Ichiban's half of the story is mostly dead weight. It spends way too long chasing after a human macguffin that even Ichiban is only tangentially interested in, and makes pretty much every writing mistake in the book in the name of having mysteries and twists. The stakes are unclear and impersonal; compare this to Yakuza 7, which excelled because it gave us an immediate reason to care (our father figure shot us!) and, while it went wide in the middle, started and ended by focusing on the motherfucking human condition. Ultimately, it's a story about a father doing literally everything in his power to save his son from his own worst impulses, and it hits extra hard because our protagonist has played some part in creating this monster. By comparison, Infinite Wealth is largely about things happening and also Ichiban is there, but it really could have been anybody. As much as I'm ready to see Kiryu make his exit (still have the last fight to go, so who knows!), his half of the story is at least much more cohesive.
And then there's the games sometimes baffling sense of logic. It can't seem to decide whether or not Kiryu's existence is common knowledge or not (after the vtuber exposes him), or if the Daidochi care about that (or his outings with Date-san) at all, or what's actually expected of him, and the consequences for him if he doesn't do it. At one point I wondered if the whole "Kiryu sucks at going incognito" thing was being played up for laughs. Then there's the bit where the gang is sailing away -- where to, exactly? Is the Japan Coast Guard really that close? And when they meet Date at the airstrip, is that Japan proper (I feel like we're missing a scene here where the gang makes it to the safety of the coast guard, then)? It must be, because Date gives the gang two hours to find Yamai, and they immediately make their way to Kamurocho. After which, Yamai walks away and he's never mentioned again. What about the pressing need to bring him back to Date? Remember how Date said that it would be bad news for Ichi's crew if Yamai gave them the slip? See how the game doesn't establish any clear consequences? See how Yamai is just chilling on Dodonko Island now and nobody cares?
I still have the final Millennium Tower sequence to go, so maybe a miracle will occur, but I doubt enough will happen there to make Ebina an interesting villain -- it certainly didn't help Bryce. Good villains make a good story -- I submit in to evidence Yazkua 0 -- but Infinite Wealth's villains aren't compelling enough to drive the story, so all that's left to worry about are their nefarious plots, which are vague and, more importantly, largely detached from both our protagonist and, that's right, the motherfucking human condition.
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