.
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Thank you for coming back from our replay reviews.
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My name is Leah.
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And my name is Cathy.
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We are two friends who are here to replay, review, and analyze your favorite video games.
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And since Cathy has never seen the games before, it helps me view them through her fresh eyes,
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almost like I'm discovering them again for the first time.
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We hope it'll be a similar experience for you.
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I don't know how to start.
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I think this is going to be a short episode.
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Last episode was obviously quite a bit longer than usual.
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And I think we got a lot out that we needed to say in that episode.
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Emotions were high.
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Yeah.
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I guess let's just start and we'll finish out our first wave of Yakuza.
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Yes.
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A great way to end the three-part Yakuza that we started with season one, two, and three.
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But not a great way to end the game.
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Yeah.
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Let's get into it.
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Season one, two, and three.
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And this is a question we've been asking throughout.
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What is the point of Kiryu in this game?
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If he didn't exist, would there still be a plot?
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Why is he here?
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And I'll get into it.
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He has no purpose and he doesn't add anything to the plot.
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We didn't need him, honestly.
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I think it reiterates the fact that Sayama could have and should have been the protagonist
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and just shot him and just take over.
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He does nothing.
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Next to nothing.
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Okay, well, first of all, they make him look like an idiot and a sh-t.
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Because at the start of the game, he says he wants to be a civilian, he wants to be
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a good father to Haruka.
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And boy, does he change his mind on that at the drop of a hat.
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So he goes against everything that he says he wants at the start of the game.
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So that's a little bit jarring.
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Even though he says he wants those things, he still wants to protect the Tojo for some
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reason, and goes way out of his way to do it.
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It doesn't compute.
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I feel like, because the main point of this game is to have someone for Ryuji to go up
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against because he needs to fight to be the dragon.
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And that could have been anyone in the Tojo clan.
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It could have been Kashiwagi, it could have been Majima if he went back in.
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It didn't need to be Kiryu.
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And also, why does he even care about fighting Ryuji?
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To the death, nonetheless.
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This is someone who is supposed to be averse to killing, but he's willing to fight this
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man to the death just to be the one true dragon when he's not even in the Yakuza and he wants
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to be a civilian.
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And he's apparently in love with Sayama, but he wants to kill her brother.
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Everything about it is just confusing.
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Okay, I did include an argument in favor of Kiryu being in this game.
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It's short.
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So he brings Daigo back, which provides a new leader for the clan, and he convinces
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Majima to help out, which pushes the Omi back and pinpoints the bombs.
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However, those are really kind of like the only things he does.
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He could have stayed out of it and just advised them to bring in Daigo and Majima.
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And even after this, which essentially is the first two chapters of the game, his character
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is kind of useless, which I think is why he is so flawed in the game.
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They just tried to force him into a story that didn't truly need him.
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Anything else on topic one or should we move on to burning questions?
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Let's do burning questions.
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All right, so question one, if Ryuji didn't die, what would his character be like in the
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rest of the series?
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So I start out by saying here's what I would have liked to see.
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I would have liked to see him take over the Omi Alliance, leading to a great setup for
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another game where he could be the main villain, who we still find it hard to dislike him.
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And it follows him trying to overthrow the Tojo clan and Kamurocho.
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What I realistically think the writers would do with him if he were to live is I think
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it would be pretty boring.
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He would give it all up.
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He would no longer care about being the one true dragon, because essentially he was kind
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of used by the Jinguyan, right?
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Then his father lied to him.
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I think he'd be a little butthurt about being in the Yakuza.
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And we saw him pretty excited to know that Saemo was his sister.
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So I think that he would want to get to know her and the two of them would just leave,
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go start new lives somewhere.
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And we never hear anything about either one of them ever again.
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I think mine's kind of similar at this.
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And this is all based on the assumption that Hideo continues to stay out of mafia business
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is Ryuji would one, realize that his sister, that's his sister.
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And then maybe he would continue to dismantle the Jinguyan because that is really what harmed
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him and also the chairman.
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So then he'll I feel like he wouldn't run Omi Alliance.
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He would just destroy that.
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Or maybe he just sits back and lets the Jinguyan destroy the Tojo clan and like you then just
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kind of run away and be a big brother to Saema.
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Like you said, he was excited and he seemed like he actually cared about that.
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I just don't think that the writers would do him justice if he were to live.
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I think that's the one silver lining to his death.
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Yeah, they didn't have to have to ruin him.
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So question two, as I kind of skim through redic, there seems to be a lot of discussion
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about whether Kiwami 2 sucked compared to Y-Zero and Kiwami 1 or if people enjoyed it compared
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to the other two games.
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So I'm curious what your thoughts are.
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Okay.
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Because you're the ones who actually played everything and I just watched the storyline.
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My perspective, there's two main reasons.
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Number one, as discussed, Kiryu sucks in this game.
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He honestly does not even really feel like the same character that we saw in Yakuza 0
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or Kiwami 1.
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And then number two is the lack of clarity around a villain.
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They keep the events of the past so hidden just for the sake of having countless repetitive
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surprises that we have a really hard time zeroing in on who the bad guy actually is.
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And I think they noticed this and tried to remedy it with Ryuji.
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My bet would be that he was a late addition to the game and that Sayama was originally
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supposed to be the missing child, but they realized they needed a more visual villain.
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So they created Ryuji and gave him the simple motive of wanting to be the one true dragon.
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And then also additionally really dumb things like the Kazuki double, the florist's son.
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The tattoo thing?
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Yeah.
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And then also forcing a romantic plotline into it where it doesn't fit?
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So let's not forget the like, I don't know, five or six wild goose chases we had to go
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on.
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And the game seems aware of it.
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When they get that, was it the Shoki tile that they needed to find Marai?
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And the guy tries to steal it from them and Sayama's like, hey, we just went on this wild
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goose chase to find it.
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Even the game knows that they're doing that, but they still do it.
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Okay, I should move on to topic three.
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Majima Makoto, everything and anything goes for this category.
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So I'm going to just let you, honestly, I have like one note.
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So like whatever you are still feeling open-ended about, let's just get into it.
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Yeah, and I think this is finally me processing three games worth of content.
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We had to take it back to NY Zero.
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We had this big argument.
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And my thought was that Majima took away her choice to make a decision.
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And your argument was that he made the best choice for her, even if it meant taking away
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her choice.
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And we kind of see similar themes again in this third game.
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I think somewhere between Y Zero and Kiwami too, I was hoping that she would come to her
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senses and be like, you know what, I think it's okay to be with Majima.
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And this one just pretty much shut that door on my face because it's probably never going
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to happen.
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But logically, I know why this whole story is the way it is.
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My heart just isn't catching up to it.
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And I think I'm finally catching on to why sometimes and not so happily ever after is
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the best way to end it.
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I feel such pain in my heart knowing that his love has no bounds for her and she won't
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ever know the extent how much he puts her first consistently.
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And so I think that's kind of where my frustrations are is I feel like Makoto needs to know how
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much Majima loves her.
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Well, you kind of highlighted a difference between Kiryu and Majima if we can continue
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to just bash Kiryu.
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Because Majima does what Kiryu should have done, right?
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And not bring someone back into the Yakuza.
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Kiryu should have either decided I am cutting all ties with the Yakuza to raise Haruka or
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I'm too dangerous of a person to raise Haruka.
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It's kind of a similar situation to Majima and Makoto.
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But Majima makes the right choices.
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He's being responsible.
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And if he can't leave the Yakuza, then he can't risk putting Makoto in harm's way because
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it's, from his perspective, kind of selfish, right?
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But Kiryu does that.
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And I think it just highlights a big difference with the two and why Majima is perhaps so
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much more satisfying as a character.
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Majima made his bed and he's willing to lay down in this very lonely little bed that he
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made for himself knowing that Makoto is going to be safe and sound and happy.
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I want Makoto to know that that's how much Majima is willing to sacrifice for her.
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And I think I'm frustrated because she'll never know.
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It's hard.
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That's why it's sad.
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But that's also why it's good.
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I get it.
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I finally, going back to why, had I known this was going to be happening, I think I
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would have taken back saying that I kind of understand that, yes, she should have had
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her own choices.
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But because Majima is the man he is, and he was doing this out of just absolute protection
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for her, it kind of makes sense.
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And I understand why this is probably one of your favorite romantic plots of all time.
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But also, can you imagine how much worse this game would be if we didn't have Majima?
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He is a godsend in this game.
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These chapters are a much needed break.
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From the stupidity that we've been seeing.
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Yes.
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So that was just my rant.
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I just needed to get it off my chest to say that.
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Closure.
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Yeah, closure.
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And three years ago, I don't know if I would have, I don't think I would have known I would
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get to where I am now with understanding and being closer to the acceptance stage.
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Well, I think that's a good transition to topic four.
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KFCs.
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So, point one, stale biscuit.
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I'll let you choose.
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There's not many to choose from.
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Yuya.
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But the problem with Yuya is that that's his personality.
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It's like you can't really blame him for that.
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It's not his fault.
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He's stupid.
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Yeah.
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No, do you want to guess again?
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I don't think this is what it is, but I kind of want it to be Besho just because he completely
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fell out of the story and we never heard from him again.
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I forgot that he existed, so I didn't even consider him.
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So that is a great point.
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But for me, it's Date.
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And I just have a vendetta against this guy.
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He's so useless, has low observation skills, unable to take care of a child or makes the
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wrong decision by bringing her closer to a bomb.
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And multiple people get shot in this game because he's either distracting them, has
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a very, very, very bad timing.
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I feel like he's even less important than Kiryu to this plot.
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So we should have just gotten rid of him.
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I think we've mentioned this before, but the characters they decide to hold on to throughout
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the series versus the ones they don't is mind boggling.
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At this point, Haruka just needs to go to college and just leave because what a useless
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character.
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Can we just kill her off already?
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Anyways, moving on.
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The actual KFC category, Cathy's favorite character.
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I think this is obvious, but I'll let you still go.
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Ryuji.
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Yeah.
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I mean, I don't know how any of us could pick someone else besides him.
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An absolute beast of a man who's the epitome of integrity, competence, and confidence.
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I feel mad that he had to lose to Kiryu and I understand it's for the plot, but he just
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needs to change his hair color.
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But otherwise he's like the perfect guy to marry besides Majima.
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Are we on KFC or Kentucky Scorcher right now?
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Oh, KFC.
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You're moving ever so slightly closer to Kentucky Scorcher.
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Well, okay.
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So I guess who do you think my KS is?
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It would have to be, well, I would say either him or Majima, but I feel like you could pull
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a fast one and say Daigo.
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Daigo's too young for me though.
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I feel creepy choosing a man who still wears a puffy jacket.
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Like a child.
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No, I don't think he's that young.
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I even wrote in my notes, I think Daigo, if he was a bit further matured in this game,
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because he's still young and I still see him as a child from 1-0.
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I'm trying to find how old he is in this game.
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Oh, that's actually a great point.
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30.
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He was 30.
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In Kiwami?
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Yeah.
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Wait, what was-
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Someone older than you is too young for you, Kathy.
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No, wait, how old was he in Y-Zero then?
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12.
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He looked like 7.
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But that's how I remembered him as.
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Anyways, so-
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He's dressed like a dumbass, but he's not that young.
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Oh, okay.
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Well, anyways, my KS was Majima.
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I can see why you think so highly of him.
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I don't know.
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There's something about his confidence in the way he carries himself in this game.
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And also, maybe it's because I was pretty much blind when Nishiki existed and that's
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how he was my KS.
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But now that Nishiki is no longer part of the picture, I do think that there's something
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in his eyes.
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You can see how intelligent this man is.
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I'm leaning towards the Majima team.
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He's just so complex.
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It's hard to not like him.
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By the way, we forgot to mention we didn't do blind picks because Kathy knows a lot of
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the characters already.
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So it kind of defeats the purpose of the experiment.
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Yeah.
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So, your LFC though, I feel like it's either Ryuji or Majima, but I actually don't know
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who you would choose.
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I think it probably would be Ryuji.
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I really liked Shindo and Yoyoi, but they just didn't have enough screen time to be
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a favorite.
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So you like, in terms of your favorite character, Ryuji more than Majima?
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I think so, just because of how refreshing he is as a character.
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I mean, Majima is a close, you know, it could be a tie because I do think that this is peak
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Majima.
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But I just think Ryuji is a character that we don't really see in this series.
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So I feel like we just have to give him props for that.
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Yeah.
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What about Kentucky Scorcher though?
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Probably Majima or Daigo.
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If we're going off of personality, Majima, if it's just looks, Daigo.
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Without the coat.
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Yeah, without the coat.
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I will say that once he took that jacket off, definitely Daigo then.
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Again, none of them have body hair.
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They're still bathing in nair, still to this day.
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Yeah, that's actually a good point.
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They're all very silky smooth baby skin.
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It's weird.
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Do you have any idea how much upkeep that probably is?
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Not worth it.
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Yeah, I know.
00:16:42
Okay, topic five.
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Counts and stats.
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There are three hidden stats this time.
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One of them, I guess how many people were actually like dead dead, like we know for
00:16:56
sure.
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No, that's too hard to know.
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If that's not the stat, I guess should have tried again or doing.
00:17:03
One more guess on stat one.
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Ooh.
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Are they going to hit?
00:17:09
Language.
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How many times English music came up?
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It was nannies.
00:17:19
Oh.
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And not just in a sentence.
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It's just when they use it as their sentence.
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Why do I feel like I don't remember any, but I feel like they had to have said something.
00:17:33
Can I get how many digits there are in this number?
00:17:36
No.
00:17:37
Okay.
00:17:38
It's either not a lot or an abundance of it.
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I'd say, I don't know, a hundred.
00:17:49
That's too much.
00:17:52
Let's go with 50 somewhere in the middle.
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Six.
00:17:58
Oh, dang.
00:18:00
I was like, it's three or a hundred.
00:18:02
I was like, let's do a hundred.
00:18:03
You thought it was going to be another bird situation.
00:18:07
You overcompensated.
00:18:08
I can't ever be confident with myself ever again with that bird thing.
00:18:14
All right.
00:18:15
Stat number two, you get two guesses.
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If you don't guess this one, I'm going to be mad at you.
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That's my hint.
00:18:20
How many times Qt was being stupid?
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I don't know if I can quantify that.
00:18:27
I feel like that's just one long-
00:18:30
Unending stupidity.
00:18:32
You know what I mean?
00:18:33
There's only one, but it's the whole game.
00:18:35
Yeah.
00:18:36
But no, it's not what it is.
00:18:39
I would say how many times an NPC did something weird, like walk close and then turn around
00:18:46
or pretend to have dicks.
00:18:50
You know what I mean?
00:18:52
The Kazama thing.
00:18:53
Yeah, I know what you mean.
00:18:56
No.
00:18:57
Percentage or count?
00:19:00
Count.
00:19:01
Hint?
00:19:02
I need a hint.
00:19:03
I gave you a hint.
00:19:04
I said I would be really mad at you if you don't get it.
00:19:10
How many door slams or Kiryu's anger outburst?
00:19:15
Closer, but no.
00:19:18
How many times I was angry?
00:19:22
Slaps.
00:19:23
Oh my god.
00:19:25
I thought for sure you were going to get this one.
00:19:28
You either make it very hard or you make it very easy, and I seem to never get the right
00:19:34
one.
00:19:35
We know in the beginning, Soyeon, and then we have... Did Yayoi slap Shindo?
00:19:43
I can't remember.
00:19:44
And then Sayama slapping the dude, the dude slapping Sayama.
00:19:48
Like four slaps right there.
00:19:51
I feel like it has to be one more male slap than a female slapping male.
00:19:55
So I would say five?
00:19:57
Five.
00:19:58
Yeah.
00:19:59
And one punch.
00:20:00
Nice.
00:20:01
Yeah, we had two male and female slaps, two female and male slaps, and one male and male
00:20:09
slap, in case you were curious.
00:20:11
What male and male?
00:20:12
Majima slaps the guy.
00:20:14
Murata is his name that I made up for him.
00:20:16
I still have yet to confirm if that's true.
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His bringing him in.
00:20:20
Before the fish slips.
00:20:21
Yeah.
00:20:22
And then Sayama gets the life punch out of her face in the clinic.
00:20:27
And the thing is her dad just watched.
00:20:30
Actually though.
00:20:31
Yeah.
00:20:32
Okay.
00:20:33
It's time to redeem yourself.
00:20:34
Third step, what is it?
00:20:35
It's so hard.
00:20:36
Hint?
00:20:37
I'm just going to automatically have to give me a hint each time.
00:20:42
I don't know how good of a hint this is, but it's something people do.
00:20:48
Multiple people.
00:20:49
Hide?
00:20:50
Like how many times someone was like, not hiding, but like around the corner, like,
00:20:55
I can't even think of the English words in my mind.
00:21:01
Like eavesdropping?
00:21:03
Yeah, eavesdropping.
00:21:05
That's what the word is.
00:21:06
Good golly, could not think of it.
00:21:08
No.
00:21:09
Oh gosh.
00:21:11
All that work thinking of the word.
00:21:13
It was cigarettes smoked.
00:21:15
What?
00:21:16
Oh my God.
00:21:17
Was there even that many people smoking?
00:21:21
I know Kiryu smoked like twice with Sayama or probably more.
00:21:26
I don't think Majima smokes.
00:21:29
I don't think it's a lot.
00:21:31
I think like three.
00:21:32
Is that your guess?
00:21:35
Yeah.
00:21:36
Well, there were three cigars, but there were 23 cigarettes.
00:21:40
Oh my gosh.
00:21:42
I need examples.
00:21:44
Well, the Flora smokes cigars.
00:21:46
We saw him three times and he always had one.
00:21:49
Kiryu has one multiple times.
00:21:52
I think he smokes in Serena about three times on a bridge once.
00:21:57
Kashiwagi offered the juice box cigarette to Daigo.
00:22:02
There's a lot.
00:22:03
I still can't believe you didn't guess slaps.
00:22:07
I'm kind of upset at myself for not guessing that either.
00:22:11
Yeah, we're going to have to end it.
00:22:14
Yeah.
00:22:15
What a way to end this game.
00:22:18
Well, I haven't recorded the gameplay for the next game, so there will probably not
00:22:24
be a hidden quote to guess.
00:22:27
But we'll be back on Christmas Eve with Scary Christmas.
00:22:32
I'm excited.
00:22:34
Me too.
00:22:35
For Christmas and not for this scary game.
00:22:38
Anyways, we're going to close it.
00:22:44
We'll see you Christmas Eve.
00:22:46
Adacity on one, three, two, one.
00:22:50
Thank you for listening and don't forget to send in any questions, comments or game suggestions.
00:22:55
You can find all our contact info on our website, replayreviewspod.com or contact us directly
00:23:00
through our site.
00:23:01
Do we completely miss something?
00:23:02
Are we way off the mark?
00:23:03
Or you just want us to take a deeper look at anything from the game?
00:23:07
We'll tackle any topics you all want to hear in our season wrap up episode.
00:23:10
We also have a Reddit where we discuss anything we're curious about.
00:23:13
Go take a look and let us know what you're thinking.
00:23:16
Our theme music is Condemned by Eggy Toast.
00:23:18
They'll play you out and we'll be back next week.
00:23:35
See you.