my thoughts on yakuza 7 are incredibly complicated, so as always these are just my raw thoughts. sorry if they don't make any damn sense!
yakuza 7 is a jrpg take on the yakuza/like a dragon series that wears its main inspiration on its sleeve and points out that same sleeve the whole way through. it starts out decently strong and keeps a lighthearted tone, relative to previous games at least. there's a few great moments here and there but it doesn't beat you over the head with them like yakuza 0 did. there's hints that the game is going to hit pretty hard interspersed throughout, but for the most part it plays out like early yakuza games with a found family twist to it.
however, at the end of chapter 12, at one of the most indulgent and silly and fanservicey chapters at that point, the game punches you in the gut and it catches you off guard completely, and i love it to death. chapters 12-15 are easily the most enjoyable moments in the entire franchise thus far for me. i cried as much at those 4 chapters as i did at the entirety of 0. the final cutscenes of this game are easily the most emotionally raw the series has ever been and completely sold me on ichiban as a protagonist and i couldn't be happier that kazuhiro nakaya gets a chance to shine in this series again because he blows it out of the fucking park.
a spectacular performance aside, ichiban is the perfect protagonist for this story. the found family angle and how he relies and loves his friends as opposed to kiryu who, while having allies, would constantly self sacrifice and rush in alone is done so well. this is my favorite main cast of characters in a yakuza game with great antagonists (even if they take a while to shine) and one of my favorite parties in any jrpg i've ever played
in terms of what i didn't like, the music in this game is probably the most lacking an ost in the series has felt for me. i might be alone on that but barely any music stood out to me. it's not that big of a deal to me and i can look past it for sure, but it still is a bit of a let down. the way the game handles the lower rungs of society is also a bit frustrating. homeless people are lauded as hard workers and underdogs, but enemies like the hungry hungry homeless rub me a bit wrong. the main cast being staunch defenders of sex workers is also cool, but they seem to only care if it's survival sex work. nothing too major, but things that just rubbed me the wrong way enough for me to mention.
forgot to mention when i first wrote this review (adding this 2 days after) but yokohama is probably the first new city added in the series since sotenbori that has actually been just as enjoyable to experience and explore as kamurocho. definitely not as boring as some of the yakuza 3/5 locations
all in all, yakuza: like a dragon is a promising reboot to a series i love to death, and with all of the announcements for the series lately, i couldn't have picked a better time to finally finish this entry, and i'm really excited to see what ichiban and his pals get up to next.
yakuza 7 is a jrpg take on the yakuza/like a dragon series that wears its main inspiration on its sleeve and points out that same sleeve the whole way through. it starts out decently strong and keeps a lighthearted tone, relative to previous games at least. there's a few great moments here and there but it doesn't beat you over the head with them like yakuza 0 did. there's hints that the game is going to hit pretty hard interspersed throughout, but for the most part it plays out like early yakuza games with a found family twist to it.
however, at the end of chapter 12, at one of the most indulgent and silly and fanservicey chapters at that point, the game punches you in the gut and it catches you off guard completely, and i love it to death. chapters 12-15 are easily the most enjoyable moments in the entire franchise thus far for me. i cried as much at those 4 chapters as i did at the entirety of 0. the final cutscenes of this game are easily the most emotionally raw the series has ever been and completely sold me on ichiban as a protagonist and i couldn't be happier that kazuhiro nakaya gets a chance to shine in this series again because he blows it out of the fucking park.
a spectacular performance aside, ichiban is the perfect protagonist for this story. the found family angle and how he relies and loves his friends as opposed to kiryu who, while having allies, would constantly self sacrifice and rush in alone is done so well. this is my favorite main cast of characters in a yakuza game with great antagonists (even if they take a while to shine) and one of my favorite parties in any jrpg i've ever played
in terms of what i didn't like, the music in this game is probably the most lacking an ost in the series has felt for me. i might be alone on that but barely any music stood out to me. it's not that big of a deal to me and i can look past it for sure, but it still is a bit of a let down. the way the game handles the lower rungs of society is also a bit frustrating. homeless people are lauded as hard workers and underdogs, but enemies like the hungry hungry homeless rub me a bit wrong. the main cast being staunch defenders of sex workers is also cool, but they seem to only care if it's survival sex work. nothing too major, but things that just rubbed me the wrong way enough for me to mention.
forgot to mention when i first wrote this review (adding this 2 days after) but yokohama is probably the first new city added in the series since sotenbori that has actually been just as enjoyable to experience and explore as kamurocho. definitely not as boring as some of the yakuza 3/5 locations
all in all, yakuza: like a dragon is a promising reboot to a series i love to death, and with all of the announcements for the series lately, i couldn't have picked a better time to finally finish this entry, and i'm really excited to see what ichiban and his pals get up to next.
fascinator
1 year ago