Yakuza 0 (2015)

Figured out my controller problems on win 10 and thus i'm back on this horse again (yes), man i'm barely halfway through the chapters!

i'm torn between hustling thru to complete this and just continuing to explore and do sidequests. i'm already 50+ hours into it!

to those of you who have completed this: I plan to play at my own pace and complete side quests as I advance thru the story (to yield the rewards of cash and character upgrades) but wondering if there is a 'freeplay after main quest' or if the game just ends or if there are things i MUST do before completing the game?

I am in love. It took too long for me to get into the Yakuza series and I finally did. I'm glad I heard the fans and started with 0. This game is absolutely incredible!

This is probably one of the best stories ever written in a video game. It immediately transported me to a Yakuza-style movie. Characters are very well done, with some very convincing motives for doing the things they do. They're just too damn well developed and charsmatic. Like I said before, the writing helps. The story is filled with twists and turns, with believable and impressive moments. The pacing is great and it never gets old. Soundtrack is discreet, but it's a banger. It's a contained personal story, focused on its characters, but just as epic as any other game. The only two chapters I did not like were 5 and 7, because they felt like padding.

Gameplay is unorthodox and I love it, but not perfect. It fits the tone and does the job, but if the story wasn't THAT good, I'm not sure I would get to the end. The combat system can get repetitive. Guns are overpowered, the 'sphere-grid-like' upgrade system is shallow, it lacks a good lock-on system and equipments feels useless. In the end, it's just fun. Simple, but it does the trick, especially when it comes to the amazing boss fights (even if you have to fight Kuze FIVE GODDAMN TIMES). The semi-open-world areas take a long time to actually get going. It's a slow burner, but a rewarding one. Albeit repetitive, the side quests and subseries are hilariously well done, helping to build a well realized atmosphere and setting for both cities. The cabaret and real estate mini-games are boring, though.

I recommend this game purely for its story. The gameplay is fun, but it's the thirst to know how everything will unfold that will keep you coming back for more. Amazing! I'm not sure if the rest of the series is worth it, but this one definitely is.

Solid action game. Having played yakuza 1 and 2, this is probably my favourite. I loved playing as Majima since i find Kazuma so textbook and boring. His fighting style is super fun too and much cooler than Kazuma's. I really liked the substories too, so wacky and fun.

Combats were pretty repetitive so im happy to finish this game after just over 40 hours.

Finished the storyline for Yakuza 0. Took about 60 hours, and with a completion rate of... 30% -- lol! What an insane amount of content this game has. The most packed $10 of gaming I've ever picked up.

Anyways, the story was pretty fantastic. If you want an epic crime drama filled with manly men who let their fists do the talking, consider Sega's Yakuza creative team your new Shakespeare. Those final few chapters... just, damn. Wild times. Will definitely be continuing the Yakuza series with Kiwami at some point, which I happen to already have via PS Plus.

For now though... there's definitely some side content I'd like to finish from 0. Namely the big "mini-games" -- real estate simulator (just like real estate in real life, but with a lot more punching) and cabaret club manager. Also, I still need to win Nugget. The most important thing to do in Yakuza 0.

I couldn’t get into this game in large part because I didn’t want to root for the Yakuza. I have played other games featuring morally grey heroes or bad guys (Red Dead and GTA) but I think the issue with this game is that Kiryu displays a blind loyalty to the Yakuza as an organization. He doesn’t seem to have any human connections to anyone. Compare this to Arthur’s ties to individuals in the Van der Lind gang that make it feel like a family. Those connections makes Arthur’s violent actions to protect their way of life something the player can understand and appreciate. Yakuza makes me appreciate Red Dead’s character building that much more.

It also didn’t help that there was tons of story setup and only light gameplay to start. I will concede I didn’t get that far in but I just didn’t care about any of the characters enough to want to continue.

i've been dabbling in this game for like a month now and i'm a third way through the chapters. I was led to believe i could complete it in half a week LOL

a lot has come up this month and i've just been doing other things. I leave this game alt tabbed and perpetually running.

I don't particularly love the fighting in this game but I love exploring this game world and interacting with people in it. My favorite thing in it is hands down going to restaurants and eating and learning about Japanese culture. If you actually take the time to look up the things mentioned in this game you will learn a TON about Japan.

i'm about 4 hours in and find that this is PROBABLY a really good game due to it's kojima-fied cutscenes and style, but oddly enough i'm not sure how good the game itself is yet because i haven't gotten to the meat of the game yet! :D (i think i'm just about to actually open up the game world to explore)

I've not played any of the other games and this being a reboot of the original it strikes me at times as a bit out of place to see such a beautiful (it really does look good) game with mechanics that are ~15 years old! I guess i'll have to judge this game by the era it came out in, i find it just throws me off playing it. I wonder if anyone else had a similiar experience, haha.

Audacious, crass, eclectic, surprising, unwieldy, nostalgic, shameless: All these words describe Yakuza 0.

This was my first experience with the franchise after years of hearing it described as "Shenmue meets GTA." I love Shenmue, I don't really care about GTA, so I stayed away. That was clearly a mistake.

I didn't fall in love right away. The beginning of the game is (understandably) preoccupied with showing the ropes of combat, which I found to be fun but mindless... better than Shenmue, worse than the Batman: Arkham series.

But as more mechanics are introduced, as the story unfolds and is complimented by a variety of quirky sidequests, I found myself enamored by how it all manages to come together. And while I prefer the pace and setting of Shenmue, I'd be lying if I said Yakuza 0 wasn't, mechanically, a better game.

It is gutsy and weird and stylish and awkward in the same way my favorite Dreamcast titles were. I was genuinely moved by its epilogue. And now I'm eager to give Yakuza Kiwami a try.