While not my favourite out of 3-5, it's a memorable experience. There's so much stuff to do that amidst my idol practices I remembered I became the king of street racists (or racer) and hunt The Notorious B.E.A.R. in the same game.

It was also the glitchiest Yakuza game I've played so far but nothing game breaking.

The heat actions were so well animated and you could really feel hurt and impact they had. There were a couple really dumb moves that, unlike other moves which were ridiculous yet still grounded, couldn't keep my suspension of disbelief.

Yakuza 5 had some really forgettable antagonists and would've ruined my experience if I didn't play it for the journey.

5 sits above 4, below 3 for me. Absolutely solid.

The problem with Yakuza 5 is the failure of it's penta-narrative. Y4 used a quad-narrative that worked, but only because each character was either directly impacted or entangled in the main narrative elements. Y5 fails because each character is basically doing their own thing unrelated to everyone else, until the last 15 or so minutes of their parts.

The biggest perpetrators of this are Haruka and Shinada's parts. Saejima is related to the larger plot, but spends a lot of time on irrelevant material. Kiryu's is the only strong chapter that directly builds up the main plotline. Let's delve into that first.

Kiryu is currently supporting his orphanage financially via taxi driving. Haruka was scouted by a talent agency, and without giving too much away let's just say that Kiryu leaves so that she can follow her ambitions untethered. Kiryu picks up a passenger early on: Dojima, the current chairman of the Tojo clan. We get the setup right away: the current Omi chairman is gravely ill and will pass soon, so the current alliance between them and the Tojo is under threat of dissolution. Dojima is therefore seeking alliances elsewhere. He goes missing soon after.

Kiryu, as was the case with the other games, doesn't want any part in underworld events. But he's slowly drawn into the fray, and with a resolution and drive that was missing in Y4 (which made his inclusion feel shoe-horned). Kiryu accepts his legendary status and reasons that it can be a force for good to protect those in his life. If the game stayed on Kiryu it would've had a stronger narrative.

But then we get the narrative switching. Seajima is the first up, and at first it isn't too bad. He's (willingly) serving a 2 year prison sentence, but abruptly denied parole for no apparent reason. Without spoiling a lot, let's just say that an urgent matter comes up with Majima, so we bust out of prison. Once out we patrol Tsukimino (the local city) in search of the local clan leader, who is allegedly behind the transgressions.

The problem is that a large chunk of the chapter takes place in this tiny prison yard where you talk to the same 3 people to progress the story. And most of the story deals with Saejma's prison pals and the warden's ethics. It's not that interesting, or related to the larger narrative. When we finally get to a new city, the game rushes towards the end for the character switch.

Next up is Haruka, who is working at an idol agency and gearing up for a local competition. Where's Daigo? What's happening with Majima? Who cares; you have a handshake event today! I hope you enjoy playing Idolmaster for the following 30 hours! Haruka's part has a character switch to Akiyama halfway in, which ties it back to the main story via an Omi Alliance run talent agency. But this part also sucks because they NERFED THE HELL out of Akiyama's moveset. He's real weak.

Character switch to Shinada - an ex professional baseball player kicked out of the league for suspected match fixing. He lives life as an impoverished sleaze magazine writer. He begins uncovering the truth of his past as he seeks out the mysterious Nagoya family, whom are allegedly behind his downfall. His motivation being, at first, money from a 'mystery' benefactor (in a bad disguise). The mystery deepens as Shinada finds that the Nagoya family is seemingly nowhere (and everywhere) to be found.

I think by now the issue I talked about at the start is more clearly laid out now. Completely unrelated storylines that detract from the main narrative. There is a silver lining, which is that Haruka's part is at least conceptually interesting. You dance instead of fight. And Shinada's is a good mystery. But it's completely out of place in the game. Akin to filler material that barely moves the story. Remember, this is about Daigo and the Tojo alliance, so when we connect Haruka and Shinada to the main story it's both silly, confusing, and still inconsequential

By the ending, Kiryu is the only one with any real motivation for being there. Saejima is there as a Tojo soldier. Fine. Shinada is just helping out, I guess. Akiyama is there to take care of Haruka. And Haruka is dancing in the background at a concert. Which is under jeopardy for no discernible reason other than she is a main character and has to be in the finale.

The writing is all over the place. It works for the most part. But you frequently have characters fighting for no reason. Like Shinada's fight in the finale. Shinada is attempting to stop a shooting, but the shooter decides to not go through with it before Shinada arrives. Shinada still fights him because we need a boss fight for Shinada.

Similarly, Saejima's part has him making up and shaking hands with an ally, only to fight him anyway because...I don't know, actually. There's no reason to fight someone after you've made up. We needed a boss fight to close up the chapter. Speaking of, after the fight Saejima is asked if he wants to know who the mastermind is behind everything and he passes because 'it won't change anything'. Just, really, the best writers behind this product!

Oh, and let's not forget this 4-way boss battle towards the end between allies: “we have to draw out the mastermind by killing each other. Whoever survives can end this”. That's not an exaggeration by the way, allies helping each other bring up the possibility of murdering each other in the off chance that the mastermind might decide to show himself (and reveal his nonsensical plot of shooting a girl at a concert? Lol WHY?). Really, really, really smart and realistic writing here. Award winning brilliance.

Don't think about the plot too much, because then it falls apart. The entire Majima story really went nowhere and was rather pointless. Sanada went to Tokyo because of his old coach, but we never meet him or resolve that matter.

This game was hard to get through. Everywhere else it's typical Yakuza: boring hostess convos, the mini games, pool, darts, etc etc etc. You know what to expect. Each character has a unique side-game that is interesting, but nothing you can make a full game out of. Everything else is fine. But, this being a story heavy franchise, it fails tremendously at that. Certain plot elements (Majima's story, Shinada going to Tokyo to meet his old coach) either don't get resolved or go nowhere when you think about it. So give the writing as much introspection as the writers did: barely any.

I'd suggest running through this quick and putting it behind you. Y4 may have been silly in it's plot elements, but Y5 is just trash.

I 100%'d this game. It took three months. You shouldn't. But the game is good.