The only reason I'm giving this game a 5 star rating is because of Crimson Flower, Edelgard and Rhea. They're the only reason why I enjoyed this game so much.

This game should not have four routes. The concept of four perspectives in a war is great, but it falls flat when the main narrative is only really about Edelgard against the church. Dimitri and Claude are ultimately not important to the main narrative. Personally, I don't even understand why Dimitri and Claude are lords, because they're frankly pretty insignificant compared to Rhea and Edelgard. That's why the routes are kind of a mess.

Silver Snow is just..such wasted potential it's infuriating. It should have been Rhea's route and focus more on her and the lore around the Nabateans. But we got a random lore dump in Claude's route instead. SS should also have focused more on Edelgard and Byleth, because it's the route where you're choosing to fight against your student, but we got nearly nothing out of it. Over the course of the narrative Byleth is given the option to dissent to the war, to express her desire to not fight, and at every time Byleth's worries and desires are ignored and overruled. The route could have also explored Byleth being nothing more than a vessel in general, but all we really got was Seteth taking the lead. Rhea got done dirty
and that's really a shame.

Verdant Wind is nothing more than a carbon copy of Silver Snow, so if a route got the poorest treatment then it's this one. There is a reason this route is full of unnecessary cutscenes and the final boss being nothing more than an ass pull. The music was great, though! I like Claude's design and his personality is intriguing, but the way he was implemented into this game was just not good. He kind of felt out of place? Claude feels like a character who needs his own game, where the plot focuses on his goals etc., because in 3H they fall flat.

Sadly, I have really nothing nice to say about Azure Moon, since it ignored every story aspect in favor of a half-assed "redemption arc". While playing this route I noticed that this is nothing more than a hyperfocussed Gary Stu storyline that gives the rest of the cast barely any room to breath and develope outside of directions beneficial to Dimitri. Everything is focused on him and his manpain. All characters around him are nothing more than sad looking bystanders doing absolutely nothing. Byleth has no agency whatsoever in this route. AM!Byleth is probably my least favorite character in the whole game. The choices you get there feel like they're straight out of a otome game. You see Dimitri killing and torturing his enemies, leading suicidal charges, dooming his army and taking his Kingdom down with him. He even admits killing innocent people and children and treats Byleth and his comrades like absolute shit, but all you can say as the protagonist are lines like "I miss the old you" and I hated it. Dimitri's actions literally didn't have any consequences for him. AM is just about letting Dimitri go wild while his "friends" and Byleth are babysitting him or are feeling sorry for him. If the characters were given the chance to act and talk like normal people then AM would fall apart and the "Savior King" would look bad in his own route. Dimitri just does not work to improve himself whatsoever. In one moment he is a dangerous, aggressive boar who enjoys spilling blood, then in the other he is suddenly the Savior King and everything beforehand is forgotten. I just can't call this poorly written development a redemption arc. That would require Dimitri to exercise a modicum of self-reflection and act on the results, but he doesn't.

Honestly, I think AM should be a bad end and Dimitri shouldn't get a "redemption". Because the plot twist that you're fighting for the wrong side and go down with the Boar King would be a perfect fit for AM. I mean, the route is already actively ignoring the main narrative to begin with and ends kind of on a "bad note"(status quo still exists etc), so they could have gone all the way. At the end AM felt like an edgy side story that desperately forced a "happy ending". Outside of his route Dimitri is pretty irrevelevant. He dies off-screen in 2 routes and in Crimson Flower he is also nothing more than an obstacle. Now don't get me wrong, it's not like I dislike or hate him as a character, because in concept he sounds really interesting. But the execution was very poor.

Crimson Flower is sadly shorter than the other routes and lacks some cutscenes, but the narrative is the most complete and satisfying compared to others imo. I also like that there were no filler maps where you're fighting against some lame bandits. The narrative is progressing steadily with unique maps and without any interruptions and I loved that. You could argue that some things are missing like Shambhala but considering that AM's plot was rushed even though it had 22 chapters..yeah, I feel satisfied with CF's final battle. Did I want to fight TWSITD? Sure, but at least it's the most unique route with different maps and monastery dialogues. Edelgard is an amazing character and the Black Eagles have a great dynamic. They fulfill the found family trope pretty well. The fact that they're the only house that stays together after the timeskip speaks volumes. Also Byleth gets some agency in that route and her heartbeat and original hair color back (which I like way more than the mint green). I love that CF makes you reaffirm your decision to stay with Edelgard, because narratively it's one of the most important bits in the game. It's Byleth actively choosing for herself what she wants, and not what someone else has chosen for her, for the first time in her life. It's the entire point of CF. Byleth making a decision for herself literally leads directly to her regaining her humanity and getting to live an ordinary life. It’s so good how in other routes Byleth is thrust into a position of power for her immortal lifespan - Archbishop or Queen. In CF she’s free. She didn’t just help Edelgard reclaim the future for everyone, she reclaimed the future for herself. With that being said, it's an absolute shame that Byleth can't talk. I get that silent protagonists are popular in jrpgs, but Byleth being also one in a story and character driven game like Three Houses was just a huge mistake.

I'm also glad that this route didn't remove Rhea from her agency. Rhea is amazing in CF because she is not some poor corrupted soul that needs to be tragically taken down. Also we get to see Rhea/Seiros being unhinged (like in the very first cutscene of the game) and I loved it.

Another reason why I love CF is because it shows the emotional growth of Edelgard. Seeing her open up to Byleth and the Black Eagles is quite endearing. She has complex and very relatable, sympathetic views. Edelgard's idelogies and character resonated with me even further when I saw how much despair there was in her situation, where there's an immense ammount of conviction behind every word, drive behind every action, making it feel so gratifying to see it to the end in CF moreso than any other route. Edelgard has a well developed character arc that is thoroughly built-up and impactful where the game doesn't relent showing how her traumatic experiences have so much of an impact on her or highlighting her more questionable acts and how that affects her. She is also a powerful axe-wielding badass with an immaculate design and can be an adorable dork sometimes.

As I said, this game is unfinished and way too amibitious. It was definitely in development hell and should have been delayed again. But I really think Three Houses should only have two fleshed out routes (SS and CF). Because even if they had more time, AM's story would stay the same and Claude would still feel out of place.

But oh well, I still loved Edelgard's story and her impact on other routes. She is easily the greatest fictional character of all time for me and the only reason I enjoyed this game in the first place. So you could say I only love Crimson Flower, Edelgard and Rhea (some other characters as well) and not the whole game.

I could type up 6 paragraphs about why the story is ambitious and (mostly) well written, with great world-building, very interesting characters that all have incredibly different and unique, realistic and relatable personalities, emotions and goals they strive towards and how there's a strong sense of grey morality or how the gameplay is refined and fun with a new Langrisser style battalion mechanic that makes you feel like you're fighting full scale epic wars, the battle animations are stylish and smooth, the maps are well designed and have tons of variety or how the Persona-like school social/time management system adds an extra dimension to the tactical gameplay...

Or I could just tell you Edelgard is one of the best written, relatable and most realistic characters I've seen in a long time and best girl and you should honestly play the game for her and her story alone. Long live the emperor and hail to the Black Eagles.

Full Review + Trophy Review and Tips Below

This year I started my journey through the Soulsborne franchise starting with Bloodborne in March, Demon’s Souls in November and now Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. I have grown very fond of this genre over the year as I have seldom played games that were so rewarding in their experience. The discussion around these games and the fandom (which tends to be pretty toxic) turn off a lot of players from even attempting them, I counted myself among them. The unforgiving nature of the game design and the “Get Good” attitude from the fans made me nervous about attempting them. Was I good enough?

If you are wondering the same thing, I am here to tell you YES. Yes, you are good enough. You can tackle Sekiro in one of two ways. Completely blind and see where the game takes you or read up on some quick strategy and recommendations and allow yourself to be guided on the best path through the game. Both scenarios are equally rewarding. Even though the game is designed for exploration, I have concluded that From Software WANTS you to look up solutions and talk with friends on the best strategies you can use. The reward comes from mastering a section, defeating a boss, and progressing forward to the next challenge.

Sekiro is the quick and complex in its gameplay as you can parry, dodge, jump, slash and use special prosthetic weapons to defeat enemies. Every hit on an enemy whittles away at their health bar and every blocked attack impacts their stance which if broken, will result in an immediate death blow. So again, you can attack in one of two ways. You can go on the offense and slash, jump, dodge and parry in perfect synchronization on almost every enemy in the game to break their stance and deliver the death blow or you can run around like crazy, dodging attacks and going in for the strike during the 1-2 seconds they are unprotected. Or if you are like me, do a lot of both.

Sekiro is different from other Souls games I have played as there are frequent idols throughout the world that act as your saving point. You can rest and regain your health and items or use them to fast travel. Many times it was a quick sprint past enemies to find the next idol, rest and then backtrack to take out enemies and search for items and bosses.

The game is beautifully designed with a variety of locations to explore. Exploration is made all the more engaging with the ability to grapple and reach new heights. The grapple mechanic is one of the most satisfying components of the game next to the perfect parrying you will be do during battle.

Sekiro is a game worth experiencing and one that I recommend you attempt, regardless of what you feel your skill level may be. If you're anything like me, you'll quickly get hooked.

Trophies
Difficulty: 7/10
Time: 50 Hours
Trophy Guide: Recommended
Trophy List Score: 6/10

Going for this platinum without a guide will probably double the amount of time it takes to complete. There are many quests that need to be done in a very specific order to get some of the endings or the bosses required to earn a trophy. I am a visual guy so I highly recommend SquareOneGuy on YouTube that has a Sekiro “Road To Completion” that will not only take your through the entire Platinum run but has some great tips and boss strategies.

You can check it out here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_uVGCXfB4k&list=PLtBgr5sxTadSKdY70AIF7btH6JoL88bEo

This list will require a minimum of 2 playthroughs to get every trophy using well placed cloud saves or 4 playthroughs to get all the trophies naturally. It goes without saying that From Software games are designed to be played multiple times and Sekiro is so much fun that you may want to do just that.

The list itself is very rewarding, especially when taking out a difficult boss and seeing the trophy pop for it. The game does a good job of consistently rewarding you with trophies as your progress through the game during your first run. In New Game + it’s mostly about clean up which typically is boiled down to the final bosses needed at the end of the game by choosing the SHURA path and upgrading your prosthetics and skills to the max. The biggest obstacle on your way to the platinum will be a few of the bosses, mainly your 2nd encounter with The Owl or Isshin Ashina. The key is to practice until you have the rhythm of the fight down.

Tips:
- Sekiro is constantly saving your progress so you can easily upload your save to the cloud, especially before difficult encounters and then download it again so you don’t lose any progress.
- Almost every boss and mini boss can be dealt a death blow to start the encounter.
- Using the cloud save you can keep on doing a boss encounter until you feel you have a good pattern, no matter how many times you die and then download your save to do the real run at the boss.
- The Firecracker prosthetic is a huge help and used wisely in time with your attacks will help whittle away at the enemy’s health.
- Patience is key, it is smarter to take 15 minutes to do a boss encounter by slowly chipping away at its health than having to start the encounter over 20 times.
- Have a hand towel by your side because you are going to need it often for how sweaty your hands are going to get.
- You will have to spend about 5 hours farming XP at the end of the game to level up every skill. If you break it out into an hour each day with a good podcast, it isn’t that bad.

Happy Trophy Hunting!

YOU DON'T GET TO THE TOP BY CRYING

The buildup I experienced going into Yakuza 0 was intense for a multitude of reasons. Not only did my decision to go in release order (LAD notwithstanding) lead to me going through several games before reaching this one, not only did I have to endure trials to play this on PC, which ultimately ended in failure, but because this was built up as the best game in the series and one of the best games ever made. While I don’t think it lives up to THAT high of a standard, it’s still a fantastic game with some of the highest highs the series has ever seen.

To start with the gameplay, it has a pretty interesting innovation with its combat. This game introduces the style system, where you can switch between three different fighting styles for each character, with a fourth one based on their original movesets being unlocked after the Real Estate and Cabaret side games. I really like this system, it adds a good amount of variety to combat while also being really, for lack of a better term, stylish. Also, the more the gap between Yakuza and Devil May Cry is bridged, the better.

I’ll briefly go over each of the main fighting styles, starting with Kiryu’s. Brawler style is cool as a sort of early version of Kiryu’s normal fighting style. I noticed quite a few parallels between it and the Legend style he unlocks later, but with Brawler being quite a bit more scrappy, which is fitting for Kiryu’s place in the story. Rush was my personal favorite to use, especially for 1 on 1 fights. I really like the mobility it offers, and the bobbing and weaving you can do with some moves and the guard almost made me feel like I was playing God Hand at times. I wasn’t a fan of Beast style at first, I didn’t see much utility in the guarding mechanic it had, but once I unlocked more abilities, including some attacks that come out of the guarding stance, I realized that Beast style is completely broken. It was an easy go-to for tearing apart crowds.

Moving onto Majima’s, I feel like Thug is a similar type of early adoption of Majima’s fighting style that Brawler was for Kiryu, though I think Thug’s focus on movement and evasion is a bit more interesting. It feels like a closer equivalent to Rush than Brawler at times. The Slugger style rivals Beast in how meathead-y it can be, even with just the bat by itself. I think it ties in with how Majima has a much emphasis on different weapons between the two. The last one I want to go over is Breaker, which is my favorite in terms of choreography. Incorporating breakdancing into combat is really cool to see, and this is one of my favorite examples of it in a game. Really like the freeze poses too, those are dope. Overall I’m a big fan of the style system, I’m excited to see how the system is expanded on in the Judgment games.

A really cool piece of how it incorporates its mechanics into the story is the role of money. The most brought up example is the progression system, but it’s a recurring thread through every facet of the game. Most of the key facets of the plot are about making money and buying properties, it forms a handful of the villains’ ideologies, and a good chunk of the substories focus on money. It’s really cool that the focus on money, as symbolism of Japan’s bubble economy at the time, has a really large presence.

But the most notable one is its skill trees, which has a lot going for it. I think its structure is the best middle ground the series has had between the freeform skill orb system in 4 and the more linear progression of the other games in the series. I still think 4 has my favorite leveling system for how much freedom you have with spending orbs, but I see a lot of value in the skill tree. Speaking of value, I do like the idea of making money the indicator of your progress. Like I said, money is a large aspect of 0’s story and time period, so tying that into your growth for both characters is really neat. I also like how this means progression isn’t just tied to combat or substories. You can get tons of money from selling items, gambling in the Fate Extra catfighting ring, or engaging in each of the characters’ main side stories. Going through them as you move forward makes the feeling of progression satisfying in a pretty unique way for the series.

So there's all sorts of systems that help you make money and support this system really well. However, there's one teensy-weensy but ever so crucial tiny, little detail. None of them matter. For the purposes of gaining money, every single one of these methods is completely irrelevant. And that's all because of one man. Or rather, because of four men…

I like Mr Shakedown in theory, having a superboss walk down the street with steep consequences for losing, while resulting in a massive payout if you beat him. They even have funny little stories as you fight them. In execution, his presence completely ruins the progression of the game. It doesn’t take long for the fights to become incredibly easy to exploit, completely eliminating the risk element of the risk-reward system and making for a painfully easy way to get billions of yen in no time flat. It makes it so that any money management from the side games is nonexistent, making the possibility of doing them all in one go rather than doing them over the course of the game much easier, and, more importantly, you can max out skill trees incredibly fast. I feel like the team was slightly aware of this, so they had to balance the skill tree around him by making sharp price hikes in abilities, especially for Kiryu. But then the result of that is feeling the need to grind out Mr Shakedown to get anywhere close to getting more skills. Being able to max yourself out this easily, alongside the side modes for each character (which are much easier to do all in one go than people would have you believe), leads to the bosses feeling like complete jokes until the very last chapter of the game. This is by far the most exploitable progression system in the series, to the point that it was incredibly hard to ignore. I feel like the game would be better off without that system in place.

But let’s put all of that aside because, as much as I really like it, the gameplay isn’t really the main appeal of the series, the story is. I was originally going to start this by hardening my stance on its role as a starting point, (To summarize, I think starting with the originals is the best way to go about it, but if you start with 0 or LAD like I did, I won’t hold it against you) but I think focusing on that will distract from how it being the 6th title impacted the way I perceive the story. I think the game’s structure is the best execution of having multiple protagonists that they’ve done in the series. Frequently switching back and forth between Kiryu and Majima does wonders for holding my interest in both of them, especially with the TV serial style they’re going for with this. Kiryu’s side of the story is pretty awesome. It’s interesting to see Kiryu in a state where he’s still learning and not anywhere close to the level of dominance that he has in the other titles. It’s cool seeing the way he’s influenced by the people closest to him, and those that challenge him throughout the game. However, I felt that Majima’s side was much stronger in this regard. It might be a stretch to say, but this almost feels more like Majima’s story than Kiryu’s at points. My main intrigue for this was due to seeing him before the events of this game in Yakuza 4, and I’m glad to see they really capitalized on that. Seeing Majima start to cut loose due to his personal stake in the events of the story is the coolest thing. All of Majima’s dialogue in the final chapter had me absolutely giddy.

The villain lineup was also pretty good, I’ll go through each of them briefly. Kuze is great, easily my favorite of the three lieutenants. I love how persistent he is, he’s like a rival character in an action game that’s constantly testing Kiryu. He also happens to have the best boss theme in the game, but that’s besides the point. Shibusawa is pretty neat too, though I feel like he could’ve had a closer dynamic with Kiryu before the very end, like what Kiryu had with Kuze. Kuze and Shibusawa sort of remind me of Saix and Xemnas from Kingdom Hearts II, where the latter has a more imposing role in the narrative, but the former feels more like the main antagonist through his relationship with the MC. The third lieutenant, Awano was a bit of a letdown tbh. His speech to Kiryu was fantastic, but it feels like they didn’t know what to do with him after that point and kind of forced him into a boss fight. The last one I want to mention, Sagawa, is my favorite villain of the entire game. In each scene he’s in, he exudes so much pressure from his calm expressions and the way he talks. Every exchange he has with Majima feels like he’s seeing right through him and has him completely under his thumb. It makes it all the more interesting to see the kind of impact he has on Majima as a character. And that’s the key part of Yakuza 0, we get to see how the people that Kiryu and Majima meet and the actions they take influence them, and form the way they understand the world and themselves. But as satisfying as their growth is, all of it has a tinge of sadness to it, with the knowledge of what’s to come.

I think the most important part of having the context of the whole series as I played, was the way it unmasked the tale’s true nature. All the way through to the credits, Yakuza 0 is a tragedy. When I saw those very scenes of their growth, like any scene with Kiryu and Nishikiyama, or the epilogues of both protags’ stories, I found myself constantly thinking of what they would become in the future, how their decisions to follow these paths would lead to them being thrown into a world that will tear them apart, one that they can’t escape from no matter how many times they pull through. The dark undercurrents of every event, no matter how lighthearted or exhilarating a moment could be, really stung in so many moments. Even if you played 0 first, I urge you to go through it one more time after 5 just to feel the impact of this.

But beyond all the great writing, fun combat or tragic undertones, this game reminded me of my deep love for a series that, relatively speaking, I’ve only recently been acquainted with. I know it sounds superficial, but all of the the small moments of noticing references to past games, like certain music tracks or appearances of characters, and recognizing how the people that Kiryu, Majima and the others met over the course of these twin journeys made them into the people that are so close to my heart, it all really got to me. No amount of critiques I have, even the most damning ones, are going to change that for me. This and Like A Dragon make me really excited for the future of the franchise, and all of the twists and turns that come with it. I’m really happy that I got a chance to go through this series. RGG studios, for whatever your future has in store, I’ll receive you, cause you always brighten my life.