My review of the game:
They finally did it! They gave Kiryu a worthy send-off! Yakuza 6 was a real failure in this regard, IMO. The plot was bad, and it didn't really feel like a finale to Kiryu's story. 7's Kiryu guest appearance wasn't the best, and while Gaiden had a good ending, I thought it could've used more fanservice. Well, that fanservice has arrived. The things IW does with Kiryu are amazing. Kiryu hanging out with Ichiban is awesome, and gives us something new. Kiryu hanging out with other characters is a great mix of new and old, giving us some catharsis and all that fanservice I craved in the past few Kiryu games. Having a party really allows for a lot of storytelling that wasn't possible in the earlier Yakuza games. Those interactions develop Kiryu than ever before, allowing for good comedy and emotional moments. The new form of substory-style story content is awesome too, and I loved getting every one of them.
Of course, Ichiban is still the game's protagonist, and he gets plenty of awesome content too. I thought he was great in 7, and I love him even more in 8. He's similar to Kiryu in some ways, but his irrepressible optimism and kindness distinguish him. The substories focusing on him are all great, and the story moments that focus on him are excellent too. The first few chapters showcasing what's been going on with him since the last game and introducing his role in this one are tons of fun. The new party members are all good characters, especially in terms of how they're won over by Ichiban. This game, like 7, has Drink Links with your party members where you have conversations with them, culminating in a sequence where you help them accomplish something. They're executed even better here, though. You also have tons of conversations with them around town and eating various meals. The amazing thing about these conversations is how consistently well-written they are. Most of them made me laugh, and some of them made me guffaw so hard my stomach hurt. They feel like real friends, and I love it. This game feels like the successor to the Persona series in that way. It might have the best party interactions of any game.
Chapters 7 and 8 were the highlights of the game to me, since they were the real climax in terms of character interaction. Unfortunately, the main story was not a highlight after this. The schemes of the villains were kinda lame, and I didn't enjoy my interactions with the main ones.
Bryce
was solid, since he was basically a standard evil guy you have to fight against.
Eiji and Ebina as villains are much less interesting. Eiji's motivations are pretty ridiculous, and don't really justify his evil actions.
Yamai was actually pretty good at least. Most of the bad stuff is confined to the second half of the game, mercifully, but it's too bad this isn't one of those precious few Yakuza games where the story gets better as it goes (7, Judgment... that's about it lol). Thankfully, the ending is awesome. Not as good as 7's legendary ending, which is one of the best game endings ever, but it's still fantastic and made me happy the game ends on a good note rather than a bad one. It's a pretty long sequence, full of fantastic scenes.
If that was all the game had going for it, it probably would've ended up as one of the best Yakuza games, but not as good as my favorite (Yakuza 7). That's far from all there is to talk about with it, though. The combat is dramatically improved over 7. The improvements are all minor, but they come together to make something really good. Positioning in battle was important in 7, but you have way more control over it here, since you have the ability to move before acting and set things up way more efficiently. Combat is extremely fast for the most part (the exception being when characters occasionally get stuck on terrain), so even in areas with high encounter rate, the battles go by quickly. Enemies feel easier to dodge here in general. Switching between jobs feels less punitive, since you don't lose tons of stat gains when doing so, and being able to keep some abilities from other jobs feels good. There's no difficulty spike at the 2/3 mark. Crafting new weapons and such feels good too. Everything to do with the combat has just gotten a tier better.
For minigames, I wouldn't necessarily say they're the best in the series, but this game's out there. The Animal Crossing knockoff, Dondoko Island, is great. I played it for like 11 hours over a weekend, and had a blast the whole time. It never felt like it got old until I completed the story for it. Sujimon from 7 are back, but this time you can fight with them, Pokemon-style. There's not a ton of depth to it, but going through the minigame and its accompanying substories was fun. Those are the two major ones. Most of the rest are returners, or new spins on old standbys. There is a food delivery minigame that's kinda Crazy Taxi-esque, but it wasn't my favorite so I only played it a couple times (I enjoyed 5's taxi minigame more back in the day). But the great thing about having so many minigames is that you can only play a few of them and still feel like you got your money's worth.
Lastly, the game's pretty strong in the presentation department too. Everything is well-designed and easy to process, with stylish menus and such. Hawaii is an awesome location, totally different from anything we've seen in the series before, but still having that Yakuza feel to it. The music really stands out - the Yakuza series has always had good music, but I think this is probably its best soundtrack yet. Tons of awesome battle tracks and a few good environmental tunes too. The ending song isn't quite as good as Ichibanka, but not much is. Overall, Infinite Wealth is just the best. I'd call it the best JRPG since Persona 5, stealing that title away from Octopath II after only a single year. I'm definitely excited for Yakuza 9, whenever that comes out. I'm not sure how they'll surpass this one; it'll take them firing on all cylinders. The opening half of IW's story was already strong enough to make it my favorite game in the series, and this game had Kiryu's side to pick up the slack for the weaker bits of Ichiban's story. If they can make a great Ichiban story from start to finish, maybe RGG can top themselves once again.
All the stars in the sky are waiting for you.