i first heard about to the moon through a playthrough on youtube and i finally got to play the game years later. a beautiful and emotional story that makes us reflect on our lives and think about the desires that drives us.

playing the game after getting diagnosed with aspergers hit me so differently then when i watched the playthrough because i relate a lot to river. getting diagnosed as an adult, struggling to communicate with others, social interactions, hyperfixating, and the struggles of connecting to someone who is on the spectrum. johnny struggled connecting with river because she can’t say what she’s feeling or what she wants to say the way she wants to. It’s so sad johnny and river struggled through their marriage. Their marriage would have been a lot stronger if johnny took the time to read about aspergers. Aspergers isn’t represented only through river, but her friend isabelle who states she’s been diagnosed with it, but her experiences are different. She was diagnosed when she was a lot younger and due to her early diagnosis she’s forced herself to put on an act just to fit in. I really appreciate how the game portrayed aspergers.

despite the humor showing its age at times, it's great, uplifts the story, and allows the player to learn more about dr. rosaline and dr. watts (i had quite a few laughs). dr. watts comes off as the comedic relief while dr. rosaline is the more serious one of the pair (but she still has her funny moments). despite the humor and play into character tropes - dr. rosaline is dr. watts senior - the two are committed to their jobs and grant johnny his wish before dying.

i highly recommend play the game!

pew pew pew GUTS BLOOD GORE

HEAVY METAL

I don't remember a single plot point, but who gives a fuck while you're slaying demons from hell to Mick Gordon.

The good thing about being lost in this game is it usually means you’ll find SOMETHING hidden somewhere.

But whoever worked on the wall jumping mechanic here, we are not friends. You are not my friend. You are now my sworn enemy, in fact.

Great game, though, despite me sucking at it.

This is so cute and charming. The sprites and environments are so pretty, they really pushed the GBC graphics to the limit! I especially adored the love that went into the fish sprites. The game's dialogue is nonsensical at times in a way I find really funny. Pupil of the Raft Master, how cool you are.

Also not to be cranky but when people call older games like these "obtuse" and "confusing" I just wanna shake their shoulders (lovingly) and say READ THE MANUALS. Pretty much all old games had manuals and you were expected to read them to learn the gameplay, not through in-game tutorials and such. Legend of the River King's manual has maps to ALL its areas (save for a small bonus one) and shows ALL the spots where you can catch different kinds of fish. It also shows and describes almost all of the games' items, rods, buildings, how you fish and such. Sometimes old games aren't confusing, you're just missing critical information that you're supposed to have access to. Pretty much all old game manuals can be found online so use them!!

The most confusing part for me was getting the wind chime, and since it was the only thing i couldn't understand even with a manual I looked it up online and stumbled into a nigh incomprehensible section of a gamefaqs guide from '99 that (after trying to make sense of it for a few minutes) managed to help me. I feel like the '99 gamefaqs guide only heightened the entire vibe of my Legend of the River King playthrough, so thank you Keith (the main writer's fake cousin(??)) who wrote the part of the guide I used. Fake cousin of the Gamefaqs Writer, how cool you are.

dreams are big, and subtext is for cowards

have you ever wanted to be a taxi driver? what about a bear hunter? what about an idol? what about a guy who has money?? what about a ex baseball pro??? well guess what! with yakuza 5, your dreams (wink) canm come true!!!!!!

yakuza 5 does have some littol flaws that keep it from being a 5/5 for me, such as the encounter rate which made me want to have an encounter with falling off the side of a cliff :3 there's some plot issues but tbh they are not so bad that they bring down the game much, if at all, for me.

the new characters make me ascend higher than the highest highs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! takasugi and shinada 4 lyfe <333333 i think also this game in the series is one of the first to really dig deep into self reflection, and using dreams (wink) to showcase characters flaws and goals in such a beautiful way oh my god, very good very well done rgg i love u

i also think the antags are very good and i'm so happy that yakuza 5 did not fall into the same tropes that have been going on for 4 games in a row. good job yakuza 5

yakuza 5's themes are dreamlike (wink), i think they really do well at weaving the protagonists stories together, and make the finale section of the game genuinely superb writing. there's something so special about these larger than life characters, who often times literally and metaphorically explode off the screen, have wishes that are so human. dreams (wink) are so big and huge, yet the humans wanting them are so small, but can still be a constant inspiration for those around them

yume think i'm exaggerating, but i wouldn't dream of it, this game is sheer peak, and i cannot wait for more of the story to come <3