My feelings on Yo-Kai Watch 4 are conflicted. As a sequel, and at this point series finale, it does a lot gameplay wise that is both incredibly fresh yet at some point regressive. On the other hand, it's story and combat are the best to date, nearly bringing me to tears by the end. With two playthroughs under my belt and whole hell of a lot of nostalgia for it, this game remains one of my favorite J-RPGs of all time thus far. Just a fantastic, whimsical, adventure that no matter how jaded I may feel manages to make me feel like a kid again.

I can’t read Japanese.



Still good.

Played in Japanese so review might be different from English translation:

Wow, now this game is FUN. It's everything I love about demon-type catching games. To be quite honest, this is the first Yokai game I've ever played and it has me sucked in! Yokai Watch 4 is a beautiful game visually, with a fun story of lost memories and switching protagonists. All the characters are a perfect example of "kimi-kawa" (a Japanese term for something both ugly and cute) and their personalities are a great match to boot. Dialogue is filled with cute snarky little jokes, and personalities I can best describe as either snarky or a bit bratty. It's always fun playing a game that has characters that are bit rude.

The gameplay is involved and super fun. I love being able to help as the human and not solely rely on my Yokai. The story is basic, but it's expected for games made for younger age groups, but still knows how to have fun with its inclusion of multiple worlds. The maps are open-world enough without feeling too overwhelming, but allowing the player enough freedom without making the game fall under the open-world genre.

I loved the silly little gacha gumball machine.
Good game, check it out if you can!