![]() ![]() The amazing thing is that, with a few exceptions, all the side activities are a lot of fun. You can learn the intricacies of Shogi, build your own racer in Pocket Circuit, or try to reach the end of OutRun. Hell, if you’re bored you can just sit back and watch softcore videos of models posing awkwardly in front of a camera (which made me feel uncomfortable, personally). On top of simple side-distractions like karaoke and phone dating, each character has a giant business opportunity that involves buying up assets and running a cabaret club. Seriously, the number of side activities is dizzyingly vast and layered thickly. Pile onto that a massive crowd of people who want the assistance of hardened thugs to help them with things like proposing to their loved one or saving their loved one from a cult, and there’s a lot to do around Tokyo and Osaka. WELCOME TO THE FANTASY ZONEīeing involved in such a life-or-death twisted knot of conspiracies naturally leaves both Kiryu and Majima with a lot of time for fun! Dining out, hitting up the game center to play Space Harrier, or even disco dancing, there’s a lot to do. Their reasons for getting involved with the empty lot are radically different, and the ways that their actions unknowingly affect one another is one of the narrative’s stronger points. Property was everything during the bubble, and the Yakuza is falling over itself to gain ownership of the lot.ĭuring this, Kiryu is framed for murder and expelled from the Dojima- gumi, whereas Majima has been an outcast for a while and is stuck living in Osaka under the thumb of a brutal man named Sagawa. That may not sound very exciting, but the real estate in question is an empty plot of land that is holding up the development of a larger area of the Japanese neighbourhood of Kamurocho. The story is split between the characters of Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima, both of which are former Yakuza attempting to regain status among their respective families while getting entangled in a plot involving real estate. Yakuza 0 is a series of distractions that must occasionally be interrupted by a narrative. Even without being intimately familiar with the time period, the sense of nostalgia is palpable. Likewise, staples of Japanese culture in the ‘80s are present, with disco dancing, telephone clubs, and even classic arcade titles to play in the game centers. Tacky clothes, garish interiors, and fluttering currency is the aesthetic of choice. Yakuza 0 dials back the timeline to 1988, smack dab in the middle of the Japanese economic “bubble.” The game’s central themes are all centered around Japan’s powerful affluence during this period, with money literally bursting out of enemy thugs with every punch. So whether or not I have a reasonable perspective, that’s up to you. I also don’t know which characters are wearing plot armor or if anything that happens is significant enough to have an impact on the overall narrative of the series. On the other hand, if you’ve never played a Yakuza game before, then we’re on the same page. I also can’t speak of any fatigue that someone who’s played all the titles might be feeling if they’ve been too samey, or the disappointment if they’ve strayed too far from what made them great. I can’t compare it to previous titles in the series I don’t know how it has evolved or has failed to. I want to stress this because it has an impact on how I view the game. Sure is! WESTERN SHORESĪs previously stated, I’ve thus far forgone the series, but I’ve always considered jumping in. Yakuza 0 is that prequel, and it seems like a good height to jump from. Regardless, it has finally presented me with an entry point into this daunting series, as the developer has gone back to the beginning with a prequel and full remakes of the first two titles. If I had to guess, I’d say it has something to do with their recent purchase of Atlas, a developer with a long history of localizing niche titles that have no hope of selling over a couple-hundred thousand copies. Recently though, it seems Sega has learned to let a game serve a niche. Yakuza 3 famously had content cut, much to the chagrin of fans, and after that, it was, “We have no plans to localize, but maaaaybe…” Yakuza 5 didn’t even have a physical release, being fully digital. After the initial game flopped, Sega was pretty cagey every time a new game was coming down the pipe. The series was a big hit in its homeland of Japan, but had a great deal of difficulty finding its footing here in the west. Why wouldn’t it? Its journey across the pond to North America is interesting to watch. ![]() ![]() I was unimpressed, but the series remained in my periphery. All I remember is the title character running around in what looked like a Japanese garden. My experience with Yakuza boils down to this one time that I watched a former roommate play a bit of the first game on Playstation 2. ![]()
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