Recent reviews by Frankkholis

My Star

Fromsoft's Magnum Opus

Yuka Kitamura is my everything

Best thing that has ever happened to me in my life

hidden gem

This is it. This is arguably RGG Studio's Magnum Opus.

Gameplay
To start of Gameplay in this game is phenomenal and a huge improvement from Yakuza: LaD in every single way. As a loyal Lost Judgment fan, I'm not a big fan of Turn-based combat and I'm not experienced with it but the combat flows so well in this game I don't mind at all, infact every single second was fun and never found it tedious unlike LaD where it did get boring after a while. To be honest most things that were added in LaD IW should have been in LaD like being able to move freely and wallbounces from knockback hits etc but oh boy does it make a difference. Kiryu's combat is just perfect. The incorporation of the three styles from previous games and the classic brawler extreme heat mode to top it all of?! too based for turn-based. Quick time events felt weird at times with the excessive and unnecessary camera shakes and the out of place sound of effects combined with the lack of responsiveness when hitting the prompt. Ichiban suffered from this problem the most while Kiryu's qte's were better.

There are so many possible combinations and builds and especially with the skill inheritance feature. You will surely find something to your liking. Almost all jobs are worth taking a look at and the skill sets are all fun.
Speaking of moveset, another thing that LaD IW does better is the moveset of bosses. Yamai and Ebina were my favorite.

Story
The narrative is as always a treat in Yakuza games and this is no exception however no Yakuza game is perfect. This is ofcourse subjective but it had a few short comings with villains. When it comes to characters, villains as a whole were not as complex as they usually are but what it lacked in depth it more than made up for quantity, consistency and balance. There are many antagonists, all of which are good but not as mind boggling as someone like Kuwana from LJ or bad like Iwami from Yakuza 6. Dwight was just one of these cool ass characters that are there just for to get your blood pumping and Danny Trejo definetly contributed to that.

The main MAIN antagonists
Bryce felt like he was there to serve as a plot device and nothing more than a simple disposable tool, just your run of the mill power hungry villain. Bryce had one thing going on for him and it was his mysterious and scary aura he had the entire time. Most yakuza villains are all lovable despite them being well, a villain but Bryce is one of those villains that you are meant to hate.
Ebina is way more compelling as a character and was way better writing wise but I've seen some better villains. Sure his motives were sort of basic with the revenge and all that but he still had I can't say he didn't put up a good show and most importantly he definitely felt like a Yakuza villain (unlike Bryce).

The plot itself was just ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ crazy and I love it. It takes a while until the ♥♥♥♥♥ the fan but once it does...
The opposing force to the main cast is just monstrous and is a on a bigger scale than any other instance in the rest of the series. A lot of politics really There are so many emotionally impactful and powerful moments so this the type of game that impacts you and stick with you to your grave.

LaD IW with out a shadow of a doubt has the best cast the game has seen. From recurring characters to new ones, everyone is great and they all had their own role for sure. Friendship is one of the main themes of LaD that were carried on to LaD IW and god did they emphasize on it even more. This game offers the best portrayal of the friendship trope I have seen in Media. Every character has their own set of problems but they always solve it together and just so lovely. Chitose and Tomi is a welcome change from the usual Middle-aged men, the gang leaders etc (which I do love) but those two are the closest thing we got to normal people and it can't hurt to have one those. Yamai is just one of those characters you can never hate, he has great writing and he is one cold bastard (pun intended). His presence on the screen makes you lock in immediately. I could ramble for days about every character but I am only mentioning the newcomers.

Kiryu and Ichiban
When it comes to main cast not much can be said because Kiryu and Ichiban have both been taken to another level when it comes to their writing. God I love them so much. If LaD wasn't enough to show you that Ichiban can take Kiryu's place then this will make you reconsider that thought. Ichiban is still the most lovable on earth and everyone should strive to be like him.

Kiryu is still my favorite protagonist in gaming but Ichiban is not so far off. I felt satisfied with the way they ended Kiryu's story but I haven't quite processed that part yet.

Graphics and artstyle
Graphics and artstyle of this game is also great. RGG is known to shift between artstyle and color palettes from game to game and they did a great job here. The lightning is beautiful and especially with the addition of Hawaii. It has the colorful LaD aesthetic with a hint of the Yakuza 6 grim-ish lighting.
Cutscenes and graphics are at their best as expected.

OST
Soundtrack is great, surprisingly. After Lad Gaiden I left disappointed after realizing there is only like 5 good songs in the game (hot take) but the soundtrack is way better than i expected. The battle themes are all bangers and the boss themes are just stellar however long battle themes were kind of lackluster they were not dynamic like LaD long battle themes were. End of Denial was so good I genuinely teared up.

Side content
In every game RGG just keeps adding more and more side quests and mini games like they are trying to beat their previous record of the amount of side content available. Not only is their and endless amount of side content but it's also the best side content in any yakuza game. The bucket list alone should be more than enough for it to be deemed as that. I couldn't have asked for a better way to wrap up Kiryu's story. The amount of fanservice is just unreal. Even on ichiban's end it was also good, he has the entirety of Hawaii to explore after all.


All in all the most flawless Yakuza game in the series. I finished the game an hour ago so I am slightly biased and not too critical. I'm mostly just comparing it to other Yakuza games and mostly Yakuza Like A Dragon. I'm just writing my quick thoughts so don't take my words for granted but I can guarantee you that this game is special and It's the most amount passion RGG has poured into a game aside from Lost Judgment. My words can't do this game justice so better try it out yourself. It is a love letter both the fans and the Yakuza series, it marks the beginning of a new era for the franchise so for all Yakuza fans this is a no brainer even if you are not a fan of a the turn-based combat.

I do NOT recommend this game if you haven't played all of the other games.
10/10

I have tried several times to write a review on NieR Automata but I always fail to articulate my thoughts because I'm scared that I won't do it justice. It has been a little more than a year and I still have yet to grasp how special this game is. It doesn't matter who you are or whether you think you will like the game or not, I say give it a chance because I think it will still provide you with a special experience regardless if you enjoyed the game or not.

Yoko Taro's writing style and game design is truly unique and I have not seen anything like it if we are not counting other DrakeNier games. Keiichi Okabe with his team at Monaca alongside the vocalists Emi Evans and J'Nique Nicole are all a match made in heaven. The music captures every single moment perfectly. There is a lot more that can be said but yet again I will fail to articulate my full coherent thoughts. I hope that I can one day.

Greatest experience of my life.

for free?!?!?

Most satisfying gameplay mechanics I have ever witnessed, Every action and movement feels smooth and responsive not to mention the plethora of weapons with their own satisfying gimmicks that you discover even after beating the game multiple times. The PS1 graphics style adds the cherry on top, the style fits perfectly and sometimes adds the eerie feeling of the old horror games. Additionally, the accompanying soundtrack is absolutely beautiful, enhancing the overall atmosphere and adding an extra layer of depth to the gameplay.

Although the game may be on the shorter side, the replay value is unparalleled with a skill ceiling beyond imaginable, a skill ceiling where the closer to the ceiling you get the more rewarding and fun it feels. I always see myself coming back to the game whether because of the occasional hype updates or not. Another thing is the story which might on the weaker side compared the rest of the game but the story is still engaging regardless thanks to the bosses like Gabriel(my beloved) and V2

TLDR: This game provides more satisfaction and addiction than cocaine,meth,sexual pleasure you name it.

Worth full price 10/10

Arguably the best in the series.

10/10 Combat: Yakuza 5 game has playable four characters five if you are including Haruka so naturally each character fighting style and boy none of them disaapoint (Yes including Shinada). Even if no one is as fun as good ol Kiryu its always fun and refreshing to have other playable characters and two if the playable characters were in Yakuza 4 so you don't need to relearn everything.

10/10 Gameplay: This game has easily the most side activities the series has ever had (except for Ishin maybe). Everything we have seen from previous games is here in addition of many other fresh minigames we haven't seen before all of which spread across five characters and five cities with different substories and minigames.

10/10 Story: One of the best stories in the series. Yakuza 5 probably has the biggest cast in series and yet they still managed to keep our beloved Kiryu's saga on a personal level and even got to see him in a vulnerable state we haven't seen him in before. We got to our favourite business man Akiyama which is always a good thing, Saejima our favourite guy who ends up in prison for no reason and Shinada who was such a a great character but sadly disappeared and never appeared in any other Yakuza game. The plot itself was good but I have seen better in the other Yakuza games and I could say the same thing about the villains. It was mainly the amount of amazing characters that hard carried the story but a 10 regardless.


10/10 OST: Every character's fighting theme has absolute bangers and every single boss fight theme is amazing and memorable, especially the final boss. However this could apply to any Yakuza game since they never disappoint when it comes to OST.

Overall: 10/10 Might be biased