Despite my positive rating, I have a lot of mixed feelings about Infinite Wealth, mainly because it was my most anticipated game for a very long time. That said, the gameplay has been perfected and I really enjoyed it as a game, not so much as a story.
Thematically, it raises some really engaging ideas about how criminals are destined to re-offend because society rejects them. As a parallel, it features a cult that preys on vulnerable people. Yet, these ideas are never reconciled. If the story was better, it would have explored the idea of how people rejected by society join cults to get a sense of community, but this never happened. It was pretty disappointing.
Not to mention, Sega and RGG REALLY have to let Kiryu go. The marketing suggested they were going to have cancer kill him off, but they predictably didn't have the balls to do so. Instead, the Kiryu portions of the game wax nostalgic about his past, essentially becoming what I dub the 'Kiryu Memberberries Game'. I didn't bother doing all of the Date rememberence bullshit because it felt very shallow and nostalgia-baity. I feel like Sega wants Kiryu to be some kind of immortal mascot like Sonic. Yet, they don't get that Sonic is a cartoon hedgehog. He CAN be immortal if you want him to be. Kiryu is meant to be a human! If Sega have their way, we'll be playing Yakuza 400 with Cyborg Kiryu.
Thematically, it raises some really engaging ideas about how criminals are destined to re-offend because society rejects them. As a parallel, it features a cult that preys on vulnerable people. Yet, these ideas are never reconciled. If the story was better, it would have explored the idea of how people rejected by society join cults to get a sense of community, but this never happened. It was pretty disappointing.
Not to mention, Sega and RGG REALLY have to let Kiryu go. The marketing suggested they were going to have cancer kill him off, but they predictably didn't have the balls to do so. Instead, the Kiryu portions of the game wax nostalgic about his past, essentially becoming what I dub the 'Kiryu Memberberries Game'. I didn't bother doing all of the Date rememberence bullshit because it felt very shallow and nostalgia-baity. I feel like Sega wants Kiryu to be some kind of immortal mascot like Sonic. Yet, they don't get that Sonic is a cartoon hedgehog. He CAN be immortal if you want him to be. Kiryu is meant to be a human! If Sega have their way, we'll be playing Yakuza 400 with Cyborg Kiryu.
2 Comments
@ryuk0tsuki It is pretty baffling. Ichiban should have the torch passed to him. He's a worthy successor to Kiryu, after all. Different enough to be interesting, but still feels like he belongs in the Yakuza franchise.
ryuk0tsuki
29 days ago
If Ichiban was poorly received in Y7, I'd understand. But everyone loved the guy. Just a very weird decision.