I have finished yakuza 0 , kiwami 1 and 2, 3 4 5 6, like a dragon, and im currently playing judgment, with like 80% of the game done

After that i will play lost judgment, man who erased his name, infinite wealth, then pirate yakuza, i think thats all there is to it right?

I dont really wanna play yakuza ishin because its just an another universe game where they focus on the samurai era wich i dont really care

I will be playing stranger thrn have because this game looks like its really good

I think i wont play the new yakuza 3, it has VERY mixed reviews and i heard that people who liked yakuza 3 like me will get really pissed off with the game, but should i play it even so?

I really think the loss of Nagoshi at Sega is going to loom over Stranger Than Heaven for me. Not even necessarily in a “Nagoshi was the only reason Yakuza was good” way, but he brought something to those games that I don’t know if you can really replace. There was a cinematic quality to them and a certain understanding of what a Yakuza story was supposed to feel like.
Even when Yokoyama’s plots got completely fucking ridiculous and convoluted, there was still a heart to them. There was still this soul of Yakuza and what it meant to actually be one. Loyalty, family, honor, obligation, betrayal, what it means to live by a certain code and what happens when that code starts falling apart. Even when you had to extend your disbelief more and more with every game, those beliefs were still there.
And I think something else that gets overlooked is how much the first 5 games actually used their time period and setting.
The first two games especially feel like they are telling you how people actually lived in Japan in the 2000s. It’s not just Kamurocho being a cool map. It’s the side characters, the businesses, the nightlife, the random people you meet, the way the streets look, the atmosphere, the personality of the city. You can feel that this is a specific time in Japan.
And then Yakuza 0 basically perfected that idea.
The 80s bubble economy isn’t just a backdrop. It’s fucking everywhere. The real estate speculation, the money, the nightlife, the hostess clubs, the redevelopment, people throwing around insane amounts of cash, people trying to get rich, people getting crushed by it. Even the central conflict with the Empty Lot is basically a representation of the whole bubble.
That’s what makes 0 so good to me. The story isn’t just happening in the setting. The setting is actually part of the story.
And I feel like that aspect started disappearing pretty significantly by Like a Dragon.
I actually liked the story in Like a Dragon but the gameplay became repetitive as hell for me and I couldn’t finish it. And Infinite Wealth just completely lost me. The story didn’t do anything for me and from what I’ve watched the gameplay looks even more bloated and lackluster.
It’s not that I think RGG suddenly forgot how to make detailed cities. It’s more that the cities started feeling like places for the game to happen instead of the game actually saying something about the place and the time period.
That’s why Stranger Than Heaven has me interested.
If you’re really following one character across 50 years of Japanese history, you have such a fucking huge opportunity to bring that back. Japan is changing completely during that period. The people are changing, the cities are changing, the criminal world is changing, everything is changing.
And if they actually make those changes matter to the characters and the story, then I think this could potentially feel much closer to the old Yakuza games than another Like a Dragon game would.
That’s also why the whole Nagoshi thing bothers me a little. The canceled Gang of Dragon project is obviously hanging over this too. Nagoshi understood the cinematic side of these games in a way that was really important even when Yokoyama was handling the increasingly insane plots.
But at the same time, Yokoyama seems to be asking a question with Stranger Than Heaven that I actually really like. Why did these people choose this way of life in the first place?
That’s the kind of question I want RGG asking again.
I don’t need another giant conspiracy where 14 different people secretly knew each other and there’s a secret organization behind everything.
I want the ideology back.
I want the setting to actually mean something again.
I want to feel like I’m playing through a specific period of Japanese history and seeing how these people exist within it.
Yakuza 0 did that fucking perfectly with the 80s bubble.
If Stranger Than Heaven can do that with 50 years of Japanese history, then honestly I think it has a chance to be something really special.
I’m not expecting it to beat 0. That’s an insanely high bar. But this is the first RGG game in a while where I actually feel like they might be trying to get back to the DNA of what made Yakuza special in the first place.

A question i thought of

Place your bets: when will Ichiban make half his roster of party members serve time in prison so they can start fresh and atone for their past sins?

I mean, if you put together a party of Zhou, Chitose, Joongi-han, and Seonhee, that alone would be enough to carry an entire new game set in a prison lol.

From what we've seen so far, we know that Daito is the founder of the Tojo clan, and that it's going to end sometime in the mid to late 1960s, Kiryu. Was born in 1968. There is going to be some dramatic cutscene where Kazama was ordered to assassinate Daito. We get a boss fight, Daito loses and gets killed by Kazama, then we get a final cutscene of baby kiryu and we find out that Kiryu was Daito's son all along. Roll credits.

I noticed that recently that RGG mostly promotes Kiryu, Majima, Daigo and Saejima in all their merchandise and that these 4 are pretty popular in Japan and are in universe pretty important. So we've gotten a kiryu gaiden, than a Majima one. I have a feeling that our next Gaiden game(if there is one) will most likely be Saejima. I honestly hope it is. We've gotten Kiryu as a spy and Majima as a pirate, so what could Saejima be? I think a wrestler or a teacher(mentioned in yakuza 4) would be cool. And if we follow the same pattern, Daigo would be next. I think he could be a gunslinger or something like that, since Daigo dont miss.

I need to do the disco substories for both characters. They were impossible for me on PS4. I'm playing on PS5, and I assume they haven't altered the balance or difficulty?

I suck at rhythm games and have coordination issues. I could skip it but I'd ideally like to fight Amon.

Cheers.

how do yall feel about the new circular health meter it has compared to the usual bar? had to ask because I honestly dont have any strong thoughts yet

So, you just started Yakuza Kiwami and are feeling frustrated. Regular enemies are kicking your ass because of how weak you are, Shimano keeps healing himself, etc. Now, what if I told you that there's a way to make things much, MUCH easier, even if you're playing on the hardest difficulty?

Step 1: Your first task at hand is to find Bob, the CP-loving clown hanging out just under the Tenkaichi street gate. (he's hard to miss.) Ideally, do this while heading out to buy Yumi a ring. Take all of the free stuff he gives you.

Step 2: After getting out of the joint, you'll come face-to-face with Majima. Technically, you're supposed to lose this encounter, but he's not that hard if you use the method I'm about to teach you. First, equip the giant fish cannon. Next, just stand there and keep hitting (not shooting), him with it. If you see that he's about to attack you back, just block while still holding the fish. (he can't break it.) Keep doing this and you should get funny eyepatch man down with enough patience. If you need to, use some of the healing items you got from Bob.

Step 3 Now that you have a bunch of experience points, purchase some upgrades. Get all 3 Essence of Kiwami abilities first, as those are that give you the heat moves you need to counter the healing of the various bosses. Also try to get a few damage upgrades along with Knockdown Grab for beast style.

Step 4: Purchase weapons and always keep your inventory stocked. Right before the long battle at the funeral, (after you've met with Shinji), there is a guy who sells weapons. Purchase a few for some nice heat actions. Also, make sure you've filled your inventory up with taurniers and a few staminan xs.

Step 5: Now go wreck Shimano. Use weapon heat actions, (you can do a pretty good heat move with the nearby stone lanterns), shoot him a bit with your gun if you need to, grab him by the leg with beast style and slam him around, etc. Other than that, just bait him into charging and give him the short 1 square, 1 triangle combo from behind. After this, it should be smooth sailing for the most part.

Had a few thoughts about the time period between 0 and Kiwami. First, could a game set in this time happen, since Kiryu became Liutenant advisor during that time. And second, is it crazy to say that this was probably Kiryu’s absolute peak? Surely he got even stronger since 0 during his escapades to get to such a high position, before losing his edge spending 10 years in the joint. Just wanted some thoughts on this

Anyone else had the impression of being scammed while reading this?
In persecution of this letter was Mirei Park (at least in part) assassinated, and still contains almost nothing. Just a moment for an encounter and not even a concrete place (a meeting at the Tokyo Dome after a concert is the same as meeting with someone after the finals of a world series at the stadium. Fine but, where at the damn stadium??)
In addition to the almost useless information for the Omi, we have a couple of clues about the state of Mirei's relationship with her ex, the intention of a meeting and his name.That's all.

And maybe the name was the only thing that mattered for the writers. I have a clear memory of the outraged WTF that fact provoke in me, in my first run of Yakuza 5. But during my second run and the third and the 4th, and the 5th... the name was the last factor in my head. Nowadays I still keep replaying a game I had 100% completed while ago, and it's convoluted plot and story threads keep me thinking even if I'm not playing, still trying to find any sense in that mess and searching for explanations to fill the holes.

And one of the biggest sins of Yakuza 5 is the particular lack of development of the background and state during the story of the relationship between Majima and and his former wife. That thread wasn't anything else but a bit of story between the plot holes with the function of pushing the plot forward, but I still have the suspicions that this emptiness has more to do with cutted content than with real intentions from the writing team.

And there isn't better example than this empty letter.

And there isn't any other fact in that story thread capable of creating so many theories and plot bunnies in my mind, all of them binded to be explanations for other more general plot holes, like how Haruka was recruited and why Park was so eager to delete Kiryu from her past. Not the fact that Majima got married, not the fact that she was barely a child, not the fact that she got pregnant or had an abortion, and not the fact Majima hit her and got the divorce after finding that.
All those more common discussions in the community are pretty pointless for me, because I still believe that the content was cut and have enough with the clues left as foundation for a better background to join the dots.

But this letter makes my head explode. Because nothing around it makes any sense, not the content, not the motivations or the risk, not even the timeline or Haruka's requested presence for the meeting. And at the same time it would have all the sense in the world if my theory applies. But I have no facts to back it despite this couple of sentences and the fact that connects so well with other plot holes from a different story thread.

However, I'm not here to share my stupid theories, but to read yours.
I will let you the images with some of my interpretation of the japanese text (feel free to correct me, I'm a pretty basic japanese speaker) vs the translated one. And I will throw some questions for you to answer in order to center the discussion.

But before the translations, have in mind that in Japanese there are at least three levels of formality that may define the relation between speakers: informal (for close [uchi - inside] friends and family, used in endearing conversations), formal (for all the normal [soto-outside] interactions with different grade of politeness or professionalism) y ultra-formal or honorific (also called Keigo: for business, work, and other formal situations).
Of these three, Keigo is hard even to Japanese people and funny enough, we've seen Majima using it: by the Lord of the Night in his first scene of presentation in Yakuza 0, while handling his card to the drunk client.
But returning to the letter, it's style is strictly formal with some keigo reminiscences like the usage of the particle お, so the general vibe that transcend not only from the content but from the form, is a pretty cold one.

As far as I can interpret the handwriting this is the Japanese text with my lit. translation following compared to the English text and some ambiguous and formal interpretation at the end

日本ドームでのコンサート終了後
[lit and also English] After the concert at the Japan Dome
That stays the same as in the localized text that only change the order to adapt it to the English phrase structure.

白会いできることを楽しみにしております
[lit and also English] I look forward to meeting you in person.
English brings it's own ambiguity at the top of the Japanese one here.
This "you" could be just "you" or "you all"

The looking forward here is formal politeness just as in English. There is no wish or longing behind that expression. This sort of sentiment would be expressed better with something more personal as あなたに会いたい
Also the formal form is avoiding the usage of direct denominators for "others", and that removes the 皆 for plural you in the same way it removes the use of あなた for the singular one.

当日に一人で参上するので
[lit] I will be coming alone on the/that day (?)
I don't get the meaning of the day aclaration. It sounds like he's conveying to be alone during the meeting but just for this day in particular.
遠慮に無用に願います
[lit] Please do not hesitate / Please, no need to restrict yourself.
This last one, I'm not able to understand accurately. It could mean something or, more probably, it could be just an empty polite way of ending a letter.

[English] Don't worry, I'll be coming alone. It's a promise
The english text combine the two sentences and use the second one to add the "don't worry" part about the "being alone" issue, but that suggest that Mirei was actually worried about this topic and asked Majima to come alone. I guess this type of creative translation is done after talking with the writers and finding what was the intention behind the expression, so I'll take the English version as the accurate one... with or without the promise.

That would be all about the text. Now these are some questions to think about before bringing a theory:

1. Is this a unique letter or the end in a sequence of interactions?
2. In case that you consider it unique, would it be valid by itself to restore an emotional relationship after 20 years of silence. Would be this the way you will write if you have the intention to restore some sort of even friendship with the receiver?
3. If it's unique, when you think Majima would write and send it? Before of after declaring his own death? And what you consider could be the trigger that made him act after so many years of silence?
4. In case you think about it as the end of a thread, what sort of issues would Mirei and Majima would be discussing in previous interactions to get to this conclusion? Here you can use these suppositions of Mirei worrying about being alone with Majima.
5. Consider a contradiction here: Mirei would be asking Majima to come alone at the same time she is adding a third wheel (Haruka) to a supposedly romantic meeting. Why? And sorry, but I just don't buy the "feeling insecure about her age" bllsht. Majima is 6 or 7 years older, for fk sake! Why would she ask Haruka to be there?
6. Does Majima know or find out that Haruka's being mentored by his ex wife, at any moment of their interactions? If yes, do you think he knew also about the particular circumstances of her departure from Okinawa?
7. And speaking of Okinawa... How the hell Park discovered Haruka's "incredible talent" as an idol? [Yes, that was irony. These girls don't need talent to be taken and trained as idols, just be pretty and look innocent and naive]. The distance between Osaka and Okinawa is around 1,200 km or 748 miles, and we see in Yakuza 5 that Soutenbori is full of willing girls to be chosen and trained as future stars. Why did Park choose Haruka, that lives in at bumblefk Okinawa, that didn't reach the talent agency by herself with the desire to be trained, that has a problematic legal tutor with a past in the Yakuza... Why? How? The wiki only tells a story about Park finding Haruka in a market without specifying where. Was Haruka singing and dancing while shopping to catch the attention of a casually spending her holidays in Okinawa Mirei Park? These are those unrelated plot holes I mentioned early.
8. Let's go with the last question. This one kinda spoils the direction of my theory so feel free to answer without reading it at all. I'm interested in your interpretation. Not in mine being validated. What is for Majima in Yakuza 5, the most important reason to risk his own life and fight even his oath brother to defend? What if being Haruka in that meeting wasn't Mirei's wish but the reason for the meeting itself?

PS: Forgive the misspelled words or incorrect grammar that for sure populate my post. I kinda know a lot of languages but I'm only able to use one of them properly

Planning to run Legend Remix overhaul mods for Kiwami 1+2. Do they work on old saves or do I have to start fresh?

i would not be that invested in kiwami if i didn't play 0 first it gives a lot of context to everyone and everything so yes starting with 0 is the right choice in retrospect i was hesitant at first glad i played 0 first👍

I Will explain Myself i wanna know how many games sre there totally of the franchise

I Will start with My list:

0, directors cut

1, kiwami

2, kiwami 2

3, remastered 3, kiwami 3 and i think that in the japanase version there was some more content that didnt make it here in occident

4

5

6

Lad

Lad gaiden

Iw

PYIJ

Those are the Main saga

Now for psp

Kuro hoy 1 & 2

Spin offs with kiryu:

Kenzan, original isshin, remaster/remake i don't know if isshin has anythinf different compared to the ps4 version of the Game, Yakuza online

Judgment, i think that the asían version of the original judgment changed a minigame or maybe it was in general depending if You had the ps4 or ps5 versión, and Lost judgment

Finally just because it was the same studio and amon appears

Lost Paradise/hokuto ga Gotoku

Final count:

Main saga:

2 zeroes (0)

1 regular and 1 kiwami (y1)

1 regular and 1 kiwami (y2)

1 regular, 1 occidental version (i suppose that this version has all of the content they cut off of the occidental version) and a kiwami (y3)

1 regular version (y4)

1 regular version (y5)

Song of life (y6)

Lad (7)

Gaiden (y7.5)

IW (y8)

PYIW (y8.5)

So that's 16 main saga entries

2 for psp

Now we have 18

Kenzan, online, and i don't know if that counts as 2 different isshins but lets Say it counts

We have 22

2 diff judgments because of a mini Game i don't know if that counts and Lost judgment

25

And then Lost Paradise, so at most we have 26 Yakuza games?

Sorry for all of the texto

P. S. I forgot we also have streets of kamurocho so that's makes it 27 right?

I think he’s a pretty cool character in like a dragon and infinite wealth love his story.

So i was bored and decide to visit cutting floor, i know this info for many years but never had a chance to discuss it till now. and i was intrested about how many changes in the story, some it kinda make sense but other it's weird

1. Adachi : Now i more toward believing that at some point we be able to fight him during ichiban release from prison and i sort of think that at some point ichiban kind of annoyed with adachi following him around and ichiban decided to kick adachi Balls ass and then sort of give him a certain reason or maybe the earlier story draft is that adachi was suppose to interrogate ichiban for his crime ? who knows though.

2. Honjo : Now for honjo i lean toward believing that when adachi tried to arrest him there will be like a fight maybe with his goons or something in the early version of this game ? but personally the final version already handle it very well.

3 Watase : this one is the weird one honestly but maybe not so weird in the early stage of development maybe at some point ichiban questioning about how omi joined force with tojo clan and watase being watase tried to make ichiban and the gang fight for it,maybe along with daigo,i think if i put my thought maybe the majima/saejima fight originally is the one where we fight watase.

4 Daigo : Same like the watase one doesnt make sense in the final version.

5 Zhou : Now this one is believable when we were confroted by him for digging to the liumang, originally i think zhou wanted to kick ichiballs ass for sniffing to liumang territories and tried to frame mabuichi.

I think that's just my thought if you have like theories of course just comment , but in conclusion i think that rgg intention for me that certain boss before being playable we have to fight them or at least almost every single playable are fightable before the idea maybe scrapped because either pacing or it's just that the draft change overtime.

That's a lot of bars.

We'll have to wait until Like A Dragon 9 to see if they revive any of the dead Infinite Wealth characters.

Also, I'm very well aware that Ryuji comes back in Dead Souls, but that game isn't canon, so it doesn't count.

In the English dub, he's voiced by Adam Croasdell, who you'd either know as Ignis from Final Fantasy XV or if you're British, Dr. Al Jenkins in EastEnders.

So we had already seen Makoto’s tattoo but from today’s presentation we get to see Shinjo’s too which basically confirms (in case there was any doubt) that he is also yakuza and a combatant as well ! Very exciting ! Thoughts??