First Summer Uika, I love you. I am in love with you.
Kazuma Kiryu is a very important character to me. I only started with Yakuza 0 back in 2021 but I quickly became obsessed with the series. And with Gaiden, I now have to grapple with the fact that Kiryu may be leaving us soon (again).
After playing through Like A Dragon, Judgment and Lost Judgment I was happy to be reunited with the Dragon of Dojima in this intensely personal chapter of his story. I loved how the narrative interweaved with Like A Dragon's, and the final chapter hits some incredibly emotional beats.
The new characters are all excellent, including the wonderful Akame (who has officially usurped Yuki as my number 1 Like A Dragon Waifu). The shorter, side-story runtime allows a much pacier story, similar to Lost Judgment's The Kaito Files. The final few scenes left a lump in my throat, and Takaya Kuroda absolutely killed it in his voice performance. In a perfect world, Kuroda would be mentioned in the same breath as Roger Clark and Stephen Ogg in the all-time greatest video game character performances. The substories are great as always, with such shenanigans as Kiryu grappling with "ChotDDT" and teaming up with a certain Kamurocho detective leaving me with a huge grin on my face.
My only complaints are pretty minor; Agent Style isn't as fun to use as it appeared at first and I stuck with Yakuza Style for the majority of the game, and every enemy seemed to have so much health. Every fight - including simple street fights - took way too long and I would end up actively avoiding street thugs because they were so annoying to get through.
Though it may be a Gaiden, this is an essential chapter of the Like A Dragon story that everyone should play in the run-up to Infinite Wealth.
I am not emotionally prepared for what's to come.
Kazuma Kiryu is a very important character to me. I only started with Yakuza 0 back in 2021 but I quickly became obsessed with the series. And with Gaiden, I now have to grapple with the fact that Kiryu may be leaving us soon (again).
After playing through Like A Dragon, Judgment and Lost Judgment I was happy to be reunited with the Dragon of Dojima in this intensely personal chapter of his story. I loved how the narrative interweaved with Like A Dragon's, and the final chapter hits some incredibly emotional beats.
The new characters are all excellent, including the wonderful Akame (who has officially usurped Yuki as my number 1 Like A Dragon Waifu). The shorter, side-story runtime allows a much pacier story, similar to Lost Judgment's The Kaito Files. The final few scenes left a lump in my throat, and Takaya Kuroda absolutely killed it in his voice performance. In a perfect world, Kuroda would be mentioned in the same breath as Roger Clark and Stephen Ogg in the all-time greatest video game character performances. The substories are great as always, with such shenanigans as Kiryu grappling with "ChotDDT" and teaming up with a certain Kamurocho detective leaving me with a huge grin on my face.
My only complaints are pretty minor; Agent Style isn't as fun to use as it appeared at first and I stuck with Yakuza Style for the majority of the game, and every enemy seemed to have so much health. Every fight - including simple street fights - took way too long and I would end up actively avoiding street thugs because they were so annoying to get through.
Though it may be a Gaiden, this is an essential chapter of the Like A Dragon story that everyone should play in the run-up to Infinite Wealth.
I am not emotionally prepared for what's to come.