Yakuza Games: The Story So Far
I started this list in the middle of my Yakuza 3 playthrough so expect regular updates as I progress.
My wack-ass playing order: 0 -> Kiwami -> Kiwami 2 until they got it off Game Pass -> 7 -> Finished Kiwami 2 after like two years -> Judgment -> 3 -> 4 (-> 5 -> 6 -> Lost Judgment -> I'll decide then if I do Gaiden and 8 too but idk. I will also decidedly not try the PS2 originals.)
My wack-ass playing order: 0 -> Kiwami -> Kiwami 2 until they got it off Game Pass -> 7 -> Finished Kiwami 2 after like two years -> Judgment -> 3 -> 4 (-> 5 -> 6 -> Lost Judgment -> I'll decide then if I do Gaiden and 8 too but idk. I will also decidedly not try the PS2 originals.)
7 Games
1
I am biased towards detective stories, but this is a DAMN GOOD one. I just adore how the small-scale character interactions serve the overarching plot and themes — it's shown the most with Yagami himself, and how a great deal of the main cast parallels his story in some way, from Higashi's own attempted reframing after being burned by his justice-seeking heart to Hoshino's borderline coming-of-age story as he blossoms into a damn fine lawyer by going where he'd never been before. Every single player here has to do with how far they would go for their own ideals, from the idealistic little heroes to the broken anti-villains (Hamura call me back I adore you), and it's great. Tight writing across the board.
I can't say it's perfect, though: the gameplay gets to be annoying at various points (mortal wounds that in addition drain all my damn money, Keihin Gang, boring tacked-on investigation stuff, SEVERELY needs more minigames, the works), but as someone who generally puts way more stock in story, I can get behind all of that.
I can't say it's perfect, though: the gameplay gets to be annoying at various points (mortal wounds that in addition drain all my damn money, Keihin Gang, boring tacked-on investigation stuff, SEVERELY needs more minigames, the works), but as someone who generally puts way more stock in story, I can get behind all of that.
Just fantastic. Tackles head-on a variety of issues the rest of the franchise usually just brushes past, and does a superb job at it — as someone who lives in a country with the most annoying of neofascist movements ruining everything, Bleach Japan are incredibly realistic and well-written antagonists in that the narrative shows how their ideology may fancy itself revolutionary and "saying what everyone was thinking", but is really just an unabashed tool of the ruling class. My best friend got mad at me that I skipped so many games to play this one, and one of the main reasons was that it imbued me with standards the older ones will never reach.
As a genre shift I felt it was smooth. I just adore turn-based RPGs and the Yakuza flavour never loses its edge (if anything, it's enhanced by Ichiban's active imagination and variety of wack-ass jobs to pick). It was my favourite game before I played Judgment (but you just can't beat Judgment).
As a genre shift I felt it was smooth. I just adore turn-based RPGs and the Yakuza flavour never loses its edge (if anything, it's enhanced by Ichiban's active imagination and variety of wack-ass jobs to pick). It was my favourite game before I played Judgment (but you just can't beat Judgment).
3
I love a prequel — there's this one Tumblr post that shares the sentiment and says "yes, tell me a story that's been dead from the beginning!" — and 0 does a fantastic job at being one, adding depth to the otherwise flat beginnings of the Yakuza mythos and introducing its own ideas in echoes of what the timeline became. Combat is smooth, game design perfectly understands the era we are taken to, side quests are delightfully goofy, and Nishitani is there. The entire game is iconic, and for damn good reason. (My biggest complaint, though, is that they didn't find anywhere for Yumi to be. She sorely needed more if they wanted me to be invested in her that badly, and they had to know that if they spent so much of this game and of Kiwami rebuilding Nishiki...)
[UPDATED AFTER FINISHING]
As of writing this I am in Chapter 3, and sure, this is jank as hell, and I put it on easy mode upon suggestion so as to avoid Blockuza 3, but I already think this one's seriously overhated. I love the main conflict, extremely attuned to its setting — two outsiders playing at deciding Okinawa's future based on their own preconceived notions of what the island's "good for", tourism or American influence, completely ignoring the locals. People who were surprised that Infinite Wealth apparently tackles similar issues in Hawai'i shouldn't be.
Off-topic, but I adore the character Haruka has become! It's refreshing to see her being treated like a person and having peer-to-peer conversations with Kiryu, as opposed to the near object-like treatment she gets in previous games.
UPDATE: I was right. I was so right. The story goes some seriously wacky directions that kind of undercut its powerful messaging a bit, but even its most deranged decisions end up being in service of some absolutely stellar character writing. This is the first Yakuza game where I actually felt connected to Kiryu as a person, and those parenting segments everybody hates were huge for that. (I love the kids, by the way.) I'm practically begging RGG Studio for a Kiwami 3 at this point, if that's what it takes for the world to know peak for what it is.
As of writing this I am in Chapter 3, and sure, this is jank as hell, and I put it on easy mode upon suggestion so as to avoid Blockuza 3, but I already think this one's seriously overhated. I love the main conflict, extremely attuned to its setting — two outsiders playing at deciding Okinawa's future based on their own preconceived notions of what the island's "good for", tourism or American influence, completely ignoring the locals. People who were surprised that Infinite Wealth apparently tackles similar issues in Hawai'i shouldn't be.
Off-topic, but I adore the character Haruka has become! It's refreshing to see her being treated like a person and having peer-to-peer conversations with Kiryu, as opposed to the near object-like treatment she gets in previous games.
UPDATE: I was right. I was so right. The story goes some seriously wacky directions that kind of undercut its powerful messaging a bit, but even its most deranged decisions end up being in service of some absolutely stellar character writing. This is the first Yakuza game where I actually felt connected to Kiryu as a person, and those parenting segments everybody hates were huge for that. (I love the kids, by the way.) I'm practically begging RGG Studio for a Kiwami 3 at this point, if that's what it takes for the world to know peak for what it is.
Maybe it would be higher up if Yayoi Dojima got to have gay sex in it.
This story is atrociously bad but at least it's REALLY funny (whenever it's not trying to write women, because then it becomes infuriatingly bad), from Kazuki's completely unaddressed Korean expy, to whatever the hell the main villain of this game was getting at, to Ryuji Goda's entire existence. It carries its awfulness with completely unfounded confidence and I can't help but respect that in some twisted way. One of the only games I know to boldly step up to the plate and say "FUCK adoption". I'll never understand people who want Sayama back in any capacity — what, do you want her to be written even worse?
This story is atrociously bad but at least it's REALLY funny (whenever it's not trying to write women, because then it becomes infuriatingly bad), from Kazuki's completely unaddressed Korean expy, to whatever the hell the main villain of this game was getting at, to Ryuji Goda's entire existence. It carries its awfulness with completely unfounded confidence and I can't help but respect that in some twisted way. One of the only games I know to boldly step up to the plate and say "FUCK adoption". I'll never understand people who want Sayama back in any capacity — what, do you want her to be written even worse?
At least the gameplay is pretty solid (something I'd come to appreciate after suffering through the one below it), but the story... actual garbage. I hate it so goddamn bad and it really doesn't help that it is the cornerstone for the rest of the franchise because I HATE THE STORY. Holy shit. It's something that begs you to care for it, but does nothing to deserve my heart. It's a story that tells instead of showing. I don't believe for a single second Kiryu "loves" Yumi because all I get from Yumi is completely informed (when it's not last-minute twists) and that ending is simply atrocious. If they could afford to give Nishiki fifteen minutes of cutscenes and an entire sequel game, why couldn't they do anything for her? Oh, yeah, it's cuz they hate women. Go to hell.
Also, why the hell didn't they get rid of the part where Kiryu slaps Haruka?! It's an unnecessary scene that massively undercuts his (frankly misogynistic) don't-hit-a-woman attitude and it's also immensely out of character with how they write him now!!!!! It doesn't fit with the new content at fucking all!!!!!!!!
Also, why the hell didn't they get rid of the part where Kiryu slaps Haruka?! It's an unnecessary scene that massively undercuts his (frankly misogynistic) don't-hit-a-woman attitude and it's also immensely out of character with how they write him now!!!!! It doesn't fit with the new content at fucking all!!!!!!!!
[UPDATED AFTER FINISHING]
I'm in Part 2, Chapter 3 and this game better pick up the pace quick if it wants at all to climb these ranks. Holy shit. I haven't been this angry since Kiwami.
After a game that features no prominent adult women, I could for a fleeting moment forget how much the Yakuza series despises its female characters. From the out-of-nowhere substory where Akiyama decides women who don't want to go into sex work don't actually want to start new lives away from their abusive husbands, to THAT SCENE with Kiryu being an absolute fucking meathead about the safety of his eldest daughter (what's new), 4 is an ear-splitting wake-up call. Fucking vile. My friends say there's great games waiting for me if i can clear this threshold, but it's proving a taller task than I thought it'd be.
UPDATE: This was above Kiwami before, but then I realised: Kiwami has something to fall back on. It has great gameplay, both in its combat and side content. 4 does not. Sure, Akiyama plays great and Kiryu finally feels good again, but Tanimura is too bread-and-butter to be interesting and Saejima is a complete slog. All the extras are just whatever to me — it's them growing pains, I guess.
Also, Kiwami's story didn't really fully piss me off until the literal last chapter. 4 had me fuming on Part 1 already. Akiyama is a fucking cunt. I've heard he's a good character in later entries, and he BETTER BE, because otherwise there's just nothing to me that justifies his popularity. He's a self-serving asshole with a God complex who thinks he's been blessed by Kiryu exploding that tower or something. Also, his slobbish behaviour is not cute. Not at fucking all. Try living with a man who refuses to pick up after himself and leaves the women in his life to do all the work. "Not fun" is an understatement.
As for the other protagonists: Saejima could've been compelling if he wasn't really boring (though, like Akiyama, I hear he improves); Tanimura is just plain boring, though him not getting that same chance to grow in later entries really saddens me; and Kiryu is a complete downgrade from his peak performance in 3, turned into a hypocrite (yeah, judge Daigo for not being fully willing to lead the Tojo! Because you super were!!!!!) who at the same time can never be wrong in ways that directly undermine other games.
I could rag on this game for hours, man. I'll cut it here just so it doesn't get bigger than it already is. Final remark: it's so funny that they tie back to the exact plot point from 1/Kiwami that pissed me off. It's like it's specifically to spite me.
I'm in Part 2, Chapter 3 and this game better pick up the pace quick if it wants at all to climb these ranks. Holy shit. I haven't been this angry since Kiwami.
After a game that features no prominent adult women, I could for a fleeting moment forget how much the Yakuza series despises its female characters. From the out-of-nowhere substory where Akiyama decides women who don't want to go into sex work don't actually want to start new lives away from their abusive husbands, to THAT SCENE with Kiryu being an absolute fucking meathead about the safety of his eldest daughter (what's new), 4 is an ear-splitting wake-up call. Fucking vile. My friends say there's great games waiting for me if i can clear this threshold, but it's proving a taller task than I thought it'd be.
UPDATE: This was above Kiwami before, but then I realised: Kiwami has something to fall back on. It has great gameplay, both in its combat and side content. 4 does not. Sure, Akiyama plays great and Kiryu finally feels good again, but Tanimura is too bread-and-butter to be interesting and Saejima is a complete slog. All the extras are just whatever to me — it's them growing pains, I guess.
Also, Kiwami's story didn't really fully piss me off until the literal last chapter. 4 had me fuming on Part 1 already. Akiyama is a fucking cunt. I've heard he's a good character in later entries, and he BETTER BE, because otherwise there's just nothing to me that justifies his popularity. He's a self-serving asshole with a God complex who thinks he's been blessed by Kiryu exploding that tower or something. Also, his slobbish behaviour is not cute. Not at fucking all. Try living with a man who refuses to pick up after himself and leaves the women in his life to do all the work. "Not fun" is an understatement.
As for the other protagonists: Saejima could've been compelling if he wasn't really boring (though, like Akiyama, I hear he improves); Tanimura is just plain boring, though him not getting that same chance to grow in later entries really saddens me; and Kiryu is a complete downgrade from his peak performance in 3, turned into a hypocrite (yeah, judge Daigo for not being fully willing to lead the Tojo! Because you super were!!!!!) who at the same time can never be wrong in ways that directly undermine other games.
I could rag on this game for hours, man. I'll cut it here just so it doesn't get bigger than it already is. Final remark: it's so funny that they tie back to the exact plot point from 1/Kiwami that pissed me off. It's like it's specifically to spite me.