It has been some time since I played Yakuza 3. Accordign to my psn trophy information. While I played the first game on PS2, Yakuza 3 was the game that made me truly a fan of the series. While I have frequently seen it rated fairly low on lists like [this], Yakuza 3 has always been one of my favorites in the series. Replaying the remastered version has solidified that in some ways, though I how the series has improved with time, and solidified another opinion of mine in relation to the series.

I’ll start with that other opinion. Here is my mildly warm take: Yakuza 3 should have been the last game to feature Kazuma Kiryu, at least chronologically. Yakuza 3 is the logical ending place of his story. Kiryu dealt with his problems in the first game, settled the Tojo Clan in the second game, and in the third game firmly established himself in a new place. His story is done. The next couple of games seem to tacitly acknowledge this, moving him from primary protagonist to one of four or five. But they keep pulling him back in anyway. I understand why; Kiryu is a great character. Most of his replacements have struggled to show similar qualities as him. Some of that is on purpose; they largely exist as foils for Kiryu in some way. Still, Shun Akiyama could have been that character with a little adjusting, fitting him into space that didn’t exist because Kiryu was there. The same is true, to a lesser extent, for Taiga Saejima. Akiyama has some knowingness, a little sleaze that separates him from Kiryu. Saejima is a little too quiet, a little too hard. He doesn’t have the charisma. But again, is that innate to the character, or does he exist that way to differentiate him from Kiryu.

After Yakuza 3, Kiryu ceases to be a real player in the plots of the games until Yakuza 6. Even in Yakuza 0 his plot feels somewhat subordinate to Majima’s. Here, we see the final evolution of Kazuma Kiryu. It is telling that a lot of this game has nothing to do with the internal politics of warring Yakuza clans. It is largely about Kiryu raising his gaggle of orphans. What even gets him back to Tokyo is a plot to takeover the land on which his orphanage rests. This game definitively sets Kiryu’s place as in Okinawa, at the orphanage.

The plot is generally where I think this game excels. It is likely the most simple in the series. For all the appearances of twists and turns, it is actually pretty straightforward. There are two different plots going on. One is Hamazaki’s plan to use the Triad’s to take control of the Tojo Clan. The other is a power grab by Mine, who idolizes the injured chairman Daigo Dojima, but despairs at the possibility of his recovery. The grotesque Kanda believes he is player in this game, but he is revealed to be Mine’s pawn early on. The other big player is the CIA, who are pushing the Tojo clan and the Japanese Defense ministry to negotiate a land deal to catch arms dealers Black Monday. All of this plotting involved in the land deal matters to Kiryu for one reason: the land that his orphanage rests on is one of the final pieces of the puzzle.

That land is owned by Ryudo Family, a tiny Tojo affiliate in Okinawa. Kiryu, of course, forges a friendship with the family and they refuse to evict him. So the deal is at an impasse. Until, that is, Daigo is shot, causing upheaval in the whole Tojo clan. At the same time, the head of the Ryudo family is shot, and the deed for the Orphanage is stolen. They were both shot by the same man. This leads Kiryu back to Kamurocho to find who did this and secure his orphanage. Kiryu unravels it all with his fists and sets things right.

The most affecting part of the game is Kiryu with the Ryudo Family. There is good stuff in Kamurocho, as Kiryu fights his way through everything. But it feels a little deflated. Most of the characters from the first two games are dead, or disposed of pretty quickly. Even Majima has precious little to do, though he makes the most of his brief appearances. But in Okinawa, it is prime Yakuza stuff. Because it is personal; because it matters. Ryodo family head Nakahara is an old man who is like an older, somewhat failed version of Kiryu. He too has an adopted daughter, the silent Saki, and like Kiryu he would do anything for her. The only other members of the family are the hefty comic relief Mikio and hot-headed second in command Rikiya.

Rikiya is, in my opinion, one of the best, if not simply the best, supporting characters in the city. Whereas Nakahara is an older version of Kiryu, Rikiya is a younger version of him. He is proud and strong and fiercely loyal. He is like a fully fleshed out version of Yakuza 1’s Shinji. The game keeps him around just enough for the player to get to know him. First, he is something of an enemy, then he sees Kiryu in action. He helps out throughout the game and the player really learns a lot about him. Especially if the player does the two Rikiya centric substories. While he doesn’t quite reach the heights of series mainstays Kiryu, Haruka, or Majima, Rikiya is as good as anyone else.

Where the game falters is in the gameplay. It is stuck between the later PS3 and PS4 games and the PS2 games. There are significant improvements from the early games, but the game is not as fleshed out as the series would become. The substories are not especially good, but there are a lot of them. Eating at restaurants is a chore. A lot of the minigames are weird. It is a transitional game in the series. It is still a lot of fun, but with just Kiryu and just one fighting style, the game feels limited in some ways.

I am no longer sure it ranks up there with 5 or 0 as the best in the series, but it is one of my favorites. I kind of wish it had gotten the Kiwami treatment like the first two games, as a simple remaster leaves this as the most archaic game in the series, but it is not so old fashioned that it is not worth playing.