RGG studio is so precious, you can tell they really want to make a good combat system but they never quite get it right. Maybe next time, buddy. Although I do have to praise them for the very progressive decision of letting a chimpanzee design the final boss fight.
Snark aside, as you can guess this game doesn't shine I'm the gameplay department. Combat is a step up from Y3, sure, but combat in that game was atrocious. 4 tries to spice it up by giving us multiple protagonists, to middling results.
Akiyama is maybe their best attempt: he has a very personal style, he's fast and nimble and feels quite good to play. He is also a very fun character to follow, very charismatic and carefree.
Then you get Saejima, who's just a tank that hits like a truck, pretty boring gameplay-wise, and with a boring personality to go with. He's just your run of the mill hot headed brute with a big sense of old-fashioned honour. He also gets introduced in the prison sequence, which is one of, if not the worst chapter in any Yakuza game so far. He's on the run from prison, so he has to skirt around the cops that are patrolling kamurocho. This makes navigation a nightmare, as you have to use the brand-new, confusing and clunky underground and roof maps. These are small and labyrinthine new sections of the main kamurocho map, that are a pain to navigate because you (for whatever reason) can't see the full game map while you're in them.
Then you get Tanimura, who has a very stylish, grapple and parry-based moveset. Too bad the enemy design is horrible and most enemies just stand there awaiting your attacks, neven taking the initiative and thus never giving you the chance to parry. He's a crooked cop, I didn't find him very likeable but I found his quest of finding the truth about his father compelling. He's only saved by the fact that other cops are more crooked than him.
And then Kiryu is just Kiryu. I honestly think he shouldn't even be in this game: his section is short, his subsories are just callbacks to previous games, and his only character development amounts to "it's no use trying to retire, the Tojo are a bunch of halfwits and they're gonna self-destruct in a heartbeat if I don't get involved"
This 4-main-characters design choice gives the writers an opportunity to write a more sprawling story, and I think they succeeded for the most part. Sure, it's overcomplicated and long winded at times, but I was more intrigued with the characters and their relationships, because I had more points of view to base my opinions on.
Overall, this is a middling experience, which is better than the previous one, but not by much. Gameplay is still just above the "passable" threshold but the story gives us a lot of memorable characters to care for
Snark aside, as you can guess this game doesn't shine I'm the gameplay department. Combat is a step up from Y3, sure, but combat in that game was atrocious. 4 tries to spice it up by giving us multiple protagonists, to middling results.
Akiyama is maybe their best attempt: he has a very personal style, he's fast and nimble and feels quite good to play. He is also a very fun character to follow, very charismatic and carefree.
Then you get Saejima, who's just a tank that hits like a truck, pretty boring gameplay-wise, and with a boring personality to go with. He's just your run of the mill hot headed brute with a big sense of old-fashioned honour. He also gets introduced in the prison sequence, which is one of, if not the worst chapter in any Yakuza game so far. He's on the run from prison, so he has to skirt around the cops that are patrolling kamurocho. This makes navigation a nightmare, as you have to use the brand-new, confusing and clunky underground and roof maps. These are small and labyrinthine new sections of the main kamurocho map, that are a pain to navigate because you (for whatever reason) can't see the full game map while you're in them.
Then you get Tanimura, who has a very stylish, grapple and parry-based moveset. Too bad the enemy design is horrible and most enemies just stand there awaiting your attacks, neven taking the initiative and thus never giving you the chance to parry. He's a crooked cop, I didn't find him very likeable but I found his quest of finding the truth about his father compelling. He's only saved by the fact that other cops are more crooked than him.
And then Kiryu is just Kiryu. I honestly think he shouldn't even be in this game: his section is short, his subsories are just callbacks to previous games, and his only character development amounts to "it's no use trying to retire, the Tojo are a bunch of halfwits and they're gonna self-destruct in a heartbeat if I don't get involved"
This 4-main-characters design choice gives the writers an opportunity to write a more sprawling story, and I think they succeeded for the most part. Sure, it's overcomplicated and long winded at times, but I was more intrigued with the characters and their relationships, because I had more points of view to base my opinions on.
Overall, this is a middling experience, which is better than the previous one, but not by much. Gameplay is still just above the "passable" threshold but the story gives us a lot of memorable characters to care for