Huh. Color me surprised.
The talk surrounding this game is... mixed and therefore I was expecting to be disappointed. I thought the combat would be unbearable, it did, after all, earn the "blockuza" title. Well... it kinda wasn't bad.
First off - if you, like me, buy all the Yakuza games on a modern platform to play them chronologically you will be faced with a jarring jump from Kiwami 2 to Yakuza 3. After beating a full remake released in 2016 you immediately get thrown into an early PS3 title with a bumped resolution and framerate. It's not like it deeply disturbed me - it has a certain charm and the game definitely didn't age too bad, but it is nonetheless a noticeable downgrade.
But, as to not be too negative, I have to admit the game looks and feels pretty good. Definitely not ugly, although the faces on some of the background characters and some of the animations (goodness, the walking animation of the children...) are so bad that they kinda crack me up. I think the new locations, especially the beach in front of Morning Glory, look pretty great.
In terms of combat... I heard that it's messed up because of the increased framerate, the AI is not used to twice the original speed and the heat meter goes down too fast. I'm certainly willing to believe that, but I will not verify it. What I can verify is that the enemies certainly block a lot. It's not too bad when you're fighting groups of weaker enemies, the game is actually a lot of fun in those moments, but some of the bosses are really nerve-racking. By the end of the game you should have combos long enough to break through the block and get some hits in, but that doesn't really mitigate the issue. It's just annoying and time-wasting. Overall the combat feels fine, I saw no point in the weapon system that they seemed to be pushing. I didn't feel like engaging with the whole upgrade stuff so I was running around with the starting stick and it didn't deal a whole lot of damage outside of heat actions, but hey, I managed. The game is overall much easier than it's predecessors.
When it comes to wasting time, this game offers you a lot of occasions to walk around the city aimlessly until you finally bump into the person you were looking for or to chase people around the very same city. Those sequences were actually the only times that I got to see the game over screen. Also the random combat encounters are much harder to dodge because they're really not well signified. Annoying stuff.
Finally, the story. I actually think it's fantastic. Right behind 0's. A well put together conspiracy with high stakes coupled with a cast of characters that I actually cared about? And a great villain to boot? AND multiple fatherhood themes? I actually almost teared up at times. These Japanese fellas know how to get to me.
All in all, probably my 2nd favorite in the series. Hope they follow it up well with... Yakuza 4! Coming soon.
It's spring-break so I'm gonna have a lot more time to spend in Kamurocho. Expect the next review very soon.
The talk surrounding this game is... mixed and therefore I was expecting to be disappointed. I thought the combat would be unbearable, it did, after all, earn the "blockuza" title. Well... it kinda wasn't bad.
First off - if you, like me, buy all the Yakuza games on a modern platform to play them chronologically you will be faced with a jarring jump from Kiwami 2 to Yakuza 3. After beating a full remake released in 2016 you immediately get thrown into an early PS3 title with a bumped resolution and framerate. It's not like it deeply disturbed me - it has a certain charm and the game definitely didn't age too bad, but it is nonetheless a noticeable downgrade.
But, as to not be too negative, I have to admit the game looks and feels pretty good. Definitely not ugly, although the faces on some of the background characters and some of the animations (goodness, the walking animation of the children...) are so bad that they kinda crack me up. I think the new locations, especially the beach in front of Morning Glory, look pretty great.
In terms of combat... I heard that it's messed up because of the increased framerate, the AI is not used to twice the original speed and the heat meter goes down too fast. I'm certainly willing to believe that, but I will not verify it. What I can verify is that the enemies certainly block a lot. It's not too bad when you're fighting groups of weaker enemies, the game is actually a lot of fun in those moments, but some of the bosses are really nerve-racking. By the end of the game you should have combos long enough to break through the block and get some hits in, but that doesn't really mitigate the issue. It's just annoying and time-wasting. Overall the combat feels fine, I saw no point in the weapon system that they seemed to be pushing. I didn't feel like engaging with the whole upgrade stuff so I was running around with the starting stick and it didn't deal a whole lot of damage outside of heat actions, but hey, I managed. The game is overall much easier than it's predecessors.
When it comes to wasting time, this game offers you a lot of occasions to walk around the city aimlessly until you finally bump into the person you were looking for or to chase people around the very same city. Those sequences were actually the only times that I got to see the game over screen. Also the random combat encounters are much harder to dodge because they're really not well signified. Annoying stuff.
Finally, the story. I actually think it's fantastic. Right behind 0's. A well put together conspiracy with high stakes coupled with a cast of characters that I actually cared about? And a great villain to boot? AND multiple fatherhood themes? I actually almost teared up at times. These Japanese fellas know how to get to me.
All in all, probably my 2nd favorite in the series. Hope they follow it up well with... Yakuza 4! Coming soon.
It's spring-break so I'm gonna have a lot more time to spend in Kamurocho. Expect the next review very soon.