Would rather they not. Story in 0 was a big letdown for me and I'd rank it as one of the weaker games in the series were it not for the revamped combat and strength of some of the side content.
I've been mulling it over and I think the main issue for me was that there were stakes, no consequence to the events. The worst kind of prequel as it primarily focused on supporting characters that don't turn up anywhere in the later games, so there's no threat in the villains and no real weight to the drama.
I was excited over the idea of seeing both Kiryu and Majima in a formative state but I again think there was a huge misstep in how they portrayed both of them. In 0 I felt there was a lean towards being too precious with these characters and not actually giving them real growth. In short, the Dragon of Dojima is a myth that never existed; Kiryu in 0 is the same kind of do-right, principled man that he is in the later games, and it now jars massively with what his legend is. He carries this reputation of being a ruthless bastard, king of the thugs in the first game who after becoming disillusioned wants to get away from that life. In this game he was never that person, he just happened to be good at fights. Majima fares worse as his character has been softened massively over the course of the series, from antagonist to anti-hero to straight up protagonist, and what could have been a good opportunity to return to his villainous roots is instead cast aside for melodrama and him trying to do the right thing. This is the same guy who upon first meeting him in the series is about to batter one of his own goons to death with a baseball bat. I get that characters change over time (one of my favourite aspects of the series is how they develop with each instalment) but to go to an origin story and have the characters be representative of where they were in the prior entry is a major fumble.
Spoiler time too, Kiryu and Majima are massive strawberry floating idiots in 0.They know that their respective bosses basically set them up and yet still go back to working for them, and then later act shocked when they strawberry float them over again? Chumps.
There are real flashes of greatness. Individual moments, some original characters, occasional revelations. But they're tied to a narrative that only serves to detract to the overrall story, that tries too hard to make everything interconnected. Star Wars Prequel level.
I picked up 0 and Kiwami on the sale. The fact that 4 and Dead Souls were on sale too was the last straw which pushed me over the edge to rebuy a ps3 and those games too. Now i'm looking for how to get 3 cheap and mulling over getting 5 too. I haven't even downloaded 0 yet
Speaking of Dead Souls, that was my first ever Yakuza game. I had no idea who anyone was or what was going on, and I ended up not doing the side content.
I might go back to it after Kiwami 2 and finally getting around to 3.