My Time With Yakuza 0 In 4 Pictures & More

Content originally posted to Instagram on June 11, 2020. All screenshots taken by me. As a sidenote, I still haven't finished all the side content in Yakuza 0 that I originally wanted to...but it's okay. I can see a re-visit to this game happening in the future.

I’m finally about to reach the end of Yakuza 0 this week, and the experience has made me realize that I need to consider how to balance longer games with, well…everything else in life that takes up my attention and tires me out.

I was able to get my first full-time job last year, but I didn’t anticipate how much it could take out of me. I thought I’d have the drive to play on most nights every week while taking my time with the game, but I ended up playing less often WHILE trying to take my time. In turn, I guess my prolonged playthrough exacerbated some of my less favorite parts of the game. ex: the “grind-ier” aspects, the switching between main characters Kiryu and Majima throughout the story (which I can appreciate, but it felt a little jarring to me after spending a long time w/one character).

In hindsight, I was definitely burnt out. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the game though; Yakuza 0 is a GREAT experience. Some of the most fun I had with it was when the story was picking up the pace and there really wasn’t an opportunity for me to level up the main characters. It was just…GO GO GO! Makes me consider doing less grinding and speeding through more parts of a game next time, even if the grind was still worthwhile. Also, Kiryu might just be my favorite video game character ever 😌🐲 (but I got love for Majima too, don't worry).

I never wanna stop playing longer games, but yeah: I gotta consider how I’m going to tackle them in the future if my schedule ends up being similar to now. As for Yakuza 0, I still have a lot of in-game content (mostly Majima-related) I haven’t touched yet! So after I reach the end, I’ll play some shorter games I’ve had lined up, and come back to the game a few months from now 👹

A lot is going on out in the world BTW. Stay safe, and if ya see something you don’t like, be like Kiryu or Majima and do something to the best of your ability! Just…maybe hold off on beating anyone up.