There are some big companies that have loyalty rewards programs and some assign numbers to it, but it’s generally like it is here in the west. It’s not a government thing.

The government thing is basically just intense accounting. They keep very close track of financial stuff and though it’s mostly aimed at businesses, they also note when individuals take out loans or credit cards and that can impact a person’s life if they default. People and companies can also be blacklisted for stuff like fraud. But again, that’s pretty much the same in the west too.

It’s true that there is less anonymity in China though because people have to use their real names for everything. Like on social media, even if a user has a screen name, their legal name is still tied to their account through their phone number or internet connection or associated bank account (you can do online shopping through basically every Chinese app) or all of the above. Westerners nominally have more privacy in that regard but let’s be real, if a western government wanted to know who’s behind an “anonymous” internet post, they would know.

From beginning to end, it’s actually closer to 8 hours. And if you count transportation it’s often around 9 thanks to the car blight.

Have you tried playing dreams? I mean the game made by media molecule, not the minecraft youtuber. If you have a ps4 or 5 then I recommend trying it out because it’s astonishing how streamlined game development is on that thing. Modeling, rigging, making music, programming, and rendering is all instant. It’s seriously revolutionary and would be industry standard if it were possible to create on PC.

The sheer amount of dedication it takes to keep up a ruse for that long is astonishing. He made it all the way to leadership of Utah, that’s ridiculous!

And he probably could’ve gone even further since I don’t think it was necessary for him to bail when he did. He only sent an email warning a local politician about a death threat. It’s the US, I figure that’s a routine thing. The woman calling for the assassination could reasonably have been blamed for the leak instead since she’s a civilian who probably doesn’t practice good security. Idk it just doesn’t seem as incriminating to me as it did to him.

And if someone doesn’t comply to that, what then? Do they get actually arrested for obstructing the investigation? jfc this is a paper-thin excuse to legally violate people at a whim :|

In the remake’s defense, those guys were in the original too. Hojo created them as proto Sephiroth clones or Jenova experiments or something. Sephiroth can control them like he can manipulate Cloud because they’re spiritually linked. Or something.

Mi burrito sabanero! It’s so catchy that I don’t mind having heard it a million times by now.

I think you meant to say “well-established.” If you meant to say anything at all lmao

All that time fighting with Breloom influenced him to do a Technician-boosted Mach Punch in real life.

That would rock so hard! FFXV reminds me a lot of Yakuza like a dragon but it’s missing the crucial karaoke sessions and that’s a huge oversight.

I 100% agree that the game felt rushed at the end, particularly after the timeskip. I played the game totally blind so I didn’t even know there was a timeskip and I got whiplash from the way Noctis just… goes to bed for a decade in a single cutscene. The boys are said to have gone their separate ways in the meantime, only regrouping occasionally, and I so badly want to know how that went down. FFXV is all about the boy band, the writers can’t just leave out ten years of their character development like they can with everyone else!

Regarding Lunafreya, she feels like three different characters to me. In the movie, she’s principled and courageous. In the book, she’s preachy and won’t shut up about Noctis. In the game, she hardly has any presence but whenever she is there, it’s tropey as hell. She’s a Damsel in Distress, Love Interest, Heroic Sacrifice, Precious Princess and it suuuuuucks. I agree that there were too many cooks because there’s so much going on with her that surely the chefs had forgotten what they put in the pot as they were burning cooking the script.

More than anything though, I despise the “romance” between her and Noctis. They only ever met a few times as children and that was 12 years in the past by the time of the game! Their only communication has been passing notes and they haven’t even managed to fill a single notebook since then! And they’re both bad texters! Their union is a literal political marriage to unite the Lucis bloodline with that of the Oracle! And this marriage was decided for them at birth, by force! BY ARDYN!!! I can’t express in words how much I fucking hate how the game ends with them kissing, how the game’s logo is the pair of them together, how the book had the chance to take a different path but instead doubled, tripled, quadrupled down on this godawful ship for the true ending. Surely, surely the writers lost track of everything they wrote down?

Also, FFXV has acts? Haha to be honest I didn’t even parse what happened until well after I finished the game. But the story isn’t what drew me in anyway. The chemistry between the guys is what FFXV is all about and it’s why I don’t mind that everything else is pretty shit. If I were in charge, I’d’ve put even less effort on the plot in favor of more time with the group because it’s sorely lacking in non-Noctis interactions. We the fans deserve to see more of the Gladi/Prompto, Gladi/Iggy, and Iggy/Prompto dynamic.

12 is linear with only one ending yeah, but its politics are remarkably grounded and well-integrated into its world. It’s light on the crystal, magic, divinity stuff and heavy on the geopolitical. Out of all the FF games, Ivalice is the setting that’s the most thought through imo.

Regarding 15, it’s funny how the combat mechanics are most relevant in comrades where targeting weak points to break them actually matters. And this might just be how I played the game, but I didn’t mind the shift toward the end. I got my fill of wandering, camping and questing before I set sail so the oppressive hallways came off as a purposeful artistic choice to set the tone. Like, the road trip has ended, the boys are in enemy territory, they’re being obviously manipulated by Ardyn, and there’s nothing they can do about it. The miserable way the boys are restrained into realizing the worst ending feels thematic.

The OVA and movie came out before the game released, didn’t they? I’ll admit, I liked them but I’m also a massive FFXV fan so that might be apologia.

No lol it sucks so much that the other three boys are unplayable until you unlock them one by one on the skill tree. And that you can only momentarily play as them during a fight, after which you’ll immediately switch back to Noctis. Noctis is the lamest one!

The devs couldn’t even give us the decency of playing as them in comrades beyond one (1) mission. The only good mission.

I don’t understand. You’re saying 12 improved combat at the expense of its story? And that 15 did that too? But 12’s an autobattler that’s all about political intrigue and 15’s so trivial that it might as well be an autobattler (its story is a mess though, I agree).

It’s an ace ring

He looks like a retired Super Macho Man from Punch Out

That’s hilarious! I can’t even imagine a serious Yakuza game. Aren’t the latest two set in Hawaii where you fight against sharks and shit? How many sharks has Kiryu bashed with a bat, I wonder?

That’s the only Yakuza game I’ve played. Are you saying that the prior games weren’t turn-based RPGs?

Tho I liked Ichiban’s gamerness. He’s such a dork and everyone’s ridiculous attacks really suit the bombastic soap opera tone of the game. It’s great

Also:

• Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call
• Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
• Fire Emblem Fates
• Fire Emblem Awakening
• Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy
• Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright
• Pushmo, Crashmo, and Stretchmo
• Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon
• Luigi’s Mansion 1 remake
• every Mario and Luigi RPG except partners in time
• Cave Story (whichever version)
• Triforce Heroes (if you can find other people to play with locally)

You gotta play Bravely Second! It’s the best game out of the three by a landslide imo. It rebalanced the job system so that combining skills is more consequential and added a few more jobs that are mechanically interesting such as exorcist (a job that specializes in reverting the game state, like unkilling an ally or unspending your MP).

Its plot is also very well told. I mean, it’s just a final fantasy game so it’s not revolutionary or anything but it has a metanarrative that is unforgettable because of a certain moment that you’ll know when you get there.

Consider playing the demo too because it’s essentially a prologue; it has some story and character development that isn’t in the main game at all.

Also if you like Pokemon then you’ll probably like the Yokai Watch series too. They’re the same genre but Yokai Watch is goofier, has better writing, a bigger world, and just has more effort put into it in general. Though its battle system is less strategic, it’s not a big deal if you’re playing casually. The 3D is gorgeous too fwiw

I recommend you play 1 first because it’s the most basic and some of its plot gets referenced later, but it’s not that important tbh. 2 and 3 are both fantastic though and are very different from each other so you should play both. Concurrently, even, because they’re pretty distinct.

(btw Psychic Specters is the definitive version of 2. YW1 doesn’t have separate versions. And the definitive version of YW3 is the only one that got localized)