'Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name' Arrives In 2023

its a good day as Yakuza fan, not 1, not 2 but 3 games announced. Wow, just wow. Never expected this.

Yakuza fans, we eating.

Always wanted to get into this series but don't know where to start

@UltimateOtaku91 play any one of them. If you like it, then play another. Nothing wrong with starting at a random point, you may not get some references but everything you need to know is explained when necessary.
Personally i started by playing 4 when it launched. Loved it and kept playing them ever since

@UltimateOtaku91 I would recommend starting with Yakuza 0 as it will make the most sense and it's easy to follow the chronology. The story unfolds in order from 0 to 6 and then Like a Dragon. All the games are on Game Pass so there's no excuse not to play them.

@UltimateOtaku91 Start with Yakuza 0, and play the games in chronological order. I started with 0 in January 2021, and played every localized game by March 2022. Here are the games I played in order:

• Yakuza 0
• Yakuza Kiwami
• Yakuza Kiwami 2
• Yakuza 3
• Yakuza 4
• Yakuza 5
• Yakuza 6
• Judgment
• Lost Judgment
• Yakuza: Like a Dragon
• Yakuza: Dead Souls

@Carck @deadmaker @Handy_Man @themightyant thanks for your replies, I don't really want to spend any money just in case I don't like the series, so I'm relying on gamepass to get into it, I'm going to start with zero then as I think I'd rather understand the story and outdated gameplay won't bother me aslong as the story is good.

A couple of questions, is the game dubbed? How is it in terms of difficulty and are the games lengthy? As I don't really want to be spending 50+ hours on each one seeing as there's like 10 games to play, and if I just focus on the campaign will I really miss any plot points by skipping side quests.

@UltimateOtaku91 The only games that have English dub options are Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Judgment, and Lost Judgment. The rest of the games released so far are only Japanese with subs. Future games will most likely have English dubs as well, but it’s not confirmed.

There are multiple difficulty options when you start a Yakuza game, like Normal and Hard. I played through every game on Hard difficulty, and never ran into too much trouble across the games except for a few parts. But you can play on Normal and enjoy the game perfectly fine.

If you just run through the main story, you could probably beat each game in around 20 to 30 hours. But the side content in these games are so gripping, that you may indulge in them anyway, even though they are completely optional. There are a bunch of side quests in each game, and there are a lot of mini-games as well. If you just run through the main story, you’ll have a great time with that alone. However, the side content contains a lot of the heart of the game as well, and you may find yourself enjoying it as much as the main story. With the side content included, playtime could be drastically increased to 50-80 hours for each game. For reference, I took my time with Yakuza 0 and finished it at 87 hours. However, Yakuza Kiwami only took me 31 hours. So these games are really what you make of them.

@UltimateOtaku91 As the guy above said, the games are generally lengthy. As a personal experience, I'd say you will probably end up being drawn to the side content anyways, but don't fret just because of it. These games are so good you will feel that 50 hours just flew by in the blink of an eye. However, even if you just ignore all substories, the main plot has enough to keep your interest throughout the series.

Difficulty wise, I played all of them on normal and they were ok. Except for the secret optional bosses in each game, which were a lot harder yet manageable, fights are generally on the easy side.

Wow, I honestly believe I don't have enough time for the rest of my life to finish even just the Yakuza series let alone any other games! This is amazing and horrible all at the same time!

@UltimateOtaku91 How can you possibly call yourself Ultimate Otaku if you have not played Yakuza? I call false advertising!!

I think @Handy_Man summed it up beset, but yeah, mostly just subs except for the newer games. But as far as how long as the games take, let's put it this way, I'm 120+ hours into Yakuza 0 and I still haven't even finished Majima's economy minigame/sidequest of the cabaret clubs. The minigames in Yakuza aren't just side affair's they're connecting arcs to numerous side missions, completing the combat skill tree, and a huge part of the economy for money you need. It's a JRPG, through and through, modern day action trappings aside. And skipping side quests means skipping half the meaningful content of the games. Like most RPGs the sidequests are often more fun/memorable than the main game, and doing all of it really fleshes out the world and characters that much more.

I'd take your time. Just sink into one Yakuza game and really enjoy it rather than trying to complete all 10. Blasting through a JRPG series and skipping half the content defeats the point of playing it. Start with 0, but just play it as though it's the only game in the series, and let yourself enjoy it. There's no fun trying to speedrun an entire JRPG series by skipping half the game. Especially when so much of that stuff is pure comedy gold.

@NEStalgia well if it was in an anime style I probably would have by now 😜

@themightyant well informed description. thank you for that

@UltimateOtaku91 It's anime in spirit