So I'll preface this by saying that I started with Yakuza Kiwami. I know a lot of people say start with 0, but Kiwami was free on PS Plus a year or so back, and I didn't know if I'd like the franchise, so I thought "may as well play it for free and see how I feel". Enjoyed it quite a lot, so when Yakuza 0 was on sale recently for about £3.99 on Playstation Store, I made the purchase.
Anyway, fantastic game. I really enjoyed Yakuza Kiwami, but 0 kind of craps all over it. The writing throughout is absolutely phenomenal. It strikes the perfect balance between tense, gripping, heart-breaking, funny and outright ridiculousness. The absurd nature of most of the substories juxtaposes with the fairly gritty main narrative superbly. Props to the voice actors too for bringing it all to life; I usually can't stand subbed games/movies, but I'm happy to make an exception for this franchise. Kiryu is obviously fantastic, but diving into Majima's backstory is a real treat too (although I don't like his fighting styles or money making minigame as much as Kiryu's). Loved seeing more of Nishiki, Reina, Kazama, Sera and Dojima. It'll make revisiting Kiwami a worthwhile experience (especially now that I've learned to love Nishiki, which kind of breaks my heart).
Strong 9/10, and it makes its way into my list of my favourite video games of all time. I'll take a little break before diving in Kiwami 2 since I don't want to get burned out, but I'm very much all in on this franchise. I hear 5 is a lot of people's favourite, so I look forward to getting there. Naturally, I'll be dipping out of the sub-reddit because, you know, spoilers and all that. I just needed to find a place to gush all over the game.

Hey all,
So I've been into Yakuza for a couple of years, yet I've really only played 4 start to finish.
The only system I own that can run the games is my PS3, which I barely use anymore, and I don't know Japanese at all, so I'm limited to 3, 4, 5, and Dead Souls.
4 was great, never got around to locating 3 (it's only hard-copy last I checked), 5 was...oof, I kept getting wrapped up in the Substories in 5 (the driving and the hunting) and it just threw off the pacing for me and I never finished the game...and I had no interest in Dead Souls - not big into zombies.
Always wanted to play 0, as well as Kiwami 1 and 2, but I never had enough extra cash in the budget to get a PS4. I did end up with a Switch as a Christmas gift about a year ago but that doesn't have any Yakuza games at all.
And so...with my current laptop on its last legs, I figured if my next one ran games, I wouldn't have to worry about getting a PS4 anytime soon.
And the beauty of that is, if I have a laptop that can run the Yakuza series (specifically the ones focusing on Kiryu, though I'd like to give the newer ones a shot too if possible), it'll probably be able to run other current games as well.
For years now I've been unable to play anything on my laptop that's more graphics-intensive than...Sonic or Among Us. So by using Yakuza as a benchmark, I'm sure my new laptop would be able to run other games I wanted to check out as well!
I bumped my budget up to $700-$900 and got a lot of recommendations here. I really would rather a laptop, since I can pick that up and take it with me when needed. Plus the only TV I have access to isn't very good (if I were to use it as a monitor).
TL;DR, if I wanted to play the Yakuza series on my new laptop and I had a budget of $700-$900 for it, would anyone have any recommendations on which laptop to go with? This is the only info I have to go on at the moment.
Thank you for reading!

>!Spoiler goes here!< 

Hello there, people browsing GiftofGames!
Here I would like to request Yakuza 0, one of the most recent additions (Not counting the remakes, Kiwami 1 and 2) to the franchise I recently rediscovered (In no small amount influenced by the Baka Mitai/Dame Dane memes), immediately beginning a playthrough of Yakuza 1 via a PS2 emulator (I am at about the last third of the game now, going to Osaka after meeting Dojima's wife).
Yakuza 0 has quite a few key features that make it superior to the original episode from 2005, most importantly:
The 80s, one of the most atmospheric decades ever to set a game in (good lord, that music)
The Majima storyline (I mean, who doesn't love Goro Majima? And this game has an entire part dedicated to him! Super cool indeed! su nao ni i love you)
All the fun activities, such as dancing, karaoke, the substories, the overall lightheartedness (at appropiate times, when meant to be serious, it can be a gut-wrenching story as well).
The story itself, matching the western crime dramas like Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven (an absolute classic that I love), or movies like The Godfather.
As I have mentioned above, the music, all in that distinct 80s style, that I all adore (seriously, my playlists currently are made of karaoke songs like Baka Mitai, Machine Gun Kiss, 24 Hour Cinderella, Judgement, and dance minigame songs like Friday Night, Disco Queen and so on).
The game is currently on sale on steam, at a whopping -75% discount, currently costing 4.99 euros.
My steam profile link: https://steamcommunity.com/id/CelloOfTheNight/

Get ready for a massive fucking wall of text built with my feels. I just finished Yakuza 0--so far, the only Yakuza game I've played--and promptly spoiled myself on the rest of Goro Majima's anti-hero arc throughout the series due to a combination of a quarantine situation and my unhealthy obsession with his lore, which I'm purging by writing this. While somewhat inconsistently written over the years, his transformation between Y0 and Y1/Kiwami 1 and ensuing characterization carries undiscussed literary depth within the context of details like his tattoo. It goes without saying that spoilers follow in the discussion, though I've blacked out some character reveals or deaths in the main post.
Biography/Character Development As series fans are aware, at some point between the end of Yakuza 0 (1988) and the start of the first Yakuza game/Yakuza Kiwami (1995/2005), our favorite one-eyed boi's personality does a 180 from a calm, collected gentleman to the Joker counterpart to Kiryu's Batman--at least, from the point of view of someone who started with Yakuza 0. Hell, Mark Hamill even voiced him in the English dub.
Fan discussion varies on whether Majima's crazy side (shown in most of the series and around the other yakuza post-Y0, and particularly in Kiwami 1) is an exaggerated defense mechanism for him to operate efficiently in the yakuza underworld, if his sane side (shown around civilians and occasionally Kiryu/Saejima, particularly in Y0 when he's imprisoned in his 'gilded cage' in Sotenbori) is a repressed/depressed act, or if both represent him accurately (à la Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde) and he's not acting. The only consistencies in his character seem to be his loyalty and his respect for people who display courage, honor, and independence. Out-of-universe, he debuted as an insane character who was later given backstory and depth; in-universe/in-game, chronologically, his seemingly gentle nature gives way to a maniac with touches of sanity. It is worth noting that the lead English translator for the game, Scott Strichart, has said that Majima "makes a conscious choice to... let loose," though this is never alluded to in-game.
To recount the rest of Majima's history: 1985 - We are unaware of how he acted pre-Yakuza 0, but know that he endured a year of isolated torture for insubordination to his superiors out of concern for his oath brother. 1988 - Yakuza 0 takes place. Even in Y0, Majima acts a little crazy at times in karaoke and in his Breaker Style, more so than Kiryu would. Additionally, during Y0, we see the loss of people he admires or who died to defend him, including Lee, Awano, Sagawa, and especially Nishitani--all of who contribute to his later personality. His wild persona is partially inspired by how he's treated while he's acting like a gentleman, including him being used by Sagawa and Shimano throughout the game--hence the 'dog' part of his 'mad dog' title--and giving up Makoto so she can have a happy life, both of which could have their own textposts. 1992 - As revealed in Yakuza 5 in 2012 anecdotally by his pop idol/superstar ex-wife Mirei Park: sometime between Y0 and Y1/Kiwami 1, he goes through an ill-fated marriage at 28 with a then-18-year-old, hits her after finding out she aborted their child without telling him, and divorces her in part to save her career. 2005 - The original Yakuza game/Kiwami 1 takes place. Majima stalks Kiryu every chance he gets. 2006 - After the events of Kiwami 2, Majima also temporarily leaves the yakuza to begin a construction company--a venture that recalls his business acumen and many dualities (civilian/criminal, destruction/construction, and the ultimate duality of the Yakuza series itself: strategic management minigame set against a lighthearted story/cartoonishly violent beat-em-up set against a serious story). (Majima continues to show up in future Yakuza games, but I haven't seen any character development easter eggs in his reactions to major game events like his oath brother Saejima being released from prison. Every biographer is biased, though--I believe I've underplayed Saejima's role in Majima's motivations simply because I've only played Y0, a game in which Saejima was barely mentioned. See character analysis by Scott Strichart in an AMA here) (contains major Y5 spoilers).
I argue that Majima's tattoo, which existed pre-1985, foretells his arc and represents the conscious dualities of his nature.
The Tattoo Concept art of Majima's tattoo Y0 Majima wearing the tattoo on his front Y0 Majima wearing the tattoo on his back
Every Yakuza (game) character's tattoo has an animal or figure that symbolizes them to some extent, but I believe Majima's has a deeper connection to his story arc as opposed to just his personality. (The same could be argued for Nishikiyama's koi in relation to Kiryu's dragon and Japanese folklore, or how four of the protagonists' tattoos from later games represent the four Eastern Guardians, but those are their own walls of text.)
According to the Yakuza fandom wiki (emphasis mine):

[Majima's tattoo] covers his biceps, upper chest, and stretches from his neck to the back of his thighs. It consists of a floral motif (similar to Shimano's), with a Hannya on his back, and twin snakes wrapped around his arms and chest.

I'm going to analyze Majima's tattoo in two parts: the symbology of the twin snakes in relation to his arc and the symbology of the Hannya.
Snakes - Analysis Why the snake, of all animals, to represent Majima? Why not the dog, given that his nickname is 'The Mad Dog of Shimano'? While Majima matches the energy and loyalty of a dog, a dog would represent only the acted, artificial facets of his personality: him being 'leashed' in Sotenbori or 'barking' at thugs. Even this nickname is a red herring; if he were called 'The Serpent of Shimano,' that'd ruin the point of his entire façade(s). The serpent, in addition to a plethora of more specific cultural and historical symbologies associated with it, is hidden, agile, flexible, cunning, and deadly. This suits both of Majima's personalities more completely--even as his 'Lord of the Night' persona, in his Y0 introduction, he uses calculated, indirect methods to deal with a disruptive customer as the manager of The Grand. (In my opinion, all of the Youtube video clips of this introduction leave out the best part: the end of the night, when the player controlling him returns to a tiny, bare apartment on the trashy side of town after having just made 100 million yen managing his lavish cabaret, and collapses sleeplessly on a bare mat on the floor for another night of PTSD flashbacks.) In battle, especially in Y1/Kiwami onwards, Majima's style is quick and knife-like, relying on his speed and agility rather than brute physical force. We also see in multiple cutscenes, especially in Y0 (if you don't already believe he's acting most of the time either way), that he's capable of deception and guarding secrets when needed.
This begs the second question--why twin snakes? As you can see in the concept art linked above, one of the snakes--the one prominently displayed on his chest--has its mouth open as if to strike, whereas the other--less visible and hanging off his shoulder--does not. They may represent the series' recurring theme of the Yakuza way of life being a dichotomy between criminality and civility. The snake alone represents the infinite cycle of death and rebirth in the classic symbol of the ouroboros, where it eats its own tail, and also has been portrayed for the dual contrasts of medicine/poison and good/evil. Whenever Majima embodies one of his personas, he 'sheds' the skin of the other, because much like pedestrian life (blood/married family, legitimate business, honesty, civility, tuxedo used for work, and long hair tied back) and Yakuza life (crime/sworn family, illicit business, manipulation, violence, snakeskin jacket that he chose, and loose short hair), the two are incompatible. His eyes are also symbolic in this way: one eye sees normally, while the other is mutilated and covered with a black eyepatch. This duality is displayed in Majima's many "snake skins," for (minor Kiwami 1 spoilers ahead) Majima is neither female (Goromi), lawful (Officer Majima), dead (Zombie Majima), a beloved celebrity (in-universe, anyway--Everyone's Idol Goro), nor a domestic service worker (at least in Kiwami 1--Taxi Driver Majima). We'll cover his last persona, Hannya-man, in the next section. The reason for Majima's duality existing is that psychologically, Majima needs both in order to be healthy and true to what he is: he needs to ground himself on occasion so he doesn't totally fly off the handle, and inversely, he needs to let his 'crazy' out in order to stay sane.
Hannya - Analysis According to the Wikipedia article for Hannya:

The Hannya mask is said to be demonic and dangerous but also sorrowful and tormented, displaying the complexity of human emotions. When the actor looks straight ahead, the mask appears frightening and angry; when tilted slightly down, the face of the demon appears to be sorrowful, as though crying.

The original Japanese legend of the Hannya tells the story of a jealous, hideous she-demon-slash-beautiful woman twisted by betrayal. The 'frightening' side of the Hannya is Majima's crazy side that he shows in battle and when dealing with other yakuza, whereas the 'sorrowful' side is Majima's life outside of the yakuza. In real-world Japanese culture, the face of the Hannya is a mask used in kabuki theatre; Majima is wearing a mask at all times (both figuratively, and also on the tattoo on his back). There is no one in the world whom Majima can show both his sensitive/caring side without being hurt or manipulated, and his bloodthirsty/criminal side (he joined the yakuza of his own free will multiple times and seems to enjoy the thrill of a fight) without being feared or putting others in danger, to except for possibly the powerful but righteous and emotionally-balanced Kiryu, which helps explain why Majima's so drawn to him.
We now focus our attention on Hannya-man, one of Majima's masks that he literally wears in a battle against Kiryu. In Kiwami 1, the main reason he fights Kiryu, despite threatening to kill him, is conversely to make Kiryu stronger after Kiryu gets out of ten years of prison. At the end of Yakuza 0 and Kiwami 2 (this entire section is gonna be one big spoiler about Majima's personal life through Yakuza Kiwami 2 and Yakuza 5 - I wouldn't click past the next spoiler if you haven't played Kiwami 2), Majima goes out of his way to avoid revealing who he is to Makoto in-person, even though he loves her; his ignorance of her in order to shield her from the yakuza life is his greatest act of love. It's interesting how much Makoto and Mirei compare and contrast in their personalities and relationship with Majima. This addresses the question of why the Hannya mask appears "sorrowful, as though crying" from a different angle. Majima never fully got over Makoto, the only character who understood what his year of torture and losing an eye was like; when Makoto gives him a massage and some closure by chance at the end of Kiwami 2 after she reveals that she ended up having a son with the doctor who saved her, Majima mutters to himself that by thanking him and telling him that she's been happy, she's untied some loose knots he's had "for 18 years." He's kept count of this in his head. The game executes the 'show-not-tell' rule of storytelling masterfully here--Majima never directly shows her nor tells anyone that he's in love with her. We only get this impression by his body language, actions, and dialogue from other characters like Shimano. Majima doesn't discuss his civilian life, at least in-game. We wouldn't even know about (major Y5 spoiler) his failed marriage and dead baby from 1992 if it weren't for another character's dialogue in Yakuza 5. For all we know, Majima could really want to become a father, but can't--in addition to his actions (again, Y5) towards Mirei upon finding out what she did, he displays fatherly instincts multiple times during Y0's civilian substories/hostess training, especially towards Yuki, and throwaway lines of dialogue during those trainings indicate he's not completely averse to having a kid. Unlike the Hannya in her jealous fury, Majima accepts that he would never receive a 'happy ending' from his relationship with Makoto, only a bittersweet one. Yes, that was a symbolic massage pun. His civilian life is, in some ways, ironically more tragic than his yakuza one.
To conclude, Majima's tattoos tell their own lore--that of the multiple dualities of his story and character arc.
I'll wrap up with a quote from Kurt Vonnegut, a 20th century writer who turned to the absurd to sculpt the effects of PTSD:

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.

Additional miscellaneous credit for this writeup goes to commenters on Youtube, Tumblr, Reddit, and various gaming forums.

>!Spoiler goes here!< 

Hi. I'm so happy to finally be writing this. As I'm writing, it's 5:46 am in the morning. (IT'S 6:40 AM SINCE I HIT BACK ON MY PHONE AND LOST ALL OF MY WRITING)! :(((
I beat the game like an hour ago. (3 hours ago)
So, first of all. This was my introduction to the Yakuza series. I had heard of it in the past but never paid it attention (I hate myself for that).
So, as a new player I didn't know what awaited me: One of the most amazing gaming experiences in my life! <3
I remember buying this game back in December 2017!! Holy shit, it took me a while!
But I was finally able to finish it. Why it took me so long?
Well I decided to go for the 100% of the game. Now if you know anything about Yakuza you know its a real bitch trying to get it. I remember reading people on the web talking about how the game took about 120 hours to fully complete it, or to even get the Platinum trophy
Seriously, what the hell? 120 hours wasn't enough for me. It took me 216 hours to fully get the 100%!! I remember when I was 80 hours in and how I was thinking, only 40 hours more and I'll finally get that Platinum trophy. How wrong was I.
And I haven't got the Platinum trophy. I still need to beat most of the Climax battles (I was doing them as I was unlocking them so I didn't have to do them all at once, but damn. The game decided to unlock most of them until you finish the game. Welp, fuck me).
So, like I told you, this was my introduction to Yakuza.
So wasn't expecting things like Mahjong or the friggin batting cages.
Actually Mahjong was one of the first things I got out of the way. It took me forever, omg! But I dealt with it, and I was so proud and happy. I thought the worst was left behind and that everything from there was gonna be easier... But HELL NO!!
Shortly after Mahjong, I decided to the the batting cages. I hated them with a passion, though I don't remember much about the minigame since I never touched it again after dealing with it.
Now I could finally say that the worst was behind, right? No, I wasn't.
I had to get good at the dancing minigame. And not only I had to beat all three difficulties with every song. There was also a damned substory where I had to do really good.
Later I was introduced to shogi and I had to win without using help! I was pissed.
And later came the arcade games. Run out really wore me out. The game asking me to get 5 million points was just sadistic. It was mocking me.
But I got it. And everything was gonna be fine.
And then the Cat's Fighting minigame came And I thought it was gonna be fun. But no. The game was just hitting me in the balls, minigame after minigame.
By that time I had already beat all the races with the car toys. And I suffered in those too. And I was happy to beat all the courses... Until the game decided that I had to beat the very best racers of Kamurocho. That was low. And it hurt me. Bad.
Back to the cat's fighting minigame, the game not only asked me to make profit. But to win 10 tournaments!! What in the actual ass!!? My hands hurt after I dealt with that bs.
Everything was going smoothly, until I had that fateful encounter at the Arcade in Sotenbori. FANTASY ZONE!!! Looking back, I can tell you that Fantasy Zone was the worst thing in the game!!
I dunno how much it took me, but I got it. And everything has to be easier now? This time for real, right?
Well, I found out that I had to get 100 weapons and 70 gear items. And RNG was not my friend. I can't tell how much money and time I spent in the weapons searching feature. :(((
I was tired.
RNG was not my friend. It wasn't in any of the minigames I've mentioned so far :((
And it was more clear when I got access to the hobbo minigames at the park. I wanted to punch all those homeless guys sooo badly, lol. Xdd
But all that was dealt with. Once again I was victorious. And then RNG attacked again at the telephone club. I enjoyed that minigame...
Until I found out I had to find 7 girls instead of 3. That was low. And even if I liked the minigame, I ended up tired of it
And then the game threw at me the tournament under Sotenbori. It was ok, but a pain to grind so much in order to rank up. I didn't wanted to see any of it again after I was done (though it was a nice surprise when I saw that damned bear I had to fight with).
During all my journey, what helped me getting through it all was the AMAZING STORY!! <3
OMG! WHAT A STORYLINE! It made me laugh, get mad, yell at the screen and cry.
But I knew that I had to finish all the side stuff before finishing the story. Why?
Because I knew that if I finished the story first, I wouldn't feel motivated to finish everything else.
I treated the storyline as a reward.
Everytime I dealt with some hard ass stuff, I treated myself by letting me advance a little in the story. It was my ultimate motivation.
I ended up loving Kiryu and Majima so much <3 I was so excited to see them meet for the first time. But the game just teased me. When that scene at the end appeared and they met each other, I was fangirling so much, at 4 am. Lol.
I loved Makoto. In fact, I think I fell for her. Wanted to protect her at all cost. So it really hurt me to see everything she went through. I cried alongside Majima at the hospital for her.
I really liked Tachibana. He was such a cool guy. But I felt betrayed by him when I saw the bat on his arm. I had mixed feelings. How did this awesome man could do that to Makoto?
And then came out the truth about Oda. And I was again on Tachibana's side. But I lost him. And I cried and mourned him alongside Makoto in that damned empty lot.
It was so satisfying to destroy Kuze in that torture chamber. But it still hurt a lot after that.
Then there's Oda. I liked the guy, I really did. But ended up hating him. How could he do this to us? Selfish prick. Almost felt pity for him when he got gunned down. Almost.
So I reached the end, just before going after Dojima and Shibusawa.
I was so ready to keep going. And the game stopped me. I still had side stuff to do. LOL.
I finished the Five Stars storyline, but Jesus, I hated how slow your properties leveled up in the Media King turf. And I had to get every property to rank S. EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!!
Abd after that I finished Majima's cabaret storyline. I loved that one.
The cabaret minigame was so good. And the girls were ADORABLE, specially Yuki. I loved her. She's right up there with Makoto as my waifus, lol.
After that I was ready until I noticed I was missing a gold hostess. I searched like crazy until I discovered I had to dance 3 times in at the dancing club... only to battle against three new opponents at dancing. I was sooooo tired.
The game just kept refusing to be completed. And I was ready for the final battle. I took Kiryu up to Nishiki and... NO!! BEFORE THAT I HAD TO BEAT 400 ENEMIES WITH THE NEWLY ACQUIRED FIGHTING STYLES!! Seriously, I was so desperate at that point. Lol
I finally did it, and what an amazing award awaited me. The conclusion finally came. Those final battles were worth everything.
So good to kick that stupid Chinese assassin who shot Makoto. I was yelling so excited when Majima broke his stupid nose. Lol.
And it was soooo good to see Shibusawa and Dojima defeated.
MAN WHAT A GAME!! I LOVED IT!! I LOVE YAKUZA 0
Even if the game hated me at moments
Can't wait to play Kiwami. (I have it and Kiwami 2 sealed in my shelf)
But wait, I still gotta get that Platinum.
I've heard the climax battles are really tough (I did then as they were unlocking, but the game decided to lock most of them until you beat the game, so I have a lot to do)
And then there's legendary difficulty. I hate when games lock a difficulty. Why do I gotta finish the game twice?? Oh well, at least the story is so good. <3
I'll let you all know if I ever get that damned Platinum Trophy.
Much love. And if you also go for that 100%, good luck my friend <3
My final results screen.

At the end of 2019, I’d found myself in the middle of SEVERAL large games. I normally play more than one game at a time, but I’d gotten in a little too deep and it was starting to stress me, so I decided to the first few months of 2020 to finish some of the games I’m currently in the middle of. And I was successful in finishing one very large game!
Yakuza 0
Pros: I thought the story of this game was FANTASTIC. I loved the characters, especially Majima. Multiple times I found myself laughing or crying. The voice acting was superb, the relationships felt real, and honestly, I just loved the story so much. And the combat was also fun, easy to learn, and always a blast to watch. Heat moves never failed to entertain me, and when I was finally able to use each character’s ultimate fighting style? Holy crap, you guys, it was amazing. Again, especially Majima’s. I loved just flying through the ranks of my enemies and slashing them to pieces, I would’ve continued to fight a thousand battles as Majima just to keep using the Mad Dog of Shimano fighting style. Kiryu’s legendary fighting style was also fun, but I didn’t connect with him as a character or a fighter nearly as much I did Majima, so I tended to find his story sections a bit dry. Also, the cabaret business substory is faaaaar better than the real estate business substory. Fight me on this, I have opinions.
Cons: The minigames. I know that’s what the Yakuza series is about for most people, but honestly, there’s too much. And so many substories are locked behind minigames that after about the 60 or 70 hour mark of playing this game, I just started looking up online how to get through them the quickest. Maybe it’s just because I’m not much of a minigame person to begin with, but I could’ve done with way less. I also think they took away from the story a bit. When you have to abandon your mission to go to do some disco, karaoke, fishing, then run the cabaret club for like a month, gamble a bit with some homeless people, and spend a few hours climbing the ranks of the pocket circuit racing club, etc etc, it just kind of takes from some of the intensity I think the game was trying to convey. And don’t get me wrong, I had a blast initially with the minigames, it was just...they never ended. If I wanted to own all the properties in a particular area to further my real estate business, well, I had to get really fucking good at playing Out Run. But I really didn’t like Out Run much at all, outside of playing it once or twice for the novelty. If I wanted to hire a certain manager onto my team, I had to bowl a turkey at the bowling club. It took me somewhere around a solid hour to do this. It got frustrating. I just wanted to play the game and not have everything locked behind these stupid minigames!
Would I recommend it? Yes, absolutely. I think the story is good enough to carry the game, even if the minigames do start to bog it down after a bit. I also think, if one didn’t care about maxing out their fighting styles or unlocking fighting abilities, there wouldn’t be much of an issue in just ignoring the minigames and substories and just powering through the plot. Were I too replay the game, I’d probably go this route.
​
February gaming plans: I would like to finish, or make serious progress, on another big game from my list. Lately, I've been absolutely obsessed with Fire Emblem: Three Houses. I've finished the Golden Deer route (Claude is bae and the best of all the house lords, fight me on this) and I've started my second playthrough. I'm going Black Eagles, the Edelgard route, so it's as different from my initial playthrough as possible. I like the story a bit better in this route and I think the units are stronger, but I definitely don't like Edelgard as much as I loved Claude. I might marry Dorothea this time. But I'd like to finish this route and make some significant progress in Blue Lions by the end of February. I'd also like to play a bit more of Horizon Zero Dawn. It's not going to be my focus game, but I want to play enough that I don't forget the combat controls.
Lastly, I want to finish a couple small games. I'm almost done with Gato Roboto, a cute little metroidvania (or meowtroidvania!) where you play as a cat in a mech suit! I don't have a second game in mind right at this moment, but I'll think of something. I'll probably also be playing some more of my favorite roguelikes: Into the Breach and Slay the Spire.

Just finished Yakuza 4. Here's my mini-review/impressions of it. There's a spoiler free section first for those interested, then we go into specifics. Hope you find it interesting.
--- Spoiler free section ---
Outside the story, there's not much that's different from 3 in 4. The game came out only one year after Y3 and it definitely shows they focused on the story and the 4 characters for this game. But there are a few things worth mentioning.
They expanded Kamurocho greatly. There's an entire undergound parking lot as well as an underground mall and a network of accessible rooftops. This was so cool. Being able to look down on the streets you did so many substories in and fought so many battles on, gives a really cool feeling. It must have been great for people at the time to experience that for the first time. I appreciated the underground mall as well even though there was only 1 store you can interact with. I didn't care, I liked that they were building out the world and that you could finally go underground in Kamurocho.
At the same time though, it frustrated me a little seeing them do this all those years back, while on the Dragon Engine there's no access to any of these places, with the exception of a much smaller number of select rooftops and the one linear sewer section underneath the children's park. I wish they kept at least the underground mall in the Dragon Engine so you don't have to run into an invisible wall at those stairs over and over when you're passing along the side of Showa Street. Plus, it was only a small area that should be pretty easy to maintain for the long-term. I just feel like something was lost going from the older games into the new ones. I really hope they intend on bringing them back in the Ichiban saga. It would give Kamurocho some extra volume and new places for shady substories to take place and such.
In any case, I really liked the ambition of Yakuza 3 and 4. So much content, so many minigames right out the gate with a few extras in 4 and all kinds of small rooms that you can't access on your own but are part of the story instead. Really dug it.
I'm also impressed with how each character really had their own fighting style and character specific moves. Akiyama utilizing a lot of kicks, Saejima using brute force and Tanimura having a parry heavy style with a nice taunt as well. I thought the fact that you had to level them up one by one was handled far better than I expected. I fully assumed I was gonna level them up point by point, but the game is pretty generous with how many moves you can unlock at a time and gives them out very regularly too.
So in all, I very much salute what they've done with Kamurocho and the work that went into the styles. Now for the story.
--- Spoiler section ---
What can I say about this story? It has some of the highest highs and many of the lowest lows in the series so far. Put simply, I felt that the first half of it was excellent. I found it to be intriguing (Akiyama), moving (Saejima), and cool (early parts of Tanimura).
The second half however was a disservice and a plain defilement of the concept of 'storytelling' by an amateur's understanding of 'plot twists'. I don't think I've ever seen a promising story drop the ball so hard in my life. Just when I thought Yakuza 3 rectified things with a much easier to understand story, 4 comes barging in having learned absolutely nothing of past mistakes. The directowriter must have thought after 3: "Wait, people don't want a carefully told story with a gradual build up of characters and their motivations, they want 10 million backstabs and characters that just stand by and watch as nothing continues to make sense!" Oh, RGG Studio...
Anyway, we'll get to some specifics, but let's get the positives from the story out the way first.
The game starts of quite mysteriously and the first hour or so definitely feels a little 'off'. Akiyama is an interesting guy and I liked his secretary Hana a lot. The cutscene that followed with Kido and his family was certainly odd and the game keeps you uncertain what to think of this Akiyama guy. But, little by little, cutscene by cutscene, you start to like Akiyama more and more and are even charmed by his ways. Many things definitely don't make sense yet, but you trust that things will reveal themselves as you go. And they do.
Once Akiyama's chapter (somewhat abruptly) ends, we switch over to Saejima and boy, did the game step up here. We get to see a young Saejima and a two-eyed Majima secretly planning out their attack and I was so excited to see the entire Ueno hit cutscene play out ever since seeing the snippet in Yakuza 0's flashback. Dang, that cutscene is one of the most bad ass things in the entire series, if not in gaming imo. Obviously, he gets captured and sent to prison for the next 25 years after that, but I was glued to the screen. Especially when we got to see a Metal Gear-esque timeline to quickly catch up with what happened since then. I was like, woah. This sure is different. He gets sent to a high security Okinawa prison where he immediately escapes with none other than Hamazaki from Yakuza 3. Really weird to see what I expected to be one of the three yakuza bosses from Y3, turn into kind of a good guy at heart. But what a cool chapter this was. Getting to discover Taiga's fighting style while breaking out of prison and ending off with a somewhat moving cutscene when Saejima considers Hamazaki a brother, was a roller coaster of emotions. And then he washes up in front of Kiryu's orphanage of all places. Cause that's what Okinawa is to RGG Studio lol. If you're in Okinawa, you're either at Kiryu's orphanage or in a prison, until we say otherwise. That's how Yakuza works.
Unfortunately, this is the beginning of Yakuza 4's descent into stupidity. But not before a really awesome 4th wall breaking battle between Saejima and Kiryu. YOOOOO, that was something! Getting Tiger Drop'd by Kiryu and seeing him do his full combo on you, was something that both messed with my mind and caused me to orgasm as the same time. I knew exactly what Kiryu was going to do because I know all his moves from 4 previous games and got to see it from an opponent's view for the first time as well. This was such a cool moment that no doubt will stay with me as one of the highlights of the entire series once all is said and done.
Now in my opinion, it's when Saejima arrives in Kamurocho that things start to grind to a halt. The game starts padding with Saejima searching for leads on the whereabouts of the Sasai family, he gets in touch with people like the florist and Kido in a weird way, and after that you finally meet up with Majima. And man, how awkward is that cutscene. Majima bringing out all his family members, filling up seemingly all of Kamurocho. It's so cringeworthy when they do that. You get a really frustrating fight with Majima in the batting center reminiscent of the one in Kiwami which sure sucked the excitement out of me and brought in frustration and not much more. A really uneven ending to an overall great act in my opinion.
Then we switch over to Tanimura and I thought he had a well done fighting style and it was cool that he speaks Chinese and most of his chapters involve Little Asia that you couldn't access up to that point. Until the notorious reveal of who actually killed those Ueno men 25 years ago... Damn, those rubber bullets are every bit as ridiculous as I've gathered before playing the game. It's such a leap of logic and just a weird narrative decision to make. I kinda blame myself for not thinking something was off because they never let you play as someone who kills, but what was I supposed to think when I saw this huge guy I knew nothing about kill guy after guy with guns? This is where RGG Studio paints itself in such a stupid corner, cause after playing a few of these games, you can never be sure if someone is actually dead when they get shot. Maybe he missed a vital organ, maybe it he had an bullet broof vest on, maybe he just missed a shot? Or maybe he was firing rubber bullets... I'm officially done with this crap. I am completely indifferent whenever a character points a gun at someone from here on out. It ain't worth it to get all invested cause it's just so bad how they utilize guns in this series. I know I'm not watching some Hollywood $100M+ production, but this is simple gun/death logic like, come on...
I made a post earlier about why RGG Studio should limit their use of guns in these yakuza games, I'll link it below. I made that post before playing 4, and I just want that post now to be mailed to Japan, cause good lord...
https://www.reddit.com/yakuzagames/comments/acq1qn/opinion_guns_are_not_doing_this_series_any_favors/
Moving on, Kiryu is weird in this game. When he talks to Taiga in chapter 2, he sounds overly straight-laced and even kind of a snitch. He tells him to go back to prison which, considering he spent 10 years in prison himself, he even mentions that to Saejima, you would think he could empathize with him more? Telling a guy on death row to go back to the prison he escaped, is just insulting. "Oh, you escaped your certain death? You know, you should really go back and pay for your crime." I know there's a strong sense of justice in Japan, but that sense of justice ended as soon as Taiga says he escaped DEATH. ROW. I don't care how righteous you are, you ain't convincing anyone to go back and face a punishment like that in any society. But hey, either I'm mistaken on Japanese culture, or we have an overly excited writer trying really hard to influence the Japanese player that you should be good no matter the cost... I wonder.
I could go on and on. I mean seriously, the second half of this game shits the bed so hard, it's difficult to even begin pointing out all the mistakes. Fighting Daigo out of nowhere at the end of the game was stupid, Tanimura's fight with the SWAT team was beyond frustrating, and everything that happens at the top of Kamurocho Hills does not deserve to be wasted any breath on. The fact that the main characters somehow survive all that horrible storytelling with their personalities intact is honestly a small miracle...
---wrapping up---
As soon as I beat the game, I didn't want to interact with it anymore. I didn't want to do any substories, I didn't want to do any side activities, didn't want to level anyone up any further, I was just done with it. I hated interacting with a game that took characters that I love to such idiotic places. I didn't even want to think about the story too much longer to see potentially cool references that I didn't catch with hindsight. I was just done.
I wasn't a big fan of Kiwami/Yakuza 2 because of many of the same reasons. Faulty character choices, obsession with going big and involving all kinds of organizations for the hell of it, stupid plot armor reasoning. I like the Yakuza games that are more personal to Kiryu and keep it down to earth and to things that are directly related to Kiryu. Which is why I loved Yakuza 0, Kiwami and 3 so much. Currently I'd rank the games I've played so far as follows: Y0 > Kiwami > Y3 > Y4 > Kiwami 2. The only reason why Kiwami 2 is at the bottom is because I thought when 4 does have its high, it's really good. Fighting Kiryu was definitely one such high. The Ueno hit cutscene another one (trying my hardest not to think about what's actually going on in that cutscene though) and getting to know Akiyama was really great. A strong and likable character for the future no doubt. 4 gets lucky in that regard, it would definitely have ended last if not for those moments.
Well, that's my Yakuza 4 experience, a chapter in the Yakuza timeline I want to forget as soon as I can. It makes a strong case as to why you should take proper time on each Yakuza project no matter how ambitious it will be. Cranking it out a year after Y3 despite reusing Kamurocho proved too soon in the end.
On to 5, which I'm pretty excited about. If you have any opinions on my review, feel free to share them if you agree or disagree. Would love to know what others think about 4. Thanks.
https://preview.redd.it/pwn4xosgu6h21.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ef6486c2ceadfd32687650dfeb14ff9d6ada09d7