In a telltale segment, Fuma informs Kiryu that Daigo is in Tokyo, and in danger. He's arranged a personal jet for Kiryu so that he can return to Kamurocho as quickly as possible, but he's interrupted by Taichi, one of the game's terrible orphans who tells Kiryu that the Sunshine Orphanage has been demolished. Kiryu understandably delays his return to Kamurocho so that he can make sure all the orphans he cares for are alright, and then he finds out that Nakahara, leader of a small Okinawa family, has been kidnapped. Kiryu then decides to chase after Nakahara who he's only known for seemingly a few weeks, which endangers Daigo and results in the (abrupt!) death of Rikiya. The bullhorn sequence makes for a memorable setpiece, but it seemed that the main narrative was starting to ramp up when it was AGAIN delayed by some orphanage dilemma. Rikiya's death feels completely forced here and Kiryu's emotional response seems really out of character. Really, the whole chapter left a bad taste in my mouth, but it also exemplified my main problem with Yakuza 3's central narrative: the orphanage. I don't care about the orphanage. I don't care that Taichi has asthma or that Shiro is being bullied. Not because I'm an asshole, I don't think, but because the game's hook - that Kiryu's foster father Fuma has risen from the dead and started assassinating yakuza chairmen - has hooked me, and I want to find out more about that stuff, and not about Taichi's asthma. You remember how I praised Y1 for Haruka never becoming the annoying kid character? This game has boatloads of the sort of character I was happy Haruka never was.
Regarding the hook, I don't think it was resolved in a very satisfying manner, either: the lookalike evildoer was done better with Kazuki in Yakuza 2. The game's villain remarks in the climactic conclusion something to the effect of "Kazuma, I wish we'd met sooner," and all I could do was agree. Think back to Yakuza 2, where the excellent character Ryuji Goda crosses path with Kiryu the same day he arrives in whatever the name of that city was. Here, the audience is introduced to Mine in cutscenes around a third of the way through the game, and Kiryu learns of him shortly afterward through Date. In general I think that the characters are decent to pretty good, it's a shame we only see the politician guy for like two scenes as I thought his character was being built up from the beginning of the game but he just drops off the face of the planet after he talks to Kiryu and we never see him again. I know I criticized Y2 for occasionally misusing its cast but here it's much worse! The story wraps up WAY too abruptly to the point where I threw my arms up in surprise when the credits began to roll. I would've liked to see some sort of wrap up between Daigo and Kiryu, since they've known eachother for so long and the game's climax involved saving Daigo's ass. Or Nakahara, who has sworn an oath of brotherhood to Kiryu.
I could go on nitpicking about little bits of narrative that rubbed me the wrong way but you get the idea. The story DOES have its strong points - there's an arc where Majima's loyalty is put into question and I feel that the game does this very effectively - but in general I found it to be disappointing, especially after Yakuza 2. Shoulda had more Daigo. Daigo is cool. Also Lau Ka Long coming back didnt interest me too much given that he didnt play that big of a role in the first game anyway.
