Recent reviews by Krempi

After getting into the series with Yakuza:Like a Dragon in March last year I am now back at the end with Ichiban again and I'm actually happy to have Kiryu in this game as well, but the game still managed to leave a bit of a sour note. Still an enjoyable game but not my favorite one of the series.

Gameplay:

They did a great job and managed to do what a sequel should: keep the basic gameplay and improve it. We get new cool jobs as well as the old ones. Kiryu and Ichiban get a special move later on, where Kiryus is a form of the old action combat format but just as a remnant. Still a nice idea.
There are lots of Mini Games like always and the build up the Sujidex from the last game to a full monster battler, as well as a Sujimon Snap and Dodonko Island.

Maybe that's a personal negative point, but I didn't need the auto battle function. Instead I would've liked the old short cuts for skills back instead. Dodonko Island wasn't my cup of tea as well, though that's probably because I never showed interest in Animal Crossing. Just seems like they put a lot of work into that one, which could've been used elsewhere. The "Essence-Move" you get as a reward was really boring. Just the same laser like in the last game with another colour.

Story:

One of the important aspects of Yakuza and here is where they fumbled the bag imo. We get a nice start to why Ichiban goes to Hawaii and meets Kiryu, it builds up to be interesting and ends pretty meh.

That Ichiban is a loveable airhead who sees good in people is completely fine as a character, but instead of letting him grow to become better, they just ramp up the "is an idiot"-section to 100. Chitose and Tomi were redeemable characters but ♥♥♥♥ Eiji. In 7 Ichi was way better as a character and would've been a promising new Protagonist if they would build up on him instead of down.

Kiryu gets finally some crumbs thrown his way to maybe get an rather quiet ending. Though it could've been handled better it was at least something. The Daidoji plot was all over the place like always. In one game they have so much money and control that Kiryu is reduced to nothing and can't do anything about it and here they have just 4 people to send to Hawaii with him and some nobody with a shaky camera can reveal his identity without them noticing anything.

Daigo, Goro & Taiga get used as a muscle up as always while Kiryu trash talks them even though he wrote that heartfelt letter to Daigo in 6. The old "you're all responsible, ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up while fixing it and need to fix it again"-spiel is pretty tiresome. Those guys deserve more respect imo. Though the fight itself was pretty awesome, especially the section where the combat action gimmick comes into play. Being surrounded with all the old pictures while punching it out was really nice.

Best new character was Yamai. His story was one of the best things in this game and having Takehito Koyasu as his voice actor the cherry on top. Would be nice to see im again in the future as an potential teammate.

Graphic and music was great as well while running smooth. Had no bugs or problem with this game.

I just hope that they can get a better grasp on the situation and if they want to retire Kiryu or not.
Also I hope they didn't pump to much budget into having people like Danny Trejo in the game. There is no need to get Hollywood stars into these game to gather more western attention. Instead they should stop hearing what a tiny minority of the western "gamers" have to say about certain aspects in japanese games. Especially localization should be better controlled so people don't bring in buzzwords or memes where they don't belong. Just like German Dubs, while pretty good, always had to add something like "dude" in sentences even though the original was completely different in some animes.

I'll be honest: At the beginning I thought this would be the weakest Yakuza game in the series, still a good game of course, but after finishing it I can say it holds up pretty well with the rest.

It is definitely shorter then the rest but takes you on a nostalgic trip. There are so many references, gimmicks etc. to older titles and characters, old and new Mini-Games, a new take on the hostess game, a new style to fight and much more compressed into this title, but nothing overstays it's welcome. 100% for this game just happens on the side while playing.

The combat felt pretty dull in the beginning even on the hardest difficulty but gets a lot better after leveling up some skills. QTEs seem to have vanished since 6, I think we got 2 in total in this game which I actually dislike. QTEs aren't the best mechanic but I always liked their usage in Yakuza. Giving fights different situations if you succeded or failed brought a bit more spice to it imo.

The story is actually quite interesting and goes out with a bang of a finale and I know they wouldn't give Kiryu a happy ending but my god. They could've called it "Like a Dragon Gaiden: Kiryu's Suffering". Stripping him of everything he was, not being able to see the kids and his friends, then giving him one last hurrah to fight as a Yakuza completely "balls out" and showing him what he wants the most.

It's like the story writers sit there like the guys from "Drawn Together" and go: "Hey Kiryu, want to go on a trip? Oh no, it's a tumor!". You already managed to succesfully pass the torch to Ishiban. Give Kiryu something back already!

Well, I started with Ishiban and loved it so much that I played all the previous parts till now and loved the series even more. Now it's time to start with Infinite Wealth and see what Ishibans been up to.

It's a solid game that captures the flavor of the classic movies. Really enjoyed playing it and I would buy that for a dollar!

Pros:

- Nice graphics, sounds and music.
- Shoot, throw and punch those lowlifes who want to give you TROUBLE. You give them hell but still can be killed on higher difficulty settings. Still fun to overpower them.
- Lots and lots of corny jokes and stupid humour. Loved it!
- Exploring and interacting with the maps gets you rewarded. Always a plus in my book.

Cons:

- Quite some people have some performance issues and while I hadn't had anything too problematic, they exist. All I got were some minor backroundrender bugs sometimes while the people were talking and switching the characters. But other people have FPS issues etc.
- Auto save only which can suck if you want to log off for the day and haven't reached the next checkpoint yet after doing quite some things. Normal save system would be a big plus.

Done with Part 6 or rather Dadkuza, cause every Dad and Son and their baggage get sucked into a big whirlwind of drama by one big secret. Some Moms are there as well.

Follow Kiryu and his family to see what happened after 5 and show some wannabes what happens, if you switch from washed up Yakuza to real Yakuza-Mode.

The game comes like always with a rich story of drama, heartfelt moments, action and plot twists galore. Some Mini-Games get a few upgrades to switch up the old formula but don't worry: Mahjong is still the same <3.

100% this part is pretty easy and happens almost while playing the main story. 100 battles for a specific Mini-Game is the only tedious part in this one.

Also: Joon-Gi Han seems like a wasted charakter even though we get his double in Like a Dragon.

Finally reached and finished Part 5 and yes, it is freaking long which isn't bad at all. But be prepared if you want to 100% it because while they toned down the difficulty of some Mini-Games etc. it comes with a big list to fulfill. So it's not the hardest to 100% but definitely tedious.

On the other hand it means you get tons of typical Yakuza stuff to do and another nice story with many twists. This time you delve into another try from Kiryu to leave the Yakuza life behind and the meaning of dreams people pursue or leave behind for others to follow.

They try to shake up the gameplay a bit by using their typical rhythm game for one character. Hit or miss depends if you like the karaoke games as well I suppose but I liked it as well as the story arc for the character. Also there is another rhythm mini-game which features "Dvorak: New World Symphony 4th Movement" which makes it superb from the get go!

Each character except one gets his own side activity which were fun to play as well and added a bit more slice of life to the game.

The Saga continues and grows via something, that breaks many games their back. Adding additional protagonists and they went and took not 1 but 3 to add to the rooster.

But I've to say: They did a great job. I liked each character at the end and had fun following their story. Each one having their own fighting style and moveset is a nice touch as well.

The main story weaves the stories of the 4 together and brings some twists with it. The sub-stories help to explore the new characters even more.

Probably the easiest Yakuza to 100% until now.

More and more I find myself wondering if it's all worth fighting for.

For a future punching boulders...

YEAH, it's worth it!

Great Co-op game.

Done with 100% on this part as well and what can I say?

Another great game. The story was entertaining as always and I really liked the added slice of life parts this time. But man, why do they want to see Kiryu suffer like that?

The switch from the remakes to this remaster is a bit rough at the beginning but you get used to it very quickly. It's true regarding the combat, that enemies block a lot though there are ways to get through.

100% it wasn't as bad as I thought after reading some opinions from other people though the 10 dates needed for the substories were just tedious. 3 or 4 dates would've been enough. The Mini-Games are mostly a matter of practice and there're lots of guides with helpful tips.

"Yakuza Kiwami 2... I have you pegged. You're exactly the game I thought you were."

"Whatchya mean by that?"

"You can't change the way you entertain. Your story writers drive you, and your devs act on them."

"Heh. You don't know me."

"You remind me of an old yakuza title... it chose to combine everything to give meaning to it's gameplay. A game like this deserves everything I've got."

Now to be serious and please beware for some light spoilers:

Yakuza Kiwami 2 is another example of the saga, that just doesn't disappoint. Even with reused assets the devs manage to always bring such a great combination of story and gameplay to the table and top it off with the mini-games etc.

Majima is just a crazy unstoppable force of madness no matter what he does, the Tiger Drop finally earns it's name and Haruka still wants you to do questionable tasks to make her happy!
Though the game was pretty tame to 100% for a Yakuza game. Sure, the bouncer missions are a bit to many but everything else is cheesable through items if you have problems with it.

Now onwards to Part 3!

What a perfect little gem of a game. Most writers of todays AAA-Games could take a long hard look on how to write characters probably even though it isn't the core of the game.

You play as Dave the Diver (what a suprise I know!) and go down into the Deep Blue to catch fish by the day, and sometimes even at night, to sell them as Sushi in the evening. With the bucks earned you upgrade your diving gear to go even deeper and catch bigger targets while polishing the Sushi restaurant to satisfy your growing number of customers.

But of course you got a nice little story with all its hurdles, humor, puzzles and Mini-Games to keep you company. The charming cutszenes with a huge variety of tributes to other things, memes etc. are just great and the music is absolutely glorious.

There isn't really anything I disliked about the game, though I would say that a certain village you will encounter was a bit unutilized in my opinion and if you want to 100% the game you might find yourself just skipping through at the end to get it done.

But none of those things take away from the ones which make this game so great. Even the credits aren't just music and names running down your screen but a Mini-Game as well!