Kraeth

A perfect sequel to the fantastic Persona 4 on PS2. Ten years in the making, and it shows. It looks crisp, cell-shady but still has that Persona-feel to it. The story takes you in right away; it's a lot less speechy than P4. The premise is still the same, however; you go to school, make friends and fight forces no-one else can. But the execution of every single aspect from dialogue to daily activies to the pacing has been sharpened to their finest, leaving you wanting for more. I'm 40 hours in and I've no idea how far I'm in, and I don't want to know. This is a title I won't look even the slightest hint about, because it's already the best gaming experience I've had in... Ever, actually. This game took the boots of P4 and shined them, made them their own and went to town. This is in my opinion the best (j)rpg ever made by far.

After ten years of waiting, I was expecting a very decent title. After all, Persona4 was a masterpiece. No way they can top that. And I was wrong. From the frachise-stylish start, with that blazing jazz soundtrack I couldn't and wouldn't stop. Everything I disliked about 4 was fixed. The dungeons are now fun, instead of rng tunnels. You can manage your time more easily. But most importantly the persona fusion system is much, much better. Combat has seen some tweaking, with the introduction of guns (with limited ammo) and a whole range of new perks to unlock from a fantastic range of people. And thank GOD the double-weak stun mechanic is gone. However, if you as the MC die it's still game over. It's not a big issue, but it still sometimes annoys me when stars align and I get killed before I can do anything about it. 45 hours into the game, and it has happened once, so it's not something you should judge the game upon. The soundtrack is the best in the series. P3 had a few really great tracks, P4 was kinda 'safe' for a lack of a better word but P5 went all out and struck gold. My weeabooism requires me to play with undub and if you do the same you'll hear many prominent voices, and while they do a great job having Gintoki and Kinpachi in the same room is just begging for "herpes, herpes me!" If you're looking for an entry game into the series, start with 3 (FES), then 4. You won't be disappointed with either title; they're phenomenal. But if you start with 5 you're kinda spoiled, since it just doesn't get any better than this.

Baldur's Gate 2 is by far the best rpg made. It's baffling just how much dialogue, sidequests, actual quests and quality you could include in 4 cds... If you're wondering, BG2 and ToB are a single package for me. When I see my nephews play fotm, and skip this... It makes me very, very sad. For it is a timeless masterpiece wihtout comparison.

One of the best JRPG ever released. Assuming of course you don't mind some dating sim elements. But those dating sim elements are a strength to this game, not a weakness. While the first AR was pretty bland with the 'Diving' (outside some superb music) AT2 heroines have quite the depth. Their topics are well presented. No party is wrong. They have their motives and it's up to find out them. What differs is you can only go with one heroine. But what got me hooked THRICE for a 40 hour+ journey was the combat. It's the best combat system in JPRGs. Period. You have the vanguard who melees, you tell the back row of Reyvateils to cast a nuke and then what? Enemy turn. And you get to block every. single. attack they make. Be it a lvl1 slime or the biggest baddy. The better you block, the less you and your reyvateil take damage. But if you block too late trying to get the perfect block... She takes the full hit. And I haven't even mentioned the music and VA. I played the JP version so can't comment on NA version, but the JP version was the best OST I've ever heard. My favourite JRPG of all time.

Positive: - varities of weapons. - lots of levels. Negative: - lack of good music, 4-5 **** tracks that abruptly stop mid-level. - WAY too much grinding required to advance. Namely, Intel. - levels can start you surrounded by enemies, without items like cloaking device this will often lead to an near-instant death. - super-boring level design, every level feels the same. - bad pacing of 'Safe rooms' where you can buy health, ammo and repair you gear. There's one or two levels before the first boss, and another level straight afterwards. - the resource for upgrading your character, 'Intel', is too sparse, and if you quit your run you don't accumulate earned Intel. - 'classes' have next to no difference except for starting gear with few exceptions. - hacking minigame ****, you have to hit green objects with a 8-bit-inspired character while you're being chased by a red mask while arrow-like enemies (inspired by Asteroid) spawn from the edges. Good luck trying to dodge them when the spawn almost on top of the green thingy, especially when you have to *face* it to hit it. Reward for hacking is some credits. - if you don't get weapons, you're screwed. - if you get certain items, you're screwed. - medikits are almost as rare as unicorns. I went 21 levels (the longest I've gotten) without finding a single one. - THE MUSIC! My god it started to piss me off after 20 minutes.