- Joined
- Feb 25, 2022
Hey guys,
Back from my 'sabbatical' since the game's release.
Last Saturday I finished the story after ~108 hours and currently I'm at a little over 113.
I've quickly browsed through all the comments in this thread since my previous post (which definitely didn't age well lol - sorry Matt/James, should have known you guys wouldn't broadcast a major spoiler like that) and just want to get some thoughts off my chest. There may be some very minor spoilers in what's ahead, so continue with caution.
Probably not going to surprise anyone at this point, but I LOVED it.
From the vastness of the story, to the large lively world and its amazing characters, to the incredibly varied gameplay elements and overall refinements made to pretty much all aspects of the series.
The cast of characters is just incredible and I love all their quirks and frivolous conversations you can discover. The humor is on point and often relatable. There is so much (spoken) dialog in this game!
It's just.. nothing will be able to top this in 2024. Talk about getting your money's worth. Even though I'm not a fan of paywalling basic features like New Game+, the game is so vast and fulfilling that I definitely don't mind spending a bit more on DLC.
I still cannot believe how big of a game this is. You're really getting three games here:
- The latest installment of Like a Dragon.
- RGG's take on Pokémon.
- RGG's take on Animal Crossing.
I haven't completed my Sujidex yet and only poured a few hours into Dondoko Island, but these additions really make it so that even after finishing the main story and all substories, there's still something to keep coming back to. Even more so than with previous entries.
Not getting into any story details, but after having completed it I hope we'll actually get to see how certain scenes play out in the future!
Now, looking at the game critically there are a few nitpicks I have:
- Performance: While the game runs well for the most part, there are certainly scenarios where I encounter notable frame drops and/or inconsistent frame pacing. Even well over a month in with a few patches out, this still occurs
- Somewhat inconsistent presentation: There are characters in the game that look last-gen and their look tends to clash when they interact with any of the main characters. This is hardly a new thing for the series, but stood out to me a bit more this time. As far as I've noticed there are two types of these characters. Overly 'glossy/smooth' looking characters I typically encountered during something like a substory, but also PS3~ish looking ones. A notable example of the latter is the Palekana lady you meet at their orphanage.
- Japanese voice-actors doing the English speaking portion for some characters. I think the thick accent can be explained away for characters with Asian backgrounds, but Bryce Fairchild speaking English sounded.. interesting. Couldn't they just use the English audio track for those portions? Sure the voices sound different, but I think it would have been the better solution. Aside from that I do understand they didn't want to make the language barrier between Asian and American characters too much of an issue narratively, so I'm fine with relatively little English dialog being spoken in Hawaii.
- The podcasts not having English subs is odd and something I'd still like to see addressed.
Again, these are just nitpicks and while noticeable didn't really affect my enjoyment of the game. I assume they're mostly caused by a lack of time and considering what a whopper of a game the studio has delivered in a relatively short amount of time it's a small miracle the release date wasn't postponed and the game didn't have any major issues at launch.
Now, there are a few complaints I've spotted saying the game is either too woke or not woke enough and to that I can only say it's impossible to please everybody. And full disclosure I'm German too, so I probably have some of that same political correctness laying dormant in me. Anyway, I personally think the game walks an incredibly fine line between moving with the times while also staying true to the core of the series.
I think that takes care of my initial thoughts, although it feels weird saying 'initial' after playing the game for a month/113+ hours. Sorry if I kinda went all over the place or rehashed too many points already worded better by other members. Kinda felt like a shaken can of Pepsi getting opened and spraying my thoughts all over. Kinda like that attack drunk Sujimon have lol.
Edit: Oh yeah, the game broke records in terms of sales, player counts and critical reception and I can only say deservedly so.
Back from my 'sabbatical' since the game's release.
Last Saturday I finished the story after ~108 hours and currently I'm at a little over 113.
I've quickly browsed through all the comments in this thread since my previous post (which definitely didn't age well lol - sorry Matt/James, should have known you guys wouldn't broadcast a major spoiler like that) and just want to get some thoughts off my chest. There may be some very minor spoilers in what's ahead, so continue with caution.
Probably not going to surprise anyone at this point, but I LOVED it.
From the vastness of the story, to the large lively world and its amazing characters, to the incredibly varied gameplay elements and overall refinements made to pretty much all aspects of the series.
The cast of characters is just incredible and I love all their quirks and frivolous conversations you can discover. The humor is on point and often relatable. There is so much (spoken) dialog in this game!
It's just.. nothing will be able to top this in 2024. Talk about getting your money's worth. Even though I'm not a fan of paywalling basic features like New Game+, the game is so vast and fulfilling that I definitely don't mind spending a bit more on DLC.
I still cannot believe how big of a game this is. You're really getting three games here:
- The latest installment of Like a Dragon.
- RGG's take on Pokémon.
- RGG's take on Animal Crossing.
I haven't completed my Sujidex yet and only poured a few hours into Dondoko Island, but these additions really make it so that even after finishing the main story and all substories, there's still something to keep coming back to. Even more so than with previous entries.
Not getting into any story details, but after having completed it I hope we'll actually get to see how certain scenes play out in the future!
Now, looking at the game critically there are a few nitpicks I have:
- Performance: While the game runs well for the most part, there are certainly scenarios where I encounter notable frame drops and/or inconsistent frame pacing. Even well over a month in with a few patches out, this still occurs
- Somewhat inconsistent presentation: There are characters in the game that look last-gen and their look tends to clash when they interact with any of the main characters. This is hardly a new thing for the series, but stood out to me a bit more this time. As far as I've noticed there are two types of these characters. Overly 'glossy/smooth' looking characters I typically encountered during something like a substory, but also PS3~ish looking ones. A notable example of the latter is the Palekana lady you meet at their orphanage.
- Japanese voice-actors doing the English speaking portion for some characters. I think the thick accent can be explained away for characters with Asian backgrounds, but Bryce Fairchild speaking English sounded.. interesting. Couldn't they just use the English audio track for those portions? Sure the voices sound different, but I think it would have been the better solution. Aside from that I do understand they didn't want to make the language barrier between Asian and American characters too much of an issue narratively, so I'm fine with relatively little English dialog being spoken in Hawaii.
- The podcasts not having English subs is odd and something I'd still like to see addressed.
Again, these are just nitpicks and while noticeable didn't really affect my enjoyment of the game. I assume they're mostly caused by a lack of time and considering what a whopper of a game the studio has delivered in a relatively short amount of time it's a small miracle the release date wasn't postponed and the game didn't have any major issues at launch.
Now, there are a few complaints I've spotted saying the game is either too woke or not woke enough and to that I can only say it's impossible to please everybody. And full disclosure I'm German too, so I probably have some of that same political correctness laying dormant in me. Anyway, I personally think the game walks an incredibly fine line between moving with the times while also staying true to the core of the series.
I think that takes care of my initial thoughts, although it feels weird saying 'initial' after playing the game for a month/113+ hours. Sorry if I kinda went all over the place or rehashed too many points already worded better by other members. Kinda felt like a shaken can of Pepsi getting opened and spraying my thoughts all over. Kinda like that attack drunk Sujimon have lol.
Edit: Oh yeah, the game broke records in terms of sales, player counts and critical reception and I can only say deservedly so.