"Act 2 is a fun turning point" is a loaded statement, and good spoiler cover.

E33 is so good it stopped my parents from getting a divorce and brought my cat back from the dead. It really is the Dark Souls of Undertale of Persona 5 games!

29:14

Woolie's enthusiasm evaporated when Pat revealed he was talking about XIV.

My favourite part about the characterization of this game is that the party is clearly really overwhelmed with what they're doing and where they are, and so we get a drip feed of their personalities as they find their footing and get used to navigating the new world. It feels like when you get to know someone over time rather than interacting with a "character"

Glad to see Woolie ahead of Pat for once. I hope he likes Gustave's Act 2 moveset, that shit is Perfection.

“Simon says jump!”
He sure does.

That Iron Pineapple quote reminds me of a bit in Frasier.

"What's better? A perfect evening, or a perfect evening with one tiny flaw we can nitpick all night?"

I do agree about the world design. That extra 5 percent of interactability would've been nice, but this game is so incredible that it makes total sense from a design standpoint. I'd rather have what we have than them waste time on small detils that don't matter in the long run.

I was one of those kids that flipped out when I played Halo in 2002 and saw ants crawling on the ground.. but not every game needs that level of minute interactivity. What makes this game so much more immersive than a lot of its RPG counterparts is the level of personal feeling in every interaction. These characters feel, and the gameplay drives us to become them and celebrate their triumphs.

In terms of Quality, I feel like I'm playing the Chrono Trigger of this generation.... and we are EATING GOOD when it comes to masterful rpgs. I like living in a world where Rebirth, BG3, Persona 5, and Elden Ring are all masterful RPGs in all different ways.

Folklore mentioned.  Pat is a real one. Literally the first time I've ever heard anyone mention it.  Also, fuck the PS3 motion controls

" Chrono Trigger is flawless." Sighs and goes to play it again

Considering how little "apple physics" adds to something like TLOU or any other AAA title, i'm perfectly fine sacrificing all of that in order for the combat and systems to feel as pristine as possible. Nice bonus, but it never once crossed my mind as a nitpick when everything else is so stellar

The voice acting is so good and it really makes me appreciate the moments where characters are interacting with each other. I love it when dialogue has characters speaking over each other and it makes them feel more real.

I feel like Woolies tester days gives him a keen eye for world jank that i didnt notice at all

58:51  I don't find it awkward to say at all.  It's a name and an adjective to English speakers.  I just say "Claire Obscure."

Woolie's eyes bugging out of his skull at 30:00 as he tries not to talk about it is fantastic.

Shout outs to Crit Lune being absolutely absurd

My favorite example of how crazy and fun the Picto's are even at Act 1 is Roulette.
A NPC asks you, "yo kid! you like Gambling!?" And he will give you a Picto that gives your character the a 50% change of doing 200% damage or 50% damage.
It's such a weird but simple item to just give to a player.

I agree with woolie. the most refreshing thing about exp33 is how not only are the voice actors great, but theyre also given great material. the "writing" of a story in general can be as fantastic as anything but when there's dialogue like what can be seen in ff15 for example, where lines are spoken only to convey information in audio whether its necessary or not, lines have no cadence and you can tell they were only written and not revised when heard out loud. Additionally, characters make non-lingual noises in actually realistic ways too. My favorite extreme example of this is an episode of futurama where fry is like "im late" and the exact frame he begins running, he also begins panting as if he's been jogging for a few blocks. Nobody looked at that before release and said "bro has literally never used his legs before?" It's not a big deal, and futurama is a great show, but my point is that in exp33 you don't get that. There is no dragon ball Z "fill this 18 seconds with surprised gasps but absolutely no phonemes" characters sound like they're moving when they move, and they speak calmly or without strain when still. Seems like a really simple thing, but i've literally not seen it executed so well in video games ever

There are already videos of people showing the upper limits of what you can do with the party. The amount of possible player expression with this game is genuinely amazing. I wouldn't say that I want a sequel. I'd rather see where else this dev team can take their talents.