Yakuza Kiwami 3. The divisive Yakuza game (Well at the time of writing anyway) But is it good?
The short answer is yes, at least in my books. The long answer is a yes but.
To explain, Yakuza Kiwami 3, at least for me improves on the original game in the areas where I thought it needed it the most. For one, the combat in this is great, and provides a really strong backbone for the games core loop. The combat is crunchy, enemies (At least on professional) felt more like a threat and less like a test of patience. There's a heat system for enemies that results in it needing to be broken down in order to inflict more damage and staggers. You do this through landing critical blows, either by good dodges/ blocks and counters, or by getting behind your opponent and performing unlicensed chiropracting. Additionally you have a secondary meter that allows you to enter a special buffed state, being in said state also lets you whittle down enemies guards whilst also having different moves and actions, eventually ending in a special heat action. This alone makes the boss fights feel way more engaging as the fights feel strategic and reward good play overall.
One thing that has changed about combat however is the removal of weapons. Both in terms of how they were handled in the original release and how they were handled in Kiwami 2. A kiwami 2 system would have worked great imo, especially given getting hit whilst holding a weapon causes it to crumble into dust for some inexplicable reason. That being said, a new, secondary style is present in Kiryu's tale. Ryukyu style. A weapon based style that utilises an arsenal of weapons to handle heaps of enemies. Ryukyu stlye is a bit clunky to learn but great once you master it. It can deal with crowds quickly or inflict a variety of status conditions. Whilst I wish there was a dedicated weapons system, Ryukyu style is at least it is serviceable.
As for other elements of gameplay, most of the minigames are ported over from 2. Unfortunately golf is replaced with the golfing range and fishing is changed entirely. Aroma massage too but on the flip side, everything else receives an upgrade to the newer, higher quality of life versions. There's also a game gear with just over 10 classic games a fair few arcade games in club sega and a host of new minigames surrounding the orphanage. These new minigames prioritise bonding with the kids and getting resources for the orphanage itself.
Speaking of the Orphanage, one of my biggest complaints with the original was not feeling as invested with the kids or the orphanage itself, which is a key story beat. Sure, you had a couple of chapters where you engaged with them but it just didn't quite land for me. In Kiwami 3 your orphanage is a place where you can fish, farm, cook, sew, do homework, catch bugs, and play a game with the children. It's much more fleshed out and you engage with it at your leisure. By raising the kids happiness you can progress a story regarding Kiryu learning how to cook more than just curry, and each child has their own sub story. Some are the same as the original but most are adjusted. I will say however that in some cases the originals were better and some of the new ones are better. I'd give it a 50/50 split.
Of course story is a huge element for the Yakuza series and I actually like the overall story here. It doesn't particularly change from the original but some scenes are adjusted, there are a couple more cutscenes sprinkled here and there that help to fill in some time or adjust things. I felt the game flowed much better than the original although some elements worked better and a couple just lack impact. For example, the reapers quest line is changed to be much brisker without returning to the main building, in fact the building doesn't exist at all.
Another contention point revolves around the lack of substories. Now, whilst there are less. Some are condensed into singular stories, some are not present as their respective things are not (hostesses thank god are gone). That being said there are 32 substories, then each of the children have a story, raising the total to 40 and then Mine's content has 12. Some of which, if I'm not mistaken may have been Kiryu's originally or at least were similar in some way. Overall there are around half but the game does not feel light on content particularly, at least to me anyway.
One thing that is quite divisive is the casting which I will touch on and say that I don't think Rikiya's recasting works particularly well and I did not feel attached to his character. The recast of the Ryudo patriarch worked well however. Similarly, Hamizaki was recast. This was a huge contention point considering the actor but putting that aside, I feel Hamizaki felt much more impactful. In fact I think the whole line of antagonists felt much better overall. Perhaps it's due to them looking more human than their original counterparts or a shift in tone but they worked much better here.
As for Mine's side of things. It's 3 chapters and it's quite brisk. I don't feel it's a necessary story to tell but Mine's actual fighting style is fun and engaging. Mine also gets his own list of tasks, substories (Good deeds) and tournament arena that all serve to offer something to bulk out his campaign which makes it a bit more of a game than Kiwami 2's Majima chapters for example.
Overall I honestly think the game is overrhated. I understand there are some controversies and issues but it's a perfectly fine game. Were I to want to play Yakuza 3, I would choose this over the original every time. The story is paced better, the core combat is better to play, and the side content albeit different is overall better than the original. The completion is also much less taxing, even if you want to do everything beyond just the achievements. Overall Kiwami 3 is a good game, it's not as good as it could have been but overall I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it.
(As a side note, the game also runs really well on Deck despite having heaps of dudes on screen during the gal gang section)s
