Outerlude 03: Yakuza 3
Yakuza 3
"What do you mean, why am I calling you 'Boss'? It's... it's because you're the Boss, Boss."
9/10
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Finally, a Yakuza game that approaches 0 in my adoration! The Kiwami pair are LOVELY games, don’t get me wrong, but they’re overhauls built on more immature bones. Yakuza 3 is the team hitting their stride, and going all the way back to 2009 helped me see where the series came from and just what kind of strength was in it all along.
From my understanding, 3 isn’t exactly a popular installment, for reasons both kind of understandable and kind of not. The translation is… well, let’s just say it’s unique (Kiryu calling Kazama ‘Pops’ made me laugh really hard) and a lot of content was cut from the Western release. A lot of people tried to start with 3, which… is a bad move: this game is not newbie friendly. Why?
Beyond story considerations, of course… it’s because for the solid first third of the game, you’re barely playing a Yakuza game at all. And I loved it.
Let me back up a minute.
After the events of Yakuza 2—both ones—Kiryu retires for good. He makes sure Dojima Daigo is set up for success as Sixth Chairman (with Majima looking out for him) and settles down for a quiet life in Okinawa… running an orphanage. The first third of the game is Kiryu taking care of said orphanage and the eight kids (and Haruka!) who live there. It’s amazing. I would take a whole fucking spinoff where it’s just Kiryu bein’ a dad and going to fuckin PTA meetings and mediating kid fights and going food shopping (and dressing up as a masked wrestler complete with little wrestling shorties to cheer one of them up). It’s spectacular.
Unfortunately, the idyll doesn’t last for long… and when the land the orphanage is on is in danger to being swallowed up in a resort deal, Kiryu gets dragged back in to Tojo business, as much as he doesn’t want to be.
And this motherfucker really doesn’t want to be. Seeing Kiryu not just grow older but change is amazing—he’s REALLY different in this game because now he has something he honestly, unequivocally wants to protect. He’s so happy and fulfilled being a fuckin’ stay at home dad to these kids. He’s more dramatic and honest to god smiles a bunch and it’s heartwarming. The bonds he forms with them, and with the local branch of the Tojo Clan, the Ryudo Family, is worth all the screentime they get and more. Shimabukuro Rikiya in particular is a standout, a young, curly-haired hothead with a heart of gold who fucking imprints onto Kiryu after Kiryu kicks his ass once. The pair have a really nice older brother/younger brother dynamic that’s adorable.
Things ramp up in a uniquely rapidly-escalatory fashion, as is standard for the series. The twists and turns of the plot, though, feel more grounded than 2, which I appreciated. I think this is due to how compelling the main antagonist, Mine Yoshitaka, is. The blue oni to Goda Ryuji’s red, Mine is cold and calculating that can snap when pushed, and he (is not only really fuckin’ gorgeous but) is eventually set up to mirror Kiryu in a really fascinating and unexpected way. There’s still some goofy shit here and there, but the team’s experience is finally starting to show with how they make characters nuanced and contradictory in interesting ways.
Going from the latest and greatest of Ryu ga Gotoku’s offering to ten years in the past was kind of a shock, and it took a bit to get used to. Kiryu moves like a dump truck, and seeing his walk and run animations made me feel better about my own—they’re really not great (though I appreciate small touches like Kiryu, Rikiya, and Majima having different walk animations to show their character). What WAS great, though, was seeing how much the skill and attention to detail they brought to the facial animation is consistent. There’s maybe less full voice-acted scenes, but not by much, and pretty much all that’s there is meticulously lip synced. I will always be amazed at just how eye darts and small movements of the brow and eyelids and corner of the mouth are just perfect to convey a ton of emotion. It made the final third of the game in particular absolutely mesmerizing to watch.
Also, this game has a system where Kiryu can learn new moves by taking pictures of goofy shit that happens with his flip phone and then typing up a whole blog post about it on its numpad. Kiryu’s out here running a fucking blog. Game of the Year 2009.
Next up: We’ve been waiting for this! Finally! Meeting Akiyama! Meeting Saejima! Seeing what exactly happened in April 1985! Four protags, one game—
See you soon!
Yakuza 3 was the 2nd Yakuza game I played (after Y5). My biggest issue at the time was the basic moveset you get at the start. Fights were boring but got slightly better the further I was in the story. The story kept me going, though. Guess I should replay it if they port Y3 to PC.
Hahaha holy shit, you jumped around a lot - I heard that Y3 and Y5 were uniquely difficult points to get into the series because of how dependent they are on their predecessors. Did you find that to be the case?
Also - lol, yeah. I keep forgetting there’s actual gameplay in these motherfuckers. I wasn’t sure if the big step back in fight quality was just the jump back in time or what, but I can see what you mean. It felt like I had access to the same, like, four heat actions and had no idea how to make others trigger.
No, I didn’t. When I was playing through 5 I found myself googling characters I didn’t know much about.
I played the series in the weirdest order you could imagine: 5 > 3 > 0 > DS > 4 > 1 and now Kiwami 1, soon followed by OG 2. I don’t know what was I smoking back then.
Also remember the super finishers in Y3? 2 of them return as regular heat actions in Y5. When I was playing through Y3 and got to execute the heatbutt move, I was like “Wait, THAT’S the finisher?” I expected something more epic.
There’s one thing I don’t understand. I played Y3 and I found the combat boring. Later I played 1 on PS2 and combat didn’t feel as bad! I really have to replay Y3 sometime. Y5 was so good, it raised my expectations waaaaay too high.
I think Shax would agree with you - it’s hard for him to rank them, but he did tell me that he really really liked 5.
That… is a super weird playing order. As long as you enjoyed it, though! I definitely think that ‘your first’ Yakuza game really sets a tone, like, you imprint on it. That’s what happened with me, anyway. It’s hard not to compare them all to 0, even in gentle or positive ways. I feel like every other combat (SO FAR) is inferior to 0’s really fast, tight moves, all the different styles, the ease of movement, etc.
I managed to unlock the Hell’s Floor finisher and then never did any other one because it’s so fuckin crazy. There’s a definite range of heat actions - some are so batshit crazytown bananapants insane that it makes other ones look mundane in comparison.
Well I got Yakuza 0 from the last humble monthly, so I guess I’ll be going into this world some time. If I don’t like it I’m totally blaming you ok? :-D
Ah! But then, if you absolutely adore it, I get all the credit!! C;
Well I can’t argue with that logic. :-)