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Lttp: Yakuza 5

jdstorm

Banned
Started playing This game as a PSPlus freebie. So far I'm about 4 hours in. I expected it to be a 10-20 hour game but after looking at Howlongtobeat.com and seeing that I can expect 40+ hours I want to ask. Is it worth it?
 
They were OK. If I'd hated it I would have dropped it after 1-2 hours.

I guess what I'm feeling now is that Yakuza 5 is a fun middling game. A solid 6.5/10 which I'd be fine with if I could beat it quickly, but 40 hours seems daunting. Does the story start to come togeather or is it just more of the same superhero stuff?
 
I've honestly not played 5 (I don't have a PS3 anymore <cry>), but if the other games are any indicator, I personally think you'll be in for a treat. I absolutely love them, but honestly the next 40 hours won't be a whole lot different than the first 4. If it's not doing it for you, it's just not doing it for you.
 
They were OK. If I'd hated it I would have dropped it after 1-2 hours.

I guess what I'm feeling now is that Yakuza 5 is a fun middling game. A solid 6.5/10 which I'd be fine with if I could beat it quickly, but 40 hours seems daunting. Does the story start to come togeather or is it just more of the same superhero stuff?

At about 4 hours in you really haven't done anything in the game. You play as five different characters in Y5 and all of them have their own stories that eventually start to link into one another. You just have to give it time to really get moving. I'd also say to make sure to do the "Another Drama" missions for your character. They aren't required, but they add a lot to the story.
 
I started Yakuza 4 recently to gear up for Yakuza 0. Mind you, I've never played a Yakuza game before. From what I've gathered so far(about 5 hours in) the game is heavily story driven. The game wants you to get emotionally invested in the characters. That's about it. But the story is sooooo good.
 
The Yakuza games are great fun but they probably would benefit from having shorter cutscenes and main story modes. Games like these don't really need to last 40 hours.
 
I thought that the story was presented in such a way that I was surprised that it took 50 hours.

The rest of the games in the series are significantly shorter too.
 
The Yakuza games are great fun but they probably would benefit from having shorter cutscenes and main story modes. Games like these don't really need to last 40 hours.
They're JRPGs masquerading as brawlers. With how much content each game has, I really feel they justify their length.
 
Started playing This game as a PSPlus freebie. So far I'm about 4 hours in. I expected it to be a 10-20 hour game but after looking at Howlongtobeat.com and seeing that I can expect 40+ hours I want to ask. Is it worth it?

I played it for 96 hours and didn't spend time playing the mini-games. Just completing the main story, sidequests, and side-stories got me to that total. It's weird because Yakuza 1-4 I probably averaged around 25-30 hours. I just wanted to do everything in 5.
 
Yakuza 5 is by far the longest Yakuza game, but you can still beat it in 20 hours if you only focus on the story. I don't recommend it though, wandering around the cities doing random side quests and mini-games is why the Yakuza games are so special.
 
Yakuza 5 is by far the longest Yakuza game, but you can still beat it in 20 hours if you only focus on the story. I don't recommend it though, wandering around the cities doing random side quests and mini-games is why the Yakuza games are so special.

You really can't finish it in 20 hours only focusing on the story.

I did a leisurely story run with only the Haruka side content finished and quite a bit of time spent playing Virtua Fighter 2, and my final game time ended up in the late 50s.

How Long to Beat lists a rushed run at 41 hours.

The rest of the games range from 10-25 hours though.
 
Stick with it OP, the game picks its story up later on.

Man, I envy anyone who'll get to experience the Yakuza series for the first time. These games are amazingly good.

The One and Done&#8482;;214914864 said:
Does it have co op

Main gameplay? No,

But some of its mini-games have a co-op option if you try them from the main menu.
 
I was loving it until I got to Saejima and
his fantasy town land.

Winter area was DOPE though.
 
Never played Yakuza before. I don't really want to start with Yakuza 5. But the release history in Europe has been pretty sketchy, and I don't really want to play the old PS2 games. I mean, there is Kiwami, but there is no confirmation for the west and Yakuza 2 HD is Japan-exclusive, too.

Damn it, where do I begin? D:
 
Never played Yakuza before. I don't really want to start with Yakuza 5. But the release history in Europe has been pretty sketchy, and I don't really want to play the old PS2 games. I mean, there is Kiwami, but there is no confirmation for the west and Yakuza 2 HD is Japan-exclusive, too.

Damn it, where do I begin? D:

Yakuza 4.

Introduces three new protagonists and the story is pretty much self contained so newcomers can understand it. Besides it starts off with the GOAT Shun Akiyama who is one of the most likable character in Yakuza series IMO.

Yakuza 0 is another great entry point for newcomers. It's a prequel to the entire series and has been developed with the intentions of introducing the series to other Asian regions for the first time.

But the catch is that you have to wait a few months to play it since localized version of Yakuza 0 will be released January 24th exclusively on PS4.
 
The amount of content and sidequests is the main draw for me. You can just immerse yourself in the game and just be busy doing all sorts of different things and walking around the cities
 
Started playing This game as a PSPlus freebie. So far I'm about 4 hours in. I expected it to be a 10-20 hour game but after looking at Howlongtobeat.com and seeing that I can expect 40+ hours I want to ask. Is it worth it?

A few things for that though ..

- Have you played and/or enjoyed the previous Yakuza games ?
- How far are you in the story and have you liked what you've played so far ?

Note that the 40+ hours is only if you do every single side activity and side quest in the game, just running through the story and the central quests plus the normal side quests (not the extra stuff like bars, hostess club management etc), you'll be finishing the game in less than 20 hours.

Just FYI, there is a very good rhythm genre section of the game which turned out to be *WAY* better than I was expecting. The game will throw different gameplay tropes at you, so don't worry about it being the same thing through and through.
 
I don't know if my opinion is valid enough as I am a big fan of the series since PS2 era.
I've recently replayed all of PS3 Yakuza games in a row and the only problem I had is "spared bad guy grabs a gun and shoots the character" trope which gets pretty tiresome. Everything else is top-tier, the fighting system, characters, and my god this amount of content is breathtaking.
Also I guess it is harder to enjoy the game if you are new to Japanese culture.
 
I'm playing Yakuza 5 right now as well. I'm 55 hours in and at the end of the 3rd chapter (I do all the sidequests and substories). Really enjoying my time with it. Chapter 2, especially the beginning felt like a drag though.
Wasn't all too much into the hunting village portion either. Boy was I glad when I finally got to the city.
Really like Ch. 3 though.
I was really surprised how much I got into the whole idol stuff lol. When it was time for the first princess league round I was really fired up to absolutely destroy the other two. Aced that performance too, no mistakes. That felt good haha
 
Yakuza 4.

Introduces three new protagonists and the story is pretty much self contained so newcomers can understand it. Besides it starts off with the GOAT Shun Akiyama who is one of the most likable character in Yakuza series IMO.

Yakuza 0 is another great entry point for newcomers. It's a prequel to the entire series and has been developed with the intentions of introducing the series to other Asian regions for the first time.

But the catch is that you have to wait a few months to play it since localized version of Yakuza 0 will be released January 24th exclusively on PS4.

I knew about Yakuza 0 and I'm pretty happy about it getting a proper EU release, but I read some opinions which said that Y0 wasn't the best entry-point as it is way more enjoyable if you know the characters and their stories that happened afterwards. I don't know if that really is the case.

But thanks for the advise! Will look out for Yakuza 4 copies, then. What about Yakuza 3, by the way?
 
Started playing This game as a PSPlus freebie. So far I'm about 4 hours in. I expected it to be a 10-20 hour game but after looking at Howlongtobeat.com and seeing that I can expect 40+ hours I want to ask. Is it worth it?

Take your time in the game. Its a free trip to Japan.

Yakuza 5 alone feautures 31 mini games. From golf drive shots, to casino games, to traditional japanese games, to full arcade games like Virtua Fighter 2 that even include a versus online mode.

Its one of the most meaty and more complete games out there. It has a good story, great characters, it mixes drama with comedy with action. I still liked the story of Yakuza 4 more, but Yakuza 5 is a much more complete game with so much stuff you can do.

In the chapter 3 the gameplay will change while you control a certain character, i liked it alot because was something new, and i was already atached to that charecter from previous yakuza games, but some ppl may not like it, after that chapter the game goes back to normal with all other characters.

Is it worth it the 40+ hours? Hell yeah! Easy the GOTY for PS3 in 2015.
 
I knew about Yakuza 0 and I'm pretty happy about it getting a proper EU release, but I read some opinions which said that Y0 wasn't the best entry-point as it is way more enjoyable if you know the characters and their stories that happened afterwards. I don't know if that really is the case.

But thanks for the advise! Will look out for Yakuza 4 copies, then. What about Yakuza 3, by the way?

You are very welcome.

Sure, Yakuza 0 will definitely be more enjoyable if you know where all these character will end up and how badass some of them will be in the future, but still you can enjoy the storyline and characters in that game a lot more (compared to something like Yakuza 3 or 5) since it's an origin story.

Yakuza 3 is an amazing game (which I greatly enjoyed) but the game starts reaaaaaaally slow. As a Yakuza fan I loved that since I knew the characters and their history, but I assume that it'll be quite boring to newcomers. And since that game focuses solely on Kazuma Kiryu (the main protagonist of the series) naturally the story asks for a richer understanding of the character and his past. The game has a recap option on the menu to bring you up to speed in regards to the story of two first games but the very very slow start of the game will probably turn new players off before the action even begins.

I often recommend people to try Yakuza 4 first and if they liked and finished that, then they can always go back and enjoy Yakuza 3.
 
It took me almost 50 hours to beat just a main story. It was worth every minute. Side-missions are fantastic too, right now I'm doing taxi missions, some of them are really hilarious.
 
Can you go back and play side stories and missions for every character after beating the main story? I started Yakuza 5 and there was so much side stuff to do that it hurt the story's progression, in my opinion. I gave up, but if you can do as many missions as you feel like and go back for the rest after the main story, I might pick it up again.
 
imo it´s definitly worth it, the story alone is pretty great i think.
also the combat system is a lot of fun. and it really captures the japanese flair.
 
I love the Yakuza series but i ran into a wall
prison
in V which i am yet to get past. I really need to get back to it, but its on PS3 and id have to set the console up....
 
Can you go back and play side stories and missions for every character after beating the main story? I started Yakuza 5 and there was so much side stuff to do that it hurt the story's progression, in my opinion. I gave up, but if you can do as many missions as you feel like and go back for the rest after the main story, I might pick it up again.

Yes, you can. There's a mode called Premium Adventure, where you can do all side-stuff after beating main story.
 
Played a bit more after posting. Probably another 2-3 hours and I'm going to stick with it.

I think most of what I didn't like could be attributed to a slow beginning which is understandable given the length of the game. That and a lack of gameplay diversity which is common early on in RPGs. Something that surprised me going in as i was thinking it was going to be less of an RPG and more of an action game.

The only real complaint I have now is the save system. It should be much easier to find a place to save if you need to quit the game in a hurry.

Edit. I tend to get daunted by long games as most open world games take me significantly longer then the average play through.
 
Played a bit more after posting. Probably another 2-3 hours and I'm going to stick with it.

I think most of what I didn't like could be attributed to a slow beginning which is understandable given the length of the game. That and a lack of gameplay diversity which is common early on in RPGs. Something that surprised me going in as i was thinking it was going to be less of an RPG and more of an action game.

The only real complaint I have now is the save system. It should be much easier to find a place to save if you need to quit the game in a hurry.

Edit. I tend to get daunted by long games as most open world games take me significantly longer then the average play through.

Good to hear that you are gonna keep on playing. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Yeah I agree with you on the save system. Fortunately they fixed that in the Ishin.
 
If you just play the main storyline the game goes a lot faster than that. But that'd be like suggesting playing a JRPG without doing the side quests; that's where a lot of the appeal is.
 
Good to hear that you are gonna keep on playing. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Yeah I agree with you on the save system. Fortunately they fixed that in the Ishin.

Then sega removed the save anywhere feature for 0, but gave you more save locations to compensate. Then they brought the save anywhere feature back for Kiwami. I'm on the edge of my seat to see how they handle it for yakuza 6 ;) though I can't see why they won't keep the save anywhere feature, it's clearly the better option.
 
Then sega removed the save anywhere feature for 0, but gave you more save locations to compensate. Then they brought the save anywhere feature back for Kiwami. I'm on the edge of my seat to see how they handle it for yakuza 6 ;) though I can't see why they won't keep the save anywhere feature, it's clearly the better option.

What? They removed that in Zero? Why the hell would they do that.... Ugh.
 
Finally finished Part 1. I ended doing a lot of Sidequests because I couldn't find the specific guys I needed too for chapter 4. So eventually I looked that up in a walk through.

The final fight of Part 1 was really good. It's probably pretty tough on hard. Especially without grinding/sidequests. I'm playing this through on easy right. now which I'm really enjoying as a palate cleanser after recently completing some more challenging titles. it's nice being able to comfortably win even without fully understanding the combat system.

Now on to part 2.
 
Finally finished Part 1. I ended doing a lot of Sidequests because I couldn't find the specific guys I needed too for chapter 4. So eventually I looked that up in a walk through.

The final fight of Part 1 was really good. It's probably pretty tough on hard. Especially without grinding/sidequests. I'm playing this through on easy right. now which I'm really enjoying as a palate cleanser after recently completing some more challenging titles. it's nice being able to comfortably win even without fully understanding the combat system.

Now on to part 2.

It is a beast of a game, ended up near the 100 hour-mark doing almost all side-missions/quests. As usual for the Yakuza-series I did not care much for the main story, but the "extra fluff" it offers is my favorite among all open world games. Some very fun sidequests as usual. I did a short summary of my impressions after completing the game on this link.
 
It's a great game, but the (fantastic) opening does set the tone for the entire game, more or less. It's primarily about people trying to find their place in life after they wind up having their worlds pulled out from under them.
 
Just finished chapter 2.

Sajema was ok, although I personally found him less interesting then Kiriu. Although most of that was due to his fighting style, which was a real drag compared to the flow I was getting in chapter one. I've also started skipping most of the cutscenes. In general im finding it hard to find the time to play this game. So I'm just rushing through it.

As someone not from Japan, I feel like more of the sidequests are essentially mandatory to get a sense of the place and culture. Overall I'm liking the series much more then I initially thought I would. I could also see myself buying another Yakuza game. So at least for me this PS plus promotion worked out for Sega.

I also really appreciate that most of this games content rating has come from violence and nothing overly sexual so far. It's a nice change from western games where it seems like nudity and over the top sexualised characters are far more the norm.
 
The Yakuza games are great fun but they probably would benefit from having shorter cutscenes and main story modes. Games like these don't really need to last 40 hours.

now there's a bad opinion right there

It's a great game, but the (fantastic) opening does set the tone for the entire game, more or less. It's primarily about people trying to find their place in life after they wind up having their worlds pulled out from under them.

yeah, usually the theme of dreams in RPG's is lame, but it's really great to see certain characters picking up the pieces here
 
Finished Chapter 3.

Just powering through it now. Playing as Haruka and the Rythm Game gameplay that it bought was a nice change of pace. Was there a sidequest where you follow up with the girl you make friends with on the street? Because it was nice seeing Haruka having a friend.

Chapter 4.

Up to part 2 and man this guy sucks. As in let's let him be friends with Snow from FFXIII in there own seperate game.

Also goodbye to the reduced sexualisation. Although at least there hasn't been any terrible video game nudity so far.
 
Yakuza 5 is by far the longest Yakuza game, but you can still beat it in 20 hours if you only focus on the story. I don't recommend it though, wandering around the cities doing random side quests and mini-games is why the Yakuza games are so special.

That is seriously half the point of these games...I'm playing 5 myself now and I haven't left Fukuoka yet (6-7 hours in).
 
Don't be deceived, you can beat it quickly, but you won't want to. Most of that time is spent doing the side stuff, which you can blow by if you want. I didn't want to and I've almost beaten the game but have thrown over 100 hours into it. I don't regret any of it, because a lot of the time I was just looking to zone out, so I'd boot it up and go bowling or something.

The pacing is a bit sketchy at times, but it's my favorite of the Yakuza games so far and if you're enjoying your time with it so far, then stick with it.
 
Finished Chapter 3.

Just powering through it now. Playing as Haruka and the Rythm Game gameplay that it bought was a nice change of pace. Was there a sidequest where you follow up with the girl you make friends with on the street? Because it was nice seeing Haruka having a friend.

Chapter 4.

Up to part 2 and man this guy sucks. As in let's let him be friends with Snow from FFXIII in there own seperate game.

Also goodbye to the reduced sexualisation. Although at least there hasn't been any terrible video game nudity so far.
You are not talking about Akiyama right? RIGHT?

Please tell me you are not comparing Akiyama to Snow... please...

And to your first question, yes there is one side quest that we see more of her in it if I'm not mistaken. I don't remember how you get it though.
 
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