General Game Chat Thread
Apr 2, 2024 16:12:16 GMT -5
Post by JDarkside on Apr 2, 2024 16:12:16 GMT -5
I would be careful with the David Cage comparison because that implies far worse than being a bad writer. That's, like, the 7th thing wrong with David Cage.
Playing the most recent Like A Dragon games. Gaiden was fun but I hope it isn't the blueprint for future side games. It works as a gameplay farewell to Kiryu, letting him do one last lap with some of his best games and some really good Dragon Engine combat, and the meta narrative about the yakuza having to finally end for the series to move on was a great idea for this game in particular. The finale was absolutely fantastic, as was the start, but the middle was...eh. Part of the issue is the Daijoji are just a really bad faction because they have absolutely no definition as a faction beyond Mysterious and Government, so they just end up solely being a method of creating flimsy drama where it wasn't really needed. The fact they have to be there due to Yokoyama and Furuta writing themselves into a corner with 6 doesn't help. Things are way better when the Omi are the focus, though Nishitani III was a bit underwhelming. A pretty mid Majima expy held up by his actor hamming it up as much as possible.
It definitely felt padded, though, especially on professional difficulty. The coliseum is initially fun, but the focus on hell team rumble was a miscalculation because it's an entire mode dedicated into stuffing in cameos via Dragon Engine bots, and those things are just rock stupid and often borderline useless. They're a bit better here, but not enough for the final coliseum stories. The Akame Network also feels very pushy by tying it into upgrades and skill unlocks. Like, getting money from it was enough, guys, you don't have to twist my arm to get me to try the side stuff.
I'd rather we have another Kaito Files sort of deal, where they make substantial DLC with really well paced stories, something that respects your time and gets to the meat of the matter. We can worry about side activities with larger projects.
As for Infinite Wealth, about 25 hours in now and enjoying it a good deal. Lots of improvements, like being able to change your position on the field and set up reaction chains, and I like that you can get a lot more skill slots and don't have your stats decided by your job. That said, shuffling away most of the stat bonuses from jobs behind the mastery rank is just...what? There isn't enough here to justify that, as in there's no post-game mega-dungeon as I am aware, not eve the one they're selling for $20 bucks (also lol no).
I am enjoying the story as well, but it does have some Furuta rearing his head here and there, from tangents about things he heard vaguely about in the news, to trying way too hard to plug up plot ambiguities, including ones nobody cares about. I'm a little worried, because while he's one of three writers, I suspect he had the most impact since he's most senior after Yokoyama, who's now more busy running the studio than writing. When he's handling the script, the actual themes and focuses of the story tend to get really confused, full of weird tangents or really weak core ideas that don't mean anything and aren't really built up. Lost Judgment was the one exception to that, where he picked one thing (bullying) and ran with it, but that's the only one so far. Infinite Wealth has already brought up Hawaii's mistreatment by the wider world, homelessness, cancel culture, some green messages that I know will get much louder later, and more. I'm worried some stuff if going to get lost in the juggle.
But at least Yamai is there. Whenever Yamai isn't on screen, everyone should be asking "where's Yamai?" From scene one I am completely wold on this perpetually annoyed nega-Majima. The substories so far are also fantastic, and I'm excited to see more of them.
Playing the most recent Like A Dragon games. Gaiden was fun but I hope it isn't the blueprint for future side games. It works as a gameplay farewell to Kiryu, letting him do one last lap with some of his best games and some really good Dragon Engine combat, and the meta narrative about the yakuza having to finally end for the series to move on was a great idea for this game in particular. The finale was absolutely fantastic, as was the start, but the middle was...eh. Part of the issue is the Daijoji are just a really bad faction because they have absolutely no definition as a faction beyond Mysterious and Government, so they just end up solely being a method of creating flimsy drama where it wasn't really needed. The fact they have to be there due to Yokoyama and Furuta writing themselves into a corner with 6 doesn't help. Things are way better when the Omi are the focus, though Nishitani III was a bit underwhelming. A pretty mid Majima expy held up by his actor hamming it up as much as possible.
It definitely felt padded, though, especially on professional difficulty. The coliseum is initially fun, but the focus on hell team rumble was a miscalculation because it's an entire mode dedicated into stuffing in cameos via Dragon Engine bots, and those things are just rock stupid and often borderline useless. They're a bit better here, but not enough for the final coliseum stories. The Akame Network also feels very pushy by tying it into upgrades and skill unlocks. Like, getting money from it was enough, guys, you don't have to twist my arm to get me to try the side stuff.
I'd rather we have another Kaito Files sort of deal, where they make substantial DLC with really well paced stories, something that respects your time and gets to the meat of the matter. We can worry about side activities with larger projects.
As for Infinite Wealth, about 25 hours in now and enjoying it a good deal. Lots of improvements, like being able to change your position on the field and set up reaction chains, and I like that you can get a lot more skill slots and don't have your stats decided by your job. That said, shuffling away most of the stat bonuses from jobs behind the mastery rank is just...what? There isn't enough here to justify that, as in there's no post-game mega-dungeon as I am aware, not eve the one they're selling for $20 bucks (also lol no).
I am enjoying the story as well, but it does have some Furuta rearing his head here and there, from tangents about things he heard vaguely about in the news, to trying way too hard to plug up plot ambiguities, including ones nobody cares about. I'm a little worried, because while he's one of three writers, I suspect he had the most impact since he's most senior after Yokoyama, who's now more busy running the studio than writing. When he's handling the script, the actual themes and focuses of the story tend to get really confused, full of weird tangents or really weak core ideas that don't mean anything and aren't really built up. Lost Judgment was the one exception to that, where he picked one thing (bullying) and ran with it, but that's the only one so far. Infinite Wealth has already brought up Hawaii's mistreatment by the wider world, homelessness, cancel culture, some green messages that I know will get much louder later, and more. I'm worried some stuff if going to get lost in the juggle.
But at least Yamai is there. Whenever Yamai isn't on screen, everyone should be asking "where's Yamai?" From scene one I am completely wold on this perpetually annoyed nega-Majima. The substories so far are also fantastic, and I'm excited to see more of them.