I think this game has a weird learning curve and it has some odd spikes of difficulty here and there, but it grows on me with each playthrough. I love the one sequence nature of it, and it has some pretty tight level design. I like Zwei more in most regards but the challenge of this one is what really sets it apart for me. I wish I felt more for the music, like flight is such an incredible song, the best in video games, but every other song is a bit forgettable to me. I think my favorite level is the tunnel sequence, it's so intense and the boss in that is killer. It's definitely worth learning and beating

I've played a bunch of other tetris titles before and I always loved the game in its different forms. But I think this is the tetris game I've always dreamed of. I'm someone who just likes to play marathon tetris without anything too crazy and this game delivers on that. It's really fast, I just turn on the gba and I'm in a game within seconds. But what really puts this over the edge as a masterpiece is the customization. You can kinda make the game look and feel exactly the way you want if you put the time into all the various settings and features. Changing colors, rotation, screen shake, etc. I can see this giving the game a ton of longevity. For once I really like the other modes as well. I very much appreciate the game mode with classic tetris rules, I often just play that to really shake it up. But the other various modes really test your skills in different and valid ways that are fun. This has been my definitive bed time game for a week now and I love it very much.

I played this using the Yakuza Restored Patch on my jailbroken ps2, you can find that patch here and I'd highly recommend it. Ive heard this game has some obnoxious loading issues, but considering I was playing this off of my HDD I won't really factor that into my review as it never was really a problem. https://youtu.be/YXsiu9PUbxM?si=AebYm1WSkwDOm7NV

This game definitely gets a bad rap nowadays. People will just say to play the remake or skip it entirely. I've heard people say it's unplayable and that the combat is so bad. I really wanted to challenge that perception and start at beggining. Playing them from the two remakes, back to the older three games, then back to the new stuff just sounds a bit unappealing to me. I'd much rather see it's roots and how it grew mechanically. I'm glad I did because I found a lot to love about this despite its issues.

The star of the show here is Kamurocho. It's such a well realized setting, it's densely packed with unique interactions, big crowds, beautiful fixed camera shots, and fun stuff to do. I don't think I've felt an open city setting feel quite as alive as this. It's also just drenched in atmosphere. Thick fog, appropriate use of motion blur, very unique lighting are all indicative of the strengths of the ps2 aesthetic.

I think the story is quite good here and it helped me truck through the game. I really love all the characters. There were some really neat twists that actually got me, and it all comes together by the end. Kiryu's relationship with Haruka is the heart of this game and I really like how despite losing so much he finds a new family in her. I do have a hard time following these dense kind of noir stories, so I'm glad the broad strokes of the story satisfied me.

I think the combat isn't great, but it's definitely not unplayable. I think an issue with it is that it makes a bad first impression. Your dodge sucks, the lock on has a strange learning curve to it and your move set is very limited. But as you upgrade stuff and do more side missions that give you new moves, it does start to open up and become more functional. This is one of those where you just get stunlocked and knocked on your ass a lot which can be annoying. And also the game is just a bit too easy? Other than some weird bosses that kicked my ass it never really presents a challenge. And when it does get more intense the game showers you with restorative items. So you kinda just get into a lull of repetition with it. But I'd argue the game isn't really trying to give you the deepest combat system, what makes the game special is the experience of it and all the things you can do in the city, and that aspect of it really worked for me. It gets dangerously close to being boring but the game always picks itself up.

This series is definitely prohibitive to new players to catch up, I totally understand if someone wants to start with one of the more recent ones. But I think Yakuza 1 has a lot going for it and shouldn't be forgotten. If you really appreciate the ps2 era then you really should try it and see if you like it. It's a very unique experience and it was fun to experience the humble begginings of this giant series.