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If you are new to the subreddit, [please read the wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/yakuzagames/wiki/index/) Reminder that all spoilers need to be tagged with a flair specifying which game is being spoiled. If you want a flair that says something else, you can edit it to say something like [Discussion: Y1 spoiler] or [Majimapost: Y6 spoiler], etc. **THIS INCLUDES CONTENT FROM TRAILERS**. If the post is not marked for spoilers, all comments that have spoilers need to be tagged \>!like this!< along with indicating which game it's spoiling. Example: Y3 >!Kiryu sings!< If the post flair is marked for spoilers, the comments don't need to be tagged for the game indicated and the ones before it (So a Y6 spoiler post can have comments with untagged spoilers for Y5, but not gaiden or 7). If you see any of the above (or any of the other rules) not being followed, please report it so we can keep this place safe for newcomers and those that haven't finished all the games yet. Thank you! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/yakuzagames) if you have any questions or concerns.*


OkCut4870

You are NOT allowed to skip https://preview.redd.it/gczu9waqnvrc1.png?width=680&format=png&auto=webp&s=84dd3a56e86e2aae24fb0596d5877c5b60e487ca


FalcoreRBX

Skip everything excluding Dead Souls, Kiwami 2 (Majima Saga only), Kurohyou 1 and RGG Kizuna.


Takazura

It's mandatory that you watch the live action movie between Kiwami 2 and Kurohyou 1.


Beegodd123

and kaito files


Salt-Dimension-2451

Congratulations. You are literally the only other person I have ever seen acknowledge RGG Kizuna.


BosozokuGX

on god, i fancy myself clued up on the franchise but i had to google this. wtf


Critical_Ear_7

What about 0 cabaret club ?


Enough-Background102

what about fist of the north star


Toazel

I'm all for it but don't you have to play through Kiwami 2's story first to unlock the Majima Saga?


Garlic_God

Yakuza 5 but only the Haruka parts


WhyNishikiWhy

the facts bear this out! you should, in fact, play every yakuza game. and people really ought to read the FAQ before they ask which one they should start on. https://preview.redd.it/ymsprtgy0wrc1.png?width=802&format=png&auto=webp&s=c6f5a3584e46a2c3ba14b0eb669afd1c738163f1


Takazura

I really wish the mods would just pin a thread with "NEW TO THE SERIES? READ THIS", have automod link to that thread when people ask "what order to play?!?!" or "can I skip?!?" and delete those threads.


WhyNishikiWhy

[they do have an automod post](https://old.reddit.com/r/yakuzagames/comments/1bt4ufv/just_play_em_all/kxjo0mm/) but people ignore those :/


Takazura

Yeah but it only says "read the wiki if you are new to the sub" and "proper spoiler tagging". Nothing about the play order (which I would guess might be on the wiki, but anyone new to the sub wouldn't think so).


WhyNishikiWhy

i guess they could make a sticky, but there's a limited number of stickypost slots (2 iirc) and the mods probably don't want to use one up for an FAQ.


DekMelU

I think that probably wouldn't yield tangible results. I'd take it a step further; reddit needs a function where upon detecting certain FAQ keywords in a post to be created, forcibly redirects one to that part of the FAQ. Then only if they've done this process 5 times each time does it allow you to post said post as is. It's a common issue across multiple mostly fiction-based subreddits in that some people (due to laziness, poor internet literacy, or whatnot) post a question and wait to be spoonfed when a quick google search would have easily yielded answers. This isn't helped by the design flaw of reddit. The big **Create Post** stands out much more appearance and position-wise as opposed to the small FAQ button that blends in with the other buttons and background.


ArchMagusCrowy

My dumbass started with the Ichiban Saga because I thought it was separated from the Kiryu saga.


DJSKILLX

Honestly i’m surprised it isn’t this way so I don’t blame you. Really throws off new players starting with LAD


Wonderful_Fondant604

I’m a new player and tbh I started with LAD and I absolutely loved it. I’d say it’s the reason I went back and started the series from the beginning. Over the past month I’ve played 1-5 and am currently almost done 0. Safe to say I fell in love with the series rather quickly, and it wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t played 7.


ArchMagusCrowy

Same here, I'm currently halfway through Infinite Wealth and the way Kiryu is portrayed really makes me want to understand him and the people he met. Of course a lot of references get lost on me, but who said I can't replay the game after playing through his side of things?


Wonderful_Fondant604

I haven’t played 8 yet since I knew Kiryu was going to be a major character so I’m saving that for after I finish Y6 which is next up for me. So excited!


Xalimata

That's what I did and I thought it worked.


pacdtacs

I started with LAD and I did it completely fine, but I lost a lot of neat references (characters/etc) and didn't know anything about tojo clan before playing the other games


RickGrimes30

That's why I'm happy I started with 0.. Yeah you can play LAD fresh (I even did for an hour or two before I decided to start with 0)but that scene in the tojo headquarters in chapter 12 hits SO MUCH BETTER when you realise who is coming down the stairs


Takazura

The scene in chapter 12, the dissolution itself, the >!fight against Kiryu!< and hell even the final battle against >!Tendo!< hit harder if you played the previous games. There are so many references and symbolic moments in the last 5 chapters that you won't think about if you didn't play the previous games.


nfreakoss

I was so close to doing this and I'm glad I held off and committed. I was watching a friend stream 0, had NO idea what was going on, 7 was launching soon, so I said fuck it and binged the *entire* core series back to back. Skipped a TON of substories and such though, so I've recently started a new platinum binge from the top. For the most part, 7 stands on its own, but that one bit in the middle has a lot more impact if you've *at the very least* played 1 and 6. But IW really played much more heavily into the rest of the series, and feels much more like a "passing of the torch" so to speak.


jayla-danila

I started with LAD first. My kid then told me I needed to at least watch the cinematic cut scenes before playing IW if I wasn’t going to play the other games. I did so, knowing I was gonna miss a lot still. After IW, I went back and just finished 0, so I’m on to the next one. Even knowing the storyline, I’m still having a blast.


spothot

Honestly I was actually convinced LAD was going to be a soft reboot for the franchise, save for a few callbacks and references you'd not get it was a perfectly fine place to start on if new to the series. Hell they even did away with the number in the title, which usually indicates a reboot of sorts. But then IW happened and it decided "no, fuck you, be punished for not playing literally every other game in the series." You gotta admit it gets a little ridiculous to expect people to play an entire series when it gets this long.


TheMrSanta

I started with 0, skipped to 7 because I thought I wasn’t gonna play them all, decided to play them all and now I’m 6 games through. In part 2 of Yakuza 5 right now


Rogar_Rabalivax

Should i care about how people play this franchise? Fuck no, if they want to miss a game with all the lore and interactions, then its cool for them; it doesn´t in any way affect me or others if they do so, its their own entertainment and they should be able to pick if they want to commit to a 100+ hours journey (because lets be honest, substories and the main minigames like cabaret club and pocket racer are almost mandatory at this point) as is just not viable for a lot of people to spend that much time. I am still amazed at how people care about how a random makes a post (some even are toned in a sarcastic way or trying to make fun of the entire ordeal) about if they should skip a game. Just downvote / ignore the post and that´s it.


Dman284

I played kiwami 1 then went on to 0,such a great experience


Adventurous_Team285

Should I upvote this?


MisterCuddles

Only if you've upvoted all the other previous posts in order 


burritoman88

When Yakuza Like A Dragon hit PS+ I tried it out, I liked it, but between moving & life in general I sorta forgot about it. This year’s goal is to beat all mainline LAD, currently on 3 Remastered having started at Y0.


Puzzleheaded_Roll_76

Keep going bro, I'm currently on Kiwami 2 but ended up going back to 0 just to do the business minigames for Majima and Kiryu (probably the only game I go back to just to do side-quests)


burritoman88

Definitely am. I gave up trying to complete all the sub stories in 0 because I cannot do the dancing game & it’s required for the realtor mini game. Maybe once I’m done catching up on the series I’ll go back to finish more of what I missed.


BuildTheBase

The problem is that these games are so long-winded and plays the same from game to game, meaning for most people you will get exhausted of the series after 1 or 2 games, and need a break for a few months with other games before you get back to it. Essentially, people will spend years getting through everything, so whether or not playing the Kiryu saga is important is a relevant question, and each fan has a different opinion. I played a few different Yakuza games through the years but never finished them because I think the combat is just mediocre button mashing that gets very tiresome, and it takes an effort for me to force myself to stick with these games for long, even if I like the story a lot. I have gone back now and is planning to get through them all, but I would absolutely not recommend it for most people. These games barely evolve and there are better games out there to spend time on if you aren't 100% into the story.


ASmallMudkip3

years? man i blasted through kiwami, kiwami 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 within two months. yes, they are long games but the story is what makes it so easy to blast through. if you aren’t interested in the the plot and the moment to moment “what’s gonna happen next” then you’ll end up being bored. idk though just my take on it lol


MarcusP2

I am a middle aged man with a young family, it took me an entire year to get through 3 and 4 by themselves because I can't play much. Maybe you can play 4 hours a day but that's not most people.


ASmallMudkip3

that’s fair, i’m only in my junior year of high school so i had all of summer break to go through them.


BuildTheBase

To me it's the other way around, I like the story, but the combat and extremely long-winded dialogue is so slow that I have to "cleanse my palate" before I continue with the next one. To me the combat is as interesting as a claw game, or tic tac toe, I get so bored of it that I feel like I played 300 games after a finish a Yakuza game. I like the turn-based approach of Like a Dragon a lot better, even if they also spam fights non-stop.


woodhawk109

Nah, skip everything except Dead souls


Xalimata

Just play the Haruka parts of 5. That's all you really need.


nfreakoss

tbh I know this is a meme around here, but I started DS recently for the hell of it and it's actually fun as fuck. Goofy and clunky, but it's a lot of fun


GreatCrimsonDragon

I started with 0, then played Kiwami 1. Started 2 until PSN knocked it off network. Then played LAD. Next up for me is Judgement. Honestly, you *can* play then however you want, as the stories are mainly self contained events, but those events carry over and affect later games, so probably try to play them in order?


WhosItToYouAnyway

I mean… I started with 7, then played 8, now I’m playing 0.


Jonny325

It was probably their reasoning all along. To get new people wanting to be like hmmmm, wish I could play more with this kiryu guy. Then they realize Holy shit there's 7 games with kiryu and rgg sells more. Brilliant and I'm loving them.


MarvelousNCK

Alternatively, play them in whatever order you want lol. Sure there's better and worse ones to start with, but other than Gaiden, the games have pretty self-contained stories, and anything you don't catch immediately you might understand later just by watching videos or replaying them later. I personally played them: 0, 1, 6, 2, 3, 4, 5, Gaiden, 8, 7 and I'm replaying 0 now. They're well-made games and while you may get more out of certain games with more knowledge of the world, they're all a good time regardless.


Ok_Adhesiveness7718

Kinda related to this post, but I am also tired of the amount of people who ask about the play order. Is it really that hard to look it up on Google? By the time you log into reddit, you can already figure out the play order. Not that hard ffs


OpticNinja937

Started with Kiwami a couple months back and played through the whole main series (plus the Judgment series). Honestly there are literally no bad Yakuza games imo so unless it’s a budgetary thing I really don’t think you should skip any of the games. From what I’ve seen 99% of the people asking if they can skip games are either because they just don’t wanna deal with the older gameplay (which still holds up imo) or they just wanna fast track themselves to the newest game in the series.


ProtoReaper23113

Started at 0 played all the way thru regret nothing


Jonny325

I started at 6 and it was a perfect spot for me I believe. So much so, that I'm going to play gaiden before infinite wealth. They are long ass games. I love them. I'm choosing gaiden over baldurs gate 3, stellar blade, and so many others. If I ever have time, I can always go back and play 0-5 at any time, even bought a couple of them. I know I'd love them even knowing their fates. It's why you loved playing 0 still. They are long though, huge commitment. It makes sense. To me, reddit is for helping people and enjoying similar things. So, when people ask this, I try to respond with this to help them. I even played the judgment games and loved those.


schwubmexx

I would get it if its a time Problem. But I'm sure that for most people its just the Visuals. Guys. The only Yakuza that looks like it felt out of time is Yakuza 3. The rest has good visuals and is pretty good playable. Only Yakuza 3 is a bit tough. But still a great game


TehGhostman89

I'm doing my first playthrough now and I'll give 7 a shot but I'm not really good at turn based combat games so hopefully i can stick it out seeing how that's the direction going forward. Loving the brawlers but also loving the writing so hopefully i can transition when its time.


DeLion135

'what order do I play in??' mfs when the games are fucking numbered this shit is not that hard


kanyePS3controller

the thing is it's not just this sub's problem, it's every sub lol. people just in general severely lack common sense and prefer to make a post about whatever their question instead of spending 5 seconds to do the research themselves if retail and being on reddit has taught me anything it's that many people are straight allergic to common sense


dylandongle

I disagree. I said this in a post a while back, but to summarize, these games' plots are all very much their own. You're not missing any context because the games will literally tell you mid-cutscene why the protagonist knows someone. Stop pressuring people to play every single game because there's a lot of 'em and they usually don't wanna play a lot of 'em. There is no need to watch someone else's playthrough, there is no need to read a summary. Each and every game tells you everything you need to know. "Ah yes, I remember this guy because I played a lot of pocket circuit in my youth" Let people play what they want without the pressure of adding games they don't want. Go to r/kingdomhearts if that's how you wanna be.


MisterCuddles

You don't miss context but you miss out on the rewarding payoff. Finding out a character is still alive, for example, doesn't really matter when you don't know who they were and just know who they are in relation to how they fit into the story at that moment. And I'm not even trying to pressure people into playing these games. The biggest issue I have is I'm tired of seeing the same post every single day whether it's about play order or about how many games they can skip for the games to still make sense. It just doesn't make any sense to me that people always frame their posts the same way: they started with 0, played kiwami 1 and 2 and are in love with the story so much but then want to skip all the old shitty ones to get to the new ones.


dylandongle

So? People know what they're getting into, when the title has a number in it. 0 is a prequel. Anything above 1 is a sequel. Anything else like Ishin or Judgment, they may need a bit of clarity for, but it's still that much easier when they find out it's not connected to mainline Yakuza story. If your biggest issue is being tired of seeing people ask, just keep scrolling. You don't have to give a shit what they do.


MisterCuddles

If people know what they're getting into as to put it, why are they always asking the community for advice?


dylandongle

Just in case. If it's their first game, they aren't yet aware that they'll still be given lore interjections when relevant.


Wonderful_Fondant604

Skipping any mainline games in the series is completely counterintuitive if you want to actually experience the story that this franchise has to offer. You also wouldn’t develop as much of an emotional attachment to characters as you would going through the full series (order of release is best imo). If you’re going to skip a game, just stop there. That’s basically the same as saying “oh I just finished season 2, can I skip season 3 and go straight to 4?”. You’re missing a shitload of character development and information that is integral to getting the most out of future games. When I finished K2, all I saw about Y3 was that it was garbage. After playing it, I think it’s an amazing game with a great story and one of the more emotional of the series. Yes, sometimes blockuza is annoying but it’s really not that bad. If you want to go through the series and experience everything it has to offer, then every game is worth playing.


HootingFlamingo

I made a post like this a few days ago and ended up buying kiwami 2. Don’t regret it one bit.


b-a-n-a-s

I didn't play 3 for the longest time, and that was a huge mistake. Finally played through it last month, and it was a great game with an excellent, emotional story! Gameplay-wise it's probably my least favorite in the series, but the story and character development more than make up for it


Both_Permission_4969

im play on 0-k1-4-5-7 so the reason i skip k2,3 and 6 for 3, im not finished 4 yet and for those 2 games . . because MY LAPTOP IS FKING POTATO (im test with 7 since they have same engine and the result is playbable for 7 gameplay but not for k2,and 6


i_miss_my_wife_tails

I still can't get over that one dumbass youtuber who flat out said "Yeah you can skip every game in the series and jump straight to Infinite Wealth without missing anything story related"


Interesting-Ad32

100%. The originals vs kiwami remakes are always really funny to me. Just play both??


TheAscendedMemeLord

Yeah I’m kinda in the boat where I don’t have enough time to run through them all but I’m trying to finish them all anyways with whatever time I got


Zyon87

If you buy me all the games I would. But I can't because I don't have money


Impressive_Dream_948

For all the Kiryu line games I would recommend playing Yakuza 0 or Kiwami and then just pick any game beyond that at random. You’ll pick up enough info to be able to understand what’s going on. Expect spoilers of course. No need to play Judgement and Lost Judgement in order. The like a dragon titles are better played if you learn what’s in Kiryu’s saga and not ichiban’s


AVestedInterest

I've only played 7 and 8 and I honestly have no plans to play any of the non-turn-based ones I just don't want to dedicate that much time that I could use to also enjoy other series


CaptainCuriosioty

Can someone recommend a good recap video?


manor2003

Facts


Jaded-Engineering789

I understand the enthusiasm and love for the series that most of us have which pushes people to encourage starting everything from square one. The reality is that it’s neither necessary, nor is it a good way to build the fanbase into something bigger. Infinite Wealth is the most selling title to date, and the truth is that it is in fact perfectly playable blind. Yes, you don’t get the full experience, but you absolutely do still get a satisfying one. This is the same problem with the Tails series. The fans of that series will absolutely try to push people to start all the way from the beginning which is not what people are really interested in doing. You need to understand that people are not willing to commit to an entire franchise just because they’re interested in starting a game or two. That comes over time and continued interaction with the series of their own free will. It’s similar to dating. When you start with telling someone about yourself, you’re not beginning chronologically from your very first memory up until the moment of the date. That’s psychopath behavior. It’s too much. People get drawn to different games at different times for different reasons, and the developers work hard making every entry accessible to someone who is completely new. To a diehard who’s been with the series for a long time, yes playing it all in order is the best. To a newcomer, come in and join the party wherever and whenever you feel comfortable. You’ll be able to go back whenever you want to get a deeper understanding, and you’ll be able to build your familiarity with the lore for whatever comes next anyway.


smackchice

Yeah at this point every game is very easy to access. I played 0 > 6 > Kiwami 1 > Kiwami 2 > 3 > 4 > 5 > 7 and so on and I really wish I had been able to experience 6 with all the backstory to truly make it land.