"You walk alone in the dark long enough, it starts to feel like the light'll never come. You stop wanting to even take the next step. But there's not a person in this world who knows what's waiting down the road. All we can do is choose. Stand still and cry... or make the choice to take the next step. You pick whichever one feels right to you. I can get you as far as the starting line."
This title is often the one with the most word of mouth in the series and being a newcomer to Yakuza, it seemed like the perfect spot to delve into this world and experience first hand. To say my expectations were exceeded would be a gross understatement. I never thought I would feel so attached to the narrative and it's characters as much as I did. It was an absolute ride from start to finish with some of the most raw emotion and badass moments in a video game I've had the pleasure of experiencing, a rare case where I wish I could experience it for the first time all over again.
There is so much to do in this game to the point I decided to give the substories more of a chance and just generally explore and partake in activities that honestly in some cases makes the explorative activities of Grand Theft Auto V look like absolute child's play in comparison. The world is beautifully crafted and the characters, main or side, are all written exceptionally well and play a pivotal part in what makes this game so great.
The gameplay in itself is deserving of it's own category of praise, excluding the some times tedious navigation involving slow running, bumping into peds, an inverted map and... no waypoints? Which honestly is completely understandable. Neither Kamurocho or Sotenbori are grandiose open world cities, so they don't really need that added depth most open worlds are given and it works out anyway when most of the gameplay is made up of fun minigames and amazingly satisfying combat. The combat is so, so, so good and it gets even better when you invest in abilities for Kiryu and Majima alike. Thug, Brawler and Rush were the stances I mained throughout the game and I had an absolute blast using all three. The boss fights were even more so a thing to look forward to rather than dread, whether it was teaching Kuze a lesson for the 1000th time or taking on a new boss you wanted to fight since the beginning, every boss encounter is fresh with new strategy opportunities.
I can't praise the narrative enough, though. It did so many things right with a large array of plot twists that genuinely surprised me and did a very good job at making me feel for all of these characters it presented all within a story split between two that joined together really well at the end... and the end itself was such a ride as if the entire narrative wasn't already. I felt on edge in almost every cutscene, like some character was about to get whacked or something even after all was said and done. It does a great job and maintaining the tension of it's intense narrative throughout.
All in all, an absolute blast of a game that I totally recommend to anyone else interested in trying out Yakuza. This is the one where you should start and that is generally universally agreed so don't waste anytime thinking about it.
This title is often the one with the most word of mouth in the series and being a newcomer to Yakuza, it seemed like the perfect spot to delve into this world and experience first hand. To say my expectations were exceeded would be a gross understatement. I never thought I would feel so attached to the narrative and it's characters as much as I did. It was an absolute ride from start to finish with some of the most raw emotion and badass moments in a video game I've had the pleasure of experiencing, a rare case where I wish I could experience it for the first time all over again.
There is so much to do in this game to the point I decided to give the substories more of a chance and just generally explore and partake in activities that honestly in some cases makes the explorative activities of Grand Theft Auto V look like absolute child's play in comparison. The world is beautifully crafted and the characters, main or side, are all written exceptionally well and play a pivotal part in what makes this game so great.
The gameplay in itself is deserving of it's own category of praise, excluding the some times tedious navigation involving slow running, bumping into peds, an inverted map and... no waypoints? Which honestly is completely understandable. Neither Kamurocho or Sotenbori are grandiose open world cities, so they don't really need that added depth most open worlds are given and it works out anyway when most of the gameplay is made up of fun minigames and amazingly satisfying combat. The combat is so, so, so good and it gets even better when you invest in abilities for Kiryu and Majima alike. Thug, Brawler and Rush were the stances I mained throughout the game and I had an absolute blast using all three. The boss fights were even more so a thing to look forward to rather than dread, whether it was teaching Kuze a lesson for the 1000th time or taking on a new boss you wanted to fight since the beginning, every boss encounter is fresh with new strategy opportunities.
I can't praise the narrative enough, though. It did so many things right with a large array of plot twists that genuinely surprised me and did a very good job at making me feel for all of these characters it presented all within a story split between two that joined together really well at the end... and the end itself was such a ride as if the entire narrative wasn't already. I felt on edge in almost every cutscene, like some character was about to get whacked or something even after all was said and done. It does a great job and maintaining the tension of it's intense narrative throughout.
All in all, an absolute blast of a game that I totally recommend to anyone else interested in trying out Yakuza. This is the one where you should start and that is generally universally agreed so don't waste anytime thinking about it.