How it Feels to Play Persona 5.

Need someone to sum up Persona 5 in three words in case you don’t have 100+ hours to blow?  I’m your man.  So, here you go.

That.

Escalated.

Quickly.

RE: The Last Guardian

It goes without saying, but I feel like The Last Guardian is a litmus test for what kind of gamer you are.

If you’re reading this, then you know the story behind it.  The game was announced about a decade ago, and drew plenty of eyes across the medium.  The crew behind Ico and Shadow of the Colossus -- two central pillars for the “games are art” argument -- are getting together to release a brand new installment?  Sign me up, we said in droves.  And we waited, and waited, and waited.  But The Last Guardian pole vaulted right over the PS3, and landed on the PS4 in 2016 -- well into the console’s lifespan.  Was it worth the wait?

I can’t imagine how many reviews featured the “was it worth the wait” line as a lead-up.  For me, though?  It was always a given that The Last Guardian would be something special -- like I had no reason to worry because of the minds and pedigree behind it.  “GOTY 2016 incoming,” I thought on occasion.  I thought that it would be the latest pillar in the art debate, without question.  I thought that I could rest easy, because Team Ico and the rest of the funky fresh crew had it in the bag.  Imagine my surprise, then, when some reviews gave it a decent(ish) score instead of an avalanche of TENOUTTATENs -- not enough to change the conversation, but Metacritic can be telling at times.  And imagine my greater surprise when it got a permanent price drop, which seems to signal all sorts of unfortunate implications.

So I pretty much went from “YEAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” to “WELP.”

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Blogging (Part 7)

Hey, welcome back to Cross-Up.  You know, writing about JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure posts has gotten me thinking.  I’ve come to realize that --

NO.  

SHUT UP.  

EVERYBODY SHUT UP.  

No long, meandering intros.  No tangential anecdotes.  I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time.  So you know what?  Screw it.  Screw everything else.  We’re getting in there, right here, RIGHT NOW.

JoJo.  Part 4.  Diamond is Unbreakable.  

LET’S GO.

The SPOILERS we have fly flowing free

As we bicker the day away

Dancing all the while in this

Crazy noisy bizarre SPOILERS

Shower Thoughts with Stardust Crusaders (Part 3)

So if you could have a Stand, what would it be?

That’s kind of a dirty question, because according to JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure as we know it, you don’t get to choose your Stand.  It’s a reflection of you.  Granted that reflection tends to be tailor-made to suit the Stand user personality-wise, but it’s like the X-Men: you make do with what you’ve got, because what you’ve got is…well, you.  Still, there’s a ton of allure in imagining what it’d be like to have your own ghostly companion.  I’ve certainly indulged.

I’ll hold off on describing my ideal Stand for now, because that’d take a bit of time, I haven’t completely nailed it down, and (since this is the intro) there’s a lot of more relevant ground to cover.  I can tell you right now that it’s not too dissimilar from Echoes in Diamond is Unbreakable, barring some stuff that I’m pretty sure counts as a spoiler or eight.  So let’s go back to talking about Stardust Crusaders for the third and final time.  The premise?  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Stands in Part 3 are an embodiment of what you want to be, but fail to be.

And I’ll drive that point home one last time…with spoilers aplenty.  But then again, is there any better way to celebrate Thanksgiving Day than with theory-crafting for JoJo?  Probably.  Also, I hope I didn’t date this post super-hard.

Shower Thoughts with Stardust Crusaders (Part 1)

Here’s an important question right off the bat: what is the difference between the Stands in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders and the Personas from Persona 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1?

They’re extremely similar, so I don’t blame anyone for getting confused by the two.  Men and women tap into a mix of psychological and spiritual power to summon crazy-looking warriors to fight on their behalf.  Only a chosen few can manifest them; the rest are lucky to even see them.  Unreal powers are slung around as easily as a softball in a pickup game of catch.  They’ve been the centerpieces of multiple fighting games.  They’ve experienced no shortage of popularity over the years, if not a surge in fan interest.  Honestly, I’d say that at this point, the fact that there’s no dedicated JoJo X Persona game is an affront to every deity imaginable.  Magician’s Red vs. Take-Mikazuchi?  Come on, that’s easy money.

It should go without saying, but I’m a fan of both franchises -- and it just so happens that I’ve been grinding my way through as much JoJo as possible over the past few months.  As a result, I’ve finally done what thousands (if not millions) of fans have done already, and completed Part 3 -- Stardust Crusaders.  And now I can tackle the question for myself.  Not the question of “is this any good”, oh no.  (Though I’ll be doing that anyway at some point.)  No, I think it’s time for me to split hairs on an ultimately inconsequential issue.

I have a theory -- a shaky theory, but a theory nonetheless.  The Personas are what you really are deep down.  The Stands are what you want to be…but fail to be regardless.