bawled like a baby in a way i have not for a video game before. been trying to find the words for this game since i beat it and i've been stumped. it falls into typical yakuza trappings and somehow manages for that to not be distracting which i commend. i guess all you can say is "you have to live".
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Edit: To reflect a little more now that I'm out of the honeymoon period I think I admire this game most as an extension of 7's existing character development rather than as a standalone story. This game also pulls a lot of punches in relation to its political messaging but this feels very typical of yakuza to me even when discussing JP politics. To be honest I still think the very light handling of Hawaiian/US politics is more engaging than what we would probably get from a US studio, but the payoff is never actually there; they don't commit to Palekana being a cult, to truly discussing the effects of US colonization on Hawaii, things like that. It feels like a pretty standard RGG way of watering things down to be palatable and convey ideas. The same thing happened with 7 (you can argue the way Bleach Japan is framed comes off pretty anti-protesting.)
It's balancing a lot on its plate so I don't want to judge it too hard but I completely understand people who left this game not liking it. We're at a weird turning point in the series where it's starting to shed a lot of things that may have drawn people to it during the Kiryu saga.
Lots to think about. Viewing this game in the broad scope of "after this, things have to focus on the kasuga party"/"this is the last ever kiryu game" makes me forgive a lot of its story shortcomings personally.
I wonder if future games will have a clearer vision.