Impressionante o número de spinoffs bons de séries aclamadas que são exclusivos de PSP.

Fui sem esperar muita coisa e sai surpreendido, mesmo com as limitações do console, RGG faz algo especial aqui.

Combate, história, protagonista, música, tudo aqui é ótimo. Meu maior problema foi o boss final, que é um personagem tirado do nada sem construção nenhuma na narrativa.

Lots to love here ... Really enjoyed the game's combat system, the music and the storyline with it's stylized cutscene that heavily reminded me of the MGS games on the same system.

However, it suffers a little from the sheer amount of fights that start to become old due to the A.I. not being particularly smart and random encounters being too easy. Also the slow walking speed and how hard it is to avoid enemies on the street makes traversal a bit tedious. Doesn't help that most of the side content isn't particularly good either.

I really enjoyed unlocking new fighting styles and leveling them up though. It's something I would've loved back in the day on a proper PSP when I was still aching for grindy games that unlock more shit.

Definitely worth a playthrough if you're into Yakuza, but I wouldn't call it a "must play" either. Curious to see how the second one improves the formula, if at all.

Qual e a sua filosofia para meter a porrada em alguém ?

Esse jogo ralmente e um yakuza de bolso muito bem feito, mostrando todos os pros e contras que faz essa serie ser boa na época e ate hoje.

A gameplay eu achei ele muito boa e desafiadora, com vários estilos para se desbloquear e aprender com eles, sendo bastante recompensador você ver aquele estilo que vc gostou e virando um pro nele fazendo combos.

A história eu achei ela bem contida mas muito bom, com o protagonista que era uma porta de ruim mas com o passar dela vai aprendendo e ficando um personagem realmente carismático.

A musica e muito boa, com poucas mas alguns que são simplesmente banger demais.

E os minigames são poucos como os part-time jobs, algumas lutas num torneio e o ufo cachter e o karaoke são bem vindas mas são ok pelo fato de ser um jogo portátil.

Os pontos ruim que eu senti foi que no meio da história eles deram uma esticada desnecessário, e em certa partes o jogo te pedia para andar e procurar as coisas que e um saco de descobrir, e um boss que eu senti que eles aumentarão artificialmente a dificuldade dele dando uma certa penalidade mas que sp fez a luta ficar extremamente frustrante, desbalanceada e não divertida para mim.

E eu tenho que falar da tradução da TeamK4L em inglês que ficou sensacional, consegui entender tudo em termo de história, sides, minigames realmente e um trabalho que merece respeito e reconhecimento

E eu me surpreendi pois eu achei q dublagem do jogo muito boa, cheia de dubladores famosos que me fez o meu otaku fedido interior ficar feliz.

Tido isso o jogo foi uma experiência muito boa e desafiadora de se jogar que não me fez ver o tempo passaf jogando ele, um otimo jogo e bem divertido.

Mal posso esperar para jogar o 2 logo !!!

A fun mash-up between the mechanics of like a dragon and def jam series, clumsily executed climax aside, the story and characters are nicely built on top of the main series which serves as a cool foundation for what comes next.

The narrative of this game isn't quite what I expected and I found that refreshing in way to be gradually surprised on where it could head next, unlike the tv drama style storytelling present in main series, this one is more of a sports manga (The story even presented literally with a comic/manga panels in motion style) with Tetsuya starting out as delinquent who just causes mayhem where ever he wonders ends up in trouble with the Tojo clan and his only salvation being completing set numbers of matches to earn his freedom, as the plot progress, after being exposed to the underground arena, Tetsuya starts to slowly morph into someone who wants to develop his own way of life and philosophy while encountering many demons of his past during his journey, overall I found the small cast to be fairly likeable and tetsuya specially being among my favorite main characters presented into the entire series, perhaps that's bias considering his journey strongly resembles Yabuki Joe from ashita no joe but it's trope that I don't get sick of personally, that being said the "conspiracy" aspect in this plot felt quite weak and it was presented way late than I would have liked where there's info or context that's presented right before moments away from the big revelations and I felt cheated by it many times considering that if it was presented much earlier in the plot, it would have left more room for players to connect the dots together which is the point and fun of figuring out the mystery and answers in my opinion, the final boss is the most underwhelming in entire series period, although I will give kurohyou a medal for the fact that the plot was much more small scale than what you see normally in the series which helps a lot considering it takes place in same timeline as the main series and even many familiar faces show up for some really cool fan service, so kudos for devs for trying to maintain consistency.


The gameplay as I mentioned is more of a crossover of both worlds where it is largely based on the wrestling/fighting game system of Def Jam: Fight for NY: takedown while borrowing few elements from main LAD series like the heat system and moves making the combat arguably bit more complex than the main series, although despite the game offering up to 20 "unique" styles, I argue they're not as unique as they sounds, many feel more so a variation of an existing style with only difference being passive buffs and unique animation, whether you prefer sticking to only punching, grabbing, kicking or all in one balanced style, you're not missing much by sticking to a single style outside unlocking more "extreme styles" or varying up your playstyle to reduce the reputation nature of this game, I do have gripe that the heat moves tend to be locked to 2 based on their retrospective fighting style, I believe PSP still had enough buttons to allow for more variations inputs to perform heat attacks considering there are attacks based on your direction inputs too, I understand that might have likely meant less fighting styles but I wouldn't have cried for quality over quantity which what Yakuza 0 and Like a dragon Ishin ended up doing much better eventually...

Playing on hard difficulty, average goons/thugs can present good challenge that slowly pushes you to consider how to approach your battles although some tend to be bit more spongy even with MAX stats, perhaps that's just the difficulty also increasing enemies durability, the bosses on other hand aren't step up in challenge unfortunately, difference only being that they can perform heat attacks and special "combo" sequence that can only be avoided by carefully dodging out of it, add to that just like main series, you can stash tons of healing items and it makes encounters even more cheese-able, I will commend the developers for mixing healing items and buff items into one category just so you don't become too powerful and allows more room to think if you're willing to sacrifice medication in exchange for more power, The brand new "injury mechanic" is nice mechanic that adds pressure on you to play for more carefully before allowing yourself to sustain blows that can leave you more vulnerable, although those too can be healed up by med kit but plus for trying out new stuff...

My least favorite parts had to be generally traversing the streets which harkens back to the ps2 era yakuza games, although unlike those, not only is Tetsuya more slower than Kiryu was before, but also the camera shots tend to cut more abruptly which can be nauseating to deal with early on and delivers sour impressions, part of it PSP limitation which I can understand but speeding up Tetsuya or present fast travel points for the other end of the maps as an option would have been better than nothing, there's also no item management on phone booths, only present on your home which can be tad aggravating if you plan to switch stored items, lastly the upgrade system being purchased through money currency is tad problematic, specially in first 4 chapter when everything (including healing items) are fairly overpriced for what you get, although mixture of part time jobs becoming available and higher rewards does eventually wash away that problem, in theory it might present difficult question of of choosing between increasing your stats/moves or keeping yourself well equipped for battles, that's practically thrown out the window when you can easily fail early on unlocking moves by losing against the dummy opponent and costing you decent amount for cash, so yeah, always save before!

While I complained a lot, I still think this game is worth experiencing for any Like a dragon/yakuza fan and even those who want to play interest obscure PSP games, it earns my recommendation,

Special thanks to the Translation Team at (TeamK4L) For their long efforts, you guys ROCK!

Tatsuya Ukyo: my blorbo my plinko my poor little meow meow meow and also my glup shitto. Having had been a distrusting 17yo shithead myself, I know full well how much of a mind poison the worldview of total unbelief is. Hence, watching an edgy teenager turning this mindset around is just soothingly comforting — which is a hysterical quality to assign to what's maybe the most brooding and morose RGG game out there. A real gem in the series, and a really easy recommendation if you seek the grungy vibe of PS2 Yakuzas

At last in my Yakuza playthrough I get to some genuine spin-off games. Yakuza: Black Panther (as the fanbase calls it) is a PSP-exclusive game released only in Japan and only playable to english audiences thanks to a diligent fan-translation thanks to Team 4KL (get it here: https://www.teamk4l.com/)

The game follows an 18 year-old punk named Tatsuya Ukyo who just wants to beat up people and prove he's strong because he has no other marketable skills. This attitude lands him in hot water with the Tojo clan and he's forced to compete in an underground tournament called Dragon Heat.
The story keeps to a pretty small scope. Each chapter unveils a little more of the ongoing mystery, but also introduces and hypes up your opponent for that chapter's closing match. There are some good personalities you go up against, a boxer past retirement age, Tatsuya's former homeroom teacher, a cab-driver out for revenge. It makes these slugfests more impactful and I'd wager that it feels like better setup & payoff than a lot of the sub-bosses in the mainline series get.
Unfortunately, like a lot of these Yakuza games, it fails to stick the landing. It's not as egregious as Yakuza 6, but it's still somewhat deflating. The final opponent has next to no setup. He's just a dude working for the main antagonist who has mastered all martial arts and....and nothing else really (the fight is also a slog).

The actual meat and potatoes gameplay of this one is also a change-up from the mainline series. This was done by the Def Jam developers and it shows. Mainline Yakuza is about horde-mode fights that invoke a modern River City Ransom feel. This is strictly about 1-on-1 encounters where the enemy is working with the same mechanics and resources as you.
At first it feels like you can still button mash to victory, but at the mid-point the game shuts that down hard with enemies that are quick to counter and punish poor strategy. It becomes a proper fighting game where you have to think about spacing and combo confirms. There's a ton of fighting styles to learn and level-up, each with sizable strengths and weaknesses. I somewhat wish this is what the mainline series used as it's core combat.
As you get deeper into the game cracks do start to appear. There are bosses that seem to read inputs, fights that devolve into cheap strategies, and it takes a lot of grinding to match late game encounters. The most apparent flaw is there's not a command list, so when the game tells you you've unlocked a new punch combo you have no idea how to throw it out.

Grinding takes the form of random battles (which are done like PS2 era Yakuza with a slow lead-in and victory screen) and minimum wage jobs. The only way to up your damage is to dump money into training, a system Yakuza 0 would later adopt, so be prepared to scoop a lot of gelato in order to keep matches quick or to pass one of the games numerous "You must pay this much Yen to continue the story" gates.

All in all, I'm glad I played this. Would even go so far to call it a "Hidden Gem." I don't think it needed to be 19 hours (as long as a mainline entry). I like Tatsuya as a character and his arc was one of the better handled ones, but I also don't need to see him again. If you're gung-ho for Yakuza, or just want to check out an obscure PSP game, it's worth looking into.

As a fan of Yakuza/Like a Dragon series I only recently discovered this game. No wonder, because it was Japan exclusive and man... we really were robbed for that.
Thanks to the english translation team that made a patch. Really made an impact here.

Not many games on PSP were mainly story-driven, luckily this game offers a unique perspective on a new character, Ukyo Tatsuya. A usual two-bit thug who was a lone wolf but later in the game tries to find his philosophy of fighting. A really well-written character and player starts sympathize with him more and more as story goes on.

Substories on the other hand... weren't that memorising. Yeah, there are a few which goes on and on(i.e. gang wars), but mostly they are forgetful. And you also can collect 101 cats for an old man... it is a notorious experience.

Minigames themselves aren't that exciting comparing to the main series, however there is a variety. In karaoke you just mash a button until time runs out; In baseball you, as usual, hit the ball, but because of the bad camera placement, it's hard to tell when you must hit the ball and etc.
There are also part-time jobs, but they are mostly time-consuming if you aren't careful with money management(and believe me, you MUST have a certain amount of money for story at the very least).

Fighting is unique. Yes, it IS a PSP game, so you won't have a similar experience like in yakuza 1 or 2. However, it isn't bad! There are a lot of fighting styles and each of them has unique fighting animations and methods of dealing with an enemy.
There is a downside though, leveling up these fighting styles can be tricky and if you're not careful enough you'll be completing the game with maximum of half the style that are in the game. Luckily, I aknowledged the problem before it was too late and managed to discover almost every style.
Leveling up your punches, kick and etc costs money though, and I can't say that they are balanced. But it's not like you'll have a lot of money to begin with so whatever.
Also there's a random encounter problem which is similar to Yakuza 5. If you know, you know, but if you don't... let's say you're going to fight a lot of yankees(or run away from cops, it depends).

Music is FIRE! Every song was made specifically for this game and I find it really interesting on how composers were dedicated to make thess banger songs. Hideki Naganuma himself took part in making music for this game and you can hear it. Almost every song is awesome and you won't get tired of hearing it. I, in particular, fell in love with the main theme "MUPPET". So much drive and excitement in this song, I love it.

In conclusion, a good introduction of a new character in Yakuza/LAD series while being a PSP game. Such a shame that not many could experince this game in western territory. If you like Yakuza/LAD series then you should definitely try this game.

Man, or Animal

Not much people have heard of this game, like in general. Which is not surpring by any means since it got stuck in Japan. Which is a shame since I found to be one of the most round origin stories in the Like a Dragon series. This is a spin-off totally unrelated to Kiryu.

Ukyo Tatsuya is our protagonist, a kid that lives with his philosphy of lone survival with his group of friends, that for the looks of it can barely stand him as it is. Nothing but violence comes and goes out from him, like an enraged animal. After one of his many violent incidents, he comes across of one of his worse. One that will change his life forever. Slowly he starts to change as a person, see the world from different perspectives which are represented by the people he ends up fighting. The more he experience a challenge, the more he gets better at fighting and learns some valuable life leassons. By the end he's another version of himself, his own evolution.

Combat is wildly different from the classic Yakuza games. Whereas Yakuza in essence was a 3D beat 'em up, Kurohyou shifts to a more classic fighting game style of combat. In fact, the Def Jam series are the bones of Kurohyou and the Yakuza mix in was the meat. Kurohyou also differs in how to approach to enemies, since is really focused on making 1v1 battles the best they can be while in Yakuza it focus it's gameplay on battling as many enemies as possible. There is no real HUD while fighting, not at all. All you get are indications of your current health and stanima state, most of which are indicated through Tatsuya himself; if he gets tired his attacks and running animations will be slower, if he gets injured a different idle animation will play, etc. Head, Chest, Legs and Arms take a big role in combat as well. Tatsuya and the enemies themselves are prone to get injured in one of these areas in combat, for better or for worse it gives the battles more complexity.

This, to my knowledge works with various other systems in conjuction. For example, in case you keep blocking heavy attacks your arms will start to debilitate overtime in the fight and deal less damage or if you keep getting hit in the head Tatsuya will be dizzy for a couple of seconds and take more damage to the head. It's a simple system that either the enemies or yourself can exploit to your advantage, specially on bossfights which they really love using certain moves that can attack either part of the body to KO you in a matter of seconds. Fighting Styles are important, more than in any RGG previously made. You got plenty to choose, up to 20 to unlock throughout the game. Yeah, 20 in total. Ever played any Yakuza game and give some attention of how the enemies move? From Street Brawler to Ancient Martial Arts, it's all here from you to choose and work out. My personal favorites styles were the ones used kicks as it's main source of damage such as Muay Thai. Though, most of these styles are hidden on substories and such. Ended up unlocking 16 of the 20 that are in total.

Once again we hit the old but known streets of Kamurocho. Presentation takes a bit of a hit compared to what people were use to with Yakuza 3 and Yakuza 4 for obvious technical reasons. So the team opted to use the classic static camera angles, separated in screens from the PS2 Yakuza games. It doesn't feel bad honestly, but some specific camera angles may be confusing to navigate specially if you're running from someone. Substories, Minigames, Shops, you name it everything we've used to in the RGG titles is here, to some extent and with some obvious limitations due to hardware restrains. Talking about hardware limitations, the cutscenes are not in real time anymore. But they're better if they had to implement in that way honestly. The closest resembleance we have in the very same console can be found in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, which uses the exact same method of providing cutscenes. Awesome artstyle, great voice acting it has everything.

What did surprise me were the ideas it bought to the table, some that later games will use and evolve. For example this is the first time we can see Trail missions incorporated in a RGG game. While a very primitive integration, still some of the ideas will end up being refined in Judgment and Lost Judgment. Yakuza 0 story also seem to took some notes to make Kiryu's portion of the story.

It still has some flaws here and there. For example, the combat can be easily exploited with some specific tricks. It's hard to not get into combat with randoms in the street, or get caught by the police. Substories aren't as develop as the console titles and so much more. Nonetheless, it's a solid entry in the Like a Dragon series. It's focus on the story, the intense combat and Tatsuya character development makes definitely worth a playthrough. Just loved to see the evolution of Tatsuya, his philosophy went on changing over time, all the time until he found his own. Started as a ruthless kid to become a strong man, while not throwing his possitives traits of the past away.

Almost forgot. Props to the English Translation team TeamK4L for making this game english version possible. Not so long ago, in August 2023 they released the 1.2 Patch which is a big overhaul of what was 1.0 in the past. Seriously, it's a big accomplishment that I believe RGG fans shouldn't miss out. Both for the team efforts and the game itself which is great.

I love the story, combat, and music in this game. Tatsuya might be the protagonist with the most character development in the series and the soundtrack is full of bangers. The combat mostly feels extremely satisfying and crunchy, and it's pretty unique for the series as it's made by the Def Jam devs and takes after that game more than the mainline Yakuza games.

I do have a few big gripes though. First one is that they, for some godforsaken reason, removed taxis. A huge chunk of this game is spent just walking around from point A to point B, and Tatsuya is slow as shit. Highly recommend emulating the game just because of that and setting speed up to an easy to reach button to make getting around less of a fucking chore.

My other big gripe is the side content. Substories are mostly meh this time around and the minigames are either godawful variations of ones in the mainline games or brand new godawful minigames. I play Yakuza for the side content more than for the main story, so the side content sucking is definitely a big con for me.

The last big gripe is the enemy AI, particularly bosses. While I greatly enjoy how tough the bosses are in this game, their AI forces you to play extremely defensively. Throwing out an attack besides a grab, perfect dodge counter, or catch (a parry-like mechanic) will most likely get you FUCKED. The AI is extremely good at doing perfect dodges and catches, and they can combo off of them in ways that you can't. They can also use these defensive options when they SHOULDN'T be able to, like when they're kneeling or "stunned". Not to mention the bosses' Heat moves which are unblockable and have to be dodged! Basically, you're forced to play like a fucking pussy way too often. That said, it is still extremely satisfying to overcome these annoying tough ass bosses, and trying to hit them from the back to be able to combo them can feel great too. On the other hand, random encounters become a fucking joke quickly as you can end them in 1-3 regular hits or a single heat action.

Despite these gripes with the combat, I still found it fun as fuck, so I guess it's not the worst thing anyway... so yeah, fun combat, great story, and great OST.

The gold standard of portable spinoffs, Kurohyou is the fully featured Yakuza game you wouldn't expect on the PSP.

It gets around the limitations of the system by having prerendered backgrounds (a la Resident Evil) and that works remarkably well, never feeling like something is missing: the designers were clever in framing Kamurocho in such a way that the camera angles result in familiar views for fans of the series.

The combat system is brand new, and based more around well-timed dodges and grabs than it is about endless combos. It starts brutally difficult, but by the end you will be so powerful that very few enemies will be able to withstand more than a couple of your punches, thanks to a rewarding progression system and a number of buff items and moves you can acquire.

The game even pioneered some elements later used in another Yakuza spinoff, Judgment, such as tailing an NPC, acting nonchalant when they spot you, or the permanent damage you have to heal via a doctor or medical kit (thankfully far less irritating here than in Judgment).

The story is just as rich and emotional as the rest of the series, despite the character being a brash, cocky asshole at first, it goes to some really good places as the plot develops and people grow.

Side activities are plentiful, with over 50 substories and the bunch of minigames you've come to expect. Just about the only thing that's missing is the humor, which is here conspicuously absent. It's not that the game is completely devoid of it, but the tone is definitely more serious than what came before, and especially after.

If you've never heard of the Kurohyou games, or have always dismissed them as crappy portable spinoffs, give them a chance: there is a great english translation out there, and they absolutely deserve to be played.

maioria dos jogos da serie sofrem com alguma especie de problema nas suas narrativas:

Yakuza 0: muitas cenas arrastadas
Yakuza 1: muitos problemas de pacing
Yakuza 2: muitos plot twists absurdos
Yakuza 3: muito dialogo expositivo
Yakuza 4: ... o que quer que seja a historia daquele jogo
Yakuza 5: historia arrastada

enfim, manda tudo isso pra casa do caralho pq esse jogo aqui nao tem nada disso e a historia dele é redondinha e incrivel do começo ate o fim.
o combate é muito variado (algo sempre otimo num jogo desse calibre) e sempre tem aquela sensaçao de "fresquinho do forno", o que impede bastante de que ele fique massante com o tempo.
o Tatsuya é sem sombra de duvidas um dos melhores personagens da serie inteira e ele tem o melhor character development da serie com certeza.

esse jogo é incrivel, o unico problema dele é por que caralhos ele nao recebeu uma localizaçao e porra de DEAD SOULS recebeu. jogue, voce nao vai se arrepender.

This game has a lot to love. The combat system is really innovative for the series, giving you access to all sorts of fighting styles to make use of. Each one is somewhat unique, and you can max out different styles to unlock others, allowing you to use around 20 or so styles roughly. The story was also pretty cool, with a bunch of cool boss-fights. There are really just two areas that this game falls somewhat short. First of all, the minigames are really not the greatest in this game, especially compared to that of the main series. A lot of the returning ones are honestly pretty disappointing. The final boss was also just some dude you meet at the end, and not a character that felt deserved the role of a final boss. Overall, a fairly short and moderately easy game, and one that's worth playing if you enjoy the main series but want something a bit different.

around the time yakuza 3 wrapped development, there seemed to be some internal consensus that kiryu shouldn't helm these games on his own anymore; the team thought that some fresh blood could really open up the scope of these games narratively and mechanically and instill a sense of surprise in its audience. and to be clear the series has benefitted strongly from how well it characterizes its protagonists relationships to their environment, but fourteen years later we can safely state that they kind of failed miserably at this task and kiryu is still around. still, this is what makes looking at yakuza 4 and kurohyou interesting - i genuinely have no idea what happened here. yakuza 4 is this insanely unfocused and indecipherable improv mess of 'yes, and' plot developments. you spend the whole game playing through highlight reels of what the dev team thought was cool - they'll hire koichi yamadera specifically to play akiyama ("If Akiyama isn't voiced by Koichi Yamadera then it won’t work! We can't capture his charms!") and then have him make constant metaphors about the animal kingdom, also because they didn't actually have any editors working on the game, they just had a bunch of guys in a room saying 'hell yeah'. they'll walk back pivotal character beats because they don't subscribe to the series' bizarre ideology on who can and can't be a player character. an antagonist will show up in exactly one scene wearing an alternative version of kiryu's suit to show that he's gone full heel and means business. we could literally recap the things that make yakuza 4 ridiculous and i would be here for the next 24 hours.

kurohyou, meanwhile, possesses a jolting sense of restraint. much of this has to do with its comparatively small scope, but even so as an attempt at establishing a new protagonist, there are clear strides to parallel the first ryu ga gotoku. when we first encounter kiryu, he's sacrificing himself by taking the fall for a murder he didn't commit; when we first encounter tatsuya, he's beaten a man presumably to death, and he scrapes up the loose cash he can find and makes a break for it.

all of which is to say that tatsuya starts off as a bit of a psycho - uncharacteristic for this series, to say the least - and the rest of the game is devoted to his character growth. it's parts tournament arc, parts delinquent manga, parts coming of age story, told lovingly through comic book cutscenes reminiscent of those found in portable ops or peace walker. for the most part, it's really solid! no one will be stunned by the direction the story takes but it comes off as tender and earnest; where the fixed camera angles of the ps2 duology reflect its noirish tone, the fixed camera angles of kurohyou's kamurocho evoke a diorama of sorts, befitting of tatsuya's small world and limited interiority. he's a high school drop out who can't really see beyond his fists, and the game manages to eventually channel a level of introspection which feels true to the character.

it sucks that the rest of the game is kind of a first draft. part of why i hold the original yakuza in such high regard is that it's a fantastically realized game that you can wrap up having experienced most of it in between ten and fifteen hours. comparatively, kurohyou has far less to do, but runs for about twice that time. the mini games are much weaker than the standard fare for the series, the absence of taxis makes getting around a bit of a pain, the OST isn't that great, and substories are a notch below the usual degree of quality in spite of how fun tatsuya's interfacing with the world can often be.

kurohyou's strongest draw, then, is its combat - vicious, kinetic, dynamic, and satisfying in ways that the mainline series sometimes can't deliver on. as a def jam fan i felt like i was being pandered to and i'm right at home with AKI/syn Sophia's sensibilities, but it still feels like it's missing something for several reasons. targeting limbs isn't really as important a strategy as it's made out to be; heat faces its most unsatisfying and uninteresting implementation thus far, with nary a hint of resource management to keep players thinking; grabs are too strong for players and opponents alike; for as many fighting styles as there are, some of them are underwhelming and homogenous and all of them are subject to long grinds in order to flesh out; the levelling system is somewhat confused and arbitrary; its differing focus means that some series staples, like long battles, aren't present.

but when it does work...man. so smart to center this game on intimate battles with no intrusion from the UI. performing custom combos and figuring out what works organically instead of queuing up the next tiger drop. relying so strongly on tells in order keep track of your own stamina and to figure out when an opponent might be gassed is a joy. the bosses are a mixed bag because their second phases are all kind of ass, but the bosses that decide to eschew convention via additional parameters (i.e. don't target this opponent's head; you are at increased risk of leg damage) offer very fun twists on the format that you're just not ever going to see in the mainline games.

overall, a great experiment - ten years of thinking about playing this game and now i finally got to play it. satisfying. they should let you cancel attacks using command inputs in the mainline games like they do in this one. sure, they break the combat system on its hinges, but they're pretty fun to execute, no?