skthoughts

One of my favourite games of all time, with top of class storytelling, characters, cinematography, voice acting and dialogue, combined with some very fun beat em up combat, entertaining and expansive side content and top tier soundtrack make for the definitive way to get into the Yakuza/Like a Dragon franchise, showing the origin story off series mainstays Kiryu Kazama and Goro Majima

XC2, while managing to win me over in the end, with some top of class aspects, however, its frustrating game design choices and poor initial impressions make it so this game dosent manage to enter my favourite list of JRPGs. XC2 excels in its world design, deep combat system, and its rich cast of characters. The art direction is breathtaking, where the scale of its world is felt throughout, somehow managing to top itself constantly, pushing the switch 1 to its limits. This is paired with some immaculate worldbuilding, with its environmental and narrative storytelling, as well as densely written npcs spanning across all titans. The combat system is rich with player expression and deep mechanics, which remains satisfying and fresh throughout the games long playtime, which is no easy feat. The games characters and narrative, while starting off very tropey and slow, manages to get better and better chapter by chapter, with some amazingly written character arcs and plot revelations, culminating into a thematically resonant story, which manages to be very uplifting. As for the cons, some of the pacing issues previously listed apply. The voice acting and direction is also subpar for the first couple chapters, especially with the main character Rex. Quality of life features are lacking amongst this game aswell, present with the field skills, UI, quest tracking, and traversal. The games tutorial is also notorious for not introducing the combat very well. All these issues may make one bounce of XC2, especially before chapter 5 significantly ramps up the pace and stakes of the story, with characters forming actual nuance. I am thankful I stuck with the game however, as the rest of the journey gave me a truly memorable gaming experience. This game could easily be shot up to a 9 with a switch 2 edition, addressing some of the quality of life issues at a bare minimum, with hopeful thinking being possibly re recording some of Rexs voice acting in the early game, and tightning up the stories pacing in its first few chapters.

Hades is my first roguelike, while I bounced off this game the first time a couple years ago, I grew to genuinely really like it on return. Hades constantly offers innovation and variety in its runs, which manages to address my biggest concern when entering a roguelike. Difficulty is truly customisable, which gives every player there own agency on how to play. The boss fights especially are rlly fun to fight and master, with different varients spicing up the action. Hades also has some beautiful art direction, backed by a great soundtrack. As for my cons, most come down to personal preference. I wasnt very engaged with this games narrative and characters, due to the way they are presented. I found it somewhat irritating being stopped everytime I picked up a boon to listen to one of the gods dialogue, where alot of it felt like fluff. While i started listening to all the dialogue, I found myself skipping most of it after a dozen runs. While all the lines being voice acted are impressive, I personally wasnt a big fan of the voice acting.I found it very clear the game was working on a small budget when it comes to the voice acting, with muffled sounding audio and the same guy voicing 5+ characters. While this is to be expected from an indie studio, I feel like it would be disingenious to try not critisize this aspect of the game. On the gameplay front while Hades is nearly perfect. I really wasnt a fan of the final areas rooms before entering the final boss. The RNG feels especially harsh, with some very annoying enemy types, which are a nightmare to deal with if you dont have the right build. My score would be closer to an 8.5. But due to my criticisms Im more comfortable giving the game an 8 then a 9

Pokemon Legends ZA dissapoints in many ways, however in my opinion dosent warrant the absolute slander of being renowned as one of the worst games ever made. Starting with the pros, ZAs combat system and gameplay loop are very well refined and polished, where the game can be genuinely addicting to play at times, transitioning from participating in the ZA Royale, taking on the Rogue Mega Evolution Pokemon, and exploring the Wild Zones. The combat system feels refreshing and refined, which is not an easy feat due to this being Pokemons first time fully shifting to real time combat in the main series. As for the many negatives, these can be summarised down to the poorly paced main campaign, sloppy writing, lack of voice acting, lack of detailing in the already small Lumiose City, and the very bare bones and unengaging traversal and platforming. This game feels very behind its time in its narrative presentation, with bloated segments of dialogue with nothing of actual substance. The games narrative can be very tone deaf, and is horribly paced with literally all of this games story being shown in the last 2 hours of the game. The world is not excusable for a 2025 release either, with a clear lack of effort when it comes to the detailing and making Lumiose City feel alive. The game is also a further downgrade compared to Legends Arceus in the traversal department, where Legends ZA only offers you a basic sprint and a not very intuitive glide for vertical movement. The platforming segments are dull and feel like theyre there to purely pad timing, due to the lack of traversal mechanisms. My 6/10 dosent factor in the DLC, as I am frankly not interested in purchasing it at all. The reception has been abysmall, with everyone saying its way worse then even the mediocre base game. I would not recommend paying for this game at full price at all, however it can be a fun enough playthrough if bought second hand.

Absolute masterpiece. This game manages to clearly build upon Odyssey meanwhile adding mechanics and elements akin to both Zelda BOTW and TOTK, which results in Bananza clearly carving its own path as a unique and creative 3d platformer. Bananzas core is with the destruction, which never manages to get old due to the large amount of collectibles hidden within Bananzas layers. This game does such an amazing job to give player incentive to find each and every collectible, as these can both give DK skill points and currency to buy and upgrade new gear. Collectibles are often in close proximity from eachother, which further creates an addictive gameplay loop to Bananza. Bananza also manages to streamline its collectathon archetype, via the treasure chests which can be dug up, as well as the maps which can be bought from the stuff shop. This further lures players into exploring naturally and digging up new areas to find gold and treasure chests. As for the action gameplay and platforming, Bananza gives a large arsenal to the player which results in gratifying problem solving while also stimulating player expression. The core of this is in DKs base toolkit as well as the Bananza power ups and skill tree. This is straight up the platformer with the best movement for me, as DK movements feel extremely precise and satisfying. The Bananza power ups add the further layer, which without going into spoilers are balanced very much equally, where each one has its practical application individually or in tandem with other Bananzas. Furthermore the skill tree gives players a vast array of choices to make when it comes to building out DK to theyre liking. This also culminates into the boss fights, as while rather easy and simple to start, these combat challenges devolve into more mechanically rich and grander spectacles. The final boss especially proved to be a true challenge of the players understanding of the games mechanics. On the topic of spectacle, DK Bananza is a wonderful looking game, full of life and charm within its distinct art style. Bananza flexes its artistic muscles the further you dive into the game, with more intricate and creative art and level design. This game is also backed by a wonderful ost, where multiple songs have managed to get stuck in my head, with some being remixes of old DK songs, which alongside certain character and level cameos will give veteran fans of DK a feeling of nostalgia. In conclusion DK Bananza is a pure masterpiece, excelling in every aspect which it sets out to achieve.

Such an incredible game for the short 6 month development time with a clear smaller scope compared to the mainline yakuza games. This game easily matches the quality, and even succeeds some of the previous entries in the franchise. Narratively the game fills you in on what Kiryu was doing during the events of Yakuza Like a Dragon, while also expanding and tying up certain plot threads. The story is very compelling, putting sole player control and focus on series legend Kazuma Kiryu. Kiryus character arc is perfectly developed upon following the closing moments of Yakuza 6, where Like a Dragon Gaidens ending gives a run for 6s money for the most emotional impactul ending in the Yakuza series, as well as Gaming as a whole. Side cast members are very memorable as well, with standouts being with Hanawa and Tsuruno, who manage to stand out on there own two feat while also mirroring actions which parallel Kiryus past and present. This can be also said for the main antagonists, which without spoilers are some of the best in the series. A minor complaint however is the pacing, as the game does evidently show pacing dips in some sections which felt quite like filler, revolving around rather boring fetch quests as well as characters and plot threads which dont particularly go anywhere. Presentation wise this is one of RGGs best looking games, running at a stable 60fps while maintaining great graphical fidelity, which is impressive due to the extremely densely populated areas in this game, especially within the Castle. The cutscenes are phenomenally directed, with some top tier voice performances and action choreography. Gameplay wise LAD Gaiden stands amongst the best of RGGs action titles. The gameplay feels smooth and crisp, showing RGGs perfection of the dragon engine. A minor complaint however is with the balancing, as the gadgets within Kiryus agent style felt rather gimmicky and far to situational, making them rather useless in combat. As for side content, LAD Gaiden has a good amount to offer, which is very good for regular game standards, however a middling for Yakuza standards. As for the pros, the colliseum is at its best in LAD Gaiden, with the most gameplay variety the series has seen, as well as being fairly balanced. As per the substories, there is a mixed bag. Some are incredible, referencing past games with poignant story context and messaging. Meanwhile others are duds, where almost half the substories revolve around mundane quests taking down local gangs. As for the other side content, the minigames while limited, are still rather fun. Akame Network quests are for the most part just busy work for the player to earn money and akame points to upgrade Kiryus abilities, These quests are just fine, as they are rather rewarding. In conclusion, LAD Gaiden stands amongst the best games in the Yakuza franchise for me, bringing a compelling narrative with smooth and satisfying gameplay, while managing to introduce new memorable fresh faces while also solidifying Kiryu Kazama as one of my favourite characters in media.