When the world needed him most, he returned. To talk about very long video games that came out last year as long as they were produced by Atlus.

If you needed me for that specific criteria I've got just the half hour for you. I'm back to talk about Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance, specifically the misconceptions around the original release and what makes this game different from a narrative perspective than other entries in the series. Then I discuss Persona 3: Reload and why the expansion might not be everyone's cup of tea even if it is essential to get a complete thematic perspective on the game, and why Atlus really biffed it on the naming of the DLC.

2025, back at it. With regularity? I hope so.

• (00:41) - SMT Power Hour
• (01:53) - SMT V: Vengeance
• (24:35) - Persona 3: Reload Episode Aigis
• (36:53) - Outro

Final Fantasy's latest expansion Dawntrail has been out for a couple of months now. How did Yoship and the team at Creative Studio 3 manage to follow up the conclusion to a 10 year long saga that left most players content? Poorly. They did poorly. In this longtime player's analysis of the story, job design, and overall direction of the game, it's in rough shape.

And no, it's not all Wuk Lamat's fault. But she certainly didn't help.

• (00:00) - Cold Open
• (00:32) - Intro
• (05:12) - Dawntrail's Story
• (10:27) - Captive Audience
• (18:56) - Who's The Hero Here?
• (22:32) - Let Scions be Scions
• (24:56) - The Wuk Lamat Of It All
• (39:45) - Please Look Forward to 8.0
• (45:53) - New and Improved Encounters?
• (50:11) - Where Does This Leave Us?
• (52:23) - Outro

Sometimes you gotta let the anger out and be a bit of a hater. On this one I might have had a little too much haterade. But the good news is that Square Enix gets the brunt of it, so can you really blame me?

Our first topic is about the collapse of a private server for the defunct Shin Megami Tensei MMO, a drama unfolding just as I was trying to check it out. Never join the Discords.

Later I discuss my lingering disappointment with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Mind the spoiler timestamps if you haven't played it yet and care.

And finally I save XIV Reasons why for last, where I lament my frustrations with the state of Final Fantasy XIV days away from the Dawntrail expansion. But there's a hope on the horizon. I'm betting it all on pictomancer.

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