Looking like how I feel
12.03.2026 01:29
👍 1
🔁 0
💬 0
📌 0
Looking like how I feel
Gonna bump this.
I think what I'm trying to say is Persona 5 has good gameplay, and that's what I typically value the most in video games.
Shoutouts to the rainy day version, too.
One last thing about P5 that I wanna bring up is how the Confidants in that game also give you bonus effects in dungeons/combat, in addition to the standard fusion experience bonuses.
Some of my favorite tracks from P5 are probably the more chill tracks:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=woz5...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOTD...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtyE...
I feel like a bit of a basic bitch for saying Beneath the Mask is one of my favorite tracks from P5, but what can I say, it's good.
And, of course, the music in these games is great. Persona 5 (Royal), in particular, might be my favorite soundtrack in the series, although nothing gets the waterworks flowing like Kimi no Kioku (which I just learned Shoji Meguro believes is his magnum opus - www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comme...).
...to make new kinds of weapons and armor for you to buy. Some of these require drops from rare enemies that only appear during rainy days.
This is all to say that unlocking new equipment is a lot more engaging than one might think, especially in 5.
This creates a nice little loop once the alarm gets unlocked - push yourself in dungeons and in the Metaverse, and you're rewarded with the ability to make stronger personas and equipment.
This element is somewhat present in 4, too, with the loot you get from enemies being used by the blacksmith...
When the alarm is triggered in the Velvet Room, the weapons and accessories you make become powered up, along with fusions becoming stronger. The alarm gets triggered by winning lots of battles in a single day, encouraging combat... The Velvet Room is the place that enhances your combat abilities.
Another thing Persona 5 does is recontextualize how personas are used. While their main purpose is to be used in combat, and then fusion, you can also "execute" them to turn them into accessories with powerful effects.
You can also turn them into weapons for you and your party!
Since every new persona you get is added to the compendium, the more new personas you get, the more fusion fodder you have.
The games play into this, too, with 4 and 5 each having a social link that's progressed by fusing a certain persona with a certain skill (3 does this, but with side quests).
I think my favorite thing about the Persona games - and consequently, the SMT games - is the fusion mechanic. It's so fun to mess around, tinker, and find the fusions that I wanna find, and then just keep on doing that ad infinitum.
The kicker, too, is that it only becomes more fun with time.
Compare this to Persona 5 Royal, where I fought the true final boss at level 99, and even then, I still had some troubles. I still needed to think and strategize.
I forget what difficulty I played both games on, which may have contributed to my experiences with them, but shhh.
I half forgot about this, oops.
Persona 5 Royal is a stand-in here for P3, P4, and P5 in general. Despite P3 probably having the best story and characters, P5R is my favorite of the bunch, even over Reload.
Reload is plenty fun, but the Theurgies just completely destroy a lot of Tartarus bosses.
I paused at the right frame
Is my enjoyment ironic?
I could not tell you. However, it's definitely the most.
...The order to use each of the characters in.
That's not even getting into the DLC this game has, which I won't talk about much on account of not having much time with it.
Ultimately, Sonic 06 is responsible for my enjoyment of bad media. But I do kind of enjoy the game, in a weird, twisted way.
The more you look, and the deeper you dig, the more horrors appears.
The levels only get worse, the plot more nonsensical and cringe, all culminating in a final boss that I still couldn't tell you how to defeat. His weakness changes after x amount of damage, but I sure as hell don't know...
...Sonic 06's "secret sauce" is something that looks innocent enough to the unknowing player, and even has some quality elements at times. But once you start, you quickly realize you're watching a train wreck unfold before your eyes.
Silver's psychokinesis is so unwieldy, so strange to control. And his third (?) level, his version of the desert level, is possibly the worst designed level I've ever seen. That very last section is a true test of one's patience.
The overall point I'm trying to make with this is that...
You get through the desert level, and you fight Silver. It's not necessarily clear that the slide action damages enemies, so you stick to your trusty homing attack, only to realize
It'S nO uSe
Oh, I can play as Silver now. He was a pretty powerful boss, but you play as him and he's
So
Slow.
...Until you get to the mach speed section.
Between the abundant loading screens, and the ease with which bank appears in said mach speed section, that's when the cracks of the game begin to show themselves.
The plot begins to unfold, and you realize the awkward romance that's happening.
Don't get me wrong - I would absolutely prefer a game without all of the jank that Sonic 06 has.
However, I think Sonic 06 is an example of a game that has that secret sauce - at first glance, it doesn't look half bad. Good graphics, good music, even going into the first level, it plays well...
Despite all of this, the game manages to enter the realm of "so bad it's good" - at least for me.
You watch something like Retsupurae's LP of Sonic 06, and you laugh at all of the absurd shit that happens.
That's exactly what happens when I play the game, too. That laughter sparks joy.
Sonic 06 is an example of a game that's objectively low quality, but is... kinda fun?
So many elements of Sonic 06's game design are flawed, from incomplete systems, glitches, poor level design, poor character controls/attacks (looking at you, Tails, Knuckles, and Rouge - even Blaze is a bit iffy).
I debated putting it on there, to be honest. I think I just... appreciate? The games that are on my list more.
Of course, I nabbed the Re;Birth trilogy and played through the first two, and thoroughly enjoyed my time with them.
Interestingly, I've played and beaten the original 2, and the first 2 Re;Birth games, but never played more than, like, an hour of either version of the third game.
I specifically went with the original version because I think its mediocrity actually helped me be more interested in the series (the Re;Birth remakes, specifically).
Like, if I hadn't played the OG Neptunia and been so... whelmed, I'm not sure if I would've given the series a shot otherwise.
25 games that influenced me.
I tried to limit it to one game per series, counting spin offs as their own series. Games were just added in the order I thought of them.
Let's add an extra social element to this - reply with one of the games listed, and I'll yap your ear off about why it's on here!
Realizing I probably shouldn't have posted this at 11 at night, but...