RoyalGhost
2022
Good. Too long. Head bashingly difficult. From hasn't made a game that missed for me in like fifteen years and this is a totally fine one.
It's fine. It's not botw and the writing is actively terrible to downright offensive. Too much going on the loop feels perfunctory and all of the wonder is gone. Didn't finish doubt I'll go back. I didn't dislike it but I push back hard on the way people talk about it.
Beat this game like three times. It's one of my favourites ever. There is a lot of writing about this game out there from people far more eloquent than me you can read about. This is a game chances are you already have an opinion about anyway.
It's just very free. The systems interact in a delightful way nothing else has been able to hit for me. The Master Quest version really pushed me to play creatively. All timer.
It's just very free. The systems interact in a delightful way nothing else has been able to hit for me. The Master Quest version really pushed me to play creatively. All timer.
2018
One of my favourite rogue likes for sure. Extremely tight and fun gameplay, charming characters, good writing, beautiful art. I have spent many hours playing this game on two different platforms. Still fun to do a run now and again.
2015
Fantastic game. The second best Yakuza game after 5, Imo. The best standalone entry in the series easily though.
Pinnacle of the pre Sotn Vanias. Sometimes you just hit it out of the park, you know? I get why people say it's Dracula's Curse but for me it's Rondo all day
2019
I'm tired of hearing that this is the best game ever. It's fine. I genuinely thing the og Persona 5 has a better story, I think the twist and extra explanation to this version is so awful. Arbitrary and void of thematic content. Like don't get me wrong this isn't a bad game but I sure am tired of people who hate jrpgs telling me this is the good one lol
1996
It's Mario 64. If you're not giving this five stars I am silently judging you. Probably loudly judging you too, you child
2016
I really like this game. I've played it twice! It's still probably only my 5th favourite Yakuza game. It's just, kind of what it is. A sort of janky thrown together remake of the first Yakuza game. It's kind of funny thinking about how Yakuza 0 is this bespoke prequel and this game is what it is. Sega is a weird company.
Anyway, this game uses the Yakuza 5 engine like Yakuza 0 does. It's not very long. I think its got a pretty solid version of the combat, and some excellent mini-games. And also one of the worst car chases I've ever played in a video game.
Anyway, this game uses the Yakuza 5 engine like Yakuza 0 does. It's not very long. I think its got a pretty solid version of the combat, and some excellent mini-games. And also one of the worst car chases I've ever played in a video game.
2017
It's just not great. It's still a Yakuza game. I dunno why I think the Dragon Engine just feels bad here. It's strange to me because Yakuza 6 came first, you'd think the combat would be better in Kiwami 2 but it just isn't. This is the result of a breakneck development pace. It's wild how long they were putting out a game pretty much every year.
The story is not bad, exactly. Kaoru is cool, The Dragon of Kansai is an exciting thing to stack up against Kiryu. The drama is compelling and well rendered.
Unfortunately for me, Yakuza's politics tend toward conservative and that shows up all the time. There's a pretty passively racist attitude toward non-Japanese asian folks that is all throughout these games, and Yakuza 2 really steps in it because it's a major plot point lol. If you can deal with this caveat, you might find something you enjoy here still. I did.
I'm harsh in my criticism of it, because it's bearing a lot of the sins of the franchise along with 6 for me but it's not a bad game.
The story is not bad, exactly. Kaoru is cool, The Dragon of Kansai is an exciting thing to stack up against Kiryu. The drama is compelling and well rendered.
Unfortunately for me, Yakuza's politics tend toward conservative and that shows up all the time. There's a pretty passively racist attitude toward non-Japanese asian folks that is all throughout these games, and Yakuza 2 really steps in it because it's a major plot point lol. If you can deal with this caveat, you might find something you enjoy here still. I did.
I'm harsh in my criticism of it, because it's bearing a lot of the sins of the franchise along with 6 for me but it's not a bad game.
2018
This review contains spoilers
I love this game. 3rd best Yakuza game maybe?
It's a touching piece of character work struggling against its medium and to me that is art. It has one of the most impactful deaths in the series, (one of the only ones that even remain actually dead lmao) and really sets up Kiryu as one of my all time favourite characters in anything.
RIKIYAAAAA!!!!!!! TT_TT
It's a touching piece of character work struggling against its medium and to me that is art. It has one of the most impactful deaths in the series, (one of the only ones that even remain actually dead lmao) and really sets up Kiryu as one of my all time favourite characters in anything.
RIKIYAAAAA!!!!!!! TT_TT
2019
This review contains spoilers
This game is important to me for personal reasons that aren't worth getting into but it is a bias I am bringing to it.
I think this is the most ambitious attempt at telling a story this studio ever goes for and they blow it in the final hour. The further away I get from this game, the more disappointed I am in how it ends. But my feelings about it remain complicated.
Because the rest of it, god the rest of it. Well, most of the rest of it. Yakuza 4 is such a wild time. It feels like the writer(s) had a bunch of crime stories they wanted to tell but Kiryu didn't fit into any of them so they made three character archetypes from crime fiction so they could tell those stories too. AND THAT'S SO COOL. I wish more games would do stuff like this.
The gameplay really feels like it's coming into its own here. The mini-games start to become plentiful and they're mostly fun. It's been 2 and a half years since I played it, but I don't remember any annoying gameplay bits like a 5 minute car chase you can fail and have to start over.
Spoilers ahead
Akiyama is an incredible character who enters the series here. Tanimura sucks in a way that is entertaining to watch, and totally counter to the typical Yakuza protagonists. Saejima is a complicated character who went to jail for murdering a bunch of people in a Ramen shop and I think RGG is too clumsy for the scene where he pushes down Haruka not to feel really bad to me.
That is a huge caveat for this game. I do think the context of Saejima as a character is a lampshade they are hanging on it but it really just happens and you're like wtf. Really tells you where the people who make these game's heads are at but that's how it goes.
Ending Stuff
And then they reveal this twist that clears Saejima of the worst thing he ever did and the big showdown is kind of mid and it's like watching an athlete going for it and wiping out and it's just very painful. And you'e kind of a mess of emotions and you start to put your thoughts together about it.
And that's just powerful to me, you know? It's either my third or fourth favourite entry in the series on a given day. I recommend it, but there is pretty uncritical implied sexual assault scene on a minor that I absolutely understand if it swings anyone away from it.
I think this is the most ambitious attempt at telling a story this studio ever goes for and they blow it in the final hour. The further away I get from this game, the more disappointed I am in how it ends. But my feelings about it remain complicated.
Because the rest of it, god the rest of it. Well, most of the rest of it. Yakuza 4 is such a wild time. It feels like the writer(s) had a bunch of crime stories they wanted to tell but Kiryu didn't fit into any of them so they made three character archetypes from crime fiction so they could tell those stories too. AND THAT'S SO COOL. I wish more games would do stuff like this.
The gameplay really feels like it's coming into its own here. The mini-games start to become plentiful and they're mostly fun. It's been 2 and a half years since I played it, but I don't remember any annoying gameplay bits like a 5 minute car chase you can fail and have to start over.
Spoilers ahead
Akiyama is an incredible character who enters the series here. Tanimura sucks in a way that is entertaining to watch, and totally counter to the typical Yakuza protagonists. Saejima is a complicated character who went to jail for murdering a bunch of people in a Ramen shop and I think RGG is too clumsy for the scene where he pushes down Haruka not to feel really bad to me.
That is a huge caveat for this game. I do think the context of Saejima as a character is a lampshade they are hanging on it but it really just happens and you're like wtf. Really tells you where the people who make these game's heads are at but that's how it goes.
Ending Stuff
And then they reveal this twist that clears Saejima of the worst thing he ever did and the big showdown is kind of mid and it's like watching an athlete going for it and wiping out and it's just very painful. And you'e kind of a mess of emotions and you start to put your thoughts together about it.
And that's just powerful to me, you know? It's either my third or fourth favourite entry in the series on a given day. I recommend it, but there is pretty uncritical implied sexual assault scene on a minor that I absolutely understand if it swings anyone away from it.
2019
To me, this is the best Yakuza game. There are some things that bother me about it, but they aren't really knocks against it I have held with some distance from it.
Yakuza reaches its true form here in a sense. The combat feels great and actually has a lot of depth if you want to engage in it. I don't really like The Dragon Engine as much that they start in 6. The side jobs each character have really flesh out both the world of Yakuza and the main characters in a fun way, the mini games are excellent and well made, and the new character Shinada is an all time protagonist to me. Solid third place after Kiryu and Akiyama.
Its also the least I've felt at odds with the politics of the people who make it. It is sympathetic about sex workers, and immigrants and homeless people. Weird Japanese nationalism doesn't really rear its ugly head. It could stand to be more critical of the Idol industry but it is still somewhat.
I actually sort of wish the series ended here. I think the final scene of the game is incredible and should have been left ambiguous and I would have been totally fine with that. Not even necessarily have to end it here but completely start over fresh a little earlier since they at least gesture at doing that eventually. (even if it doesn't stick at all lol)
Yakuza reaches its true form here in a sense. The combat feels great and actually has a lot of depth if you want to engage in it. I don't really like The Dragon Engine as much that they start in 6. The side jobs each character have really flesh out both the world of Yakuza and the main characters in a fun way, the mini games are excellent and well made, and the new character Shinada is an all time protagonist to me. Solid third place after Kiryu and Akiyama.
Its also the least I've felt at odds with the politics of the people who make it. It is sympathetic about sex workers, and immigrants and homeless people. Weird Japanese nationalism doesn't really rear its ugly head. It could stand to be more critical of the Idol industry but it is still somewhat.
I actually sort of wish the series ended here. I think the final scene of the game is incredible and should have been left ambiguous and I would have been totally fine with that. Not even necessarily have to end it here but completely start over fresh a little earlier since they at least gesture at doing that eventually. (even if it doesn't stick at all lol)
A game I have very mixed feelings about. The story has a somewhat compelling mystery around Haruka but I think everything surround it is either kind of bad or done better in previous entries of the series. I also just don't like the Dragon Engine as much as the one they were using for Kiwami/5/0.
Still there's lots of good stuff here too. Some decent side stories, Kiryu and a baby. I wish they'd leave this old man alone and let him take care of his family if hes gonna live past Yakuza 5 though.
Still there's lots of good stuff here too. Some decent side stories, Kiryu and a baby. I wish they'd leave this old man alone and let him take care of his family if hes gonna live past Yakuza 5 though.
2016
My favourite of the three Dark Souls games, since been beat out by AC6 and Sekiro for my favourite From games but still right up there. It's good.