A remaster of Yakuza 3
This is the third Yakuza game, remastered for PlayStation 4. It features restored content in 1080p and 60fps.
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Forget about legend difficulty, Amon, no hit runs and all that bullshit, just try to fish a f*cking Tuna in this game
This review contains spoilers
complicated feelings towards this one. overall i did enjoy it, the story was nice enough and i really liked rikiya and mine. the gameplay manages to be pretty awful at times which is surprising coming right off the back of yakuza 2 which i thought was really fun, you'd think they'd expand upon that system and try to make it better but it just feels.. weird? it's like it was intended to be just slightly faster, but because every enemy is blocking all the time it feels way way slower. idk.
regarding the story. i did like it but it's absolutely not without its issues. the first half is imo amazing, it's a perfect break from the high stakes finish to yakuza 2. ryukyu is a lot of fun to explore and spending time helping your kids out instead of saving kamurocho or whatever is really good. after that though i don't know how fond i am of it. this game has some really really bad pacing issues that i think are definitely at their worst in the latter half, some chapters are less than an hour long. i don't want them to pad them out with side shit that feels unnecessary like yakuza 1 did a lot, but idk. i don't think the shorter chapters work. worst of these is definitely chapter 9, it's effectively just an infodump and it's like. the least interesting one ever. it ends almost immediately after that too like ugh idk it just feels so odd.
in regards to the characters. the good ones are imo really good. rikiya is amazing, joji, tamiya, and nakahara are cool, and i like mine as an antagonist, even if he might not be as good as his predecessors (ryuji specifically. i think i prefer him to nishiki). i also liked kiryu's kids a lot. they're cool. unfortunately a lot of the rest of them (and even some i liked) felt super underdeveloped. mikio doesn't really do enough in the story. which is weird given how he's there from the start. i also thought kanda and hamazaki felt kinda weird in their appearances but i imagine hamazaki will be getting more in yakuza 4. aside from them i really don't think there were many other characters i really have anything to say about.
that'ss about it i think. the side content was cool. revelations are funny. hitman quest was cool until that BITCH ARASE showed up. Good game. i think i prefer y2. excited to see what the Yakuza 4 get up to in the next one.
regarding the story. i did like it but it's absolutely not without its issues. the first half is imo amazing, it's a perfect break from the high stakes finish to yakuza 2. ryukyu is a lot of fun to explore and spending time helping your kids out instead of saving kamurocho or whatever is really good. after that though i don't know how fond i am of it. this game has some really really bad pacing issues that i think are definitely at their worst in the latter half, some chapters are less than an hour long. i don't want them to pad them out with side shit that feels unnecessary like yakuza 1 did a lot, but idk. i don't think the shorter chapters work. worst of these is definitely chapter 9, it's effectively just an infodump and it's like. the least interesting one ever. it ends almost immediately after that too like ugh idk it just feels so odd.
in regards to the characters. the good ones are imo really good. rikiya is amazing, joji, tamiya, and nakahara are cool, and i like mine as an antagonist, even if he might not be as good as his predecessors (ryuji specifically. i think i prefer him to nishiki). i also liked kiryu's kids a lot. they're cool. unfortunately a lot of the rest of them (and even some i liked) felt super underdeveloped. mikio doesn't really do enough in the story. which is weird given how he's there from the start. i also thought kanda and hamazaki felt kinda weird in their appearances but i imagine hamazaki will be getting more in yakuza 4. aside from them i really don't think there were many other characters i really have anything to say about.
that'ss about it i think. the side content was cool. revelations are funny. hitman quest was cool until that BITCH ARASE showed up. Good game. i think i prefer y2. excited to see what the Yakuza 4 get up to in the next one.
After part 0 and two remasters of the first parts, game 3 seems like a dense forest and a fierce drama, although you can’t expect anything else from this series. Weak, but playable.
После 0 части и двух ремастеров первых частей, 3 игра кажется дремучим лесом и лютой дорамой, хотя другого ожидать от этой серии не приходится. Слабо, но играбельно.
После 0 части и двух ремастеров первых частей, 3 игра кажется дремучим лесом и лютой дорамой, хотя другого ожидать от этой серии не приходится. Слабо, но играбельно.
Tido como o mais fraco da franquia, porem é um xodó meu
I didn't really care for the side activities in this one, they didn't feel well developed, and the combat is pretty bad with how much everyone blocks. But the main story is good and I enjoyed playing it.
Ah, the infamous Yakuza 3. Considered by many to be the worst game in the series, and it's easy to see why. Modern players who probably started with 0 and then full remakes of 1 and 2 are suddenly dropped into a slapdash remaster of an early PS3 game. And while they probably expected a less refined experience, they started a boss fight and proceeded to experience more blocks then a Lego enthusiast on a coke binge.
To start off, no, the game and enemy AI is not supposed to function like that. If you don't know, the remaster changed the game from it's original 30fps to 60fps, while not changing things in the combat tied to said framerate, which leads to losing heat incredibly fast the infamous blockuza 3 gameplay the game's become known for. I will say that while the combat at first sucks balls, once you get more moves it goes from annoying to tolerable. The games setpieces where you take down dozens of goons at once still feel great, but the bosses are where the flaws in the remaster really show (seriously, what the fuck was with Lau?) and generally aren't even that hard, more just annoying endurance tests as you try (and fail) to land a single string of hits to the boss as they keep their guard up for like 70% of the fight. But most of the new things Yakuza 3 introduces gameplay wise, I didn't care for. With the exception of karaoke which originally started here, most things were just kind of annoying. Especially chase missions, they were specifically the worst.
But that's enough about the gameplay, because the real selling point of this game is the plot. And god damn, the story's great. The general small town vibe of Okinawa and the orphanage is a great place to start the game, and seeing genuine growth for Kiryu as you help the kids is just really charming, and you quickly learn the kids personalities and relationships through the little quests. It's also great seeing Haruka become the sister that ties everything together. Not to mention the new characters like Rikiya and Mikio, who are also just really solid bros. Yep I got emotional during those scenes near the end.
And the plot is probably my favorite since 0. 1 felt like a standard crime drama that was slightly goofy in places, but still showed a couple growing pains from being the first one. And 2 had a shit romance subplot that didn't lead anywhere, I LOVE FORCING TWO CHARACTERS OF THE OPPOSITE GENDER TOGETHER TRULY. But anyway, the gang warfare was great, all the new captains were great as well, with Kanda being a really enjoyable scumbag, and Mine being a great foil to Kiryu, even if I wish there were a few more scenes expanding on that aspect besides a short flashback, and would have preferred if the game didn't go the 'redemption means death' route at the end. Also thought the CIA stuff was just kind of forced in at times, like they had the plot for another Yakuza game, realized it wouldn't work, and crammed them in here because the CIA guys with guns are really cool okay?
But while the main story is great, the side stories are just kind of...lame. Besides the ones that were continuations of Y2 side stories like the two comedians and the honeymoon couple, I just found the them underwhelming. Several feel like they're about to lead somewhere after antagonizing Kiryu and then just...don't? Like one where a guy leads Kiryu into an alley and tries to mug him, Kiryu beats him up, and then the substory ends. It takes like 3 minutes to do and doesn't lead to anything else. As I'm writing this I struggle to think of any really memorable side stuff besides the murder mystery quest and the urban legends of Okinawa.
But if this review is, for some reason, the deciding factor in whether to play Y3 or skip it like some say you should, I'd say give it a try. The story is good enough to forgive weak gameplay, even if I do recommend not going above normal difficulty, Kiryu's growth here is excellent, the world is charming, and it left me satisfied at the end. If not for how much the remaster screwed the combat up, it'd probably be above Kiwami 1 for me.
(or just wait for that Yakuza 3 Kiwami that's getting announced any minute now...
any minute...
trust me guys)
To start off, no, the game and enemy AI is not supposed to function like that. If you don't know, the remaster changed the game from it's original 30fps to 60fps, while not changing things in the combat tied to said framerate, which leads to losing heat incredibly fast the infamous blockuza 3 gameplay the game's become known for. I will say that while the combat at first sucks balls, once you get more moves it goes from annoying to tolerable. The games setpieces where you take down dozens of goons at once still feel great, but the bosses are where the flaws in the remaster really show (seriously, what the fuck was with Lau?) and generally aren't even that hard, more just annoying endurance tests as you try (and fail) to land a single string of hits to the boss as they keep their guard up for like 70% of the fight. But most of the new things Yakuza 3 introduces gameplay wise, I didn't care for. With the exception of karaoke which originally started here, most things were just kind of annoying. Especially chase missions, they were specifically the worst.
But that's enough about the gameplay, because the real selling point of this game is the plot. And god damn, the story's great. The general small town vibe of Okinawa and the orphanage is a great place to start the game, and seeing genuine growth for Kiryu as you help the kids is just really charming, and you quickly learn the kids personalities and relationships through the little quests. It's also great seeing Haruka become the sister that ties everything together. Not to mention the new characters like Rikiya and Mikio, who are also just really solid bros. Yep I got emotional during those scenes near the end.
And the plot is probably my favorite since 0. 1 felt like a standard crime drama that was slightly goofy in places, but still showed a couple growing pains from being the first one. And 2 had a shit romance subplot that didn't lead anywhere, I LOVE FORCING TWO CHARACTERS OF THE OPPOSITE GENDER TOGETHER TRULY. But anyway, the gang warfare was great, all the new captains were great as well, with Kanda being a really enjoyable scumbag, and Mine being a great foil to Kiryu, even if I wish there were a few more scenes expanding on that aspect besides a short flashback, and would have preferred if the game didn't go the 'redemption means death' route at the end. Also thought the CIA stuff was just kind of forced in at times, like they had the plot for another Yakuza game, realized it wouldn't work, and crammed them in here because the CIA guys with guns are really cool okay?
But while the main story is great, the side stories are just kind of...lame. Besides the ones that were continuations of Y2 side stories like the two comedians and the honeymoon couple, I just found the them underwhelming. Several feel like they're about to lead somewhere after antagonizing Kiryu and then just...don't? Like one where a guy leads Kiryu into an alley and tries to mug him, Kiryu beats him up, and then the substory ends. It takes like 3 minutes to do and doesn't lead to anything else. As I'm writing this I struggle to think of any really memorable side stuff besides the murder mystery quest and the urban legends of Okinawa.
But if this review is, for some reason, the deciding factor in whether to play Y3 or skip it like some say you should, I'd say give it a try. The story is good enough to forgive weak gameplay, even if I do recommend not going above normal difficulty, Kiryu's growth here is excellent, the world is charming, and it left me satisfied at the end. If not for how much the remaster screwed the combat up, it'd probably be above Kiwami 1 for me.
(or just wait for that Yakuza 3 Kiwami that's getting announced any minute now...
any minute...
trust me guys)