i’ve kind of lost the motivation to write anything long-form (or really any length) on this site but i do want to reflect on this one a little bit, and i hope you’ll excuse me if i sound like i’m superficially regurgitating what others have already shared.
anyway fatamoru is undeniably human at the end of the day; about how people aren’t born their current selves (whether they be “good” or “bad” in the eyes of some) and that there are always underlying circumstances that turned them into who they are today. the truth is a “weapon” — but not weapon-ized against others as it can so conspicuously be within popular works in this genre — no, the truth is not just something for an opposing force to use against those who experienced it, rather more deeply as an empathetic connection between people that is only a weapon if those who experienced it find resolve in burying it apprehensively. accepting reality and facing it head-on can be just as painful as the reality itself. no matter how dark it gets… there is always some light at the end of the tunnel. fatamoru is shockingly depressing and at times just absolutely fucking soul-crushing. at the same time, through all of the tragedy that it establishes, it still ignites some hopeful inspiration. everything does maintain a believable — and oftentimes relatable — level of realism as well that is probably the core of what makes the narrative hurt as much as it does. everything also has purpose: plenty of red herrings or details that spring up in the first half seem impossibly linked to the story but become completely logical and crucial inclusions by the end. i’m at a loss of what else i could mention so i guess i can briefly praise the characters. i don’t think there was a single one i didn’t find some form of relatability in or flat out didn’t like. they’re all distinctly special in their own ways. each with personal strategies to try and stay grounded among a world so cruel in their eyes. the value of perspective is a central theme throughout. this story fucked me up in more ways than one and i don’t think this will be an experience i’ll easily forget. i do still want to think about it more. this came to me at the right time in my life similarly to something like twewy when i played that a few years ago. shoutouts to the soundtrack for introducing me to “neoclassical darkwave.”

an impressive study on what makes yakuza tick. crosses a line that the other ps3 titles wouldn’t dare to even tread near. each character is pushed to their absolute limits, placing them under a stern spotlight that shakes the audience’s hearts incessantly. its length is often criticized but realistically demonstrates what a pure, fully thought-out yakuza experience looks like. every part is given their own respective time to shine in full.

where yakuza 5 succeeds is not in the grandiose scope of its overarching narrative (though i do like it better than the previous two titles), rather in the intimate character moments - kiryu’s stoicism against mayumi’s passion, saejima intently conversing with his cellmate recluses, park & haruka’s heart-to-hearts, shinada clashing with familiar faces from yesteryear - the series’ writing is at its peak here. there’s some real thought provoking analysis on each of our protagonists. truly feels like the whole team gave it their all in coordinating the entire experience to insure it felt balanced and emotionally rousing. this is the ultimate blend of every strength this series holds. and fortunately it doesn’t feature a climax that puts the entire narrative’s quality into question.

some other positives i can’t highlight enough would be the gameplay and sheer scope of everything. the combat is some of the most fun i’ve had since 2; i especially enjoy the frequent brawls filled with massive clusters of enemies. i thought they were formidable tests of your skills, almost feeling like a musou at points with how it demands precise spacial awareness to minimize damage taken. wandering around the new and old recontextualized cities in the new engine was just as immersive as it was for me when i sank into 1 & 2’s thick metropolises. something about them here feels more polished than in 3 or 4.

nothing gets left out, nothing is undercooked, and most importantly everything is impactful. i absolutely love the finale and how it wraps up everyone’s characters. kiryu’s final moments are some bone-chilling stuff. yakuza 5 is the quintessential embodiment of what this series stands for.

jesus fucking christ.

OKAY actual review (spoilers at the very end):
I think NSO has kind of decent ideas (the throughline seems to be “the endless cycle of chasing clout is bad and mentally ill people should get help instead of turning to the internet to cope”) but a lot of the endings are like, “Woah!! That was craaaazy! Wasn’t that fucked up?” And then they all just end without really even saying much or trying to elaborate on any kind of point. As someone who went out of her way to get the endings all boy did it make me mad to grind for some of them that were only a couple sentences long before abruptly ending jesus lol.

There isn’t even an ending that feels like you can truly win. And that’s not bad, I’m cool with an ending that’s a bit of a downer or things don’t go as planned/you don’t “win”, but NSO doesn’t have any real story to justify these endings or make them satisfying in their own right (and it makes less sense that this kind of thing exists in a raising sim where the whole point of the genre is to Raise Or Lower Number And Win). In the endings where KAngel gets tons of subs, she can dump you and then get into a scandal herself, break the internet, feel empty that she’s made it this far, kill herself onstream, etc etc. And I think I would be fine with some of these if they had anything to actually say or made the loss feel important. They jump right into the shock or weird stuff and then immediately end it with some fuckin textbox like “ohhhh she’s soooo fucked up what did you dooooo”! Like maybe I would like some of these more if they went on for more than 30 seconds and had some closure/thoughts to leave you with!!!

In my head I compared NSO a lot to Doki Doki Literature Club because that's a pretty popular game that also appeals to NSO’s audience of “Yeah this game looks cute and has a cute girl in it …. But be careful. It’s FUCKED UP”. But DDLC has the upper hand because you spend a lot of time getting to know the characters and see their arcs before they suddenly do the big horror twist, and after that every horror moment is carefully placed until it crescendos into the ending sequence. With NSO, there isn't really a story for you to get to know Ame with, you can learn more about her but you can really only bond with her on a surface level (taking her out, sex, playing games) before they start spamming you with horror stuff back to back with little to no breaks. You never share a truly deep moment or a moment that would legit make me go, “Oh wow, I really care about her”. As a result, whenever the game does freaky horror metanarrative-breaking things it’s just, “Oh wow!” in the moment and then it immediately ends, and that's it.

That’s kind of another thing, I just don’t like Ame. Menhera girls just really put me off, it’s one of those things that I think are popular because it’s Japanese/anime. Like the same girls that will go “i wanna die i hate myself im horny im lonely im manipulating people i want money blahbblahblah” also exist in SPADES on Tumblr and Twitter in English/America and everyone can’t stand those type of people (myself included). I just dont like self pitying “I’m so fucked up” manipulative people with mental illness especially when using it to get undeserved sympathy money/things from others. It just annoys me so much. Call it a mix of personal experience and I am mentally ill so I can weigh in on this a little. So when creepy things happen to Ame I just don’t really care. When she’s annoying I get annoyed. When she’s talking about how P-chan isn’t good I just roll my eyes. And I don’t even hate her, like I don’t want to ruin her life or anything, because she isn’t real so it wouldn’t matter. I just want her to like go away and get serious help. This is why the “hospitalize her enough and she becomes normal” ending rules in my opinion.

And THEN… Possibly my most lukewarm take ever, but I just don’t like stories that focus on the need to get likes/followers. I’m really weirded out by people who only care about this. It just feels so vapid and like not a real goal at all, to be obsessed with that kinda thing (one could say this is the point of NSO, but again I feel like the story is lacking and does not speak well on this point).

And she wants all of this shit in a month which is just laughable. Like yeah try getting a million subs in a month I’m sure that will work out for you. When she guilts you for not being able to get her that many followers it’s just fucking stupid, like girl you have been at this for 30 days and you’re an independent streamer. You’re lucky to even have 500 followers. On god plz stop.

I think it’s not impossible to have a good game critiquing the internet, it’s a less popular game but the game Buried Stars (game about 5 kpop stars being stuck in a collapsing building) does a very good job of both telling a compelling story while also weaving in what fame/ followers/internet can do to change people and influence their choices in the moment. Though that game is more about showbiz, it definitely has strong critiques of some of the same things that NSO failed to try to say, because you can grow with the characters and find out deeper things about them and learn on a deeper level how everything affects them. Meanwhile Ame is just constantly in comically high highs and low lows and you can only exchange a couple of messages with her a day, never having a meaningful talk.

And hey! Spoiler time. The twist that P-chan isn’t real is just stupid if you think about it for more than 5 seconds. Who was she having sex with the whole time to the point of making the screen shake (finger blasting queen I guess)? Who was she at the amusement park with and kissing in the ending where she has her livestream outside? Who was walking around in her house and making noise during her livestream where she was talking about mysterious things and even said “Teehee I didn’t tell P-chan I was streaming so they were walking around!” after the stream? In the Labor ending you’re messaging from the computer while she’s away at work and doesn’t come home, what, is she actually at home typing on her computer and just ignoring her own texts to herself then? What about the endings where she blocks you from viewing her page, bro you made the fucking guy up you don’t have to block them they ain’t real they can’t actually see your post anyways!!!! I could literally go on and on but it’s a twist that exists just to be a twist. It doesn’t need to be there and the more you think about it the less sense it makes within the context of the entire rest of the game.

I do not like menhera girls, I do not like plots about chasing after clout, I do not like the lack of writing this game had. I suppose I am out of the target audience for the first two points but overall I feel like a good game should be able to pull you in regardless if you’re not necessarily a huge fan of some of its elements, because it does something good with those elements. This game has nothing to say except internet be crazy and mentally ill people be crazy too, and even then it can’t even be fucking bothered to say that half the time, it just shows you a fucked up anime girl who’s bloody and saying mean things and then it just ends. What an absolute waste.