I find this game to be an extremely interesting specimen. I absolutely loved the opening of the game. The conservation between Daigo and Kiryu in the taxi is legitimately hair-raising, and got me excited for what was to come. I also loved seeing Kiryu so out of his element; watching him rediscover himself in this new unfamiliar world was nothing but amazing. The taxi side missions were also a nice treat. If I were ranking the game based on this segment alone, I would easily give it a 7 or 8 out of 10.
Unfortunately, the rest of the game exists. Everything past Kiryu's part ranges from passable, to absolutely horrendous.
Just like with Yakuza 4, Yakuza 5 uses multiple protagonists. And just like with Yakuza 4, this is nothing but a negative. I wouldn't mind playing as multiple protagonists, in fact, I love it when games get it right, which Yakuza 5 simply does not. Just like with 4, there is a huge mystery/conspiracy that exists over everyone, and the game slowly reveals this mystery over the course of the game. However, unlike 4, which at least tries to have each part build into each other, allowing for the mystery to slowly get revealed as the game goes on, 5 feels like 4 completely separate narratives that have little to nothing to do with that huge mystery. Of course, all of these parts do have something to do with the mystery, but the game only bothers revealing that at the end of each part, giving us just a drip of information to keep us going for another 10 hours. This results in some of the worst pacing I've seen in a video game (maybe even in media altogether), let alone just in the Yakuza series itself. I ended up getting frustrated halfway through every part, hoping that the questions I had at the beginning of the game would be elaborated on, only for the game to focus on something I had little to no interest in, annihilating what little enjoyment I was still having.
This is a Yakuza game, so of course there's plenty to do. In fact there's too much to do. This is a gripe I have with the Yakuza series in general, I think there's just so much stuff to do that it can become overwhelming, but when it's done right (which it is in most of the games) it doesn't bother me. Here though? I just couldn't handle it. By the time I got to Part 4 I was skipping all side content aside from subquests (and even then, I skipped the subquests that annoyed me). I'm usually decently patient when it comes to side content, but I was having none of it. I had already put in over 40 hours into a game I wasn't enjoying and I didn't want to put in anymore than I had to.
It's not until the finale (which for some reason is 5 chapter in this game, instead of the usual 1 it has been in almost every other game) that we're given answers and a resolution...very....very....very slowly. The four chapters before the final chapter were excruciating. There were some fun moments, but I honestly can't remember anything aside from the nearly 2 hours of cutscenes I had to watch, all of which featured characters just sitting (or possibly even standing) in a room and explaining the plot to each other. I streamed this part to my friends, just because they wanted t see the game, and we were all bored out of our minds. It felt like I was playing a Hideo Kojima game, but without the solid directing and dialogue to keep me interested. This section alone lowered my rating of this game by an entire point, I just couldn't handle it whatsoever. Though I was won over by some of the action sequences, boss fights, and emotional moments in the end, those made me feel like I was playing the Yakuza games I loved.
Overall, I just can't recomend Yakuza 5. It takes Yakuza 4, I game I heavily disliked for its pacing, and manages to make it worse (though I will give them credit, Yakuza 5 doesn't seem to hate homeless immigrant children and abused mothers like Yakuza 4 does, so that's an improvement). While I do love the beginning, and I like some of the ending, everything in between is so tedious and poorly paced that the majority of the game just became a chore to play through. I just wish this game was a bit smaller, maybe if there were less characters to work with, or if the mystery was built up better, or just something. Because as it stands currently, I've seen Yakuza 5 get tons of praise for its size, and I guess I can understand that; but to me, Yakuza 5 is the epitome of "a mile wide and an inch deep".
Unfortunately, the rest of the game exists. Everything past Kiryu's part ranges from passable, to absolutely horrendous.
Just like with Yakuza 4, Yakuza 5 uses multiple protagonists. And just like with Yakuza 4, this is nothing but a negative. I wouldn't mind playing as multiple protagonists, in fact, I love it when games get it right, which Yakuza 5 simply does not. Just like with 4, there is a huge mystery/conspiracy that exists over everyone, and the game slowly reveals this mystery over the course of the game. However, unlike 4, which at least tries to have each part build into each other, allowing for the mystery to slowly get revealed as the game goes on, 5 feels like 4 completely separate narratives that have little to nothing to do with that huge mystery. Of course, all of these parts do have something to do with the mystery, but the game only bothers revealing that at the end of each part, giving us just a drip of information to keep us going for another 10 hours. This results in some of the worst pacing I've seen in a video game (maybe even in media altogether), let alone just in the Yakuza series itself. I ended up getting frustrated halfway through every part, hoping that the questions I had at the beginning of the game would be elaborated on, only for the game to focus on something I had little to no interest in, annihilating what little enjoyment I was still having.
This is a Yakuza game, so of course there's plenty to do. In fact there's too much to do. This is a gripe I have with the Yakuza series in general, I think there's just so much stuff to do that it can become overwhelming, but when it's done right (which it is in most of the games) it doesn't bother me. Here though? I just couldn't handle it. By the time I got to Part 4 I was skipping all side content aside from subquests (and even then, I skipped the subquests that annoyed me). I'm usually decently patient when it comes to side content, but I was having none of it. I had already put in over 40 hours into a game I wasn't enjoying and I didn't want to put in anymore than I had to.
It's not until the finale (which for some reason is 5 chapter in this game, instead of the usual 1 it has been in almost every other game) that we're given answers and a resolution...very....very....very slowly. The four chapters before the final chapter were excruciating. There were some fun moments, but I honestly can't remember anything aside from the nearly 2 hours of cutscenes I had to watch, all of which featured characters just sitting (or possibly even standing) in a room and explaining the plot to each other. I streamed this part to my friends, just because they wanted t see the game, and we were all bored out of our minds. It felt like I was playing a Hideo Kojima game, but without the solid directing and dialogue to keep me interested. This section alone lowered my rating of this game by an entire point, I just couldn't handle it whatsoever. Though I was won over by some of the action sequences, boss fights, and emotional moments in the end, those made me feel like I was playing the Yakuza games I loved.
Overall, I just can't recomend Yakuza 5. It takes Yakuza 4, I game I heavily disliked for its pacing, and manages to make it worse (though I will give them credit, Yakuza 5 doesn't seem to hate homeless immigrant children and abused mothers like Yakuza 4 does, so that's an improvement). While I do love the beginning, and I like some of the ending, everything in between is so tedious and poorly paced that the majority of the game just became a chore to play through. I just wish this game was a bit smaller, maybe if there were less characters to work with, or if the mystery was built up better, or just something. Because as it stands currently, I've seen Yakuza 5 get tons of praise for its size, and I guess I can understand that; but to me, Yakuza 5 is the epitome of "a mile wide and an inch deep".