Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties

Agree with other users saying the hate is performative. A wonderful, streamlined Yakuza game. The upgrade system and combat are arguably the best in the Dragon Engine Era (outside the Judgment series). Graphics are top notch as well. Story is a classic. Only wish RGG didn't pare down Okinawa, we're missing a block in Hatsumachi.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

I will say this if you liked OG3/R you may be disappointed at the lack of content they have/cut in the remake I do like that they didn’t bring back the climax battles or the legendary difficulty completion

Kiwami 3 is a baffling mix of decisions made by the developer to change things up because they seemingly could, while taking out a TON of content from the original game. I personally never played the original game myself but, knowing they took out 2/3rd's of the side stories, the bread and butter behind these games, almost made me ask for a refund immediately. Let alone their changes to the combat and progression systems would be bad enough. However, they decided to retcon the ending by allowing a character who originally died, to live at the end to, presumably, be a main player in later games. Which doesn't make sense at all, considering where Yakuza 4 starts out at, and the role that plays in the overall canon of the series. They've clearly decided that the current storyline that all the games have followed, including the most recent games starring Ichiban, are not up to snuff for them and are going to make wholsesale changes for this new reboot series, as they've already said this the last Kiwami branded game, but have also stated that the remakes will continue on in the future. Personally I don't feel great by their flippant ability to disregard the story, one of the better and intriguing ones to come from a Japanese developer. Plus their casting decisions are truly baffling here, knowing that one of the actors for a main character you see alot in the story has been accused of SA in the past and he tellingly has never denied it. I'm worried for the future of the Yakuza franchise. I feel like we really need a new Ichiban-style game next to hopefully wash away the stink behind this game and move forward with the franchise. Because I can't recommend this to hardcore fans of the series at all.

Game is a disaster under many aspects: combat feels repetitive, too easy and boring after a short while, it feels like playing a musou, you can buttom mash and get away most of the times, defensive mechanics are pointless,hit feedback is completely wrong (a heavy kick in the face should send enemies flying, instead it has the same impact of a jab). Overall, the feeling of the combat is the same I had when I played Yakuza for the first time 20 years ago on PS2. The new combat style with the weapons doesn't make any sense at all. This, and the English dub that's ruined by one of the most egregious miscasting in gaming history, you can miscast npcs and get away with it but you can't do that with the main character. I loved Kiryu back then but this series need to be reworked from scratch, I certainly won't buy any more Kiwami done like this one.