"We are the Yakuza 4!" - Kiryu, Akiyama, Saejima and Tanimura

Alright, this one's gonna be a bit shorter. I liked Yakuza 4. In fact - I liked it very much.

Gameplay wise - very similar to Yakuza 3, but just... better. The combat feels smoother (no more blockuza) and gives you a lot more options. The four characters don't really feel that different (don't expect DMC5 level variety) but they're all enjoyable in their own right. I just need to say, they made Kiryu feel like a beast in this game and I love it. Oh, and they made the chase sections better. They're kinda fun now.

They added underground and rooftop sections to Kamurocho (TOTK?), but they really aren't that interesting. Not much to say here.

The game looks a bit better than 3. Animations are definitely improved and there is some added detail here and there, but it's still a PS3 game.

Story-wise... well. The game does feel a bit unfocused, thanks to the campaign being split between 4 different characters, but they make it work. It feels like there's a lot happening, but when you think about the story is actually kinda simple? There's a big conspiracy in the background, sure, but in terms of what actually happens in-game - not much. I do like the new characters, especially Akiyama, voiced by Koichi Yamadera. As a Cowboy Bebop enjoyer I was very happy to hear him. In general the story was fun, definitely had it's fair share of hype moments towards the end.

Coming up, Yakuza 5. There sure is a lot of people on the cover.

Oh yeah, Yakuza 4 time!

After finishing Yakuza 3, the game considered 'the bad one' and having a decent time with it, I was excited for the rest of the series going forward. This one also looked interesting, because Kiryu was sharing the spotlight with 3 other guys this time round. Stories that take place from multiple perspectives are my jam personally, so I was looking forward to this.

Part 1: Akiyama rules

So the game starts with Akiyama, and holy shit this starts great. He's charming, he's suave, he's smart. His kicking based fighting style and jazzy soundtrack reminded me heavily of Sanji from One Piece, so it was great to play a game like that without it going 'uhm acktually there are women here you can't play this guy' every five minutes. His thing is lending money to people who interest him, so most of the side content revolves around that, with nearly all of them being great, stuff like the apprentice and the money bath quest especially. Not to mention his plot of tracking down a lady while investigating a murder and getting tangled in the larger plot. It starts and end great while leaving off on a great tale for the next guy. Not a thing I'd change about the plot here. 10/10. Hopefully the next guy is even half as strong

Part 2: Saejima drools

So then the player moves onto Saejima, Majima's old partner. Okay, this seems cool. Starts off in prison with Hamazaki from the previous game, while intrigue of private prisons and corrupt cops runs abound. Narrative seems cool seeing as this guy killed 18 dudes (right?), let's see how the first combat encounter goes oh my god it sucks it sucks so hard who designed this.

Saejima's gameplay revolves around charging attacks. Not my favorite if we're being honest, seeing as Yakuza games are at their best when it's one guy against an army like a classic martial arts movie. So having Saejima just be like 'okay gimme a sec' for most of his stronger moves didn't feel right to me, especially with the prison escape sequence he does feeling awkward with a terrible boss fight. I mean three terrible boss fights. I mean the same terrible boss fight done three times. But then you get to Okinawa, experience possibly the worst scene in the game, do a decent boss fight, and leave for Kamarocho, and get to do funny side activities from the perspective of a guy who hasn't seen in city in 25 years, kinda like Kiryu in the first game and oh no wait the city is on lockdown, you have to fuck around in the sewers, and then do one boss fight in a cage match(this scene is actually good tho) and then almost directly move on to another boss fight (also pretty good) afterwards, and that's basically Saejima. Some neat writing, why does the gameplay suck so much. 3/10. Hopefully the next guy is decent.

Part 3: Tanimura is decent

Next up is Tanimura, a rookie cop who notices something's up within the force, and is on his way to figure it out. I like his story, it's mostly around the man who killed his father, while also delving into the plight of immigrants in Japanese society. I liked the twists here, and his side content is also great. It mostly seems to focus on larger chains such as him figuring out the truth about his father, as well as the training missions tying into a mystery about tracking down a killer, it's all great stuff. His combat is also pretty good, being more focused on parries and restraints, fitting for a police officer. Thing is, his chapter 4 boss dies, but he finds a traitor in the force, which'll be his great conclusion and entertaining boss fight. (foreshadowing is a narrative device yadda yadda yadda) 8/10

Part 4: Kiryu is also here

Kiryu is once again dragged into the scheme practically wearing a shirt saying 'SERIES CONTINUITY' on it. He shows a lot of personal growth here, choosing to opt for peace and forgiveness when a villain from the previous games calls for his aid, and he's back in Kamarocho before you know it. His plot is pretty much the connecting tissue that unites the Yakuza 4 (get it?) before the finale. It's where the emotional gut punches start, and all of it is classic Yakuza goodness. But it's also where the flaws in the plot start. The less said about rubber bullets the better, and the plot has a lot of 'this guy betrayed that guy BUT THEN he got betrayed by the other guy working for that guy' to the point you'll probably need a flowchart or something to keep up with who's betraying who. But anyway, the pieces are all moving, the villains are making their play, and it's time for the explosive finale.

Part 5: Who designed this finale

With all four together, it's time to hit up the tower and conclude things. This game ditches the gauntlet of goons you face on your way to the boss, but that's fine, as long as the finale is good.

Akiyama fights the guy from Tanimura's plot. Okay, bit odd, but Akiyama didn't really leave anyone to fight in his own plot, so it's whatever. Fight's fun and satisfying, thumbs up.

Saejima's fight is also pretty good (read: easy to cheese) against a person he has emotional connection to who you honestly feel kind of bad for. It's a decent fight.

Kiryu and Tanimura is awful

Kiryu's is your standard shirtless tower brawl, only made to be as annoying and unfun as possible. He has constant armour so you can barely do anything to him, blocks and dodges constantly, and has a move that I swear just makes shit phase through him which he also uses constantly. You can't even land a light combo on him before he goes 'nuh-uh' and pummels you into the dirt.

But Tanimura's fight, HOLY FUCK. Straight up, everyone involved with making this fight should be blacklisted from the industry. It's one thing to gave the main boss be a guy with a gun who takes cheap shots at you from a distance. It's another to give him bodyguards. It's another to give him a bodyguard count in the double digits who proceed to combo you constantly. But finally, they block and dodge constantly so you can't get a decent hit in, and even when you do that's when the gun comes back. Not the worst boss fight in Yakuza (Neo knockoff from 1 still takes that one) but still, dear god. Finale gets a 4/10, the story concludes nicely.

Overall, Yakuza is a game that's pretty consistently great, but the low points are among the lowest of any game I've played. averaging out my scores lands the game at a 6.6, but that feels too low, so it's like an 8. The vibes are good, it's (mostly) more Yakuza goodness, and I'm looking forward to 5

Gonna write about each little story individually I think anyway,

Akiyama: As a character he is awesome, love his dynamic with Kido and Hana and his overall demeanour and vibe. His only flaw is that he doesnt realise he shoulda been lovin a fat bitch instead of a girl he met yesterday.
Saejima: The scene is really bad. Like worse than just the clip people cite it goes on to have it known that Kiriyu saw the whole thing, was cool with it and left Haruka alone with him. Its a stupid way to illustrate that his ass was in prison for a long time from any way you choose to read it and should have not been in the goddamn game.
The worst thing is that hes actually really compelling and his part of the game is pretty great aside from the 'stealth' stuff near the end. His sub stories are what brought me around on him along with the latter half of his story.
Tanimura : overall the most interesting and the most complete feeling story. Ma-chan is awesome even with all the cop bs idgaf about. They present a mystery and solve it, its cool. I really dont have a lot to say , solid and good story.
Kiriyu: Hes characterized kinda weird and kind of like an asshole which is cool tbh. Im glad they acknowledged that him thrusting his job onto some punk ass 30 year old because he didnt feel like doing it was kind of a dick move. He's kind of a character who wants to have his cake and eat it too, like he wants to leave his yakuza life behind yet keeps in touch with all this people and says stupid bullshit that amounts to "the yakuza are kind of awesome and the good guys actually" while running a fucking orphanage.

I dont know....I dont think I would be as positive as I am on this game if the franchise didn't have its claws into me. Theres plenty of stuff about the main plot i just plain dont like (or gaf about) and even though I played it straight after 3 it made me nostalgic for it. Maybe in a week I'll start to miss it but its safe to say I need a break after playing 4 games in a row.
Saejimas dumb fucking sister and Hana becoming skinny annoy the shit out of me , I really wish the writers saw women as people.

Yakuza 4 is a mess.

The new characters introduced in this game are really cool. The move sets they have are pretty neat to mess around with after 3 games of Kiryu only, and they definitely don't feel as stiff as the earlier games. However the enemy design in this game still suffers from a lot of the trappings that Yakuza 3 did. They still block all the damn time , even in the middle of your combos. They still attack you in the middle of your combos. The game can still get every frustrating because of it.

Kamurocho got a bunch of new routes on the roofs and sewers to get around the city with, but most of them are underused or not very useful. It feels like they only exist for Saejima's chapters where they force you to use them.

The story is actually pretty good until right when Kiryu becomes playable and then everything falls apart. There is a scene where like 5 different characters betray each other on the roof back to back, and they use the twist of rubber bullets TWICE.

With that said, this game is still good, its still Yakuza, and its definitely still better than 3. This game also has a really good soundtrack.

Did you know that in Yakuza 3 and 4 the best way to fight enemies is to hit them from behind. They are less likely to break your combos if you do. For more information look up Yakuza backshots.