The format of these posts is simple: let’s discuss a specific game or series!
Let’s discuss the Like a Dragon / Yakuza series. What is your favorite game in the series? What do you like about it? What doesn’t work for you? Feel free to share anything that comes up and react to other comments. Let’s get the conversation going!
If you have any recommendations for games or series for the next post(s), please feel free to DM me or add it in a comment here (no guarantees of course).
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I’m not sure why I picked up Yakuza0 but I was so suprised by what I got in my hand I made a goal of mine to play the whole lot.
The presentation of the character of Majima in the casino is so good I ended up bringing it up in conversations with non gaming dates and they still texted me back in the following days.
I ended up bringing in it up in conversations with non gaming dates and they still texted me back in the following days.
The true mad dog of dojima
Yakuza 0 was my first and still has a special place in my heart. However, the new games with Ichiban have also been great. Slowly working my way through Infinite Wealth right now, but there’s just so much to do (I spent days just doing Dondoko island).
More people need to check out the Judgment games as well.
I have played all of the mainline games in the series in the last year, plus Ishin. It’s hard to pick a favorite, and the way they handled the transition to an RPG with the Ichiban games was very impressive. I think my favorite might actually be Ishin. I really enjoyed the feudal Japan setting, and it was a refreshing change from the usual Yakuza setting.
I will also add that the best thing I ever did to enhance my enjoyment of these games was to play them on easy. It allowed me to progress at my own pace and just enjoy the story and the side stuff without getting frustrated by massive boss difficulty spikes, although there were still a few boss fights that took a lot to beat even on easy difficulty.
The retooling starting with Like a Dragon really is impressive. Crafting was in prior games but the job system gave it a purpose. The addition of a party added both banter and way more options for cutscenes. Lampshading the RPG elements fits so well with the overall series absurdity.
I bought the whole collection on GOG when it was something like 80% off in 2023 I think. Still haven’t started. I hope it’s as good as people say. I know many people start with 0 but I think I’ll start with Kiwami for the close-to-release-order experience. Will probably start it sometime this year.
I did this. Still playing through them all by release date
Did you start with Kiwami or with the OG non-remastered Yakuza 1? I’ve heard people suggesting both.
I started with kiwami. There was a perceptible downgrade when I played the first non kiwami Yakuza 3 however
Yeah that’s kinda unavoidable I think unless you play in true release order. I’ve heard people say the same warning as a reason not to start with 0.
I want to like these games so bad. Most of my friends are super into it but it just hasn’t clicked for me. There’s just… Sooooooooo much to do in these games. I get that is the appeal but it burnt me out hard. When 0 turned into a real estate management mini game I ended up calling it quits. I may get back to it eventually but dang. These games are huge despite their smallish maps
I had similar issues until I gave myself this rule: only do side stories and main story quests. If they require playing a mini game, sure, but only play the minigames as a novelty, don’t try to complete them!
I started with 0 and worked my way chronologically from there (with the remakes for 1 and 2), and 0 is my pick for best if the series. I think the thing to know about the real estate sub-game, and others of its ilk like the host club in the same game (I think), is that they are completely parallel, non-consequential, optional content.
I personally feel that you could go through every single Yakuza game playing only the main story and side stories without missing anything of value. I would frequently force myself to play batting cages or karaoke or dancing because fans talk a lot about that stuff, but there’s really very little there to compel your attention unless you enjoy it. You can totally skip all that.
You could probably also skip the side stories if you just want to follow the main path, but those I do think are more crucial to Yakuza’s experience and identity - the outrageously silly flip side of the coin to the main story’s soap-opera-esque melodrama.
I kind of feel that - I think the issue for me is that there’s a lot going on in each of these games that is tangential to the primary gameplay loop that on the surface isn’t obligatory, so if you find it not to your liking you can choose not to engage, but avoiding the secondary activities locks you out of some rewards for the PGL often and severely enough that you do feel obligated to engage to the point you can get these rewards. Especially in the gambling minigames, I often feel relieved when the points you buy end up being the same points you exchange for said rewards because it means I can just engage in the fighting a little more instead of having to gamble.
Case in point, I’m playing Infinite wealth right now and it feels like a big step up from the first Like a Dragon, but I’m still finding myself pulled into the Sujimon quests even though I personally don’t like monster tamer games. I don’t even know what the rewards are but half of the map icons are raids and trainers, so I feel like I should at least be putting time into maintaining a team with the ones I can catch just from grinding out fights for Job XP.
One thing I love about the series is how detailed they are with food and drinks.
I’ve loved this series ever since I got 0 on a whim in 2020. I was vaguely aware it existed, but in my ignorance thought it was some sort of GTA clone. It was a pleasant surprise to find out it was actually a JRPG with beat em up combat. I subsequently played though almost every game on PS4 (including both Judgements and Ishin, but excluding Gaiden). I love how the location of Kamurocho is in (almost) every game and changes over time as the years go by. I was skeptical of the switch to turn-based combat in 7, but they won me over by making Ichiban such a charming protagonist. I can’t help but love the hopelessly optimistic guy! Majima’s my favorite character and I’m eagerly awaiting Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. As for my favorite, I’d have to say 0 because it was my first and it fleshed out Majima the most. The mini-sequel they added to his story in Kiwami 2 made it that much better.
I’ve been trying to work my way through them. I’ve currently finished 0, 1, and 2. I played 0 twice, though, and will likely end up playing it again, lol.
I’ve been finding it difficult to get through longer games recently. Mainly because I only play them on the weekends. They keep releasing one every year or so which is also crazy. It feels like they are just pumping them out now, so I’ll likely take another 3-5 years before I get through them all.
I really enjoyed how zero let’s you explore. It feels like they took their time to model each area as close to real life as possible. I don’t know how true that is, but from the photos I’ve seen, it seems that way. I really liked shenmue 1 and 2, and these games feel like the closest thing I’ll ever get to that experience again.
They get to reuse so many of their existing assets for each release, I think that really helps them streamline their development cycle. Like, they’re gonna be reusing the Hawaii setting from Infinite Wealth for Pirate Yakuza, which will be out in a few weeks, pretty much exactly one year after Infinite Wealth.
I’m OK with this approach. Not every game needs to take 8 years and 100 million dollars to make.
Yea totally! I actually really like when developers can do that. I think when artificial (or genuine) limitations are placed on art, projects or whatever, it can make them turn out to be better than if you had full freedom.
There’s a fine line between creativity and laziness that shouldn’t be crossed. But when it’s done really well I think it’s super cool
I started playing it for the first time last year and didn’t know really anything about it. I immediately noticed that how people talked didn’t seem respectful and it all seemed over the top comical. I learned that it was an English localization issue. I found the mod Yakuza Restored which makes it in Japanese but fixes the English subtitles to be accurate and the game was very enjoyable to play from that point on. I haven’t beaten it yet but I like how the main character is principle driven, it makes the story quite enjoyable.
I think the remake addresses these issues as well.
