The Yakuza games and their spin-offs thread

[opethdisciple]

Not seen a thread for the Yakuza games and their spin offs.

I haven't played that many of them but I have played these three:

Yakuza 0
Judgement
Lost Judgement

What I like about these games is the story lines. The core gameplay is a little simple, its fun but for me its the story lines that excels.

Of the three I have played I think Judgment had the best story line so far.

Dont be put off by the goofiness, the core story line is gritty, and violent.

Took me about 60 hrs to finish Judgement. Excellent story.

Ishin Like a Dragon is the next game to release on Feb 21 and is on my list of games to buy.

Play these games with the Japanese dialogue for authenticity.

 

[opethdisciple]

 

[Amatsubu]

Made a thread for Kiwami 2, I think.

Playing Judgment on PS5 atm as it's free on Extra.

I've known these games for years so no surprises gameplay-wise but the storyline is intriguing as usual. Yagami brings quite a bit of freshness into the combat and playing as a detective is also a new take.

 

[Amatsubu]

Not much of a surprise, given the series' reception even on Steam alone but well

 

[HungryHippos]

Yakuza - Like a Dragon is on my "to play" list at some point. From what I read Yakuza isn't a terrible starting point because it's a new set of characters and location.

Not played any of the series so far.

 

[Amatsubu]

Yakuza - Like a Dragon is on my "to play" list at some point. From what I read Yakuza isn't a terrible starting point because it's a new set of characters and location.

Not played any of the series so far.

Like a Dragon was much better than I had thought it would be, I was worried about the jrpg aspect and how weird the premise seemed to be but it was just loads of fun throughout.

A couple of blemishes like some of the "dungeons" (lol) and points where the otherwise good story falters a bit but an excellent cast of characters, great atmosphere, fun combat and loads to do.

Mind you it's probably the goofiest of all the Yakuza games so if you want a different starting point then Yakuza 0 is best as you get to know both Kiryu Kazuma and Goro Majima from the beginning. It's on the older engine and has the brawler combat that expands a lot as you progress. Like a Dragon is turn-based.

Starts a bit slow as it's a massive game but when it gets going, it gets going. You get bombarded with new mechanics and things to do.
Small but very dense locations, easily 100+h of playtime if you get sidetracked.

It also has the best story, particularly Majima's part, and the amazing atmosphere of Japan during the Bubble.

Should be really cheap as well now so not much of a waste if you don't like it.

 

[HungryHippos]

I must admit I tend to prefer turn based for my combat games unless the combat is really good!

Think like Octopath/Persona for good turn based ones, or Triangle Strategy/Fire Emblem Three Houses for a spin on it that I enjoy.

This forum appears to lack a good JRPG thread! there are some really good ones that don't get much central attention.

 

[Amatsubu]

I must admit I tend to prefer turn based for my combat games unless the combat is really good!

Think like Octopath/Persona for good turn based ones, or Triangle Strategy/Fire Emblem Three Houses for a spin on it that I enjoy.

This forum appears to lack a good JRPG thread! there are some really good ones that don't get much central attention.

In this case, Like a Dragon is a safe bet

The combat in 0 is good and pretty flexible once you learn it but might be annoying on higher difficulties as you really need to put in some work, switching styles on the fly, evading etc. and it can get clunky. Oldschool game through and through. Also, the combat system on the older engine was rather different to that on the new one. Heat actions are awesome though

Try Judgment and Lost Judgment for a good spin-off series on the new engine with brawler combat. They don't require you to know anything about the plot of past games and the story in Judgment has been really intriguing so far. Yagami seems like a good protag as well.

Like a Dragon doesn't require you to know anything about Yakuza either, there are references to key characters here and there with a couple of nods but nothing essential. The characters are so good that I'd love a spin-off game with Adachi as the protag

 

[HungryHippos]

In this case, Like a Dragon is a safe bet

The combat in 0 is good and pretty flexible once you learn it but might be annoying on higher difficulties as you really need to put in some work, switching styles on the fly, evading etc. and it can get clunky. Oldschool game through and through. Also, the combat system on the older engine was rather different to that on the new one. Heat actions are awesome though

Try Judgment and Lost Judgment for a good spin-off series on the new engine with brawler combat. They don't require you to know anything about the plot of past games and the story in Judgment has been really intriguing so far. Yagami seems like a good protag as well.

Like a Dragon doesn't require you to know anything about Yakuza either, there are references to key characters here and there with a couple of nods but nothing essential. The characters are so good that I'd love a spin-off game with Adachi as the protag

I'm tempted to make a JRPG thread somewhere for discussing these more generally as well!

 

[opethdisciple]

I bought the Yakuza collection on Steam yesterday. 7 games from 0-6 for £24 (already owned 0)

Excellent value for great games.

Started Yakuza Kiwami yesterday. Excellent as expected.

 

[opethdisciple]

Currently playing Kiwami 2 having finished Kiwami.

Great games.

Kiwami 2 is quite a leap in terms of the technical aspect of the game from Kiwami.

 

[Amatsubu]

Wrapping up Judgment now, last chapter and developing the last few friend relationships I missed.

Will move to Lost Judgment soon, Osaka with combat even better than here is going to be fun.

 

[opethdisciple]

The latest game they announced "Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name", I have no idea where it fits in to the series time line.

Is it a spin off or part or the Yakuza time line?

 

[Mensy]

If you haven't played any yakuza where does one start ?

 

[opethdisciple]

If you haven't played any yakuza where does one start ?

Start with Yakuza 0 for the Yakuza series

Or play Judgement for the spin off

 

[Amatsubu]

The latest game they announced "Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name", I have no idea where it fits in to the series time line.

Is it a spin off or part or the Yakuza time line?

It takes place between 6 and 7 and concludes Kiryu's story, something 6 was supposed to do but the plot was way worse than other games.

If you haven't played any yakuza where does one start ?

Storywise 0, easily.

Judgment is a side story, and a very good one at that. You don't need any Yakuza knowledge to play it.

 

[Mensy]

4 Is currently in this months humble choice also the more you have in your collection on steam the cheaper the full collection is, i currently have 0 and now 4 this brings the rest of the collection down to £20

 

[GlitterBalls]

Started Judgement, very good so far. You can play all the Sega arcade games in it too which is a nice touch!

 

[strumpusplunket]

I was quite late to these games.

Saw LAD on GP a while ago, gave it a whirl and loved it. Then tried Yakuza 0 but bounced off the beat-em-up style combat and the karaoke mini-game and quit after an hour or so. (I thought mastering karaoke was going to be compulsory!)

Gave it another go late last year and loved it.

Then played 6 for some reason. I think because I saw K1 had iffy reviews, and I knew K2 had the cabaret club game in it, which I felt burned out on after 0.

Anyway, I thought 6 was also great, so went straight into K2. Again, missed K1 because I wanted to stick with the Dragon Engine. That was also great, and now I'm on Yakuza 3.

This one feels really, really dated coming from 6 and K2. You can tell it's 15 years old or more. I am not a fan of the block-heavy behaviour of enemy combatants either, but I am really liking the Uncle Kaz version of Kiryu.

Thinking I will just go straight into 4 after this and hope it's a bit more updated. I hear the combat is a bit better?

5 sounds a bit dauntingly long, though.

 

[Borsch]

Like A Dragon: Ishin! is my favourite by far - the combat, the setting, the characters, the story, the atmosphere. ALthough, I played the PS3 version on the emulator, and it has better combat than the Steam remake (many more combos are possible as enemies cannot block mid combo like they do in PC version. Also, PS3 bosses do not have magic superpowers/fireballs of PC version).

Yakuza:0 is close second, but, after Sifu set the benchmark for hand-to-hand, combat it is hard to like Yakuza's relatively primitive fisticuffs. With LAD:Y! katana, I've only used swordsman style throughout, avoiding the gimmicky revlover almost altogether, and it's pretty great even after Sekiro, Nioh and Ninja Gaiden. PC version combat is a bit worse though.

Apparently LAD is pretty bad grind wise, but I avoided the issue by completeting the game with almost stock sword on PS3 and used mods on the PC.