A great game muddied by a HORRENDOUS combat system. While I can see why some would not be much of a fan of this game as a send off to kiryu’s story due to the lack of returning characters or other elements that would make it feel like a true finale, I think what is here is nice and still enjoyable in its own right. Basically all of the new characters are at the very least memorable, and the villains are arguably some of the best in the series imo. A lot of the substories are great too, and having all of them be fully voice acted gives a lot memorability to them.
It’s really a shame about the upgrade system and combat, however. The upgrade system is bloated as shit with barely anything feeing substantial, and to get all of the upgrades at the end you better have done a shit ton of clan battles to even have the cash to buy the training items for it. Even disregarding the level system though, the combat just feels off. Heat actions are less prevalent in favor of extreme heat mode and kiryu’s core moveset is different and isn’t very satisfying to control. Also the rag doll physics aren’t very funny after like, the 3rd battle. Not to mention it’s also very easy, I’d get pumped at many points before an important boss fight only for it to be over in a matter of seconds due to how they all only have one bar of health barring a single fight near the end.
Overall, I still enjoyed Yakuza 6 and while I’d probably have it near the bottom of my rankings from what I’ve played (only slightly above yakuza ps2 as well as kiwami being in a distant last place), I still enjoyed my time with it. If the combat was better, I could probably see it being one of my favorite entries in the whole series.
It’s really a shame about the upgrade system and combat, however. The upgrade system is bloated as shit with barely anything feeing substantial, and to get all of the upgrades at the end you better have done a shit ton of clan battles to even have the cash to buy the training items for it. Even disregarding the level system though, the combat just feels off. Heat actions are less prevalent in favor of extreme heat mode and kiryu’s core moveset is different and isn’t very satisfying to control. Also the rag doll physics aren’t very funny after like, the 3rd battle. Not to mention it’s also very easy, I’d get pumped at many points before an important boss fight only for it to be over in a matter of seconds due to how they all only have one bar of health barring a single fight near the end.
Overall, I still enjoyed Yakuza 6 and while I’d probably have it near the bottom of my rankings from what I’ve played (only slightly above yakuza ps2 as well as kiwami being in a distant last place), I still enjoyed my time with it. If the combat was better, I could probably see it being one of my favorite entries in the whole series.