Yakuza reinvents itself in what could've been a masterpiece, but falls short at some key areas.
The new turn-based combat is a refreshing addition to the series, replacing a system that was good but getting stale. Unfortunately it comes with a few hiccups, like unbalanced jobs/skills, visually uninteresting effects/animations, sudden difficulty spikes and repetitive encounters. The most annoying flaw is the reliance on the positioning of enemies and allies - which you have zero control over - turning some fights into awkward dances. Luckily the developers seem to learn from their mistakes, so I'm confident the next game will be better.
Ichiban, the new protagonist, had some large shoes to fill coming into this game, given that Kiryu is a legendary character both inside and outside the franchise. I'm happy to say he succeeds: a true lovable idiot that leans more into loveable than idiot - a line that characters in weaker stories struggle with.
Speaking of story, it delivers big time. The secondary conflict that takes up many of the middle chapters is a little too slow at times, but everything comes together in a thrilling end, unraveling Yakuza's usual plot twists in a clean, satisfying way - something that the later games couldn't do. Except for "Mirror Face", that was stupid and unnecessary.
Also I do have to point out how anti-climatic it was to watch an epic 1v1 cutscene before certain bosses only for your party of ragtags to spawn behind you during the actual combat and beat the boss up 4v1. Kiryu would never!
I'm writing this just as 5 more Yakuza games are announced for the PC. Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in...
The new turn-based combat is a refreshing addition to the series, replacing a system that was good but getting stale. Unfortunately it comes with a few hiccups, like unbalanced jobs/skills, visually uninteresting effects/animations, sudden difficulty spikes and repetitive encounters. The most annoying flaw is the reliance on the positioning of enemies and allies - which you have zero control over - turning some fights into awkward dances. Luckily the developers seem to learn from their mistakes, so I'm confident the next game will be better.
Ichiban, the new protagonist, had some large shoes to fill coming into this game, given that Kiryu is a legendary character both inside and outside the franchise. I'm happy to say he succeeds: a true lovable idiot that leans more into loveable than idiot - a line that characters in weaker stories struggle with.
Speaking of story, it delivers big time. The secondary conflict that takes up many of the middle chapters is a little too slow at times, but everything comes together in a thrilling end, unraveling Yakuza's usual plot twists in a clean, satisfying way - something that the later games couldn't do. Except for "Mirror Face", that was stupid and unnecessary.
Also I do have to point out how anti-climatic it was to watch an epic 1v1 cutscene before certain bosses only for your party of ragtags to spawn behind you during the actual combat and beat the boss up 4v1. Kiryu would never!
I'm writing this just as 5 more Yakuza games are announced for the PC. Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in...