Features some bold narrative choices that will stick with me for a long time. I hadn't played any other iteration of Persona 3 before this, and managed to avoid spoilers for over a decade. I'm grateful for that.

The voice acting performances were killer. I really enjoyed how each party member had their version of a social link (Life link) that led to a unique passive ability in combat. These were usually extremely strong and fun to take advantage of. They also clue you in to the character's optimal role in combat.

I have a list of minor complaints that frustrated me at least once:

1. The Full Moon battles should have involved a dungeon. Those encounters felt like they could have been fleshed out more.

2. I can't stand when there's an invisible damage cap on an enemy's health bar that triggers the next phase of a fight. When I spend time fusing strong Personas or optimizing my party, I appreciate the chance to steamroll bosses.

3. Some of the social links were flat-out boring. A lot of repetitive dialogue and lifeless gestures. Some of the social links should only have 5 ranks because those people just aren't interesting enough to warrant 10 cutscenes.

Again, the narrative of this game (the third act especially) is something I'll think about a lot. The finale took me by complete surprise and it was executed gently and perfectly.

I don’t know where to fit this into the rest of the review, so let me just get this out of the way first: Yamai put this game on his back. One of the best new characters in gaming this decade. This guy is a REAL yearner. He loves dusty old women and wants you to know it.

Infinite Wealth is a prime example of how to use a sequel to make thoughtful improvements to a solid formula. The turn based combat has been retooled to give the player more control over unit positioning and areas of effect. The new job progression means less fussing over stat growth and encourages experimentation. The expanded social link system gives party members ample opportunity to display on-screen chemistry outside of the main story— enabling the player to buy into the game’s characterization of its protagonist as a man with an uncanny ability to unite people.

Speaking of Ichiban Kasuga, I don't think there's any doubt that he takes a backseat to Kiryu in this game. Despite Ichi being the new face of the series and having the torch passed to him in Yakuza 7, Infinite Wealth funnels all of its juicy character development and opportunities for true drama to the ol’ Dragon of Dojima. Who am I to complain, though? I loved every second of it. But it struck me as odd that Ichiban didn't get the same treatment. He has one opportunity to demonstrate true personal growth, and it’s played as a gag that sets him back to square one. He is made out to be a caricature— a cartoonish, idealistic hero. Meanwhile, Kiryu is portrayed more like a real human than ever before-- flaws and all.

With all of the thematic emphasis on closure and solidifying legacies, I’m surprised by how many loose ends Infinite Wealth leaves us with. In some ways, this makes the game feel like the second installment of a trilogy, which is fine. But in other cases, there were plot details simply left out or things that I would have liked to see fleshed out that probably never will be.

My final complaint is minor. There is a trophy for reaching level 70. After finishing all of the content in the game, my party was in the low 50s with few options for grinding. Outside of the achievement list, there is no reason to push the party past level 60. The hardest bosses in the game can be beaten far below that. The game’s most natural path to level 70 is locked behind paid DLC, which grants access to high level end-game dungeons.

I’m ultimately giving this game a slightly lower score than Gaiden. Gaiden didn’t have much to engage with outside of its extremely tight, well-told main story. Infinite Wealth, on the other hand, has engrossing side content that could warrant its own games. I was constantly entertained by a variety of activities. However, the weirdly paced story— despite many highlights— and mishandling of certain characters left me scratching my head at times. To me, no Yakuza game has managed to create the perfect blend of narrative and gameplay quite like Yakuza 0. But these two most recent entries have been thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless.

There's not a ton here in terms of story or side content compared to the other games. Most of the really good story stuff is packed into the final chapter, where we're given some extremely emotional moments with Kiryu and fun cameos. But thanks to the narrative being so tight, it doesn’t take long to get there. The final act features what I think is one of the best scenes in the series.

I was so sure that I was going to fixate on Yakuza fighting style for the whole game, but as I started upgrading the Agent style, I switched over and never looked back. Combat felt really fluid, especially with the Serpent boots.

Because the game has less than half the number of chapters compared to a usual Yakuza game, I felt like I could engage with the side activities without pouring 100+ hours into the game. This eventually led me to get the platinum trophy without much effort.

I can't wait for Infinite Wealth!