Yakuza 4
Released: January 28, 2021
Game Length: 40 Hours
Grade: C+
Four Times the Trouble
Four Characters: Considering that Yakuza 4 came out one year after the events of Yakuza 3, it is safe to assume that not much has changed in the game engine. We practically have the same crew continuing the saga, except for the one detail that Jun Orihara is now the new director. The main difference that sets this game apart from the others is that the story is told from four different perspectives. This is a major feature! Not only are you playing with four separate styles of gameplay, but you will experience things told from their point-of-view as you traverse inside the city of Kamurocho. Everything is uniquely fit to the current person you are playing as - main campaign, substories, specific areas of town, training, weapons, revelations, and hostesses. There are a total of 16 chapters divided up into 4 parts with 4 chapters for each character and one final showdown with all of them together at the end. This means that whatever you do with one character, like earn yen or equip armor, stays with that character until the pivotal point before the finale. At that time everything will be pooled together and you will be able to switch between them all. However, be aware that some limitations will still be in place even though you now have access to everything at the phone booths and hideouts.
Things to Know: There comes a point where Akiyama "loses" his assistant. In order to circumvent this situation when it comes to revisiting substories, he must click on his chair in Sky Finance and "reminisce" about old times. Whatever you do, do not open Locker #I1 with Akiyama. For some dumb reason they made it possible to receive a very important piece for Saejima's training with your first character. Each person has specific weapons they can use. This doesn't become apparent until you are prompted with a screen at the end showing off which person can use what weapon. Sadly, this means that the stores will only show things they can use. So it is important to visit all three weapon shops to receive exclusive modifications for certain weapons and visiting Beam in buying exclusive recipes that can only be obtained with that specific character. The mini-game Haruka's Trust is only available after you beat the game in Premium Adventure Mode. So obviously I skipped out on that. Anything you finish on the Completion List will provide you with a reward from Bob at Naomi's Palace. "Memos" are essentially game tips that are spelled out to you by random people. There is a list of Allies that can assist you after attending to various activities around the city. After speaking with Minamizawa at the Men's Entertainment Booth, you can then visit him at Cuez Bar after speaking with a hostess and be given 30,000 yen per girl. Your initial visit at the hostess club is slightly different than previous games. You will initially converse with three girls (two at a time) until one of them "clicks" with you and offers their business card. It is wise to invest 50,000 yen as quickly as possible for the IF7-R in order to obtain bonuses from each boss you fight. You can hold off the other investments until you get enough cash. Make sure all four characters are properly equipped for the final fight. The game will force you to use each character in four separate boss fights. For the sake of this review, I will be highlighting each character individually.
Akiyama
Character: The first person we are introduced to is a fascinating character. On the surface he appears to be a lazy businessman, but Akiyama is so much more. Rumors spread around town about this loan shark who forces people to take his ridiculous tests before giving out his no-interest, no-collateral loans. As you take the time to move through the chapters and complete his substories, you find out the reasons why he does what he does. In reality, the man is extremely wealthy and willingly gives money to people on the condition that it has an effect on their lives. Does the woman who spent excessive amounts of money in the past be able to make the right decision once given a million yen? What will happen to the businessman that previously shut down his father's company because he didn't want to downsize? Will a woman that has escaped her abusive husband be able to "do anything" in order to receive enough yen for a fresh start?
Story: Although we only catch a glimpse of this charity worker inside the first four chapters of the game, there is one case that drops in his lap that proves to be unique compared to the others. A lady, by the name of Lily, shows up at Sky Finance wanting to borrow 100 million yen. Our welcoming friend decides to put her to the test. As a manager over at Club Elise, he decides to loan her the money if she is able to make 3 million yen in 3 days as a hostess. However before those three days are up, our protagonist finds himself caught in the middle of a giant web - a fight stirs between a couple of yakuza factions, the police start investigating once a couple of dead bodies show up, and there are a few shadowy figures who decide to make themselves known. Not sure how Hana, Akiyama's assistant, can help keep everything together. It is a good thing that our "male Chun Li" knows how to survive in the big city. Through the use of his strong legs, he shall kick his way through any one that gets in his way. That includes a conman who borrows 30 million yen for a "kidnapping ransom" but instead uses it to fulfill his dream of being able to swim in cash.
Hostesses: You will be able to hangout with three hostesses. If you want to go with the daring type, Rio will oblige to your heart's content. She attempts to play the guitar, write for a magazine about the night life of women, and isn't afraid to remove as much clothing as possible for a professional photographer. Sadly, her conversations tend to revolve back to certain complaints she experienced in her daily routine. Noa might also fit the profile as she is fascinated with the thrill of race cars. Contrary to the "honest opinion" approach the Men's Entertainment Booth (MEB) suggested, this girl only wants you to indulge in her fantasies as she talks about being a ballet teacher and discuss some of her concerns. Of course, sitting down to listen to Erena's story isn't any better. Somehow being the oldest sibling of four girls, she decides to move away from home, date someone the following day because they were handsome, talk like she has been a hostess for quite awhile even though it has only been 10 days since the move, and has to take care of her little sister after allowing her to move into her place. Something is extremely fishy about this tale and it isn't just her appetite. She wanted a bite of my Dried Ray Fin, asked me if it was alright to add another entry because she hasn't been eating well, and asks me to buy a third one before the session was over. None of these girls were interested in my affairs.
Revelations: Akiyama gets an e-mail from Mack almost immediately talking about three sites to check-out. The problem is that these scenes are extremely cringy compared to Yakuza 3. They aren't even worth linking or watching another time. One involves a perverted Japanese fellow and another a sexy detective that reveals a little too much. The Kung Fu Masters was kind of amusing, but only the first time through.
Hostess Maker: As pointed out above, Akiyama's exclusive content is him training and adapting a lady as a hostess for his club. Don't worry if you aren't doing well for your first attempt since you cannot fail. Lily is essential to the main story and will succeed with or without you. It is recommended that after completing Lily's storyline, you continue to hire and train three other girls - Hiyori, Kyoko, and Nanami. Not only can you dress them up, but those women then become available for Kiryu to converse with when they finish their training. However, I must come out and say that I hate this mini-game. Nothing is spelled out to you and something as simple as the color of the blush can make or break your gameplay.
Saigo Training Master: Up on the roof over by Theater Square is some old military dude wearing a pair of sunglasses and a camouflage shirt. He talks about a ton of ridiculous scenarios that would never happen as he tries to train you through the use of his completely unfair setups. You can choose to ignore him, but you will be missing out on some essential kicking maneuvers. I highly recommend getting some nice gun-resistant armor and maybe a few potions before attempting his suicidal missions.
Exclusive Content: If you visit Karaokekan on Senryo Avenue, you will be given the additional option to sing with Hana. Akiyama can purchase and use Kali Sticks and Nunchaku. You will add Thunder's Shadow and Deadly Demon to the IF7-R machine.
Suggested Mini-Games (Fancy Edition): Because of his laid-back nature, it might be a good idea to complete all of the entertaining mini-games through your adventure. This includes Darts, Pool, Golf, Bowling, and the Batting Cage. My Darts game went horrible as my "easy" opponent managed to hit three bullseyes right at the start. My Pool game also went fairly bad as the cue ball never followed the designated path that was laid out for me. Golf didn't follow the route too well as any sort of miscalcuation while aiming made you miss upwards to 10% of your target. I watched myself putt a ball a dozen times from the same spot and the only time it made it in was if I shot a little too much. Bowling went extremely well compared to Yakuza 3. Everything held a fair bit of weight and I actually performed three strikes in my first game. However, the developers somehow made the already difficult Batting Cage mini-game even more impossible. Not only do you have to time your swings, but now you have to aim in between the spots on the board. You won't win anything without triggering multiple panels at the same time.
Saejima
Character: If this is the first time playing Yakuza 4, then you are in for a real treat. Do you remember that one scene in Yakuza 0 where Majima talks about his past? They were being extra careful not to spoil the important details from the main plot. Well now you get to see that devastating scene in all its glory. He gets thrown into prison for 25 years for that stunt... until he manages to find a way to escape. After gaining some help with some local folk, Saejima finds a way to reach Kamurocho and must adapt to the new city. This is much more difficult than he bargained for since a lot has changed since he last lived there. Instead of missing out on only 10 years of technological advances like Kiryu did, our buddy doesn't know anything about computers, cell phones, or fancy fashion statements. Anytime you enter a store for the first time or listen to people in the crowd, you'll catch a glimpse of this discontent. He'll still refer to "records" when it comes to musicians, he finds it completely strange to have "host" clubs where women come to pay the men, and he'll be constantly surprised by the number of yakuza wannabes that what to pick a fight with him. However, Saejima's personality isn't so hard-hearted as you are led to believe by the rumored legendary tale. He finds a "street rat" by the name of Tadokoro who needs five million yen for a broker to become reacquainted with his sister, but our old man decides to take it upon himself to do the difficult jobs (like becoming a casino bouncer) in his place. This really demonstrates that there might have been something more imposed on that one faithful day he was motivated to act against another yakuza clan. That and perhaps helping those cute little cats, that you can name, with some milk.
Story: Since our main man barely has anything other than the clothes on his back and some spare change, it would be very difficult for him to explore every facet of the city. That is on top of the police actively searching for him at popular corners in town. In fact, a chase sequence occurs any time the police do catch up with him. So instead, Saejima decides to make friends with the homeless, rebuild Dragon Palace, hide in areas under the city, and sneak through the sewer system. Not only is he trying to figure out what happened to his beloved Tojo Clan but he is also wanting to figure out where his sister went. This eventually leads him to the Florist in Purgatory and his brother-in-arms Majima. He gives one heart-wrenching speech at the Coliseum.
Revelations: Amusingly, Saejima chips into a block of wood anytime he receives any one of four revelations. Two of them are pretty entertaining with a man stuck in an oil drum and another man crashing his car in a parking lot. The most hilarious one is the drunk hero coming out of the convenient store with a tie over his head. Sadly, the fourth one being the Essence of Smashing is simply a repeat from the previous character.
Master: Although not considered as training in any conventional means, you will come across a man who needs help digging a tunnel under the city. This process involves many different aspects from charging your attacks to bring down the wall, fighting off giant boulders that fall down, warding away foes looking for buried treasure, and upgrading your digging equipment with some parts from above. After each session, a book will be found detailing certain things that will help Saejima improve his skills. This is the time where you want to have that thing from the locker and a spare battery handy.
Fighter Maker: This brings back some fond memories. Saejima exclusively is given an apprentice to train in the martial arts. You choose from a list of different activities to help build up his stamina, mood, trust, power, speed, and technique. One special activity can be picked after performing four normal activities. This can include laying on the floor to restore stamina, participating in a tournament for money, going out for a couple of drinks to build up trust, or teaching your young padawan a special skill. They did a very nice job putting everything together. They do give you 50 rounds to complete your goal of winning the tournament, but I found my trainees winning around 15 to 25 rounds in. It is fun sitting back watching your Karate Kid slowly become an unstoppable force inside the ring... well, until you get to your fourth apprentice Makoto Tokita to which everyone agrees is worthless. Unlike the karate, wrestling, and sumo styles that came before, something must be broken in our newfound friend's boxing style. I watched him evade a total of six times while his opponent was stunned. For some reason, he still failed to win a simple tournament with all his skills at maximum. I gave up after that.
Mean Green Machine: It took me awhile to figure this out, but the sewer system is sectioned off differently than the underground mall and the area underneath the tower. Like how Akiyama wasn't able to train hostesses until his story was near completion, Saejima "can lift the manhole by himself" but is blocked off from returning by a couple of homeless guys until he finishes a certain point in a later chapter. I'm not exactly sure why they had to design it like that. In any case, there is a man at the very center of the whole mess that will "appraise" any and all trash contained within your inventory or in the storage unit. The "Ecopoints" that you receive is then used in the same manner as the casinos. Buying off a bunch of the minor crafting reagents in exchange for a few bags is easy enough. However, getting one of the better items like the SSS Gunpowder is a bit of a grind when it can take a minimum of 40 pieces, more likely 80 to have enough for one item.
Exclusive Content: Depending on how patient you are, you can try your hand at Guardian of Rage and Flaming Jester in the IF7-R machine. He can buy and use a ton of different weapons - swords, hammers, knuckles, and guns.
Suggested Mini-games (Underground Edition): Because Saejima has the police hot on his trail and isn't too interested in hanging out in the hostess clubs, much of what I suggest doing with him is tied to a certain aspect of his story. Although you are still able to do certain activities like gamble or play golf, I would suggest waiting to do those for another time since a lot of your time will be spent doing things only our favorite hobo can do. Instead of waiting for Kiryu's story, Saejima is the only other character who can participate in the Coliseum. Once those little fighters you train up become champions, you can use one in a tag team match (or fight against them in the tournament). The good news is that all the tournaments are available from the start. The bad news is that there are no free-for-all matches. There is a man out on the docks that will try and persuade you to fish elsewhere. That's your cue to fish. Though, I really wish the game would have told me about finding that briefcase on my third try before firing off a full 150m cast. What a waste of an opportunity for catching a tuna! Fishing is pretty much the same as all the times beforehand except that it feels a tad longer to cast, hook, and reel in fish. Unfortunately, you won't be able to transfer a squid and marlin over to Tanimura to make some interesting spears for him to use once he receives the Explosive Fishing magazine from one of his substories until the final moments of the game. So it is up to you whenever you want to spend more time fishing.
Tanimura
Character: Tanimura is a rambunctious detective who tends to skirt the guidelines general police officers follow. He truly wants everyone, especially those who live in the Asian district, to have a better life in Kamurocho. His ability to speak multiple languages gives him free passage within certain parts of the city. Though only considered part of the Community Safety department, Tanimura usually likes to help track down hard-cased criminals with the assist of his handy Police Scanner. Instead of reporting common folk who might have broken the law, our gumshoe takes the initiative to track down all sorts of disturbances in every cranny of the city. These include receiving news from a fortune teller that really only uses it as a front for her information gathering, talking with a purple-scarfed "woman" that knows a lot about human trafficking, booking a couple of guys for breaking into a car, getting a young lady away from an abusive ex, and checking up on a stalker walking along the rooftops.
Story: At this point in the main story, Tanimura merely becomes a transitional piece. He picks up what was leftover from Akiyama and Saejima stories and pushes it into a new direction. There is so much going on that I'm not exactly sure I managed to follow it all the way through. I liked the idea of "The Parasite of Kamurocho" walking the fine line between being an officer of the law and holding the honor of a yakuza. The morality of him being both foreign and familiar to both sides makes him a perfect wedge to squeeze inside the posing conflicts. Much to my dismay, the substories seem to hold more about his connections with his father than the main story itself (it turned out to be someone written in his old journal by the name of "Bridge"). That is because it felt like the writers cornered themselves with too many "surprises" that twisted the foundation of what was established in the first 8 chapters. The 11th chapter is so short that it has no cutscenes while the 12th chapter is so phenomenally bad that I had to re-watch some scenes to make sure I didn't go insane. Bare with me as I try to list them all out. Spoilers: In less than 30 minutes, we have a crooked cop who shoots an informant in front of the entire police force, not a single soul shoots him due to some stupid Firearm and Sword Possession Control Law or arrests him due to his position in the force, escapes in a conveniently placed boat by the docks that I have never seen before, provokes the man with the gun by lying about killing his father, reveals he really was a yakuza all along, blackmailed by the Deputy Commissioner to keep things quiet when he found out the truth, and eventually gets shot by someone Tanimura didn't notice coming. Then in the following scene, we find out the 18 men Saejima shot were really killed by another man; Saejima's guns were filled with rubber bullets. So now we know who is corrupt and who isn't. If your head wasn't spinning after all that, wait until Kiryu comes into the picture.
Hostesses: There are two hostesses that you get to meet with. The timid little Chihiro is trying to act big by going to college for being an actress while also favoring the traditional Japanese arts and theater. She is very kind to talk to and her personality fits into the "young lady that needs protecting" persona that the Men's Entertainment Booth informs you about. Otherwise her personality isn't very interesting. She doesn't like alcohol, her special talent is raising up only one eyebrow, and she has a pet bunny. On the other side of the spectrum, the magazine celebrity Himeka has no trouble letting you know about all the problems she encounters as a popular girl. She seems oblivious to why there are so many nervous guys wanting to see her, why people leave hateful comments on her blog, and why no one really cares for her lifestyle. Maybe it has to do with the fact that she isn't doing herself any favors having expensive tastes like wanting perfume, white champagne, messages everyday, and frequent visits to the hot springs. Even when she started talking about her cat named Nyuanka, she became upset and deflected my question on why she chose that name. She also didn't like me mentioning anything about her height. The woman was impossible to talk to.
Revelations: There are a total of three revelations where Tanimura draws diagrams in his handy, dandy notebook. All three aren't necessarily funny, but follow a more "Rube Goldberg Machine" entertaining format. You will watch how a return coin bounces into a charity box, a kicked can causes a man to be walloped in the head, and how a man manages to get a plushie from the UFO Catcher.
Sparring with Nair: While exploring Little Asia, Tanimura meets with another detective that is on the search for a mysterious figure nicknamed GG. Like the other protagonists, she becomes your training partner and teaches you how to to utilize your parry attacks while waiting for news to trickle in between sessions. Trying to fight with someone who parries just as much as you might seem daunting at first, but eventually your skills get to a point where you can create a sort of rhythm as each enemy approaches you. The only drawback is you cannot parry while using weapons. The good news is enemies are immediately defeated from a successful Essence of Arresting.
Exclusive Content: The IF7-R Machine adds the painfully challenging boss of Cold-blooded Fist. Tanimura can purchase and use Poles and Tonfa. You can get an item by coming to the aid of the Kamurocho Guard for every 5 completed Police Encounter cases for a total of 22 times. How they decided the final number of assists is beyond me.
Suggested Mini-games (Gambling Edition): The problem with Tanimura is that there is very little for him to do outside fighting thugs, chasing down problems that come across his Police Scanner, and solving cases. He isn't exactly the type of person who would spend his time bowling or fishing. Our man does have a thing for horse races as you can see in one of his early cutscenes and in several conversational options when chatting with a hostess. So now is a good time to use the Locker keys and use every cheat item for all the gambling games. There is nothing new here when compared with the other games in the Yakuza series. You have casinos with Baccarat, Blackjack, Poker, and Roulette. Then you have the gambling hall with Blackjack, Cee-lo, Cho-han, Koi-koi, and Oicho-kabu. There is a quick scene at the Mahjong area that prompts some action, and you might as well join in for some Shogi if you feel like it. However, there is a highly-controversial substory here that might make earning a lot of yen at the tables pretty moot. If you follow the walkthrough and complete "A Dangerous Game" successfully, you will earn 3,000,000 yen unconditionally. However, the scene itself can be pretty hair-raising when you have absolutely no clue what is going to happen. It isn't meant for the faint of heart.
Kiryu
Catalyst: We all know who Kiryu Kazami is. We've been with him for several games already. So why is it up to our main dude to deal with all these problems? As you might have guessed, the story devolves when everything falls into the lap of our "Fourth Chairman of the Tojo Clan." We get evidence against the corrupted, redemption for the misguided, closure for the lost, a future for the strong, and the money to make it all happen. My brain already pushed everything from the previous character's finale into "the forgetful closet of nonsense" that most of what happened in the last four chapters was simply tossed on top of the pile. But in case you really want to know what I had a problem with, I'll tell you: Kido "accidentally" gains access to way too much yen for one place to hold way too easily by literally pressing a single button with no identification features in the wall, he becomes some sort of triple agent constantly flipping sides, the Florist and all his men get beaten when they could have retreated through the sewers or inside the hidden location down below, Majima gets arrested which should never happen with the amount of power he holds, Daigo falls apart because of money issues of all things, the group finds a way to transport all the money - without considering splitting it half or replacing it with fake bills - on top of a building and then purposely and literally blows it all away despite knowing how important it is, and the woman we all care about dies in the end. I think I'm going to lay down and think about my life now.
Substories: A lot of the content that revolves around Kiryu are rehashed from his previous adventures. They all start with the basic "I haven't seen you for X years" speech, followed by some remixed version of a substory you did before. A few examples I can list are the Fake Kiryu, the Batting Cage pro, Yuya having trouble with a fellow host, and an admirer asking for approval from the ramen shop owner. Sadly, there were a couple important stories I never received. "The Hills Have Noise" only works at night. "Becoming Family," "A Doctor's Pledge," and "Kiryu the Babysister" are all tied to completing "Curry Adventure," which I never did because I got mad when buying a ton of take out packages with another character didn't work. They required you to manually talk to shop keeper with Kiryu, heat the food at New Serena, and then return to the boy at the construction site.
Hostesses: There are five girls you can hangout with. The first lady that caught my eye was Shizuka. Since she spent years in a traditional Japanese dance class, Shizuka has adapted a formal approach to guests by calling them sir, leaving her hair color naturally black, and prefers to sing to old ballads instead of modern pop songs. However, I felt oddly uncomfortable when she told me that her occupation was being an embalmer, showed up wearing a flashy necklace hanging down the skimpiest dress I've ever seen, and decided to sing Raindrops (something that many other girls decided to sing as well). I guess I shouldn't be too mad. They are based on real people. As for Maya Mori... I didn't get around to hanging out with her. The only thing I know is the fact she got upset at me for asking for her last name. Now things get a bit tricky because the last three on my list are Nanami, Hiyori, and Kyoto. The only way to meet these girls is if you completed the Hostess Maker. Since I butchered my chances with that, I was met with three of the worst girls at Club Elise. So yeah, I skipped on my chances with them as well.
Revelations: Since many of Kiryu's abilities are already available from the start, there isn't much to earn here. You do earn two revelations, but both are carbon copies of previous encounters. Here is an example of a minor adjustment in the dialogue from the original to the remastered version if you wish to check it out.
Exclusive Content: Kiryu can use all weapons, but nothing exclusive becomes available to purchase (except guns). Komaki returns to give him three lessons on the spot. Kiryu adds the same encounter from the previous game to the IF7-R Machine - One-eyed Devil. He also manages a "story version" of Gang Encounters where he must fight off small groups of average thugs before obtaining the location of their leader. Unlike the other characters, Kiryu can perform a long list of heat moves with some even striking down multiple targets at once.
Suggested Mini-Games (Fun Edition): Our lovable, crazy old bear should be the one to do the few wacky things in town before the final showdown. This includes UFO Catcher (which is much easier now that the plushies can knock each other into the hole) and the video game Boxcelios 2 (and Boxcelios 1 after playing the sequel three times). That's about it! There are two other games that I highly advise not doing. The first one would be the controversial Aromatherapy Massage where you balance a bar between two ends of a stick while the camera pans over a cute girl. The other would be visiting the hot springs and playing a round of table tennis afterwards. You think the game is innocent enough, except that you will mainly be increasing your heat action by holding the trigger button and zooming in on your partner's breasts. This gets worse since performing a number of heat actions breaks open the top of her outfit before finishing a match. I would have also suggested the introduction of the Pachinko Machines except Sega removed them in the PC remastered editions.
Miscellaneous Notes
Features: Although there are a few brief sequences in various locations outside the city, the only area you will be exploring this time around is Kamurocho. However, they have extended the maps to cover multiple levels of the city including the rooftops, parking lots, sewers, and underground malls. Chase Sequences are back in but with added features. You can perform one heat move per chase, quick turns using RB, and jump over buildings. Not only do you run away from people, but they have added the ability to throw objects while chasing someone. Hidden Locker Keys has become more of a buried treasure mini-game. You must buy a new item-finder from the pawn shop with every character to help find the glowing sparkles that could be anywhere on the map. I finally realized the weird disorienting effect I encountered while playing the game came from the fact that the camera doesn't stop moving when your character stops. I don't think Jazz music was the best option for the game with weird pieces like Nervousness covering over anything that happened at a pinnacle moment in the game. Feeling the Heat is back but they have added the element of using it for a final counteract during a boss brawl. There are now added icons to the map with lockers, manholes, and level indicators highlighted. Taxi locations have added a preview window when selecting a location. There are a couple of promotional coupon magazines you can use for the hostess clubs or Kama Sushi. You can now sing duets in Karaoke.
Other: When it comes to the story, I found there were a lot of unnecessary elements meant to elicit a reaction from the player. There are just a lot of scenes that made me uncomfortable. Busting through a bathroom door when a man is on the toilet is designed to be comical, but I found the sequence appalling. There is a scene that drags out too long with Saejima and Haruka. And did they really have to play out another scene where a man holds a person, takes 30 seconds to say what is needed to be said, and then lunges himself over the edge with the man he was holding? In the end, I managed a 46% completion rate in just over 50 hours.
Review
Summary: Yakuza 4 was an ambitious project that risked telling an intriguing story between four different playable characters. It did a fantastic job establishing three new members to the Yakuza series by keeping their combat styles, personality traits, substories, and reactions to the now multi-layered city of Kamurocho completely unique from each other. However, learning about the main story from each person's contribution comes at a cost. Every time you are introduced to another part of the story, you must relearn how to play with someone new that only knows a few moves. Not only does that limit how difficult opponents can become but also creates an issue in figuring out what is available to their persona. No longer can you simply explore the city once over when new things become available after every fourth chapter. This would have been excusable if it wasn't so badly implemented. For example, you are unable to carry over anything earned like weapons, yen, items, or equipment since you aren't able to switch characters until the very end. This means you cannot simply stow away things and hope it becomes of use later. I might have overlooked this issue if the story didn't turn into a chaotic mess by the end. The number of surprises, conveniences, deceptions, and plot devices would have made your favorite soap opera cry. You can call it denialism, or plausible deniability if you wish. I'd give this game a pass unless you really want to try your hand at something different in the Yakuza series.
4-9-2021