1. Steven Universe

- I don't talk about this a lot because there was a very HUGE CHUNK OF TIME where nobody could be normal about this goddamn kid show

- let me like it, please and thank you.

2. Persona 3

- if Big O helped rewire my brain chemistry to help exist in a pointless world, Persona 3 completed that circuit diagram

3. Star Trek (et al)

- I was raised on this show and it will always have a cornerstone block of foundational being in the back of my brain

4. The Locked Tomb

- if the four slot always goes to Recent Hyperfixations, then hi, TLT, this book has invaded my brain

5. Final Fantasy X

- this is always going to be my favorite Final Fantasy, no matter who I find easier to write and play and make ships with

- also I love their turn based system, best one they ever made, come at me.

this list can go on for a very long time but like, just looking around my room decor/recently talked about/played videogame list this seems like a good enough top five

okay but FFX DOES have the best turned based battle system you're so correct

boywonder I really pine for this battle system whenever a new FF comes out and it's another flavor of real-time combat

there was so much strategy at play in FFX with figuring out what the best move to make was relative to how it affected the turn order and it just worked so damn well

I vastly prefer turn based combat in RPGs anyway and I'm sad we've almost completely moved away from that

at least there's..... octopath?

Yes Locked Tomb I am currently reading Nona aaaaaa

Persona is still turn based at least ;a;

Nekone aaaaaaa I hope you enjoy it

ANYWAY ask me my top 5 anything if y'all would like

YES, FFX WAS THE BEST FF YOU'RE RIGHT

i honestly much prefer the qol improvements in persona 5, BUT the story in 3 was the best -- i loved elizabeth

epigrammatic thank you

yeah like, combat wise - vanilla P3 has not aged well

I think it has its charms but I admit that's because I got used to the artifically hard aspects (like always on party AI)

it's so much easier when you can actually make your party have sane battle choices

yeah, i honestly kinda like the party AI versus controlling them thing from a story telling perspective but

not from an i actually have to play this game one

but the story, man

yes the story of p3 was so excellent

i feel like p4 and 5 (love them as i do) got more like. mainstream, in a way?

this is what I really hope P3Reload does well

I hope it marries the best aspects of all of them ;a;

i'm so excited to play p3r, i can't wait

P4 and P5 definitely aren't as dark in some ways

I feel like p5 gets character-wise very dark

I actually think it's story is a vast improvement over p4

(which is good? I don't want to sound like I'm saying it's bad!)

but P4 is very ... cozy, which is nice! but like, looking at the rest of Persona ...

yeah, p4 feels very. happy?

Sesame Street: One of These Things

I mean I like P4. and some people love P4 because of that

I want to acknowledge that

but, uh, yeah

yeah p4 is honestly my fave of the bunch!! i used to rp a few of the characters! just- yeah

I like P3 and P5 more because they're a lot grittier

i acknowledge it is tonally quite distinct

and P3 just, thematically is better imo

i love p3 and 5 too, just. yeah, i would say from an objective standpoint 3's the "best"

P5 kind of falls apart on that theme when you realize you can't really change anything, and if that was the theme ...

idk.

5 excels in characterization but not overall... plot? theme's probably a better word

P3 was also my first (well, P3FES) so I might be very biased

yeah like the characters in 5 are amazing

thematically it's all about rebellion and corruption and how people buck social norms which is great until they don't follow through with it

which, probably is a very western point of view re: lack of follow-through but idk.

if they wanted to make it about the futility of trying to change things that also could've worked, but I don't think that was what they were going for

fair points! i enjoyed 5 for what it was, but admittedly i was disappointed by the lack of follow through considering it felt like they were winding up for more

yeah exactly

it's almost feels like they chickened out to me and I don't know if that's fair

also like I really enjoyed all of these games

I feel like I'm nitpicking a bit when I bring up these points XD;;

it's like, hey I loved this five-star dish but the steak was just a tad overdone

I'm not sending this steak back it was amazing

.... it's not like some of the Final Fantasy entries

right like

the thing about the latter three persona games is they're all amazing games just- if you're trying to rank them, you gotta nitpick a bit

exactly

and it will come down to what a person prefers to see in their games, too

the fact that I, personally, as someone who is philosophically existentialist who got my hands on P3FES when I was recovering from a lot of anxiety and depression while I was trying to figure out how to view myself in a hopeless-seeming world -

- latched onto the story of P3 then makes perfect sense

someone else coming into the story of P4 or P5 in the same kind of way where it sucker-punches their brain specifically

I get it, man