Yakuza 6: The Song of Life and Yakuza: Like a Dragon may seem like they’re in a good place at the current point of time, but around each of their launches, there were a myriad of issues surrounding them that either generated uncertainty or controversy. This video aims to explore that side of the games particularly, from the perspective of the fanbase, with my own thoughts slipped in from time to time.
Special thanks to Hannya Tier members: MiyuRon, Rufus, when idiots play games together, Lisa Medcalf, Dylan Ridings, Jago Majima, eks2009, Mrdevil Gaming, H. J. The Hedgehog, Kinrob, TreizerL, Deicide86, Shehzad Ali, Isaac Murillo, Mehmet Kans, Suicide Gangsta, NikoJazz, Grossly IncandescentSunnyD, Staticulator, GalvatronScurge, Hanoæ ・, Bean Boy, Kaizer Redgrave, Vee Taylor, Shin Megami Tensei Enjoyer, Valerie Parker, Dr Reaper, Falanteris, MrWWFederation, Marti, rzn, Epic Booch, GenericEdgyName, Sharavy, Agent G, Chyro Zero and Atomic Rocket.
Timestamps:
00:00:00 Introduction
00:02:00 Yakuza 6 – Background & Gameplay
00:14:11 Yakuza 6 – Story: Chapter 1
00:16:18 Yakuza 6 – Story: Point of Discussion 1
00:18:27 Yakuza 6 – Story: Chapter 1 cont.
00:22:14 Yakuza 6 – Story: Chapter 2
00:25:12 Yakuza 6 – Story: Chapter 3
00:27:56 Yakuza 6 – Story: Chapter 4
00:29:15 Yakuza 6 – Story: Chapter 5
00:31:18 Yakuza 6 – Story: Point of Discussion 2
00:32:13 Yakuza 6 – Story: Chapter 5 cont.
00:33:57 Yakuza 6 – Story: Chapter 6
00:37:42 Yakuza 6 – Story: Point of Discussion 3
00:38:27 Yakuza 6 – Story: Chapter 6 cont.
00:39:10 Yakuza 6 – Story: Chapter 7
00:43:52 Yakuza 6 – Story: Chapter 8
00:46:24 Yakuza 6 – Story: Chapter 9
00:48:06 Yakuza 6 – Story: Chapter 10
00:48:49 Yakuza 6 – Story: Point of Discussion 4
00:49:44 Yakuza 6 – Story: Chapter 10 cont.
00:56:10 Yakuza 6 – Story: Chapter 11
00:59:11 Yakuza 6 – Story: Point of Discussion 5
01:00:30 Yakuza 6 – Story: Chapter 11 cont.
01:02:03 Yakuza 6 – Story: Chapter 12
01:08:28 Yakuza 6 – Story: Finale
01:09:14 Yakuza 6 – Story: Point of Discussion 6
01:10:05 Yakuza 6 – Story: Finale cont. 1
01:21:01 Yakuza 6 – Story: Point of Discussion 7
01:21:53 Yakuza 6 – Story: Finale cont. 2
01:25:35 Yakuza 6 – Story: Point of Discussion 8
01:27:40 Yakuza 6 – Story: Finale cont. 3
01:28:19 Yakuza 6 – Story: Point of Discussion 9
01:28:40 Yakuza 6 – Story: Finale cont. 4
01:30:03 Yakuza 6 – Story: Point of Discussion 10
01:31:15 Yakuza 6 – Story: Finale cont. 5
01:33:26 Yakuza 6 – Summary
01:36:22 Intermission
01:38:09 Yakuza: Like a Dragon – Background & Gameplay
01:55:02 Yakuza: Like a Dragon – Story: Chapter 1
02:06:57 Yakuza: Like a Dragon – Story: Chapter 2
02:19:14 Yakuza: Like a Dragon – Story: Chapter 3
02:27:03 Yakuza: Like a Dragon – Story: Chapter 4
02:41:11 Yakuza: Like a Dragon – Story: Chapter 5
02:48:43 Yakuza: Like a Dragon – Story: Chapter 6
02:54:18 Yakuza: Like a Dragon – Story: Chapter 7
02:58:49 Yakuza: Like a Dragon – Story: Chapter 8
03:02:31 Yakuza: Like a Dragon – Story: Chapter 9
03:07:43 Yakuza: Like a Dragon – Story: Chapter 10
03:20:43 Yakuza: Like a Dragon – Story: Chapter 11
03:28:08 Yakuza: Like a Dragon – Story: Chapter 12
03:42:35 Yakuza: Like a Dragon – Story: Point of Discussion 1
03:43:55 Yakuza: Like a Dragon – Story: Chapter 12 cont.
03:46:58 Yakuza: Like a Dragon – Story: Chapter 13
04:00:03 Yakuza: Like a Dragon – Story: Point of Discussion 2
04:00:41 Yakuza: Like a Dragon – Story: Chapter 13 cont.
04:01:12 Yakuza: Like a Dragon – Story: Chapter 14
04:07:58 Yakuza: Like a Dragon – Story: Finale
04:16:53 Yakuza: Like a Dragon – Story: Point of Discussion 3
04:17:23 Yakuza: Like a Dragon – Story: Finale cont.
04:29:20 Yakuza: Like a Dragon – Summary
04:31:57 Conclusion
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46 Comments
Joon-gi Han looks like Vergil
I found out your channel years ago when you were playing Yakuza 0 before it was localized. You are underrated when it come to describing the lore of the series. You have my eternal thanks.
Yakuza 6 was fine. I liked it, but wasnt blown away by it. The secret of Onomichi reveal was just… lame. After such a big build up it just fell flat. 7 i really enjoyed but i found the story confusing, and when it got to the Majima fight i was so easily annihilated by him i gave up as i couldnt be bothered grinding to beat him. Judgment/LJ > LAD imo. Better stories, better gameplay.
I’m still only partway thru zero and I already love these games
The battleship thing is fucking stupid, but not in the good way so much other stuff is stupid in the series
Where is the shirt from its straight heat!!
yakuza6’s story is dogshit,but it still better than yakuza3,the worst yakuza games,and yakuza7 is actually very great,I’m also a persona fans as you can see,the yakuza7 is actually more like persona 5.5,if you like the turn-based games,then this game is a good game.
Okay, so I got to like 30min into the Yakuza: Like a Dragon part of the video and closed it as fast as I could. The story sounded so good, I bought it ASAP. Luckily it was like 20 min before the Steam sale ended. I'm so glad I stumbled upon this video. Even though I'm like a couple of hours in, it's a great game guys. Get it if you haven't. I think it's a great starter game too. I haven't played a Yakuza game in my life before.
I actually saw Twitch streamers play this game before, it looked fun, but idk, I thought I won't like it. I don't typically go for games that depict realistic violence. But it's worth it. Like it's not using it to be edgy, just real.
I'll finish this video after I finish the game. Though I kinda already spoiled from the Wiki myself because the story is so captivating. I couldn't believe one of the characters was gone, so… Anyway, thank you for this video.
It’s crazy that people can’t get over 7 being an rpg…
Mainline Yakuza games have always been jrpgs, ever since the first.
RIght around the 1 hour mark: Yuta going without Kiryu actually makes perfect sense to me. This is exactly what Kiryu would have done in his younger days had the roles been reversed. Yuta's girlfriend, whom he loved, had a father figure whom his girlfriend honestly could not live without. To a young man with no real life experience, its easier to think that she would get over him (Yuta) faster than she would the death of her father figure (Kiryu). Also, said father figure would be much better (this would be internal thinking here) at helping raise the baby because he both raised Haruka and already runs an orphanage (and thus raised many children), so from what he can see, the father figure would be much better at helping Haruka at raising the child.
Yes, from an emotionally rational point of view, Yuta's actions only make sense from a writer's standpoint and seem weak at moving the story forward, however, 1. Remembering even just Yakuza 1-3 and how Kiryu acted (thus would have acted in this same situation) and 2. Once we know the entire story of Yakuza 6 (what Kiryu did at the end here, so kind of proving my point that Yuta and Kiryu would take the same action here) and finally, 3. If we then also forget everything we know about Kiryu and look through Yuta's eyes, this is best and most IRATIONAL (seemingly rational to Yuta) way to do things.
Edit: After finishing up the first section and listening to the intermission, you've got a new subscriber with me. Your intermission seems genuine when asking how your audience felt and as I was literally saying out loud to myself "Ok, here comes the 'Better Help' segway" it didn't happen and I must say that is fantastically refreshing to see/hear!
I say this, RGG studios really have writing balls to present a daughter figure the players raised since a little child as a literal idol in one game just to show her as a young mother who had sex one time in the sequel.
I just imagine how mad some hardcore Haruka fans became after this.
Yakuza 7 honestly killed my interest in the Yakuza series, I hated everything about it even though the Yakuza games always been my top favorite series and NO its not about "where Kiryu" because was kinda hyped about Ichiban at some point since he literally acts and looks like my irl best friend who's basically Ichi but not Japanese, has a mustache and a bit overweight xD. seeing Turn Based RPG fans taking the absolute piss on older Yakuza fans whenever Y7 is mentioned anywhere in the internet didn't help and actually made me despise it more and more. It was very heartbreaking seeing how hostile the fanbase turned into while not long before the release of Y7 everybody was having fun and memeing etc. I ended up leaving and avoiding everything Yakuza related due to how bad it was, including every Yakuza related youtuber so I don't see the comments. (I kid you not, a number of people told me "be grateful you even had 6 games" in comment sections about Y7, like wut xD)
I tried to give the game an honest try but my experience was half painful and half … so boring i kept falling asleep, so I stopped playing right after the moment Kiryu showed up, everything feels boring honestly not just the gameplay itself… EVERYTHING, including the minigames and at some points the story as well. Its not really that i dislike turn based RPGs in general btw because REALLY loving some like the Shin Megami Tensei franchise and its spin-offs (this unofficially includes Digimon Cybersleuth coz its basically a Shin Megami Tensei game with Digimons lol) as well as many PS2 games back in the day like Shadow Hearts and so on. the Irony here is that the other Turn Based RPG game i absolutely hated was Dragon Quest 11, which this whole thing was based on?
Reason i disliked DQ11 coz unlike the Shin Megami Tensei games it doesn't try to do anything new or special, it was just a turn based rpg game that was either boring, nostalgia reliant or straight up terrible in some parts on top of the soundtracks of the game being straight up torture, there WAS a lot good in that game that I liked like the graphics and smooth animations but the bad far outweighs the good which made the overall experience feel like being in an abusive relationship, I wanted to like it but it constantly wanted to hurt me xD.
Strangely, I kinda haven't enjoyed Lost Judgement even though its an action game still, I'm supposed to absolutely love this one right?! I dunno why but i felt like something important was missing there from the original that made me not like it as much (even though it obviously has triple the content), dunno what but that's how I felt playing it. (before playing I also had the misfortune of playing PSO2 and seeing the impossible level of incompetence that SEGA has with it might've left a bad taste that spoiled the fun for me idk). Hopefully the next games would help me get back the joy i lost for this franchise honestly, this franchise been my favorite since the good ol PS2 days up until now. x.x
As someone who hates turn based combat I still really wanted to enjoy 7 but I just couldnt, I feel like it'd be better if there wasnt so much fighting, each fight takes like 10 minutes
Yakuza 7 was the first yakuza game I played because it was free on PS extra. The story, combat and characters were amazing, I absolutely loved it. Can't wait for the next one.
I'm stuck in Yakuza 3
i like the fact that they've been selling us the same game for 15 years but with different characters and SOMEHOW, it feels fresh and new each time but with a familiar nostalgia….that is something not many developers could pull off.
I love Yakuza 7. I don't think I really need to say much of its story and characters that have already been said by people who praise it, but I'm also an RPG guy. Other than some major flaws in combat like balancing and the level spike around chapter 12, I really appreciate the shift in gameplay genre especially after playing 7 different titles with similar central combat. Not that I don't love the beat'em up action gameplay(I actually love it), but when the series shifted to the Dragon Engine it felt like it was a degrading experience.
Following that up, I did not like Yakuza 6 that much. My complaints of the story aren't the usual stuff you hear like "where are all the star side characters like Majima" and such, but I just feel like the story overall could've been something different and much better than what we got while keeping it "Kiryu centered". I also just completely hated the gameplay with the more physics-oriented combat. It's funny that a lot of people compare this title to Yakuza 3, but the difference for me is that Yakuza 3 is probably one of my favorite games in the series including the gameplay side. I definitely prefer the more "arcadey" feeling of pre-dragon engine combat that feels more solid. Kiwami 2 was definitely an improvement to its combat, but it still felt a bit lacking. I have yet to play the Judgement games though and really look forward to trying them out.
Definitely didn't like 6. Story-wise.
I havent played but I have played Yakuza Like a Dragon on the PS5 as it got me into the Yakuza series and I LOVED it personally I liked the story and turn based gameplay was fun for me personally
I didn't think someone was going to beat tehsnakerer to the punch on these ones.
I would replace like a dragon with original yakuza 3, if you know you know
The funny thing about the whole "Kiryu has never killed anyone" thing is it's never been for a lack of trying. He was fulling willing to shoot to kill in the finale of 2, he just got beaten to the punch.
The biggest issue I've seen people say about Y7 is that enemy hp is way too bloated so boss fights take far too long no matter how strong you are.
Yakuza 6 was so boring.
honestly as far as yakuza 7 is concerned… I'm surprised they actually STUCK with kiryu as a protag for
thatlong. he's great but there's so many likable and memorable characters in the yakuza series…. ichiban definitely works.haven't watched the video yet so ill just say this, if you like a game, and you feel very relaxed or just like playing it, don't let people ruin your fun, ignore them, and calling a game you don't like bad, i will respect your opinion, but actively telling people NOT to play it is a shitty move, just because you didn't like it doesn't mean someone else wont.
'kiryu doesnt kill' yet in the same game, he literally shot down a helicopter with an rpg.
…. also NOT the first time he's done that!
I liked the baseball it’s like a more fun version of batting cages
I think 7 is the worst on principle due to the dlc.
the fight against tendo was a pain in the ass… not because he was strong, kiryu was a harder fight, but because he had a one shot attack and the first one he decided to target on my particular game was ichiban… because of the text of the characters before he launched this attack, i assumed the way to keep him from doing it was to knock the crap out of him, and i definitely didnt expect it to be a one shot, as no attack so far has done literally 100-0% except for the 'curse' attacks, so i didnt use ichibans preserve skill
… and then i had to do the entire first half of the fight again, only for him to not even use the one shot kill attack.
I didnt enjoy the turn based combat in dragon so I skipped that game.
Why watch a movie when you can play a game just as good & longer
Petition to have a minigame where you rip off Kume's nails and peel his flesh off his bones in 8!!
I would watch this video if it was like 30 minutes max and not 4,5 hours….. why?
My complaint with 7: Like A Dragon was that there wasn't enough of it, two of the cities feel insanely empty in comparison to the main hub city, and there are not many mix matching with the jobs and skills. Having to return to the one location to change jobs was also a pain in the ass.
I cant even talk about myself for 4 hours
now do judgment 1 and 2 retrospective
"Kiryu doesn't kill"
Kiryu shoots multiple helicopters with fucking ROCKET LAUNCHERS and they crash and burn from hundreds of feet in the air
After three terrible games like 3, 4 and 5, getting to 6 felt such a breath of fresh air. I felt like the story was really solid. Way better than anything presented in 3, 4 and 5. It felt more grounded, simpler and personal for Kiryu. Yes, the secret of Onomichi was weird and out of place plus the whole story behind it was not interesting. But I believe that was the point. Kiryu didn't care about any of this. He just wanted to solve the mystery behind Haruka's situation. Anything else just didn't matter. To the villains, this was everything. To Kiryu, this was just another situation he got himself stuck in. And so if he didn't care about the secret, why should the player? Also people having a problem with Haruka leaving. Look, she was a big idol. She was very popular. In Japan, the idol industry is taken extremely seriously. If they get any dirt on an idol, their lives will be utterly ruined. People finding out that she's the daughter of a legendary yakuza is a crucial detail. She didn't leave because of a few mean comments, she left because people would have definitely harassed her, her family and the orphanage. She wanted to protect her siblings from having to deal with constant harassment. Then you have her and Yuta not using any protection. Look, young people are stupid. Let's not sugar coat it. Teenagers and young adults are quite dumb, and they will do dumb things. They probably just got caught in the mood and things happened. They weren't thinking. Yes, they should know better. But these things happen. It happens quite often. At least she was responsible enough to not get rid of the child. Now about yakuza 7. I didn't like it at first. I didn't like Ichiban, I didn't like the gameplay. And that's coming from someone who really likes jrpg's. I just didn't feel like this genre shift fit the yakuza series. But after playing the game, I realized just how well made the game was. The story was great, the gameplay was great. It's a really good game. But, do I like it as a yakuza game? I'm sorry but no. I just can't get behind this shift. And I have doubts whether I'll get 8 or not.
i can say one u have in yakuza 7 a auto button and in the rest not. so they know fights are boring as hell.
From my perspective seeing as how I've played and beaten all of the yakuza (besides Isshin and Dead Souls) and judgment games I can name the gripes I have with the series on one hand. The biggest one is in 6 and it has to do with the story. Haruka acts like she has one struggling brain cell the entire game and the father of the kid was way too damn obvious from really early on. Combat was pretty good for me since I pretty much enjoy it in every game. Then Yakuza 7 I thoroughly enjoyed all the way through. The character interactions and the story was really great to me. I'll admit at first I didn't see myself liking Ichiban cause you know he's not Kiryu but once I gave him a chance I adore him now. The other characters in the game were great too. I get why people didn't seem to like it cause of the turn based rpg elements but once you realize all that stuff combat wise is in Ichiban's head cause he played a lot of Dragon Quest as a kid makes it that much better
honestly i played til chapter 4 of LaD and i just didn't care anymore, I'm sure the story is good but the combat ruined what little interest i had in it
As a super fan of Yakuza 5 (my favorite), I also understand how some Yakuza episodes aren't that liked.
The Yakuza series are created as episodes that depends on RGG studio's current inspiration. It's not like the MCU where everything is designed from the start. Here, the games are results of brainstorming and direct ideas. Which is something good for me, because that way, they manage to make each episodes passionately and distinct from each other. Even when the plot seems to be all over the place sometimes, you can still feel the passion. And you can also try to understand through real life events, how a Yakuza game that launched "that year", decided to have a given life theme as the essence of the scenario.
Here are the exemples according to me :
Melancholy (Y0), Fate (Y1/Kiwami), Pride (Y2/Kiwami 2), Family (Y3), Justice (Y4), Aspirations and dreams (Y5), Family again (though I'd argue "Kiryu" is more fitted) (Y6).
Yakuza 7/LAD, doesn't shy about the way it was created gameplay-wise. They saw how the public felt about a turn-base joke, and thought how good it actually was.
It was in a time where they already had 12 Yakuza games in their pocket. So, a little fresh air was probably needed. And they even managed to justify this in game, with Ichiban's passion for JRPGs.
The shape has changed, but it's still a Yakuza game. They just had a spark of inspiration, and decided after some decision-making time to implement it.
This is what I love about RGG. They aren't afraid of trying new stuff. Even the Karaoke minigame was a bet. And they took it despite the genre being not at all inclined to it.
0:50 I forgor about that quickly like holy cow.
I love Y6 and all but they really did Haruka's character dirty on this one bro.
After watch a movie about yakuza in the modern i understand my haruka leave the orphanage
I didn’t expect to like Y7 at all but it was a pleasant experience to be honest.