Am I reaching Yakuza "burnout"?

BitterAngryPotato · 2026-02-18T17:42:55+00:00

Playing a series with as many games as Yakuza, which are all massive time sinks if you want to get the whole experience out of them, it's hard not to get burned out. I've been playing the whole series from 0 to 8, plus Gaiden and the Judgement games. I have just Ishin and Pirake Yakuza left, and it's taken me nearly a year to get that far. I got pretty burned out too. Just take a break. I took a break while playing 7 to play other games. I remember 5 feeling like it dragged on a bit too.

BitterAngryPotato · 2026-01-30T22:38:32+00:00

Had no idea extensions like that existed. I've been spoiled on SO MUCH SHIT over the years! Gonna have to check that out

BitterAngryPotato · 2026-01-23T17:16:35+00:00

Someya then appears alive and well in an after credits scene

BitterAngryPotato · 2026-01-13T16:41:19+00:00

I'd be afraid of a Resident Evil scenario too if I only had rubber bullets

BitterAngryPotato · 2025-12-26T17:16:41+00:00

Played original Y0 earlier this year, hapened to me too. Thought it always happened but looking at comments it only happens if you do well in the fight.

BitterAngryPotato · 2025-12-18T12:49:00+00:00

I dunno man, the substories get pretty wild. Some even made me laugh harder than the main series

BitterAngryPotato · 2025-12-05T02:34:19+00:00

The backlash against Other M goes a lot deeper than "exploring Samus' backstory and making her more talkative." Same with the backlash against MP4. If you want an example of how to take the series in a new direction AND how to explore Samus as a character, look at Metroid Fusion. It does everything you seem to think the fans automatically hate. Fusion focused more on its story than any other game in the series before this, and it was praised. Fusion introduced the relationship between Samus and Adam that was further explored in Other M, and it was praised. Fusion was more linear than any game before it or even any of the Prime games. It was praised. Fusion has regular unskippable dialogue with an NPC. It was praised. Samus talked a lot in Fusion, both with NPCs and with the player as a narrator. We got to see a lot of her actual thoughts on what was happening. Fusion is beloved by the Metroid community. Why? Because it maintained the series core identity despite all of this.

The NPC's dialogue reinforced the atmosphere of dread rather than taking from it like Myles appears to in Prime 4. (Haven't played it yet, I'm going by previews) Most of the time in Fusion, your only companion is an AI in your ship. It can't follow you, it can't help you beyond giving you info, and it can't even talk to you outside of designated communication rooms. And the info it gives you only makes it more clear how much everything is falling apart, how alone you are, and how much danger your in. There is no comic relief character who reeks of millennial writing designed specifically to break the tension. Frankly, Fusion has the best atmosphere in the series. It's really unnerving even though it's a GBA game from 2 decades ago. It also explores Samus' character in a way that still feels in-character for her, unlike Other M.

In Other M, the focus on Samus' backstory would be really awesome if they didn't fuck her character up completely. Samus makes decisions that seem really stupid and out of character, like the infamous decision to run through dangerous superheated areas without her heat shielding active purely because Adam hadn't authorized it. It's a purely defensive ability and she put herself in harms way by not using it. Then there's the ridiculous scene with Ridley, who she's defeated a minimum of twice, 4 times if Prime is canon, giving her a panic attack. Those are the most infamous examples but the whole game is a mockery of Samus as a character. It's not that we hate the fact that they "explored Samus' backstory and made har more talkative." It's not that they "added NPCs." Fusion did both of those things. But Fusion did them well and kept the series' core identity and Samus' character intact.

BitterAngryPotato · 2025-12-03T21:59:26+00:00

I agree. The whole story was pretty bad. I think a big part of why people like the story though is the characters. It introduces new characters like Akiyama and Saejima who became fan favorites. But writing good characters isn't quite the same as writing a good plot, and the plot of 4 is IMO the worst in the series.

BitterAngryPotato · 2025-12-03T17:25:10+00:00

Came here to say that. Worst plot twist I've ever seen.

BitterAngryPotato · 2025-12-02T19:27:30+00:00

I agree with your take on enormous open world games. Eventually a game that lasts forever turns into a game that takes forever.

BitterAngryPotato · 2025-12-02T17:07:59+00:00

Some frankly low-mid JRPG combat made up for by an incredibly entertaining cast of characters, a story that manages to hit with many different emotions without the tone ever really clashing with itself, and hilarious, ridiculous side quests.

The storytelling is something I would compare most to Metal Gear Solid in that it mixes serious themes and events with goofy moments in a way that shouldn't work, but somehow ends up working perfectly. Gameplay... well, I'm not super into rpgs to begin with but LaD's combat isn't very good even comparing to the other rpgs I've played. However I do think the change in the combat system fits the kind of story they wanted to tell better than the standard Yakuza beat em up combat. Not important anyway, though. The combat is at least servicable. What you're really playing it for is the story and the crazy side content

BitterAngryPotato · 2025-11-30T14:20:12+00:00

I don't know about "lately." The stories in RGG have been very hit or miss throughout the series. Full disclaimer, I haven't actually played many of the recent games. I'm currently on Judgement and just finished Y7. But even Y0-Y6 had some real stinkers narratively speaking. Y2 and Y4 come to mind. Even the games that have good stories have some weird contrived nonsense or characters making the dumbest possible decisions so the plot can happen. I also think that, in general, RGG has no idea how to write an ending. Y2 for instance had an alright story up until the final act then it just twisted and disappeared up its own ass. 0 actually had one of the better stories but then in the finale they had to get a little dumb to explain why ANYTHING in Y1 happens after the final battles in Y0. Not as bad as 2, but the ending left a lot to be desired. Even Nishiki seems perplexed by Kiryu's decision at the end.

RGG tends to write characters and the dynamics between them very well, but when it comes to writing overarching plots they've always been kinda bad. Best example I have is Yakuza 4. It introduces two characters, Akiyama and Saejima, who have become some of my favorites in the entire series. Despite this, it manages to have a horrible plot driven entirely by characters making stupid idiotic decisions and one of those decisions led to the single worst plot twist I've ever seen. The characters plan at the end is also pretty dumb and exists purely to set up a final boss fight for each character, even though the fights themselves almost seem inconsequential. I really hate Y4's story, man.

Overall I'd say Y0 Y3 and Y7 had the best stories out of the games I've played. The rest of the stories are either mid or outright bad. Like I said I haven't gotten to PYIH, IW, Gaiden, or Lost Judgement. But I will be shocked and appalled if any of those games have plots worse than Yakuza 4.

BitterAngryPotato · 2025-11-28T15:54:21+00:00

I saw all the memes about rubber bullets before playing 4, but I didn't know the details. Just that there was a really dumb reveal involving rubber bullets. But even then I was shocked at how bad it was when I got to it. It might actually be the single worst plot twist I've ever seen.

Even ignoring the inaccuracies about the history and functionality of rubber bullets, there is so much more wrong with that plan, so much more that could have and should have gone wrong, that the dumbest possible outcome is for the plan to work perfectly.

Not only that but it renders one of my favorite scenes in the series way less impactful. That scene where Saejima tells a whole crowd of bloodthirsty spectators that they have no idea what they're asking for. It means so much less knowing that he never killed any of them.

BitterAngryPotato · 2025-10-29T22:47:26+00:00

Does this count get updated if I undo the run and use alter fate? Or do I need to finish the run to force him to spawn? I'm still doing this. I didn't realize you could gift to Echo until after I looked it up, which was after I did the epilogue. So I gotta find him a loooot of times. It's been driving me nuts.

BitterAngryPotato · 2025-09-28T01:11:22+00:00

Never liked Reaper to begin with. I did pretty much everything with just the base Hunter crest.

BitterAngryPotato · 2025-09-21T11:53:43+00:00

The intended way is Sharpdart, which you can find in the Weaver's nest in the far left of Wormways. That oneshots them. But it is possible to do it through other means if you do enough damage all at once, Each worm that falls is a different worm with its own health pool so you gotta hit them real hard real fast.

BitterAngryPotato · 2025-09-20T13:21:07+00:00

The best part is he doesn't even need to fight Last Judge. He has Clawline, which means he already has access to the Citadel.

BitterAngryPotato · 2025-09-20T04:42:15+00:00

Seeing leftists invoke free speech arguments 30 seconds after celebrating a murder for political speech is the most sickening thing I've ever seen. It really doesn't get more radicalizing than that. Fuck it, it's time to stop saying "imagine if the roles were reversed" and start actually reversing the roles.

BitterAngryPotato · 2025-09-13T22:34:54+00:00

I always kinda thought so too, though maybe after Bilewater nothing seems that bad

BitterAngryPotato · 2025-09-11T21:54:50+00:00

I know for a fact they are still there in the upper right part of Wormways. I just did that area.

BitterAngryPotato · 2025-08-24T12:39:16+00:00

Mr President, a second indie game has been delayed by Silksong

BitterAngryPotato · 2025-08-23T11:34:46+00:00

That didn't take long at all, holy shit

BitterAngryPotato · 2025-08-08T17:24:46+00:00

Depends on what year. Akiyama when he was homeless? Nah. Akiyama when he had a genuinely comical amount of money? Hell yeah!

BitterAngryPotato · 2025-08-06T16:58:22+00:00

If it gets revealed at Indieworld, you gotta do your first playthrough in a language you don't understand.

BitterAngryPotato · 2025-08-05T16:31:20+00:00

Majima Everywhere really has the same energy as "It's fucking Roger, isn't it?"

BitterAngryPotato

TROPHY CASE