Affectionately, three-stars. This game was exactly what I wanted it to be. There are a hundred ways it could be better (more impactful job progression, more interesting characters, a hard, committal shove towards being either very silly or very serious) but it really scratched the exact 7/10 shape that had been itching me. I liked Nioh plenty, so returning to its more-is-more loot system wasn't as queasy as I imagine being introduced to it here might be.

That inventory system is indeed unwieldy, but honestly I think that we benefit from the breaks between missions. It's fun-ish managing affinity bonuses, though it takes too long for them to be big enough that it feels satisfying/like you're actually adding the equivalent of cross-job skills or benefits (the character stats remain low in a way that probably points towards some impressive balancing behind the scenes, but for better/worse they sure don't feel that impactful moment to moment).

I really do wish the characters were more developed and that we'd gotten a bit more hanging out with them beyond the half-dozen post-mission stand around and chat opportunities. That said, to do so would be to undermine the game's camp.

It is my firmly held conviction that this game is meant to be played on a PS4 (Vanilla) and that the game needs to crash between two and four times for one to have the true experience.