Yakuza 5: Part 3 - Haruka and Akiyama

I'm back to Yakuza 5!
I haven't actually finished this part yet, but there's only one chapter left and I'm loving this part so far so I feel like I should talk a little bit about it.

Fights! Or not.
In the first two chapters we play solely as Haruka Sawamura and cannot fight at all, instead we have dance battles as Haruka is starting her idol career with her boss Park-san.

Dance battles are fairly simple. You just move the "cursor" to where the buttons are coming from and press them on time, it's actually kinda of fun and I've been griding out the more difficult ones. This game is a total time-eater.

As you level up your fans, agency and XP you gain access to new abilities and new jobs to do. It's quite interesting and deviates greatly from the standard Yakuza gameplay.

The side activities in this part of the game are great too. The storyline with Haruka's friends is really heartwarming and involves a lot of friendship and even some drama, I personally loved it.

But where are we? Not in Okinawa, not in Kamurocho...

We're back in Sotenbori! I missed this place, Sotenbori's layout is engraved into my head already so it's nice to come back.

And on the streets of Sotenbori, we have some fun with our boss Park. This was even more heartwarming than the friends sidequest and made me really fall for Park here. She's a total mom and takes really good care of Haruka.

We even get to play Taiko no Tatsujin with her! My favourite rhythm game.

But unfortunately... Things can't be happy forever. Something happens and that unfortunately leads to Park's death.

This is where the game introduces my main man Akiyama.

Don't worry, he didn't kill Park, as far as I know so far.
But he's just opened a new Sky Finance subsidiary in Sotenbori!

And obviously wakes up to a rude awakening, this is Yakuza after all.

Akiyama here is a lot more fun to play as than in Yakuza 4 and he was already fun there.
He gets a lot of slick smooth new moves.

And with the help of Saigo, the self-proclaimed mercenary from Yakuza 4, he gets to do "aerial combat" now, basically the thing from hack n' slash games where you throw your enemies in the air, jump and beat them up there. It feels silly in Yakuza, but plays like butter.

So, what's Akiyama doing besides opening a new joint for Sky Finance?
Well, he's recently learned of the murder of Park-san as well and decides to investigate, this is where he finds out Haruka is Park's new prodigy.

After the two investigate Park's suicide note, things become pretty clear that she didn't kill herself because of her handwriting.
So this is where things start heating up and I've got some more investigation to do in chapter 4 now.

And the thing is, did I mention Haruka is also training for something called the Princess League?
It's an idol competition where she's competing against T-set, a duo of annoying girls with an annoying manager.

The gameplay for the Princess League is pretty much just Project Diva, and it's hella fun. I've won up to the second round so far.

I'll keep on playing now to find out what the mystery is and who could've possibly done such a terrible thing to the kind soul that is Park-san.

Thanks for reading and checking out my screenshots! Yakuza keeps being fun and an incredible game to explore and see out the story.

My posts will be way shorter now, because I'm a bit fatigued from making Yakuza content - so take these posts as a call to action to everyone!
Buy Gamepass, play Yakuza!!!

It's simply an amazing game. If I end up not doing a part 4 or part 5 of Yakuza 5, now you know why... just keep in mind that these games are incredible, and I'll play each and every last one of them.

Can't wait for Ishin and Gaiden to come to Gamepass too!

Thanks for being here with me through my journey in this incredible franchise.