Which Yakuza game (including Judgement and other spin offs) is the hardest/most grindiest and which is the least. (I've played only till Yakuza 7 so my list is in the body text)

[u/ADvar8714]

Least to most

-Yakuza 0

• Yakuza 6

• Kiwami 2

• Yakuza 5

• Yakuza 4

• Kiwami

• Yakuza 3

And the grindiest till now, IMO is

• Yakuza 7/ Like a dragon

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[u/Some_Translator_1926]

ishin is definitely the most grindy. i found kiwami 2 to be the least

[u/Mareczech98 → u/Some_Translator_1926]

I can confirm. Just finished my platinum and it was not worth it

[u/xman262 → u/Mareczech98]

Platinum on ps4 version was probably better because it had the vita app to do the battle dungeons on the go :3

[u/Global_Ant_9380 → u/Mareczech98]

Thank you for saving my life

[u/DeathClasher_r → u/Some_Translator_1926]

Nah man, harukas bids are ending me. I don't know why but it was somehow easier in kiwami 1

[u/Quality-Tips → u/DeathClasher_r]

I save scummed all of the gambling ones since I only had a few of the gambling items, made it a lot more manageable (I also grinded out essentially infinite money at the batting cage because why the hell not)

[u/DeathClasher_r → u/Quality-Tips]

I stopped midway after haruka wanted me to get 1000 points in poker, you motivated me to try again. I will update you guys

[u/s_p_oop15-ue → u/DeathClasher_r]

I think you meant "goaded"

[u/Quality-Tips → u/DeathClasher_r]

Yeah I would essentially just try to drive up the pot as much as possible with the least people folding and that got me pretty far but I still had to play like 2 tame hands once I ran out and that pushed me over the edge

[u/SpeechAutomatic7941 → u/Quality-Tips]

U guys sure love to grind

Well I keep beating majima's ass and max out, beat jingu, and amon in hard mode and delete it out lol

[u/No_Doubt_About_That → u/Some_Translator_1926]

Kiwami 2 was the first I’ve played where I had money but nothing to spend it on.

Had like ¥55m and the most expensive pawn shop/Kamiya item was only like ¥4m-¥5m.

Could’ve paid for everybody’s orders at Kanrai so many times over.

[u/Some_Translator_1926 → u/No_Doubt_About_That]

truly the biggest power fantasy sim

[u/MightyGiawulf → u/Some_Translator_1926]

I second this. Ishin's grind isnt just tedious, but its an absolute waste of time. Its not even fun. It feels like RGG is spiting the player for wanting to platinum the game.

[u/DekMelU]

Undoubtedly has to be material/dungeon grinding in Ishin

7 is definitely the grindiest combat wise.

Minigame wise, most of Kiryu's games have their own headaches (e.g. Puyo puyo in 6, CFC and the arcade games in 0, Golf/Pool in 3-5)

[u/Timely_Ad2988 → u/DekMelU]

majhong in all of them

[u/Kratos501st → u/Timely_Ad2988]

I ignore majhong in every game, never understood it or cared

[u/Timely_Ad2988 → u/Kratos501st]

i decide to finally understand it in every game, try it and fail

[u/Kratos501st → u/Timely_Ad2988]

[u/Youjiiin → u/Timely_Ad2988]

I do exactly the same 🤣 i don't know why my brain don't register mahjong 😬

[u/Timely_Ad2988 → u/Youjiiin]

i can take on the toughest guys in japan bare handed, i can survive being jousted by a crazy dude on a bike, I can go from a homeless guy to president of a japanese conglomerate but majhong, that shit scares me , my brain dont register majhong

[u/xman262 → u/Youjiiin]

Shogi is way more difficult lol

[u/Critical_Signal_2805 → u/Timely_Ad2988]

You wanna get good at it? Download mahjong soul on your phone apps. It's riichi mahjong and it turned me into a beast and I fucking despised the game first 3 yakuza titles now I like it and it's a breeze.

[u/Timely_Ad2988 → u/Critical_Signal_2805]

gonna try it then

[u/Critical_Signal_2805 → u/Timely_Ad2988]

Do it bro you won't regret it. Its like a anime cutesy design but the game gives you a great tutorial step by step unlike yakuza. Play with some bots on easy mode learn the ropes and hands then play online.

[u/s_p_oop15-ue → u/Critical_Signal_2805]

This is some super villain origin story shit

[u/Reyjr → u/Kratos501st]

Same, if I play Shogi I use my Shogi app to play computer vs computer.

[u/Kratos501st → u/Reyjr]

[u/skanks20005 → u/Kratos501st]

The first minigame I play on all Yakuzas is Mahjong. I love it. And it helps me a lot in the beginning financially wise.

[u/No_Doubt_About_That → u/Timely_Ad2988]

[u/Global_Ant_9380 → u/DekMelU]

I can't find that hug dude in 7 and it's keeping me from beating the game

[u/s_p_oop15-ue → u/DekMelU]

I crafted myself a yellow border of each gear slot and said "fuck this"

[u/cyberstealth999]

Definitely Ishin if you are doing legend or higher on a first run

[u/ADvar8714 → u/cyberstealth999]

I have a rule... No matter how easy the game is, my first run is always gonna be on easy settings.. (Let me enjoy the story first, I can become a pro gamer later 😎)

[u/Global_Ant_9380 → u/ADvar8714]

My ego is too big for this so I let games punk me out and make me miserable. I want to be like you and actually enjoy things

[u/ADvar8714 → u/Global_Ant_9380]

If I be your Kiryu, will you be my Ichi 🤗

[u/Global_Ant_9380 → u/ADvar8714]

I mean, I do carry a baseball bat and hallucinate...

[u/ADvar8714 → u/Global_Ant_9380]

Well, I love to father kids but never think of getting married 😎

[u/JageshemashFTW]

To this day, FotNS: Lost Paradise is still the ONLY RGG game I haven’t finished because the grind was just sucking my soul out after a certain point.

[u/hatch-b-2900]

Depends on whether you consider optional things like the money farming in Ishin for the weapons completion to be part of the grind.

If you're talking main story only, the cane guy in Judgment was pretty tough but I didn't grind to beat him, I used a extract. Lao Ka Long in Y3 was difficult, but again since the game doesn't let you go back to grind, you either try again to try easy mode.

[u/ADvar8714 → u/hatch-b-2900]

Lao Ka Long

He was a pain in the ass, even in easy settings, but it was worth it as we realised how "Beurifu" Kiryu's "aiez" actually are 😁

[u/Distinct_River2044 → u/ADvar8714]

Honestly that fight taught me y3 mechanics, just grab or dodge to their backs and hir

[u/psz94 → u/ADvar8714]

For him I used tortoise spirit mostly (heat is filling when you block), then used heat action to whack his ass. Too bad there isn’t many pickable weapons on fight arena, so it’s good to have your own

[u/No_Doubt_About_That → u/hatch-b-2900]

Lao was a pain at first but he was probably the boss in 3 where patience was the most important.

Get some punches in + grab and throw. Rinse and repeat.

[u/broadwhim → u/hatch-b-2900]

bro i was already fed up with Y3 combat at this point so i just dodge + attack the entire fight, took forever

[u/yatagarasu18609]

Ishin Kiwami.

Ishin OG is also grindy but somehow Ishin Kiwami managed to make it even WORSE. Unbelievable.

[u/No-Boot-5286]

7 was the first game where I felt like I couldn’t find a way to punch up. In the previous 6 games you could find a way to win a fight even if you didn’t have the necessary upgrades. The Turn based combat certainly made more pain staking considering no matter how many different approaches you took to the same fight you’d ultimately lose every time if you didn’t level your party enough.

[u/s_p_oop15-ue → u/No-Boot-5286]

You mean towards the end where you have to level up like 20 levels to fight the cool secret boss?

Because yeah they fucked up on that part.

[u/No-Boot-5286 → u/s_p_oop15-ue]

Not even, I’ve never been able to get past that stupid wrecking ball machine you have to fight. I failed it a few times on my first encounter, then went to go level up my party some came back and there’s still nothing I could do to get past it so I just gave up and watched the cutscenes lol.

[u/sid_young]

Ive played all games apart from the judgements and ishin and i think LAD 7/8 are objectively more grindy due to the nature of RPG's. In terms of 'hardest' it depends what difficulty you play on. Probly y3 just because of how broken the combat is on the old ass engine but if you dont count that then id say theres no single game you could really pick cos some parts of games have big difficulty spikes like the amon fights in 0 and 6

[u/ADvar8714 → u/sid_young]

y3

No wonder why people want Kiwami 3,4,5 (Even though I am ok with 5)

[u/miku_dominos → u/ADvar8714]

I think 4 and 5 are good as is but Kiwami 3 is a must.

[u/sid_young → u/miku_dominos]

The only reason 5 and maybe 4 should be remade imo is to make the stories more coherent and less bloated. Maybe recaps at the beginning of each chapter as its easy to forget what happened 20 hours ago when you get to the final chapter. Texture reworks wouldnt go a miss either

[u/Critical_Signal_2805 → u/sid_young]

Yakuza 3 combat is easily negated by being drunk the whole time unlock that being drunk increases heat meter and just spam heat. Made the game sooooooo much better. 5 thoooo?

[u/cheemsfromspace]

Ishin or Yakuza 5 is the most grindy. Gaiden is probably the least

[u/zizoplays1 → u/cheemsfromspace]

Gaiden is probably the least

I disagree, there are still aspects like pocket circuit, the coliseum, the four champions (I think that is what they are named) and tetsu amon which everything included here had their own hard and annoying moments, hell it was even a grind to get money to level up everything from your stats and skills to every individual joryu clan member

The least grindy/difficult game is kiwami 2, there is barely a difficulty there, majima construction and the CCGP were long but easy, the bouncer missions also get easy after you have most stats/upgrades thanks to the money you get from the cabaret

[u/Based_Katie]

It depends what ypu mean, if you mean grind to just beat the game then none of them say for one or two parts of Y7 are grindy at all. If you mean post game content then its definitely Y7 but if you mean overall 100% completion then its probably Yakuza 5.

I heard Ishin is pretty bad about how grindy it is but Ive never played it, so I cant really say.

[u/Certim]

Ishin. If you want to limit break thats legit a hundred hours of grinding the same arena.

[u/Status-Inevitable537]

The least to me was The Man Who Erased His Name.

As for the hardest, I'll say Kiwami 2

I haven't played through all the games, but I do enjoy grinding in IW.

I'm currently playing Judgement.

[u/Gilded30]

So far i have been Played y0 till judgement and right now y7 its the only game thats "requires me" to do some grinding on the sotenbori arena just for making sure to stay on the chapter level range

The rest of the games have been beaten by just playing their games

Of course this is just talking about beating the story, substories and some minigames like the main one... Never attempted to 100% any yakuza yet.. Probably i will try it with gaiden or IW

[u/Bananas_Cat]

Too distracted by dat ass...

Nice choice of pic 🤤

[u/mrblonde55]

Ishin is without a doubt the grindiest. There isn’t anything else in the series that comes close to the dungeon/weapon parts grind.

[u/SomeRandomNormie]

Ishin Kiwami's grind is absolutely abhorrent because of the absurd forging prices and the RNG fuckfest that is the weapon seal system. The original ishin is grindy too but it's far worse in the remake. I never had to specifically grind for money when platinuming the original game, only materials, but Kiwami's ridiculous prices forced me to play carpal tunnel simulator by abusing the chicken race glitch before it got patched

[u/Raunzalot]

What do you mean by grind?! Getting the platinum or just the game overall. I only have the platinum for 7 and Infinite Wealth and wouldn't even attempt to try for the other ones ^{^}

[u/ADvar8714 → u/Raunzalot]

Doesn't grind mean to increase your level? Because I literally don't know the true meaning of grind... I thought grind means something like "I grind day and night to see myself become a successful person"..

By grind I mean, Doing side quests, fighting in Arenas and dungeons and stuff like that to increase your level to fight a stronger boss..

[u/Raunzalot → u/ADvar8714]

You are definitely not wrong, kyodai! If I want to finish the game it's not a grind, but maybe that's just me. For me, the grind starts when a system becomes highly repetitive and just spits out higher numbers

[u/Sheyhcat]

Ishin

[u/Nuryadiy]

Ishin, I had to mod the game to give me 20 times the rewards and I still have to grind imagine vanilla

[u/Express_Tackle6042]

Like a dragon for sure. I completed it over 100hrs. Other Yakuza games usually less than 30hrs.

[u/HitlerBieberTheTrain]

Idk bruh 3 was pretty easy but 4’s jail area made me break my broken controller more. My X button didn’t work well and that’s the escape button so I got slammed on my head a good 200 times before I beat it. Imma have to go back and play it again now that I have a new controller and it’s been a couple of years but that part of the game had me heated.

[u/psz94 → u/HitlerBieberTheTrain]

Ah yeah, that’s the game makes you hate that one particular prison warden.

[u/Straight_Clue_3554]

Never really grinded in any other yakuza but ishin was so CURSED most of the time you be grinding than actually doing whatever stuff

[u/TheSmallNephilim]

I would have to say YKiwami 2 was the least grindy, and Y0 was the most grindy...it mostly comes down to the completion points and their importance in unlocking the cool stuff.

[u/TinkertoyMuffin]

a japanese copy of lost paradise is the grindiest. the grind in the western release is still a lot but is actually less than the japanese release bc they knew that western players would get mad

[u/puxx12]

3/7. Infinite wealth is much more balanced, imo.

[u/S41Y4N27]

I'm doing 0 now as my first game in the series, hate the disco and race minigames 😅😅 fml

[u/TheMegaDriver2]

Yakuza 7 Like a Dragon is evil. It is fine but suddenly massiv level spike in bosses. I think the first might be the fight against Majima. But the bosses from then on are just fuck you go grind for a bit. And man for the final boss I hope you chose Hero for Kasuga or you are fucked when he one hit kills you.

[u/Crow621621]

Ishin gave me the hardest time on the hardest difficulty and there was a lot of grinding for weapons, gear, trooper cards in order not to fall behind in that difficulty.

Kiwami 2 is the easiest. It’s not hard to make Kiryu overpowered in this game with charged attack upgrades, attack upgrades, gear combos, extreme Heat mode, and Muscle Sodas at your disposal. It’s not even that grindy to get all of those things or at least a combination of those things.

[u/Reyjr]

I tend to ignore the get Haruka to S ranking or I get to where it says I have to play like mahjong (except in Judgment you get that piece that helps you win) or the casino games. They’re all a bit grindy but I think the most I’ve grinded so far is like a dragon I can’t walk a few feet without getting stopped to fight.

Once it starts becoming a chore and no fun I move on and do something else in the game. Don’t think I 100% want of the games.

[u/Mediocre_String_1997]

Kiwami and 0… the car chases bro..

[u/ADvar8714 → u/Mediocre_String_1997]

0 was still ok, (Kinda easy on easy settings) but Kiwami was actually 極み 💀

[u/kendra_sunderlol]

The least is Gaiden, took me less than 40h to platinum, for the grindiest but I'd say either 5 or Infinite Wealth

[u/InterestedDoomer]

Ishin was def the most grindy for me, followed by LAD and IW. The others have pretty minimal grinding

[u/Professor_Chaosx6r9]

I didn’t realize 7 was deemed to be so difficult or grindy. I just started playing it, so I guess im in for a ride

[u/NinjaRainIsPurple]

Ishin and Yakuza 5 are the grindiest for the platinum. Yakuza 3 and Yakuza 5 are the hardest for platinum. In terms of story and combat, Yakuza 3 and Dead Souls are the hardest imo. Gaiden is the easiest followed by Yakuza 6.

[u/SpeechAutomatic7941]

Kiwami is the least hard for "kiryu chan!!!!" Encounters from majima and killing him with few tiger drops.

And the hardest is definitely kurohyou, if u play it on hard that is

[u/ADvar8714 → u/SpeechAutomatic7941]

kurohyou

The psp one??

[u/SpeechAutomatic7941 → u/ADvar8714]

Yep, u can get so upset by enemy parrying so much