Ryû ga gotoku Zero: Chikai no basho

'Yakuza 0 (2015)' serves as a prequel to its long-running series, focusing both on the franchise's main protagonist Kiryu and on one of its most iconic 'villains' Majima. The game's story is split almost evenly between its two stars, with their seemingly separate plots eventually converging in an incredibly satisfying way. The game is as crazy as anyone who has played a previous entry in the series would expect, stuffed to the brim with wacky substories (which often provide plenty of chuckles) and overly involved minigames, but it also has some real heart to it. The main quests, which are much more straight-faced, aren't invalidated by the often tongue-in-cheek side stuff. As such, the game's overall story is surprisingly effective, a mix of the absolutely absurd and the utterly sincere. It's engaging, enjoyable and, even, emotionally affecting. There are a lot of characters to keep track of but the thing reminds you who's who and what's what often enough to remain clear. Its ending does use some pretty hefty narrative gymnastics to get its core players into the positions they were/ will be in 'Yakuza (2005)'/ 'Yakuza Kiwami (2015)', but it's still an impactful and resonant climax that wraps things up in a cohesive way. The experience took me just under 100 hours and I never once got bored. I finished all substories (including the two secret boss battles and the entirety of both Real Estate Royale and Cabaret Club Czar), completed around 85% of the completion list, unlocked both characters' hidden battle styles, purchased all traditional skills and got all the collectible telephone cards. However, I didn't bother grinding out the last few ranks in the fighting arena, mopping up the rest of the CP points (I really didn't feel like learning how to play Mahjong), finding the last few pieces of equipment from the Dragon and Tiger shop, or trying to win 30 matches of the awful, RNG-based catfighting minigame (the worst minigame in the affair, for sure). That's because some of the game's grind just isn't worth it. Don't get me wrong, it's great for those who want to fully participate in the plethora of available minigames; I just didn't feel like spending hours on them, even if it annoyed the completionist within me. So, aside from in-depth distractions, what does the gameplay consist of? Fighting. Plain, good old-fashioned fighting. The combat system revolves around four styles, each of which have different strengths and weaknesses. Though it may initially seem somewhat repetitive, it's actually rather deep and gets more involved when you start to fill out the skill tree. I defeated several hundred foes and never got tired of doing it. Of course, the battles that are contextualised by story are much more resonant than the random ones that occur while roaming around the piece's two open-world locations. They're all fun, don't get me wrong, but there's this level of, I suppose, intensity that only exists when the fight is set up by a suspenseful series of cutscenes (which are all wonderfully executed). The game is just a ton of fun throughout. Every few hours, something new will appear and reignite your interest. As it approaches its finale and its plots start to converge, it only gets more and more compelling. It's so rare for a title to keep you truly engaged for 100 hours, yet this makes it look easy. It isn't perfect (for example, some of its NPCs look pretty bad), but it's an absolute blast to play. Heck, it's even an absolute blast to watch (its narrative sequences aren't exactly short). It's phenomenal. 10/10

The story is freaking awesome. It catches you early on and you are hooked until the very end. The mini-games in this game would count as full length games in other games.

For example, bowling is great, pool is awesome, karaoke is fun, darts are fun too, you can dance, and do all sorts of stuff. You can also manage clubs, buy property, hire people to manage your business, and a few more things.

Also you can find soft-porn cards that unlock softcore movies, and so much more man.

The only issue I have is that you engage in too many fights, it becomes repetitive after a while. There are times where people on the streets will just start fight with you every few seconds, and it gets too much sometimes.

Anyways,9/10.

Yakuza 0 is an action-adventure game that is the sixth main entry in the franchise and serves as prequel to the original game. The game takes places between December 1988 and January 1989 in Kamurocho, Tokyo and Sotenbori, Osaka. Players can control charismatic protagonist Kiryu Kazuma and eccentric Majima Goro. The story revolves around an empty lot in Kamurocho that is owned by a young woman living in Osaka who suffers from psychogenic blindness and is mercilessly hunted down by criminal organizations.

This game convinces on numerous levels. The game play is very addictive as players can incarnate the franchise's two most skilled fighters in this game which makes for extraordinary and unique fight sequences. These characters also have a more humane touch this time around since they are much younger than in the other games and trying to help a helpless innocent woman you can't help but rooting for.

The story is also intriguing as it comes around with several conspiracies, turns and twists that will keep players on the edges of their seats. The number of characters here is more impressive than in many television series featuring multiple seasons.

This game also helps us understand how the two lead characters became the people they are in the other releases of the franchise. Regular players will discover sides of these characters that they would have never expected to witness.

It also oozes with atmosphere and brings Japan in the late eighties to life in authentic fashion with less modern suburbs, elegant discotheques and tons of addictive arcade games. The accompanying soundtrack completes the authentic immersion.

This game once again offers value for money, with the main story taking more than thirty hours to be completed while finishing the numerous different side stories might take far over one hundred hours.

While not being the franchise's most memorable game, it serves its purpose as a prequel exploring the main characters' origins extremely well. This is why this game should certainly please regular fans of the franchise. However, it would also serve as excellent starting point for new fans who could then continue their discovery of this extraordinary game series chronologically.

One of the BEST games ever made.

Yakuza 0 (Ryu ga gotoku Zero: Chikai no Basho) is a 2015 videogame, genre adventure, beatem up, directed by Toshihiro Nagoshi and starring as voice actor Takaya Kuroda and Hidenari Ugaki. Yakuza 0 is a prequel to the first game in the Yakuza series, released in 2005, and which currently has 7 main games.

The plot focuses on two main protagonist - Kazuma Kiryu (who is still quite new to the criminal world) and Goro Majima ( a cabaret manager, expelled from the clan and trying with all his might to return to it). Two characters have been involved in an "empty lot" case fought by clans from all over Japan. The plot is broken into a story of two characters, and this story gradually converges into one line of two characters.

The action takes place in December 1988, the Kamurocho district (which is written off from the real area in Tokyo - Kabukicho), and the atmosphere of that time is very well shown and registered. The main characters, as well as the rest of the secondary characters, are very well written and by the end of the story they fall into your soul. The plot is one of the best in the gaming series. And, of course, the soundtrack is amazing.

The word that best describes this game is fantastic. The gameplay is fun, a lot of content, and for those, who love Japanese games, I highly recommend trying out this series, and it's better to start with this game.

S tier, 10/10. Such a brilliantly over the top game. The story goes in so many different directions and is just a joy to watch. The combat is satisfying, I loved Majima's set the best and the baseball bat the most. Kiru's beast mode was great too. The open world was perfectly condensed with interesting side missions and plenty of things to do.

The infamous kareoke songs are brilliant, the race car game was exceptional, my favorite was however the dancing, just perfect. It did definitely drag at the end and felt a bit repetitive with the combat but there are so many great story moments and things to keep you playing. The last mission is so great and is such a brilliant set piece ending.

The customisation of your character however is very limited and pretty much non existent. The side missions are great but it is very easy to miss them as you have to explore in so many different areas. This is both good and bad as it forces you to explore but is just very time consuming and fustrating for me personally. I did go back to complete the side missions I missed in free roam mode but it just felt really repetitive and tedious to wander around the streets, exploring every inch of this place just to find a questline. Majima's story goes a bit all over the place after the incredible introduction. Over time it definitely got better but was weaker compared to Kiru's.

I haven't played the later games but several characters such as Kiru's best friend who felt like a major character didn't have much of a role. I'm sure that he is more important in the later games but i am very hesitant to play them, as I feel this style of combat and exploration could really get old after a while. I was interested in the story but I just looked up a video online, which definitely made me want to check out some of the games, I probably will but at a later date.

I did get this game because of Dunkey's review and am glad to say I enjoyed it allot more than him. I do agree with most of his points but the story is definitely better than he made it out to be. I'm not angry or anything I just wish he enjoyed it as much as I did.

In all a game I really enjoyed and just wanted to keep on playing and playing till the end. Definitely one of the most fun games I have played.