Yakuza 5 was the largest, longest Yakuza game at the time of its release, yet it managed to be less of a Yakuza game than most. It tried to do a lot of new things, but didn't do anything well. It didn't improve on anything that came before it, and made everything longer and less interesting.

By halfway through chapter 3, I was ready for the game to be finished. I made it halfway through chapter 4 before I quit and left the game for a year. After finishing Infinite Wealth, I was jonesing for more Yakuza and thought I'd try to finish 5. What a slog. I won't say that I won. I'll say that I completed a trial of perseverence.

I've played through most of the Yakuza games, and relative to the others, Yakuza 5 is near the bottom of the list. I could only recommend it to people who are dedicated to completing the series, and who understand that their dedication will be tested.

crazy taxi disguised as a yakuza game

I can relate to shinada heavily, 10 out of 10 game

saejima made me want to kill myself

Pretty slow to get going, but the final fight sequences are epic, and I got to fistfight a bear

Crazy Taxi 5

i yumed so hard to this

Overall satisfaction: Recommended, the quality of this game is comparable to Yakuza 0.

Storyline: Good. We play as 5 protagonists with their own stories in 4 different cities. As the plot progresses, their path will cross each other in the finale.

Gameplay: Really good. Yakuza 5 is really polished and overall is an improvement compared to Yakuza 4. We can now control how many street fights to participate in (as opposed to Yakuza 3 and 4). The game has a lot of new side contents. There are 4 sets of side missions (side mission is like Real Estate and Cabaret in Yakuza 0): Taxi, Hunting, Idol, Baseball. There are also a lot of new minigames such as snowball fight (yes, you read that correctly), making ramen, etc.
At the start of part 1 and 2, we will be given a city tour, which is an awesome way to learn new cities. Moreover, the game also includes the minigames (karaoke, dart/pool, Cabaret Hostess) in the story progression, so we have some basic knowledge of the minigame.

Character depth: This is one aspect that Yakuza 5 excelled in. Side characters are explored with more depth, including their character and their relationship with other characters.

Substories: I think Yakuza 5 has the best substories set out of Yakuza 0 - Yakuza 5. Yakuza 0 branded itself as having 100 substories, but most of them are very short. Meanwhile in Yakuza 5, the substories are much more meaningful. There are substories where Haruka become stand-up comedian, Shinada works as a store cashier, and others.

Despite some shortfalls storywise, I highly recommend this. The new Y0 engine combat is more polished and accessible for newcomers, the amount of side content is jaw-dropping only behind IW, and the character direction is engaging and heartfelt especially during Haruka's story.

Overall: 8/10

Dreams. Yakuza 5 is one of the most thematically cohesive yakuza games of the series for me. You follow characters from multiple walks of life, each following their own dream. These larger than life characters having down-to-earth dreams makes it feel so real. The way the stories are presented (through story and gameplay) and intertwine are great and are done much better than in Yakuza 4. A beautiful game, one of the best in this series.