i can't believe i never checked this out until now, this is so good lmao

basically everything you want from a sunset riders follow-up -- better mechanics, crazier setpieces, amazing music, more cool storytelling moments. it really feels like they just went all out with it. it's hard to say that this isn't just flat-out better than sunset riders

....... that being said, i don't really think i can just say it's better than sunset riders lmao. it's hard not to feel like the ninjas and robots aesthetic is a bit trite compared to the devotion to the western theming and goofy vibes of sunset riders. i honestly can't say which one i like better, so i'll just be thankful we have two excellent games in the same spirit

in the end none of the following will actually matter when my real review is "miracles do happen. cing is back. holy shit"

have to disclose that i'm significantly more familiar with the ds game, as sadly a few hours into playing R, my wii died and i never really had the chance to go back to it

the best way i can describe this as a remake, and i apologize in advance for the pretentiousness, is as a really good movie adaptation of a favorite book. everything is gorgeously realized, with taisuke kanasaki's art in particular stealing the show. but on the other hand, there's an element of intimacy lost in the process. personally speaking, that intimacy is a huge part of the appeal of cing's catalog, and having the characters fully emoting and speaking on screen, as amazing as it is, does take something away from it

of course, the original DS game is quite slim, and as personally meaningful as it is to me, i would hesitate to call it an all-timer in its genre. R definitely goes more interesting places with its story, but it can also certainly feel a bit meandering, even in the remake version, and intermingling with a cast of characters and teen drama might not necessarily be a welcome replacement to the more introspective and exploratory tone of the first game for everyone

so in essence, these are great, but personally speaking not definitive, remakes of pretty good, but personally very meaningful, games. even getting a taste of a future where cing continued on is a truly priceless thing for me, though. and i hope that through a similar miracle that brought about this remake in the first place, we can get more stories for ashley in the future (and kyle hyde (sorry i know everyone says this but i can't help it))

maybe the most i struggled to push myself through a RGG game, tbh. the school story structure sounds cool in concept, but in the end it means you start out with a world much less dense in activity than usual RGG fare until you decide to engage with school minigames. the number of micromanagement minigames increases once again, with the robotics as a particularly negative standout. very transparently offers DLC items to lessen the minigame frustration.

main plot is done a bit of a disservice by how disconnected it is from the main group of the first game other than yagami. found myself enjoying it much more when the group dynamic that made the first game stand out was at play, which is sadly pretty infrequent until the very end. thankfully yakuza 7 carried that torch well. other than that it's kinda clumsy, kinda well-meaning ripped-from-the-headlines stuff, the usual fare you'd expect from the series

in the end it's a yakuza game so it can only be so bad