You do not how much i want to stomp my damn feet at this crap...This angers me. It's SO easy to write around that anyone with a basic understanding of the word "Spy" will be able to

Tee Hee! You truly own nothing we create. :D

What pisses me off is the tech used for it. TTS was designed to help mute people like myself, or people with speech problems, talk and not need to constantly write and hope people caught it.

It was not invented TO MAKE CHEAP ASSHOLES BE CHEAPER...

Sorry. Angry.

But the bubble is bursting. Trump's stupid business against China, the strangle hold on rare-earth, and them being forced to build pointless factories in the US have basically made the surest bet in tech history a unsafe prospect in the long term, and gambling in the short.

People are spooked.

NVidia are only in the place they are now because they dumped their other businesses, scaled back on services, and set fire to their other reputations in order to push AI. The Bitcoin bubble taught them they had more use than gaming.
This lead to an AI focus, which lead to now. And it worked.

Setting the bar for the future is amazing, and a worth thing.

But Digimon exceeded years of hype building in my head for it to happen. Nothing can beat that. Objectively, yea. Clair Obscur? Better. But it's just not Digimon. No game has made me smile so widely at such a love letter to fans. :)

Clair Obscur will set the bar for RPGs to come. It will make indie games step up, and move forward more boldly, and AAA will look worse every time it gets brought up next to it.

But Digimon had so many years of me waiting, and it exceeded everything i dreamed for.
Setting vs Exceeding.

And it isnt' without flaws. It has low budget animations outside of combat. The voice acting is sporadic. The combat gets grindy. And Digifarm is real time, so good like waiting 45 minutes for some defence.

But it's still leagues above what Clair Obscur is. Because of Expectations.

From every Digimon getting a high rest texture and model update, and all 470+ getting new animations for moves, to Masafumi Takada ONCE AGAIN slamming down a OST that nibbles at the SMT music style, but keeps his Danganronpa feel. To QoL, like Auto-battle, and X5 speed. To the digifarm being easier.

I have never played a game that so utterly took the original game idea, and polished it. I mean not just "made it better", but put actual love and attention into the concept so much that you can fucking see it. From small world changes that happen due to your actions, to the time travel making SENSE

And it looks STUNNING for a Vita game that was ported to everything. Often on DISGUSTINGLY cheap discounts for 2 chunky games. You really can't get better value to me.

And then i awaited. I waited desperately for the nest Digimon Stories game, and waited for a long time. 7 years.

Enter DS:TS.

So why am i talking SMT. Digimon Stories : Cyber Sleuth is the closest you will ever get to a "Soft SMT". It's not as crushingly hard. It's plot is as generous, and lush. With thick lore for each character, great side stories, and a great twist.
The music? Masafumi Takada, motherfuckers! PEAK!

Pokemon is a even softer version of that, but the monster training is so much fun, and personal. You can really have so much freedom. I wanted both, but harder. In rocked up SMT, full of swagger...

...And kicked the everloving shit out of me.

And i fell in love. Deeply. Madly so. It was perfect.

I am a SMT fan. Shin Megami Tensei was a series that awoke a thing in me. Pokemon and Final Fantasy really felt like great stories hindered by the concept of being scared to challenge you as a player. You play for the story, and a soft poking to not fall asleep at the wheel. That isn't to say bad.

And i could go on. The areas and zones prove alone that you do not need to be open world in this age to make a good game. With side quests and content dripping from every area, but not drowning you. It is YOUR pace, not the games.

It is a work of art. One of a kind.

And it isn't Digimon....

Clair Obscur is a BEAUTIFUL and artistic game. It's music is stunning. The artistic direction is unhindered, and makes no compromises. The characters, acting, and voice work are all on point, and truly do so much to make that story land. It has one of the most skill based combat systems for a RPG.

No. They did that hun.....no joke...8 hours in. Title screen.