Hello there! Between work, hanging out with friends, and playing Oblivion and Clair Obscur, I have been thinking about what subject to broach for my attempt at a relatively regularly scheduled post. Then it hit me: I like talking about Yakuza! I did mention the series in the past, when I talked about Binary Domain, but never about how I feel about the games themselves, so let's rectify that, with the mention that I'll try to keep this whole thing spoiler-free.
My history with the series
I have only finished Yakuza 0, Kiwami (a remake of the first game), and Kiwami 2 (you've guessed it, a remake of the second one), am in the process of playing through Yakuza 3 and the series spinoff Judgment, and I have fallen off Like a Dragon: Ishin! halfway through, but there is a consistent standard of quality and a certain pathos that it exudes throughout all of them that I'm now trying to put into words. You may also notice that I call this series Yakuza, even though the original Japanese title, Ryu Ga Gotoku (Like a Dragon), is finally being used in the west, starting with the soft reboot of the series, Yakuza: Like a Dragon and all games following it even dropping the Yakuza name. I will go by the English names and hope for the best.
The series is currently split into the games following Kiryu, the ones following Ichiban, the Judgment games, and the random spinoffs like Kenzan and Ishin. My focus throughout will be on the Kiryu games.
The setting
The Yakuza/Like a Dragon series is mostly set around Kamurocho, a fictionalized version of Kabukicho (Shinjuku, Tokyo). Each mainline game takes place in the year it was released (except 0, which takes place in the 80s), and the city gets small updates to reflect the passage of time. Other locations are featured in some games, like Sotenbori (based on Dotonbori) in 0 and 2, Okinawa in 3, and the rest I don't know yet, but I'll find out in the next few years it takes me to get through the games. The cities aren't just for show either, because they're filled with convenience stores that stock different things, pawn shops, arcades, gambling dens, and restaurants. Those aren't just for show, you can enter them and buy stuff, sell stuff, play retro Sega arcade games, gamble, or eat at a table, respectively. There is also karaoke in the game, with the lyrics sung by the voice actors of the characters. Those little touches really bring the city to life, as do the huge crowds of characters on the street, and also the random goons who want to start fights with you. There is also that sense of the place evolving with you with each game you play, it manages to manufacture a sense of nostalgia with all the small changes that you notice out of the corner of your eye while running around.
Characters
The series relishes in having complex and layered characters and entangling them into huge and intricate conspiracies. The result of this is always interesting twists that force the characters into taking initiative and hatching up interesting, if ill-conceived plans (that usually end up in them beating up entire armies of goons). Below are character profiles for Kiryu and Majima, both very important to the overall plot (and usually the fan favourites), just to illustrate how interesting they can get.
Kiryu
The main character for the first part of the series is Kazuma Kiryu, who starts off as a brash young man who joined the yakuza to gain power, money and respect, but he keeps getting developed throughout the entire series into an experienced and patient man who will not hesitate to try and save the ones he loves and fight against what he deems as injustice. He can still be brash and ill-tempered at times, but it is all fueled by his good nature and strong sense of honour. He also has a saviour complex, fuelled by the survivor's guilt he keeps getting throughout the stories of the games, and those around him tend to get aggravated by his stubbornness to sacrifice himself for them when they just want him to be around. His apparently stoic, but caring demeanor is contrasted by how fierce he can be in combat, displaying impossible feats of strength against his enemies, defeating them through sheer power of will (and fists).
Majima
Another massively important character is Goro Majima, Kiryu's rival and, in a very particular way, friend. He is also an impulsive guy, driven by a sense of duty, and, funnily, a great businessman. He is also fiercely loyal to those close to him, and he has a huge distaste for dishonesty and manipulation. This is all contrasted by his ferocity and insanity, of which he has plenty. Still, he plays them up for his "Mad Dog" persona, mostly so that others cannot predict and control him (as shown in his side of the story in Yakuza 0) and also to instill terror in his enemies. He does seem to mellow out with age and because of the relationships he establishes along the series, but he can still be a force to be reckoned with, especially when he and his sworn brother, Saejima, are side by side.
There are other important characters throughout, even if some of them appear in only 1 or 2 games, but I'd rather not spoil that much over here.
The tone
This is one of the biggest draws for me. The games have huge tonal changes really often, going effortlessly between intense drama, absurd comedy, quiet heartfelt moments, and heart-rending tragedy. There are lots of examples of this, like the ever-memed-upon trying to unravel a conspiracy in the plot and then doing a sidequest that leads to you discovering a fetish club with adult men pretending to be babies and club hostesses taking care of them. There are others, like winning a bowling contest and the prize being a live chicken, that chicken being called Nugget by Kiryu, and it becoming a manager in his real estate empire. A great example of a tone switch is Kiryu single-handedly assaulting the Dojima family HQ to gain an audience with the patriarch. It makes you feel triumphant and unstoppable, but the moment he actually talks to him, he only makes the problem he was trying to solve worse. Still, some of my favourite moments are the slow and low-key character interactions, giving us a glimpse into who everyone actually is when not fighting.
Gameplay
On the gameplay side, the game is basically a JRPG, but with brawler combat instead of a turn-based system (until Yakuza: Like a Dragon). The brawling is pretty simple, but it is quite punchy (pun intended). You can string together combos of light attacks and heavy attacks act as finishers. There are also grabs, a dodge, a block, using props from the environment as makeshift weapons, and, the cherry on top, heat moves. Heat moves are contextual finishers (depending on the environment, items in your inventory, how drunk you are, the weapon you hold, and enemy positioning) which consume a resource called, unsurprisingly, heat. Heat is generated by hitting enemies and not getting hit yourself, and it does grant a passive bonus to movement speed and damage if you don't spend it on heat moves or you don't lose it through taking damage. Other than the combat, you can explore around town, with random enemy encounters on the streets, or visit the numerous stores and other venues to partake in a little cultural tourism or minigames.
Conclusion
I really urge you to give those games a try, especially because of the interesting characters, fun combat, digital tourism opportunities, and great stories, but also due to them going on sale for reasonable prices quite often.
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