I agree with the statement that Judgment has the best story in the franchise. I think the Mole's reveal is one of the most masterfully done plot twists I've ever seen, and I respect the hell out of every twist in that game.

What makes yakuza one of my favorite series is that if someone tells me any of the games are their favorite i get it. That shows a consistent quality i really appreciate

I definitely agree that 5's story is overloaded. Plus I feel that the end plot twist is bullshit similar to 2's, but unlike 2's, where there's enough good stuff going on to where that end twist is just "Well that was stupid", 5's just makes everything all the more confusing. Plus, with Akiyama sharing a segment with Haruka, it honestly would've been cool if he taught her his Taekwondo moves (since according to a Martial Arts in Yakuza video I saw, that's his style apparently). While it wouldn't have developed Akiyama's character too much, it would've been cool regardless.

In terms of gameplay I would say 5 is the best but in terms of story definitely Judgement

Yakuza 5 is my favorite because it hits the right spot for someone like me who wants to slowly enjoy every single aspect of the game, and not only tackle its story Like yeah, it being a huge is a really cool thing!

As someone who's 100% Yakuza 3: If you unlock all the moves and learn how to fight: then it's actually Fun to play! But until you do... it's really Rough! As for the Minigames: With the Exception of the Dress-up game and Massage Parlor, ALL of them are "Hate 'em when you Start Playing, but Love 'em when you learn 'em" ~No Seriously: While the Gambling games are all the same, I didn't understand Koi-Koi until Y3; but it's now one of my favorite Minigames to play!

i'll be damned you put gaiden and infinite wealth in top 5? I'm impressed (and I also agree)

I actually really loved the story of Yakuza 6, every part of it just screams finality. There are so many callbacks to big moments in Kiryu's life throughout the series culminating in his sacrifice for Haruka and Yuta mirroring Yumi's. There is no question that 6 is supposed to be the epilogue to Kiryu's story and I hated seeing ANOTHER fake-out in the post-credits scenes. I'm really worried I'll hate where they take Kiryu's character in 7 onwards.

Somas boss theme "viper" is one of my favorite boss themes EVER

Lost Judgment is my favorite easily Also Gaiden being so high is based af

I really appreciate you ranking things in a top 10 format instead of tier list format. I'm so tired of tier lists

I really wish I could play judgement and the other games but I had to realise that after I bought Kiwami1,2 and Yakuza 3-6 that I can only play Yakuza 0 , Kiwami and Kiwami 2 as I can't run the rest of the Yakuza series on my PC

my first yakuza game was kiwami 2 back in 2020, bought it because of the beautiful ps4 steelbook without having a clue of what kind of insane series it was. Played every game in order from 0 to 6 but I wasn't too fond of the turn based gameplay coming with 7 so I never tried it. Didn't play Judgment and its sequel either, but I'm currently replaying (100%) every single game in the series right now so I might give them a try now. Seen some of your videos lately and the way you talk about the latest entries definitely helped in making that decision hehe

For the people playing on Xbox, the entire Yakuza series is on gamepass

Yakuza 2 on PS2 was my first Yakuza game and it will always have a special place in my heart. It made me buy a PS3 just for Yakuza 3. OG 2 and 4 are my favourites by far. I still like the later games but while many got into the series with 0 that’s where I started to fall off. And I got into Judgment instead and loved that.

Can you make timestamps on each ranked game? just so I can just avoid spoilers.

Only a brave warrior would put 5 dead last. Godspeed sir

finally someone who doesnt hate on 3 🙏

I am agreed with 5. Like, Sure, 5 has many good things. Minigames, Soundtracks, Watase, Shinada's part but I think they forget that main selling point of Like a Dragon series is "Writing". They got pretty good concept but execute it poorly. And, Man....I hate this..."Aizawa". There are plenty of good choices. For example, Kurosawa, Katsuya. They could've reveal Katsuya used everyone and working with Kurosawa in shadow. But then again, No. They choose Aizawa who almost being forgotten until you have to fight him as Saejima again. And you know what make it worse? The Dialogue before final boss. In past games, Dialogues before final boss are pretty well done and like reveal all MC feeling and told us what it's mean to fight them. But 5? Tbh, Idk myself". That line alone really ruined this game to me.

Respectfully I do disagree…… with gaidens villains. I like shishido but I feel like nishitani the third couldve been someone who wasnt tied to 0 And I dont like shishido just… deciding to work with the dude who uH YIKES did alot to him. I feel like if gaiden had ng+ it could be higher then 0 but I feel like 0 imo has better villains and better story…… buttt gaidens combat is the most fun ive had playing kiryu aside from his op shit in iw. also Imo i think 6 is better then 4 Its one of my favorites of the series But I do understand why many dislike it. I respect your opinions good sir! its always nice To hear differing opinions! also nice to hear 3s story and espescially the okinawa parts get love!! i love when kiryu gets to be a dad

Hey, can anyone recommend which Yakuza games are worth buying and which ones to skip?

I want to see Okinawa in the Dragon Engine, can't wait for Kiwami 3

on skibidi we all wanted this dejis aura is on par with duke dennis

in yakuza 5 maybe it would be better if it was just haruka and shinada with saejima amd akiyama as side characters

Finally somebody that doesnt despise yakuza 3. I really love it, I played chronologically the series over the last year and I thought after the kiwamis "oh no now its getting worse" and I loved pretty mich everything, okinawa is really fun and the orphanage parts were really fun slice of life and rikiya and mine are 2 of my absolute favourite yakuza characters for very different reasons.

Honestly I thought Lost Judgment was a bit better in the story than Judgment maybe because of how it was executed, the motives behind why the antagonist did what the did and how they depicted it had me staring at my screen for a while when I'd beaten it so I'd move that to #1 with 0 being number #2, Judgment #3, then 6, 5, Gaiden, IW, 3, 1, 2, Ishin and 4. 4 only fell flat for the most forgettable antagonist but it also introduced Akiyama and Saijima as well as that 4th character we never saw again but had a solid story. IW is very on the border for me just because the story is great and the difficulty spikes in 7 are gone but the introduction to mechanics felt imbalanced and not placed where it should have been, the Dungeons were sort of bleh and the last chapter of story felt like it was rushed and missing just 10 more minutes of closure to some loose ends. I just beat Ishin a few nights ago and the only reason it's a little lower for me is because of the grindyness and a few loose ends in the story as well as feeling like you don't really need to grind for the best gear when they give me a few great weapons early but then having to finance a house with your time if you really do want to grind for those weapons, metaphorically speaking. . . Speaking on Gaiden though there's some good Substory hidden in that Akame Network stuff, it just looks more tedious than it has to because of how they framed it but I got a solid 28 hours doing a lot of the substory stuff before finishing.

I like yakuza 5 but I literally don't know the plot at all

I also really wish that I could have gotten into Ishin, but I just can't get into it idk why

Yakuza 5s story is being constantly start and stopped so that side stories can be pushed, it feels like the story can never gain momentum cuz it has to stop so you can be forced to play 20 minutes of side story content before the game so graciously lets you watch a cutscene half connected to the plot. Saejima gets the worst of this imo. i think Saejimas prison section in yakuza 4 was perfectly paced, it let you understand the stakes but didnt overstay its welcome... then Yakuza 5 makes Saejimas section almost only prison, and i wont lie i love the prison buddies but man it feels like they just dont know how to build saejimas character other then "Hes in prison" like i know in the story context it kinda makes sense but from the creation of saejimas character it feels like theyre just recycling his arc from yakuza 4 with him finding new brothers to ally with and trying to discover some truth involving majima yada yada yada, plus all the hunting stuff just wares on you, Saejima has one of my fave fighting styles so it being side lined for most of his section is painful i think in general yakuza 5 missed why people like yakuza cuz it feels like at every turn they dont want you to play the combat, i think i played more minigames then actual combat in yakuza 5 which makes it an absolute SLOG to get through plus it just feels like fighting styles have no power, in yakuza 4 saejima felt like an actual unstoppable force that was like a freight train hitting a car but in 5 hes so reliant on grab spam that he just feels awkward to play as. also is it just me or in yakuza 5 enemies try and grab you way way way more to the point it almost feels impossible to keep heat cuz enemies will just grab you and drain it so fast

I'm here for 5 in last place but I'd put 6 and 4 higher and drop Kiwami 1.

I think K2 should be at the bottom, and 0 at top.

I agree with almost everything except for a few points. So I will express my visions. I like the ending of Yakuza 6 a lot more than Gaiden and especially Infinite Wealth. The ending of Gaiden feels very fan-service, the developers realized all the wishes of those who were dissatisfied with the ending of Yakuza 6, and that's exactly what I don't like. And the Gaiden story doesn't work for me for a very simple reason, it all takes place before the end of Yakuza 7, so I knew we would see more of Kiryu and considering that Ichiban's story is one of the weakest for me, I didn't really care. In general, all the main parts of the series after Yakuza 6 feel like filler and Yakuza 0 is also a very boring filler story in my eyes. And probably the last detail is the Yakuza style it's almost trash the only improvement is the triple finisher. Gameplay issues: removed grab from behind, removed parry, finishing hold blocked for extreme heat mode, removed weapons from Kiwami 2, removed a bunch of heat actions from Yakuza 6 and Kiwami 2, Agent is fast but very bad on bosses, Yakuza is strong but slow AGAIN, and considering that the AI in Gaiden very aggressive game turns into a dodge simulator. I couldn't play and enjoy it like I did with Lost Judgment.

I’m currently playing through the series and I’m only up to yakuza 3 (I’ve been playing them in story order so I started with 0) and so far I think 3 is the one I like the least because of it’s age. I find the combat a little annoying since the enemies, especially bosses, seem to block 90% of your normal attacks and I also think the story is just ok. I definitely like it but not as much as the other ones I’ve played so far, I don’t help myself due to the fact I skip most of the side content and focus on the main story though. My opinion will probably change when I’m further into the series.

Ehh some of these games I disagree with personally on their rankings like I actually enjoyed 5 lot, I know it is a bloated mess but I find it endearing for how massive scale they tried to make it. And personally I wasn't a big fan of Judgement I just could get behind it personally outside of its story. Solid list though.

Having Yakuza 5, Kiwami 2, and Yakuza 6 outside of the top half is just wrong. Yakuza 5 is my personal favorite game in the series and I never had trouble remembering any of the main story (and I did all the side content) so that is your fault, not the game’s fault. At least you put Yakuza 4 low on the list. Personally it is my least favorite game and I actually hate it.

Hmmm from the games i played so far my ranking would be Last - yakuza like a dragon - yakuza 5 - yakuza kiwami 2 - yakuza 3 - yakuza 4 - yakuza kiwami - yakuza 6 - like a dragon gaiden - like a dragon infinite wealth - yakuza 0 Best I know it's kinda controversial but that is my ranking

i love Yakuza 5 because it has one of my favorite characters in the whole series. that being Shinada.

I wonder what's next after like a dragon 8 maybe another summit

yakuza 6 and 3 are my fav kiryu games because the are kiryu based love it

Nah, putting Gaiden over 0 is kinda insane imo

Itchyban

Having yakuza 3 above kiwami 1 and 2 shows exactly why some people don’t deserve opinions.. you should be in cuffs👿

Gaiden being top 3 is so nuts

I feel really out of the loop with Gaiden. Yeah it’s a fun game, the ending is strong, but most of it is filler and a shitload of exposition which make it feel a lot longer than it actually is. I genuinely don’t understand why people rank it so high. The love for 8 also seems like recency bias. The story is really underwhelming.

Kurohyou? 😢

i wont lie, i would put yakuza 5 above kiwami 1, kiwami 2, 3, AND 4

I played the mainline games from 0 to 7. I think 3 is the worse, because the combat is just bad at some points, ans its story is ok, but has pacing issues caused by the establishment of the orphanage. The actual plot end up being too compressed, needing a big info dump during it. Yakuza 4 is one of the most fun yakuza games. Its story is bad, especially at the end, but its so bad its entertaining to watch. The combat is a big improvement on 3, it has good substories, and it had the proto versions of the main side content, present on future games, like 5, 0 and 7. Yakuza 5 is the first entry with the best engine for combatvin the series (supposedly judgement fixed the combat in dragon engine, but I didn't play those games yet, nor gaiden, the other refente brawler using that engine). The combat is great, the variety of side content is great. The story has issues because of the structure of never going back to a main character after their part finishes until the finale. Some good characters are badly utilized, like akiyama, but I think is better to use a good character in that way, than giving screentime to lame characters. 0 is the best yakuza game of those I've played. Simply. Not much to say. Combat great, story great, excellent characters. substories good. Minigames good. Cabaret club excellent. My biggest criticism it that the real state gets a little boring by the end. K1 is an asset reuse from 0 with a far worse story. Due to being based off 0, the gameplay is still good. The story suffers heavily from being the first yakuza game to be written, and for being written without sequels in mind. 6 suffers from a lot of issues. The engine change made the combat worse and the side content to be smaller. The voicing did more harm than good for the substories. The cast is worse, after 0, I hace the impression that RGG peaked in character creation there, and everything after feels worse. The plot is caused by characters being stupid ( especially Haruka), which makes me not enjoy as much. And it would be terrible to retire kiryu on a game where important characters never play a part on the story, so I'm glad they brought him back. K2 is an asset reuse from 6. The combat is still weird because of that. But having yakuza 2 plot makes the game better, because of the interesting characters present in this story. Also, it has the excellent cabaret minigame back. 7/like a dragon is weird for me to describe. It excells in some areas, but it completely sucks in others. The story is well written, but it has pacing issues caused by the very slow paced beginning that makes the climax be a little underwhelming. The substories are great, but they are too concentrated on the beginning, there are none in kamurocho or sotenbori, and theres a lack of substorues involving the party members. The minigames are great. Theres more side content, when comparing to 6. But the game has serious cons: the gameplay, due to the chamge to turn based, has no balance, its very easy most of the game. Only one fight in the enrirr game is actually great( vs majima and saejima). And the characters are worse. Ichiban is not a guy that can carry a 7 game franchise like kiryu did. Hes lame. Hes too good hearted. He is basically a generic anime/jrpg protagonist in a yakuza game skin. The party members are also not interesting. The villains are also mid. The only one making a very memorable impressiin on me was ryo aoki, due to how very puncheable he was. I cheered for his death, while tha game tried to paint that moment as tragic. I'm glad kiryu shares the spotlight with ichiban in 8.

I had to give up on getting 100% on Ishin because of the Seals. I sunk close to 200 hours and I got 33/45 of them. That’s some awful game design.

I remember I tried to get my friend into this game but he hated it cause the Yakuza wasn’t as brutal or monsterous as they are irl. I told him “It does have serious moment, but it also tries to make the characters human and real (to a extent)” which got him madder cause “They don’t need to be humanized, their monsters. They are Yakuza, they need to be more brutal. Ichiban should have been killed off almost immediately, Majima is too crazy to live, and Kiryu shouldn’t show emotions but coldness” - My friend

Dude you are actually trolling how is yakuza 3 better that yakuza 4 5 6 and 2 like man how??

nah infinite wealth at 1 is crazy 💀

Great list loved Gaiden, short but sweet, infinite wealth is awesome with Hawaii being being beautiful but combat is kinda shit sometimes luckily there's a lot of meat on the bone. Dodonko Island resort is fun. Yakuza O still my top 3. Ishin is definitely my 4th. 1. Infinite wealth 2.Gaiden 3.Yakuza O 4.Ishin 5.Yakuza 6 My top 5

That recency bias going crazy lmao 8 i can see being top 5 but the fact that both it and gaiden are top 5 just feels like its a favourites list based on how recency you played it no disrespect man

22:14 "Im ok with yakuza 3 cuz I like fromsoft games" Because dark souls is notorious for their bosses that block your hits aren't able to be whiff punished. You say they can in 3, but I just don't remember if they do, cuz uh...they don't? Pro tip: If you have trouble with a fromsoft boss, just grab them! (TN: I don't agree with this point at all) Edit: IW is an amazing game, I only have a few big narrative gripes, like how it felt as if Ichiban suddenly took the backseat to what was his game.

I love every game expect Dead Souls

Not really a fan of 8 it felt too fan-servicey story felt inconsistant too otherwise good list LJ is based :)

Infinite wealth at 1 is insanee