Yakuza 5

[JaySevenZero]

Here's where you can contribute your thoughts and opinions for Yakuza 5 for potential inclusion in the forthcoming podcast.

A friendly reminder that where the feedback for the podcast is concerned, we love it - but keeping it brief is appreciated. We do want to include a breadth of opinions where appropriate, but no-one wants a discussion podcast that’s mostly reading out essays. Better to save yourself time and cut to the chase if you can.

[AndrewElmore]

My wife and I have been playing through Yakuza 5 together, and at the time of writing this we're in the second "half" of Chapter 3.

At this point it's become quite clear that the bulk of this entry is made up of these individual characters' respective minigame-oriented campaigns, for lack of a better word. I suppose one could skip these segments when given the opportunity, to advance the primary story forward. But I'm so deeply endeared to these different threads. Kiryu's taxi/street racing career, Saejima's hunting/trapping journey, Haruka's quest for idol stardom, whatever Akayama's thing ends up being, my heart is bought all the way in.

But it's not the mini games themselves that interest me. They're fine, they're functional. Taken separately, they remind me very much of SIMPLE2000 releases of yore. The most interesting thing I've noticed so far in terms of (drumroll please) ludonarrative cohesion (I'm so sorry) is the two separate rhythm mini games for Haruka's dancing events as they compare to each other, and relate to their contexts. The mini game for a street dance battle is very improvisational. The button presses come in a shuffled order, with randomized meters subdivided to the song's tempo. Having to select the appropriate track with the d-pad before hitting the corresponding face buttons is, I think, an interesting abstraction of Haruka's personal creative agency and expression in an improv street battle like this. Particularly compared to the mini game for the formalized, rehearsed sessions. Those are _events_, designed to be practiced to a point of comfortable familiarity, and the rhythm game reflects that. You don't need to select a track, because Haruka knows what's coming and when. This is further cemented by the significantly longer note tracks, giving you ample time to prepare, as Haruka is thinking about the next several steps. This is a practiced routine, she doesn't need to think about what she's doing, only how she's doing it. I hope that makes sense?

Kiryu's mini game is more directly tied to the main thread of the game's central plot, and (Whoops, looks like I either meant to return to this paragraph, or perhaps wrote and deleted something here, my apologies!)

Saejima's may have been an exercise in tedium at times, but it felt like I was helping this digital man do the honest hard work of helping to provide for this village that had saved the lives of himself and his friend. It made me proud to take my large adult son Taiga out to the small "Main St." pathway that serves as the village's communal gathering place of sorts, talk to everyone to learn how he can best assist them, and then load up his gear to go up on the mountain for the day, keeping an ever-vigilant eye out for opportunities to help out the locals.

This is already getting too long and if the resident Sega Arcade Racing Game Dork starts talking about Kiryu's quest we'll be here all day.

Suffice it to say that this game has been a delightfully welcome sherpa-lined throw blanket during a particularly cold and wet Seattle winter. I wouldn't want the whole series to be restructured this way, but having at least one entry that's primarily built out of a bunch of bespoke communal activities has been immensely relaxing. Regardless of anything else, this is the coziest Yakuza game yet.

Edit: I forgot to mention that Haruka's hoodie & t-shirt combo is colored like she's mimicking Uncle Kaz and that's adorable.

[Tolkientaters]

Spoiler: show

I meant to play the previous Yakuza games for the podcast, but was getting a little burnt out on Yakuza, do I skipped those just having played 0-2 and 7, and honestly from the podcast, they didn't seem like instant must plays. Yakuza 5 did a lot more to keep my interest, mostly just because of how ambitious it was.

Surprisingly, I think the initial Kiryu section just felt a little bland (for Yakuza) until it got to the end when it got crazy.

I was surprised how much I liked Saejima's prison arch, even though the hunter village part was a real slog. I loved that it took a whole chapter for Saejima to figure out changing his outfit slightly would let him evade detection, then he immediately takes it off because that somehow stands out more than looking exactly like Tokyo's most wanted. Kitakata giving importing info right next to a window did make the assassination attempt pretty obvious.
Also, Saejima and Kiryu's early sections having similar reveals was a little disappointing.

As a 27-year-old American guy with little knowledge of idol culture, I found the Haruka sections a little creepy. In addition, I was a little iffy on Park from the beginning and continued to get weird vibes when she asked Haruka to meet her ex in her stead. Giving the pen with an emotional backstory, then saying this is just so you can meet my ex, just made the whole shopping section before seem extremely manipulative. So her death probably wasn't as impactful as it was supposed to be, even though Majima being her ex-husband was a wild reveal.
Haruka's interaction with Ulala, aka large woman, was bizzare and an example of the Yakuza "humor" that really doesn't hold up.

I thought Katsuya was a really effective initial antagonist, and I liked him more than Kurosawa and Aizawa.

I really came to like Shinada and Takasugi despite them both kinda sucking. I did hate Shinada's fight with Daigo. The hardest fight in the game for me

I loved the obvious moment where Katsuya asked go into a less cramped space, walks out to a helicopter pad, explains that fighting each other is just playing to the master mind's hand, but everyone decides to anyway because they is a Yakuza game and they just have to.

I liked all the sections where it almost turned into a warriors game. It was weird that Haruka didn't get a final gameplay finale like every other playable character, which was disappointing. The final fight against Aizawa was fantastic.

This game really felt like a perfect send-off for Kiryu. Honestly, I'm a little disappointed with the insistence on him being the heart of Yakuza, especially since a lot of the newer characters are more interesting.

[Tolkientaters]

On a more serious note, as a guy who's struggled with depression and everything that comes with that, Shinada and Baba's storylines gave me a bigger emotional impact than I've had from any other game.

Spoiler: show

Baba's suicide attempt just hit me really hard as well as the resolution scene right after, I just had to pause and cry. I guess it was a mix of the suprise and the mix of sympathy and contempt I had for the character, but that scene just hit me really hard. I did not expect the absurdly convoluted Yakuza 5 finale to leave me in tears. Also thank god, they didn't go with the extremely trite sentimental music for that scene.

Spoiler: show

[Jobobonobo]

Many of my favourite entries in the Yakuza series have compelling side content that I will put countless hours into whether they be cabaret club management, estate agency, pocket car racing or defending a construction site in a real time strategy. Yakuza 5 has an abundance of such games within a game that I would forego the main game entirely for days and become the best taxi driver, hunter, idol or baseball player. I was gripped by all of these activities and appreciated how they broke up the main gameplay. They represent to me what is the main agenda of this title: ambition.

This Yakuza (so far) has the most amount of playable characters, most amount of locales to roam around in, a massive supporting cast of characters from Saejima’s prison gang to Kiryu’s taxi crew to the talent agency of Dyna Chair. I welcomed all these changes. I like Kamurocho but the change of scenery for most of the game is greatly appreciated. Even Saejima having a shaved head was a big improvement on that awful mop he had in Yakuza 4. Shinada is also a great addition to the roster being an interesting mix of a perpetually broke sleazebag with a strong child-like enthusiasm for his passions in life. Him handling weapons that never break are also a fantastic bonus.

All in all, Yakuza 5 is a lovely return to form after the jankiness of Yakuza 3 and the frustrating boss battles of Yakuza 4. It may have needed two prior games of experimentation to really get things in order but Yakuza 5 is an absolute highlight of the series for me and contains an abundance of gritty crime drama and absurd daftness that makes these games so special. Kiryu taking on the entrie Tojo clan while he dodges rockets is undoubtedly the most badass he has ever been and it makes clear that the man is less a exceptionally fit human being and more of a demigod. If you are looking for something fun and addictive to keep you busy for a long time, Yakuza 5 comes highly recommended.

TWR: Down with T-SET!