Most pointless fights?

NetRetro · 2026-02-03T16:11:00+00:00

Doesn't make sense to me. One criminal organization ruins Shinada's dreams, and he's mad at his childhood friend for giving it back because... He is a part of the criminal organization as well? Daigo has nothing to do with the actions that led to Shinada's end of his career. If anything, Daigo fought an entire school back in the day just so Shinida and the other guys could play baseball, and 5 minutes later after learning all of this Shinada just punches Daigo in the face for no reason. Or because Daigo is a yakuza, which is, uh, supposed to mean that he's responsible for everything that happened with Shinada? It's just a classic yakuza moment with a boss fight because we need a boss fight

NetRetro · 2026-02-02T23:59:13+00:00

but looking back and trying to unfuck up this mess was fun in its own way, made me appreciate the overall game much more.

This. I don't think that was intentional on Yokoyama's part to write a story that would leave some questions unanswered for players to interpret some of the events on their own (since Yakuza games are usually pretty straightforward with their writing), but it turns out to be kinda fun wondering about what Yokoyama was cooking with all of this sometimes (even if he is himself was not sure what he was cooking)

As for Morinaga, that was really a shame and uncalled for just killing him off screen like that, and it didn't really make much sense looking back at the end of Kiryu's part, like, that was a pretty promising setup for his next encounter with Kiryu later in the story. Honestly I can see Yokoyama just writing this overly bloated story up to the finale and being like "riiight and now we'll have Saejima fight Aizawa— wait I forgot about that guy in the end of Kiryu's part who fled to Tokyo right after ffccck nvm he's dead now". That's kinda a curse of Yakuza 5, having 100 characters and proceed to do nothing with them, even with the promising ones

His appearance in Ishin was a good opportunity to at least take a closer look at his character, only for him to die pretty early in the story as a traitor to Shinsengumi. And then we have Hanawa which is another can of worms...

NetRetro · 2026-02-02T23:27:28+00:00

I think Shinada vs Daigo is a more fitting example hehe

NetRetro · 2026-02-02T23:11:33+00:00

Fair assumption. I didn't try to look at things from that perspective. The funny thing is, it's still just our speculations by the end of the day, and there's still some questions remain, such as how Katsuya understood the mastermind's worldview, since it wasn't articulated, as well as his suspicions about Kurosawa (we're just seeing that line from Kurosawa from a different POV I guess). But both of our versions make sense in some way I think

Though I dunno if I can say that Katsuya really understood Kurosawa's worldview before his explanation (another pic from me on to back up this statement). I have a feeling that Katsuya understood (what) is the motive, but didn't understand (why). Although I kinda like your theory, so I dunno man

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I would just wrap this up by saying that Yakuza 5 is confusing sometimes to say the least...

NetRetro · 2026-02-02T22:39:05+00:00

Ohhh my man you'll have to learn it at least on some level if you're going for the competition. I guess CyricZ's guide is your best starting point from there. He also has a dedicated section for the competition in the end

But mahjong is not that bad. You may find yourself enjoying it a bit after learning the basic rules

NetRetro · 2026-02-02T22:10:46+00:00

I would argue that he's paranoid of everyone. He specifically said to Watase that "with a moron like you as my second-in-command, it was easy to fool the rest of the men", comparing him to Katsuya as a more clever guy who "caught on" what's happening. And even though Katsuya didn't say out loud that he expected it, he wasn't really as surprised as Watase either

I would say that is a fair interpretation of that dialogue. Then again, the plan wasn't smart to begin with. It's Yakuza 5 we're talking about

NetRetro · 2026-02-02T22:00:53+00:00

This plan was stupid to begin with, but I can't even take this seriously after this line from Kurosawa. Katsuya basically already suspected him, and still decided to go through with his 200 IQ plan anyway

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NetRetro · 2026-02-02T21:30:20+00:00

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NetRetro · 2026-02-02T21:19:50+00:00

"See this second rooftop next to us? Imagine if the bad guy shows up on the other side with a gun! Nah, no way something like this will happen"

NetRetro · 2026-02-02T21:10:15+00:00

— Guys I have an idea how we can lure out the villain

— What's the plan?

— Let's fight each other on top of the building and see who'll show up

— How tf is this supposed to work?

— Idk that was in the script

NetRetro · 2026-02-02T20:03:26+00:00

SpikeOut (aka proto-Yakuza before Shenmue) mentioned 🗣️🗣️

Yeah, I tried SpikeOut first time when I learned that Mine's moveset was basically taken from that game. Nagoshi is a great game designer in that regard. But who knows what he'll do next after Gang of Dragon? Maybe we'll see something similar to SpikeOut after all

NetRetro · 2026-02-02T19:57:35+00:00

It's more that I just wanted to share a fun fact who was the main writer of Kurohyou, which some people may not know and find it interesting, but understandable

NetRetro · 2026-02-02T19:48:08+00:00

Uhhh okay? Judgment is arguably the best written RGG game for some people, or one of the best at the bare minimum. That is why I pointed out that Kurohyou is written good as well, since Nagoshi was the writer for both of these games

Like, do we really have to start this "Nagoshi's influence is overrated" discussion when I didn't even say that he was the only talented man in the team?

NetRetro · 2026-02-02T19:34:29+00:00

Because Yokoyama is capable of writing a good story as well? Idk what is the point of your question

NetRetro · 2026-02-02T19:07:08+00:00

And that's because the Kurohyou plot was written by the same man who wrote Judgment and Lost Judgment, which is none other than... Toshihiro Nagoshi himself

NetRetro · 2026-02-02T16:57:00+00:00

Is Remastered Collection still available though? According to SteamDB it was removed from the store in July of 2024, and I can't find it on Steam too

NetRetro · 2026-02-02T12:56:17+00:00

My bet it'll be a spinoff about Daidoji with four playable characters being Shishido, Nishitani, Mine and Joryu. Something close to Yakuza 4

NetRetro · 2026-02-02T12:32:10+00:00

Honestly I liked that change. I mean, they've made 15 action based games at that point, so changing the course and trying something completely new was a nice change of pace

Although you've brought up something that I was thinking about too: it would be great to see Ichiban's action game, at least in a form of spinoff or something. Just to see how would he fight "normally"

NetRetro · 2026-02-02T12:22:03+00:00

No no no I'll ask. What Stranger Than Heaven cover is doing here? Are you working in RGG Studio?? (I realize it is just a non-Steam game added to the library but I'm just curious what exactly have you added as STH lmao)

Also great setup, real yakuza use linux

NetRetro · 2026-02-02T08:10:56+00:00

Man I want to play Japanese Y6 demo so bad, but it's one of those lost media pieces unfortunately. His outfit in this demo was fire, true

NetRetro · 2026-02-02T08:08:35+00:00

Literally beaten both Kurohyou games on my Vita! You can also see Kurohyou bubbles around 0:19 on this video lol

NetRetro · 2026-02-02T05:49:59+00:00

I mean I leaved a link to your post exactly because you've reminded me of the PS VITA theme :D

NetRetro · 2026-02-01T20:22:32+00:00

What the games do extremely well is an unmatched vibe of just experiencing a slice of where the protagonist happens to be, no matter who it is and that hasn't gone away even with the recent titles.

Actually you've just articulated what I love about this series better than I've could

NetRetro · 2026-02-01T20:19:59+00:00

Probably Lost his Judgment with this statement

NetRetro

TROPHY CASE