This review contains spoilers
Now outta my way, YOU MEAT SACKS!
Yakuza 0 is the most popular entry of the franchise and it is widely considered to be the best one. After beating Yakuza 0, it became one of those games where i sit through the credits looking like a sad idiot, and that's one of the highest praises that i could give to a videogame. It's also a game where it felt like the hours flew by, i could sit down, boot up the game and then BOOM! 4 hours gone.
You have 2 playable protags: Kiryu and Majima. Yakuza 0 is a prequel set in 1988 where we get to see Kiryu before he became the dragon of dojima and Majima before he became the mad dog of shimano. Both Kiryu and Majima have multiple fighting styles that you can switch whenever you want during fights. I already talked about Kiryu's fighting styles on my kiwami review so i'm not gonna do that again.
Thug style is quicker and more accurate than Kiryu's brawler style but it does less damage and it doesn't have a very wide range making it not good against group of enemies, but if you're fighting only 1 enemy then you can easily kick their ass.
Slugger style is absolutely op, you have a bat that is good for literally everything, and slugger can tear down bosses with ez.
Breaker style is EASILY my favorite style in the entire game, even tho it isn't very good against bosses, it makes fighting groups of enemies a walk in the park. I didn't unlock the 4th style because the management games really suck! But you know what doesn't suck? That's right the disco minigame. On the disco minigame you get to pick between a bunch of songs that have 3 difficulties, and once you pick a song it is time to murder the dance floor! You take control of a silly little avatar that you have to move and hit a button on the tile it shows up on. The more steps your avatar takes the more points you get when you hit a button on the correct time. You can also have dance battles but no matter how hard you try you will never beat the GOAT Miracle Johnson.
You also have a fever meter which is really helpful to earn some points. Also quick hot take but queen of the passion is the best disco song, and yes i even prefer it over friday night. The bosses in this game were surprising really great, all the yakuza games i've played so far had mostly alright bosses with some exceptions of course. Anyways here are my favorite bosses of the game:
1.Keiji Shibusawa and Lao Gui.
It's very hard for me to decide which i one i prefer, they both have sick ass movesets that change and dope arenas that also change! Both of them also have amazing boss intros and an awesome theme.
2.Hiroki Awano
FINALLY I GET TO BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF THIS CLOWN
3.Kuze (final fight)
Oath of enma is genuinely a top 3 boss theme for me, and goddamn this fight made me realise how fucking cool Kuze is.
4.Homare Nishitani
Majima before Majima
5.Masaru Sera
Sera has one of the coolest fighting styles imo and i personally found this to be the hardest boss in the game.
The substories in this game are on par with Y5's substories which is saying a lot! More games should have sidequests where you have a dance battle with Michael Jackson. ALSO MY BOI SHINJI GOT HIS OWN SUBSTORY.
Ok now lets talk about the story, and oh boi what a story. Kiryu and Majima have fantastic stories filled with amazing characters that are brought to life by awesome voice acting. Most of Kiryu's story is in kamurocho but most of Majima's story is in sotenbori which is a new city. Kiryu's story is fricking amazing. My favorite side character in this game is Tachibana.
At first Tachibana had an air of sketchiness to him and i never would have thought that this dude would later earn my trust and get me on the verge of tears TWICE. I still get sad knowing that Tachibana died before seeing his sister. Even Kiryu shed tears when Tachibana died.Y0 has some gud villains like Sagawa or Shibusawa but the one that stands on top for me is Kuze. At the start of the game Kuze is presented as an asshole but as you progress through the story and after so many fights with him, you discover that Kuze is the most respectable dojima family lieutenant and he is easily the most memorable out of the 3. If you pay attention on the dialogue of the final Kuze fight, you would notice that Kiryu starts to call him sir, so yeah even Kiryu respects Kuze. Shibusawa started off as the most respectable lieutenant but it turns out that he is a dick! But something good that Shibusawa did was getting his ass beaten by Kiryu which made Kiryu become the dragon of dojima. Awano is still a bit of an asshole but he gained a bit of respect when he saved Majima. Another scene that got me on the verge of tears on Kiryu's story is the last scene with Nishiki and Kiryu on chapter 6, this scene hits harder when you know the events of kiwami 1, and this scene in particular is when i started falling in love with Y0's story.Now its time for Majima's story which i personally found to be better than Kiryu's story. I am used to the crazy Majima that everyone knows and love, but like i mentioned before we see Majima before he becomes the mad dog of shimano which was very intriguing. My fav part about Majima's story is Makoto, a blind girl who is very important to the story of the game. Majima was hired to kill Makoto but he couldn't do it, but instead he did the opposite and helped her, and why did he do that? Love. Sadly at the end of the game Majima cuts his ties with Makoto, because he knows that being with Makoto could put her in danger. Wen Hai Lee was also an interesting character, he was an ally to Majima and Makoto and he also looks like a discount Saejima, but sadly he went out with a bang. Sagawa is a very underrated villain, similar to Kuze he is a character that i first despised but at the end he grew on me. I could keep gushing on and on about this game's story and characters, Y0 has without a doubt one of my favorite stories in videogames and Majima is easily one of my fav characters oat.
You can't make a review about a yakuza game without talking about its music. So is the Yakuza 0 ost any good? Well out of all the yakuza games i played this has my favorite ost out of all of them, and that is really impressive considering that both yakuza 4 and 5 are in my top 10 videogame OSTs. Anyways here are my favorite songs:
Pledge of demon is one of the 2 boss themes of Kuze, and this theme in particular certainly makes you feel like you are fighting a badass old man.
Reign plays when you kick everyones ass on the dojima hq as Majima, and oh my god this god tier song just made that already amazing moment so much better
Oath of enma is Kuze's 2nd boss theme and it only plays during his final fight, and i personally think that this is a better boss theme than pledge of the demon.
I've already said this before but i'll say it louder, QUEEN OF THE PASSION IS THE BEST DISCO SONG!
With vengeance is Awano's boss theme and it is on par with oath of enma for me.
Two dragons is Shibusawa's boss theme and idk man they just cooked with the boss themes of all 3 lieutenants.
Firelight plays during the 8th long battle and similar to reign it makes an already amazing moment even better. The leveling system is one of complaints about the game, i wasn't a very big fan of it and i wish they kept the leveling system of yakuza 4 and 5. Another complaint i have is that the 4th styles are locked behind those stupid and unfun management minigames. I don't have any other complaints about this game. It is crazy that i bought this game for 5 euros, for such a cheap price i got an excellent game that easily sneaked into my favorites.
10/10 not my favorite yakuza game but it is my favorite 2015 game
Yakuza 0 is the most popular entry of the franchise and it is widely considered to be the best one. After beating Yakuza 0, it became one of those games where i sit through the credits looking like a sad idiot, and that's one of the highest praises that i could give to a videogame. It's also a game where it felt like the hours flew by, i could sit down, boot up the game and then BOOM! 4 hours gone.
You have 2 playable protags: Kiryu and Majima. Yakuza 0 is a prequel set in 1988 where we get to see Kiryu before he became the dragon of dojima and Majima before he became the mad dog of shimano. Both Kiryu and Majima have multiple fighting styles that you can switch whenever you want during fights. I already talked about Kiryu's fighting styles on my kiwami review so i'm not gonna do that again.
Thug style is quicker and more accurate than Kiryu's brawler style but it does less damage and it doesn't have a very wide range making it not good against group of enemies, but if you're fighting only 1 enemy then you can easily kick their ass.
Slugger style is absolutely op, you have a bat that is good for literally everything, and slugger can tear down bosses with ez.
Breaker style is EASILY my favorite style in the entire game, even tho it isn't very good against bosses, it makes fighting groups of enemies a walk in the park. I didn't unlock the 4th style because the management games really suck! But you know what doesn't suck? That's right the disco minigame. On the disco minigame you get to pick between a bunch of songs that have 3 difficulties, and once you pick a song it is time to murder the dance floor! You take control of a silly little avatar that you have to move and hit a button on the tile it shows up on. The more steps your avatar takes the more points you get when you hit a button on the correct time. You can also have dance battles but no matter how hard you try you will never beat the GOAT Miracle Johnson.
You also have a fever meter which is really helpful to earn some points. Also quick hot take but queen of the passion is the best disco song, and yes i even prefer it over friday night. The bosses in this game were surprising really great, all the yakuza games i've played so far had mostly alright bosses with some exceptions of course. Anyways here are my favorite bosses of the game:
1.Keiji Shibusawa and Lao Gui.
It's very hard for me to decide which i one i prefer, they both have sick ass movesets that change and dope arenas that also change! Both of them also have amazing boss intros and an awesome theme.
2.Hiroki Awano
FINALLY I GET TO BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF THIS CLOWN
3.Kuze (final fight)
Oath of enma is genuinely a top 3 boss theme for me, and goddamn this fight made me realise how fucking cool Kuze is.
4.Homare Nishitani
Majima before Majima
5.Masaru Sera
Sera has one of the coolest fighting styles imo and i personally found this to be the hardest boss in the game.
The substories in this game are on par with Y5's substories which is saying a lot! More games should have sidequests where you have a dance battle with Michael Jackson. ALSO MY BOI SHINJI GOT HIS OWN SUBSTORY.
Ok now lets talk about the story, and oh boi what a story. Kiryu and Majima have fantastic stories filled with amazing characters that are brought to life by awesome voice acting. Most of Kiryu's story is in kamurocho but most of Majima's story is in sotenbori which is a new city. Kiryu's story is fricking amazing. My favorite side character in this game is Tachibana.
At first Tachibana had an air of sketchiness to him and i never would have thought that this dude would later earn my trust and get me on the verge of tears TWICE. I still get sad knowing that Tachibana died before seeing his sister. Even Kiryu shed tears when Tachibana died.Y0 has some gud villains like Sagawa or Shibusawa but the one that stands on top for me is Kuze. At the start of the game Kuze is presented as an asshole but as you progress through the story and after so many fights with him, you discover that Kuze is the most respectable dojima family lieutenant and he is easily the most memorable out of the 3. If you pay attention on the dialogue of the final Kuze fight, you would notice that Kiryu starts to call him sir, so yeah even Kiryu respects Kuze. Shibusawa started off as the most respectable lieutenant but it turns out that he is a dick! But something good that Shibusawa did was getting his ass beaten by Kiryu which made Kiryu become the dragon of dojima. Awano is still a bit of an asshole but he gained a bit of respect when he saved Majima. Another scene that got me on the verge of tears on Kiryu's story is the last scene with Nishiki and Kiryu on chapter 6, this scene hits harder when you know the events of kiwami 1, and this scene in particular is when i started falling in love with Y0's story.Now its time for Majima's story which i personally found to be better than Kiryu's story. I am used to the crazy Majima that everyone knows and love, but like i mentioned before we see Majima before he becomes the mad dog of shimano which was very intriguing. My fav part about Majima's story is Makoto, a blind girl who is very important to the story of the game. Majima was hired to kill Makoto but he couldn't do it, but instead he did the opposite and helped her, and why did he do that? Love. Sadly at the end of the game Majima cuts his ties with Makoto, because he knows that being with Makoto could put her in danger. Wen Hai Lee was also an interesting character, he was an ally to Majima and Makoto and he also looks like a discount Saejima, but sadly he went out with a bang. Sagawa is a very underrated villain, similar to Kuze he is a character that i first despised but at the end he grew on me. I could keep gushing on and on about this game's story and characters, Y0 has without a doubt one of my favorite stories in videogames and Majima is easily one of my fav characters oat.
You can't make a review about a yakuza game without talking about its music. So is the Yakuza 0 ost any good? Well out of all the yakuza games i played this has my favorite ost out of all of them, and that is really impressive considering that both yakuza 4 and 5 are in my top 10 videogame OSTs. Anyways here are my favorite songs:
Pledge of demon is one of the 2 boss themes of Kuze, and this theme in particular certainly makes you feel like you are fighting a badass old man.
Reign plays when you kick everyones ass on the dojima hq as Majima, and oh my god this god tier song just made that already amazing moment so much better
Oath of enma is Kuze's 2nd boss theme and it only plays during his final fight, and i personally think that this is a better boss theme than pledge of the demon.
I've already said this before but i'll say it louder, QUEEN OF THE PASSION IS THE BEST DISCO SONG!
With vengeance is Awano's boss theme and it is on par with oath of enma for me.
Two dragons is Shibusawa's boss theme and idk man they just cooked with the boss themes of all 3 lieutenants.
Firelight plays during the 8th long battle and similar to reign it makes an already amazing moment even better. The leveling system is one of complaints about the game, i wasn't a very big fan of it and i wish they kept the leveling system of yakuza 4 and 5. Another complaint i have is that the 4th styles are locked behind those stupid and unfun management minigames. I don't have any other complaints about this game. It is crazy that i bought this game for 5 euros, for such a cheap price i got an excellent game that easily sneaked into my favorites.
10/10 not my favorite yakuza game but it is my favorite 2015 game