This review contains spoilers
yakuza 3 is a very good game. i really enjoyed the beginning chapters being slow paced versus the explosive nature of the previous entries, and all of the orphanage scenes were really nice, showing a more vulnerable while strong version of kiryu.
regarding the story itself, i really dont like that it basically just dumped everything in one chapter and then the actual plot started to unravel after like 15 hours of already playing. while i do think that this was a result of all of the super intimate orphanage scenes at the beginning taking up a large chunk of screentime, i do feel like starting the story up a bit earlier wouldve helped a lot. i think the plot itself is ok, but if it dropped slight hints from like idk chapter 5 or something onwards (more than two people getting shot and some random person that looks like kazama), it wouldve helped the plot slowly unravel rather than feeling kinda contrived by the time it comes to a head.
mine himself is a really good villain -- hes a foil to kiryu in the way that the people and ideals you surround yourself with have a massive impact on your outlook on the way you live your life. i wish he had more development though because by the time you face off against him (fucking amazing boss fight btw) hes only appeared in like 7 scenes max, which i dont think is adequate enough; in fact, i think its a direct result of the majority of the plot just kinda being shoehorned in at the end. i do think that the base idea of his character is enough for me to love him.
wrt gameplay: i really enjoyed it. while it was less fluid than y2, which i initially held against y3, it was just a different style and pace of combat. you have to be a lot more tactical and calculating in each and every fight, and while the boss ai or whatever had a blocking problem, theres a lot of ways to get around it that make boss fights super fun. fights like lau ka long, joji, and mine were really fun, make you think, and actually force you to use your resources to not get completely destroyed.
the soundtrack was probably my favorite so far out of the 4 ive played. i dont really have much to say but one song that stood out was the mine boss fight song.
overall, yakuza 3 is a good game. while i have a lot of gripes with it, they dont really take away from the objective quality of the game and are instead just personal issues that i have. play this game though it sees kiryu at his best, it sees some of the most intimate, heart-touching scenes in the series, and it features a duality that may not be as good as yakuza 2, but is special in its own way.
regarding the story itself, i really dont like that it basically just dumped everything in one chapter and then the actual plot started to unravel after like 15 hours of already playing. while i do think that this was a result of all of the super intimate orphanage scenes at the beginning taking up a large chunk of screentime, i do feel like starting the story up a bit earlier wouldve helped a lot. i think the plot itself is ok, but if it dropped slight hints from like idk chapter 5 or something onwards (more than two people getting shot and some random person that looks like kazama), it wouldve helped the plot slowly unravel rather than feeling kinda contrived by the time it comes to a head.
mine himself is a really good villain -- hes a foil to kiryu in the way that the people and ideals you surround yourself with have a massive impact on your outlook on the way you live your life. i wish he had more development though because by the time you face off against him (fucking amazing boss fight btw) hes only appeared in like 7 scenes max, which i dont think is adequate enough; in fact, i think its a direct result of the majority of the plot just kinda being shoehorned in at the end. i do think that the base idea of his character is enough for me to love him.
wrt gameplay: i really enjoyed it. while it was less fluid than y2, which i initially held against y3, it was just a different style and pace of combat. you have to be a lot more tactical and calculating in each and every fight, and while the boss ai or whatever had a blocking problem, theres a lot of ways to get around it that make boss fights super fun. fights like lau ka long, joji, and mine were really fun, make you think, and actually force you to use your resources to not get completely destroyed.
the soundtrack was probably my favorite so far out of the 4 ive played. i dont really have much to say but one song that stood out was the mine boss fight song.
overall, yakuza 3 is a good game. while i have a lot of gripes with it, they dont really take away from the objective quality of the game and are instead just personal issues that i have. play this game though it sees kiryu at his best, it sees some of the most intimate, heart-touching scenes in the series, and it features a duality that may not be as good as yakuza 2, but is special in its own way.