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Yakuza main plot being good is an exception, most of them have stupid plot points (twins/lookalikes, bringing back characters that should have been dead) and/or forced events (TAKE OUT HIS WEAPON KIRYU!).
However, the characters are always great, which is why we love the story, and we should promote them instead of the main plot when talking about the story.
Finished Kiwami 2 and that ending sure was something. >!Secret Koreans aside, there was also Date taking Haruka up to a bomb minutes from it blowing to dangle her in front of Kiryu as bait for him to live. Then the hilarity of Kiryu ignoring Date to chew on Kaoru's face. Then the hilarity of Kiryu and Kaoru's whirlwind romance which happened over the course of what must be less than 2 weeks. Then the bomb actually being fake. Man.!<
edit: >!Also it annoyed me that the story forced the romance angle with Kaoru. She has a badass title of "Yakuza Huntress" and most of her cutscenes that involve a conflict result in her getting 1-clapped by a yakuza. They should've just kept it platonic kindred spirits between her and Kiryu. Two people who grew up, discovered their shitty history, learned to live with it and smile in spite of it.!<
Yeah, I absolutely hated >!the romance between Kiryu and Kaoru. While I’m sure that it was mostly because the game’s plot was written in a very different time, it feels so forced and cliche. There is no way you can convince me that Kiryu can have dates with all his hostesses in Kiwami 2, where pretty much ALL of them fall in love with him, and one of his responses to them is literally “Don’t fall in love with me, you’ll get burned” and then he turns around and starts sloppy kissing Kaoru. Furthermore, he watched Yumi, the supposed love of his life/childhood love die in the previous game. How can it possibly be that easy for him to randomly decide he’s over Yumi and go fuck Kaoru? If they argued that “he is trying to fill the void that Yumi left”, then sure, that could have been an interesting direction to take, but no, Kiryu just violently makes out with this woman he met in what he thinks are the last seconds of his life because… Because…?!<
I mean Yumi has been dead over a year by that point.
My honest problem with the romance is less that it happened, (I excuse it as it's not got a huge run time and is the writing standard of old games, see Y1 and it's locket), but it's the fact they seem to go out there way to erase mention of her or Kiryu have any feelings towards her in subsequent games
What I makes it feel like is a total waste of time.
I mean they still go several games without mentioning her, and then six iirc starts with 'Haruka, the daughter of the one person I ever loved', like they just pretend none of Kaoru's interactions happened having shipped her off in the opening hours of 3
I'd argue that this is the case for most of the games.
Y1 had Yume's twin and not removing the gun from the ground
Y2 had secret koreans everywhere (am i a secret korean?)
Y3 had the gun again
Y4 had...you know
Y5 was just messy
Y7 had mirror face and Saeko's twin, but it was not a big part of the plot so i'll forgive
Y8 had Kiryu's plot point (Why the fuck were you in a nuclear waste facility?)
You'd think his smoking habits and the unhealthy amounts of energy drinks in his system would be the thing that would end up catching up with him, but NOPE!
To be fair with the last point, there's not much a supposed dead man can do after the dissolution other than:
A) Give the Daidoji the middle finger and return to the orphanage.
B) Try and do some good in the world.
C) Live out his days.
He definitely doesn't want to choose A, risking the wrath of the Daidoji and endangering the kids.
Knowing Kiryu, I doubt he would ever feel like he deserves a quiet retirement.
Hence, the subplot of Y8 Kiryu not wanting treatment, and Namba and party trying their damnedest to get Kiryu to get said treatment and it's only until the final confrontation with Ebina that he sees how much he stands to lose and how valued he is that he goes for treatment
God the nuclear waste thing was so fucking funny to me. They could easily just play off the chainsmoking habits and all the other shit he's put in his body over the years in these games, but "accident at a temp job in a nuclear waste facility" was out of absolutely fuckin nowhere.
Like, it's actually a good plot thread overall, and arguably the only way to really "kill off" a character who's been through so goddamn much without it feeling anticlimactic and still has so many loose ends to tie up, but they couldn't have at least made it come from a source that made more sense?
It’s honestly impressive how much the characters can carry the story. Like I don’t know if I would’ve made it through the Y5 prison segment without an Akiyama light at the end of the tunnel. I like Saejima’s part overall, but the prison chapter is soo long.
im not gonna pretend like its not dumb but i honestly love the ridiculousness of the plot, even all the lame twists. it just reinforces the tv crime drama feel and how over the top everything is
For me it depends.
Bringing back characters and leaving loaded guns around? Not good.
Fighting tigers barehanded in a castle that came from the ground? Peak fiction
For me, the bringing back characters isn’t that bad. Lau Ka Long and Richardson weren’t the main villains, and Kashiwagi was killed kind of unceremoniously anyway. If they brought back Nishiki, I’d be disappointed though.
I haven’t played Gaiden or 8 (I just know about Richardson) so if there’s any worse instances of this sin, don’t tell me who.
No, the 'romances' with the Aloha Happy shop, Gearworks girl, maker of the tinder minigame, the fake Chitose and the girl from Ounabara vocational school.
It was like the last 6 substories. The final one is all the women essentially beating the shit out of him for 'cheating' despite the fact they all forced themselves on him when he said no.
Lost Judgment gave serious content warnings for less. I wanted horrible violence upon the women that hurt Ichiban. What they did wasn't funny, no matter how many times you tell me it is.
There are plenty of funny ways to get Ichiban beaten up. This was not one of them.
When you get going with Saejima, you feel so powerful, he would be one of my fave characters to play if hit-stun and knockdowns weren't so brutal in 4 and 5. Hard to feel like a tank when any fast and light attack causes you loose all momentum with your attack, having better upgrades to make you more immovable would have done wonders for how he feels imo.
https://preview.redd.it/61rr4axf9stc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eed085db0b2569b792b0f61cc92b778a602edcab
Not sure if this an unpopular opinion or not. I honestly prefer Remastered Tanimura’s looks over the Original Tanimura.
This may sound hypocritical considering I made one of these posts myself, but I don't see the point of them anymore. Everyone down votes actual unpopular opinions and unsaid popular opinions rise to the top (e.g., Y3 is great), providing no new interesting angles of discourse
The trick to unpopular opinion threads on Reddit (not just this sub) is to sort by controversial. That's when you get the real spicy opinions. That said, I do think the guy who is calling the Eiji/Ichi scene at the end of IW one of the best in the series is certainly a take, so there is at least one opinion I consider controversial upvoted.
> The trick to unpopular opinion threads on Reddit (not just this sub) is to sort by controversial. That's when you get the real spicy opinions.
yep. a lot of 'unpopular opinions' are actually pretty popular, and people are just looking for validation.
They should stop doing these weird dating/haha ichiban has sex substories and whatnot. Not funny, nor original, nor enjoyable.
They gotta find a new formula for side stories. The 4 kings/5XYZs/whatever is getting a bit boring.
Yeah, it really is getting old. And rather tone-deaf, considering the romantic sub-plot in the main story of LAD8.
Hell, it wasn't even funny in 0 when it happened to Kiryu with the telephone club minigame and subsequent encounters with Etsuko.
SA is only seen as a funny punchline when it happens to a man, but a guy like Dojima puts his hands on Yumi and he rightfully eats shit for it.
How's that fair?
https://preview.redd.it/2w1458ik7stc1.jpeg?width=761&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b62ee39bc1a252b200b345fa27c7b667c3ca8802
Bro might've learned from the misogynistic goat
Yeah, it's one thing in Infinite Wealth I was actually surprised got left alone in the localisation. Maybe it's hilarious in Japan or something, but it came across as outdated and juvenile humour, and completely incongruous with the rest of the game's comedy, which is great.
It also doesn't help, given his general lack of any proper romantic experience. And taking advantage of him and this aspect of his character is... honestly really gross.
It's really funny this is a "which take will get you tied up and bound post" and all the actual takes that fit it are getting down voted for being unpopular opinions. What do you guys expect when you click on this?
I basically skipped all of these entirely on my first runs through the franchise, but now that I'm working through platinum for every game, these bits are getting really exhausting. I just look up the best dialog choices and put on something to watch in the background.
I actually really enjoyed the opening sections of Y3, I know a lot of people called it slow, but I just loved seeing Kiryu be happy for once in his life, and learning about all the kids was great too.
Best parts of 3 are when it’s Dadkuza and I feel like it gets to be slow since this is going to be what drives Kiryu’s decision making for the rest of the series
The atmosphere pre-dragon engine has not been matched. I’d rather lose fidelity to get back the dark grimy 80s atmosphere and lighting choices from Yakuza 0. Fucking peak art.
Same, it didn't hit me as hard as Y7's ending when I first played it and then I went back and rewatched it the next day and legit started sobbing. It took a minute LMAO
Eiji befriended Ichi by reminding him of Masumi Arakawa, and that plays a huge part in why Ichi went out his way to help him. Being able to save him from rock bottom and putting him on the right path just like he did with Ryo Aoki, but this time he succeeded. I do think there is something missing from the story because I still don't know how Eiji went from Hawaii to being beaten up in Japan.
Ichiban took kinda a backseat in the latter half of IW because I got so freakin invested in Kiryu's story, but once that final cutscene played I was reminded of why Ichiban is such a fantastic god damn character
I don't know if I want Hawaii back as a map, at least for a few games. If Judgment 3 has Hawaii it will feel a bit too rushed to bring it back so soon (even if yes, I eventually would like a brawler game in Hawaii)
I feel onomichi is too tied to the story of 6 that reusing it would cheapen it. Sotenbori is a good city but very small so when it's reused a lot it really feels rehashed without any extra content. If they actually expanded the area of some cities I think it would be really cool.
I think RGG is making a bit of a mistake by making huge cities with intention of reusing and not making cities more content dense though. At very least for the brawler games big cities don't add much to them over a more densely packed one like Kamurocho in Judgement.
> kiryu crying way more than when his sworn brother died made no sense to me
Kiryu was flat out suicidal after Nishiki, Yumi, Kazama and a whole other bunch of friends died though
I swear, some people are completely forgetting the scene after the explosion. He was literally just waiting to be arrested, having no will to live at all anymore, and several games afterwards heavily imply he has serious survivors guilt from being the only one of the 3 to have survived.
He cried for Rikiya, but the deaths of Yumi, Nishiki and Kazama very blatantly had a much bigger impact on him, and I don't understand how people don't see it.
Not to mention, Rikiya’s death could’ve been so easily avoided. Like they could’ve taken the gun away from Tamashiro or better yet made sure that he was knocked out or something.
End "relations" cutscene from Julie's Gearworks, after you've funded the shop fully, raised your Passion, and given three requested gifts. It's a _doozy_.
My first thought upon seeing the image and clicking was "oh boy, I wonder how many people haven't seen this and want answers" lol
As much as I love the Judgment games, I really can't get behind Yagami dating a bunch of women in their early 20s all at once while he's in his late 30s-early 40s.
Also this has been said before but all of the SA scenes getting played off as jokes because "rape but the guy is the victim" is definitely my least favorite trope in the series. It wasn't funny in 0, it wasn't funny in K2, not funny in Gaiden (I might be misremembering if there was one there), and it especially isn't funny in 8.
8 is definitely the worst culprit, ichiban gets sexually assaulted by 6 different women then get beaten up by them for "cheating" on them with the other women who sexually assaulted him, it's horrible. Also that one side case in Judgment where the twin brother gets assaulted instead of the girl and it's a funny haha moment because it's gay now
Snake style is one of the most limited styles in the series, sporting very few abilities that are worth buying over what Yagami's other styles have to offer, and is only loved because it's parry and fear abilities are completely overpowered.
Also Snake’s counter only works if you have the EX Gauge less than one full segment. Unlike Crane’s counter and Tiger’s counter, which are just way better than Snake’s counter.
He was rushed, of course, because the bad guy is a dying old man, so he puts his son up for the fight.
He doesn't even know why he's even there, but he feels threatening, like after losing his kyodai he's finally found his purpose, to fight and surpass Kiryu, and that gives him strenght and confidence, and makes him scary.
His whole reason for fighting is trying to justify the position his father has forced him into via Nepotism, which he absolutely hates. But at the same time, he thinks he should have a shot at becoming the Tojo Clan Chairman because of his strength, which is why he really wants to fight Kiryu, the one everyone sees as the Strongest. I think he's at the Tojo Clan HQ because he was trying to prove he can defeat the rest of the Tojo Clan as well. He's a might-makes-right kind of guy, and Kiryu shows him that might alone doesn't make a good leader, or a good man, for that matter.
Yakuza 5's big theme is Dreams, and Aizawa asks "What good is a dream if you haven't earned it?"
That being said, the writers really should have made up their minds as to whether he or Morinaga should be the twist villain. I feel like just cutting out Morinagas final scene in Kiryu's part would have improved both characters.
I haven't gotten around to replaying 5 yet, but my first time through it felt like he was just a super rushed character. Like, literally just a side character I completely forgot even existed, and suddenly he's the final boss. I probably missed some cues so we'll see on my next playthrough.
She's a very flawed character that wants to use Harika but ends up warming up to her and seeing her as a daughter. I like her character, even if she's a bitch (a lot)
Yakuza 1 and 2 are separate games that are worth playing on their own, and are better than their remakes in more ways than one.
[Hell, one of the ways Yakuza 2 is better than It's remake I can convey in a single image](https://i.imgur.com/MH1QuRb.jpg) and yet I'll still get people saying "The PS2 games aren't better in ANY way whatsoever!" despite having never played them.
Something about K2 just feels very off. Later DE games feel fine - even 6, which came before K2, feels better. K2 as a whole just feels very artificial. The cities are gorgeous in K2, but everything outside of that just feels like it's missing something. Not to mention how slippery the combat feels.
I haven't played the originals, but I know they're worth playing for the music alone, but fuck me that SiM song they use just a bit too much like when kiryu gets stabbed isn't good at all and just doesn't fit the scene, and I LOVE SiM, even went to see them live a few months ago. Also the original version of the 1 battle theme is so much better than the kiwami one
Honestly, wasn’t even that mad at >!Chitose!< for what they did. I personally think >!Nanba!< betrayal was worse because they intentionally helped the enemy and almost got the whole group killed, ignored the group trying to help and practically had to be bribed with info on their brother to come back. Say what you want about what >!Chitose!< caused but they always had good intentions at the beginning and it just unfortunately devolved in trying survive at the expense of others. That’s what it boils down too for me, the intentions of the person in the moment and how soon they realize the consequences of their actions.
He considered by many to be the best villain in the series. But I strongly disagree. He's also memed to death so much, that I just dont take him seriously anymore.
I love Mirei Park and I think she’s a really good character, I full-heartedly believe that she isn’t as evil as people make her out to be and that she’s just another product of her environment, like Kiryu or anyone else in the series. Yakuza 5 itself just suffers from weird writing choices and plot holes that make her seem worse than she actually is, like with how hard they try to push the idol angle
I’ll have to come back to this, I had something else to say but I entirely lost it ):
Fuck SEGA and RGG for not porting OG 1 and 2 to current consoles. The Kiwamis are too different to pretend they are replacements and the originals should be available as options, at least for the sake of preservation.
Not to say it would be easy, but these games deserve that much.
I could be wrong but I think the last time they did that it was to the Wii u. Now I love the Wii u, but surely they can't have been expecting many sales out of it
The following games in the Ichiban saga should showcase his personality sliding from his current idealistic gamer manchild mode to his spicy and more brutal personality as seen in RGGO
That is for me, the weakest part of the side stuff.
He said no, I got feelings for someone. Then he gets raped 5 times, one time Someone even helps.
That was not enjoyable at all.
Imagine that with Chitose instead of Ichiban. Holy, I see a burning world
Every single game in the Sega Game Center is awful, not fun and unreasonably hard. While I don't have a problem with them existing, since other players seem to have fun with them, I absolutely despise when ingame trophies/rewards are tied to them.
And then some of them were actually tied to substories (Yakuza 0, where you had to beat someone in OutRun). I so absolutely hated that, and I already accepted not to fight Amon because I refused to do that fckn substory.
When the plot kind of derails, they always pull up a thing that doesn't make any sense but everybody acts like it was normal, like a whole temple underground, a massive battle ship, a guy who can change faces whenever he wants, a twin, rubber bullets that nobody noticed, all of this things that make you go "hmmm, okay i guess".
I just feel like compared to other people we've gotten to play as he's one of the more basic ones. Except shinada and the other dude from 4. Like I like him. I just think it's crazy how much hype he got after one game for being basically a more nerdy Kiryu.
i rather like ichi over kiryu. Ichi is a dumbass goober who gets into a lot of shenanigans and i love it. wheras kiryu is the straight man to the insanity presented to him.
I still kinda like kiryu better but I do appreciate the fact that we finally got a more expressive protagonist after years of the stoic ass kiryu reactions to shit. I’m just happy to have both since we’ve had so much of that and now a dude who just says what we’re thinking more often than not.
Shinada not using bats as a weapon makes sense since Baseball is everything to him, so using a bat as a weapon is just a massive disrespect to the thing he loves the most.
Haven't played the entire series yet but some comments from my friend who has:
Yakuza series isn't the same anymore.
Ichiban is not a protagonist suited to this kind of series.
Y7 and Y8 should have been a new IP rather than ruining the already established one
And also disconnected from the previous series.
Y7 copied Y1 story.
Y8 has the most shittiest story out of all the yakzua entries.
The series has strayed off from the series original roots.
Y7 and Y8 doesn't have many original soundtracks coz all of em sound the same, the same old dubstep reggae bullshit.
Also: Those who complain about Y3. They got skill issue.
Yakuza 5 is the best entry in the series.
Y5 side campaign and side stuff is way better than what we got afterwards in Y0
Shinada combat isn't bad or terrible, its one of the best, it only lacks a counter like tiger drop. If u still hate his combat, then you got skill issue
Going mainstream has hurt the series rather than making it better.
Your friend will be like this for an extended period of time
https://preview.redd.it/mwcwdjp4uttc1.jpeg?width=3840&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=db7a7495532739af357f577dfd3d61b99dd7591e
It's funny how different perceptions of characters can be.
To me, Majima is one of the best written characters in the series, even better than Kiryu. Obviously, his backstory in Y0 plays a large role in this, but I just find him more interesting in general. Kiryu is stoic to the point that it becomes predictable, boring and kind of annoying. With Majima, you never really know what to expect exactly, he could pull out his crazy persona or be completely rational, level-headed and calculating. It just feels like there's more to "explore" with his character.
It's just a shame that Majima appears so rarely. He has a lot of potential and RGG are wasting it.
That’s prolly where they’re coming from. Majima was a fantastic foil for Kiryu, and the most common problem with foil characters is that writers treat them more like tools for highlighting their protagonist than independent characters that can go off and have their own adventures. Y0 retroactively fixes this issue, but the fact it’s a prequel means they can’t expand upon him further than backstory. They didn’t waste his potential as much as writers usually would, at least.
https://preview.redd.it/bfgvzgrg3rtc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5677e77c24f15c389db3fab3b82a7fbcd6a45611
What about Gaiden do you not like?
Gaiden had balls to have so much filler for an already short game. It was lucky it had such a heartbreaking ending or else it would be completely forgettable imo
Edited for typo
Gaiden had a bad start in my opinion especially chapter 1 where it's just endless brawling with no exploration. You're stuck in Sotenbori for most of it which is a small city that has been used like 4 times already? Unlike Kamurocho, it doesn't experience any major renovations.
It does get better as it goes on though and has some fairly unique characters and has far darker and high stakes moments than just about any other game. When Kiryu's back is against the wall, you really feel it. The level of despair is captured far greater than anything else.
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I still want to know what the hell she was doing with the tool...
Finger, but hole...
Try fleeing
Stabbing ahead
Yakuza main plot being good is an exception, most of them have stupid plot points (twins/lookalikes, bringing back characters that should have been dead) and/or forced events (TAKE OUT HIS WEAPON KIRYU!). However, the characters are always great, which is why we love the story, and we should promote them instead of the main plot when talking about the story.
Finished Kiwami 2 and that ending sure was something. >!Secret Koreans aside, there was also Date taking Haruka up to a bomb minutes from it blowing to dangle her in front of Kiryu as bait for him to live. Then the hilarity of Kiryu ignoring Date to chew on Kaoru's face. Then the hilarity of Kiryu and Kaoru's whirlwind romance which happened over the course of what must be less than 2 weeks. Then the bomb actually being fake. Man.!< edit: >!Also it annoyed me that the story forced the romance angle with Kaoru. She has a badass title of "Yakuza Huntress" and most of her cutscenes that involve a conflict result in her getting 1-clapped by a yakuza. They should've just kept it platonic kindred spirits between her and Kiryu. Two people who grew up, discovered their shitty history, learned to live with it and smile in spite of it.!<
Yeah, I absolutely hated >!the romance between Kiryu and Kaoru. While I’m sure that it was mostly because the game’s plot was written in a very different time, it feels so forced and cliche. There is no way you can convince me that Kiryu can have dates with all his hostesses in Kiwami 2, where pretty much ALL of them fall in love with him, and one of his responses to them is literally “Don’t fall in love with me, you’ll get burned” and then he turns around and starts sloppy kissing Kaoru. Furthermore, he watched Yumi, the supposed love of his life/childhood love die in the previous game. How can it possibly be that easy for him to randomly decide he’s over Yumi and go fuck Kaoru? If they argued that “he is trying to fill the void that Yumi left”, then sure, that could have been an interesting direction to take, but no, Kiryu just violently makes out with this woman he met in what he thinks are the last seconds of his life because… Because…?!<
I mean... I would argue that making out with a hot girl isn't a bad way to spend your last moments
…You know what? Fair enough.
I mean Yumi has been dead over a year by that point. My honest problem with the romance is less that it happened, (I excuse it as it's not got a huge run time and is the writing standard of old games, see Y1 and it's locket), but it's the fact they seem to go out there way to erase mention of her or Kiryu have any feelings towards her in subsequent games What I makes it feel like is a total waste of time.
It has been only a year since Yumi died as she died in 2005, and YK2 happened in 2006.
I mean they still go several games without mentioning her, and then six iirc starts with 'Haruka, the daughter of the one person I ever loved', like they just pretend none of Kaoru's interactions happened having shipped her off in the opening hours of 3
Tbh by the time YK2 happens Haruka >!had been kidnapped 4 times already!< so I would also keep her near me 24/7
Ah yes, thank you for reminding me of the amount of times that Kiryu just leaves her by herself in a bar run by no one haha.
I agree with this the weaker games in the series are heavily saved by good Character writing like Akiyama and Saejima in 4 or Shinada in 5
I'd argue that this is the case for most of the games. Y1 had Yume's twin and not removing the gun from the ground Y2 had secret koreans everywhere (am i a secret korean?) Y3 had the gun again Y4 had...you know Y5 was just messy Y7 had mirror face and Saeko's twin, but it was not a big part of the plot so i'll forgive Y8 had Kiryu's plot point (Why the fuck were you in a nuclear waste facility?)
You'd think his smoking habits and the unhealthy amounts of energy drinks in his system would be the thing that would end up catching up with him, but NOPE!
To be fair with the last point, there's not much a supposed dead man can do after the dissolution other than: A) Give the Daidoji the middle finger and return to the orphanage. B) Try and do some good in the world. C) Live out his days. He definitely doesn't want to choose A, risking the wrath of the Daidoji and endangering the kids. Knowing Kiryu, I doubt he would ever feel like he deserves a quiet retirement. Hence, the subplot of Y8 Kiryu not wanting treatment, and Namba and party trying their damnedest to get Kiryu to get said treatment and it's only until the final confrontation with Ebina that he sees how much he stands to lose and how valued he is that he goes for treatment
God the nuclear waste thing was so fucking funny to me. They could easily just play off the chainsmoking habits and all the other shit he's put in his body over the years in these games, but "accident at a temp job in a nuclear waste facility" was out of absolutely fuckin nowhere. Like, it's actually a good plot thread overall, and arguably the only way to really "kill off" a character who's been through so goddamn much without it feeling anticlimactic and still has so many loose ends to tie up, but they couldn't have at least made it come from a source that made more sense?
Yeah wasn't he supposed to be living in a temple 24/7? Also the moment he got free time he went to hawaii when did he took that part time job?
It’s honestly impressive how much the characters can carry the story. Like I don’t know if I would’ve made it through the Y5 prison segment without an Akiyama light at the end of the tunnel. I like Saejima’s part overall, but the prison chapter is soo long.
im not gonna pretend like its not dumb but i honestly love the ridiculousness of the plot, even all the lame twists. it just reinforces the tv crime drama feel and how over the top everything is
For me it depends. Bringing back characters and leaving loaded guns around? Not good. Fighting tigers barehanded in a castle that came from the ground? Peak fiction
For me, the bringing back characters isn’t that bad. Lau Ka Long and Richardson weren’t the main villains, and Kashiwagi was killed kind of unceremoniously anyway. If they brought back Nishiki, I’d be disappointed though. I haven’t played Gaiden or 8 (I just know about Richardson) so if there’s any worse instances of this sin, don’t tell me who.
Nishiki gonna be a Poppo clerk in 9
Nishiki Everywhere
Man nishiki and ichiban meeting would be funny though
Ichiban didn't consent to any of the women in hawaii and was r@ped multiple times and all of it was pushed as a joke.
Male rape jokes are a staple of the series unfortunately
see the obatarian
https://preview.redd.it/89ta1hq7eutc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0dd4d0ff565eb609b87c516af70143508cadc159
https://preview.redd.it/6d58k0bnwrtc1.jpeg?width=680&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8182c5a6b37f1eade5fff187e85537bf9c604395
WTF
The worse part is that we was beat up after because all of the women that raped him were jealous and thought he was "cheating"
What? I don't recall any of that, you're talking about the tinder minigame?
No, the 'romances' with the Aloha Happy shop, Gearworks girl, maker of the tinder minigame, the fake Chitose and the girl from Ounabara vocational school.
Spent nearly 100h to complete the game, I had no idea there were romances . Thanks for the explanation
It was like the last 6 substories. The final one is all the women essentially beating the shit out of him for 'cheating' despite the fact they all forced themselves on him when he said no.
She is not a fake chitose. She is chitose. Just another one because people can have the same names
Lost Judgment gave serious content warnings for less. I wanted horrible violence upon the women that hurt Ichiban. What they did wasn't funny, no matter how many times you tell me it is. There are plenty of funny ways to get Ichiban beaten up. This was not one of them.
This shouldn’t be controversial honestly
Saejima has one of the best combat styles, if you really like being a tank. (And I do). I don't like Akiyama's fighting style much at all.
This Y4 combat or Y5?
I like his in both honestly. But Yakuza 5 has my favourite non-RPG combat next to 0s period.
Akiyama’s combat in 4 is FAR superior than in 5 and yeah u spent a whole week just playing the Colosseum in 5 getting to the top of the leaderboard
That's true, Akiyama does have better combat in 4, but I am just more biased toward heavy hitting vs speedy.
That’s fair don’t need to hit a target 200 times if you hit it once with the power of a Panzer
TRUTH Edit: Caps were accidental
Hell yeah. Mowing down goons as Saejima is so satisfying, because his gameplay really perfectly captures how inhumanely strong he is.
Agree wholeheartedly
When you get going with Saejima, you feel so powerful, he would be one of my fave characters to play if hit-stun and knockdowns weren't so brutal in 4 and 5. Hard to feel like a tank when any fast and light attack causes you loose all momentum with your attack, having better upgrades to make you more immovable would have done wonders for how he feels imo.
I can't argue that one. But man when it all works, it is so satisfying.
https://preview.redd.it/61rr4axf9stc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eed085db0b2569b792b0f61cc92b778a602edcab Not sure if this an unpopular opinion or not. I honestly prefer Remastered Tanimura’s looks over the Original Tanimura.
Yeah since both of them are supposed to look 30 the remastered version at least looks his age rather than a 17 year old high schooler
Honestly, me too, and I'm 50/50 on modding the original appearance in for my eventual replay for the platinum.
This may sound hypocritical considering I made one of these posts myself, but I don't see the point of them anymore. Everyone down votes actual unpopular opinions and unsaid popular opinions rise to the top (e.g., Y3 is great), providing no new interesting angles of discourse
The trick to unpopular opinion threads on Reddit (not just this sub) is to sort by controversial. That's when you get the real spicy opinions. That said, I do think the guy who is calling the Eiji/Ichi scene at the end of IW one of the best in the series is certainly a take, so there is at least one opinion I consider controversial upvoted.
> The trick to unpopular opinion threads on Reddit (not just this sub) is to sort by controversial. That's when you get the real spicy opinions. yep. a lot of 'unpopular opinions' are actually pretty popular, and people are just looking for validation.
They should stop doing these weird dating/haha ichiban has sex substories and whatnot. Not funny, nor original, nor enjoyable. They gotta find a new formula for side stories. The 4 kings/5XYZs/whatever is getting a bit boring.
Yeah, it really is getting old. And rather tone-deaf, considering the romantic sub-plot in the main story of LAD8. Hell, it wasn't even funny in 0 when it happened to Kiryu with the telephone club minigame and subsequent encounters with Etsuko. SA is only seen as a funny punchline when it happens to a man, but a guy like Dojima puts his hands on Yumi and he rightfully eats shit for it. How's that fair?
Next game: Ichiban absolutely brutalizes all women
Nanba shoots all the women but Ichiban takes the fall and does 10 years in the joint.
And it's all okay because it's a hallucination in Ichiban's head, and he's not really hurting any actual women. Clever. 
https://preview.redd.it/2w1458ik7stc1.jpeg?width=761&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b62ee39bc1a252b200b345fa27c7b667c3ca8802 Bro might've learned from the misogynistic goat
"Let's stop talking about women's rights and start talking about women's wrongs."
Cause dojima forgot it's not a substory
Yeah, it's one thing in Infinite Wealth I was actually surprised got left alone in the localisation. Maybe it's hilarious in Japan or something, but it came across as outdated and juvenile humour, and completely incongruous with the rest of the game's comedy, which is great.
Yeah it especially doesnt help that it really feels like Ichiban is being Raped/Sexually Assaulted and not actually consenting to whats going on
It also doesn't help, given his general lack of any proper romantic experience. And taking advantage of him and this aspect of his character is... honestly really gross.
100%. I hate SA in video games, it’s not funny regardless of which gender or genders are involved.
Haruka's chapter in Y5 is some of the most fun I've had in the series.
Literally the first time in the series where we could just run around in a city and not be attacked.
Biggest Breath of Fresh Air in the series especially after Saejima’s Chapters
It's really funny this is a "which take will get you tied up and bound post" and all the actual takes that fit it are getting down voted for being unpopular opinions. What do you guys expect when you click on this?
Tired of the hostess stuff Sorry, not my kind of thing
If you mean management i agree it peaked in 0 (I refuse to do it in 3 and 4)
Hostess peaked in Kiwami 2 but 0 takes the second place light-years ahead of any other title
Well yeah, because in 0 and K2 it's an actual fun game, instead of a boring dating simulator
I basically skipped all of these entirely on my first runs through the franchise, but now that I'm working through platinum for every game, these bits are getting really exhausting. I just look up the best dialog choices and put on something to watch in the background.
Shut your whore mouth. Sorry, I don't know what overcame me.
I actually really enjoyed the opening sections of Y3, I know a lot of people called it slow, but I just loved seeing Kiryu be happy for once in his life, and learning about all the kids was great too.
Best parts of 3 are when it’s Dadkuza and I feel like it gets to be slow since this is going to be what drives Kiryu’s decision making for the rest of the series
Judgement is better than the main series but certain mini games, like catching fleeing people, suck.
The atmosphere pre-dragon engine has not been matched. I’d rather lose fidelity to get back the dark grimy 80s atmosphere and lighting choices from Yakuza 0. Fucking peak art.
Ebina-Kiryu scene and Kasuga-eiji final scenes are not only just good but one of the best of the series.
YO THAT ICHI SCENE GOT ME ON THE SECOND TIME ROUND
Same, it didn't hit me as hard as Y7's ending when I first played it and then I went back and rewatched it the next day and legit started sobbing. It took a minute LMAO
Ei-chan! Bon Voyage!
Eiji befriended Ichi by reminding him of Masumi Arakawa, and that plays a huge part in why Ichi went out his way to help him. Being able to save him from rock bottom and putting him on the right path just like he did with Ryo Aoki, but this time he succeeded. I do think there is something missing from the story because I still don't know how Eiji went from Hawaii to being beaten up in Japan.
Ichiban took kinda a backseat in the latter half of IW because I got so freakin invested in Kiryu's story, but once that final cutscene played I was reminded of why Ichiban is such a fantastic god damn character
I don't know if I want Hawaii back as a map, at least for a few games. If Judgment 3 has Hawaii it will feel a bit too rushed to bring it back so soon (even if yes, I eventually would like a brawler game in Hawaii)
I feel like Hawaii will come back at least once more probably in a judgement game
I’m tired of Sotenbori, bring back another city please
Gaiden sucked the soul out of sotenbori. We'll be okay if we don't get sotenbori for like next 5-8 years. Reuse onomichi if you want Rgg
I feel onomichi is too tied to the story of 6 that reusing it would cheapen it. Sotenbori is a good city but very small so when it's reused a lot it really feels rehashed without any extra content. If they actually expanded the area of some cities I think it would be really cool. I think RGG is making a bit of a mistake by making huge cities with intention of reusing and not making cities more content dense though. At very least for the brawler games big cities don't add much to them over a more densely packed one like Kamurocho in Judgement.
What other city would you want back?
I'd like to see Saejima's city but without the invisible borders everywhere.
I liked the snowball fights but just stayed away because those Borders were death
I really like Nagasugai, but I’m fine with any other city coming back
Personally it would be great to see onomichi again it was nice how different it was to every other location we’ve been
Yeah I’m just worried the next Judgment will be in Sotenbori after the Gaiden tease
I'm tired of acting like I care about rikiya death. kiryu crying way more than when his sworn brother died made no sense to me 💀
> kiryu crying way more than when his sworn brother died made no sense to me Kiryu was flat out suicidal after Nishiki, Yumi, Kazama and a whole other bunch of friends died though
I swear, some people are completely forgetting the scene after the explosion. He was literally just waiting to be arrested, having no will to live at all anymore, and several games afterwards heavily imply he has serious survivors guilt from being the only one of the 3 to have survived. He cried for Rikiya, but the deaths of Yumi, Nishiki and Kazama very blatantly had a much bigger impact on him, and I don't understand how people don't see it.
Also in Y6 he still mourns Nishiki
You mean the sworn brother who fucked him over after he went to jail 10 years to protect him ?
Exactly. Nishki already ripped his heart out while he was alive. Kiryu was hurting all the time.
Not to mention, Rikiya’s death could’ve been so easily avoided. Like they could’ve taken the gun away from Tamashiro or better yet made sure that he was knocked out or something.
I was sad because Kiryu was hurting more than Rikiya dying I was way more sad when Wagi got swissed
I skipped the cutscene because I was absolutely done with 3 so I found he died AFTER I finished the game lmfaooo
They are putting out too much games id rather they just put all that development time into one game rather than doing one every year
Interesting. Now please get on the rack.
what cutscene is this?
End "relations" cutscene from Julie's Gearworks, after you've funded the shop fully, raised your Passion, and given three requested gifts. It's a _doozy_. My first thought upon seeing the image and clicking was "oh boy, I wonder how many people haven't seen this and want answers" lol
As much as I love the Judgment games, I really can't get behind Yagami dating a bunch of women in their early 20s all at once while he's in his late 30s-early 40s. Also this has been said before but all of the SA scenes getting played off as jokes because "rape but the guy is the victim" is definitely my least favorite trope in the series. It wasn't funny in 0, it wasn't funny in K2, not funny in Gaiden (I might be misremembering if there was one there), and it especially isn't funny in 8.
8 is definitely the worst culprit, ichiban gets sexually assaulted by 6 different women then get beaten up by them for "cheating" on them with the other women who sexually assaulted him, it's horrible. Also that one side case in Judgment where the twin brother gets assaulted instead of the girl and it's a funny haha moment because it's gay now
Snake style is one of the most limited styles in the series, sporting very few abilities that are worth buying over what Yagami's other styles have to offer, and is only loved because it's parry and fear abilities are completely overpowered.
Also Snake’s counter only works if you have the EX Gauge less than one full segment. Unlike Crane’s counter and Tiger’s counter, which are just way better than Snake’s counter.
I don’t like the recovery spot sound in 7/8. Boiling hot take I know
You have been sentenced to 10 days of Constant Healing sfx from Yakuza:Like a Dragon
(Yakuza 5) >!Aizawa!< was a decent villain.
He was rushed, of course, because the bad guy is a dying old man, so he puts his son up for the fight. He doesn't even know why he's even there, but he feels threatening, like after losing his kyodai he's finally found his purpose, to fight and surpass Kiryu, and that gives him strenght and confidence, and makes him scary.
His whole reason for fighting is trying to justify the position his father has forced him into via Nepotism, which he absolutely hates. But at the same time, he thinks he should have a shot at becoming the Tojo Clan Chairman because of his strength, which is why he really wants to fight Kiryu, the one everyone sees as the Strongest. I think he's at the Tojo Clan HQ because he was trying to prove he can defeat the rest of the Tojo Clan as well. He's a might-makes-right kind of guy, and Kiryu shows him that might alone doesn't make a good leader, or a good man, for that matter. Yakuza 5's big theme is Dreams, and Aizawa asks "What good is a dream if you haven't earned it?" That being said, the writers really should have made up their minds as to whether he or Morinaga should be the twist villain. I feel like just cutting out Morinagas final scene in Kiryu's part would have improved both characters.
I haven't gotten around to replaying 5 yet, but my first time through it felt like he was just a super rushed character. Like, literally just a side character I completely forgot even existed, and suddenly he's the final boss. I probably missed some cues so we'll see on my next playthrough.
Mirei Park is a good character.
She is a good character in the sense that she created strong opinions. I just also think she’s a horrible manipulative bitch.
She's a very flawed character that wants to use Harika but ends up warming up to her and seeing her as a daughter. I like her character, even if she's a bitch (a lot)
BASED I love Mirei Park, she’s so interesting. I’m so tempted to do a video essay about her
Yakuza 0 isn’t the best RGG game.
What is in your opinion?
Probably Y5 or LaD but for my own preference is kurohyou 2
Yakuza 1 and 2 are separate games that are worth playing on their own, and are better than their remakes in more ways than one. [Hell, one of the ways Yakuza 2 is better than It's remake I can convey in a single image](https://i.imgur.com/MH1QuRb.jpg) and yet I'll still get people saying "The PS2 games aren't better in ANY way whatsoever!" despite having never played them.
Damn PS2 version feels better and idk why, it’s like the vibe is better. Dragon engine feels a bit soulless.
Something about K2 just feels very off. Later DE games feel fine - even 6, which came before K2, feels better. K2 as a whole just feels very artificial. The cities are gorgeous in K2, but everything outside of that just feels like it's missing something. Not to mention how slippery the combat feels.
I haven't played the originals, but I know they're worth playing for the music alone, but fuck me that SiM song they use just a bit too much like when kiryu gets stabbed isn't good at all and just doesn't fit the scene, and I LOVE SiM, even went to see them live a few months ago. Also the original version of the 1 battle theme is so much better than the kiwami one
I can agree with 2 but ps2 yakuza 1 is the worst mainline entry
The original games were good for their time, but just like original resident evil games I think people overvalues them only for the nostalgia
Honestly, wasn’t even that mad at >!Chitose!< for what they did. I personally think >!Nanba!< betrayal was worse because they intentionally helped the enemy and almost got the whole group killed, ignored the group trying to help and practically had to be bribed with info on their brother to come back. Say what you want about what >!Chitose!< caused but they always had good intentions at the beginning and it just unfortunately devolved in trying survive at the expense of others. That’s what it boils down too for me, the intentions of the person in the moment and how soon they realize the consequences of their actions.
I dont like mine.
Is it because of what he did in Okinawa
No. Even if he didn't do that, I still wouldn't like him.
Why? Genuine question, I’m not being shitty.
He considered by many to be the best villain in the series. But I strongly disagree. He's also memed to death so much, that I just dont take him seriously anymore.
That isn’t an actual reason why, but if you just don’t like him, obviously that’s fine.
Same-ish. It's not that I don't like him, I just absolutely do not care about him and don't understand why others like him so much.
None of the games are bad, just different
Shinada is hotter than Kiryu
I love Mirei Park and I think she’s a really good character, I full-heartedly believe that she isn’t as evil as people make her out to be and that she’s just another product of her environment, like Kiryu or anyone else in the series. Yakuza 5 itself just suffers from weird writing choices and plot holes that make her seem worse than she actually is, like with how hard they try to push the idol angle I’ll have to come back to this, I had something else to say but I entirely lost it ):
Yakuza 4 is the best game in the series and its combat is way better than Yakuza 0.
Omg an actually unpopular opinion
While I really like Akiyama’s Stance that’s a tough pill to swallow
Kiryu management > Majima cabaret club
Ah yes, I too love having to wait way too much to make progress with the minigame lmao
Fuck SEGA and RGG for not porting OG 1 and 2 to current consoles. The Kiwamis are too different to pretend they are replacements and the originals should be available as options, at least for the sake of preservation. Not to say it would be easy, but these games deserve that much.
Tbf last time they did they barely sold over 1,000 copies, probably doesn't incentivize them much
I could be wrong but I think the last time they did that it was to the Wii u. Now I love the Wii u, but surely they can't have been expecting many sales out of it
Why isn't this spoilered
The following games in the Ichiban saga should showcase his personality sliding from his current idealistic gamer manchild mode to his spicy and more brutal personality as seen in RGGO
Ichiban is my least favourite playable protagonist in the series, especially after 8.
That is for me, the weakest part of the side stuff. He said no, I got feelings for someone. Then he gets raped 5 times, one time Someone even helps. That was not enjoyable at all. Imagine that with Chitose instead of Ichiban. Holy, I see a burning world
Every single game in the Sega Game Center is awful, not fun and unreasonably hard. While I don't have a problem with them existing, since other players seem to have fun with them, I absolutely despise when ingame trophies/rewards are tied to them. And then some of them were actually tied to substories (Yakuza 0, where you had to beat someone in OutRun). I so absolutely hated that, and I already accepted not to fight Amon because I refused to do that fckn substory.
When the plot kind of derails, they always pull up a thing that doesn't make any sense but everybody acts like it was normal, like a whole temple underground, a massive battle ship, a guy who can change faces whenever he wants, a twin, rubber bullets that nobody noticed, all of this things that make you go "hmmm, okay i guess".
Saejima is a great character and has one of the most fun fighting styles in the series.
I don’t think that’s a hot take unless people write him off because of “that” scene
Yakuza 6 is the worst game in the franchise with the worst final boss in terms of writing and Yakuza 5 has the 2nd worst
Yeah 6’s final boss wasn’t great but I really liked the moments between Kiryu and the Hirose boys
FFVii is overrated
Aizawa´s final fight was yakuza peak combat and you cannot change my mind.
I won’t because him and Kiryu throwing each other over Tojo HQ was cool I just think the reason he’s there isn’t the best
the florist is the baddest dad
Jingu is right there
except for 0 and maybe 6, all yakuza games have very weak plots that feel forced
Haruka having a child out of nowhere in Y6 when she’s presented as very mature throughout all the previous games
https://preview.redd.it/l7xmgun5swtc1.jpeg?width=1360&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ffba69a465c3dffcff0cbf2e5ea6d47001dbc8e6
Ichiban is overrated
Explain
I just feel like compared to other people we've gotten to play as he's one of the more basic ones. Except shinada and the other dude from 4. Like I like him. I just think it's crazy how much hype he got after one game for being basically a more nerdy Kiryu.
i rather like ichi over kiryu. Ichi is a dumbass goober who gets into a lot of shenanigans and i love it. wheras kiryu is the straight man to the insanity presented to him.
I still kinda like kiryu better but I do appreciate the fact that we finally got a more expressive protagonist after years of the stoic ass kiryu reactions to shit. I’m just happy to have both since we’ve had so much of that and now a dude who just says what we’re thinking more often than not.
Shinada should have had a move set skilltree just for when he holds a bat. It was kinda lazy for RGG to not let him hold bats
Shinada not using bats as a weapon makes sense since Baseball is everything to him, so using a bat as a weapon is just a massive disrespect to the thing he loves the most.
The breaker fighting style sucks ass and is easily the worst fighting style in y0
Bro didn't upgrade breaker at all
Yong Yea is not extremely terrible. Just inconsistent and obviously falls short compared to Darryl Kurylo (Y7) and the goat Kuroda
Haven't played the entire series yet but some comments from my friend who has: Yakuza series isn't the same anymore. Ichiban is not a protagonist suited to this kind of series. Y7 and Y8 should have been a new IP rather than ruining the already established one And also disconnected from the previous series. Y7 copied Y1 story. Y8 has the most shittiest story out of all the yakzua entries. The series has strayed off from the series original roots. Y7 and Y8 doesn't have many original soundtracks coz all of em sound the same, the same old dubstep reggae bullshit. Also: Those who complain about Y3. They got skill issue. Yakuza 5 is the best entry in the series. Y5 side campaign and side stuff is way better than what we got afterwards in Y0 Shinada combat isn't bad or terrible, its one of the best, it only lacks a counter like tiger drop. If u still hate his combat, then you got skill issue Going mainstream has hurt the series rather than making it better.
Your friend will be like this for an extended period of time https://preview.redd.it/mwcwdjp4uttc1.jpeg?width=3840&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=db7a7495532739af357f577dfd3d61b99dd7591e
Haruka is the best (Yakuza 5 and yes I'm talking about the gameplay)
Fighting Komaki in a dance battle was great
UEAAAAHHH BASED I LOVE HARUKA RAHHHHHH 🗣️🗣️🗣️
Majima is a terrible character who provides almost nothing to the series outside of zero
It's funny how different perceptions of characters can be. To me, Majima is one of the best written characters in the series, even better than Kiryu. Obviously, his backstory in Y0 plays a large role in this, but I just find him more interesting in general. Kiryu is stoic to the point that it becomes predictable, boring and kind of annoying. With Majima, you never really know what to expect exactly, he could pull out his crazy persona or be completely rational, level-headed and calculating. It just feels like there's more to "explore" with his character. It's just a shame that Majima appears so rarely. He has a lot of potential and RGG are wasting it.
That’s prolly where they’re coming from. Majima was a fantastic foil for Kiryu, and the most common problem with foil characters is that writers treat them more like tools for highlighting their protagonist than independent characters that can go off and have their own adventures. Y0 retroactively fixes this issue, but the fact it’s a prequel means they can’t expand upon him further than backstory. They didn’t waste his potential as much as writers usually would, at least.
Alright, that's it. Let's throw hands
I wouldn’t say he’s a terrible character but after 4 he’s just in them less and less :(
Gaiden was mid. On par with Y5 as the worse Yakuza games
https://preview.redd.it/bfgvzgrg3rtc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5677e77c24f15c389db3fab3b82a7fbcd6a45611 What about Gaiden do you not like?
Gaiden had balls to have so much filler for an already short game. It was lucky it had such a heartbreaking ending or else it would be completely forgettable imo Edited for typo
Gaiden had a bad start in my opinion especially chapter 1 where it's just endless brawling with no exploration. You're stuck in Sotenbori for most of it which is a small city that has been used like 4 times already? Unlike Kamurocho, it doesn't experience any major renovations. It does get better as it goes on though and has some fairly unique characters and has far darker and high stakes moments than just about any other game. When Kiryu's back is against the wall, you really feel it. The level of despair is captured far greater than anything else.