The Yakuza series

Excellent news. I haven't taken a day off purely for a computer game in a long time but I'll be doing so for this. Best game I've played in years.

You want to use a construction worker (I think that's what it was) for its environmental special move to knock down doors/walls that hinder progress (once unblocked they stay that way so you can change back). I think I used 4/5 of your jobs for a large part of the game. Chef had its uses too.

Currently on about Chapter 9 of Lost Judgement and enjoying it. Have been a bit lax on some of the school stuff and mini games but will do them later on.

I missed that until really late so thought I should warn you in case.

The problem is that zero is the best game in the series (apart from maybe 7), all the others are older and not up to the same standard, still great games but zero is pretty special.
I'd say Kiwami 2 is better than Kiwami though.

I enjoyed Kiwami, I thought the Majima everywhere sub game was brilliant. Although I'd agree Kiwami 2 is a better game overall.

Anyone playing these in numerical order will be in for a shock when they get to 3 as that is a major step back in terms of playability.

I need to get Lost Judgment but I read there's a story expansion out next year so was thinking of waiting until then and play it in one go. Judgment was good, but Yagami is no Kiryu.

I played them in chronological order as I was a late comer to the series, 3 was a bit of a struggle but I ploughed through it.

I doubt we'll see a physical release of the Lost Judgment expansion either, if they eventually include it with the main game it'll probably be the usual DLC code.

I'm tempted to get it now if the DLC is standalone as I won't have to worry about trying to remember everything by the time it comes out!

Playing 5 at the moment. Golly it really does get varied doesn't it? On the 4th character at the moment and it really feels like each character could be a game in their own right.

Kiryu as always is amazing. Then character 2 really played with expectations. A huuuuge long interlude in the mountains was amazing. Somehow it worked just spending 10 hours chilling and hunting. Now I am a dancing schoolgirl and I am legit obsessed with getting my dance moves perfect and improving my singing voice.

Definitely my favourite game series ever. Played Kiwami in January and have played kiwami 2, zero, 3, 4 and now 5 this year and am still not bored. It says a lot that I just did a gameshow with questions like "what is the bar by the river called? How many parks? Are there 2 or 3 m marts in sodenburi?" Etc and I got everyone right. The locations feel so real. If you told me to go to Stilj bar I would walk straight to it without a map.

Apart from the random battles, fuck me they need to be toned down.

And i still have half of 5, then 6, like a dragon and the 2 judgement games to go. How did i not find this series before this year?

I've been a fan of the series for a few years, started with 0 (definitely the place to begin I would say) in 2018 but then put the series on the back burner til they all suddenly came to GP and been working my way through, currently on 4.

0 is probably the best, everything about it is essentially perfect (at least for a Yakuza game) I would say.

Kiwami was a big step back I thought, but fair enough they were working off the first game which couldn't have had the design of later games. But even the side stuff added felt weaker than 0, only worth a playthrough for the story I think.

K2 was then a jump back to form, my second favourite. City really opens up, side stuff is great, and looks a lot better (also adds some nice little things not even in 0, like being able to actually run into shops/bars, not just press A outside to enter).

3 then seems to go backwards a bit, certainly hasn't had the same remaster treatment as K2. For ages it didn't click with me, then during the second half of the story I got way more invested, and in the final chapter I ended up completing about 60 additional side quests.

Only early on in Part 2 of 4, but seems OK. Don't seem to be many side quests unless they only come a lot later, and the change in design feels like the story is rushing through pretty quickly. At least there's some new city stuff too.

Wait till the combat properly opens up and being able to switch begins...
It's soooo good.

Just on the final cutscene I believe of Yakuza 5. I've had to play it in bursts as it sadly does drag a lot, taken me about 9 months I think to finish (although the last 30 hours have been in Jan).

Fucking love Yakuza but Haruka has been talking for about 10 minutes now in yet another cutscene detailing her background we've gone over for 5 games now, I just don't care, I'm glad 6 apparently just goes back to Kiryu as felt 4 and 5 lost so much focus with too many characters. Akiyama is a top lad though.

Think my final playtime will be 65 hours. Saying all of the above, might start 6 straight away!

Judgments are stand alone. Well, I mean as far as the Kiryu franchise is concerned. Lost Judgment follows up on the first game.

It’s awesome, I’d also love to get back to this year and the area where 6 is set looks very worthwhile ..

I replied to this thread back in October which prompted me to get the Lost Judgment Deluxe edition that same day & I'm still yet to start it. I've really got to stop doing that.

6 is a great game, I liked that it was purely focused on Kiryu as the playable character again.