How To Make A Yakuza Video (Patreon)

Hello everyone!

Time for a new thing I want to do with this space on Patreon; musings about videos I have ideas for, and what they might look like. This is primarily to give you all some insight into what's going on in my head and what might be coming up for the channel, but you're welcome to comment with your thoughts as well!

Yakuza 0 was purchased for me ages ago by someone who wanted me to review it. It's still in my backlog of reviews, but I did play the game, and have since played through 3 as well (I'm currently partway through 4). I absolutely love this series, and would like to do more than just a review on it. But I'm still not sure of the best way to do it.

I don't think a literary analysis would be in order, frankly; the games are so steeped in Japanese culture that it would feel incomplete with my simple understanding of that context. Barring a Japanese Youtuber collaboration or something, that's probably just not in the cards.

Right now, the leading idea in my head is a sort of Unraveled-style video, borrowing the whole "breaking down this abstract concept using made-up, vaguely scientific reasoning" concept from that series. Specifically, categorizing each of the substories in a specific Yakuza game by subjects and themes (starting with either 0 or Kiwami) to "scientifically determine" the major themes of the game as a whole. Maybe with a bit of discussion about how the result relates to the game's overall story. It would be different from my usual formula, but it could be really fun.

Another idea is to use Yakuza 0 as a jumping off point for discussing the nature of prequels, and whether it's best to start with 0 or with the series' actual starting point (1/Kiwami). There's certainly some interesting stuff to talk about here, since 1) 0 is probably the best game mechanically, and going back to the older games afterward can be a challenge, 2) the added context for Nishiki makes the conflict in Kiwami far better, while I find Majima's story works better as an origin story than as an actual beginning, and 3) while 0 worked fine as an entry point for me, my general approach is that prequels are meant to fill in gaps, not establish a story, and thus are better to experience in release order rather than chronological (Star Wars prequels being an excellent example). So that could be an interesting discussion.

Of course, I do plan to do the straight-up review of 0 as well, and probably the other games too. I'm still not sure exactly what role reviews will have in the channel going forward, but I did tell people I would review games they bought for me and I plan to keep that promise (despite how disastrously late it is).

Do any of you like the Yakuza games? What videos would you like to see on the series?