Heard this game was a major improvement over 3 and once again the Yakuza fandom was not wrong at all. This game is really cool because they have 4 protagonists and the game (mostly) handles them well.
The game is centered in a fully explorable Kamurocho and takes place very briefly in Okinawa but Okinawa isn't explorable at all, which I'm fine with since I didn't really enjoy it. The game has 21 chapters with each character taking 4 and then 1 big one for the finale. I actually really enjoyed this format.
First up is a loan shark named Akiyama. I instantly loved this guy just off the first cutscene alone. He has a great view on life and is just really fucking cool. He was the only character that I did all the side content possible for. Having a new view on Kamurocho was just great even more so since Akiyama is a great character. Being a loan shark with an interesting style of doing things led to some very intriguing and cool scenarios that simply aren't possible with Kiryu. Not a whole ton happens in terms of plot progression but it is laying the foundation after all. Even so I didn't mind at all and really enjoyed my time with Akiyama.
Next up is Saejima and oh boy I've been looking forward to meeting him ever since we got a glimpse of him all the way back in 0. Saejima has been in Jail for 25 years after being charged with murdering 18 men of an opposing clan. He mostly lived up to the hype even if a certain twist diminishes his character somewhat for me. We start off with a bang and get to the good stuff right away. From a story perspective this part is very rich in it, which is in complete contrast to the previous part. However the side content does take a little bit of a dip, I don't mind too much since the story stuff here is pretty good for the most part. I was also really happy that Saejima meets Kiryu and Majima in this part, big stuff happened during those encounters so I won't go into them but they were very good. The scene at the Colosseum with Saejima was also just brilliant.
Tanimura the detective is up next. I don't get the hate for him, I think he's pretty damn good and might even be the best character in the game. Only thing I don't like is that the original voice actor for Tanimura got caught using cocaine and so RGG couldn't really use Tanimura as a character in future games. They did get a new actor for the remaster and imo he sounds and looks way better. Getting back on topic though, Tanimura has a really good arc and fittingly gets to fight the final boss. Although the boss is literally Jingu from Kiwami 1 but 100x worse. Again I really liked the change in perspective here, playing as a less than perfect detective was really fun and I also really enjoyed getting to go back to Little Asia considering we haven't been there since Yakuza 0. Overall very fun part and great character.
Back to our main man Kiryu. By this point he's still in Okinawa and has had one visit (soon to be two) that inevitably drag him back to Kamurocho. Now I won't spoil who the second visit is from but all I'm gonna say is that I really liked their redemption arc following 3 where they weren't a great character. This story is completely the opposite from Yakuza 3. That game was centered around Kiryu as a character for better or for worse. This story however, Kiryu is feels more of a side character. The other 3 characters have much larger roles and it feels like they get more screentime too since at the beginning of Kiryu's chapters you see little snippets of them putting their plan together ahead of the finale. Overall Kiryu is fine here but not as great as our protagonists.
The gameplay balancing is much improved from its predecessor. Akiyama was the most fun to play as personally with his assortment of kicks, combos were just so much fun to pull off. Saejima was pretty brainless. You start up a normal combo but then for his heavy attack you gotta charge it up which I don't like for a number of reasons. It feels really off in a brawler game imo and it gets very boring. Tanimura was really cool at first since he doesn't have a normal block button. If the enemy is about to land a hit on you then he will parry it, but if you hold it for a second then it acts like a normal block. The AI and the sections with Tanimura make hard to exploit the parry so it would take a little while to get through some tougher fights. Kiryu has the same moveset but he's been buffed a bit so he's much more fun to use. Overall the gameplay is a big step up from the depths of 3.
The Writing in this game (for the most part) is REALLY good. Especially Saejima at the Colosseum, Sugiuchi at the docks, and Akiyama and Yasuko at the rooftop. But the one major misstep is the twist you find out 70% into the game. It completely defies logic in every sense of the world and I have no idea why they decided to keep it in. Hell, a character in the game lightly touches on the holes in the plan. It's the games one moment of weakness in an otherwise fantastic game. As I've played/playing through Yakuza 3,4, and 5 I've learned that in this era of Yakuza you really gotta suspend your disbelief more, compared to 0/K1/K2. It can be really frustrating sometimes, but it doesn't ruin the whole game.
Voice Acting is absolutely stellar by all the main characters. Akiyama was my favorite performance personally. The music is also great, with the main theme being mixed up 4 different times for the final fights with each character, which I thought was cool.
The side characters are pretty good overall even if at the end they make some pretty stupid decisions. Sugiuchi became a favorite by the end of it, as was the returning character from 3, I thought Arai was decent, and Kido was mediocre. Much better side characters coming from 3 where they were practically non existent or just bad.
This is a really good game and shouldn't be at the bottom of Yakuza rankings with 3. This game corrects much of 3's shortcomings while also being bold and trying a very different and fun approach. The Characters were memorable and the gameplay was very fun for the most part. Good game but I'm looking forward to completing 5 which I hear is peak Yakuza.
8/10
The game is centered in a fully explorable Kamurocho and takes place very briefly in Okinawa but Okinawa isn't explorable at all, which I'm fine with since I didn't really enjoy it. The game has 21 chapters with each character taking 4 and then 1 big one for the finale. I actually really enjoyed this format.
First up is a loan shark named Akiyama. I instantly loved this guy just off the first cutscene alone. He has a great view on life and is just really fucking cool. He was the only character that I did all the side content possible for. Having a new view on Kamurocho was just great even more so since Akiyama is a great character. Being a loan shark with an interesting style of doing things led to some very intriguing and cool scenarios that simply aren't possible with Kiryu. Not a whole ton happens in terms of plot progression but it is laying the foundation after all. Even so I didn't mind at all and really enjoyed my time with Akiyama.
Next up is Saejima and oh boy I've been looking forward to meeting him ever since we got a glimpse of him all the way back in 0. Saejima has been in Jail for 25 years after being charged with murdering 18 men of an opposing clan. He mostly lived up to the hype even if a certain twist diminishes his character somewhat for me. We start off with a bang and get to the good stuff right away. From a story perspective this part is very rich in it, which is in complete contrast to the previous part. However the side content does take a little bit of a dip, I don't mind too much since the story stuff here is pretty good for the most part. I was also really happy that Saejima meets Kiryu and Majima in this part, big stuff happened during those encounters so I won't go into them but they were very good. The scene at the Colosseum with Saejima was also just brilliant.
Tanimura the detective is up next. I don't get the hate for him, I think he's pretty damn good and might even be the best character in the game. Only thing I don't like is that the original voice actor for Tanimura got caught using cocaine and so RGG couldn't really use Tanimura as a character in future games. They did get a new actor for the remaster and imo he sounds and looks way better. Getting back on topic though, Tanimura has a really good arc and fittingly gets to fight the final boss. Although the boss is literally Jingu from Kiwami 1 but 100x worse. Again I really liked the change in perspective here, playing as a less than perfect detective was really fun and I also really enjoyed getting to go back to Little Asia considering we haven't been there since Yakuza 0. Overall very fun part and great character.
Back to our main man Kiryu. By this point he's still in Okinawa and has had one visit (soon to be two) that inevitably drag him back to Kamurocho. Now I won't spoil who the second visit is from but all I'm gonna say is that I really liked their redemption arc following 3 where they weren't a great character. This story is completely the opposite from Yakuza 3. That game was centered around Kiryu as a character for better or for worse. This story however, Kiryu is feels more of a side character. The other 3 characters have much larger roles and it feels like they get more screentime too since at the beginning of Kiryu's chapters you see little snippets of them putting their plan together ahead of the finale. Overall Kiryu is fine here but not as great as our protagonists.
The gameplay balancing is much improved from its predecessor. Akiyama was the most fun to play as personally with his assortment of kicks, combos were just so much fun to pull off. Saejima was pretty brainless. You start up a normal combo but then for his heavy attack you gotta charge it up which I don't like for a number of reasons. It feels really off in a brawler game imo and it gets very boring. Tanimura was really cool at first since he doesn't have a normal block button. If the enemy is about to land a hit on you then he will parry it, but if you hold it for a second then it acts like a normal block. The AI and the sections with Tanimura make hard to exploit the parry so it would take a little while to get through some tougher fights. Kiryu has the same moveset but he's been buffed a bit so he's much more fun to use. Overall the gameplay is a big step up from the depths of 3.
The Writing in this game (for the most part) is REALLY good. Especially Saejima at the Colosseum, Sugiuchi at the docks, and Akiyama and Yasuko at the rooftop. But the one major misstep is the twist you find out 70% into the game. It completely defies logic in every sense of the world and I have no idea why they decided to keep it in. Hell, a character in the game lightly touches on the holes in the plan. It's the games one moment of weakness in an otherwise fantastic game. As I've played/playing through Yakuza 3,4, and 5 I've learned that in this era of Yakuza you really gotta suspend your disbelief more, compared to 0/K1/K2. It can be really frustrating sometimes, but it doesn't ruin the whole game.
Voice Acting is absolutely stellar by all the main characters. Akiyama was my favorite performance personally. The music is also great, with the main theme being mixed up 4 different times for the final fights with each character, which I thought was cool.
The side characters are pretty good overall even if at the end they make some pretty stupid decisions. Sugiuchi became a favorite by the end of it, as was the returning character from 3, I thought Arai was decent, and Kido was mediocre. Much better side characters coming from 3 where they were practically non existent or just bad.
This is a really good game and shouldn't be at the bottom of Yakuza rankings with 3. This game corrects much of 3's shortcomings while also being bold and trying a very different and fun approach. The Characters were memorable and the gameplay was very fun for the most part. Good game but I'm looking forward to completing 5 which I hear is peak Yakuza.
8/10
Reddish
1 year ago