Start, recent and favourite?
For me, personally all the games have their own unique style and. storyline but what got me hooked to the franchise was Kiwami 1. then i started to look up for the other games and my all time fav tied up to Yakuza 0 and Yakuza 6.
Yakuza 0 was the starting point of Kiryu's life as a Yakuza and I find the game itself was very amusing. It has many fun substories and the goofiness are just chef kiss. it's not cringey (not that I said the rest are) but it has that sense of comedy that makes you come back to speed run the entire thing again and again. Not to mention the switch between two of the fandom's most beloved chara, Kiryu and Majima.
Don't get me started on the real estate and cabaret club mini games. It's not that hard but it's not easy to level up either. And also their stories are just tear jerking. But the main reason was the MC itself cz they are so hot🤭
Anyways, for Yakuza 6, it's the ending point of Kiryu's ties in the Yakuza world imo. Like, the ending of the very thing. Even with the ragdoll system, but I find the combat style is very fun to play with. And I guess I just stuck up on the nostalgia of it all.
e.g: pocket circuit fighter, we got to meet him after a while and that actually made me cry. and oh the ending was so... idk how to explain it but it's a perfect imperfect ending of Kiryu walking out of everyone's life.
so yea, 😮💨