Toukiden: Kiwami

I'd recommend this game purely from how much fun I've had with it. Definitely worth a buy when it's on sale. Yes it is an old game, with lists of cons mentioned by other reviews. Perhaps because I knew what I wanted (experience the complete story) and what I'm stepping into (had previously played the original JPN PSP version), the cons didn't bother me that much. Some things I enjoyed: - THE STORY, MAN. It's simple cheesy and cliche but it works in its setting and the payoff at the end was satisfying. - THE STORY BGMS?? Especially those from the final chapter in Kiwami? -combusts in emotions- - Each character was unique with their own motivation, quirks, backstory, and resolution arc. Their side quest shenanigans reinforce how they're not just another slayer NPC but a whole character in their own right. - As a player, the way I actually felt like a part of the characters' community, especially through the side quests and the journalist sisters in Kiwami. - Hidari's character portrait art are chefs kiss. - The combat difficulty being much more forgiving compared to (eg) MonHunt: most story missions are accompanied with extremely capable character NPCs (i was often carried by them), players are guaranteed at least 10x health recoveries (and sometimes refillable) regardless of what combat style they chose, you are only knocked out when health is depleted and can be revived by friendlies on the spot to continue fighting (only when they fail to revive you within the time limit, then you're considered truly fainted). - Intentional or not, the use of character NPCs to demonstrate how some mitama styles were supposed to look like in practice: notable impressions were seeing Reki use the Space-style to warp *out* of incoming danger (Space-style has a skill that randomly warps the player across the battlefield), and seeing Horo use the Support-style to nullify/mitigate damage for allies in the area at the cost of her health but it works for her setup *because* she's a mid-long range combatant (before this i'd read that skill as a close combatant and thought it useless). My only gripe with this game is there's no way to revisit the story dialogues without replaying from start. I think the CG cutscenes are vibrant and expressive for its time (2014/15), but truly majority of the story were covered in un-replayable dialogues and that's where the story and characters came to life most. I'm sure to think of this game for a long time. A 10/10 for me in terms of how much fun I've had. Just late to revisiting it so now there's not many peeps to cry about the story with.