It is with great shame I think I admit I probably won't finish Yakuza 0. I played it on gamepass earlier in 2024, and really liked the story and characters. I wasn't a huge fan of the fighting gameplay but I was also playing on easy to try and get through it relatively quickly.

The fluctuation in quality was sometimes a little jarring going from some of the best cutscenes to a 10 minute conversation with an npc that barely emoted, but I totally understand why the game needs to be that way with the amount of content that is packed inside. That being said I might have been able to get through it if it was a leaner experience.

But after 40 or so hours I kind of lost interest and got caught up playing different games and I don't know if I have it in me to resubscribe to gamepass just to grit my teeth and get through it. Especially with just how daunting of a franchise Yakuza is. I am sure if I finished it this game would sit much higher then 3.5 stars, but where I left it I think it is fitting, hopefully one day I can be convinced to see it through.

One last thing I'll say is I do love all the musical elements of this game karaoke and dancing was always so fun and charming and it is something that you don't really see in other games but the vibes were just immaculate. And the way comedy is done in this game and I assume the others is pretty next level and something I hope games in general are inspired by. It's honestly a game I would probably get more enjoyment out of watching then playing.

I played this back in 2023.

I've been a fan of the souls-like genre since dark souls, but this game was pretty hard for me to get the hang of. Especially since I was hoping to really speed through this game since I got it on gamepass and wanted to play other games in the month that I had the subscription. Because of that I felt pretty humbled by the difficulty of the bosses in this game. I never really fully mastered the parry window for this game, I think its a pretty tight window that depends more on trial and error with the bosses and knowing their timing. Especially since I was playing this in the mindset almost of Sekiro where I was spamming the parry button more or less hoping to get lucky.

Either way I needed to summon the NPC helper for pretty much every boss fight in this game, save a few like the final boss and a couple of the beginning bosses. I am sure if I really hunkered down and put in the hours I could have got the satisfaction of doing it solo, but I just wasn't in the right mindset. Either because I wasn't really loving the game that much. Or maybe I wasn't loving my slow strength build that I couldn't get myself out of. This was also due to limited resources and not wanting to spend time grinding materials to get a "dex" build up to the same level as my current strength build.

Overall I enjoyed the game but I think I shot myself in the foot by wanting to just speed through it, but it is also a little telling that the game didn't hook me in and make me want to invest more time in it beyond what it took to beat it. It is definitely something I need to replay at some point down the road.

I wouldn't put it in the same league of love that I have for Bloodborne or maybe some of my other favorite souls games, but it is definitely in league as one of the best souls-likes.

I played the original a couple months prior and was very excited to get DD2. I was hesitant given the some of the initial reviews when it came to performance and the conversation around micro transactions was also concerning. But it didn't take long to see that the MTX were similar to the original and while they are greedy and gross you can also easily play the game without ever having to interact with them (or get mods if your on PC to work around them if you really want).

The first 20-30 hours I was in love with this game, it was 100% still janky and quirky, but the combat is just really satisfying. Taking down a giant enemy by climbing around and attacking their weak points or setting them on fire doesn't really get old... or so I thought.

After getting acclimated to the 2-3 major areas of the game, you kind of see all that the game has to offer and the wanderlust wares off a little bit. Especially coming from DD1 I was hoping for a little more enemy variety, but sadly its more or less the same cast of characters, even less if you consider the DLC area of DD1.

Everything that was great about the first game is still here and in some ways have been improved upon, the game looks great the combat feels great, and the world is super fun to explore when you are able to get lost in it. But a lot of the shortcomings of the original seem to be here as well. I hope that similar DLC comes for DD2 as in DD1. But overall I walked away from DD2 enjoying it, but wishing for just a bit more.