This game took me several tries to get into, being the first game I played that wasn't 0 or the two Kiwami titles. I knew in my head that yes, this would be a downgrade in terms of gameplay, but actually experiencing it made it so that I had to take a long break and two separate attempts to finally get into it. On my third and successful playthrough I just said fuck it and put it on easy to focus on the aspects of these games that I actually enjoy; the side stories and main plot.
The orphanage segments could have been handled better/been a bit less grindy (did I really have to do EVERY SINGLE KID?) but there were a few moments in them that I genuinely enjoyed. My favourite would probably have to be Kiryu hitting balls into the air and seeing the little ones run around trying to catch them. Conceptually I didn't mind it, execution wise solving the kids issues were some of the shortest sessions of me playing this game, doing them in 30 minute intervals each day. Once the game got going though I was playing around 3-4 hours a session and having a blast.
Gameplay wise I was playing it on easy and so never really felt a lot of the frustration I've heard of online with really block-heavy enemies, or getting gang beaten by every npc at once. I kind of just mashed buttons to get to the next story beat.
Probably my second favourite Yakuza game of the 4 I've played, not really close to 0, but wasn't a painful slog to get through like my experience with both Kiwami 1 and 2. I really liked the Okinawa setting itself, the sound of the waves crashing outside as uncle Kiryu goes around being a dad to a bunch of little shits. I idled the game a few times on the beach while browsing the internet, and the first hour of free roam in Okinawa I just went first person and looked around at thing (which is also what I did in Yakuza 0 way back in 2019). For what many consider to be the worst/one of the worst, I was pleasantly surprised. Now onto 4...
The orphanage segments could have been handled better/been a bit less grindy (did I really have to do EVERY SINGLE KID?) but there were a few moments in them that I genuinely enjoyed. My favourite would probably have to be Kiryu hitting balls into the air and seeing the little ones run around trying to catch them. Conceptually I didn't mind it, execution wise solving the kids issues were some of the shortest sessions of me playing this game, doing them in 30 minute intervals each day. Once the game got going though I was playing around 3-4 hours a session and having a blast.
Gameplay wise I was playing it on easy and so never really felt a lot of the frustration I've heard of online with really block-heavy enemies, or getting gang beaten by every npc at once. I kind of just mashed buttons to get to the next story beat.
Probably my second favourite Yakuza game of the 4 I've played, not really close to 0, but wasn't a painful slog to get through like my experience with both Kiwami 1 and 2. I really liked the Okinawa setting itself, the sound of the waves crashing outside as uncle Kiryu goes around being a dad to a bunch of little shits. I idled the game a few times on the beach while browsing the internet, and the first hour of free roam in Okinawa I just went first person and looked around at thing (which is also what I did in Yakuza 0 way back in 2019). For what many consider to be the worst/one of the worst, I was pleasantly surprised. Now onto 4...