Which is more interesting: Kiryu having to deal with a multiple government association plot about a power struggle for a piece of land involving his father figure's long lost twin who also happens works for the CIA and a black market weapons dealing organization led by a white guy named andre richardson who also is a secret agent in the CIA OR kiryu helping his orphan son cope with the fact he may not be able to one day become a wrestler due to the asthma he has and cheering him up by setting up a wrestling ring and having a wrestling show with his island buddy to cheer up his orphans?

An intermissive for the series: Kiryu's Great Vacation.

The stakes are arguably much lower in this game, leaving place for Kiryu to finally have a bit of a break. Of course, he never catches a break, but for the first time, we get to see him do something he likes doing.

The story focuses a lot on the orphanage, just as much as whatever's happening in the criminal world. If anything, Kiryu wants to deal with the kids much more than with the Yakuza, and for good reasons. So the game does that. Unfortunately, taking care of kids isn't what the average yakuza fan wants (and they're wrong). They want Kiryu kicking ass, not be a super cool guy. Thankfully, I get to see Kiryu be a super cool guy, so this is right up my alley.

Giving a spotlight to every child in the orphanage throughout the story was very heartwarming. I got to enjoy a casual lifestyle, while helping kids stray away from a life that the main character went for. It's a sort of atonement for Kiryu, and so his goals and actions end up being more cathartic than you'd might think. People hate this about Yakuza 3, for some reason, but again, they just want to mash Square in front of a dude blocking every attack.

Unfortunately, the story's not all sunshine and rainbows, or all good writing, for that matter. Should Rikiya, a new character in the series have any fate, perhaps giving him the one we had to witness shouldn't be as infuriating as it is, to say the least. Bonus points for dragging on his death with sappy music and, for the first time, Kiryu pouring his heart and soul for a friend he just made. I just sat there, waiting for the scene to end. In the end, Rikiya dying didn't even mean anything: There was no rhyme or reason for him to keel over, not even a motivator to keep things going. The writer(s) decided to just write off a character whom I loved from first meeting, because... ???

Yakuza 3 is also, yet again, a case of not really knowing how I should be rating an installment of a multi-part series. Combat felt watered down and kind of frustrating for different reasons from the other games: Enemies block WAY too much. You have a semi-solution to it (don't button mash). I still enjoyed it for what it was, at least... I feel like that's it. This really was an intermission for the next game, although I can't imagine someone's reaction to the ending of this game after what happens right before the credits. That'd be a right-A dick move, if nothing happened after the credits.

I also spoiled this game to someone unknowingly so I'm gonna go kick my own ass to oblivion. Be right back.