Yup, iirc it's because Yakuza 6's engine is hard to work with, and since the Fist of the North Star game's art style is unrealistic and cel shaded it's easier to have it look good in Yakuza 5/0's engine anyway. Also means it runs at 60fps, rather than it struggling to run at 30fps like Yakuza 6 does.
Most likely best to go with Kiwami. I've not played 6 because I actually want to play the games chronologically but it's up to you if you want to do that. As for Kiwami it's story isn't as good as Y0, it really shows how far the writing has come along since the first game but it's still enjoyable.
6 is the end of Kiryu's arc, and while it does a pretty good job of catching you up on the plot, I feel like if you have a PS3 or PlayStation Now that you should at least play 4 and 5 before 6. Also Kiwami follows up on a lot of the characters in 0 so if you want to see what happens to them it's probably better to play that game. Just don't expect the writing to be as good as in 0.
So to whichever one of you made the monkey's paw wish: Yes, Kiwami and 0 are coming out for PC. They have Denuvo.
Everything SEGA releases on PC has Denuvo unfortunately. It's unavoidable at this point, guess we'll have to bear with it if we want to play this. I've been wanting to get my hands on Yakuza 0 for a while, so this coming to PC does me well as I don't have a console.
Shenmue 1 and 2 is not listed as having it yet, but this is the problem. As much as I want to support SEGA on PC, they are making it really fucking hard. For now I'll stick to the PS4 release because there is no way in hell I am supporting a company using Denuvo. The fact SEGA has been tone deaf enough to keep doing it after hearing our protests over MANIA is more than enough reason to tell SEGA to fuck themselves with this.
important: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnN-zSuD6jk (In case you're confused why this is in the Yakuza thread: it's made by the Yakuza devs and is basically a Yakuza game. Also the Japanese voice acting is done by Yakuza voice actors)
Fuck me the Yakuza localization machine is going full steam ahead. Also I hope there's the option for the Japanese dub, the English dub simply doesn't have the punch the Japanese voice acting does.
Have an interview: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ty8I3Gh-nY https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ty8I3Gh-nY
Kiwami 2 is out on PC on May 9th. Word of warning though, the cost price is a lot higher than 0 and Kiwami as well as the fact that there's no pre-order discount. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIJjGHSZm5g[/youtube]
The same was true on PS4 though. The original Kiwami was a budget priced remake, whereas Kiwami 2 adds Majima's story and other content over the original. I'll be interested in seeing where they go from here. Japan has already gotten the PS4 ports of Yakuza 3 and 4, with no word on a Western release yet. I wonder if they're just going to wait until all 3 are done and release them as a collection instead of individually since 4 and 5 will require less work given they've already been localized and aren't changed much. Then PC can get the rest of the titles in order. I started playing the series with 4 on PS3, so 3 is the only one I don't own. If they do a collection, I'll buy the whole thing just to play 3 for the first time, but if they release them individually I'll probably buy 3 but not bother to re-purchase the ones I have. I guess I could still get 3 on PS3, but that's a case where I'd be better waiting for the PS4 port given the censorship that they don't do anymore.
The Yakuza Remastered bundle is now available in the West on PSN, with Yakuza 3 available now, followed by 4 in October and 5 next February. There's also a physical version being released on the same day as 5.
This is great news, but I'm kind of dissappointed that they aren't selling the games individually. I already own 4 and 5 on PS3 since I started the series with 4. The only game in the main series that I haven't played and don't own is 3 and I'd prefer to buy just that now and order the physical collection when it comes out next year. Now I need to decide between waiting until next year to play 3, or double dipping and buying a full priced collection twice because I already have 0, 1ki, 2ki and 6 as physical copies so I might as well have the entire series on PS4 as physical.
In that scenario, I'd wait the six months since you seem pretty committed to getting those physical versions. Worth noting, the new remasters have had some work done to them exclusively for the English versions. They've been retranslated and relocalized to match the terms and tone of the other PS4 games, and they added substory markers to 3.