After the team risked it wall to make a game that they could be proud of, Yakuza, or Ryū ga Gotoku was born.
This game tries to tell a mature, human, sometimes goofy and interesting story, the characters are deep and leaved a mark in me, i could pass hours explaining why I think this game is so good at telling his story. One thing that I should mention is that the contrast of a character with a dark past with another character that is somehow innocent, and they journey together change the two is a common and very popular storytelling nowadays, GOD OF WAR and The Last of Us are based on it, but the first game that I know that did this was Yakuza, with the relationship of Kiryu and Haruka, even if they seem forced to be together sometimes (like in the times that he brings a 9 years old girl to a soapland or a illegal secret cassino in the main history), I think this was really ahead of it's time.
Kamurocho is really impressive too, the idea of the game was to let you visit the night culture of Japan, and they did it. Kamurocho is charming, with people hanging out in all corners, light in all directions and a infinity of places to seek pleasure, I think that this one is even better than the Kiwami one.
The combat would be EXCELLENT if you could change the direction that Kiryu is facing mid combo, even DMC 2 had that, but because of that single mistake you will punch the air more than the enemies, the HEAT mechanic is the peak of gaming too, make the combat flow more engaging, like the style rank from the DMC series.
This game tries to tell a mature, human, sometimes goofy and interesting story, the characters are deep and leaved a mark in me, i could pass hours explaining why I think this game is so good at telling his story. One thing that I should mention is that the contrast of a character with a dark past with another character that is somehow innocent, and they journey together change the two is a common and very popular storytelling nowadays, GOD OF WAR and The Last of Us are based on it, but the first game that I know that did this was Yakuza, with the relationship of Kiryu and Haruka, even if they seem forced to be together sometimes (like in the times that he brings a 9 years old girl to a soapland or a illegal secret cassino in the main history), I think this was really ahead of it's time.
Kamurocho is really impressive too, the idea of the game was to let you visit the night culture of Japan, and they did it. Kamurocho is charming, with people hanging out in all corners, light in all directions and a infinity of places to seek pleasure, I think that this one is even better than the Kiwami one.
The combat would be EXCELLENT if you could change the direction that Kiryu is facing mid combo, even DMC 2 had that, but because of that single mistake you will punch the air more than the enemies, the HEAT mechanic is the peak of gaming too, make the combat flow more engaging, like the style rank from the DMC series.