In that primordial placeless origin, through the mist-veil of time, since man first airbrushed Merlin smoking a pipe on the side of a van, there, you can feel it in the noosphere, a moon-lit dream, The Dream, a call in the heart of the human soul. Some have seen some small part of this dream- The Legend of Zelda, The Elder Scrolls, Ultima, Dark Souls, Adventure, Dragon Quest, King's Field, Wizardry, among innumerable others, nameless here forevermore, all have failed to reach The Dream. Perhaps cruel circumstance chained them to Earthly bond, perhaps cowardice stayed their hand, perhaps they lacked the naivety and earnestness necessary to behold a waking dream. Whatever their individual situation, the results have always been, like Lion of Gripsholm Castle, a mutant, an aberration, at best a passing resemblance. Dragon's Dogma is The Dream, forged in the furnace of the heart, it is not visually plain- it is clean, it is not halfbaked- it is too goodly to exist totally in a world half-evil, it achieves the promise of videogames, and proves that creative endeavour above all else is the greatest goal humanity can strive for. it is the twinkle in the eye of Merlin smoking a pipe airbrushed on the side of a van.

Note: This is only shelved because I've had so many emulator troubles up to this point, and the one set up I could figure out to have the gameplay actually functional freezes in just about every cutscene. I desperately want to come back to this once Saturn emulation stabilizes, this game sees a proper rerelease, or I get the patience to just power through even more troubleshooting. But for now with how story-focused this game is, it feels pretty untenable to just not have the cutscenes along with it.

Preamble aside, this game feels like some sort of forbidden relic, and the crunchiness of the Saturn's renderer only adds to that feeling. The game is oozing with artistry that had me kind of floored, with a deceptively deep combat system that sounds like a terrible idea until you really experience even a sliver of what it has to offer. The music is stellar, which makes my need to temporarily shelve this one all the more heartbreaking.

I honestly wish we got more RPGs like this: alien worlds, lean but varied gameplay, and production values that take advantage of their limitations to really push the envelope in terms of presentation and storytelling. Really antsy to figure out a way to finish this one because I can tell it'd easily smash into my top 10 or 20 favorite games ever.

zombies
black crows
big snakes
crack toads
puzzles
statues
ambush
trap doors
push that
push this
shoot that
shoot this
reload
next clip
cock back
shoot quick

I think its fascinating that theres three dragon's dogma games and being unfinished is their defining trait. Crazy good time but disappointed by the lack of spell variety like the first game, the trickster feels undercooked, and warfarer feels like a band aid last minute fix for a lack of classes they could not ship on time.

I lost 50 hours heavily immersed and the game has had some of my fondest memories playing a game in recent memory, but it is about the same amount of undercooked as the first one. Its a recurring thing I have to say about this game: "This is all pretty good but x problem" or "This feels lacking but it has a lot of potential for expansion later".

The true ending route is truly crazy though, I cannot believe they went somewhere more cowardly devs would defer to a cutscene for a bad end.

The plot sort of stops existing after the first ten hours and it really was funny to see characters i barely interacted with brought in to up the stakes or be part of a readout of "Your best friends 4ever :)"

I had a friend once. A man I met under inauspicious circumstances. It was a trying time in my life, and at first, to be honest, I didn't trust him. An ally of necessity, not of my choosing. But if I can credit anyone with getting me through those hard times, it was him. Other acquaintances came and went, I couldn't tell if my ex was trying to help me or just using me, my second most constant companion kept getting kidnapped. But whenever I needed him, my friend was there, with a jaunty greeting and a cool new shotgun to sell me.

I lost that friend a long time ago. But recently, I've been seeing something wearing his face.

This new... "Merchant" has none of my friend's warmth or charisma. He has an oily, sneaky quality that some people seem to think is apropos. Are we really at the point of pretending Resident Evil, of all series, is too good for camp? Whatever happened to showmanship? My friend set the tone for the entire game, such was his force of personality. The only lasting impression I get from this wet blanket is of deafening, aching lack.

Also, the guy never shuts the hell up up. Who was it that decided vendor NPCs don't get enough voice lines in video games? Who decided they should periodically nag you about how long you're taking while you browse their wares? (No, seriously, what's patient zero? It's a very similar vibe to how all the companions complain every time you change your party composition in Baldur's Gate 3. Unpopular opinion apparently, but I like it when games don't make characters constantly whine at you for engaging in basic, necessary gameplay functions that should barely even be diegetic.)

When I was a child, a kind girl named Navi literally just said "hey" or "listen" about once every fifteen minutes if you were wandering around somewhere other than the critical path and she was absolutely reviled, pilloried and stoned for at least a real world ass decade. Just for being very occasionally heard. Just for trying to help. But this pod person, this soulless imposter, this fucking Cockney FRAUD stands here and belittles me every fifteen seconds for sitting in a pause menu pondering how I should spend my money in a game where scarcity of resources is a core mechanic, and gamers are silent??? The real Merchant was more than just a funny meme man, sir. He was a CONSUMMATE. CUSTOMER SERVICE. PROFESSIONAL. You really wanna bring this kind of naked rudeness with your only fucking customer? You think you've established that kind of rapport with me? You bring shame on his house.

And to all the sycophants and enablers, who settled for less and let this character assassination pass? History will remember your cowardice.

Anyway apart from that it's a great game! I was really worried about how it would sort of interact with the original in the cultural memory but I think we got basically the best case scenario, where it's a different enough beast that both versions have lasting creative value. It's not as replayable, I think--I always play a new Resident Evil early in the year when it comes out and then replay that October, but I got bored and went back to Armored Core during my RE4make replay--but the action just feels so good and Ashley is much more of a character.

Edit: Maybe I'm full of shit. I want to play more of this now..
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I liked dressing up my dog and the tonal clash of the happy Wii dog graphics and the heavy illness-focused slice of life story. Actually even sniffing around for new items was kinda fun. But the way the two fit together makes them both mutually feel heavier, and there's not really any substance to the sniffing out of items. I was kind of impressed they would put this story in a kids' game: by all means kids' games Should be about these things! But the gameplay otherwise was kind of infantilely simple.

I really hate this mindset that preferring the original Yakuza 1 and 2 over the Kiwami remakes is nothing but elitism.

I started playing this franchise when 0 came to PC in 2018. Even with that, I still prefer these versions of the games. These games have a unique grit to them that the Kiwami games do not capture well at all. For Kiwami 1 in particular, it feels more like 0 but worse and with less content more than a remake of this game. Worst part is that Sega is actively treating the Kiwami games as replacements instead of alternatives.

In terms of the game itself I think it mostly holds up well. Even without the ability to change the directions of combos it does not take long to get used to. Story is still entertaining with my only issue being Nishiki's sudden betrayal (the one thing Kiwami objectively did better).

If you can I do recommend starting with this game and the OG Yakuza 2 and go from release order from there, and playing 0 in between 5 and 6. You'll appreciate how the series naturally grows instead of starting with 0 (which is the best game in the series) then following up with the Kiwami games.