It’s a great game but it is LOOOOOONG

This game is extremely ambitious, and a huge mechanical step up from Yakuza 4.

While Yakuza 4 set out to evolve its map by adding rooftops, a sewer, and an underground mall, and it had four playable protagonists, Yakuza 5 takes it even further.

Try FIVE playable protagonists, FIVE maps instead of one, and four of the characters have their own side stories with their own mechanics. This game has racing, hunting, dancing, baseball, and fighting. It can do it all. This is A LOT to take in. It doesn’t sound like much when you think about huge open world games… UNTIL YOU ACTUALLY PLAY IT. While most open world games are huge and empty, Yakuza is tiny and DENSE.

And on top of that, this game easily has the longest main story in the series so far. I can’t even begin to explain how complex it is. The first four games never went over 40 hours unless you wanted to do a bunch of side content. Yakuza 5 is 60 HOURS. PLUS SIDE CONTENT.

The fact that this game was made in 2 years is astounding. But I think they were just too ambitious for their own good. It’s a massive far cry from Yakuza 3’s simplicity and endearing nature. Yakuza 4 stands as the balance between 5’s ambition and 3’s simplicity.

Honestly my rant is about to get as long as Yakuza 5 itself. And I’m not even DONE WITH THE GAME YET.

This is why I tell people not to take price per length into account for a game. Because sometimes games can just be TOO long. Just because you spend more time in a game doesn’t mean you’re getting more value out of it.

But then again, I bought this game with MS Rewards Points, so I played a 60 hour game completely for free. It is a really good game, but just the length is killing me.

But long gameplay shows that its worth it and isn't just a 2 hour game, that exists btw

I got this game for free so that’s irrelevant.

But even then there’s this. I understand that nobody wants to drop $70 for a 2-hour game, but have we really fallen so far that we just judge games by length to justify money spent?

It’s not about how long a game takes to beat. It’s about how that game utilizes that time and doesn’t waste it. Now, if you paid $70 and the game is only 2 hours, that’s a waste of time. If a game is 90 hours of boring repetition and doing the same boring tasks over and over again, that’s a waste of time. There is a balance.

I’m not even saying that Yakuza 5 wasted my time (okay I kind of am saying that), its story takes a long time to tell and explain. And the game is extremely fun to actually play. But it’s a scenario where they dug themselves into that grave there.