Nier: Automata - Game follows through on being a game that does its own thing whilst also paying homage in some subtle ways to the original (which is one of my favourite games of all time). The music, combat, boss battles, characters and end game were all fantastic. Can't really talk about this game much since it's better off going into it fresh. Overall though, not on the same level as the original for me but an excellent game regardless.

Yakuza 0 - This is now not only my favourite Yakuza, but my favourite game this generation. I cannot understate just how brilliant this game is. The music, story, characters, last stretch and boss battles are all the best in the series yet. I can't really find any fault with the game and it's honestly crept into my Top 10 games of all time. I will look back on this game extremely well over the years. It's a classic. The ending is the best in the series too, everything is so succinct and so well nuanced. I simply cannot believe this is from the same director as Dead Souls/Of The End (AKA the weakest Yakuza game).

The side missions are the best in the series yet too. I wanted to do them all. The writing is incredibly funny and hats off to the localization team (Atlus USA) for doing such a stellar job. It's the first Yakuza in a long time that I played all the way through non-stop without getting burned out. The story is never not engaging or impactful. Every scene matters.

The Lieutenants are the most bad ass villains in the series since, well, ever (and yes, I am including Yakuza 2's Ryuji Goda). Their musical themes are the thing of legends. I have been a fan of the series since the original on the PS2 back in the day and this is my new favourite, even the sheer nostalgia of Yakuza 2 couldn't stave this game off. If anybody on here is sleeping on this game, don't. Play it. NOW. Best game of the generation and one of the best prequels ever made right next to Metal Gear Solid 3.

Announced on the official Yakuza stream today. Ten minutes in: https://youtu.be/07QNVtNdvsM

This is very good, although the ending has me wondering what will happen next. Will Goro go back to his old ways with the guys, or take a new path and become vigilantes and help fight crime and other gangs? I am sure Lan Di's presence can still be felt there. Or has he truly went to a life of ordinary and settle down with his sweetheart? Personally I like the getting married and settling down bit, mixed with vigilantism on the side and going to China and meeting up with Ryo when he is needed the most and be like "I'm back Bitches! Did you miss me!? Oh... and any one touches the hair dies..." Cue the music and the ass kicking. 8)

At this point I'm just happy the Shenmue HD Collection is happening. I'd prefer widescreen/non-stretched gameplay and cut scenes but if they turn out to be standard 4:3 aspect ratio, it won't burst my bubble.

In terms of essential features that I've wanted in a 'Shenmue HD' now that it's real: I'm absolutely overjoyed that they've gotten my most essential out of the way English + Japanese audio with the rest being achievements, higher resolution, retaining the original aesthetic we all grew up with and . I'm also glad classic controls are retained!

It's really cool that they managed to get widescreen support, it also looks cool seeing this in all the Shenmue streams online. As far as the 4:3 cutscenes go, I'd definitely choose gameplay being wide out of the two but I don't actually mind the 4:3 for cutscenes at all tbf if that's what they had to settle with.

The only thing is: I hope they can make a nice transition between the two aspect ratios if they do settle for 4:3 cutscenes. When you're in gameplay and you've suddenly activated a cutscene, it'd be nice to have the borders gradually transition/fade to black, just so that the two ratios flow more organically and that they don't appear jarring from one scene to the next.

Either way, if they don't it's honestly not the biggest deal breaker for me. A lot of these challenges reminds me of what developer 'Code Mystics' when through when remastering Phantom Dust last year for XB1/W10. They struggled to get the game work in all high resolutions and widescreen at first, people noticed and in towards the very end they figured it out, but they noted just how difficult it was working with old Japanese code (60fps etc wasn't achievable in the end). However: they didn't have the advantage of working with the source code: they had to hack into it straight from a retail disc, yikes!

Yakuza 0 is a masterpiece, in my opinion and the best game Yakuza/Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has ever put out. I remember you and certain others on here annoyed that Majima is getting so much limelight but I'm like Yakuza 0 actually put him up as a really deep character and showed another side to his character. Yakuza 2 used to be my favourite story in the series but Yakuza 0 just has the best cast of antagonists in the series for me. They're all intimidating presences and so distinct from each other. And they're all amazing boss battles and those boss battle music themes...think it's actually the series composer Hidenori Shoji's best work as a composer yet as well.

I absolutely loved the side quests in Yakuza 0 as well, so many highlights and the funniest ones in the series yet as well. The writing really shines in this game. Yakuza 0 is actually my favourite game this generation thus far. It didn't just rejuvenate my love for the series, it surpassed other greats from this gen for me like Gravity Rush and Bloodborne.

And yes Orange, it actually enhances Yakuza 1's storyline as well thanks to the events of Yakuza 0.

And yeah 0's ending with Majima was actually the only one in the series to actually make me choke up too. I wanted to give Majima a hug, haha. Poor guy. Such a melancholic, and yet beautiful ending.

Although I don’t think there’s really a boring character...

...save for Scarlet Witch, I'd say, who's still just as dull as a wooden spoon. Funny how her accent just disappeared though. It was always pretty horrid in Age of Ultron.
I'd agree on Thor though, they've certainly managed to make him pretty great by this point (I still haven't seen Ragnarok unfortunately, but it's a priority now).
Yeah, movie was okay. I get what they were trying to do with the ending, but to be entirely honest, it fell pretty flat for me.
(anyone who hasn't seen the movie, really, don't look in the spoiler tags unless you give exactly zero shits. In which case... why are you looking in the spoiler tags?)
If there were actually anything at stake, I'd say it was all extremely well-done and shocking. But it's a Marvel movie. It's part of a cash-cow franchise that Disney assuredly won't allow to slow down.
Meaning, they didn't really kill Spider-Man. They didn't really kill Dr. Strange. They didn't really kill off the Guardians. And they definitely didn't kill Black Panther. There's still too much money to be made off of all these characters, and therefore... none of it means anything. Without even thinking hard about it, I already know what happens in the next movie. Everyone (or at least everyone that still matters) gets brought back by the infinity stones. Or Captain Marvel does something wacky and galactic-y to bring everyone back. Whatever the case, everyone will come back.
There, I just wrote the next movie for Marvel.
That aside though, I do have to say the movie definitely suffers from "convenient powers" syndrome. Just like so many of these movies (and tv shows; comicbook stuff is all guilty) powers only seem to work when they're convenient, and they only seem to be used in ways that are convenient. If Thanos can literally alter reality with the reality stone... why not fucking do that ? He literally turns Bruce Banner's Hulkbuster armor incorporeal when he shows up at the end. Why not do that to everyone ? Wouldn't that save you a shit ton of trouble? Why didn't he do this to Tony Stark et al. when he was fighting them?
Shit like that always gets under my skin.
Plus, I haven't seen Black Panther... but why is it that, in literally the most technologically-advanced country on Earth , the king has his troops carrying sticks and spears? They make it so the spears shoot lasers or some dumb bullshit, but still... why spears? Is Marvel aware that we'll still be able to tell it's Africa even if you don't go all stereotypical with it? I mean, I get it if they have a general tribal motif going on, but making everyone literal spearchuckers ? In a property originally created by a bunch of white dudes? That shit's just racist.

So yeah, I get that it's a big impressive spectacle movie, and yeah, it was entertaining and all. But there are still all kinds of issues I find with it. And I don't even consider any of it nitpicky.

I admire your work. Both Yokosuka Blues and Suka High were absolutely amazing! You're definitely a credit to not only the community, but also to Shenmue. Keep it up

This one nicely connects the dots with the two previous releases.
That last fighting scene, again, it is so cool.

I'm getting the Black Scar Blues DVD by the way