Genuinely perfect. It is truly astonishing that this game can do so many things at once and nail all of them. It's silly, dramatic, sad, and by FAR the best Yakuza to date in both story and gameplay. The three styles allow endless expression in your combos, and the heat actions are either the funniest or most brutal thing ever. The minigames never got boring no matter how many times I played all of them and the substories are perfect side missions. Even if you have no interest in the Yakuza series, you're doing yourself a disservice by not playing this masterpiece of a game.

"Same things make us laugh, make us cry."

Video games are hard to make interesting and tense stories for. Because at any given moment in a hyper-serious game I could make the growling angry depressed protagonist spin in a circle 40 times and crouch up and down before 360 no scoping a zombie in the balls. But when the game balances out the silliness of the genre with funny jokes and good laughs, you feel like you are on a fun journey and not a Harry Potter fanfiction where Ron is suicidal and Hagrid does cocaine. But I don't want to discredit the story by saying it only works because there are funny moments in the sidequests to balance it out: the actual story is full of good twists, unforgettable moments, and super fun action set pieces. The writing and cutscenes are so good that I didn't even realize that one cutscene went on for 20 minutes. I was just so into it! At some points, I didn't even want to do any of the various extremely funny and memorable side quests or the addicting minigames. (emphasis on 'at some points.' 10 hours of my playtime was spent at the disco.) I think this is like the only piece of media that had two separate plot twists that made me like, physically open my mouth in disbelief. I've established this already but I'm not a big story guy but this is one of my exceptions. Actually insane.

But no game is just the story .... let's not forget the combat. Two characters, 8 styles, different weapons, heat actions, grabs, upgrades, combos.. there's a lot of depth to it but it was unfortunately useless because Majima has a style where he uses a bat, and it's so ridiculously overpowered that I was just wailing on all these crazy bosses with this same Nightwing-injustice-gods-among-us ass combo and winning. Kiryu was a bit more balanced but all 3 of his styles are just different speeds of punch whereas majima has punching, breakdancing, and baseball bat. Still fun though, and to make up for not having a bat Kiryu can use his heavy style to pick up objects like street signs and couches to destroy anyone. And I really loved the heat actions and how some can be so specific. If you grab a guy on the edge of a bridge or a boat, you can just straight up throw him off. And if you're surrounded, you can spin the dude around hitting others on the way. The bosses are also pretty sick, the combat on 1v1s feels visceral and the bosses have sick intros that make me hyped to fight. One particular repeated fight will remain in my memory as one of the best rivals and one of the coolest antagonists ever.

overall, this game does everything very well. My only complaint was how some enemies have guns and I don't really like fighting against those and I feel they're overpowered. In one room, a guy had a shotgun. I ran to him and knocked him out, took his shotgun, and cleared the room in like 6 seconds. Got a quadruple kill. I guess it's realistic sure but come on! Why can't I just take that with me and maybe buy some more ammo? the final boss is tough but he's still human. Shotgun to the face and he's done for. Another complaint is there are 4 escort missions. I hate these.
Yakuza 0 dares to ask the question, "What if persona 5 was good?" it takes that game, hires writers that weren't Disney sitcom veterans, and tasks them with making stories that rise above high school melodrama. Making the minigames fun and allowing you do to more than one activity before you are forced to continue the story. It follows no formula, creating an unpredictable progression where you don't know exactly what's going to be the loop repeated for the next 100 hours. And finally, it makes the combat fun. Why is yakuza so great? everything! I've finished the story and have 45 hours on the game, but I feel like i've just begun. So many side quests and minigames left for me. I want to keep coming back for more!!!!!!!

É excelente em todas as partes que um jogo precisa ser, desde: todo o início ao fim da narrativa, todo o plot dos personagens principais e até dos secundários, e pra ser sincero isso se aplica a todas as missões principais, e praticamente todas as sidequests também, e apenas pra citar outra prova do quão excelente esse jogo é, mesmo algumas sidequests que não são tão geniais ou perfeitas, ou que são um pouco menos memoráveis e/ou marcantes, ainda assim são muito bem feitas e pensadas, elas ainda são ótimas, todas elas, nenhuma destoa muito em qualidade das outras, todas me trouxeram uma boa experiência, algumas já de cara no início, outras mais perto da metade ou do fim, mas todas foram bem feitas e foram muito boas, tendo seus momentos de ápice, como eu disse. Acho que isso ajuda na identidade do jogo, até os personagens, e as muitas batalhas e lutas contra os bosses, até o diálogo dos personagens que são muito charmosos; no geral o jogo é muito bom, do caralho mesmo. Só não é quase perfeito por causa do quão desestimulante e arrastado é o esquema de upar as habilidades do modo Legend dos personagens , quanto do Kiryu quanto do Majima, a parte de grind da forma de luta secreta do Majima é mais divertida, mas não é muito melhor, e até você chegar lá, foram tantas horas de jogo que até deu o tempo de zerar o modo história do jogo com a gameplay repetitiva e totalmente quebrada do Breaker, parece que eles não testaram essa parte do jogo, mas mesmo com esses problemas, Yakuza 0 continua excelente.

Definitely a solid game, but this series is a bad fit for me. For one, side content is considered borderline mandatory, and I often only focus on the main plot, like I did here. Secondly, I am not in the right headspace to continue the series for now. I am not very fond of the combat system and I wouldn't be able to handle what is now 10+ games in this setting, especially when friends who are long-time fans tell me there is a status quo in the series. The plot and characters were good but it didn't feel very ambitious thematically or just in general, it went exactly as I would expect a story about the yakuza to go. I am aware that 0 is an outlier in the series and is divisive for long-time fans (unlike general reception), and that there is some prejudice on my part, but I will not be coming back to this series at this time.

A lot of you might be wondering why it's taken me so long to put out another game review and the answer's pretty simple: it's just taken me this long to beat Yakuza 0. There is so much going on here that it feels like a miracle that something like this even exists, as it does everything that it sets out to do perfectly. For starters, Yakuza 0 showcases some of the best tonal shifts I've ever seen in a video game. It constantly goes from being gritty to being goofy and hilarious to even being emotional and heartfelt, and not once do any of these shifts in tone and mood feel inappropriate.

The game's writing in general is just amazingly compelling and smart, and that applies to both the complex and layered plot of the main story and the smaller morality tales that play out in the side quests, and all of these contribute to the brilliantly intertwined character arcs of Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima. While the main story is a big part of what makes Yakuza 0 so amazing, this game and the franchise it belongs to are also very well known for the abundance of things to do outside of all of that. Not only is there a staggering amount of minigames scattered across both Kamurocho and Sotenbori, but the amount of detail and effort put into them makes it impossible to not get distracted from the main story. I can't believe that there is a whole series of games like this, let alone just one of them, because Yakuza 0 is one of the very best games I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing, and this entry alone puts the Grand Theft Auto series to shame.

I read a book detailing JRPGs a little while ago that had an entire section about Action JRPGs and made an interesting case for including the entire Yakuza series, even before Like A Dragon, among the catalog. Playing Yakuza 0, and stretching our accepted definition of what an RPG is just a tiny bit, I can definitely understand how one can make a compelling case in favor of it. I don’t think this is a fully fledged RPG due to how kitchen sink the game is with itself but there’s definitely a lot of elements that pushes it pretty close. The enemy encounter design function exactly like the random encounters of any JRPG, there’s a sense of progression with how you can level up your character to gain higher stats and better attacks, the skill tree is literally just a streamlined Sphere Grid from Final Fantasy X, and the overall design of the plot and substories are very akin to any RPG with a main story and sidequests to dick around with. It’s interesting how much I came to generally agree with this because Yakuza 0 is such a uniquely designed game. It’s a pure jack-of-all-trades type of game. It’s not easy to squeeze this into one narrowed down genre descriptor because of the amount of variety packed in meant for appealing to different players. It’s part beat ‘em up action brawler, part RPG, part open-world, part social sim, part mini-game galore sidetracker, and part cinematic story-driven narrative.

Though, when you cook a bunch of different ingredients like these together you end up leaving with some half-baked ideas like the weapon shop system which I dunno who but active completionists really bother much with and even some areas of the map design are just weirdly undeveloped. There’s a part in the back half of the game where you can switch between protagonists and travel to Kamurocho/Sotenbori and nothing really changes when you visit each other’s respective maps. The locales that also aren’t just a springboard for minigames to happen are pretty barren in terms of fun interactivity or liveliness. It’s weirdly disappointing when the game already handles how substories are naturally opened up to the player through casual exploration incredibly well, on top of feeling like worthwhile substantial side content that makes Kamurocho/Sotenbori feel like their own engaging characters. The first two chapters of the game start off kinda rough, despite setting up the plot and intrigue well enough, the things you actually do in them are mostly just a whole lotta nothing and slow. Case in point; when you had to scout around the map for a fetch quest to find 5 different bottles of alcohol for a group of homeless guys to shovel through the story. Once you get past that, especially starting Chapter 3, it immediately kicks into stylish high gear as the game allows you to set your own pace with how you can approach the main story, substories, side activities, and the hustling grind to make as much money as possible to level yourself up or invest to make even more money. This can lead into slight exhaustion because of how excessive the grind is with currency being important for pretty much everything in the game. You’d have to get into constant fights with random Yakuza thugs on the streets to hustle so much money that the combat becomes repetitive pretty quick. Kiryu’s especially, where his styles and moveset feels too simple compared to Majima’s which was more fun and varied to use against a bunch of thugs. I can’t think of going back to Kiryu’s moveset when Majima has you breakdancing on the floor for close crowd control and stunlocking enemies by effortlessly slugging them with a bat.

Actually, I think lots of the weak points in the game stem down to whenever you play as Kiryu, funnily enough. This is meant to be a prequel and origin story for the entire franchise and his role in the story, though still quite competent and engaging, just pales in comparison for how much more interesting and captivating Majima’s side was which is where most of my favorite narrative beats stacked together. It still works as a nice introduction to Kiryu as the leading man for the next six games who’ll no doubt get more substantial character-work obviously but part of me wishes this was more upfront in sidelining him to give more focus for Majima who elevated this game pretty hard.

The reason that I became interested in this game was because of the Baka Mitai meme back in the Summer. Now it is one of my favorite games of all time with one of the most gripping narratives I've seen.

The Story is so well crafted with plot twist after plot twist in the second half. The game starts with Kiryu out on a collection and roughing up a guy in an alleyway. Eventually it is learned that the guy took a bullet to the head and died in that alleyway. Kiryu is trying to clear his name but that is only one of the many dimensions of this story. Majima's story starts with one of the most engaging introductions to a character. He is a manager of a Hostess Club and there is a customer making a ruckus. He handles it with lots of dignity and respect for the customer, bystanders, and himself. Even when the customer tries fighting him. He then returns to his office to have a smoke and you can tell he'd rather being doing something else with his life and is stuck here by circumstance. Solid intros to the story and main characters here but once again, this story gets WILD.

The Gameplay is really solid and was always hype seeing Kiryu bust out an epic heat move. Both Majima and Kiryu play very differently so it really immerses you into the character you're playing as. Some of my favorite moments included some of the buildings you raid, it always had me at the edge of my seat. I absolutely understand if the gameplay gets repetitive for people who do a majority of the side-content and frankly I don't blame them. Personally I had a shit ton of fun.

The last major component of this game, the Side-Content. From the Substories, to equipment, minigames, and more, there was always something to do. The substories never failed to get me invested in a random ass character I just met, Or showing more of Kiryu/Majima personality, or just straight up hilarious. This game handles tone so well it's remarkable. One minute I'm really sympathizing with someone in a shtty situation and the next minute I'm protecting a Chad MoonWalking down the street. Also if you don't think Miracle Johnson is the best substory then Spoiler Alert: you're wrong.

Onto the smaller parts of the game that really define this as one of the best games I've played. The Writing is simply superb. The Voice Actors truly gave it everything they had and it showed. The music is just fantastic with bangers like Red Radical Rage or the more regretful Baka Mitai. All the characters, side characters included are so memorable and well written.

This game is truly a masterpiece and I implore you all to play it. The entire Kiryu Saga is currently all on Game Pass and is usually on sale on PSN so go give it a try. I don't usually like using this term but this is simply Peak Fiction.
10/10

The 70 hours I have spent on this game in the last couple months have ruined any social interaction I have had since I am forever cursed to have the SubStory theme playing in my head when I am accosted by crackheads walking home from work trying to sell me spice…..

But in all honesty it’s incredibly worth it this is easily one of the best times I have ever had in a video game the stories incredibly interesting blending humour and a serious tone in an effortless way with some of the most likeable characters in any piece of media I’ve experienced. Goro Majima is absolutely the highlight of this for me i wasn’t sure what to expect from a origin story for the guy who stalks you as a traffic cone in Kiwami but was completely floored by how emotional his half of the story was coming out of this as one of my favourite characters of all time.

I also really loved the gameplay as a whole I really enjoyed learning the ropes of the franchises combat in Kiwami and this is a perfected version of that system the additional protagonist also gives you access to more combat styles that are completely different to Kiryus moveset which I really enjoyed with Slugger and Breaker easily beating out anything I’ve tried so far in the franchise.

The side content as well is also some of the best I’ve come across before with me getting distracted by the story too many times by my side hustle of being a landlord and owner of a Caberet club which I’ve had to explain as being a little more sophisticated than “being a pimp” to my girlfriend on multiple occasions….

Overall 10/10 would recommend I am very grateful I succumbed to peer pressure and gave this franchise a go.

Finished up the main story today, so I think I can safely say that I don't get it, or at least not fully. To me, this feels like two completely unrelated games grafted together, a claim that Yakuza 0 itself likely wouldn't dispute given how intentionally it contrasts its overwhelmingly dramatic narrative with the over-the-top goofiness of... everything else. Though, these two halves clearly don't carry equal mass (the vast majority of content lies in the optional stuff) or weight (you're free to go through the entire campaign without at all engaging in any of the sidequests, minigames, or either business system, but not vice versa). I found myself interested in Kiryu and Majima's story but not in anything else, and it wasn't until I forced myself to try and get the 'full' experience near the end of the game that I felt like I at least understood the appeal. The business management is addicting in the same way something like Cookie Clicker is- spend money to earn money at a higher rate, rinse, repeat- and there's a near infinite amount of stuff to occupy yourself with while you're waiting for cash to roll in. But because of the sheer amount of stuff to do, all of it is incredibly basic, and I think my problem is that I'm only willing to stomach tasks this menial when I'm at least interested in the world that they take place in. Kamurocho and Sotenbori look the part but don't feel it, instead of being populated with sidequests that feel organic and serve to flesh out the setting, they're filled with, in essence, whoopee cushions for Kiryu and Majima to sit on. Wacky, short-winded, painfully predictable punchlines that the protagonists reject their no-nonsense attitudes to indulge in, for some reason. I get that that's the joke, I just don't find it particularly funny- maybe if their overly serious natures were played off of instead of completely overwritten, it would've worked out better, but as it stands, I can only recall two out of the fifty or so that I did that even rose to the level of "entertaining." The combat, at the very least, grew on me over time, cleverly centering itself around manipulating enemies into certain conditions for both monetary bonuses and getting the most out of your heat meter, but it was still repetitive enough that I avoided every encounter I could for most of the game, a mentality that I regret not extending to the sidequests. At the end of it all, the only two aspects of the yakuza life that I can truthfully claim that I enjoyed were the cutscenes and some of the fights leading up to the cutscenes, two small portions of my thirty hours. Part of me is glad that a series this prominent finally managed to break through in the west, but I can't say that I'm particularly interested in checking out the other entries myself. I'd rather sit in the arcade and play some Outrun.

Took a bit longer to warm to this coming from Like A Dragon due to its unwieldy camera and awkward combat but once it clicked I was in love all over again.

For how often the game flits between high drama and wacky absurdity it's amazing it still manages to keep the story so engaging. I love Yakuza substories because you go in expecting the twist to be this, or maybe that but then it's actually both and also one more. So stupid/incredible.

Except the Catfights. Those were terrible.

Even though I only finished Y0 for now, it might be a stretch but Kiryu and Majima are already among two of my favorite characters in fiction. Both of them are characterized wonderfully throughout the entire game not only in their heartfelt and emotional journey but also through exploring Kamurocho/Sotenbori through their lens. They are goofballs, dense at times and awkward, yet endearing, passionate and just charismatic in what they do, everything from beating up goons to singing karaoke feels like a man putting everything they have into doing what they love and what they have to do. As someone who loves story with ideas of forging your own path, by the end these two characters are the very embodiment of it and I fucking love them so much.

Yakuza 0 is an absolute masterpiece not just in balancing serious crime drama while embracing its silliness, but also manages to be one of the most fun, thrilling and emotional experience I've ever had with any piece of media. The story is absolutely incredible, a political war between different factions in the family that had me tearing up in some of the latter half of the story, it really shows how good a quality of a story is when I love every single one of the antagonist, from the three lieutenants, Sagawa, Nishitani etc., all of them with their compelling motivations and able to stand on their own as characters through their presence and excellent voice performances, creating some of the most cathartic boss fights in any game for me.

Admittedly some of the minigames had me pulling my hair out and I didn't like some of them (need the catfight shit gone) but the positives outweigh the bad ones easily. As someone who completed all the 100 substories I can also say I absolutely love them. These two cities I spend hundreds of hours exploring are densely packed with things to explore and different people to meet that feels like a living breathing place, and that is my favorite kind of setting tbh

Oh yeah I also 100% the completion list #realfan even though Y0 could be the peak for me I'll still really excited for what is to come for the rest of the games

Yakuza 0 is generally considered the modern day gateway into the Yakuza/Like a Dragon franchise for numerous reasons. Not only is it a prequel that doesn’t require any prior series knowledge to understand what’s going on, it’s constantly regarded as one of the best games in the series by a majority of the fanbase. While I had emulated the original Yakuza prior to my first playthrough of Yakuza 0, I didn’t really have a desire to play the rest of the franchise until after I finished Zero, so for all intents and purposes, it was my gateway too. After playing it back in 2022, I spent a good chunk of 2023 playing through every single game in the series currently available on Steam, including the spin offs. Needless to say, I’ve become a huge fan of the franchise. After playing almost every game in the series, I wanted to return to Yakuza 0 and re-evaluate it with my knowledge of the titles that come before and after it. I was really pleased to find that I still consider it the best of the Kazuma Kiryu-centric games.

Coming from Yakuza 5, which had five playable protagonists, Yakuza 0 scales down to just two: series star Kazuma Kiryu and his long-time rival/eventual close ally Goro Majima. I think that dialing back on the amount of playable characters was absolutely the right call. It allowed for both Kiryu and Majima to have plenty of room to breathe in each other’s own lengthy campaigns.

The story is undeniably one of, if not the best in the franchise. It’s more straightforward compared to the complex conspiracies of Yakuza 4 and Yakuza 5, and I think that it’s better off for it. Its focus is on telling an emotional narrative that enriches the background of both Kiryu and Majima while giving some sorely needed additional context to the original Yakuza game, and it absolutely knocked it out of the park. This is in part due to this game’s mostly original cast of characters. These characters and events do an absolutely tremendous job explaining how Kiryu and Majima become the characters that we know today. The clash of each character’s extreme and over the top personality is what makes Yakuza 0 such a thrilling and emotional joyride.

The three lieutenants of the Dojima family are some of the best and most memorable antagonists in the series, with Daisaku Kuze in particular standing out with his venomous tenacity. Other characters such as Makoto Makimura and Tetsu Tachibana serve as the core of the story’s emotion and mystery, as getting to the bottom of their true aspirations and learning about Makoto’s tragic backstory is a huge appeal of the narrative. Then there’s Akira Nishkiyama, Kiryu’s sworn brother. He was the primary antagonist of the original Yakuza, but one of the biggest problems with that game’s narrative was that it barely featured him. We had no real context to their relationship and how close they were, so the character was completely forgettable as a result. This game fleshes out their relationship immensely, with some of the most heartbreaking and hypest moments of the entire series featuring the two brothers.

To make up for the lack of multiple characters to play as and to keep combat feeling fresh and varied, the game uses the Style System that was introduced in the original version of Like a Dragon: Ishin to offer multiple ways for both characters to approach combat. I really like how the Style System was implemented in Zero. Each of Kiryu and Majima’s Styles concentrate on a particular element that makes up the complete moveset that they would go on to use in the games that take place after Zero. It’s a brilliant idea, even if it does come with some flaws.

Kiryu’s Styles are Brawler, Rush, and Beast. Brawler feels like a slower and less snappy version of his moveset from the prior games. It feels like he hasn’t quite figured out his approach to fighting yet, but he’s on track to getting there. It’s a solid all-rounder Style that’s good for just about any occasion. Rush is a boxing-inspired Style that places emphasis on speed. It’s mainly used for taking out a single, troublesome enemy, as well as during boss fights. Beast is Kiryu’s crowd control Style. It places emphasis on his raw strength. He becomes extremely slow in this Style, almost immobile. In exchange, his attacks become a lot stronger and way more effective at clearing out a group of enemies… so long as he has a large object in his hands. By itself, Beast is not a very effective Style. Kiryu’s attacks are just too slow unless you’ve got a large object that you can use to help you armor through attacks while swatting away groups of enemies at a time. Otherwise, enemies are generally able to get easy potshots in on him and keep him from getting started simply because his attacks just have way too much wind up. More often than not, this Style is a hindrance, and you can do some smaller scale levels of crowd control with the Brawler Style, so I tended to mainly swap between that and Rush when I played.

Majima’s Styles are Thug, Slugger, and Breaker. Thug is Majima’s equivalent to Kiryu’s Brawler Style, only Majima has had more experience as a yakuza than Kiryu at this point, so this Style feels faster and more precise compared to Brawler. Slugger has Majima wield a baseball bat. He can swing the bat in very wide arcs which makes this Style great for crowd control. He also has access to a really easy and brutal Heat action with this move. Breaker is a bit confusing. It also seems to be a crowd control focused Style, only it’s a lot less effective than Slugger. Similar to Kiryu’s Beast Style, it takes too long to perform the crowd clearing attacks that Breaker has. It’s not as unwieldy as Beast, but Slugger just provides easier and more effective crowd control, so I saw little reason to use Breaker.

There is a fourth Style that Kiryu and Majima have which are both referred to as Legend. Both Legend Styles have Kiryu and Majima play the way that they do in previous games. I can’t really give my opinion on these Styles because they’re locked behind two obnoxiously long and grindy mini games that I’ve never bothered to complete. I wish that weren’t the case and that these Styles were either unlocked by reaching the climax of each character’s narrative or by simply beating the game. I think that it would’ve been extremely satisfying unlocking them after the biggest emotional moments of the story to use during each character’s finale segment as opposed to completing two overly long mini games.

The game has 16 total chapters, and it’s structured so that every two chapters, you swap between Kiryu and Majima. This does unfortunately lead to some pacing issues early in the game, as in addition to both characters’ narratives being slow at the start, you have to sit through a tutorial for every single combat style. All six styles come with their own little mini-story completely separate from the main plot. They make the opening hours of the game a bit of a drag. Once the narrative begins to pick up however, it really picks up, and the game becomes immensely hard to put down once you make it past those early hours. There’s also all of the various substories and side activities that you can do, which can add some spice to those slow early hours. The substories might not be as effective if you haven’t played the other games in the series, because a lot of them feature younger versions of characters that you’ll go on to meet later in the franchise, like Shinji, Daigo, and Ryuji, so the significance of them isn’t apparent. It’s not a big deal though, as it just makes it all the more rewarding when you do encounter them in the future and remember the funny substory they were featured in here. There’s still plenty of substories that are just there for pure fun, in fact, I think that Yakuza 0 has the best substories in the series. There are so many memorable and satisfying ones that are worth going out of your way to complete.

Yakuza 0 is such a good time. Returning to it after playing the other games has been an absolute joy. It was really fun comparing and contrasting it to the games that come before and after it. It perfectly captures every single aspect that makes the series appealing. The fun and satisfying combat, the exciting and heartstring tugging story, and the enticing side content are all mostly at their peak here. It’s a game that’s truly earned its reputation, and I feel like I’m never, ever going to get tired of revisiting it in the future.

i genuinely cannot think of a single thing this game is missing. like, you think about a few of the most important things about a game, there's gameplay, pacing, aesthetic, story, characters and soundtrack, right?

gameplay. check. you can save a blind lady by manically breakdancing.

pacing. check. that one's up to you, and the game has more than enough to keep you distracted with all its minigames if you need a break from the story. shout out to the cabaret czar minigame because i would play literally an entire game of just that.

aesthetic. check. yakuza 0's neon-tinged portrayal of a bubble era japanese "entertaiment" district evokes nostalgia even in those who know nothing about either japan or good economies.

story. check. the twists keep things interesting, and it brings you to care about even the people who aren't kiryu and majima. kuze's arc is worth noting. yakuza 0's story is very much like a tapestry coming together.

characters. check. again i'm pointing to kuze as a good example, but also to majima, whose origins were NOT what people expected, in the best way possible, and seeing him let the mad dog of shimano out is satisfying like nothing else.

soundtrack. check. there are multiple memes associated with this game's soundtrack. MULTIPLE. you wanna get amped? pledge of demon. feeling silly? 24-hour cinderella. wanna celebrate? friday night.

i will never stop thinking about this game. i still rewatch clips from it. i listen to the soundtrack regularly. i still think about parts of it and cry sometimes. the whole thing is just so vibrant and it's one of my all time favourite games.