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Yakuza 0 |OT| Yes, you can start with this one!

Hobbun

Member
Yall got to step it up and join the Persona 4 Golden platinum club ��.

I have that game, and it's only my list. Not so much to plat, but just to play, but I will try for the platinum if reasonable. Is there something special in attaining the platinum for it?

I started it on the PS2 quite awhile back but didn't get that far into it. Want to play it before I get to Persona 5.
 

Hobbun

Member
I've never played a Persona. I am planning to try 5, but it really doesn't look like my thing, so I would be surprised if I go for the plat.

Oh man, never played a Persona? You are missing out.

So just curious, why are they not your thing? Don't like the turn-based combat? Or the social links (for the more recent ones)? Or something else?
 
I have that game, and it's only my list. Not so much to plat, but just to play, but I will try for the platinum if reasonable. Is there something special in attaining the platinum for it?

I started it on the PS2 quite awhile back but didn't get that far into it. Want to play it before I get to Persona 5.

I've never played a Persona. I am planning to try 5, but it really doesn't look like my thing, so I would be surprised if I go for the plat.

Ended up taking me 2.5 playthroughs at 120+ hours to get it. You basically have to follow a guide because otherwise so much of the trophies are missable. The trophy that burned me for those who played it was collecting the books. One of them you can only get by not having your social link with the sports bros past a certain point on a specific day.

But Persona is a great series and even of yall don't get to beat 4 you should definitely check out 5.
 
Oh man, never played a Persona? You are missing out.

So just curious, why are they not your thing? Don't like the turn-based combat? Or the social links (for the more recent ones)? Or something else?

Don't generally like non SRPG turn based combat. Xcom, Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre, etc are all my jam. Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Persona, SMT, etc, not so much.

There have been exceptions, but mostly they are Crono Trigger
 
Speaking of bad mini games, the batting range is not much better than that dumb catfight.

Pretty hard to see the ball and it doesn't take much for it to fly off in the wrong direction. Constantly different speeds and curveballs so you can't just rely on a certain timing either.
Nah, man. Batting center is great. You just need more practice.
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Yall got to step it up and join the Persona 4 Golden platinum club 😎.

That reminds me of how I need one trophy for the platinum and it's the Rise Battle Lines trophy... I'll definitely be trying to get it since I've got a Very Hard (I think) run going on with under leveled characters to help get different lines. Hopefully, i get it sooner than later when I go back to it...

Far as Yakuza 0 goes, I got a cannon with Kiryu and used it to blow back Mr. Shakedown along with the slime gun and it was great! Glad I did that after struggling with him at first. Used at shotgun and slime gun with Majima as well. So satisfying.
 

Hobbun

Member
Ended up taking me 2.5 playthroughs at 120+ hours to get it. You basically have to follow a guide because otherwise so much of the trophies are missable. The trophy that burned me for those who played it was collecting the books. One of them you can only get by not having your social link with the sports bros past a certain point on a specific day.

But Persona is a great series and even of yall don't get to beat 4 you should definitely check out 5.

Eh, really not a fan of trophies like those. But will still probably try to get the platinum if I am able. Do you have to play it through multiple times to attain it? if that's the case, I will probably not go for the platinum. My time to play games is limited as is.

Don't generally like non SRPG turn based combat. Xcom, Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre, etc are all my jam. Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Persona, SMT, etc, not so much.

There have been exceptions, but mostly they are Crono Trigger

Hey, that's cool. I love SRPGs as well. I'm just a big JRPG nut in general. :)

One SRPG I recommend is Rainbow Moon if you haven't played it. It's no Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactics Ogre in regards to story (quite basic, to be honest), but I really enjoyed the gameplay. And it actually has a huge world to explore, which you never seen in SRPGs. I found it very addicting.

But it can be a bit grind heavy, especially if you choose hard. The game can actually be quite challenging. However, I was ok with that, and was actually one of the reasons I really like it. I think you can pick it up on the PSN for around $15. And it has had sales periodically, as well.

Also, the sequel is coming out later this year named Rainbow Skies, and the story is supposed to be greatly improved, as well as many other aspects.

Just something to keep in mind if you like SRPGs. :)

Alright, enough talking off-topic for me.
 

Floody

Member
This game is something really special, I haven't finished it yet, but it'd take a massive fuck up for this to not be one of my all-time favourites. I'm so glad I gave it a chance.

seriously, i'm hoping for six figures (or close to) here! we really gotta keep the hype going for kiwami as well

Does Kiwami have an exact release date for the West yet? Tried Googling for it, but it just gives me Yakuza 1's release date or just a 2017.


Edit: Thanks for the answer.
 
Eh, really not a fan of trophies like those. But will still probably try to get the platinum if I am able. Do you have to play it through multiple times to attain it? if that's the case, I will probably not go for the platinum. My time to play games is limited as is.

...

Alright, enough talking off-topic for me.

Me too after this:

I'm pretty confident you can get it in one playthrough if you are using a guide from the beginning. Problem is I always do my first Persona playthrough without a guide and screwed up on the second. Might be worth it if you are interested in the true ending.

But the most important thing is enjoying it :p if it was on console I probably wouldn't have chased the platinum. But it's one of my like 12 since it's one of my favorite games.
 
Dude, if there's one game that I'd use this pic on

ryan.jpg


it's this game. Like, the only thing I can complain about is that there's too much good stuff in it. I'm trying to complete the main story as quickly as possible so that I can move onto Nioh, but I keep tripping over new interesting minigames and sidequests literally every ten feet. It's distracting in the best way possible.

Though that said, it does feel like the game's tone wavers all over the place. You have the main plot which takes itself pretty seriously sharing space with a combat system that is almost comically brutal, sidequests that crank the silliness up to a billion
that fucking Magic Johnson sidequest takes the cake, though...
, and the cabaret minigame, which can only be called a blend of Diner Dash and pretty princess flash games. You can feel four completely different emotions in the space of ten minutes in this game, and I'm not sure how I feel about that.
 

Desmond

Member
Yakuza 5 still takes top spot with regards to variety. Five protagonists with five very different ways to play. What an ambitious title.
 
Yakuza 5 still takes top spot with regards to variety. Five protagonists with five very different ways to play. What an ambitious title.
While that's true, Yakuza 5 definitely suffers for it though. It's like they tried to add too much stuff in it and that caught up to them in the end.
 
Whew, all done. Figure I'll jot down some thoughts while they're still in my head. Probably some general spoilers for other games ahead, mostly Yakuza 1.

I can't help but feel that saying the game is about "how the Dragon of Dojima and Mad Dog of Shimano were born" is a bit off-base. More than anything, it's a great companion piece and lead up to Yakuza 1. Dojima, Sera, Shimano, Shinji, Kazama, and most of all Nishiki got some much needed fleshing out that makes their roles in Yakuza 1 feel so much more meaningful. I kinda dismissed Kiwami as just a fun 10th anniversary thing initially, but it's clear now how key it is to revisit the first game after 0. The really big question mark for me, though, is the near total absence of Yumi. I thought that fleshing out her relationship with Kiryu and Nishiki would be central to giving Yakuza 1 context, so... I'm pretty surprised, lol. Hard to believe we got a Sawamura-less Yakuza!

As for Kiryu and Majima in regards to them developing into the characters we were familiar with... it's kinda a mixed bag for me? I was pretty awed when I originally played the 0 demo back before the Japanese release, seeing a much more rough, violent Kiryu in the first cutscene. As it turned out, that didn't really end up manifesting itself throughout the game? Like, there were maybe one or two times when Kiryu punched guys more than he would've in 3-5, but otherwise he seemed pretty identical to me. I'd honestly give the substories more credit than the main story when it came to portraying a young Kiryu, lol. It was funny to see a much more naive, flustered, and, uh, very horny Kiryu than we were accustomed to. But to speak more positively, I liked how they developed Kiryu's reason for becoming yakuza and how he views the profession (specifically in regard to his view of Kazama).

Majima is pretty confusing for me. Maybe it's my fault looking at every major story event and asking "is this what breaks him?" when... there wasn't really a "breaking point". I still sorta have trouble seeing the through-line from 0 Majima to 1 Majima. I guess my understanding is that he thinks he isn't cut out for being the bad guy cuz he wants to protect people, and being the good guy gets him used, but... there's really more to Majima than just being morally gray, or even being crazy. In other games, he has a strange way of operating based on a respect for others built on their strength. Here it's sorta "lol fuck everything im just gonna have some fun", which doesn't really line up with the fact that I see Majima as a very determined character, just not one determined to do things others around him are. On that note, I also would've liked to have seen how Majima's fascination with Kiryu began, since we were basically thrust into their relationship as of Yakuza 1 in the post-credits scene. I hear Kiwami is, uh, a bit messy in handling Majima's character in new content so... we'll see how that goes.

As far as general story stuff goes, it's definitely one of the better recent ones. Bouncing back and forth between Kiryu and Majima's stories as they wove together ended up working out quite well. Not necessarily on board with every story beat, there was a reaaaal lot of "haha I had this planned all along and you were none the wiser" which is, eh, what can you do. It was nice having the three Dojima lieutenants as antagonists from the start to the end, but the way they were utilized was a bit odd. 4 Kuze fights spread through 16 chapters, then in the finale Majima has a climactic battle with Awano who he's never spoken to before, and Shibusawa is Kiryu's final boss as he suddenly brings out all this "I want to be the only dragon!" stuff (hmm, sounds familiar...)? It was just really odd pacing with inconsistent build-up. Certainly better than 4 and 5's final boss though lol.

oh and of course the game was fucking dope and the the directing and writing were really exciting and fun. wouldn't expect anything else from yakuza

Now to thank my stars that we got this game and have a new Yakuza to look forward to every 6 months for the next year. What a world.
 
Hey, that's cool. I love SRPGs as well. I'm just a big JRPG nut in general. :)

One SRPG I recommend is Rainbow Moon if you haven't played it.

I havent, but I will check it out! Though the dynasty warriors whatever it's called that's apparent a spiritual successor to dynasty tactics is probably happening first. I can't resist three kingdoms...
 

Shouta

Member
Whew, all done. Figure I'll jot down some thoughts while they're still in my head. Probably some general spoilers for other games ahead, mostly Yakuza 1.

I can't help but feel that saying the game is about "how the Dragon of Dojima and Mad Dog of Shimano were born" is a bit off-base. More than anything, it's a great companion piece and lead up to Yakuza 1. Dojima, Sera, Shimano, Shinji, Kazama, and most of all Nishiki got some much needed fleshing out that makes their roles in Yakuza 1 feel so much more meaningful. I kinda dismissed Kiwami as just a fun 10th anniversary thing initially, but it's clear now how key it is to revisit the first game after 0. The really big question mark for me, though, is the near total absence of Yumi. I thought that fleshing out her relationship with Kiryu and Nishiki would be central to giving Yakuza 1 context, so... I'm pretty surprised, lol. Hard to believe we got a Sawamura-less Yakuza!

As for Kiryu and Majima in regards to them developing into the characters we were familiar with... it's kinda a mixed bag for me? I was pretty awed when I originally played the 0 demo back before the Japanese release, seeing a much more rough, violent Kiryu in the first cutscene. As it turned out, that didn't really end up manifesting itself throughout the game? Like, there were maybe one or two times when Kiryu punched guys more than he would've in 3-5, but otherwise he seemed pretty identical to me. I'd honestly give the substories more credit than the main story when it came to portraying a young Kiryu, lol. It was funny to see a much more naive, flustered, and, uh, very horny Kiryu than we were accustomed to. But to speak more positively, I liked how they developed Kiryu's reason for becoming yakuza and how he views the profession (specifically in regard to his view of Kazama).

Majima is pretty confusing for me. Maybe it's my fault looking at every major story event and asking "is this what breaks him?" when... there wasn't really a "breaking point". I still sorta have trouble seeing the through-line from 0 Majima to 1 Majima. I guess my understanding is that he thinks he isn't cut out for being the bad guy cuz he wants to protect people, and being the good guy gets him used, but... there's really more to Majima than just being morally gray, or even being crazy. In other games, he has a strange way of operating based on a respect for others built on their strength. Here it's sorta "lol fuck everything im just gonna have some fun", which doesn't really line up with the fact that I see Majima as a very determined character, just not one determined to do things others around him are. On that note, I also would've liked to have seen how Majima's fascination with Kiryu began, since we were basically thrust into their relationship as of Yakuza 1 in the post-credits scene. I hear Kiwami is, uh, a bit messy in handling Majima's character in new content so... we'll see how that goes.

As far as general story stuff goes, it's definitely one of the better recent ones. Bouncing back and forth between Kiryu and Majima's stories as they wove together ended up working out quite well. Not necessarily on board with every story beat, there was a reaaaal lot of "haha I had this planned all along and you were none the wiser" which is, eh, what can you do. It was nice having the three Dojima lieutenants as antagonists from the start to the end, but the way they were utilized was a bit odd. 4 Kuze fights spread through 16 chapters, then in the finale Majima has a climactic battle with Awano who he's never spoken to before, and Shibusawa is Kiryu's final boss as he suddenly brings out all this "I want to be the only dragon!" stuff (hmm, sounds familiar...)? It was just really odd pacing with inconsistent build-up. Certainly better than 4 and 5's final boss though lol.

oh and of course the game was fucking dope and the the directing and writing were really exciting and fun. wouldn't expect anything else from yakuza

Now to thank my stars that we got this game and have a new Yakuza to look forward to every 6 months for the next year. What a world.

Kiryu's story in Yakuza 0 is mostly a fill in the gaps kind of thing, IMO. We get an idea of who he is in Yakuza 1 already and why he wanted to be one, at least as I recall, but I think they wanted to fill that in for everyone in this story.

For Majima, I think the story does a pretty good job of showing the shifting from this Majima to the Majima of Yakuza 1. He starts off as someone similar to Kiryu, a person with a strong sense of obligation towards family and justice. However, through the course of the game, he gets hit with a lot of things that bring into question what he thought was right and wrong. He, and Makoto, are used by people all throughout the game as well. The moment he has Lao Gui on the ropes in the Dojima HQ and Sera stops him is where he has this epiphany about it because he wanted to do right by Makoto but Sera points out that it would just cause her to suffer like he did with Saejima. He basically summarizes it all in his last conversation with Sagawa where he says he'll live a life having as much fun and craziness as he wants, because there is no right or wrong in Kamurocho.

It kinda makes his last scene with Makoto even sadder because his relationship with her is the last remnant of who he was before everything happened to him
 
How do you unlock more jobs from Miss Tatsu? Beast style is probably my favourite and it's the only one I haven't completed the training for.
 

Megasoum

Banned
Started playing tonight and I have a noob question.

Does the abilites that you purchase work globally or just in that specific combat style (unless specified of course).

For example the health upgrades and stuff...
 

Mupod

Member
so I've been listening to this game's soundtrack a LOT lately and I keep thinking of F-Zero GX. Then I remembered they're both Sega. Oh shit, did some of the same people work on the music? Fucking christ why have I ignored this series so long.

Started playing tonight and I have a noob question.

Does the abilites that you purchase work globally or just in that specific combat style (unless specified of course).

For example the health upgrades and stuff...

The health upgrades actually specifically state that they apply to all styles. For the most part all of the upgrades are style specific with some late game exceptions you don't need to worry about yet.
 

Megasoum

Banned
so I've been listening to this game's soundtrack a LOT lately and I keep thinking of F-Zero GX. Then I remembered they're both Sega. Oh shit, did some of the same people work on the music? Fucking christ why have I ignored this series so long.



The health upgrades actually specifically state that they apply to all styles. For the most part all of the upgrades are style specific with some late game exceptions you don't need to worry about yet.

Cool thanks
 

Jimrpg

Member
While that's true, Yakuza 5 definitely suffers for it though. It's like they tried to add too much stuff in it and that caught up to them in the end.

That's why I kind of want to go back and play Yakuza 5 again and not worry too much about the story and just play the game and enjoy all the bits I missed.
 

xclk07

Member
I've done that. I should be able to do the third master ability as I have the abilities next to it so I must be missing something.

Each new ability is the next 2 training sessions and then the next job with her (after unlocking the path to the ability on the sphere grid).
 
so I've been listening to this game's soundtrack a LOT lately and I keep thinking of F-Zero GX. Then I remembered they're both Sega. Oh shit, did some of the same people work on the music? Fucking christ why have I ignored this series so long.



The health upgrades actually specifically state that they apply to all styles. For the most part all of the upgrades are style specific with some late game exceptions you don't need to worry about yet.

Exactly. Hideonori Shoji is one of the composers for Yakuza :D

His works:

Works

Sega Touring Car Championship (1996) - with various others
Fighting Vipers 2 (1998)
SpikeOut (1998) - with Shunsuke Suzuki
Super Monkey Ball (2001) - with Haruyoshi Tomita and Sakae Osumi
Super Monkey Ball 2 (2002) - with Haruyoshi Tomita
F-Zero GX (2003)
Yakuza (2005) - with various others
Yakuza 2 (2006) - with various others
Yakuza Kenzan (2008) - with various others
Yakuza 4 (2010) - with various others
Kurohyo: Ryu ga Gotoku Shinsho (2010) - with various others
Yakuza 5 (2012) - with various others
Ryū ga Gotoku Ishin! (2014) - with various others
Yakuza 0 (2015) - with various others

Also, Nagoshi, THE man in charge of everything Yakuza, last project before going full Yakuza was Fzero AX/GX.

Nagoshi is basically the other Sega legend next to Yu Suzuki. Heading Amusement Vision in the day.
 
Kiryu's story in Yakuza 0 is mostly a fill in the gaps kind of thing, IMO. We get an idea of who he is in Yakuza 1 already and why he wanted to be one, at least as I recall, but I think they wanted to fill that in for everyone in this story.

For Majima, I think the story does a pretty good job of showing the shifting from this Majima to the Majima of Yakuza 1. He starts off as someone similar to Kiryu, a person with a strong sense of obligation towards family and justice. However, through the course of the game, he gets hit with a lot of things that bring into question what he thought was right and wrong. He, and Makoto, are used by people all throughout the game as well. The moment he has Lao Gui on the ropes in the Dojima HQ and Sera stops him is where he has this epiphany about it because he wanted to do right by Makoto but Sera points out that it would just cause her to suffer like he did with Saejima. He basically summarizes it all in his last conversation with Sagawa where he says he'll live a life having as much fun and craziness as he wants, because there is no right or wrong in Kamurocho.

It kinda makes his last scene with Makoto even sadder because his relationship with her is the last remnant of who he was before everything happened to him

It's been a while since I've played Yakuza 1 so some of the stuff they went over in regards to how Kiryu wanted to follow Kazama's footsteps may very well have been repeat info, lol. It's definitely a case of "I expected the story to focus on Kiryu's growth but it was actually more background for 1" which is hardly a bad thing, just sorta took me by surprise. I think it's really neat considering there was a fair amount of "why should I care about this person" when I first played 1.

"I tried to be helpful and that went to shit for everyone involved so instead I'm going to live for me and have some fun" does make sense. At the same time, I don't think he ever really abandoned his moral code either. At the very least, he's still extremely loyal to Saejima (I'd assume it's why he stays with Shimano at the end) and winds up helping Kiryu a number of times throughout the series. Though when it comes to Kiryu, you could say it goes back to wanting to have fun because he wants to fight Kiryu more. Though then that leads back to wondering where the obsession with fighting and strength comes from! Still, having it laid out like that has helped clear things up some, thanks!
 
That's why I kind of want to go back and play Yakuza 5 again and not worry too much about the story and just play the game and enjoy all the bits I missed.
Yeah, that's actually a good thing to do now. If anyone has abandoned side-stuff in Yakuza 5 in order to avoid feeling burnt out of series, this gap between Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami release, would be a good time to go back and finish up the side-stuff in that game.

Bar hunting (which I really didn't care for), the side stuff in Yakuza 5 are all pretty fun.
Though then that leads back to wondering where the obsession with fighting and strength comes from!
[Late-ish game spoilers]
I think that's something that he just copies from Nishitani. I believe that character (and his death) had a very big impact on Majima.
 

bluethree

Member
While that's true, Yakuza 5 definitely suffers for it though. It's like they tried to add too much stuff in it and that caught up to them in the end.

I haven't played 0 yet, but while I like 5 I think a focused approach works much better.

2 characters sounds just about right.
 
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