“We have been working on the counter-offensive with Ukraine for 4-5 months.” — Victoria Nuland
Democrat paymasters demanded a Great Ukrainian Offensive to fix the optics, like Hitler's Battle of the Bulge. Ukraine committed their reserves and got shredded for nothing. NATO is low on ammo, and Ukraine is out of men. Medvedev predicts that the Ukraine will cease to exist; half its people have already left. The USA Empire was not ready to fight a Russia backed by China's economy. James A. Donald summarizes the strategic picture [links redacted]:

So, bright new plan. "The Greatest Ukrainian Offensive". The Ukraine would build up a big reserve of fresh troops, then suddenly hurl large chunks of them at particular points on the front. They would, the Americans planned, cut through a point in the front lines, penetrate to Russian rear areas, wreak havoc on those areas, and force Russian troops in danger of being encircled to hastily retreat from territory that had been slowly gained at enormous cost in grinding attritive warfare. I do not know how big the Ukrainian strategic reserve was, but if it was two hundred fifty thousand, they have now committed most of them to grinding attritive warfare, and cupboard is looking as bare of men as it is of artillery and rockets.

What's a Democrat to do? 4chan anon Inb4source leaks a RUMOR about the next play from NATO's bag of dirty tricks. I'll summarize the relevant posts, from 4plebs on 2023 May 27 0300-0500:

it's a little less than ten days… Until Nato SpecOps melt down the Uke Nuke plant and blames it on you.

Here is the tweet Inb4source linked, in which the Ukrainians make the opposite accusation against the Russians. This is reminiscent of NATO's accusation that Russia sabotaged the Nord Stream pipeline.

OSINTdefender The Main Directorate of Intelligence for Ukraine has announced that the Russian Military is preparing for Large-Scale Provocation in the coming hours at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Southern Ukraine that will reportedly Simulate an “Accident” at the Plant causing the Emergency Leak of Radioactive Substances which will be Blamed on Ukrainian Forces.

Inb4source continues:

Nato SpecOps have sabotaged power to the nuke plant. As of this posting, 6 days of diesel fuel remain to provide power to pumps to cool the plant and spent fuel pool. Diesel shipments are being targeted and terminated.

He adds:

So now I need to tell you Russia intends a pre emptive strike if nuclear capable F16's are delivered.

A commenter notes:

tinglevibestoo I listened to a former CIA agent talk about Ukraine the other day. He said that Ukraine is running out of time. It's not that they don't have the weapons. We've sent them a ton of weapons. It's that they don't have enough troops and they're running low on troops. That's how Russia will win. Ukraine can't sustain the manpower. It totally makes sense to use a nuclear false flag as a reason to bring in the extra manpower. Everyone would deem it justified too because it's a threat to the neighboring nations and it'd be an environmental (climate change) catastrophe.

For redacted links and further discussion, continue reading here.

Hi All,
I've recently been struggling with the ethics of real estate investing and am not really sure who to speak to about it. I feel most of my family and friends would look at me like I had rocks in my head for considering selling after the work I put in to buy the place, and others I could speak to don't share or understand my values and so I wouldn't necessarily be able to do a lot with their advice.
Context
I grew up in Western Sydney and was advised from early on that to achieve financial freedom, you should invest in property. I aspired to this, and thus did the 'work 2 jobs, save hard, delay gratification' until I had saved up enough to buy one in Queensland.
The property is still cashflow negative and is currently rented for approximately 10-15% lower than comparative listings online. I still work quite hard, and try to avoid conspicuous consumption, but I understand that I'm still economically privileged relative to many, including my tenant. I haven't yet sold the property but have deferred recent rental increases suggested by my property manager because of my discomfort with doing so.
The Dilemma
Since purchasing the property approximately 5 years ago, I've become more educated on political economy and would summarise my thoughts as being quite left wing. I now feel that my being a landlord is at odds with my political beliefs and have been considering what to do to try resolve this internal conflict.
My dilemma thus is that whilst I have deeply held aspirations for equity in our society, I would also consider myself a pragmatist and want to be able to provide for myself and my immediate family. I don't aspire for sportscars, expensive watches or things like that, but I have also watched relatives live fairly frugally, work hard for 50 years, only to retire and commence an almost 'subsistence' level of living on the pension. I don't want this for myself and my family, but I don't know how I can achieve this without also taking part in some kind of investment. I will explain the options I'm considering and would welcome any thoughts on them.
Possible Options (as I see them)
Option #1 - The simplest option of course would be to divest from residential real-estate. This is the option I'm considering most strongly, having spoken to an agent recently about selling. Following the sale, I could then instead keep my money in a HISA, or alternatively invest in asset classes.
My issue with this approach is that in my eyes, most other kinds of investing are also morally dubious. For example, following a more standard 'buy VAS/Index funds' approach, I then feel I am investing in companies which are actively eroding the standards of our society, and having far more deleterious effects than I would necessarily be from owning an investment property. VAS is the ASX300 and thus you have the banks, resource and energy companies, weapons manufacturers, insurers, etc. In my mind, returns I see from these investments may be a direct result of things like like lobbying governments to remove mining taxes, profiteering from endless conflicts, destruction of natural environments, etc. etc. Even with 'ethical investing' many issues still present themselves like tax 'avoidance', screwing down of smaller suppliers, exploitation of employees, etc. Even keeping money in a HISA, the bank is only able to pay the interest to me because it is investing the money elsewhere and generating a return.
One thing I had considered is instead trying to invest in commercial real estate via REITs or similar.
Option #2 - Alternatively, I could continue to hold the residential property and gradually increase rents more inline with 'actual costs', rather than 'market rate', as well as a small allowance for profit (after all, the point of my investing is to generate wealth to achieve financial freedom/security). The issue with this approach is that I am reducing the performance of the investment, perhaps significantly so, if I keep rents in line with costs. I make this point only as a statement of fact, not to cry poor.
Conclusion
The analogy which my mind goes to is that of the 'meat-eater' vs. 'hunter'. Those who hunt for food may be seen as bloodthirsty, but they also come into direct contact with the consequences of their dietary choices. On the other hand, a meat-eater will never have blood on their hands, yet it's likely that the cruelty required to provide the meat they buy from a supermarket is far greater, however it's simply occurs at arms length. Trying to relate the analogy, I wonder if by being directly involved with my investment decisions (via owning this property), it makes me more conscious of their impact, rather than just taking the returns generated by the ASX300 with no regard for how they were achieved.
Finally, whilst this is a problem for me, I acknowledge it is one I am very privileged to deal with. I was fortunate enough to have been born in the mid-late 80s, meaning that I was able to earn and save enough before inflation meant I was forever priced out. I hope that people can empathise with the conflict between broad overarching political beliefs and the reality of personal financial security for yourself and your family.
I appreciate you taking the time to read and any thoughts you wish to offer. Apologies for the dorky formatting, I tried to spend quite a bit of time parsing this all out and it helped me organise my thoughts.

Just stressed and not sure what to do. I'm in my early/ mid 30s. A single dad of one kid(almost in middle school) with full custody. I have a long family history with depression but try to be emotionally intelligent and open and honest with others and myself to stay above it. Maybe have a touch of the tism, and some ADD that can make social interactions hard to form and keep up with but able to work full time and keep things going for me and my kid with our own 2bdrm apt though it always feels like a struggle, financially and emotionally.
The relationship with my kids mom wasn't healthy and was just a tool to use me that has left me with more trust issues than I can count and I doubt I'd be ready for a healthy relationship even if I didn't have all the rest of this post taking up my minds pace.
My mom attempted suicide when my son was little and I was still in the cws/ custody battle that led to my full custody and I believe that led to her eventual stroke and now early onset of memory problems that kinda removed one of my strongest family connections that I could really talk to and open up with.
One of my two cousins who I didn't see nearly often enough but were like sisters to me succeeded in her attempt on her life a few years ago and I still feel like I've not really processed it and outside of one good get together 2 years ago to spend time with her kids prompted my my other cousin, I feel like I've cut myself off from them despite other troubles they've had lately.
Just found out my dad who I hardly saw as a kid and have had infrequent chats with a few times a year since my son's birth has lung cancer and I just don't know what to do. Told one of my best friends from childhood and told him I don't even know how to process at this point besides worrying how it'll affect my kid but I'm realizing that I don't think I've Raju processed much of anything at all that's been mentioned in this rant/ramble so far.
I feel like besides trying to give my son advice and steer him in better directions than I went through my life and help him avoid some of the mental pitfalls and traps I experienced that I don't know what I want or even care about.
I enjoy my job, and chatting with coworkers. I play dnd with some friends online semi-regularly but besides that I basically just read random stories online while avoiding what's in my head for the most part. I feel like I'm drowning when I take the time to try and think without the distractions. Just laying here with tears silently flowing and I'm not even sure of the task reason why.
I'm not sure why I'm posting this. Honestly I'd love to go to therapy but while my work offers afew free sessions through insurance that's temporary and would require missing work causing more stress and there are no options that are when I'm off or long term so feels like more stress than it's worth.
I love my son and despite all the drama and stress love my life but I just feel so... like an egg with cracks that's leaking... Fragile, like I'm about to finish cracking and don't want to know what that's like even if I can fit the pieces back afterwards because it is an if.
I don't know what i want out of this rambling rant. May not even keep this up as I'm worried I'll regret it as soon as I post but I guess there's only one way to find out.

Ideally a complete remake to introduce new fans to the series, and just call it 'Jak' (or maybe 'Jak and Daxter'). But it may need to be a much more mature version like what they were planning with Jak IV, to appeal to what gamers want these days. I think it has the potential to blow people away by how good the gameplay and experience is, and the older games would become relics.
I feel like when Jak II launched (which was a huge expansion on the scope of what kind of game it could be, compared to TPL), it was in a weird place of still having cartoonish graphics but a more mature theme that didn't appeal to everyone. On one hand you have people who just want 3D platformers with bright colorful graphics like Banjo Kazooie, while others want another extreme; gritty hyper-realistic first person shooters like Call of Duty, mostly. Jak II was trying to exist somewhere in between those, then 3D platformers as a genre became less popular. I think these contributing factors led to Jak as a series, which had huge potential in my opinion, not achieving the long-term success it should have, while Ratchet managed to find its place better and not push the "edginess" too much.
Jak to me is more interesting than Ratchet in how the gameplay mechanics work, and just the style. I think it has potential to be a very unique high performing game. But I also think it makes for a complete reboot/upgrade and maturity overhaul better than Ratchet does. With an alien protagonist, and generally quirky vibe, it's unlikely a "maturized" version of Ratchet would work as well as Jak. Whereas Jak, pretty much a human in appearance, already grew a goatie and became much more hard-core, and we saw in the leaked Jak IV concept art that a fully mature, adult Jak with realistic graphics could actually work well. I'm thinking something like the Fable series or even Elder Scrolls, combined with a new take on the usual Jak gameplay. I think Jak should have a sword he can take out but that's neither here nor there.
The point is I think it might be time to say goodbye to the cartoonish graphics and allow Jak to evolve into the darker, more gritty, mature, realistic, advanced series it always wanted to be (at least .. started wanting to in the second game)

First time home buyers needing advice- Sorry this is so long, there’s so many moving parts with this situation!
Here’s the situation, we are under contract as of April 17th, the sellers requested a longer close which was fine by us, our close date was originally set for May 23rd, and we’ve had some delays due to heavy rains in Colorado on May 11/12. We never really get this amount of rain, and a lot of homes were affected including the one we’re buying.
The house has two issues- the roof leaking into the garage, so roof flashing repairs + the ceiling/wall in the garage needing replacement, and then the crawl space was pooling water from under the soil and now the entire space needs to be redone with insulation and vapor barrier.
Before the rain damage, inspection and appraisal came back and everything was in. Great condition, like literally nothing to worry about.
The delays we are having are because between May 11 to closing date, all the sellers did was throw some fans in the crawl space and make an insurance claim. They were not proactive in letting us know about damage, getting quotes, getting and repairs started. My realtor found out and immediately got 3 vendors out to give us quotes for repairs and our inspector to asses the damage.
Insurance can’t get out to the property until this upcoming Tuesday (3.5 weeks after the rain) and then the written report done by Friday. So that’s holding things up…
But now the sellers are saying they HAVE to close on Wednesday, are unwilling to wait any longer, and that’s before an insurance report is written up where we even know what’s covered and what’s not, and are offering $5k in concessions to help pay for the repairs.
The average quote for all repairs is $7,000, but all of them said “but we also won’t know until we start”
They don’t want to inform the title company, which means no post-escrow account, because obviously that would delay close because title would NEED repairs to be done, so we’re already being nice not informing them.
The sellers are already moved out, we know they are staying in temporary housing nearby, and are waiting on the sale of the home to buy their next one, and are moving out of state (AKA they NEED this house to close)
Here’s some of the issues we have-

• We agreed to buy the house in the condition that it was in, it’s no longer in that condition, and the sellers didn’t fix it in time for close, and now they are pressuring close for Wednesday
• We don’t know what insurance will cover or not, and the sellers aren’t willing to wait an extra two days to close until we have a report in hand
• We’re not going to blindly buy a half mill house without knowing the extent of the damages
• We don’t want to blow up the deal because we love the house, but we don’t want to get screwed on the repairs that are now in our hands and have to deal with it
• Our rate lock expires in 2 weeks, so we’d get screwed in that, but we’re in an apartment, so we have flexibility to extend our lease so housing wise we’re okay

Our options- 1) take $5k concessions and risk repairs 2) ask for $10k concessions if they want to close without an insurance report 3) put them into a corner and say we won’t close until insurance has written report 4) what would you do??
Thank you!

Long story short, I own a condo where portion of the roof is a flat roof deck (never again, btw). When I moved into the condo we noticed a small leak on the closing day. This was almost 2 years ago. We had the roof professionally redone and there hadn’t been any leaks since.
Flash forward to now. I hired a contractor to build a roof deck. No structural changes were made to the roof, basically trex were placed on platforms covering the roof deck. About 2/3 of the way into construction we had 2 days of heavy rain. Afterwards, several water marks appeared on our ceiling and water was coming down from one of our ceiling lights. I went to the roof deck and noticed that the drain was clogged with sawdust and the downspout that drained water from higher up was taken off during construction and not replaced prior to the storm. This caused water to pool on the roof deck.
The contractor has of course offered to paint over the water spots, but has been extremely unhelpful at finding the source of the leak. I took it upon myself to flood the roof with a garden hose and found some areas I think they may be coming from. He told me that he had used some type of sealant and it should be fine. But I flooded my roof again and the spots reappear. So not only can they not adequately find the leak, they can’t fix it.
I have 20% of the remaining payment as my only leverage and he’s being really pushy about getting it despite this issue. I contacted the former roofers but of course they want no part of this, they tell me the deck builder needs to find out what happened.
Is my next step to file an insurance claim? This whole issue has caused a ton of anxiety. I am a single female really out of my depth with this stuff and I don’t want to get taken advantage of or get in a fight with these contractors. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Never getting another flat roof again.

Curious if anyone knows what the June offer will be. The 1k customer cash and free panniers on the tiger is attractive but I can't pull the trigger Tuesday the only say left in May. Anyone know if it'll be extended or what the next is? I'm used to car offers leaking before they start

Being in a relationship with someone is one of the best things and is a dream come true for many. However, this sweet dream can turn into a nightmare as soon as you find out that your partner is cheating on you via [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
How to Receive Text Messages from Another Phone Number
In many ways, new technologies have made our lives easier. At the same time, this technology can be abused to perpetrate bullying and harassment. Whether you're a worried parent or a suspicious spouse, keeping an eye on someone's virtual activities can be beneficial in various ways.
You've come to the right place if you're wondering, 'How to get text messages from another phone number sent to mine?' We'll walk you through the various methods for tracking text messages from another phone in this piece. The idea of such access may be frightening, but it can be helpful when monitoring children and loved ones.
Can You Enter Phone Number to See Text Messages?
Yes, you can, but it is limited. For example, a hacker only needs your phone number to read texts, listen to calls, and track you. Hackers have again demonstrated that no matter how many security precautions someone takes, all a hacker needs is their phone number to track their location and listen in on their phone calls and texts.
But, if you do not have such professional hacking abilities, we recommend getting a mobile phone monitoring app if you want to enter a cell number to read texts for free. Cell phone monitoring apps are software packages that allow you to remotely monitor what your child, husband, or employee is doing on their phones. If you suspect your partner has been spending too much time on their smartphone, these apps are your go-to solution for spying on them.
With these apps, you can see your kid’s SMS history and see who they've been texting. Maybe you don't like your child's friends and want to make sure he's not secretly hanging out with them; you can track their conversations and whereabouts by installing these surveillance tools on their Android or iPhone. The same is true if you suspect one of your employees is leaking sensitive information.
How to Receive Text Messages from Another Phone Number by Syncing Phone
If you can sync the text messages in real-time, it will be a perfect way to receive text messages from another phone number. With the development of technology, here are two great tools for you.
Enigmahack Text Messages Monitoring
Enigmahack Text Messages Monitoring app can help parents protect kids' safety online. It has the function of syncing kids' text messages on their Android devices to parent's mobile devices. You can also track the real-time location of the target phone and monitor the phone's surroundings.
How to Get Messages from Another Phone Sent to Mine by Forwarding
Forwarding is another method for obtaining a text message from a target phone. So, if you have both an Android phone and an iPhone, you can use a third-party app. SMS texts can be auto forwarded to any other phone type with these apps, including iPhones. Many will even forward your text messages to your email address.
Here are two helpful forwarding apps for Android and iPhone:
Auto Forward Text
Auto Forward Text is a fantastic SMS forwarding app for Android. You can forward text messages to an email address using the app. The information sent also includes the phone's contact information and GPS location. Install it on the other phone and set it to forward all or specific messages to your current device.
Conclusion
There are many legit reasons for wanting to monitor someone's phone. The vast majority of mobile phone spy apps listed here operate in stealth mode, so your child, spouse, or employee will not notice them in their app list and will not be aware that you are watching them.
contact email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])

I noticed a strange whistling/hissing sound when accelerating a few weeks ago, which by today has gotten louder. my idle is also sporadically a tiny bit rough so I figured it was probably a vacuum leak.
Took it into a shop to do a vacuum leak test and instead the mechanic used the scanner and determined that it was a number four cylinder misfire, possibly from a head gasket leak, and that there was likely no vacuum leak.
Now I was already pretty sure I may have had a head gasket leak because my coolant tends to disappear without any visible leak. But could a head gasket leak or just in general misfire account for the strange hissing sound I hear when I accelerate? That just doesn’t sound right to me.

Repeat of the wonderful old school ESP template from 11th of May.
Tread Block 1 * 30 sec base * 30 sec push * 30 sec AO * 1 min WR * 30 sec base * 30 sec push * 30 sec AO * 1 min WR * 30 sec base * 30 sec push * 30 sec AO
Tread Block 2 * 1 min base * 30 sec base @ 3% * 30 sec push @ 3% * 1 min base * 30 sec base @ 4% * 30 sec push @ 4% * 1 min base * 30 sec base @ 5% * 30 sec push @ 5%
Tread Block 3 * 2 min base * 30 sec push * 2 min base * 30 sec push * 2 min base * 30 sec AO
Floor Block 1 - 6.5 minutes * 30 sec AO row (100 - 150m) - check distance (once only) * Work & rest: * 8 total x speed skater with power, rest * 8 x clean, rest * 8 x high plank alt wide step with power, rest
Floor Block 2 - 6.5 minutes * 1 min AO row (goal: stay within 50m of double your previous distance - once only) * Work & rest: * 8 each x half kneeling single arm shoulder press, rest * 8 each x split squat with rotation
Floor Block 3 - 7.5 minutes * 2 min push row (goal: stay within 100m of double your previous distance - once only) * Back to back - repeat until finisher: * 8 each x single arm march in place * 16 total x high plank alt dumbbell tap * 8 x double crunch, rest * Finisher: 30 sec of speed skater with power
DC commentary: >! Mrs DC and I did this template this morning. Good old school throwback to when we did proper ESP templates with power, strength and endurance across the floor and treads. I took it a bit easier today as I have a couple of races on this morning up the steepest street in Sydney (think 0.25 miles up an incline of 30%) so this was more of a warm up for the event. \ \ Three tread blocks - first is all about power, next has a three strength sections up to 3% and the last block is all about endurance with the two minute bases and 30 second push bursts. No collapsing today and all of the effort intensities are for only 30 seconds at a time. Total distance on the treads this morning was 5.06km (3.144 miles). \ \ The floor only has a bit of rowing today as the buy-in. All the exercises are pretty reasonable even the lungessplit squats with rotation. This was a lot better than yesterday’s class. I gave it a 3 last time but Mrs DC reckons it was more like a 2 (🪶 🪶) out of 5 for gentleness. !<

I just swapped out the OEM transmission fluid for BG synchro shift II and it made a huge difference so I’m super happy about that. I originally had a loud whine in 2nd gear and this totally took care of that. I used the kit from OPMustang which comes with a cup so you can measure out the excess fluid so you get the correct amount. Well I did that but it seems like there was still too much in the bottle and I ended up filling until it started leaking out the fill hole. I let it drip for like 20 mins until it totally stopped but I’m just concerned that it may be overfilled. I know the fill level is supposed to be 9mm below the fill hole, but should that really make a difference?

Being in a relationship with someone is one of the best things and is a dream come true for many. However, this sweet dream can turn into a nightmare as soon as you find out that your partner is cheating on you via [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
How to Receive Text Messages from Another Phone Number
In many ways, new technologies have made our lives easier. At the same time, this technology can be abused to perpetrate bullying and harassment. Whether you're a worried parent or a suspicious spouse, keeping an eye on someone's virtual activities can be beneficial in various ways.
You've come to the right place if you're wondering, 'How to get text messages from another phone number sent to mine?' We'll walk you through the various methods for tracking text messages from another phone in this piece. The idea of such access may be frightening, but it can be helpful when monitoring children and loved ones.
Can You Enter Phone Number to See Text Messages?
Yes, you can, but it is limited. For example, a hacker only needs your phone number to read texts, listen to calls, and track you. Hackers have again demonstrated that no matter how many security precautions someone takes, all a hacker needs is their phone number to track their location and listen in on their phone calls and texts.
But, if you do not have such professional hacking abilities, we recommend getting a mobile phone monitoring app if you want to enter a cell number to read texts for free. Cell phone monitoring apps are software packages that allow you to remotely monitor what your child, husband, or employee is doing on their phones. If you suspect your partner has been spending too much time on their smartphone, these apps are your go-to solution for spying on them.
With these apps, you can see your kid’s SMS history and see who they've been texting. Maybe you don't like your child's friends and want to make sure he's not secretly hanging out with them; you can track their conversations and whereabouts by installing these surveillance tools on their Android or iPhone. The same is true if you suspect one of your employees is leaking sensitive information.
How to Receive Text Messages from Another Phone Number by Syncing Phone
If you can sync the text messages in real-time, it will be a perfect way to receive text messages from another phone number. With the development of technology, here are two great tools for you.
Enigmahack Text Messages Monitoring
Enigmahack Text Messages Monitoring app can help parents protect kids' safety online. It has the function of syncing kids' text messages on their Android devices to parent's mobile devices. You can also track the real-time location of the target phone and monitor the phone's surroundings.
How to Get Messages from Another Phone Sent to Mine by Forwarding
Forwarding is another method for obtaining a text message from a target phone. So, if you have both an Android phone and an iPhone, you can use a third-party app. SMS texts can be auto-forwarded to any other phone type with these apps, including iPhones. Many will even forward your text messages to your email address.
Here are two helpful forwarding apps for Android and iPhone:
AutoForward Text
AutoForward Text is a fantastic SMS forwarding app for Android. You can forward text messages to an email address using the app. The information sent also includes the phone's contact information and GPS location. Install it on the other phone and set it to forward all or specific messages to your current device.
Conclusion
There are many legit reasons for wanting to monitor someone's phone. The vast majority of mobile phone spy apps listed here operate in stealth mode, so your child, spouse, or employee will not notice them in their app list and will not be aware that you are watching them.
contact email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])

I want to start off this post by saying that these are just my raw ideas for what I would see in a Yakuza game and I write this just have the idea out there. Although I would interested see what y'all think. As of this I have only ever played the mainline games and I do plan on getting to spin-offs like Judgement and Ishin soon, so keep that in mind for I'll be referencing the I have played games and no close to zero about the games I haven't played. Oh and spoilers for the mainline series obviously. The stuff I want in my ideal game I would put in bold so if you wanted quickly read through that's an option.
​
So as you know from the Yakuza games, there are a bunch of stuff that is one game but not in another and with that there is stuff taken away from one entry that leaves you wondering why would RGG Studios decided to do that.
​

Combat

Although I do not mind Dragon Engine (K2/Y6) combat, I much preferred pre-DE combat. Everything feels like everyone is made of rubber with how enemies fly like ragdolls and it's such a slog anytime Kiryu gets knocked down or gets his combos interrupt. Plus a lot of combos felt more clunky. The biggest crime of them is how badly Tiger Drop got nerfed like not only is the timing harder but it does so little damage that it's not worth going for. Though one thing I did enjoy about DE combat and I would like in my ideal Yakuza game is the ability to bring fights into certain restaurants and convivence stores and trash the place.
​
Yakuza 3 combat, I'm with everyone who calls this game Blockuza 3 because it's no secret that enemies block more often than in the other games and it can be a bit annoying at times but also I would say people exaggerate how bad it actually is. Partly because Kiryu has a nice move set in Y3. First he has an ability called "Golden Dragon Spirit" that allows him to manually gain heat while standing next to enemies and holding the taunt button. He can also gain heat after a certain from holding charge kick which super useful during dungeons. Then there's two great heat moves: Essence of Smoking and Essence of Rolling. See a majority of heat requires come kind of special setup which is not always easy to pull off in certain situations but these two are always easy to off 99% of the time and I personally I think look really cool. Finally, finishers are also cool but I'm split between these Yakuza 4's and 5's Feel The Heat because Hell's Gauntlet is super satisfying to pull off but can always be repetitive when you're doing it on every boss because the other two finishers don't do as much as damage. Also I would like to mention Komaki's Parry it's in other games as well but I most notably remember it as a staple move to have in Y3 as well as Komaki's Knockback.
​
Yakuza 4 introduced multiple characters each with their own unique move sets and everyone seems have their own reservations about which character sucks to play as but I liked them all a game with them all would be fun. I would like to Akiyama and Saejima in my ideal game but I would prefer their Yakuza 5 versions because being able to fling enemies in the air and hit them mid-air like Dante from Devil May Cry with Akiyama was fun and having Tiger Dragon Drop on Saejima completes him as a fighter.
​
Speaking of Yakuza 5, there's also a lot of unique stuff that I'm surprise did not make it's way into Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami despite Yakuza 5's engine being the beta for the engine those games run on. Tiger Drop for one can hit multiple targets at once which I think is because in Y5 enemies do not take turns attacking you like they do in Y0 and YK. It can get annoying in parts of the game where you fighting 10+ guys at once but having multiple enemies attack at the same time added to Y5's difficulty. Enemies can flee from random encounters if get scared from you brutalizing their friends. I know other games have but off the top of my head I can't which games have it or don't but enemies would times get mad and become more aggressive (indicated by the red steam over their heads) or fall to the floor in fear (indicated by the purple cloud over their heads). Though exclusive to Y5 when they fall to the floor in fear you can stomp on their heads which is an instant knock out regardless of their health bar. Even though this can make a game considerable easier Tatsuya's training was pretty cool because it gave us temporary second health bar and along with it stat boost that increased our strength (STR), ability to maintain heat (FCS) and increased the power of heat moves (SPR) but only lasted until the second health bar was depleted. There's also Dragon Spirit which is basically K2/Y6's Extreme Heat Mode but visually I much preferred Dragon Spirit and I think it's activation was better. Weapons were also better than ever in this game each of them had their own upgrades the more you used them in battle and you could store away weapons you picked up in fights. Should also bring back Kamiyama Works.
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As for learning abilities. I think most will agree but K2/Y6's method of leveling up is not the preferred method of learning abilities. Although a cool idea, having to level up the your Health, Attack, Defense, Evasion and Heat Gauge is not something I would like in my ideal game because if you are not careful with upgrading your stats you can become pretty OP quick and if you do not upgrade enough it's easy to fall behind in strength. Featured in every game before Y0 and aside from Y4 where you a set of Soul, Tech., Body, and Soul upgrades and in order to get a certain ability you need to upgrade a bunch of other abilities. This method is better but not ideal. Personally I'm split between K1/Y0's skill tree and Y4's letting upgrade whatever you want. I like Y4's method because it provided me with one of my most fun moments while playing a Yakuza game which was playing through Saejima's prison escape. Due to it's difficulty it forced me to strategically chose my upgrades wisely so that I could better adapt to the challenge. Though K1/Y0's method did a better job at making feel like I was getting progressively stronger over the course of the game game so I lean more towards the skill tree.
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Heat Moves? Tbh every game as hundreds of heat moves and I have not keeping track of which games have which and which do not but in an ideal game I want every heat move there ever has been in one game. I though I would say I want tag team heat moves to be an option because I noticed that tag team heat moves something added in Y5 but isn't in any of the game's prior. Also I know people hated this from Kiwami but I liked those heat moves where you could punish a boss for healing during a battle.
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Also I do like Yakuza 7 Like A Dragon's turn-based combat but seeing that I play a bunch of turn-based games as is and not many beat 'em up brawlers like Yakuza, I would prefer the brawler combat.
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Dungeons. If you do not know what I'm referring to it's those parts of the game you go through an area fighting hoards of enemies, picking up healing items along the way, and usually there's boss a the end. Like Shangri-La in K1/6, Saejima's prison break in Y4, Tojo HQ in K1/0, etc. This usually where the game's combat is most exciting for me and I would like game to have a few of them (a lot more than two). As well as some kind of unique sequence like the car chases in K1/K2/0 or snowmobile chase in Y5.

Story

To be honest I do not have many concrete ideas for a story but I know what I like and what I do not like.
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One gripe I have about series are the villains. For me there's two types of villains which I'll dub, "the Rival " and "the Schemer". The Rival is a villain who if they met Kiryu/the protagonist under any other circumstances they could have been good friends and they're believably his equal or relatively close in strength to him. Some examples are this are Nishikiyama, Ryuji, Mine, Someya, and Ryo Aoki. The Schemer is villains who spend a majority of the game scheming behind the scenes and is later reveal to be responsible for all the bad stuff that happens during the game. Some examples are Jingu, Terada, Andre Richardson, the Omi's 7th Chairman, and Iwami Jr..
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Generally I like the rivals and I dislike the schemers. Usually the schemer gets little to no screen time and the reveal feels cheap because of it. Sometimes they get the schemer right like in the case of Jingu, where it kind of adds to his character where he's this extremely corrupt and power hungry politician who would go as far to attempt to kill his own wife and daughter for that power. Putting him in the final chapter kind of added to his character more than it took away from because he alluded to a few times before with that MIA guy almost leaking Jingu's name before getting killed and the Snake Flower Triad their involvement with the MIA. The rivals on the other hand usually appear multiple times during the story and it finally comes time for the final face off, it's some of the most epic fights in the series. Aizawa is one character who I would call a rival but he kind of fails due him hiding his true intentions all the way to the finale.
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Sagawa. He is one of my favorite villains in the series and rather than trying to articulate why that is this video (I linked the summary of video but you can watch the rest for added context) does a good job at explaining why I like him better than I could explain. Though one thing I would say I like how Sagawa does fall into one of the two categories and is unique. So what I'm saying is that I want a villain that could match Sagawa's uniqueness.
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Yakuza 0 Story Beats. One thing I would praise for Yakuza 0 is objectively having the best story in the series, it's a culmination of the Yakuza writer's experience writing Yakuza 1-5 in the best way. I liked how they alternated between Kiryu's and Majima's story and how each of their sections ended in a cliff hanger or an extremely emotional scene. Like Chapter 4 where Majima contemplates killing Makoto and as he unsheathes his dagger the chapter ends or Chapter 6 where Nishikiyama drives Kiryu out of the city and attempts to give Kiryu a mercy kill but ultimately can't bring himself to kill his sworn brother. All these made wanting to get back into the sections exciting and made it so that there never was a dull moment. It's that level interest for a story that I would want in my ideal game. Plus I think the plot is not too convoluted like other games can be at times.
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Protagonist. I really like Kiryu as a protagonist but part of the fun of Y4, Y5, and Y0 is that you get to experience different characters and see how they interact with the story. So ideally I would like game where you play as Kiryu, Akiyama, Majima, Saejima, Tanimura, and Shinada. Although I would say that might want to replace Tanimura and Shinada with other characters because with the way their stories ended in Y4 and Y5 I think there would not be much benefit from seeing them again even though I liked both of them. Instead I think Daigo with Tanimura's moveset and Ryuji whose somehow alive with Shinada's moveset if I wanted to go the route of different characters. Sidenote: I would give Majima his Mad Dog of Shimano style from Y0 and a new abilities. One thing I did not like about Y4 and Y5 is that each character was limited to 4 chapters of screen time because the writers did not want the game to be too long but had to fit in 4-5 characters. So think the way I would do it is that each part would be 5 chapters, focusing on 2 protagonist, alternating between the two of them, and the 5th chapter would be like Y5's finale where you choose which of the two you want to play as, as they team. So the first part could be 5 could be Kiryu & Akiyama, the second part could be Majima & Saejima and the third part could be Daigo & Ryuji or Tanimura & Shinada. With the finale being like Y5's where they each play a role in this massive fight at the end. So 16 chapters total.
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Canon? Probably not because with how I would ideally want the story to be I do not see how it could integrated nicely into the current Yakuza plot or be sandwiched between older titles. Plus if it was a spin-off game, it would be able to take more creative liberties.
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Side note: I would like see more of Joon-gi Han and what's up with his body doubles

Side Content

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Substories. I think 78 substories is a perfect amount because it not too many where it could be overwhelming but not to little either. Each character would get 13 substories to be fair. I would some substories to be call backs to older substories like the Akimoto and Mizuki substory line from K1, K2, and Y3. I would like some substories that puts the protagonist personality on display like the ones in Y4 for Akiyama, Saejima and Tanimura. I also would like substories that are in direct relation to main story like the two from Yakuza Kiwami involving the assassin sent to kill Kiryu in prison and the one with Yayoi Dojima seeking revenge for Dojima's death. Of course I would like some silly and funny substories like the one with patriarch who has a fetish for being treated like baby and forces his family act as babies too because it's a classic staple of Yakuza games.
Also no substories that require you to spend time with and money on hostess or substories that require you to be really good at a specific minigame to complete because personally I do not like them. Although I would not eliminate hostess or the rewards for getting good a minigame because I like having options.
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Minigames? Why not have them all. Some of the gambling minigames are not for me but again I like having options so I would keep them. It sucks that DE games do not have bowling but my game would of course have them. I would like Y4's ping pong sauna and Y5's table tennis air hockey sauna to return but maybe this time the sauna can feature both minigames. Y3 has a bad golf and fishing minigame but I think K2/6 made golf fun and Y5/Y0 made fishing fun so I would prefer those versions. Say what you want about song selections in DE but I think the karaoke UI is better in Y7 so I would Y7 karaoke with every song featured in a Yakuza game. Some standout minigames I would like to return is Y5's Winter Combat, Y0's Disco, Y6's Spearfishing and Y7's Dragon Cart. Sidenote I guess this game would have to take place during the winter.
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Side Stories? It'd be cool if every character had their own side story. The cabaret club is a fan favorite so another one would be cool and I would like one too because I got a extremely good at it. Although I did not much hunting in Y5, the tutorial was pretty fun and I would like to one day complete it. Same as hunting I did not finish it and although the story did not quite grasp me the taxi racing from Y5 would be pretty cool. Aside from those 3 I would like 3 new side stories, of what I do not know. I would just hope they have an interesting story and that they are fun to play.
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Y7's Drink Links, I like how they are an obvious reference to Persona another series I enjoy and I think they do a lot to give us insight on a character. Perhaps each duo could have drink links with other like imagine Kiryu and Akiyama grabbing drinks. Then maybe in finale each character could have one drink link with every other character. Then after completing a character's drink link, that characters gets a special new ability in combat.
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Visuals, Sound and Overworld

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One thing I have to appreciate the Dragon Engine for is the graphics. Sure it's not perfect, there have been weird textures and filters but generally the games featuring the DE look really good. They also make NPCs look more detailed whereas in pre-DE games NPCs looked kind of ugly and low poly when compared to main story characters. Though the visuals of heat I think Yakuza 5 did it best. I also like how during certain heat moves in Y5/Y0/K1 you see the protagonist fist change color as he is punching. As the health bars and heat bar, I do not have any preference just as long as the heat bar is not just one single bar like K2 or a bunch of orbs like Y6.
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I also noticed that fighting sound effects varies from game to game and I think that once again Y5/Y0/YK had the most satisfying fighting sound effects especially the Tiger Drops. This might be a niche thing but in Y3 there's combo where Kiryu puts his hands together and smashes the bottom his fist on his opponent's heads, it makes such a satisfying sound. Here's a clip of that.
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As for the music. I will like the upbeat battle themes as much as the next guy for me the highlight ost tracks always seem to be the unreleased tracks. Some of examples: Akiyama tells Lily he knows the truth, Saejima's re-arrest, Sagawa says Farewell, and Sugiuchi get caught. These osts such as these usually tend to be the most memorable which is always a bummer to find that their unreleased but ideal game would feature these among the other unreleased tracks and similar new osts tracks. Also like quite a few of battle osts as well but for the general I battle I would different ost tracks for each character kind of like how Yakuza 4 did it.
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I miss being able to knock NPCs down when bumping into them which something the DE changed.
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Even though I like the other cities I would like a bulk of the game to take place in Kamurocho as always. However one thing added in Y4 and was slowly phased out after Yakuza 5 & 6 are the new locations add to Kamurocho like the underground mall, underground parking lot, rooftops, the shortcut near the coin lockers, Saejima's hideout, the sewers, and Little Asia (Y6 messed this one up). These locations gave Kamurocho new feel and I missed them. Similar I really liked Sotenbori so imagine if they new locations in Sontenbori. Story wise it might not be possible to fit all the other cities but I like all of them except maybe Tsukimino (Saejima's Y5 city). I'm hesitant to add in Ijincho because on hand it would not quite fit into a story involving the six protagonist I mentioned but on the other hand it's such a big city with many attractions and it's a perfect hub for minigames and side content.

Conclusion

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https://preview.redd.it/2m07uwts4g2b1.jpg?width=1500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4520d5374fadca076335064aa03310cdaf8d2168
If you read any of that, I appreciate you. Again I just wanted to put my thoughts out there as a fan of the Yakuza series and go through stuff I enjoyed from playing it.