Should I start from the VERY beginning? (PS2 era). I've heard people say the PS3 era of Yakuza is the worst while Yakuza 0 is the best. What about the turn based ones? Is the latest one the best to start with?? I'm so lost bros...
Please tell me which Yakuza game to start with
Yakuza 0 is on PS3.
Wouldn't that be the worst way to play it?
Starting from 0 sucks because you wouldn't get the references from past games
> "b...but those are just for goofy side quests that holds no plot relevance"
It's same when you play from 0 since its a self-contained game made after 5 and it holds no plot relevance past 0 except for goody side quest references
>Starting from 0 sucks because you wouldn't get the references from past games
And you don't need to.
Same thing can be said for 0 since only thing you get out from playing 0 is getting references to goofy side quests, none of the plot of 0 actually fricking matters because those story-line didn't exist until 5 and they are never going to bring them back
0 is the most irrelevant Yakuza game ever and there's no point of playing 0 unless you wanted to play 0. If you are playing 0 because you wanted to play 8, you are fricking moronic.
Well yes, but you'll then get them when they come up in the later games. References work both ways.
just start from wherever you want they are all kind of self-contained
if you wanna go full yakuza autismo play from PS2
also don't listen to 0 gays they are moronic
Don't play any of them. They are reddit games.
Shallow combat mechanics and soap opera type "manly"stories, aka my dad never cared about me. Bunch of minigames.
0 > Kiwami > Kiwami 2 (worse than the PS2 original in some areas, but you won't know) > Skip 3 and watch a YouTube summary > 4 HD > 5 HD > 6 > 7 and release order onwards.
0 has a few callbacks to 1, which make Kiwami a bit repetitive after playing 0, but it's still the best way to play.
3 (and Dead Souls) aren't that bad, but there are so many games with so little variation you won't want to play them all without a 2 year gap between them.
Alternatively, you can start with 7 if you're more into that style of gameplay and atmosphere. There'll always be small callbacks and nods you can miss if you play any way other than chronologically, but it's not that important until Kiryu becomes a main character again.
tl;dr 0 or 7, you can skip anything between 2 and 7 without being totally lost.
>Skip 3
kys
>Play every game in order and become irreversibly burnt out on an infamously rehashed series
Be reasonable. Everybody hates 3 no matter what you or I think of it, so it's bad advise to tell OP to play it.
I like 3 despite its flaws, and Mine is the best villain of the franchise
4 is worse both narrative and gameplay-wise, not to mention 3 had Okinawa while 4 had "expanded" Kamurocho instead that was so bad that it got cut in future games
this is it. 8 is the culmination of it all, self contain homosexuals are wrong as always. start with 0, play Kiwami versions of 1 & 2. watch the cutscenes to 3. besides 3, only skip the zombie and samurai spin offs. after 4 5 6, play judgment. then 7, then lost judgment. then 8.
Do not try to be a completionist. Only aim to beat the substories, amon, and the main story.
Forgot Gaiden, play LJ then Gaiden
>you won't want to play them all without a 2 year gap between them.
The Yukuza series was made to be played over 20 years. If you want to catch up to the series you should do it over four or five years.
Otherwise play in chronological order in universe. Be warned that 0 is the best to 90% of players.
0, 7, judgement and lost judgement are the only games worth playing
you can check out the hd remasters however I heard there are issues in aspects like combat and minigames because something was tied to the framerate
So here's the thing:
I started with 0 and playing the next ones was a bit of a downer, because none of them are nearly as good, neither story, graphics nor general vibe-wise, up until maybe Yakuza 6 or 7. The characters also change between 0 and 1 a bit too much if you treat them as regular sequels, so it's a bit jarring if you don't know those characters better. Their 0 versions are more suited to match their 4-5 characterizations.
Kiwami 1, it was updated to include references back to 0, at least in some side-activities. Not too much though, so I think it's still a decent place to start.
But then Kiwami 2 also has an entire side-game copied straight from 0 that references it, and includes a separate 30-minute epilogue to 0's story, available once you beat the game.
So like, 0 is the best, it's a good place to start, but also sours the other games. After getting to yakuza 4 and 5, I realized how well it works as a prequel, rather than the starting point and I wish I would've been able to play it now for the first time. But then also had I not played 0 first, I would've missed out on the callbacks to it added to Kiwami 1 and especially 2.
So I dunno. Maybe try Kiwami 1 first, and then 0, and then on to Kiwami 2. That way you still allow 0 be a prequel, and then continue its story more directly through 2.
Or just play 0, but be ready to wonder how the hell did those characters go from acting one way to completely another between those games.
Or just don't be a homosexual and play the PS2 versions of the Y1 and Y2.
Yeah, but then you're missing out by not doing the new side content and epilogue from Kiwamis. Unless you play those games again.
Either start with the PS2 Yakuza 1 and 2 and then go through them in release order,
OR start with Yakuza 0 and then go through 'em in chronological order.
PS3 era games are the best in the series.
Y0 is arguably the peak of Kiryu's saga, and a good testing ground if you're at all unsure.
Kiwami 1 and 2 are rushed demakes of Y1-2. I wouldn't recommend them without some heavy modding.
Like A Dragon is the rebranding of the series, and closer to its Japanese OG name (Ryu Ga Gotoku). The first LAD is technically and literally Yakuza 7, LAD2 Yakuza 8.
LaD gaiden is a odd middle game set between 6 and 7.
There's also Ishin, that is a spinoff title set in the past, in the Edo era.
Meanwhile Dead Souls is a zombie shooter spinoff set after Y4.
start with 0
Play zero and 6 and then you're up to speed. The rest is filler.
6 is the filleriest filler there is.
If you don’t like RPGS, start with 0 then go numerically. If you like or don’t mind RPGS, start with 7, then 0, then numerically.
>Please tell me which Yakuza game to start with
Gaiden
If you like brawlers, start with 0
if you prefer turn based jrpgs, you can skip to 7, you'll miss a bunch of setting and lore but it's basically a soft reboot
0, Kiwami, Kiwami 2, 1 to 6 are all brawlers
0 is a prequel of 1->6 and has some callbacks to these games but you wouldn't miss much
do not go Kiwami and Kiwami 2 first if you haven't played 0, while they are remakes of 1 and 2, they are made with the idea you've played 0 before and have a lots of callbacks to that
7 changes protagonist and gameplay radically, becoming turn based, it is set up a few years after 6, you can technically start from here if brawlers aren't your thing
Like a dragon : the man who erased his name is a brawler side episode continuing centered on kiryu, following 6 and happening roughly at the same time as 7, do not play this if you haven't played 6 and 7
8 is a direct sequel of 7, don't play it if you haven't played 7.
Like a dragon Ishin is using the same story stucture as yakuza games but is set up during the 19th century so you can play that whenever, it's a brawler
Judgement games are more or less the same, both brawlers using the same setting as the mainline games, they happen after 6 but they are separate stories
Why not play them in order dumb ass? 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7, 7.5, 8?
Also 3 is great and anyone that says otherwise is a secondary
Because you would need severe brain damage to play 20 practically identical games in a row.
The PS3 era of Yakuza is the best though (Yakuza 3 is peak)
Release order if you want to see the series evolve as intended and you don't jump all over the place.
Modern order if you want a strong start but jump all over the place in combat, mechanics, gameplay refinement, writing refinement, minigame refinement, engines, etc. Release order will make you play K1 and K2 anyway.
Release order starts with, obviously, the first game on PS2. It had some issues with gameplay and the writing was fairly basic, but overall it's perfectly fine. 2 is a massive improvement over it, and then every subsequent game afterwards improves on pretty much every aspect of the series with some bumps here and there like 6.
Modern order starts with 0 which was developed intentionally as an anniversary game and only by happenstance managed to work as an intro game. You can take everything at face value if you want but it gives you the incorrect expectations on characters since they were literal whos in 1 that they used 0 to give some backstory to, style gameplay is for spinoffs with 0 and K1 being the only mainline exceptions, you're starting with their 11th game which means 10 games of writing improvement are at their back for both stories and substories, and you're on the third game of 5's engine then will jump to the second game on the Dragon Engine with K2, and then go back to the second game on the PS3 engine with 3. After that it goes like normal.
ZERO
Judgment
Start with 0, then Kiwami 1, Kiwami 2, 3-6, Judgment, LAD/7, Lost Judgment, Gaiden and then 8.
Start with Yakuza 1 on PS2, then continue in release order.