The “end” of the Kiryu saga ends on a…mixed note.
The story here is so much better than 4 and 5 yet I was pretty bored with it for most of its runtime until the last third. Most of the story takes place in a new place in Onomichi with new characters rather than Kamurocho. Many of the new additions are fun and help explore the themes of the game and Kiryu, but the different focus here feels strange as a last note for Kiryu’s journey as many of his pals are excluded or barely given screen time. Doesn’t help that this feels like a severe rehash of Yakuza 3 without the kids, except the villains here are really good. There are some other weird things about the story that rubbed me the wrong way like Kiryu’s motivations and characterization, weird politics and surprise twists of Koreans and Chinese like Kiwami 2, Haruka’s characterization, and some other things. Still glad RGG cut the bullshit by making this game so much shorter and focused than 4 and 5, though the story itself was still very flawed to me.
Gameplay is different, similar to Kiwami 2 with some differences like the extreme heat mode and lack of weapons, style switching, and heat moves. It’s not bad persay, but Kiryu feels awkward and weak to fight with until you get close to filling everything up for him. Not really a fan of the combat here as it excludes so much progress made with it in 0 and Kiwami 1.
Just a strange note to end Kiryu’s saga on with this game considering that this isn’t the last time we’ll see and play as him given his appearance in LaD and what he’ll do in Gaiden later this year and LaD 8 next year. Still a decently good game given the last few entries.
The story here is so much better than 4 and 5 yet I was pretty bored with it for most of its runtime until the last third. Most of the story takes place in a new place in Onomichi with new characters rather than Kamurocho. Many of the new additions are fun and help explore the themes of the game and Kiryu, but the different focus here feels strange as a last note for Kiryu’s journey as many of his pals are excluded or barely given screen time. Doesn’t help that this feels like a severe rehash of Yakuza 3 without the kids, except the villains here are really good. There are some other weird things about the story that rubbed me the wrong way like Kiryu’s motivations and characterization, weird politics and surprise twists of Koreans and Chinese like Kiwami 2, Haruka’s characterization, and some other things. Still glad RGG cut the bullshit by making this game so much shorter and focused than 4 and 5, though the story itself was still very flawed to me.
Gameplay is different, similar to Kiwami 2 with some differences like the extreme heat mode and lack of weapons, style switching, and heat moves. It’s not bad persay, but Kiryu feels awkward and weak to fight with until you get close to filling everything up for him. Not really a fan of the combat here as it excludes so much progress made with it in 0 and Kiwami 1.
Just a strange note to end Kiryu’s saga on with this game considering that this isn’t the last time we’ll see and play as him given his appearance in LaD and what he’ll do in Gaiden later this year and LaD 8 next year. Still a decently good game given the last few entries.