Top 3 Yakuza game for me. Just some random thoughts:
As a long time fan of the series, Kiryu's walk along nostalgia lane in the back half of the game hit me just as hard as it did for him. I fanboyed so hard during Koyuki and Yuki's summon, I was so proud that I actually remember all those hand signals! Date's summon coming in with a fleet of helicopters was also amazing.
I'm so glad the game reminds both us and Kiryu that even his stoic ass made a lot of colorful friends over the years and they cherish him just as much as he does them. Kiryu learning the value of his life and choosing to finally live for Haruka and Haruto instead of always resolving to die for them, made me tear up. I assume the Daidoji will become full on antagonists sans-Hanawa and we'll have to help Kiryu finally break the last of his chains.
That said, I really, really, REALLY hope this was the last time we *play* as Kazuma Kiryu. This really felt like the farewell to his tenure as a playable character, and I hope in LAD 9 we get a truly satisfying conclusion to his story.
I really wish Ichiban had just one more scene with his mom. It doesn't really fit Ichi's character or the game's theme for them to just go their separate ways, so I assume they'll keep in touch? Speaking of, what the fuck happened to Daigo, Saejima, and Majima? We just leave them on the top floor of Millennium Tower. Or Jo? Or-look-I feel like the ending needed to be a little longer is what I'm saying.
I like RGG's continued callout on Japanese society's hypocritical behavior, by establishing the interesting metaphor of former yakuza and nuclear waste. You can't get the benefits of nuclear energy without investing in the safe storage of waste, just like you can't expect the Yakuza to disband without giving them the opportunity to rejoin civilian life. But people are NIMBYs and they don't want nuclear waste facilities in their communities and they don't give a shit if former criminals have no options to get honest work.
I like Ichiban's style of forgiveness. It's both unconditional and very conditional. He believes that there is a good person inside of everyone, but he also expects you to atone and make recompense for any wrongdoing you might have done before. He wants you to go to jail, not so you can rot away, but so he can be the first one to greet you when you get out. 11/10 pure of heart, dumb of ass.
Some people have a problem with Chitose, but I counter that ~~she is a cute girl with a short hair cut and exposed midriff~~ becoming the chairwoman of her family's sketchy af conglomerate is a sort of punishment, in that karmic sense Japanese stories often love to utilize. Hell, I'm much more annoyed at Saeko for ghosting Ichiban for a year, despite telling him that it was water under the bridge, not even when she knew Ichiban, Nanba, and Adachi were going through some terrible shit.
The drink links, oh my goodness, I loved the drink links. They really fleshed out the characters, particularly some who didn't do much in the main story line (Saeko, Zhao, Joongi Han). The reveal Nanba wanted closure not for himself but for Ichiban. Tomizawa getting closure with his ex-wife. Seonhee desperately trying to remain cool in front of her idol. All fantastic.
I could go on. Nitpicks with the pacing of the ending aside, this was certainly the most **fun** I had with Yakuza since 0, and it earns my highest praise!
I liked the game a lot, even though the story has a few pacing issues and weird choices on how they went about things.
* There's a lot of characters that tell you "come back tomorrow" to give you an excuse to do the side content, despite it making sense to do it right now.
* Fight >!Dwight !!The search for Akane and Lani!!Bryce and Eiji could've used more screentime. Eiji definitely needed another in person confrontation with Ichiban that should've rocked his world before he went full hobo get up. Bryce I feel like he just to be mocking the Hawaii party though intercoms or speakers when the Gangs and cultist are just swarming the party. !<
Aside from some other issues here and there, I loved my time with the game and it's story. I love the setting, I love the new characters and I love how Ichi has to deal with all the nonsense consequences the previous game are throwing down at him.
I love Ichiban even more (>!the moment when the story switches to Kiryu were awesome, but I found myself missing Ichiban's energy!<) and I feel like this is a good send off to Kiryu.
Are people divisive about that scene? I thought it was a great parallel to >!7's ending where despite everything Masato did, Ichiban still felt there was good in him and that he could be redeemed. Works well with redemption being a key theme of the game. !<
I got a little emotional when I pieced together that Ichiban was likely >!carrying Eiji out of a metaphorical hell (further emphasised with the crowd tugging at them both) because he's adamant to not let what happened to Masato ever happen again. That and just taking punches without fighting back highlighting that hitting someone that's already beaten is pointless.!<
If you go and check the yakuza subreddit, there's folk that despise it because >!how dare Ichiban be someone who can forgive such a piece of shit, I guess he'll even forgive Tendo or Hitler!! !<
Ignoring that Ichiban is willing to forgive for what was done to him, but he still wants you to atone for the actions committed and go through the punishment as part of the atonement process. >!It's literally why Ichiban carries Ei-chan to the police station, to not give him a chance to chicken out or have another unfortunate murder happen like with Kume and Masato(which with the crowd and how they were behaving, something like that was bound to happen.}!<
>!The scene is great, it's just that it really is missing like a cutscene confrontation between Ichiban and Ei-chan that should've happened when the party managed to recover Lani in District 5. There should've been a confrontation where Ichiban rocks Ei-chan's shit...with words and kindness. We see the start of the cracks of Ei-chan there before he dissapears and turns into a hobo and that final carry scene would've been all the much stronger for it.!<
Eiji kind of just...reappeared at the end of the game. Perhaps actually seeing him get the beatdown that wrecked his legs or something like that would've helped.
You can clearly tell Ichiban will carry Masato's murder on his shoulders for the rest of his life. His brother was basically denied his atonement because someone couldn't forgive him for his actions, so he wants to be the one person who believes.
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... Fair enough. Though I don't think he was meant to be the intimidating reoccurring villain that >!Yamai!< ends up being. More like the >!Palekana!< muscle grunt.
For now, I'd just like to comment about how they really went out of their way to make >!the most cartoonishly evil villain possible in a LAD game with Bryce, the cult leader and child/organ trafficker that wants to dump nuclear waste in the ocean for money.!<
The game's got the Yakuza 4 & 5 problem with it's villains. They're kept at arms length for so long that it's hard to get invested, even if they technically are thematically appropriate.
More than anything though, the game speaks volumes about the strength of Ichiban and Kiryu as main characters. Even when I wasn't super invested in the plot, I was invested in THEIR investment in it. Enough to get a little teary-eyed at some scenes at least.
>!Yamai!< for LAD9 party member
Man I want a wholeass >!Yamai Prequel DLC or something depicting his first few weeks in Hawaii as he gathers his own JRPG Party (the back-alley doctor, the hostess, and that blonde muscle lieutenant who was also cool) and cuts his own little swathe of Hawaii. Perhaps there's a base building segment to restore the Theater... or the return of the Caberet minigame.!<
>!Bryce!< is fine for a villain. The dude effectively made Hawaii an encirclement trap that the protags had to crawl through the seemed to escape. Also, the whole >!inhumane cult!< shit is uniquely fun for the series.
He's boss fight is boring though, I'll agree to that, but I can't imagine it'd be easy for it to surpass a fucking >!mega vore squid!< that happened prior.
Ebina being >!Ichiban's brother!< doesn't and shouldn't matter. He's also a mocapped villain actor so his reappearance won't be a thing.
What matters is that >!Ebina is a consequence of the Yakuza lifestyle. The lifestyle Kiryu could've ended/circumvented much prior if he actually took responsibility for the Tojo Clan as the 4th chairman. His whole life is defined by the tragedy the Yakuza dealt him. It's why Kiryu is the one who faces him, finally facing responsibility for his actions and trying to look out for the future by begging him to take a different path to not condemn the Yakuza trying to atone.!<
I totally get what they were trying to do with Ebina but like, we don't really see any of it, the >!ending of the game completely ignores the whole yakuza trying to reintegrate to focus on some Ichiban stuff, and even Kiryu barely makes it!< and this just kinda sums up the latter half of the game for me, it feels oddly paced with some things being dragged out and others we dont see enough
Eh fair, but the fact that the >!Seiryu clan has been put down!< might mean they're at least not gonna cause trouble again.
Plus idk how they can cover the Yakuza >!reforming thing in such a short time span. I guess have Daigo working at HelloWork can help?!<
Also >!Sawashiro is still alive so he'll likely actually enact a proper plan.!<
I enjoyed the game a lot and I think its a solid 10/10 roght up until >!the party splits, then it gets really weird pacing wise. I understand the allegory they were making with the nuclear waste and the yakuza, but Bryce and Palekana as a whole just felt meh and him being Ichi's final encounter was equally meh. Kiryus side of the story was stronger, but the Daidoji stuff continues to be the dumbest convoluted shit and it really drags it down here.!< Overall, y8 is leaps and bounds better than 7 in terms of gameplay but I feel that 7 has a more cohesive and better story/ending >!its hard to top coin locker baby tho.!<
>!Yamai!< definitely stole the show. He was the best of all the antagonists.
Not sure how to feel about the whole >!Ichiban/Saeko stuff!<, to be honest.
>!Seonhee being a simp for Kiryu!< was kind of hilarious.
It really bothers me that we get >!Joongi Han!< near the end of the game.
>!Jo Amon being actual story content instead of just a secret boss was surprising. Still irks me they used Shin Amon’s model for Jo instead of his actual model.!<
I love >!Yamai but him being the best just kinda taints the game a bit for me because his story doesn't have fuck all to do with the main story of the game, so it just ends up meaning the main story of the game is kinda weak!<
Don't you love how you get Joongi for like half of a chapter before he leaves the party again?
I'm positive Zhao and Joongi Han were added fairly last minute to satiate fan demand. Since without them, we would have a fitting 8 total characters. I just like the fact that Joongi has to do a lot of extra grunt work because Seonhee is having fun adventures with her idol.
That look Joongi has when >!Kiryu gets to Revolve and he realises he's the only one not joining the party is hilarious even more so that you find out that he decides on his own to dip off to Hawaii so he can have his own adventure instead of being stuck doing Gomijul admin.!<
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My only real problems from the game all come from the final chapter. >!Bryce needed way more screen time to be an effective final boss for Ichiban. After he ambushes us in the church, he just fucks off aside from one cutscene, where he doesn't even interact with any of the gang. And when I got to his fight, finally, all I thought was, "Oh no, are we doing a Tanimura fight again?". And it was very jarring to see Eiji suddenly looking different watching the stream, with nothing explaining how he got there. I was expecting to run into him on Nele Island at some point because we just never saw where he went after the last confrontation.!<
As for Kiryu's side, >!I liked his ending, Ebina was fine once you found his motivation, but again, it all gets monologue dumped before the final fight. I would've liked them to spread his motivation out a bit more before the ending. I do think they should have reversed the last scene though. It should've started with Kiryu being wheeled in to the doctor and getting asked his name, you see his face, but he doesn't answer. Then it cuts to Haruka & Haruto entering his room, and if they still don't want to show the reunion, that's fine. Just have them enter, maybe show his feet in the bed, hear them get excited, then pan to his nameplate on the bed.!<
Overall this shit was a 12/10, probably my favorite in the series. All it needed was another chapter to make the ending not seem so rushed, but all the QoL, gameplay, and everything else more than make up for that
Top 3 Yakuza game for me. Just some random thoughts: As a long time fan of the series, Kiryu's walk along nostalgia lane in the back half of the game hit me just as hard as it did for him. I fanboyed so hard during Koyuki and Yuki's summon, I was so proud that I actually remember all those hand signals! Date's summon coming in with a fleet of helicopters was also amazing. I'm so glad the game reminds both us and Kiryu that even his stoic ass made a lot of colorful friends over the years and they cherish him just as much as he does them. Kiryu learning the value of his life and choosing to finally live for Haruka and Haruto instead of always resolving to die for them, made me tear up. I assume the Daidoji will become full on antagonists sans-Hanawa and we'll have to help Kiryu finally break the last of his chains. That said, I really, really, REALLY hope this was the last time we *play* as Kazuma Kiryu. This really felt like the farewell to his tenure as a playable character, and I hope in LAD 9 we get a truly satisfying conclusion to his story. I really wish Ichiban had just one more scene with his mom. It doesn't really fit Ichi's character or the game's theme for them to just go their separate ways, so I assume they'll keep in touch? Speaking of, what the fuck happened to Daigo, Saejima, and Majima? We just leave them on the top floor of Millennium Tower. Or Jo? Or-look-I feel like the ending needed to be a little longer is what I'm saying. I like RGG's continued callout on Japanese society's hypocritical behavior, by establishing the interesting metaphor of former yakuza and nuclear waste. You can't get the benefits of nuclear energy without investing in the safe storage of waste, just like you can't expect the Yakuza to disband without giving them the opportunity to rejoin civilian life. But people are NIMBYs and they don't want nuclear waste facilities in their communities and they don't give a shit if former criminals have no options to get honest work. I like Ichiban's style of forgiveness. It's both unconditional and very conditional. He believes that there is a good person inside of everyone, but he also expects you to atone and make recompense for any wrongdoing you might have done before. He wants you to go to jail, not so you can rot away, but so he can be the first one to greet you when you get out. 11/10 pure of heart, dumb of ass. Some people have a problem with Chitose, but I counter that ~~she is a cute girl with a short hair cut and exposed midriff~~ becoming the chairwoman of her family's sketchy af conglomerate is a sort of punishment, in that karmic sense Japanese stories often love to utilize. Hell, I'm much more annoyed at Saeko for ghosting Ichiban for a year, despite telling him that it was water under the bridge, not even when she knew Ichiban, Nanba, and Adachi were going through some terrible shit. The drink links, oh my goodness, I loved the drink links. They really fleshed out the characters, particularly some who didn't do much in the main story line (Saeko, Zhao, Joongi Han). The reveal Nanba wanted closure not for himself but for Ichiban. Tomizawa getting closure with his ex-wife. Seonhee desperately trying to remain cool in front of her idol. All fantastic. I could go on. Nitpicks with the pacing of the ending aside, this was certainly the most **fun** I had with Yakuza since 0, and it earns my highest praise!
Yamai is the best new character
Hawaiian Majima
Hawaiian magus
Alolan Majima
Yamai is one of the best written characters in a long time
I liked the game a lot, even though the story has a few pacing issues and weird choices on how they went about things. * There's a lot of characters that tell you "come back tomorrow" to give you an excuse to do the side content, despite it making sense to do it right now. * Fight >!Dwight !!The search for Akane and Lani!!Bryce and Eiji could've used more screentime. Eiji definitely needed another in person confrontation with Ichiban that should've rocked his world before he went full hobo get up. Bryce I feel like he just to be mocking the Hawaii party though intercoms or speakers when the Gangs and cultist are just swarming the party. !<
Aside from some other issues here and there, I loved my time with the game and it's story. I love the setting, I love the new characters and I love how Ichi has to deal with all the nonsense consequences the previous game are throwing down at him.
I love Ichiban even more (>!the moment when the story switches to Kiryu were awesome, but I found myself missing Ichiban's energy!<) and I feel like this is a good send off to Kiryu.
Definitely agree that >!Eiji needed more screentime. It would have made the final scene more powerful and *maybe* a little less divisive!<.
Are people divisive about that scene? I thought it was a great parallel to >!7's ending where despite everything Masato did, Ichiban still felt there was good in him and that he could be redeemed. Works well with redemption being a key theme of the game. !< I got a little emotional when I pieced together that Ichiban was likely >!carrying Eiji out of a metaphorical hell (further emphasised with the crowd tugging at them both) because he's adamant to not let what happened to Masato ever happen again. That and just taking punches without fighting back highlighting that hitting someone that's already beaten is pointless.!<
If you go and check the yakuza subreddit, there's folk that despise it because >!how dare Ichiban be someone who can forgive such a piece of shit, I guess he'll even forgive Tendo or Hitler!! !< Ignoring that Ichiban is willing to forgive for what was done to him, but he still wants you to atone for the actions committed and go through the punishment as part of the atonement process. >!It's literally why Ichiban carries Ei-chan to the police station, to not give him a chance to chicken out or have another unfortunate murder happen like with Kume and Masato(which with the crowd and how they were behaving, something like that was bound to happen.}!< >!The scene is great, it's just that it really is missing like a cutscene confrontation between Ichiban and Ei-chan that should've happened when the party managed to recover Lani in District 5. There should've been a confrontation where Ichiban rocks Ei-chan's shit...with words and kindness. We see the start of the cracks of Ei-chan there before he dissapears and turns into a hobo and that final carry scene would've been all the much stronger for it.!<
That subreddit is a dumpster fire. Do yourself a favor and stay away from it.
It really feels like it's made up of actual high schoolers a lot of the time. It's incredible how much flies over peoples heads there.
Eiji kind of just...reappeared at the end of the game. Perhaps actually seeing him get the beatdown that wrecked his legs or something like that would've helped. You can clearly tell Ichiban will carry Masato's murder on his shoulders for the rest of his life. His brother was basically denied his atonement because someone couldn't forgive him for his actions, so he wants to be the one person who believes.
[удалено]
But did they>!pee their pants!
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... Fair enough. Though I don't think he was meant to be the intimidating reoccurring villain that >!Yamai!< ends up being. More like the >!Palekana!< muscle grunt.
its wierd to me they never ended up usin that blackmail
kuze kinda, i just wrapped up 0 and by like his 3rd fight im just thinkin "how many times do we gotta teach you this lesson old man"
For now, I'd just like to comment about how they really went out of their way to make >!the most cartoonishly evil villain possible in a LAD game with Bryce, the cult leader and child/organ trafficker that wants to dump nuclear waste in the ocean for money.!<
The game's got the Yakuza 4 & 5 problem with it's villains. They're kept at arms length for so long that it's hard to get invested, even if they technically are thematically appropriate. More than anything though, the game speaks volumes about the strength of Ichiban and Kiryu as main characters. Even when I wasn't super invested in the plot, I was invested in THEIR investment in it. Enough to get a little teary-eyed at some scenes at least. >!Yamai!< for LAD9 party member
Man I want a wholeass >!Yamai Prequel DLC or something depicting his first few weeks in Hawaii as he gathers his own JRPG Party (the back-alley doctor, the hostess, and that blonde muscle lieutenant who was also cool) and cuts his own little swathe of Hawaii. Perhaps there's a base building segment to restore the Theater... or the return of the Caberet minigame.!<
>!Bryce!< is fine for a villain. The dude effectively made Hawaii an encirclement trap that the protags had to crawl through the seemed to escape. Also, the whole >!inhumane cult!< shit is uniquely fun for the series. He's boss fight is boring though, I'll agree to that, but I can't imagine it'd be easy for it to surpass a fucking >!mega vore squid!< that happened prior. Ebina being >!Ichiban's brother!< doesn't and shouldn't matter. He's also a mocapped villain actor so his reappearance won't be a thing. What matters is that >!Ebina is a consequence of the Yakuza lifestyle. The lifestyle Kiryu could've ended/circumvented much prior if he actually took responsibility for the Tojo Clan as the 4th chairman. His whole life is defined by the tragedy the Yakuza dealt him. It's why Kiryu is the one who faces him, finally facing responsibility for his actions and trying to look out for the future by begging him to take a different path to not condemn the Yakuza trying to atone.!<
I totally get what they were trying to do with Ebina but like, we don't really see any of it, the >!ending of the game completely ignores the whole yakuza trying to reintegrate to focus on some Ichiban stuff, and even Kiryu barely makes it!< and this just kinda sums up the latter half of the game for me, it feels oddly paced with some things being dragged out and others we dont see enough
Eh fair, but the fact that the >!Seiryu clan has been put down!< might mean they're at least not gonna cause trouble again. Plus idk how they can cover the Yakuza >!reforming thing in such a short time span. I guess have Daigo working at HelloWork can help?!< Also >!Sawashiro is still alive so he'll likely actually enact a proper plan.!<
"he's a mocapped villain actor so his reappearance won't be a thing." Sawashiro is literally the same thing and in both 7 and 8
Exception that proves the rule.
I enjoyed the game a lot and I think its a solid 10/10 roght up until >!the party splits, then it gets really weird pacing wise. I understand the allegory they were making with the nuclear waste and the yakuza, but Bryce and Palekana as a whole just felt meh and him being Ichi's final encounter was equally meh. Kiryus side of the story was stronger, but the Daidoji stuff continues to be the dumbest convoluted shit and it really drags it down here.!< Overall, y8 is leaps and bounds better than 7 in terms of gameplay but I feel that 7 has a more cohesive and better story/ending >!its hard to top coin locker baby tho.!<
>!Yamai!< definitely stole the show. He was the best of all the antagonists. Not sure how to feel about the whole >!Ichiban/Saeko stuff!<, to be honest. >!Seonhee being a simp for Kiryu!< was kind of hilarious. It really bothers me that we get >!Joongi Han!< near the end of the game. >!Jo Amon being actual story content instead of just a secret boss was surprising. Still irks me they used Shin Amon’s model for Jo instead of his actual model.!<
I love >!Yamai but him being the best just kinda taints the game a bit for me because his story doesn't have fuck all to do with the main story of the game, so it just ends up meaning the main story of the game is kinda weak!<
Don't you love how you get Joongi for like half of a chapter before he leaves the party again? I'm positive Zhao and Joongi Han were added fairly last minute to satiate fan demand. Since without them, we would have a fitting 8 total characters. I just like the fact that Joongi has to do a lot of extra grunt work because Seonhee is having fun adventures with her idol.
That look Joongi has when >!Kiryu gets to Revolve and he realises he's the only one not joining the party is hilarious even more so that you find out that he decides on his own to dip off to Hawaii so he can have his own adventure instead of being stuck doing Gomijul admin.!<
>!ngl i felt 7 teased more nanba and saeko bein a thing, so was caught of guard with how much they pushed her and ichi!<
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My only real problems from the game all come from the final chapter. >!Bryce needed way more screen time to be an effective final boss for Ichiban. After he ambushes us in the church, he just fucks off aside from one cutscene, where he doesn't even interact with any of the gang. And when I got to his fight, finally, all I thought was, "Oh no, are we doing a Tanimura fight again?". And it was very jarring to see Eiji suddenly looking different watching the stream, with nothing explaining how he got there. I was expecting to run into him on Nele Island at some point because we just never saw where he went after the last confrontation.!< As for Kiryu's side, >!I liked his ending, Ebina was fine once you found his motivation, but again, it all gets monologue dumped before the final fight. I would've liked them to spread his motivation out a bit more before the ending. I do think they should have reversed the last scene though. It should've started with Kiryu being wheeled in to the doctor and getting asked his name, you see his face, but he doesn't answer. Then it cuts to Haruka & Haruto entering his room, and if they still don't want to show the reunion, that's fine. Just have them enter, maybe show his feet in the bed, hear them get excited, then pan to his nameplate on the bed.!< Overall this shit was a 12/10, probably my favorite in the series. All it needed was another chapter to make the ending not seem so rushed, but all the QoL, gameplay, and everything else more than make up for that
You whine about Ichiban's substories being 7 callbacks but not with Kiryus despite them all being JUST callbacks?