This review contains spoilers
This was my second game in the franchise and my first experience with Kiryu as a main character. I was worried about missing a gargantuan amount of context going into this having never known much about Kiryu, but this game actually served as a great introduction to his story. I was able to relate more to Ichiban and the other party members who were only newly acquainted with Kiryu and viewed him as this enigmatic and legendary figure from the yakuza.
Seems like a third of my hundred hours with this game I spent unlocking Kiryu's memories, totally enthralled by the history of the franchise and its colorful characters. Infinite Wealth has made me super excited to play the rest of the games in order while I wait for the next chapter in Ichiban's story. Speaking of which, my only draw against this game is Ichiban taking kind of a backseat halfway through.
Once I got so swept up in the life of Kiryu, I found it hard to care as much about Kasuga (which is really saying something considering I loved the absolute underpants off Like a Dragon and I adore Ichiban as a character; he's one of my favorite protags ever). His story didn't feel super consequential this time around. HOWEVER, they make up for that with this hard-hitting ending cutscene that reminded me exactly why he's such an awesome character and got me incredibly hyped for whatever the next game brings.
Also I really love the juxtaposition between Kiryu/Kasuga's final chapter experiences. Kiryu gets a largely emotional last stand climbing to the top of a skyscraper fighting off a gunship with the help of his old friends(?) and engaging in hand-to-hand combat against a traditional dresspants-shirtless-tattoo guy. Meanwhile Ichiban goes to a volcanic island and fights multiple aquatic behemoths then beats the shit out of a crazy immortal old white man with dual SMGs.
Seems like a third of my hundred hours with this game I spent unlocking Kiryu's memories, totally enthralled by the history of the franchise and its colorful characters. Infinite Wealth has made me super excited to play the rest of the games in order while I wait for the next chapter in Ichiban's story. Speaking of which, my only draw against this game is Ichiban taking kind of a backseat halfway through.
Once I got so swept up in the life of Kiryu, I found it hard to care as much about Kasuga (which is really saying something considering I loved the absolute underpants off Like a Dragon and I adore Ichiban as a character; he's one of my favorite protags ever). His story didn't feel super consequential this time around. HOWEVER, they make up for that with this hard-hitting ending cutscene that reminded me exactly why he's such an awesome character and got me incredibly hyped for whatever the next game brings.
Also I really love the juxtaposition between Kiryu/Kasuga's final chapter experiences. Kiryu gets a largely emotional last stand climbing to the top of a skyscraper fighting off a gunship with the help of his old friends(?) and engaging in hand-to-hand combat against a traditional dresspants-shirtless-tattoo guy. Meanwhile Ichiban goes to a volcanic island and fights multiple aquatic behemoths then beats the shit out of a crazy immortal old white man with dual SMGs.
The split screen VS mode has probably the best selection of character designs of anything ever. Just absolutely incredible how many Weird Guys you can fit inside one game, turns out
this game is really really good, has a great story and such a compelling dark fantasy atmosphere. geralt is epicsauce and he's an epic win of a character. wild hunt 3 is without doubt one of gamings greats, a great gaming slam dunk. skellige is insane man.
the side quests are kind of bad. maybe they get better later i dunno, i kinda gave up on them early on. one or two of them were really interesting like eat dinner with a monster, but the rest feel like skyrim radiant quests. there were several times where i was expecting something exciting based on the quest description, but it ends up being something anti-climactic like you investigate a dead body then go report back to the questgiver and that's it. i wish there was a way to differentiate the filler timesink free xp quests from the ones with an actual interesting, twisting narrative.
the side quests are kind of bad. maybe they get better later i dunno, i kinda gave up on them early on. one or two of them were really interesting like eat dinner with a monster, but the rest feel like skyrim radiant quests. there were several times where i was expecting something exciting based on the quest description, but it ends up being something anti-climactic like you investigate a dead body then go report back to the questgiver and that's it. i wish there was a way to differentiate the filler timesink free xp quests from the ones with an actual interesting, twisting narrative.
2020
It's pretty good. Really really cool architecture that gives Night City one of the most unique urban atmospheres ive seen in a game. However, it's hard to enjoy the awesome cityscape because there's just something inexplicably headache-inducing about the graphics. Like, the vignette that's around the screen at all times that you can't disable, combined with the wonky shadows that flicker due to the game loading the environment. Maybe I'm just getting too old or something man, but the graphics put strain on my eyes. Also, I must add: the combat is pretty boring. It's your run-of-the-mill FPS combat. Still not a bad game though.