truthfully, i finished this game weeks ago, and truthfully i still find myself stunned on what to say.

the final stretch of this game is so absolutely magnificent that so much of my gut wants to rate this a 5/5. the final two chapters, and the post credits scene, are beyond stunning. they encapsulate the story beyond measure, leave me full of love and melancholy and feelings so full i don't know what to do with them.

but my brain knows this is not a 5/5. there are some biiiig flaws to this game that i just can't deny. some, if not most, of the new characters feel a little underdone, their stories rushed or cut off or just not as good as i know they could have been with a longer story. the engine's combat is just not for me, there's only so much ragdolling hilarity before i wish enemies would just sit still whilst i crush them LMAO

some bigger feelings i would have towards this game would realm too into spoilers for this review, but all in all, this and yakuza 5 are, to me, the Ultimate Kiryu Kazuma games. they are so good at dissecting him and showing him to be a man so full of flaws, and a man you just want to be happy. he is so beautiful, and after Y6 i think about him a worrying amount. he used to not be in my top5 yakuza characters and now he's battling it out for number 1. he really did it. i love him. he is the reason my heart screams for this to be 5/5 stars!!! kiryu!!!! !! aaaaaaaaaa!!! !!!! !!!

dreams are big, and subtext is for cowards

have you ever wanted to be a taxi driver? what about a bear hunter? what about an idol? what about a guy who has money?? what about a ex baseball pro??? well guess what! with yakuza 5, your dreams (wink) canm come true!!!!!!

yakuza 5 does have some littol flaws that keep it from being a 5/5 for me, such as the encounter rate which made me want to have an encounter with falling off the side of a cliff :3 there's some plot issues but tbh they are not so bad that they bring down the game much, if at all, for me.

the new characters make me ascend higher than the highest highs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! takasugi and shinada 4 lyfe <333333 i think also this game in the series is one of the first to really dig deep into self reflection, and using dreams (wink) to showcase characters flaws and goals in such a beautiful way oh my god, very good very well done rgg i love u

i also think the antags are very good and i'm so happy that yakuza 5 did not fall into the same tropes that have been going on for 4 games in a row. good job yakuza 5

yakuza 5's themes are dreamlike (wink), i think they really do well at weaving the protagonists stories together, and make the finale section of the game genuinely superb writing. there's something so special about these larger than life characters, who often times literally and metaphorically explode off the screen, have wishes that are so human. dreams (wink) are so big and huge, yet the humans wanting them are so small, but can still be a constant inspiration for those around them

yume think i'm exaggerating, but i wouldn't dream of it, this game is sheer peak, and i cannot wait for more of the story to come <3

I think Odin Sphere really demonstrates the beauty and dangers of Vanillawares commitment to exclusively lush 2D games: on one hand, this creative constraint breeds alot of novel and compelling game design decisions; on the other hand, this can be a costly endeavor if youre not careful about your genre. Without a big budget, Odin Sphere takes some repetitive cost-saving measures that keep it flawed but promising.

For example, circular rooms for a platformer are an extremely smart and elegant solution to the challenge of keeping 2D worlds from feeling like flat planes with unreal perspective. Layered, parallel storytelling with multiple characters also offers an excuse to reuse some assets and enemies while still having an engaging, rich narrative (in some ways even richer than linear storytelling). Odin Spheres issue is a matter of poor foresight.

i like this game more than you do. this is just true. if you think you are even close to understanding how much i love this game, think again. youre wrong.
this game changed me. its changing me every day. im different now.
ichiban..... the way i love him transcends fiction. hes real to me. my favorite man Ever. im in love with him. i worry about dating in the real world because no one will live up to this man and how i feel about him. the strength he gives me could move mountains but it never will because i'll alwasu be too busy playing this game for the rest of my life. did i mention ive played this game a lot of times. i dont think this will ever escape ,me. this is more than a hyperfixation this is my life now. ive become this game this game has become me.
theres not a single character in it that i feel any less strongly about. every single party member in this game i love more than any other fictional characyer and thats real. Listen to me right now when i say this I Love Them So Much. shakes you by the shouldetrs I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!!!!

anyway. this game is amazing. you should play this game. everyone should play this game. tell your friends that they should play this game. especially if they are really talented artists and they want to draw ichiban. please send it to me

shout out yu nanba because i love him
shout out saeko mukoda because i love her and i cant figure out how to reply to the comment that says she sucks I'm speaking to you now. I Love Her So Much

bloat turns to rot

i will preface this by saying i genuinely, for the most part, had a pretty enjoyable time with this game. it was very funny at moments and some characters are really good.

aside from that? eh.

the puzzles are a major step down from 999. where 999 felt it encouraged you to think and figure things out and try different options, VLR says you must do it My way, that is the Only solution. i figured out puzzles ahead of time, but because i had not done one specific unrelated thing, to get some kind of dialogue, despite everything else being in place, the puzzle goes unsolvable. it also has puzzles that expect insane amounts from the player, and to have outside knowledge of so many things. god bless anyone who played this game on the 3ds with no internet, i would not have been able to get through it.

the characters range from pretty interesting to not wanting them to be on my screen, which is another step down from 999, in which everyone is great. using each character as a way to define endings also means that some get 'was that it?' endings, and some get the most overblown bloated ridiculous eye-rolling endings ever. i think if about 6 plot elements were taken out of this game it would have been hugely better.

the lack of personality from the player character compared to the vibrant insanity of Junpei in 999 is a shame, but ig they had reasons for it. the change from beautiful 2d sprites to the 3d models also somehow gives them a little less personality and removes the beautiful feel of 999. but i also saw dio being pinned down several times so thats nice.

the games own internal logic leads itself to fall apart, and i've yet to have any sort of feeling of satisfaction from finishing the game, which really just felt like an entire setup for the third game, which i don't want to play yet, because i am recovering from this game, which made me feel like the lowly termite i am, incapable of understanding uchikoshi's mind as i am not a higher being, which is a shame.

anyway yeah, still want to play ztd, still enjoyed 999 a lot, this just really was the schrodingers cats we made along the way