Sorry for the LATE reply, I've barely been on here in months. Hectic life stuff. I hope you're doing good, though!

So, Yakuza 0 is the perfect place to start, I started with it and it was completely fine. Alternatively, my partner started with 7 (Like a Dragon) and then played Yakuza 0 and she was also fine. I've heard Kiwami is also an okay starting point. I honestly cannot recommend 0 enough though, UGH it's just so good! I'm so behind on the series though (and games in general haha) I'm not sure I'll ever catch up!

Yeah Fort Condor was a blast, even funner than I was expecting. I like how it was sort of the Triple Triad/Tetra Master of this game. I hope it makes it into part 2 and keeps expanding! Yuffie is indeed a great character and was an absolute treat to play as, her fighting style is so unique and implemented beautifully into the battle system. Really makes me speculate on how other party members will play and if we will get further side story DLC's like in this the future, which could really expand a whole lot of characters.

The music! It's so glorious and perfectly composed, it has a little bit of everything in it. Not sure if I will do a Hard mode run now, I'm working on the main game and then will eventually go for Hard on that but I have too many other games to cover so I guess I'm going to just ease my way into clearing out my list and then go back if I have time. Definitely want to face that super boss!

The ending really got me, talk about pulling on your heartstrings. I figured something was going to happen but it got pretty dark really fast, which I think is a good thing in this universe since it shows there are things at stake, even if other character's survive in the future it doesn't mean everyone will.

Thanks!! 12 years and I still and probably wont at this point haven't beaten my backlog

Hehe yeah, Majora's Mask is a definite inspiration for NieR, I think. There's a lot of unique elements in the game you can't really find in a lot of other stuff, because Taro just went nuts. And it's not so much that the story is less compelling - it's a bit of an age thing, IMO. A lot of younger players tend to empathize much more with the brother figure because they can see themselves in him, whereas a lot of older players tend to empathize more with the father for the same reason. Not to mention the lengths Nier goes to in order to help Yonah is definitely father type action, especially in light of the revelations that happen in B route and onward.

I technically put NieR on hiatus for a bit while I played other/newer stuff, but I will get back to it sooner or later. It's one of those games I know will be super awfully painful in the best way for me to play, so I need to devote some good time and mental headspace for it.

What a gorgeous theme! You've really outdone yourself this time. Really nice music selection as well. Excited to get back to ShB? I have many goals to accomplish before EW launches, like prepare gear for Reaper and Paladin. What are your plans? Cheers!

I completely understand.

Yeah it's been fun going back. I did try to do yearly playthroughs until this past year when I heard about the MELE. Though... my backlog keeps growing instead of not.