LSF Overdrive said:Nave Sutlef said:So on the topic of Yakuza games.. which ones are the “weird” ones? The non-numbered ones? Or are they all weird? Not interested in a generic yakuza game, I want wackiness.
They're all weird in the sense that the Yakuza formula is basically : serious and emotional main story (with some wacky elements like this damn bullets plot twist in 4 or that underwhelming national secret from 6) + substories that are all about the goofiness and having some fun. So don't worry about the wackiness, you'll get your fair share of that and you will definitely not have a "Yakuza life simulator" but you should not sleep on the serious elements of the story which for the most part is just brilliant.
The rubber bullets stuff is not wacky, and neither is that plot point in 6 (especially that: it’s handled about as straight-faced as you can get). If you’re coming for wacky stuff in the main story, you’re probably going to wind up dissapointed, especially as some of those more out there elements have a tendency to drag down that game’s narrative (e.g. a certain someone in 7). The appeal really is the mix of those serious and silly tones spread across the various forms of activities you can do; there’s no one game that focuses squarely on one of those two outside the original release (which generally fits the former box).
Also most of the non-numbered games are not non-numbered, that’s just a localisation thing. They’ve been not great with the title liberties as of late (especially the upcoming game), though 8’s subtitle was solid enough. The only game that’s called "Like a Dragon"/"Yakuza" that genuinely is non-numbered is "Ishin! Kiwami", but it’s the worst entry in the franchise by a mile in almost every regard and quite frankly should only be touched if you’ve had your fill of literally every other entry.
“Fate is nothing until it’s tested”. - Fit for an Autopsy (Collateral Damage)