Yakuza 3Overall I enjoyed it and I'm glad I finally got around to it. Bit of a slow start and ponderous at times but it didn't help that I had to replay the first few hours since the PS3 I had before died and I didn't back up the saves.
I think I enjoyed Yakuza 2 and even 1 more, for a few reasons. Feel like this game was lacking in charm compared to them, to an extent.
Firstly the way cities were sectioned off into grids like in old Animal Crossing games - except each area varied in size and had different angles - was gone in this game and there's now a standard 3rd person camera. They have less control on putting emphasis on certain landmarks, and in some areas there were nice wide overhead shots that are obviously gone now. The way the city sounds is different too with crowd noise being less prominent because with your freer view of things you can see there aren't the people/things to justify it.
Not necessarily a bad change. Just different and probably necessary for the future of the series. I just imagine it's refined a lot more in later games, and with the attempt at a more seamless transition into battles being smoother.
The soundtrack I didn't like as much either. There wasn't a track that was quite the same as
this to set a tense scene and build up towards a confrontation. Bit hit and miss with the remixes of previous tracks I remember hearing. A couple of the battle themes were good and as always they nailed the main one.
There are a few more things I'd criticise but I can't be bothered right now. To end on a positive note, since I do like this game, the story is the same overly dramatic crime story schtick with ridiculous asides that I've come to expect and love, and in the later acts I felt it had a better emotional punch than the previous games. And despite the content in the western release being cut down I didn't feel like it was lacking. I did a ton of side stories and believe there's still a fair bit to go back to if I ever fancied dipping into the game again.