can you understand the story if you have only little experience with the yakuza/like a dragon series?

[joey]

I played Yakuza Kiwami on ps4, but never finished the game, and I don't really remember anything about it (except spoiler: that you get betrayed by some long haired guy and you take care of some little girl ) .

I also played yakuza 0 for 23 hours on pc, and again i dont really remember much about the story like names or why things happen, i just remember very superficially some events. to be honest i had no idea what was going on even while playing the game, my brain just didnt really absorb what the meaning of what characters were saying was.

now my question is, should i finish yakuza 0 and kiwami before getting this game? and should i play like a dragon too? I assume you'd get more out of the story if you played the previous games (hell, even better play all of the previous games, the full series), though to be honest i feel like even if i finished those games i wouldn't have a full grasp on the story anyways since i didnt really know or remember whats going on while playing them anyways.

this game intrigues me very much but i'm worried that if i try to play kiwami, 0 and like a dragon, i would probably get distracted eventually during that long process and then never play this game.

[joey]

basically tldr: ive played some of the previous games but never really payed attention / understood the story. i hear many people say that this game has an amazing story, so im asking if you need to understand what happened throughout the series to experience the greatness of this games story.

[Mixedbeats18]

You should play almost all if you can, the only you can try to skip is 3 since is the worse of all, if you played 0, kiwami, kiwami 2, yakuza song of life and like a dragon "1" you should know most of the cast going in

[Lutefisk]

If you're skipping 3, at least watch a video summary of the plot, since it's crucial to the enjoyment of Gaiden.

[joey]

a different angle to this question: how much am i missing out if i just play this game for the gameplay and not the story.

[joey]

okay different question, should i start with yakuza 0 or kiwami? should i play based on release or chronological to the story?

[Mixedbeats18]

Originally posted by joey:

a different angle to this question: how much am i missing out if i just play this game for the gameplay and not the story.

... is sequeal for what i see of it we are dealing with 3 past endings song of life, lad1, and gaiden

[Mixedbeats18]

Originally posted by joey:

okay different question, should i start with yakuza 0 or kiwami? should i play based on release or chronological to the story?

yakuza 0 is first chronological but kiwami 1 is the "first" try of the studio with a level up system want to have a basis of the stuns RGG gonna pull start with Kiwami 1

[At@At]

Originally posted by joey:

a different angle to this question: how much am i missing out if i just play this game for the gameplay and not the story.

Depends, I think it'll take about 5-6 hours until the game starts really opening up. Maybe longer or shorter depending on how long u try to take. Then you'll be fine for a bit until you're dragged off onto an island for a few hours, which you may or may not enjoy. Then you'll get some more time before u hit the half way point and the game changes in a way that might bother you gameplay-wise if u dont care for the story at all. If u can look past that and enjoyed the combat from Yakuza LAD, then u might enjoy the game.

[surroundedsita]

If i take a step back and really look to answer your question, the only one(s) you should play first, or at least watch a recap on, are 7 and Gaiden. Will you miss some references to older games? Yes. Are these references needed to understand the game as a whole? No. There is also a 'recap' option in the beginning of this one that gives you, roughly, what happened in 7 and they, so far, address all the plot points needed to comfortably go through 8. I see zero real issue just diving into 8. My own journey with the Yakuza/Like a Dragon games was in an off order. I started with 5, then played 6, then 7 released on PC so that was next, then 0-4, Gaiden, now playing 8. I found it fun to be like "OOOHHHHHH THAT was what that meant!" when playing the older ones after the newer ones. The only real differene in the games is that all but 7 & 8 are ARPG's.

[Noma]

Why play Yakuza or Like a Dragon games if you're not paying attention to the story ? That's the most important component of those games. You need to seriously reevaluate yourself.

[joey]

Originally posted by Noma:

Why play Yakuza or Like a Dragon games if you're not paying attention to the story ? That's the most important component of those games. You need to seriously reevaluate yourself.

gameplay comes first. i dont skip the cutscenes or anything its just that the story in these games were never really that coherent to me so the story is just a blur while playing

[joey]

Originally posted by joey:

Originally posted by Noma:

Why play Yakuza or Like a Dragon games if you're not paying attention to the story ? That's the most important component of those games. You need to seriously reevaluate yourself.

gameplay comes first. i dont skip the cutscenes or anything its just that the story in these games were never really that coherent to me so the story is just a blur while playing

idk i honestly remember more of the substories than of the actual main plot

[joey]

the story in these games were never really that coherent to me

or in other words the story never really pulled me in and i didnt care about any of the main characters. i feel like theres a lot of exposition dumping in this game where you just get bombarded about some characters backstory on the spot and it is too much to process in one go. like majima for example, when you first play as him in 0 you just get immediately bombarded with his backstory and then the game expects you to immediately care.

[Connorspace]

If you're not interested in the story, characters, etc, then you're honestly better off with another series. Not every game is for every player, and the RGG games are 40% slice of life, 40% soap opera and 20% gameplay.

You sound like you need 80% gameplay, 20% story.

[$6 SRIMP SPECIAL]

Originally posted by joey:

the story in these games were never really that coherent to me

or in other words the story never really pulled me in and i didnt care about any of the main characters. i feel like theres a lot of exposition dumping in this game where you just get bombarded about some characters backstory on the spot and it is too much to process in one go. like majima for example, when you first play as him in 0 you just get immediately bombarded with his backstory and then the game expects you to care

I'll just be honest and say you are not going to like this game and should play something else; the switch to JRPG has greatly moved the focus onto character development IMO. I love this game but it falls into all of the usual yakuza pitfalls story-wise; fans are just used to it (or like it or what have you.) The writers are still the same and everything.

At the same time the Ichiban era of yakuza has a different pull and appeal than the raw crime drama-ness of 0~6. So you may really like the JRPGs and if you just want to play those then that's fine. 7 is designed to be a reboot to the series.

To more directly answer your question, Kiryu's section is pretty reliant on caring about him and his backstory so having played his games post-kiwami is ideal - it won't destroy anything though. Gaiden is basically a backstory explainer for what Kiryu is doing in this game (filling in the details between 6~7~8).

I'm not sure how confusing this game would be without having played 7, honestly, but I would if you're considering it because it is a much less mechanically dense JRPG than 8 and playing it afterwards would probably be jarring. I think also the writing shines in similar places and if you like one, you should like the other.