This review contains spoilers
That fucking twist in the end ruined saejima's entire arc and introduced the worst villain in the franchise by far.
But it has akiyama and the best progression in the series aswell as the best kamurocho design and that scene with saejima in the arena is so good, even if it's watered down by the horrible rubber bullet twist.
But it has akiyama and the best progression in the series aswell as the best kamurocho design and that scene with saejima in the arena is so good, even if it's watered down by the horrible rubber bullet twist.
good upgrade from Y3, the underground maps, and rooftops provide so much more life to Kamurocho and I love it, the 4 protags are all good on their own, Akiyama is just silly, Saejima's part was really good, and the best out of these, tanimura's part was okay and I Kinda like his battle style too and his parry is just satisfying, Kiryu's part just seemed rushed af well at least the last fight was good. solid 7.5/10
This game sits in my mind a lot. Some of the characters, mainly the protagonists, have grown to be some of my favourite yakuza characters (apart from tanimura sorry I didn’t really like him very much my bad) so the game has that going for it, and then it has insane vibes and the ost is insane and it’s peak yes but also I think it had the worst plot in the entire series so yeah
Yakuza 4 starts off on its best foot, establishing its tone with a precision you rarely see in this medium however it loses the plot soon after and becomes a generic crime soap that is only interested in presenting the player with zaney twists even if they may undermine crucial character development and backstory.
Anyhow even when stumbling with its plot on multiple occasions Yakuza 4 never manages to stumble in terms of establishing compelling characters. On the gameplay side of things each new protagonist provides a fresh gameplay experience, No two campaigns feeling same gameplay-wise, Saejima's section however feels like a slog and is paced in a very sluggish manner. Every protagonist gets their own master and unlockable heat actions and even elements in the city that are exclusive to them this keeps the gameplay from ever turning stale and in turn motivates you to explore the city of Kamurocho in even more depth.
Overall even while being one of the weaker entries in the Like a Dragon franchise it doesn't stumble with its main ensemble and manages to provide an unexplored side to the city of Kamurocho.
“Ya Gotta Go Balls Out.”
Anyhow even when stumbling with its plot on multiple occasions Yakuza 4 never manages to stumble in terms of establishing compelling characters. On the gameplay side of things each new protagonist provides a fresh gameplay experience, No two campaigns feeling same gameplay-wise, Saejima's section however feels like a slog and is paced in a very sluggish manner. Every protagonist gets their own master and unlockable heat actions and even elements in the city that are exclusive to them this keeps the gameplay from ever turning stale and in turn motivates you to explore the city of Kamurocho in even more depth.
Overall even while being one of the weaker entries in the Like a Dragon franchise it doesn't stumble with its main ensemble and manages to provide an unexplored side to the city of Kamurocho.
“Ya Gotta Go Balls Out.”
I'm not kidding when I say that the rubber bullets reveal soured my entire experience with this game. Saejima had so much potential as a character dealing with the guilt of taking people's lives and they completely pussied out on it. Sadly it doesn't get much better for him in the next game. Kiryu is also wildly out of character here. Tanimura is alright, shame about his VA and face though. Akiyama is awesome though. If there's any saving grace to this game, it's him. Combat is alright, I like the variety but it's still missing something.
went into this one wondering why i'd never heard anyone talk about it like... At All outside of the rubber bullets thing, turns out the reason for that was just because it's really mid! i liked all the new protags, but the story just took TOO damn long to come together and there were too many details that just felt. really dumb and unnecessary, tbh! like i said, not really a bad yakuza game, just super mid!
(I played remastered on PC with the mods to make it resemble the PS3 version I just don't like the new Tanimura actor I'm sorry)
Pretty good! Honestly even with a fresher mind I can definitely stand by it being one of my favorite entries in the series due to how many risks it took while still trying to maintain the formula that worked up to this entry. I love the new playable characters (especially Akiyama and Tanimura) and it is especially nice playing this one with the retrospective knowledge of how the series would move towards making Kiryu less of a proper primary antagonist and moreso a force of nature that the world molds. Amazing game!!!
Pretty good! Honestly even with a fresher mind I can definitely stand by it being one of my favorite entries in the series due to how many risks it took while still trying to maintain the formula that worked up to this entry. I love the new playable characters (especially Akiyama and Tanimura) and it is especially nice playing this one with the retrospective knowledge of how the series would move towards making Kiryu less of a proper primary antagonist and moreso a force of nature that the world molds. Amazing game!!!