Infinite Wealth (RGG8), the follow-up to one of my favourite games (Yakuza: Like A Dragon), is huge. That’s the best way to describe this game in basic terms and hence it will be extremely difficult to make a coherent review after first playthrough. Anyways I shall run through what I loved, liked and disliked in a bullet point format… (+ = positive, • = neutral, - = dislike)
+ Gameplay is exceptional, a giant step up from the already great gameplay of it’s predecessor. The strategy involved in the turn based combat is really fun and really rewarding! All the party members are great to play as, especially Kiryu, the way he breaks the turn based format is really good and very in character for himself and the series. You’ll also find yourself using items and poundmates a lot, really cool systems and way better than 7s versions.
+ The Dondoko Island minigame is actually fantastic, I heavily prefer it to business management from 7 and I LOVED that too, I did it in a few chunks completely seperate from doing story stuff. I loved it. Yeah.
+ The direction is excellent (performances, cutscenes, all that jazz), certainly the best in the series tied with the highs you find in Judgement (2018).
+ The maps you play on are really good, especially Hawaii as it is the main focus after all. The addition of Segways makes traversing these huge maps really nice! Kiryu’s Bucket List side story makes exploring the maps really fun too and it was quite emotional at times too.
+ I didn’t play all the minigames but the ones I did were really cool, especially Crazy Delivery and Miss Match!
+ The world always feels alive, even in the barren (at times) Yokohama, the new systems to engage the player with the world are very well rounded and never feel forced!
+ I loved the dual narrative split halfway through the game, but the pacing was really off in those sections which was quite annoying, regardless there is more than enough content to play with on both sides of the story.
• The narrative is great for the most part but it’s certainly hindered by the recent Gaiden game being written during or after Infinite Wealth’s narrative. Some plot holes can be found and at times it’s like Gaiden never existed, which is very disappointing for myself as I feel Gaiden has one of the strongest narratives in the series and was really looking forward to it’s meaning in Infinite Wealth, but oh well the overall narrative was amazing, that is why this is a neutral point.
- The game constantly set up ‘cameos’ on Kiryu’s side of the story but never seemed to commit to them even when it made NO SENSE not to in the narrative. This was really disappointing to me.
Overall, fantastic game and HOLY SHIT that final scene!! I feel I’ve only scratched the surface here too. What a game.
+ Gameplay is exceptional, a giant step up from the already great gameplay of it’s predecessor. The strategy involved in the turn based combat is really fun and really rewarding! All the party members are great to play as, especially Kiryu, the way he breaks the turn based format is really good and very in character for himself and the series. You’ll also find yourself using items and poundmates a lot, really cool systems and way better than 7s versions.
+ The Dondoko Island minigame is actually fantastic, I heavily prefer it to business management from 7 and I LOVED that too, I did it in a few chunks completely seperate from doing story stuff. I loved it. Yeah.
+ The direction is excellent (performances, cutscenes, all that jazz), certainly the best in the series tied with the highs you find in Judgement (2018).
+ The maps you play on are really good, especially Hawaii as it is the main focus after all. The addition of Segways makes traversing these huge maps really nice! Kiryu’s Bucket List side story makes exploring the maps really fun too and it was quite emotional at times too.
+ I didn’t play all the minigames but the ones I did were really cool, especially Crazy Delivery and Miss Match!
+ The world always feels alive, even in the barren (at times) Yokohama, the new systems to engage the player with the world are very well rounded and never feel forced!
+ I loved the dual narrative split halfway through the game, but the pacing was really off in those sections which was quite annoying, regardless there is more than enough content to play with on both sides of the story.
• The narrative is great for the most part but it’s certainly hindered by the recent Gaiden game being written during or after Infinite Wealth’s narrative. Some plot holes can be found and at times it’s like Gaiden never existed, which is very disappointing for myself as I feel Gaiden has one of the strongest narratives in the series and was really looking forward to it’s meaning in Infinite Wealth, but oh well the overall narrative was amazing, that is why this is a neutral point.
- The game constantly set up ‘cameos’ on Kiryu’s side of the story but never seemed to commit to them even when it made NO SENSE not to in the narrative. This was really disappointing to me.
Overall, fantastic game and HOLY SHIT that final scene!! I feel I’ve only scratched the surface here too. What a game.