I initially tried playing Yakuza 6 almost 2 years ago right after beating Yakuza 5 but I ended up dropping it since it felt very barebones. However, after taking a break from the series and eventually giving the game another shot, I can honestly say this is one of the stronger entries in the series.
A big part of that is thanks to the story. The story does start off pretty slow, since you find out about all the key players in chapter 2 only for them to get sidelined once Kiryu enters Onomichi, but once the story picks up near the end of chapter 5 it goes from strength to strength. 6s story shouldn't work on paper, it has 4 different factions all working at the same time and yet it's one of the most captivating plots in the series all thanks to it's characters. Despite being only 13 chapters long, every character gets their time to shine and finding out about each characters motivation and how they tie into the game's conspiracy kept me engaged since everyone here is written with some level of nuance. Also, you get to see a more desperate Kiryu as he goes to insane lengths to protect the people he's grown close to over the course of the series which was great to see after Y4 and 5 barely did anything with his character, This all culminates in what I consider to be the strongest climax in a Yakuza game. People say the final boss is disappointing, and while I can agree, I think everything surrounding that fight is so top-notch that it eclipses any issues I may have had. Also, the big reveal near the end of the game is insane, it manages to be so over-the-top ridiculous that it just becomes the coolest thing ever.
6 is the first game to utilize the dragon engine and it doesn't work well for combat. It is pretty janky compared to previous entries and doesn't feel as satisfying but it still looks cool and feels really cathartic and that's all I look for in Yakuza combat. But some things irk me, particularly the fact that available substories aren't marked on the map until you bump into them and some are pretty hard to find. Also, the fact that you have to level up your sprint before you can run without getting tired after like 5 steps is just a dumb design decision.
Where the dragon engine shines though, is in the graphics. The game looks absolutely beautiful, the attention to detail and the lighting are both phenomenal and I took a long amount of time simply walking through the streets of Kamurocho to take in the scenery, it's that good. Despite Kiryu being 48 in this game, he never looked better. It also helps the pre-rendered cutscenes transition seamlessly into gameplay or in-game cutscenes since it all looks consistently polished. Also, every single piece of dialogue in the game is voice-acted which is just awesome. However, I would take lesser graphics and less voice-acting in favour of more side-content.
I only clocked in 40 hours on Yakuza 6 and that's with me doing every substory, every clan creator mission and almost every one of those lame troublr missions that are somehow even less interesting than Tanimura's police scanner missions in Y4. In comparison, I put 55 hours into Y4 and 80 hours into Y5. It's a shame that Kiryu's final mainline game feels so short and lacks a lot of series staples like training with Komaki or a Colliseum of some kind.
With that said though, the game definitely goes for quality over quantity when it comes to side content. I adore so much of what's present in the game from chilling and making friends at the New Gaudi Bar to Spearfishing to forming a Baseball team, it's all great (aside from the Hostess club, that just takes forever). The Substories in particular might just be my favourite in the entire series. They strike a good balance of being funny like the Kabedon Prince, being heartwarming like Putting on a Brave Face and just being downright awesome like The Curse of Onomichi. My personal favourite substory being Sins of the Father. The Substories in this game put heavy emphasis on technology which I think is really neat since it shows how it's not just the world of Yakuza that is changing, but also the world at large.
In case I didn't make it clear enough, I really love this game. From the characters, to the story, to the graphics, it's all well done and the game works great as an ending to Kiryu's saga. As a Yakuza game though, the game did leave me wanting more but that's just because what's there is so fantastic.
A big part of that is thanks to the story. The story does start off pretty slow, since you find out about all the key players in chapter 2 only for them to get sidelined once Kiryu enters Onomichi, but once the story picks up near the end of chapter 5 it goes from strength to strength. 6s story shouldn't work on paper, it has 4 different factions all working at the same time and yet it's one of the most captivating plots in the series all thanks to it's characters. Despite being only 13 chapters long, every character gets their time to shine and finding out about each characters motivation and how they tie into the game's conspiracy kept me engaged since everyone here is written with some level of nuance. Also, you get to see a more desperate Kiryu as he goes to insane lengths to protect the people he's grown close to over the course of the series which was great to see after Y4 and 5 barely did anything with his character, This all culminates in what I consider to be the strongest climax in a Yakuza game. People say the final boss is disappointing, and while I can agree, I think everything surrounding that fight is so top-notch that it eclipses any issues I may have had. Also, the big reveal near the end of the game is insane, it manages to be so over-the-top ridiculous that it just becomes the coolest thing ever.
6 is the first game to utilize the dragon engine and it doesn't work well for combat. It is pretty janky compared to previous entries and doesn't feel as satisfying but it still looks cool and feels really cathartic and that's all I look for in Yakuza combat. But some things irk me, particularly the fact that available substories aren't marked on the map until you bump into them and some are pretty hard to find. Also, the fact that you have to level up your sprint before you can run without getting tired after like 5 steps is just a dumb design decision.
Where the dragon engine shines though, is in the graphics. The game looks absolutely beautiful, the attention to detail and the lighting are both phenomenal and I took a long amount of time simply walking through the streets of Kamurocho to take in the scenery, it's that good. Despite Kiryu being 48 in this game, he never looked better. It also helps the pre-rendered cutscenes transition seamlessly into gameplay or in-game cutscenes since it all looks consistently polished. Also, every single piece of dialogue in the game is voice-acted which is just awesome. However, I would take lesser graphics and less voice-acting in favour of more side-content.
I only clocked in 40 hours on Yakuza 6 and that's with me doing every substory, every clan creator mission and almost every one of those lame troublr missions that are somehow even less interesting than Tanimura's police scanner missions in Y4. In comparison, I put 55 hours into Y4 and 80 hours into Y5. It's a shame that Kiryu's final mainline game feels so short and lacks a lot of series staples like training with Komaki or a Colliseum of some kind.
With that said though, the game definitely goes for quality over quantity when it comes to side content. I adore so much of what's present in the game from chilling and making friends at the New Gaudi Bar to Spearfishing to forming a Baseball team, it's all great (aside from the Hostess club, that just takes forever). The Substories in particular might just be my favourite in the entire series. They strike a good balance of being funny like the Kabedon Prince, being heartwarming like Putting on a Brave Face and just being downright awesome like The Curse of Onomichi. My personal favourite substory being Sins of the Father. The Substories in this game put heavy emphasis on technology which I think is really neat since it shows how it's not just the world of Yakuza that is changing, but also the world at large.
In case I didn't make it clear enough, I really love this game. From the characters, to the story, to the graphics, it's all well done and the game works great as an ending to Kiryu's saga. As a Yakuza game though, the game did leave me wanting more but that's just because what's there is so fantastic.