(Summary below if you dont want to read thoughts)
Yakuza 0 was a massive disappointment. I was excited to try this one based on the hype surrounding it with some gamers hailing this game as the ultimate modern-city type masterpiece.
I cant stress enough how this game failed with many things it tried to do.
The story is very inconsistent and its structure is weak, the pacing is sloggish and the overall theme was actually interesting, but its filled with many plot holes that takes me out of it, for each chapter i managed to find a couple, an example of that is around chapters 8-12 we have a person who gets shot in the back and suddenly few hours after we see him torturing a character and is acting strong and mighty as if nothing happens. Another example is slightly after that in a prison where one person opens the cell that contained 5+ people previously only for them to disappear after that making the whole thing nonsensical. On another occasion we find a person knows about a secret but we dont get to see how? its a major sin, tell dont show, and many more plot holes to count that i can fill this entire review with, in short the plot is weak and full of problems, for a game hailed as masterpiece story it was far from that.
Next are the characters, they are unbelieveable inconsistent, they keep switching and changing out of the sudden, well except for 2 major ones, a character will do a sudden 180 turn on his loyalty just when the author demands it, its a plot device tactic and its cheap plot convenience because the writers dont know how to advance the plot naturally without it, characters are flat and most of the villains act very stupid, to give an example we have the encounter with Kiryu when Dojima is on the hunt, the characters wanted to capture him, instead they resort to stupid plans and waste him, in fact a guy comes driving with a car and they are standing and watching the whole time, the game is filled with moments like this, and other edgy moments to show the poser villain how mighty and strong he is by shooting a harmless woman, he is angry listen to him...lol bad and edgy writing.
For worse things Women are treated horribly in this game, they exist for pleasure only, which sucks too. A lot of the characters are a bunch of flat and boring angry faces that are dumb as rock.
Gameplay is also bad, the controls suffer from clunky movements and during combat it gets even worse, with inconsistent hitboxes and bad target system. The enemy A.I is very bad and they will take turns to get beaten.
The movesets have some variety but they wore off quickly due to the game being long and it keeps the same human enemies with no variety at all, while also having a lot of useless weapons as a second arsenal that all play out the same.
The visuals are bad even for their year 2015, with visuals that look like PS3 game.
The music is actually good and the sound effect helps immerse the player in the city hubs.
The side quests are weird and dont make sense within the context of the world, like why would a Yakuza drop by randomly on the street to help a girl pretend to be her boyfriend? or help a couple get married by play crosswords? or buy a girl panties? or play rock with a band..and so many other thing, not only they lack the impact on the world and multiple game and choice paths, they also make no sense in the context of the world and add nothing but pointless hours of text.
The minigames are not inspired or anything but they give extra fun hours for those who seek more so im neutral on them.
The cinematic cutscenes are good but inconsistent, transition from cutscene to ingame dialogue is very janky and kills the immersion and intense of it, with terrible animation (literally talking faces) lol.
It's also very tedious, walking from point A to point B each quest only to fight the same 4 thugs around every corner of the street for each 30-60 second makes the game tedious and more of a slog to view the story.
Overall this game is a hugely overrated, i expected a lot better gaming experience from it.
The flow of the story was enjoyable and i enjoyed watching Majima kick some ass, he is by far the best character of this game.
It's not a terrible game, but it was a mediocre one. I was let down, sadly.
Summary:
+ Music and Ambient Sounds to enhance immersion
+ Engaging Story that keeps you interested for more with its twists and turns
+ Minigames to spend your extra time
+ Great main character (Majima)
- Badly written plot, filled with holes and inconsistencies
- A lot of characters are simple plot devices and a tool for asspulls out of nowhere
- Rely on over the top action that kills the tensions
- Stupid and flat villains
- Bad women representation
- Clunky movement and controls
- Generally basic and dull and shallow combat system with low enemy variety and easy challenge
- Tedious walking from A to B sections
- Uninteresting Side Quests
- Disappointing ending and pacing is off
- Janky transition of animation and text dialogue.
Yakuza 0 was a massive disappointment. I was excited to try this one based on the hype surrounding it with some gamers hailing this game as the ultimate modern-city type masterpiece.
I cant stress enough how this game failed with many things it tried to do.
The story is very inconsistent and its structure is weak, the pacing is sloggish and the overall theme was actually interesting, but its filled with many plot holes that takes me out of it, for each chapter i managed to find a couple, an example of that is around chapters 8-12 we have a person who gets shot in the back and suddenly few hours after we see him torturing a character and is acting strong and mighty as if nothing happens. Another example is slightly after that in a prison where one person opens the cell that contained 5+ people previously only for them to disappear after that making the whole thing nonsensical. On another occasion we find a person knows about a secret but we dont get to see how? its a major sin, tell dont show, and many more plot holes to count that i can fill this entire review with, in short the plot is weak and full of problems, for a game hailed as masterpiece story it was far from that.
Next are the characters, they are unbelieveable inconsistent, they keep switching and changing out of the sudden, well except for 2 major ones, a character will do a sudden 180 turn on his loyalty just when the author demands it, its a plot device tactic and its cheap plot convenience because the writers dont know how to advance the plot naturally without it, characters are flat and most of the villains act very stupid, to give an example we have the encounter with Kiryu when Dojima is on the hunt, the characters wanted to capture him, instead they resort to stupid plans and waste him, in fact a guy comes driving with a car and they are standing and watching the whole time, the game is filled with moments like this, and other edgy moments to show the poser villain how mighty and strong he is by shooting a harmless woman, he is angry listen to him...lol bad and edgy writing.
For worse things Women are treated horribly in this game, they exist for pleasure only, which sucks too. A lot of the characters are a bunch of flat and boring angry faces that are dumb as rock.
Gameplay is also bad, the controls suffer from clunky movements and during combat it gets even worse, with inconsistent hitboxes and bad target system. The enemy A.I is very bad and they will take turns to get beaten.
The movesets have some variety but they wore off quickly due to the game being long and it keeps the same human enemies with no variety at all, while also having a lot of useless weapons as a second arsenal that all play out the same.
The visuals are bad even for their year 2015, with visuals that look like PS3 game.
The music is actually good and the sound effect helps immerse the player in the city hubs.
The side quests are weird and dont make sense within the context of the world, like why would a Yakuza drop by randomly on the street to help a girl pretend to be her boyfriend? or help a couple get married by play crosswords? or buy a girl panties? or play rock with a band..and so many other thing, not only they lack the impact on the world and multiple game and choice paths, they also make no sense in the context of the world and add nothing but pointless hours of text.
The minigames are not inspired or anything but they give extra fun hours for those who seek more so im neutral on them.
The cinematic cutscenes are good but inconsistent, transition from cutscene to ingame dialogue is very janky and kills the immersion and intense of it, with terrible animation (literally talking faces) lol.
It's also very tedious, walking from point A to point B each quest only to fight the same 4 thugs around every corner of the street for each 30-60 second makes the game tedious and more of a slog to view the story.
Overall this game is a hugely overrated, i expected a lot better gaming experience from it.
The flow of the story was enjoyable and i enjoyed watching Majima kick some ass, he is by far the best character of this game.
It's not a terrible game, but it was a mediocre one. I was let down, sadly.
Summary:
+ Music and Ambient Sounds to enhance immersion
+ Engaging Story that keeps you interested for more with its twists and turns
+ Minigames to spend your extra time
+ Great main character (Majima)
- Badly written plot, filled with holes and inconsistencies
- A lot of characters are simple plot devices and a tool for asspulls out of nowhere
- Rely on over the top action that kills the tensions
- Stupid and flat villains
- Bad women representation
- Clunky movement and controls
- Generally basic and dull and shallow combat system with low enemy variety and easy challenge
- Tedious walking from A to B sections
- Uninteresting Side Quests
- Disappointing ending and pacing is off
- Janky transition of animation and text dialogue.
3 Comments
This comment was deleted
sorry, double posted :D
Yeah..Definitely
I tried to like it a lot, i did enjoy finishing it for the story, as noted i dont think the writing is good but i found it entertaining in a way, i think you get me, it's a similar experience i had with Code Geass which is an anime show, i thought it was poorly written but despite its wacky plot twist execution and characters changing, i somehow enjoyed my time with it.
I just wish i enjoyed fighting the gangs more, it wore off quickly, sadly.
I do enjoy over the top action like JoJo Bizzare Adventure, but that doesnt take itself serious all the way, while with Yakuza it felt like it does take itself serious at some moments.
Anyway i blame some of my friends, they hyped it too much for me, lol.
Maybe if i was a long time fan, i just got introduced to the series recently, i dont think i will enjoy the rest of the games, the people who recommended it say that its actually the best one in the series and since i didnt love it i dont think its worth for me to invest in the rest of the games, but who knows maybe im going to try them some day.
I tried to like it a lot, i did enjoy finishing it for the story, as noted i dont think the writing is good but i found it entertaining in a way, i think you get me, it's a similar experience i had with Code Geass which is an anime show, i thought it was poorly written but despite its wacky plot twist execution and characters changing, i somehow enjoyed my time with it.
I just wish i enjoyed fighting the gangs more, it wore off quickly, sadly.
I do enjoy over the top action like JoJo Bizzare Adventure, but that doesnt take itself serious all the way, while with Yakuza it felt like it does take itself serious at some moments.
Anyway i blame some of my friends, they hyped it too much for me, lol.
Maybe if i was a long time fan, i just got introduced to the series recently, i dont think i will enjoy the rest of the games, the people who recommended it say that its actually the best one in the series and since i didnt love it i dont think its worth for me to invest in the rest of the games, but who knows maybe im going to try them some day.
TheGamingN00b
1 year ago
They are so... weird with their tonal shifts and the unreal amount of modern japanese culture that gets worked into every single game.
And it can be so awkward and janky xD
I loved Yakuza 0, but after playing and finishing every single game of the main series,
I find myself to be really lukewarm about the series overall and liking it a lot less than
I thought or maybe even expected that I would.