YMMV / Yakuza 6

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Yakuza series
Yakuza | Yakuza 2 | Yakuza 3 | Yakuza 4 | Yakuza 5 | Yakuza 0 | Yakuza 6
Like a Dragon series
Yakuza: Like a Dragon | Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name | Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Judgment series
Judgment | Lost Judgment
Other Spin-Offs
Ryū ga Gotoku Kenzan! | Yakuza: Dead Souls | Like a Dragon: Ishin! | Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise

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• Anti-Climax Boss:
  • The final boss of Yakuza 6, Tsuneo Iwami, is near unanimously seen as the lamest final boss Kiryu has ever faced. While very much an Invoked Trope to display how much of a slimy, greedy and pathetic fool he is, many find that the final major opponent of Kiryu's story - a simple fight with no real set pieces and against another overambitious jerkass - to be a colossal disappointment no matter the developers' intent.^note  This is especially problematic given how, no matter how weak or poorly developed the previous final bosses were, the fights against them were generally viewed as one of the, if not the best, fights of the games they were in. The only redeeming part of this fight to many players is that his boss theme kicks ass.
  • The final showdown with Jo Amon. After 5 previous games of him and his brothers being That One Boss incarnate, your big final throwdown with him is quite frankly anti-climactic. From the dull stage where it's set, to Jo being quite a bit easier to fight and even having explosive Roombas that you can toss at him for good damage. Compared to the fights previously, especially in 5, it's a big letdown.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Haruka's characterization has gotten a lot of heat in this game, as much of the game's events could have been avoided had she not revealed her Dark and Troubled Past to an audience of thousands of people, lied and run off to Hiroshima, and gotten herself pregnant from a one-night stand without using protection. Longtime fans were not pleased that Haruka Took a Level in Dumbass when she was shown to be Wise Beyond Their Years throughout the series, especially as a kid, and found that her poorly thought-out choices are ultimately to blame for Kiryu having to fake his death^note The cutscene in the epilogue makes it clear that he didn't have to fake his death; his decision was due to the grief his own status as an underworld legend caused. But she does have her defenders who sympathize with her, who argue that people her age make questionable choices when they hit rock bottom and when they're in the heat of the moment. Some also blame Mirei Park for strong-arming her way through Kiryu to make Haruka an idol in the first place; some others blame Kiryu for not teaching her better and for thinking he could give her a normal life when he can't cut his own ties to his criminal past, or for leaving her alone at a crucial point in her life by not making sure she was looked after when he went to prison, or for willingly going to prison in the first place as if he forgot how this decision played out in Yakuza 1.
  • Tsuneo Iwami, who not only serves as the final boss of the game, but Kiryu's story arc. Mostly due to his completely unremarkable appearance and once again hiding behind a Clark Kent Outfit, fans felt that Kiryu's true final battle should have been against a true Worthy Opponent and were very disappointed that the developers failed to deliver on that end. On the other hand, some liked his standard appearance showcasing how dangerous he is by being able to blend in so easily. Additionally, once the localization came out, some fans changed their tune and liked that the Big Bad turned out to be one of the slimiest and most irredeemable villains the series had to offer, someone that even Kiryu grew to hate and wanted to pummel to death, and felt that smashing his face in after everything he had done was worth it.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Returning to the ruins of Shangri-La, abandoned since 2005, Kiryu and Someya encounter what is quite plainly a gimp - complete with leotard, mask and eyeball gag - lurking in the basement; Kiryu never remarks on it, and Someya seems to view it as an odd novelty. The gimp's presence - beyond being a recurring foe - is never explained beyond Someya mentioning Shangri-La has become home to the dregs of society.
• Broken Base:
  • The choice to only have Kiryu playable again, when the last mainline game to do so was Yakuza 3. Since it's billed as the last chapter in Kiryu's story some people think it makes perfect sense that the story would be primarily focused on him. Others believe that it's for this same reason that they should bring previous characters back for one last hurrah before sending him off.
  • The complete removal of Kiryu's "beta outfit" from the demo after mixed reception to it, replaced with his classic dress suit in the final game. A lot of fans found the proposed new outfit ugly and/or indistinct, and were glad to see his iconic look return. But there is a sizeable number of people who liked that look, are disappointed that the trend of giving Kiryu a new one-off signature outfit akin to the Hawaiian shirt or the taxi driver getup was halted, and at the very least feel that it could've remained an alternate option in the final game rather than being completely scrapped.
  • The heavy degree of prominence of Celebrity Cameos. Starting with Yakuza 4 the series has featured many of them in a variety of roles, but 6 is the game that features them the most prominently. Fans of the celebrities involved, such as Takeshi Kitano, love them, and Sega knowingly advertised them heavily on promotional material. But for others, especially long-standing fans of the series, this batch of celebrity-based characters is seen as a Spotlight-Stealing Squad taking away time that could've been spent on old characters such as Majima and Akiyama (overlapping with the above bullet point) and are less interesting than the casts of previous games.
  • The reveal of the Secret of Onomichi being a battleship mightier than the Yamato. One side found it underwhelming that all the conspiracies were centered around what is effectively a giant hunk of metal, another side felt it was nice to have something relatively grounded after things like Osaka Castle and are satisfied with the secret being evidence of years of large-scale government corruption. Some disliked the fact that the chapter had a large Exposition Dump for this, while others felt the explanation wasn't enough to fully understand why the Yamato Mark II was so important, as some knowledge of Japan's involvement in World War II and its aftermath is required^note Japan was forbidden from militarizing until the mid-1950's with the formation of the JSDF, so the battleship's existence would have international repercussions, even more so since said battleship was built using dirty money..
• Captain Obvious Reveal:
  • Tatsukawa not being Haruto's father, and simply a Red Herring. The game at various points brings up that Tatsukawa is not the type of person that Haruka would be in a relationship with.
  • For that matter, a lot of people predicted that Yuta is the father. He's the closest to Haruka's age, which would make him the most likely candidate without any Squick factor involved, and in contrast to Tatsukawa is a Nice Guy which makes it understandable why Haruka fell for him. As noted in the main page, this plot development also has noticeable Foreshadowing.
• Catharsis Factor: While the final battle with Tsuneo Iwami is considered rather disappointing, many still consider the absolute thrashing Kiryu gives him to be one of the most satisfying moments in the series given all the crap that Iwami has done to torment Kiryu and the people around him. Kiryu mockingly calling the bastard "Little Baby Iwami" right to his face is the icing on the cake in taking the scumbag down a peg.
• Complete Monster: Tsuneo Iwami is the son of Yomei Alliance chairman Heizo Iwami and CEO of Iwami Shipbuilding. Resenting his father for keeping him out of the Yakuza lifestyle, Iwami takes his own shot at making it to the top of the criminal underworld. Teaming up with Tojo Clan advisor Katsumi Sugai, Iwami is responsible for all the events that occurred throughout the game, such as having Sugai and Takumi Someya burn down Little Asia to stage a war with the Saio Triad and have Daigo Dojima be arrested; murdering his father to gain control of the Yomei; and attempting to have Kiryu, the Hirose Family, Haruka, and her infant son Haruto killed. Forcing Someya to fight Kazuma Kiryu to the death by threatening the man's family, Iwami then gives Kiryu a Sadistic Choice to either kill Someya or let Someya's ex-wife Kiyomi die. Someya commits seppuku to appease Iwami, only for Iwami to order Kiyomi's execution anyway. When finally confronted by Kiryu, Iwami reveals that he has Haruka and Haruto taken hostage, threatening to kill them if Kiryu retaliates. When finally at the receiving end of Kiryu's wrath, Iwami tries to save his own skin by ordering Sugai to shoot Haruka and Haruto. Committing numerous heinous crimes just to prove his father wrong and satisfy his own ego, Tsuneo Iwami is one of the few individuals who truly earned the Dragon of Dojima's hatred.
• Contested Sequel: Perhaps the most heated since Yakuza 3. Being the first game released on the Dragon Engine means that while it's the most immersive and impressive looking entry in the Yakuza series yet, and finally leapfrogs the visual quality of the games to contemporary levels, it's offset by a host of technical issues as well as a lot less content relative to previous games. Most of these issues would've probably been a lot more forgivable for a spinoff game, but the fact that it's meant to be the Grand Finale for Kiryu's story means it's held to higher standards. The quality of the story is also quite contentious, and a lot of fans dislike the finale where Kiryu fakes his death and leaves Haruka's life so that she can be safe. In spite of that, the game has also gotten a lot of positive reception for its Slice of Life aspects and its themes of family and humanity.
• Critical Dissonance: It gained a lot of positive reviews from many game critics on its Western release, but fan-reception seems to be very divisive. See Contested Sequel for more.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Takumi Someya is well-received by fans for his complexity as an antagonist and status as an Evil Counterpart to Kiryu. His boss battles and his themes are considered to be among the best the series has to offer, and his tragic death after his final battle is a massive Tear Jerker.
  • Joon-Gi Han quickly garnered a fanbase for his cool design, Noble Demon tendencies and legitimately intimidating personality. It may be for this reason that he was given a bigger role to play in Like a Dragon (well, his body double anyway).
  • Ono Michio, the mascot of Onomichi, proved to be quite popular with his charming outfit and endearing substories. As such, he's appeared in some capacity in every Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios game since, including the Judgment games, and has effectively become a kind of Series Mascot for Like A Dragon as a whole..
• Epileptic Trees: Before the game's release, the idea that Haruka suddenly had a child shocked many fans and left some in denial, with some believing it was a case of Like You Would Really Do It. Some theories floated around, including the idea that Haruto wasn't actually Haruka's son, and she took him under her wing or adopted him in order to protect him from whatever danger he was in. Despite fans' suspicions, Haruto is indeed Haruka's natural child.
• Fan Nickname:
  • Korean Vergil ^Explanation A nickname fans have given to Joon-gi Han due his resemblance to said Devil May Cry villain.
  • Little Baby Iwami ^Explanation A nickname given to the Big Bad of the game, Tsuneo Iwami, by Kiryu. It clicked a bit too well with fans, and rightfully so, with Iwami being one of the slimiest pieces of shit this series has ever seen to date.
  • Tsuneo Iwami is also nicknamed Satoru Iwata, due to his physical resemblance to the late president of Nintendo.
• Game-Breaker: For Clan Creator:
  • The difficulty of the mode can be busted wide open by entering special online codes to unlock Rare and Secret Rare units. Their starting stats are so high that you'll steamroll most of the early story and side missions, while they only get better from leveling up.
  • Daigo Dojima's “Sixth Chairman Dignity” Heat Action gives the player an extra 150 points into the Deployment Gauge. Since the Deployment Gauge determines how many of your strongest units you can play at the moment, having Daigo pop his skill will allow swifter summoning of your best units. Pocket Circuit Fighter's "Essence of Offense" is a half-effective version, but still decent for use.
  • Makoto Date and Satsuki have "Muscle Party", a Heat Action that makes all your units invincible for 10 seconds. While both are great on their own, it's by having both on the field that lets you trivialize the difficulty of every mission, even the Amon Clan Creator ones.
• Good Bad Bugs: On the Xbox and PC ports, the bodies of defeated enemies may start flying around while spinning rapidly, making for a harmless yet quite amusing scene. This is especially amplified with the PC, PS5 and Xbox versions, where the game is capped to 60fps.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Yakuza 6 is Takeshi Kitano's first foray into video games after designing Takeshi's Challenge, a game that describes itself as being developed by "a man who hates video games".
• Like You Would Really Do It: Despite the game being billed as Kazuma Kiryu's final chapter, with trailers hinting he would sacrifice himself, several fans suspected that Sega wouldn't kill one of their most beloved and iconic characters and end his story on a sour note, and believed it would end in him faking his death. Bolstering this idea is that three previous games in the series have all teased Kiryu's death, only to reveal him alive and well after the credits. Sure enough, the post-credits scene shows that Kiryu is alive, and only faked his death in order to protect Haruka and her family.
• Inferred Holocaust: Yuta setting Saio HQ on fire, which spreads to the rest of Little Asia and does so much damage that by Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth Little Asia still isn't rebuilt. Several people at least likely died.
• It's Easy, So It Sucks!: A complaint that many share is how easy it is to break the game by abusing its level-up system, especially with the 1 million yen in the safe above New Serena that can be obtained at any time provided the player knows the password. Extreme Heat Mode is available by default and also significantly reduces the difficulty factor by making Kiryu unkillable as long as it's active, grabbing nearby objects a la 'Beast' style from 0 and Kiwami, and having several powerful Heat Actions exclusive to it.
• Magnificent Bastard:
  • Kazuchika Okada, also known as "The Rainmaker" is the leader of JUSTIS, a group formed to fight back against gangs that terrorize Kamurocho. After he and his girlfriend were kidnapped and tortured by the yakuza Satsuki, Okada sought vengeance, recruiting violent thugs and criminals for the sake of increasing JUSTIS' power, leading JUSTIS to be little different than the gangs it fought against. When his friend and co-founder Joe leaves JUSTIS due to what it's became, Okada provokes Joe to take down JUSTIS by repeatedly having members of JUSTIS attack him. Dissolving JUSTIS after Kiryu and Joe defeat him, Okada is betrayed by his advisor, Komei, who reveals that he's been working with Satsuki to take control of JUSTIS away from him. Okada then reveals that he is well aware of Komei's intentions, and that all of his actions from changing JUSTIS to leading Jo to fight against it were done for the purpose of drawing out Satsuki to get his revenge, gladly lending his aid to Joe and Kiryu to take down JUSTIS once and for all.
  • Soji is a sentient vacuum robot, given to a young man named Fujita as a gift from his girlfriend, Kotomi. Finding out that Fujita has bought a ring to propose to Kotomi, but has been too scared to go through with it for sixth months, Soji takes matters into its own hands. Stealing Fujita's ring when he drops it into the ground, Soji has Fujita and Kiryu chase after it throughout all of Kamurocho. Stopping at a park with several thugs, Soji provokes them into starting a fight with Fujita for the purpose of getting Fujita to build up courage. When Kotomi arrives, Soji drops the proposal ring near her and, with help from Kiryu's words, lead Fujita to build up the courage to propose to Kotomi, Soji happily saying that it completed its task.
• Memetic Loser: Anyone who's finished this game will laugh at how much of a pathetic piece of shit Iwami is. With an incredibly egocentric motivation, a lack of tragedy to his backstory, delegating any hand-dirtying to his underlings and generally being a slimy asshole all around, him being perhaps the easiest final boss in the entire series hardly comes as much of a surprise. "Little Baby Iwami" indeed.
• Memetic Mutation: Shares a page with the rest of the series here.
• More Popular Replacement: Joon-gi Han replaces Kazuki as the owner of the Stardust Host Club. While Kazuki was never exactly disliked, his relatively static role as Kiryu's ally diminished more and more as the series progressed until he effectively vanishes from 5 onwards with no one batting an eye. Meanwhile, Han has proven to be especially popular since his debut as a violently unhinged yet attractive and charismatic new Rival to Kiryu. Fans lamented his death in the third act of the game and rejoiced when he reappeared in Like A Dragon, albeit in the form of a Body Double.
• Nausea Fuel: In Chapter 6 Footprints, a lot of time is spent on getting Yuta to a washroom so he can defecate.
• Replacement Scrappy: While the Hirose Family isn't entirely disliked in themselves, that they take the primary role of Kiryu's allies and physical support in place of the generally well-liked and fleshed-out crew of more impressive playable protagonists from the three previous entries in the series can be quite the downer to put it lightly. It doesn't help how most of the said previously playable characters are completely absent for most if not all of the story with Goro Majima and Taiga Saejima being arrested early on and Tatsuo Shinada and Masayoshi Tanimura practically not existing at all with no acknowledgment whatsoever. Only Shun Akiyama gets to actually make appearances throughout the plot and even then he's clearly been Demoted to Extra.
• Scrappy Mechanic: You're not going to find too many fans who enjoy trying to calm down Haruto when he's crying. Periodically, Kiryu will completely stop in his tracks and have to try and soothe Haruto by performing four possible gestures until a gauge is filled. They all work well enough, but it can take a very long time for Kiryu to spell out what needs to be done. If you pay attention to Haruto's animations and sounds, it is possible to figure out the gesture before Kiryu tells you, but the differences between them are very subtle. Worse is that Kiryu will have to put more effort into calming Haruto each time he has to stop. It's slow, boring, patience-trying and mercifully only shows up once in the whole story.
• Signature Scene: The whole baby rugby cutscene for its sheer hilarity and ridiculousness.
• Strangled by the Red String: As it happened almost entirely off-screen and the game is dealing with the aftermath, a group of fans aren't exactly pleased with how the relationship between Haruka and Yuta is played out, and see it as a poor way to end the character arc of one of the series' main characters. Some find the reason she fell for him to be too sudden, and that Haruto was conceived from a one-night stand to be very uncharacteristic of her. Those fans are also disappointed that despite Kiryu's efforts to protect Haruka and keep her far away from the criminal underworld, she ends up starting a family with someone with yakuza ties, and believe she won't find the happiness she deserves with Yuta.
• That One Sidequest: Completing all the Troublr Missions. Troublr Missions are effectively miniature Sub Stories that occur at random times when you're wandering around Kamurocho or Onimichi, requiring you to rush to a designated location to either beat up some Mooks or solve some minor puzzle. While not quite a Scrappy Mechanic, since the tasks are relatively simple and they net you EXP, your ability to complete them is hindered as you complete more of them, as the remaining few will be subject to the will of the Random Number God. By the end, if you want to complete them, you'll be wandering around aimlessly in both Kamurocho and Onimichi just waiting for something to happen, which will take up a lot of your time. And again, unlike with Sub Stories, there's no real clear-cut way to force them to occur, so good luck looking up how to.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • Yakuza 6 is the first game to be released with the Dragon Engine, whereas when the series undergoes engine changes it usually does so first with more experimental spinoffs, as was done in Ishin! or Kenzan!, giving them time to refine the gameplay changes for mainline entries. As a result, not all of the changes have been well-received.
  • While a somewhat minor example, unlike the past several games, bosses no longer have uniquely-colored Heat Auras. Every Boss Fight now has the exact same red Heat Aura which definitely removes an element of variety to the visual flair of these characters in action.
  • A Japanese-exclusive alpha demo for the game, which was released alongside the Japanese launch of Kiwami, had Kiryu sporting a completely new design. In it, he wore a bulky blue jacket, grey pants and boots, and his appearance was largely criticized by fans. While some didn't mind Kiryu's new look, it was enough that Word of God had to confirm that it would not appear in the final game.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: A very common complaint about the game. While the decision to make Kiryu the sole playable character once again was already a Broken Base, that the game doesn't utilise most of the characters from previous games is a major point of contention.
  • Majima, Saejima, and Daigo only appear in the prologue before being Put on the Bus until the epilogue. Majima's boss fights are a much anticipated staple of the series even if you don't necessarily fight him as Kiryu, and Kiryu's "death" at the end of the game means that this would have been a last chance for them to finally settle things, but Majima goes unfought and with no role in the story.
  • Shinada, one of the protagonists from the previous entry, doesn't appear or get mentioned at all, not even in the prologue where the rest of 5's protagonists gather in the hospital to see Kiryu. While his absence is more understandable than the rest of the cast since he's an out-of-towner with very little ties to Kamurocho or Kiryu's history, those who found him a refreshing addition to the cast were still left disappointed with his complete lack of presence. It doesn't help that there's an entire Baseball Team Management minigame and sidequest storyline in which it would have been very fitting to include him as some sort of top-ranked recruitable unit with his own substory.
  • One of the main plot beats concerns Little Asia being set on fire, and the Chinese triad taking the opportunity to muscle into the territory and set up shop. This would've been a perfect plot to involve previous protagonist Tanimura, a polyglot detective who lives in Little Asia and stands as its one and only line of defense against the criminal elements of Kamurocho. It also would've rectified his main issue from 4, that being how his character and backstory are largely relegated to side content. However, like Shinada, he isn't even mentioned at all despite his home going up in flames.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The secret of Onomichi being Yamato Mark II. It has lots of buildup, and a chilling introduction scene, but no more than that. While there are implications and hidden meanings behind the ship's existence, as well as serving as a plot device for Kiryu to fake his death, the ship itself is underutilized after the reveal. It could've been an awesome setpiece for the final battle, not unlike Yakuza 0, but instead it only hangs meaninglessly in the background in the final portion of the game.
• Unexpected Character: The game features Continuity Cameo Easter Eggs in the form of "Spirit Photography". This involves Kiryu using his smartphone to take photos in specific areas, causing ghosts from the past games to appear in the form of transparent still images super-imposed over the photo. Most of them are major characters and antagonists from Kiryu's past, but two of them stand out as rather odd choices to include:
  • Masaru Ihara from 4. He's almost a footnote in the history of the series, being fought by Akiyama as the first boss in said game and getting killed off not much later. Sure, he was technically Captain of the Ueno Seiwa Clan, but he was nothing more than a sacrificial pawn for the real villains. You'd think more important deceased characters from 4 would appear like major antagonists Isao Katsuragi and Seishiro Munakata, or Saejima's sister Yasuko who's one of the most important NPC's in the game's plot.
  • Yoshinobu Tokugawa from Ishin, an Expy of Daigo Dojima in Feudal Japan. While he's actually a significant character, he definitely feels out of place compared to the other ghosts, being the only one from a spin-off game that wasn't released outside of Japan until years after 6's release. Him being the only character from any of the spin-offs is also rather odd considering the large casts of characters in those games.
• Values Dissonance: Haruka's decision to reveal her past to thousands of audience members was likely meant to let them understand that Kiryu, despite his yakuza background, is a decent person who can and will help anyone out in need (as substories would show) and has been a good father-figure to her ever since. In the west, she's seen as sympathetic and even applauded for having the courage to do so, since not many are willing to do it. Unfortunately, as she's living in a country where reputation is highly valued over morals (best demonstrated in "Haruka's Biggest Fan" substory), Haruka's reception is overwhelmingly negative to the point it affects her livelihood.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The Dragon Engine brings the graphics quality up to the standard set by other PlayStation 4 games. Textures are more detailed, lighting and shadows are vastly improved, and particle effects are more complex and noticeable. Though it is not utilized as well as it would be in subsequent entries, two scenes which showcase the engine's full potential are the intro, where Kiryu levels out a spoonful of powder, and the confrontation in Chapter 11 set to the backdrop of a burning building.
• Woolseyism: The live chat minigame had a lot of work put into it by the localization team. They went as far as to make unique usernames and add lenny faces. Jon Riesenbach talks about it in this thread.

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