The quality of the game was unexpectedly good. It was unexpected for me because I bought the bundle, and I thought that 3-5 would have the same quality but I was proven wrong with new gameplay mechanics, Better graphics than 0, and better story elements in general. There is a lot of things I would comment because this entry is drastically different from the other games in the same bundle.

General Things

For the general things, I would like to put away first my nitpicks with the movement, there is STILL no sprint which can be annoying at times, and the run animations for when you first moves were a bit uncomfortable to get used to at first but you slowly get used to it. There is several new things to do, like driving wow! And of course one the new playable characters.. Haruka! Although sadly she doesn't fight, we can play her and play a rhythm game. Honestly at first I was skeptical of it, but I eventually grew to love her part because she actually has an engaging story and a cast of decent characters. The focus on the vibe and theme of the moments were amazing, unlike 3-4 were I barely felt anything, Yakuza 5 Remastered did a great job of setting the mood for certain scenes, although not perfect (Like suddenly switching to a light hearted segment after a really really heavy one. Other than those shortcomings I'm glad they set a focus on the mood of these scenes, massive improvement from 3-4 with story telling. Now for the actual story itself.. uh..

Combat and Gameplay

They added a new combat mechanic which I think is called rage, basically it differs for the 5 characters on the purpose (of course Haruka still doesn't fight lol) But they surprisingly have different mechanics and not just a rage button where you are basically invincible. It's quite balanced for a game mechanic. But I do have to comment about my first loss it was from the new character Shinada Tatsuo. Man where do I begin, his fighting style is incredibly slow and they aren't stunning to look at. I get that he is supposed to be the weapon master and that is where I like him. But he is flat broke and he can't buy weapons unless you do side content. I literally had to borrow the weapons from the other characters and give it all to him. He is not fit to fight multiple enemies at once unless you stack him with a full inventory of weapons, other wise, it's gonna be extremely long dragged and unflashy fight. I honestly don't know about the linear leveling system it's easier to make a choice, but it felt like I barely knew the moves because looking at the info was a pain, just like the past 2. Haruka's part was actually pretty fun as a rhythm game segment. Although I can understand why people would be skeptical/bored with her, It actually grew on me and I started to like her gameplay. It just felt weird that one of the important parts were non violent.

Story and Characters

The story was okay at least, it got tiring because of the constant plot twists towards the end, but it had an amazing start with the mood, setting, and the characters, and thank God it started with Kiryu, I can see why people would be starved for him after 4 lol. Haruka's story was actually really good and it gave me the right mood to feel in the right moment, just really good story telling and she had a good cast around her and a very good individual story prior to her relevance to the first 2 characters. I have a complaint about Shinada's Placement in the story and his existence in general. His placement in the story was SOO bad, it was all starting to come together with the 4 main character's story but suddenly there is a reset and you need to get to know another character? He was irrelevant until the end of chapter 2. Of course, I grew to love him and his quirks, but I almost took my first ever Yakuza break because of him and his uninteresting hand to hand play style where you have to use weapons, but as my complaint earlier said he is FLAT broke you can't afford the weapons. And for his existence and relevancy, it felt more like he was a guest character compared to Tanimura (Rip Tanimura sent off to America). But for my conclusion to my Shinada opinion, he was actually a really good character it was hard to notice because we were just wondering when he gets relevant. Shinada actually has a very interesting individual story prior to his relevancy to the rest of the protagonists, and he has a good cast of characters around him, but as I said, he felt like a guest character.

Conclusion

It surpassed my expectations and delivered well. The combat was comparable to 0 which is a big compliment, but what made 0 so good was it's dynamic feel of the 3 styles in 1 character. But this isn't about that. Definitely the best compared to 3 and 4 overall although this one was a bit lacking in the story itself, but it had amazing story TELLING.

9/10 Not my favorite, but it was honestly a good time.

[h1]The rise of quality (finally) and it's noticeable shortcomings[/h1] The quality of the game was unexpectedly good. It was unexpected for me because I bought the bundle, and I thought that 3-5 would have the same quality but I was proven wrong with new gameplay mechanics, Better graphics than 0, and better story elements in general. There is a lot of things I would comment because this entry is drastically different from the other games in the same bundle. [b]General Things[/b] For the general things, I would like to put away first my nitpicks with the movement, there is STILL no sprint which can be annoying at times, and the run animations for when you first moves were a bit uncomfortable to get used to at first but you slowly get used to it. There is several new things to do, like driving wow! And of course one the new playable characters.. Haruka! Although sadly she doesn't fight, we can play her and play a rhythm game. Honestly at first I was skeptical of it, but I eventually grew to love her part because she actually has an engaging story and a cast of decent characters. The focus on the vibe and theme of the moments were amazing, unlike 3-4 were I barely felt anything, Yakuza 5 Remastered did a great job of setting the mood for certain scenes, although not perfect (Like suddenly switching to a light hearted segment after a really really heavy one. Other than those shortcomings I'm glad they set a focus on the mood of these scenes, massive improvement from 3-4 with story telling. Now for the actual story itself.. uh.. [b]Combat and Gameplay[/b] They added a new combat mechanic which I think is called rage, basically it differs for the 5 characters on the purpose (of course Haruka still doesn't fight lol) But they surprisingly have different mechanics and not just a rage button where you are basically invincible. It's quite balanced for a game mechanic. But I do have to comment about my first loss it was from the new character Shinada Tatsuo. Man where do I begin, his fighting style is incredibly slow and they aren't stunning to look at. I get that he is supposed to be the weapon master and that is where I like him. But he is flat broke and he can't buy weapons unless you do side content. I literally had to borrow the weapons from the other characters and give it all to him. He is not fit to fight multiple enemies at once unless you stack him with a full inventory of weapons, other wise, it's gonna be extremely long dragged and unflashy fight. I honestly don't know about the linear leveling system it's easier to make a choice, but it felt like I barely knew the moves because looking at the info was a pain, just like the past 2. Haruka's part was actually pretty fun as a rhythm game segment. Although I can understand why people would be skeptical/bored with her, It actually grew on me and I started to like her gameplay. It just felt weird that one of the important parts were non violent. [b]Story and Characters[/b] The story was okay at least, it got tiring because of the constant plot twists towards the end, but it had an amazing start with the mood, setting, and the characters, and thank God it started with Kiryu, I can see why people would be starved for him after 4 lol. Haruka's story was actually really good and it gave me the right mood to feel in the right moment, just really good story telling and she had a good cast around her and a very good individual story prior to her relevance to the first 2 characters. I have a complaint about Shinada's Placement in the story and his existence in general. His placement in the story was SOO bad, it was all starting to come together with the 4 main character's story but suddenly there is a reset and you need to get to know another character? He was irrelevant until the end of chapter 2. Of course, I grew to love him and his quirks, but I almost took my first ever Yakuza break because of him and his uninteresting hand to hand play style where you have to use weapons, but as my complaint earlier said he is FLAT broke you can't afford the weapons. And for his existence and relevancy, it felt more like he was a guest character compared to Tanimura (Rip Tanimura sent off to America). But for my conclusion to my Shinada opinion, he was actually a really good character it was hard to notice because we were just wondering when he gets relevant. Shinada actually has a very interesting individual story prior to his relevancy to the rest of the protagonists, and he has a good cast of characters around him, but as I said, he felt like a guest character. [b]Conclusion[/b] It surpassed my expectations and delivered well. The combat was comparable to 0 which is a big compliment, but what made 0 so good was it's dynamic feel of the 3 styles in 1 character. But this isn't about that. Definitely the best compared to 3 and 4 overall although this one was a bit lacking in the story itself, but it had amazing story TELLING. 9/10 Not my favorite, but it was honestly a good time.