Review #628: Yakuza 6 - The Song of Life

 The Tojo should know better...

 This is it. This is Kiryu Kazuma's final chapter in the long-running Yakuza/Ryu ga Gotoku series. For the first time in the series since the first game, they dove right in with a new numbered entry, as opposed to testing the new engine with a spin-off. It was a gamble, and opinions are varied, but if you ask me, they knocked it straight out of the park.

 After Yakuza 5 the police needed a scapegoat and Kiryu fit the bill, and while he could've gotten away scott-free... he decided to do the time, pay for his crimes as the Dragon of Dojima and start again with his name clean, as not to bring more tragedy to Haruka. The 3 years go by and Kiryu is free only to find out that Haruka is in a coma and she's had a baby, the father unknown. And thus begins Kiryu's final attempt at escaping from sins past. It's a poignant story, although, sadly, a lot of mainstays didn't make it in. Majima, Saejima and Daigo are handwaved away into prison, only to be seen at the start and at the very end of the story. The Florist, the one guy who could've solved the plot in 10 seconds flat isn't even mentioned once, and Master Komaki is nowhere to be seen. Long-time allies Kazuki and Yuya are absent as well, Yuya making the briefest of appearances. Disappointing, for a last entry, definitely, but the new cast of characters is phenomenal and very well fleshed out. We get to meet all the villains and supporting cast early on, learning about them and what drives them throughout the story, Someya being a particular standout. We've had evil antagonists before, both misguided and nonredeemable, but this entry features some of the nastiest, slimiest serpents to ever cross Kiryu, which makes it a very satisfying tale to bring to conclusion. Characters aside, the game has a very solemn and melancholic feeling about it: Yuya and Kazuki were bought out of Kamurocho, since the business wasn't going so well, Kiryu doing the time only to awaken to a comatose Haruka, Akiyama being forced to close down business... it's a sad, tragic tale, and it's SO good, even the sidequests having a tinge of sadness about them, from the couple that is trying to remain together to the point of faking switching bodies, to Kazuma befriending a bunch of bar-regulars and creating bonds with them.

 Where most fans take issue is with the lack of content when compared to previous entries. Honestly? It's to be expected. Yakuza 5 and 0 were the culminations of years upon years of adding on top of each game. This is a completely new engine, so the Ryu Ga Gotoku team had to start from scratch. And, even despite it being a new engine, we get a second town, as per usual, in the form of Onomichi. Combat and explorations feels heavier, since Kiryu now moves in a very weighty way, and, in my opinion, feels great. It's not perfect, though, Kiryu can be a slippery bastard at times, as any other character running on modern physics-based engines, like Nathan Drake. And there are bugs, sometimes random encounters ended as if I had run away because... I crossed some sort of invisible boundary? I dunno, it made no sense, but it happened a few times. Running is no longer a free action, now it's tied to a stamina gauge and the X button, so a few times I accidentally triggered conversations, such as trying to dash as soon as I got out of a cab. The engine definitely needs tweaks, but these few shortcomings didn't prevent me from having a blast with the new game.

 As far as exploration goes, thanks to the new graphics Kamurocho feels HUGE, and running around is a joy. There's a hidden stamina meter that gauges how long Kiryu can dash, and while it can be upgraded to a point that it barely hinders you, I wish it wasn't there. Random Encounters and buildings have been fully integrated into the open world of Kamurocho, you see thugs walking around with those Red exclamation points on top of their heads? Just run towards them and BAM! fight started. Want to enter any building? Go right in, no loading times stand between you and their insides. The new engine makes it so that Kiryu's body interacts with anything it touches, so you can dash around breaking around private property. Getting to run around a restaurant, while breaking every furniture not in use by NPCs while the remain so poise is hilarious. Phone Booths are a thing of the past, you can save your game at any time. Plus, you can carry as many items as you want(Although each type has a limit), however, you can no longer carry weapons in your inventory, so after combat ends Kiryu will just drop any weapon he stole from an enemy.

 As stated before, a lot of the side activities have been lost. That said, Karaoke is back, and so is the Hostess bar, Darts are here and accounted for and, lastly, Mahjong and Batting are both still here. On the other hand, Bowling, Gambling, Pool, UFO Catchers and the underground arena have been axed completely. But we get a few new fun additions to make up for that. There are the Clan Creator battles, a Tower Defense-esque mode in which you call upon thugs and heroes(Such as Kiryu himself or even Date!) to defeat various enemy gangs, which has no right to be as fun as it is. There's also a first-person gallery-shooting sub-aquatic hunting game that's also pretty fun to play. There's also a Baseball simulator-esque mode that I didn't even try since I really didn't care about it. To top it all off we get complete Arcade games: Super Hang-on, Outrun, Space Harrier and Fantasy Zone. What? They are ancient you say? There's also Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown(the customization items are gone though) and Puyo Puyo. I've longed for a physical release of Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, and this is as good as it gets. As if it couldn't get any better, you can access the multiplayer components of Virtua Fighter 5 and Puyo Puyo from the game's main menu, talk about a treat! There's also a cringy, but enjoyable thanks to the brilliant localization, web-cam chat minigame. It really is growing!

 The final element is combat. The basics remain the same: Circle is a Grab, Square and Triangle are your basic attacks, X is a dodge, R1 targets the enemy and L1 blocks. Kiryu's combo string has been changed, but what makes the combat feel different is that now everything feels heavier, which makes blow extra satisfying. On the other hand, it also means that bodies fall around like ragdolls, which can have some unintentionally funny side effects. The Heat actions have been reduced considerably, but the game wants you to use the new mechanic, Extreme Heat. Heat is no longer a gauge, but orbs(up to six of them), and you can either spend them on Heat actions... or use them to enter Extreme Heat for a short while, which makes you stronger and gives you nastier looking combos. Ending a boss fight with one of the finishers you can pull when mashing Square under Extreme Heat felt AMAZING.

 Leveling up has been tweaked as well, now you gain five different types of experience points, which you can then spend on either skills or your basic stats, such as health or attack power. Earning the combat experience points(Red, Blue and Yellow) is fairly easy, but the Green and Purple experience points are a bit of a pain to earn, so you'll have to rely on food.... or get some Rare characters, via code, for the Clan Creator and spam the latter fights to earn money and then spend it on Rizap's drinks. Whatever flies your way, honestly.

 I don't know if I can make it any clearer, but I absolutely loved Yakuza 6 - The Song of Life. It has a few rough edges here and there, but the final product is top-notch. Combat feels fantastic, and I bet that it's only gonna get better as they build up on this on future Shin Ryu Ga Gotoku games. I just can't wait to see what Sega will do with this new engine. On the other hand, Yakuza 6 gives Kiryu his well-earned closure, even if it may not be as happy as the one he deserves.
 9.5 out of 10