I'm quite a ways through
Yakuza 6 at the moment. I like some of the changes they've made to this one, but not so much a fan of others.
The most notable thing is the combat. It's quite interesting how they've managed to subtly rebuild it to make it feel very familiar yet totally different. It feels more fluid this time around, and attacks have more feeling of physical impact too, with how physics objects and ragdolls factor in to things now a lot more. It's quite a lot of fun to send enemies flying and flailing through the air in a way that you just wouldn't see in the previous games. Throwing enemies in to each other in a crowd is also a lot of fun. In general it feels a lot less rigid too. Another improvement is that they finally got over the issue of the combat systems taking way too long to open up. You start with a pretty wide range of actions to begin with, and it doesn't take forever to finally feel like you have a decent number of options. The new Ultimate Heat mode is pretty cool too. It feels very empowering to enter that mode where the camera zooms in as you hammer out an extended string of attacks which end in that really hard-hitting finishing blow.
But there a couple of things I don't like. The new fluidity and emphasis on physics does make it feel like a less precise system. It's kind of easy to end up attacking someone you weren't intending to, which can leave you open in a way you were trying to avoid. Getting knocked off your feet by objects flying at you from off-screen can feel a bit cheap as well. It also occasionally seems to eat inputs, with it not registering when I'm trying to do a combo-ender move. Similarly, the game seems to be pretty punishing with hitting an enemy while they're blocking. It tends to break your flow much more than in previous games, and is made worse by the aforementioned inaccuracy in targeting specific enemies. And even though it's fun to use, Ultimate Heat mode can sometimes be more of a hindrance than a help. The inaccuracy is a problem here too. It also seems somewhat inconsistent with what it judges does and does not stagger you in this state. On top of that, you automatically pick up and swing around objects that are near you in this mode, like with the Beast Mode in 0/Kiwami. That can be pretty annoying given that means you can be attacking much slower than you might want to. Not giving you the choice whether or not to pick stuff up can be a massive pain in a tight spot. Another thing, which I can't really be definitive about right now, is how much the combat system changes throughout the game. Although it starts much stronger than in previous games, it seems that may have come at the cost of the combat not feeling that much different as the game goes on. I'm most of the way through the upgrade paths, yet I can't say combat feels meaningfully different from, say, the third of fourth hour of the game. There's also the fact that you can't keep weapons in your inventory. You can pick them up off the floor, but their usage and variety is even more limited than in previous games, and you drop them at the end of the fight. Not a huge deal for me, since going to all the trouble to get decent weapons always seemed like it was more effort than it was worth in the old games anyway, but still a little bit of a downer.
There's also the XP/upgrade system. I always find these somewhat interesting in these games, since in every game they seem to go out of their way to find a different way to achieve basically the same goal. Again, there's some stuff I like here, and other stuff I don't. It's fleshed out in a way that it hasn't ever been before. Instead of just having one type of XP that you dump in to everything as you see fit, this time you have different categories of XP that are used for different types of abilities. You also have base stats to your character that you can upgrade gradually, and independently from the usual staggered improvements that you usually get with these games. Although they both draw from the same XP pool(s). It does mean that you have to put a bit of thought in to what you're doing in order to be able to unlock a specific thing down a certain skill tree, but I'm not really sure the rest of it is worth that. The incremental stat upgrades are a bit unsatisfying. Their gradual increase means that you don't really notice the improvements much when you make them. It also seems oddly stingy with certain types of XP. There are two types in particular that it just doesn't give out in normal combat, and I'm always finding myself short on them. It's kind of a pain.
The story so far is pretty good though. I'll try to avoid specifics, but some minor spoilers ahead. Nothing major about plot, but some small character discussion.
- Spoiler: show
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At the start you interact with the kids at Kiryu's orphanage a little (Which has strangely changed its name from Sunshine Orphanage to Morning Glory. Translation change I expect), so I enjoyed catching up wit those characters and seeing how things had been going with them, having not really seen them since Yakuza 3. They don't spend too long on that section either. Something which 6 has over that game. You stick around just long enough to catch up, and for the relevant character moments to happen, but it doesn't drag in to tedium. The new characters from Hiroshima I like. One of them in particular, Nagumo, is an amusing character. At first he seems like just another jerk making your life difficult, but he comes around in the end to become a good friend, who shows he actually has a friendly and caring side. Although, he's still a pretty big scumbag at the same time, and kind of a doofus. So I liked how they managed to turn around this character who at first seems to have little to no redeeming qualities, but without just changing him in to someone else either.
Unfortunately, Akiyama seems to get pretty shafted in this game, in a way that is pretty inexcusable too. He's lost pretty much all his personality. Maybe they were trying to write him in a way that made sense for the situation he's in, since he's having to keep a low profile, but I don't think that's really a good reason to totally sap him of his character that makes him such a popular favourite. You interact with him a whole lot too, so it's not like he just has some unimportant bit part that you can brush off as not being worth his emotional investment either. Although, now I say that, I can't think of any reason his character would be particularly invested in the events of the story so far. But still, if that was the case, why bother using him at all? Why is he around so much if he doesn't really seem bothered by anything?
Also, a minor thing. At the start of the game they make it out as if Majima and Saejima are going to be important to the plot as well. Daigo too. But all of them very quickly get removed and there hasn't been any mention of the former two since. Minor talk about Daigo, but he's in a similar situation to the other two, and isn't really relevant to the plot. Maybe that'll change later, but it's kind of odd that they dangle these well-loved mainstays in front of you at the start of the game, only to yank them away. Maybe that'll change later down the line. We'll see. Although I'm not super worried about that right now. The story doesn't really seem like it's supposed to be about them. Just a bit misleading at the start I guess.
Despite my problems though I am enjoying it. It feels fresh for a Yakuza game, and I'm interested in seeing how things turn out story-wise. Compared to the other games in the series so far, this is kind of in the middle. I'm enjoying it more than Kiwami for sure, but definitely not as much as 0.