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4:09:03 important timestamp

Please change the title to: 'Why getting into Yakuza makes me hard' Thanks

honestly i can rant longer about this game

About why saejima went back to jail, sure he was proven innocent and the statue of limitations is up, but he did cause a prison riot, beat up the security, and escape. It's not justified and doesn't explain why he feels like he needs to go back, but the cops aren't gonna let that slide.

The choice to name it Yakuza in the first place was a huge mistake, it was only to entice westerners to try the game out with the obsession over GTA and many other crime sandbox games beginning to dominate the trends. Considering throughout the entire franchise, the only time your part of an actual Yakuza in the role is a handful of small events in certain games, it never made sense to name it Yakuza. Just one of them mistakes the franchise has to move on from.

Honestly something like mahjong soul is probably a better way to learn mahjong than yakuza

Thank you for the brilliant video. I managed to play this when it came to the Xbox. The only things I really hated about it was the Tuna fishing and the Amon fight for Kiryu. Other than that it was a brilliant game worth playing

Blame Kiwami 2 for that one.

Even if you enjoyed the Majima Everywhere system, you won't deny that it would get super annoying later on and worst of all, it does dumb down his significance in Yakuza 0, although i really recommend you play the original Yakuza on PS2 with the Restored mod. In my opinion (though i think it's a fact), Kiwami doesn't need the universal treatment and that what it infuriates me about Yakuza Kiwami.

Mine should be in the top 5 strongest of the series, if you want to gauge someone’s power you look at kiryu after the fight, he was completely out of breath and heavily beaten after fighting mine and nishiki and he can’t beat saejima while he comfortably took out people like goda (3 times) aizawa (while being shot and gradually bleeding) and little baby iwami (weakest final boss, a heavily injured kiryu trashed him) you can say shibusawa gave young kiryu a good fight though since he left him exhausted after their duel

This is a movie not a game

I do remember that a high school friend of my thought it was humorous that after getting into the series though Yakuza 0, while hanging out with him and passing by a gaming store, I bought Dead Souls because they just happened to have it on their shelves. "You just got into the series and the first thing you do is buy the third person shooter spin off?" "Yes."

Yakuza 5 it's one of the best games that I ever play, I know it's not perfect, but isn't necessary for the game to be perfect to be a worthy experience, this video its a love letter to one of my favorite games and I want to thank you for taking this personal approach whit the game that makes me cry like a baby every time that I see the end scene

the legendary yakuza 5 script has been revealed

Randomly steam purchased this title. My god, what a brilliant work of art. Steam sale at Xmas and I got every title. Playing zero now, and realized I played the last one first lol oops. The writing is astoundingly good for any art but video games especially. Japan games aren’t usually my thing but I grew up on Shenmue and this is so inspired by those titles

Y0 is the hardest if you use the charasmatic autobiography and the rage ring. Outside of that it doesn't belong in a discussion of the hardest game. The hardest for me personally gotta be Kurohyou 1 and 2, Lost paradise. Btw Leon is not right about Kh2 vid, since he doesn't even discuss group enounters. Instead he talks about how a max level mini boss on the hardest difficulty that's optional is bad game design.

just start with 0 you get more lore than in kiwami

1:33:50 Tbh, with all knight in shining armor around Haruka thing, I lowkey thought while playing the game, that Akiyama and Haruka somehow will end up together, as in relationship much later. I was spoiled that 6th game starts with Kiryu kicking Akiyama's butt, so it was all coming together)

I started with Yakuza 7 then Yakuza 0 then Infinite Wealth I played like 2-3 chapters of 0. Almost beat 7 but gave up. Currently playing infinite wealth. I just play whichever one that appeals to me most.

man... there was a lot going on in Yakuza 5 BUT there were a lot of admirable moments that I look back on fondly such as Kiryu's taxi mini game, Saejima's hunting mini game, and Haruka's idol mini game. the visuals were stunning at that point in the engine and there were one or two moments that made me feel emotional. although it's a game I don't remember as well as others in the series, I can acknowledge how much more (So Much More!, even) they did in this game. a lot of additions and reworks made it become such a beast (compared to Yakuza 3 and 4 for release order sake of the conversation) I usually play the games for their stories so I did have issues with it. But your breakdown and analysis of it was a nice revisit to the game. What an amazing video :)

1:49:38 Ogita deserved it lmao he stopped me from fighting Amon in 0 lol

Brandings, namings and marketing formulas is secondary when it comes to RGG games, they'll sell well and be recognized by the community as long as the game is good. They take risks, the game follows what the writers want, and they sell a very compelling story, with a gameplay that evolves in each entry. There's no: "We have to discard this idea because the gamers are too dumb to get this". If something is not very clear they put some dialogue or show some internal thought from a character to explain why things turn out the way they did.

About T-Set at the end of Part 3, I agree that the whole attempt at a resolution between them and Haruka was handled very poorly after she wins the Princess League. But that's not the only way things can play out. When Yamaura offers you a chance to back out of the finals, you can actually take it. And personally, I always do. It feels like proper foreshadowing for Haruka's later heel turn on stage, and more to the point, I don't enjoy the idea of putting her through all the shit that Yamaura makes clear WILL happen to her if she wins (not accounting for the sudden retirement, but still). It feels like a final chance to give the middle finger to the idol industry. After you back out, though, Haruka gets a voicemail from Mai, who apologizes for all the stuff she and Azusa did. Moreover, she makes it clear their manager only gave Haruka the ultimatum to light a fire under the three, and when they heard she dropped out, they all rightfully assumed that something horrible was going on behind the scenes. It feels way more heartfelt than the conversation they have if you win, and it also serves as Mai's own chance to redeem herself a bit. Since Azusa made clear in her substory that she has a conscience, it feels fitting that Mai got a chance to do the same. Personally, I like to think Azusa or their manager pushed Mai to do it on her own, because Azusa already got a chance to show her true colors to Haruka. Just wanted to put that out there. Haven't finished the video yet, so if you bring that up later, then I apologize for going over a point you already made

We eating good tonight Yakuza 5 (peak) fans 🍽

I wonder how Yakuza 5 would have turned out as a GTA IV esque setup, since the anthology idea mentioned in this video did intrigue me.

It seems that pirate Yakuza is not turn based. I'm new to the series but I assume that will make many happy.

Common Ichiban W for changing the name

At least you can show the positive side of Yakuza. I much dislike the English influencers who claim themselves as die hard fans to the series, nagged Sega for the localizations, and then trashed the game after it came out in English.

If there was one thing I was looking forward to, it was your analysis of Aizawa as the personification of the themes of this game. Yes, his fight is really damn good. But damn it am I frustrated that he could have been a top 3 final boss or character if executed correctly narratively. Hell, imagine if he was a playable character and his final boss was his dad. While I dislike Yakuza 5's gameplay with certain characters (Akiyama, Haruka's side stuff getting repetitive), storywise might have been my favorite with its themes. If there was a timeline where Yakuza 5 was amazing in all aspects, that would be a world to live in.

uh...it depends you like japan lifestyle?check you like minigames?check you like beat em up?check you like criminal organization?check (i know i like The Godfather movie then interested in Mafia / Yakuza / Triad plot story) you like RPG style game?check its have many entry points, but, if you only play, MMORPG, FPS, sports game, yea..its not your piece

"Ichizu Samurai" - epic karaoke (both Ishin! and Gaiden versions) with epic video. Why ignored here?

This is a small detail that I'm 100% sure was accidental, but that screen in Y0 talking about Kiryu's unknown whereabouts is canonically correct for every game after it, including 6, because the Daidoji keep his location in constant change and a secret as well

I am in the process of getting 100% completion in Yakuza 0 and was told that Mahjong will be the hard part. Well, some of these other minigames most definitely make it an easy, brief and relaxing experience in comparison.

Honestly considering the price of this game it is still absolutely worth it. If i had to pay 80$ for yakuza 5 and shinada's story would be some DLC that would be completely different but flawful or not 20$ is a great price for an experimental giant Which oozes ambition and great ideas. It may be on the lower part of my yakuza games list, but that is only because i consider every game in this series a must play experience.

Finished the game the same day as this video came out. Must say, despite all of the story's flaws, I definitely think of this entry as a top tier in the series. The final part really had me excited and I really enjoyed it.

I think the stuff about Baba being brought back to New Serena is spot on and it made me wonder - is that the biggest plot flaw that could possibly be attributed to the whole “Reuse Ga Gotoku” trope? I’m not saying for sure that’s why they had them go back to that bar, certainly there are plenty of others they could have used even if they didn’t want to make a new asset, but it would certainly fit with that reputation.

I love how succinctly you described Yakuza 5 in the "Legacy" section of the video, it just feels like this game was the centerpiece of what came before, and what came next - it had to happen, RGG has both learned from their mistakes due to Y5 and has also improved on their formula due to Y5, what we get in (Gaiden's antagonist), (IW conclusion to Kiryu), (Y6 villain build up) can all draw parallels from Y5 - and in this case, this game was one of the most important to have been part of the saga Personally, finishing up the whole series from starting at Y7 - 0 - 6 two years ago, I've felt like Y5 was the game with most soul put into it, that is not to discredit the other games but in that Y5 has that unexplainable pull and grip on me despite being quite miserable to play through alongside all the technical flaws. The game felt immense, going into Y5 seeing the grandiose amount of protagonists, the converging storyline and the number of side characters and towns really left an impression onto me that I never felt again in future entries. I'd put the game in the middle of tier lists objectively but I can't take it out of top 5 in my own list- I'd love to replay it one time again if I had the time to do so.

This will help with a 13 hr drive ahead of me.

saejima’s part took me a couple of months to get through it. absolutely loved kiryu’s part and enjoyed every other part, I couldn’t put the controller down for those, but saejimas part. I’d maybe pick it up for 20 minutes or so, before moving on to something else.

NGL compared to Y5, this is a short video

Amazing video. I like your analysis of all parts of the game. Would be cool if you did this for the other games.

This is the 3rd year in a row that I'm watching a long review/analysis video about Yakuza 5, making it my favorite yakuza game partially because of this tradition lol. I liked Park and the last boss

Absolute banger of a video,spent watching it over the few days and what a great ride. Some things i disagree on but other than that,this was much needed. Keep these up my guy, Sretna Nova Godina 🎉

Great analysis I don't hate 5 but I'm also not the biggest fan of it. and I think the pacing is one of (if not the) biggest reason why. I wish it was structured more like 4 where each part built off the previous one instead of restarting every time you swap perspectives. For example, compare Tanimura's part to Shinada's; Tanimura is about chasing leads you've already heard about whereas Shinada's is mostly self-contained outside of a few things. Not a bad thing by itself, but as the final part before to culmination of everything? Not exactly the best place for it. Maybe as an opener, swapping his and Kiryu's placements in the order, as if Kiryu's is last then it creates the motiviation to find out what's going on with him, instead of always having that knowledge

as promised, finally finished watching this 04:15:59 that's what makes this series shine so brightly is the threading of previous elements into the newer releases. without yakuza 3, 5, and 6, flawed as they are, you dont get anything close to the incredible emotional release that transpires at the end of gaiden. incredible moments that transpire in 7 and 8 would not have been possible without kiryu's constant failed attempts to right the ship of the tojo clan. what a monster of a video production btw. where do you find space for all this footage. how much ram does rendering this require? lol. congrats and thank you for putting this all together for us that skip the cutscenes on their subsequent replays, so we can chew on it better

I think there’s several different ways to get into the games. All depending on what you want There’s the release order with starting with the first ever Yakuza game and keep going from there and see the story of Kiryu evolve with the game play. Lets you see where the story started and of course you can play 0 to get context on why Majima is the way. You can play chronically order which is the way I experienced the series. It was the series I played during the Pandemic but with me binging the series it did give me major burnout where by the time I got to 5 I took massive breaks and stopped doing side stories which did hurt my experience of Y6 by not taking in that game more. You see the progression of the story the way it’s timelines out all the way to 7 and 8. The downside will be the gameplay whiplash you will experience. Y0 is a solid starting point gameplay wise and going to Kiwami is a natural progression gameplay wise but then Kiwami 2 uses the Dragon Engine and mechanics from Yakuza 6 and then have to go back to Y3 mechanics and it’s old gameplay. Which did turn me off of Y3 but not by its own fault, it’s just an old game and had to remind myself that near the start. Then lastly is just starting with Y7 and going with Ichiban’s story. There are elements of the past games with past characters and some plot points but it doesn’t really spoil any of the past games and could get you interested in the older games by wondering who Kiryu is. I know a TH-camr I watch got into the series that way. I don’t know if Infinite Wealth touches on the past games because I haven’t played it myself. I think those are the 3 main ways to get into the series but of course you could pick up any game in the series, they are mostly self contained stories with references to past games but you don’t need everything from the last game to play a middle or later entry.

How is it hard lmao? Just start with 0 and work your way through lol

I know we're meant to be seeing a downtrodden Kiryu at the start of this game, but I do think it's clunky that Y4 has Kiryu realising he was wrong to just leave Daigo to lead the clan alone and without his support and that now Kiryu will support him directly, then in Y5 Kiryu pointedly ignores Daigo's request for advice, then in Y6 Kiryu realises he was wrong to just leave Daigo to lead the clan alone and without his support... Kiryu even says this in Y6 as if he's just now realising it for the first time. It makes it incredibly funny to me then in Gaiden/Infinite Wealth that we see Kiryu once again flaunt his being extremely alive infront of Daigo, having once again left him to face his struggles alone (disbanding the clan, looking after the former yakuza, etc). When their last interaction was "I realised i havent been very supportive, i wish i'd been more supportive, unfortunately i cant support you now though because i'm definitely dead" in letter form. As for how Akiyama and Haruka recognise each other in Y5, clearly they both remember the quality time they spent together in Dead Souls.

Amazing Video! So long and so in depth. I wouldnt mind if you analyzed all the other game's stories like this :D

personally, yakuza 5 is a bottom 3. its story is very laughable and overstays its welcome