Good way to end 2021/start 2022
Pretty fantastic game to come out of RGG, although its got some dips and cracks throughout that keep it from being perfect imo. Pacing wise its pretty slow at the start, but its got the benefit of having probably one of the best casts RGG has written and an intriguing plot once things do start to get rolling, with really great reveals/twists/arcs throughout.
Stuff like the Keihen Gang and the Trailing missions are definitely what hold it back from being my favorite. For either of these mechanics, if these just happened way less often they'd be kind of a non-issue that I could more easily wave off but nah. Legitimately both of these are probably some of my least favorite things in the entire Yakuza-Judgment series, with Keihen being something that could have probably been entirely cut. Trailing I could more easily forgive if it didn't just show up all the goddamn time. Chase missions aren't too spectacular but they show up only every now and then, whereas I swear 50% of side cases will have 1 trailing mission and they all take way more time than i would like.
Despite this, I still enjoyed a good chunk of the side content as a lot of the side cases and friends you make are really enjoyable. It also helps that Tak is a really great protagonist with a lot of great moments, personality and charm from the get-go.
It's odd, even as much as I've enjoyed prior Yakuza games and I think the lulls of those games are less severe than some of the faults in this game, I appreciate this slightly more overall. I enjoyed what I've played of Yakuza so far but with the exception of 7 imo, it's kinda harder for me to think of times where I was as engaged as I was here regarding the main game. I love 0 and K2, and I look forward to playing 3-6 eventually but it was great getting to the end of this game and seeing not just the cast wrap up loose ends but caring about almost the entire cast. Pretty much each character does a good job of establishing themselves in the narrative in a way that feels meaningful so by the end its great to see how even minor characters have developed. All I can say is that I look forward to playing Lost Judgment after hearing how much that game improves upon this one.
Pretty fantastic game to come out of RGG, although its got some dips and cracks throughout that keep it from being perfect imo. Pacing wise its pretty slow at the start, but its got the benefit of having probably one of the best casts RGG has written and an intriguing plot once things do start to get rolling, with really great reveals/twists/arcs throughout.
Stuff like the Keihen Gang and the Trailing missions are definitely what hold it back from being my favorite. For either of these mechanics, if these just happened way less often they'd be kind of a non-issue that I could more easily wave off but nah. Legitimately both of these are probably some of my least favorite things in the entire Yakuza-Judgment series, with Keihen being something that could have probably been entirely cut. Trailing I could more easily forgive if it didn't just show up all the goddamn time. Chase missions aren't too spectacular but they show up only every now and then, whereas I swear 50% of side cases will have 1 trailing mission and they all take way more time than i would like.
Despite this, I still enjoyed a good chunk of the side content as a lot of the side cases and friends you make are really enjoyable. It also helps that Tak is a really great protagonist with a lot of great moments, personality and charm from the get-go.
It's odd, even as much as I've enjoyed prior Yakuza games and I think the lulls of those games are less severe than some of the faults in this game, I appreciate this slightly more overall. I enjoyed what I've played of Yakuza so far but with the exception of 7 imo, it's kinda harder for me to think of times where I was as engaged as I was here regarding the main game. I love 0 and K2, and I look forward to playing 3-6 eventually but it was great getting to the end of this game and seeing not just the cast wrap up loose ends but caring about almost the entire cast. Pretty much each character does a good job of establishing themselves in the narrative in a way that feels meaningful so by the end its great to see how even minor characters have developed. All I can say is that I look forward to playing Lost Judgment after hearing how much that game improves upon this one.