Yakuza

I've never played a Yakuza game before and I've been looking to get into the series. Should I emulate the first game on PS2, wait until the end of the month for Kiwami on PS4, or start with 0 instead?

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Play Kiwami, emulate the first game only if you want a laugh from the dub.
Play 2 as soon as you can. 3 is a censored mess, 4 and 5 are pretty good, but five is a PSN exclusive. 6 is only in Japan, as are Kenzan and Ishin.

kiwami and zero are excellent starting points. zero has some of the best gameplay of the series and kiwami uses about the same system. 2 is a popular fan favorite but will obviously feel dated compared to the newer titles

not quite, the main story holds together but they fucked up a minigame

There was a Yakuza thread a few weeks back here, I have only played Yakuza 5 on PS3. I honestly can't really recommend it, I played for 60 hours and my completion percentage was 6.7%. If it's content you want, these games have so much fucking things to do it'll probably take you around 150-200 to get it 100%, but the combat is like a wonkier Shenmue/Virtua Fighter with bad responses to prompts but "fun" action being able to pick up almost any item in the background to pummel people with. At times the graphics looked simply amazing (PS4 level), at times PS2 tier, the main character is quite literally a stooge who doesn't seem to understand anything that happens around him even when it's obvious.

But if it's a shitload of content that's half-baked you're looking for, look no further. Yakuza 5 at least had many, many hysterical moments that made me remember why vidya can be fun, but at the same time it could be dull and repetitive. I can't even imagine playing any of the other games after it since it seems they're all the same formula.

Start with 0 then get Kiwami if you like 0. Be warned that a bulk of the game is reading dialogue and doing mixed quality minigames. The latter being optional. This being a story heavy series means there's lots of words words words. Even the sidequests suffer from this. But they're often completely unvoiced.

0's a good starting point. Combat is at its finest, the story while convoluted is engaging and has tons of cliffhangers and the two protagonists are pretty cool, it's set in the 80's economical boom so you'll never feel the need to keep your wallet shut and, personally, I found it to be the funniest game I played in ages (most side missions are hysterical).
I do have to vouch for - mini-games are a mixed bag and the game is like MGS in that it will have you sit through very lengthy scenes.

I got 5 as a PSN "freebie" last August and only finished it at the end of last month; taking me almost a year to finish it. Admittedly, there were tons of other games including Yakuza 0 but I gotta say it really does feel like it drags itself on for ages. Clocked over 220h on it and about 70-80% completion. OST is fantastic though.
I was the guy having cold feet about fighting Amon. Beat them, the first 2 are easy, Shinada's is annoying and Jo is harder than everything else in the game besides the breakthrough fight.

They're going to announce their next project on August 26. I wonder if it will be a remake of 2.

Honestly, after replaying all the Yakuza games recently, the only one that feels dated is the original.

Wait for the PC ports you dimwit

These are cool games. Feels like a JRPG with beat 'em up combat.

It's almost like you need to play the first 4 games in a series to appreciate the 5th entry or something.

Start with Kiwami, 0 has tons of nods to the first Yakuza game. On top of that, Kiwami is also cheaper to buy than 0, so if you don't like Kiwami you wont be out of that much money.

And the second and the fourth.

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You mean those PC ports we were supposed to get spring 2016 and now we're lucky to get one classic SEGA game ported to PC every few months?

No. Start with 1, play the series as it came out, you'll find it more satisfying. Kiwami wasn't intended to introduce players to the series, more be a nostalgia trip for people who played 1 when it was fresh.

You mean back in 2016 when SEGA said absolutely nothing about porting Yakuza 0 to PC?

Didn't Yakuza 1 age like shit?

Not in my opinion, the only really bad part about it in my eyes is the dub, it actually really bothers me that there isn't an Undub mod yet. Still, it's not even that bad really, I mean Mark Hamil is fucking great in it, it's just people like Michael Madsen who phone it in.

I guess the battle system is a little clunky but it's honestly not that bad, and really isn't that bad if you're not used to how later titles did it. Plus dealing with 1's system will make you appreciate 2's more for the gem it is, not to mention the rest of the series as you move on. 2's a real gem and I doubt Kiwami first players will be able to appreciate it properly.

Besides, who cares how clunky 1 is when Kiwami has low production values (like reused PS2 animations that look horrible on modern models) and other things that may make you view the series in a bad light. At least start with 1 you know you're getting in to a PS2 game and it's not a poorly produced PS2 game at that.

Yakuza is shit unless you love moviegames with shallow gameplay, just like another Sonygger favorite, Metal Gear Solid.

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I'm hoping it will be a remake and a new project.

Maybe focusing on a new character?

That's only if Sega Europe is able to convince NA and JP to have a port happen, if not it'll be a never ever user.

I really like how fair the price of Kiwami is even though it looks like they added a ton of stuff. FF XII isn't that much older and it's still 10 bucks more.

Hell I would say the Majima anywhere system is enough to buy the game again for twenty bucks.

I mean in 2016 when we were supposed to get a ton of PC ports but then we got nothing and only now are getting dripfed some 7th gen games from SEGA with no sign of anything else coming any time soon.

In its own way the dub is fun to experience. Thats not calling it a good dub of course.

the clunkiest part of 1 is how it has to load into every battle, if you start with 3 onward this will be the worst thing to go back into for sure

2 suffers from some aspects of age but not nearly as badly as 1 for sure. 2 and 0 are my personal favorites of the series anyway so i would strongly recommend playing 2 to anyone looking into the series regardless of age. it would just be smart to play them in order because general quality bumps as the series goes on makes certain aspects of the older ones a bit clunk in comparison.

Like I said I really like Hamill's part in it, he makes a great Majima, still games like this (set in Japan) should be undubbed, adds to the flavor.