Yakuza 3 remastered is worth playing, even after the excellent sequels

[Remeran]

Playing through 3 now on my Xbox, so far so good. I've found after playing 0, kiwami 1 & 2, and 7 that the story in a Yakuza game is always worth playing through. There are rough parts of 1 even in Kiwami but that didn't take away from the story. I'm playing 3 on easy and plan on doing that for 4 and 5 too, though 6 I'm planning on playing normally.

 

[Tailzo]

It's always a pleasure to meet Majima again :)

I just finished Yakuza 3.Yakuza 4 is next. That game was my facorite so far back in the day it was new.

 

[Skulldead]

One of my favorite, in term of pure gameplay this is the most challening and compelling yakuza game ever. On ex-hard the game really shine in every aspect. This is my second favorite after 2 I think.

 

[Hercule]

This felt like a Jdrama. My first Yakuza and I loved every minute of it

 

[TheChronic2060]

Yeah Im going in as soon as I have played through Dark Souls 3. Trying to hold on to a schedule lol, bit after this Ive completed the DS trilogy and plan on moving through the Yakuza series one by one. Not going to rush it, and try and fit in other new game releases along the way. Nier and Judgment in April, and Resi8 in May.

Ive also played 3 before, got it for PS3 on Euro launch day together with FFXIII. But Ive never played 4-6 so Im really looking forward to getting there.

 

[StereoVSN]

One of my favorites in the series. I love the Okinawa vibe, and Dad Kiryu is just the best.

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Yep, Okinawa is great as a change of pace and so is taking care of those kids. Especially with cut parts ported back in, its a great game.

Edit: I liked Yakuza 3 more vs 4 & 5.

 

[Alien Bob]

Coming straight from Kiwami 2 it does feel very clunky, but it's still a Yakuza game through and through. The Okinawa vibe is really nice, and does anyone else think Downtown Ryukyu really looks like a Tony Hawk level? I wish Kiryu could take out a board and start shredding in his dumb shirt.

 

[Nocturnowl]

I just finished chapter 4 and I think my Yakuza fatigue is still too strong.

But I can say that, yeah visually it holds up pretty well in the remaster and that up until the dang dog, I was really digging Kiryu's ordinary life and the new map.
I feel like the dog stuff and what followed would've worked better had they not established minutes prior that you were going to sneak a plane trip and leave ol' tropical shirt behind.

 

[Mollymauk]

*hugs game pass*

 

[CrichtonKicks]

I just finished chapter 4 and I think my Yakuza fatigue is still too strong.

But I can say that, yeah visually it holds up pretty well in the remaster and that up until the dang dog, I was really digging Kiryu's ordinary life and the new map.
I feel like the dog stuff and what followed would've worked better had they not established minutes prior that you were going to sneak a plane trip and leave ol' tropical shirt behind.

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Yeah you can tell Kiryu really didn't want to leave. "I should really get to the airport to handle this crisis in Tokyo....the kids want to play baseball? Tokyo can wait!!!"

 

[beelulzebub]

It baffles me when Yakuza fans dog this one because of the slow start, but the sleepy Okinawa vibes in the first leg of the game is the best, most memorable part of the game. It's an underappreciated entry for sure.

 

[Nocturnowl]

Yeah you can tell Kiryu really didn't want to leave. "I should really get to the airport to handle this crisis in Tokyo....the kids want to play baseball? Tokyo can wait!!!"

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I like that even when you can actually leave you still get a phonecall prompting more side quests and Kiryu is like "I should really consider going to see what Taichi wants, even though it doesn't sound remotely important compared to impending clan warfare"

 

[StraySheep]

I just finished chapter 4 and I think my Yakuza fatigue is still too strong.

But I can say that, yeah visually it holds up pretty well in the remaster and that up until the dang dog, I was really digging Kiryu's ordinary life and the new map.
I feel like the dog stuff and what followed would've worked better had they not established minutes prior that you were going to sneak a plane trip and leave ol' tropical shirt behind.

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The dog segment is probably one of the worst parts of the game. What else has happened up to Ch 4?

 

[Gunny T Highway]

Though it is actually my least favorite entry I do appreciate it because it was a massive leap forward from the original Yakuza 1 & 2.

 

[jbug617]

It baffles me when Yakuza fans dog this one because of the slow start, but the sleepy Okinawa vibes in the first leg of the game is the best, most memorable part of the game. It's an underappreciated entry for sure.

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My personal feeling it's probably a lot to do with the mission types with the kids. Obvious you are not going to fight the Yakuza a lot with kids centric missions but some of the missions were meh.

 

[Nocturnowl]

The dog segment is probably one of the worst parts of the game. What else has happened up to Ch 4?

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End of chapter 4 is beating up some Yakuza in Stardust, so basically you've just arrived in Kamurocho

 

[Tailzo]

I've started Yakuza 4, and I can see how they improved many things. I remember being able to run on roofs, but I can also go underground, and the stiffness of yakuza 3 seems gone.

 

[Nocturnowl]

Since this thread was recently bumped I must express my dismay at the 20 minute plot dump in Yakuza 3 that basically is an entire chapter unto itself, have mercy toadface!

 

[Why would you do that?]

You can compare them to the PS2 GTA games a bit in regards to content and all.

Yakuza 3 = GTA3 new perspective, things to do etc.
Yakuza 4 = lots of improvements everywhere, great sequel like Vice City
Yakuza 5 = San Andreas everybody is here, big cities, lots of content, big story, new possibilities for exploring and fighting

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Yes, that comparison certainly popped into my mind as I played through Yakuza 5, though I thought about it in terms of Super Mario 3, lol. The "developers have gotten used to the hardware and have put a tooooon of content into the sequel" thing is a real thing, and it's incredibly strong in Yakuza 5.

It makes me wonder if I had played the excellent Yakuza 0 after 5, if I would have actually been disappointed at 0 being pared back a bit from 5...

 

[Fatmanp]

Just finished this and loved. The main theme gives me chills when the guitar solo kicks in.

 

[Chackan]

Gonna hijack this thread to ask a "simple" question.

Played only Yakuza 0, and a bit of Yakuza 1 (stopped about 1 hour into, and swapped with 0).

I LOVED the game, all but the combat. Man do I not like the long-ass fighting sequences lol I also didn't engage in many side quests, otherwise I would never finish the game (lack of time, yadda yadda).

Should I play all the following Yakuzas? (1,2,3,4,5,6, Like a Dragon) or should I skip some?

 

[ZeoVGM]

I'm planning to start a full playthrough soon and pretty excited about it.

 

[ZeroX]

Gonna hijack this thread to ask a "simple" question.

Played only Yakuza 0, and a bit of Yakuza 1 (stopped about 1 hour into, and swapped with 0).

I LOVED the game, all but the combat. Man do I not like the long-ass fighting sequences lol I also didn't engage in many side quests, otherwise I would never finish the game (lack of time, yadda yadda).

Should I play all the following Yakuzas? (1,2,3,4,5,6, Like a Dragon) or should I skip some?

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All of the games have reasonably similar combat, and they all have at least a few long fighting sequences. If you don't like it at all then you're not going to enjoy the rest of the series. It's the same formula across the board. 4 onwards adds different playable characters but base combat doesn't change.

if you like turn based JRPG combat then you can skip straight to Like a Dragon.

 

[Welfare]

Playing more and you can easily tell this was the third game in the series after playing 0 and Kiwami 1 and 2.

Holy shit combat is ass in 3. It starts off alright but I thought maybe as you level up it'll be more manageable but nope. The "Dragon of Dojima" can styled on by random mooks so easily.

Infinite guard spam, instant reactions making certain moves useless like picking up a downed opponent from behind just does not work as a way to attach them from behind, and every AI is independent so you can get chained and stunned locked in group fights, or the AI just spam the same stun move 10 times in a row and you can't react.

I'm on Chapter 10 and still aim to 100% it but god damn the Coliseum just highlights the issues this game has.

 

[Chackan]

All of the games have reasonably similar combat, and they all have at least a few long fighting sequences. If you don't like it at all then you're not going to enjoy the rest of the series. It's the same formula across the board. 4 onwards adds different playable characters but base combat doesn't change.

if you like turn based JRPG combat then you can skip straight to Like a Dragon.

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But I like absolutely everything other than the combat lol the short sequences are fine, just the long are dull imo does the series maintain the same quality of chars/storyline ?

 

[ZeroX]

But I like absolutely everything other than the combat lol the short sequences are fine, just the long are dull imo does the series maintain the same quality of chars/storyline ?

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Y0 is generally considered the best in the series but all of the games have nearly the same quality of characters and storyline. Y1 will seem a lot more simplistic and short than the rest though.

but yes every game has a few long sequence fight scenes. I don't think they're that bad, they're only like 20 minutes but if you fail them....

 

[Slime Stack]

But I like absolutely everything other than the combat lol the short sequences are fine, just the long are dull imo does the series maintain the same quality of chars/storyline ?

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You can always set the games to easy mode, stock up on a bunch of healing items and brute force your way through the fights. All the games are worth playing specially if you're invested in Kiryu's story and his growth as a character. Except for Yakuza 4.

 

[mrmickfran]

The combat is rough

i had to pick easy difficulty just to get through it faster

 

[Deleted member 56752]

The combat is rough

i had to pick easy difficulty just to get through it faster

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I always pick easy on these games. They're supposed to be fun. Not hard. The combat is fun but only if you're cruising thru it. If you're not, it's terrible imho

 

[AwakenedCloud]

I was worried when I booted it up due to many calling it the weakest game in the series, but 3 chapters in this is the most I've enjoyed the series since 0.

Taking a step back from the Yakuza politics and focusing on Kiryu's passion for helping orphans is such an incredible change of pace. It's wholesome and unique. I'm loving every moment of that.

The combat is what it is, I'm convinced. I'm convinced that they're all going to feel weak compared to the system 0 used.

 

[Chackan]

You can always set the games to easy mode, stock up on a bunch of healing items and brute force your way through the fights. All the games are worth playing specially if you're invested in Kiryu's story and his growth as a character. Except for Yakuza 4.

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Yeah, that's what I did with Yakuza 0 :P

Just finished The Medium so maybe I'll continue with Yakuza 1 then!

 

[SlickVic]

I started playing Yakuza 3 on Gamepass last week, and actually was pleasantly surprised with the graphics quality. It's been about 6 months since I finished Kiwami 2 (which I thought looked really good on PC) and I imagine if I started this right after finishing that, the difference would be more jarring. But with the benefit of time, it doesn't look too bad compared to the prior games.

The combat on the other hand does feel quite 'clunky' compared to 0/Kiwami 1 and 2 to me. It's fine so far, but I can potentially see it getting a bit frustrating as the fights get tougher.

 

[LAA]

Personally found it hard to get into Yakuza 3 after beating 0-2.
The fighting system plainly seems worse to me. Enemies block 90% of the time, making the combat system feel unfun.
The other things I could get over, but it's a downgrade from 2 when you have things like needing a loading screen to enter most buildings, graphically worse than 0-2, some QoL improvements gone, etc.
Still plan to beat 3-6 before moving to like a dragon (which I do have concerns about with going turn based but seeing how crazy it looks more optimistic about it), but definitely am finding it harder to enjoy after 0-2.

 

[Kromis]

I'm at the last chapter and my God, I can't wait to get this over with. The combat is ass and I found Rikiya (ANIKI!) to be incredibly annoying. Tracking substories also sucks!

 

[LazyLain]

Yakuza 3 is the only mainline entry I haven't been compelled to finish, but it does get major props for having a full golf course and not just some rinky-dink driving range.

 

[TheChronic2060]

Gonna hijack this thread to ask a "simple" question.

Played only Yakuza 0, and a bit of Yakuza 1 (stopped about 1 hour into, and swapped with 0).

I LOVED the game, all but the combat. Man do I not like the long-ass fighting sequences lol I also didn't engage in many side quests, otherwise I would never finish the game (lack of time, yadda yadda).

Should I play all the following Yakuzas? (1,2,3,4,5,6, Like a Dragon) or should I skip some?

Click to shrink...

Probably not a bad idea to consider playing LAD sooner rather than later. Yakuza Zero + Kiwami 1, then jump to LAD. The combat in that might suit you better (turn-based JRPG).

 

[koshiro]

I've played them all and love Yakuza 3 too.

But as someone who's played them all - can we just decide whether it's "Morning Glory" or "Sunshine Orphanage" instead of flip-flopping back and forth?

 

[Linus815]

Personally found it hard to get into Yakuza 3 after beating 0-2.
The fighting system plainly seems worse to me. Enemies block 90% of the time, making the combat system feel unfun.
The other things I could get over, but it's a downgrade from 2 when you have things like needing a loading screen to enter most buildings, graphically worse than 0-2, some QoL improvements gone, etc.
Still plan to beat 3-6 before moving to like a dragon (which I do have concerns about with going turn based but seeing how crazy it looks more optimistic about it), but definitely am finding it harder to enjoy after 0-2.

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0 is the peak of the old engine games, especially in terms of gameplay. The combat mechanics are polished, encounter design is MUCH improved compared to earlier games.

Kiwami 2 is one of the new engine games and it uses an evolved version of 6's combat.


This makes any "newcomer" playing through the series... weird. It's a real rollercoaster ride, despite the numbers going up the experience is all over the place in terms of consistency. Very jarring. Even going from 0 to Kiwami 1, despite K1 being remade with 0's assets and combat engine, the original story, cutscene direction and encounter design was kept intact, and boy it's all very dated. K1 has some of the absolute worst boss fights in the series. Despite 0's combat engine being great, K1 just shows how much encounter design matters.

Still, K2 to 3 is easily the most jarring transition.

Now... hopefully the hardcore yakuza fans won't tiger drop me for saying this but I honestly this that Y7 has by far the best combat system in the entire series. And I don't particularly love turn based combat. It's just, I dunno, way more exciting to me. The best part of yakuza combat in general are the heat moves and almost every single ability in Y7 is like a heat move, and there's A LOT of them. Plus the fantasy "overlay" really elevates the game, upping the enemy variety both in terms of fighting style and visuals like crazy.

 

[Liliana]

All yakuza games are worth playing.

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Hmm...

 

[Massicot]

Since this thread was recently bumped I must express my dismay at the 20 minute plot dump in Yakuza 3 that basically is an entire chapter unto itself, have mercy toadface!

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This honestly bugged me more than the combat.

 

[convo]

People usually harped on the opening section with the orphanage, but considering the context of the stuff that happened from 0 to 2, of course Kiryu would want some peace for once in his life.

 

[chrominance]

Yakuza 3 was my very first Yakuza game, so even if it was mediocre I think I'd always have a soft spot for it. But I went back and played it last year on PS4, and it's still great. I totally get why it's divisive and would always qualify my recommendation to other people, but I really like the orphanage stuff and Okinawa, and the story still holds up. And now that I'm more used to Yakuza combat, I found 3 totally fine to play on Normal. Honestly I think Kiwami is worse in some ways (bosses with the ridiculous healing moves wtf).

The biggest issue I think I have with the game is something that only became evident once I played Yakuza Kiwami 2. Anyone else who's played both knows exactly what I mean.

 

[NintenDuvo08]

Can someone who has played 4 tell me, that they have eliminated the infinite blocking that is ruining Yakuza 3 for me.

 

[Diarrhea Day-Lewis]

I liked it more than 4 and 5 for the most part. 6 felt like it was trying to replicate Rikiya with the buddy

3 is flawed; but I love the new setting. The others are good but I wish they had stuck with Kiryu only for 4-5

 

[yellowfury]

i'm working my way through the yakuza series after playing 7. I beat 0, kiwami, and kiwami 2, and am currently on 3. I...do not like 3. I understand some of my issues (relating to gameplay) are relics of when it came out but so far I don't find it nearly as enjoyable as any of the others I've played (I'm on chapter 6). I might also just be on a yakuza fatigue because I've been playing them nonstop since december.

 

[Elija2]

I don't think I'll ever play Yakuza 3 (it just looks too outdated to me) but I hope we see Okinawa or a town similar to it in a newer game. I just love the sunny beach town vibes it gives off.

 

[ShaggyLobo]

never played this particular entry, but it looks SEGA as fuck - like a Dreamcast 2 game. love them blue skies.

 

[Joseph Merrick]

love the story and town so much in yakuza 3. still my favourite yakuza game.

 

[sinny]

3 is amazing. I liked it more than 4 and 5.
In fact 4 is the low point for me.

 

[Crankafoo]

Definitely agree that it's worth playing to some extent. While it's definitely tied for my least favourite ( (w/ Yakuza Kiwami), I found a lot of the game to be quite charming. Okinawa had some real chill vibes, like the beach outside Sunshine and the cozy feel of the actual town. I got more attached to the friends and family Kiryu makes than I thought I would as well. It's really just the stiff and clunky feeling that is in the bones of the game that makes it definitely feels like a transitional period game between PS2 -> PS3, which I feel brings it down. It's just everywhere, substories, minigames, cutscenes, general movement, exploration, etc. Still love it though, and it's definitely worth playing, especially if you care about how Kiryu as a person develops.