Celicesama
1997
Typed a long ass review but my dumbass accidentally closed all my tabs and I lost it all. In short, gen 1 is very good and has some of the strongest design ethos I've seen in any game. MoA is kino.
Hydrogen Bomb vs Hydrogen Baby
Earlier (as of writing this review), I stepped out to get lunch. The weather was good, I was hungry, and I thought there was no better time. While out on my walk and on my way, I just stopped, paused for a few seconds, and all I thought to myself was “fuck, Last Raven is a good ass game”.
What stood out to me about Last Raven was a thought of “wow, this is it”. When I played Armored Core 1, the game left a deep impression on me. Not because it was some sort of paragon of polish and game design that had me shitting myself at how good it was, but because of the potential it offered with its incredibly rock-steady design ethos. Games prior to LR were solid successors for sure, but their improvements were rather incremental in my opinion, and never in the way I had envisioned a perfect Armored Core game to be. What makes Last Raven so great is that it is THAT game, the platonic ideal of an Armored Core game that gazed up into the heavens and perfected the Armored Core formula.
Everything characteristic of Armored Core is damn near perfect here. The controls are tight and responsive, the sheer variety of customizations makes my head spin, the level design (while repetitive) is fantastic and never overstay their welcome, AC on AC combat is exhilarating, the mission pathing system has its weaknesses but is also BY FAR the most varied and dynamic in the series with how much variety and surprises it holds, and the story is perhaps the best in Armored Core’s oldgen, perhaps in all of Armored Core.
As for Last Raven’s challenge and its reputation as being the hardest Fromsoftware game: I think that, everything considered, Last Raven should be an unfair game. The enemy ACs are equipped with H+, out DPS-ing you and flying away with their high energy reserves, not to mention the several occasions where they come either subsequently or just straight up ganking your ass. I think the reason Last Raven can get away with tomfoolery of this level and something like say, Dark Souls, can’t, is the inherent design philosophy that characterizes the ethos of the Armored Core franchise. Since LR is the perfect Armored Core game, it means all the aspects of challenge we’d typically associate with Armored Core are tuned to the nth degree. Skill is demanded of you, yes, but as are AC building knowledge, resourcefulness, endurance, and situational awareness. I can’t really think of any challenge that I overcame with pure “git gud” grit alone. Each and every difficult mission demanded at least one of these major tenets of ACs design from me, and that’s what made overcoming them an insurmountable joy.
I think where Last Raven most fulfills the unwashed concepts of its predecessors is its mission pathing and the inclusion of multiple endings. This was something that VI left a lot to be desired when I had first played it, and while it was good to know that previous AC games had more complex and dynamic mission structures compared to 6th gen’s more streamlined approach, they never really went beyond with those systems on a narrative, or even mechanical level. For Answer was a net improvement, offering three distinct endings and a dynamic mission structure that requires a total of five playthroughs to get them all, but seeing what Last Raven had done with its structure, 4A is nothing in comparison.
Last Raven not only has six endings, which is only rivaled by Elden Ring in my Fromsoftware experience, but the game took me a whopping 5 or so semi-playthroughs to get everything, and that isn’t even accounting for how easy it is to screw up certain objectives and causing whole ass playthrough resets (which happened to me like twice). Luckily, playthroughs are about 12 missions on average and if you’re really efficient, take about an hour or two of your time to blast through a single one. Still, the variety in mission pathing and endings stand out to me as the most impressive change Last Raven makes to the AC formula, not to mention how surprisingly digestible it is, compared to say, AC3’s mission unlocks which can feel kinda random and unimpactful regardless if which corporations you choose to work for. I wish it was a little less tedious and I wish certain missions didn’t have to be constantly repeated just to unlock ONE mission over the course of one playthrough, though the game is short and the mission replays do encourage you to try different builds and approaches to see how fast you can clear them, which is certainly a good thing, I think.
Last Raven’s most impressive use of this dynamic mission pathing system is not in its gameplay (which honestly does get a bit tedious after a while), but its narrative. Prior to LR, narrative has never been a major focus for Armored Core. Select games like 2, 3, and Nexus definitely had more narrative than others, but their narratives felt more like backdrops if anything, Nexus’ ending was great and Klein was a solid antagonist, but it’s no MGS and that’s not what you should expect from this series. Last Raven, like many of its predecessors, is definitely a “gameplay-first, story-second” kind of game, but I was genuinely taken aback at just how much this narrative wound up resonating with me by the end. Excluding relativity to other AC games, I genuinely do believe Last Raven’s narrative stands on its own two feet as a damn great story that uses the medium to full effect.
Like with VI, which I had said in my review of that game here, even if I don’t love the endings on an individual level, I think each of them excelled at elevating the others by association. The 1st ending isn’t amazing on its own, but context from the 2nd ending enriches it, likewise with 3rd. Last Raven is much the same. Yeah the Vertex endings aren’t great, but knowing what Jack was up to in those endings greatly elevates the first Alliance ending (which is narratively the second best ending in my opinion).
STORY SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON. READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION.
Where the different routes shine most is definitely in how they elevate this game’s three central characters: Jack-O, Evangel, and most importantly: Zinaida. Two (or all, depending on who you ask) of them are returning characters from Nexus, and the continuity this game has from Nexus is always appreciated. In general I do love the continuity present in generation 3. Not all the games are made equal in terms of story or content, but each game, at least in some way, shape, or form, feels like an evolution of the previous one be it narratively or mechanically. The series had never been a character-focused one, and while a handful of characters in previous games like Klein, Stinger, Sumika, and Huster-One are certainly memorable, I wouldn’t call them masterfully written by any approximation. They exist as self-contained personalities/plot devices within their games, but are never more than that. I wouldn’t necessarily apply the "masterfully written" designation to the Last Raven trinity either (don't expect a Tolstoy or Dostoevsky or anything lmao), but I do think they are great characters in their own right that benefit a ton of Last Raven’s structure.
Jack-O probably benefits most from this multi-ending approach since he is the only one of these characters to appear in all of these routes in one way or another. I do regret doing his route first, because as powerful and climactic and his big moment was, I wish I had just an ilk more context on his motivations and what led him here in the first place, something that is explained in most of the other routes. Evangel’s two routes also substantiate him quite a bit. I think he’s easily the weakest character of the three, but getting to see different sides of him and how his motivations change drastically depending on which route you follow was really cool, not to mention he served as the eventual template for V.II and G5 in Fires of Rubicon, two of the series' best characters.
Zinaida’s a bit weird because, if you played the routes in the order I did, she doesn’t really have much presence until the indie routes, typically sending an ominous message about how you suck. Even between the two indie routes, you only really get to fight her in her ending, watching as she gets killed off by a Pulverizer (if only she kept the Micro Missiles, RIP). I think Director Dai Takemura’s additional context on her relation to Genobee is a cool bit of trivia that I think enhances her quite a bit, though where we see Zinaida truly shine is the final fight with her in “Destroy the Internecine”.
I could probably write a whole ass review on this fight alone and how fucking peak it is, but I’ll keep it short. That whole final stretch, from the moment you encounter Zinaida in the Internecine to the final shot of the Last Raven staring out into the sunset is one of my favorite moments in all of gaming. I legit got out of my chair and just thought to myself “this is real gaming”. Is the final fight with her the most complex, intricate, and varied bossfight in terms of moveset? No. Is the visual presentation and music a spectacle to behold? No (the music sucks lmao). Is the fight a completely fair fight? Everything considered, probably not, but that’s a hotly contested debate among many AC fans. Is this fight representative of everything I love, not only about Armored Core as a franchise, but about video games, be it as a medium of storytelling, a form of interactive entertainment, and an expression of art? Abso-fucking-lutely YES. When I think of the kind of unique experiences that games can offer as an artform, this fight is now one of the first things that will always pop up in my mind. One of the greatest fights ever crafted, peak gaming.
“I felt I finally reached what I'd been chasing... Raven... That title truly suits you..."
Last Raven is a monumental work of art and a crowning achievement of the medium. Like a lot of Fromsoftware’s catalog, it’s a bit of a shame that this game is buried under its own difficult reputation, as well as being a sequel to a divisive game in a niche series stuck on the PS2 and PSP. It is a more-than-fitting swansong (ravensong?) to the old generation of Armored Core and a fitting way to end my journey with these games. It’s also the most “not for everyone” game, I cannot emphasize that enough. If you are not as dick deep in these games as I am, or are not an absolute fucking idiot, I would never recommend this game (or series in its entirety) to anyone. It’s brutal, kinda silly, kinda wacky, a bit tedious, but as far as I’m concerned, it fucking slaps.
What stood out to me about Last Raven was a thought of “wow, this is it”. When I played Armored Core 1, the game left a deep impression on me. Not because it was some sort of paragon of polish and game design that had me shitting myself at how good it was, but because of the potential it offered with its incredibly rock-steady design ethos. Games prior to LR were solid successors for sure, but their improvements were rather incremental in my opinion, and never in the way I had envisioned a perfect Armored Core game to be. What makes Last Raven so great is that it is THAT game, the platonic ideal of an Armored Core game that gazed up into the heavens and perfected the Armored Core formula.
Everything characteristic of Armored Core is damn near perfect here. The controls are tight and responsive, the sheer variety of customizations makes my head spin, the level design (while repetitive) is fantastic and never overstay their welcome, AC on AC combat is exhilarating, the mission pathing system has its weaknesses but is also BY FAR the most varied and dynamic in the series with how much variety and surprises it holds, and the story is perhaps the best in Armored Core’s oldgen, perhaps in all of Armored Core.
As for Last Raven’s challenge and its reputation as being the hardest Fromsoftware game: I think that, everything considered, Last Raven should be an unfair game. The enemy ACs are equipped with H+, out DPS-ing you and flying away with their high energy reserves, not to mention the several occasions where they come either subsequently or just straight up ganking your ass. I think the reason Last Raven can get away with tomfoolery of this level and something like say, Dark Souls, can’t, is the inherent design philosophy that characterizes the ethos of the Armored Core franchise. Since LR is the perfect Armored Core game, it means all the aspects of challenge we’d typically associate with Armored Core are tuned to the nth degree. Skill is demanded of you, yes, but as are AC building knowledge, resourcefulness, endurance, and situational awareness. I can’t really think of any challenge that I overcame with pure “git gud” grit alone. Each and every difficult mission demanded at least one of these major tenets of ACs design from me, and that’s what made overcoming them an insurmountable joy.
I think where Last Raven most fulfills the unwashed concepts of its predecessors is its mission pathing and the inclusion of multiple endings. This was something that VI left a lot to be desired when I had first played it, and while it was good to know that previous AC games had more complex and dynamic mission structures compared to 6th gen’s more streamlined approach, they never really went beyond with those systems on a narrative, or even mechanical level. For Answer was a net improvement, offering three distinct endings and a dynamic mission structure that requires a total of five playthroughs to get them all, but seeing what Last Raven had done with its structure, 4A is nothing in comparison.
Last Raven not only has six endings, which is only rivaled by Elden Ring in my Fromsoftware experience, but the game took me a whopping 5 or so semi-playthroughs to get everything, and that isn’t even accounting for how easy it is to screw up certain objectives and causing whole ass playthrough resets (which happened to me like twice). Luckily, playthroughs are about 12 missions on average and if you’re really efficient, take about an hour or two of your time to blast through a single one. Still, the variety in mission pathing and endings stand out to me as the most impressive change Last Raven makes to the AC formula, not to mention how surprisingly digestible it is, compared to say, AC3’s mission unlocks which can feel kinda random and unimpactful regardless if which corporations you choose to work for. I wish it was a little less tedious and I wish certain missions didn’t have to be constantly repeated just to unlock ONE mission over the course of one playthrough, though the game is short and the mission replays do encourage you to try different builds and approaches to see how fast you can clear them, which is certainly a good thing, I think.
Last Raven’s most impressive use of this dynamic mission pathing system is not in its gameplay (which honestly does get a bit tedious after a while), but its narrative. Prior to LR, narrative has never been a major focus for Armored Core. Select games like 2, 3, and Nexus definitely had more narrative than others, but their narratives felt more like backdrops if anything, Nexus’ ending was great and Klein was a solid antagonist, but it’s no MGS and that’s not what you should expect from this series. Last Raven, like many of its predecessors, is definitely a “gameplay-first, story-second” kind of game, but I was genuinely taken aback at just how much this narrative wound up resonating with me by the end. Excluding relativity to other AC games, I genuinely do believe Last Raven’s narrative stands on its own two feet as a damn great story that uses the medium to full effect.
Like with VI, which I had said in my review of that game here, even if I don’t love the endings on an individual level, I think each of them excelled at elevating the others by association. The 1st ending isn’t amazing on its own, but context from the 2nd ending enriches it, likewise with 3rd. Last Raven is much the same. Yeah the Vertex endings aren’t great, but knowing what Jack was up to in those endings greatly elevates the first Alliance ending (which is narratively the second best ending in my opinion).
STORY SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON. READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION.
Where the different routes shine most is definitely in how they elevate this game’s three central characters: Jack-O, Evangel, and most importantly: Zinaida. Two (or all, depending on who you ask) of them are returning characters from Nexus, and the continuity this game has from Nexus is always appreciated. In general I do love the continuity present in generation 3. Not all the games are made equal in terms of story or content, but each game, at least in some way, shape, or form, feels like an evolution of the previous one be it narratively or mechanically. The series had never been a character-focused one, and while a handful of characters in previous games like Klein, Stinger, Sumika, and Huster-One are certainly memorable, I wouldn’t call them masterfully written by any approximation. They exist as self-contained personalities/plot devices within their games, but are never more than that. I wouldn’t necessarily apply the "masterfully written" designation to the Last Raven trinity either (don't expect a Tolstoy or Dostoevsky or anything lmao), but I do think they are great characters in their own right that benefit a ton of Last Raven’s structure.
Jack-O probably benefits most from this multi-ending approach since he is the only one of these characters to appear in all of these routes in one way or another. I do regret doing his route first, because as powerful and climactic and his big moment was, I wish I had just an ilk more context on his motivations and what led him here in the first place, something that is explained in most of the other routes. Evangel’s two routes also substantiate him quite a bit. I think he’s easily the weakest character of the three, but getting to see different sides of him and how his motivations change drastically depending on which route you follow was really cool, not to mention he served as the eventual template for V.II and G5 in Fires of Rubicon, two of the series' best characters.
Zinaida’s a bit weird because, if you played the routes in the order I did, she doesn’t really have much presence until the indie routes, typically sending an ominous message about how you suck. Even between the two indie routes, you only really get to fight her in her ending, watching as she gets killed off by a Pulverizer (if only she kept the Micro Missiles, RIP). I think Director Dai Takemura’s additional context on her relation to Genobee is a cool bit of trivia that I think enhances her quite a bit, though where we see Zinaida truly shine is the final fight with her in “Destroy the Internecine”.
I could probably write a whole ass review on this fight alone and how fucking peak it is, but I’ll keep it short. That whole final stretch, from the moment you encounter Zinaida in the Internecine to the final shot of the Last Raven staring out into the sunset is one of my favorite moments in all of gaming. I legit got out of my chair and just thought to myself “this is real gaming”. Is the final fight with her the most complex, intricate, and varied bossfight in terms of moveset? No. Is the visual presentation and music a spectacle to behold? No (the music sucks lmao). Is the fight a completely fair fight? Everything considered, probably not, but that’s a hotly contested debate among many AC fans. Is this fight representative of everything I love, not only about Armored Core as a franchise, but about video games, be it as a medium of storytelling, a form of interactive entertainment, and an expression of art? Abso-fucking-lutely YES. When I think of the kind of unique experiences that games can offer as an artform, this fight is now one of the first things that will always pop up in my mind. One of the greatest fights ever crafted, peak gaming.
“I felt I finally reached what I'd been chasing... Raven... That title truly suits you..."
Last Raven is a monumental work of art and a crowning achievement of the medium. Like a lot of Fromsoftware’s catalog, it’s a bit of a shame that this game is buried under its own difficult reputation, as well as being a sequel to a divisive game in a niche series stuck on the PS2 and PSP. It is a more-than-fitting swansong (ravensong?) to the old generation of Armored Core and a fitting way to end my journey with these games. It’s also the most “not for everyone” game, I cannot emphasize that enough. If you are not as dick deep in these games as I am, or are not an absolute fucking idiot, I would never recommend this game (or series in its entirety) to anyone. It’s brutal, kinda silly, kinda wacky, a bit tedious, but as far as I’m concerned, it fucking slaps.
It’s been quite a few months since Infinite Wealth was released, and since then I haven’t played it. I really wanted to let the game marinate in my head, because truthfully, Infinite Wealth was quite a difficult game for me to come to grips with. It’s no secret that the Yakuza series is no stranger to problems in its storytelling. Hell, aside from 0 and maybe a couple others, I’d be hard pressed to argue that the games are some sort of high-art, prestigious, deep, and philosophical stories, and that’s never what I look for in these games. The Yakuza games are trope-laden, melodramatic, cheesy, formulaic stories, and that’s honestly kind of why I love them.
I think these games balance a sort of fine line between the rich, emotional storytelling you’d associate with narrative-driven games and the absurd cheesiness of the yakuza crime drama or shonen anime. It’s a lot like Gintama in many ways (which is why I love that series so much). Like Gintama, this kind of storytelling lends itself to a certain sincerity I don’t really get out of a lot of other games, and Infinite Wealth reflects that sincerity more than anything.
There was a lot of skepticism going into Infinite Wealth’s release. Even outside SEGA’s stupid premium versions or whatever the fuck, a certain major story beat was revealed in the promotional material that had many players rolling their eyes at how RGG would approach it. This mistrust stems from people’s belief that RGG has this outright refusal to let Kiryu Kazuma go, as evident with him returning to the franchise after his supposed “conclusion” in 6. 6 wasn’t a perfect game by any means, but that ending was unanimously loved, and people sigh at the notion of RGG stepping back on the decisions they made with that ending.
I just want to say: RGG never promised us anything with that ending, and it’s foolish and entitled to believe that they did. Kiryu is a character they made, and not only can they do whatever the fuck they want with him, but none of what they continued to do with him contradicts their previous decisions.
Still, the skepticism around Infinite Wealth remained. Before release, I said the game’s story could go either one of two ways: either it keeps up RGG’s ongoing streak of well written, directed, and paced games a la 7 and the Judgment games, or it winds up too ambitious for its own good and goes balls to the wall Yakuza 5 goofy albeit sincere ridiculousness. Ultimately I think it landed somewhere in between. It’s certainly a lot more comprehensible than 5 is, though every bit as goofy. Unlike 5, I think it actually has enough competency in the plotting and theming department to more than make up for unabashed goofiness.
I think the biggest problem with Infinite Wealth’s story is, for the supposed “final hurrah” of Kiryu Kazuma’s journey, I think the plot itself fails to live up to the potential that that premise might’ve entailed. We see a few important characters make comebacks, but outside of a select scene or two, are so unimpactful to the story that I kinda wish they’d never been there at all. There’s one cool scene in the climax that’s supposed to be a sort of “everyone is here” moment, but outside of the initial hype, those characters being there felt more like genuinely pointless fanservice if anything, and we don’t really get good closure on any of them.
On the topic of fanservice, this game’s fanservice is AWESOME (for the most part). It’s very FFXIV, Xenoblade 3 Future Redeemed-core in the sense that I was just popping out of my seat every time an event or character, major or minor, from an older game was mentioned. This game’s status as Kiryu’s final hurrah felt a little limp in the main plot, but the many small character interactions between Kiryu and the party peppered throughout the campaign and ESPECIALLY the side content make this game well worthy of its status. Side content, be it minigames or substories, have always been a pretty major deal in these games, not necessarily because they were exceptional stories or a blast to play, but because of how much they added to the setting, characters, and the grander themes of the franchise. They were occasionally silly, occasionally melancholic, sometimes fun, sometimes not, but the essence they carry into this game cannot be understated. It wouldn’t be an RGG game without them.
While Ichiban’s side of the story had your more traditional wacky and melancholic substories present in previous games, it’s in Kiryu’s where a lot of aforementioned fanservice lies. Like I’d said, a lot of the fanservice did have me popping out of my seat for how much it rewarded me for being a fan of the series, but the best thing this fanservice had to offer was how much it added to Kiryu’s emotionality.
Kiryu’s always been a pretty complex character, more than people like to give him credit for, but the problem is the quality of RGG’s writing hasn’t always been sufficient enough to do him justice, which often leads to misconceptions around him. In truth, Kiryu is a deeply broken, self destructive, indecisive, and regretful old guy, something that at this point, Infinite Wealth doesn’t even try to hide a lot of the time. More than the substories, or even the main stories of older games, Kiryu’s substories in Infinite Wealth provide insight into this less idealized side of him. We see Kiryu not only reflect and provide insight on a lot of previous events and people in his life, but forcibly come to grips with the ghosts of his past, all the while the brokenness of his being begins to slowly emerge. I have no problem calling this some of my favorite writing in the entire series. It elevates Kiryu, who was already one of my favorite characters ever, beyond words can describe.
On a more positive note regarding Kiryu, I really really love how this game lets him come out of his shell. 7’s shift to being a turn-based RPG was a controversial move on RGG’s part, but it really lends itself to more party based interactions more consistently, which is what made 7’s cast so endearing. There was always this sort of loneliness that pervaded Kiryu, even when he grew close with Haruka, even when he began running an orphanage, and 6 and Gaiden only served to enhance that loneliness. Infinite Wealth is really aggressive about putting Kiryu in situations you wouldn’t normally find him, particularly that of Nanba, Saeko, Seonhee, and Zhao following him around like ducklings. I was initially skeptical at how much chemistry this ensemble would have, but their interactions endeared me to their group dynamic in almost no time. These interactions were the heart and soul of 7, and they’re the heart and soul of Infinite Wealth all the same. Not the deepest and most complex cast of characters ever, but the joy their interactions alone bring me is enough to rank them highly among my favorite video game casts.
So far I’ve been pretty light on Ichiban in this review. Whereas this game is Kiryu’s definitive closing chapter and 7 was Ichiban’s prologue, Infinite Wealth feels more like a middle chapter in his story if anything. Not that that’s bad; Empire Strikes Back is one of the most beloved films for good reason, as is The Two Towers and so on. I’ve nothing much to say except that Ichiban’s just a joy in this game, and I might actually prefer his plot over Kiryu’s insofar as the main story is concerned. Does it suffer from the pitfalls that Kiryu’s side does from time to time? Sure, but every second Ichiban’s on screen I am ELATED. He’s as full of heart and soul as he ever was, his progression throughout the game is consistently engaging, his interactions and dynamics with the rest of the cast but especially Kiryu is EVERYTHING in this game, and for him alone, I think I could excuse all of this game’s flaws.
I also absolutely ADORE the cohesion that exists between the two notions that this is Kiryu’s final chapter as well as being Ichiban’s next step. Kiryu’s journey would just not hit the same had much of his dynamic with Ichiban been stripped from the narrative. I think Ichiban’s existence is practically integral to a lot of the epiphanies that Kiryu has about his life later on in the game, and I’d argue that without Ichiban, this game never could’ve concluded Kiryu’s story as meaningfully as they did. Vague story shit aside, you can tell how much Takaya Kuroda and Kazuhiro Nakaya love performing together, and you can tell how potently that translates to their characters. A lot of people critique the balancing act between the two sides of the story, but I dunno, I think they compliment each other really well, mostly as a result of the surprising amount of thematic cohesion present. I genuinely have nothing negative to say about these two characters. Genuinely two of my favorite protagonists in fiction without a shadow of a doubt.
I don’t really know how to conclude this review without delving into some major spoilers. I guess the ending’s pretty good. Pretty great, actually, but I can’t help but find it lacking in quite a number of areas. Perhaps it’s a little too subtextual for my liking (which is why I had a difficult time appreciating it initially), which is a critique I never thought I’d have with this series, but here we are. That’s about all I have to say. Infinite Wealth: ever the silly, dramatic, but genuinely sincere game and another worthy entry into one of my favorite franchises. I’m kind of amazed at how much my appreciation for it grew with time. I thought it’d be the other way around: be a game that absolutely wows me on first viewing and slowly trickles down the rankings after the wow factor wears off, but no. My love for this game has only grown more and more steadfastly over the months, and I’m sure with a revisit or a replay some time in the near future, it’ll give the game the boost it needs for it to truly be the masterpiece I wanted it to be.
I think these games balance a sort of fine line between the rich, emotional storytelling you’d associate with narrative-driven games and the absurd cheesiness of the yakuza crime drama or shonen anime. It’s a lot like Gintama in many ways (which is why I love that series so much). Like Gintama, this kind of storytelling lends itself to a certain sincerity I don’t really get out of a lot of other games, and Infinite Wealth reflects that sincerity more than anything.
There was a lot of skepticism going into Infinite Wealth’s release. Even outside SEGA’s stupid premium versions or whatever the fuck, a certain major story beat was revealed in the promotional material that had many players rolling their eyes at how RGG would approach it. This mistrust stems from people’s belief that RGG has this outright refusal to let Kiryu Kazuma go, as evident with him returning to the franchise after his supposed “conclusion” in 6. 6 wasn’t a perfect game by any means, but that ending was unanimously loved, and people sigh at the notion of RGG stepping back on the decisions they made with that ending.
I just want to say: RGG never promised us anything with that ending, and it’s foolish and entitled to believe that they did. Kiryu is a character they made, and not only can they do whatever the fuck they want with him, but none of what they continued to do with him contradicts their previous decisions.
Still, the skepticism around Infinite Wealth remained. Before release, I said the game’s story could go either one of two ways: either it keeps up RGG’s ongoing streak of well written, directed, and paced games a la 7 and the Judgment games, or it winds up too ambitious for its own good and goes balls to the wall Yakuza 5 goofy albeit sincere ridiculousness. Ultimately I think it landed somewhere in between. It’s certainly a lot more comprehensible than 5 is, though every bit as goofy. Unlike 5, I think it actually has enough competency in the plotting and theming department to more than make up for unabashed goofiness.
I think the biggest problem with Infinite Wealth’s story is, for the supposed “final hurrah” of Kiryu Kazuma’s journey, I think the plot itself fails to live up to the potential that that premise might’ve entailed. We see a few important characters make comebacks, but outside of a select scene or two, are so unimpactful to the story that I kinda wish they’d never been there at all. There’s one cool scene in the climax that’s supposed to be a sort of “everyone is here” moment, but outside of the initial hype, those characters being there felt more like genuinely pointless fanservice if anything, and we don’t really get good closure on any of them.
On the topic of fanservice, this game’s fanservice is AWESOME (for the most part). It’s very FFXIV, Xenoblade 3 Future Redeemed-core in the sense that I was just popping out of my seat every time an event or character, major or minor, from an older game was mentioned. This game’s status as Kiryu’s final hurrah felt a little limp in the main plot, but the many small character interactions between Kiryu and the party peppered throughout the campaign and ESPECIALLY the side content make this game well worthy of its status. Side content, be it minigames or substories, have always been a pretty major deal in these games, not necessarily because they were exceptional stories or a blast to play, but because of how much they added to the setting, characters, and the grander themes of the franchise. They were occasionally silly, occasionally melancholic, sometimes fun, sometimes not, but the essence they carry into this game cannot be understated. It wouldn’t be an RGG game without them.
While Ichiban’s side of the story had your more traditional wacky and melancholic substories present in previous games, it’s in Kiryu’s where a lot of aforementioned fanservice lies. Like I’d said, a lot of the fanservice did have me popping out of my seat for how much it rewarded me for being a fan of the series, but the best thing this fanservice had to offer was how much it added to Kiryu’s emotionality.
Kiryu’s always been a pretty complex character, more than people like to give him credit for, but the problem is the quality of RGG’s writing hasn’t always been sufficient enough to do him justice, which often leads to misconceptions around him. In truth, Kiryu is a deeply broken, self destructive, indecisive, and regretful old guy, something that at this point, Infinite Wealth doesn’t even try to hide a lot of the time. More than the substories, or even the main stories of older games, Kiryu’s substories in Infinite Wealth provide insight into this less idealized side of him. We see Kiryu not only reflect and provide insight on a lot of previous events and people in his life, but forcibly come to grips with the ghosts of his past, all the while the brokenness of his being begins to slowly emerge. I have no problem calling this some of my favorite writing in the entire series. It elevates Kiryu, who was already one of my favorite characters ever, beyond words can describe.
On a more positive note regarding Kiryu, I really really love how this game lets him come out of his shell. 7’s shift to being a turn-based RPG was a controversial move on RGG’s part, but it really lends itself to more party based interactions more consistently, which is what made 7’s cast so endearing. There was always this sort of loneliness that pervaded Kiryu, even when he grew close with Haruka, even when he began running an orphanage, and 6 and Gaiden only served to enhance that loneliness. Infinite Wealth is really aggressive about putting Kiryu in situations you wouldn’t normally find him, particularly that of Nanba, Saeko, Seonhee, and Zhao following him around like ducklings. I was initially skeptical at how much chemistry this ensemble would have, but their interactions endeared me to their group dynamic in almost no time. These interactions were the heart and soul of 7, and they’re the heart and soul of Infinite Wealth all the same. Not the deepest and most complex cast of characters ever, but the joy their interactions alone bring me is enough to rank them highly among my favorite video game casts.
So far I’ve been pretty light on Ichiban in this review. Whereas this game is Kiryu’s definitive closing chapter and 7 was Ichiban’s prologue, Infinite Wealth feels more like a middle chapter in his story if anything. Not that that’s bad; Empire Strikes Back is one of the most beloved films for good reason, as is The Two Towers and so on. I’ve nothing much to say except that Ichiban’s just a joy in this game, and I might actually prefer his plot over Kiryu’s insofar as the main story is concerned. Does it suffer from the pitfalls that Kiryu’s side does from time to time? Sure, but every second Ichiban’s on screen I am ELATED. He’s as full of heart and soul as he ever was, his progression throughout the game is consistently engaging, his interactions and dynamics with the rest of the cast but especially Kiryu is EVERYTHING in this game, and for him alone, I think I could excuse all of this game’s flaws.
I also absolutely ADORE the cohesion that exists between the two notions that this is Kiryu’s final chapter as well as being Ichiban’s next step. Kiryu’s journey would just not hit the same had much of his dynamic with Ichiban been stripped from the narrative. I think Ichiban’s existence is practically integral to a lot of the epiphanies that Kiryu has about his life later on in the game, and I’d argue that without Ichiban, this game never could’ve concluded Kiryu’s story as meaningfully as they did. Vague story shit aside, you can tell how much Takaya Kuroda and Kazuhiro Nakaya love performing together, and you can tell how potently that translates to their characters. A lot of people critique the balancing act between the two sides of the story, but I dunno, I think they compliment each other really well, mostly as a result of the surprising amount of thematic cohesion present. I genuinely have nothing negative to say about these two characters. Genuinely two of my favorite protagonists in fiction without a shadow of a doubt.
I don’t really know how to conclude this review without delving into some major spoilers. I guess the ending’s pretty good. Pretty great, actually, but I can’t help but find it lacking in quite a number of areas. Perhaps it’s a little too subtextual for my liking (which is why I had a difficult time appreciating it initially), which is a critique I never thought I’d have with this series, but here we are. That’s about all I have to say. Infinite Wealth: ever the silly, dramatic, but genuinely sincere game and another worthy entry into one of my favorite franchises. I’m kind of amazed at how much my appreciation for it grew with time. I thought it’d be the other way around: be a game that absolutely wows me on first viewing and slowly trickles down the rankings after the wow factor wears off, but no. My love for this game has only grown more and more steadfastly over the months, and I’m sure with a revisit or a replay some time in the near future, it’ll give the game the boost it needs for it to truly be the masterpiece I wanted it to be.
2016
Okay I love Trico, but I'm not gonna try and act like the obtuse way in which you control them is a positive for this game. I do like how it sort of emulate the natural language barrier that exists between humans and their pets, but by the end of the game I still had no idea what half the commands did. The game gives you button prompts for whatever the boy does, so why not Trico? Immersion be damned.
Still, when it works, it works. Some of Ueda's best and most intuitive puzzles by far if Trico does decide to cooperate, as well as probably his best and most emotional narrative. The bond between the main two felt way more palpable than either Yorda's or Agro's from Ico and SotC respectively, owing to Trico's agency within the story, and some of those final sequences were absolute heartbreakers.
All in all, I think this'd slot in right below Ico but above Colossus for me as far as Ueda's games are concerned. If my enjoyment was more consistent, I don't think I'd have issues calling this my favorite work of his, but it is what it is.
Still, when it works, it works. Some of Ueda's best and most intuitive puzzles by far if Trico does decide to cooperate, as well as probably his best and most emotional narrative. The bond between the main two felt way more palpable than either Yorda's or Agro's from Ico and SotC respectively, owing to Trico's agency within the story, and some of those final sequences were absolute heartbreakers.
All in all, I think this'd slot in right below Ico but above Colossus for me as far as Ueda's games are concerned. If my enjoyment was more consistent, I don't think I'd have issues calling this my favorite work of his, but it is what it is.