Bob wrote:

Dishonored 2 ng+ High chaos as Emily. Even with all the runes from the first play through and scouring each level there's still not enough runes to power everything up. There's just to many powers, some of which are a bit rubbish, so you basically fall back on reach/blink and bullets/bolts. Cos the others are too fiddly most of the time, Got a chance to explore more of the levels though and they're really well designed. There's so much to see and do if you explore. Still feels not as good as the first though. Deffo not up for a third powerless play through, 61% of trophies.

Nina wrote:

Persona 4. 
I didn't know anything about the game at all, only that quite a few people here really liked it, and that it's ok to cheat on the exams. I got totally sucked in, and am glad I got a vita for this. 

Final thoughts are a bit long and there are spoilers of course. It's just that this game has so much to offer that it's hard to not talk about it. (And B only gets jealous when I try to explain why this game is great, as he doesn't like playing handheld, but would have loved this game as well).

Spoiler:

Finished the game with a big smile on my face, and thinking back, almost every session ended like that. As soon as I put the vita away, I couldn’t stop thinking about what I might do the next time, what Persona’s I might need for a specific dungeon, if there would be a good cinematic that just showed how much fun my group of friends was having, who I’d talk to if I found them on the streets at night, what social skill to focus on… Or just thinking back on what happened in the session I just ended.

Couldn’t quite pinpoint why this felt so much like having the most fun you can have with a game, as the main story, the reason you’re fighting, isn’t the most positive one, people getting killed, a town getting covered in fog and even your little sister getting in trouble. But I realized that’s all because of the amazing team you’ve assembled, they’re positive they can get this done, that it will work out, that they can do it together and that they can make the world a nicer place. And it’s nice to be a part of that.

The characters were the best thing in the game for me. Even the ones that I was unsure of at the start, maybe even ignored on purpose, turned out to have a good story connected to them. So many fun little stories to discover, some of them are tying in with the main story more than others, but it’s all about getting to know people, and believing in them, no matter who they are. And I have still more to discover, and probably will do that on a second playthrough. This game gives you so much, and you can’t do it all in one go. That’s something that’s clear pretty early one, which makes it a lot easier to just focus on a couple characters and be ok with that. I wanted to have an all female team with me, and as soon as that was possible I may have neglected the boys a bit. Will keep my bro party for another time, and I won’t think of Adachi as just some loser-that-wasn’t-worth-my-time-when-there-were-also-girls-that-needed-my-attention next time.

And that was a point in the main story I didn’t see coming at all, Namatame was a surprise already (but thinking back, he was sulking around town on certain occasions, just never linked them to the kidnapping dates) but Adachi was something else.
Now I must add I’m not the person to unravel mysteries even if they’re pretty clear (for example, I googled something about Nanako’s dungeon, and google suggestions showed “Nanako dies”, but I didn’t think that would actually happen… Probably more that I didn’t want it to happen and ignored it), but I really enjoyed the main story, and it was paced well. There was enough time between big plot points to pick up your regular life, without the game ever allowing you to really lose track of the main story, making sure you kept track of the weather and were prepared in time for your next visit to the TV.
While the main story was of course the big thing that was always there and the reason all the other stuff could actually happen (there will probably be loads more things that suddenly fall into place on a second go, even though Naoto does a good job trying to make sense of it) it wouldn’t have worked without Chie’s enthusiasm after a victory or positive event and her wanting to throw a party (and cook…), or Yosuke’s suggestions of going on trips as soon as it was the holidays, or even get the most out of school trips. Just having those characters getting so fired up about the options they have, make you feel really a part of it. They even added some cinematics for some of the more special events, and every time one started I knew it was going to be good. And they all delivered. The summer trip, the ski trip, the fireworks, the sleepover, they’ve all turned into some of the best memories I have off this game.

Some other things that I liked:
-The change of seasons, just seeing the town different each season, but also when the fog set in was quite nice. Enjoyed that quite a lot.
-The Persona’s, and the way the fusion mechanic worked. This might have to do with my slight OCD to collect as much as possible in games, but this worked for me. Checked every other day with Margaret what the fusion forecasts where, and only ever made new Persona’s when they would get extra bonuses. Loved the design of most of them, and am pretty sure someone with more knowledge about Japan and it’s history / myths will recognize a couple of names.
-The exams. I actually liked them, must add that I looked up the answers (that’s my OCD again, but I always tried to guess first, then double check) but there were some good questions in there. One about the Fibonacci sequence came at quite a fortunate timing, was talking about that with someone the day before. (Because of a BT song title)
-The voice acting. There are so many spoken lines in this game, and the voices never started to grate. I feared a bit for Chie’s and Teddies voices, but they became part of their personality. Even all the standard battle lines (Yukiko-senpai!? Boy, if looks could kill…!) were well executed and never really started to grate. It was only when I got close to the 100 hour mark that I actually started skipping text before someone was finished saying them.
-The weather and date system. This was of course most important for entering the TV, but there were so many smaller things you could only do when it rained. Trying to eat the special bowl, using the machine in front of the store, getting a discount on items, getting better fish. Kept the game fresh, as at points I was looking forward for it to start pouring, so I could try some things that I’ve been pushing forward. Having special days marked in the calendar made me look forward to them as well, and that’s a feeling the in game characters shared with you.
-The Music. Almost forgot this, but it’s worth to play with headphones on. I switched halfway from using my sony bluetooth earbuds that I use for the gym (pretty decent sound) to B his fancy headphones. Wow.

The only thing that struck me as a bit strange in the beginning, was the fact that MC could only be male. I hadn’t thought of that, and named my character Vyr Cossant (a female character in one of Banks’s books, luckily his names can work for different genders). Only after the story restarted I realized I didn’t get the option to change gender. I soon realized this was the only way it could be, the story wouldn’t have worked any other way. Read an interview on a random site about P5, where you’re also stuck with a gender, and why it’s the only way a story like this can work. There’s just too much going on to make it work for different genders. And in the end, it wasn’t so bad to chase the girls.

And that’s what’s so great about this game, it’s a well written story, that’s pretty strict with timing. Quite a few events happen on certain dates, doesn’t matter if you’re ready or not. But the whole gameplay part is completely left open, it’s up to you to fill it in and have as much fun as possible while saving a little town no one has ever heard off.