Well, no matter how I look at it, I can't not recommend this game.


I hate it because it's a frustrating experience from a Yakuza series fan on many levels. Pretty much every great aspect of it is frustrating, considering it took them 8 bloody entries and a couple of spin-offs.

Speaking of spin-offs, let's start with this one. In 2011 the world has received this nice little game called Yakuza: Dead Souls. A spin-off title featuring some of the most liked characters in the series, including somehow still alive Ryuji with a bloody Machine Gun for an arm. It had almost all of the things one would expect from a Yakuza title - recognizable locations, familiar characters, fun and serious distractions, including some of the best karaoke in the series (seriously, you are missing out if you haven't checked out at least the karaoke), great graphics at the time, quality soundtrack - you name it, it was there. Except for the battle system. That was replaced with a third person shooter. It was despised on release. Its release to the west doomed further localizations. It wasn't until Yakuza 0 when we have gotten all that back.

I bring up Dead Souls because this game is similar. Has everything but the combat of a Yakuza game. In some aspects it's worse (at this point seeing Kiryu, Majima, Saejima and Daigo almost lost all of its charm), in some it's better (amazing humor, stellar story, refreshing cast of characters, YOKOHAMA). What eludes me is why this game receives all of the glitter? Why now people are all happy with a spin-off? Oh wait, that isn't a spin-off, right. Its Japanese title is Yakuza 7: The Whereabouts of Light and Shadow, or something along these lines. That's another aspect of it that I can't digest. Release Judge Eyes/Judgment with the familiar combat, but a separate story, as a spin-off, but a turn-based RPG as a mainline game.

Make no mistake. The combat itself is fun. For the first RPG of RGG (technically second because RGG Online is a thing in Japan), this is some solid work. I was sceptical of the job system, as I was afraid of potential grind to get jobs to the right levels to even do something in the battle, but my fears were proven wrong. It's also one of the fastest turn-based RPGs I've played in my life. Had this been in a spin-off I wouldn't write this next paragraph.

This flow sucks. Brawler combat entries had a really nice dynamic to them - very fast-paced, at times mindless, combat was intertwined with a much calmer, serious story and substories. But this? Like hell. The story comes from a similar place, as it pulls on your heartstrings, gives you some fun laughs and cool moments along the way, but to break all the tension or let you unleash all the gathered rage towards some of these fictional characters, you get to play... a turn-based game. Imagine finally, after several years, getting an opportunity to enact revenge on a school bully, but it's via a chess match. That's the kind of vibe i'm getting from this combination. And I get it - we see things from Ichiban's point of view and he's a big Dragon Quest fan, but at the same time do I need to see it this way? When I play as Kiryu, the unstoppable force, the Dragon of Dojima, legend of Kamurocho, I don't plow through every enemy on my way with one punch because that's what he sees. The fights are much more even, can take minutes to beat and require your attention and action. Unlike in this game, where from Ichi's point of view all of his opponents are these honorable and patient fighters just shuffling about and talking ♥♥♥♥, but not taking any consequencial action until you and your friends do your thing first. It's off-putting and even less realistic than the kinda stuff you could do in older titles. Speaking of that... You know how most of the heat actions in the series prior to Yakuza 7 at least are grounded in reality? There are videos of people attempting and showcasing moves from these games. If you were to look at a fight in a vacuum, there's not a whole wrong with the combat aside from everyone tanking way too many slashes, stabs, shots and whathaveyou, which from gameplay's perspective is understandable. This game however? Kicking back a flung baseball bat. Taking one of the opponents with you and performing a literal Spin Dash. SUMMONING A THUNDER. If brawler combat generated these over the top fights, then this game is an acid trip simulator.

Had the game either been a spin-off or kept old combat, I would be a lot happier with all of these developments as well:

I adore the fact that we're not controlling this machine of a man anymore, but rather just a group of friends, whose cumulative strength hardly matches that of the legends we fought with and against in the past. It's a really refreshing perspective. Wish it was there earlier and not for the first turn-based entry in the series. Imagine just switching between allies in Brawler combat, wouldn't that be something?

Drink links replacing chats with hostesses and cabaret club girls are also a welcome addition, despite it giving the Atlus scent from a mile away. I'd much rather get to know more about friends of the main character than girls only there for entertainment and eyecandy. Wish it was there earlier.

Substories bringing you allies that can temporarily aid you in combat, kinda! Wish they were there earli- oh fine you get the idea. How about nitpicks that plague the franchise in general but still aren't fixed or the new stuff that needs some polish instead...

Some of the characters' writing or use is veeeeery far-fetched. Oh Lau Ka Long had a cousin. Oh, Joon-gi Han has a body double. Kashiwagi somehow survived being assassinated by an attack heli. Kiryu waltzing out in his trademark clothes after being officially dead, even if still alive - imagine disguising yourself or something. I'm sure there's more of this stuff in the game and I just went for the lowest hanging fruits.

It is a shame that the returns are only limited to characters whose voice actors are, I would assume, available at almost all times. Nick could be replaced by Akiyama with a few very minor tweaks and nobody would really notice. It would be cool to see one of the orphanage kids joining the party because they don't believe Kiryu is dead. A tiny substory with characters like Shinada, Tanimura, Mikio, one of the Hiroshima boys, Sayama, idk Miss Tatsu? would go a long way, instead of using the same few every game (Pocket Circuit Fighter, patriarch Gondawara, Ono Michio all quickly come to mind). Hell, I'd be down with even a single mention in written text.

You travel with a party of up to 4 people, but you do your substories all by your lonesome. Big missed opportunity there honestly for some sort of a refresh to the formula. Same goes for some story cutscenes too, like the cinematic for the fight with Tendo especially feels off.

The last one is probably (speculation here) due to the game originally being made in normal system and, after the april fools RPG screen got people talking and laughing, was remade to the game you see today.

If you read to the end, thanks. I'm sorry I can't talk about all of the good things that the game did without some snark, but a) that's already been done by a lot of people in the reviews section and b) i feel like my voice is unique enough in all this to make the my five cents worth throwing. I want to state once again that the game is really fantastic and if you love RPGs, turn-based RPGs and Yakuza franchise - hell, if you're new to any of these things even - you'll find something to like in this game. It's very much worth the praise it gets as a game, it's a really well made one. Just rubs me the wrong way, even if I liked it.

Well, no matter how I look at it, I can't not recommend this game. [h1]And I hate that this is a good game.[/h1] I hate it because it's a frustrating experience from a Yakuza series fan on many levels. Pretty much every great aspect of it is frustrating, considering it took them 8 bloody entries and a couple of spin-offs. Speaking of spin-offs, let's start with this one. In 2011 the world has received this nice little game called Yakuza: Dead Souls. A spin-off title featuring some of the most liked characters in the series, including [spoiler]somehow still alive Ryuji with a bloody Machine Gun for an arm[/spoiler]. It had almost all of the things one would expect from a Yakuza title - recognizable locations, familiar characters, fun and serious distractions, including some of the best karaoke in the series (seriously, you are missing out if you haven't checked out at least the karaoke), great graphics at the time, quality soundtrack - you name it, it was there. Except for the battle system. That was replaced with a third person shooter. It was despised on release. Its release to the west doomed further localizations. It wasn't until Yakuza 0 when we have gotten all that back. I bring up Dead Souls because this game is similar. Has everything but the combat of a Yakuza game. In some aspects it's worse (at this point seeing [spoiler]Kiryu, Majima, Saejima and Daigo[/spoiler] almost lost all of its charm), in some it's better (amazing humor, stellar story, refreshing cast of characters, YOKOHAMA). What eludes me is why this game receives all of the glitter? Why now people are all happy with a spin-off? Oh wait, that isn't a spin-off, right. Its Japanese title is Yakuza 7: The Whereabouts of Light and Shadow, or something along these lines. That's another aspect of it that I can't digest. Release Judge Eyes/Judgment with the familiar combat, but a separate story, as a spin-off, but a turn-based RPG as a mainline game. Make no mistake. The combat itself is fun. For the first RPG of RGG (technically second because RGG Online is a thing in Japan), this is some solid work. I was sceptical of the job system, as I was afraid of potential grind to get jobs to the right levels to even do something in the battle, but my fears were proven wrong. It's also one of the fastest turn-based RPGs I've played in my life. Had this been in a spin-off I wouldn't write this next paragraph. This flow sucks. Brawler combat entries had a really nice dynamic to them - very fast-paced, at times mindless, combat was intertwined with a much calmer, serious story and substories. But this? Like hell. The story comes from a similar place, as it pulls on your heartstrings, gives you some fun laughs and cool moments along the way, but to break all the tension or let you unleash all the gathered rage towards some of these fictional characters, you get to play... a turn-based game. Imagine finally, after several years, getting an opportunity to enact revenge on a school bully, but it's via a chess match. That's the kind of vibe i'm getting from this combination. And I get it - we see things from Ichiban's point of view and he's a big Dragon Quest fan, but at the same time do I need to see it this way? When I play as Kiryu, the unstoppable force, the Dragon of Dojima, legend of Kamurocho, I don't plow through every enemy on my way with one punch because that's what he sees. The fights are much more even, can take minutes to beat and require your attention and action. Unlike in this game, where from Ichi's point of view all of his opponents are these honorable and patient fighters just shuffling about and talking shit, but not taking any consequencial action until you and your friends do your thing first. It's off-putting and even less realistic than the kinda stuff you could do in older titles. Speaking of that... You know how most of the heat actions in the series prior to Yakuza 7 at least are grounded in reality? There are videos of people attempting and showcasing moves from these games. If you were to look at a fight in a vacuum, there's not a whole wrong with the combat aside from everyone tanking way too many slashes, stabs, shots and whathaveyou, which from gameplay's perspective is understandable. This game however? Kicking back a flung baseball bat. Taking one of the opponents with you and performing a literal Spin Dash. SUMMONING A THUNDER. If brawler combat generated these over the top fights, then this game is an acid trip simulator. Had the game either been a spin-off or kept old combat, I would be a lot happier with all of these developments as well: I adore the fact that we're not controlling this machine of a man anymore, but rather just a group of friends, whose cumulative strength hardly matches that of the legends we fought with and against in the past. It's a really refreshing perspective. Wish it was there earlier and not for the first turn-based entry in the series. Imagine just switching between allies in Brawler combat, wouldn't that be something? Drink links replacing chats with hostesses and cabaret club girls are also a welcome addition, despite it giving the Atlus scent from a mile away. I'd much rather get to know more about friends of the main character than girls only there for entertainment and eyecandy. Wish it was there earlier. Substories bringing you allies that can temporarily aid you in combat, kinda! Wish they were there earli- oh fine you get the idea. How about nitpicks that plague the franchise in general but still aren't fixed or the new stuff that needs some polish instead... Some of the characters' writing or use is veeeeery far-fetched. Oh [spoiler]Lau Ka Long[/spoiler] had a cousin. Oh, [spoiler]Joon-gi Han[/spoiler] has a body double. [spoiler]Kashiwagi somehow survived being assassinated by an attack heli.[/spoiler] [spoiler]Kiryu waltzing out in his trademark clothes after being officially dead, even if still alive - imagine disguising yourself or something[/spoiler]. I'm sure there's more of this stuff in the game and I just went for the lowest hanging fruits. It is a shame that the returns are only limited to characters whose voice actors are, I would assume, available at almost all times. [spoiler]Nick could be replaced by Akiyama with a few very minor tweaks and nobody would really notice[/spoiler]. It would be cool to see one of the [spoiler]orphanage kids joining the party because they don't believe Kiryu is dead[/spoiler]. A tiny substory with characters like [spoiler]Shinada, Tanimura, Mikio, one of the Hiroshima boys, Sayama, idk Miss Tatsu?[/spoiler] would go a long way, instead of using the same few every game ([spoiler]Pocket Circuit Fighter, patriarch Gondawara, Ono Michio[/spoiler] all quickly come to mind). Hell, I'd be down with even a single mention in written text. You travel with a party of up to 4 people, but you do your substories all by your lonesome. Big missed opportunity there honestly for some sort of a refresh to the formula. Same goes for some story cutscenes too, like the cinematic for the fight with [spoiler]Tendo[/spoiler] especially feels off. The last one is probably (speculation here) due to the game originally being made in normal system and, after the april fools RPG screen got people talking and laughing, was remade to the game you see today. If you read to the end, thanks. I'm sorry I can't talk about all of the good things that the game did without some snark, but a) that's already been done by a lot of people in the reviews section and b) i feel like my voice is unique enough in all this to make the my five cents worth throwing. I want to state once again that the game is really fantastic and if you love RPGs, turn-based RPGs and Yakuza franchise - hell, if you're new to any of these things even - you'll find something to like in this game. It's very much worth the praise it gets as a game, it's a really well made one. Just rubs me the wrong way, even if I liked it.