(I played the undub patch btw I couldn't take the game seriously in English LOL)

Welcome to my rushed, not proofread review.

I was both scared and excited going into this. I had recently finished Yakuza 0, a game that I frequently think about and appreciate more and more as time passes, and was eager to explore the rest of this series that so many of my friends adore. I was scared, however, of the chance that I’d get scared off by Yakuza 1 due to how much older it was. I mean, I play PS1 dungeon crawlers for fun so I definitely didn’t have much to worry about, but still. I was adamant to play PS2 rather than Kiwami, both because I planned on playing Kiwami afterwards to see the differences, and so that the notorious age gap between K2 and Yakuza 3 wouldn’t strike me as hard as it did many others.
I was quickly surprised at how familiar Yakuza felt. I’m genuinely impressed at how much of the series identity and feel had already been captured by RGG in the very first entry. Running around Kamurocho felt like I was coming home after years, probably just like how Kiryu must’ve felt. Though I will say the side-content wasn’t too compelling. I don’t think I can remember a single substory, though perhaps a part of that is due to me deciding to completely focus on the main quest partway through.
I’d like to talk about that main quest now, actually. It’s pretty decent overall, albeit held back by a multitude of factors. This game is no longer than 20 hours yet it somehow still feels really padded. There are a lot of useless quests throughout the game that make you run around all corners of the map that are very obviously there to increase your playtime, and it always kept me from staying engaged. I thought the story was good though, particularly in the final stretch which seems to be a pattern in these games. It was certainly what kept me coming back to this one.
I don’t think I articulated my thoughts on the combat in my Yakuza 0 review very well, so I’ll try my best to do better here. Yakuza combat, on a systemic/mechanical level is good fun! But the enjoyment of its combat is directly tied to the battle design, which can unfortunately get really poor at many points during this game’s runtime. Yakuza PS2 shines when you’re fighting a small amount of enemies at once, both due to the game’s general clunkiness and because the battle arenas are almost always a little too small for the amount of foes the game loves to throw at you. For this reason, I was enjoying battles the most during the fights against Shimano, for example. It was just a good fun brawl, but I’m sad to say that these fights are in the minority. Most of them are just the game spawning a dozen goons in a tiny-ass room with half of them armed with guns that’ll stunlock you and prevent you from doing anything. Enemies armed with pistols in Yakuza 1 might be the worst ever. I hate them with a deep, burning passion. The combat would be infinitely more fun without them. The ‘difficulty’ in this game barely ever feels like a true challenge, it’s just armed goons who won’t let you make a single move without knocking you down for seconds at a time over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and…. Yeah, I think you get the point. This game’s combat is the definition of hit-or-miss.
Also, I’d like to give a quick shoutout to that car chase mission in chapter 10. It sucked. I hated it. Chapter 10 was the worst part of any Yakuza game I’ve played the controls sucked so bad I wanted to jump off the nearest building like a full swan dive. But I digress.
On the whole, I think this game is decent. It has a cool story and can be quite fun at times. I think it’s aged a lot better than you’d assume, though it definitely has a lot of annoying clunk. This game is held back by a multitude of issues that I don’t think are tied to its age, its more of a general design thing. I do plan on playing Kiwami someday, so I’ll know if those issues ever get fixed then. But yeah, I don’t really have too much to say. It’s just a decent game. Very excited to play Yakuza 2 I hear its #fire.

Wow.
I played Persona 3 FES in early 2023, soon after wrapping up my playthrough of the incredible Persona 4 Golden. What I found was a game with a lot of wonderful qualities, including but not limited to the story and characters, which was held back by many factors.
The gameplay, while far from bad, didn’t quite hook me. Tartarus was great at first but it quickly lost its flair. The daytime activities were decent, though it felt like something was missing. It was their first attempt at the new calendar system, so I get it, but the qualities I enjoyed were certainly weighed down. I wasn’t able to connect with the game the way so many others did. So, for me, Persona 3 was a game that I liked, one that I had a profound level of respect for, but not much more.
Fast forward a few months later and Persona 3 Reload was announced during Microsoft’s showcase for Summer Games Fest, and to say I lost my shit would be an understatement. I was hyped for this game, and each subsequent infodump only skyrocketed my excitement even further. This game had the potential to smooth P3’s rough edges so its highs could shine even brighter than before.
And for the most part? It really did.
I want to start on something I didn’t like before gushing about how much I do like. One part about vanilla P3 that I had a deep adoration for was its art direction. It had this surreal, dreamy and eerie vibe that the others didn’t. From the Dark Hour music (I’m a big fan of how vanilla P3 utilised reversed kicks) to the cutscene direction (which sorta reminded me of Evangelion, actually), it was a part of the game that I loved start-to-finish. I can pretty safely say that it has my favourite opening cutscene out of any game I’ve played, it set the tone perfectly.
Unfortunately, this is one aspect where Reload falters. That opening cutscene? Completely nerfed. Everything that made it great was gone. I would genuinely call it horrible. The direction for Reload’s cutscenes in general is inferior to vanilla. It doesn’t ruin the experience, but its definitely disappointing. I will say, however, that the UI design and how it brought in a new water motif was great.
And on that note, this game is PRETTY. Like, actual eye candy. The environments are detailed, the character models for this game are the best in the series, etc etc etc. Don’t get me started on how Tartarus looks in this game. For me, it’s Reload at its very best visually. The environmental design of each block is perfect, the lighting is BEAUTIFUL, the team did an incredible job adapting it into modern technology.
But visuals aren’t the only thing Reload’s rendition of Tartarus excels at. It’s actually everything. I would go as far as to say it’s my favourite dungeon in modern Persona, even including P5’s palaces. It’s so endlessly fun to just run through, fighting enemies and collecting items while basking at how good everything looks. There is something comforting about just grinding through blocks of Tartarus, I don’t fully know how to explain it. I loved P5R’s Mementos, and this is just everything good about that dungeon but elevated even further. I was enjoying the dungeon crawling from the very beginning, but it truly became something special when Monad doors and passages were introduced. Anything that gives me an excuse to engage in combat is a plus for me.
Speaking of combat…
Persona 3 Reload carries over P5’s additions to the One More system. This battle system was pretty barebones in vanilla P3 and P4/P4G but it truly came into its own as something that could stand alongside mainline SMT’s Press Turn system with P5. Reload’s combat is just as satisfying as P5’s, with the added benefit of not being as piss-easy as the latter. I mean, it’s still a lot easier than it should be but I’m glad to say there were a lot more game over screens and boss battles that made me break a real sweat. The new addition, which replaces Showtimes from P5R is Theurgy. Theurgy attacks are pretty similar, but this system is a lot more developed. For starters, each party member fills their Theurgy meter through actions that match their personality (for example, Yukari charges her meter through using healing spells), and that is the greatest possible way to handle it, ties the characters to the gameplay mechanics so well. The actual Theurgies are a lot more varied than Showtimes too, rather than exclusively being big damage moves (which does still apply to most of them), they can also provide huge stat boosts. It adds to the strategy of battle. Overall, the combat mechanics complement each other quite well and are very satisfying to use, the only thing I’d change is the game’s difficulty. Though I would say that is a balancing issue rather than a problem in the mechanics themselves. I will say the early game bosses had a really satisfying level of challenge, even with Theurgy, though the game quickly became a cakewalk. I did spend a lot of time grinding in Tartarus and fusing personas, however, so I’m sure a part of that difficulty drop was my fault.
That’s enough about the dungeon crawling, though. I now want to focus on the other half of the game, that being the social sim. Fully voiced Social Links are one of Reload’s greatest additions, I found myself enjoying and looking forward to them a lot more. Characters I already liked, such as Yuko and Akinari were only made better, especially because their respective voice actors absolutely killed their roles. Even people like Nozomi were more enjoyable due to the voice work. No complaints here, Social Links in Reload are great. Aside from that, there is a lot more to do in general, particularly at night, which made me really happy to see. New restaurants provide more opportunities for levelling up social stats, and you can work part time jobs for some quick cash (I can’t say I’m a big fan of the related achievement, though). Being able to use software bought at the net café on the dorm computer is a good addition too. Upgrading Makoto’s ambush ability in Tartarus through software in particular was a great use of this mechanic, and I’m glad it’s more balanced than Royal’s Ryuji’s instant-kill. I think I prefer this method of upgrading and gaining abilities compared to tying them to Social Links, as I felt as though P5’s approach trivialised a lot of confidants for me. Fusion bonuses are more than good enough.
I’d also like to highlight the new Linked Episodes. I’m a big fan. I’d go as far as to say party members shouldn’t have social links, I prefer this approach. The main reason is that it allows their stories to intertwine with the main plot, rather than being a self-contained arc that doesn’t impact their character in the main story. They give player opportunities to really delve into how a character is feeling regarding current events, it’s awesome. The greater focus on interacting with your fellow SEES members, through Linked Episodes and the new dorm hangouts actually made the main story hit even harder for me.
It’s been about a week since I beat Reload now. I’ve given myself time to sit on it, and let the initial hype wear off before I give a concrete opinion.
I liked Persona 3. But now? I adore it. At the time of writing this review, I’d say it’s my second favourite in the series.
This remake certainly isn’t perfect, it does miss deliberate design decisions and smooths the rough edges of P3 a bit too much, even the edges that were designed to be rough (does that make sense?). It’s not a definitive version of P3. But I don’t think wanting remakes to be 100% definitive is a good way to look at them. This is simply another interpretation of the Persona 3 experience. And it’s a damn good one. It improves in some areas, falters in others, but it adds its own identity, nonetheless. Just like any other remake.
I fully understand people who still view FES as their favourite version, though for me, this is the game I’ll replay when I want to experience this story. The Royal team cooked yet again, and now I’m even more excited to see what they do with Persona 6. Thank you for reading my review.

Remember kids, satire is based in reality.

Essentially, this is just more Class of '09, and I'm definitely not complaining. With the ending count sliced in half, each of the 7 routes have a lot more content in them, so while the game initially seems shorter, I actually spent more time with The Re-Up than the original. It's got tighter writing, less repetitive jokes, improved characterisation and a variety of societal topics to comment on.

The first game, while covering a variety of issues, dedicated multiple endings to the same general topic. The Re-Up's routes, however, are all distinct, and the game covers topics that the original didn't. We've got abusive and/or toxic relationships, selling crack, and the like. I feel like the shock value was boosted too. I genuinely had a pit in my stomach witnessing some of the endings.

I didn't talk about the protagonist, Nicole in my Class of '09 review, so I'll do so here. Nicole is fantastic. A heartless, apathetic narcissist who is endlessly entertaining to watch. As a product of a traumatic childhood, we can understand that she's a pretty horrible person, but it's also hard to completely blame her for being like this. She wasn't born this way, nobody is. It's her environment, the constant moving and being unable to make meaningful friendships, her abusive mother, etc. There is just barely enough here to know that even someone like Nicole can improve. Will it happen? I'm not sure. But I think its possible.

Of course, Class of '09: The Re-Up, like the original, is a black comedy first and foremost, and it somehow manages to retain the momentum and joke quality that the first game had, perhaps even better. But even when everything is put through the apathetic, comedic lens of Nicole, the reality of its events still shine through as a reminder that everything displayed is stuff that happens in real life. We can simply play the game and laugh at the silliness of it all, but we can also see the reflection of our world inside it. While I, naturally, find the game funny, it also invokes a strange feeling every time I remember this is stuff real people experience. Shit, even I've witnessed similar things, albeit not nearly as exaggerated. I'm sure some of you have too, so I think treating these games SOLELY as "haha offensive game funny" is just a tad disingenuous.

Also, without spoiling what happens, the ending cutscene was very confusing. There is discussion about it online, so I'll definitely be going through all that but its giving me heavy ARG vibes, so I don't know what's up with that. I'm down for another one of these games if that is what's being hinted at, though perhaps with a switch-up to the formula to avoid getting stale. Regardless, I'm already very into this so I'm interested in whatever SBN3 cooks up next. And if this is it for Class of '09? I'm more than happy.

Class of '09: The Re-Up is a worthy follow-up. It improves on pretty much everything that the first game built up. If you didn't "get" the original, you won't like this one either, though if the first game spoke to you, you gotta check this one out.


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I wish these games had a larger online presence. I can barely find videos and whatnot about them, so writing these reviews is almost all I can do which is lowkey a bit frustrating.

I don't really know what I was expecting going into this, I just booted this game up completely blind after hearing good things from my friends.

What I ended up getting was a game that, on the surface level was quite funny, and slowly transitioned into something else? I don't really know how to describe it. After some time, it becomes apparent that what you're seeing is based in reality, the only filter being the protagonist's apathy to everything around her, which is where the humour comes in. Once I realized that, I noticed that the game has a lot to say under all the jokes, namely about the reality of what a lot of women go through on pretty much a daily basis. It's something that, as a cis man, no matter how much I empathize with it I'll never truly understand what it's like. If there were ever a game that embodies "for the girls" I'd give that title to this one. Still, I think I can appreciate the way this game utilises the creator's real-life experiences to write up something that has value purely as a black comedy, while also being able to comment on real issues in a surprisingly effective way. Give it a shot. It's not going to appeal to everyone, as the reviews clearly show. But if you can even slightly empathize with what's shown here, you'll get it.

Holy shit.
I've known of Yakuza/Like a Dragon for a while now, though like with Persona I never to playing them because all I had to my name was a Switch and a shitty ass laptop. Luckily, I was eventually able to get some decent hardware and a copy of Yakuza 0, and I think I can confidently say that I'm a fan.

The highlights for me are definitely the story, characters and the side quests. I shit you not, this is some of the most enjoyable side content I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing. I don't know how RGG did it, but they did. I'm sure everyone's heard of fighting of zombies to protect Michael Jackson as he moonwalks across the street - it's celebrated for good reason.

I'll add that the goofiness of the side content also gives our two protagonists, Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima some cool development and makes you even more attatched to them, which is important for a story like this.

Wow, the story can get insane. I had a pit in my stomach for the entirety of the last act. The amount of twists and turns was exhilarating. It's impressive for a game this long (80 hours, for me) to not have huge sections where I'm just bored. For the most part, I was having a great time following these characters along. I'm proud to say this game joins the very, very small list of games that made me cry.

The big side-minigames, being Real Estate and Cabaret Czar were also welcome additions. I'll be honest, the Real Estate stuff wasn't very engaging, so I never felt the motivation to do it (which came back to bite me in the last few Kiryu fights). Cabaret though? DAMN! I completely stopped doing the story for a while because it was such a fun minigame. It's insane how much more fun playing as Majima is compared to Kiryu because of this alone, since you get to upgrade his fighting styles a lot more.

Speaking of combat, I think that's where Yakuza 0's greatest flaw lies. It's either mind-numbingly easy, or so frustratingly cheap that it almost kills the motivation to continue. It's serviceable for most of its playtime, but there are definitely times (unfortunately mostly during tense story sections) where it's not that fun.

Overall though? Wonderful game. Despite the flaws, I never disliked my time playing. I will definitely be playing the whole series. I'm sold. I feel like I've come across something special.