8 reviews liked by TelaRick


The most complete feeling game Atlus has ever made

"𝙏𝙬𝙀 𝙨𝙬𝙀𝙧𝙙𝙨, π™™π™–π™£π™˜π™žπ™£π™œ π™žπ™£ π™©π™π™š π™π™šπ™–π™«π™šπ™£π™¨, π™¨π™¬π™žπ™§π™‘π™žπ™£π™œ π™—π™šπ™£π™šπ™–π™©π™ π™©π™π™š 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙨...π™—π™‘π™šπ™£π™™π™žπ™£π™œ 𝙖𝙣𝙙 π™˜π™€π™£π™¨π™€π™‘π™žπ™™π™–π™©π™žπ™£π™œ π™žπ™£π™©π™€ 𝙖 π™¨π™žπ™£π™œπ™‘π™š 𝙨𝙬𝙀𝙧𝙙, π™œπ™§π™šπ™–π™©π™šπ™§ 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 π™©π™π™š 𝙨π™ͺ𝙒 𝙀𝙛 π™žπ™©π™¨ π™₯𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙨."

Dare I say the most important game in the franchise, writing down a formula that this series has come to follow even more than the original two games did. In a franchise as expansive as Like a Dragon/Yakuza, there are bound to be some titles that are left to the wayside with every title in the series being playable in English, officially or by fan-patches, except this one. I guess it’s easy to see why, the first five chapters are constrained, feeling closer to a tech demo testing out what the PlayStation 3 can accomplish which makes the possibility of a remake unlikely and a remaster even unlikelier.

Even now I’m struggling to write about this game in detail because to do so I have to expect that you have played or know the details about this game in some capacity but I know that’s not the case and I’m left feeling more like a car salesman trying to sell you on this game more than anything else. This is a game that’s defined by its connection and parallels to the main series more than how it radically differs from it. Miyamoto Musashi is not Kiryu Kazuma but he is Kiryu Kazumanosuke, a man imbued with a similar sense of purpose. Both are characters who are changed by their meeting with Haruka, both have lost years of their life unjustly, and both have been beaten and betrayed. Instead of the way of the Yakuza, Musashi is dead set in following β€œthe way of the sword”. Fighting is all he knows, strength is the only measure these men can define themselves but it’s all for naught if they can’t even protect the ones they hold dear. Yakuza has messed around with themes of identity and duality, before and since Kenzan, but the manifestation here is one that’s based on myth, main series parallels, and their personas in the narrative. To understand what this game is trying to achieve one has to know all three because that context is needed to realize the sense of self imbued on its characters.

It’s exactly due to these parallels that the final chapter is the most shocking yet makes the most sense, reframing everything you’ve come to know and expect. There’s an inner conflict in this game’s philosophy, you can’t adapt the life of Miyamoto Musashi in the image of Kiryu Kazuma and expect some things not to be seen from a mile away. Everyone even remotely familiar with Musashi, either through history or even other fictional works such as Vagabond knows about his famous battle with Sasaki Kojiro, so the outcome is no surprise. It’s what comes after. It’s a defiance of fate in the most extreme sense possible, a past unchangeable and it rebels against even that to relay to you that what’s most sensible isn’t always right, that you’re not defined as a hero because of your actions written in history you’re a hero because of what you do here, right now. It’s about fighting even the fate that is history itself, even if history is a lie. Even if it doesn’t remember who you truly are. It’s stubborn, but it’s for yourself. It’s only due to that, only due to our ability to love that we’re able to heal. Kenzan takes two separate men, one written in the annals of history and one who's a video game legend , and merges them in a way that every distinction between the two synthesizes into one individual who is arguably greater than both of them. Even if it is a lie.

when you lose literally starts a Low Tier God's speech

Signalis is a game which constantly leaves you with a want for something more, glimpses of beautiful warmth through its eternally stunning style mesmerise us into wanting more and more but after eternity we are left with nothing. The game and its story all exist through the lenses of homages, influences and references, all a parallel to characters who are nothing but memories of experiences they never lived and just as those characters mourn memories and lives that were never theirs we too become entrenched in a life we never lived, as tears flow and flow and we replay and relieve to find answers that will never ever come no matter how hard we look. And just as the characters, we are faced with the abominable challenge of loss and nothing more….

Please, just let me stay be your side a little longer.

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