I've been a massive Sega fan for years. I've played games from every system they've ever made, though I only really grew up with the Sega Genesis and later on in my teens the Dreamcast as well (it wasn't till afterwards till I played some great Master System and Saturn stuff). You could say that at least during the 90's, I was a huge Sega nerd. I love Nintendo too, but Sega for me was a special seal of quality for me with my very first game ever being Sonic 2. I have a lot of memories of Sega's classic games, and throughout my life I fell in love with both Sonic and Phantasy Star primarily like a lot of Sega fans in America have.
Something about Sega has always been unique. They always tried new stuff that the industry didn't ever do. An entire game about taxi driving? Crazy Taxi. A platformer that wasn't based on conventional momentum? Sonic. A racing game that used an entire bike for a controller? Hang-On. A simulation game where you simulate the life of a fictional, talking fish with a human face? Seaman. An RPG that isn't set in a fantasy world but is instead set in fucking Star Wars? Phantasy Star. Hell, speaking of Star Wars, when Atari nearly crashed the gaming industry itself, Sega took up the mantle to create a series of arcade games that SIMULATES STAR WARS. To say Sega was ambitious would be an understatement. Without Sega, the industry would not be the same as it is today.
For the longest time I've dodged this series. Not out of disinterest, but mere intimidation of it. I always knew it had this long running story going on for it, and I would have to start with Yakuza 1...on the PS2. And I tried Yakuza 1 years ago, and was off-put by the awful English dub and just turned away from it. Ever since then, the series has put a bad taste in my mouth.
That is until the announcement of the Fist of the North Star game the Yakuza studio was making. Now, I'm not THAT big into Fist of the North Star, but I like it enough that if a great game came out with it's brand that I'd be willing to check it out, and when I pulled up the trailer I was just...flabbergasted. When I first saw it, I didn't even realize the link it had to the Yakuza series, all I knew ts that it looked amazing and I NEEDED that game (funnily enough...it's also probably not coming to the West now that I know better). So I did a little research on it, and conveniently found out about both Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami.
So I decided to pick up Yakuza 0, and after completing the game, I decided to play the entire series from start to finish. Of course, I skipped the awful dub of Yakuza 1 in favor of the fantastic Japanese voice cast in Yakuza Kiwami. Afterall, it was a remake of that game, and remakes tend to be better than the original more often than not in a modern context. The best word I can describe the experience is...WOW!
Yakuza turned out to be my biggest surprise of 2017. There only a select few game franchises that I would say are must-buys for me. No matter what, I'll ALWAYS buy a new Mario or Zelda title for example. After playing Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami, Yakuza 2, Yakuza 3, and Yakuza 4 in completion while working my way through Yakuza 5, I can safely say that when Yakuza 6, Yakuza Kiwami 2, and New Yakuza comes out, I will buy these games DAY ONE with no hesitation.
On the surface, Yakuza may seem like "Oh it's Grand Theft Auto but in Japan" or "Oh it's new version of Shenmue" at face value, which is what I've always thought of Yakuza without actually playing it. However once playing it for the first time ever and getting absorbed into the world it establishes, you realize Yakuza is so much more than that; so, so much more.
Yakuza's entire design is a celebration of what makes Sega so great. Every game offers something unique to the franchise, although minimal at times, it has a distinct Sega feel to it. This extends outside of references to Sega properties and resonates primarily in the amount of stuff you can do in Yakuza. While Yakuza at it's core is a beat-em-up game, what it does best isn't exclusively it's action but how well it just simulates and creates a love letter to Japanese culture for better or worse. While the worlds in Yakuza are small in size, the amount of content you can do in them is insane. Not only is there a lot of content, but most of the side quests you can do have meaningful elements and stories in of itself. It isn't just,. "Collect this, bring me this, etc. etc." there's so much variety in what you can do, and even some exclusive mini-games are locked behind certain side quests as well which can range from delivering pizza on foot to driving people around in a taxi.
Of course that isn't to say the core mechanic of the game, the combat, isn't something special in of itself. You fight....A LOT. It took me a couple of hours to realize this, but Yakuza is basically a 3D version of River City Ransom in concept. That, in of itself, is just magical to me. The combat is insanely varied and has a surprising amount of depth to it, even if you can mow down the game's enemies with the same moves over and over again. You start out with simple combos but as you progress, you become an absolute monster in some of the funnest beat-em-up gameplay you'll ever play.
However what shines the most for me is the narrative and characters. While I'm not here to claim Yakuza provides a masterclass in writing, in terms of a video game storyline I do feel like what Yakuza offers is about as close as a yakuza film can get in a video game in terms of outright authenticity to what it's trying to emulate. Hell, with one of the newest trends casting real actors in the roles of video games characters, Yakuza has been doing this very thing for years. Yakuza's story is treated as seriously as any film story is, and while there are some narrative flubs here-and-there in some of the games in the series, the depiction and style of the narrative really carries the weight as being one of the most movie-like experiences in gaming today. Some of the stories, such as Yakuza 0 and Yakuza 2, are some of gaming's finest stories in my own opinion. I'm sure some visual novel I've never heard of has them beat, but in my own gameplay experiences I absolutely fell in love with the stories in both of those games.
The characters are some of the best you'll ever see in gaming. Over the course of 7 games (one not released in the West yet) we see the entire saga of Kazuma Kiryu from start to finish. His beginnings, his ups and downs, the people he's associated and gotten close with, the people that he's lost. There's a clear and defined character arc for every major character in the series, and while sometimes you may not like the direction they're going, the game's still manage on selling you with their excellent characterization. Not only that, characters develop both in the main story and in the side stories as well. It's extremely well done and gives a lot of life in this world, as everyone your playable characters do, even in the most absurd of situations, stays true to their characterization through-and-through, and the sidequests REALLY pushes the playable characters to their limits in terms of characterization.
Though to call them perfect games is a bit of a stretch. To me, the majority of Yakuza games fall under a category of being a great game and not some type of 10/10 masterpiece. There's always a bit of jankiness to every Yakuza game. Invisible walls, combat getting repetitive at times, some of the mini-games just being bad. However, due to my nostalgia with Sega products, Yakuza's imperfect nature brings me back to my childhood in ways I don't even expect at times. Like I said before, Yakuza is a celebration of Sega history in terms of it's core design for better or worse. if you love classic Sega as much as I do, at least give the series a shot as you'll likely get something out of it even if you decide not to go beyond one game.
Where to start
Yakuza 0 (PS4)
Plain and simple. No substitutes. Unlike a good majority of prequel games ,this more functions as a genuine starting point rather than a prequel. The game literally has 0 spoilers for future games in the series. It does a really fantrastic job fleshing out absolutely everything about what's to come in the future, while having an amazing standalone story in of itself. After that, play Yakuza Kiwami (PS4) as well. It's only 30 dollars and it's basically an expansion to Yakuza 0 with the story of Yakuza (PS2) and also lays the foundation for what's to come in the future as well.
All I know is, after playing the majority of what the series has to offer, I can soundly say it's my favorite Sega franchise of all time in both the past and present day Sega, as well as one of my favorite franchises in gaming as a whole.
Something about Sega has always been unique. They always tried new stuff that the industry didn't ever do. An entire game about taxi driving? Crazy Taxi. A platformer that wasn't based on conventional momentum? Sonic. A racing game that used an entire bike for a controller? Hang-On. A simulation game where you simulate the life of a fictional, talking fish with a human face? Seaman. An RPG that isn't set in a fantasy world but is instead set in fucking Star Wars? Phantasy Star. Hell, speaking of Star Wars, when Atari nearly crashed the gaming industry itself, Sega took up the mantle to create a series of arcade games that SIMULATES STAR WARS. To say Sega was ambitious would be an understatement. Without Sega, the industry would not be the same as it is today.
For the longest time I've dodged this series. Not out of disinterest, but mere intimidation of it. I always knew it had this long running story going on for it, and I would have to start with Yakuza 1...on the PS2. And I tried Yakuza 1 years ago, and was off-put by the awful English dub and just turned away from it. Ever since then, the series has put a bad taste in my mouth.
That is until the announcement of the Fist of the North Star game the Yakuza studio was making. Now, I'm not THAT big into Fist of the North Star, but I like it enough that if a great game came out with it's brand that I'd be willing to check it out, and when I pulled up the trailer I was just...flabbergasted. When I first saw it, I didn't even realize the link it had to the Yakuza series, all I knew ts that it looked amazing and I NEEDED that game (funnily enough...it's also probably not coming to the West now that I know better). So I did a little research on it, and conveniently found out about both Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami.
So I decided to pick up Yakuza 0, and after completing the game, I decided to play the entire series from start to finish. Of course, I skipped the awful dub of Yakuza 1 in favor of the fantastic Japanese voice cast in Yakuza Kiwami. Afterall, it was a remake of that game, and remakes tend to be better than the original more often than not in a modern context. The best word I can describe the experience is...WOW!
Yakuza turned out to be my biggest surprise of 2017. There only a select few game franchises that I would say are must-buys for me. No matter what, I'll ALWAYS buy a new Mario or Zelda title for example. After playing Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami, Yakuza 2, Yakuza 3, and Yakuza 4 in completion while working my way through Yakuza 5, I can safely say that when Yakuza 6, Yakuza Kiwami 2, and New Yakuza comes out, I will buy these games DAY ONE with no hesitation.
On the surface, Yakuza may seem like "Oh it's Grand Theft Auto but in Japan" or "Oh it's new version of Shenmue" at face value, which is what I've always thought of Yakuza without actually playing it. However once playing it for the first time ever and getting absorbed into the world it establishes, you realize Yakuza is so much more than that; so, so much more.
Yakuza's entire design is a celebration of what makes Sega so great. Every game offers something unique to the franchise, although minimal at times, it has a distinct Sega feel to it. This extends outside of references to Sega properties and resonates primarily in the amount of stuff you can do in Yakuza. While Yakuza at it's core is a beat-em-up game, what it does best isn't exclusively it's action but how well it just simulates and creates a love letter to Japanese culture for better or worse. While the worlds in Yakuza are small in size, the amount of content you can do in them is insane. Not only is there a lot of content, but most of the side quests you can do have meaningful elements and stories in of itself. It isn't just,. "Collect this, bring me this, etc. etc." there's so much variety in what you can do, and even some exclusive mini-games are locked behind certain side quests as well which can range from delivering pizza on foot to driving people around in a taxi.
Of course that isn't to say the core mechanic of the game, the combat, isn't something special in of itself. You fight....A LOT. It took me a couple of hours to realize this, but Yakuza is basically a 3D version of River City Ransom in concept. That, in of itself, is just magical to me. The combat is insanely varied and has a surprising amount of depth to it, even if you can mow down the game's enemies with the same moves over and over again. You start out with simple combos but as you progress, you become an absolute monster in some of the funnest beat-em-up gameplay you'll ever play.
However what shines the most for me is the narrative and characters. While I'm not here to claim Yakuza provides a masterclass in writing, in terms of a video game storyline I do feel like what Yakuza offers is about as close as a yakuza film can get in a video game in terms of outright authenticity to what it's trying to emulate. Hell, with one of the newest trends casting real actors in the roles of video games characters, Yakuza has been doing this very thing for years. Yakuza's story is treated as seriously as any film story is, and while there are some narrative flubs here-and-there in some of the games in the series, the depiction and style of the narrative really carries the weight as being one of the most movie-like experiences in gaming today. Some of the stories, such as Yakuza 0 and Yakuza 2, are some of gaming's finest stories in my own opinion. I'm sure some visual novel I've never heard of has them beat, but in my own gameplay experiences I absolutely fell in love with the stories in both of those games.
The characters are some of the best you'll ever see in gaming. Over the course of 7 games (one not released in the West yet) we see the entire saga of Kazuma Kiryu from start to finish. His beginnings, his ups and downs, the people he's associated and gotten close with, the people that he's lost. There's a clear and defined character arc for every major character in the series, and while sometimes you may not like the direction they're going, the game's still manage on selling you with their excellent characterization. Not only that, characters develop both in the main story and in the side stories as well. It's extremely well done and gives a lot of life in this world, as everyone your playable characters do, even in the most absurd of situations, stays true to their characterization through-and-through, and the sidequests REALLY pushes the playable characters to their limits in terms of characterization.
Though to call them perfect games is a bit of a stretch. To me, the majority of Yakuza games fall under a category of being a great game and not some type of 10/10 masterpiece. There's always a bit of jankiness to every Yakuza game. Invisible walls, combat getting repetitive at times, some of the mini-games just being bad. However, due to my nostalgia with Sega products, Yakuza's imperfect nature brings me back to my childhood in ways I don't even expect at times. Like I said before, Yakuza is a celebration of Sega history in terms of it's core design for better or worse. if you love classic Sega as much as I do, at least give the series a shot as you'll likely get something out of it even if you decide not to go beyond one game.
Where to start
Yakuza 0 (PS4)
Plain and simple. No substitutes. Unlike a good majority of prequel games ,this more functions as a genuine starting point rather than a prequel. The game literally has 0 spoilers for future games in the series. It does a really fantrastic job fleshing out absolutely everything about what's to come in the future, while having an amazing standalone story in of itself. After that, play Yakuza Kiwami (PS4) as well. It's only 30 dollars and it's basically an expansion to Yakuza 0 with the story of Yakuza (PS2) and also lays the foundation for what's to come in the future as well.
All I know is, after playing the majority of what the series has to offer, I can soundly say it's my favorite Sega franchise of all time in both the past and present day Sega, as well as one of my favorite franchises in gaming as a whole.