Can't see a 1st play, rather surprisingly, for this last outing for the mighty Kiryu Kazuma, so here's one. Reviews I've read criticized the game for being too personal on story, for not featuring all the old favourites as heavily as some might want (Akiyama, Saejima, Majima, etc.), for cutting some of the mini-games (e.g. pool, pachinko, UFO catchers, most of the gambling games) and areas (champion district), and for limiting the fighting moveset.
These are probably all valid to a degree, but currently I'm not feeling this loss too badly. The story, while more personal, has a lot of the usual heavyweight plotlines and manly melodrama, what with
This feels as Yakuza-like in its plot as any I've played before, with some cool new villains and protagonists. Takeshi Kitano is in it FFS.
The new environment - a sleepy seaside town in Hiroshima - is fantastic. It offers a wonderful change of pace and visual appeal from Kamurocho. The game also has the usual array of side-stories that Kiryu - through a character quirk of social/technological naivety and goofy curiosity - never fails to get involved in. These are as crazy as any I've seen before, including getting tutored in how to use sexy web chat (very funny but about as arousing as a Carry On film) or dealing with a smartphone AI personal assistant that is intent on world domination. There are fewer of these than normal, about 50, when the games often feature nearer to 100. The fewer mini-games are balanced out by some by completely new and apparently quite substantial ones (e.g., managing a baseball team, spear fishing, neither of which I've encountered yet), so whether you feel short changed in these matters is a question of taste I guess. It still has mahjong so I'm happy.
The one area where the game undoubtedly out-performs the previous ones is in the environmental presentation and the impact this has on gameplay. There are now no loading transitions when getting involved in a fight or when entering a building, so it's all seamless. This makes a huge difference to how the game feels and plays. You can line-up a bunch of hoodlums down the street and start a run up if you fancy. Being able to see into and out of shops increases immersion a lot. Also, you can chuck your assailant through the doors/windows of shops and restaurants and continue the fight inside, perhaps - if you fancy - microwaving some dude's head in the convenience store oven. A new first person view makes the environments a pleasure to stroll around, although it snaps back into 3rd person for conversations and combat. All this comes at a performance cost, however, with minor screen tear being quite frequent, especially indoors. (I'm playing on a standard PS4).
Last word about the fighting moveset. Yakuza 0 had 2 player characters with 3 distinct fighting styles apiece. Yakuza 6 has 1 player character with 1 fighting style. I get that people are miffed by this, but my fighting-brain never responded well to quick changes between styles and I'm enjoying getting to know this one in more depth. The combat feels as comically brutal as ever and - unlike Yakuza 0 - baddies don't explode in a shower of cash at the merest tap. Some fights gain you nothing, so I think you need to fight stylishly to get them to drop money. The way combat/moves and power-ups are managed through your smartphone is another plus as it streamlines the presentation of this and all other kinds of game info, making for a much neater and more stylish presentation/HUD/menu system than previous Yakuzas.
In short, it's early days but I'm really enjoying it.
These are probably all valid to a degree, but currently I'm not feeling this loss too badly. The story, while more personal, has a lot of the usual heavyweight plotlines and manly melodrama, what with
This feels as Yakuza-like in its plot as any I've played before, with some cool new villains and protagonists. Takeshi Kitano is in it FFS.
The new environment - a sleepy seaside town in Hiroshima - is fantastic. It offers a wonderful change of pace and visual appeal from Kamurocho. The game also has the usual array of side-stories that Kiryu - through a character quirk of social/technological naivety and goofy curiosity - never fails to get involved in. These are as crazy as any I've seen before, including getting tutored in how to use sexy web chat (very funny but about as arousing as a Carry On film) or dealing with a smartphone AI personal assistant that is intent on world domination. There are fewer of these than normal, about 50, when the games often feature nearer to 100. The fewer mini-games are balanced out by some by completely new and apparently quite substantial ones (e.g., managing a baseball team, spear fishing, neither of which I've encountered yet), so whether you feel short changed in these matters is a question of taste I guess. It still has mahjong so I'm happy.
The one area where the game undoubtedly out-performs the previous ones is in the environmental presentation and the impact this has on gameplay. There are now no loading transitions when getting involved in a fight or when entering a building, so it's all seamless. This makes a huge difference to how the game feels and plays. You can line-up a bunch of hoodlums down the street and start a run up if you fancy. Being able to see into and out of shops increases immersion a lot. Also, you can chuck your assailant through the doors/windows of shops and restaurants and continue the fight inside, perhaps - if you fancy - microwaving some dude's head in the convenience store oven. A new first person view makes the environments a pleasure to stroll around, although it snaps back into 3rd person for conversations and combat. All this comes at a performance cost, however, with minor screen tear being quite frequent, especially indoors. (I'm playing on a standard PS4).
Last word about the fighting moveset. Yakuza 0 had 2 player characters with 3 distinct fighting styles apiece. Yakuza 6 has 1 player character with 1 fighting style. I get that people are miffed by this, but my fighting-brain never responded well to quick changes between styles and I'm enjoying getting to know this one in more depth. The combat feels as comically brutal as ever and - unlike Yakuza 0 - baddies don't explode in a shower of cash at the merest tap. Some fights gain you nothing, so I think you need to fight stylishly to get them to drop money. The way combat/moves and power-ups are managed through your smartphone is another plus as it streamlines the presentation of this and all other kinds of game info, making for a much neater and more stylish presentation/HUD/menu system than previous Yakuzas.
In short, it's early days but I'm really enjoying it.
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