Never played a yakuza game before

[zappie]

Should I start with this one? If not, what game should I buy first?

[Paulodigital777]

Well there is big element on this one called troop system, that werent on the others I dont think is necessary a good start point because of that, if want a more normal experience i think should be Kiwami, a good experience Yakuza 0, and doubtfull (i cant say the future of the games) experience yakuza 7:like a dragon

[Sixtyfivekills]

If you want to start the series, you got:

1. Yakuza 0 - there are few references to previous entries but its a good starter point.

2. Yakuza: Like A Dragon - new protagonist and new story, characters from originals appear and while it is a good entry on its own, there are some references which could be considered heavy spoilers.

3. Judgment - Judgment is its own thing, not related to the characters or stories from Yakuza series.


Ishin Remake is its own story as well, but I thought it was horrible and couldn't possibly recommend it to anyone.

[Paulodigital777]

Originally posted by Sixtyfivekills:

If you want to start the series, you got:

1. Yakuza 0 - there are few references to previous entries but its a good starter point.

2. Yakuza: Like A Dragon - new protagonist and new story, characters from originals appear and while it is a good entry on its own, there are some references which could be considered heavy spoilers.

3. Judgment - Judgment is its own thing, not related to the characters or stories from Yakuza series.


Ishin Remake is its own story as well, but I thought it was horrible and couldn't possibly recommend it to anyone.

Think he will handle the first judgment story?"put a cigar on my month"

[0JMachine]

if you aren't sure if you will like yakuza games you got 3 super cheap points to start:

sleeping dogs: Not from this franchise or company but it often goes on sale for like 2 bucks. same kinda gameplay and story progression but lacks the humor. still very fun though

Kiwami: pretty short and comes with gamepass (heck most of the games do) it has all the basics you expect from the series but is more plot focused with not too many distractions happening. I always say if you like kiwami you love most of the other games. with gamepass for pc being like 1 dollar to 10 a month after the intro you can beat 1 yakuza game a month and save a lot of money

Judgement: one game with 0 commitment needed. it follows the style fairly faithfully though the side content is grindy af so not completionist friendly. that said it's the easiest game to just do the story and is self contained so if you didn't like it at least you won't be wondering what happened to everyone and all those pesky yakuza families. currently on sale for around the amount the other yakuza games sit when not on sale. (30$)

[MartFassage]

Speaking as someone who's played pretty much "all" Yakuza games, this one is one of the worst ones to start with. Play Yakuza 0 first for sure.

[tools guy-kun]

here's how I started when getting into the Yakuza series:

0 > kiwami > kiwami 2 > 3 remastered > 4 remastered > 5 remastered > 6 > LAD > Ishin

I played the Judgement games as well somewhere in between, but I'm leaving them separate because they follow a different protagonist with a completely different set of characters. still, both games were amazing in themselves.

Ishin's story doesn't follow the rest of the series in any way. all of the characters in Ishin will be familiar faces from the previous Yakuza titles, but most of them won't be how they normally were in the other titles, and their relationship with Kiryu, the main character of the Yakuza titles, is different with how it is with Ryoma (Kiryu's Ishin counterpart).

with that being said, I would NOT recommend starting with Ishin. part of what I loved about Ishin was seeing old faces again. if you start with Ishin, you won't get that same feeling.

but listen, it's your money so it's your choice on how you do things.

[zeo45]

I'd say no simply cause the way this remake was handled might leave some false impressions for the rest of the series, but that's just my opinion

[✪Jor Wai]

0

[Spyder Byte]

Kiwami 2 is outstanding. Highly recommend it

[claudiopolez]

Yes to start with this one. Poor combat physics in other Yakuza titles makes me want to play SIFU instead. Ishin's pure katana combat (no gun,no cards, no wild dancer) is a joy though and does NOT make me want to switch to Sekiro, Elden Ring, DS, Jedi Fallen Order etc.

[MartFassage]

Originally posted by claudiopolez:

Yes to start with this one. Poor combat physics in other Yakuza titles makes me want to play SIFU instead. Ishin's pure katana combat (no gun,no cards, no wild dancer) is a joy though and does NOT make me want to switch to Sekiro, Elden Ring, DS, Jedi Fallen Order etc.

this game has the exact same combat "physics" as Yakuza 3, Yakuza 4, Yakuza 5, Yakuza Kiwami, Yakuza 0, and Yakuza Dead Souls.

[claudiopolez]

Originally posted by FriendhausTTV:

Originally posted by claudiopolez:

Yes to start with this one. Poor combat physics in other Yakuza titles makes me want to play SIFU instead. Ishin's pure katana combat (no gun,no cards, no wild dancer) is a joy though and does NOT make me want to switch to Sekiro, Elden Ring, DS, Jedi Fallen Order etc.

this game has the exact same combat "physics" as Yakuza 3, Yakuza 4, Yakuza 5, Yakuza Kiwami, Yakuza 0, and Yakuza Dead Souls.

I was talking about sword combat, the other yakuza games are about hand-to-hand, so exactly comparable to SIFU. ishin's swordman style feel is completely different to other Yakuza.

[Paulodigital777]

Originally posted by claudiopolez:

Originally posted by FriendhausTTV:

this game has the exact same combat "physics" as Yakuza 3, Yakuza 4, Yakuza 5, Yakuza Kiwami, Yakuza 0, and Yakuza Dead Souls.

I was talking about sword combat, the other yakuza games are about hand-to-hand, so exactly comparable to SIFU. ishin's swordman style feel is completely different to other Yakuza.

We got the slugger style on zero thought

[claudiopolez]

Originally posted by Paulodigital777:

We got the slugger style on zero thought

it's not bat vs bat combat (where as Ishin is sword vs sword) and it's nowhere as nuanced as Ishin swordsman style. The feel is different as there are no parries, defelcts and so on.

[MartFassage]

Originally posted by claudiopolez:

Originally posted by Paulodigital777:

We got the slugger style on zero thought

it's not bat vs bat combat (where as Ishin is sword vs sword) and it's nowhere as nuanced as Ishin swordsman style. The feel is different as there are no parries, defelcts and so on.

there are parries and deflects, how much have you played