Finished awhile ago but sat with it before typing stuff up.
A fun followup to Like a Dragon! Fixing all my issues with the combat to really bring the transition to a turn-based RPG. A fun continuation of Ichiban's adventures and a final closing(?) of Kiryu's. Though the games narrative struggles with problems that haven't been around since the PS3 trilogy.
From the start its a delight being able to see all my friends in Ijincho again. The decision to make the first few hours of the game be low stakes slice of life is great, we rarely get these kinds of moments in games and when we do they're relegated to side content. It's nice to see everyone hanging out and see how their lives are going since the last game ended and it works as a great setup for getting the franchise out of Japan for the first time. Down on his luck, jobless, not getting a text back from a girl, canceled by a VTuber we've all been there. Why not go to Hawaii to reunite with your long lost mother? Where, even with the looming threat of the Hawaiian underworld surrounding the cast, the general tone is nice thanks to Ichiban's unwaivering spirit and optimism. Though when the stakes start to ramp up, a bit too late for me like in Yakuza 3, the narrative starts to suffer. Splitting the lead roles between Ichiban and Kiryu because they're STILL too scared to keep Kiryu out of the spotlight, and it really makes the ending feel flat because both of them confront the antagonist they have less conflict with and neither are built up in a way that feels cathartic to finally take down. Though I appreciate the time given to Kiryu to pay tribute to his nearly 20 years of adventures we've been along with him, it really takes away from time that could've been used to flesh out Ichiban's adventure and troubles. Though more about that in a bit.
The new additions to the cast with Tomizawa and Chitose are great, Tomizawa feels very American in contrast with the rest of the cast and Chitose's rich upbringing helps her stand out coming from a completely different world as everyone else. Seonhee being added to the group is a lot of fun, finding out she's just as much as a weirdo as the rest of the cast is great. Her helping Saeko and Nanba with Kiryu's bucket list is very sweet, and the three going from Ichibans quirks to Kiryus quirks creates some real funny moments. Adachi, Zhao, and Joon-gi feel tacked on but learning more about them is still nice. Kiryu, as a supporting character, is fantastic. His cancer bringing him out of his element and making him rely on others creates really funny and heartfelt moments, and as previously mentioned leads to my biggest problem with the game. Splitting Kiryu off from this supporting role hurts the game and hurts his growth on screen. Kiryu's journey here is that he has to learn to accept help from others instead of taking everything on by himself and Ichiban is the EXACT person he'd pick that up from, and he SHOULD be learning that by seeing how Ichiban lets everyone help him at the big ending of the game! Instead it's just kind of implied and you can draw the conclusions but it's not great, but enough of this.
Gameplay is fantastic, they fixed the biggest glaring issue with the combat in 7 being that you couldn't position the characters making the attacks that hurt in a row or a cone in front of the character making combat a blast. The positioning makes it so you can do really cool team combos and knock guys against the wall making the fights feel like a rad shonen battle. The monkey's paw with this change is that the fights are way too easy now. I'm sure its nice for people who are still struggling coming from an action game to a turn-based RPG but without any difficulty settings it feels like I'm slepeing through the fights. There's maybe 4 fights that are tough and 2 of them are because of annoying mechanics and less because you have to be creative. Kiryu's turn based breaking special is a blast though, loved how they used that during the Old Man fight.
Side content might also be the best it's ever been. Substories are a lot of fun, especially the ones that really focus on contrasting America with Japan. The trilogy of substories involving movie directors is great. Miss Match might be the funniest use of FMV in the series yet, Sujimon is the best Pokemon knock off this year (take that Palworld) and fills the itch I've wanted for a Gacha game that doesn't cost me money for rolls, Dondoko Island got old quick for me but I know people like that one. Using substories to wrap up loose ends with characters from Kiryu's past was nice (though I think he could've done this while also working alongside Ichiban too). I agree with most of the choices for people to come back into his life one last time and despite some inconsistencies like I'm pretty sure Kaoru fell for a guy in America and not that she just got too busy with work, It was great to see a lot of the people again. I missed Akiyama and will continue to miss him (I also miss Shinada why did he have to be relegated to just a quick memory bring him back). Confirming that the spinoffs are canon as dreams Kiryu had are a nice touch too.
Overall a great game! Well worth playing, I just wish it had more emotional weight and development for Ichiban. Maybe months out I'll feel differently.
Also fuck you RGG for teasing out the fucking cabaret club minigame with Yuki and Koyuki asking Kiryu to be a manager one more time for old times sake. Don't do that shit to me.
A fun followup to Like a Dragon! Fixing all my issues with the combat to really bring the transition to a turn-based RPG. A fun continuation of Ichiban's adventures and a final closing(?) of Kiryu's. Though the games narrative struggles with problems that haven't been around since the PS3 trilogy.
From the start its a delight being able to see all my friends in Ijincho again. The decision to make the first few hours of the game be low stakes slice of life is great, we rarely get these kinds of moments in games and when we do they're relegated to side content. It's nice to see everyone hanging out and see how their lives are going since the last game ended and it works as a great setup for getting the franchise out of Japan for the first time. Down on his luck, jobless, not getting a text back from a girl, canceled by a VTuber we've all been there. Why not go to Hawaii to reunite with your long lost mother? Where, even with the looming threat of the Hawaiian underworld surrounding the cast, the general tone is nice thanks to Ichiban's unwaivering spirit and optimism. Though when the stakes start to ramp up, a bit too late for me like in Yakuza 3, the narrative starts to suffer. Splitting the lead roles between Ichiban and Kiryu because they're STILL too scared to keep Kiryu out of the spotlight, and it really makes the ending feel flat because both of them confront the antagonist they have less conflict with and neither are built up in a way that feels cathartic to finally take down. Though I appreciate the time given to Kiryu to pay tribute to his nearly 20 years of adventures we've been along with him, it really takes away from time that could've been used to flesh out Ichiban's adventure and troubles. Though more about that in a bit.
The new additions to the cast with Tomizawa and Chitose are great, Tomizawa feels very American in contrast with the rest of the cast and Chitose's rich upbringing helps her stand out coming from a completely different world as everyone else. Seonhee being added to the group is a lot of fun, finding out she's just as much as a weirdo as the rest of the cast is great. Her helping Saeko and Nanba with Kiryu's bucket list is very sweet, and the three going from Ichibans quirks to Kiryus quirks creates some real funny moments. Adachi, Zhao, and Joon-gi feel tacked on but learning more about them is still nice. Kiryu, as a supporting character, is fantastic. His cancer bringing him out of his element and making him rely on others creates really funny and heartfelt moments, and as previously mentioned leads to my biggest problem with the game. Splitting Kiryu off from this supporting role hurts the game and hurts his growth on screen. Kiryu's journey here is that he has to learn to accept help from others instead of taking everything on by himself and Ichiban is the EXACT person he'd pick that up from, and he SHOULD be learning that by seeing how Ichiban lets everyone help him at the big ending of the game! Instead it's just kind of implied and you can draw the conclusions but it's not great, but enough of this.
Gameplay is fantastic, they fixed the biggest glaring issue with the combat in 7 being that you couldn't position the characters making the attacks that hurt in a row or a cone in front of the character making combat a blast. The positioning makes it so you can do really cool team combos and knock guys against the wall making the fights feel like a rad shonen battle. The monkey's paw with this change is that the fights are way too easy now. I'm sure its nice for people who are still struggling coming from an action game to a turn-based RPG but without any difficulty settings it feels like I'm slepeing through the fights. There's maybe 4 fights that are tough and 2 of them are because of annoying mechanics and less because you have to be creative. Kiryu's turn based breaking special is a blast though, loved how they used that during the Old Man fight.
Side content might also be the best it's ever been. Substories are a lot of fun, especially the ones that really focus on contrasting America with Japan. The trilogy of substories involving movie directors is great. Miss Match might be the funniest use of FMV in the series yet, Sujimon is the best Pokemon knock off this year (take that Palworld) and fills the itch I've wanted for a Gacha game that doesn't cost me money for rolls, Dondoko Island got old quick for me but I know people like that one. Using substories to wrap up loose ends with characters from Kiryu's past was nice (though I think he could've done this while also working alongside Ichiban too). I agree with most of the choices for people to come back into his life one last time and despite some inconsistencies like I'm pretty sure Kaoru fell for a guy in America and not that she just got too busy with work, It was great to see a lot of the people again. I missed Akiyama and will continue to miss him (I also miss Shinada why did he have to be relegated to just a quick memory bring him back). Confirming that the spinoffs are canon as dreams Kiryu had are a nice touch too.
Overall a great game! Well worth playing, I just wish it had more emotional weight and development for Ichiban. Maybe months out I'll feel differently.
Also fuck you RGG for teasing out the fucking cabaret club minigame with Yuki and Koyuki asking Kiryu to be a manager one more time for old times sake. Don't do that shit to me.