this was one of the most soulful games ive ever played. the city of kamurocho is crime-ridden, dark, and brooding, yet it's still oozing with life and personality. the oppressive atmosphere does major favors for the story, and the simple yet effective themes of family bonds and choosing your own fate just heighten the narrative even more.

while the combat is admittedly very clunky and the camera controls are really annoying, i find it to be endearing rather than a hindrance, and it all just works towards making this a really good game. the story is a pretty basic crime thriller but it has beautiful moments like the scene with date and his daughter that set it apart from most stories in its genre.

overall, its a really damn genuine, down-to-earth game overflowing with charm with a well-thought out narrative and engaging characters.

The Yakuza games are a bit hard for me to explain or classify, but they certainly are unique. The Yakuza games themselves had a small audience for most of their existence, slowly getting more and more popular as time went on. As a result, the older games can be difficult to find. It is also why they stopped dubbing the games until they became more popular. The Yakuza games have a semi open-world structure. In the case of the first Yakuza and some others, it is part of a city. There are storyline missions and countless side quests. The combat is fun and you level different aspects of your character (In this case Kazuma Kiryu) that can improve your overall abilities and health using experience points you gain from side quests, story missions, encounters and even things like eating and drinking different things. The story is intriguing and has some mystery behind it. It was a lot of fun and a series worth getting into.

replayed this game using the restored patch and god damn, it's pretty jarring how someone like kiryu tends to be more soft-spoken than he usually is, I assume because takaya kuroda was younger during the release of this game (which is why he's able to reach higher pitches far more easily compared to his performances in kiwami 1; no shade to that game's voice acting bc it's still good, just something me and others have noticed) and they didn't really know how stoic they wanted kiryu to be yet. in general the voice direction for this game seems to be far more low-key than other yakuza games

on a different note man! I actually kinda jive with this game's combat more! it still unfortunately has that unavoidable jank with the unreliable lock-on, and what I'm about to tell you of course needs a bit of progress on your end which is kind of a shame
that being said, upgrading your dash enough and achieving the komaki fist reversal (which isn't actually that hard) brings kiryu a little closer to his y2 counterpart
combined with the more heavy movement in this game, I think this makes for a really interesting take on yakuza's combat (retroactively, of course) where you have to work around kiryu's sluggish movement and make good use of heat actions, the grab, and the fist reversal - you're being attacked basically on all sides and you don't have the speed necessary to go all in like you would in yakuza 2 onward. landing hits and managing to get away in time is more harder in this game, which I think makes every hit you do land and every enemy you defeat feel INCREDIBLY satisfying

needless to say I actually enjoyed my time with this y1 replay quite a bit! it still manages to have that awesome moody and gritty flair unique to the ps2 games and a rock solid introduction to the world of yakuza.
this replay was mainly to have y1 fresh in my mind for when I play k1, so this should prove very interesting..

Note: I have played both the English dub and the fan-made Restoration patch that restores the Japanese voice acting and retranslates the game.

While the game does have it's fair share of jank that takes some time to get used to, I do genuinely enjoy Yakuza for what it is and most people over-exaggerate its flaws.

The original game does have its fair share of aspects that are better than in its remake, Yakuza Kiwami. I think the story pacing is better, there's way less bloat than in the remake.

Although Kiryu with no upgrades isn't that fun, the upgrades and Komaki's teachings really will help you enjoy the game a lot more, especially the move that let's you kick from the back and the throws after a finishing blow. But overall, I really enjoyed how simple and straightforward this game is compared to the future entries and I don't believe Kiwami will ever replace it no matter how much SEGA tries to push it.

(Played with the Yakuza Restoration patch)
I decided to start with the first Ryu Ga Gotoku game on PS2 instead of starting with 0 like everyone else, for the sake of seeing how the gameplay evolves with each entry. I have to say, this isn't a bad introduction to the franchise.

Say what you will about the gameplay, but if you put all of that aside, you're left with an interesting crime drama about the lengths people go to for power, and how it affects the world around them.

I found it hard to care for some aspects of the story such as Nishikiyama and Kiryu's relationship because of the little screentime they had together, along with the deaths that are only there for shock value, but I couldn't help but get invested thanks to the story revolving around Haruka's value. If it weren't for her inclusion, I wouldn't have been as invested. I also appreciate the side characters like Makoto Date and Goro Majima for having their own fun relationships with Kiryu. Date is an intelligent detective who was willing to help Kiryu with his problems despite him being an ex-yakuza, and Majima is just batshit insane.

Of course, since this is the first game in the series, things are going to be rough around the edges. I've had some gripes with the combat being a little bit stiff, and the camera being uncooperative at times, but it's not as horrible as some people make it out to be. You should breeze through everything so long as you manage your healing items carefully and learn extra moves (which shouldn't be optional in the first place) from Komaki. I think the only real problems are how unreactable the QTEs are, the groups of enemies constantly pouncing on you, and how annoying it is to fight gun-wielding mooks—especially that one boss I nearly died to. How was I supposed to know where to get a bulletproof vest?

One last thing I want to appreciate is the general aesthetic of the game. The graphics aren't on par with the things we have today but it's not bad by any means. The lighting is great, alongside the characters looking realistic and expressive. Kamurocho's nighttime strolls full of civilians walking around, gangsters lurking, and interesting landmarks are quite immersive and makes the world feel like it's truly lived in. The soundtrack also has this grungy 2000's feel that I think is awesome, and it's also one of the reasons why I played this over Kiwami. That OST just doesn't hit the same.

Overall, I think the game is good, but flawed in most areas. I think this is a valid starting point if you've got an available way to play PS2 games. But I feel like I have to start BEGGING you not to play the original English version, because the dub is terrible and a lot of dialogue is butchered (or in some cases, enhanced) by gratuitous swearing. Or suit your fucking self and play it anyway. I'm not your fucking dad, motherfucker.

Playing this right off of 0 (stupid i know) I was honestly kinda shocked. Not by how jarring this game was but really how jarring it wasnt. Not just in the story but the gameplay too. It felt like a prototype for yakuza 0 and a pretty damn fun one too. Infact I think this game does a few things BETTER than 0. For one the fixed camera is a huge plus, dodging attacks was alot easier not having to set up a good camera angle (I miss when action games had fixed camera angles) and this might be just me but Im pretty sure the targeting was alot better in this game. It's basically a Yakuza movie mixed in with a 3d streets of rage. It really set up a solid frame work for the following games, with an interesting and fun story to boot. I also retroactively appreciate 0 more for keeping these characters consistent despite being made 10 years apart

It is pretty crazy how someway I managed to playthrough Zero without even knowing anything about Yakuza Kiwami/1 which was kinda cool how I got to experience it that way. However, when I jumped from Zero to Kiwami I felt really strange with it and obviously Zero was the better and more memorable experience. I have always wanted to go back and experience the Original installment that started it all and comparing it to Kiwami it was impressive to see how similar it was to Kiwami and the other games even to this day. Truly it felt ahead of its time and I enjoyed it with the English dub which was kind of bad in a good way. It oozed the PS2 style which I absolutely love with the console and very excited to play so many others from the PS2 library I have not got to yet.! My first time playing a Yakuza game for a second time as well and I enjoyed this one even more and makes me so happy I did manage to get the Kiwami Steelbook as this game made me love this one even more than before and now I need to just check out the Japanese live-action movie! Can't believe how many of the homeless people look like Charles Manson dude, and why is that one street hoodlum wearing a green basketball jersey that says "FART"! So many times I looked for a place for Karaoke, but I guess it's not in the original one. No Baka Mitai for meeee!!

Yakuza 1 has a good foundation for building a future series.

The fighting is weighty and violent, the characters are likeable and memorable, and the story builds intrigue easily.
Issue is, the combat also has a feeling of stiffness, where you're either trapping an enemy in the corner and beating them to paste, or you're constantly swinging at air because there's no real lock-on or tracking for your punches. You'll also be getting into a lot of random fights, hearing the same generic dialogue, and executing the same combos.

The story is much the same way. It starts real strong, setting up pieces and intrigue and motivations, but just when it's reeling you in and you think you're about to get payoff it throws you into a series of fetch quests to pad for time and that promised payoff turns into a "Our Princess is in another castle" scenario. The characters I thought were going to be the main antagonists take a backseat in the final act, as it introduces a character out of nowhere to exposit how he was the mastermind all along.

Kiryu is an immediately likeable protagonist, and I hope many of the characters that actually survive the finale stick around for sequels.

Like I said it's a good foundation.