nott_y
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what a wonderful journey this was.
starting my first persona game, i was expecting to find the combat grindy and the plot uninteresting and trope-filled. i left this game completely satisfied with a tinge of bittersweetness.
before i continue to gush about this game, i'll go over the things holding it back from being "perfect." first things first, the truly "anime" scenes full of cliches and VERY questionable shots of high schoolers. while this is my 'emotional' reason, the specific gameplay aspect that holds this game back is it's boss battles. the first four dungeon bosses are extremely frustrating and are huge damage sponges. the fact that it takes 50 turns to defeat them, ontop of the fact they can do full team wipes, really holds this game back from replayability. only at the end of the game, where your social links are nearly done and you've gotten extremely strong moves, do you feel like the boss fights are fun.
these faults aside, i couldn't be more glad that i went through this game. every character in the investigation team (expect maybe teddie) were all so wonderful. i loved the social links and how it felt like they were more than just side content for the dungeon battles. i'll gladly accept "persona 4 best characters" anytime i see it on twitter.
the "big bad" of the story was surprisingly well done. it's rare for a murder mystery to feel this engaging, giving players enough breadcrumbs to piece things together with the cast. it's a shame that literally everyone on the internet knows the killer's identity.
i don't know many games that have kept me this invested over such a lengthy period of time. in ONE entry no less. i doubt i'll ever get around to beating this game again though, with the true ending feeling conclusive enough that I don't need to re-experience it. this was such a wonderful adventure to go on.
side tangent: why doesnt the game tell you to go back to junes when the story is "over"? i had to redo the second-to-last dungeon and everything. i couldve saved so much time if the game just told me to go there before i went through the normal ending and had to google what to do next. anyway still a good game.
starting my first persona game, i was expecting to find the combat grindy and the plot uninteresting and trope-filled. i left this game completely satisfied with a tinge of bittersweetness.
before i continue to gush about this game, i'll go over the things holding it back from being "perfect." first things first, the truly "anime" scenes full of cliches and VERY questionable shots of high schoolers. while this is my 'emotional' reason, the specific gameplay aspect that holds this game back is it's boss battles. the first four dungeon bosses are extremely frustrating and are huge damage sponges. the fact that it takes 50 turns to defeat them, ontop of the fact they can do full team wipes, really holds this game back from replayability. only at the end of the game, where your social links are nearly done and you've gotten extremely strong moves, do you feel like the boss fights are fun.
these faults aside, i couldn't be more glad that i went through this game. every character in the investigation team (expect maybe teddie) were all so wonderful. i loved the social links and how it felt like they were more than just side content for the dungeon battles. i'll gladly accept "persona 4 best characters" anytime i see it on twitter.
the "big bad" of the story was surprisingly well done. it's rare for a murder mystery to feel this engaging, giving players enough breadcrumbs to piece things together with the cast. it's a shame that literally everyone on the internet knows the killer's identity.
i don't know many games that have kept me this invested over such a lengthy period of time. in ONE entry no less. i doubt i'll ever get around to beating this game again though, with the true ending feeling conclusive enough that I don't need to re-experience it. this was such a wonderful adventure to go on.
side tangent: why doesnt the game tell you to go back to junes when the story is "over"? i had to redo the second-to-last dungeon and everything. i couldve saved so much time if the game just told me to go there before i went through the normal ending and had to google what to do next. anyway still a good game.
man this game is great.
probably the best combat in the mainline series. juggle combos make me never want to leave the brawler combat of the series. both styles (atleast with the deluxe mod) are super fun and versatile.
while short, the story is super good. doesnt outstay its welcome, does what it needs to, and ends spectacularly. uncontested best final chapter out of all the games.
the only real flaw i can think of is how OP you become at the end, especially with how good the final boss is. i wish they gave them more heathbars. the file size (holding high quality video files and an entire other game demo inside it) also makes it hard to replay when its not installed. any other issues are minor nitpicks and whatnot.
this game makes infinite wealth looks worse by comparison. barring game length and side content, this game does everything much greater.
probably the best combat in the mainline series. juggle combos make me never want to leave the brawler combat of the series. both styles (atleast with the deluxe mod) are super fun and versatile.
while short, the story is super good. doesnt outstay its welcome, does what it needs to, and ends spectacularly. uncontested best final chapter out of all the games.
the only real flaw i can think of is how OP you become at the end, especially with how good the final boss is. i wish they gave them more heathbars. the file size (holding high quality video files and an entire other game demo inside it) also makes it hard to replay when its not installed. any other issues are minor nitpicks and whatnot.
this game makes infinite wealth looks worse by comparison. barring game length and side content, this game does everything much greater.
so much green
i'm almost glad that i got to replay this game, but not for a good reason. when i first played this game back in 2021, i thought it was ~7.5/10, with its faults mainly due to the early game and its ending. on replay? it's just as bad as 2.
since the game adapts 2's story nearly 1 to 1, i won't go into the story flaws here. they're the exact same. where this game falls apart in my eyes is it's presentation. the one good thing yakuza 2 had that stuck out to me was it's style. fun set pieces, cool cinematic feel, varied locations, etc. kiwami 2 attempts to recreate these, but it ends up only doing them worse than how they did it back in 2006. stuff like replacing crazy ken band's songs with j-pop is hysterically bad and completely throws you out of the story. when you're not in some sort of fight, this game is either extremely boring or comedically bad. you dont even had the presentation of OG 2 to distract you from it.
what keeps this game from being WORSE than 2 is the combat. while yakuza 2's combat does become "okay" after playing through the story on NG+, kiwami 2's combat is only an issue at the very beginning. once you start getting some decent upgrades ~chapter 4-5, the only remaining issues can be solved with spamming muscle sodas and knocking out a healthbar with one heat action.
besides recreating the setpieces from OG 2 (different skyboxes, weather effects, reflective flooring), the only other way to "fix" kiwami 2 is to remake the story entirely. probably the worst story in the series. play this game if you want a better verison of 6's combat. no real other positives that you couldnt get elsewhere.
i'm almost glad that i got to replay this game, but not for a good reason. when i first played this game back in 2021, i thought it was ~7.5/10, with its faults mainly due to the early game and its ending. on replay? it's just as bad as 2.
since the game adapts 2's story nearly 1 to 1, i won't go into the story flaws here. they're the exact same. where this game falls apart in my eyes is it's presentation. the one good thing yakuza 2 had that stuck out to me was it's style. fun set pieces, cool cinematic feel, varied locations, etc. kiwami 2 attempts to recreate these, but it ends up only doing them worse than how they did it back in 2006. stuff like replacing crazy ken band's songs with j-pop is hysterically bad and completely throws you out of the story. when you're not in some sort of fight, this game is either extremely boring or comedically bad. you dont even had the presentation of OG 2 to distract you from it.
what keeps this game from being WORSE than 2 is the combat. while yakuza 2's combat does become "okay" after playing through the story on NG+, kiwami 2's combat is only an issue at the very beginning. once you start getting some decent upgrades ~chapter 4-5, the only remaining issues can be solved with spamming muscle sodas and knocking out a healthbar with one heat action.
besides recreating the setpieces from OG 2 (different skyboxes, weather effects, reflective flooring), the only other way to "fix" kiwami 2 is to remake the story entirely. probably the worst story in the series. play this game if you want a better verison of 6's combat. no real other positives that you couldnt get elsewhere.