Noah is the Worst

[Homebrew]

I beat the game and left a positive review, so this isn't some hot take on the game itself, but more a comment on the inclusion of a 10 year old as one of the main characters and arguably one of the most vocal characters in the entire story.

I realize this is a Yakuza game and I've played them all, so I'm well aware that suspending your disbelief is mandatory, but Noah's involvement and dynamic is so ridiculous, annoying, and weird most of the time that it proved to be a legit distraction.

Right off the jump your amnesia-afflicted serial killer is saved by a kid that immediately treats you like an uncle after watching you beat the living ♥♥♥♥ out of some pirates. Then asks you within the first day or two to basically kidnap him without his father's permission or knowledge which you immediately agree to do. Like what the hell is happening.

Then, the kid not only shows up everywhere, all the time, regardless of being told to I don't know, not show up because he might get horribly injured or killed, without any consequences or discipline. Also you drag a 10 year old to basically Murder-Vegas and the dad is just super cool with it. I don't understand. I'm not even a parent but this whole thing was ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ bizarre to me.

Oh and also the 10 year old serves as the insightful, plucky prodigy that constantly provides tactful and strategic insights that change the decisions of grown ass adults/massively alter outcomes with comments such as "you can do it" or "never back down" or whatever other generic ♥♥♥♥ where the protagonist responds with "ya know what? can't argue with that!" or "kid's gotta point!" Does he though? Does he really?

Although I love the LAD series as a whole, and enjoyed Ichi for the most part, he was effectively, at least in Infinite Wealth, a man-child. Which still had its charm, although at times I was pretty sure Ichi had actual brain damage. But since Majima is more of an actual grown man they had to offset it with a 10 year old. So they did. And that kid is the worst.

[Shiber Kivan]

Noah inclusion turns the game into shounen anime like One Piece, only first Luffy is 10000% more charismatic than Noah and second it does not work that well with anime aesthetic, most anime adaptations are cringe because of this. It's strange how Jason does completely 180 from brooding a bit abusive alcoholic to Majimas closest kyodai within 5 minutes. This game especially have balance of silly to serious heavily in favour of silly, and Noah being there often robs the game from any serious and dark plots that we had in previous games.

Also if only it was Moana coming with us instead, then everybody would call the game 10/10 GOTY. Here's a good mod idea to swap those characters, Noah is voiced by a girl anyway so body swap would work and make it less annoying lol

[aseinsha]

If this game could do without one character, it would be Noah lol

[Homebrew]

Originally posted by Shiber Kivan:

Noah inclusion turns the game into shounen anime like One Piece, only first Luffy is 10000% more charismatic than Noah and second it does not work that well with anime aesthetic, most anime adaptations are cringe because of this. It's strange how Jason does completely 180 from brooding a bit abusive alcoholic to Majimas closest kyodai within 5 minutes. This game especially have balance of silly to serious heavily in favour of silly, and Noah being there often robs the game from any serious and dark plots that we had in previous games.

100%. Especially the part about Noah basically obliterating any sense of tension or drama. He basically turned it into a cartoon. Speaking of which, as not much of an anime fan -- or knowledge of anime as a whole -- I appreciate the insight. As someone who doesn't watch anime, the dynamic just felt jarring and uncomfortable.

And yeah, Jason's character arc was a speedrun. Also thought it was weird that if you never played other Yakuza games you wouldn't really know ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ about Majima and despite the amnesia being a huge part of his character, they literally never reveal anything about him.

[McGeorgeOfTheJungle]

It's as if you haven't played the old games or remembered the countless "chotto matte yo" from Haruka.

[Shiber Kivan]

Originally posted by McGeorgeOfTheJungle:

It's as if you haven't played the old games or remembered the countless "chotto matte yo" from Haruka.

Ojisan!

[Homebrew]

Originally posted by McGeorgeOfTheJungle:

It's as if you haven't played the old games or remembered the countless "chotto matte yo" from Haruka.

I have, but I had to look that up. And yeah I vaguely remember her from a handful of the games, but I don't know maybe she just didn't annoy me as much as Noah does.

[CaptainLagbeard]

I've yet to finish the game, but so far Noah hasn't really contributed much to the story aside from the beginning and getting kidnapped once.

[AnonTwo]

It kindof reminds me of those 1990s anime cartoons where there was always some kid following the cast you actually cared about (sonic X being one of the newest ones to to do it)

I'm sure there's some reason or appeal to doing it given it's been reused enough there's probably a trope name for it, just I don't personally know what it is.

I just kindof tune him out at this point, but as you can get from what I seen this for like 20-30 years.

[Homebrew]

Originally posted by CaptainLagbeard:

I've yet to finish the game, but so far Noah hasn't really contributed much to the story aside from the beginning and getting kidnapped once.

Yeah, no spoilers from me. I'll just say that in the beginning the dynamic is mainly just weird. It isn't until later (no specific moment, just in general) that I found him distracting and absurd.

[Homebrew]

Originally posted by AnonTwo:

It kindof reminds me of those 1990s anime cartoons where there was always some kid following the cast you actually cared about (sonic X being one of the newest ones to to do it)

I'm sure there's some reason or appeal to doing it given it's been reused enough there's probably a trope name for it, just I don't personally know what it is.

I just kindof tune him out at this point, but as you can get from what I seen this for like 20-30 years.

Yeah I think the trope is something like "Wise Mentor, Bright-Eyed Protege." Something like Tony Stark and Peter Parker or Doc Brown and Marty McFly. The difference is in those both peter parker and marty were like, young adults. Not 10 years old. So it's just super cringy and weird that Majima even listens to him.

[RKade83]

Noah makes this game feel like a Make A Wish (but I'm still in Chapter 2 so maybe that changes?)

I don't necessarily hate it because Haruka and the orphans writ-large existed but it is kind of weird HOW MUCH we see of the little ♥♥♥♥.

Also, Majima's old enough to be his grandpa. They REALLY need to update his head model.

[Metal Izanagi]

Oh y'all are getting to experience what those of us who have been here for a while did back in Yakuza 1 and 2 with Haruka lol.

[♥]

Noah only use is to keep goro close by, otherwise, i wish you could swap him for any crew member when roaming the city though not sure how they will handle getting in and out of combat.

[Shiber Kivan]

Originally posted by Metal Izanagi:

Oh y'all are getting to experience what those of us who have been here for a while did back in Yakuza 1 and 2 with Haruka lol.

I actually played through Kiwami 1 to Yakuza 6 recently, made a little marathon before this game drops, and Haruka was never annoying aside from the fetch quests early in Kiwami, sure she also gets kidnapped and is often a plot device, but here being there does not infantalise the plot at all. On the contrary all the Haruka and orphanage stuff only deepens the emotional core of the game.

Noah seems to be there for almost every story interaction but adds very little. He mostly shouts shounen platitudes about nakama power and destroying the bad guys

[DavidWG]

I don't even bother trying to get immersed by this game. It's an open world minigame collection to me. The storytelling is ridicilous and not even close to Yakuza standards.