It never ceases to amaze me how big this series got.
My familiarity with Yakuza/Like a Dragon began back in like 2010/2011 when I got Yakuza 4 for $10 from a Walmart Black Friday sale (I have no idea what my random small town Walmart was doing selling Yakuza 4 but I digress). It's in the middle of Kiryu's story so there was a lot I didn't understand, but I fell in love basically immediately. The soap opera drama, the beautiful cutscenes, and that immersion! The tourism porn drew me in immediately, and like 12 years later it hasn't let go.
But the Yakuza series was different then. After I played 4, I played 3 and Dead Souls, and I was one of a small but vocal group of fans who was asking for Yakuza 5 -- the largest game in the series yet -- to come West. I wanted it so bad I considered learning Japanese for it.
Yakuza 5 did come west on PS3, but it was digital only, 3 years late (I believe late 2015), and only happened because Sony helped foot the bill if I remember right. It made me very happy, even though now I think Yakuza 5 is maybe my least favorite in the series.
A year or two after that, Yakuza 0 came out and the world was ready for Kiryu Kazuma. Since then, Yakuza has grown to the point where it is probably SEGA's biggest game franchise, it's getting full English voice acting (not that I'm using it, lol), and it has even switched its English series name to Like a Dragon -- the series' name overseas.
It got so big that we now have Like a Dragon: Ishin!, a new gen remaster of the 2014 PS3/PS4 game that was Japan only. It got localized, a few tweaks, and a fresh coat of paint, and now we're playing it.
Playing it now, I see why it was never localized. It's a LaD-style retelling of a specific time in 19th century Japan. It uses real historical characters to tell a story that doesn't really explain what all the terminology means and the intricacies between the military and imperial government in Japan from a century and a half ago.
It's a little confusing at first, but if you pay attention and use the glossary, it's not too hard to get caught up by the halfway point in the game or even earlier. The story is excellent, touching on themes of Japanese nationalism and the human cost to one's politically-motivated actions, and a few of the beats are high points for the series.
The combat is weird and took some getting used to, but I grew to like it as well. As opposed to the fists-and-bikes style of old Yakuza games, this one has you swinging swords and shooting guns in a handful of different combat styles. Once you unlock the skill tree and do some of the side content to expand your arsenal, the game gives a lot back.
Speaking of, the exploration and side content is great. Yakuza open world immersion at its finest, and despite some great drama I think this might be one of the funnier one of these I've played. If you want to walk around and chill out, you can do it; if you want to feed a sumo or race chickens, you can do it; if you want to befriend a worker at a brothel with some of the strangest minigames I've seen yet, hey, it's there. And of course, if you want to exploit a major side mode for 10 hours in order to get all the resources you'll ever need, you can do that too. All the beats are here.
So yeah, it's top tier Yakuza (I need to learn to start saying Like a Dragon, oh well). It's pretty easy on Normal and fairly annoying on hard, so I just kept it on Normal. I never went after Amon before, I may do that here.
Anyway I think this series is my favorite game ever.
My familiarity with Yakuza/Like a Dragon began back in like 2010/2011 when I got Yakuza 4 for $10 from a Walmart Black Friday sale (I have no idea what my random small town Walmart was doing selling Yakuza 4 but I digress). It's in the middle of Kiryu's story so there was a lot I didn't understand, but I fell in love basically immediately. The soap opera drama, the beautiful cutscenes, and that immersion! The tourism porn drew me in immediately, and like 12 years later it hasn't let go.
But the Yakuza series was different then. After I played 4, I played 3 and Dead Souls, and I was one of a small but vocal group of fans who was asking for Yakuza 5 -- the largest game in the series yet -- to come West. I wanted it so bad I considered learning Japanese for it.
Yakuza 5 did come west on PS3, but it was digital only, 3 years late (I believe late 2015), and only happened because Sony helped foot the bill if I remember right. It made me very happy, even though now I think Yakuza 5 is maybe my least favorite in the series.
A year or two after that, Yakuza 0 came out and the world was ready for Kiryu Kazuma. Since then, Yakuza has grown to the point where it is probably SEGA's biggest game franchise, it's getting full English voice acting (not that I'm using it, lol), and it has even switched its English series name to Like a Dragon -- the series' name overseas.
It got so big that we now have Like a Dragon: Ishin!, a new gen remaster of the 2014 PS3/PS4 game that was Japan only. It got localized, a few tweaks, and a fresh coat of paint, and now we're playing it.
Playing it now, I see why it was never localized. It's a LaD-style retelling of a specific time in 19th century Japan. It uses real historical characters to tell a story that doesn't really explain what all the terminology means and the intricacies between the military and imperial government in Japan from a century and a half ago.
It's a little confusing at first, but if you pay attention and use the glossary, it's not too hard to get caught up by the halfway point in the game or even earlier. The story is excellent, touching on themes of Japanese nationalism and the human cost to one's politically-motivated actions, and a few of the beats are high points for the series.
The combat is weird and took some getting used to, but I grew to like it as well. As opposed to the fists-and-bikes style of old Yakuza games, this one has you swinging swords and shooting guns in a handful of different combat styles. Once you unlock the skill tree and do some of the side content to expand your arsenal, the game gives a lot back.
Speaking of, the exploration and side content is great. Yakuza open world immersion at its finest, and despite some great drama I think this might be one of the funnier one of these I've played. If you want to walk around and chill out, you can do it; if you want to feed a sumo or race chickens, you can do it; if you want to befriend a worker at a brothel with some of the strangest minigames I've seen yet, hey, it's there. And of course, if you want to exploit a major side mode for 10 hours in order to get all the resources you'll ever need, you can do that too. All the beats are here.
So yeah, it's top tier Yakuza (I need to learn to start saying Like a Dragon, oh well). It's pretty easy on Normal and fairly annoying on hard, so I just kept it on Normal. I never went after Amon before, I may do that here.
Anyway I think this series is my favorite game ever.