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| Its called Yakuza 5 because it has like FIVE layers of padding. |
Developer/publisher: Sega.
Platform: PS4.
Official Site: N/A.
Platform: PS4.
Official Site: N/A.
Release date: 11-2-2020.
After a brief rest and finishing up some substories in Y4 at premium adventure I decided
to get started on the next yakuza game! also I honestly wasn't even sure what else to play
right now but Y4 triggered some kind of itch which lighted a fire in me to get started on Y5.
Pro's
- Fun cast of characters and decent build up of the plot to go along with it.
- Great cinematography, its at its best here.
- Lots of side content if you know where to look.
- There is a pause menu.
Con's
- Length is a double edged sword, kinda overstayed its welcome for me.
- Padding, terrible pacing; especially in the finale.
- High encounter rate, there's item that reduce it but I only found them for Kiryu none with others
so it was pretty much suffering with other chara's. Why are there items to increase it? it high enough.
- Can't make clear save in premium adventure to carry over to NG+.
Let's get started with mostly good things.
The game left a pretty positive impression on me right from the bat
they really improved upon the previous two ps3 era games.
The cutscene direction, general gameplay it all feels real smooth now, especially
coming from Y3 and Y4, the latter already improved but this is chef's kiss.
There also appears to be significantly more voice acting so its no longer
going from no voices in a scene to a fmv with them. I will add that
you should becareful with pressing x during VN-like scenes as it does stop VA.
Another good point would be they finally allow us to pause the game during scenes
and you won't need to flip a switch in the main menu to skip them.
If only Y3 and Y4 had it but alas... those games show their age more than Y5 does.
Thank god because some scenes were quite long!
The story did seem to have a slow start but it did have some hooks
which kept me interested, this game however does start with Kiryu or rather
with him under a different name. He became a taxi driver known as Taichi Suzuki
but alas he shall never know peace because the yakuza can't behave for one minute.😩
The only downside is some pacing issues and some parts draggin on but still the presentation
was good like miles better than y3&4 so I mostly had a good time going through it.
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| Me neither man... |
This game uses Y4's system of viewing the story from multiple characters
but by the time I was in Shinada's story it kinda felt like the dev's didn't even
wanted the player to finish the game, I mean what you end up playing as a guy with
a funny personality but is weak as fuck and he has no money. Everything is painful
while I am looking forward to what the game was building up to there's
shit unfolding with a brand new character that may be related?! damn.
Probably came off wrong somewhere in here but Y5 is still pretty good its just
very ambitious in what it tries to do, it either has you hooked or you slog through it.
I already started forgetting important story bits by the time I got to the finale. So maybe
it was a bad idea to waste 5+ hours on batting side stories and training Shinada.😅
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| That's like admiting you like older women... |
The finale itself was long and I think the game was actually overstaying its welcome
which is sad since I was having such a pretty good time with it.It took me 50 hours to complete the game with some side stuff sprinkled in here and there
yep this game is no joke, its twice as long as Yakuza 1 through 4. Even 0 feels short in comparison.
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| Don't forget to stock up on staminans/potions. |
and most characters don't feel any weaker, Kiryu was as strong as ever
however it was so obvious Shinada was the weakest out of all of them.
Some substories were fun but most weren't very memorable except for a few.
The ones I liked would be little match girl, ending up dressed as a santa and uh the delivery guy
who forced Saejima to walk 5 meters to deliver someone his food, shit was hilarious.
was pretty funny too, other substories just weren't that memorable.
There really wasn't much to share, most of Kiryu's substories felt like jokes or callbacks
to ones in earlier games like hey its that scam again. I did like the one with an
NPC who's also called Haruka who had a dog too. Unfortunatly by the end of the game
it took looking at old screens to even remember it. So most really are just nice in the moment.
For others it be like Haruka almost got scammed into buying something
or another were was picked by a crowd to do some signing on the street. Ok.jpg
I did like the one where she had to help find some random photographer taking pictures
of her and another of an interview were the interviewers were totally not people
she knew. Dancing Akiyama was also something we needed as well...
Shinada's were either funny or wholesome, he had spunk and was surprisingly
self aware despite also being kinda shitty, i'll let others be the judge of him.
There's side stories with special missions attached to them like Kiryu has taxi missions
for some were you had to drive and an urgent fare was by far the worst but there's also a few
were you just chat with the passenger and Kiryu just autodrives.
Saejima has some hunting side stories which I never really finished
since while you can go back to the place I honestly couldn't be arsed.
I also couldn't be bothered with Haruka's side story which relates to Akari
to do it you have to do dance battles with NPC's a whole lot. No thanks.
The only training I finished was with Yoko for Haruka and others I couldn't be arsed
like I could not believe what Igarashi tried to make me do to lvl up Shinada's batting skills
but I managed to do most of them except the last which was enough for his sidestories
to the point I never had to buy any batting equipment. Wew saved me some monies!
Yep that's right the only sidestory I finished was for the hobo ex-baseball player.
Also Tatsuya was annoying, apparently this guy is based on some IRL celebrity
but he overstayed his welcome and doing his training was too repetitive, it may be useful
on higher difficulties or for some boss fight though, sadly the buff you gain is only temporary.
I only completed Tatsuya's training for Shinada because he was weaker than the others
but honestly I can't tell if it was worth it or if I should have just drinked more potions.
was not and just unfun, i'm not here for a hit and run session for 20 minutes
so I never finished that either like most other trainers.
Revelations returned as well but everyone only had like one or so due to substories
and sidestories existing its only natural there's less of it so it didn't bother me.
Honestly due to the plot being full of revelations itself it makes sense there wasn't a whole lot.
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| Yea she had one too, don't ask. |
The new locations/cities were nice to explore, they weren't as big
as kamurocho but Tsukimino looked really nice.
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| The streets were really pretty with those lights. |
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| Kineicho, also had some nice sights to see. |
I did think the encounter rate was a bit high though like one time I got out of a fight
and went straight into another. There's items to increase it but I don't think you
would want that, unfortunately the item that reduced it was on Kiryu so I was
suffering as Saejima a lot cuz punks kept picking fights. When I was in premium adventure
and tried to do some more things it really did not seem to matter if I had them on
like holy shit so many fights right after another, I started thinking maybe it is
related to the lucky system but even with good luck and the thing on it was miserable.
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| I miss Yakuza 4's encounter rate it, seemed reasonable compared to this game. |
TL;DR
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| No it isn't someone died there. /s |
but then its 20+ hours without Kiryu. I didn't always have the same level
of investment or ability to care as much about the stories, it got good at times
but there were times it just dragged on. So you could say it has ups and downs.
Throughout I found myself caring about characters that wasn't Kiryu...
who felt like a stranger in his own game, it was like that in 4 as well
but for some reason I didn't mind him being a side character once.
Here you start with Kiryu and then its like 4 layers of padding, some of it is interesting
but near the end I couldn't keep track of everything happening and even forgot things.
Like characters that showed up along the way so by the end I was going
yea that guy but ugh... so and so right? it was painful.
Still the story did have hold on me because I constantly looked forward to what was next.
Shinada's story was the only time I got sidetracked. It may not have been off
to the greatest of starts but I loved his minigames!
Y5 is a pretty good follow up but may also be overstaying its welcome and there's a lot that
could seem random as you progress even though most of it ties together pretty well.
There's also so much side content its easy to get overwhelmed but I wasn't here
for most of it so I only did what I wanted to do and moved on with the story.
Completionist may suffer with Yakuza 5... because there is a lot to do
honestly due to that I can't recommend doing everything as soon as you can.
The plot is already complicated as is so you will likely lose all threads you caught thus far
so only thing I can recommend is just do some substories here or there along the way
and save the rest for a second play or premium adventure. Speaking of you can't
make a clear save in it unlike previous games, they had 1 job here but they couldn't do it.
7/10
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I'll write a little more after the jump which is mostly character related there's not many spoilers
but I had to vent a little about the finale so here's the usual spoiler warning!
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| No it isn't, people died here as well. /s |
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Kiryu's part was pretty much a slow burn but not something that took too long
and I enjoyed doing some side stories inbetween the main story beats
so it wasn't that bad. In fact I think it even enriched the experience
IDK but I liked the slow-life kinda feel while Kiryu goes from day to day.
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| Record scratch *freeze frame* how did I get into this situation? |
ya know punks and random people in need of help(substories).
The final fight of Kiryu's chapter was both hype and annoying
since it became a little too musou-like for my tastes. Also I guess there
was a benefit to having played judgment games since I noticed a certain someone
or maybe that was just a model that they later reused for Kaito-san.😂
Its hilarious cuz its literally his shirt and pants... I was like HEY isn't him?!
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| KAITO......... or not either way it doesn't matter. |
would that happen?! sigh... everything was explained in due time just not now.
Looking back at it I barely even remember much except backstabbing.
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| Dame da ne... baka mitai. |
Saejima's part started off a bit weird, I actually was like are you serious you dumbass?!
we just got you outta the joint last game and you wanna dip back in?! ok fine...
The scene with Majima in the beginning though... don't wanna see him depressed but I guess
Saejima gonna do what he thinks is right and he saw no other way outta the current mess.
Anyway turns out its another season of prison break except this time the prison is more
hospitable nvm the other prisoners, Saejima also ditched his hobo getup and shaved his hair
so now he's baldo, other than that he's more or less the same as ever. I still love his lines
cuz more often than not they hit the mark. Also I think he's pretty much becoming
one of my favorite characters in the series but man do I have
a love/hate relationship with his story segments.
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| Nothing Saejima can't handle TBH. |
The snowmobile ride was cool and so was the fight with the bear but man...
it really is just prison break with his guy huh?! as well as the fact it was really just one thing
after another in this story. Like oh my god I JUST GOT YOU OUT LAST TIME
AND YOU GO IN AGAIN? NVM THE FACT YOU'RE AN INNOCENT SAMMICH.
(Wait this is the second time I lost it about the same thing.)
The absolute audacity the writers had with this guy you may as well call Saejima prison guy.Also who was gonna tell him the guy listening in is the criminal.......
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| Saejima is pretending not to hear amirite. |
Sheesh anyways one thing I never believed was the news Majima had died
and would ya guess it? of course THE MAJIMA wouldn't just fall over
even Saejima sort of figured as much when the pieces started to fall together.
Also is it weird that my eyes were more on Baba because hooboy he is something.
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| Bro......... |
Moving on yea uh the next part is something else alright...
can do dance off's vs some NPC's. Other stuff included all the glim and glam that comes
with being an idol such as training, events and on stage because the goal is to win
this thing called princess league, an idol competition against other idols namely T-set.
The story was okay and was a pretty good potrayal at what the idol life is really like
in japan and no its not all sunshine and rainbows but yea this felt a little
out of place and could feel like its padding the game out but still I had fun here!
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| He's never gonna wash his hands is he... |
I can see some people dropping the game at this part but it really wasn't
that bad and the minigame is easy enough even a noob at rhythm games can do it.
I'll admit first I didn't like Park but she grew on me and I couldn't believe what happened
in the story, I even teared up in the scene where she gave the pen to Haruka.
Just when you think Haruka's part is going on for too long it is time for
the man, the myth, the legend Shun Akiyama to make his timely appearance.
A lot of things also clicked really well and it made sense why he would be involved.
I loved the songs and showdown with T-set, despite all the dramatique happening.
I did a decent amount of substories for both, Shun's did not stand out that much and felt
more or less the same as what he had in Y4. Still some were fun like dancin Akiyama.
There was a revelation about Majima during this part that I did not think I wanted
however I really looked forward to what came next!
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| What I never knew I wanted but got anyways... |
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| Grandma wants to dance too and guess who happened to be nearby... |
Up next is some guy named Tatsuo Shinada who's a former baseball player
who now writes smut for a living, one problem he's up to his arse in debt.
Shinada's also voiced by Toshiyuki Morikawa which was strangely fitting.
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| He had a point actually... |
Heh maybe he should get in touch with Akiyama. Sadly Shinada's story
started out very randomly and I didn't really get what role he had to play.
Also they loved cutting off savepoints with invisible walls for no reason
so you couldn't even take in the sights of Kineicho or save your game.
I get the guy had a deadline but... they really wanted things to look dire.
I didn't really like Shinada at first so he took a while to grow on me...
he has a fun personality and the dialogue was funny which helped
but actually playing as him wasn't fun at all due to him being gimped.
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| What a way to level up alright, show a more fitting screenshot to me i'll wait. |
i'm glad I did that one substory which gave you 30,000 yen because hooboy!
carrying less than a 100 yen is no fun man. Life sucks how does this guy live?! he does
have some funny & wholesome substories though and glad I sticked around for a few.
The baseball stuff was actually fun and surprisingly easy, I did all of igarashi's training
except the last one cuz screw that! due to that the main and sub missions were enjoyable
to go through. Why wasted money on gear when his stats max out so easily?!
where it is more or less used to padd out the game, part of his story is interesting
but it just went on for too long like omg you're on a train to tokyo but then you need to
deal with Sawada last minute! this was yakuza 3 levels of bad pacing issues
but hey! atleast he got to wrap up his own issues by doing it...
BTW what was this game about again? I swear I lost a lot of plot threads during this.
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Finale.
RGG studios realized they could divide this stuff into individual chapters
and then have a final chapter too. Yes it was THAT long.
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| Kiryu is literally me when I think about all this shit... |
as everyone met up but around the 3rd part is where I started to feel the burn.
I did like how they introduced Akiyama and Shinada to eachother like it was perfect.
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| Does that mean Akiyama took a nap for two hours or that Shinada was already there? |
First Kiryu had to fight like 9000 grunts, then there was a pretty good climax however during it
some character kicked the bucket or so it appeared idk why but I felt so numb? maybe
i've gotten used to it or perhaps I was full of ''plot'' bullets pun intended because hooboy! there
was a lot going on there to the point where when I got the option to save I just closed the game.
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| Yea a real man's gotta be a lil stupid. |
which could be seen as pulling it out the ass. We have MULTIPLE characters trying to one up the
mastermind but gets one upped trying to do so while the main characters are powerless at the time.
This is of course a setup for the real finale but I suppose its overstaying its welcome for me.
There were parts that I thought were really well executed but I wish we could
have taken a break during it, its just such a soap opera with some fights inbetween.😅
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| LMAO says the guy who is a stranger in his own game. |
Too long five me! like what the final showdown was 2 hours in length I am tired.
Also the last thing I expected would be that guys hanging on by a thread show up
amongst it all and suddenly become OP with a gun, no that was just bad writing.
Also yea its the final chapter but then there are still revelations being dropped...
its all too much like almost an information overload and no time
to take it in cuz damn gotta fight the next boss.
I think the best part was the part with Shinada and Baba. Haruka's speech sure was
heartwarming but to anything else i'm just gonna have to say no, the post credit scene
was probably one of the worst in the series. I was like why the heck is it like this?
Suppose it was kind of cute but idk something felt wrong... Akiyama? Date? HELLO?!
Anyways i'm definitely glad it was over but its an awkward ending, i'll take Y4's.
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| How the ending honestly made me feel. |
I want to rank the endings of all yakuza games so far on a scale of how it resolves
and sadly 5 is last on the list. Ishin's just there for fluff i'll pass on the judgment games
since both are pretty good at ending things anyways.
Y2 > Y1 > Y0 / Y4 > Y3 > Ishin > Y5.
Takeaway? RGG wasn't really sure if they could make a sequel
with the first two games hench them ending slightly better.
With 5 you basically got no choice but to dig into 6 because it leaves a lot upinto the air its almost like a cliffhanger but not as bad as falcom's games.
While I have a few gripes with this game it was pretty entertaining
Final Thoughts
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| Yea you could say that... |
but it seemed at times it didn't really know what it wanted to be.
This became obvious to me while in the middle of Saejima's story and it didn't
get much better from there. There's Kiryu who's just trying to have a life but nooo.
Saejima is just prison break season 2 then we had a case of idolmaster?! hoo boy, sure
things connect and I was hooked enough to continue but I won't deny there were parts
that felt random and going from Haruka and Akiyama's part to Shinada didn't feel too great.
This game has padding but I did like that we actually spend time with the characters
so I was mostly fine with it. I always felt earlier yakuza games were paced way too fast so
I couldn't really get attached to anyone before someone would just die cuz the setting is what it is.
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| This scene was hilarious he's doing pushups but nvm there's no change in the plan. |
Lately it seems only the really bad people die which is honestly better than just axing viper guy
before he even developes into a character, felt like I barely knew the guy and he was gone.
There was still another death but I don't want to ruin any surprises... it seems the RGGteam
has learned they can write them out too without killing them or just do fake-outs.
Due to things being what they are I cared more about characters that weren't Kiryu like his part
in the beginning was great but like in Y4 he still felt like a stranger in his own story.
Because of that it may be why I felt only appalled in the end. Kiryu had so little presence
for the majority of the game and Shinada's part only did more harm than good
like he's a random guy but the same could be said for Kiryu. As much as I loved how much
content there was it was bloated, I had to set limits to what I engaged with much like FF7 Rebirth
since there was like so much to do, if you tried to do everything its easily 100 hours.
I'm just glad not everything was forced into my face... its there if you look.
Anyways! I enjoyed Yakuza 5 the most when I was going through the indiviual stories
and then some but the finale was awkward and it felt like being pumped full of plot bullets
and barely able to process what was going on. IDK if its a me problem but the pacing
was pretty awful and that's coming from someone that didn't mind the slow buildup throughout.
I disliked how the end turned into some two hour movie without breaks, cuz it was
a gauntlet and makes most other games in the series look modest. Y0 even put
a warning which may have been nice for Y5 too but alas.
7/10
As someone that liked Y4 it may be natural that I (to some extend) still liked Y5
but yea to me its a bit of a mixed bag with a lot of potential. The only thing
that matters was that if I had fun right? and yea I did enjoy going through it.😄
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| No it isn't, shit always happens here. /s |
While I obviously will be playing Yakuza 6 at some point, for now I will take a break.
I know its not as long as this game but I don't want to burn out midgame and Y5 may
have tired me out quite a bit, trying to play them all right after another ain't it.
As for other games I will just take it easy, maybe find something else from my backlog
that isn't a RGG game since I don't feel like buying newly released games right now.
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