How I feel ESPECIALLY after RGG deciding they're gonna retcon the older games because they feel like they NEED US TO KNOW HOW INVOLVED THE DAIDOJI HAS ALWAYS BEEN!!!!111 Now, are they allowed to do it because it's their game? Yeah. But does it feel like a kick in the teeth because they could easily just keep the plots as they are and do backend retcon (as in, Mine could show up in Yakuza 9 and just explain that he fell in a bush rather than them just straight up changing the plot in Kiwami 3)? You betcha! It feels like they're ruining the integrity of the games by just deciding to change things, not to mention it's like they're trying everything in their power to keep Yakuza going. It's been their baby for a long time, but every series has to end, and especially with how disappointing Infinite Wealth was, where can they really go at this point? I know they're keeping Kiryu in limbo, but there has to be a point where they move on and work on other things. It just feels like their heart isn't really with Yakuza anymore even if they keep making things for it.
I've felt worse and worse since Infinite Wealth released. It was just an entirely underwhelming game, and while it did have its moments, I ultimately thought it was one of their worst games in terms of story and characters. MAYBE a solid C, since the battle system was fun and I did enjoy Kiryu's side of things (the character sidequests, the memoirs of a dragon, and in general the chemistry between everyone). But honestly? I didn't care for a lot of what was happening, and it felt like they made Ichiban stupidly naive so that things would happen the way they wanted. Not that the other games didn't have their faults, but they still felt strong in terms of character development and plot EVEN if some things were kinda silly in retrospect.
Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii just felt absolutely useless, and mostly created because Majima is stupid popular. It was fun to play, and that's about it. They brought in all these new characters just to do nothing to make me care about them, created a stupid amnesia plot specifically to make the game exist at all, and absolutely NOTHING felt like it truly mattered in the grand scheme of things. It felt like there was so much to do, but not much that felt FUN to do, and definitely gave a quantity over quality vibe. Which is the exact same thing I can say about RGG nowadays.
Which leads me to the fact that ever since they started releasing stuff yearly, it's been obvious how lacking their stuff has become. I heard they cut A BUNCH of stuff from Kiwami 3. BUT DON'T WORRY, NOW WE CAN DO A BUNCH OF SHIT WITH DA KIDS AT THE ORPHANAGE, AND CAN JOIN A BIKER GANG. Which maybe some of it is fun, but like, I rather have a solid game than a meh kinda game with millions of things to do. A lot of the recent RGG games feel like they're just throwing a bunch of side things to do. And every game always had side activities, but it just feels like overkill now.
Now, their track record for games is pretty bad just in quality alone over the past few years. So imagine them deciding to hire Kagawa even though he sexually assaulted a hostess and got dropped from a bunch of stuff for being a fucking pest. When I first heard about it, I didn't know a lot of details and thought it had happened super recently and were rumors at best, but no solid proof, which would be why RGG hadn't canned him. And then looking more into it, NOPE! It was years ago and it's solid fact that it happened. Why choose that fucking guy when there's a ton of well-known actors in Japan? It was bad enough seeing that they completely changed Rikiya's face to match his VA (which is another reason RGG has gotten on my bad side - it feels like they're focusing WAY too much on adding in characters with their actor's likenesses, which feels unnecessary and more for popularity), but WHY choose an actor who sexually assaulted a hostess? Friendly reminder, also, that Yu Daiki (Sayama's original VA) was accused of being "difficult to work with" and coincidentally never had a role after Yakuza (maybe she quit, BUT... I don't know, it puts a bad taste in my mouth now), but Kagawa is fine because deep down he feels weally bad but is actually a good guy UWU.
Idk, I'm not sure I have a point here. Just a long rant I had to get out. The Kagawa stuff alone angered a bunch of people for good reason to make them turn away, and while it's one more reason for me to just kind of jump off the wagon, RGG has been on my bad side for quite some time even before Kiwami 3 was officially announced. But a bunch of shit just got worse after, and I cancelled my pre-order and denounced Ryu Ga Gotoku.
The Man Who Erased His Name was surprisingly engaging and I liked it a lot. It felt like after Nagoshi's departure, the games lost heart, but Gaiden felt solid. Daidoji even felt like an interesting concept that they could do a lot with... but now I kinda wish they didn't go through with it, because it's clear that they've lost sight of what makes a good and interesting game, and re-writing the games to make it work feels like a scramble that they don't even need to do. As I said, the quality is already clearly going downhill from yearly releases, and obviously they don't have the same love for the series anymore, and now they're going to re-do the games along with it? It just feels bad overall.
I don't like being a negative Nancy, but I just wanted to put in my two cents because... idk, it's been brewing in my head for quite some time. I've been very quiet because I'm sad about it. I still love the series for what it was, but where it's going? I feel like nowhere good if their past few games have just been letdowns.
Anyway, that's it. I still have plans to write even if I've been taking a break. I'm quite excited for Gang of Dragon, because Nagoshi-era of RGG was the series at its peak and the trailer got me PUMPED! As for future Yakuza games? I won't lie, if we ever see 9 and it ends up being the end of the series, I'll probably play it and have a final farewell. I would like to see how the story ends, believe it or not. But I don't have high hopes for the series, and even Stranger than Heaven doesn't really feel all that exciting. Maybe it will knock it out of the park because it's a new IP, but I just can't say it feels promising.
Farewell, Ryu ga Gotoku. Yakuza is forever in my heart.
