2 reviews liked by spencyrrh
This review contains spoilers
Man.
I jumped into this really with no idea what to expect. A shorter game supposedly made in just 6 months, that expands on what was originally just going to be a flashback in infinite wealth? Sounds cool enough, but I wasn't ready for what they cooked.
By this point I'm getting very tired of action combat in Yakuza, especially the dragon engine ones. Multiple styles did mean I enjoyed this more than 6 or Kiwami 2, but it still started to wear me down a bit, and in such a short time aswell (It's been over 2 years since I played Yakuza 6!). The agent stuff is pretty cool at first but half of it felt awkward in practice. Hopefully Judgment and Ishin will offer something different when I get to those but I've got no expectations for action combat in these games anymore, it's mostly just something to keep your fingers busy.
The side content is a mixed bag, substories were mostly uninteresting with a couple (I counted 2?) standout great ones. Support map is... yeah. Minigames are the same as always (Although cabaret got some good laughs out of me). The biggest standout is of course the coliseum, being the best we've seen up to now. Even saying that, when I got to the end of chapter 3 I had done about 75% of the side content and decided I didn't care anymore and just focused the story.
So all these things I didn't like, and still such a high rating? Well for a 6 month game I really can't be all that upset with what we got, it's still generally fun and different enough so I appreciate it! The only thing left to talk about is the story... and what a story it is.
I thought Yakuza 6 was a nice ending to Kiryu's story, but Gaiden smashes all that against the wall. Throughout the game I generally thought the story was interesting, I enjoyed all of the characters quite a bit, Akame being a standout. Still I didn't think it was amazing, and then around the later end of chapter 4 shit just starts to peak so hard and pull everything together. The final chapters do wonders for Kiryu, Tsuruno, Hanawa and Nishitani, and the way it ties in with Yakuza 7 retrospectively is so amazing. I now appreciate the dissolution of the yakuza so much more than the last game ever made me, this game gave it so much meaning, and most of it is thanks to Shishido who I dare say is now my favourite antagonist in the whole series (I'm sorry Ryuji). Despite literally just being "a yakuza", Shishido is perfectly written throughout the story into being worthy of representing the embodiment of the yakuza spirit in this final moment and he makes for an incredible final boss fight, with some of the best fight choreography in the series. Funny how after all of this Akame feels like one of the weaker characters!
And of course it needs to be said. The ending just might be the most emotionally damaging scene I've ever seen in any media. I struggle to imagine anyone who's been with Kiryu from the start not to bawl their eyes out at this ending, I certainly did, embarrassingly so.
Even though I found a lot of Gaiden to be average, the final hours were an absolute fucking joyride that, to me, hasn't been reached by the rest of the series, and for that I'll always praise it.
I jumped into this really with no idea what to expect. A shorter game supposedly made in just 6 months, that expands on what was originally just going to be a flashback in infinite wealth? Sounds cool enough, but I wasn't ready for what they cooked.
By this point I'm getting very tired of action combat in Yakuza, especially the dragon engine ones. Multiple styles did mean I enjoyed this more than 6 or Kiwami 2, but it still started to wear me down a bit, and in such a short time aswell (It's been over 2 years since I played Yakuza 6!). The agent stuff is pretty cool at first but half of it felt awkward in practice. Hopefully Judgment and Ishin will offer something different when I get to those but I've got no expectations for action combat in these games anymore, it's mostly just something to keep your fingers busy.
The side content is a mixed bag, substories were mostly uninteresting with a couple (I counted 2?) standout great ones. Support map is... yeah. Minigames are the same as always (Although cabaret got some good laughs out of me). The biggest standout is of course the coliseum, being the best we've seen up to now. Even saying that, when I got to the end of chapter 3 I had done about 75% of the side content and decided I didn't care anymore and just focused the story.
So all these things I didn't like, and still such a high rating? Well for a 6 month game I really can't be all that upset with what we got, it's still generally fun and different enough so I appreciate it! The only thing left to talk about is the story... and what a story it is.
I thought Yakuza 6 was a nice ending to Kiryu's story, but Gaiden smashes all that against the wall. Throughout the game I generally thought the story was interesting, I enjoyed all of the characters quite a bit, Akame being a standout. Still I didn't think it was amazing, and then around the later end of chapter 4 shit just starts to peak so hard and pull everything together. The final chapters do wonders for Kiryu, Tsuruno, Hanawa and Nishitani, and the way it ties in with Yakuza 7 retrospectively is so amazing. I now appreciate the dissolution of the yakuza so much more than the last game ever made me, this game gave it so much meaning, and most of it is thanks to Shishido who I dare say is now my favourite antagonist in the whole series (I'm sorry Ryuji). Despite literally just being "a yakuza", Shishido is perfectly written throughout the story into being worthy of representing the embodiment of the yakuza spirit in this final moment and he makes for an incredible final boss fight, with some of the best fight choreography in the series. Funny how after all of this Akame feels like one of the weaker characters!
And of course it needs to be said. The ending just might be the most emotionally damaging scene I've ever seen in any media. I struggle to imagine anyone who's been with Kiryu from the start not to bawl their eyes out at this ending, I certainly did, embarrassingly so.
Even though I found a lot of Gaiden to be average, the final hours were an absolute fucking joyride that, to me, hasn't been reached by the rest of the series, and for that I'll always praise it.
the vibes here are exactly on point. though i will say it ended quite abruptly. Must have gotten a bad ending or something? Making drinks and talking to people is a fun vibe, just randomly getting to know the people that come and go from the place while also keeping up with regulars. Though I will say the dialog was like oddly horny if that makes any sense...? like a lot of characters during small talk would just bring up some weird sexual thing which was a lil weird for me personally but eh maybe that's just how things be in that world. The YIIK stuff aged like sour cream in a hot car. Still definitely worth playing for the vibes tho, gotta love those vibes.