Yakuza (Ryû ga gotoku) Games Ranked.
A personal ranking of all of the Yakuza games ranked least favorite to most favorite. I've yet to play Yakuza 1,2, Dead Souls, the samurai spin-offs or the Kurohyō games so I cannot place them here as of now.
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- DirectorDaisuke SatoStarsTakaya KurodaTatsuya FujiwaraShidô NakamuraPoliticians are conspiring to take away Kazuma's land. A person whom Kazuma believed dead has returned, and Kazuma finds himself in the middle of a battle between organized crime divisions.Love 3's story and characters but the combat is pretty dated and the substories tend to be forgettable bar a few like the samurai film one. Still a great game and the first I played many years ago.
- DirectorsHiroyuki SakamotoToshihiro NagoshiStarsTakaya KurodaRie KugimiyaTatsuya FujiwaraKiryu takes Haruto to the last place Haruka was spotted. There, a new and merciless world of Yakuza awaits the unlikely pair.Similar to 3 where I enjoy the plot (weaker than 3) but the combat is very janky and needed some work. The only reason it is higher is cause I enjoy the combat slightly more. Still a good game but I need to replay this one to really cement my opinion.
- DirectorsKazuki HosokawaMasayoshi YokoyamaToshihiro NagoshiStarsTakaya KurodaKôichi YamaderaRie KugimiyaThe story begins in Fukuoka with Daigo Dojima having met with Tadashi Madarame, the patriarch of the local clan. Daigo then leaves to meet discreetly with Kazuma Kiryu who now lives under the alias of Taichi Suzuki as a cab driver. He goes home for the night and has a chat with Mayumi, a hostess that he's befriended. After work the next day he is met by Yuu Morinaga and Masato Aizawa, members of the Tojo Clan who were running security for Daigo during his visit to Fukuoka. They inform Kiryu that Daigo has gone missing and that the last person he had contact with was Kiryu. Aizawa and Morinaga show up at Kiryu's house the following day, having gotten into a brawl with Yamagasa men. They learn Aoyama has taken up being the interim chairman which alarms them.A VERY bloated game with too much fluff if you ask me. I love most of the side stories; Kiryu's taxi and Saejima's hunting minigames are great but others like the Cochin Cup and the snowball minigame were just unnecessary additions. The combat is a huge step up from 3 and 4 and I love the characters (except Saejima, he's just bigger Kiryu now-no edge like in 4.) I'm conflicted about putting it so low here though, it only is so low cause I really think the plot lost its steam by the time you get to the middle of saejima's section and only picks back up at Shinada's sec. Need to replay this one...
- DirectorsHiroyuki SakamotoToshihiro NagoshiStarsTakaya KurodaAya HisakawaSatoshi TokushigeKazuma Kiryu is called back to Kamurocho and tasked with finding a new chairman for the Tojo Clan, which brings him into conflict with the legendary 'Dragon Of Kansai'.The second Dragon Engine entry in the series and retains most of the combats jank from 6 but the plot is fantastic and I love the Majima side story which is a nice "prologue" to 0. Majima Construction is also a huge step up from the Clan Creator of 6 which was pretty boring.
Haven't played the original game so I can't compare the two, on its own however, I think it is great. - DirectorsHiroyuki SakamotoKoji YoshidaToshihiro NagoshiStarsTakaya KurodaRie KugimiyaKazuhiro NakayaKazuma Kiryu is demoted from his clan after taking the blame for his boss's murder. After a decade in prison, Kiryu sets out in search for his old friends who have gone missing.Kiwami 1 (or yakuza 0.5 as some call it) has the best combat in the series. Period. It's 0's with a lot of little changes like style switching being instant after a dodge or combo finisher. That and the great side content is what puts this so high above the others so far. I'm not huge into the plot but it is still intriguing and has good characters like Date and The Florist. Majima Everywhere gets tiresome after awhile but I prefer it over doing Real Estate...
Haven't played the original game so I can't compare the two, on its own however, I think it is great. - DirectorsRyosuke HoriiToshihiro NagoshiStarsKazuhiro NakayaKaiji TangAkio ÔtsukaIchiban Kasuga, a low-level Yakuza member looking to prove his self-worth, and follows him and his motley crew of unlikely allies as they attempt to rise from rags to riches in this modern human drama.The first RPG in the series after an April Fools joke went a little too far. For a first time RPG for the team and one that only started half way through development it is a pretty damn good one. It's no SMT 3 but it'll do until they expand upon it in future. The characters and atmosphere are what really sell this one for me. The feeling of starting off a hobo picking up trash to be a business mogul fighting trash men in the sewer with a chainsaw is one only the Yakuza games could give.
The party members are also fantastic and I loved their dinner talk they'd have after eating certain meals. The Jobs system is neat idea but some jobs are much better than others like the DLC jobs far outclass the chef for instance. - DirectorsKoji YoshidaAkihito KitanaToshihiro NagoshiStarsTakuya KimuraShôsuke TaniharaPierre TakiWe have followed Kazuma Kiryu through his journey to solve mysteries, save a little girl and protect an orphanage through the Yakuza series. Judge Eyes is set in the Yakuza universe in a fictional depiction of Kabukicho and we now follow a detective that has had a shady past through his own story in this universe. Instead of seeing things on the Yakuza side, we see things in the eyes of the law.Judgment is the game where the devs were really starting to get the Dragon Engine. It still has its jank but the combat is far above 6 and K2. The biggest problem with Judgment is it feels too similar to the main series. They've added tailing missions (waaay too many I might add) but they are too simple to be enjoyable and the "interrogation" sequences are literally impossible to fail. But the story and the combat are so good everything else that might not be great can be ignored. Can't go to much more in depth cause I'm not trying to write too much but the story and combat are why I love this game.
- DirectorsJun OriharaToshihiro NagoshiStarsTakaya KurodaKôichi YamaderaRikiya KoyamaIn 1985 18 men were shot dead in a ramen shop. This event marked a turning point for the Ueno Seiwa clan, but the truth behind the incident has remained hidden. In 2010 four men, a chivalrous money-lender, a condemned man sitting on death row, a crooked cop, and the Dragon of Dojima, are drawn together as a plot 25 years in the making nears fruition.This one is probably pretty controversial (to the three of you that actually read this far) but this games plot and characters just jived with me the right way. I know I know I keep saying plot and characters without actually explaining what I mean but I really hate to write out a novel so I'm gonna stop myself before I start. I recommend watching Tehsnakerer's videos on YouTube on Yakuza 4 cause he explains pretty well why I love this game.
- DirectorsYutaka ItoToshihiro NagoshiStarsTakuya KimuraKôji YamamotoHiroshi TamakiA dark mystery unfolds as Takayuki Yagami must investigate a defendant with the improbable act of committing two crimes in different places at the same time, an act that will force him to question the balance of law and justice.This one literally just came out a week before I re-wrote this mess of a list but oh my god, jesus christ, it is good. Like is is so good it overwrote my entire list of my fav games in this series. The combat is perfected, the new style, snake, and all the additions to the previous styles from Judgment make this combat great. It def has some problems but it is sill my second favorite.
- DirectorsKazuki HosokawaToshihiro NagoshiStarsTakaya KurodaHidenari UgakiKazuhiro NakayaKiryu and Majima, both Yakuza's who are in different cities in Japan in 1988, as the fate of the two characters become intertwined in a gritty, violent, and often touching narrative.This one good. Getting kind of lazy here but if you've read this far then you must know very well why this game is great so you don't need some random illiterate internetter explaining why. Breaker style best style. Majima best kyodai. Fin.
