I gotta say. It's fantastic.
Say that again?
With a MUCH MUCH smaller gap than the last two, I have added another Yakuza game to the pile of completion. Rather than the 3ish years between Kiwami 2 and 3, it's only been around half a year; so the memories are a lot fresher this time around, which leads to more accurate comparison and growth. In the case of 4 here, I think that it's both a blessing and a curse that 3 is still in my mind. Yakuza 4 (at least the remastered versions) feels like 3 Deluxe, in a way. It's a VERY similar game, which leads to some burnout, but also seeing the bits where they improved on some of 3's flaws was nice. Lemme dive deeper into everything, as I do.
To start, the best thing about this game is the 4. I'm 5 games in now, but timeline wise you got 3 straight Kiryu only games, all featuring Kamurocho. 4 doing the twist of have 3 additional characters gives this game the twist it needed to feel interesting, to avoid maximum burnout; cause Yakuza is a very samey game as you play it. It's both the strength and the weakness. All 4 characters have their own movesets, their own stories, and even their own side distractions. This basically gives you 4 mini Yakuza games to play, which I loved.
I mention side stuff; and I think that's the weakest point of the game. Purely because, a lot of it is repeats from 3. Minigames are just full of the same things, and there didn't feel like a twist. The real kicker here is there WAS Pachinko but it got taken away in this release so I don't even get that. I mean, the minigames aren't bad. But when you have a game like Yakuza, you get a little burnt out of playing a bunch of pool when you basically did the exact same thing last game. The Hostess stuff just. Isn't my favorite. It's a lot of button mashing, money wasting, and time consuming. The coolest thing they did with it though is have the ones you train as Akiyama be available for Tanimura and Kiryu. I did think that was neat. If it wasn't for the split between characters, I don't think I would have been nearly as motivated to play as I was. That really was the sauce the game needed.
Shoutouts to 4 being my first real dive into Mahjong, as well. I was lucky enough to catch CyricZ, the guy who writes all the GameFaqs guides, do a panel at this year's MAGFest about teaching how to play Riichi Mahjong (more for the usage of LaD and FFXIV), so I finally used that knowledge. Mahjong is an abusive relationship that hates you and makes you lose for no reason, but there is something really satisfying about it. I'm not opposed to playing it more. I'm somewhat opposed.
In regards to carry over from 3; the enemy AI felt a lot better this time. I felt like I could actually play the game properly, do heat actions, do grabs, and use the options given to me (and those options are FUN). Semi-connected to that, the Coliseum being completely unlocked from the get go (at least for Kiryu, I didn't mess with it much with Saejima) just kinda feels like "yeah we know you did this already. Do it again but we'll make it easier on you."
Finally, I liked the leveling here def more than 3. The selection of upgrades with soul orbs felt like I was getting moves more often than not, like I felt with 3.
Something about Yakuza writing just feels like it started improving way more after 1 and 2 (counting 0 where it belongs I.E. after 5). While I don't think the story this time tops 3 for me, it's still really good. Again, the biggest strength of the game is the characters. The main 4 (the Yakuza 4) are all just really enjoyable, and they make the story worth going through, even if the actual plot lines might fall flat. There's a lot to go through here. AHEM:
The villains of this game were weak, in my opinion. Probably the weakest of the series so far. But the allied cast in this game was strong enough to balance them out. There were a couple people I didn't mention but to quickly put them down: Fuck Saito. Hate him. Haruka is daughter. Love her. I got to see the kids again. Yay. Date got more appearance and a little bit more story which I loved. Shibata is there.
To move away from my usual character break down, I do like how this game still feels more put together than the first two in the series. I saw a lot of complaints about rubber bullets online, ridiculing them, but like; while ridiculous, that plot point didn't bother me that much? Something about Yakuza reminds me of Professor Layton. You get a lot of mysteries that all (ideally) get tied together at the end, and it's really satisfying. The mystery of what happened 25 years ago, everyone's personal arcs, the Ueno Seiwa, the Tojo, the Police all intersecting for power, and the people heading this; it's fun.
Also, the substories in this game???? Dude. I loved them. Where 3 was filled with a lot of heart, 4 gives a lot of important feeling character expanding on our main cast. Sure, there's a couple silly ones; but when you get 3 new guys, you gotta get them up to par with Kiryu, and they succeeded with that. Akiyama gets a lot of viewing into his business, Saejima visits his past through the lens of protecting a kid, and Tanimura learns about his father and solves a big crime ring. I loved that they had these big stories that you could follow over several substories. Probably my favorite part of the game, there.
I gotta say. Yakuza music is good, but doesn't always stick with me, beyond like, karaoke. I'm a big nerd who downloads video game music to listen to in the car, and before this, I really only had Outlaw's Lullaby from Kiwami 2 on the listen list (again, excluding karaoke). Yakuza has a lot of good intense techno, but 4 here. Dude. Music DRASTIC go up. A lot of big band, unique instruments, cool melodies; it caught my ears far more than in the past. Loved the wind sounds of Akiyama's battle theme, the intense and creepy moments like Whiskey & Rhapsody, the substory battles sometimes being met with the spicy brass squad song called Spicy Brass Squad, the absolute banger that is Tanimura's battle theme, as well as the Sugiuchi battle??? Similar to the story, only the final battles really unimpressed me with how GOOD the rest of the game is full of. Probably my favorite soundtrack in the series so far, I HAD to make this one of my sections that I limited to 4 just for the bit (I'm admitting it here)
Editor's note AKA Styrm going back through his thoughts to make sure they're coherent: HOW DID I NOT MENTION MAJIMA'S BATTLE THEME??? RECIEVE AND BITE YOU GOES INSANE WITH THAT OPENING
Yakuza 4 is a good game. I don't think I'd like it nearly as much without its main gimmick of 4 main characters. Luckily, it has that gimmick, and it does it well. You can only have so much solo Kiryu in the series before you hit burnout. I'm still craving a little more innovation, mainly in the side content, but I think this direction is exactly what the series needed. Luckily, I do have the benefit of "being in the future" and knowing where the series is going, so I'm looking forward to Most of it (I'm iffy on what I know about 6).
If I had a game with the story quality of 3 and the good feeling gameplay + multiple characters of 4, it'd be amazing (wait isn't this what I remember 0 being (it's been like 5 years I might have rose-colored glasses I need to replay it)). Still; like I said. Yakuza 4 is the right direction for the series. Just needs a little more to not feel like the same stuff that I just did last game.
7/10. Wonderful concept of a multi main character cast, but maybe just a little too similar to the game before it to excite me. Half the character writing is amazing, and the other half is the villains.