twillaz
2 reviews liked by twillaz
~FINISHED THE GAME UPDATE, 02/24/2023~
I may very well be in the minority, but my disappointment in this game carried the entire 30 hours and the game is less than the sum of its parts. I honestly didn't enjoy myself as much as I thought I would and this will end up as my least favorite RGG game I've played--yes, even the laughed-at Yakuza 3, which I think had a lot of heart and great points.
I didn't hate all of it, and the highs are extremely high, but the lows were far, far too low for me personally. I walked away more annoyed than anything, and that hasn't happened before in this series.
I don't have much else to say, so I'll sum it up very quickly: the combat didn't work for me; the gearing system took up too much time, and the reliance on gear didn't gel with me; the story was slow at first, got really interesting, and then completely lost me at the last 1/4. Those are basically the main sticking points (not including my complaint below about this being a so-so remaster).
I still recommend this game cuz it did a lot of great things, but maybe wait for a sale. Don't let the cool samurai aesthetic fool you, the crime drama modern era games are far superior in my eyes.
~ORIGINAL 02/21/2023 REVIEW~
This is the exact game fans have been clamoring for since 2014 and we finally got... basically the same game from 2 generation ago with a nice coat of paint.
I'm enjoying this game just as I expected as Yakuza/Like A Dragon fan and fully expect to beat this game and see a decent chunk of the side stuff. The world is fully realized and fun to explore, side quests can be entertaining, the combat is cathartic and bloody, and the story--while it takes a couple hours to get going--is captivating and well written. This series is one of the few where cutscenes feels like the reward itself, I'm always excited when the frame rate goes to 30 and the mo-cap is in full swing. The graphics are impressive, as usual, especially with the Unreal Engine 4 powering everyone's pores to the max; lighting and texture work are a major highlight, especially the detailed haoris and weapons.
But I can't help but feel a pang of disappointment around the whole thing.
For starters, as I mentioned earlier, this is same game that was released in 2014, almost literally. Kiwami 2 this is not--this is more in line with Kiwami 1, complete with all the stiffness the series had before the Dragon Engine, for better or worse. I'm in the camp that loves the Dragon Engine despite some combat downgrades, so having an Unreal Engine 4 skin over a PS3 game feels dated off rip.
The lack of voice acting for 80% of the game (read: anything not main story) is particularly heart breaking since you know they have the budget and a top class cast. I find myself skipping side quests now thanks to games like The Witcher 3 spoiling me, and I find myself only stopping occasionally when something seems extremely goofy or especially thoughtful or emotional seems to occur. You really start to feel how awkward and cheap it is to not here music nor sound effects during most of this, just the typewriter sound of the text appearing on screen and the occasional grunt.
I also find myself missing the seamless exploration of the Dragon Engine games that had no loading screens when entering buildings, getting into fights, etc. Kiryu may've controlled like a bus, but the immersion, for me, more than made up for it. I never fast traveled in those games, but I look for the nearest palanquin in this one. I miss Bus Kiryu.
The pacing, too, is disorienting. Realizing what this game is and not what I wanted it to be, I decided to just focus on the story and do the side stuff in a later Yakuza game, like Yakuza 7 that I have yet to finish. But in the first 10 hours or so, be prepared to stop at every alley while Ryouma does his best Kiryu impression and tends to the needs of every man, woman, child, and whimpering animal that stands immobile until approached.
As a whole, it's a familiar and mostly exciting formula, but again, it's 2023 and they've already done better. To regress (or rather, choose not to enhance) in so many ways technologically and mechanically effects me a lot more than I thought it would. I typically love older games and their jank, but Yakuza series is huge, storied, and has a LOT of titles.
There's a lot I love about this game--the combat, the world, the story, the performances, the exploration, the fact that it feels like a movie cuz all the faces are the same--but the stuff that bothers me really sticks with me, like a splinter under my fingernail.
I recommend this game, I really enjoy this game, but I am disappointed. I'm just glad we finally got Ishin in the west, and it was worth it.
I may very well be in the minority, but my disappointment in this game carried the entire 30 hours and the game is less than the sum of its parts. I honestly didn't enjoy myself as much as I thought I would and this will end up as my least favorite RGG game I've played--yes, even the laughed-at Yakuza 3, which I think had a lot of heart and great points.
I didn't hate all of it, and the highs are extremely high, but the lows were far, far too low for me personally. I walked away more annoyed than anything, and that hasn't happened before in this series.
I don't have much else to say, so I'll sum it up very quickly: the combat didn't work for me; the gearing system took up too much time, and the reliance on gear didn't gel with me; the story was slow at first, got really interesting, and then completely lost me at the last 1/4. Those are basically the main sticking points (not including my complaint below about this being a so-so remaster).
I still recommend this game cuz it did a lot of great things, but maybe wait for a sale. Don't let the cool samurai aesthetic fool you, the crime drama modern era games are far superior in my eyes.
~ORIGINAL 02/21/2023 REVIEW~
This is the exact game fans have been clamoring for since 2014 and we finally got... basically the same game from 2 generation ago with a nice coat of paint.
I'm enjoying this game just as I expected as Yakuza/Like A Dragon fan and fully expect to beat this game and see a decent chunk of the side stuff. The world is fully realized and fun to explore, side quests can be entertaining, the combat is cathartic and bloody, and the story--while it takes a couple hours to get going--is captivating and well written. This series is one of the few where cutscenes feels like the reward itself, I'm always excited when the frame rate goes to 30 and the mo-cap is in full swing. The graphics are impressive, as usual, especially with the Unreal Engine 4 powering everyone's pores to the max; lighting and texture work are a major highlight, especially the detailed haoris and weapons.
But I can't help but feel a pang of disappointment around the whole thing.
For starters, as I mentioned earlier, this is same game that was released in 2014, almost literally. Kiwami 2 this is not--this is more in line with Kiwami 1, complete with all the stiffness the series had before the Dragon Engine, for better or worse. I'm in the camp that loves the Dragon Engine despite some combat downgrades, so having an Unreal Engine 4 skin over a PS3 game feels dated off rip.
The lack of voice acting for 80% of the game (read: anything not main story) is particularly heart breaking since you know they have the budget and a top class cast. I find myself skipping side quests now thanks to games like The Witcher 3 spoiling me, and I find myself only stopping occasionally when something seems extremely goofy or especially thoughtful or emotional seems to occur. You really start to feel how awkward and cheap it is to not here music nor sound effects during most of this, just the typewriter sound of the text appearing on screen and the occasional grunt.
I also find myself missing the seamless exploration of the Dragon Engine games that had no loading screens when entering buildings, getting into fights, etc. Kiryu may've controlled like a bus, but the immersion, for me, more than made up for it. I never fast traveled in those games, but I look for the nearest palanquin in this one. I miss Bus Kiryu.
The pacing, too, is disorienting. Realizing what this game is and not what I wanted it to be, I decided to just focus on the story and do the side stuff in a later Yakuza game, like Yakuza 7 that I have yet to finish. But in the first 10 hours or so, be prepared to stop at every alley while Ryouma does his best Kiryu impression and tends to the needs of every man, woman, child, and whimpering animal that stands immobile until approached.
As a whole, it's a familiar and mostly exciting formula, but again, it's 2023 and they've already done better. To regress (or rather, choose not to enhance) in so many ways technologically and mechanically effects me a lot more than I thought it would. I typically love older games and their jank, but Yakuza series is huge, storied, and has a LOT of titles.
There's a lot I love about this game--the combat, the world, the story, the performances, the exploration, the fact that it feels like a movie cuz all the faces are the same--but the stuff that bothers me really sticks with me, like a splinter under my fingernail.
I recommend this game, I really enjoy this game, but I am disappointed. I'm just glad we finally got Ishin in the west, and it was worth it.
It's a tough one. For the record, I have not played the original, so this touches on elements of the original and the remake at the same time.
PROS:
+ Some really lovely work on fictionalizing this just enough that those familiar with the details of the real-life people and places will be left on their toes. I think this comes together really nicely in the last third despite the game practically screaming the Big Reveal at you as it's being set up - that's not really where the thrill lies.
+ Additionally, it's nice to have an RGG game that goes super hard on political intrigue. Previous games touch on politics, of course, but it always has the texture of interpersonal drama among the Important Involved People - factions are typically extensions of their leaders and footsoldiers are very rarely granted any agency in the narratives of these games. You see shades of that here as well, but the political turmoil, the calculus, the maneuvering involved means these factions come closer to being groups of people instead of one big hive mind.
+ Using the facescans/voice actors from the main series for this spinoff is generally quite nice. Characters like Mine getting more time in the spotlight is always welcome, and the big stars are basically just the same characters from the mainline games, so fans of Saejima or Goda that want more will get it. You could certainly be more ambitious with these - I kind of wish Not-Kiryu would give up on the "no killing" thing, but I get it - it's Bakumatsu fanfic with Yakuza characters, might as well ham it up.
+ The Yakuza series is so good with soundtracks that it feels like it's not even worth mentioning that the soundtrack is good, but I'm going to do it anyway: The soundtrack is good.
+ Swords and guns are nice mostly for the heat moves. There are only so many ways you can do a big punch, but the heat moves for these weapons are as heinously violent as you would expect and they're a breath of fresh air. The gun is especially fun in this context.
MIXED:
= Very strange to return to the older mechanics after five Dragon Engine games. A good thing in that combat possesses the weight of the older games, a bad one in that I lose more health to the camera facing the wrong way mid-fight. Wild Dancer is especially prone to this given that the style is based almost entirely around twirling around and between opponents.
= The slice of life... minigame(?) is nice! Unfortunately, being segmented off by a boat ride on the edge of the map means you're never just going to stop in because you're nearby. You've got to consciously decide to go make room to pick radishes in between deciding the fate of Japan. I guess this is how Yakuza works, tonally, but there's just too much separation here and it seems like THIS is the point where this kind of thing becomes jarring for me personally.
CONS:
- Crafting is a straight-up mistake. There's too much going on here, it's too hard to get parts and too hard to get smithing experience unless you spend unfathomable resources crafting shit you don't need. The weapons aren't distinct enough to warrant this Monster Hunter-style equipment progression and the fact that you're not really actively pushed to engage with it makes it worse, not better. The components are everywhere, too, so I'm stuck reflecting on how many resources I'm losing out on by choosing to pursue the plot instead of opening a pot every ten meters during the climax. Perhaps related...
- ...the Yakuza series is generally good at indulging the fantasy of the duel, something I think there's a pretty good appetite for especially when adding samurai to the mix. For me, that samurai fantasy does not include a boss interrupting the fight every six seconds to un-stagger-ably shoot fire from his hands for three seconds. Every ability like this also does insane damage, but I'm open to being told I didn't craft good enough armor or whatever. It's probably true.
- The way they chose to fictionalize this story means that there is a LOT of focus on espionage, and RGG writes not-Kiryu as the least believable spy on the planet. Almost constantly people are saying things like "it is time to kill The Bad Guy" and Kiryu visibly freaks the fuck out, to which the other person will say "what was that about? do you know The Bad Guy" and he goes "absolutely not. I Have Never Heard Of Him" and the plot just continues on like nothing happened. Honestly this is funny enough that it's almost a pro
- I'm generally quite tired of the franchise moving in a direction where we pretend that Y0 and Y7 are the only games that exist. The recasting of characters is mostly fine, given that some of the facescans in the original are relative nobodies, but it REALLY leaves a sour fuckin' taste in my mouth to see every one of the Yakuza 0 lieutenants represented among the Shinsengumi captains while characters like Baba and Hamazaki get replaced with Zhao and Kuze. There's still a captain that doesn't have a main series counterpart! He even gets time in the spotlight! Come on man.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
+ https://i.imgur.com/JA0To49.jpg
PROS:
+ Some really lovely work on fictionalizing this just enough that those familiar with the details of the real-life people and places will be left on their toes. I think this comes together really nicely in the last third despite the game practically screaming the Big Reveal at you as it's being set up - that's not really where the thrill lies.
+ Additionally, it's nice to have an RGG game that goes super hard on political intrigue. Previous games touch on politics, of course, but it always has the texture of interpersonal drama among the Important Involved People - factions are typically extensions of their leaders and footsoldiers are very rarely granted any agency in the narratives of these games. You see shades of that here as well, but the political turmoil, the calculus, the maneuvering involved means these factions come closer to being groups of people instead of one big hive mind.
+ Using the facescans/voice actors from the main series for this spinoff is generally quite nice. Characters like Mine getting more time in the spotlight is always welcome, and the big stars are basically just the same characters from the mainline games, so fans of Saejima or Goda that want more will get it. You could certainly be more ambitious with these - I kind of wish Not-Kiryu would give up on the "no killing" thing, but I get it - it's Bakumatsu fanfic with Yakuza characters, might as well ham it up.
+ The Yakuza series is so good with soundtracks that it feels like it's not even worth mentioning that the soundtrack is good, but I'm going to do it anyway: The soundtrack is good.
+ Swords and guns are nice mostly for the heat moves. There are only so many ways you can do a big punch, but the heat moves for these weapons are as heinously violent as you would expect and they're a breath of fresh air. The gun is especially fun in this context.
MIXED:
= Very strange to return to the older mechanics after five Dragon Engine games. A good thing in that combat possesses the weight of the older games, a bad one in that I lose more health to the camera facing the wrong way mid-fight. Wild Dancer is especially prone to this given that the style is based almost entirely around twirling around and between opponents.
= The slice of life... minigame(?) is nice! Unfortunately, being segmented off by a boat ride on the edge of the map means you're never just going to stop in because you're nearby. You've got to consciously decide to go make room to pick radishes in between deciding the fate of Japan. I guess this is how Yakuza works, tonally, but there's just too much separation here and it seems like THIS is the point where this kind of thing becomes jarring for me personally.
CONS:
- Crafting is a straight-up mistake. There's too much going on here, it's too hard to get parts and too hard to get smithing experience unless you spend unfathomable resources crafting shit you don't need. The weapons aren't distinct enough to warrant this Monster Hunter-style equipment progression and the fact that you're not really actively pushed to engage with it makes it worse, not better. The components are everywhere, too, so I'm stuck reflecting on how many resources I'm losing out on by choosing to pursue the plot instead of opening a pot every ten meters during the climax. Perhaps related...
- ...the Yakuza series is generally good at indulging the fantasy of the duel, something I think there's a pretty good appetite for especially when adding samurai to the mix. For me, that samurai fantasy does not include a boss interrupting the fight every six seconds to un-stagger-ably shoot fire from his hands for three seconds. Every ability like this also does insane damage, but I'm open to being told I didn't craft good enough armor or whatever. It's probably true.
- The way they chose to fictionalize this story means that there is a LOT of focus on espionage, and RGG writes not-Kiryu as the least believable spy on the planet. Almost constantly people are saying things like "it is time to kill The Bad Guy" and Kiryu visibly freaks the fuck out, to which the other person will say "what was that about? do you know The Bad Guy" and he goes "absolutely not. I Have Never Heard Of Him" and the plot just continues on like nothing happened. Honestly this is funny enough that it's almost a pro
- I'm generally quite tired of the franchise moving in a direction where we pretend that Y0 and Y7 are the only games that exist. The recasting of characters is mostly fine, given that some of the facescans in the original are relative nobodies, but it REALLY leaves a sour fuckin' taste in my mouth to see every one of the Yakuza 0 lieutenants represented among the Shinsengumi captains while characters like Baba and Hamazaki get replaced with Zhao and Kuze. There's still a captain that doesn't have a main series counterpart! He even gets time in the spotlight! Come on man.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
+ https://i.imgur.com/JA0To49.jpg