I'm almost dissapointed in myself that I started here at not at Kiwami 1, this games such a step above everything that came before it its a little jarring especially going through the Remastered collection.

Very apparent this is RGG's first time creating an RPG. a bit flabby at times and the level curve is a bit high at times but god is this game just great.

With everything IW improves over 7, theres something that they made worse as well. I really don't like heals being area based, it was too easy and frustrating to just miss party members for no reason. Really frustrating ending as well. I still loved it though. I have a bit of recency bias but especially with Segas DLC practices, I'm not in a rush to replay this.

Gives the Kiryu Saga a great send off. a little soured now that we know [Spoilers]

very refined gameplay. Climbing sections overall were a bit of weird addition. Has one of the best final bosses in rgg history.

I wish i could rank this higher then 6 cause its basically just 6 with some new bells and whistles gameplay wise. side content was very varied and elongated what would have been a criminally short game otherwise. Still good though, cant wait for Judgment 3 or the next Gaiden game to get my brawler fix again.

Please make another game like Yakuza 4, RGG. i would LOVE another ensemble game with the pacing of this game.

I cant really say much about Ishin other then its just real solid. Getting this new way to play Yakuza was a lot of fun and created some really interesting plot scenarios. The names in this game made my head spin, and i just ended up calling the characters by their main series names.

pretty good. Feels a little bit like they are trying to fit the Yakuza peg into a different hole, results in a little awkwardness at times. the ps5 versions includes these scents that break the game open, just dont use them.

I really feel like this game does a shitty job explaining the villans relationship to Kiryu. Yakuza 0 feels mandatory to know but ruins the plot quite a bit by knowing it.

It shows this was one of the first Dragon Engine games. As far as Ive seen Kiwami is a faithful remake of 2, defently has some moments that make it feel like the series jumped the shark slightly. The most im annoyed at this game for is the fact that Kiryu holds his weapons after greasing his hands, a slight breeze knocks weapons out of your hands making them almost totally useless, which undermines the whole pocketing weapons mechanic.

Yakuza 5 is a great game and all, but its way too goddamn long. still a great game just ended up being way too bloated and ambitious for its own good.

This is the only Yakuza game I would not call great. I imagine if I played the original release as it came out i might have felt different, but playing it RIGHT after Kiwami 2 doesn't leave a good comparison. Clunky as shit and desperately needs the Kiwami treatment.