4/5 ★ – StuckBoy's review of Yakuza 0.

I don't get why anyone would say that starting with Yakuza 0 is a bad thing. The most I knew of the Yakuza series was a lot of memes and that's about it. There's an absolute mountain of mini-games to play when you need a break from the story, which might be often given how intense the drama can get at times. Having the skill tree revolve around literally investing money into it was a great way to ensure the absurd amount of cash you'll be earning goes somewhere. That being said, the combat can start to feel incredibly one note after a while if you're not actively expanding your skill trees. My final gripe is the last stance for both characters being locked behind their respective money-making games. The real estate stuff can easily be done passively while you're doing other completionist stuff, but Majima's cabaret requires way more effort and also turns your screen completely white every 5-10 seconds. It made me want to stop playing immediately after every session. Could be more fun on NG+, but I probably won't be revisiting it for quite some time. I don't plan on getting 100% on every Yakuza game, but this could easily be one of the few that I do.