Excerpts:

"Some of my Yakuza 0 playtime took place on my flights to and from Gamescom and I can only imagine what the man sitting next to me in a full navy business suit was thinking. Then again the game is now 11 years old, so said man in said suit could have easily been a much younger IGN fan when Yakaza 0 came out. So maybe what he was thinking the whole time was was “KUZE!!!!!!!” - same as I was."

"Fans sometimes (affectionately!) call the series “asset reuse: the game” and this practice is partly what cements Yakuza 0’s position in the “comfort game” hall of fame. Since most of the Yakuza games take place in Kamurocho or one of a few other fictional Japanese neighborhoods, you get to see the city decay and modernize from game to game. This city is a character - one I feel compelled to check in on once in a while. I know this place, just as well as I know my own downtown. It’s strangely satisfying to walk through this small set of city blocks again to soak up the atmosphere."

"I reached that scene where Kiryu and Nishiki tear off their shirts, incomplete (for now) back tattoos gleaming in Kamurocho’s neon lights, fueled by righteous fury and a deep and unbreakable (sad face) bond to one another, and that was it. I knew I had to write something short to get Yakuza back onto IGN. It’s as simple as that."

Remember to upgrade safely y’all.

It shows "S" tier while I'm doing it and then says I failed at the end. Couldn't find anything on if this is a known issue or if I'm doing something wrong and not understanding.

I played Luke a Dragon, LaD Infinite Wealth, and Pirate Yakuza because they were all on Xbox gamepass. I love the RPG side and found the characters very charming.

I was worried I wouldn't enjoy the original Yakuza titles as much because of the more beat em up nature. But then there was a giant sale lol.

I almost bought kiwami 1+2, but then was told to play Yakuza 0 first. And it is so good! Im about two hours in and have been hype since the opening credits.

I really wish I didn't sleep on these games for so long. RGG knows what they are doing.

These games are going to take over my life.

I know Y5 is hated for all the usual reasons. It makes no sense, Its "dumb" etc etc and I am not here to defend this criticism(Even If I vehemently disagree and think it is a very bad way to engage a story and find value in a story as beautiful as that of 5).

I want to talk about Saejima's section in 5. Its an incredibly beautiful section of 5. Atonement lies in living than rotting in prison or dying. And I think this also shows a bit of changeup in the direction of writing where characters now live and have to carry weight of their actions.

Saejima's relationship with Baba is "not a real one". Baba didnt murder anyone and is rotting in jail for 10 years nor is he shit scared to confront society. But the messages both Baba learnt and Saejima preached are very much real and Saejima treats him like his kyodai. It's the same with Rubber Bullets with how the impact is very much real.

And this is incredibly telling of Saejima's personality. Saejima's whole thing as a character is of ironies and getting played up and still maintaining that life affirming stoic attitude. It doesn't absolve or make any of his actions or ideas meaningless and there's a lot of values to learn from Saejima. And I think it's beautifully portrayed with his relationship with Baba.

This also ties to the message of living and how value inheres in life. It's being more aggressively pushed down in later games and the way the games tell these themes is really close. These guys are yakuzas. Most of them had shitty childhoods, threw their lives away for personal gains or for their patriarchs and yet they still, continue to live and find value in it and have fun. It is so satisfying to see such themes presented. Damn, Yakuza is awesome.

I have a bit more rambling but I feel the karmic world of Yakuza is very "generous". Allow me to elaborate. Our characters are caught up in a cyclical torture because of some events. Kiryu is caught up in a painful cycle of his conflicting loyalty to Yakuza AND his desire for retirement in Morning glory and similarly, saejima struggled in a cycle of torture for his crimes of ueno seiwa hit, of which he has very big regret of.

You would see that many yakuza games have two villains. One is irredeemable POS and other is a more tragic and conflicting figures. Usually, the former is there to represent the bigger theme(1 is about parenthood, particularly fatherhood. And Jingu is the extreme case of a bad father. 2 is in many ways, about Yakuza and their past sins catching upto them and also the conflict of new age Yakuza vs old brawler type mentality. Takashima(and the villain of Majima saga) represented the extreme case of the "modern Yakuza" and Terada is the extreme case of Yakuza sins and their results catching upto Kiryu and gang).

Now, usually, the second antagonist have cool boss fights and often times, make sacrifices to atone for their sins. Mine committing suicide, Nishiki with Jingu, Ryuji with Takashima etc etc. It usually happens after their cathartic realization after getting beat up by Kiryu and that is also the time, when the "big bad mastermind" reveals himself, which narratively, means that someone like Nishiki becomes more of a grey character and usually find repaying their debt(ie their sins) in death while taking down the big bad guy.

Now, Saejima broke his "cycle of torture and regret" in purgatory. A place where he "purified" his sins by confessing and showcasing how he really was a kind soul that was bought to this underworld(guy wanted to be a primary school teacher but had to resort to violence cuz of his POS yakuza dad and Sasai was no saint either). This freed him from his crimes(the ueno seiwa) and the sins was of Katsuragi, who showed no remorse for his doings which really forms a striking classic hero vs villain parallel.

I know it sounds like some esoteric garbage and maybe it is and very psuedo intellectual but I thought it was worth sharing!

Just a bit talk about the literal gameplay of the Saejima's section---
I know a lot of people hate this section of 5 for how slow it is but really if you think...Prison sequence is NOT that exhausting compared to 4 which had an annoying boss Saito with THREE recurring fights. Saejima had a cool 1(2) vs 100 smth fight like Kiryu's. Kugihara is an easy boss to take care. And the hunting mini game is fun asf.

Also, this change in attitude that atonement is in to fight. I really wonder if Yokoyama would rewrite 1 where Nishiki survives. And then maybe lives in daidoji and when he returns back, He has to confront to himself and become a better person. Would be cool!

Caught this student in deep concentration with those oversized headphones. You know they're about to drop some serious knowledge.

Like bro looks so peaceful and his eyes are closed

Mine is fun to play with but I will never not struggle drawing him. This was my third attempt and I had to delete the others.

Imagine being told this would happen a few years ago. It's a crazy twist if you're in the overlap of this Venn diagram of hip-hop and Yakuza.

Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction, or in this case, Stranger than Heaven.

Kuze.....

Full video: https://youtu.be/ROV5yNy_qjk

Maybe this is silly, but I saw a TikTok about Kashiwagi surviving the helicopter attack in Y3 and coming back in Y7 and it got me thinking… How long do you guys think he wanted to be free of Tojo?

He went through a lot, having to act as patriarch whilst Kazama was in prison in 0, then watching Kazama die in Y1/YK, then being patriarch in Y2/YK2 and being one of the few who wanted to avoid war with Omi, then being temp acting chairman in Y3/YK3 and THEN being shot by a machine gun… It makes perfect sense to me that he’d want to leave the yakuza.

Do you think that he’d wanted to leave for a while and saw the helicopter attack as his saving grace? Or do you think he was fine where he was in the yakuza and just woke up after the attack choosing to just sorta use it as an early retirement lol

桐生 一馬 (Kiryu Kazuma)

I mean Seibu Keisatsu was very popular among the early gen-xers to 70's gen-xers thus I believe they might have taken some inspirations from this show. Coincidentally, the main lead of the show, tetsuya watari voiced shintaro kazama.

Guys I have a really silly question, do I need to hold haruka's hand and walk 1km straight away or I can walk and then come back later?

I have all the guards (8/8) all the managers (8/8), all stores in all neighbours and they’re all S.
The counter states 97/99, however every single line shows 100% completion. What am I missing? 🫪

Picture not related.

I know the early PS3 era of the series doesn't exactly have the best looking female character models, but jesus christ look at the face on that THING.