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“Power has always reigned supreme. Some use, while others become the used. Those who hold power are protected by it. Do you know why?”

“Because that is this country’s very foundation.”

Yakuza 4 is rough and sloppy. It’s got a ton of loose ends and demands some touching up. However, its deep and thorough reverence for series’ legacy can’t be overlooked. If you can look past the iffy occasional plotline, 4 is a thorough mechanical exploration of the series and its ideological framework. Broken men accustomed to a broken system, and yet punching their way up through pure meathead tenacity and physical brutality. Vested interest in noble samurai myth, modernized in Japan’s organized crime. Despite their many shortcomings, however, the four men atop the Millennium Tower hold a shared conviction.

Imbued with Koichi Yamadera’s swagger and nonplussed voice lines, Shun Akiyama exists as Kamurocho native. He doesn’t drop in to visit when things get rough, he’s lying around in his office during the dry patches when alleged virtuous yakuza come storming down the street. Akiyama’s seen it all, the absolute height of stature and the nadir of poverty. He’s not above sharing a couple beers with the homeless discarded around West Park. After three mainline games of steamrolling everything in sight as Kiryu, Akiyama is a nice refresher that places the world the men share in a new perspective. Suddenly, even the most petty and minute yakuza feuds become huge headaches. The ebb and flow of crime and commerce in Kamurocho is just something you get used to.

To the confusion of Kanemura’s goons, Akiyama isn’t in it for money. He’s got more of that shit than anyone could ever need. He’s like a god, strolling through the city knowing anyone that fucks with him gets the good old one-two capoeira treatment. Akiyama owes his life to the yakuza. Nishiki’s explosive departure back in ‘05 gave him an extra chance out of the life stripped away from him by the powers that be. And if that wasn’t good enough, good old Arai meted out his brand of justice to anyone looking to rob a desperate homeless man. Shun’s got nothing but respect for Arai – in his eyes, a spitting image of a future chairman. Just as the man gave him the means to pursue greater things, Akiyama’s in love with the idea of offering his own second chances to clients.

Taiga Saejima takes matters into his own hands. No bullshitting around, no asking questions until after things are done. He’s resilient as an ox, and chained down by his eighteen sins carried out all the way back in 1985. RGG Studio plays around with the idea of a good-natured yakuza grunt funneled through 25 years of The System. Saejima doesn’t have the charisma of an Akiyama or a kind of tactical mind like those moving him around as a chess piece, but he exists as an immovable wall. Saejima contrasts with Kiryu and Majima in the utter disgust he views his own legend with. He won’t look back ‘cause he cares way more about helping Sasai out than anything else, but the 18 men he took out haunt him every day. Detached civvies stand around Purgatory, treating him like a circus act – waiting for the tiger’s ferocity to dominate deathmatches. But Saejima is scared shitless of putting down another man ever again. Nobody understands the weight of life more than a man with a conscience that’s taken it.

Majima processes his trauma through his facade of the Mad Dog, an idea further touched on in Zero and Kiwami 2. The immense guilt from leaving his brother behind, and the fear of getting tricked by an asshole like Shibata again shares him shitless. But Saejima doesn’t really have that kind of tool. There’s nothing he uses to help him sleep at night, to him getting drunk on a delusion or distraction to help him sleep would mean he’s forgotten the eighteen lives he believes he’s stolen, even if just for a night.

Guy wanted nothing more than to save his stepsister and make sure she had a proper organ transplant, but ends up signing off his life to the Sasai Family, serving their beck-and-call. Despite always being under someone, Saejima chooses to be that way. He’s no charismatic magnet, but he attracts those around him willing to listen and change. Fundamentally, even if it’s for the sake of someone else, the man faces everything head-on.

Yasuko tells Tanimura his brother wanted to be a teacher. While he’s got no chance these days of being in the education system, Saejima naturally gravitates towards his mentor role. When he’s able to look past his guilt and self-loathing, the man’s able to pour into young men looking up to him. The Sodachi Dojo reinforces this idea and the way he encourages Kido to face shit head on is inspiring.

Tanimura’s a weird guy. If Akiyama is king of the night, running a good chunk of Kamurocho’s businesses, Tanimura’s here for the little nooks and crannies of the city. He knows he’s not a saint, and doesn’t care either. Meandering about day to day, knowing he can strong arm the healthy black market in the city. What’s there to say about him? He’s a dirty cop that fits the similarly coarse setting of the city. Compared to the seemingly morally righteous Arai, Tanimura doesn’t try to back up his shit with any kind of lofty speeches. He’ll empty a mag inches away from your head if it gets you talking. This fictionalized archetype of “bad cop” fits great with the storyline and adds a well-deserved extra dimension to Kamurocho.

Yakuza 4, and the series as a whole, is tied together by Kiryu’s conviction. He’s a pretty well-rounded guy by this point, living comfortably as a living legend and carrying on Kazama’s legacy through his orphanage. Kiryu’s inspirational words drive Yakuza 4: even the biggest pieces of shit can come around and learn to confide in others. Hamazaki, the guy who eats duck bones like potato chips and leaves bombs in suitcases, the man willing to surprise poke Kiryu in the gut, can still choose what little he has left of his life to shape a better world. Kiryu and Saejima are similarly bull-headed guys that have gone through it: losing their loved ones and being forced to adjust to a criminal world so incredibly drastically different from their glory days. It sucks, but Kiryu’s seen this shit before. After Yasuko croaks, Kiryu’s the one to push his ass into action.

“Too many people depend on us. Their dreams depend on us.”

Kiryu’s messed up quite a bit. He’s fundamentally split between his second life raising kids and the enormous Kanto criminal organization he pretty much walked straight out of. His routine of slipping in to help out when shit gets real bad and pulling out the whole rest of the year might be convenient, but the incredibly variable nature of his arrivals means the Tojo Clan is slowly dying. Daigo’s more aware of this than anybody else, and the rosy ideals of Kiryu don’t really convince him anymore. After the Hakuho Clan falling apart with Mine’s death, what else is he supposed to do? In his eyes, they’re pretty much screwed. And yet, it’s so incredibly damn important that the way of life we’ve vicariously lived through these past few games is preserved. Kiryu and Saejima need to fight for the Tojo Clan:

“It’s the only proof that guys like us ever existed.”

Yakuza 4 fully comes to terms with the series’ romanticizing of yakuza and places it within a deeply corrupt framework, distilling series tropes of backstabbings and betrayals down to rapid-fire gunshot sequences almost beyond parody. The reality of the yakuza, and the Kamuro police, is they’re deeply sinister and morally bankrupt. Despite it all, we can still aspire to meet Kiryu’s undying conviction.

Esse é o primeiro ff que eu finalizo, achei simplesmente fantástico, com certeza irei jogar os outros da série...

two years later the most important memory i have of this game is beating it the same day I started HRT so to that i'll say hell yeah

Not sure what the hate is on this game -- it looks great, the story is enjoyable, if not a little saddening at times, and the combat is silky-smooth. Did people get their feelings hurt in the arena or something?

The sequel was a huge drop in quality and one giant fan-service dump. This was a great experience, though.

It seems to be that a lot of people are divided over what how good this game is; and I really do not feel like completely rehashing everything others have said. So basically, the core is good and could have been amazing, going between planets is a slog, and the story is not compelling enough for me to really care about anything here.

This review contains spoilers

This was a very fun and engaging game with an interesting story and a final 10 minutes and a choice that was absolutely invigorating. I had a lot of fun with this and finished it in one stream.

This review contains spoilers

Honestly, I have so much to say about this game but also so little. In short, this game is just another shitty compilation game. It's not some genius remake-sequel concept that Remake's ending teased... it just truly a bad remake. They glitz everything up with pretty graphics, epic cutscenes, and top-notch voice acting (and I mean, if there's one aspect this game nails... it's the voice acting because everyone is perfectly cast). But that all exists to hide how shallow this game really is. It's not just that this isn't as good as the OG, it also misunderstands what the OG was trying to convey in literally every big story beat. Genuine, heartfelt moments are ruined with over the top cutscenes that take you out of the moment, horribly timed and useless lore dumps, and long, flashy bossfights that take away from the sentiment of the moment. And it feels like they get worse as the game progresses. Like, I thought they messed up the Corel section by turning the tragic story of Dyne and his decent in madness into this Hollywood-ass "last stand" because godforbid our actions have consequences, but then Cosmo Canyon is somehow even worse. Red finding out the truth about Seto is one of the most poignant moments in the OG, but this game cannot let a moment breathe... they have to introduce this stupid as Gi Tribe nonsense to take you out of the moment. And then there's the ending... please don't get me started. It's so fucking awful. Not only is Aerith's actual death scene completely ruined because the writers couldn't help but do some fuckshit till the very last second (which btw, as a newcomer is probably gonna be so confusing) but they follow-up it up with so many long as fuck bossfights that you end up completely forgetting that she even died at all. And it's funny, because Jenova would've been a perfectly good final boss. I mean, every party member participates, there are multiple phases and it's a very fun fight... but nope. This is an FF7 game, which means we have to end on a Sephiroth fight.. and wait, there's more! Because this is a compilation game, we need Zack to be there and he has to epic and cool. In what is the most fan-fiction moment in the game, Cloud and Zack teamup to fight Sephiroth. And then Bizarro Sephiroth shows up because why not and we get what is probably the most irritating fight sequence ever before ending on another Sephiroth fight where... get this: Aerith shows up. Now, the fight itself was quite fun. But having Aerith shows up is so terrible on a narrative and thematic level, it's not even funny. It's just so bad, I'm kind of baffled. I really hate what they do with Cloud at the end too. The OG had a pretty honest and caring depiction of mental health, but in this game, Cloud just goes anime psycho and now we get Aerith's ghost parading around like she's Hannah fucking Baker. It's just so stupid. And you know, throughout the game the only thing I could ask is why? What as the point in doing all that shit at the end of Remake is Rebirth was going to be the same game anyway? Why remake the same game but 80x longer? Why add these dumb puzzles? Why am I doing any of these sidequests? Why does this game exist?

There are some merits to the game. The combat is genuinely really fun. Hard to remember that at times since the game throws so many bosses at you that I just get tired, but this combat is fun. The customization is fun. A lot of the mini-games are pretty enjoyable, as it the world exploration... until Chadley shows up. Seriously, I didn't have an issue with the guy in Remake because you could pretty much ignore him, but he just doesn't go away in this game. You cannot move around the world without his bothering you. Who thought that was a good idea?

I can certainly see myself returning to this game to finish up the stuff I left behind, because when I ignore the story, I actually do quite like it. The Gilgamesh stuff was really fun and I do want to see it again and I'd like to finish some of the other side content. It's the reason why I don't think this game is a 0/10, but this game is so frustrating. It butchers FF7 so hard. Nothing they add to this game means anything. It all exists for fanservice and that lack of artistic merit bothers me so much that it just muddies the whole experience. I think this may legitimately be my new least favorite video game of all time, and that sucks because I really, really wanted to like this game.

Been sitting on this one for years, but finally played it. I'm glad I did, because while I don't have fond memories of the original, I really enjoyed my time with Zodiac Age. The secret to enjoying this game is removing Vaan from your party and pretending that nearly anyone else is the main character.

Joking aside, this game has a strong cast of characters, both heroes and villains. Sometimes the story falls a little flat and does a disservice to these characters, but overall it's a solid piece of storytelling.

The music is incredible with a good number of memorable themes. I feel the imperial theme is one of the strongest reasons people compare this game to Star Wars.

Combat is excellent and you're rewarded for how much work you put in. You can completely ignore the gambit system if you want, but I found it fun tweaking the system to get the best performance out of it. I did have a problem with the sheer amount of status effects the enemies loved to throw at the party, and the final area was more frustrating than enjoyable, but they made some great improvements over the original and this is well worth playing.

I suppose I should preface this with an explanation of my relationship with Persona 3. When I was around 11 years old I was very suicidal. I was also an avid gamer and I would play any game I got my hands on and my brother gave me his old PSP which had a copy of Persona 3 Portable on it. I spent many, many hours playing through that game more times than I can count. It felt like everything about it was made for me specifically. The story was so profound and emotional while being almost laughably simple, we’re going to die so be happy with your life. I have so many memories of what it was like to experience everything the game had to offer for the first time. I would sit on the title screen for hours just so I could listen to Soul Phrase over and over again. Persona 3 Portable means the world to me and it shaped my outlook on life. Fast forward a few years and I get my own PC, I can finally play FES. I had watched a few of the events on youtube but this would be my first time fully experiencing Persona 3 FES, the version most people say is infinitely superior. I understand why they say that but as a clinically depressed lesbian, Portable means so much more to me.. I’ve heard so much hate for The Answer I was honestly hesitant to play it but my god, I can’t imagine FES without The Answer. It’s such an incredible exploration of grief and just how much it can destroy even the most established bonds. I firmly believe that anyone who says that The Answer ruined the ending of the original or that it’s a forced conflict genuinely didn’t understand The Answer. Persona 3 Portable is my favorite game of all time, but I’d say FES is a very close second. They didn't really change much of the story so there's not anything to really say on this part but they dumbed down a lot of stuff and the new VAs don't deliver on a lot of scenes so I think this is the worst way to experience the story for the first time (except for the movies). This one might be the most controversial take I'll have, they ruined a lot of characters and I don't like the new voices. I really don't like Yukari's new voice, Aigis doesn't even sound robotic anymore which make the final conversation less impactful, I don't think Akihiko's new voice it's too deep and gruff, Mitsuru sounds way too old, Junpei's VA is really overacting to the point where he almost screams every line, Fuuka's voice sounds too basic and she lacks her goofy charm, Ken's voice is good but I'd say I like the original more, I'm not sure if I like Shinjiro's voice more than the original but it's really good. One thing that concerned me before the game came out was an interview with the developers and they said they wanted the characters personalities to line up more with how they were in Persona 4 Arena Ultimax which is notorious for it's terrible characterization of the P3 characters. Reload honestly didn't even add that much considering what it took away. There's link episodes to replace the social links we got for the male party members in P3P, but there's like 2 for each character so it doesn't even begin to make up for the loss of their social link. I did really like the Ryoji link episodes though, they were very good, not as good as the social link but I'm okay with that considering how good the link episodes were. Reload added so many things to just make the game piss easy. You can pay money to increase the number of rare shadows or strong shadows in Tartarus, and in Tartarus you can get multiple cards from shuffle time and even cards that let you double the social stat points you receive, and you can work part time jobs that give you money and raise multiple different social stat points and you can use the computer in the lounge to learn how to automatically ambush any enemy in Tartarus no matter what direction your facing and you can very easily outrun and outmaneuver the shadows because after like 5 seconds of chasing you they disappear. Also in case you didn't want to think for even a second they tell you where to go to complete all of Elizabeth's requests. It's a shame since the original had a lot of challenges and things you had to engage with the game in its entirety to get through. Honestly the devs are extremely lazy. They said they wanted to remake the experience of the original P3, not FES or Portable, but that was just an excuse so people wouldn't complain about the missing content because they still cherry picked a bunch of FES and Portable content to put in the game but not the ones that would take effort. There's no FeMC, there's no The Answer (yes I know it's going to be DLC but I'm talking about the game as it released), there's no Margaret secret boss, there's no boss rush thingy from Portable (I don't remember what it's called) there's no Shinjiro, Akihiko, Ken, Junpei, Ryoji social link (link episodes are not a replacement). It's missing a lot of big stuff, but also a ton of small details like in Akihiko's 10/5 resolution, in the original he pounds his hand on the stage while talking to Shinji, in Reload he doesn't. In Aigis' 12/30 resolution they're all sitting instead of standing so Aigis doesn't fall to her knees and have her friends both literally and physically pick her up which was a beautiful moment. Also on the topic of resolutions, I dislike how it goes to a black void and the Persona does an attack like move it just takes you out of the moment. The original had incredibly directed and stylized hand animated cutscenes that Reload replaced the majority of with 3D modeled cutscenes that look terrible. I do not like the 3D models, I think the Persona 3 Dancing models looked better. Though the cutscene that are actually animated do look beautiful even if they lack the direction of the original (especially the opening cutscene, they ruined it). Now onto the music, I do not like the remixes. Some are on par with the original but the majority do not compare. They superficially added various instruments and components to the songs that needlessly over complicate them while also changing the lyrics, this is most egregious with Changing Seasons and almost ruins the song for me. I think overall the instrumentation is worse (as evident by Iwatodai Dorm and Mass Destruction), in some tracks this is more subtle like with Unavoidable Battle, but it’s still noticeable. However, the new tracks are incredible. Full Moon Full Life, It’s Going Down Now, and Color Your Night save the entire soundtrack, genuinely some of the greatest Persona tracks in the entire series and the lyrics really coincide with the game on such a deep level, one lyric that stayed with me as I played the game was “Stop living dead when your heart’s beating still” from Full Moon Full Life. I like the new gameplay, it was pitifully easy on normal but it was fun enough. Theurgy attacks are broken and can delete any boss in one turn with the right set up (which I accidentally did for the last phase of the final boss). I don’t like how they made fusion spells theurgy attacks now and you don't even need to have the personas in your inventory. They also took away almost all of the tactics options from the original and you can't see the entire turn order further straying from the strategic gameplay of the original. If I were to give my final thoughts I would say this is my least favorite version of Persona 3. It's a terrible remake, but even a terrible Persona 3 is still and incredible game. Still one of the most impactful and emotional stories even with everything holding it back, and I'm glad people are enjoying it. It's something that everyone should experience.