidyne in your face until you realise you can cheese it with Magic Mirrors or Narcissus Charm Boosted Sexy Dance. By the end of the game I was staring down a final boss rush at level 70 being told I would need to be about level 80 to beat it, which doesn't sound like that bad of a grind but the EXP even at the top of Tartarus is pitiful, and the only way I could defeat the Reaper and access the Monad Depths is Thunder's Reign cheese, but after unlocking the Monad Depths I came to a horrifying realisation, every single enemy would party wipe me with Megidoloan, so I just used an EXP cheat to max out the protagonist, my party, and personas. It was either that or quitting and watching the ending on Youtube. Sorry for ruining the ludonarrative weight of the final boss I guess.
And yet, after this scathing take down of Persona 3 FES, I still have to give it 3 stars, because damn, the characters and certain isolated story beats are just incredible. I love Akihiko, I love Shinjrio, I love Junpei. Anyone who's played this game would be able to rifle off impactful moments of character development, Akihiko's ultimate persona awakening, Junpei's and Mitsuru's too, practically any time Akihiko and Shinjiro are on screen together its guaranteed to hit hard.
All in all, I kinda just wished I could see what everyone else does in this game.
Coming hot off the heels of Persona 2: Eternal Punishment I was really, REALLY looking forward to playing the first real Persona game, Persona 3 FES, which is why I'm so disappointed in how let down I am in this game.
Persona 3 FES has an incredibly bare-bones story, with shockingly weak antagonists and a refusal to allow any development of them. At a certain point in the game there seem to literally be no antagonists whatsoever, and the pointlessness of it all would stick more as an intentional meta-narrative story device if I didn't feel like there wasn't an antagonist for the entire rest of the game as well. Also the Yakushima Beach scene has an incredibly, horribly poorly aged transphobic joke which left a sour taste in my mouth for some time.
The social sim half of this game certainly does a lot for differentiating it from its numerous Megaten siblings but it's quite underbaked in FES. Romance of most female characters is forced, which is not the based Ethical Non-Monogamy win it could have been, but then again these characters are teenagers so go play Hades for your polyamoury kick. Eventually I ran out of social sim activities to do at night, which is way more boring than it sounds, and what Social Links I did have available to me I quit halfway through most of the time due to either, A; the aforementioned forced romance, or B; shit like Kenji wanting a date a teacher and Maya being a teacher wanting to date a student. However first attempts are rarely home runs so I'll cut the game some slack for that.
The battle system revamp coming from Eternal Punishment kinda sucks, actually? Knockdowns don't really feel great to use because the enemy can recover from a knockdown and attack in the same turn but your party must waste a turn recovering from that same knockdown, there should be equality here in my opinion. All Out Attacks aren't the most satisfying either once the novelty wears off (fast). Party AI is actually interesting to play around, it's a worthwhile addition to a somewhat uncompelling battle system, and anyone who refuses to play this game without a party control cheat have been lied to about Mitsuru spamming charm, the Tactics menu was invented here for a reason, use it. Shuffle Time as a mechanic is incredibly underwhelming when compared to Eternal Punishment's purely perfected Demon Contact system (despite that system's flaws in Persona Cards), Shuffle Time especially disappoints when 9/10 times the best choice is EXP card, that or money.
The difficulty curve is also just straight fucked. Tartarus guardians will sometimes outlevel the corresponding Full Moon boss for no good reason and spam Maragidyne in your face until you realise you can cheese it with Magic Mirrors or Narcissus Charm Boosted Sexy Dance. By the end of the game I was staring down a final boss rush at level 70 being told I would need to be about level 80 to beat it, which doesn't sound like that bad of a grind but the EXP even at the top of Tartarus is pitiful, and the only way I could defeat the Reaper and access the Monad Depths is Thunder's Reign cheese, but after unlocking the Monad Depths I came to a horrifying realisation, every single enemy would party wipe me with Megidoloan, so I just used an EXP cheat to max out the protagonist, my party, and personas. It was either that or quitting and watching the ending on Youtube. Sorry for ruining the ludonarrative weight of the final boss I guess.
And yet, after this scathing take down of Persona 3 FES, I still have to give it 3 stars, because damn, the characters and certain isolated story beats are just incredible. I love Akihiko, I love Shinjrio, I love Junpei. Anyone who's played this game would be able to rifle off impactful moments of character development, Akihiko's ultimate persona awakening, Junpei's and Mitsuru's too, practically any time Akihiko and Shinjiro are on screen together its guaranteed to hit hard.
All in all, I kinda just wished I could see what everyone else does in this game.
This review contains spoilers
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment does a better job of putting the player into the shoes of former protagonist Tatsuya Suou than Innocent Sin ever could as only he and the player retain their memories of "The Other Side", the previous timeline of Innocent Sin that the party abandoned, along with their memories of it, in order to save the world.
Eternal Punishment retreads a lot of Innocent Sin's story, with just enough variation to make it somewhat unfamiliar and wrong, its like if déjà vu was a video game. It feels helpless at times to see some of the same events play out again knowing what happened in Innocent Sin. I had to stop for a moment at many moments in the story. Most significantly after seeing Tatsuya Sudou's asylum room had The Oracle of Maia scrawled over the walls, when Jun wanted to give Tatsuya his lighter after the flying blimp boss fight, and perhaps most significant of all, when it was revealed the New World Order were creating and purging Joker personas to collect kegare, which is actually where the Shadows of Persona 3 (Cowardly Maya) come from.
The gameplay is a vast improvement to Innocent Sin, with this iteration of demon contacting being perhaps the best in the franchise. An added challenge over Innocent Sin's auto battles, and a fairly reduced encounter rate (thank god). The final boss felt particularly satisfyingly tense.
Maya being a silent protagonist here is fiiine but what confuses me is that in flashbacks to Innocent Sin her spoken lines are inexplicably replaced with typical silent protagonist "........." and are instead recited by Tatsuya, who was that game's silent protagonist, it's somewhat dumbfounding.
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment is textbook for how to make an amazing sequel.
Eternal Punishment retreads a lot of Innocent Sin's story, with just enough variation to make it somewhat unfamiliar and wrong, its like if déjà vu was a video game. It feels helpless at times to see some of the same events play out again knowing what happened in Innocent Sin. I had to stop for a moment at many moments in the story. Most significantly after seeing Tatsuya Sudou's asylum room had The Oracle of Maia scrawled over the walls, when Jun wanted to give Tatsuya his lighter after the flying blimp boss fight, and perhaps most significant of all, when it was revealed the New World Order were creating and purging Joker personas to collect kegare, which is actually where the Shadows of Persona 3 (Cowardly Maya) come from.
The gameplay is a vast improvement to Innocent Sin, with this iteration of demon contacting being perhaps the best in the franchise. An added challenge over Innocent Sin's auto battles, and a fairly reduced encounter rate (thank god). The final boss felt particularly satisfyingly tense.
Maya being a silent protagonist here is fiiine but what confuses me is that in flashbacks to Innocent Sin her spoken lines are inexplicably replaced with typical silent protagonist "........." and are instead recited by Tatsuya, who was that game's silent protagonist, it's somewhat dumbfounding.
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment is textbook for how to make an amazing sequel.
Persona 2: Innocent Sin is a really difficult game to try and review, because on one hand, the gameplay and combat is an absolute chore, the battle system is legitimately unfun and is guaranteed to turn some people away from the game... yet on the other hand the story of P2:IS is absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking, but I don't think it could be fully enjoyed if you just watched a lets play on Youtube. Plenty of people believe Persona 3 sets the template Persona games follow to this day, but I can see the foundations laid here, excluding Social Links and hitting weaknesses for knockdowns, Persona 2: Innocent Sin is the real template that Persona 3 expanded upon by leveraging the power upgrade of the Playstation 2 to really solidify the beloved formula we know now.
tl;dr, Persona 2: Innocent Sin is a foundational game for the franchise, and I strongly recommend playing for yourself with speed up to get through the awful battles and encounter rates to really enjoy this heartwarming and heartbreaking story about what friendship means, how fragile the human memory is, and overcoming trauma.
tl;dr, Persona 2: Innocent Sin is a foundational game for the franchise, and I strongly recommend playing for yourself with speed up to get through the awful battles and encounter rates to really enjoy this heartwarming and heartbreaking story about what friendship means, how fragile the human memory is, and overcoming trauma.
1996
Certainly not as incapable as some JRPGs of the generation, Revelations: Persona is unfortunately burdened by the astronomical success of its, well, successors. In some ways ahead of its time, with great sound design and music, it's obvious to see this game was made with a lot of love. I certainly do not regret playing as much of this game as I have, but it would be remiss to recommend others play this game, at the very least the PSP remake seems to be good, but I have not played it myself yet.