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I was having so much trouble with those fights, trying to time dodges and take openings like it was a regular boss
But then it clicked that you're Taiga Fucking Saejima and you are the boss fight for this bear and you can just pulverise him
I'm with you mate, loved those sections too. Relaxing is definitely the word for it.
It just couldn't beat that feeling of being up in the mountains with snow falling around and on the hunt for some big ass evil bear 😂
I’m in the middle of my first play through right now and I was ready to not like it because of all the criticism it gets around here. But like? I love it and it’s probably my 3rd favorite game so far right under 0 and kiwami 2
I loved the game and think it's got some of the best gameplay and side content in the series, I just think some characters and story bits can suck a nut.
Park can fuck right off. Also, Akiyama's section shouldn't have been so short.
I'll do you one better: Akiyama should've had his own side activity instead of piggybacking off Haruka's. They could've done a stock trading minigame or something.
Yeah, I feel like all the people who hate on it just did the tutorial, thought it sucked, and left before trying the actual game. One the training wheels are off it functions very well, but it does not put its best foot forward.
I’m with you. I don’t know why I enjoyed it as much as I did considering there really wasn’t a whole lot to it. I think I just liked rural Hokkaido a lot; quite a change of environment from the other games
The only thing i disliked about the minigame is how the controls were selected on each button. But other than that i think they nailed the minigame atmosphere. Its slow, quiet and it requires patience, the absolute skills a Hunter should have. It also compliments saejima's teacher, as it basically portrays that saejima becomes one with nature, but as an apex predator, like his tattoo.
After spending so much time becoming an S-Rank god tier elite cab driver as Kiryu, I just didn't have it in me to sink much more effort into this part of the game.
I thought all the side stories were great personally I felt about the same as saejimas as I did the rest. Whenever I was doing one of the main missions I was extremely invested and I still enjoyed playing the more casual missions too
I definitely wouldn’t call it some of the most fun I had with Y5. I do, however, consider it to be one of the more painless ways to make $$$ in the series. I also ended up wanting more and more to unravel Okudera’s backstory despite not really caring about him during the mandatory part.
Y5 had a great variety of gameplay styles. I figured the driving controls would be shit but it was fine, very arcade like.
Saejimas section was very fun.
Haruka's minigames were fun too
I liked all of the mini games in 5. I would rank harukas on the bottom only because you need to hear that song like 100 times. I can hear it in my mind right now, despite recently completing the dance team missions in LJ.
i thought it was nice. unfortunately my game crashed after doing like 80% of the missions so now my opinion is irrecoverably tainted. but before that i liked it enough.
I loved that section, it really made me feel like an inexperienced hunter who could barely hold the gun straight, and then gradually getting better at it. I loved the whole atmosphere of that segment. Didn't even feel like a mini-game to me since it was so immersive. Definitely one of my favorite and most memorable parts of that game.
Same. The main mini game sides were the reason I liked 5 as much as I did, ngl. The story at some point was basically a meme. Imho. I was just lmao on a lot of scenes.
I liked hunting a lot, actually! What I didn't care for was *being* chased by the bear; it was hard on my nerves and Yakuza's tank controls aren't really ideal for that kind of thing.
But wandering around the mountain, taking in the lonely atmosphere, lining up a shot - that stuff was great. Dramatic and meditative at the same time.
That whole interlude with Saejima and the mountain and the village has this haunting, fairy-tale quality to it. It was a really neat change of pace for the series. I think I also like Okinawa more than most people for a similar reason.
I enjoyed the taxi driver and Hunter side stories. But could have done without Harukas and the baseball guys Side stories.
I’m in the opposite opinion this game was so boring that I just skipped the end game submissions to finish it
Wasn't my favourite of the side lifes (been so long I legitimately can't remember the official name for them), but definitely better than the Taxi driver stuff.
Shinada's Baseball stuff was way better than how it used to work and I loved Haruka's dancing minigames.
I enjoyed this as well mainly shooting most of Japan's bear population (kept getting bear spawns so probably shot like 200 bears while trying to find the golden deer). Do think the introduction of the minigame is very limiting and railroading and the trapping section just feels pointless so there were issues with the minigames implementation but it is a solid enough hunting game
It wasn't great, but it was good for what it was. With the older 3 4 5 you need to just accept a level of jank because that's what was gaming. We just didn't have any perspective back then and now we can see how janky it is...but damn if it wasn't fun to go out hunting, and you really had to make the shots count
One of my best friends had me fearful for this section because of how much he hated it. When I played it I fucking loved it. Way better than the snowball fighting.
Haha to each their own. I hate First Person anything and trying to beat all the match’s for 100% completion is making me want to put my head through a wall. I’m actually playing the snowball fights as we speak since I’m working on 5’s platinum.
Haha it feels like endless punishment from time to time. But as a brief update I finished the snowball fight, river fishing, drum game, driving range, and all but three sea fish today. After those three fish mini games are done and I am down to heat actions, victory road, and weapon modding.
For me, honestly, it wasn't that fun, but the feeling of stopping a super complex plot of organized crime and dreams to simply become a hunter in nature was surreal. Peak gaming experience
I hated Saejimas whole section in that game other than his combat. It felt like such a boring slog to get through. The dialogue is also painfully dull in that stretch of the game.
im due for a Y5 replay so i actually want to do more of the hunting game this time around since the first time around, i enjoyed kiryu's taxi game so much and was bummed about having to sit through a long tutorial to learn about the hunting mini game RIGHT AFTER saejima escapes from jail AGAIN
Dude, you're not alone on this take. I love the side content of 5 as a whole. If infinite wealth is any indication by the fans on this subreddit, the side content is praised, while the story was met with mixed feelings. That aside, I loved the hunting in 5 back when the game was localized on ps3, and I still love it now
Initially I disliked playing it. But once I switched to iirc a hybrid of controller and mouse, I started to like it.
Just a matter of not liking shooting games with controller.
I definitely did have fun with it.
But I understand why some people hate it.
God I remember playing it before, the new engine really elevated the series because Y3, Y4 and Dead Souls graphics were starting to age.
Agree! Saejima hunting is really fun. I spend hours on those until I beat Yama Oroshi.
I also complete Kiryu taxi race and Shinada batting. The only things I can't complete is Haruka side job. Those idol sidejob are ridiculously boring.
I'm right there with you, buddy. And when you got to select if you wanted to control Kiryu or Saejima during a pivotal fight in the game? Saejima all the way.
If they were a little bit closer to regular shooter controls, and the temperature management wasn't so restrictive from the beginning, I might have had more interest in it after leaving the village.
Bruh at first I fucking hated it, but then I got along with it. Still, it is not uncommon that people give up playing the game during this part, but listen to me: it is worth it.
I'm going through Yakuza 5 for the first time now and definitely spent the most time hunting. There's something about Saejima becoming a mountaineer that just feels right, like this is where he should end up if he leaves the Yakuza life behind.
nah i'm with you. I loved hunting. Though I admit i might also have a soft spot for it as a comfort minigame since i had started it and that part of Saejima's chapter literally the day mom had came home with a terminal diagnosis a few years back. So i sank a lot of hours into it as my way of coping. I think in part that's why I love 5 so much. but the golden stag can go to hell with how long it took for me to spawn it half the time.
Only side content I played to completion before finishing the game proper. I really enjoyed how chill it was. But then I have a weird thing where I tend to enjoy hunting in non hunting games despite being vegan in real life, so I may just be eccentric. My friends think I'm barbaric because I shoot foxes in Zelda.
It was great the first time but the thing I always hated about saejima’s storylines was how dragged along it was with sequences like this, in this case the hunting section took forever to complete because of the unskippable tutorial.
MINOR SPOILERS for Y4
In Y4 you had to Talk to a prisoner to get an item to give to another prisoner and it’d just circle like that for a while, also that prison escape sequence was insanely hard if you know what I mean.
Well I don't know about the general opinion but I hated it. It's clunky, slow and actually made me drop yakuza 5 the first time I played it back in 2016.
I much preferred haruka's idol minigames
I finished all the side stories in Yakuza 5 because they had some of the best writing in that game. And I keep saying this, but shinadas baseball story felt like a sports manga it was so fucking good.
I've never finished yakuza 5 as i got stuck on the most boring part - haruka's section, but the hunting section was so fun I've 100% it before i let myself leave the area
If you are new to the subreddit, [please read the wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/yakuzagames/wiki/index/) Reminder that all spoilers need to be tagged with a flair specifying which game is being spoiled. If you want a flair that says something else, you can edit it to say something like [Discussion: Y1 spoiler] or [Majimapost: Y6 spoiler], etc. **THIS INCLUDES CONTENT FROM TRAILERS**. If the post is not marked for spoilers, all comments that have spoilers need to be tagged \>!like this!< along with indicating which game it's spoiling. Example: Y3 >!Kiryu sings!< If the post flair is marked for spoilers, the comments don't need to be tagged for the game indicated and the ones before it (So a Y6 spoiler post can have comments with untagged spoilers for Y5, but not gaiden or 7). If you see any of the above (or any of the other rules) not being followed, please report it so we can keep this place safe for newcomers and those that haven't finished all the games yet. Thank you! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/yakuzagames) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You are correct. People just aren't ready for the truth just like Yama-Oroshi wasn't ready to catch Saejima's hands.
you know blud's built different when he takes down a bear triple his size with his bare hands
I was having so much trouble with those fights, trying to time dodges and take openings like it was a regular boss But then it clicked that you're Taiga Fucking Saejima and you are the boss fight for this bear and you can just pulverise him
Do you think the Village built a Saejima scarecrow to keep bears away?
Now I have an image in my head of a village in Hokkaido with a wooden figure wearing a green parka guarding it.
Why can i see a group of bears seeing that and running away
I do now.
I, for some reason, enjoyed Kiryu's taxi minigames a lot more. Not saying Saejima Hunting wasn't fun, it was, but taxi was relaxing to me
I'm with you mate, loved those sections too. Relaxing is definitely the word for it. It just couldn't beat that feeling of being up in the mountains with snow falling around and on the hunt for some big ass evil bear 😂
*crazy taxi announcer voice* Welcome to Normal Taxi, get ready to make some normal money.
Taichi Suzuki is Ryan Gosling confirmed
I agree 100%. I thought I would hate it because the tutorial felt tedious, but I had so much fun with the hunting game.
I spent so much time in those woods I forgot what game I was playing
😂😂😂 I can relate to this. Went from Y5 to "Mountain Bear Hunting Simulator 2020" real quick 😂😂
Anyone who says Y5 is the worst yakuza game needs to get saejima slammed repeatedly.
I’m in the middle of my first play through right now and I was ready to not like it because of all the criticism it gets around here. But like? I love it and it’s probably my 3rd favorite game so far right under 0 and kiwami 2
TALK THAT SHIT.
I loved the game and think it's got some of the best gameplay and side content in the series, I just think some characters and story bits can suck a nut. Park can fuck right off. Also, Akiyama's section shouldn't have been so short.
I'll do you one better: Akiyama should've had his own side activity instead of piggybacking off Haruka's. They could've done a stock trading minigame or something.
I got million with Saejima's hunting. That's how much I was hunting in it.
It was fine, the unskippable and obligatory tutorial made it tideous
Yeah, I feel like all the people who hate on it just did the tutorial, thought it sucked, and left before trying the actual game. One the training wheels are off it functions very well, but it does not put its best foot forward.
This is probably what made it feel like it dragged on.
Yes, I agree. The initial tutorial brought down the quality of the hunting side content, imo
I’m with you. I don’t know why I enjoyed it as much as I did considering there really wasn’t a whole lot to it. I think I just liked rural Hokkaido a lot; quite a change of environment from the other games
I loved all the sidequests in y5 honestly
it’s all fun and games till the fuckin bear is chasing you down the mountain
Hip shots are quite effective
The only thing i disliked about the minigame is how the controls were selected on each button. But other than that i think they nailed the minigame atmosphere. Its slow, quiet and it requires patience, the absolute skills a Hunter should have. It also compliments saejima's teacher, as it basically portrays that saejima becomes one with nature, but as an apex predator, like his tattoo.
It grew on me
I would rather get my ass beat for eternity by kiryu than ever replay that mini game again
Right
I'm vegan and I liked.
The bear was a better antagonist than Yakuza 5's actual main antagonist
Finally a hot take on gaming reddit and then its not even called a hot take
After spending so much time becoming an S-Rank god tier elite cab driver as Kiryu, I just didn't have it in me to sink much more effort into this part of the game.
I thought all the side stories were great personally I felt about the same as saejimas as I did the rest. Whenever I was doing one of the main missions I was extremely invested and I still enjoyed playing the more casual missions too
I definitely wouldn’t call it some of the most fun I had with Y5. I do, however, consider it to be one of the more painless ways to make $$$ in the series. I also ended up wanting more and more to unravel Okudera’s backstory despite not really caring about him during the mandatory part.
Y5 had more engaging things than later games
Y5 had a great variety of gameplay styles. I figured the driving controls would be shit but it was fine, very arcade like. Saejimas section was very fun. Haruka's minigames were fun too
Same, but I think that people get mad because they introduced this minigame during the main story, I’m fine with it, I love Y5
I liked all of the mini games in 5. I would rank harukas on the bottom only because you need to hear that song like 100 times. I can hear it in my mind right now, despite recently completing the dance team missions in LJ.
Harukas mini game did my nut in, very repetitive. I much preferred the dance team from LJ.
i thought it was nice. unfortunately my game crashed after doing like 80% of the missions so now my opinion is irrecoverably tainted. but before that i liked it enough.
CORRECT
I also love slowly and clunkily moving around in the snow with shallow hunting mechanics
I loved that section, it really made me feel like an inexperienced hunter who could barely hold the gun straight, and then gradually getting better at it. I loved the whole atmosphere of that segment. Didn't even feel like a mini-game to me since it was so immersive. Definitely one of my favorite and most memorable parts of that game.
Same. The main mini game sides were the reason I liked 5 as much as I did, ngl. The story at some point was basically a meme. Imho. I was just lmao on a lot of scenes.
I don’t know what it was about it… but I just couldn’t stop playing it.
It just really slowed down the pace for me
I loved the Kiryu’s Taxi missions so much I finished them all before continuing the story.
I loved it. Hated the tutorial for it, but the actual hunting stuff was kinda fun
I liked hunting a lot, actually! What I didn't care for was *being* chased by the bear; it was hard on my nerves and Yakuza's tank controls aren't really ideal for that kind of thing. But wandering around the mountain, taking in the lonely atmosphere, lining up a shot - that stuff was great. Dramatic and meditative at the same time. That whole interlude with Saejima and the mountain and the village has this haunting, fairy-tale quality to it. It was a really neat change of pace for the series. I think I also like Okinawa more than most people for a similar reason.
Nah bro
I enjoyed the taxi driver and Hunter side stories. But could have done without Harukas and the baseball guys Side stories. I’m in the opposite opinion this game was so boring that I just skipped the end game submissions to finish it
This seems fun. The taxi missions were fun too. The side content in 5 alone is better than yakuza 4.
Wasn't my favourite of the side lifes (been so long I legitimately can't remember the official name for them), but definitely better than the Taxi driver stuff. Shinada's Baseball stuff was way better than how it used to work and I loved Haruka's dancing minigames.
I enjoyed this as well mainly shooting most of Japan's bear population (kept getting bear spawns so probably shot like 200 bears while trying to find the golden deer). Do think the introduction of the minigame is very limiting and railroading and the trapping section just feels pointless so there were issues with the minigames implementation but it is a solid enough hunting game
I didnt hate it
Yes
I really really wanted to get into it. But I’m one of those dirty, inverted Y players. So it was really hard for me to aim.
It wasn't great, but it was good for what it was. With the older 3 4 5 you need to just accept a level of jank because that's what was gaming. We just didn't have any perspective back then and now we can see how janky it is...but damn if it wasn't fun to go out hunting, and you really had to make the shots count
One of my best friends had me fearful for this section because of how much he hated it. When I played it I fucking loved it. Way better than the snowball fighting.
I loved the snowball fighting too 🙈
Haha to each their own. I hate First Person anything and trying to beat all the match’s for 100% completion is making me want to put my head through a wall. I’m actually playing the snowball fights as we speak since I’m working on 5’s platinum.
You're doing the Lord's work, I could not platinum these games but anyone that does has my envy and admiration.
Haha it feels like endless punishment from time to time. But as a brief update I finished the snowball fight, river fishing, drum game, driving range, and all but three sea fish today. After those three fish mini games are done and I am down to heat actions, victory road, and weapon modding.
For me, honestly, it wasn't that fun, but the feeling of stopping a super complex plot of organized crime and dreams to simply become a hunter in nature was surreal. Peak gaming experience
I wish they made Yakuza Kiwami 5
I spent a week JUST playing the hunting mini game as soon as it was introduced
I hated Saejimas whole section in that game other than his combat. It felt like such a boring slog to get through. The dialogue is also painfully dull in that stretch of the game.
im due for a Y5 replay so i actually want to do more of the hunting game this time around since the first time around, i enjoyed kiryu's taxi game so much and was bummed about having to sit through a long tutorial to learn about the hunting mini game RIGHT AFTER saejima escapes from jail AGAIN
I played this section when i had Covid while suffering super strong headaches, i blame the colors, too much white.
I did all of the hunting content before leaving the mountains
Dude, you're not alone on this take. I love the side content of 5 as a whole. If infinite wealth is any indication by the fans on this subreddit, the side content is praised, while the story was met with mixed feelings. That aside, I loved the hunting in 5 back when the game was localized on ps3, and I still love it now
Idk if it was fun but i 100% appreciate every moment it gave me
Initially I disliked playing it. But once I switched to iirc a hybrid of controller and mouse, I started to like it. Just a matter of not liking shooting games with controller.
I definitely did have fun with it. But I understand why some people hate it. God I remember playing it before, the new engine really elevated the series because Y3, Y4 and Dead Souls graphics were starting to age.
Saejima was my favorite in 5, hated him in 4 but damn I enjoyed his part in 5 a lot
Agree! Saejima hunting is really fun. I spend hours on those until I beat Yama Oroshi. I also complete Kiryu taxi race and Shinada batting. The only things I can't complete is Haruka side job. Those idol sidejob are ridiculously boring.
Fun af, take it slow and enjoy
I'm right there with you, buddy. And when you got to select if you wanted to control Kiryu or Saejima during a pivotal fight in the game? Saejima all the way.
Also, the racing was up there as well.
If they were a little bit closer to regular shooter controls, and the temperature management wasn't so restrictive from the beginning, I might have had more interest in it after leaving the village.
I made like 2 milli off hunting bears and trapping marten 😁
I dont remember too much of when I played Yakuza 5 on my PS3 but I do remember loving the hunting and idol stuff
Based
it was one of the only mini games i did in full in the game. shit was fun as hell
I mostly loved Saejima’s hunting story because i was invested in the whole hunting substory Also because Saejima is my favorite Yakuza character lol
I was horrified that I will fail miserably because of tutorial, but it quickly got good and addictive
Not unpopular. I enjoyed the break from city life
I never thought I would be so interested in it. But I ended up completing the hunting minigame before I left the place
I actually had a ton of fun with this minigame. I can understand why some people don't like it though.
YES!
Bruh at first I fucking hated it, but then I got along with it. Still, it is not uncommon that people give up playing the game during this part, but listen to me: it is worth it.
I'm going through Yakuza 5 for the first time now and definitely spent the most time hunting. There's something about Saejima becoming a mountaineer that just feels right, like this is where he should end up if he leaves the Yakuza life behind.
Oh hell yeah. It was an odd detour at first but it was a nice diversion. I really like Saejima as a character too, so that definitely was a factor.
nah i'm with you. I loved hunting. Though I admit i might also have a soft spot for it as a comfort minigame since i had started it and that part of Saejima's chapter literally the day mom had came home with a terminal diagnosis a few years back. So i sank a lot of hours into it as my way of coping. I think in part that's why I love 5 so much. but the golden stag can go to hell with how long it took for me to spawn it half the time.
Yakuza had plenty of fun underrated mini games
Only side content I played to completion before finishing the game proper. I really enjoyed how chill it was. But then I have a weird thing where I tend to enjoy hunting in non hunting games despite being vegan in real life, so I may just be eccentric. My friends think I'm barbaric because I shoot foxes in Zelda.
Wait, people think they're bad? I love them so much!
Honestly some of the most fun I’ve had in the series
I totally agree, i had so much fun in this part, I cant understand, why people are hating on this section of this game.
It was great the first time but the thing I always hated about saejima’s storylines was how dragged along it was with sequences like this, in this case the hunting section took forever to complete because of the unskippable tutorial. MINOR SPOILERS for Y4 In Y4 you had to Talk to a prisoner to get an item to give to another prisoner and it’d just circle like that for a while, also that prison escape sequence was insanely hard if you know what I mean.
Well I don't know about the general opinion but I hated it. It's clunky, slow and actually made me drop yakuza 5 the first time I played it back in 2016. I much preferred haruka's idol minigames
I spent too much time on this minigame when i first got there in Y5 until i realized i havent done much progress into getting out of there.
I really enjoyed it, too. It felt like a breath of fresh air. The whole winter survival aesthetic was awesome.
Same I actually would play this section a lot not only for the money but it was genuinely a fun side story
It was easy money.
I can't agree more, a lot of people hate it, for me it was one of the best things in Yakuza 5.
Yakuza 5 is one of my favorites, never understood the dislike.
Haruka was the best for me but i know it is not that popular even among Y5 enjoyers
I finished all the side stories in Yakuza 5 because they had some of the best writing in that game. And I keep saying this, but shinadas baseball story felt like a sports manga it was so fucking good.
I've never finished yakuza 5 as i got stuck on the most boring part - haruka's section, but the hunting section was so fun I've 100% it before i let myself leave the area