You'll never be without something to do in Yakuza 4 long after the game is "done. The more memorable ones include seeking out some jerk who sends you spam e-mail, finding milk for a sick kitty a group of homeless guys are caring for, and getting the perfect rubdown at massage parlors. There are innumerable detours that crop up even when you think you're going where you should be. Funnily enough, though, in a game this massive the main story is the least of what you'll spend your time on. That's not to say this story is boring - just predictable - and falls into repetitive holding patterns. That formula doesn't change often, and hasn't over the run of the series. Some of the latter are skippable, and as Yakuza 4 wears on, they start to feel truly optional since they often wind up with person X betraying person Y or with an unforeseen street fight. Though it's a huge, easily 90-hour game to experience everything, you'll spend a good chunk of that reading text boxes and watching cutscenes. All of their stories might trade in well-worn clichés, but there's so much character development and examination of why people operate on the wrong side of the tracks, but aren't necessarily evil, that it hardly feels like familiar terrain.ĭepending on how open-minded you are and your familiarity with the series, this unchanged entry is either cause to celebrate or a chance to test how much your sensibilities (and attention span) can be challenged. Also new is charming loan shark/club owner with a heart of gold Shun Akiyama, who sincerely wants to improve people's lives with his loans but also has a mysterious path. Once again, a murder in the city has set off a chain of events. There's Masayoshi Tanimura, a corrupt cop so dangerous his superiors can't interfere with his actions. In Yakuza 4 Remastered, we have not one but four protagonists to run around Kamurocho with, but some do work better than others. There's Taiga Saejima, a prisoner who escaped to evade his death sentence and seek revenge on those who framed him, who must sneak around at all times. (Though the spinoff follow-up, Yakuza of the End, suggests the series will play it safe, but also very crazily, by introducing packs of roving zombies to Japan.) What is a bit frustrating, though, is leveling up a character over about 10 hours, only to be dumped into another character's world, and starting over with no items at level 1.Īnd though much of each of their worlds take place within the same city, their paths and reasons for getting there are all distinctly different. Each character’s different fighting styles and narratives take a while to warm up to, but it's refreshing to see a bold move so late into a series' life. Their stories within the criminal underworld - and how a murder at a tranny strip club ripples out to the entire city - all fit together unexpectedly in the end, giving a greater significance to your actions when you're finally allowed to control series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu again. Yakuza 4 is no different in that regard, though it drastically bucks tradition by adding three new playable characters whose tales compose the first three quarters of the game.
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