You know how shonen movies are just an arc condensed into a 90 minute format? this is the video game equivalent of that. A quick adventure with your pal Joryu thats a great sendoff for Kiryu in a leading role, assuming we don't get more in the future.
The majority of the games in the franchise are written in a way that you can pick up any of them as your first one and have a good time and know whats going on. This might be the only one that isn't that way. It's a short parallel story to Yakuza: Like A Dragon, with so much dialogue calling back to things you should already know about and so many substories and side activities paying tribute to all the adventures Kiryu has gone through over the years it's a bit refreshing that the game isn't scared to acknowledge the history. After all he is a Multi-Decade Pocket Circuit Champion.
Gameplay wise this is the best the dragon engine action combat has ever felt ( I played Lost Judgment on an Xbox One S so that could be better on a system that runs it at 60fps) Kiryu's Dragon stance is back with the Yakuza style and feels better than ever while his new Agent style is a flashy style that's similar to his old rush style but with some fun gadgets thrown in. Kiryu is also really strong from the jump, there's still upgrades to grab but it doesn't feel like nearly as much of a slog as it did in the past to get this legendary former yakuza back to his strength. Really filling in the gamer power fantasy with this one.
Towards the end of Yakuza: Like a Dragon I felt that it was a really poor decision to have Kiryu pop-in and have a "Passing of the Torch" moment with Ichiban, especially with how much he went through in 6 considering he was done with the Yakuza for good and had to live in hiding to protect the kids at Morning Glory. I think it would've made more sense for him to lay low for awhile and MAYBE make an appearance in 8. It felt like they didn't have confidence in their writing of their new protagonist at all. After playing The Man Who Erased His Name? I still think that it was a poor choice but I'm glad they fleshed out what got him there to make it a little more palletable. It's a quick journey that explains what lead to him being at the dissolution of the Omi Alliance and Tojo Clan, and sets the stage for Infinite Wealth being in Hawaii. It's a perfectly servicable LAD story, if it was dragged out to a usual games length it would've overstayed its welcome but here it's great. Love a good parallel between Kiryu and his antagonists and this game might also have the best one yet. Really though the shining moment of this game's story is the ending, one that couldn't work without the characters near twenty year history at this point and it comes close to making up for a lot of the gripes I've had about Kiryu's stories since Yakuza 3. Genuinely I think its the most emotional moment any of these games have ever had. Can't wait to play 8.
The majority of the games in the franchise are written in a way that you can pick up any of them as your first one and have a good time and know whats going on. This might be the only one that isn't that way. It's a short parallel story to Yakuza: Like A Dragon, with so much dialogue calling back to things you should already know about and so many substories and side activities paying tribute to all the adventures Kiryu has gone through over the years it's a bit refreshing that the game isn't scared to acknowledge the history. After all he is a Multi-Decade Pocket Circuit Champion.
Gameplay wise this is the best the dragon engine action combat has ever felt ( I played Lost Judgment on an Xbox One S so that could be better on a system that runs it at 60fps) Kiryu's Dragon stance is back with the Yakuza style and feels better than ever while his new Agent style is a flashy style that's similar to his old rush style but with some fun gadgets thrown in. Kiryu is also really strong from the jump, there's still upgrades to grab but it doesn't feel like nearly as much of a slog as it did in the past to get this legendary former yakuza back to his strength. Really filling in the gamer power fantasy with this one.
Towards the end of Yakuza: Like a Dragon I felt that it was a really poor decision to have Kiryu pop-in and have a "Passing of the Torch" moment with Ichiban, especially with how much he went through in 6 considering he was done with the Yakuza for good and had to live in hiding to protect the kids at Morning Glory. I think it would've made more sense for him to lay low for awhile and MAYBE make an appearance in 8. It felt like they didn't have confidence in their writing of their new protagonist at all. After playing The Man Who Erased His Name? I still think that it was a poor choice but I'm glad they fleshed out what got him there to make it a little more palletable. It's a quick journey that explains what lead to him being at the dissolution of the Omi Alliance and Tojo Clan, and sets the stage for Infinite Wealth being in Hawaii. It's a perfectly servicable LAD story, if it was dragged out to a usual games length it would've overstayed its welcome but here it's great. Love a good parallel between Kiryu and his antagonists and this game might also have the best one yet. Really though the shining moment of this game's story is the ending, one that couldn't work without the characters near twenty year history at this point and it comes close to making up for a lot of the gripes I've had about Kiryu's stories since Yakuza 3. Genuinely I think its the most emotional moment any of these games have ever had. Can't wait to play 8.