Yakuza 3 Review [SPOILERS]

Yakuza 3 has two main locations that the plot takes place in. The first is Kamurocho, a very familiar location from the previous games. The familiar streets and locations are all intact in Yakuza 3. The other main location, unique to Yakuza 3, is the island of Okinawa. After the events of Yakuza 2, Kiryu and his adopted daughter Haruka move from Kamurocho to Okinawa to start the Morning Glory orphanage. Kiryu does this to move on from the yakuza world, and help orphaned children like how his adopted father, Shintaro Kazama, helped him. Okinawa is an incredibly beautiful locale, from the beach just outside Morning Glory (where a surprising amount of events take place), to the urban area of Downtown Ryukyu. As someone who enjoys tropical settings in video games, I loved walking around and exploring Okinawa. 

The plot of Yakuza 3 is the main reason I wanted to write about it when I had not done so for the previous entries. As previously stated, Kiryu moves to Okinawa to start his orphanage and leave the yakuza behind. Before he leaves the Tojo Clan, he asks Goro Majima to come back to the Clan to look out for Daigo Dojima, who will be taking the mantle of sixth chairman. Majima agrees and Kiryu leaves for a new life in Okinawa. The first four chapters are unique to me in that they focus on regular life for Kiryu and the children. Kiryu helps the children with things like problems at school, settling disputes amongst themselves, and even taming a dog. The series up to this point has largely been an action-packed and dramatic story (and believe me, Yakuza 3 has that too), but the focus on the mundane and living a regular life in Okinawa is very refreshing. 

Eventually though, Kiryu must heed the call to action once again, as the land his orphanage lies on is in the center of a plot to build a tourist resort and military base on the island. Kiryu must also help his newfound allies in the Ryudo Family, a local group of yakuza that includes their patriarch, Shigeru Nakahara, and their captain, Rikiya Shimabukuro. Rikiya initially fights Kiryu, but the two become close friends soon after that. Nakahara and Daigo Dojima are both shot by a man who looks exactly like Kiryu’s adopted father Kazama, and Kiryu must return to Kamurocho and learn more. Kiryu goes through a number of trials on his quest to uncover the truth, such as a helicopter attack from Tsuyoshi Kanda, the new leader of the Nishikiyama family, which kills his longtime friend in the Tojo Clan Osamu Kashiwagi. However, Kanda is not the man responsible for the hit on Daigo. Kiryu must also face off against the Snake Flower Triad, a Chinese organized crime syndicate who wants revenge on Kiryu after the events of Yakuza 1. They kidnap Rikiya, who followed Kiryu to Tokyo, and Kiryu fights through them before an incredibly difficult fight against their leader, Lau Ka Long. The Lau Ka Long fight is arguably one of the most difficult and annoying in the whole series from a gameplay perspective. Before the Triad can kill Rikiya, however, the Kazama lookalike shoots Lau and the other Triad members. 

Kiryu then meets with Ryuzo Tamiya, the defense minister who supposedly wants to build the military base on Okinawa. Tamiya tells Kiryu the truth about a number of matters, such as how he doesn’t really want the military base, and that the Kazama lookalike is Joji Kazama, brother of Shintaro, who is now working for the CIA. The development project on Okinawa was all a ploy to lure out underground arms dealers Black Monday. Tamiya’s one request to Kiryu is to save his former employee Toma, who left him and is now a target of Joji for knowing too much. After fighting Joji, Kiryu learns that Joji’s partner shot Daigo and Nakahara, and turned to Tojo Clan member Yoshitaka Mine to build the resort. Kiryu then has to return to Okinawa because Mine did the seemingly unthinkable and destroyed the Morning Glory orphanage in one of the most rage-inducing cutscenes I have ever seen in a video game. In addition to the property damage, Mine’s associate in Okinawa, Tetsuo Tamashiro, kidnaps Nakahara. Kiryu goes alone to save him, but Rikiya follows him. After Tamashiro is seemingly defeated at the bullring outside Ryukyu, he reaches for a gun and fatally shoots Rikiya, who takes the bullet for his aniki, Kiryu. Joji Kazama then shoots Tamashiro in the head, but that is the least of Kiryu’s concerns. The death of Rikiya is one of the most emotional in the series so far, with Kiryu going through all five stages of grief in a single cutscene. Kiryu has suffered a great deal of pain and loss in his life, with the deaths of his sworn brother Nishikiyama, his adopted father Kazama, and even Kashiwagi earlier in the game. Rikiya dying in front of him is the tipping point, and Kiryu lets out all of his emotions at once. 

After this, Kiryu goes to confront Mine at the hospital where Daigo is being held. After fighting his way to Daigo’s hospital room, he is confronted by Andre Richardson, a rogue CIA agent who is the leader of Black Monday. Richardson was the man who shot Daigo and Nakahara. After defeating Richardson in a very brutal boss fight, Kiryu faces Mine on the hospital’s roof. After they fight, Mine reflects on himself. He cannot understand why Kiryu continues to fight and help people for virtually no gain, as Mine is someone who is entirely motivated by money and power. Mine is almost like a reflection of Kiryu, as he was also an orphan who worked his way up from nothing. Mine sees Daigo Dojima as responsible for bringing meaning to his life, but wants to kill him because of the critical condition he is currently in. Kiryu tells him that anyone’s life is worth living as long as they are alive. Mine then receives a call from his secretary. Mine is glad that someone is concerned about him, but the secretary soon after just starts talking about a business deal. Mine hangs up and starts to realize that Kiryu was right. However, right as Mine has a change of heart, Andre Richardson comes back and threatens to kill them all. Mine atones for his sins by grabbing Richardson and jumping off the hospital, and they both plummet to their deaths. 

Overall, the story of Yakuza 3 is very dramatic, emotional, and intriguing. There is a seemingly never-ending number of subjects the game tackles, such as Japanese and global politics, grief and loss, and finding meaning in life. Kazuma Kiryu continues to be one of the greatest protagonists and examples of positive masculinity in all of gaming, as he is not only an incredibly tough fighter in the criminal underworld, but he is also a very caring person who gives back through his orphanage. Although the gameplay is somewhat dated, the characters and story of Yakuza 3 makes it still a great entry in the series and definitely worth playing.