I want to live a happy life with the people I hold closest. Standing on this stage, I've finally realized how important that is. That's why I can't continue singing. To me, Kazuma Kiryu is... family

that moment of haruka saying this to the crowd in her first ever concert is possibly my favourite moment in the entire series, and i cried so much. seeing haruka grow through these games and seeing how important she is to kiryu and how much these games are about kiryu being a father to her and for the entire emotional climax of this game to be about them, to be about haruka being so similar to her dad and leaving behind her life for her family, made me sob.

i have so much love for this game, for the focus on dreams and the importance of having them and not giving up, how all these protangists come together and help each other, how we see characters like baba survive because of the advice saejima gave him; because of the trust. i dont have any coherent thoughts having just finished it but this game is wonderful and seeing akiyama, saejima, kiryu and haruka's stories reflect everything they've been through in the past and come out somehow stronger, somehow better at the end was so good. and shinada was such a refreshing protag to have, to see a normal person with as much bravado as everyone else, who was here solely to help a friend who helped him.

yakuza 5 good and honestly while the plot may not be as smooth or enticing overall, the arcs for these characters and the bonds between every single character makes this game as good to me as y0 was, i LOVED this game.

I have nothing against Ichiban or turn based gameplay, but man did it feel so good to back as Kiryu. Playing as Kiryu feels so goddamn good. You’re like a powerhouse that can obliterate anything in its path. And the combat is SO much better than 6 like goddamn. Gameplay wise, this is what 6 WANTED to be. All of the little callbacks were funny, and bringing back Pocket Circuit was good fun again! The Colosseum is at its best here, even if it’s at its most ridiculous. The “Castle” made me SO happy. The characters are well written and there are lots of highlights with them. Akame 10/10!! And the ending of this game is everything. It was all handled so well. I cried! A lot!

The most "Yakuza" Yakuza game. In its main story, side content, battle animations, etc. they have never made a game before or since that has captured this series' qualities and cranked them up to 11... for better and worse. Everything that is problematic about the series, it's here. Everything that can be tedious about the series, it's here. Everything that makes the series sick, it's here. Everything that you could say about the stories of these games, it's all here. For many reasons I now refrain from calling this "the best", or even that this series is "good" in actuality. However, I know back when I played this as my first Yakuza game, I absolutely had a blast (before and when I got back to it from a 2 year hiatus) and legitimately cried throughout the finale,whether the game actually earned that or not. If you were to play one Yakuza game (and please, for your own sake, do not play every Yakuza game), I'm not truly sure if this should be it, this is the 5th game of a long running series after all, but I do truly believe that this is the definitive Yakuza game in all of its strengths and its faults.