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TLDR Section
Chronicles Conclusion:
Highly recommended, for new players and veterans of the saga
Pros:
Fun and interactive gameplay
Lots of side things to do
A great heart touching story
Good length
Minigames
Cons:
Progression feels tedious after some hours
You can easily exploit a certain tech to become rich&powerful early on the adventure
Mahjong (not really)
Very long cutscenes (Unbearable for some)
It's the perfect time to share a game that reignited the flame of enjoying videogames in me.
This game maked me smile, cry, rage and I had a great sensation that I forgotten some time ago.
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| The very beginning scene was epic and had a lot of spoilers but without context they worked as glimpses of some great parts to look forward |
I am playing a game with a lot of heart.
Nice structure of chapters, uses two different protagonists (Kazuma Kiryu the legendary protagonist of the saga and Goro Majima the most popular character of the saga).
Sega does an excelent job getting the hype to the roof everytime you change characters.At first you maybe will be mad because you're so invested in one of the protagonists story but this is on purpose
This alone speaks wonders about the quality of the side stories
Just see Kiryu face as serious as ever, ready to crush some random kids on pocket circuit races
I'm fully aware of the story driven than the saga is (I finished all the games from 0 to 7 and the spin-offs of Judgment).
So I will put the spoilers to a minimum, but also I will spoil the main "minigame" mechanics of each character, a couple of side stories, nothing critical.
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| Sega landed a great contrast between Kiryu mood and the strange situations that the side stories puts you through (Considering that the large of the fanbase started here on 0) |
Thanks to the Xbox Game Pass service I tried the Yakuza saga after a very long time wanting to, (I never had a PlayStation since PS1) and this was the golden opportunity, I was very pleased.
The start of Yakuza 0 felt a lot like a Metal Gear, never a game had put my xbox inactive while playing a cinematic before this game.
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| They use another type of cinema, static images with voice and text. Strange but functional, also the majority of these images are direct reference to posterior Yakuza, specifically 4 and 5 |
The story concept :
This game uses a lot of cinematics, and I'm not exaggerating anything.
The studio uses the uncontrollable cinemas (0 quick time events on these types of movies) as a resource to reach a high level of immersion on the world that the game presents.
Only the presentation of Majima (the second protagonist) uses roughly 20 to 30 minutes of only the introductory cinematic of his character and a little playable section.
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| Epicness is in a few words, the experience that Yakuza is |
This is the first brick wall to a lot of players, the long cinemas, for the people that can work with that, will be presented with a game that uses all the time he needs to present characters.
Also the gameplay mechanics too and a cinema, nicely called " Dramatic Intros" for some boss fights (and how good that decision was).
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| The game don't hesitate to invest a lot of the players time to introduce his characters, a win for some and a wall that eats away the patience of some others. |
| The Story: |
Each of them with some differents fight styles and a story that's so personal to each of them but slowly gets bigger than them, also this works with a change of protagonist without consulting the player.
Each two chapters or when the story needs to, we are taken apart from one dude to the other, also is fit to say that every protagonist starts on a different city with different activities and people to meet.
The Gameplay :
We have two sides to the controls of the duo , the exploration side and the fighting one, the first one let's us know the city and it's population, play a healthy pool of minigames or do some side story missions.
We also always have a pink marker on the map indicating where to go to continue the story, no rush or anything but the city also will be changing from chapter to chapter.
The fighting part uses a more classical control of a brawler or a beat em up, a button for kicks other for punches, one to dodge, block and another one for special moves, in this game called " Heat actions".
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| Dramatic intros, the best boss introductions that I have seen (Personal take) |
We have a bar of health and a bar of heat , the special moves uses the second bar and recharges using special items or landing or taking hits.
These moves are extremely contextual, always having different options to experiment, anyway, we have different styles of fighting and we are free to choose the one we like on real time.
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| Something not good for him is about to happen |
The World :
This games takes places on small city full of things to do and protagonists who can kick out the senses of five goons and the next minute be at a bar playing pool or singing a song with a background animation to complement.
These activities makes wonders for the personality and emotional side of the duo , showing us that every person has his complexes , another thing that is brilliant are the side stories that are basically small side quests.
Don't sleep on these, the 80% of the heart of the game are here, these contrast very good with the all serious and dark criminal drama of the principal story only to fight a bunch of dudes that are trying to scam you or get on a journey to beat the best dancer of the city only out of pride.
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| Seriousness and goofy moments are a delicate balance that works well |
Imagine helping a filming for a musical clip, there are a lot of them and they need to be played because a lot of the charismatic and human side of the duo are show here.
Like one when we help a man that lost it's family because he are supposed to be dead on blurry circumstances or a hard and epic road to be the very best pocket circuit racer that kamurocho has ever known, in conclusion there's a lot of situations to tackle and a lot of quality here.
The "Main minigames" :
I don't genuinely know how to classify them but these are a second story that runs at the same time that the principal one and sometimes interact with the side stories.
I don't spoil anything important but i will explain basics of the mechanics, these are on a less dark tone and a lighter atmosphere.
Kiryu for starters, are a graduate from the school of life and lands a job on a suspicious real state company that fights with a group of five billionaires to claim the land(pretty normal if you ask me).
On a basic explanation you have to go store from store of Kamurocho buying land and refurbish the old buildings in a very basic menu.
All to get passive earnings to keep buying land, sounds like a very boring premise but trust me that is not.
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| Suit up and start the business |
The plot is at the very least interesting(some of the gameplay draga a little but nothing serious) and you have some fun battles ahead.
The Majima counterpart are a hostess bar, honestly a by far more interesting idea for a minigame, to contrast this with the Kiryu real state, the Hostess bar has an actual minigame integrated on the narrative of the story at the bar.
You have to learn the signals that the hostess make and get the correct order, also you have to teach them how to dress and use accessories, help them in their personal stories and get the bar to the highest point of his story, all with a fun and actually story with plot twists.
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| A couple of hours in and you will take to heart you responsibility taking care of the girls |
Spoiler warning for the final reward of completing these side minigames: ,
You get an actual style of fight when you finish these minigames, to be honest the way to obtain them it's a bit rushed and anticlimatic but in an actual fight they are fun to use.
I don't spoil more but let me say that as a reference to the saga they are an amazing reward for the fans and a point of reference for those people who started the saga on 0.
| The Progression : This point is intertwined with the historical context of the game, we are in the eighties, on the economical bubble period, and in the fights we literally make the money fly off the enemies with every punch. In this game the money works the same way as other games, as the coin for buying things, but also with the premise of " invest in you" the money works as experience points as well, to unlock new moves, more health, power, counters, etc... We have a functional skill tree, divided on three different sections, each focalized on different things, also I have to clarify that the progression is locked on certain part with a wall united to the side jobs, you have to progress to a certain point on these minigames to acquire the full power of the duo. Don't worry, sounds grindy and it's certain that it is but is also fun, if you like the gameplay of these minigames you will enjoy a lot through all the process, for the people that want the fighting style and don't liked the side jobs, at least for the Kiryu side you can follow a guide to acelerate the real state. For the Majima side you can follow some guides to make it easier but this mini game has no short-cuts , you have to learn how to play it and dominate it for the final stages of the hostess bar, there are some tips for a easier travel through the bar, so at least there's some options.  The conclusions : The most accurate thing that I can write to explain my feelings with Yakuza 0 are that is a game and it never forgets that is a game. (This sums my opinion of the game in few words) It knows how to handle very serious and epic moments on the story and the next minute you are singing in a karaoke with all the pasion that a man can express. The magic is that the contrast of two very different tones are always a good sign, it never breaks the inmersion of the world and we are versus some really strange and bizarre situations, funny and sad moments. In the end all feels organic, the situations as very unlikely as them seems, feels very real in the simulation, you really believe the situations you are trying to solve and the personality of the duo contrasts very well with these gigs , a great game but with some grindy problems and a style of long cinemas that some people will find unbearable. If you like very "Japanese" games and brawlers, this game is for you, at the very least will stay strong on 20 to 30 hours of story but if you take a liking to the side things to do, easily you are in front of a game with a hundred of hours easily, just to clarify, 100 hours of quality, not repetitive or boring things to artificially make more long the game than it is.( Or if you find them like that, well they're optional).  |
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