Yakuza Zero, the one that started it all. And by "it all", I mean the Yakuza series.

First and foremost, that's what this game is; the first in the order of release and the foremost in time. Everything people would come to love about Yakuza, Yakuza 2, Yakuza Kenzan, Yakuza 3, Yakuza 4, Kurohyo 1 and 2, Yakuza Dead Souls, Yakuza 5, Yakuza Ishin, etc. has its roots in this legendary and primary game. You simply got to give it up for when a great game launches a great series.

It establishes the beloved characters and memorable settings, with later games taking their cues from this introductory chapter. If you're gonna dive into the Yakuza series, take a hint from Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music and "start at the very beginning, a very good place to start".

Some series like to start with a game just called "Series Name" or if they're ambitious "Series Name 1"; maybe throw in a subtitle for good measure like "Series Name: Origins". But the Yakuza series--as it continues to be called to this day even after eight years of classic games--always likes to take the road less travelled, hence the decision to name its first entry Yakuza Zero. Can't get earlier than that.

Looking forward to playing the next game in the series, Doki Doki Panic.

Oooh. This game is goood. It tells one of the best stories ever told in the medium of video games with amazingly developed characters, fantastic tension and an overall very well written narrative. Now, the game does get in a habit of not developing some characters a whole lot and then just dumping all the character development in one scene when I feel it would be far better to spread it out more throughout the story. The pacing also gets a bit weird at some of the character switches which is not a huge deal but at times it's mildly annoying. It also starts off with a bit too much filler and the first few chapters feel a bit drawn out.

The Yakuza games really know how to do open worlds and Yakuza 0 is no different. The world is small but jam packed with fun side content, whether that be hilarious and well written substories or karaoke. The game blends the tones of the main story's serious crime drama with the side content's ridicilous comedy so well and it never feels out of place. In what other game can you shoot a music video for Michael Jackson with Steven Spielberg? No other game. There's a character called Mr. Libido.

Unfortunately though, I do feel that the combat is one of the weakest aspects of the game, especially when playing as Kiryu. It just feels pretty button mashy and his styles are in no way designed well for the massive brawls that you get into later in the game and there's no reliable way to avoid damage while also dealing damage. This is better with Majima as his fighting styles feel a lot less stiff and are just all around better suited for fighting a lot of enemies. You have the breakdancing style that lets you spin around on the floor, the thug style that's decently fast, has two consecutive dodges and amazing heat actions and he has the slugger style that gives him a bat that's really fun to use.

I'm really excited to play more Yakuza games and despite this game's flaws that did get a bit annoying at times I still think it's one of the best game ever made. Well done RGG.

I've realised that my reviews often come across as more negative than they actually are but that's just because I feel more compelled to explain why I don't like aspects of a game than explain why I like aspects of a game.

Yakuza 0 is simply magnificent
Starting with the combat of this game, which is wonderful, with two playable characters and 3 different styles between them and with an extra special style for each, and with the heat actions making everything even more dynamic, it's fun that never ends without count the amount of things you can do in Kamurocho and Sotenbori. It took me so long to finish the campaign because I don't know how many hours I spent on Pocket Circuit, karaoke, bowling among many other mini-games, then I went to the office to collect the profits and then invested even more in real estate agencies and my God I never thought that it would be so nice to run a cabaret. And of course the sub-stories, one of which is more fun than the other.
Speaking of history... it's like a Russian roulette of emotions, every encounter, every confrontation, every moment, is simply incredible. That Majima epilogue really got me... And obviously I couldn't help but comment on the soundtrack, which is impeccable... that's all... what a good soundtrack.
Yakuza 0 was a game that marked a generation and will continue to mark generations and generations because above all its qualities, it has something unique that is increasingly diminishing in the gaming world... Yakuza 0 has its own identity.

As my first Yakuza game, Yakuza 0 has certainly gotten me hooked on the series. You're weirded out by the wacky sidequests, but then the main storyline keeps you reeled in with a compelling tale of very likeable characters. Combat feels good with multiple, unique fighting styles across both of the characters you play. When you get bored of the street fights and hilarious missions, the game boists a large number of fun minigames that are always worth a try. If you haven't played Yakuza, this game is a welcoming entrance to the series before moving on to Yakuza: Kiwami. If you've already played some of the other games, you know what to expect, and you won't regret the purchase.

I finished replaying this last year and forgot to log it, so this is the log. Plus I might as well as I'm replaying the Yakuza games I've played so I can move on and catch up.

If there was ever a Yakuza game that I would call the "gold standard" Yakuza game, it's 100% this one. It was my starting point into the series and I'm sure it was for many others as well. The first time I heard abt the series was in some fucking game informer magazine review for 4 way back when, and never really caught my eye. But then I found out more about it, and it began to pique my interest. Yakuza 0 is a great game. Flawless, hell no, none of these games are, but it's a hell of a ride.

The story hooked me instantly. You have a younger, earlier version of both Kiryu and Majima, and it showcases how they got to where they were at the start of the first game. The story has so many great characters, and both sides of the story are so goddamn captivating. Kiryu with his relation with the Dojima family and especially his tragic oath brother Nishiki, and Majima being locked away in Sotenbori eventually being thrown down a gigantic rabbit hole that eventually wraps up with a bow so fantastically. It's funny, it's charming, it's emotional, it's a damn good story, Majima's side especially. I won't spoil anything but fuck the ending is just great.

The gameplay of Yakuza 0 is: fine. Sometimes. When I play as Majima, I have a ton of fun. He's got the best playstyles out of the bunch. Thug is the most basic one, but it's fun as is. But then you have the slugger and especially the breaker style, which add so much spice to the gameplay. Not to say Kiryu's styles are bad mind you, I do like the beast style especially, but the gameplay feels worse as Kiryu. Majima's can be too easy, but when I play as Kiryu, ganking becomes a bit of a problem. It's nothing too bad until one certain part near the end. Wuf. But, Yakuza 0's combat is flashy and entertaining, while not the highlight of the game.

The side content of this game is great, you have some really fun substories, minigames, eateries, etc. Substories add a lot of fun world building to Kamurocho, they can be endearing, sweet, funny, or bizarre. One minute you're helping a relationship, the next you're teaching an S&M dominatrix be a better dom. It's awesome. The minigames are fun too, you got some arcade games like out-run and space harrier, you got baseball, mahjong (idk how 2 play it lmfao), etc. And of course, you got the karaoke, which is very cute. Speaking of that:

Yakuza 0's soundtrack is a bop, tried and true. There are so many great tracks from the battle themes, to the music playing depending on your style, etc. I love all the boss tracks in the final chapter a lot, and of course you got the karaoke. Baka Mitai's only fault is being over memed and becoming "reddit" but it's a nice track too, I really love hearing Kiryu's VA sing it's great. "24 Hour Cinderella" is such a charming track too I fucking adore it, and my all time favorite Yakuza track (hurrrrrr so basickkkk) is Judgement, it's great and once again, Kuroda just kills it. I wish I sounded as good as Kiryu (my voice is deep but I sound like a toad).

So, Yakuze 0 is a treat of a game, and if you ever wanted to get into Yakuza, this is one of the games I think you could start off with. It's got a lot of things both veterans and newcomers can appreciate, and it's earned it's reputation. Good game this is Kuze if he had roblox.

I remember giving this game a glowing review when I played it ages ago and it's always funny to turn around and see how much of the glaring flaws I was dismissing for my recency bias,

Look the yakuza are acting so absurdist and out of character this is so funny!!! (this is the entire fucking franchise), a game designed so that you take screenshots and upload them on twitter so your garbage smelling friends can go "heh...I told you its peak"

Majima's side of the story is salvageable (if you hate melodrama rip your enjoyment), everything else is nonsense and over the top unfunny ass shit

Yakuza 0 was the game that introduced me to the series.

It's a nice crime story. Fun and simple combat. Crazy ass bosses and yeah. A fun time for sure, give it a try.

Had to learn mahjong for the achievements.

A bunch of my friends are into the Yakuza series. As such, its games have been recommended to me many times, but to be real honest, they never interested me much. I was pretty confident I wouldn’t like them. One day, though, there was a Steam sale and a bundle of this game, Kiwami 1 and 2 was up for crazy cheap, so I said “eh, why not.” But even then it still took me some more months to finally decide to start the series.

I’ve always heard comments about how great Yakuza 0 in particular was, with many people even including it on their fav games of all time rankings, and how it was the perfect starting point for getting into the series. Now that I’ve played it, I can vouch for everything people say about it - Yakuza 0 is one PHENOMENAL game, truly deserving of the fame it has, and it’s one of those games that kept growing on me over the months the more I thought about it, because there’s no better word to describe it than MEMORABLE.

Everything about this game is memorable: the characters, the story, the soundtrack, the substories, the combat, literally everything. As I mentioned before, going from this game to the Kiwami games felt deflating due to their lackluster stories, because Y0’s story is so gripping, there’s some moments that even give me chills just remembering them, such as Majima’s knife cliffhanger, Kiryu’s last encounter with Kuze, Nishiki and Kiryu’s emotional scene in the middle of a dark road (the best scene in the game btw), among many others.

And the reason the story is this good is because the characters are all great, you actually care about them and want to see more of them as you progress in the game. I haven’t played most games in the series yet, but I HIGHLY DOUBT there’ll ever be better antagonists than the trio of Dojima lieutenants: Kuze, Awano, and Shibusawa. They’re those characters you just love to hate and can’t get enough of them. Sagawa is also an incredibly layered antagonist, I actually felt bad for what happened to him by the end of the game.

The substories also deserve a special mention because there’s so many great ones, like Majima infiltrating a brainwashing cult (MUNANCHO!), Kiryu meeting Steven Spielberg and Michael Jackson, getting a living chicken as a reward for bowling (which can then become a real estate manager), becoming a pizza delivery boy... Nothing beats hearing that melancholic but hopeful tune starting as an NPC thanks Kiryu for helping them find meaning in their life and starts telling him their ludicrous backstory after he just smashed a whole bike on their head.

I'm writing this while the song for the long battles is blasting on my headphones, my favorite track out of a soundtrack that’s just full of banger after banger. Yakuza 0 is so damn good, man. I’m glad to have finally started this series just because it means I got to play this masterpiece. And if you still haven't gotten into Yakuza, don’t listen to elitists that tell you to start from something other than this game, they’re just plain wrong.

Me introduzi na série por ele e pretendo completar todos os jogos.
Tinha tentado começar a jogar umas 2x antes de efetivamente começar o save em que terminei. A história principal é um pouquinho arrastada, é um jogo de muito texto, e o que me prendeu no início foi começar a jogar toda a maluquice que a série propõe que são as sidequests. Eventualmente a história fica interessante, o combate vai se expandindo e ficando cada vez mais, surgem minigames mais interessantes e que te prendem por horas e, quando tu vê, você tá chamando o personagem de Kiryu-chan.

Holy shit.
I've known of Yakuza/Like a Dragon for a while now, though like with Persona I never to playing them because all I had to my name was a Switch and a shitty ass laptop. Luckily, I was eventually able to get some decent hardware and a copy of Yakuza 0, and I think I can confidently say that I'm a fan.

The highlights for me are definitely the story, characters and the side quests. I shit you not, this is some of the most enjoyable side content I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing. I don't know how RGG did it, but they did. I'm sure everyone's heard of fighting of zombies to protect Michael Jackson as he moonwalks across the street - it's celebrated for good reason.

I'll add that the goofiness of the side content also gives our two protagonists, Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima some cool development and makes you even more attatched to them, which is important for a story like this.

Wow, the story can get insane. I had a pit in my stomach for the entirety of the last act. The amount of twists and turns was exhilarating. It's impressive for a game this long (80 hours, for me) to not have huge sections where I'm just bored. For the most part, I was having a great time following these characters along. I'm proud to say this game joins the very, very small list of games that made me cry.

The big side-minigames, being Real Estate and Cabaret Czar were also welcome additions. I'll be honest, the Real Estate stuff wasn't very engaging, so I never felt the motivation to do it (which came back to bite me in the last few Kiryu fights). Cabaret though? DAMN! I completely stopped doing the story for a while because it was such a fun minigame. It's insane how much more fun playing as Majima is compared to Kiryu because of this alone, since you get to upgrade his fighting styles a lot more.

Speaking of combat, I think that's where Yakuza 0's greatest flaw lies. It's either mind-numbingly easy, or so frustratingly cheap that it almost kills the motivation to continue. It's serviceable for most of its playtime, but there are definitely times (unfortunately mostly during tense story sections) where it's not that fun.

Overall though? Wonderful game. Despite the flaws, I never disliked my time playing. I will definitely be playing the whole series. I'm sold. I feel like I've come across something special.

Playing this on the back of completing Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is probably not the optimum order to engage with the franchise, but having been forced to fill in the blanks required to recognise the poignancy of Kiryu's slow retirement, I knew it was finally time to understand the man and how he became not only the Dragon of Dojima but the Internet's best Daddy.

And while it didn't ask of me the same amount of waterworks Gaiden does, it manages to create one of the most emotionally captivating narratives I've ever played, whilst masterfully unravelling the mysteries across two different perspectives - something I've never seen achieved so confidently in a video game before.

Because this is a game of two halves, a coming-of-age of the Mad Dog of Shimano and the Dragon of Dojima. And I didn't realise or expect how invested or important Majima would be both to this game or to me personally.

Kiryu is his usual (as I've come to know him) self - stoic, proud, loyal, dignified. And these characteristics remain rewarding throughout the game - much like the Ichiban I fell in love with first, unable to turn his back on a friend or to abandon someone in need. But in this sense, Kiryu barely grows. Majima, on the other hand, was an unknown quantity to me, and getting to see this man suffer, grow, question himself and the principles he relies on, and ultimately evolve into the man he resembles in the original franchise entries was a captivating story even moreso than the mystery the two protagonists find themselves physically circling.

Mechanically, I don't even know if I play these games correctly - I cheese where possible and I rely on items to survive an encounter. But there's no denying these games manage to escalate the thrill of the fight as the game climaxes; the fighting is heavy, physical, and so are the bosses; and as you start to face bigger and bigger odds, and bigger and bigger foes, the weight of the player and character urgency is reflected in each punch. The more tired Kiryu and Majima get, the more tired I find myself, desperate to put down my fists whilst unable to pull myself away, climaxing in an euphoric sense of achievement when the game comes to close.

The biggest problem I had playing Yakuza 0 was of my own making - I sunk nearly half of my game time between Cabaret and Real Estate minigames, and only one of these I truly enjoyed, and by the time I started the story back up I blamed myself for having stopped, exhausted of time and effort.

But with what is ultimately a limited cast, I was invested in every inch. In supporting character deaths, in major character deaths, in sacrifice, in friendship, in circumstantial allies, in what it means to be a Yakuza. And while I played this game hoping to truly understand Kiryu, I left it realising this franchise is more than a person, it's a world so masterfully built and explored with characters so human and complex in a way that is agonisingly fresh to me - how did it take this long to fall in love with this franchise?