Board 8 > Which Yakuza game is your favorite?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Only played the first 3

answer for me is definitely Kiwami 2 though, story was so good and the engine felt good

slightly nervous to consider starting 3

LiquidOshawott posted...

Only played the first 3

answer for me is definitely Kiwami 2 though, story was so good and the engine felt good

slightly nervous to consider starting 3

3 was a culture shock after playing the three before it. The game definitely shows its age. My recommendation is just play through the main story and maybe some substories and be done with it.

7 is the only one I've played, but it's pretty good.

7 > Judgment > Lost Judgment = 0 > 4 > 3 > 5 > 2 > 1 > 6

5

it is the most Yakuza

SHINE_GET_64 posted...

5

it is the most Yakuza

Is this in regards to the spirit/tone of the game or just saying that there is an abundance of stuff to do and a large amount of time to complete?

yes

3 is totally a good game the combat is just frustrating

ZaziGuado posted...

Is this in regards to the spirit/tone of the game or just saying that there is an abundance of stuff to do and a large amount of time to complete?

Both
5 is also my favorite. Though 0 and 7 are both very close.

So am I the only one who hates Shinada's chapter in 5? His fighting style sucks, I couldn't care less about baseball, and it ramps up the focus on Japanese... 'adult entertainment' way past the point at which it stops being amusing and becomes genuinely icky.

Shinada is the worst part of the game, yes. Yakuza 5 would've been a much better experience if they just deleted his chapter. The game already has more than enough content without it.

Shinada and his chapter was the best part of the game

shinada is a great character but sadly his style is terrible

3 was a culture shock...coming off the original Yakuza 1 and 2.

Really liked how developed the mini game aspects of 5 were.

Lost Judgment >= Judgment > 0 > Kiwami 2 > Kiwami > 3

playing through 4 now

I've only played 7

it was pretty good

0 > 7 > K > K2

skipped 3 and was playing 4 for a while because akiyama's hot, but probably only played about half of it

Shouldn't skip 3 imo

0 = Judgment > 5 > Lost Judgment > K2 > 7 > 4 > K1 > 3 > 6 > 2 > 1

Quality gaps are > K2 and > K1, but these are all good games IMO even if there's basically no reason at all to go back to vanilla 1 or 2.

I'm honestly not sure I've ever typed out a full series ranking but this looks right. 7 is an incredible proof of concept but the RPG gameplay/systems really show that they've never done this style before. Story is among the top tier and I'm expecting great things from Infinite Wealth.

Like a Dragon, and this isn't even close. That game clicked for me while 0 didn't.

LaD > 0 > K2 > 6 > K

I'm still playing Judgment, can't rank it yet.

Kiwami 2 by miles.

Then it goes 0 > Judgement > Y:LAD = Y6 > 1 > 5 > Ishin >>>>>> 4 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 3

I've not played Lost Judgement yet.

0 > K2 > 5 = 4 > 6 >> K > 3

Dead Souls

Nah it's actually YLaD followed closely by 2 and 0.

ZaziGuado posted...

I've been working my way slowly through the series for the past four years in spurts. Currently in the final chapter of Yakuza 4. Just wondering what I can look forward to in terms of perception of the games.

I'm about where you are; I beat 4 a few months ago. My current ranking is:
0 > K2 > 4 >= K1 > 3

From what I've heard, Like a Dragon is incredible. 5 is also supposed to be great, but I'm guessing it'll be more around Kiwami 2's level than 0's.

I actually just finished Kiwami 2 yesterday - of the three I've played thus far (0, Kiwami, K2) it's my favorite, then 0, then a bit of a gap before Kiwami 1. The gap between K2 and 0 is small enough that I do wonder if 0 might have proven my favorite without the transphobia.

0 > 7 > LJ > 5 > J > 6 > K2 > K1 > 4 > 3

I definitely prefer the games with style switching but it's hard to ignore just how much the original plot of 1 holds K1 back.

Imo the early Dragon Engine games, K2 and 6, feel significantly worse than anything I've played besides 3. It got somewhat better with Judgement and significantly better with Lost Judgement.

I feel like 2's plot got oversold to me for years by various sources, when it's really just a significant leap forward from 1 but that's not saying much. I'm not sure how much K2 kind of messed with it though. Wasn't there like a third location or something?

Your mileage may vary for 5.

I feel like some people are going to warm up more to 6 now that it's not Kiryu's last game soon. Probably vastly unnecessary spoiler tags but whatever.

The other thing that holds K1 back is that dogshit bosses can recover a ton of health if you dont have heat at a random time mechanic

Yeah I also think 6 is going to look better in the long view but it's still kind of a bummer that they bungled what they were trying to do with that one the first time. It retroactively set up for the intrigue we've got going into the next couple of games I suppose but it still feels like it would have been better had they just stuck it the first time.

I feel like they were originally planning to stick with it and then during development is when the series took off in the West so they shifted course to keep him alive

Judgmennt is incredible but I have to go with LaD because turn-based RPGs are my fave

I mean I don't think 6 was a very good send off for Kiryu in the first place so I'm glad they walked it back

I don't think characters really need sendoffs haha. Still somewhat annoyed 8 is apparently half-focused on Kiryu.

Love playing LAD, it's also the only game where I fell asleep during the story cutscenes.

Did people who played Like a Dragon play with English or Japanese VAs? Whenever I get to it, I feel like I have to play it with Japanese voices. It would feel wrong otherwise.

I played both Judgments with English VAs and plan to play Like a Dragon with English as well

I played with English and the VA is really good

...But with 8 being focused on Kiryu a lot again I might have to go back to Japanese because Takaya Kuroda.

ZaziGuado posted...

Did people who played Like a Dragon play with English or Japanese VAs? Whenever I get to it, I feel like I have to play it with Japanese voices. It would feel wrong otherwise.

I played Japanese and I prefer it that way. I do know someone who played English and he said he liked it except for he said it was weird to see Kiryu speaking in English and wishes he could have only that part be in Japanese.

Yes that is 100% exactly how I felt about it too lol

For those of you who got into Yakuza before Y0 which is one of the more popular entry points, what actually made you check out the series?

Those trailers back in the day for Y3 always made the series look like a Japanese TV drama which did feel unique at the time. Also loved the setting they were showcasing.

voltch posted...

For those of you who got into Yakuza before Y0 which is one of the more popular entry points, what actually made you check out the series?

Started a little while before Y5's localization was announced (felt like a miracle at the time - how far we've come) thanks to HyperBitHero's "Your Next Favorite" vid on the series. After watching I didn't understand how something that looked so wildly cool wasn't more popular - glad that's so thoroughly turned around now!

I'm not the demographic you asked for (I started with Y0) but I basically was forced into the series by a friend telling me to play Y0 over and over. I always knew about the series but I always had the impression it was "GTA set in Japan" and I hate GTA.

God was that the wrong way to market the series back when it first was getting started over here. I absolutely would have loved it from the beginning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AnXsBKT90Q

Yeah this is the kind of super melodramatic story trailer that had me wanting to play these before even really knowing what the gameplay was about. Y3 was the one I really wanted to play, but it was so apparent that story mattered a lot that the game ended up being like a carrot on a stick for me.

Had to play Y1&2 before getting to the PS3 game. Worth it in the end, though Y1 was a very very rough experience to play and listen to. There was enough there to make it worth going through 2 and by 3 you're happy to just be able to cross the street and fight people without all the extra loading.

That period when we didn't even know if Y5 would get a localisation and then it was digital only, dark times.
The risk of Yakuza games not coming out in the west was real enough that I was that guy telling everyone to check this series out.

Judgment > K2 > 7 > 0 > 4 > Lost Judgment > K1 > 5 > 3 > 6

The top 4 are very close but every game has at least one thing I really enjoy. I think 3 has one of the better plots and villains but the rest of the game is pretty rough. 6 has the minigame with the NJPW wrestlers which was great (though K2's NJPW sidestory is better).

I started playing at Y0, but my first proper exposure to it was SBFP's LP of Y4. It's no exaggeration that they may have saved the series overseas. They did that LP back when 5 was only out in Japan.

tcaz2 posted...

but I always had the impression it was "GTA set in Japan" and I hate GTA.

That's definitely how they tried to sell Y1 back in the day, right down to getting celebrity VAs.

The GTA comparison never made a lick of sense seeing as you can't walk up and punch/kill any random person on the street or drive cars and those are the only things anyone playing GTA cared about back then. Really they have almost nothing at all in common besides both being set in cities and having crime as a focus of the narrative.

Oh yeah it absolutely makes zero sense having played them now, but as someone that heard "It's Japanese GTA" from all the gaming magazines and such I just believed them and had no interest in looking into it further.

tcaz2 posted...

Shouldn't skip 3 imo

for the record, i dont intend to never play it, i'm just kinda going to whichever games have the questions i most want answered first. my chronology in this series is pretty fucked to begin with, but i haven't felt like it detracts

not having a gamepad makes playing these games a lot more tedious rn so i have the whole series on hold

agesboy posted...

for the record, i dont intend to never play it, i'm just kinda going to whichever games have the questions i most want answered first. my chronology in this series is pretty fucked to begin with, but i haven't felt like it detracts

not having a gamepad makes playing these games a lot more tedious rn so i have the whole series on hold

buy a gamepad imo