A Look at Danganronpa V3's Gameplay

So, I haven’t quite finished V3 at the time of writing this (At time of posting I've finished). Undoubtedly, I say you should absolutely not be hesitating to pick this game up if you’re a fan of the series. Until I’m done, however, I still want to say something about it, so why don’t we dive right into non spoiler topics and discuss the raw, hard gameplay. Well, what gameplay there is.

No spoilers for V3 ahead. Mild spoiler for one thing in DGR 1.

Danganronpa’s never really truly been about the gameplay, even when you’re playing it. The entire point of the minigames was basically to create context and specific feelings in you while you play. Nonstop debates evoke a feeling of chaos, while things like hangman’s gambit and mind dive were meant to make you slow down and feel like you’re thinking deeply. Basically, when I’m looking at the minigames, I’m looking for how well it upholds that principle while also making sure the actual gameplay doesn’t bog it down.

The core of the game’s Nonstop debates have been touched up a bit, in all the right places. The text is a lot more inventive and moving, which is visually cool. “V” spots have been added, basically a “get a better score by hitting this specific spot” mechanic. Never disrupts the gameplay if you don’t wanna bother, so it’s a fine addition. And finally, you can now commit perjury and lie. While highly contextual, it’s a great way to flip the whole thing on its head and is a wonderful addition to the flow of trials. All around, it’s just as chaotic and crazy as ever.

Nonstop debates have also been adapted into mass panic debates. It’s the most simple concept: just run 3 nonstop debates at once and keep your eye on all 3!

Wait, that’s actually insane.

Regardless, these feel like the most chaotic Danganronpa has ever been, bolstered by how sometimes one person shouting can shut you out from the other 2. It’s good stuff.

Next, the sword cross arguments. They’ve been changed you you can slash in any direction rather than 1 of 4, and there’s more of an emphasis on hitting as many statements at once. Really makes it feel more precise and considered, fitting the whole idea of a duel much better. All in all, good good good.

At last, Argument Armament, which are essentially the B.T.A events from the last 2 games. My only complaint with these is that the timing is super, super strict, with no leeway for if you hit it even slightly before, but quite a bit if you hit it after. Overall, a nice way to cap off an argument, if a bit finicky and awkward if you’ve played rhythm games before.

So, the core of Danganronpa is as good as it’s ever been, so like 80% of it is very good. However, the rest of it is, well. Eh. At best they’re OK, at worst they’re just a slog. It feels like much of the time, new stuff was just being tried for the sake of being new, and the results are spotty at best.

Hangman’s Gambit is back, with a pretty much totally different feel to it. While, thank god, the nightmare of 2’s gambit is no longer with us, we instead get a weird version of it which is like 1, but you have to shine a light on the usually hidden letters. It’s a bit slow, not really intense like the first 2 versions, and overall is just kinda there. At least we don’t have the awkward translation nightmare of 1 where you had to guess the *exact* uncommon word (See: schizo).

Mind mine is just sorta… there as well? Every time I played it I went in with no strategy and just kinda clicked away until I got the answer. There’s not much thought you need to put into it. It’s not really *bad*, though, is all. It just kind of exists.

And at last, we get to Psyche Taxi. Hahaha, this minigame sucks. Imagine Mind Dive, but much less challenging, with many annoying delays, and that takes forever. Psyche taxi asks super basic questions that often you just established an answer to, but you need to play through a 4 minute minigame to even be able to answer them. It’s tedious, slow, so boring, and the worst part of V3. No question. Psyche Taxi is just awful...

...Oh yeah. There is one last thing I haven’t mentioned yet. Scrum debates. I’ve saved the best for last, and this is absolutely the best thing V3 brings to the table. It’s just…. wow these are so good. In a lot of ways, they take the same principles from nonstop debates, but instead the objective is now to use other’s statements as truth bullets, instead of evidence. It’s framed so beautifully and directly, and having to find the correct statements to pit against each other really makes it feel like a more focused, considered plan of attack. And they’ve got an amazing theme. Just… good. Very good.

So that’s Danganronpa V3 as a game. While you’re probably not playing Danganronpa for the gameplay, all in all it’s a mostly faithful way to move the series forward. I certainly enjoyed it for the most part.

Mass Destruction: the best battle theme

I really liked that analysis I did on Persona 3’s theme, so I figured it would be just as fun to jump into Persona 3’s well known battle theme, Mass Destruction! 

BabyBabyBabyBabyBabyBabyBabyBabyBabyBaby

...Ok, but in all seriousness, this is a great way to start the battle. It’s like they took the typical *whoosh* sound effect you have in classic RPG’s (and this game too) when transitioning to battle and integrated it right into the music. It’s a jarring shift right before it lands into the groove of the song, and settles perfectly into the gameplay.

We then get a quick instrumental piece before going into the song, with the usual spoken lyrics that often comes with the rap genres. What I really wanna talk about here is the drum beat, real quick. It stays mostly constant throughout the song, and established here is a really quirky and unique beat on the kick drum. Beatbeat. Snare. Beat beatbeat snare. If I’m confusing you, just listen for the beat in the song, you’ll catch it really quick. This is not a typical way to use the drums at all, and really serves as a distinct and memorable way to lay the groundwork for a song full of quick sounds and sudden stops.

Most of the next part of the song is rapping, and the lyrics are more meant to serve a beat than convey a specific message. I’m gonna highlight specific lyrics and parts of the song that are interesting musically or thematically, rather than combing through the entire thing. 

Spoilers in the next paragraph only

One of the more interesting lyrics is “the enemy you're fighting covers all society” (0:22), which quite straightforwardly references the all encompassing terror and threat that Nyx is. Also probably a call forward to The Answer in FES, where it’s revealed that all of society unconsciously wishes for death in some way. It’s a lyric that’s super easy to miss and won’t make sense until you know the full story, but I like it quite a bit.

Soon after, there are 2 quick interjections in the lyrics from a backup singer (0:22):

The enemy you're fighting covers all society

(Damn right)

Mom's not here, gotta fight

(All night)

Really they’re just there to prevent the song from devolving into an endless stream of words and make it more interesting, but damn if it’s not really cool and fun regardless.

Much of the rest of the rapping bit is just some cool sounding words and a nice flow. You’ve got another interjection (0:33):

Freaked out now, and dead on arrival

(What?)

Some lyrics make nice reference to more themes in the game, like “right here, Shadow 10 o'clock direction”, evoking the common clock thematics this game employs. There’s not much more to say about this segment regardless, besides that it’s just a dang good time to listen to in general.

So, the transition to the next part is pretty cool too. The final lyrics Lotus Juice provides for the song are (0:47):

You're the only one, one world, one love

But the battle goes on, Shadows of Mass Destruction

Repetitive use of the word “one” forms  nice flow in your head already, backed up by how this line has no pauses in it, makes it slide through nicely. Finally, there’s a noticeable pause before “destruction”, giving weight to the explosion of sound that’s about to come right after.

With a crash, the song moves into the next part with a very emphasized “Oh yeah!”. The aim of this song, after all, is to provide the player with some great backing music for battles, and energetic jumps like this make is engaging and groovy.

This part of the song is really meant to be high energy, more than anything else. “Da da dada, da da dada” aren’t like, actual words at all, but there’s a lot of energy put into it, as they clearly wanted this part of the song to be that more than any lyrical mastery. The occasional “baby baby” breaks it up and makes sure this part of the song isn’t monotonous either.

And as one final note, the backing music takes a turn for more energy here too. Trumpets are added to the song for the phrases right after the transition. It moves into some twang-y synths afterwards to keep the energy sustained and not boring. And finally, if you listen, you’ll notice the snare drum is louder in this part compared to the earlier rapping part.

And that’s Mass Destruction! An excellent battle theme that feels like it was built to be a battle theme in every aspect. No getting bogged down in thematics, no trying to overcomplicate things, just a few shoutouts to the story thrown in and a killer beat make this a battle theme that you’ll never truly get tired of. Oh yeah, indeed.

Fighting games need more options

I’ve always been a huge fan of the concept of fighting games. I don’t follow the scene religiously, but I love loading up a VOD of Street Fighter or Skullgirls and watching the madness unfold. The neutral game, the knowledge of how difficult the inputs can be, it’s all so engaging and fun.

There’s just… a giant brick wall in the face of many people who’re interested in seeing how this works. I don’t wanna mince words, 95% of the fighting games on the market don’t care about new players. Which, I mean, that’s fine. Starcraft, DOTA 2, etc., a bunch of popular games aren’t friendly towards new players and that’s very OK! The problem with fighting games is the abject lack of any games below that very high level of play. These games will likely be at the top of their field in complexity and popularity because, but we shouldn’t be limiting ourselves to the most complex ideas only.

ARMS is a fantastic example of a game with all the cool parts of fighting games, while also simplifying it a ton so that anyone can start to work on improving themselves right away. You have very few inputs: punch left/right, dodge, jump, block, rush. That’s it, along with all those moves being one button press. Despite all that, the game manages to have an engaging, super complex rock paper scissors type flow, and concepts like the neutral game and zoning are still in full force here.

Which isn’t to say I’m claiming ARMS is just as deep. No, it’s just not as deep as your conventional 2D fighter. Those fighters get their depth by that huge skill wall you’ve gotta climb, and I wouldn’t want to change them for the world. ARMS, however, represents something this genre needs more of: steps in between. We need more games that are less complex and do dumb things down, so more people are able to play them and realize the potential behind fighting games without having to climb a brick wall first. The fighting games with the highest complexity are stunning displays of skill, dedication, and spectacle. I’d really like for more people to be able to climb that cliff.

Burn My Dread is a brilliant theme

So if you couldn’t tell, I really like Persona 3. A lot. And while there is so much I still want to say, so badly, I wanna pull back, and start at the very beginning. Specifically, the first thing you’ll hear upon booting the game up. Burn My Dread is a brilliant opening theme, and I want to go through the entire thing. Song here so you can listen along:

The song opens with the the twang of some guitar chords, with the shake of a hi hat in the background. This is a super effective way to open it, as it gives off an ominous vibe while also setting up a nice tempo and beat for the entire song to follow. Adding in a drum kick halfway through this segment (0:10) is a nice way to slowly ramp things up without it being sudden or jarring.

As the lyrics start up, we get pauses after the first two phrases in music and vocals. This is a nice way to keep the song varied by taking away, not adding, as it’s a noticeable shift when the pauses stop afterwards. It’s also another example of nice, smooth build up, as it feels like the song is being “filled in” more so than stuff is just being added. It’s also notable that the abrupt pausing is still present in the vocals, so you get a nice ebb and flow while not breaking the pacing of the entire song.

Partway in (0:38) we get a shaker sound effect in the background, replacing the hi hat from before with something more distinct and that blends together more. We also get some synths in the background filling out the song once again, lending it some more variety and more importantly, the last bit of musical buildup. The vocals and what’s being said are left to raise it up before the climax of the song. That’s one of the best parts of this entire thing, how well it flows. When something musical is added it flows in very naturally and is never jarring and it knows that lyrics can build something up just as well.

The snare drum beats several times, and the song is name dropped right after as all that buildup is released at once (0:58). The drums aren’t a soft backing beat anymore, and instead are being played as loud and piercingly as possible. Crash cymbals (the loudest cymbals you can use) are now in full use alongside this. The vocals are practically being shouted now, and the lyrics have shifted to a more desperate tone and subject matter, compared to the more descriptive words from before.

The song then takes it down a notch for the final verse, while still keeping that intense feeling in the lyrics and instruments. Rather than have the song slow down at all for the ending, it eventually just suddenly cuts to one guitar chord, and lets that fade out, leaving a very strong final impression of the lyrical and musical intensity on you.

One final note: the lyrics are very evocative, and don’t even try to be subtle at all, which I like. It lets the song be super impactful and meaningful to everyone on even their first listen to it. In the first part, they’re quite literal, describing what happens in the game and the setting. See “dreamless dorm”, “windless night”, “nightly dance of bleeding swords”, etc. It lends it a ghostly and otherworldly feel, especially with how cut apart they are, and once you know how literal it really is, that feeling is only intensified. Finally, the last part of the song wails about the general themes of the game. This is one of those “it gets meaningful once you’ve played the game” things, but it’s carried so confidently that even before that you get chills just listening to it. They know what they wanted to do and executed on it with no reservations.

Burn My Dread is undoubtedly one of the greatest themes I have ever heard. It weaves it’s music perfectly. The vocals are on point in tone, context, and timing. And most importantly, it will stick in your head for how unique and confident it is. Shoji Meguro, man.

Ranking the Sonic games

This article stems from intense boredom and also i needed a day to do something easy don’t judge me

I will be doing all the mainline games, skipping Secret Rings and Black Knight because I’ve never played those. Not much more to it. It’s time to go fast:

14. Sonic 2006

Easy hanging fruit, but honestly this was such a complete and utter mess from top to bottom it’s hard not to rank it at the very bottom. You all know about how incredibly glitchy it is, but beyond even that, nothing about it works. The story is nonsensical and all over the place, the game design pretty much doesn’t exist, and it controls just so, so badly. It’s certainly earned its infamy.

13. Shadow the Hedgehog

I mean, just, c’mon. This whole game reeks of “what are the kiddies in the west into” by some marketing exec. It’s hilariously edgy and takes itself so seriously you’ll probably spend the entire story laughing at it. But the real reason it’s here is the plodding, loose, and incredibly boring gameplay. MMO “kill x number of monster quests” in a Sonic game? No thanks. Add in needing to replay stages for a choose your own adventure type story, and this is a game you should just look up the cutscenes for.

12. Sonic Adventure

Horribly unpolished gameplay with nothing getting the attention it needs. Awful voice acting. Control so loose I swear Sonic’s about to fly out of the T.V. This game is just baaaaaad.

11. Sonic Lost World

This one is just… eh. It’s just so aggressively mediocre. There’s no sense of momentum, you’re either going “fast” or “slow” with nothing in between. The game uses so many gimmicks it’s a rarity to just have an ordinary level for once. The story is very childish and devoid of any backstory or context. It’s just… a 5/10 from start to finish, and I was snoozing by the end of the first world.

10. Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic’s 1st game, the one that started it all, is just… it’s ok. Some of the best stages are Green Hill, Spring Yard, and Starlight, deep and layered levels that are a ton of fun. But zones like Marble and Labyrinth are just so awful they make the game not worth going through, in all honesty. The highs are high, but the lows almost wreck the game. You’ll get it right next time, Sonic.

9. Sonic Adventure 2

This game is great when it plays to its strengths, as in a high energy speed based platformer. Thing is, it often doesn’t do that. Subpar shooting segments and hunting segments bog the entire experience down, alongside a story that just falls flat on it’s face. This one’s fun if you can get it for like under $5, but you’re being ripped off otherwise.

8. Sonic Heroes

Heroes gets this high almost purely because it focuses on one gameplay style for one, thank god. But really, Heroes starts out strong, and when you learn to speedily dispatch enemies and blaze through levels, it can be quite a good time! Sloppy controls and much too long level design bog it down in the end, however. Plus you need to play through it 4 times. Bleh. So close.

7. Sonic Unleashed

Unleashed is confident. Sure, it’s a bit of a reflex based roller coaster with not as much subtey and depth, but it wears than on it’s sleeve. The entire half of the game about going fast is so much fun, and I wish more games would just be open and fully embrace the zany arcadey fun they want to offer. But, again. The werehog. Why.

6. Sonic Generations

Generations is 2 halves: a slightly worse version of Sonic’s 2D escapades, and a slightly less energetic and fun version of Unleashed’s gameplay. Combine those together and you get a pretty fun game in the end, but a bit passionless. It was a relief to see Sonic in a good game, but if you look at it, it’s just that. Only good.

5. Sonic Colours

In the vein of the previous 2 games, Colours is boost based and a pretty good time! It’s got more personality than colours, and the entire game is one gameplay style, so it’s better than Unleashed and Generations. It’s still good! Above average good. But just good.

4. Sonic CD

Ah, now we get to the really good stuff. Sonic CD’s levels are very layered, and the majority of levels are on the quality of the really good ones from Sonic 1. 4 different possible level layouts, with secrets abound to discover. An actual gameplay incentive to keep momentum and an amazing ost top off this quality game. Really good stuff.

3. Sonic Mania

Sonic Mania is a tightly done game. It doesn’t have a real story or much originality. But it’s content to pay tribute to and improve on past levels, and it does that well. Mania feels built up from the ground for speedrunning, and when you get good at it, you can do some crazy stuff. It doesn’t always do it perfectly, but for the most part, it does it very very well. A supreme example of a nostalgia trip.

2. Sonic 2

Sonic 2 is a brilliant game. It’s got level design that facilitates momentum and rewards it, albeit a bit abstractly. It gave us the spindash, a brilliant piece of game design all around. We get iconic levels and a bopping soundtrack. And most of all, we get tails, otherwise known as easy mode, and what a great way to make future 2D games have a nice variable difficulty. All in all, fantastic game.

1. Sonic 3 and Knuckles

I mean, you saw this coming, most likely. Sonic 3 does everything Sonic 2 does, but with slightly tighter levels, and 2 more characters. There’s an actual story with good pacing and nice continuity. The setpieces understand how spectacle should be handled. And it’s got an absolutely legendary soundtrack that’s great to listen to and serves a fantastic atmospheric purpose. All in all, I can’t think of many platformers better than this game.

Persona in the information age

I am so glad to see a game that tackles the information age in such a head on way. Besides Persona 5, the only game in recent memory that uses this a lot is Watch Dogs 2, and even then that’s mainly just a way to call your experience points a “follower count”.

Spoiler warning

Persona 5 doesn’t do much with it to influence the gameplay, but when I realized it was gonna impact the story, I almost squealed. A very long RPG is the perfect medium to see how information spreads day by day, and how public opinion changes. And to see how your actions influence what the public is saying, and how your group reacts to that, is simply one of the best parts of the game’s story.

It is absolutely drenched in public opinion. You walk down the street and you hear public chatter about whatever news is on their minds. Gossip and rumors abound when you’re in school. Sometimes at the end or start of the day the game will cut to more public whispers. And finally, you’ve always got the Phantom Thieves popularity bar down in the right corner, with messages from users on their opinion of you.

Before I go any further, this is excellent worldbuilding by itself! I honestly wouldn’t care if this was all there was. It makes the world feel alive and breathing, it tells you what others think, it gives even a basic walk down the street to buy some medicine a worldbuilding experience. Simply going about your day is how the game builds character for the city, and it’s brilliant. There’s no need for exposition on the world when you get it every few seconds naturally.

However, there’s more to it than that. Besides just being good worldbuilding, it’s also integrated into the story quite well. The slow climb at the start making your fights seem important yet unknown. Your skyrocketing popularity that almost proves to be your group’s undoing. We see a fantastic showing of how public opinions swings almost overnight after you’re framed for murder.

People react realistically to it too. It ends up being a great source of character development and understanding. Ryuji, for example, lets a lot of it go to his head. He wants to be a source of hope for people, and have their exploits be shown and appreciated by all. But through that, he understands that this sort of world is very volatile, and public opinion swings like mad.

This is all, well, very realistic? It’s one of the main reasons why Persona 5 is so grounded, because we live that world of information every day. It’s refreshing to see a game not strictly about communication tackle it so head on, because this is a part of life nowadays that affects everything. It leads to one of the most realized worlds I’ve experienced in a game, and I really do hope that it leads to more games set in a more modern world. It’s a brilliant tool for storytelling.

Persona 3 and death

Persona 3 is really damn mature, for a game about a bunch of high schoolers. The entire game is bathed in this serious tone that slowly reveals itself as you peel away the happy-go-lucky cover the first part of the game shows. It's a slow burn, right until the game punches you in the gut and rips the entire facade apart.

Let's talk about death and Persona 3.

SPOILERS BELOW

So death is a really really hard thing to do in media. I don't care if you're writing a book, a movie, a T.V. show, whatever, I will not blame the writers behind it if they mess up a death scene and aftermath. It's reallllly hard to balance story pacing and realistic and appropriate reactions to death. Death in real life is complicated, messy, follows absolutely no script, and hits often randomly. And the way people react to and deal with death is often at odds with good story writing practices. How are you supposed to translate something so random into the neat, tight pacing of a good story?

I'm not here to diss other writers, however. I just wanna focus on what Persona 3 does right. It's already got a fantastic idea for a plot, but what really propels the game story forwards is how it does death. There are 3 major deaths that get explored: Shinjiro, Mitsuru's father, and Chidori. They each fundamentally alter the plot and the characters in them, and more importantly, they make an impact on the player as well.

A lot of that comes down to how unexpected they are. The game format is perfectly suited to this, and the writers took full advantage of it. Daily life in Persona is predictable for the first few months. Wake up, go to school, hang out with friends, Tartarus. You fall into a routine, only broken up by full moon operations and the occasional event. It's comfortable, working as a team and being a student.

So it makes it all the more shocking when things suddenly take a turn for the tragic on October 4th. When Ken and Shinji are missing for the operation, you know something's up.And that something ends with Shinj dead. It's a shocking swerve for the plot, and it hits suddenly and hard. Every single event and operation has ended in success thus far, and to suddenly take a hit this hard is really stunning.

The same can be said of the other deaths. Mitsuru's father's death comes on the day you celebrate your supposed victory. All of a sudden, you've been betrayed by Ikutski, and he and Mitsuru's father lie dead. As for chidori, her death suddenly comes between full moons. Most major events have either been well telegraphed or come around a full moon, so to suddenly have a major death partway through the month is throwing a curveball.

The most interesting part about Persona 3 and death, however, is that the deaths are not the focus. Surprisingly, the game sees fit to examine how death impacts the characters, and not the world around them. Shinji's a thug. Chidori's an unknown person with no home. Mitsuru's father's impact is only felt in far off business areas. So we're left to examine how the characters understand, see, react to, and deal with the deaths of people they know and care about.

Each reaction is real and varied. Ken blames himself, and feels like with Shinji gone, he doesn't have anything left to live for. In many ways, Ken is actually responsible for the death, and from that he tries to take full responsibility, eating him up inside. Hell, in the immediate aftermath, everyone worries about Ken committing suicide, because it has become quite clear by this point that all that was motivating him in life was his mother's killer.

By the same token, Mitsuru is shaken up completely and utterly by her father's death. His death is so much more than the loss of a loved one to her. It's symbolic of her mission the past few months being a lie. It tears a hole in her plans for the future and rips away her clear goals and motivations.

And poor, poor Junpei. His entire life he'd been searching for a concrete thing to do, something to wholly enjoy and be good at. Forming a relationship with Chidori gave him a spark and brought some light to his doubts.And when she is torn away from him, he is completely and utterly crushed. This is a loss hitting so hard that Junpei almost shuts down and just hides in his room.

And there's something to how each character moves past or comes to terms with deaths. Sometimes, it's a gut wrenching process that a character doesn't even fully recover from. Junpei is broken in a big way after Chidori, and while ultimately he does pull through, his personality has become more determined, more angry, and less happy. Mitsuru becomes resolute and focused. Ken perhaps doesn't change, but uses Shinji's death and the circumstances around it to find a new purpose in life.

Notably, we also get to see how death can simply strengthen. I haven't mentioned Akihiko much, and that's because Shinji's death strengthens his resolve that was already there. He's sad, yes, you can visibly hear anguish in his voice the day after. But he knows what he needs to do, and one day of crying is all he truly needs to come to terms with it.

This is all a lot of varied stuff, and that is absolutely what makes Persona 3 fantastic at dealing with death. Everyone reacts in and understandable and realistic way. Some people never move past it. Some people move past it right away. Everyone mourns differently. Mitsuru throws herself into work. Junpei locks himself away. Ken seeks isolation and contemplation. It's not enough for the game to just say "oh they're sad" and try to carry the shock value of a death. There are real character repercussions to each and every death in this game.

Because in the end, that's what Persona 3 is about. Loss. The sadness of loss, how we deal with loss, and perhaps what we gain from it. It gives real weight to what death means. And in doing so, in pushing past the idea of death simply being sad, it gives shape to a beautifully written series of tragic events. Persona 3 does death right.

Salmon Run does a lot with a little

So I’ve been playing a ton of Splatoon 2 lately. More specifically, I’ve been very interested in the Salmon Run PvE mode added in for this sequel, and it’s actually a super interesting example of how to stretch out content well.

If you look at if from pure content, Salmon Run is super limited in what it’s got. 3 maps. No ability to customize your gear. Only 8 main enemy types. And this is supposed to be a long lasting mode how?

Well, smart game design is how! To start, you have no control over your weapon loadouts every shift. Whatever the game gives you, you’ve gotta stick with. No min-maxing your loadout here. What this does is create a ton of imposed variety on the player. You can’t ever make one strategy and stick with it. Got an awesome gameplan hinging on the charger player? Too bad, tomorrow's loadout doesn’t have a charger. Better think on your feet! It makes constantly shifting your strategy a must, so you’ll never get tired of the same old.

Salmon Run’s also got things to shake up the general gameplay. The different roundtypes of glowflies, grillers, darkness, and the mothership give injections of something completely new that you have to scramble to deal with. During ordinary rounds too, high tide, low tide, and fog can all put a noticeable spin on how you have to deal with the upcoming wave. Combine that with different loadouts forcing different strategies for each and every new wrinkle, and you can see how the variety starts to take shape.

Let’s also not forget the punishing difficulty level. Seriously, at the highest level, salmon run is absolutely insane, and you’re probably not going to win most of your games in it. That only helps, however! The ever looming threat of failure makes every round tense and engaging. You’re never once going through the motions, because the motions are trying to kill you in a different way every time.

And finally, you’ve got the oft hated limited nature of it. Salmon Run is not always able to be played, and you may only enter it during certain times during the week. This… does undoubtedly lead to stretching the mode’s content out. After all, people will think back on it more fondly if they can’t have it right then, and will be more eager to play it at all because it’s limited. It’s just how our psychology works. On the other hand, this is an awfully artificial and fairly player unfriendly way to “expand” the time people will be interested in it. If your life schedule doesn’t line up with salmon run, too bad, you can’t play it. I’m not a fan of it. Regardless of my distaste, it does show that the devs were thinking of designing around limited content, at least.

Salmon Run does a lot with a little, and I applaud it for that. I of course wish there were more maps and more variety, but what we have now means I’ve never once gotten bored with the mode. And as Nintendo shows that they plan to add more content, I have very few complaints with it.

The Drop Dash is the best part of Sonic Mania

The drop dash in Sonic Mania is the best thing. If you asked me what the smartest game design choice was this year, the drop dash would certainly be up there. It’s just so so good.

Taking a step back, the only ever truly successful addition to sonic’s 2D moveset before this was the spin dash. You all know how good this is. You go from 0 to 100, and all in your enemy destroying rolling state. It’s a fantastic mechanism to get up to speed when things go bad, but it’s also harder to control yourself when using it. Add in a satisfying revving up sound effect and dust, and you’ve just got a brilliant addition. It’s so integral that it’s hard to go back to play Sonic 1 without modding it in, it’s just that good.

Many more successors have tried, and failed, to replicate the spin dash’s success. The super peel out from Sonic CD looked cool, but functionally was too dangerous to use since you didn’t curl into a ball. Most of the time the spin dash was just a better option. The insta shield from Sonic 3 was fun and cool, but limited in functionality and kind of unmemorable. And Sonic 4 tried out the homing attack, but the less I say about Sonic 4, the better.

So it’s basically been decades since Sonic got a proper 2D move expansion, and whooboy, did we ever get one. The drop dash is basically a spindash you can charge up in midair and release once you hit the ground. It’s all about continuing movement, rather than starting it. It’s super fluid and useful throughout the entire game because of this, for starters. Rather than being used for specific enemies, or just to look cool, it’s a move you have to think about when to use, and not just using it when you obviously need. It also plays into Sonic’s whole momentum schtick in a great way, being used entirely to keep him moving.

But what really makes it a great move is that it’s got restrictions and limitations, unlike the insta shield or homing attack. For a starter, it’s a bad idea to use it in tight platforming areas, much like the spin attack. You need to jump yourself to execute it, meaning if you launch off a spring or similar you can’t use it. Plus, when you use it you’ll have a frame of time where you can’t cancel out of it, so you need to consider that loss of control. Finally, it just doesn’t launch you forward as fast as the actual spindash, and doesn’t serve as a complete substitute.

All of this leads to expanding your arsenal in interesting ways, and adds more depth to the game, as opposed to just a flat upgrade with no downsides. The drop dash is a super cool addition to Mania overall. It’s a good clean move that I hope sticks around in games to likely come.

Nintendo Direct Thoughts, September 13th

I can do current events blogging, right? Probably?

The new direct is what's on everyone's mind and I'm a sucker for corporate advertising just as much as everyone else, and it'll be fun to talk about anyway! I'll cover everything I have at least a passing interest in.

I'm just confused with Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. Is it a remake? A sequel? A do-over? A 3rd version a la Emerald? I just don't know what this game is or what it's trying to be. New areas, but what are they for and are they the majority or an add on? What's the story gonna be like? I just don't know what it is and I have zero interest in it because of it. Definitely the weakest part of this whole show. Pokemon Gold and silver coming to virtual console is cool, I guess.

Smaller stuff part 1:
Kirby Battle Royale looks a bit odd but like some silly fun. I could see myself getting it if it was on the Switch. More Layton is always good and a nice time. I find Minecraft on the 3DS a hilarious concept and I'm amazed they even got it working. Mario Party minigame compilation is a nice fun idea, but why is it not on the Switch?

Ok, so... I do not like what I've seen of Xenoblade 2. At all. The voice acting is super flat, boring, and plain bad. The artstyle is still the most bland "anime" one they could have chosen.The lore seems interesting at first glance, but looking closer it sounds like a generic "kingdoms at war" story with interesting window dressing. And the fanservice on Pyra is just awful. I'm definitely waiting to see how this one goes, but I'm just worried for the future of Xenoblade in general. First X, now this.

KELP DOME IS BEST STAGE THANK GOD IT'S RETURNING

Smaller stuff part 2:
Morphies law looks like a bad unity hackjob that gives a great engine a bad name. Rocket League is always a very good time, good to see it on more platforms. They're porting that super popular mobile MOBA game to switch as well? More interested to see how it controls on console than anything else. Skyrim is Skyrim, as usual. I'm super excited to see DOOM and Wolfenstein on Switch, definitely gonna pick those up if the ports are good.

Octopath looks neat, though I'm not a fan of the super generic fantasy style. Still, gameplay looks quite interesting and I'm very interested to see how it goes. Will be checking out the demo for certain. Oh, and it also looks gorgeous. The more I look at it the more impressed I am.

Finally, Mario Odyssey looks pretty dang good as usual. Dunno why they need to dedicate so much time when we're so close to release, but regardless it looks like a very fun Mario game, and you're pretty much guaranteed to have a good time with those.

So, today's corporate hailing ritual went pretty ok. Nice roadmap for smaller titles, though I'm not interested in most of them. If I took away anything from the direct, it's that the Switch is gonna be keeping it's momentum most likely, and that's pretty dang good news if I say so myself.

Persona and Sound

The music of Persona 3 and 5 is super, super interesting. They’ve both got different styles and all that, obviously, but the intent and how each soundtrack works with the game is quite different.

(Also i won’t be looking at 4 because it’s somewhere in the middle and I want to look at a clear dichotomy. Sorry 4, your ost was killer though)

Basically, 3’s soundtrack is informed by the tone and themes, and 5’s soundtrack informs the tone and themes. That sound kinda pretentious? Well, yeah, but it’s actually a pretty important distinction. 3’s soundtrack carries the themes and tone of the game. Every song on the ost feels like it was written in close consultation with the writers, and it really shows. Whereas in 5, it almost feels like the entire soundtrack was composed first, and the writers wrote a story from that basepoint.

This is probably very confusing so let’s compare the main themes, Burn My Dread, and Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There. They’re both very very good songs, and accomplish very different things.

Let’s start with Persona 3. Burn My Dread is a song about the themes of the game, and as a piece of music is very much in service to them. It doesn’t vaguely establish a tone, it directly and pointedly sets up what the themes are, the activities and locations you go through every day. "Dreamless dorm". "Windless night". "I still live". Those lyrics are to the point and powerful, and given great prominence and space between them. Of course, in doing so it does give up some song flow, and overall I’d say is a weaker song than P5’s theme, however it makes up for it in being a song that tells a story, and it’s themes.

Persona 5 goes for a more conventional song, with a much different effect. It vaguely sets up a tone, and a vibe that’ll last throughout the game. While that sounds not as strong as 3’s, it’s a really damn strong tone setter. The story of P5 is very grounded (well, for persona) and has a lot of conflicting themes that all work in story, but they alone cannot establish a tone. That’s where songs like this theme come in, tying together all the elements with a sound that brings it all together. Listen to it, then listen to 3’s theme. You’ll almost certainly come away with a better idea of what 5 is like than what 3 is like. It’s smartly made, and while the songs aren’t as evocative as 3, they serve just as important a role and are excellently done.

I really don’t wanna get into which one is better, because that would be a, uh, bloodbath. I have my preferences (read: i prefer 3) but on the whole it’s super interesting to see how each game uses sound to reinforce, inform, and establish story and themes in the game, and they both do a top notch job of it.