After the spectacular Lost Judgment, have you been wanting more? or you just want to get into one of the best sagas that has resurfaced thanks to its latest installment, Yakuza Like a Dragon and when entering through the big door in Xbox Game Pass. If you want to know the history of Dojima Dragon, the crazy dog of Shimano and the good of Ichiban here is the most advisable order to start in the saga.
The Yakuza saga known in Japan as Ryū ga Gotoku (like a dragon) is performed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio a study belonging to the mythical Sega. Toshihiro Nagoshi creator of this series of games wanted to show the way of life of the Yakuzas, it has up to seven numbered installments, Yakuza Like a Dragon in Japan it is Yakuza 7, and numerous Spin-offs how can the saga be Judgment or other titles that have only unfortunately been released in Japan.
There are several ways to play, depending on the order we want to take into account, one can be by following the lore of the game and its continuity or by the departure date. Yakuza 1 and Yakuza 2 they have some remakes called Kiwamis that follow the continuation of Yakuza 0. If we follow the order according to the release date, we would play Yakuza 0 long after the first installments that are from 2005. So once we have the remakes available and the start of the entire saga, I think the following way is the best to play them and follow the order of the story.
Yakuza 0
All great stories have a beginning and in Yakuza 0 we will see the birth of two stars, Kazuma kiryu and Goro majima. The game takes place in December 1988 in Kamurocho, we will visit Kamurocho and Sotenbori and also we will play with both characters with two different stories but that come together at one point.
As we will see in all games it is divided into different chapters, It has a combat system where we will basically punch or kick our way against our enemies, as we advance we will unlock different fighting styles.
Are you tired of the typical side missions? Well, you are in luck, one of its great points is these, you can find everything from posing as a film director to hunting down an underwear store. Nor can you miss a visit to the karaoke or to the dance floor… There are so many things to do!
Yakuza Kiwami
The direct continuation of Yakuza 0 and this time we will only control Kiryu. On Yakuza Kiwami We will take our first steps inside the Yakuza, where we will discover a city that has totally changed since 10 years have passed since it entered jail.
Chaos breaks out when 10 billion yen disappear from the safe of the Clan Tojo and Kiryu gets involved. He soon discovers that everything points to a mysterious young woman named Haruka. Together they will have to solve the whole mystery.
Once again we will have a great repertoire of secondary missions that will put us in all kinds of situations. Or if you prefer, you can spend time in the Sega arcade.
Yakuza Kiwami 2
Once again we will be in the shoes of Kiryu, who was thought that his days in the Tojo Clan were a thing of the past. He and Haruka live quietly after the events of the previous installment, until a very important figure in the Clan is murdered. With a war about to break out Dojima Dragon come back to end this conflict.
In this installment we will travel to Sotenbori and as a novelty in this Kiwami we will have three extra chapters called “Majima Saga” where we will give the final blow to the events that occurred in Yakuza 0.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuIDxjeIuVo
Yakuza 3
Complete change as for the other three deliveries, we go back to the past with a few older graphics and made with the first graphics engine. Yakuza 3, 4 and 5 share these characteristics, but not for that reason they are worse and they are also essential in the story.
Our Dragon of Dojima lives far from the city that saw him grow up and moves to Okinawa, where he runs an orphanage for children, together with the little Haruka Sawamura, his adopted daughter. Unfortunately, his apparently quiet life is interrupted when certain events take place that will force him to re-enter the dangerous world of the Japanese mafia.
Yakuza 4
On Yakuza 4 we will control until four characters each one different with its own story, Kazuma kiryu, Masayoshi Tanimura, Shun akiyama and Taiga saejima. We will have to unravel a mysterious web of money, power, status and honor centered around a mysterious woman. Many of these characters will be essential throughout the plot of the saga and we will see them in the following installments.
Yakuza 5
Our former Yakuza is now cabbie, until the peace that existed between the Clan Tojo and the Omi alliance disintegrate. Once again, the Dragon of Dojima is forced to take on the criminal world to protect his loved ones. We will control this time until five characters in five different cities.
Yakuza 6: The Song of Life
The end of an era. We will live for the last time the story of Kiryu and the perfect closure to the whole saga. We go back to the wonderful graphics we saw in Yakuza 0 and in the Kiwamis.
After serving a three-year prison sentence, an older Kiryu discovers that Haruka, his adopted daughter, has disappeared from the orphanage. All the clues lead to Kamurocho, where she discovers that she has been hit by a car and is now in a coma. And if that was not enough, Haruka now has a son that Kiryu must take care of. With a baby in her care, Kiryu heads to the coastal city of Onomichi, in Hiroshima, to reveal the truth about Haruka, her son and the whole plot behind the Hiroshima yakuza.
Yakuza Like a Dragon
Last Yakuza of the main saga, where it gives a 180º change in terms of its combat system and its protagonist. In Yakuza Like a Dragon we will control Ichiban Kasuga a low-ranking yakuza who dreams of being a hero and who, after serving an 18-year jail term for assuming guilt for a crime he did not commit, returns to Kamurocho in search of his family, but to his surprise this betrays him leaving him on the brink of death.
We will visit Yokohama where we will meet our team, a diverse group of social outcasts: Adachi, a rebel cop, Nanba, a homeless ex-nurse, and Saeko, a hostess With a mission and together with them we will have to discover the truth behind this betrayal and face the harsh reality that hides in this new city.
Its combat system changes completely, now we find a Turn-based RPG and this system will now be the one included in the following installments.
Spin-offs
- Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan! Available only in Japan.
- Kurohyō: Ryu ga Gotoku Shinsho. Available only in Japan.
- Yakuza: Dead Souls
- Kurohyō 2: Ryu ga Gotoku Ashura henu. Available only in Japan.
- Ryu ga Gotoku Ishin! Available only in Japan.
- Yakuza Online. Available only in Japan.
- Judgment
- Lost Judgment
The entire main saga can be found both in Playstation 4, Xbox via Game pass and Pc. If you want to enter a saga full of memorable moments, feelings on the surface and that on more than one occasion will bring a tear to you, but also knows how to give us moments where we will burst out laughing, the Yakuza they are perfect to give us all these emotions. Of course, it must be borne in mind that until Yakuza Like a Dragon the other deliveries do not have Spanish subtitles.
▪ Release date: 01/24/2017