Infinite Wealth is another wonderful JRPG following from Yakuza 7's/LAD's success. While the stakes are higher than ever in the series, the game delivers very well in some areas, while stumbling in others.

The gameplay, yet again, outshines everything else to offer in the series. The various class affinities, and even the small attention to detail that was paid to adding things like movement, back attacks, and in general, Kiryu's kit -- all deserve massive applause. The game is more interactive than ever, yet remains a turn-based game. Each character has their own unique job, but can branch out into plenty of jobs with abilities being able to be transferred, allowing you to create the ultimate party for dungeons and story missions. Some classes like Sujimancer also deserve massive props - the fact that this game just has a Persona-eque subclass built in is wild, on top of all the other effort they had to put into the other classes. I sometimes wish the gameplay evolved more over the game, as there will be times where fights get a bit drab and boring, but mostly, the gameplay is good enough to see that most people will finish this game.

What will get in the way of finishing the game? The plethora of substories and side content the game has to offer. Most notably are the Sujimon minigame/substory and Dondoko Island. I have pretty positive things to say about Sujimon...not so much about Dondoko. Sujimon is an awesome monster-catcher minigame where you'll be living out your Pokemon dreams in real life. It comes with a good chunk of sidequests, and it's a great way to earn money early in the game before dungeons open up a bit more. Dondoko Island...eesh. I'm very split on that one. The other Nintendo franchise they were all to happy to take inspiration from was Animal Crossing, the zen island-building game that captivated so many especially in 2020. While the charm of greeting guests and effort was put in into Dondoko, it gets stale very, very fast. The island currency is worth jack, questioning why it's even really in the game when it gives you nothing outside of the island. It's less zen, and more micro-management of lackluster action combat when enemies appear. Definietly not star material, especially compared to the business minigame and hilarity of that back in Like A Dragon.

The story, which is always so important for Yakuza fans, is mostly rough. It hurts me so much to say it, especially when the end is impactful as it is -- but the story is rough. There are some high points - meeting the party and going through Ichiban's roughshod introduction to Hawaii is a high point. Unfortunately, the writers from there decided to hem and haw until a very forcastable plot twist, then hem and haw until the conclusion. I've played the game since launch and I'm working on remembering what happened even halfway through this game. There's just a lot of enemy beatdowns with little cutscenes, or a lot of cutscenes of just talking, moreso than other entries in the Yakuza franchise. I really don't know where to put this game, or what to say about its overall theme considering I feel like I only watched 5 or so impactful cutscenes, mostly near the end of the game that really shed light on the theme instead of the game weaving it throughout. For what was marketed as such an epic adventure that could be Kiryu's last stand, there were definetly some things that could have been left on the cutting room floor.

Everything else about it though, is wonderful. Hawaii is a nice, new open location to explore. The OST is great, with a bunch of cool quality of life things like being able to listen to music while strolling around. They cut down on a lot of lackluster content like the Hero missions, instead having them work towards upgrades for Kiryu along with the Drink Links, which will have longtime fans of the series invested for meeting members of Kiryu's past.

Infinite Wealth is infinite with ambition - a noble attempt to make the best RGG game ever. While it's a wonderful game, cutting and polishing the story and content a bit instead of going big could have been advantageous to the developers. I anticipate Ichiban's next adventure more than ever, but in the meantime...a hui hou.

So far, it's the best game I've been able to dig into this current year. An explosive game with no shortage of fun combat, a play-your-way attitude, and an overall awesome story, even if it takes a little bit to spread its wings.

To start with the most important part of a game like this, the gameplay. It's truly phenomenal what they've been able to do with this. Most games do dive into the whole break-bar vs. HP mechanic so many times now, but Stranger of Paradise just does it differently, based on what kind of player you are. You can be the HP-draining goon spamming high-level attacks at a boss and overwhelming them with pure skills. You can be the break-master, using parries and exploiting spell weaknesses to pop their shields quickly, then come in with a satisfying crush. Speaking of crushing enemies - did they grab some YouTube ASMR artist to work sound for these kills? Popping enemies with Jack's crystal-power will NEVER get old as long as you play, and there are plenty of satisfying moments to keep you playing. I didn't even get into the parry mechanic that allows you to steal an enemy attack, stock it, and unleash it on another enemy going forward. If that's not demonstrating how this game is absolutely fire, I don't know what is. This game is already taking insane liberties my brief time with FF7R failed to take, and is nailing down combat to make it less repetitive than something like FF16. It is definitively, the best feeling action-based FF game ever.

To venture more into the awe-inspiring class building of FF Stranger of Paradise, almost every Final Fantasy class is here for long-time fans of the JRPG to enjoy. You'll be spoiled quickly for choice when things really start to unlock, and it's easier to earn job XP. There's maybe 8 base classes that devolve into another 8 advanced classes, with another 8 or so expert-level classes that continue to give players more choices as they enter deeper. It's fun as well because basic does not necessarily mean bad. Job affinities keep the system in check, pairing strategy with job selection.

The story is pretty good. I think there are some times the game really has nothing to say, so it doesn't, and I applaud the game's designers for doing that as it works towards a really satisfying build and conclusion, but it does leave me feeling awkward for about 40-60% of the game as you're really just going level by level. Speaking of which, level design could be a bit better, as most are just three checkpoints in a linear fashion and then a boss battle, but I applaud them for still finding ways to branch paths, and explore ways to hide loot and enemies like the Cactuar and Tonberry for mega-XP and loot.

This amazing game loops in elements from a ton of my favorite franchises: Borderlands, Diablo, strokes of the right stuff from FF15/16, and presents this in a masterful, wonderful game that doesn't take too much time of yours from bloat, as most AAA games seem to do nowadays whenever you hear "RPG".

Stranger of Paradise is the best Final Fantasy game I've played in my life, and it should be a much, much more recognized game amongst the community and game-reviewers as a whole. Give it a shot on a sale if you're curious.