I jumped into Yakuza 4 straight after Yakuza 3 but that might have been a mistake since I'm going abroad for 6 months and didn't have much time left to finish Yakuza 4 before I leave. This means I bypassed most of the content outside of the main story and the review will mainly be focused on that. Though even if you just focus on the story here, you will constantly be shown the type of side content that is available, such as the hostess makeover minigame that was introduced in Yakuza 3, a similar make-a-fighter minigame, and a bunch of stuff that the series introduced in previous entries.
As far as the main story goes, Yakuza 4 has 4 main characters who each have 4 chapters focused on their part in the overall plot before it all culminates in a final chapter. The 4 main characters all have distinct personalities that succeed in making them all stand out. You got the charismatic Shun Akiyama who stole the show for me, but you also got his polar opposite in the stoic Taiga Saejima. I thought I'd go over each of the characters before I give my thoughts on the rest of the game overall.
I do want to say that I had mixed feelings about 4 main characters throughout. Yakuza 0 had 2 and remains my favorite Yakuza game, so I have nothing against multiple protagonists, but 4 felt like it took away from the connection you get to the character and the satisfying feeling of upgrading your character and seeing how he continues to get stronger. Here, by the time a character gains enough skills to make fights more interesting, you switch to the next protagonist. That said, side content and their own parts in the main story do offer plenty of time with each character to allow them to leave an impact, I'd just prefer a game with 2 protagonists who you switch between a la Yakuza 0, or just one character. (And yes, I do realize that Yakuza 5 has 5 protagonists. Let's see how that goes.)
Shun Akiyama: The game starts with him and his personality takes center stage pretty much off the bat. His mannerisms, voice acting and overall character made his chapters go by really quick, and I find both his backstory and the whole Sky Finance business fascinating. His fighting style is also probably my favorite in the game. Don't know the name of it but he's mainly using kicks during combat and it was a fun way to mix it up.
Taiga Saejima: Very dark character with some very memorable moments (some positively, some really negatively (you'll know when you see it). Hated his fighting style and his fights because the balancing is pretty messed up (Saito battle I'm looking at you), and he doesn't really ever become satisfying to play with. Even outside of combat, exploration with him was a horrible time because of all the police everywhere.
Masayoshi Tanimura: An overly confident police officer who doesn't shy away from breaking the rules at times. Definitely ended up being a lot more interesting character wise than I expected going in, and his parry-heavy combat style lets you pull off some of the coolest combos for sure, though his final boss fight was the biggest AIDS-inducing fight of my life, especially since I went in with just one healing item like a stupid person.
Kazuma Kiryu: His part was pretty short overall but solid as expected. I understand why they decided to add more protagonists to be able to tell stories differently, and I think that was a good call but I love Kiryu, so playing as him longer would have been what I'd have preferred.
The story in the game overall has some strong and some weak parts. For one, there is a saying called "too many cooks in a kitchen", and I think too many antagonists in a story applies here. I laughed out loud at the number of plot twists the story through at me, which I think indicates that there were too many. It's not very well written overall but rather felt like a guilty pleasure type story, and reminded me even more of a soap opera than Yakuza stories can tend to feel like. Not a terrible thing, because the protagonists are great overall and many of the antagonists and their parts in the story were well explained, but then you got guys like Daigo who feels like he was added in last second and some other names who have some odd moments that are questionable in terms of their logic. Then there are the countless "what are the odds?" moments where events occur way too perfectly for the story to progress in a certain direction, especially involving Kiryu. I can live with a few of these but I thought the game overdid it. But overall, the story had many badass moments involving badass characters and even if it wasn't well written at all times, that alone was satisfying to watch unfold. A final negative note for me was, clearly due to budgetary issues, the fact that so many key cinematic moments were interrupted and conversations ended up happening unvoiced outside of cutscenes. It does take something away from them and I wish we could have gotten half an hour's worth of additional cutscenes at least.
The combat felt improved from Yakuza 3 but also worse in some ways. Probably the most frustrating I got at a Yakuza game ever, and continuously so. Boss fights were frustrating, sure, but there were also too many mini-bosses who pissed me off. One big issue for me was that combos never worked with some of these guys because they'd just hit you with an unblockable attack to end the combo. Or that they just wouldn't get knocked down. Another big issue was that you could so easily be stunlocked. Often it took one hit and you were unable to move for 3-5 seconds. Why?? Or even worse, every group you fight has that one cunt who grabs you. Sometimes, there were even 2 or 3 of those, so you'd escape one grapple to walk right into the next with no way to avoid it. It all culminated in the final boss fight, which, until you figure out to do it in one very specific way, I'm calling it now, is just the worst thing to happen to the Yakuza series. You got the antagonist and 10 of his henchman in the way. The antagonist shoots you with his pistol and the only way to avoid them is to grab enemies and attack them that way. Going straight at the antagonist doesn't work because there are 3 guys with knives who will just stab at you incessantly and you'll actually not even see your character in the sea of enemies sometimes. Trying to input commands and being unable to do anything is so frustrating, holy moly. But there is less guarding 99% of hits (now it's 50% guarding, 49% dodging) compared to Yakuza 3 at least.
Overall, Yakuza 4 has its unique strengths and weaknesses. I liked the story and its bad parts made me laugh more than annoyed, plus the protagonists are great additions to the overall story of the series. The combat has some great parts but also some of the worst in the series (from 0 to 4), at least in my opinion. The soundtrack is great and includes some absolute bangers (Receive and Bite You, For Faith, Material Delights etc.). If you're a fan of Yakuza, the game is great and I enjoyed it, but I'd say it's the weakest of the bunch for me when you combine everything.
As far as the main story goes, Yakuza 4 has 4 main characters who each have 4 chapters focused on their part in the overall plot before it all culminates in a final chapter. The 4 main characters all have distinct personalities that succeed in making them all stand out. You got the charismatic Shun Akiyama who stole the show for me, but you also got his polar opposite in the stoic Taiga Saejima. I thought I'd go over each of the characters before I give my thoughts on the rest of the game overall.
I do want to say that I had mixed feelings about 4 main characters throughout. Yakuza 0 had 2 and remains my favorite Yakuza game, so I have nothing against multiple protagonists, but 4 felt like it took away from the connection you get to the character and the satisfying feeling of upgrading your character and seeing how he continues to get stronger. Here, by the time a character gains enough skills to make fights more interesting, you switch to the next protagonist. That said, side content and their own parts in the main story do offer plenty of time with each character to allow them to leave an impact, I'd just prefer a game with 2 protagonists who you switch between a la Yakuza 0, or just one character. (And yes, I do realize that Yakuza 5 has 5 protagonists. Let's see how that goes.)
Shun Akiyama: The game starts with him and his personality takes center stage pretty much off the bat. His mannerisms, voice acting and overall character made his chapters go by really quick, and I find both his backstory and the whole Sky Finance business fascinating. His fighting style is also probably my favorite in the game. Don't know the name of it but he's mainly using kicks during combat and it was a fun way to mix it up.
Taiga Saejima: Very dark character with some very memorable moments (some positively, some really negatively (you'll know when you see it). Hated his fighting style and his fights because the balancing is pretty messed up (Saito battle I'm looking at you), and he doesn't really ever become satisfying to play with. Even outside of combat, exploration with him was a horrible time because of all the police everywhere.
Masayoshi Tanimura: An overly confident police officer who doesn't shy away from breaking the rules at times. Definitely ended up being a lot more interesting character wise than I expected going in, and his parry-heavy combat style lets you pull off some of the coolest combos for sure, though his final boss fight was the biggest AIDS-inducing fight of my life, especially since I went in with just one healing item like a stupid person.
Kazuma Kiryu: His part was pretty short overall but solid as expected. I understand why they decided to add more protagonists to be able to tell stories differently, and I think that was a good call but I love Kiryu, so playing as him longer would have been what I'd have preferred.
The story in the game overall has some strong and some weak parts. For one, there is a saying called "too many cooks in a kitchen", and I think too many antagonists in a story applies here. I laughed out loud at the number of plot twists the story through at me, which I think indicates that there were too many. It's not very well written overall but rather felt like a guilty pleasure type story, and reminded me even more of a soap opera than Yakuza stories can tend to feel like. Not a terrible thing, because the protagonists are great overall and many of the antagonists and their parts in the story were well explained, but then you got guys like Daigo who feels like he was added in last second and some other names who have some odd moments that are questionable in terms of their logic. Then there are the countless "what are the odds?" moments where events occur way too perfectly for the story to progress in a certain direction, especially involving Kiryu. I can live with a few of these but I thought the game overdid it. But overall, the story had many badass moments involving badass characters and even if it wasn't well written at all times, that alone was satisfying to watch unfold. A final negative note for me was, clearly due to budgetary issues, the fact that so many key cinematic moments were interrupted and conversations ended up happening unvoiced outside of cutscenes. It does take something away from them and I wish we could have gotten half an hour's worth of additional cutscenes at least.
The combat felt improved from Yakuza 3 but also worse in some ways. Probably the most frustrating I got at a Yakuza game ever, and continuously so. Boss fights were frustrating, sure, but there were also too many mini-bosses who pissed me off. One big issue for me was that combos never worked with some of these guys because they'd just hit you with an unblockable attack to end the combo. Or that they just wouldn't get knocked down. Another big issue was that you could so easily be stunlocked. Often it took one hit and you were unable to move for 3-5 seconds. Why?? Or even worse, every group you fight has that one cunt who grabs you. Sometimes, there were even 2 or 3 of those, so you'd escape one grapple to walk right into the next with no way to avoid it. It all culminated in the final boss fight, which, until you figure out to do it in one very specific way, I'm calling it now, is just the worst thing to happen to the Yakuza series. You got the antagonist and 10 of his henchman in the way. The antagonist shoots you with his pistol and the only way to avoid them is to grab enemies and attack them that way. Going straight at the antagonist doesn't work because there are 3 guys with knives who will just stab at you incessantly and you'll actually not even see your character in the sea of enemies sometimes. Trying to input commands and being unable to do anything is so frustrating, holy moly. But there is less guarding 99% of hits (now it's 50% guarding, 49% dodging) compared to Yakuza 3 at least.
Overall, Yakuza 4 has its unique strengths and weaknesses. I liked the story and its bad parts made me laugh more than annoyed, plus the protagonists are great additions to the overall story of the series. The combat has some great parts but also some of the worst in the series (from 0 to 4), at least in my opinion. The soundtrack is great and includes some absolute bangers (Receive and Bite You, For Faith, Material Delights etc.). If you're a fan of Yakuza, the game is great and I enjoyed it, but I'd say it's the weakest of the bunch for me when you combine everything.
2 Comments
@cowboyjosh Thank you :)
cowboyjosh
3 months ago