Ryu ga Gotoku 5 / Yakuza 5 review

Finally, after 130+ hours I finally finished Ryu ga Gotoku 5, the 7th game to feature main character Kazuma Kiryu and Haruka counting 2 spin offs. There's also the two Kurohyou games which I have not gotten around to but I've seen the first season of the dorama.

This video just sums up the awesomeness of Ryu ga Gotoku 5! Just watch it. Best video ever. Trust me.

This is the first Ryu go Gotoku which I've tried to read most of it. I remember playing 5 and Of the End and thinking how can I read and listen at the same time? Now my reading has slightly improved from watching doramas and listening to to help me look up words on my kanji dictionary.

There's apparently a chain in Japan called Izakaya Hanako where the girls dress like this. :)

The game is not without flaws but man did Sega go all out on this game. First single player game I can remember spending over 100 hours and a month on just to finish. 5 characters and 5 cities 4 of which I've been to though I don't remember much about Sakae. Need to do back there and see if its the same as the game. After being though so many games with these characters, the ending was satisfying. I thought the Haruka becoming an idoru story would be tacky but it ended up being very fun and interesting with all the entertainment industry stories.

The memorable little match girl sub story.

Badass yakuza who just escaped from prison helping little girl to threaten sell 100 yen match boxes...

so she can buy hand cream for her mum. Awwwwww. Some stories you can get away with in games.

Is she a manipulative cute little thing or what? Was looking for a way to give her all my money from hunting deer and fighting bears with my fist. Yes, there is hunting in this game along with drift racing, street dance battles, baseball etc.

I don't feel like beating people up now...

Random thoughts on the game I posted on gamefaqs:

- I shed a tear when Haruka said 'I am Kiryuu Kazuma's family'. Can't believe its been 7 games with those two. Nagoshi can do whatever convoluted conspiracy story but as long as those two are in it, I'll keep buying.

- The ending song Diamond Dust is awesome.

- Didn't really care about the last boss but the fight was still epic.

- Why isn't Akiyama's bakamitai song about Hana-chan? I love him becoming this new legend of Kamarucho.

- I just didn't really care about Shinada. I really got lazy reading during his chapter. The Shinada - Baba fight is just zzzzz.

- When are we going to be able to play as Majima? Of the end doesn't count.

- At least Majima didn't 'lose' again this time.

- Don't like some heat/red heat moves overlap. Holding L2 prevents both.

- Game 6 needs to be more 'intimate' about the fallout of Haruka's announcement. The core of the story is Kiryuu, Haruka and Akiyama. Saejima's just another Kiryuu. 5 characters is too many to weave a plot around.

- Best sub stories are the match girl and Haruka's stalkers.

- Akiyama should be able to do his red heat move against enemies that he can't knock down. I find him the hardest to use against many enemies. His moves that too long to start up and I always have to back of first.

- I was expecting the four guys cheering Haruka at the final concert like in the OST.

- How stupid is it that when Haruka goes karaoke she only cheers Kiryuu but not the other way? No cheering karaoke is boring. You have to switch to Kiryuu to have him cheer Haruka.

- What happened to the give letter to Majima story? I really wanted to see Haruka giving him the letter. This is like another side of Majima we've never seen before. Shouldn't he be one of the five characters? They could have made him the first character and gotten rid of Shinada.

Someone else can go save Japan...

Heat actions/move I hate:

- Akiyama's press Triangle when enemy near wall. You want to juggle someone and oops, here's a long cinematic.

- Any climax heat that involves R1 and Triangle. Always comes out accidentally.

- Shinada's when enemy getting up heat action. Use to be a cool button pressing finishing move for Kiryuu and now its just a way too long cinematic. I try to go punch a downed opponent and they start getting up and Shinada raises his hands and I go get a smoke.

- Trying to do Saejima's bounce into leg swing when surrounded by multiple enemies. Always ends up grabbing the person next to me.

- Bicycle tyre special move. I've got to whack people with the bicycle until the tyre is left and by that time they're all down? There's a beer case special move? I'm pretty sure there's plenty of them around...

Now to resume playing Bravely Default which I was at 50 hours and probably only 50% complete.