Yakuza 3
Shortly after the events of Yakuza 2 Kiryu and Haruka heads off to Okinawa to run the Morning Glory orphanage where Kiryu and Nishiki was raised before joining the Dojima Family.
Yakuza 3 has been out for awhile now, and as a fan I wanted to review the remasters to see if they are on par with Yakuza 0 (Zero) and Kiwami 1&2.
I have alot of thoughts about Yakuza 3 so without further ado let's jump into it.
(Screenshot by SEGA) (Photo from the PSN store)
Karaoke
[Combat]
Coming from Yakuza Zero and Kiwami 1&2 then starting Yakuza 3 is a DRASTIC DIFFERENCE.
Yes it is an older game and I do know that but that isn't the biggest problem and I believe Yakuza 3 plays better than Yakuza 4 but that's another story.
Kiryu is absolutely terrible in the beginning.
He knows less than he did after getting out of prison.
He has no guard breakers, his combos don't get better until you leave Okinawa or grind by fighting for hours to gain EXP.
I'll tell you now he isn't fun in beginning and doesn't get better until later on but don't worry you won't suffer for long.
Kiryu gets better by learning moves (like in the other games) and as he gets more moves and better attacks after leaving Okinawa, you'll have fun.
Kiryu's combat is like Brawler from Zero or the base style in Kiwami.
As you do substories and fights in the street you'll be ready by the ending of the game to defeat the final boss and won't need much as long as you're on Easy or Normal difficulty.
Coming from Yakuza Zero and Kiwami 1&2 then starting Yakuza 3 is a DRASTIC DIFFERENCE.
Yes it is an older game and I do know that but that isn't the biggest problem and I believe Yakuza 3 plays better than Yakuza 4 but that's another story.
Kiryu is absolutely terrible in the beginning.
He knows less than he did after getting out of prison.
He has no guard breakers, his combos don't get better until you leave Okinawa or grind by fighting for hours to gain EXP.
I'll tell you now he isn't fun in beginning and doesn't get better until later on but don't worry you won't suffer for long.
Kiryu gets better by learning moves (like in the other games) and as he gets more moves and better attacks after leaving Okinawa, you'll have fun.
Kiryu's combat is like Brawler from Zero or the base style in Kiwami.
As you do substories and fights in the street you'll be ready by the ending of the game to defeat the final boss and won't need much as long as you're on Easy or Normal difficulty.
[Heat actions]
Surprisingly Heat Actions are not as easy to trigger as the remakes and Zero.
Heat Actions take their time to pop up which is annoying at first but later you'll master the timing but if you came from the remakes or Zero and expect to time each Heat Action perfectly you may not be able to.
Yakuza 3's Heat actions are not as bad Yakuza 4 but I will say, it wasn't fun trying to trigger Heat Actions and almost dying because it thinks I'm only pressing triangle as an attack.
[Overall Combat]
Though I'm not that picky when it comes to to older games I will say I personally didn't mind Yakuza 3' combat after getting farther through the game and will say it's not the most dated combat.
You'll love it, hate it, or bare through it.
(Screenshot by SEGA) (Photo from the PSN store)
[Mini games]
Like the other Yakuza games we have mini games.
I played a few games for this review and those were...
Fishing
Pool
Karaoke
Darts
Golf
and
Surprisingly Heat Actions are not as easy to trigger as the remakes and Zero.
Heat Actions take their time to pop up which is annoying at first but later you'll master the timing but if you came from the remakes or Zero and expect to time each Heat Action perfectly you may not be able to.
Yakuza 3's Heat actions are not as bad Yakuza 4 but I will say, it wasn't fun trying to trigger Heat Actions and almost dying because it thinks I'm only pressing triangle as an attack.
[Overall Combat]
Though I'm not that picky when it comes to to older games I will say I personally didn't mind Yakuza 3' combat after getting farther through the game and will say it's not the most dated combat.
You'll love it, hate it, or bare through it.
[Mini games]
Like the other Yakuza games we have mini games.
I played a few games for this review and those were...
Fishing
Pool
Karaoke
Darts
Golf
and
The Hostess Maker.
Out of all of these I only enjoyed two.
Fishing and Pool were the easiest and least annoying ones to play.
Golf
I only had to play this once since it's forced to play it through the storyline.
Not gonna lie, it took me an hour or three to finish the mission because of the Golf mini game.
Out of all of these I only enjoyed two.
Fishing and Pool were the easiest and least annoying ones to play.
Golf
I only had to play this once since it's forced to play it through the storyline.
Not gonna lie, it took me an hour or three to finish the mission because of the Golf mini game.
I'm not a fan of the golf nor do I know how to play it, so I was awful either way.
But I did try to copy how the NPC did it and for some reason I just couldn't do it.
I won't say it's bad because I don't know a thing about golf or golf games, so I recommend trying it if you're into it.
Karaoke
Karaoke in this game was harder than the karaoke in the other games in my opinion.
I felt like it had a lot of latency or it was just extremely faster than I'm use to.
Either way it wasn't that fun but give it a try, I call myself a rhythmless hack anyway so maybe I'm just terrible.
I felt like it had a lot of latency or it was just extremely faster than I'm use to.
Either way it wasn't that fun but give it a try, I call myself a rhythmless hack anyway so maybe I'm just terrible.
(But I do enjoy karaoke in Zero)
Fishing
The others I won't get into too much detail since I didn't play them in-depth because the game is overall dated but pool was fun and so was fishing.
I do alot of fishing in games so each game I play I try it out.
If you really enjoy fishing in games, I recommend trying Yakuza 3 & 4 because these two have some of the best plus it reminded me of FFXV fishing which was fun.
No matter how much I didn't like the other mini games they didn't really effect the experience since I wasn't planning on doing them anyway but I did a few while playing and experienced it so I wanted to put that out for those who wanted to try them.
Next is not really a mini games since doesn't feel much like one but here we go.
The Hostess Maker is not fun AT ALL.
If you get a bad hostess that's it, you're stuck with them until you figure out how to get another.
Through my play-through I found a woman named Jo (I absolutely regretted getting her) After finding out that she didn't like to learn any skills or even could get better by dressing her up because I guess bad RNG?
I wished I never met her first.
Yeah I could've reloaded but I spend too much time in between that I didn't care enough to reload.
Played about an hour or two trying to get her to raise her skill/traits things but nothing worked and I looked it up to see if others had the same problems and YES they did.
Most people say to skip it or at least try to finish the substories from it.
Speaking of...
Fishing
The others I won't get into too much detail since I didn't play them in-depth because the game is overall dated but pool was fun and so was fishing.
I do alot of fishing in games so each game I play I try it out.
If you really enjoy fishing in games, I recommend trying Yakuza 3 & 4 because these two have some of the best plus it reminded me of FFXV fishing which was fun.
No matter how much I didn't like the other mini games they didn't really effect the experience since I wasn't planning on doing them anyway but I did a few while playing and experienced it so I wanted to put that out for those who wanted to try them.
Next is not really a mini games since doesn't feel much like one but here we go.
The Hostess Maker is not fun AT ALL.
If you get a bad hostess that's it, you're stuck with them until you figure out how to get another.
Through my play-through I found a woman named Jo (I absolutely regretted getting her) After finding out that she didn't like to learn any skills or even could get better by dressing her up because I guess bad RNG?
I wished I never met her first.
Yeah I could've reloaded but I spend too much time in between that I didn't care enough to reload.
Played about an hour or two trying to get her to raise her skill/traits things but nothing worked and I looked it up to see if others had the same problems and YES they did.
Most people say to skip it or at least try to finish the substories from it.
Speaking of...
[Substories]
There's 119 substories in Yakuza 3.
I finished about 102 because I could careless about the mini games ones or the...Hostess Maker ones.
There are plenty of great ones in the game, even ones about the characters you meet throughout the story.
Some have lovely cutscenes and great writing.
Also some are just hilarious and amazing.
Both in Okinawa and Kamurocho you get substories, some even drift to and from those places.
I enjoyed alot of them more than the ones in Kiwami as most of Kiwami's was con stories which got sort of boring.
Yakuza 3 has multiple connected substories which were pretty cool.
Okinawa has some of my absolute favorite substories and I recommend doing as many as you want since it's pretty fun and enjoyable.
(Photo by SEGA) (Photo from Fandom wiki)
Both in Okinawa and Kamurocho you get substories, some even drift to and from those places.
I enjoyed alot of them more than the ones in Kiwami as most of Kiwami's was con stories which got sort of boring.
Yakuza 3 has multiple connected substories which were pretty cool.
Okinawa has some of my absolute favorite substories and I recommend doing as many as you want since it's pretty fun and enjoyable.
[The Characters]
One of the best parts of Yakuza 3 is characters and there's a lot of them.
From the kids at Morning Glory to the pals you make in Okinawa there's a lot of great writing for them and all around interesting backgrounds.
Some of my favorite characters from this series so far comes from this game and I think a lot of people who haven't played this yet are in for a treat.
To not spoil anything I will say that I don't think you'll be disappointed by the overall characters, but I do believe the story may have some unfavorable moments.
(Screenshot by SEGA) (Photo from Fandom wiki)
[Storyline]
Things are getting messy in Okinawa with a fight for a military base and a resort.
Problem for Kiryu is that he's in the way.
The storyline is pretty straight forward.
Daigo gets involved with the situation and then mysteriously gets shot by someone who looks like Shintaro, Kiryu's adoptive father.
As things progress for the worst Kiryu gets involved, leading him back to Kamurocho where he's attacked by mysterious foreigners who has something to do with the CIA.
[The Good]
(Screenshot by SEGA) (Photo from Fandom wiki)
The storyline for Yakuza 3 in my opinion is better than original first two.
This game was written and done differently from 1&2 which this one took a slower pace and focused on Kiryu and the characters you meet throughout the story, which I enjoy.
Yakuza 1&2 and even the remakes push the storyline to the far end that it feels rushed and unsatisfying.
I struggled to care for the first two games since I played Zero first to get their backstories before playing the original.
Throughout Yakuza 3 these characters felt better written than 1&2 and the storyline satisfied my hours I put in.
Yakuza 3's storyline is slower paced and finely written.
It also brought back characters from the last games and had them fit in well too.
It's definitely not Zero but it's much more refined than 1&2.
[The Bad]
(Screenshot by SEGA) (Photo from Fandom wiki)
Some of the characters have some missing points.
They're supposed to be the big bad but fall kinda flat.
However some shows their real colors later on and felt a little better.
There are some that are completely...how can I say this?
Gone?
Not too much of a spoiler but there is a character that shows off how threatening they are and then after that it goes blank.
Which slightly confusing because I was like "Wait what happened to him?"
Other than that there are some things that happens for dramatics that felt like they were cutting connects to previous games and also just to fuel the rage.
Some of these things bothered me, making me think some of these characters are blatantly stupid.
Somethings that happened was copied and pasted from the first two games, You'd think some of the characters had learned from those events right?
Nope, they learned nothing and the events happens so quickly that it's more frustrating than anything.
It annoys me that they keep doing it for DRAMATIC moments.
At least do it in a surprising way, that's all I ask.
Either way it's an older game and nothing can change but it still bothers me.
Though this is the bad I still appreciate what Yakuza 3 gave me for a story.
One of the best parts of Yakuza 3 is characters and there's a lot of them.
From the kids at Morning Glory to the pals you make in Okinawa there's a lot of great writing for them and all around interesting backgrounds.
Some of my favorite characters from this series so far comes from this game and I think a lot of people who haven't played this yet are in for a treat.
To not spoil anything I will say that I don't think you'll be disappointed by the overall characters, but I do believe the story may have some unfavorable moments.
[Storyline]
Things are getting messy in Okinawa with a fight for a military base and a resort.
Problem for Kiryu is that he's in the way.
The storyline is pretty straight forward.
Daigo gets involved with the situation and then mysteriously gets shot by someone who looks like Shintaro, Kiryu's adoptive father.
As things progress for the worst Kiryu gets involved, leading him back to Kamurocho where he's attacked by mysterious foreigners who has something to do with the CIA.
[The Good]
The storyline for Yakuza 3 in my opinion is better than original first two.
This game was written and done differently from 1&2 which this one took a slower pace and focused on Kiryu and the characters you meet throughout the story, which I enjoy.
Yakuza 1&2 and even the remakes push the storyline to the far end that it feels rushed and unsatisfying.
I struggled to care for the first two games since I played Zero first to get their backstories before playing the original.
Throughout Yakuza 3 these characters felt better written than 1&2 and the storyline satisfied my hours I put in.
Yakuza 3's storyline is slower paced and finely written.
It also brought back characters from the last games and had them fit in well too.
It's definitely not Zero but it's much more refined than 1&2.
[The Bad]
Some of the characters have some missing points.
They're supposed to be the big bad but fall kinda flat.
However some shows their real colors later on and felt a little better.
There are some that are completely...how can I say this?
Gone?
Not too much of a spoiler but there is a character that shows off how threatening they are and then after that it goes blank.
Which slightly confusing because I was like "Wait what happened to him?"
Other than that there are some things that happens for dramatics that felt like they were cutting connects to previous games and also just to fuel the rage.
Some of these things bothered me, making me think some of these characters are blatantly stupid.
Somethings that happened was copied and pasted from the first two games, You'd think some of the characters had learned from those events right?
Nope, they learned nothing and the events happens so quickly that it's more frustrating than anything.
It annoys me that they keep doing it for DRAMATIC moments.
At least do it in a surprising way, that's all I ask.
Either way it's an older game and nothing can change but it still bothers me.
Though this is the bad I still appreciate what Yakuza 3 gave me for a story.
(Screenshot by SEGA) (Photo from Fandom wiki)
[Overall]
After everything I been through I will let you know that Yakuza 3 is...🥁
PLAYABLE
It may look like a lot of cons but most of them don't ruin the experience and it's more in-depth to let you know if you skipped to the end.
I wholeheartedly recommend Yakuza 3.
After everything I been through I will let you know that Yakuza 3 is...🥁
PLAYABLE
It may look like a lot of cons but most of them don't ruin the experience and it's more in-depth to let you know if you skipped to the end.
I wholeheartedly recommend Yakuza 3.
Most of the game was great and a fun experience.
Though it might be old and have issues, it's still enjoyable and playable.
Yakuza 3
Have you played it?
Did you like it?
Did you try out the mini games?
Whatever's your answer is tell me about it.
No matter how brutally honest you are with it, I wanna hear it.
(Please no hate towards the devs, Sega, Atlus, or anyone else's opinions as this is about the game not the company, devs, etc.)
Yakuza 3 is available on the PlayStation store in the remaster bundle or stand-alone.
Review and written by AshyPaints
(All PSN store links used are US links)
