good game
I love the characters + character dynamics
might be my favorite main cast in the series idk
I gotta admit that I thought the whole "there were actually 2 babies inside lockers right next to each other" was a bit dumber than I expected but I like what they did with it so I forgive them
also I saw criticisms for how slow the middle is but honestly the first 8 hours felt slowest to me
the rest was fine
(first 8 hours = up to where you unlock bar survive + karaoke)
it really took its time to start
but once it got there I didn't really feel a problem with the pacing
I generally like stories that feel like slowly build up to things tho so maybe that's why
also
if I'm to be 100% honest uhhh
I don't think I cared about the side content as much as I've heard people say they do
I already talked about how I wished the management side story had more plot, but also a lot of the substories I feel just kinda existed? idk
I loved the substory with the girl getting funds for her brother's surgery tho that one was peak
the dragon kart was also pretty fun even if it's weird that you unlock it so soon before the game is suddenly like "ok now wait until the final chapter so we can end the races in kamurocho for some reason"
it was a simple story/characters but I think those are just what an activity like that needed
oh the part time hero requests too uhhhh
I really liked the concept of those
but the execution was either just talk to a random store clerk and have her grab a bunch of items out of your inventory or go to some place to defeat a few enemies, and I just think it also could've had a bit more
also
the combat
I generally prefer real time combat like the other games had but I gotta admit this was better than I expected
although I did find myself going out of my way to avoid random encounters more than usual
uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
what else
idk
hold on I feel like I didn't say almost anything positive
I already mentioned the characters
the overall plot was great too
it's rare for the conspiracy of one of these games to make sense so good for them fr
also I'm scared on how future games are gonna handle the tojo/omi situation but for now I think it's a great bold move and it's also great that watase the goat is back I didn't think I'd see him again tbh
also in both the end of 6 and 7 daigo was suspiciously competent, maybe all he neded was for kiryu to be gone
speaking of kiryu
he had like 3 scenes
but that's already 2 more than I expected
and those 2 extra scenes helped me avoid the whole "they're forcing kiryu to come back for fanservice" so I'm really thankful they exist
maybe it's because I now know about gaiden so I could see that they were cooking but I feel like even back then one should've been able to see that there's clearly more going on than just a cameo
that's it I think
good game
either top 2 or 3 I think can't decide