is it pointless to only play this one?

[body-haters-_]

I never played any Yakuza game but the series is too damn long and my backlog is already huge.

That said, I'm very appealed by the aesthetic of the game and the idea of a sort of "Japanese GTA" (I know there are big differences, don't worry) and I was wondering if I could enjoy the storyline even tho I didn't play the previous ones.

suggestions?

[TJ_Solo]

I've never came across a game, movie, or book series so unwieldy that a normal, attentive person wouldn't be able to understand basic story beats regardless of where they start. 

 

[PooPooBlast]

Don't recommend it. Sure it's relatively self contained and has recaps of previous games but it's not the same thing. Not even close. 

 

This is supposed to be kiryu's final game so a lot of the important plot devices would bear less weight. 

 

If you're really interested in the series and you want to try the series out why start at the end? Start from the beginning which is Yakuza 0. It is chronologically speaking the first game so you don't need any background information whatsoever to know what's happening

 

If you like it, then you'd probably continue with the series from there. If you don't well the series isn't for you then. 

 

But at least by starting from 0 you're not just jumping at the end of kiryu's chapter. Just my opinion.

Edited November 11, 2020 by PooPooBlast

[Shorah-]

1 hour ago, body-haters-_ said:

I never played any Yakuza game but the series is too damn long and my backlog is already huge.

 

Then play it.

I just played 0 then 6, and i didnt feel like i missed something.

6 is great, easy to plat.

[bogaards1997]

I played the game after completion every previous one and seeing some callbacks to events from previous games made me appreciatie the game even more. 

This game is rather self container but I would recomend playing the previous ones to appreciatie it more. 

[DJ_KamurochoVibe]

q

Edited December 9, 2020 by DJ_KamurochoVibe

[PooPooBlast]

50 minutes ago, DJ_KamurochoVibe said:

I think 3,4,5 is just filler...

I disagree man

 

3 introduced the orphanage that Kiryu runs and is in charge of. It's pretty much one of the biggest purposes he has in life and that's raising those kids. Gives depth in terms of how far he's willing to protect those he values in life

 

I agree that 4 is filler from kiryu's POV but it did introduce us to Akiyama, Saejima and gave us a bit more background about Majima so it's not entirely filler. 

 

5 is absolutely not filler. So much so 6 picks up right off from 5's ending. 

[body-haters-_]

Lots of different opinions, thanks people.

3 hours ago, PooPooBlast said:

Sure it's relatively self contained and has recaps of previous games but it's not the same thing. Not even close. 

the emotional weight Is not a big deal, If there are recaps I'm ok with it. I was just worried about getting thrown into a series of events without a clue of what's going on. 

I understand what you say tho, im sure the others have great stories to tell but man, they are a lot. I really don't have time to play them all but I'll think about getting at least 0 to see if it appeals to me

[FearElemental]

Honestly, I feel that I would really have missed out on the experience of the game series if I skipped even one game. Story-wise in this game, the ending of 5 is immediately spoiled; additionally, it contains major relevance from zero as well. Other than that, there isn’t much relevance from the events in any other of the games; especially since each game has a new villain introduced. Keep in mind that some characters, like Date, Haruka, and Akiyama will have been better introduced in previous instalments.

Edited November 11, 2020 by FearElemental

[jgm4789]

Absolutely do not play 6 until you at the very least play 5. Gameplay wise it was the worst in the main series because it was the first game in the dragon engine and they didn't quite get it right yet(in terms of content it feels really stripped down compared to kiwami 1+2, 0 and especially 5 though its almost on par with 3 and 4 as far as the amount of minigames and side content go) and while the story is great it will not give that good of a first impression of what the series has to offer. Honestly kiwami 1 is a better game to start with if you dont want to do the daunting task of platting the 100 hour plus yakuza 0(though i would play it before kiwami 2 because the extra majima chapters are basically an epilogue to his arc in 0) though storywise it is best to play 0 first.

[danbu__]

I am pretty sure that Ykuza 6 is absolutely playable without any knowledge  of the previous games. You might not get a lot of references and not know older chrtacters but the story would work ok for itself without former knowledge.

 

That said I'd highly recommend to play 0 instead of this. It's a perfect start into the series, without knowing anything about it and it's among, if not the best game of the franchise. 

[NOWITSREYNTIME17]

6 hours ago, TJ_Solo said:

I've never came across a game, movie, or book series so unwieldy that a normal, attentive person wouldn't be able to understand basic story beats regardless of where they start. 

 

seems others think otherwise

[DJ_KamurochoVibe]

q

Edited December 9, 2020 by DJ_KamurochoVibe

[EDGES]

I would suggest playing 0-Kiwami-Kiwami 2 if you don't plan on playing all 7 of them, if any games are worth playing is those 3, 3-4-5-6 really get deep in some nonsense, 0/Kiwami 2 have the most advanced versions of the old and new engines too so technically those are the newest ones, 0-k-k2 is the best place to be

Edited April 3, 2022 by The Investigator

[XxIsa-GxX]

You should start from either 0, or Kiwami. 0 is a prologue game and introducing Kiryu and Majima but it also has lots of references from the later games. Once you get in, it goes really smooth (some minigames are annoying though like Pool in Yakuza 3) so I would say don't dive straight into 6, start from either 0 or Kiwami but 0 should be the perfect start point.

[cckerberos]

53 minutes ago, DJ_KamurochoVibe said:

You can always stream story cutscene on Youtube if you don't want to spend hours playing it. That's what I now plan on doing with 3-5 before I start playing 6.

 

Wait, so you told him to skip 3-5 as filler when you hadn't even played them yourself?

 

To the OP: I'm probably biased in that I think that Y6 is the worst mainline game in the series, but I don't know why you'd pick this one if you're just going to play one Yakuza game. Yakuza 0 would be the obvious starting point since it's largely aimed at newcomers and it's also the one referenced the most in memes, etc. An argument could also be made for Yakuza Kiwami, since it's a remake of the first game. Or if those are unappealing because they're old, you might play Judgment or Yakuza 7.

Edited November 11, 2020 by cckerberos

[Akrioz]

3 hours ago, body-haters-_ said:

If there are recaps I'm ok with it. I was just worried about getting thrown into a series of events without a clue of what's going on. 

If you are fine with recaps then go ahead. You shouldn't be lost. The story itself is pretty much self-contained. I myself have never played other games. Just saw a retrospective of the series and the ending of 5. I think this is a great game in any case and if you don't want to invest in the series too much - just play it. 

 

Better alternative is to play Judgement. It has the one of the best story(if not THE best) in this series. Self-contained and has all the same good qualities that a mainline yakuza  game. But the platinum if difficult if you are not good at Puyo-Puyo Tetris. 6 on the other hand, has the easiest platinum in the series. 

Edited November 11, 2020 by Akrioz

[PooPooBlast]

9 hours ago, body-haters-_ said:

the emotional weight Is not a big deal, If there are recaps I'm ok with it. I was just worried about getting thrown into a series of events without a clue of what's going on. 

I understand what you say tho, im sure the others have great stories to tell but man, they are a lot. I really don't have time to play them all but I'll think about getting at least 0 to see if it appeals to me

No worries, I get that not everyone has time to play them. It is daunting to have 7 mainline games. 

 

Hope you like Yakuza 0. I started in the same boat not sure if I wanted to invest this much time as you mentioned but I ended up purchasing them all later on. 

 

Enjoy ?

[FearElemental]

I'll also weigh in on Judgment. It's an awesome game and is independent of the Yakuza series, even though it's also in Kamurocho. Lots more to do and the story is amazing. Definitely look into it.

 

As for Zero, Kiwami, and Kiwami 2, I agree that they are better games overall as compared to 6. It's another reason to start with those 3.

[DJ_KamurochoVibe]

   

 

 

w

Edited December 9, 2020 by DJ_KamurochoVibe

[cckerberos]

18 hours ago, DJ_KamurochoVibe said:

No, OP can do whatever he wants, I was just stating my opinions. And I don't need to have played Yakuza 3-5 to comment about it when its gameplay is more or less the same to the first 3 games. The big difference is how the storyline will change so personally I would rather watch cutscenes on Youtube in the interest of saving time and better understand the events leading up to Yakuza 6. To each their own!

Sure, and my first response to reading your comment was to think, "Okay, I disagree but they're welcome to their opinion."

 

But if you're giving advice to someone about games that you haven't actually played, you should be upfront about that fact.

Edited November 12, 2020 by cckerberos