Must say yakuza 5 is so much better than 3 and 4! Loved kiryus part only on saejimas now part 4 and the location with the snow is soooo good!
I dont know what I prefer 3 or 4 I think I preferred 3 in terms of story! Saejima prison section was a lot better this time round and the combat for him I'm enjoying a lot more.
I've not done to much of the side missions like taxi and hunting mainly because of I do want to proceed with the story but I've been keeping up with the substories unlike 3 and 4 which I need to go back to to clean up.
I mainly do substories, masters, tatsuya and a few of the side missions and then ill clean up at the end or go back and clean up at a later date.
Is there any missable trophies? I know there's one with haruka Is that in her side mission thing and is there a point of no return on that?
Looking forward to haruka and akiyama when I clean up with the substories for saejima and do tatsuya and also the master stuff
I really hope majima isn't dead! No spoilers on that but I'm gonna assume he isn't! And where the hell is daigo! Again no spoilers but the story has me hooked!

Prelude:
I played the first Yakuza when I rented it back when I was younger.
I only made it halfway through the game and I never rented it again, I don't know why I didn't rent it again because I distinctly remember it being one of the most unique games I had played on the PS2, there was no other game that had its atmosphere.
Time passed by and I would always notice Yakuza in the background, occasionally seeing a trailer for the most recent entry and sometimes finding a game in a store and going "I remember playing that on the PS2" and then looking for a different game.
Eventually, I saw a review of Yakuza 0 around the time it came out, I decided "You know what? How 'bout I try a Yakuza game again?".
Cut to three years later and as of a couple of months ago, I've completed every game in the Kiryu saga and I'm here to summarise my thoughts and rank them from best to worst.
Yakuza 0:
This game is amazing.
When I started 0, I was enjoying it well enough but I didn't think it was amazing, but at a certain point after the first few hours, that's when it became great, from that point to the end.
The story is very well done with all the twists and turns and emotional payoffs, the relationship between Majima and Makoto I thought was really touching.
The gameplay was really fun with the different styles, my favourite was Majima's slugger style.
Some of my favourite moments of the game come from the substories, even after playing through the entire series, I still think that 0 has some of the best substories.
I know I'm not being very descriptive but there are only so many ways to say that Yakuza 0 is great and I don't have anything to add to the discussion when practically everyone thinks Yakuza 0 is great.
Starting the series with the prequel was an interesting experience, to most Yakuza fans this game is the backstory to characters they already know, to me, this is my introduction to these characters.
There were only a couple of times where I was confused due to not having played the other games, the part where I was confused the most was at the very end when it mentions the Millennium Tower.
Yakuza 0 is a great game, but you probably knew that already.
And one last thing before moving is when I unlocked the Dragon Of Dojima style, I decided to put on Kiryu's classic suit and went out on to the streets at night, and as I was beating up some thugs, I ended up getting flashbacks to Yakuza 1 on the PS2, it was a cool moment of nostalgia for me.
Yakuza Kiwami:
This game is a mixed bag.
Starting with the story, I don't think it has held up to time, and that's excluding the bits with Majima they added which I'll get to that in a bit.
There's a lot of sections in the campaign where the story digresses from the main plot and spends time on subplots that have very little to do with the main story.
The best way I could explain it is that the story lacks momentum, it constantly stops and starts for detours that it feels less like the story is progressing and more like events just happen.
The stuff added with Majima clashes with what was in the original game, Majima changes from how he is in 1 and how he is in the rest of the series, and considering that they're essentially two different characters, it's incredibly jarring.
I think there are two ways they could have gone, either change the story cutscenes so that Majima acts like he does in later games or don't have the Majima Everywhere system. Having Majima swap between two different versions of himself just adds issues to the story and makes the game inconsistent.
The gameplay is similar to 0, except I didn't like the bosses as much.
There were a lot more moments during gameplay where I would get attacked constantly and would have very little time to react so it felt cheap.
The Majima Everywhere system was fun because of all the different interactions with Majima, one of my favourite moments was when he busted out his karaoke outfit from 0.
The thing I didn't like about it was that after I had finished the Majima Everywhere storyline Majima would still fight me which made finishing up all the substories annoying.
My least favourite part of the game was the presentation, the cutscenes were just the PS2 cutscenes with newer models pasted over them. The low-quality animations and Kiryu's dead eyes were incredibly distracting and took me out of the experience.
I also noticed really bad tree pop-in, not sure if anyone else had that but it was very distracting during the daytime.
I've been crapping on the game for the last several paragraphs, so what did I like about Kiwami?
I liked the connections to 0 and how they felt natural and not forced.
Added substories like pocket circuit and the woman asking about the bubble period were some of my favourite substories from the game.
The line Kiryu says to Haruka, "Something bad happened there a long time ago." acknowledges the events of 0 while being subtle.
Haruka is freaking adorable.
Even though I had issues with the story, I did like the ending, it sorta made up for the story a little bit.
Overall, even though I said more negatives than positives, I didn't hate my time with Kiwami, I liked it as much as I disliked it, it's a mixed bag but I didn't regret playing it.
Yakuza Kiwami 2:
This game is way better than Kiwami 1.
The first thing I want to mention is the presentation, the cutscenes look way better than Kiwami 1, probably because the original Yakuza 2 had better animations, so they don't look half bad with newer models, there were times where I completely forgot that the cutscenes came from a PS2 game so I wasn't nearly as distracted as I was in Kiwami 1.
There were a few times where animations looked robotic but thankfully they were few and far between.
The story is a huge improvement from 1, it fixes the issues I had with 1's story, it's more focused and gets less distracted.
Ryuji Goda is probably the best antagonist of the whole series.
Overall I don't have many issues with the story except for the ending, the fake-out cliffhanger was bizarre, and the after-credits scene of Date going "Boy it sure was a good thing that bomb was fake!".
It was as if they originally intended to kill Kiryu off but they had to change it so he lived.
That's probably not the case but that's how the ending came across for me.
Other than the bizarre execution of the ending, the story was really good.
The additional content that they added to the remake, the cabaret club minigame and the Majima sidestory, are very good additions to the game.
I'd say that stuff between Majima and Makoto is some of the best writing in the series.
The moment when Makoto realises who Majima was on the airplane is great stuff, one of my favourite moments in the series.
The cabaret club was the better of the two sidestories from 0 so I was happy to see it return in this game.
Overall, Yakuza Kiwami 2 is a great game, almost as good as 0, and is a way better remake than Kiwami 1.
Now that I'm done with the remakes, it's on to the Remastered Collection.
Yakuza 3:
This game holds up surprisingly well.
I was pleasantly surprised by how good this game is, I was expecting it to be a bit dated but it didn't feel dated to me.
Starting with what I liked:
I liked the story for the most part.
I liked a lot of the new characters, Rikiya especially, shame he ends up dying, would have liked to see him in later games.
I liked the story of Kiryu becoming a sort of dad for the kids.
I don't know what the consensus on the orphanage kids are, but I liked them, I thought they were fun and well written and they didn't detract from the game for me.
Ryukyu is my favourite location in the Yakuza series, shame it never makes a reappearance, I can only imagine how it would look in the Dragon engine.
My favourite parts of the game were the Revelations, I thought they were a fun way of learning new moves, I liked exploring the world finding all the unique cutscenes.
Overall, the gameplay was fun, I thought the story was decent, the side content was also fun, but what didn't I like about Yakuza 3?
The biggest issue I had with the story was the antagonist Mine.
I couldn't understand his motivations and thought it didn't make sense, even during his villain motivation speech, I couldn't get a grasp on his motivation.
Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention but it did feel like his motivation was overly convoluted.
I think he could have been a good villain had his motivations been clearer.
The twin brother reveal, while I don't think it's that big of an issue, I still think it's a bit far fetched.
The hostesses made completing all the substories a pain in the ass, I must have spent several hours just on the hostesses, easily my least favourite part of the game.
It ends with another fake out death for Kiryu, this one even less justified than 2's.
Other than those things, I think Yakuza 3 is a solid entry that holds up surprisingly well.
Yakuza 4:
This game is terrible
Absolutely terrible.
It's kind of impressive how abysmal it is.
This game has the dumbest plot twist in any story I've ever experienced.
And it wasn't just that twist, it was also another event that came afterwards. The event was Hamazaki landing on Kiryu's beach.
It was that tag team that solidified that this game was a poorly written mess, not that there weren't signs before them, but these two events were what confirmed it for me.
First, the rubber bullets twist because I have a lot to say about how stupid it is.

1. He still would have injured someone.

Saejima at a few points sticks his guns directly into the stomach of a few of the people at the ramen shop.
Problem is, if you stick a gun to someone's stomach, you're going to put a hole in them because the force coming out of a gun is enough to put a hole in something.
So everyone Saejima did that to should have holes in their stomachs.
But what about the people that weren't shot directly in their stomachs, they should be fine right?
Neither would they be ok, because Yakuza 4 states that the rubber bullets are powerful enough to knock people unconscious.
If they're powerful enough to knock people unconscious, that would also mean that they're powerful enough to break people's bones.
What would have happened is that they would get shot, it would hurt like a bitch, then they realise that they weren't shot with real bullets.
It wouldn't take until after Saejima left for them to wake up, they would realise it shortly after getting shot.
But okay, let's try to ignore that and take the game at its word, that the bullets just knock people unconscious.

1. How would they knock people unconscious?

I don't see how shooting someone in the stomach or shoulder would knock them out, In the chest maybe you can reason it as the bullets knocking the air out of their lungs or something, I know that's a big stretch but at least it's more than what the game gives.
What would have happened is that they would get shot, it would hurt like a bitch, then they realise that they weren't shot with real bullets, just like with real rubber bullets.
So if the bullets worked as they do in real life, it wouldn't knock people unconscious, if the bullets worked like how the game describes them, it still wouldn't work.
Then there's the third point, which isn't a gun logic issue or bullet logic issue, it's a character logic issue.

1. Saejima does not aim for the head, despite having no reason not to.

Saejima knows that he is risking his life and that if he succeeds, he will go to prison.
So why does Saejima half-ass the assassination attempt?
Ueno is sitting down, he's completely powerless in this situation, nothing is stopping him from shooting him in the head, yet he doesn't for whatever reason.
Saejima isn't the only character in Yakuza 4 to make the same mistake, Arai also doesn't shoot Munakata in the head when he has the upper hand.
This is even more egregious when you remember that he shot Ihara in the head at the beginning of the game, so it's established that he does shoot people in the head, but when it came to Munakata he just doesn't for no reason.
I can't even say that this twist has faulty logic, it just has no logic.
The twist depends on guns not working how they should, rubber bullets not working how they should and Saejima half-assing the assassination attempt, had Saejima aimed for the head then the plot wouldn't even happen, and that's why it's the worst plot twist I've ever seen.
Then the final nail in this game's coffin is when Hamazaki somehow survives 3 bullet wounds to the chest, somehow doesn't bleed out, somehow doesn't drown and by pure coincidence lands on Kiryu's beach.
That was the exact moment I checked out and stopped caring about the game.
Let's list off some more issues, shall we?
Saejima by pure coincidence ends up on the beach of the person he was just told to look for, then and even though he is a wanted prisoner on death row, somehow manages to get Kamurocho undetected and the game doesn't explain how he does it.
Akiyama's life is saved due to a wad of cash that was never established.
Arai somehow escapes the police station after shooting Munakata.
The weak attempt at tying the plot of Yakuza 4 to Yakuza 1.
I could on and on about the issues the plot, if I did, I would never get to the gameplay, which isn't much better, to be honest.
The biggest disappointment was the lack of a new location, just Kamurocho for this game.
I didn't have much fun playing with Akiyama's or Saejima's combat styles in this game, I liked Tanimura's focus on parrying but because of the whole debacle with Tanimura's original actor, they couldn't build upon it in later games.
I'll always think of Yakuza 4 as "the bad one", the writing is a massive drop in quality from the rest of the series.
Yakuza 5:
This game is amazing.
While Yakuza 0 is agreed upon by the Yakuza community to be a great game, Yakuza 5 seems more divisive.
I've seen a post stating that Yakuza 5 has the worst story in any Yakuza game. I obviously disagree, but I would say that Yakuza 5 has one of the best stories in any Yakuza game.
The intro to Yakuza 5 is the best in the series in how it effortlessly sets up the main plot.
The mystery of how we ended with Kiryu as a cab driver and Haruka as an idol made it the most intriguing intro in the whole series.
From the first hour, I was hooked.
A major strength of Yakuza 5's story is giving the main characters and their surroundings time to breathe.
The game gives a lot of time to flesh out its characters and not just the main ones but the side characters as well.
For me, Yakuza 5 has the most memorable side characters in the series, I pretty much remember all of them from Kiryu's coworkers to Saejima's prison mates to the employees at the Idol agency to the citizens of Kineicho.
The finale is really good, I love how almost everything gets paid off, like how the prison mates return and save Baba from killing himself, Takasugi calling Shinada, and Watase, Madarame and Kitakata showing up to help Akiyama, it makes the whole game mean something.
Then there's Shinada, I don't know what the consensus on Shinada is, but out of all the playable characters besides Kiryu and Majima, he's my favourite.
Akiyama's philosophy is interesting but in comparison to the rest of the cast he comes off a bit bland to me, Saejima is cool but he's attached to that dumbass twist and Tanimura had very little going on except his combat style.
When I played Yakuza 5 I had no idea what kind of character Shinada was, so I was surprised when he turned out to be a sleazy goofball.
I really sympathised with his backstory, plus, he's a bit of a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass type, and I have an affinity for those kinds of characters.
Gameplay is way better than Yakuza 4, Akiyama and Saejima were better to play in this game, Shinada being a weapons based character is cool, the sidestories such as Kiryu's racing sidestory, Saejima's hunting sidestory, and Shinada's baseball sidestory were all fun.
That's everything I liked, but what didn't I like?
The Kitakata kidnapping scene is complete bull.
Aizawa being the final boss could have been set up a lot better.
The game is very on the nose with what the theme is.
Haruka becomes part of an Idol group called Dreamline, the track they sing is called dream, the final boss theme is "Battle for the dream", the Japanese subtitle is "Fulfiller Of Dreams" and I'm pretty sure every character says the word dream at some point.
Overall, despite these issues, I still love Yakuza 5, I think it's on par with Yakuza 0, to the point where I can't decide which is better.
Yakuza 6:
This game is alright.
This is the most "ok" game in the series, I did enjoy my time with it, but if there's one phrase that encapsulates my feelings on the whole game, it would be "it could have been better".
Starting with the story.
Something that I noticed is that even though the opening of Yakuza 6 takes place immediately after 5, Shinada and Baba don't even get a mention, which is weird since they were major players in 5's story but they don't even get a throwaway line.
One thing I like about the opening is Haruka facing consequences for the stunt she pulled at the end of 5.
Initially, I was annoyed at that when I was playing 5, but as I thought about it more, it does make sense that Haruka would do that.
Haruka is pure, she has an optimistic view of the world which in the opening of 6 gets shat on by reality, Akiyama even says to her, "This may not turn out the way you're hoping it will".
I've seen some people say that they don't like how Haruka is depicted in 5 and 6, but I didn't have any problems with her.
Also, it was nice seeing the orphanage kids return from 3, even if it was just for a little bit.
The game has some similarities to Yakuza 3, we're back to having Kiryu being the sole protagonist, we're in a small-town setting and a portion of the game is spent on Kiryu befriending the local yakuza.
The mystery of who the father of the baby was I did find to be intriguing and the reveal did surprise me.
Now let's go into what makes the game just okay instead of good.
The Onomichi yakuza, they're fine characters but they mostly made me miss Rikiya.
The letter scene at the very end is really bad, the father and son thing between Kiryu and Daigo was never a thing.
After Yakuza 2, Daigo was done dirty, in 3 he was in a coma for the whole game, in 4 he was a bad guy for some reason and 5 is the best outing he's had and even in that game he only had two scenes with Kiryu.
Subverting expectations doesn't work when the subversion makes less sense than the expectation.
The biggest issue that I left Yakuza 6 with is that it didn't really feel like a finale.
The only thing that makes it a finale to Kiryu's story is the ending, otherwise it's a standard Yakuza story.
Kiryu and Haruka are the focus of the story but a lot of time is spent with the Onomichi yakuza when other more important characters are relegated to cameos.
Majima, Saejima, and Daigo only appear at the very beginning and the very end.
The only other prominent Yakuza characters that have any presence are Akiyama and Date.
The game doesn't feel like the culmination of a story 6 games in the making, it feels like any other game in the series but Kiryu leaves at the end.
By itself it's fine but as a conclusion to Kiryu's story, it could have been better.
Ranking:

1. Yakuza 5/Yakuza 0
   
2. Kiwami 2
   
3. Yakuza 3
   
4. Yakuza 6
   
5. Kiwami 1
   
6. Yakuza 4
   

Summary: I really enjoyed my time with the Yakuza series, it took a while but it was worth it in the end.
I'm excited to play Like A Dragon whenever I get it, I'm curious to see how the team handles an RPG rather than a beat-em-up.
Miscellaneous thoughts:
Favourite battle music:
Force Addiction
One Eyed Slugger
Funk Goes On (Original)
Scarlet Scar
Independence For Violence
Favourite Final Boss Music:
Fly
Favourite Receive You Variations:
Receive You The Madtype
Receive And Slash You
Favourite Box Art:
The Western PS3 Yakuza 4 Cover

I thought going into this that the quirks of the first game being remade with the Y0 architecture would grow on me but it hasn't at all. Unless something completely changes I'd say I was completely let down by this one. I guess it's unfair to compare what is basically the first game in the series to the last ones, but if you're coming off of 0 and going into kiwami 1, temper your expectations because it's not nearly as entertaining as 0.
The combat is identical to 0 but way more annoying. Enemies are more aggressive and, especially in the beginning, kiryu will get knocked on his ass way more than in 0 because of it. He also does way less damage, especially in the beginning. You start off with the styles from 0 and the dragon of dojima style, which is supposed to be the most powerful of kiryu's styles. But once the game actually starts, you're given a gimped version that is completely worthless until later on in the game. So far, I've used the dragon style maybe twice, excluding the komaki training sessions. I find it just completely backwards to have kiryu's best style be completely useless until you grind it back to full strength, all the while never actually using it or getting used to it. By the time dragon style is even remotely useful, you'll probably have already completely mastered 1 if not all 3 of the other styles. And even then, it's only good for tiger drop which is very powerful but really annoying to get the timing down for. You'd think the komaki training sessions and the Majima fights would be training you to get better at using the dragon style, but neither really make you better at the style, they just unlock moves in the dragon style tree (komaki doesn't even allow you time to practice the parry or the tiger drop and I found myself on multiple occasions having to look up how to actually perform the moves komaki is supposed to be teaching you)
So far the bosses have been the worst part of the game. It's because of them that all the other styles are basically worthless except for rush, since it's the only one that can move fast enough to hit any of the bosses reliably. Since the bosses can guard practically infinitely, can dash faster than you can react, and stun lock you with a 20 hit combo that you can't interrupt, the best way to deal with every boss is to just wait till the tail end of their combo, dash behind them, punch a couple times with rush and use your heavy punch and hope they get knocked down so you can use a heat attack. And once you have a ton of health upgrades, these fights aren't even hard, they're just so boring since you can only reliably damage them one way and they have an insane amount of health. Not to mention they can regenerate health and if you don't already have heat built up and aren't already in the style required to do the kiwami attack (which the game also doesn't explain you need to upgrade first to even be able to use) then the kiwami attack is rendered completely moot since the boss just healed the same amount of health you took off. The last boss I fought boiled down to a staring contest where I waited for his combo to end, hit him a couple times and went back to waiting. It's boring.
The narrative isn't any better. There were so many times in the game I was thinking "why am I here, what is the point of this", it feels like the story just goes in circles around the same plot point the entire game. And then there were the parts where I run across town saving date's daughter and the fat dude (can't remember his name, doesn't matter anyway) in purgatory's son. Just so many parts of the main story just feel like kiryu running around solving other people's problems that have nothing to do with the main overarching plot. I was actually far more interested in progressing to see the flashbacks with nishiki, which would've made for a much better game honestly. And the substories are even worse, with the majority of them basically going like this: someone tries to scam kiryu, he kicks their ass, they give him money and run away. There's 3 substories in particular, a trilogy I guess, where this exact scenario plays out, with the same characters saying the same thing in the same location. It gets annoying super quick since the game has you stop what you're doing to have these people heckle you. Someone could be dying all the way on the other side of the map, but kiryu now has to drop everything he's doing to hear about how he accidentally stepped on some dudes designer contacts and he better pay up or he'll be sorry! All in all, a huge let down.
Then there's just quality of life stuff. After playing through YLAD, I noticed just how tedious everything is in this game. The story has you running from one end of the map to the other multiple times just to say a few words to a character and go back (in an age where kiryu has a cell phone). The taxi system is not any better than in 0 and you're still going to be running everywhere. Kiryu doesn't have an infinite sprint which gets annoying after awhile since you're having to run everywhere. Eating gives you exp but so little that it might as well give you none at all. Squads of enemies are way more frequent, so many times now I'll get out of a fight, walk 5 feet and get right back into another, which makes getting around even more tedious. Because of bosses essentially requiring you to have enough heat to do a kiwami attack at any given time you always need to carry items that restore heat, which means you're constantly running across town to the drug store which gets super annoying. Losing in the coliseum throws you out with 1 health left, and there's nowhere to heal anywhere in purgatory so you have to, again, run across town and stock up before coming back. The game gives you so much money, but only one thing you ever really need to buy. I have 3 million yen that is going towards buying drugs to beat bosses quicker, and my lady Goromi ofc.
Also I'd say half the mini games that made 0 a blast are either recycled or just completely gutted. No dancing, no property management, no outrun, etc. There's absolutely nothing new to this game, it's essentially 0 but worse.
Tl;dr : Yakuza 0 >>> power gap >>>> yakuza kiwami. At this point, I'm only playing because I've got nothing better to do. Huge disappointment.

And you know what? It’s probably one of my favorite games I played this year. I got it on Steam a few years back but only got as far as Chapter 5. I decided to give it another go and I fell in love with the game. I’m going to breakdown my experience as a whole so here’s what I thought:
Positives

• The Story

I love it when games have a captivating story. I would best summarize it as a murder mystery redemption crime drama thriller. Besides the first few chapters (I’ll go into more detail later on), the story’s pacing from the middle to the end was an absolute roller coaster. The character interactions and arcs some of the main cast goes through was engaging and I became invested in seeing how they would get through some of these events and how the story was going to end.

• The Substories

I normally don’t care for side quests in games but the substories in Yakuza 0 were probably one of the most enjoyable aspects of the game for me. The substories felt enjoyable to play through and I feel as if it really gives depth to Kiryu and Majima who despite being embroiled in a whirlwind of events will take their time to help out those in need or even become friends with. I also found the substories to have some of the funniest dialogue in the game simply because of the outlandish situations and interactions the protagonists find themselves in. Completing substories will also net you rewards and recruiting characters within the real estate and cabaret club mini-games, which is a nice bonus.

• Side Activities

Too many to count honestly. You can partake in mini-games if you want to take a break from the main story and enjoy yourself. The mini-games have a surprising amount of depth and also tie into some substories, earning you rewards if you decide to dig deeper. My personal favorites being Pocket Circuit Racing, bowling, and getting dates at telephone clubs.

• Open World

While they aren’t the biggest open worlds I’ve explored, Kamurocho and Sotenbori feel like the most “alive” worlds I’ve been in. Buildings and locations feel distinguishable from one another and don’t feel generic. The amount of NPCs and random encounters whether it’s a substory or combat encounter give the cities a feeling that there’s always events going on. All of these events and design choices give these places personality and a sense of feeling alive. It’s one of the few open worlds where I feel completely immersed in.
Mixed

• The Combat

The best way I can summarize the combat is that it’s good but not great. What I did enjoy were the cinematic heat moves, variety of fighting styles, the combat encounters in the story, and the boss battles. The combat encounters towards the last few chapters were a rush of adrenaline as it goes hand in hand with the urgency and stakes of the story. What prevents it from being great is the lock-on and the repetition. It feels clunky to use and since enemies can dodge out of your lock-on it becomes an inconvenience to realign yourself in the heat of combat and I only found myself ever using it in one-on-one fights. I also found the combat repetitive towards the end of the game, especially in random encounters and substories. By the endgame more enemies are present and become health sponges. Overall, Yakuza 0’s combat is functional and fun but not the best I’ve played.

• Real Estate

Kiryu’s main side activity is his job as a real estate agent. I found this to be uninteresting especially when compared to Majima’s main side activity of running a cabaret club. Investing in real estate is a great way to earn lots of money but the lack of depth and tedium of going back and forth between buying property and collecting your funds at the office makes this feel shallow when compared to everything else in the game.

• Character models of NPC side characters

Unless you have plot relevance in the main story, a lot of the character models for the side characters and NPCs look simplistic especially in contrast to the main characters. Simple textures, lack of detail, and questionable designs on some of the side characters make the difference in quality really stand out. I wouldn’t say they look terrible, but it’s really noticeable.
Negatives

• The pacing in the beginning

For me, this is easily Yakuza 0’s biggest flaw.The story didn’t really pick up for me till chapter 7 and it isn’t because nothing uninteresting happens within the early part of the game. There’s a lot of dialogue, cutscenes, tutorials, and down time between the story and action which all contribute to the slow pace early on. Chapter 1 was a great start but then everything until chapter 7 becomes a slog to get through. Barring a few side activities and combat training, getting through the first 6 chapters took roughly 12-13 hours. All of the events in the beginning pay off as you progress and I’m glad I was patient enough to get to that point but this was the main reason I stopped playing the first time around. I really dislike games in which the beginning is just too slow to get everyone invested.

• Enemies w/ guns

Most annoying enemies I had to fight in the game, only compensated by the fact that they have low health bars but still annoying nonetheless. Guns are unblockable in this game and while you can dodge bullets or take cover, you’ll usually be fighting them within groups of enemies. When you’re shot you’re automatically stunned and lose a good chunk of your health. My usual strategy was to take them out first but still I wish at the very least I didn’t spend so much time stunned after getting shot or having them take so much of my health.

• Save System

I found this to be an inconvenience throughout my time in the game. There’s no auto saving in this game, instead you can only save games on pay phones marked on the map. At times I had to leave the game in the middle of combat, a cutscene, or side activity and had to start over again. Especially towards the end of the game where it becomes one long level of back to back cutscenes and combat.
Overall, I really enjoyed Yakuza 0 and would definitely recommend it to anyone. I’m now invested in this series and I’m looking forward to playing the rest in the future.

Review / Thoughts --- YAKUZA 0 ( PS4 )
*This review was made by combination of my own thoughts on it with some other review websites*
Beaten in**: 50 Hours**
Difficulty**: Hard**
Yakuza 0 is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Sega. It is a prequel to the Yakuza series. The game takes place in December 1988 in Kamurocho, a fictionalized recreation of Tokyo's Kabukicho, and Sotenbori, a fictionalized recreation of Osaka's Dotonbori. It was released for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in Japan in March 2015, and in North America and Europe for PlayStation 4 in January 2017. It was released on Microsoft Windows on August 1, 2018.
What an absolute Unique and Great game “Yakuza 0” is.. It has great characters to great story and plenty other good stuff… It's an full form Japanese game ( if you know what i mean ) and The plot of Yakuza 0 is served up like a fresh bowl of udon noodles; simmering, full of twists and turns, and satisfying to the end. Here is my Full review of “#Yakuza 0”
Pros:

• Story: Simply it's Fantastic, You play as 2 controlling characters ( Kiryu and Majima ) through two different Places ( Kamurocho and Sotenbori ). Each both of them covering serious topics, as you’d expect from a game about mobsters who cut off their own pinkie fingers. It's simply one of the best story i have experience in 2018.
• Characters you meet during the game are great, they are really well-done voice acting and everyone have an interesting backstory behind them. 👏
• Speaking of Story, there are Sub-stories which you might encounter while roaming around.. Some of them been Serious to other been weird, helping people with simple problems, making absurd deliveries - to playing various roles, other been funny to many having tearful endings and more. There are over 100 Substories so good luck spending time finding them and finishing them.
• There are Specially 2 cutscenes that stands out from even topnotch movies, those cutscenes touched my heart in a special way and I can not spoil it for you, You just have to experience it yourself and you will see it by yourself when you reached their.
• Speaking of cutscenes, The graphics of the environment and characters during a rendered cutscene is just joy to watch as they nail down every single details in it. You can see characters injury to even small details like pierce of ears they he used to done it… Its Phenomenal
• The BOSS battles are Spectacular to watch and very intriguing to fight. Each Boss has a unique way to beat him with some of the best heat actions movies that i have ever seen in a fighting video-game. It has to been experienced by yourself
• With been main story and substories there are plenty of side-activities you can do in “Yakuza 0”. Wanna sing, do Karaoke, Wanna dance so go to disco, Wanna watch 18+ videos go to that location, Wanna do pocket racing, go to the arena to many many more like ( Beating Mr.Shakedown, Playing Pool, Darts, making deliveries, Playing Outrun,Fishing, Enjoying Some Female Wrestling, Going Bowling and many many MORE )
• BUT the main two side-quests are the Real estate ( Kiryu ) and running a cabaret club ( Majima ) and THEY ARE AWESOME.. As a real estate, you are a manager of it and you have to buy properties and make more money than your rival and beating them at the end…. And at one point, playing as Majima, running the hostess bar and taking over fans from across Osaka. I personally dominated each territory in turn, dressed my best girls up in different attire, did their make-up, set staff for shifts, recruited, and ran each night’s shift, wrapped up in a game inside a game. I was at it for an entire 4 day almost. They can be there own games inside the main game… Think of it.. 🤔
• Let just say that IF you are planning to play it or have already played it… you will meet 1 character in it named “Mr.Libido and……. The rest is history
• SOUNDTRACK….. OMG ITS FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC. Who ever made it deserve a Round of applause 👏👏👏… its fits perfectly with the game and with the fights.. IT'S A MUST-TO-LISTEN SOUNDTRACK…. GG
• Speaking of Fights. “Yakuza 0” has an interesting Fighting mechanic. Majima has a “Thug” style that feels like something out of UFC with a lot of heavy hits and powerful strikes along with a “Slugger” style that utilizes a baseball bat and a “Breaker” style that turns break dancing into violent choreography. Majima is clearly the most unique and his “Breaker” style, in particular, is just loads of fun. Spinning around on the floor with tons of particle effects and limbs flying is just wild to witness. Kiryu has a “Brawler” style that is clearly a less refined version of his previous move set along with a “Beast” mode to tackle bigger foes and a “Rush” mode. The “Rush” style, in particular, is amazing to toy around with and can even get you out of a jam when your health gets low. Based around a simple form of boxing, you get a lot of quick hits and evasive maneuvers that increase in speed as you build up your “heat” gauge.And each can be upgraded, not only by spending cash, but by completing the training of the colourful characters who teach you each style.
• The “heat” gauge System has been refined from previous installments, focusing more on multiple levels of build-up that can then turned into different finishing moves. These are some of the most gloriously absurd displays of violence ever put in a game, with animation that look brutal and would leave the recipient in a hospital for quite a long time. How people can even breathe after receiving some of these punishment is a mystery. BUT HE IS TOTALLY NOT DIED BTW…..

Cons:

• The first half of the game is VERY slow and can get repetitive and boring as you learn about characters, combat and other stuff so GET READY FOR A SLOW FIRST HALF… Cause the second half gets better
• While the graphics of rendered cutscenes are phenomenal, The graphics of the game are not so good as 1. It is a Japanese game and 2. It was initially released on 2015. As you walk through the streets, the building are not so greatly rendered and you see a lot of pop-ups ( Just to be noted, it played on PS4 { not Pro } and have no idea how it is on PC )
• Another negative about this game is for those who does not wanna read subtitles cause if not then this game is not for you, Yakuza 0 was initially released in Japan so the voice-acting of this game is all japanese and the subtitles are been translated into english
• There are also many invisible walls around the map that you are not allowed to go to which sucks. And during some missions you are just restricted to go on a certain path which makes it feels as this is not-so-much an open world map
• Tutorial to learn new moves of each style has been done really poorly and can get repetitive very fast, Its doing one stuff over and over again with actually dying on a tutorial, I MEAN COME ON. i just did not liked it
• As you are running around the map, You will encounter many thugs as you are the hunted person, at start they might be fun to fight each now and than as you get to your next objective but doing it over and over and over again gets annoying and repetitive really fast. At least you can throw money to Distract them later on in the game
• Sometimes the camera angle during a fight or moving around the city can get awkward and you might get stuck, it's not a big issue but still it is a issue

Final Verdict: 8/10 ( Excellent )
Were it not for the wealth of activities and side stories available around every corner, Yakuza Zero would still be a riveting game for its story alone. It does a fantastic job of pulling you into the plight of its main characters and holds your attention through every step of their winding journeys. But, when you take in everything the game has to offer, Zero becomes something special. Yes, its presentation leaves a lot to be desired at times and the fights aren't always as engaging as they could be, but the rest of the game is incredibly diverse and engaging. The sheer amount of activities at your fingertips would feel overwhelming if they weren't so inviting--you're never pressured to do one thing or another. It is worth getting if you are ready to read and wanna have a thrilling adventure of emotions
Follow @videogames._.exe on Instagram for more reviews :)

Review / Thoughts --- YAKUZA 0 ( PS4 )
*This review was made by combination of my own thoughts on it with some other review websites*
Beaten in**: 50 Hours**
Difficulty**: Hard**
Yakuza 0] is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Sega. It is a prequel to the Yakuza series. The game takes place in December 1988 in Kamurocho, a fictionalized recreation of Tokyo's Kabukicho, and Sotenbori, a fictionalized recreation of Osaka's Dotonbori. It was released for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in Japan in March 2015, and in North America and Europe for PlayStation 4 in January 2017. It was released on Microsoft Windows on August 1, 2018.
What an absolute Unique and Great game “Yakuza 0” is.. It has great characters to great story and plenty other good stuff… It's an full form Japanese game ( if you know what i mean ) and The plot of Yakuza 0 is served up like a fresh bowl of udon noodles; simmering, full of twists and turns, and satisfying to the end. Here is my Full review of “#Yakuza 0”
Pros:

• Story: Simply it's Fantastic, You play as 2 controlling characters ( Kiryu and Majima ) through two different Places ( Kamurocho and Sotenbori ). Each both of them covering serious topics, as you’d expect from a game about mobsters who cut off their own pinkie fingers. It's simply one of the best story i have experience in 2018.
• Characters you meet during the game are great, they are really well-done voice acting and everyone have an interesting backstory behind them. 👏
• Speaking of Story, there are Sub-stories which you might encounter while roaming around.. Some of them been Serious to other been weird, helping people with simple problems, making absurd deliveries - to playing various roles, other been funny to many having tearful endings and more. There are over 100 Substories so good luck spending time finding them and finishing them.
• There are Specially 2 cutscenes that stands out from even topnotch movies, those cutscenes touched my heart in a special way and I can not spoil it for you, You just have to experience it yourself and you will see it by yourself when you reached their.
• Speaking of cutscenes, The graphics of the environment and characters during a rendered cutscene is just joy to watch as they nail down every single details in it. You can see characters injury to even small details like pierce of ears they he used to done it… Its Phenomenal
• The BOSS battles are Spectacular to watch and very intriguing to fight. Each Boss has a unique way to beat him with some of the best heat actions movies that i have ever seen in a fighting video-game. It has to been experienced by yourself
• With been main story and substories there are plenty of side-activities you can do in “Yakuza 0”. Wanna sing, do Karaoke, Wanna dance so go to disco, Wanna watch 18+ videos go to that location, Wanna do pocket racing, go to the arena to many many more like ( Beating Mr.Shakedown, Playing Pool, Darts, making deliveries, Playing Outrun, Fishing, Enjoying Some Female Wrestling, Going Bowling and many many MORE )
• BUT the main two side-quests are the Real estate ( Kiryu ) and running a cabaret club ( Majima ) and THEY ARE AWESOME.. As a real estate, you are a manager of it and you have to buy properties and make more money than your rival and beating them at the end…. And at one point, playing as Majima, running the hostess bar and taking over fans from across Osaka. I personally dominated each territory in turn, dressed my best girls up in different attire, did their make-up, set staff for shifts, recruited, and ran each night’s shift, wrapped up in a game inside a game. I was at it for an entire 4 day almost. They can be there own games inside the main game… Think of it.. 🤔
• Let just say that IF you are planning to play it or have already played it… you will meet 1 character in it named “Mr.Libido and……. The rest is history
• SOUNDTRACK….. OMG ITS FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC. Who ever made it deserve a Round of applause 👏👏👏… its fits perfectly with the game and with the fights.. IT'S A MUST-TO-LISTEN SOUNDTRACK…. GG
• Speaking of Fights. “Yakuza 0” has an interesting Fighting mechanic. Majima has a “Thug” style that feels like something out of UFC with a lot of heavy hits and powerful strikes along with a “Slugger” style that utilizes a baseball bat and a “Breaker” style that turns break dancing into violent choreography. Majima is clearly the most unique and his “Breaker” style, in particular, is just loads of fun. Spinning around on the floor with tons of particle effects and limbs flying is just wild to witness. Kiryu has a “Brawler” style that is clearly a less refined version of his previous move set along with a “Beast” mode to tackle bigger foes and a “Rush” mode. The “Rush” style, in particular, is amazing to toy around with and can even get you out of a jam when your health gets low. Based around a simple form of boxing, you get a lot of quick hits and evasive maneuvers that increase in speed as you build up your “heat” gauge.And each can be upgraded, not only by spending cash, but by completing the training of the colourful characters who teach you each style.
• The “heat” gauge System has been refined from previous installments, focusing more on multiple levels of build-up that can then turned into different finishing moves. These are some of the most gloriously absurd displays of violence ever put in a game, with animation that look brutal and would leave the recipient in a hospital for quite a long time. How people can even breathe after receiving some of these punishment is a mystery. BUT HE IS TOTALLY NOT DIED BTW…..

Cons:

• The first half of the game is VERY slow and can get repetitive and boring as you learn about characters, combat and other stuff so GET READY FOR A SLOW FIRST HALF… Cause the second half gets better
• While the graphics of rendered cutscenes are phenomenal, The graphics of the game are not so good as 1. It is a Japanese game and 2. It was initially released on 2015. As you walk through the streets, the building are not so greatly rendered and you see a lot of pop-ups ( Just to be noted, it played on PS4 { not Pro } and have no idea how it is on PC )
• Another negative about this game is for those who does not wanna read subtitles cause if not then this game is not for you, Yakuza 0 was initially released in Japan so the voice-acting of this game is all japanese and the subtitles are been translated into english
• There are also many invisible walls around the map that you are not allowed to go to which sucks. And during some missions you are just restricted to go on a certain path which makes it feels as this is not-so-much an open world map
• Tutorial to learn new moves of each style has been done really poorly and can get repetitive very fast, Its doing one stuff over and over again with actually dying on a tutorial, I MEAN COME ON. i just did not liked it
• As you are running around the map, You will encounter many thugs as you are the hunted person, at start they might be fun to fight each now and than as you get to your next objective but doing it over and over and over again gets annoying and repetitive really fast. At least you can throw money to Distract them later on in the game
• Sometimes the camera angle during a fight or moving around the city can get awkward and you might get stuck, it's not a big issue but still it is a issue

​
Final Verdict: 8/10 ( Excellent )
Were it not for the wealth of activities and side stories available around every corner, Yakuza Zero would still be a riveting game for its story alone. It does a fantastic job of pulling you into the plight of its main characters and holds your attention through every step of their winding journeys. But, when you take in everything the game has to offer, Zero becomes something special. Yes, its presentation leaves a lot to be desired at times and the fights aren't always as engaging as they could be, but the rest of the game is incredibly diverse and engaging. The sheer amount of activities at your fingertips would feel overwhelming if they weren't so inviting--you're never pressured to do one thing or another. It is worth getting if you are ready to read and wanna have a thrilling adventure of emotions
​
Follow @videogames._.exe on Instagram for more reviews :)

Review / Thoughts --- YAKUZA 0 ( PS4 )
*This review was made by combination of my own thoughts on it with some other review websites*
Beaten in: 50 Hours
Difficulty: Hard
Yakuza 0 is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Sega. It is a prequel to the Yakuza series. The game takes place in December 1988 in Kamurocho, a fictionalized recreation of Tokyo's Kabukicho, and Sotenbori, a fictionalized recreation of Osaka's Dotonbori. It was released for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in Japan in March 2015, and in North America and Europe for PlayStation 4 in January 2017. It was released on Microsoft Windows on August 1, 2018.
What an absolute Unique and Great game “Yakuza 0” is.. It has great characters to great story and plenty other good stuff… It's an full form Japanese game ( if you know what i mean ) and The plot of Yakuza 0 is served up like a fresh bowl of udon noodles; simmering, full of twists and turns, and satisfying to the end. Here is my Full review of “#Yakuza 0”
Pros:

• Story: Simply it's Fantastic, You play as 2 controlling characters ( Kiryu and Majima ) through two different Places ( Kamurocho and Sotenbori ). Each both of them covering serious topics, as you’d expect from a game about mobsters who cut off their own pinkie fingers. It's simply one of the best story i have experience in 2018.
• Characters you meet during the game are great, they are really well-done voice acting and everyone have an interesting backstory behind them. 👏
• Speaking of Story, there are Sub-stories which you might encounter while roaming around.. Some of them been Serious to other been weird, helping people with simple problems, making absurd deliveries - to playing various roles, other been funny to many having tearful endings and more. There are over 100 Substories so good luck spending time finding them and finishing them.
• There are Specially 2 cutscenes that stands out from even topnotch movies, those cutscenes touched my heart in a special way and I can not spoil it for you, You just have to experience it yourself and you will see it by yourself when you reached their.
• Speaking of cutscenes, The graphics of the environment and characters during a rendered cutscene is just joy to watch as they nail down every single details in it. You can see characters injury to even small details like pierce of ears they he used to done it… Its Phenomenal
• The BOSS battles are Spectacular to watch and very intriguing to fight. Each Boss has a unique way to beat him with some of the best heat actions movies that i have ever seen in a fighting video-game. It has to been experienced by yourself
• With been main story and substories there are plenty of side-activities you can do in “Yakuza 0”. Wanna sing, do Karaoke, Wanna dance so go to disco, Wanna watch 18+ videos go to that location, Wanna do pocket racing, go to the arena to many many more like ( Beating Mr.Shakedown, Playing Pool, Darts, making deliveries, Playing Outrun, Fishing, Enjoying Some Female Wrestling, Going Bowling and many many MORE )
• BUT the main two side-quests are the Real estate ( Kiryu ) and running a cabaret club ( Majima ) and THEY ARE AWESOME.. As a real estate, you are a manager of it and you have to buy properties and make more money than your rival and beating them at the end…. And at one point, playing as Majima, running the hostess bar and taking over fans from across Osaka. I personally dominated each territory in turn, dressed my best girls up in different attire, did their make-up, set staff for shifts, recruited, and ran each night’s shift, wrapped up in a game inside a game. I was at it for an entire 4 day almost. They can be there own games inside the main game… Think of it.. 🤔
• Let just say that IF you are planning to play it or have already played it… you will meet 1 character in it named “Mr.Libido and……. The rest is history
• SOUNDTRACK….. OMG ITS FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC. Who ever made it deserve a Round of applause 👏👏👏… its fits perfectly with the game and with the fights.. IT'S A MUST-TO-LISTEN SOUNDTRACK…. GG
• Speaking of Fights. “Yakuza 0” has an interesting Fighting mechanic. Majima has a “Thug” style that feels like something out of UFC with a lot of heavy hits and powerful strikes along with a “Slugger” style that utilizes a baseball bat and a “Breaker” style that turns break dancing into violent choreography. Majima is clearly the most unique and his “Breaker” style, in particular, is just loads of fun. Spinning around on the floor with tons of particle effects and limbs flying is just wild to witness. Kiryu has a “Brawler” style that is clearly a less refined version of his previous move set along with a “Beast” mode to tackle bigger foes and a “Rush” mode. The “Rush” style, in particular, is amazing to toy around with and can even get you out of a jam when your health gets low. Based around a simple form of boxing, you get a lot of quick hits and evasive maneuvers that increase in speed as you build up your “heat” gauge.And each can be upgraded, not only by spending cash, but by completing the training of the colourful characters who teach you each style.
• The “heat” gauge System has been refined from previous installments, focusing more on multiple levels of build-up that can then turned into different finishing moves. These are some of the most gloriously absurd displays of violence ever put in a game, with animation that look brutal and would leave the recipient in a hospital for quite a long time. How people can even breathe after receiving some of these punishment is a mystery. BUT HE IS TOTALLY NOT DIED BTW…..

Cons:

• The first half of the game is VERY slow and can get repetitive and boring as you learn about characters, combat and other stuff so GET READY FOR A SLOW FIRST HALF… Cause the second half gets better
• While the graphics of rendered cutscenes are phenomenal, The graphics of the game are not so good as 1. It is a Japanese game and 2. It was initially released on 2015. As you walk through the streets, the building are not so greatly rendered and you see a lot of pop-ups ( Just to be noted, it played on PS4 { not Pro } and have no idea how it is on PC )
• Another negative about this game is for those who does not wanna read subtitles cause if not then this game is not for you, Yakuza 0 was initially released in Japan so the voice-acting of this game is all japanese and the subtitles are been translated into english
• There are also many invisible walls around the map that you are not allowed to go to which sucks. And during some missions you are just restricted to go on a certain path which makes it feels as this is not-so-much an open world map
• Tutorial to learn new moves of each style has been done really poorly and can get repetitive very fast, Its doing one stuff over and over again with actually dying on a tutorial, I MEAN COME ON. i just did not liked it
• As you are running around the map, You will encounter many thugs as you are the hunted person, at start they might be fun to fight each now and than as you get to your next objective but doing it over and over and over again gets annoying and repetitive really fast. At least you can throw money to Distract them later on in the game
• Sometimes the camera angle during a fight or moving around the city can get awkward and you might get stuck, it's not a big issue but still it is a issue

Final Verdict: 8/10 ( Excellent )
Were it not for the wealth of activities and side stories available around every corner, Yakuza Zero would still be a riveting game for its story alone. It does a fantastic job of pulling you into the plight of its main characters and holds your attention through every step of their winding journeys. But, when you take in everything the game has to offer, Zero becomes something special. Yes, its presentation leaves a lot to be desired at times and the fights aren't always as engaging as they could be, but the rest of the game is incredibly diverse and engaging. The sheer amount of activities at your fingertips would feel overwhelming if they weren't so inviting--you're never pressured to do one thing or another. It is worth getting if you are ready to read and wanna have a thrilling adventure of emotions
​
Follow @videogames._.exe on Instagram for more reviews :)