Not gonna sugarcoat it there will be spoilers ahead.
Before completing the final chapter I would have said this is an easy 4.5 star game, in my eyes they fumbled the landing which is a crying shame as this will likely be the final chapter or at the very least the latest installment in the timeline of the Kiryu saga where we main the legendary character.
So this is were my issues with this finale begin, they did not commit to Kiryu's send off even though they had all the chips laid out on the table with the dragon memoirs and memory links some better some worse (looking at you Sayama) recounting Kiryu's exploits and all the friends we made along the way it was almost perfect I had my tissue box ready and everything but instead we were left with that somber and depressing final scene after credits showing him in no position to be taking on the Dragon of Dojima mantle ever again. We got an unsatisfying middle ground neither death nor any future we were just left out cold in the air of uncertainty and with no emotionally satisfying conclusion for this Yakuza legend. I'm a little bit confused with their intentions here. We don't even get to see the long awaited reunion with Haruka and Huruto, instead we are treated to what essentially is the same kind of scene that we got earlier in the game at New Serena when Date and Akyama were trying to help Kiryu reunite with them only for Kiryu to back out at the last moment not wanting to hurt those he loves the most again with his impending passing due to the disease -"2nd death". Speaking off at first when Kiryu shares the news with us the audience and Kasuga I didn't know what to think the whole reasoning how/why he got cancer was so artificially made up, so out of pocket it felt weird and then as the game progressed I was like "ok they will tie in better with the main story since we're dealing with radioactive waste disposal" but then in the end I'm still like couldn't you just say he got it per chance I mean he smokes cigarettes and drinks alcohol like a horse throughout the whole series he's also getting much older now, that would have been more believable than saying "yea after the events of Gaiden he was helping out Daidoji with radioactive waste disposal at a factory when his co-worker had a heart failure crashed a forklift into radioactive barrels spilled the contents of those barrels and at the same time broke Kiryu's mask but then Kiryu bravely saved this no name NPC not concerned for his health because that's the kind of man he is and therefore he has cancer now" like holy shit writing this out myself feels like I'm making up some deranged fan fiction I hope it helps to illustrate my frustration with this.
Another point of contention for me is the final boss for both Kiryu and Ichiban. For me it has always been more satisfying to fight bosses in the beat-em up style and so it is a lot more challenging to get hyped for a turn based fight although in Yakuza: Like a Dragon to which I will refer to as Yakuza 7 they still had a more satisfying story set up for those final fights and better music lets be fair. Here both Bryce and Ebina are mediocre, they're fine - ok at best. Bryce is discount far cry villain and Ebina was definitely much better in comparison but still fell short to some of the fights we got in the previous titles. No doubt it would have been more appropriate for Ichiban to fight Ebina but at the same time I understand why they didn't do that, so in the end we're left with sloppy final fights reminiscent of Yakuza 4.
Ok final paragraph of bitching. The more meta stuff surrounding the game of course I'm talking about $20 DLC containing NG+ is a massive piss stain, emanating fumes of greed and disgusting business practices involving game's media as a whole and deservedly sits at overwhelmingly negative reviews as it should for the rest of time. This has been progressively getting worse looking at the history of RGG releases on Steam and I'm afraid it will not get any better. I don't play Yakuza dubbed and I don't understand people who do so this really didn't affect me nor did I lose any sleep over it but English VA for Kiryu is woefully miscast. Another few niggles that got under my skin were the double doors in the Yokohama and Hawaiian dungeons there's too many goddamn doors, I'm just trying to get through this grind fest for materials as fast as I can but then I have to stop every few seconds to open these doors and constantly reset my sprint animation but honestly its just because I was doing it a lot that's the only reason I mention it. Another thing worth pointing out is that this game more than any previous entry has a lot more grammatical mistakes, misspellings and sometimes even uses of a word in a scenario where it does not fit don't remember this being so noticeable before. I have to say that OST in the game is not quite as good or memorable compared to previous RGG titles which is unfortunate, really could have done with out that dubstep remix on the final Millennium tower climb. Now onto the good shit.
First of all when it comes to gameplay it definitely feels like a big improvement across the board compared to Yakuza 7, I was even thinking while playing the game that I'm gonna open up with "a redemption arc to turn based combat in my Yakuza game" since I definitely did not jive as much with Yakuza 7 due to it's grindiness. Thankfully this game is much better balanced in comparison, the money and material rewards from the critical path are better distributed so there is no need to grind as much or even at all I would say and oh my god my prayers have been answered we no longer need to bother with every low level pleb that stops you on the street for a fight and so whenever you out level enemies by 6-7 levels or more you can just end them with a press of a single button this has to be the best change in the game. I will say that in general the game feels a lot more casual friendly and just easier before committing to a battle gauntlet during the story progression a window pops up with recommended party and gear level good change in my opinion.
We get more jobs/classes, full access to choose which skills we carry over from previous jobs mix and match to our hearts content. I love the combo system fun to pull off (not that it takes much skill) but they have some cool ass animations that I never got tired of seeing really helps that they are quick and punchy. Big fan of the movement grid and incorporation of environmental weapons for all party members and even heat moves for Kiryu, although I do wish you could move a little bit faster inside the grid during battle. Of course when it comes to gameplay my previous praise for Yakuza 7 apply to this game as well, like responsive and fast menus, flashy beautifully animated moves, varied abilities and all that jazz.
Really enjoyed the new characters they've introduced particularly Chitose and Yamai. Very memorable with their own unique quirks and great dynamic interactions with the rest of the cast both going through a little redemption arc on their own. Overall I would say they nailed the characters in this game not counting the two main villains mentioned. Some truly great scenes like Ichiban and Kiryu splitting up in Hawaii, Chitose's betrayal, Tomizawa's introduction, Ichiban's and Akane's moment on the beach, conversation on top of the homeless shelter in the final chapter and of course Saeko and Ichiban's conversations at the beginning and at the end of the game. No doubt there's few more I haven't mentioned but these type of scenes and moments are what really elevates this game for me.
There's a lot of game here took a whole month and 80hrs to get through and I barely touched the two major minigames Pokemon and Stardew Valley knockoffs, didn't finish the EX dungeons or completed all the substories but I got my money's worth and then some, there were some really beautiful moments sprinkled throughout. I didn't even mention the new setting of Hawaii and what a breath of fresh air that was. Little bit annoyed that they stumbled on the last few steps here but despite that this game is a great addition to what's now become one of my favorite gaming franchises. I just have one question left. Why is it called Infinite Wealth?
Before completing the final chapter I would have said this is an easy 4.5 star game, in my eyes they fumbled the landing which is a crying shame as this will likely be the final chapter or at the very least the latest installment in the timeline of the Kiryu saga where we main the legendary character.
So this is were my issues with this finale begin, they did not commit to Kiryu's send off even though they had all the chips laid out on the table with the dragon memoirs and memory links some better some worse (looking at you Sayama) recounting Kiryu's exploits and all the friends we made along the way it was almost perfect I had my tissue box ready and everything but instead we were left with that somber and depressing final scene after credits showing him in no position to be taking on the Dragon of Dojima mantle ever again. We got an unsatisfying middle ground neither death nor any future we were just left out cold in the air of uncertainty and with no emotionally satisfying conclusion for this Yakuza legend. I'm a little bit confused with their intentions here. We don't even get to see the long awaited reunion with Haruka and Huruto, instead we are treated to what essentially is the same kind of scene that we got earlier in the game at New Serena when Date and Akyama were trying to help Kiryu reunite with them only for Kiryu to back out at the last moment not wanting to hurt those he loves the most again with his impending passing due to the disease -"2nd death". Speaking off at first when Kiryu shares the news with us the audience and Kasuga I didn't know what to think the whole reasoning how/why he got cancer was so artificially made up, so out of pocket it felt weird and then as the game progressed I was like "ok they will tie in better with the main story since we're dealing with radioactive waste disposal" but then in the end I'm still like couldn't you just say he got it per chance I mean he smokes cigarettes and drinks alcohol like a horse throughout the whole series he's also getting much older now, that would have been more believable than saying "yea after the events of Gaiden he was helping out Daidoji with radioactive waste disposal at a factory when his co-worker had a heart failure crashed a forklift into radioactive barrels spilled the contents of those barrels and at the same time broke Kiryu's mask but then Kiryu bravely saved this no name NPC not concerned for his health because that's the kind of man he is and therefore he has cancer now" like holy shit writing this out myself feels like I'm making up some deranged fan fiction I hope it helps to illustrate my frustration with this.
Another point of contention for me is the final boss for both Kiryu and Ichiban. For me it has always been more satisfying to fight bosses in the beat-em up style and so it is a lot more challenging to get hyped for a turn based fight although in Yakuza: Like a Dragon to which I will refer to as Yakuza 7 they still had a more satisfying story set up for those final fights and better music lets be fair. Here both Bryce and Ebina are mediocre, they're fine - ok at best. Bryce is discount far cry villain and Ebina was definitely much better in comparison but still fell short to some of the fights we got in the previous titles. No doubt it would have been more appropriate for Ichiban to fight Ebina but at the same time I understand why they didn't do that, so in the end we're left with sloppy final fights reminiscent of Yakuza 4.
Ok final paragraph of bitching. The more meta stuff surrounding the game of course I'm talking about $20 DLC containing NG+ is a massive piss stain, emanating fumes of greed and disgusting business practices involving game's media as a whole and deservedly sits at overwhelmingly negative reviews as it should for the rest of time. This has been progressively getting worse looking at the history of RGG releases on Steam and I'm afraid it will not get any better. I don't play Yakuza dubbed and I don't understand people who do so this really didn't affect me nor did I lose any sleep over it but English VA for Kiryu is woefully miscast. Another few niggles that got under my skin were the double doors in the Yokohama and Hawaiian dungeons there's too many goddamn doors, I'm just trying to get through this grind fest for materials as fast as I can but then I have to stop every few seconds to open these doors and constantly reset my sprint animation but honestly its just because I was doing it a lot that's the only reason I mention it. Another thing worth pointing out is that this game more than any previous entry has a lot more grammatical mistakes, misspellings and sometimes even uses of a word in a scenario where it does not fit don't remember this being so noticeable before. I have to say that OST in the game is not quite as good or memorable compared to previous RGG titles which is unfortunate, really could have done with out that dubstep remix on the final Millennium tower climb. Now onto the good shit.
First of all when it comes to gameplay it definitely feels like a big improvement across the board compared to Yakuza 7, I was even thinking while playing the game that I'm gonna open up with "a redemption arc to turn based combat in my Yakuza game" since I definitely did not jive as much with Yakuza 7 due to it's grindiness. Thankfully this game is much better balanced in comparison, the money and material rewards from the critical path are better distributed so there is no need to grind as much or even at all I would say and oh my god my prayers have been answered we no longer need to bother with every low level pleb that stops you on the street for a fight and so whenever you out level enemies by 6-7 levels or more you can just end them with a press of a single button this has to be the best change in the game. I will say that in general the game feels a lot more casual friendly and just easier before committing to a battle gauntlet during the story progression a window pops up with recommended party and gear level good change in my opinion.
We get more jobs/classes, full access to choose which skills we carry over from previous jobs mix and match to our hearts content. I love the combo system fun to pull off (not that it takes much skill) but they have some cool ass animations that I never got tired of seeing really helps that they are quick and punchy. Big fan of the movement grid and incorporation of environmental weapons for all party members and even heat moves for Kiryu, although I do wish you could move a little bit faster inside the grid during battle. Of course when it comes to gameplay my previous praise for Yakuza 7 apply to this game as well, like responsive and fast menus, flashy beautifully animated moves, varied abilities and all that jazz.
Really enjoyed the new characters they've introduced particularly Chitose and Yamai. Very memorable with their own unique quirks and great dynamic interactions with the rest of the cast both going through a little redemption arc on their own. Overall I would say they nailed the characters in this game not counting the two main villains mentioned. Some truly great scenes like Ichiban and Kiryu splitting up in Hawaii, Chitose's betrayal, Tomizawa's introduction, Ichiban's and Akane's moment on the beach, conversation on top of the homeless shelter in the final chapter and of course Saeko and Ichiban's conversations at the beginning and at the end of the game. No doubt there's few more I haven't mentioned but these type of scenes and moments are what really elevates this game for me.
There's a lot of game here took a whole month and 80hrs to get through and I barely touched the two major minigames Pokemon and Stardew Valley knockoffs, didn't finish the EX dungeons or completed all the substories but I got my money's worth and then some, there were some really beautiful moments sprinkled throughout. I didn't even mention the new setting of Hawaii and what a breath of fresh air that was. Little bit annoyed that they stumbled on the last few steps here but despite that this game is a great addition to what's now become one of my favorite gaming franchises. I just have one question left. Why is it called Infinite Wealth?