It's not a stellar JRPG, and its gameplay is so simplistic as to be nonexistent, but it does have a lot of charm and panache applied to its presentation. It promises a musical RPG experience with sung cutscenes and it delivers on that front most handedly.

If we're talking early Game Center CX, my favorite would definitely be Inoko Max. He worked with Arino the hardest so they'd clear some really tough titles together and their shared spirit was infectious. Toujima's great in some earlier moments but it's also clear he wants to be somewhere else and Arino has him…

Wow, jeez, that's right! So few multiple disk PS2 games. If I remember correctly- Devil May Cry 2, Star Ocean 3, MGS3 Subsistance, Shadow Hearts 2, and Xenosaga 2 & 3? Not counting all the demo attached titles of course. Crazy to have so much data you'd need 2 disks in the PS2 era.

I've seen that GCCX too— one of the best they've done (next to Ninja Gaiden /cheer Tojima's sunlight blocking ability). "That's a bad ending." "What?" "You've reached a bad ending— anyone can get that ending." "I wouldn't say ANYONE could reach that ending."

/comfort still, because even if you leave the room, Pascal still doesn't show up anytime later, so it's just as if you'd kill Pascal (only you'd received those cuttingly sad pleas for your assistance). But still, you CAN choose to 100% leave as an option, yep. So Pascal could very well just stay there sad and lonely…

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GuVF…

Whooooa—- Alexander O. Smith worked on the Laguna parts of FF8? No wonder I love that part of FF8 the most (next to Triple Triad, of course). And yep, his localization work for Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy XII is extraordinary. Thanks for the link!

Iwai: "You don't wanna help me with my "model guns"? You'd rather go to the bath house or call up teachers and hang with Japanese Bernie Sanders? Man, I don't get kids today."

Grats on completing Torment! I too wished there were more Meres in the game. Heck I would have loved if the whole game had just been a more immersive and involved system of that gameplay model— Quantum Leap ing through other peoples' lives trying to make your current world better through force of good will. But…

Yep yep! More MGS meets Akihiko Yoshida fantasy artwork and flair, less "level up bat affinity on my bat mace against this bat dummy for 100 hits" gameplay. But the music and those boss encounters. Tons of fun. I'd love a remake too.

/comfort. I left the room first too. Ouch did that sting. /praise to the game for having that as an option though. I eventually killed Pascal because I thought that fit A2's journey for utmost pathos in that moment. Started out wanting to kill Pascal as just another machine lifeform enemy and now once again must…

Yep yep, agreed 100%. The other games handled things much more deftly on this front. This P5 development just needs more Ken Cosgrove/Don Draper suaveness and less Pete Campbell fretting. Persona 4: Dancing All Night has this problem too- the dev process taking so long that the story's setup feels overwritten in…

Congrats on getting through Routes A—->C for NieR: Automata! What'd you choose for the Pascal encounter? Heartbreaking, yes? What an experience. Best of fortune with the remainder of the game!

/comfort. Yep yep I'm usually 100% down for the stilted writing and quirky styles of all the Persona games, but were I to nitpick/critique anything in particular with Persona 5, it's those one sided phone call exposition scenes and this particular sequence you referenced.

Yep yep, agreed. Just as you say, you can focus on the heart of the material with organic thematic resonance without getting bogged down by all the normal prerequisites of establishing a setting in other mediums. The interaction with the environment can help fill in the blanks for the player there. How swiftly…

Yep yep! Pioneered button assigned attack prompts to make turn based combat more organic, started the spark that would lead to the current era of Xenoblade titles, and has an awesome RPG Sci-Fi narrative with giant mech combat and a love story at its center. What's not to love? /cheer

Salutations~!

Now I'm imagining Aloy invents/uncovers cardboard tech in future DLC so she can do cardboard box stealth gameplay in full. "!?!?… it's just a box!"

So you're saying… you never saw it COM… oh wait, we did that last week? Shoot.

Shame you can't build a New Colonia out there with a cyborg centric society using the bartender as the starting point. That'd be pretty Star Trek / Doctor Who levels of awesome.
A Christmas Carriers Convoy could show up eventually and be amazed at what's been built in their absence, etc.