Yakuza -- The Spirit of Adventure.

One of the other aspects of Yakuza beyond the combat is the adventure mode. Adventure mode allows you to roam around the town of Kamurocho. While in adventure mode you can listen to rumors and talk to people, go shopping for items and food, mess around with the UFO catcher machines in the arcades, hit some balls in the batting cages, gamble in the casino, get a massage, and go to a hostess bar to flirt with a hostess who is paid to talk to you. There are also seventy some side-quest to find and complete during this phase of the game. You can also find fifty coin locker keys scattered around the town. Each one granting you the item within said lockers. Of course there are some random battles to stumble into that help you gain that needed experience and money. It's all padding to help fill out the story. But it works really well within Yakuza. Adventure mode really helps set the mood. It's the same sort of atmosphere that's wonderfully conveyed in Snatcher. It conveys a real sense of something dirty and wicked just beneath the surface. Adventure mode is also where one of the game's flaws is the most apparent. Load times are quite noticeable in Yakuza. The game uses the stylized camera angles of the older Resident Evil titles. There is a noticeable load time for each change. You'll move Kazuma toward the edge of the area and he'll just freeze mid run while the new environment and subsequent camera angle is loaded in. These can last anywhere from half a second to three seconds. It's jarring at first, but you become used to it and hardly notice it by the end. That leaves one final aspect in what makes Yakuza tick...