~FINISHED THE GAME UPDATE, 02/24/2023~
I may very well be in the minority, but my disappointment in this game carried the entire 30 hours and the game is less than the sum of its parts. I honestly didn't enjoy myself as much as I thought I would and this will end up as my least favorite RGG game I've played--yes, even the laughed-at Yakuza 3, which I think had a lot of heart and great points.
I didn't hate all of it, and the highs are extremely high, but the lows were far, far too low for me personally. I walked away more annoyed than anything, and that hasn't happened before in this series.
I don't have much else to say, so I'll sum it up very quickly: the combat didn't work for me; the gearing system took up too much time, and the reliance on gear didn't gel with me; the story was slow at first, got really interesting, and then completely lost me at the last 1/4. Those are basically the main sticking points (not including my complaint below about this being a so-so remaster).
I still recommend this game cuz it did a lot of great things, but maybe wait for a sale. Don't let the cool samurai aesthetic fool you, the crime drama modern era games are far superior in my eyes.
~ORIGINAL 02/21/2023 REVIEW~
This is the exact game fans have been clamoring for since 2014 and we finally got... basically the same game from 2 generation ago with a nice coat of paint.
I'm enjoying this game just as I expected as Yakuza/Like A Dragon fan and fully expect to beat this game and see a decent chunk of the side stuff. The world is fully realized and fun to explore, side quests can be entertaining, the combat is cathartic and bloody, and the story--while it takes a couple hours to get going--is captivating and well written. This series is one of the few where cutscenes feels like the reward itself, I'm always excited when the frame rate goes to 30 and the mo-cap is in full swing. The graphics are impressive, as usual, especially with the Unreal Engine 4 powering everyone's pores to the max; lighting and texture work are a major highlight, especially the detailed haoris and weapons.
But I can't help but feel a pang of disappointment around the whole thing.
For starters, as I mentioned earlier, this is same game that was released in 2014, almost literally. Kiwami 2 this is not--this is more in line with Kiwami 1, complete with all the stiffness the series had before the Dragon Engine, for better or worse. I'm in the camp that loves the Dragon Engine despite some combat downgrades, so having an Unreal Engine 4 skin over a PS3 game feels dated off rip.
The lack of voice acting for 80% of the game (read: anything not main story) is particularly heart breaking since you know they have the budget and a top class cast. I find myself skipping side quests now thanks to games like The Witcher 3 spoiling me, and I find myself only stopping occasionally when something seems extremely goofy or especially thoughtful or emotional seems to occur. You really start to feel how awkward and cheap it is to not here music nor sound effects during most of this, just the typewriter sound of the text appearing on screen and the occasional grunt.
I also find myself missing the seamless exploration of the Dragon Engine games that had no loading screens when entering buildings, getting into fights, etc. Kiryu may've controlled like a bus, but the immersion, for me, more than made up for it. I never fast traveled in those games, but I look for the nearest palanquin in this one. I miss Bus Kiryu.
The pacing, too, is disorienting. Realizing what this game is and not what I wanted it to be, I decided to just focus on the story and do the side stuff in a later Yakuza game, like Yakuza 7 that I have yet to finish. But in the first 10 hours or so, be prepared to stop at every alley while Ryouma does his best Kiryu impression and tends to the needs of every man, woman, child, and whimpering animal that stands immobile until approached.
As a whole, it's a familiar and mostly exciting formula, but again, it's 2023 and they've already done better. To regress (or rather, choose not to enhance) in so many ways technologically and mechanically effects me a lot more than I thought it would. I typically love older games and their jank, but Yakuza series is huge, storied, and has a LOT of titles.
There's a lot I love about this game--the combat, the world, the story, the performances, the exploration, the fact that it feels like a movie cuz all the faces are the same--but the stuff that bothers me really sticks with me, like a splinter under my fingernail.
I recommend this game, I really enjoy this game, but I am disappointed. I'm just glad we finally got Ishin in the west, and it was worth it.
I may very well be in the minority, but my disappointment in this game carried the entire 30 hours and the game is less than the sum of its parts. I honestly didn't enjoy myself as much as I thought I would and this will end up as my least favorite RGG game I've played--yes, even the laughed-at Yakuza 3, which I think had a lot of heart and great points.
I didn't hate all of it, and the highs are extremely high, but the lows were far, far too low for me personally. I walked away more annoyed than anything, and that hasn't happened before in this series.
I don't have much else to say, so I'll sum it up very quickly: the combat didn't work for me; the gearing system took up too much time, and the reliance on gear didn't gel with me; the story was slow at first, got really interesting, and then completely lost me at the last 1/4. Those are basically the main sticking points (not including my complaint below about this being a so-so remaster).
I still recommend this game cuz it did a lot of great things, but maybe wait for a sale. Don't let the cool samurai aesthetic fool you, the crime drama modern era games are far superior in my eyes.
~ORIGINAL 02/21/2023 REVIEW~
This is the exact game fans have been clamoring for since 2014 and we finally got... basically the same game from 2 generation ago with a nice coat of paint.
I'm enjoying this game just as I expected as Yakuza/Like A Dragon fan and fully expect to beat this game and see a decent chunk of the side stuff. The world is fully realized and fun to explore, side quests can be entertaining, the combat is cathartic and bloody, and the story--while it takes a couple hours to get going--is captivating and well written. This series is one of the few where cutscenes feels like the reward itself, I'm always excited when the frame rate goes to 30 and the mo-cap is in full swing. The graphics are impressive, as usual, especially with the Unreal Engine 4 powering everyone's pores to the max; lighting and texture work are a major highlight, especially the detailed haoris and weapons.
But I can't help but feel a pang of disappointment around the whole thing.
For starters, as I mentioned earlier, this is same game that was released in 2014, almost literally. Kiwami 2 this is not--this is more in line with Kiwami 1, complete with all the stiffness the series had before the Dragon Engine, for better or worse. I'm in the camp that loves the Dragon Engine despite some combat downgrades, so having an Unreal Engine 4 skin over a PS3 game feels dated off rip.
The lack of voice acting for 80% of the game (read: anything not main story) is particularly heart breaking since you know they have the budget and a top class cast. I find myself skipping side quests now thanks to games like The Witcher 3 spoiling me, and I find myself only stopping occasionally when something seems extremely goofy or especially thoughtful or emotional seems to occur. You really start to feel how awkward and cheap it is to not here music nor sound effects during most of this, just the typewriter sound of the text appearing on screen and the occasional grunt.
I also find myself missing the seamless exploration of the Dragon Engine games that had no loading screens when entering buildings, getting into fights, etc. Kiryu may've controlled like a bus, but the immersion, for me, more than made up for it. I never fast traveled in those games, but I look for the nearest palanquin in this one. I miss Bus Kiryu.
The pacing, too, is disorienting. Realizing what this game is and not what I wanted it to be, I decided to just focus on the story and do the side stuff in a later Yakuza game, like Yakuza 7 that I have yet to finish. But in the first 10 hours or so, be prepared to stop at every alley while Ryouma does his best Kiryu impression and tends to the needs of every man, woman, child, and whimpering animal that stands immobile until approached.
As a whole, it's a familiar and mostly exciting formula, but again, it's 2023 and they've already done better. To regress (or rather, choose not to enhance) in so many ways technologically and mechanically effects me a lot more than I thought it would. I typically love older games and their jank, but Yakuza series is huge, storied, and has a LOT of titles.
There's a lot I love about this game--the combat, the world, the story, the performances, the exploration, the fact that it feels like a movie cuz all the faces are the same--but the stuff that bothers me really sticks with me, like a splinter under my fingernail.
I recommend this game, I really enjoy this game, but I am disappointed. I'm just glad we finally got Ishin in the west, and it was worth it.