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

Ultimadrago

Member
Okay, so I'm having a big problem trying to learn mahjong. I may need some of YakuzaGAF's help!
gt60wux-imguryvpqq.jpg

Could someone tell me why this is not a hand?

My scrub mind is thinking 4-5-6, 7-8-9, 5-6-7, and all the Winds (which I thought were a set).
 

Aki-at

Member
What a ride, what an experience! A great game indeed but I'm not sure it'll do enough to hold onto the GOTY ranking.

Really enjoyed the story for the most part and it's emotional beats in particular:
The torture of Tachibana and Kiryu breaking in delivering that punch and Kuze's theme start up, amazing! The ending with Makoto and Majima's final scene as he leaves her in the shadows was damn depressing, I even felt a bit bad that Sagawa got topped off too even if he had it coming to him. My issues are the series continues the romanticised version of yakuzas it started to go down from 4 onwards, really these guys are a bunch of criminals, them crossing the line shouldn't be such a big deal. My other key criticism is the character of Goro Majima, there really isn't much that made him seem like the character I enjoyed so much in Yakuza 1 and 2. He comes across as a more mellow and sarcastic Kiryu then anything else, which would be fine if he wasn't the character we all know he'll grow into. Sort of feels like Yokoyama has a hard time trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

Some other characters are shockingly in the game for so little, even if they should feel like they could have played a bigger role (Like Nishitani and Lee) that I would have hoped a better structure could have been put in place. Overall though the story gets a plus from me in how it doesn't try to pull out random twists and relying on one specific plot element like previous titles, a grounded yakuza crime story at the heart of it.

The finale itself was a bit anticlimatic for me. These are some of the most important segments in the Yakuza games for me (The other being bosses) and Yakuza 0 sort of missed the mark but I can sort off understand why.
The fact they were split into two different areas unrelated probably played a factor but I felt the long battles in them were kind of disappointing. Majima's long battle just a repeat of Kiryu's area from chapter 1 didn't do much for me and Kazuma's felt way too short even if I loved rolling with my boy Nishikiyama. The boss fights themselves didn't feel as cool as what we had in prior games (Got to disagree with those who called them cheap, seemed relatively easy to me!) and Majima sadly got the short end of the stick again with the Chinese assassin but Shibusawa on the otherhand was a cool fight, loved the "I WILL be the Dragon of Dojima" line. Would have preferred if the boat was on fire though to add to the hype haha.

Another draw back was the bosses weren't as numerous as I'd hope. The main villains were really cool but it felt pretty tiring fighting
Kuze by the third time, let alone the fifth time!
And for me it didn't help that Majima got the raw deal on this side both with the lack of boss fights and long battles. Which was a shame... I was really hoping for some mad dog moments with him but it wasn't meant to be. The highlights of the long battles are
running through Tojo Clan HQ with Tachibana, man that heat move was great!
Annnnnd the fight in the basement with
Kuze, with Nishiki backing you up was amazing.
Also felt really really
bad I had to beat Nishiki down as Majima, even if I enjoyed the fight, I let Reina hit me with the bottle on purpose haha but it was an excellent fight.

Music was great, I think it's probably my second favourite in the series. The music for
Dragon of Dojima is ABSOLUTE HYPE!

Overall though I throughly enjoyed myself, but it didn't do enough to topple Yakuza 2 or 5 as my favourite in the series and tied with Yakuza 3. Still highly recommended and another fine entry in the series, thumbs up! 8/10
 

Rymuth

Member
Okay, so I'm having a big problem trying to learn mahjong. I may need some of YakuzaGAF's help!


Could someone tell me why this is not a hand?

My scrub mind is thinking 4-5-6, 7-8-9, 5-6-7, and all the Winds (which I thought were a set).
Wrong. *fwap*

A wind set would be three of that symbol. So, three x East, three x west etc.

The only time you need all four winds is for the ultimate hand, Kokushi Musou, which is 1 9 1 9 1 9 all four winds, White Dragon, Red Dragon, Green Dragon and one tile that is repeat of any of the ones I just listed.
 

Ultimadrago

Member
Wrong. *fwap*

A wind set would be three of that symbol. So, three x East, three x west etc.

The only time you need all four winds is for the ultimate hand, Kokushi Musou, which is 1 9 1 9 1 9 all four winds, White Dragon, Red Dragon, Green Dragon and one tile that is repeat of any of the ones I just listed.

Gomene~ I'll keep working at it! Thanks
 
Gomene~ I'll keep working at it! Thanks

Easiest way for me is to just do a fully concealed hand (so don't take other tiles from other players), and just aim for 4 sets of 3 consecutive tiles and two of the same tile for the double. So usually the best way to achieve this is to discard any wind or special tile right away unless you have 2-3 of the same tile for a set, and then just focus on trying to get 4 sets of 3 consecutive tiles (or 3 of the same tile, that is accepted as well).

Also, its probably best to ditch tiles 1 or 9 unless you only need one last tile to make a set, since they are harder to complete as you'll need one specific tile. For example:

If you have tiles 1 and 2 you will need to get a 3 to complete your set, and only a 3. It can be tricky as you are relying on just one tile to come into your possession so the odds are lower for you to win. If you have tiles 2 and 3, then you need either a 1 or a 4 for the set, so you have more flexibility and better odds on getting the tile you need. Set the "Red Dora" option (I think that's what its called) in the Mah Jong menu and you have a chance at getting special red tiles which are still numbered just like normal, but should you win a match with at least one of these tiles in your possession you'll get a points bonus.
 

_h8bit

Banned
This was my first Yakuza game and it was incredible. Picked it up on a total whim and was blown away by how much I enjoyed it. I've had a lot off open world fatigue this past year but this game did it right with the small maps.

Naturally, I want to continue the series with Kiwami but after that, I'm not so sure I want to dig out my PS2.. my PS3 I wouldn't mind so much, but do the PS2 titles still hold up?
 
This was my first Yakuza game and it was incredible. Picked it up on a total whim and was blown away by how much I enjoyed it. I've had a lot off open world fatigue this past year but this game did it right with the small maps.

Naturally, I want to continue the series with Kiwami but after that, I'm not so sure I want to dig out my PS2.. my PS3 I wouldn't mind so much, but do the PS2 titles still hold up?
Since Kiwami is a remake of 1, there's only Yakuza 2 that's only available on the PS2 and yes, that game is fantastic.

Naturally there a lot of improvements and Quality of life features in the next games in the series that aren't in there, and PS2 versions have a LOT of loading times but it's still a lot of fun and a great story anyway.

You can also emulate it if you have a decent PC.
 
I love how Majima says Komeki is shit at naming things when naming his moves which is already obvious when you look at his chosen pseudonym. :p
 

Ultimadrago

Member
Easiest way for me is to just do a fully concealed hand (so don't take other tiles from other players), and just aim for 4 sets of 3 consecutive tiles and two of the same tile for the double. So usually the best way to achieve this is to discard any wind or special tile right away unless you have 2-3 of the same tile for a set, and then just focus on trying to get 4 sets of 3 consecutive tiles (or 3 of the same tile, that is accepted as well).

Also, its probably best to ditch tiles 1 or 9 unless you only need one last tile to make a set, since they are harder to complete as you'll need one specific tile. For example:

If you have tiles 1 and 2 you will need to get a 3 to complete your set, and only a 3. It can be tricky as you are relying on just one tile to come into your possession so the odds are lower for you to win. If you have tiles 2 and 3, then you need either a 1 or a 4 for the set, so you have more flexibility and better odds on getting the tile you need. Set the "Red Dora" option (I think that's what its called) in the Mah Jong menu and you have a chance at getting special red tiles which are still numbered just like normal, but should you win a match with at least one of these tiles in your possession you'll get a points bonus.

Thanks! I didn't know about the Red Dora option.
 
Also felt really really
bad I had to beat Nishiki down as Majima, even if I enjoyed the fight, I let Reina hit me with the bottle on purpose haha but it was an excellent fight.

Did you intercept the health bottle Reina threw at Nishiki? That was quite hilarious.
 

Ultimadrago

Member
Got my first out! Still don't know what a Mangan or Haneman is though.

Quick Q - do you know you can declare Riichi/ready by pressing square?

Yeah, I've been reading a little online about how Yakuza's menu deals with that. I think you have to press Square for 4-of-a-kinds to be set aside as well.
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
Okay, okay... I just can't convince myself to really step away from the game, even though I finished it.

If I play
premium adventure
, that basically lets me
pic up where I left off in terms of side quests and such, and just focus on all that stuff?

Because I want to do that.
 

Rymuth

Member
Got my first out! Still don't know what a Mangan or Haneman is though.



Yeah, I've been reading a little online about how Yakuza's menu deals with that. I think you have to press Square for 4-of-a-kinds to be set aside as well.
Basically when you have a ready hand (4 sets of threes which can be anything from sequential or repeat and two doubles) you get that option. It opens the possibility of getting a lot of multipliers.

The computer will generally tell you what your waits will be.
 

Aki-at

Member
Okay, okay... I just can't convince myself to really step away from the game, even though I finished it.

If I play
premium adventure
, that basically lets me
pic up where I left off in terms of side quests and such, and just focus on all that stuff?

Because I want to do that.

Correct, that's the point of Premium Adventure :)
 

Desmond

Member
Since Kiwami is a remake of 1, there's only Yakuza 2 that's only available on the PS2 and yes, that game is fantastic.

Naturally there a lot of improvements and Quality of life features in the next games in the series that aren't in there, and PS2 versions have a LOT of loading times but it's still a lot of fun and a great story anyway.

You can also emulate it if you have a decent PC.

In the west I guess. Yakuza 2 is available on PS3 and WiiU in Asia.
 
Okay now I've recovered from the feature length endgame I can conclude that this was a damn good game.
I do have some gripes related to combat what with too many buttons overlapping on uses, the less than clear lock on and the odd situations you can get into where getting knocked on your arse repeatedly for example takes place (most noticeably for me, starting a standard street fight with men in black only to be pincered from the word go between two gun users).

I never quite clicked with how boss encounters were supposed to play, there was a running trend of me doing fine until near the end when boss auras would flare up and then it was like being at the mercy of their super armor which in turn invalidated a fair amount of options. But seeing as this is my first Yakuza title I may be just missing how to approach some encounters.

Some stiffness aside the combat itself does a great job not wearing itself thin considering the amount of time the main story alone takes, the heat moves are glorious and my personal favourite fighting style was Beast.
As for the story side of things, more twists and turns than a ...twisty turny thing, felt like I was playing Ace Attorney at times.

PS: Awano is king of smug/swag/strong style
 

_h8bit

Banned
While I was playing 0, I purposely stayed away from reading any spoilers/information about other games in the series. Now that I've completed it, I'm doing more research into the IP as a whole and am now incredibly bummed that Ishin hasn't made it's way westward. That game looks like a blast!
 
While I was playing 0, I purposely stayed away from reading any spoilers/information about other games in the series. Now that I've completed it, I'm doing more research into the IP as a whole and am now incredibly bummed that Ishin hasn't made it's way westward. That game looks like a blast!

As someone who's currently playing through Ishin,
it is indeed
.
 

~Kinggi~

Banned
Have to say it was really annoying how hard it was to get this in retail. Lucked out with Nioh since i figured there might be an off chance it would be like Yakuza so i preordered it on amazon and got it. But this one took like 2 weeks after i ordered it tyo arrive. Stupid of the pubs to limit the quantity of games that are scoring really well, but then again it seems like maybe they both had no idea they would be successful in the west.
 

kiaaa

Member
Cruised through Poker, but Blackjack has this annoying system where you can't bet large amounts unless you win consecutive games.
 

hamsjams

Member
This game is by far the most consistently and genuinely funny game that I've ever played. And it has damn good dramatic writing on top of that. It's a treasure.
 

Hobbun

Member
Ok, played a bit this morning. Still at the beginning of Chapter 2, but got some mini-games in and turned in my first CP, bought the increased money drops from fights.

Tried out some baseball, pool and darts. Got to be ok in baseball. At first just missed everything, but I can make pretty good contact now, although haven't gotten anything over a single yet.

With pool, I just did downright bad. Tried the puzzle pool. Wish I could play without wagering money as I just want to practice without playing a full pool game. But I think I advanced once in any of the games I played.

In darts, I did much better. I did the tutorial game, won a game of 301, and got my own standard darts.

Of course got into a few fights along the way between locations. I am going to have to look over the different fighting moves again as I just find myself doing the same attacks over and over. Combination of hitting square 4-5 times and finishing off with triangle. Gets a little old, but I know I'm probably not doing everything I can in the fight. I thought there was a way to hit them when they were on the ground, as well.

Overall, having a lot of fun, but before I go on with the story I think I will do some more mini-games and earn some more CP. Maybe try karaoke again, or some dancing. Have a LOT of practice to go with karaoke, was downright awful the first time.
 

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
Next Yakuza game should star Nishiki and take place between this and 1.

Disclaimer: I have not played 1 or beat 0 but
I do know the twist of 1 :(
 
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