AV_Gamer

The Nier Automata comparisons will be complete once this game runs its course. You'll have the loud, vocal, minority crying about Eve, like those people were crying about 2B, while the rest are just having a good time playing a decent character action game.

But I also think this is more like a "wait for the price to drop" game for me. And I don't think it will take that long for it to happen. I'd say during the Summer, easily.

@atheistpreacher: Glad you enjoyed it overall.

About the first point you made about the social links. The only reason I can think of as to why Joker doesn't do a lot of school activities with students, is because he is an outcast. Remember, the whole point about the Phantom Thieves, is for one reason or another they're not liked by the community as a whole. Joker got the reputation as a delinquent and troublemaker, because of the false charge put on him. Ryuji is blamed for the track team being disbanded, even though he tried to stand up for them. Ann is hated by the girls at her school for being too pretty, spreading rumors of her being a slut. Makoto is seen as a teacher's pet, school snitch, a burden to her older sister, and so forth. Also, the people they go after are the opposite. They are horrible people in private, but publically have good reputations in the community. This theme continues in Strikers.

But yeah, Persona 3 Reload will also end up on my personal Top 10, especially since this was my first play through of it and it was worth the wait.

Looks pretty good. I might check it out.

Not surprised by this. Paramount just wasn't doing that great in the streaming biz. Many of their original shows ended up leaving and going to other streaming platforms, with only Halo to hang on to. Maybe Sony will give them a boost. But this is where all things are going. Soon, only a few mega corps will control everything about our lives.

If this does happen, one benefit might be PS Plus subscribers being able to access the Paramount library. One can hope. I'd check out the Halo series, but I'm not getting Paramount as it is to do so.

@atheistpreacher:

Good update. I personally have a special place in my heart for the Phantom Thieves of Persona 5. Which is why I'll be getting back to Persona 5 Tactica, which I put down to play Persona 3 Reload, even though it's a real-time strategy game. I think that game has the overall best cast, and this is after being a Chie fan like many from Persona 4. As far as the sense of urgency, I felt it simply by noticing how more and more civilians were falling under Nyx influence of wanting to give up on life. And I think the overall storyline is about past sins needing to be made right, with the world ending being the consequence if it doesn't happen.

I agree with the social links only being for maxing out Persona's instead of adding unique benefits. And it often gets in the way, because you're given the option to carry over abilities from fused Persona's, but this leaves little room for the abilities the new Persona unlocks, so you constantly have to pick and choose what to keep and what to get rid of, which feels tedious, not the sense of gaining great power. And even though a shop later opens where you can get some of these abilities back, if you felt you made a mistake, it still feels tedious. The effort to fuse some of the most powerful Persona's is also a chore.

With that said, I still had a great time and think it was a very good remake. But then again, I have the benefit of not finishing the original Persona 3. I started it after I finished Persona 4, but the gameplay mechanics were so outdated, I quickly put it down. I'm looking forward to the future DLC updates.

When Persona 6 happens, since it's been all but confirmed now, they need to do away with the social link issue of only being able to pick one person or activity a day. That's actually not realistic. You can spend time with multiple people and do many activities with a 24-hour period.

All these post about CM Punk is the reason he is still relevant. The man knows he has haters and worshipers, and he plays both sides for all it's worth. I was never a CM Punk fan and thought he was overrated. I always thought the guy looked like a drunk who desperately needed rehab. But like the saying goes, there is no such thing as bad publicity. In the world of entertainment, being both loved and hated is exactly where you want to be, because either way, you're being talked about, and you're not becoming irrelevant. This also the reason the Paul brothers have been thriving for decades now. They also know how to play on public emotions and cash in from it.

Finished Persona 3 Reload, and it was a great ride from beginning to end. The ending is very touching, perhaps the most emotional ending in the series. I grew to like all the characters, the standout being Junpei, who I found annoying at first. A lot of people seem to hate on Yukari, but I think she was just as good as the other cast members. She is definitely the most important character to have in the party. I used her from beginning to end. I think the overall story has a very deep message, but this is true for all the Persona games. The final boss was interesting, because they were more personally invested than the other final bosses in the series, except maybe the one in Persona 5 Royal.

I wasn't able to complete everyone's social link or even fusion the most powerful personas for the most part. The closet I got was fusing Susano-o and Thanatos. Both of them along with Loki were more than enough to beat the game. I made them even stronger with skill cards I collected over the course of the game. I was at level 91 and the final three battles prove to be quite doable. Really, the toughest battle in the game, turned out to be the reaper who chases you throughout Tartarus. Even at level 84 when I beat him, he was a pain. Out of all the girls I could romance, I chose Yuko the track and field instructor girl. Not the most popular choice, but I liked her most of all compared to the other girls, with Fuuka possibly coming in second, and Yukari third.

Overall, I had a great time. With this game, Final Fantasy Rebirth, Dragons Dogma 2, Baldur's Gate 3, and more, we seem to be in a new golden age for RPGs. Now to wait for The Answer later this year, and FES possibly early next year.

Just finished Immortals of Aveum, and overall, I think it's a shame the game was trashed the way it was after release. It's not a masterpiece by any means, or even a buried treasure, but the game is far from the disaster some mainstream publications were claiming it was. Thanks to PS Plus, I was able to play this game, and finished it after three days and enjoyed myself. I'll quickly go over the pros and cons I've found while playing it.

Pros:

Decent storyline that is well acted. The game has a star-studded cast playing the different characters, and they all do their parts well. One complaint critics seems to have, was them not liking the main character. I think he did a decent job, overall. The graphics and presentations are above average. The gameplay is fun and keeps you on your toes. This is mainly because of the three different spells you have to keep switching on the fly during fights, and this gets more frantic as you get towards the climax of the game. You also use the spells and gadgets based on the spells to unlock different puzzles, which isn't too bad. The game concludes at a decent length, so it doesn't overstay its welcome. You can continue to play after you've beaten the story to do a side quest where you hunt down some powerful magus, solve more puzzles for items, or start a new game plus.

Cons:

The gameplay gets repetitive after a while. You don't fight a lot of enemy variety in the game. You face the basic grunts you find in any game: The melee guy, the range guy, the big guy with the big weapon, the rampaging animal, and the magic specialist. There is also the giants, but those fights never got boring to me. This game reminds me a lot of Ryse: Son of Rome. That game also had very little enemy variety, but the story and great overall presentation made up for it. Of course, Ryse was a character action game, not a first-person shooter. The controls can sometime betray you because of the switching you must do while playing. It didn't happen a lot, but when it did, it was annoying, especially when I was trying to heal.

Overall, I give the game a solid 7/10. You can buy it now for pretty cheap, but if you have PS Plus you can play it with your subscription. It was a nice distraction after I finished FF7: Rebirth and would recommend it, if you're looking for something quick to breeze through while you're waiting for your next big game.

I've played it years after it came out as Final Fantasy III in America. After I played Final Fantasy II, which we all know was really IV. After I played Chrono Trigger, another JRPG considered one of the greatest ever made in the genre, and many others. But after I played it and FFV, it's clear that FFVI is the greatest game in the series. Yes, the opera scene is legendary with how well scripted it is for a 16-bit game and the amazing music. But the final boss fight with its many phases along with the awesome music of each phase, and the ending stood out to me the most.

I consider FFVI's ending one of the greatest in video game history, especially if you made the effort to collet all the characters before facing the final area. I think the cast of characters is great, and what makes FFVI so special, was each character was given an equal amount of development and attention. There really isn't a so-called main character in the game. Many people will claim Celes, Locke, and Terra are the main characters, but not really. It's the war torn world that takes center stage. And you can really make an argument that Kefka is the villain protagonist of the game, as the story centers around him more so than anyone. The theater presentation is amazing. I could go on and on about this game.

Do I think it should be remade like FFVII, after playing Rebirth and loving it, I say why not? I do think they are going to remake FFIX, and I think a high budget remake of FFVI could be amazing if done right.

I agree with this, and I might be one of the guilty ones. For the last couple of years, I've played way more Destiny 2 and Genshin Impact than single player story driven games, indie games, etc. This is especially the case with Destiny 2, because you can't really do anything meaningful in that game, unless you spent money on the expansions and the four seasons that follow. Destiny even locked dungeons that used to be free behind a pay wall.

While I think AAA story driven games will continue to be made, many people are still in awe that Spider-Man 2 took 300 million dollars to make and will likely not turn a profit, despite its positive reception and millions of units sold already, which might also be the reason the game has yet to go on sale. And many gaming developers are seeing this and are trying to create a live service game that stick. Because for them, the money to labor ratio is just better profit wise. Spend millions on top of millions of dollars on a high budget single player experience that might flop, or make a live service game that is additive enough, and then introduce stuff people who enjoy the game can buy.