A fun but flawed entry in the Yakuza/Lika A Dragon series. This is a standalone historical adventure which require no previous knowledge of the franchise. The characters in the game are based on real historical figures but modelled on series protagnist Kiryu Kazama and his roster of allies, frenemies, and antagonists.
The combat is a refreshing change in this edition as guns are reintroduced and permanently available as part of two fighting styles. There is a weapon crafting and upgrade tree which is complex but rewarding if you put in the requisite grinding and resources. If you don't want to grind through side activities, you can get by in the game by using weapons awarded to you from defeated bosses.
The farm is a fun addition at first but quickly becomes tiring and dull due to overlong animations and very repetitive gameplay. The gloss comes off once you've prepared the same meals over and over again to meet orders or grind for money. Still, you can fill your farm with cats and dogs so that's a big plus.
The story is overly long and comes with plenty of twists and turns that eventually become a little overwhelming. It doesn't help that the cutscenes can sometimes run up to 20 minutes long. This is nothing new for the Yakuza series but this time my tolerance for the story was worn out by the final three chapters. There is historical context to the story that is lost on me as a Westerner who knows very little about Japanese history so that did hinder my enjoyment somewhat.
There are many substories (sidequests) dotted throughout the game. Most are fun stories, although many are just repetitive requests to feed resources to an NPC. This was disappointing as although attempts were made to make them amusing, it's still boring to feed someone vegetables for the 5th time and read the same dialogue until you fill their friendship bar.
I sound like I'm down on the game but I did have fun with it. I think part of the issue I had was that I put too much time into it without too much reward. I would recommend engaging with the side content but to not devote dozens of hours to it as they rarely pay off in satisfying ways. Play for a good time, not a long time, is my advice.
The combat is a refreshing change in this edition as guns are reintroduced and permanently available as part of two fighting styles. There is a weapon crafting and upgrade tree which is complex but rewarding if you put in the requisite grinding and resources. If you don't want to grind through side activities, you can get by in the game by using weapons awarded to you from defeated bosses.
The farm is a fun addition at first but quickly becomes tiring and dull due to overlong animations and very repetitive gameplay. The gloss comes off once you've prepared the same meals over and over again to meet orders or grind for money. Still, you can fill your farm with cats and dogs so that's a big plus.
The story is overly long and comes with plenty of twists and turns that eventually become a little overwhelming. It doesn't help that the cutscenes can sometimes run up to 20 minutes long. This is nothing new for the Yakuza series but this time my tolerance for the story was worn out by the final three chapters. There is historical context to the story that is lost on me as a Westerner who knows very little about Japanese history so that did hinder my enjoyment somewhat.
There are many substories (sidequests) dotted throughout the game. Most are fun stories, although many are just repetitive requests to feed resources to an NPC. This was disappointing as although attempts were made to make them amusing, it's still boring to feed someone vegetables for the 5th time and read the same dialogue until you fill their friendship bar.
I sound like I'm down on the game but I did have fun with it. I think part of the issue I had was that I put too much time into it without too much reward. I would recommend engaging with the side content but to not devote dozens of hours to it as they rarely pay off in satisfying ways. Play for a good time, not a long time, is my advice.