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Yakuza 4 |OT| Welcome back, hostess bars & proper boxart!

Seriously, out of all the PS2/last gen series that have jumped to next gen, Yakuza has done it the best. The team at Sega is one of the few development teams that is carrying the torch from last gen.

absolutely! that is seriously true.

it's mostly, if not all small menu/gameplay improvements, but most of them are like "hey, NICE!", or "cool, THAT guy!"

if you didn't expect this to be what it is by now...
 

warpaint

Member
Damn it
Why do i feel the need to do all the subquest man there fun but i'm still on chapter 2 of part1 man I'll never finish this game at the rate I'm going damn you
:)
 
And I thought that Uncharted and Mass Effect had good stories until I played this game.

If Yakuza had that La Noire facial technology...wow, just wow even though there is no chance that La Noire will have as good as a story as this game though.
 
Finally got some quality time with this game, and so far so good. I'm loving Akiyama and chubby little Hana.

I would give anything to get a PSN avatar of
the fat acrobatic underwear bandit seen in the first "Revelation".

SEGA, Sony, make it happen.
 
PepsimanVsJoe said:
wtf lolz

No really
What the fuck
laugh out loudz

This game blows Y3 out of the water.

Nah. The "new" rooftops + underground locations are a joke. And so far the side missions are not on par with the usual quality. No tech improvements, no loading improvements, everything is exactly the same. Hana-chan rocks though.

Part 2 is off to a promising start and I hope the game picks up now.
 

Kikujiro

Member
schennmu said:
So far I'm not a fan of this game. There are no improvements over Y3 and the story has been very boring so far (Almost done with Akijama missions). I just want Kazuma and not some crappy replacements. I don't even feel like playing anymore :(. I love this franchise, but this iteration feels like a quick cash in.

I don't know if you're serious or what. If you're serious stop playing the game and forget about the series.
 

hamchan

Member
No tech improvements? I swear this game looks better than Yakuza 3 or my mind is deceiving me. To me, it looks like they added more AA or something. Also that first scene in the rain looked more impressive than anything I remember from Yakuza 3.
 
schennmu said:
Nah. The "new" rooftops + underground locations are a joke. And so far the side missions are not on par with the usual quality. No tech improvements, no loading improvements, everything is exactly the same. Hana-chan rocks though.

Part 2 is off to a promising start and I hope the game picks up now.

And? It's not like Y3 had debilitating technical flaws like Y1 did. The game loads battles in like 3-5 seconds as is. And try playing the rest of the game, the sidequests are some of the best in the series.
 
Does this game look as horrible as the demo? I noticed this with the demo for Trash Panic as well--the quality of the image just looks like shit. I can't describe how, but the image isn't even remotely crisp. I'm a fairly new PS3 owner, and everything has looked great except for these two demos.
 

Riposte

Member
Jimmy Stav said:
Does this game look as horrible as the demo? I noticed this with the demo for Trash Panic as well--the quality of the image just looks like shit. I can't describe how, but the image isn't even remotely crisp. I'm a fairly new PS3 owner, and everything has looked great except for these two demos.

The PS3 Yakuza games inherited a lot from the PS2 ones. I wouldn't call it shitty, but it is inconsistent. Fortunately Yakuza was one of the best looking PS2 games.
 
Riposte said:
The PS3 Yakuza games inherited a lot from the PS2 ones. I wouldn't call it shitty, but it is inconsistent. Fortunately Yakuza was one of the best looking PS2 games.

I'm purely talking about image quality, not the models/environments themselves. It looks fuzzy.
 
Jimmy Stav said:
I'm purely talking about image quality, not the models/environments themselves. It looks fuzzy.

The PS3 Yakuza games run at an inexplicably low sub-HD resolution. They are jaggy and have pretty awful textures. It's not a great engine but the strong point has never been the graphics or even the gameplay, but the stories and minigames.

The graphics in the full game aren't any better than the demo. And if the demo is the same as the Japanese demo, it shows off probably the best looking part of the game, the rain.
 
foomfoom415 said:
The PS3 Yakuza games run at an inexplicably low sub-HD resolution. They are jaggy and have pretty awful textures. It's not a great engine but the strong point has never been the graphics or even the gameplay, but the stories and minigames.

The graphics in the full game aren't any better than the demo. And if the demo is the same as the Japanese demo, it shows off probably the best looking part of the game, the rain.

That's extremely disappointing. It looks really bad and I'm not even a stickler for visuals. I was under the impression that the game looked fairly nice from the screenshots.
 

androvsky

Member
foomfoom415 said:
The PS3 Yakuza games run at an inexplicably low sub-HD resolution. They are jaggy and have pretty awful textures. It's not a great engine but the strong point has never been the graphics or even the gameplay, but the stories and minigames.

The graphics in the full game aren't any better than the demo. And if the demo is the same as the Japanese demo, it shows off probably the best looking part of the game, the rain.

The U.S. demo is just a few fights in underground areas, they all look pretty bad compared to the rest of the game. Bland textures, boring environments, dull colors, the whole nine yards.

Granted, the rest of the game is still rendered in the same funky 1024x768 resolution, but at least the rest of the game is in more interesting areas.

edit: if you found screenshots from a cutscene, yeah, those are flaming spectacular. Actual gameplay, not so much. Oh, and I will go out on a limb and say the gameplay is part of the charm too. Graphics come last, but being an incredibly stable 30 fps open-world game from a Japanese developer, they're really not too bad, especially if you factor in the crowds.
 

Interstellar

Neo Member
foomfoom415 said:
The graphics in the full game aren't any better than the demo. And if the demo is the same as the Japanese demo, it shows off probably the best looking part of the game, the rain.
The US/EU demo isn't the same as the Japanese demo, it's just limited to a combat tutorial on a rooftop. Yes the game is sub-hd (1024x768 - same resolution as MGS4) but you've got to consider how much detail and unique atmosphere is crammed into the full game. Plus the cutscenes are higher quality, amongst the best this gen.
 

androvsky

Member
Interstellar said:
The US/EU demo isn't the same as the Japanese demo, it's just limited to a combat tutorial on a rooftop. Yes the game is sub-hd (1024x768 - same resolution as MGS4) but you've got to consider how much detail and unique atmosphere is crammed into the full game. Plus the cutscenes are higher quality, amongst the best this gen.

I never did figure out if the cutscenes are real-time or not. I've watched the hard drive light on the Yakuza 3 demo during a cutscene, and it wasn't blinking at all for decent stretches. And the Yakuza 4 demo has a good half hour of cutscenes, in addition to a large chunk of the city and it's still under 2 GB iirc. On the other hand, they obviously look too good to be real-time.
 

LiK

Member
12 hours in and currently in Part 2. MY GOD. I LOVE THIS GAME. Best game in the series by far and I'm not even halfway through it. So much fun and I actually liked the Hostess Maker minigame!

The cutscenes blow away all the previous game cutscenes. Very well directed and the dialogue is pretty damn good. Subs weren't too accurate. I may not know 100% Japanese, but I know what some words were and the subs don't match up exactly with the actual words they used. Understandable to make it work with an English script. The story is soooo good.

Oh yea, all the new Heat moves are so BRUTAL. SOGOOD.gif :D
 

Edgeward

Member
I'm still only on the beginning of chapter 3, but I've been playing this shit for hours already. I just can't stop not doing the side stuff, and I know I probably shouldnt find all the locker keys with Akiyama, but dammit he's so cool and his moveset is my kind of style.

But I'm already lvl 15 and got two hostess in the sack already. That 10k xp is so nice. =D
 

LiK

Member
Edgeward said:
I'm still only on the beginning of chapter 3, but I've been playing this shit for hours already. I just can't stop not doing the side stuff, and I know I probably shouldnt find all the locker keys with Akiyama, but dammit he's so cool and his moveset is my kind of style.

But I'm already lvl 15 and got two hostess in the sack already. That 10k xp is so nice. =D

it only gets better.... <3
 

IrishNinja

Member
just finished part 3 tonight, part 4 is installing as we speak, and telling me of all the new characters. SO HYPE I COULD SHIT.

still wondering @:

IrishNinja said:
anyone platting this yet, or thereabouts? which ones are hard/missable? i figure most can/should be knocked out on a normal playthrough, then go back & do ex-hard, which will likely beat my ass, as i dont think theres a new game +.

also, i totally gotta find the shenmue reference (hints?).
 

Riposte

Member
Can I start premium new game from adventure mode? Usually never bother with it, but I want to give hard mode a shot.
 

Carnby

Member
In one of the first cut scenes Kido keeps yelling at one of the thugs for making him repeat himself too many times. Did anyone else think this might have been a jab at the cut scenes of Yakuza 3?
 

Mistouze

user-friendly man-cashews
Saejima related question, for people past chapter 4 :
next story objective is to get some sleep before kicking Majima's butt at the top of Milennium Tower. Right the city is a mess to walk through due to the police. Does it get any better towards the end of his part or do I just have to deal with it?
 

BeeDog

Member
Mistouze said:
Saejima related question, for people past chapter 4 :
next story objective is to get some sleep before kicking Majima's butt at the top of Milennium Tower. Right the city is a mess to walk through due to the police. Does it get any better towards the end of his part or do I just have to deal with it?

Yes, it gets better since doing this mission is the end of Saejima's part.
Make sure to stock up with TONS of health items to save yourself from major frustration.
 
I really regret I didn't start the game on a higher difficulty. It was the same with Yak3, so I should have known better, but there really is no challenge whatsoever on normal difficulty and it makes the leveling and the additional weapons/gear rather pointless. :I
 

Mistouze

user-friendly man-cashews
Just did 2100pts in the normal diff. batting cage with Saejima! I'm going to make the pickaxe to be done with his training before going through with the next missions. Thanks for the replies, I'll make sure to get gauntlets AND life items.
 

BeeDog

Member
Just reached part 4 now. The game has been lots of fun so far, and the story is nice to follow, especially in how it connects back to previous entries. Though I have to say, all the plot twists after another are getting rather silly and unrealistic. Still, tons of fun to follow this story. Game's so much better than Y3, even if it's ridiculously "samey".
 

Mistouze

user-friendly man-cashews
The silly plots and over-dramatic characters are part of what I love in Yakuza. Just look at the start of Saejima's part. SO.MUCH.MANLOVE.
 
Got into a fight in front of the MEB(I think that's what it's called, the place where the guy tells you about what the different girls are into) and the QTE had me tossing the dude through the window! Ha, never had that happen before.
 

warpaint

Member
think i'm 6 hours in and am still on part 1 am trying to everything is each chapter so am still on chapter 2 am now doing ok in the batting cage and the UFO Catcher is fun to a point but the only thing that bugs me is that i seem to get into fight's alot
 

LiK

Member
William Percy Nightstick said:
Got into a fight in front of the MEB(I think that's what it's called, the place where the guy tells you about what the different girls are into) and the QTE had me tossing the dude through the window! Ha, never had that happen before.

yea, they had that in Yakuza 3 too. it was a store in Okinawa instead. that QTE never gets old.

btw, i love that if you talk to the guy who works at MEB after smashing the windows,he'll say "sorry for the mess but we're still in business" or something like that, lol. love the details.

warpaint said:
think i'm 6 hours in and am still on part 1 am trying to everything is each chapter so am still on chapter 2 am now doing ok in the batting cage and the UFO Catcher is fun to a point but the only thing that bugs me is that i seem to get into fight's alot

the fights are easily avoidable, imo. you can usually just stick with the sidewalks and they'll never see you or even if they see you, they might not be able to catch up with you if you keep running. or you can just use the rooftops if it really bugs you.

i'm currently playing on Normal and the fights seem much easier than the previous games on Normal. they really refined the engine quite a bit. i don't see myself skipping the fights as much as the previous games cuz i really like all the new moves i can try out and upgrading the HEAT moves is a must. you can only do that by using them in fights a lot.
 

RedSwirl

Junior Member
Edgeward said:
I'm still only on the beginning of chapter 3, but I've been playing this shit for hours already. I just can't stop not doing the side stuff, and I know I probably shouldnt find all the locker keys with Akiyama, but dammit he's so cool and his moveset is my kind of style.

But I'm already lvl 15 and got two hostess in the sack already. That 10k xp is so nice. =D

EDIT: Oh. Nevermind. I read "10x XP," like you got 10x XP after doing two of the hostesses. You just get a lot more XP from finishing their quests right?
 
LiK said:
the fights are easily avoidable

Holding L1 to walk slowly past the thugs can get you by unnoticed. There is also an item available, can't remember the name but if you equip it you wont have any random fights.

There is also the opposite item, Champ's Ring that increases the fights if you need to grind.

And yeah, you can also just run past most of them once you learn to recongnize the thugs by looks :D
 
LiK said:
yea, they had that in Yakuza 3 too. it was a store in Okinawa instead. that QTE never gets old.

btw, i love that if you talk to the guy who works at MEB after smashing the windows,he'll say "sorry for the mess but we're still in business" or something like that, lol. love the details

Didn't know about talking to the guy who works there, cool. Goes to show how much this game has to offer in terms of variety when I played over 30 hours of Yakuza 3 and am at over 30 in Yakuza 4 already, and that's the first time I've run into that QTE.
 

klee123

Member
I don't know why people are complaining about Saejima, but I'm finding him a blast to play as. The charge moves so damaging and the heat moves are very useful since some of them can be used during combos.

Character wise, I find him just as interesting as Akiyama so far. Saejima's chapter 1 was amazing.
 

hamchan

Member
Saejima is awesome once you upgrade him a bit. Actually I think all 4 dudes are really fun to play as, Sega has done a great job.
 

GeoramA

Member
Mistouze said:
The silly plots and over-dramatic characters are part of what I love in Yakuza. Just look at the start of Saejima's part. SO.MUCH.MANLOVE.
The story is so damn good. Like a soap opera for guys.

I'm also glad Sega cut barely anything out in this one. Every time I play, there's always something over-the-top going on. Makes you realize how bad they massacred Y3.
 

Suzuki Yu

Member
klee123 said:
I don't know why people are complaining about Saejima, but I'm finding him a blast to play as. The charge moves so damaging and the heat moves are very useful since some of them can be used during combos.

Character wise, I find him just as interesting as Akiyama so far. Saejima's chapter 1 was amazing.
this.

easily my favorite character in the game.
 
IrishNinja said:
^man, ya'll should really watch it with the spoilers being untagged.
Fixed that. I'm usually pretty cautious when it comes to spoilers, but I figured it would be vague enough not to be spoilers. In retrospect, I should have tagged it. Sorry if I spoiled anything for anybody!
all 8 of us who bought the game
 
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