Worth Getting? Also, Yakuza game order?

[skeet1983]

Hi guys. I have several Yakuza games, but have not started any of them yet. Here are the games I have:

- Yakuza 0
- Yakuza 3 Remastered
- Yakuza 4 Remastered
- Yakuza 5 Remastered
- Yakuza 6: Song of Life
- Yakuza Kiwami
- Yakuza Kiwami 2
- Yakuza: Like a Dragon

Which order should I play them in? Also, is "Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth" worth getting? Thoughts and help greatly appreciated :)

[arronax06]

Kiwami and Kiwami 2 are remakes of Yakuza 1 and 2, so, you can go 0, Kiwami, Kiwami 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Like a Dragon.

And if you're going to play all of them, you'll probably want to play Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name after playing Like a Dragon, and then play Infinite Wealth too, but you can wait until you've played the others, you already have around 1000h of games in front of you, so you can wait for a sale/discount for the ones you don't have yet :)

[someoneproud]

Kiwami/Kiwami 2 are remakes of Yakuza 1 & 2 and LaD is Yakuza 7. Play them in numeric order, they are all set within the same world/continuity and while the stories are fairly self contained, there are callbacks/references/recurring characters and you'll get more out of playing them than not.

Y0 is probably the best game on that list for brawler combat (as well as a lot of things tbh, it's really very good), if you don't gel with it for whatever reason then you probably won't get much out of the other brawlers. If you like 0 then there's a lot to like in 1-6 but be aware that 3,4,5 combat will all feel like prototypes for 0. They tried to make new brawler combat in a new engine for 6 & Kiwami 2 but it's not very good imo, then again they look good and their stories are well worth it.

LaD switches to turn based RPG combat and a largely new cast, so that's worth a try even if you don't like the brawler entries. I'd say see if you like the other games first before buying IW, it's most like LaD so definitely check that out at least. The story in IW is the worst in the series imo but the turn based combat is much improved from LaD and it's still often funny/heartwarming and full of stuff to do.

[Onnivoro]

Yakuza 0
Yakuza Kiwami
Yakuza Kiwami 2
Yakuza 3 Remastered
Yakuza 4 Remastered
Yakuza 5 Remastered
Yakuza 6 The Song of Life
Yakuza Like a Dragon
Like a Dragon Gaiden
Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth

Note: Like a Dragon Ishin it's an historical game and doesn't have nothing with the main storyline

[Foolishバカ]

Why buy the whole series first before you know if you are going to like it? Did you play the Judgement games and dove head-first into the whole series?

Even if you end up liking the games, playing them back to back is going to be tiring since the games really don't change between each entry.

But to your question, 0 is the best place to start. and you can follow the rest of the series in order. There will a noticeable drop in polish for Yakuza 3 and 4 due to how old they are compared to the Kiwami remakes. Like many have said, Like a Dragon and Infinite Wealth play differently but nothing about it should be to foreign if you played any other game.

[Lifedeather]

100% worth getting. I’m already 100 hours in and only scratched the surface of things I want to do and accomplish in this game. If you are a fan of turn based you will like it. This is probably my favorite or one of my favorite Yakuza games.

As for order: 0, Kiwami, Kiwami 2, 3, 4,5,6, Like a dragon, Gaiden, Infinite Wealth. While you can jump into this game immediately, playing at least Like a Dragon(7) before this gives you a lot of background and context of Ichiban and his party.

[fejota]

Originally posted by Foolishバカ:

Even if you end up liking the games, playing them back to back is going to be tiring since the games really don't change between each entry.

This. You can suffer burnout from playing them without any pauses or other games in between.

Originally posted by Onnivoro:

Yakuza 0
Yakuza Kiwami
Yakuza Kiwami 2
Yakuza 3 Remastered
Yakuza 4 Remastered
Yakuza 5 Remastered
Yakuza 6 The Song of Life
Yakuza Like a Dragon
Like a Dragon Gaiden
Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth

Note: Like a Dragon Ishin it's an historical game and doesn't have nothing with the main storyline

And this is the answer for the correct order. Isshin is Yakuza characters go samurai, just fanservice for yakuza fans. That doesn't mean it's bad. It's just that as Onnivoro said, doesn't contribute anything at all to the main saga narrative.

[Matt]

It's worth getting - I finished it, did my review; I was very disappointed/underwhelmed by the ending and the conclusion of both Kiryus and Ichibans arcs but the good gameplay and battle system saved the day for me

[E.P.D. Gaffney]

For Yakuza 3 make sure you instal the quickstep mod, as the remaster really messed up the combat and the quickstep mod restores at least one important technique from the original version (which is borderline required for the early game).

The Ishin remaster is good but you may want to mod it to make it more like the original as it seriously ruins at the very least the entire brawler style.

Dead Souls isn't on Steam but if you fall in love with the series and have some way of playing that game, it's highly underrated for a fan of the series. It should be played after Yakuza 4.

The Judgement games are incredible as well. The first one has a great story, whilst the second one has possibly the best combat in the series, and Kaito Files is special.

[tools guy-kun]

it is best to play all of the games from 0 - Gaiden. 0 > K1 > K2 > 3 > 4 > 5 > 6 > 7 (LAD) > 8 (Gaiden) > 9 (Infinite Wealth)

spin-offs like Dead Souls and Ishin are not really required since they are non-canon to the mainline story.

at minimum, the games you should play are 3, 4, 6, 7 and Gaiden. the reasoning behind this particular order is because the game goes as far as bringing characters from 3 and onwards back in the game. you won't see many side characters from the games before 3 to show up as much as those from the later games.

but again, the get the best effect it is optimal to play all of the games, which I can happily recommend to anyone who may be slightly interested in the series since I love the franchise a lot and the games are good fun.

as for if LAD and IF are worth it... absolutely. LAD has a pretty good story and introduces the party of characters pretty well. although the story in IF is ridiculously weak compared to a lot of the games in the franchise, which left a super seriously bitter taste in my mouth that I wish I can wash out but can't. however, the gameplay is absolutely stellar and it's a lot of fun for a turn based combat system.

[jpj22]

Both Judgment games are worth getting. Judgment takes place sometimes before LAD, Lost Judgment takes place after. Those games are some of the best in the entire series.

[tools guy-kun]

Originally posted by jpj22:

Both Judgment games are worth getting. Judgment takes place sometimes before LAD, Lost Judgment takes place after. Those games are some of the best in the entire series.

they are both great games, no denying that. should definitely play them. but they offer little to nothing revolving Yakuza's storyline. at best there's a few references, so it's not really necessary for OP to play those games if they want to prepare for Infinite Wealth, despite the single cameo in Infinite Wealth that has very little impact other than "uwu I know those guys"

[destroyer_44]

you need to first get an emulator, then get the game yakuza: kenzan, as it's actually the first game chronologically, then yakuza: ishin, then go through the natural order

[K2]

It's as simple as going in number order, until Gaiden comes in.

0 > 1 > 2 > 3 > 4 > 5 > 6 > 7 (LAD) > GAIDEN > 8

If you do have doubts about the combat system change for 7 and 8, I'd say give it a chance. I didn't want it to change until I tried it and it boosted 7 to the top for me. Easily the best game in the series.

It's worth playing through 8. Story fell off later in the game but it has the best gameplay out of all the games. It's still worth playing at least once despite the downside it has.

You could play the Judgment spin-off series before 8 if you wanna understand the cameo appearance during the story but the spin-off games are best played after finishing the mainline games but it doesn't really matter.

After finishing the mainline games, I'd recommend Judgment series then Ishin! if you want more games in the Yakuza universe to play.

Oh and don't listen to people saying to mod the games just to play them. It's so unnecessary for a first playthrough. Just play it as it is.

[E.P.D. Gaffney]

Originally posted by K2:

Oh and don't listen to people saying to mod the games just to play them. It's so unnecessary for a first playthrough. Just play it as it is.

You're talking about me, and you're just wrong. We're not talking about modding perfectly fine games to improve them over the developers' vision, we're talking about restoring butchered games to something resembling their original releases, and the only games mentioned were Yakuza 3 and Ishin.

The Ishin remaster has some some improvements and some downgrades, so that's more debatable whereas Yakuza 3's remaster is an absolute travesty compared to the original. You can say modding it is 'so unnecessary' if you want, and sure, it's still a good game, but it is easily the least popular, and that's entirely because of problems introduced by the remaster, such as quickstep not working, enemies blocking too much, enemies dodging too much, enemies recovering mid-combo, enemies moving too fast, heat dropping much faster, even fishing being impossible until they patched specifically that. Basically, they changed the FPS to 60 and did nothing to make sure it worked right, so it broke half the game. Yes, you should mod Yakuza 3 if you can't play the original.

[I AM BAYTOR]

0, K1, K2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Judgment, Like A Dragon, Lost Judgment, Ishin, Gaiden, Infinite Wealth. That's the play order.