If I had a nickel for every time I was lukewarm on a Yakuza game until the really well made final chapter, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice.
So, Gaiden, or Yakuza 6.5 (or 7.5 depending on who you ask) meant to tie up loose threads in Kiryu's story and god damn does it do it well. While the main story is just kind of okay, Kiryu himself and the wrapping up of his arc was phenomenal. It's about Kiryu trying his best to help with THAT THING from Y7, all while exploring key moments from his past under a new identity. Most of the new characters are cool if somewhat standard by Yakuza standards, except Akane. She's great, especially as the game progresses. Her whole thing is a network that small side activities stem from, as well as Substories. This is one of my gripes with the game. While I saw a map of smaller quests and by brain jumped to 'this is like a Xenoblade expansion holy shit let's goooooo' I quickly got bored of all quests leading back to the network instead of letting Kiryu stumble on wacky scenarios himself, even if most of the substories are good once you get into them (the 6 month dev time allowing for ChatGPT references of all things being especially neat)
And the next thing is the combat, because holy shit, the dragon engine got refined. It's back to every move feeling impactful and brutal, with satisfying heat actions. At least in classic Dragon style. Kiryu also has a new fighting style focused on gadgets, but due to these gadgets taking a while to get doing in dealing damage, I didn't feel much of a need to use it. But all the things I like from this apparently come from the judgment games, so I'm looking forward to that.
Overall, it's a great finale and love letter to Yakuza, with the only issue being that Kiryu doesn't get a goodbye fight with Majima at the end (HE WAS RIGHT FUCKING THERE) with another ending that almost made me cry. And now, it's time to finish what I started. Onwards, to Yakuza 7!
So, Gaiden, or Yakuza 6.5 (or 7.5 depending on who you ask) meant to tie up loose threads in Kiryu's story and god damn does it do it well. While the main story is just kind of okay, Kiryu himself and the wrapping up of his arc was phenomenal. It's about Kiryu trying his best to help with THAT THING from Y7, all while exploring key moments from his past under a new identity. Most of the new characters are cool if somewhat standard by Yakuza standards, except Akane. She's great, especially as the game progresses. Her whole thing is a network that small side activities stem from, as well as Substories. This is one of my gripes with the game. While I saw a map of smaller quests and by brain jumped to 'this is like a Xenoblade expansion holy shit let's goooooo' I quickly got bored of all quests leading back to the network instead of letting Kiryu stumble on wacky scenarios himself, even if most of the substories are good once you get into them (the 6 month dev time allowing for ChatGPT references of all things being especially neat)
And the next thing is the combat, because holy shit, the dragon engine got refined. It's back to every move feeling impactful and brutal, with satisfying heat actions. At least in classic Dragon style. Kiryu also has a new fighting style focused on gadgets, but due to these gadgets taking a while to get doing in dealing damage, I didn't feel much of a need to use it. But all the things I like from this apparently come from the judgment games, so I'm looking forward to that.
Overall, it's a great finale and love letter to Yakuza, with the only issue being that Kiryu doesn't get a goodbye fight with Majima at the end (HE WAS RIGHT FUCKING THERE) with another ending that almost made me cry. And now, it's time to finish what I started. Onwards, to Yakuza 7!