Yakuza (game)

I replied to a post on this sub complaining how many open-world games often feel "a mile wide but an inch deep", and that I'd rather have a smaller game world that was packed with content and surprises. Someone said Yakuza 0 was the game I needed to play, so I gave it a go. And wow! Whoever you are, you were right on the money. This is honestly one of the greatest games I've ever played.

I can't recall an open-world game that does so many things right with regards to main story, action, side quests, humor, seriousness, and character development as well as this. When I think of the ones that do, I'd put it on the high shelf with games like Witcher 3, Deus Ex, Chrono Trigger, Earthbound and Under A Killing Moon. And if you're really old, Below the Root.

It's hard to think of a game with deep themes of gang violence, human trafficking, honor, betrayal, friendship and loyalty... alongside light-hearted things like getting a classic arcade game high score, trying to get a date, running a cabaret club, karaoke battles and a literal chicken for a real estate manager. It's ridiculous, but somehow it all works.

The "Japanese-ness" of this game is both nostalgic for me and fresh. I love the setting of the 1980s before the japan economic bubble crashed, and it embraces the excess and flash of that time on every level, both in serious, humorous and technological ways. I love the themes of reputation, honor and sacrifice - many of which I didn't agree with personally - but you're along for the ride and it's a great ride seeing them play out. It likewise has just a touch of a lot of the same charm and mechanics of older 8-bit and 16-bit games of the NES and SNES. They don't always make sense, but they're fun, so who cares?

The Japanese voice acting is top-notch and I'm glad they didn't try to force American voice actors into this game. This is a very Japanese game at its core, and I don't think either the deeper themes nor the humor would have worked with English voice actors. You just have to accept this is a different world with different rules.

It's not without flaws. It's got some grind that could be trimmed a bit. Combat could be a bit deeper and fluid in some cases, and Real Estate Royale in particular was a slog (but not without rewards), yet still, you grow to like the characters so much that you take on all of it anyway.

Every broad, cross-genre game of this type has its shortcomings, but the question is whether the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and this game absolutely is. I didn't want it to end. I kept looking for more side-quests before I embarked on the finale. And maybe the highest honor: I'm somewhat afraid of playing the other Yakuza games for fear of being let down.

One of my top 10 of all time.

Finished the first 2 games. In short, it's hard to find a game series quite like this one, set in modern times, with a mix of serious and off the wall humour (usually separated) and all sorts of different facets and side stories.... I think it needs to be played to really get what kind of games theses are. In which case, Yakuza 0 would be where one should start.

Yakuza 0: Long live the 80s

Only about 2 years after picking it up on a sale, during my cooling off period waiting for Cyberpunk to be fixed, I finally dedicated some serious time to Yakuza 0. Over 100 hours, probably a month in real life, I fell into it, then obsessively stuck with it, eventually falling in love with one of the oddest mixes the gaming industry can offer. I laughed and laughed, cried, experienced unbelievable
moments and had generally well put together experiences that I never forgot.

Story: In short, the Yakuza are after a plot of land needed for a large development plan in Tokyo's main night life district however the owner is unknown. It just gets deeper from then on. You play as upstart Yakuza underling Kiryu Kazuma of the Kazama family.

This is THE game for a Japanophile, with the first making so many pop culture references in 80s Japan.

There are just so many moments, that my smattering of keywords and references won't come near to doing it justice: Terekuras, Yankee culture, Japanese pager codes, Sottenbori, Chika the hostess, Miracle Johnson, taxation policy meeting, koi no disco queen, crossword puzzle to propose, quaffing beer, Shoora-pipi, lost Japanese children in post-war China, kyabakuras, pocket circuit, fake interview candidates scamming for taxi fares, the chicken, Pledge of Demon, takoyaki, karaoke, empty plot of land, 24-hour cinderella, phone cards......

I pity the poor fool that sped through Yakuza 0 to just finish the main story. One of my all time greatest gaming experiences. Serious crime story, off the wall side stories smashdab in 80s Tokyo.

Yakuza 0 screams to the gaming world: "JRPGs aren't dead. You didn't notice our series before, you WILL now"

Indeed, it has so much content that you didn't know you wanted. That's the beauty of it.

I loved it so much that I felt I owed Sega. Over 100 great hours for a 10 eddy game....

But even without feeling any obligation, it was still worth what I immediately did next: Bought the entire series on Steam the second the last few titles were released.

Full playtime of Yakuza 0 : over 100 hours

Yakuza Kiwami 1: The great and fitting hangover

I left some time in between and now went on to the remake of the original 2005 Yakuza: Yakuza Kiwami 1.

Personally, I still loved it, despite it not necessarily hitting the bombastic heights that Yakuza 0 did. In a sense, this isn't due to anything being wrong with it, one could even argue that it's what is RIGHT with the game.

-recession and deflationary spiral of post-bubble Japan compared to the 80s, Japan's mature 2000s shouldn't be that in your face as the time of people throwing money everywhere is over

-it's a remake (a damn good one after looking up the original online) of the original game that tries to stay faithful while adding in more minigames, better graphics, and better QoL.

I was actually surprised HOW WELL it fits for someone who just finished Yakuza 0, as if it was made with us, newcomers to the series, in mind.

I liked the story. Basic outline: Kiryu takes the fall for the murder of the oyabun of the Dojima Clan. He is sent to prison for over a decade and before being released on parole. He is now much weaker, bewildered, and realizes that old friends have become foes, and there is a conspiracy around a missing 1 billion yen from the family accounts.

What stood out outside of the story:

-Mesuking (inspired by a real life digital card game by Sega)

-Hostess clubs: After playing as Majima where you run a hostess club, here as Kiryu you can actually frequent them as a customer.

-Mad Dog Majima... everywhere

Whatever people say, I feel as though starting with Yakuza 0 gave me a connection to the characters that I would not have had otherwise.

Full playtime of Kiwami 1: 52 hours 26 minutes

Criticisms:

-They could have laid off a bit on the random fights... you can't get ANYWHERE without a trash mob thinking they have your number for some reason.....

-Majima everywhere got stuck at a certain point when you don't find where he's hiding.

-Majima's progression after fights could be a bit faster at higher levels given the higher difficulty

-a few samey ministories about scams....

-by the end of the game, there was more XP then I could use. A lot more.

Conclusion: Awesome. The magic is there in both to make me laugh and cry.

It seems that Kiwami may be the more "conventional" game in the series given its a remake of the original. I hope I have much to look forward to for the further sequels. (If I do, please let me know without spoilers for the sequels)

How fortunate we are that these games have all been released and localised, which was not yet the case 10 years ago. If you haven't played any of them and love crime thrillers with a lot of side quirks, if you like Japan and its quirky nightlife, these are the games for you.

Personal details: (feel free to ignore)

The games are gifts that keep on giving.

Yakuza 0 I played before going to Japan and seeing Kabukichou. Yakuza 1 I have now played after having been and I am shocked by how much it gets right. How when I was walking through Kabukichou, seeing the real life Theatre Plaza, I immediately got flashbacks from the game...

Both games so far are a good ear workout for Japanese learners, Yakuza 0 more so given the equal roles given to both protagonists: Kiryu speaks in standard casual Japanese of the Kantou area, Majima speaks in Kansai dialect, the other major popular way of speaking Japanese. (To really give a rough simplification, Kantou dialect, or rather standard casual Japanese, would be like the English spoken in the South of the UK, or particularly London, Kansai dialect would be like going up to Manchester where the dialect is more laid back and funny sounding)

Story impressions (spoilers):

Perhaps because I played Yakuza 0, I felt affected by the story, how things had gone to hell while Kiryu was in prison. How Nishikiyama had completely gone completely evil (this is cemented by some fantastic cutscenes showing this progression in between the chapters but also by unspoken, unshown elements such as the death of his sister). ... And then later on, seeing Reina die, then worse, Kazama you get this feeling that things are never going to be the same again.... Then finally, Nishikiyama then Yumi.... The world Kiryu left when he went to prison is now all gone.

Dreadful but definitely among Kiwami's strong points.

One unexpected thing from the game was to make a song I don't like, as it's overdone, beautiful: Amazing Grace plays during the credits. In my head canon, it's playing for Nishiki.

Yakuza Like a Dragon (YLAD) may just be my favorite JRPG.

Despite being a JRPG, the devs have found ways to mitigate a lot of the genre's most notorious pitfalls, and what's left is just pure, simple fun. There are so many quality of life features in this game that I wish would become standard for the genre.

Features like:

- Save anywhere, anytime (except mid battle or mid cutscene.)

- Battles (excluding boss battles) tend to be short and decided quickly.

- All cut-scenes can be paused or skipped outright.

- Little to no inventory management

- Most of the resource/money "grinds" are optional, and have built-in shortcuts.

- All the minigames are broken up into short segments (like 1-2 minutes tops) and are optional.

It's like this game was specifically designed to be fun and accessible for adults with real world responsibilities and I absolutely love it for that.

I'm currently about 40 hours in to my second play through, and I've also found this to be one of the best "pick up, play for ten minutes, put back down again" games in my collection.

I went into Yakuza 7 as blindly as possible, i had beaten Yakuza 0,1 and 2 before it, but the beat em up style was getting repetitive to me, so i decided to try 7 because i knew it as a turn based rpg. I fell in love with it immediately, it's so quirky and funny while also being emotional that i was practically smiling the whole time i spent playing it.

Yakuza 7 has a serious plot filled with heartwarming moments, but it's also a parody of older jrpg games, and this adds so much charm to the game that it makes me wonder why japanese developers ditched this style of jrpgs. I had more fun with Yakuza 7 than i ever did with any modern Final Fantasy or other jrpgs, it's a unique game and i'm really glad to have given it a try.

Anyway, now i'm moving on to the infamous Yakuza 3, i just hope it isn't as bad as everyone says.