Persona 3 Reload. After having beaten the excellent Persona 5 Royal, the somewhat boring 5 Tactica and the weird Persona 4 Golden, I consider Persona 3 Reload the best of the bunch, overall. What I appreciated the most is that the combat is slightly more entertaining and that there aren't any annoying characters like Morgana. I like the optional older songs and the fact that they are making DLC related to Aigi's story. The cut-scenes are incredible, too bad you can't replay them.
Polished remake, worth 9/10 points and still available on Game Pass.
Disclaimer: I do like RPGs. Sea of Stars is one that has its combat heavily based on timing, that gets repetitive and annoying five minutes later and still is repetitive and annoying by the end of the game. The story is mildly entertaining, but the gameplay is dull. The writing is so-so, with some video games clichés jokes and interesting stories by the campfire, but otherwise inane. No clear objectives sometimes, interrupted flow and no maps available in the dungeons nor in the world mean additional frustration. I didn't get lost. I beat the game in 25 hours, less than most people, but sometimes the dialogue leaves you wondering where to go next.
While the graphics inspired by 16-bit RPGs are really nice, the music is so-so, with some exceptions. Some of the songs are as tacky as Tee Lopes's original work. In any case, you can tell that this game was crafted with care, love and time. It's packed with tons of different enemies, a secret ending and it's charming enough to be played because of the graphics, animation and story but, ultimately, it's boring and routine. It didn't make me feel anything at all until the second half and I don't mean just emotions but also interest. The writing and the gameplay are its worst enemy, from the many it has in store.
I actually completed this game three months ago in January, but it was the most recent game I completed from start to finish.
I actually prefer playing this version over the original for the controls and graphics. While I do think that the N64 version was impressive for its time and had lots of great ideas and concepts, the gameplay I felt was badly executed in some parts by how outdated and janky the controls were, which killed my interest in doing a second playthrough. In my opinion, one of the most important parts of a video game is having good controls, and the remake greatly improves upon this aspect. Two things I hated about the original was the poor camera (which made easy tasks harder to accomplish) and the shooting gameplay for the slow movement and lack of reticle, so the remake fixing those two issues made it all the more enjoyable. The game has some repetitiveness, but it attempts to remove some of it by making changes to parts of the gameplay, making some parts easier to get through.
The new graphics and textures are great too. They are really impressive for the console they were released on, and it helps make the game look less dated visually. A lot of the environments look amazing and outdo the original’s a whole lot!
Prior to buying it, I heard people say that it was a bad remake, but I actually disagree with that opinion respectfully. I do understand people not liking censorship, and I agree that the game censoring various curse words like the s-word and a-hole is silly, since they are not on the same levels of bad as the f-word and have mildly vulgar denotations. However, in my opinion, I think the censoring is only heavy with the swearing, and there is censorship applied to other material (e.g. suggestive) but it isn’t so excessive, so the content in the game is relatively unchanged.
Despite saying that, it isn’t entirely perfect, though most of these criticisms are rather minor and not quite big; although I think the graphics are great, I dislike some of the newer character designs. I feel the charm and cartoony-ness present in the original was erased with some of the graphical overhaul, and I think them putting semi-realistic fur on some of the animal characters (e.g. the main character) does play a role in that. The redesign I hated the most was the Tediz, since they don’t even look like teddy bears anymore when that was the whole point of their character. To me, it felt Live and Reloaded was trying to take itself seriously rather than light-hearted like Bad Fur Day (hence the added grittiness and redesigns) but I feel the tonal change they were going for doesn’t work. Related to that criticism, the facial animation system looks worse. It’s minor, but any character that isn’t the main character
either doesn’t emote or shows little emotion, and some details of characters moving their eyes were removed. It’s strange, since they previously nailed the animation system and expressive characters well on the N64 but couldn’t replicate it here. From what I saw, cutscenes can get blurry as well, but it goes away quickly and doesn’t really affect anything.
I also did hear criticisms about the multiplayer modes in the original getting scrapped in favor for a CoD-esque third-person shooter mode with weapon classes, but I thought it was fine since I never really played the modes in the original and didn’t get any real fun out of them since I don’t have anyone to play with. Plus, since I’m new to playing the games, I was expecting it already and it came less of a surprise for me.
Anyway, I thought it was a good remake. Not entirely a masterpiece for some slight gripes, but a great experience and an improvement upon Bad Fur Day!
@Pastellioli Excellent review and input. I didn't have many issues with the original one (on Rare Replay), but all you say is true. I'm a fan of this game, considering both versions essentially the same game, because it isn't politically correct. It would be impossible for something like this to be greenlit today, but yet we have much worse stuff overall. Actually, the only thing I disliked was the gore and that's the only allowed offence these days.
@Banjo- That is true. Compared to most media nowadays, Bad Fur Day/Live and Reloaded I’d say is far more tamer in retrospect. I still wouldn’t say it’s a kids game (obviously) but it’s less worse than most adult-oriented stuff nowadays, plus some aspects, like the poo humor, was done intentionally to be juvenile. I can understand and agree with the complaint towards the violence and gore; while I could handle it (mostly from the older graphics) I usually prefer to not play games full of violence or have violent material as a huge selling point. I actively avoid most modern games with detailed and semi-realistic graphics since some of the violence in those games look sickening and chilling to me from how almost realistic they look…
And yeah, I do think it would be difficult for a new entry or a game similar to it to get greenlit without causing a ruckus online or having a bunch of people dismiss it as being childish, especially since we live in an era where people online like to cause controversies over small things and harass and scandalize people over say a slightly “edgy” joke that wasn’t intended to be taken seriously or discriminatory. Although I am disappointed they did not do a sequel (especially after hearing it got cancelled despite having a finished story with a beginning and end), I can’t imagine how botched a modern sequel could possibly be regarding the humor and jokes, since I have a feeling they would sanitize it all as to not offend anyone or cause controversy, despite the fact there is other media that have far worse content and jokes that are deemed “acceptable.” If the sequel did get finished and they released it in the same era as Bad Fur Day (or at least in close proximity) I am sure they would’ve been willing to take risks with the material and do whatever the heck they wanted with the jokes and writing without anyone getting upset at it.
@Pastellioli I couldn't agree more! I was just a kid, those days. You too, perhaps. I miss those years. Yes, Conker's game is not for children and I played it later, but it's full of charm and intentionally juvenile. Audacious and direct like many things those days, not awkward and unnatural like most things now.
I don't understand what's the point in today's hypocrisy and self-righteousness, as if each person in the world was completely right about everything, but was not able to communicate nor respect anybody else. We see this everywhere, here too, but your vibes are good 😊.
Funnily, the first time I read you was earlier today on another thread and then I realised that I also played many Rare games years later on Rare Replay. Donkey Kong Country was a childhood favourite, though. I'm pretty sure it was my favourite game at that time.
@Banjo- I enjoy the game so much for its creativity and silliness. I just really love the charm Rare’s older games exuded and how they liked to experiment to spice things up with the gameplay, even if it didn’t turn out 100% perfect. Even after completing the Banjo-Kazooie games as well as Conker’s Bad Fur Day and its remake, I still can’t stop thinking about them for all the heart that went into them. I found the settings in all the games to be unique, there were plenty of silly moments and jokes thanks to the developers having a sense of absurd and dry humor, and the casts were so memorable to me. I just appreciated how Rare tried to stand out of the crowd by adding new twists to game genres and innovating with them!
And I do agree with the respect thing. One issue I find with the internet is that, when it comes to opinions, they try to make their opinion seem like it is the correct one while not respecting those that disagree. I just feel that sometimes people forget how to act toward different opinions and feel more inclined to argue and insult those with different feelings, usually when it comes to entertainment and pop culture. Someone could maybe think negatively about a game that has universal acclaim, and then get insulted by others for not liking it. And I’ve seen that whenever someone is stating a view they have towards something (in this situation, a video game) they don’t go “in my opinion, this game is great” and instead say something like “this game is the bestest of all time and anyone that disagrees is wrong and is my personal enemy!” I feel when some people state stuff like that, it makes it look as if they think the opinion they hold is better than everyone else’s, or any different one is forever wrong. However, because opinions are subjective, one side is not truly right, but the other isn’t truly wrong. It is fine for someone to not share the same opinion on a piece of media like someone else, and it never warrants harassment from others that don’t carry the same feelings. To me, it looked like that years and even decades ago, anyone was able to express their negative and positive opinions on pretty much anything without angering people and getting attacked for it.
@Pastellioli You are completely right about that toxic behaviour. Regarding Rare, I also think that their games are extraordinary. I still think about them, about the situations, the characters, the writing, the art style, the music... The Donkey Kong Country trilogy, Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie and Conker's Bad Fur Day all have remarkable writing, but basically all their games have original and ambitious gameplay. Their games are very gamey and fairly challenging. Even today, they make some modern games look extremely boring, not just because of the writing but the gameplay! Even Nintendo's own games look and sound like a chore compared to Rare's. It's amazing how these old games still are more fun than games made 20-30 years later in the platform, shooter, arcade or racing genres.
@Banjo- Their games for sure were pretty challenging at times! Conker’s Bad Fur Day I’d say was the most challenging out of them all.
I can remember how early in that game there was that sewer segment where you had to time your movements correctly to not get killed in one hit by the blades. When I played the game for the first time last year, I actually nearly got through that part on my first try, but I got instantly killed by accidentally jumping on the small blades near the entrance to the prehistoric level. There was a racing mini game in that same level that I had to retry so many times since you have to race fast all the while avoiding crashing into walls and obstacles, as well as timing your jumps right, plus you can’t finish the game unless you survive and complete the race. The entire War chapter was so cool, but it was pretty challenging to get through! I remember I kept dying during the timed escape segment from touching the lasers, plus I did a bad job at retaining my health. I even found that Matrix parody nearing the end to be difficult at first, but my solution to it was to repeatedly use the B function to jump in the air back and forth and then just shooting endlessly at the enemies.
Gears Of War 2 most recently. Miles better than the first one. I was shocked how well it looked, being a 360 game and all. The FPS boost on series S made it look even better
Wait, why do we need a signature? Eh, I don’t know. Here’s your signature.
@Pastellioli I had a few issues with the difficulty near the end, but nothing beats getting 100% (101%) and some of the involved mini games in Donkey Kong 64 🤣. The good thing about Conker's game is the abundance of checkpoints and that it doesn't overdo collectibles. I played Conker's Bad Fur Day short after Donkey Kong 64 and I found Conker's game so reinvigorating. I kind of like collecting, but Donkey Kong 64 is pure excess.
@Banjo- I do agree! Although I do not mind the collectathon aspects of their platformers (namely the Banjo-Kazooie games; I haven’t played Donkey Kong 64) I liked how in Conker’s Bad Fur Day you can progress through it normally without really having to collect a bunch of items to progress. The only thing you collect in that game is money, and from what I can remember only two locations in that game are unlocked with a specific amount of cash. Another great thing about it is how they simplify the button functions as well!
@Pastellioli Yes, I think it was a very modern game in terms of gameplay and progression and although it's linear, it doesn't stop surprising players. Banjo-Kazooie is a greatly balanced game and the Xbox remasters improved the progression.
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