From the moment you start Yakuza 3, something is troubling. You likely follow suite to Kiwami 2, and now Kiryu controls like an RC Car and the game tries to retcon his closest companion. Is it over? No. All a facade. We're just getting started. Let's start with the less obvious first, I love the combat. It provides the perfect amount of challenge and really rewards the bold and the cunning. Enemies not being HP sponges would cement my love for it, but huh, whoops.

Okinawa is a great location so I would allot more time there if I could. But to my own surprise, I decided to not do the substories. Well, I did a few, but I was so enthralled by the story. Playing as the dad to my big ass family? Yes, waiter, bring me more of this. The yakuza side of things was more lowkey, toned down bullshit explosions in favor of politics, with stakes still high and, like Ryuji, a villain I want to stick around, but absolutely deserve punishment for their actions. There's one scene though, badass but definitely goofy, that definiely was a load of bull. Cried at the end I still did.

Kiwami 3 would go very hard with the treatment Majima got in Kiwami 2 given to the character that failed the vibe check and was sent to Ohio at the start. Trying to be vague here. Opportunity for RGG to try their hand at another non-japanese location. Yes I'm an hypocrite, Im always the first one to say I'm tired of games taking place in the USA. I've been baka may your fists mitai my face for your own gratification.

Ah, the infamous Yakuza 3. Considered by many to be the worst game in the series, and it's easy to see why. Modern players who probably started with 0 and then full remakes of 1 and 2 are suddenly dropped into a slapdash remaster of an early PS3 game. And while they probably expected a less refined experience, they started a boss fight and proceeded to experience more blocks then a Lego enthusiast on a coke binge.

To start off, no, the game and enemy AI is not supposed to function like that. If you don't know, the remaster changed the game from it's original 30fps to 60fps, while not changing things in the combat tied to said framerate, which leads to losing heat incredibly fast the infamous blockuza 3 gameplay the game's become known for. I will say that while the combat at first sucks balls, once you get more moves it goes from annoying to tolerable. The games setpieces where you take down dozens of goons at once still feel great, but the bosses are where the flaws in the remaster really show (seriously, what the fuck was with Lau?) and generally aren't even that hard, more just annoying endurance tests as you try (and fail) to land a single string of hits to the boss as they keep their guard up for like 70% of the fight. But most of the new things Yakuza 3 introduces gameplay wise, I didn't care for. With the exception of karaoke which originally started here, most things were just kind of annoying. Especially chase missions, they were specifically the worst.

But that's enough about the gameplay, because the real selling point of this game is the plot. And god damn, the story's great. The general small town vibe of Okinawa and the orphanage is a great place to start the game, and seeing genuine growth for Kiryu as you help the kids is just really charming, and you quickly learn the kids personalities and relationships through the little quests. It's also great seeing Haruka become the sister that ties everything together. Not to mention the new characters like Rikiya and Mikio, who are also just really solid bros. Yep I got emotional during those scenes near the end.

And the plot is probably my favorite since 0. 1 felt like a standard crime drama that was slightly goofy in places, but still showed a couple growing pains from being the first one. And 2 had a shit romance subplot that didn't lead anywhere, I LOVE FORCING TWO CHARACTERS OF THE OPPOSITE GENDER TOGETHER TRULY. But anyway, the gang warfare was great, all the new captains were great as well, with Kanda being a really enjoyable scumbag, and Mine being a great foil to Kiryu, even if I wish there were a few more scenes expanding on that aspect besides a short flashback, and would have preferred if the game didn't go the 'redemption means death' route at the end. Also thought the CIA stuff was just kind of forced in at times, like they had the plot for another Yakuza game, realized it wouldn't work, and crammed them in here because the CIA guys with guns are really cool okay?

But while the main story is great, the side stories are just kind of...lame. Besides the ones that were continuations of Y2 side stories like the two comedians and the honeymoon couple, I just found the them underwhelming. Several feel like they're about to lead somewhere after antagonizing Kiryu and then just...don't? Like one where a guy leads Kiryu into an alley and tries to mug him, Kiryu beats him up, and then the substory ends. It takes like 3 minutes to do and doesn't lead to anything else. As I'm writing this I struggle to think of any really memorable side stuff besides the murder mystery quest and the urban legends of Okinawa.

But if this review is, for some reason, the deciding factor in whether to play Y3 or skip it like some say you should, I'd say give it a try. The story is good enough to forgive weak gameplay, even if I do recommend not going above normal difficulty, Kiryu's growth here is excellent, the world is charming, and it left me satisfied at the end. If not for how much the remaster screwed the combat up, it'd probably be above Kiwami 1 for me.

(or just wait for that Yakuza 3 Kiwami that's getting announced any minute now...

any minute...

trust me guys)

After bursting onto the scene the year before into the HD era, RGG Studio (at that time SEGA’s CS1 team) had set up the groundwork for a full mainline entry in their ongoing series. It would chronicle Kiryu’s life and legacy as a character representative of the post-console era of the company.

Three is rough. There’s a million different things that you can pick apart and use to present the game as “objectively bad”. But it doesn’t matter. Three is the beating heart of Kiryu’s saga and the keystone entry that defines who the character is and largely what he’ll live for.

The importance of trust, bonds, and embracing humanity are pounded into your brain.

Mechanically speaking, there is no coincidence that you are hard locked into engaging with Kiryu’s kids and helping them each out with their problems. You can’t skip these segments, you can’t ignore them and move on to the “real plot”, because Morning Glory and Okinawa define why Kiryu keeps going. When Ayako feels she isn’t valued by the rest of the kids, you’re presented with seven dedicated dialogue choices to help them each learn to appreciate her. When Taichi's allergies trigger, you and Rikiya go out of your way to do a faux wrestling match just to inspire him. It’s very intentional and a big part of the emotional foundation of the game.

Kids aren’t quite at the point where they can dive deep into organized crime and feel its consequences, and yet the unflinching trust Kiryu is insistent on giving is a recurring element of the game. He’s entirely open to reviving Kashiwagi’s Honest Living Association to give washed-up yakuza another chance at life. He’s pounding this into Mine and Hamazaki at the end, even if it costs him his life.

What makes Kazuma Kiryu stand out among equally excellent protagonists in this series, the thing that he alone can really stand behind, is the overwhelming fatherly presence he carries. You listen to him speak with conviction and passion, and it makes you want to get off your lazy ass and do some reps. It makes you want to keep living, and rebuild. He lacks the emotional intelligence of Ichiban, and the brains of Yagami, but he’s the only one who can really fill the void of a father figure.

The themes and ideas from Yakuza 3 would carry onto the rest of the series and be explored beautifully. With Kiryu’s conviction being passed on all the way to his successor in Infinite Wealth, it was a great choice to revisit this incredibly important chapter in a series I love.

This is a hard game to review! On one hand the story was actually really good, I liked most of the new characters (Kiryu and Majima still reign supreme), the music (especially the New Serena music oh lordy) is sexy, the graphical and everything else downgrade from Kiwami was nothing but charming, the gameplay honestly isnt as bad as everyone says and orphanage Kiryu is super wholesome.... but.
The boss fights are awful and tedious - Where this is the easiest Yakuza yet, but all they do is block and stun and have a lot of health so fights end up taking way too long - There's also unnecessarily long sections of the game at the beginning and near the end where all the interesting action is halted to spend time with the kids which isnt bad in theory but the way its handled makes the game drag forever and it felt like I was being purposefully tortured. Plus some of the plot points were a little too goofy for my liking (I love when the series gets goofy, but when they try to mix that with the serious stuff it just falls flat), the best character is killed by a throwaway villain in (an admittedly good scene that got me a little teary despite knowing it was coming) and I feel like they could of been used more. Also not sure where to put this info in but it should be noted I never did more than like four substories as I wasn't really interested in any and the story was slow enough. Also it should be noted that this game has an awful encounter rate and this may be because its freshest in my mind but its probably the worst to date, I couldn't go more than 10 steps without being forced into a battle.
Okay. Thats a lot I'm sure. Which is why I'm conflicted. The finale wasnt as good as YK2 but by the end, just like in 2 most of those problems weren't even bothering me. It all comes together nice and I just thought "hey that was another really good Yakuza game that should of been two hours shorter" so, I think that kinda speaks for how solid the series is as a whole. Even if it drags and some parts make you want to shoot yourself, you always come out the other end having a good time.

Trophy Completion - 25%
In Game Completion - 5.78% (lol)
Game Time - 16 hours
Rating - 84%

I know everyone hates Yakuza 3, but it really is the most important game in the series without getting into spoilers.

The first few hours of the game I really like. It shifts to a more slice-of-life style thing where Kiryu is taking care of his orphanage and the kids in it, and the new setting in Okinawa was a fantastic change from Sotenbori and Kamurocho, going away from the big city into a new location thats so drastically different is really cool. I liked the new area, despite being very small and not having many things in it, had a lot of charm and was fun to explore. The kids and your new friends are all very likeable and I found myself more interested in taking care of them over the actual yakuza side of the plot. This game's story is not up to par with the others I have played. It has serious pacing issues and was just really boring. One part was like a 30 minute cutscene where you sat down with another guy as he explained everything in the plot to you. OK, fine, an exposition dump. Sure. But at least it's early on in the game and takes advantage of the player's knowledge of what's going on right? Nope! It's the 10th chapter. Out of 12. You're practically done with the game and just now you figure out what's happening. The pacing would have been better if there was stuff to do. The minigames are all terrible! golf is OK, but the others aren't good. The substories mostly are boring and bad, with the exception of a couple of fun ones. Most boss battles were pretty bad and the final boss, while an interesting character, would have benefitted from more development and involvement in the story. His characterization suffers due to the pace. But the best parts of the story are centered around the orphanage and those kids, some great emotional moments make me wish they focused more on this.

The combat? is bad! the enemies block all your moves, and the boss's health bars are way too big. Your heat bar basically will never fill up and if it does, you gotta roll a dice and bet on a winning racehorse to get the heat icon to show up so you could do the animation, which does approximately 2 nautical centimeters of health bar damage.

This game would have really benefited from Kiwamification. Nicer graphics that make the beachside city really pop and sell the feeling, more things to do, and more fun substories and activities. Better combat, more balanced pacing, and, let's be real, a complete overhaul of the story.

the internet lied to me.

Seriously though I can kind of understand most of the complaints this game gets but goddamn I genuinely think this may be my new favorite in the series so far. I really liked the orphanage stuff and I thought it was a nice way to develop the side characters really well (chapter 11 fucked me up HARD and so far has been one of the few moments in this series to make me emotional). Also the soundtrack is godlike. If the encounter rate was less annoying and combat wasn’t worse than Yakuza 2 then I could easily call this my favorite but for now I’ll have to think about it…

Edit: i platinumed the game now FUCK pool

Despite feeling dated at times, Yakuza 3 is still a worthwhile entry in the series. Papa Kiryu is great and it was endearing to see how he treats his kids. Kiryu taking care of children just warms my heart and made me love and appreciate him even more.

However, the game definitely starts slow with all the orphanage stuff and I can understand why some people struggled to get into it, but I like how the game switches from dad simulator to the usual Yakuza stuff we're used to.

But my god, the blocking in this game irritated me way too much. It just turns combat into a slog.

I typically tend to go into games and ignore what people have to say about them and just play them for myself and form my own opinion on them, but this game got so much hate, most people do not like it, I am glad to say i am not one of those people. I absolutely LOVED this game from start to finish. I loved Kiryu being a dad to his kids, The Orphanage arc was probably my favourite arc in this game, although the rest of the story is just as good, The Main villain was also great for this game, I just loved everything about this games story from start to finish.


I really don't have any complaints about this game except for the god awful quality of life, it was basically non-existent, for some reason, Weapons, Food and healing items are all in a single section so it makes it incredibly tedious to manage.

I did myself a huge favour and played this game on easy and i'm glad i did, i think this game is best experienced that way.

If Yakuza 3 has a million of fans I am one of them.

If Yakuza 3 has ten fans I am one of them.

If Yakuza 3 has only one fan that is me.

If Yakuza 3 has no fans, that means I am no longer on earth.

If the world is against Yakuza 3, I am against the world.

The funniest thing in Yakuza 3 is that every other Yakuza knows who Kiryu is, they're all familiar with stories of the Dragon of Dojima, yet NONE of them know what he looks like.

At least 20 times throughout the game, this happens:

Goons: "Hey IDIOT what are you doing on our turf?? Don't you know we're in the TOJO CLAN?!?"
Kiryu: "..."
Goons: "GET DEAD, YOU OLD FART"
Kiryu: [Tears their spines out]
Goon boss: "Hey guys sorry I was standing over there for a minute what did I miss- OH HEY Fourth Chairman, how you doing?"
Goons: "WHUUUUHHHHH????"

Yakuza 3 is way better than people make it out to be. It's definitely the weakest of the series that I've played up to this point, but it's not bad by any means. Above all else, I loved those orphans as much as this game loves the word "Aniki".

Also, that ending was severely insane. It felt like they ran out of development budget and reached the end before realizing they hadn't paid off a character who was introduced like 15 gameplay hours earlier, so they gave him a bonkers cutscene. What a ride!

Not a bad game by any means but this is the first Yakuza game I've played where I felt like I was forcing myself through it, and I don't really think I want to do that with games going forward. Combat feels really unsatisfying compared to the PS2 games, and the main story beats I went through left a seriously bad impression on me. I thought the Morning Glory stuff was great, though. It was really nice seeing Kiryu in a father figure-ish position, especially as a way of sort of giving back to someone who mattered to him. Probably going to watch cutscenes and move on to 4, as much as I don't really like doing that.

Writing this review at 3am because I opened my backloggd for the first time in like 6 months and started thinking about Yakuzaaaa


I don't know man

like
It's literally a good games guys.
Its fucking FUN. Like it's harder than the other Yakuza games because the guys block so much and I can see that being annoying but just like...Hit their backs, guys.... Just press the dodge button and go behind them and hit and they're dead. Gone. you win. That's how I played most of the yakuza games anyways, this game just promoted dodging more than blocking. Just don't block. That button isn't real anymore. Just ignore it. Just dodge, it's fun.


Next people are like "ehhhh the story it's just watching kids all the time!!! wahhh"
yeah it's cool. It's a direct reference to a Yakuza movie called "Sonatine" that takes place on the same beach and has the same vibe of "Badass Yakuza guys hang out on a beach instead of fighting each other" it's a really interesting movie and that's why Yakuza 3 did that.

Not only that but it just fits Kiryu's character. He's no longer this big badass Yakuza guy, he's just hanging out with his kids. He's chillin', man. I'm proud of him. Kiryu's so cool I love Kiryu, dude.

Also when the beach segments end and the story picks up it's soooo good I like Rikiya man hell yeah.



This game is like. Not objectively perfect. If you don't like it I'm not gonna straight up say you're wrong. However if you didn't like Yakuza 5 or Yakuza 0 then... Yeah you're a bad person.... But this one is kind of a guilty pleasure almost? It's really weird, it's the obvious black sheep of the series but it's such a cool black sheep I love this game man.


I'm going to bed. Go play this game.

yakuza 3 is kind of sad to me, a good game held back by glaring issues. mine is still one of the strongest foils to kiryu and still has the coolest boss intro and battle theme in the series and most scenes with him are incredible, and i really like the story in terms of kiryu and the orphanage and all of that, but the combat is pretty weak and the actual conspiracy that drives the plot is by far the weakest in the series and it's hard to reconcile with that when the behind the scenes scheming and what not that drives the plot is too uninteresting to do that very well. equally integral to and great for kiryu's story and progression as it is uninteresting and not really worth revisiting in my opinion

Seriously underrated by the Yakuza community, however I will be fair and say the Remaster is a pretty poor way to play Yakuza 3. I've gotten the Plat twice for this version of the game and I've played a significant amount of the original version to note the key differences:
1. Quickstep distance on PS4 is halved of what it is on console and double on Xbox/PC. This makes it difficult to get behind enemies which is a key part of Y3's design.
2. Enemies block waaaaay more than they should. Enemies block a decent amount in the original release, but an important strat is to whiff your light hits and land your heavy ones. This is much harder on the remaster because enemies will block you from a distance for no reason (Shinzaki in the hitman missions is completely ruined due to him blocking 99% of attacks, it's miserable).
3. Minigames like pool and darts are much harder than they've ever been. Shooting cues is inaccurate unless you pull your joystick back perfectly and dart shots are imprecise unless you find the perfect speed. Fishing used to be insanely difficult but a patch was released to make it the easiest fishing in the series.
4. Heat will drop extremely quickly if you don't constantly hit your enemies, dropping three times sooner and three times quicker than the original release. This makes heat actions tough to consistently use which is unfortunate since Y3 lets you pop them off constantly.
Y3's got a fun story, alright side content, and satisfying combat but unfortunately the remaster puts a bit of a botch into this great game. I'd still recommend this version but if you can get your hands on the original I'd recommend it more, despite the cut content

I like the way Yakuza feels. The Yakuza Feeling (TM) is a very precise atmosphere. Silly and serious, clever and stupid, dramatic and light. It dances so deftly between those two extremes, its a tone that can only be accomplished through years of franchise building. By this entry, the story barely grazes my thoughts. I'm here for the Vibe.

Its interesting to see how the vibe has changed in the Old Yakuza vs Modern Yakuza. In many ways, not by much. Kiwami 1 and 2 try to cover up some patches, but they ended up more obviously exposing how thin many early substories could be. These games have hundreds of substories, but the depth leaves a lot to be desired compared to later entries. In Yakuza 3, when it doesn't have to clash with the presentation of Modern Yakuza, these substories aren't as annoying for their simplicity. Its all pick-pockets and con men, but the writing is sharper. More self-aware, more interested in leaving something memorable here. Its not quite Modern Yakuza Substories, but the steps are being made.

When I'm not thinking much about the story, I'm left to think about the Yakuza Feeling more. There's a lot of redundancy to Yakuza 3, things Kiwami 1 and 2 cut out. Every enemy encounter prefaced with a threat, ended with an apology. Several restaurants only allowing you to consume one food at a time, often followed by several dialogue screens about payment. Hitman missions end with a "thank you for capturing the hitman, let me take you to the base" combined with a teleport to the base, followed by a "excellent work, here is your money." It'd be seemingly simple to cut out the chafe and streamline some of these incidental moments to speed up gameplay. Modern Yakuza largely has. Except, that mundanity is kind of what the Yakuza Feeling revolves around. Those precise moments of in-between shape how real this world actually feels. The franchise knows this is a Video Game Ass Video Game but it takes so much effort to make the world feel well-realized. Developed with care. Little interactions that could only happen if the world felt real. Modern Yakuza may have figured out how to keep this atmosphere while leaning more into the Game Feel of it all, but there's something to be said about the classic structure of the franchise.

Yakuza's relationship with gender is fascinating in a different way. Women, broadly speaking, fill archetypes. Mother, daughter, lover, and some slight distinctions in-between. With the hostess minigame, a selection of fashionable women are the majority of the game's female characters. At the same time, Yakuza wants to be an empathetic franchise, even if its not equipped to be as empathetic as it wants. Yakuza Kiwami 1 dabbled in this with its own hostesses, particularly Rina Rukawa. Rina identified as a lesbian and Kiryu is plenty respectful of her lifestyle. He encourages her not to give up on women when another relationship breaks down and Rina starts debating on defaulting back to men. Still, it sort of feels like Rina is still attracted to men and the game never touches the idea of bisexuality. Its hard to tell if the game expects her to "grow up" and settle down with a man like Kiryu or not. So it exists in this odd zone of empathy but through a limited lens of the world.

Yakuza 3 hostesses have this same kind of dynamic, presenting simple archetypes but nonetheless interested in expressing empathy anyway. One hostess in particular, Miyu Shiraboshi, is a new hostess to Remastered. Miyu is a single mom who is delighted to talk about her son once she realizes Kiryu won't judge her for it. Miyu's struggle is fascinating, outlining how she can't even tell her employers about her child for risk of a sudden firing. Yet she also doesn't have much to talk about outside of her son, placing her as a Mom archetype above all other facets of her life. Even so, there's some radical about how the game is willing to present her as an attractive character because she wants the best for her son, not in spite of her motherhood. Other hostesses have issues with life goals and the risks of admitting to their hostess work to judgmental outsides. The game isn't quite ready to grapple with those problems as a systemic issue, inside focusing on foolish one-shot antagonists who can be easily beat down. But even so, I still really adored Miyu's characterization through the generally odd framing. She was just really endearing.

Although, Miyu also sparked odd characterization from Kiryu. He insists on describing Haruka as "like a daughter to me," unwilling to fully label her as his kid. By all intents and purposes, she is his kid. His entire orphanage is really all his kids, all of them with unique problems and personality traits that take up several hours of story. The game presents him as an awe-inspiring father figure, but is wary to actually call Kiryu a dad. The game already shuffled Sayama off to the land of never relevant so Kiryu could be single. Perhaps the franchise fears committing Kiryu too much to a stable life. Once he's a dad, its harder to justify his numerous misadventures. Forcing the definition of his family into this murky line might be their best idea of keeping him an available protagonist. Although, maybe that murkiness is intentional. Kiryu's not the best communicator even at his most enlightened, and the mistakes he's made wraps around every scheme in the series. His inability to fully commit to retirement is his greatest, most dangerous flaw. Even in a comfortable minigame romancing hostesses, Kiryu can't just be one thing.

Anyway, the most fascinating hostess among the pack to me for its Gender Dynamic is Yui Hatano. She's a mess. A party girl who gets blackout drunk, destroys most of her relationships, a person who hates to be questioned by anyone. Giving any kind of contradictory response to her immediately drops your relationship hearts, while agreeing that everyone else is to blame for her misfortune gets those big hearts. Yui's route is the only substory with only negative results: you must pay 300,000 yen to repair her damages. Once the payment is made, Yui suddenly apologizes to Kiryu and remarks with wonder: "I can finally apologize to someone." I love any character who's self-aware about their issues but doomed to never stop themselves, but that's not necessarily a characterization I'd define to Yui. A lack of apology isn't her biggest problem. Once again, the game is empathetic, but what its empathetic to is just so fascinating and hard-to-pin down. The actual issues of the characters are so hard to fix and hard to communicate, the game sometimes points to new problems to fix instead of the root issue, if there's even a root issue to point at to begin with. Its bewildering. Its fascinating. Its kind of just, what Yakuza does, for better or for worse.

Part of my generally pleasant feelings towards the game owes a lot to modern modding efforts. Kiryu's great, I love the doofus. But I just feel way more gender euphoria when I slap on Sayama's model onto his. I can understand why it might be dysphoric for most people to hear Kiryu's deep grunts out of Sayama's mouth. But for me, there was something empowering about it. No one reacted oddly to "Sayama" as a mighty paragon of this world. She was simply the trustworthy warrior that the streets of Tokyo feared to offend. It whips. For a franchise that's often so mired in Gender, forcing the world to have a complete non-reaction to Protag Sayama does a lot to salvage my ability to enjoy the game regardless. Hard to review this neutrally with that bias in mind. Kind of don't care. Game feels radical. That's all I need.