The Yakuza games are fantastic, the voice acting can be a little jarring if you jump between the series but other than that they are fantastic across the board. 
 
Majima Goro is an amazing character!

Seems a little odd to read an endurance run... nevertheless, good luck!

Aren't you gonna record this?

I just got this from GameFly recently. I'll compare our experiences!

Thanks!  Played a little bit more today, anytime you hit someone with a 5 foot high traffic cone, you are playing the right game.

Good luck with your endurance run mate. 
 
I love the Yakuza games.  When Y3 hit last year I sat and played it solid for two days.  Keep us updated on how your getting on:)

And with this blog post, my journey begins.  As I'm writing this I have loaded up a saved game of Yakuza 1 from about a month ago.  I don't remember much about the story, but I know the main character owes somebody money, who kidnapped a girl?   All I know for sure is I should probably start a new game.  But, as I'm 45 minutes in, I'm sure I haven't missed too much and from what I've heard, this is a slow burn game.  I have exactly 20 days until my break begins, and 21 days until Yakuza 4 should be arriving on my doorstep.  21 days to play three lengthy games.  I mentioned in a previous post that the only goal I have in writing this, is to practice.  10-12 classes left by the end of the year, with a family and a full time job isn't easy, but if I can make writing as easy as possible, it will only ease the burden.
 
Yakuza 1 - Hours 1-2
 
It seems the main character is a member of the Dojima family.  Thanks to the Persona team for ruining (enhancing) the Dojima name forever.  No matter how bad ass, sinister, heroic, or manly any character named "Dojima" may be;  he will always be the gruff, fed up with life, fatty tuna buying detective from Persona 4.  Speaking of smooth talkers like Dojima, the main character in this game just had a great line.
 
"I wouldn't touch an ass like that if you begged me to".  Take that old con man and his lady friend.  I'm pretty sure a conversation consisting of accusations of ass grabbing, which I'm assuming leads to a fight, preceded by winning a yellow stuffed bird from a crane meta game, qualifies for game design of the year awards.  After beating the crap out of the con man, he gave me DOUBLE, what he asked me to fork over to stay silent on the ass grabbing charges.  Not sure how such a poor business man could become a pimp, maybe things are different in Japan.
 
In the span of an hour, I feel like this game has completely captivated me.