Infinite Wealth has probably the most engaging modern turn based system I've experienced. In a time when I was getting bored of turn based games, this got me interested again. It's unbelievably engaging, taking the combat of Y7 and perfecting it. I mentioned years ago in my video review of Y7 that the combat was surprisingly well done for a first attempt in a long running franchise. And that if they took it further it could really be something special. That's exactly what they did with this game's combat. It's faster, more responsive, more rewarding and satisfying, includes more fun mechanics, and doesn't have the absurd difficulty curve Y7 had towards the end.
The combat isn't the only thing this game perfected. The side content was done in a way that puts all other games coming out to shame. Every mini game is unique, short and sweet, and hilarious. This includes the many throwaway minigames that only show up during side quests and never appear again. In your typical Yakuza game, there'd always be a couple of annoying minigames that make achieving 100% irritating. But here I had fun with every single one of them. From the weird Uber Eats and Tinder minigames to the Pokemon Snap ripoff. The amount of effort and love the devs poured into this game is evident. I'd go as far as to call the gameplay side of Y8 perfect in my eyes. So, why dock a point? When I have nothing but praise for the game and find it to be the best game I've played since like DMC5 in 2019. Why not give it a 5 star rating? It has to do with the writing.
While the story in Y8 isn't anywhere near bad or remotely close to the worst story. Coming from Y7's story it can feel disappointing at times. More so in the 2nd half. It feels like they shoved too much story down our throat in the 2nd half (which is a bit of a common problem with these games). This ruined the pacing of the game for me. Like they needed an extra 2 or 3 chapters or something. That and Kiryu's party isn't all too great. Ichiban is an incredible protagonist for this era of Yakuza because his personality works really well with a JRPG styled game. He is impossible to dislike and is as bright as the sun. Kiryu on the other hand is a lot quieter and stoic. And that worked incredibly for his series of games to show how his circumstances get worse with each game because he refuses to lean on anyone. And in that respect, I like what this game does to contrast Kiryu with Ichiban. Showing the differences in how they both try to handle situations. And then the outcome of Kiryu's arc from Y6 to the end of Y8. I just wish they gave it more time to simmer in the game for it to hit even harder than it did. And gave the party he was with more time to grow together. Because that's exactly what Y7 did. The pacing of the story in that game is incredible and I love every moment of it, even the stupidly ridiculous Mirror Face. Here though, Kiryu's party feels like one of those random group assignments you'd get in school where no one really knows how to naturally talk with one another.
Another thing I wasn't a fan of was Ichiban and Saeko's relationship. I'm all for romance for Ichiban, someone needs a happy romance in these games lol. But the way they handled it felt out of character for both Ichiban and Saeko. I like what they did at the start but then they never followed up on it till literally the end of the game. And even then, it's treated like a gag. It just feels so empty and disappointing. I wish they fleshed out their relationship and their issues from the start of the game if they're going to make them a couple in the following games. If they do follow through with it in Y9 I really hope they actually spend time building a proper relationship between the two of them. I have some other problems here and there but they're nitpicks really (not the devs fault but the nonsense that is NG+ and hard/legend being locked behind a large paywall is pure stupidity). They've made 2 of my favourite Yakuza games back to back and that alone makes me a happy gamer. Here's hoping we get a hat trick.
9/10
The combat isn't the only thing this game perfected. The side content was done in a way that puts all other games coming out to shame. Every mini game is unique, short and sweet, and hilarious. This includes the many throwaway minigames that only show up during side quests and never appear again. In your typical Yakuza game, there'd always be a couple of annoying minigames that make achieving 100% irritating. But here I had fun with every single one of them. From the weird Uber Eats and Tinder minigames to the Pokemon Snap ripoff. The amount of effort and love the devs poured into this game is evident. I'd go as far as to call the gameplay side of Y8 perfect in my eyes. So, why dock a point? When I have nothing but praise for the game and find it to be the best game I've played since like DMC5 in 2019. Why not give it a 5 star rating? It has to do with the writing.
While the story in Y8 isn't anywhere near bad or remotely close to the worst story. Coming from Y7's story it can feel disappointing at times. More so in the 2nd half. It feels like they shoved too much story down our throat in the 2nd half (which is a bit of a common problem with these games). This ruined the pacing of the game for me. Like they needed an extra 2 or 3 chapters or something. That and Kiryu's party isn't all too great. Ichiban is an incredible protagonist for this era of Yakuza because his personality works really well with a JRPG styled game. He is impossible to dislike and is as bright as the sun. Kiryu on the other hand is a lot quieter and stoic. And that worked incredibly for his series of games to show how his circumstances get worse with each game because he refuses to lean on anyone. And in that respect, I like what this game does to contrast Kiryu with Ichiban. Showing the differences in how they both try to handle situations. And then the outcome of Kiryu's arc from Y6 to the end of Y8. I just wish they gave it more time to simmer in the game for it to hit even harder than it did. And gave the party he was with more time to grow together. Because that's exactly what Y7 did. The pacing of the story in that game is incredible and I love every moment of it, even the stupidly ridiculous Mirror Face. Here though, Kiryu's party feels like one of those random group assignments you'd get in school where no one really knows how to naturally talk with one another.
Another thing I wasn't a fan of was Ichiban and Saeko's relationship. I'm all for romance for Ichiban, someone needs a happy romance in these games lol. But the way they handled it felt out of character for both Ichiban and Saeko. I like what they did at the start but then they never followed up on it till literally the end of the game. And even then, it's treated like a gag. It just feels so empty and disappointing. I wish they fleshed out their relationship and their issues from the start of the game if they're going to make them a couple in the following games. If they do follow through with it in Y9 I really hope they actually spend time building a proper relationship between the two of them. I have some other problems here and there but they're nitpicks really (not the devs fault but the nonsense that is NG+ and hard/legend being locked behind a large paywall is pure stupidity). They've made 2 of my favourite Yakuza games back to back and that alone makes me a happy gamer. Here's hoping we get a hat trick.
9/10