What's Yakuza all about, anyway?
It's a brawler, beat-em-up, action RPG, minigame fest, and a lot of other things, with heartfelt, serious storylines, but also a high degree of comedy and zaniness, it's dramatic, it's silly, it's everything. People have tried to box it into a category, but truth be told, there's not much out there you can compare it to.
Should I start with Yakuza 0, or wait until Kiwami comes out? What about other starting points in the series?
Though Kiwami may be a remake of the original Yakuza game, 0 is widely considered to be the ideal starting point for newcomers in this day and age. It's a prequel that retroactively improves the story of the first game by adding greater, much needed development to certain characters, and it also serves as a sort of "soft reboot" for the series, to where Kiwami 1, 2, and even Yakuza 6 contain references that assume you've played it. So yeah, start with 0, and enjoy!
What games, aside from 0 and Kiwami, have been confirmed to be coming to the PC?
None at the moment, unfortunately. Buy and play these two, and then ask / hope for the rest later on.
I'd like to play with a PS4 / XBO controller. Are the appropriate button prompts in the game?
They are.
How long is the game?
If you mostly stick to the main story, you're looking at 25 hours, give or take. If you opt to tackle the mountains of side content though, your playthrough can easily pass the 100 hour mark. Tons of substories, minigames, etc. Be prepared for quite the undertaking if you wanna fill out that completion list!
"Catfighting sucks" - Shadowman16 (he's right, it does)
I go for achievements. Which ones are missable?
There are a total of 8 missable achievements, all of which are story-related. Look them up on a trophy or achievement site if you wish, but be wary of spoilers.
What about missable weapons, equipment, items in general?
99% of the game's items can be reacquired from an in-game crafting / buying area. The ones that cannot are the DLC items, which are picked up from a clown with a green afro that appears in both cities. If you pick these up early on and don't wanna lose them, throw them in your item box and be careful not to sell them. Not kidding about the clown, by the way. You'll know him when you see him.
Is there DLC?
Nothing substantial, or outside of the game. Just some free items and costumes you'll be picking up from the aforementioned clown.
So the series is like a Japanese Grand Theft Auto / Sleeping Dogs / Saints Row / Mafia, right?!
No. It's not really like any of those. Like I said, it does its own thing. You'll see once you play it.
Are there any big mistakes I should avoid making?
There is no autosave! You must use phone booths around town to save, so be mindful of this.
You should also save before substories if you want the best possible outcome. You can't fail any of them, but it's possible to receive differing rewards.
The following questions answered courtesy of
lucebuce
Can I complete all the side-content before finishing the main story?
Yes! The game quite explicitly tells before the finale that you won't be able to do anything else so it's best to wrap things up now. Literally every piece of side content can be accessed and completed before the end of the game. While you can't get all the achievements in one playthrough, you can get 100% completion in-game in a single playthrough.
What if I just want to play the story at my own pace and finish the side stuff later?
That's also possible! After you end the game, you can continue your save file in "Premium Adventure Mode". You continue from where you left off at the end of the game, but with no story to worry about so you can complete all the side content you haven't done yet as well as just muck around in the game world at your leisure.
I can't find any more substories! Does the game tell me where they are?
There is an equippable item in the game that marks the beginning point of any substories that you haven't started/encountered yet. It's called the "Trouble Finder" and you need to find it once for Kiryu and once for Majima (you can't swap these items between them). The Trouble Finder is found for Kiryu by completing substory related to his Real Estate business, and it unlocks in Chapter 5. For Majima, you need to complete the friendship gauge with the chef of the restaurant "Komian" in Sotenbori.
How do I find the buildings for Kiryu's Real Estate business?
Unfortunately, the game does a poor job of telling you where to find them since the original assumed that you could simply read the signs on the buildings. Fortunately, there is an online guide that details where to find each building. The guide was translated from the original JP version so the names might be more literal than they are in the ENG version but the gist is all the same. While buying buildings is necessary for Kiryu, it is optional for Majima. The guide also tells you where they are for Majima.
Real Estate Guide (Kiryu)
Cabaret Club Guide (Majima)
Why is Catfighting so hard?
Because it's a broken mode based entirely on RNG and mashing. So you have to keep mashing, but it's ultimately RNG whether you win or not. It's not a good mode, and I would recommend not spending too much time in it if possible. Fortunately, the version of it in Yakuza Kiwami is much more fun and fair.
Did Kiryu/Majima just watch softcore porn?
It's the 80's, there was no internet.
Credit goes to Pey for these videos! Give your thanks to him!
Credit goes to Pey for these screenshots too!
YakuzaEra
Lost & Banned
Pey
The Yakuza subreddit
SEGA
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
Toshihiro Nagoshi
Daisuke Saito
Scott Strichart and his wonderful localization family
Hollie Bennett
Kazuma Kiryu
Goro Majima
Taiga Saejima
Ono Michio
Ass Sniffer
Bacchus
Elder Chen
Mack
Michael Jordan
Abdul
Sweeney
Swaine
That guy from The Wire
Ed Helms
Poopswaine the baby
Everyone I forgot
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