[propter_hoc]

Speaking personally as a JRPG fanatic, I've taken a look at the series a bunch of times on Steam, and there are so many obstacles to getting into it:

- where do I start? There's a dozen titles and no clear entry point

- supposedly the series' genre changed over time? So if you like it in one game it might be a different game in a sequel

- it looks weirdly unserious? Like much of the advertising focuses on doing bizarre side activities rather than any actual plot-driven message

- all this on top of having a very non-traditional environment for an RPG which already is a bit of a hurdle in messaging what the game will be like

It's just very unclear from the outside how to get started with this series, and what I'll get if I do pick one to try.

[3eb7988a1663]

I think your read is right on the money. There is an overall plot to the games, but the reason to play is in all of the ridiculous side quests, which are decidedly not serious: "Help this naked guy who forgot his clothes", "Help this guy make baby formula", "Stop the roomba gone rogue", etc

The games are a mashup of genres, but it is only the latest one which leans so heavily into the RPG aspects. Prior installments are more "fist fight dudes" core gameplay.

[throwaway743]

Like a dragon is different than the rest of the series. It's turn based, focused on Ichiban, and it's meant to be ridiculous.

The main character essentially hallucinates that he's a character in dragon quest and the bad guys you encounter at first look normal but transform into "sujimon"/monsters during encounters.

The core gameplay is really fun, the writing is top notch (first like a dragon > infinite wealth tho), character classes/"jobs" picked out at an unemployment center are fun/funny, your "mage" is a homeless guy who summons pigeons to attack and uses a bottle of alcohol which he spews into a lighter to cast flames, and the mini games are just there if you want to play them and many are fun.

[zerocrates]

Just speaking of genres and starting points: if you're looking at the series from the perspective of wanting a JRPG (and here I'm assuming you mean that you want something turn-based), then you'd want to start with Yakuza: Like a Dragon, which is the first turn-based game in the series and one that introduces a new protagonist. The sequel, Infinite Wealth, is the same style of game.

Pretty much any other Yakuza game you're going to see will be more action-focused and have real-time battles, but still with RPG elements. Yakuza 0 is a commonly-suggested starting point for the action-based entries or the series as a whole; it's a prequel but one that still works well as a place to start.