Man I really don't even know what to say about this game, I play tons of games its my main hobby, and RPGs are my favorite and this might be one of the best I've ever played, the writing is fantastic (especially the character writing and voice acting performances) very fun and often funny and heartfelt in a way I rarely feel from RPGs lately. The towns and cities are full of life and unique culture and lots of things to do and people to talk too.

The combat is easy to pick up with a lot of depth for individual characters, groups and gear/materia combinations. It fixes all of my problems with XVI (no whimsy, no real towns, no minigames, no life, weird misogyny, no party, stale combat) and then some, I was worried I no longer liked Final Fantasy but its really just whatever CBU3 is..trying to do. It's fun, its heartfelt, it isnt afraid to be both a love letter to the original and something entirely new, its just refreshing while still being nostalgic and familiar. My ONLY complaints about the game are: a 4k, 45 fps mode would do wonders, performance mode feels great but sacrifices a ton of visual fidelity and quality mode looks great but 30fps feels awful in the combat. There are a small handful of minigames that are kinda bad, i think most of them are at least decent and more that are actually good, there's one in particular that verges on being an accessibility issue that I could see preventing some people from 100%ing the game. And my final complaint is that it ended, even after 99 hours I was not ready to let go of this world and characters, I'm so excited to get back into the post-game content and hard mode that I'm struggling to even pay attention to other releases right now. This review might not mean anything to most people but after a lot of disappointment thank you Rebirth for making me remember why I love Final Fantasy and making me feel like I can love it again.

The new roguelike mechanics are extremely fun and addictive and I really hope they flesh them out in a future entry. I like to keep my reviews spoiler-free so I'll just say: the only real failure with this dlc is the plot. Its not bad, its very good actually! Its just there is so little of it. I know to some that may sound strange but Splatoon fans really love the lore and character writing, its honestly some of nintendo's best (the cutscene direction is also not praised enough its great) but yeah I dont know I really enjoy the gameplay portion of it but I wish it was more especially with how long this took to come out. People talked and still talk excitedly about Octo Expansion and I don't know if this one has that kinda conversational staying power. Really hope they do more story stuff in the next game.

I kinda bought this game on a whim as I got a giftcard from a friend and was pleasantly surprised. I'm far from done with it but I wanted to put my general thoughts after beating the main story and doing all the current content.

First off, without going into spoilers the main story isn't anything ground breaking but the character writing and voice direction is stellar, its very charming! The gameplay loop is really addictive if you are, like me, a big fan of games like monster hunter where you learn fights and gradually get stronger! Honestly my only complaint right now is I wish there was a bit more content in the endgame but the game is doing very well so maybe I'll get my wish! If you're looking for fun characters and a great co-op game with friends that can challenge you a little then give it a shot!

It's been a long road for me to get her from Yakuza 0, and it was worth every minute.
Starting with some non spoiler story thoughts:
I really, really love the story to this game, yes its short and theres some busywork but honestly I really don't mind that, its a love letter to the character of Kiryu. The Finale is one of the best in the entire series.

Side content:
The side content in this was fun! The coliseum bouts were interesting enough but honestly I'm just happy there was a robust and fun pocket circuit! The substories/requests are a bit weak this time but I suppose a lot of that is due to the constraints of the story, there are still a few interesting ones though. The Amon this time felt perfectly balanced which is extremely rare for this series, he was challenging but fair.

I don't really want to say too much, if you are a fan of the series you must experience this chapter of the story, excited to see where things go in Infinite Wealth!

Honestly I'm a bit mixed on this one. I see a lot of complaints about it being unsubtle but for the subject matter that is appropriate, not to mention in classic Silent Hill titles the main themes are rarely subtle (have you ever read the grafitti all over Silent Hill 2?) its more secondary themes and symbolism that are what give the series such a strong identity with subtlety. That being said I do have some issues with The Short Message, the biggest one is of course the final chase sequence which is structured like a cheap steam Collect The Pages Before The Instakill Monster Grabs You game, its just not very fun or interesting and it kills the tension. The other main gripe is that I wish I could play in whatever the original language was. The dubbing and lipsync are really, really distracting. For a longtime Silent Hill fan though this was a step in the right direction especially art and design-wise it just stumbles a lot on the way.

Wow...I barely know what to say, I've been playing the entire series from 0 to now the past few months and this is easily my favorite one, the change to turn based jrpg is much more fun to me and I love the story and cast of characters!

I won't get into spoilers so I'll just give my quick thoughts about this game and comparing it to the games that came before. First off as I said the turn based combat is great, and I love rpgs with job systems, though I kinda wish more of the jobs were useful and that it was a bit easier to change jobs but thats minor. This game's side stories, minigames and even Amon fights are peaks for the series, the final final extra dungeon is extremely challenging but fun!

The story made me cry and laugh, the cast is fantastic. I love Kiryu I really do but its nice to have a group of friends (and honestly playable women was one of my biggest wants for the series so thats an automatic win.) They all play off of each other well, have balanced strengths and weaknesses both narratively and in gameplay and...I just love them all. Stop reading this review, go play this game now and change your life.

Yakuza 6....what a ride it was! I'm working my way through all the Like A Dragon games. As others have said its the first game on the Dragon Engine and in a lot of ways it shows, combat is fun but can be a little janky and Kiryu feels overly simple in this even with all skills.

The substories in this are alright, theres a few standouts but they are mostly standard, the full voice acting elevates them but some of them are just rehashes of older ones, I honestly don't remember a lot of them.

The side content is mostly good? First you have spearfishing which is an on rails shooter, its fun, really simple once you get the best guns. You have Clan Creator which is offensive instead of defensive like Kiwami 2 its extremly overly simple and boring and probably has the worst achievement in Yakuza 6: 100 wins, its just mindless grinding for the sake of it. Baseball management is alright, but the baseball is a step down from Yakuza 5's which i ended up really loving. Oh and the Bar "minigame" isnt much of a game but its extremely cozy I wish the story of that was longer honestly!

Amon in this one is honestly maybe the easiest in the series, he has an awful instakill attack but...you can just ignore it by staying in extreme heat mode and chugging drinks the second you get out of extreme.

The story this time is fantastic though,really the highlight for me, outside of the main villain who is much weaker even compared to this game's own minor villains who are far more interesting, the cast and plot had me gripped the entire time, this game has some of my favorite moments in the franchise so far!

Worth mentioning that this is my first Like A Dragon game I got every single achievement on thanks to the devs finally realizing nobody wants to put the time to learn Mahjong on top of doing literally everything perfectly, the achievement list in this one was honestly just about right, beat it on legend, try every minigame, complete all the side story content with plots thats it! Excited to start 7!

Yet another game down on my journey to catch up on the series, doing every sub story along the way! And what a behemoth of a game this one was, as always I'll try to avoid spoilers but I'm going to talk about what I liked and disliked about all the playable characters and my overall feelings on the content and entire plot package after.

Kiryu: This is the most fun Kiryu to play in all of the PS3 remasters, fun, powerful and nice to control. His story is one of the stronger ones in 5 and his side story about taxi driving is EXTREMELY fun and addictive, the opening to this game might be my favorite opening in the series so far.

Saejima:He's graduated from bad gameplay to kinda good gameplay in this one. Still slow but a lot less so, and very powerful. His story was just...ok? It starts strong and I like the characters involved in it but it just felt kind of like a "whoops his story kinda sucked in 4 lets try it again". His side story about hunting is fun if a little repetitive.

Haruka: This might be divisive but her rhythm based gameplay and ability to roam around without 398493843984 dudes attacking you constantly is a breath of fresh air, I also think she had the strongest overall story in this game easily, her side story about doing idol jobs is extremely fun and relaxing.

Akiyama: He feels a lot weaker in this one, he's alright to play but something just feels off and his new air combos are cool but a little awkward to me. His story was nice but its mostly just in support of Haruka, he doesnt get a lot of screen time and the poor guy doesn't even get a side story :/.

Shinada: The newcomer to the group. His gameplay is uh...bad? It just feels terrible once you get used to it he's alright but he feels so weak, its a pretty common complaint about this one and I have to agree. Personality and story wise I like him well enough though I don't really feel like he fits in with the rest of the cast and is just kind of there. His side story didn't have much of an actual plot but it was really fun, if a little short.

Overall thoughts: I'm gonna get the negatives out of the way, first this is the only Yakuza game I've played where Premium Adventure completikon doesn't roll over into NG+ for some bizarre reason. Also the enemy spawn rate is way way too high, they are hard to avoid without using Beads of Good Fortune and sometimes I will chain up to five fights in a row just trying to get down the street which is extra annoying as a lot of side stories and such want you to backtrack back and forth. The positives? The gameplay is fun theres a lot to do (some might argue too much) and the story is miles ahead of Yakuza 4 which was a low point for the series for me. The minigames this time were really fun and the Amons were tough but fair (that last one got me down to a single healing item)
Excited to start Yakuza 6 soon!

Wow, just wow. I'm glad I played this when I did, the recent quality of life patches listened to just about every complaint people had with the game making one of the best soulslike experiences out there. Just about every build and weapon is extremely balanced and viable, almost every boss is well designed and fun (with a single exception imo) and the story and characters are very interesting and memorable. This has soared up my list of Soulslike games and has tied for my overall favorite, and honestly I'd recommend it to anyone who asks. I hope we see more from this world and its characters soon, that DLC can't come soon enough.

The game had some of my favorite boss fight moments in ages, the perfect parry is a bit tricky to learn at first but once you get it you'll feel like a god. The true final boss is one of my favorite fights since Bloodborne's Lady Maria honestly. Also a special shoutout to the amazing soundtrack, very relaxing.

Mario Wonder really is a...well wonder! I haven't played a 2D Mario in a while, they tend to be kind of easy and short and the New series just doesn't do it for me. This game is fun, pretty, interesting and even occasionally a little challenging!

I really love the wonder mechanic I kinda wish they did a lil...more with it? It sometimes felt really really safe but what we got was fantastic, this is probably my favorite Mario title since World. Out of the 2D Mario anyway.

I got every seed and flower coin except the final level as I don't really feel like getting all the flag poles to be honest, one day I might go back and do that though. If I had to give some sort of negative to this game I think the soundtrack is just ok and I wish it was longer!

I have to give a special shoutout to one feature I just don't see discussed: the online. I thought it would be silly and gimmicky but helping people reach the goal together is so satisfying and fun, and people are so kind online!

Another Yakuza game down this is the most mixed bag in the series so far, i'm going to break it down without spoilers into different characters and sections bc I have a lot of thoughts about this one, first I wanna get into each character's gameplay, main minigame(s) and a nonspoiler opinion on their story

Akiyama:
Gameplay wise he is great, kinda like Rush style, really fast and kick focused, my second personal favorite to play as in this game, his music goes crazy and his combos and unlocks are really fun. His story was the strongest of the four individual chapters to me and he also honestly had some of the stronger side content too. Recruiting Allies is fun and easy and Hostess maker is an awful nightmarish slog like in Yakuza 3 that I still dunno how they thought "yeah ship it like that"

Saejima:
His gameplay is slow, clunky and boring, he hits so hard he trivializes most fights but he's just so unsatisfying to play, his story starts really strong but has an extremely awkward and pointless scene that made me cringe and just kinda falls flat as the game goes on, his side stories are also very nothing I felt no attachment to any of them and the final one is just kinda random. Fighter Maker is up there as one of the worst minigames in the series too, just pure rng. Saejima is ugly to look at and his gameplay is ugly to play all around I had to take long breaks during his chapter it was like the worst of Yakuza 3 rolled into a single man.

Tanimura: His gameplay is... I don't know? He has an awkward but sort of fun parry, bizarre combos, he isnt bad to play by any means he just feels like unfinished or something to me, I still had fun in most of his fights. His story was extremely nothing to me I honestly couldn't even tell you most of what happened in it, his side stories were EXTREMELY good though I wish they focused more on that and his relationship with foreigners instead of the stuff about his father. The Police Scanner is pretty fun if a little repetitive, its some neat flavor though.

Kiryu:
What is there to be said about the Dragon of Dojima? His chapters are extremely short but fun if a little weak plot wise, gameplay wise though he feels fantastic and you can get a lot of his signature moves pretty early. His side stories are alright but very short, the gang fighting is a little slow and boring I didn't end up finishing it, I'll come back and do it later one day.

Overall thoughts:
Gameplay is a huge step up from 3 they feel like they are from different planets entirely, however the plot is a huge step down from the previous games. I couldn't tell you any of the villain motivations and the constant awful plot twists made it hard to care about anything. I really honestly have no idea what the main villain even wanted. The story being so bad is a huge negative because it made it very hard to keep going in a pretty beefy game, the sub stories being alright but nothing special didn't help too much. What did help is arguably the best soundtrack so far and fun gameplay, also the Amon fights in this game are actually really balanced? And fun?? Shocking!!! Really hope 5 is a return to form this was overall a low point for me.

My fourth Like A Dragon game in my journey to catch up. I heard a lot of mixed things about 3 so I really wasn't sure what to think going in I have a lot of thoughts about this game so I'm going to split it up into sections and try to be as spoiler free as possible.

Story: I hear some people really don't dig the story in this one but I honestly loved it? It's more emotional to me than the other entries I've played, its nice Kiryu shows some emotion other than constipated or angry, and the supporting cast is wonderful. Very attached to the Okinawa characters in general!

Substories: A lot of really good and interesting ones this time, but also a lot of really terrible ones with bizarre requirements (theres three that require kinda annoying minigame prerequisites) and barely any story. The good outweighs the bad but there is a bit of a quantity over quality one this time which I didn't feel with the others, this also has some PS3 era shenanigans with a lot of missables there are things in here that would be extremely easy to miss without a guide even on replays. The kinda famous substory about a transwoman and Kiryu is particularly lovely.

Minigames: No. Honestly actually terrible? I try not to be too harsh on this game because it is currently the oldest game in the modern version of the series but my god, especially on PC a lot of these minigames just do not work properly without fixes and even then they have bizarre controls and extremely unfun AI. I normally enjoy the minigames but it was just a slog this time, only one I kinda enjoyed was Golf once I got used to it. I will say that I had to even tweak a few settings to get some minigames to work and I found a solution to fishing in particular (set fps to 30, point stick towards the ocean and hold the reel button while barely moving the stick up and left/right whenever the fish changes direction)

Combat: Oh boy ok let me start by saying I don't think the combat is as bad as people say but its pretty terrible. Yes the enemies block constantly. Yes there are ways around this like quickstepping, grabs, and certain heat actions. But the enemies also have bizarre robot like tracking and hyper armor that just feels really bad to play against. Almost 60 hours of this combat was enough to grate away at me and I rarely am bothered by a little jank, its just not fun and I found myself sighing whenever I got into a street fight. Strangely, Amon is extremely easy in this one but that is probably for the better.

I won't speak on the games graphics much, its a remaster, the main characters look great but side characters look really bad, its distracting at first but you get used to it, I will say the game is kinda poorly optimized, it runs well enough but even with lots of tinkering a solid 60 was hard to get, it was 60 like 90% of the time but in kamurocho it would dip seemingly randomly.

In the end though, I don't regret playing it, one of my favorite stories in this series so far paired with some of the worst actual gameplay makes it a flawed gem of a game.

Pretty neat for what it is, though I think its probably a tad overpriced if you dont get it on a sale. The story is really nice honestly, I really enjoyed the characters. Akechi and Kasumi are my favorite Phantom Thieves so it was nice to have a story with them again even though they really honestly should have been in the base game but whatever. The music for this DLC goes really hard, and the new paint mechanic is honestly really fun, but like the base game its a little...easy? even on Merciless you can just plow through enemies with even just a little bit of SRPG experience.
Still though I think this DLC is worth it for fans of P5, also just because I rarely see this question answered online: If you beat the DLC you DO unlock Kasumi and Akechi for use in the main campaign but only in NG+ for some reason.

Yakuza Game #3 in my quest to catch up on the series.

Despite hearing mixed things I really liked this one, it might be my favorite of the three (0,Kiwami, this) that I've played but I kinda need to think on it a bit. I really ended up enjoying the story I won't get into spoilers but some general thoughts on the plot:
Antagonists were really interesting this time.
I'm getting really attached to Haruka!
I like Kaoru a lot as well!
I got a little emotional at the end and that's always a good sign.

The gameplay in this one took some getting used too, in the beginning its EXTREMELY slow and I missed style switching, however I grew to really love the EXP system and the changes to Heat. Doing multiple heat actions easily was extremely fun and the larger focus on using weapons and the environment was interesting. Tiger Drop didn't feel as nice this time though not really sure why, wasn't bad just didn't feel as good as Kiwami.

Minigames:
CABARET IS BACK MY GOATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
I love the Cabaret in this and the little story was cute just like in 0, I really wish they'd make a longer more fleshed out Cabaret mode, even a full game honestly.

Majima Construction/Clan Creator was fun, story was neat, the gameplay was...mostly fun?? after a certain point its just kinda waiting around though, the song is extremely catchy though.

The rest of the minigames weren't anything crazy, I like Karoke a lot more in this one, UFO Catcher is actually awful in this though.

Excited to start 3 Remaster soon!

My second Yakuza game, I really enjoyed my time with it, in some ways more than Yakuza 0. I really loved the story though I felt the pacing, especially towards the end, was bizarrely fast but I chalk that up to the age of the narrative. The Majima Everywhere system was really fun, I heard that people hated it but I really, really enjoyed it and I had a ton of fun with Dragon style.

No real minigame charm in this one for me at least, nothing as addictive as 0's cabaret, and as always I wish the completion requirements didn't require someone to have extensive Mahjong knowledge, but that isn't really a mark against the game, just makes going for 100% unfun. I liked Mesuking even though it's mostly RNG, and pocket circuit was less frustrating in this one.

I should mention I completed all substories and Majima Everywhere, they were fun! Most of the substories weren't anything too terribly interesting but there were a small handful I really enjoyed.

The only real negative for this game, to me, is the bossfights, the difficulty is all over the place, half the time things are a breeze and the other half the enemies have insane hyper armor and almost robotic like tracking that is both immersion breaking and just not super fun. It's still not a super difficult game though especially after you unlock certain skills. Learning how to use Tiger Drop was more fun than anything I did as Kiryu in 0 personally.

Excited to try Kiwami 2 soon!