Yakuza 5 is big.
My first playthrough of Yakuza 0 clocked about 90 hours. Yakuza Kiwami 60 hours, Kiwami 2 80 hours, Yakuza 4 about 40. This one (admittedly reaching 90% completion) was 126 hours. I imagine rushing through still takes about 40-50 hours. Its just beefy.
The extensive side content in the game really hammers home the sheer girth of the game. There's five cities, five characters, all with different side stories and gimmicks. Kiryu's side content involves an extensive racing game and taxi quest. Saejima's adventure involves elaborate hunting mechanics. Haruka deals with her idol career, Akiyama gets some stories involving his cabaret club, and Shinada relives his baseball glory days. These stories reflect the characters nicely and add layers to the journey they're on. Combined with different training masters, different coliseum ranking achievements, different city wide collectibles... its daunting to think about the sheer effort and polish put into this game.
With that in mind, the size works against the game. The storyline works best when these character stories are kept separate. Kiryu's efforts to stay yakuza free and Shinada's lost baseball dreams are excellent standalone adventures. Saejima's story ties deep in the main narrative, which means its pace has significant stumbles compared to other slow narratives. Haruka's adventure is efficient enough at detailing the idol industry, but the overarching story doesn't do her or Akiyama any favors. By the final chapters, when all these stories collide into each other, its really hard to keep track of all the information you have to balance. There's too many warring factions. Too many conspiracies. I can't be expected to remember the betrayals in act one when act one was 80 hours ago.
Meanwhile, Haruka's chapter has its own major flaws. Yakuza never really commits to any one answer about its themes. The ambiguity helps the series. When the story involves the hierarchies of the idol industry, that ambiguity gets frustrating. They can't keep vaguely dancing around this theme of "oh, these industry ruins women's lives, everyone's phony and miserable, its run by criminals, its awful to work here" and then come up with the answer: "but its WORTH IT to give people DREAMS." Tear the industry down with your fists. You've let me do that for other organizations, let me do it here.
Shinada's story is my favorite though. The entire game is about Dreams and it doesn't let you forget it. But Shinada's story focusing on what happens when you've been abandoned by your dream. When you couldn't hack it because of factors out of your control. Its a more relatable theme than the aspiring dreams of previous acts. You want to see this dumb boy get his life back together, whatever that life may be. Its a breath of fresh air.
The gameplay, as always, is delightful. Each character has their own fighting style and it works well for their characters. Kiryu and Saejima are unbeatable, while Akiyama has to struggle a bit more. Shinada, being a civilian, does a better job relying on weaponry than he does on his fists. It provides nice variety and encourages you to experiment with different playstyles.
Overall, Yakuza 5 is... bizarrely a comfort game. Its just so easy to drop into it and get lost in its huge world. It can very quickly wear out its welcome by the final act, but I just let myself ride its stupid wave, indulging in fishing minigames and gambling casinos and living a relaxed yakuza life. Yakuza 0 may be the franchise peak, but 5 feels like the platonic ideal for the franchise is on the average. Polished, charming, and stuffed with content to get lost in.
My first playthrough of Yakuza 0 clocked about 90 hours. Yakuza Kiwami 60 hours, Kiwami 2 80 hours, Yakuza 4 about 40. This one (admittedly reaching 90% completion) was 126 hours. I imagine rushing through still takes about 40-50 hours. Its just beefy.
The extensive side content in the game really hammers home the sheer girth of the game. There's five cities, five characters, all with different side stories and gimmicks. Kiryu's side content involves an extensive racing game and taxi quest. Saejima's adventure involves elaborate hunting mechanics. Haruka deals with her idol career, Akiyama gets some stories involving his cabaret club, and Shinada relives his baseball glory days. These stories reflect the characters nicely and add layers to the journey they're on. Combined with different training masters, different coliseum ranking achievements, different city wide collectibles... its daunting to think about the sheer effort and polish put into this game.
With that in mind, the size works against the game. The storyline works best when these character stories are kept separate. Kiryu's efforts to stay yakuza free and Shinada's lost baseball dreams are excellent standalone adventures. Saejima's story ties deep in the main narrative, which means its pace has significant stumbles compared to other slow narratives. Haruka's adventure is efficient enough at detailing the idol industry, but the overarching story doesn't do her or Akiyama any favors. By the final chapters, when all these stories collide into each other, its really hard to keep track of all the information you have to balance. There's too many warring factions. Too many conspiracies. I can't be expected to remember the betrayals in act one when act one was 80 hours ago.
Meanwhile, Haruka's chapter has its own major flaws. Yakuza never really commits to any one answer about its themes. The ambiguity helps the series. When the story involves the hierarchies of the idol industry, that ambiguity gets frustrating. They can't keep vaguely dancing around this theme of "oh, these industry ruins women's lives, everyone's phony and miserable, its run by criminals, its awful to work here" and then come up with the answer: "but its WORTH IT to give people DREAMS." Tear the industry down with your fists. You've let me do that for other organizations, let me do it here.
Shinada's story is my favorite though. The entire game is about Dreams and it doesn't let you forget it. But Shinada's story focusing on what happens when you've been abandoned by your dream. When you couldn't hack it because of factors out of your control. Its a more relatable theme than the aspiring dreams of previous acts. You want to see this dumb boy get his life back together, whatever that life may be. Its a breath of fresh air.
The gameplay, as always, is delightful. Each character has their own fighting style and it works well for their characters. Kiryu and Saejima are unbeatable, while Akiyama has to struggle a bit more. Shinada, being a civilian, does a better job relying on weaponry than he does on his fists. It provides nice variety and encourages you to experiment with different playstyles.
Overall, Yakuza 5 is... bizarrely a comfort game. Its just so easy to drop into it and get lost in its huge world. It can very quickly wear out its welcome by the final act, but I just let myself ride its stupid wave, indulging in fishing minigames and gambling casinos and living a relaxed yakuza life. Yakuza 0 may be the franchise peak, but 5 feels like the platonic ideal for the franchise is on the average. Polished, charming, and stuffed with content to get lost in.