Yakuza 4 Remastered

IMPORTANT This is a guide for the Legend mode, as such I will not hide parts that could be considered spoilers since this should be your third (or at least second) playthrough. If you don't know what happens yet, that means this guide doesn't concern you just yet so first enjoy this game in Normal and you can come back here when you're ready to tackle a more challenging run. Friendly reminder that if you lose a fight, you are sent back to your last save point !

Legend Mode is available only after beating the game on Hard. However, you should first complete it on Normal for 2 reasons : for the Indomitable achievement (beating the game on Normal without switching to Easy) + to have all the leisure to max out your abilities and unlock all the other achievements (PS : the Amon fight is said to be near impossible on Hard so Normal is where you should do it).

Here are some tips you can use during your Hard and Legend runs in order to make this a bit shorter and enjoyable. For the sake of simplicity, I will refer to parts (Characters Arcs) as I,II,III etc + the character and chapters as 1,2,3 etc :

-In the main menu, go to the Options and make sure you've turned on the "Skip Cutscenes". For all the other dialogues, you must hold + to make the lines go faster. Please remember that in III-2, the conversation between Tanimura and Katsuragi that starts near the Millenium Tower is impossible to skip so you can go for a toilet break or grab yourself a snack because you'll have about 4 minutes to kill.

-You can just ignore all the tutorial challenges. If you win the fight without completing all of them, the game will ask you if you want to go forward or retry.

Part I Akiyama = After your unavoidable meeting with Saigo in ch3, you'll find yourself on the West rooftops. No need to go back to street level, you can go back to Sky Finance from the rooftops too / You can rush through the Hostess Maker tutorial in ch4 by just picking "go to the club" everytime, no need for training or changing clothes since you should have already completed everything in your Normal playthrough and you gain nothing from it here / You'll be introduced to Revelations by our old pal Mack, this cannot be skipped and you'll have to do it correctly / When you have to find Kido-chan and the client registry, rush to Theater Square and speak to the man with a bag near the Sega Arcade, make sure to pick your "missing friend" when he asks what's wrong and you can go on to the elevators to the Theater Underground (if you had mentionned the "missing registry", the man would have directed you to an unnecessary fight so the "friend" saves you some time and effort) / The last boss in this part is just as straight-forward as the very first one, just Slash Kicks and sidestep to his back when he attacks.

Part 2 Saejima = ch1 the fastest chain of events to get the grappling hook for your escape is as follows : speak to Kamiyama > listen to the "side guys" near the bench press (NW of the map) > speak to the main guy at the bench press > speak to Kamiyama > listen to the friend of the "farmer" in front of Hamazaki (not the man near the wall, one of the two guys speaking a bit further) > speak to the "farmer guy" > speak to the smoker near the basketball hoop to the South > go back to the farmer > speak to the guard to go to the other side of the fence then check for the glitter behing Kamiyama > go back to the courtyard and speak to the farmer > speak to Kamiyama > speak to Hamazaki then hide the hook under the manhole (I checked and you have to speak to him, you can't just skip him and go to the manhole before he says so) / During the Long Battle to escape the prison, don't even bother picking up the wooden katanas as they just slow you down and are very impractical with Saejima / ch2 The fight against Kiryu can be surprisingly easy : just nail a 3-hit Charging Finish followed by an Essence of Finishing or Clothelining when you can and you should have beaten him or at least severely hurt him / ch3 After checking the formar Sasai office and on your way to the Underground Mall, go straight to Don Quijote and buy some beer before the homeless man asks you for one, won't save you a lot of time but it's still something / When Kido-chan guides you to the hideout, you CAN'T rush ahead, you need to speak with him at the Coin Lockers, at the elevators and at the door / After you leave your hideout to search for THE informant, go upstairs and follow the scared homeless man who guides you to Master. You cannot choose to ignore Master so when you're done with the fight, head south of the bridge with Mean Green Machine and speak to the duo near the tunnel to be directed towards the good old West Park toilets. Afterwards, head to the crossroads near the Northwestern M Store and speak to the lone utility worker who will direct you to Children Park / Ch4 is annoying (mainly because I hate the jazz-ish music they use when you have to take the scenic route along the rooftops and underground of Kamurocho), you can't choose to ignore Sodachi but you can deny his request when you're inside the Dojo. When you finally reach the Millenium Tower, don't go inside and instead go save your game at the nearby phone booth. There is a cop between the manhole and the booth but he is easy to avoid and this should give you some peace of mind during your fight against Minami+his boys and Majima.

Part 3 Tanimura = ch1 Before going to the Mahjong Parlor, go buy the fake silver plates at Ebisu Pawn (you will of course need 2 empty spots in your inventory). Sure beats having to earn them the legit way / ch2 After finding the briefcase in the black car near pillar 307-308 of the Parking Lot, exit via the E exit to the northeast, you'll get a staircase to the rooftop nearby and the NPC you're looking for is not too far from where you'll appear / As mentionned above, Tanimura and Katsuragi will make their way from Millenium Tower to Theater Square and you can't skip at all so take a well-deserved break if you've reached that far in one sitting. When you regain control, ignore the goons that surrond you and head back to Millenium Tower for the "real fights" / ch4 Shoot at Sugiuchi's boat whenever you hear the "target acquired" beep, the shot will connect even when he's out of your screen as long as you're in range. During the boss fight, nail the QTEs for a headstart then bring the action near the container or any wall to start the "Nair Cheese" strategy AKA parry him into the wall and kick him while he's done again and again, he should not pose much of a threat this way (except when he's popping Heat, in which case, prefer to dodge and pop Essence of Hurling when he grabs you)

Part 4 Kiryu = ch1 Your second encounter with Saito can be made easier with a successful Komaki Dragon King Essence (parry with + then after a second or two) that will take away a full bar of health. Aside from that, Essence of Rolling and the trusty 3-hit+heavy combo that Yakuza 3 players might have used and abused followed by Essence of Finishing or Head Press will get you through / ch3 Focus on Akiyama and nail the QTE that will occur at some point to eliminate him, after that you can turn your attention to Tanimura. If he pops Heat before you beat him, avoid bringing the fight near walls or pillars as he will parry you. Regardless, this dynamic duo should be eays picking for the Dragon of Dojima / The Long Battle to the top of Kamurocho Hills is the most frustrating part of the game and I will mention it in more detail below.

Finale = Akiyama's fight follows the same pattern as his previous fights : spam the Slash Kicks and don't forget to follow with a Triple Kick Finishing combo, dodge when Arai slides in at the end of a full combo, Essence of Wall Smash and Finishing when possible and don't forget the handy Essence of Comebacks when your guard is broken / Saejima can make his fight trivial with the full combo leading to Charging Finishers, don't be alarmed when Kido refills his health (should happen only twice) / Kiryu's fight is a bit more challenging as Daigo is a tough fighter that won't leave you many chances for Tiger Drops. Try to place some 3 and 4-hit combos + Komaki Knock back to regain temporary control and damage him a bit. Don't be cocky and heal yourself if your health starts getting a bit too low for comfort / Tanimura's fight is long but not too difficult if you have the Sacred Tree Armor equipped, meaning that not only is Munakata no threat whatsoever but he also charges your Heat everytime you block his bullets. Focus on eliminating the bodyguards. Essence of Arm Dragging (parry+ immediately after the parry) should one-shot the lower bodyguards. For the more skilled enemies, Essence of Finishing or even Arresting if you can + the Nair Cheese mentionned above will help and of course, parrying enemies into each other is also a way to do it. If Munakata is the last one standing, you have already won since shooting is his only form of attack and the Sacred Tree Armor renders this null and void.

-The only parts that might trouble you are Chainsaw Midorikawa and the Long Battle to reach the top of Kamurocho Hills especially the part in the elevators room. For Midorikawa, the fight is divided in 3 parts : you'll first face him with a pistol (really easy, just rush him with the Slash kicks and you'll beat this part with minimum damage). Then you'll face some goons so find Midorikawa's gun and shoot your way through. Chainsaw Midorikawa is annoying because he cannot be knocked down or stunned but you can make this fight easier by nailing the QTE at the beginning and using Heat Actions with the chairs and car parts near the entrance. Kamurocho Hills is the only part where I died on Legend difficulty and quite frankly, this one is a pain especially when you reach the elevators. Lots of grabbers and a shotgun enemy that just don't give you a break. To make this a bit easier, I highly recommend using either the War God Amulet or Talisman (remember that the Talisman blocks the use of the Asura Spirit so you can only heal through items ; if you do pick the Talisman, stock up on Toughness items since Tauriners and Staminans will become useless thanks to your always-full Heat bar). Komaki Fist Reversal+Firearm Flip as well as Essence of Rolling+Hurling will be your friends here.

I will update this guide with your own timesaving tips if you leave them in the comments. Overall, this should not take you more than 7 hours from start to finish. Be sure to check CyricZ on GameFAQs https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps4/239456-yakuza-4-remastered... if you want an incredibly detailed, play-by-play guide for the story and all the other stuff.