To give some background, I dropped this game after Chapter 4 due to just not vibing with it and a big backlog forming, but I left it with a 7/10. Now, I just fought and beat Korsica, and...my opinion has unfortunately worsened a bit.

I SHOULD love this game more than I do. It's bright, proud of itself, and has a fun and unique identity. However, I really can't in good conscience say I liked it as much as everyone else. The gameplay is just there for me, and the longer I went on, the more I found myself not liking the writing, and finding more there than funny. And god, Chai is actually more annoying and irritating than I last tried this game last year, and the fact I'm apparently the only one who hates Chai is just super confusing to me, especially since dumb MCs like Luffy are my jam. But yeah, with 6+ hours clocked in and still a good half of the game left, I'm hanging it up here. There's definitely something here, but it's definitely something not for me.

Another hot contender for the "goddamn I wish I liked it way more than I did" line of games. The gameplay is fine, and I liked the music and characters...but man, I honestly am not vibing with the story or characters. It probably would work better for me, if the main character wasn't so obnoxious. Chai is just unlikable, and yes, the other characters do keep telling him how much of a dunce he is, but since he keeps making dumb decisions, it starts to feel like the story is just doing it to be self-aware. Dumb characters like Luffy work because we see him actually get stuff done despite his room-temperature IQ, as well as other genuine good qualities, like his friendliness, creativity, and willingness to fight and defend his friends. Unlikable characters at the start of the game like Neku works because you can see their thought process and why they're like this, the situation they're in makes the harsher aspects of their personality understandable, and they still grow throughout the story. Yes, Chai does grow a bit from what I saw from what I played, and from looking ahead, I still find him more annoying than funny. I may come back to it, but I don't think the gameplay is that good to justify me being stuck with the most annoying video game protagonist ever...