Hello and welcome to yet another entry in our “Can You 100%?” series, where we take a look at some of the games that I have personally 100 %ed and tell you what it’ll take for you to achieve the same status. Today’s entry marks the beginning of a franchise that I got invested in quite recently and has now quickly become one of my absolute favorite video game series of all time. The “Yakuza” series is developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and published by SEGA, and it goes without saying at this point that this franchise single handedly saved SEGA as a company and isn’t just another game in their arsenal but a game that defines the company as a whole. I have played five of these games, which include 0, Kiwami, Kiwami 2, 6, and Like A Dragon, and I have achieved 100% in all of them. While most of the requirements for all of these games are the same, they are still fun compilations that will frustrate the hell out of you at times and ask you to master not just one thing but pretty much everything they have to offer. With all of that preamble mambo jambo out of the way, let’s dive into the achievements of “Yakuza 0” and see what it’ll take to achieve 100%.
The Game
Yakuza 0 is an open-world crime drama set in a fictional red-light district of Tokyo called Kamurocho, which is inspired by the real-life district that goes by the name of Kabukicho. The game also features another location for you to explore down in Osaka called Sotenbori, which is also inspired by the real-life area that goes by the name of Dotonbori. The game features two playable protagonists, Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima, and tells an intertwined story between them that spans around 17 chapters and is set in 1988. As the name suggests, “Yakuza 0” is a prequel to the series and is one of the best entry points for anyone who wishes to dip their toes into this incredible franchise. The game is a beat ’em up that features crazy combat and eight unique fighting styles divided across its two protagonists and lets you loose in its world with tons of things to see and do, all the while telling an incredible story and introducing fantastic and fleshed out characters all of which you are bound to remember for years to come. There’s so much to this game that talking about all of it in a single paragraph is nigh impossible, but we do have a review for “Yakuza 0” here on our site that dives deep into nearly everything the game has to offer, so feel free to check that out. In short, “Yakuza 0” is an awesome video game that knows what it’s doing and does so masterfully, all the while sucking you into the endless void that is its world, characters, and the amount of stuff you can do there, and sinking you in hundreds of hours without having an inkling of the time you spend there. Let’s jump into the achievements of this game and get that sweet 100% now, shall we?
The Achievements Structure
This game offers 55 achievements, is quite simple when it comes to the structure of its achievements, and practically asks you to do everything it has to offer. There’s an in-game completion list with tons of boxes to check, and that’s where you’ll be spending most of your time. There are your standard story achievements, a missable achievement tied to every two chapters, and a ton of easy and miscellaneous stuff. You will also need to do two playthroughs, and while I won’t classify the completion of this game as hard, it sure is bound to test your patience, take a lot of time, and make you pray to the RNG gods.
The Story/Easy Achievements
As mentioned earlier, the game is divided into 17 chapters, and you get an achievement for completing each of the even-numbered chapters. Let me list them down for you really quickly. “Nostalgic for the 80s” will unlock automatically pretty much immediately once you get control of your character after the opening cutscenes. Then you have “New Allies, New Foes” for completing chapter 2, “A Matter Of Life And Death” for completing chapter 4, “Time To Say Goodbye” for completing chapter 6, “When It All Goes Wrong” for completing chapter 8, “The Big Reveal” for completing chapter 10, “A Familiar Name” for completing chapter 12, “Painful Reunion” for completing chapter 14, “Lamb In The Lion’s Den” for completing chapter 16, and finally, “Awakened And Unleashed” for beating the game. Along the way, you’ll also unlock “President Kiryu” for starting the real estate quest line in Chapter 5 and “A Host Of Hostesses” for starting the cabaret club quest line in Chapter 7, respectively. That sums up all the achievements tied to the story and comes naturally, so let’s move on to the next section. Don’t worry; most of the basic achievements in this game are pretty easy.
The Missable Achievements
Alright, unlike most other “Yakuza” games, this one features a handful of missable achievements. All of them are chapter-specific, and none of them are difficult as long as you know where to look. Let me note them down for you and tell you how you can unlock them all while playing through the game. The first one is called “Rich Taste” and can be unlocked in Chapter 2. You’ll come across a bunch of homeless people who’ll ask you to buy them some alcohol in exchange for information; one of them wants you to buy champagne, which is available at Don Quijote. Simply go there, and you’ll see a bottle of champagne in the shop that goes for 20,000 yen, so buy that one and hand it to the gentleman to unlock this achievement. Next, we have “Smooth Criminal,” which can be unlocked in Chapter 3, and it asks you to negotiate terms successfully with Yamagata. At some point during the chapter, you’ll be asked to visit Odyssey; before you do that, there are three specific people scattered across the map; go and talk to them, and once you enter the club, observe everything before the hostess shows up. Easy as pie, and the achievement is yours. The third achievement here is called “Business Etiquette 101,” which asks you to impress Oda with your perfect manners and is unlocked during Chapter 5. When you meet Oda outside Cafe Alps here, simply go and pick the option to sit on the “table near the back,” followed by “take the nearest seat,” and when the waiter asks you what you’d like to order, say “nothing.” Once the meeting is underway, Kiryu will offer his business card to the man you are meeting, and there will be a QTE, so don’t fail that. Take these simple steps, and the achievement is yours. Then we have “Best Served Cold,” which asks you to take more than 15 minutes to bring the Takoyaki. Self-descriptive, when you pick the Takoyaki from the vendor (you’ll know when), simply go idle for 15 or so minutes, and the achievement is yours. Now we have “It Takes Two,” which wants you to perform three co-op moves with Oda and Tachibana and can be unlocked during Chapter 10. You’ll get into a long and massive fight when leaving the Tojo Clan HQ, and Tachibana and Oda will join you. Whenever they grab someone, simply go next to them and perform a heat action. Do this three times, and the achievement is yours. Then we have “They Won’t Mind,” which asks you to steal Nikkyo Consortium funds from their safe and is unlocked during Chapter 12. After fighting waves of enemies inside the building, you’ll come across a mini-boss with fans. Beat him, climb the stairs, and before the final set of stairs, you’ll see two white safes right next to the staircase. Simply punch the safes to break them, and the achievement is yours. Now we have “Big Hair in the Crosshairs,” which asks you to defeat the Yakuza with an afro during the highway chase sequence and is unlocked during Chapter 13. Simple and easy, just like the rest, during Chapter 13, you’ll get yourself into an on-the-rails shooting section where Oda is driving the car, and you have to shoot the enemies following you. There will be a ton of enemies that will keep showing up, among whom will be a guy with an afro who will be distinctly visible. Shoot and kill him (Kiryu doesn’t kill anyone, by the way), and this achievement is yours. Finally, we have “Hitting the Bottle,” which asks you to suffer the full force of Reina’s attack and is unlocked during Chapter 15. As Majima during this chapter, you’ll get into a fight with Nishikiyama inside Serana; during the fight, there will be a QTE where Nishiki pushes you towards the bar, and Reina picks up a bottle and swings it at you; fail this QTE and let the bottle hit you to unlock this last missable achievement. There you have it, all chapter-specific missable achievements and how to unlock them; onto the next section!
The Miscellaneous/Minigames Achievements
Alright, this section will unlock a huge chunk of achievements for you from this game as you roam the streets of Kamurocho and Sotenbori and get involved in the countless activities the cities offer. Let’s get the six achievements tied to Kiryu’s specific real estate minigame and Majima’s specific cabaret club minigame, shall we? For Kiryu, during Chapter 5, you’ll get introduced to the real estate minigame, which, as I mentioned above, comes with its own storyline that will take you roughly 6-7 hours to complete and will reward you with the Dragon of Dojima (Legend) fighting style for Kiryu. I won’t get into too much detail for either of these minigames as they’re long and elaborate but pretty self-explanatory, but as you play through them, you’ll unlock three achievements: “The Promised Land” for getting 100% share in an area, “The Glamorous Life” for purchasing the most expensive property, and finally “We Built This City” for completing the real estate storyline. While the grind for this is long and can get boring, it’s worth doing this storyline not only for the Legend fighting style but also because you can make billions of yen from it relatively quickly. Besides, if you are a completionist, you have no choice but to do this.
Just like Kiryu, Majima also has to complete his cabaret club storyline to unlock the Mad Dog of Shimano (legend) fighting style, make some cash, and unlock three achievements: “Talk Of The Town” for getting 1,000+ fans in an area, “You Are Still Number One” for maxing out the level of one platinum hostess, and finally “Walking On Sunshine” for completing the cabaret club storyline. This minigame/quest is incredibly fun, unlike the real estate one, but it also takes roughly 6-7 hours to complete. At least you’ll be having fun doing this one.
Now we have three achievements that unlock for completing the one hundred sub-stories in this game. “Tell Me A Story” unlocks for completing ten substories, “Hero of the Story” unlocks for completing 40 substories, and “Story of My Life” unlocks for completing all one hundred substories. Substories unlock as you proceed through the game and are not marked on the map, so you have to stumble onto them, and then there are some substories that have prerequisites in place, so this will take some time, and I’d recommend you do these in premium adventure, the game mode where it lets you complete everything and roam freely in the world once you beat the campaign.
“High Roller” unlocks for spending one billion yen, while “Making It Rain” and “Worked Hard For That Money” unlocks for throwing away money on the street and throwing away five million yen on the street, respectively. The ability to throw money unlocks once you meet Mr. Moneybags in Chapter 6. “Who You Gonna Call?” unlocks picking up a telephone card (a collectible) that is scattered around the city, and “I Did It For The Achievement ” unlocks watching a “racy” video that can be watched at the Gandhara video store. “Lucky Star” unlocks getting a high-grade item from a Dream Machine and is completely based on RNG. You’ll come across these red boxes (vending machines) all over the city that will ask you to insert anywhere between 10,000 yen and a million yen and will give you a random item in exchange. Keep pouring money into them, and you’ll eventually unlock this.
“Training in Style” unlocks after completing one training mission from each master. There are six masters in the game, 3 for Kiryu and 3 for Majima, all of which are marked on your map; simply learn enough skills from your skill tree to unlock the skills that require master training and go and talk to them to learn the respective skill. Do this once for all six masters, and the achievement is yours. “A Wise Investment” unlocks for unlocking ten or more abilities, which is pretty self-explanatory and will come naturally. “Whip It Good” unlocks for getting five or more fighting bonuses while fighting an enemy, and this one, you don’t even have to think about or worry about as it’ll pop organically as you get into fights. “Mr. Shakedown Takedown,” asks you to beat Mr. Shakedown once. Try this once; you are a tad powerful because he hits like a truck, and if you lose to him, he’ll take all your money.
“Generosity Of Strangers” can be unlocked once you have gained 100% share in any area and become that area’s undisputed king while playing the real estate game. Once you have done that, all you have to do is stand in front of one of the shops you own for a few seconds, and Kiryu will pull out a cigarette, and a guy will come to you and light it for you. That’s it.
“Say You Wanna Dance” unlocks for completing every disco song on any difficulty. This can be done by visiting the Maharaja disco club, where you have a choice of five songs to dance to. You just have to get through each song once, and this achievement will be yours. “Call Me,” asks you to go on a date with a girl you meet in the telephone club. Simply go to the telephone club and chat a girl up and ask her out. “Prizefighter” unlocks after beating 30 opponents in an endless rout in the Colosseum. Get to rank B in the Colosseum by grinding out the arenas, and endless rage will unlock. Simply beat 30 enemies there. “The Dragon Of The Pocket Circuit” wants you to beat all pocket circuit races, which is pretty self-explanatory. “Welcome To The Jungle” and “Eye Of The Dragon And Tiger” are tied to equipment searches in the Dragon and Tiger store and want you to get the best possible score in the equipment search and find all equipment parts, respectively. There is no faster way of doing these two, as they will take a lot of time. Keep sending agents to search for equipment for you, and after a few hours, you should have these. “What A Player,” asks you to play every minigame once; there are 27 of them, and finally, I have saved the worst for last. The last achievement of this bunch is pure pain and torture, and that’s not because it’s hard but because it’s poorly designed, and you have no control over it. Enter “Cat Scratch Fever,” whose description asks you to win ten bets on 3-round tournaments at the JCC. Well, this sucks and is bound to give you a headache. Basically, in the ‘catfighting’ arena, you have to place a bet on one of the eight girls and hope to god that she wins the tournament, which is three rounds, by the way, for you. You have no control over it, and sometimes when the game asks you to mash buttons, it does nothing or has no impact on the outcome. Three tournaments mean 30 fights that you have to win in order for this achievement to unlock, and because of how poorly it’s designed and how terrible the RNG can be in this game, be prepared to bang your head into a wall for hours to unlock this one single stupid achievement. Good luck with this one, as it may be harder than all of the hard achievements in the game, so let’s take a look at those really quickly and close this one.
The Hardest Achievements
I must emphasize before we start this section that none of the achievements in “Yakuza 0” are hard per se; they are just a matter of luck, patience, and some skill. This game is easy yet time-consuming to complete. “Half the Battle” and “Perfectionist” unlock for completing your completion list 50% and 100%, respectively. You can find the complete list in the menu, and you simply have to do everything on it to unlock these two. Be prepared to spend a few days doing so, and remember to take breaks in between if something is getting on your nerves. You’ll be spending a lot of time on these.
Now we have “Just Beat It,” which asks you to beat all the Climax battles. There are 32 of these battles, which are divided into four groups. Ten proving grounds, ten melee battles. Ten millionaire battles and ten ultimate battles. Depending on who you ask, these are hard. They basically want you to beat challenging battles with handicaps like not getting hit, using only heat actions, and so on. Personally, these weren’t that difficult for me except for a couple, but even those, I got through after a few tries. Stick to these, learn and master the combat system, and pray to the RNG gods for some, and you should get done with these in less than 10 hours. Next is “Amon Defeated,” which asks you to beat Jo Amon as Majima and So Amon as Kiryu. These two are the final substories for each of your characters that unlock once you have completed every other substory. These are 1v1 fights that are purposefully unfair, brutally challenging, and can’t be won using normal tactics unless you are a god-level player. My advice will be to cheese these bosses the best you can, as these fights can be incredibly rough if you play them normally.
The last two achievements are simple and self-explanatory, but I’ll give you some advice for one of them. “Stuff of Legend” unlocks for beating the game on Legend difficulty. Unlike other games, legend difficulty isn’t unfair or incredibly challenging, but the catch here is that you’ll have to start from scratch, as legend difficulty isn’t available in New Game Plus. Skip all the cutscenes and get to Chapter 2 and complete the substory titled “Password Protected.” Once you do that, you’ll get the shotgun for Kiryu, and Majima can buy it later at the Dragon and Tiger shop in Sotenbori. From here, progress the story as normal, and once you have enough money, buy things like ten shotguns and 3–4 daggers, and always keep health items in your inventory. The same applies to Majima. From here on out, pull out your shotgun every time you see a group of enemies to take them out in a few shots, and for the bosses, switch to your dagger and loop them in the dagger heat action, which means perform the heat action, shoot them a couple of times to build more heat, and switch back to the dagger as they get up; rinse and repeat. It’s slow and boring, but it’s the safest and quickest way to get through the Legend difficulty unless you want to play the game thoroughly once again.
Once all of the achievements are unlocked, you’ll finally unlock “Where It All Began” after unlocking all the other achievements in the game. Voila, congratulations on your completion of this great game called “Yakuza 0.”
Final Thoughts
“Yakuza 0” is a fantastic game that everyone should play and experience for themselves. When it comes to making believable open worlds that you can truly get lost in, while playing through a story that will immerse you and hold your attention, the “Yakuza” games stand proud and loud at the top of that mountain. As for the completion, I can’t recommend this one for everyone to go for because, while it isn’t that difficult (if you ask me), it sure asks you to do a lot, which can become very draining. While I had a blast 100%ing this game, I can see that it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but despite that, you should give completing this game a shot, and you should definitely play this game if you haven’t.
The score below is not for the game itself but for its completion and is a mixture of difficulty, skill, and time consumption.
4.5/10
120-200 hours
See more: ‘Dishonored 2’ Achievements, Explained: Can You Achieve 100% In The Game?
