ok i'll make my big boy pants incomprehensible raving ramble review later when i stop sitting on my ass and finish all the other ones for this series. but for now i just NEED to talk about this game man.

infinite wealth to me is like another yakuza 5. yeah, there are some obvious flaws, some really weird story decisions and, hell, both even have divisive final bosses that i grew to really really like over time. but the things that ARE present are so full of heart and so genuine that i can't help but overlook those flaws. ichiban and friends are still such amazing characters who i loved to just see hang out. ichiban himself still proves to be an amazing protagonist, his cheerful and energetic demeanor feeling so refreshing. and of course star of the show himself, the dragon of dojima. maybe i was a little split on kiryu coming back after 6 and even getting a whole ass mini spinoff just to try to make having his mug on the cover art feel justified. but now that i've finally heard the final verse off of kazuma kiryu's swansong? everything in this game feels like a love letter to the LEGACY this man has left on the series. anyone who can call themselves an rgg fan will get so much out of the life links. so much out of the story's main themes of living life and not throwing yourself away. so much out of slowly, but so so surely seeing kiryu realize that the life he's living is one worth fighting for. and i know it will, because it definitely meant so much to me.

infinite wealth isn't perfect. the story is maybe a little mixed. the pacing really falters at times. but this game is worth so much more than the sum of its parts to me. maybe even worth an infinite wealth eh eh eh eh eh

(additionally, just like yakuza 5, this game's combat system is puhpuhpuh-peak and also the ost bangs. kooky has held me captive for months on end now. i would make the whole save me joke but i don't want to escape)