AHHH THE BLOCKING. NOT THE BLOCKING. PLEASE LET ME JUST PUNCH YOU AND GET THIS OVER WITH.
Probably the weakest entry in the Yakuza franchise, but not without its own appeal that makes it stand out. Considering this is the jump from the PS2 to PS3 era, I assume there were some high expectations on the improvements this game would bring compared to previous entries. Not that I would know, I played the Kiwami versions lol. Regardless, there are some strong points this entry brings to the table and also some very major flaws that have likely earned its reputation of being the most poorly received game in the series.
This game’s biggest strength is undoubtedly its setting, putting Yakuza in a new location with Okinawa and Kiryu’s new life in maintaining an orphanage. I liked that Kiwami 2 actually teased this with one of the substories asking what does Kiryu want to do in the future, since it lends further value in previous games with how connected they are even through side content (though it's very likely that was added in the remake). The added slice of life aspect to the game is charming, but it does get annoying when some story beats have you just taking care of the children’s problems being mandatory which got tiresome up to a point. Granted they all build up to the bigger narrative Kiryu wanting to protect his orphanage and by extension the Okinawan beach from mainland wanting to expand through it be it the military or the resort. I like this premise a lot since it reminds me a lot of the struggles of my own country of Indonesia where urban expansion is clashing against homely locals who just want to live their lives in the places their ancestors gave them. Touching stuff.
However, once the game goes into more detail of the specific politics involved with the military expansion or resort deal, it completely loses me with how contrived it is being some sort of CIA conspiracy nonsense. This is just made worse when the newer characters involved such as Kazama’s twin brother is revealed and I just can’t help and facepalm realizing now that early Yakuza really is just these soap opera-esque plot twists that I will have to eventually take in stride if I want to keep staying invested. There’s also the new main villain Mine who acts as a pretty cool parallel to Kiryu with how they’re both orphans yet took different paths in life to how they are in the present. Yakuza in general tends to be pretty good at writing the main villains as reflections of Kiryu’s character and Mine is no exception to this, yet I’m genuinely confused how this guy looks up to Daigo when the dude was just barely competent enough in the previous entry. The Ryudo family and the orphans make up for this a lot though since as lame as the Ryudo family is at being Yakuza, it's very endearing to see they maintain their integrity of proud Okinawans honoring the Yakuza code and how they are very much beloved by the Ryukyu district. As stated before, the orphans are for the most part great to follow. Although yes the mandatory segments are annoying, it's still heart-warming to see Kiryu navigate through more mundane problems rather than the large scale yakuza conflicts he’s usually trapped in.
Now for the biggest issue and what I consider to be a dealbreaker in recommending this game to others; the gameplay. Combat is absolute dogpiss, all enemies including typical fodder will block your attacks. They will hold that block indefinitely and all you can do is simply pray that your button combinations will break the block. If it wasn’t bad enough with just small grunts it's even worse with bosses. They’ll just perform some insane combo and the moment you try to go for the counter they just immediately block before you can even land a hit. This is even on easy which I started with since I was already warned beforehand but it is still just as bad no matter what difficulty. Boss battles in Yakuza games are supposed to be the most hype moments being these clash of wills, but there really isn’t that much clashing of wills going on if my opponent is either always blocking or handing my ass in which I can’t respond to in time. Surprisingly, combat isn’t even the worst part of the game, that title belongs to exploration. It was nice being able to see where enemies are on the map because Yakuza 3 says screw all that and lets just turn that into random encounters. Maybe that's just how the original Yakuza games were but man I hate this so much because it makes traveling such a chore when I'm not in the mood to play Blockuza 3. What makes this worse is the fact that some story beats don’t even tell you where to go (I get it that narratively Kiryu is supposed to be “searching in those segments) and now you’re just wandering around aimlessly going into grindy ass fights and it all just makes me not want to commit to the side content like substories and revelations since I’m trying to avoid anymore confrontations.
Overall, this is the worst Yakuza game. No wonder there was a substory in Kiwami 2 where the director self-inserted himself where people said the third entry was disappointing. Because it is. Yeah sure there are some good bits like the characters and setting but the real silver lining to this game is that I beat it under twelve hours which means I can quickly move on to the next entry or whatever game I decide to play next. A sour taste in my mouth, but I’m sure I can wash it off soon, 3/10 since that's the number in the title.
Probably the weakest entry in the Yakuza franchise, but not without its own appeal that makes it stand out. Considering this is the jump from the PS2 to PS3 era, I assume there were some high expectations on the improvements this game would bring compared to previous entries. Not that I would know, I played the Kiwami versions lol. Regardless, there are some strong points this entry brings to the table and also some very major flaws that have likely earned its reputation of being the most poorly received game in the series.
This game’s biggest strength is undoubtedly its setting, putting Yakuza in a new location with Okinawa and Kiryu’s new life in maintaining an orphanage. I liked that Kiwami 2 actually teased this with one of the substories asking what does Kiryu want to do in the future, since it lends further value in previous games with how connected they are even through side content (though it's very likely that was added in the remake). The added slice of life aspect to the game is charming, but it does get annoying when some story beats have you just taking care of the children’s problems being mandatory which got tiresome up to a point. Granted they all build up to the bigger narrative Kiryu wanting to protect his orphanage and by extension the Okinawan beach from mainland wanting to expand through it be it the military or the resort. I like this premise a lot since it reminds me a lot of the struggles of my own country of Indonesia where urban expansion is clashing against homely locals who just want to live their lives in the places their ancestors gave them. Touching stuff.
However, once the game goes into more detail of the specific politics involved with the military expansion or resort deal, it completely loses me with how contrived it is being some sort of CIA conspiracy nonsense. This is just made worse when the newer characters involved such as Kazama’s twin brother is revealed and I just can’t help and facepalm realizing now that early Yakuza really is just these soap opera-esque plot twists that I will have to eventually take in stride if I want to keep staying invested. There’s also the new main villain Mine who acts as a pretty cool parallel to Kiryu with how they’re both orphans yet took different paths in life to how they are in the present. Yakuza in general tends to be pretty good at writing the main villains as reflections of Kiryu’s character and Mine is no exception to this, yet I’m genuinely confused how this guy looks up to Daigo when the dude was just barely competent enough in the previous entry. The Ryudo family and the orphans make up for this a lot though since as lame as the Ryudo family is at being Yakuza, it's very endearing to see they maintain their integrity of proud Okinawans honoring the Yakuza code and how they are very much beloved by the Ryukyu district. As stated before, the orphans are for the most part great to follow. Although yes the mandatory segments are annoying, it's still heart-warming to see Kiryu navigate through more mundane problems rather than the large scale yakuza conflicts he’s usually trapped in.
Now for the biggest issue and what I consider to be a dealbreaker in recommending this game to others; the gameplay. Combat is absolute dogpiss, all enemies including typical fodder will block your attacks. They will hold that block indefinitely and all you can do is simply pray that your button combinations will break the block. If it wasn’t bad enough with just small grunts it's even worse with bosses. They’ll just perform some insane combo and the moment you try to go for the counter they just immediately block before you can even land a hit. This is even on easy which I started with since I was already warned beforehand but it is still just as bad no matter what difficulty. Boss battles in Yakuza games are supposed to be the most hype moments being these clash of wills, but there really isn’t that much clashing of wills going on if my opponent is either always blocking or handing my ass in which I can’t respond to in time. Surprisingly, combat isn’t even the worst part of the game, that title belongs to exploration. It was nice being able to see where enemies are on the map because Yakuza 3 says screw all that and lets just turn that into random encounters. Maybe that's just how the original Yakuza games were but man I hate this so much because it makes traveling such a chore when I'm not in the mood to play Blockuza 3. What makes this worse is the fact that some story beats don’t even tell you where to go (I get it that narratively Kiryu is supposed to be “searching in those segments) and now you’re just wandering around aimlessly going into grindy ass fights and it all just makes me not want to commit to the side content like substories and revelations since I’m trying to avoid anymore confrontations.
Overall, this is the worst Yakuza game. No wonder there was a substory in Kiwami 2 where the director self-inserted himself where people said the third entry was disappointing. Because it is. Yeah sure there are some good bits like the characters and setting but the real silver lining to this game is that I beat it under twelve hours which means I can quickly move on to the next entry or whatever game I decide to play next. A sour taste in my mouth, but I’m sure I can wash it off soon, 3/10 since that's the number in the title.