u/Hopeful_Regret_7531

Despite it's nonsensical plot, I vastly prefer Yakuza 4 over Yakuza 3 for several reasons.

1. It's combat is way more balanced outside of the 1st Saito fight.

2. It's way better paced than 3 as it's faster & doesn't dawdle anywhere near as much as 3 did.

3. It has better minigames

4. It gave us "Machine Gun Kiss"

5. It was the PS3 era Yakuza game to have an animated install screen (only if you play the original PS3 version)

6. Akiyama

7. The sex symbol Tanimura

In the PS3 era batting cage minigame, pay more attention to whoever you're playing as rather than the ball.

Whoever you're playing as will do a clenching animation whenever the ball gets close enough & that's your visual indicator to hit.

Do that & you'll never miss a single shot.

I actually find the PS3 era batting cage minigame to be far easier than the Dragon Engine batting cage minigame for that very reason.

Asking since PlayStation is dropping physical disc production in January 2028.

I'm gonna be brutally honest & say that even as an XBOX player, I'm genuinely pissed off cuz it means that it'll be the last RGG game that PlayStation players in certain regions will have access to cuz of PSN not being available in those regions.

BTW, the last part of that paragraph is coming from someone who lives in Northern Ireland, a region that PSN is available in.

For me, it's substories with RNG-based triggers.

Yakuza 1/Kiwami 1's "My Baby's A Show Girl" & "The Yakuza Wife" substories could only by trigged via RNG-based phone calls and I'm so glad RGG quickly got rid of these types of substories after the first game.

I always forget that Saya from Yakuza 1 returns in Yakuza 4 via a substory & that Shibata from Yakuza 4 returns in Yakuza 0 via Majima's flashback sequence in chapter 3.

In fact, I believe that Shibata is the only side character from Yakuza 4 to appear in more than 1 game.

Dude went from a nobody street gangster & taxi driver to not only defecting from his gang, but befriending a guy he tried to rob, meeting the legendary Dragon of Dojima, gaining a new group of 9 friends who love & appreciate him and later stopping the cult his gang was affiliated with.

This is actually my favourite karaoke song in the series cuz of that sweet guitar riff & Han's singing is just pure majestic.

Where's my edibles so I can get high & think I'm Majima?

For me, it's the Saori Yoshida song "As You Like".

It's used in Yakuza 0 & Yakuza Kiwami 2 for the club management menus & it's always a joy to listen to.

It also never gets old despite the ungodly amount of times you have to grind the club management minigames to progress.

Tbh, I'm not that bothered by it cuz there's not many heat actions in the game & Majima is so busted to the point where it's not even funny.

That sea dog dual cutlass spin attack as well as his mad dog light attack + heavy attack combos can mop the floor with bosses even on hard & legend.

I like it as it rectifies the problem that Infinite Wealth & Pirate Yakuza had where clearly American characters were speaking fluent Japanese if you chose that dub.

Apparently, RGG made the Japanese actors take English lessons, which also likely means we'll be hearing Takaya Kuroda speaking fluent English.

Yagami can wear this thing while tailing & listening in on something and no one ever notices him.

The only piece of mandatory side content in the series that I'll accept since it's funny cuz of it being placed in a murder mystery story.

September 5th, 2026 marks the 20th anniversary of Yakuza 1 in the west.

Back when the series had staggered release dates between Asia & the west. Something that started with Yakuza 1 & ended with Yakuza: Like A Dragon.

Yakuza 2 is the only game in the series where the English localisation was not primarily done be SEGA of America. Instead, it was primarily done by SEGA of Europe in Brentford, England with some assistance from SEGA of America.

It's because SEGA of Europe were main ones pushing to get the game localised as SEGA of America was turned off by the poor sales of the first game in the west.

Yeah, I know that Jet Set Radio isn't an RGG franchise, but it was created by much of RGG's future staff such as Yokoyama, Kazuki Hosokawa, Masayoshi Kikuchi & Ryuta Ueda.

I'm also aware there's a new one coming, but it's a crappy MMO & is gonna be nothing like Jet Set Radio & Jet Set Radio Future and I'm also aware that Monkey Ball is still getting new games, but RGG doesn't treat it as well as they do Like A Dragon & Virtua Fighter.

I love it as it's easy on the eyes compared to the other filters the other cities have in the recent games & it fits the high-class party vibe Sotenbori has.

Asking since there's rarely any criticism against the Japanese voices.

For me, it's Haruka in every game she's in from Yakuza 5 onwards.

No offence RGG's voice director, but could you at least direct Rie Kugimiya to deepen her voice a bit to try & make Haruka sound older instead of directing her to speak in tne same pitch she's been using since 2005?

Also, Yokoyama, could you not have written anything else for her in Yakuza 6 besides writing ojisan around 6 million times?