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Yakuza Community Thread - FEEL THE HEAT!
- Thread starter cj_iwakura
- Start date
TheSuperSakura
Member
6 wraps up his story, it's supposed to be the last Kiryu game.
Nope, all the other protagonists aren't really as interesting to me (Akiyama, Saejima and Majima in 0 etc all being good characters, don't really have the charm and coolness Kiryu oozes.) I could go years with him as the main character perfectly well, his reached Batman status for me. One of the things I really liked, especially in 3, 4 and Dead Souls (But they've decided to sort of drop it afterwards) was how he became almost this mystical figure in the Japanese underworld.
But since Yakuza 6 wraps up his story we'll be getting a new protagonist anyway.
As long as we have Yokoyama writing the stories we're not going to get any immoral characters as leads.
You just have to look at Majima and Kiryu's transformation post Yakuza 2. Whilst you could argue the latter might not have killed one (But he
totally used that innocent waiter as a human shield in Yakuza 1, something he won't do these days)
Are we going to get more Yakuza games after 6 though? It sounded like the team had enough of the franchise, and I don't blame them. They all want to leave it behind and do something new.
I guess a new team could make more with a different protagonist but then will it still be Yakuza? It'll be like a new MGS game coming out with no involvement from the original team.
I guess a new team could make more with a different protagonist but then will it still be Yakuza? It'll be like a new MGS game coming out with no involvement from the original team.
Son Of Sparda
Member
They've said they are trying to find new ways for series to take the next step, while still feeling like Yakuza. So yeah, we are definitely gonna get more games. Not sure if Nagoshi will be a part of it, though. IIRC, he said he wants to do some new stuff.
Shadowman16
Member
There are some really good tracks in the game, mainly for bosses (can't name them since they'd all be spoilers, but it does have a decent soundtrack in my opinion). The main vocal song is also pretty nice, but I fear they will not license it just like in past games, which will be more of a problem in 6 since its only used for key "emotional" scenes, so they could really screw things up if they don't at least get a good substitute.
Yeah, there are 4 key Yamashita Tatsuro songs that play throughout the game that will really, imo, change the tone of some important moments if they aren't replaced with something equally great. More-so than any previous entry in the series I honestly can't picture the game without them. The rest of the OST is good and I'd say the boss fight tracks are on par with some of the best in the series.
I started Yakuza 1 a little while ago and absolutely loved it. After finishing it and tracking down Yakuza 2 I'm playing through that currently, on chapter 7 and really enjoying it - except for the "Managing the Marietta" 'side mission'. It is absolutely mind-numbingly boring.
The first 2 sections, fine. The second / last expansion? Oh here's about 10 million of improvements you need to make, we'll give you less than half of that, and your initial sales will be less than we were making previously in a smaller venue with much cheaper pricing, because that makes total sense.
It takes what feels like forever to afford the next furniture upgrade, not to mention the arbitrary "wait a few minutes" between each sales update, and the fact that your staff get demotivated quickly because poor furniture rating = barely any sales = demotivated staff.
I can't wait for this mission to be over. Do any of the other games in the series have something as boring and time-consuming as this? I hope not, because I've loved almost everything else about the first two games so far.
The first 2 sections, fine. The second / last expansion? Oh here's about 10 million of improvements you need to make, we'll give you less than half of that, and your initial sales will be less than we were making previously in a smaller venue with much cheaper pricing, because that makes total sense.
It takes what feels like forever to afford the next furniture upgrade, not to mention the arbitrary "wait a few minutes" between each sales update, and the fact that your staff get demotivated quickly because poor furniture rating = barely any sales = demotivated staff.
I can't wait for this mission to be over. Do any of the other games in the series have something as boring and time-consuming as this? I hope not, because I've loved almost everything else about the first two games so far.
bishopcruz
Member
So how is it nearly every Yakuza game can end with the same basic thing, two tattooed shirtless dudes fighting, and it's FUCKING AMAZING every single time? I have trouble thinking of a series with more satisfyingly visceral boss fights. It always knows when to cut to a heat action, knows when to change the scenery, it's always just damn great.
Shadowman16
Member
4 has something similar with Akiyama's hostess management side missions (I forget how in depth it is though), 3 had something very similar but that was cut from the English release along with several other bits. 0 has you managing hostesses as well but I don't remember doing any of the decoration etc. on the club itself, just coaching the girls and building your fanbase so that the girls are able to make a shit ton of money, and then you of course battle the rival hostess clubs and owners.
I basically screwed up that mission in 2. Made a couple of bad choices starting out and couldn't make enough money to turn things around so I just used a guide to make the best hostess club, much easier and less frustrating. I preferred the Host Club side missions in 2 personally, those were pretty great.
Thanks - I think if the activity is more involved or is quicker to do, I'd enjoy it. Seems like from the impressions of 0 the management stuff is much more in-depth with more to do, so that might be fine.
It was all the waiting around I didn't like, because it was one of the last missions I did at that point in the story, so there wasn't much else to do while waiting for phone calls before you could advance to the next shift. I agree that the host club missions were much better, I did enjoy those and they felt more involved and faster paced.
Finally done with club management, though - back to enjoying the story now.
I think as long as RGG's format is used, whoever takes the main character's role, he/she will become the same personality as Kiryu. Majima in 0 is a good example of this. If RGG studio brings Akimoto as a main character, this could not be the case...maybe? Umm...I miss Akimoto's sub-stories. Why they are discontinued 
Isn't that song in Yakuza original? If Kiwami's version has some license problems, they just use the original track in Kiwami.
Isn't that song in Yakuza original? If Kiwami's version has some license problems, they just use the original track in Kiwami.
Shadowman16
Member
I miss Akimoto as well. But I'm still annoyed at Sega for cutting his stuff from the English release of Yakuza 3. I guess it was because of "that" revelation at the end of their second side story in 3, but still they could really have had them appear again in 4, 5 or 6 since:
4 has Kiryu meet a number of characters from his past as side stories in 4, so having them turn up again would have made sense.
5 could have made it work by having them turn up randomly as a taxi side story. Would have fit right in with some of the odd people Kiryu met in his cab!
6 would have been the perfect choice, since like
they could have shown what happened to them in the 10 odd years since Kiryu first met them.
But I guess
. At least they appear in Ishin briefly!
4 has Kiryu meet a number of characters from his past as side stories in 4, so having them turn up again would have made sense.
5 could have made it work by having them turn up randomly as a taxi side story. Would have fit right in with some of the odd people Kiryu met in his cab!
6 would have been the perfect choice, since like
Pocket Fighter
But I guess
since Haruka was always with Kiryu when you run into them in 1-3 that would make having them appear in 5 or 6 difficult, since Kiryu and Haruka never really spend any time with each other in either of those two games... Then again 6 ignored so many characters that its really no surprise they didn't appear in 6.
That's bad. I didn't know that Akimoto has been cut from Yakuza 3.
first bold part, agree. It could be great. And also, I expected Shinada would appear in the baseball mini game. He is the character for it, smh Seag.
second bold part, you forgot Kenzan.
Haruka is absent from Akimoto's sub-story in Kenzan
cj_iwakura
Member
I loved Managing the Marietta.
It was a lot of fun customizing and finding the right patterns.It was in the original US version, played during the opening.
"Then step the fuck up! It's time to die!"
(said Kiryu, never)
Shadowman16
Member
That's bad. I didn't know that Akimoto has been cut from Yakuza 3.
first bold part, agree. It could be great. And also, I expected Shinada would appear in the baseball mini game. He is the character for it, smh Seag.
second bold part, you forgot Kenzan.. And I love 終 version more for this one. This is the only substory I didn't feel bad even I got 終 instead of 完Haruka is absent from Akimoto's sub-story in Kenzan
I was just going by the mainline appearances and basing his absence on those, but yes he does also get a brilliant side story in Kenzan
Yeah, Akimoto was one of many cuts from Yakuza 3, for whatever reason a number of side stories were cut from the English release, many of which made no sense to omit them but I guess Akimoto got cut because of the while [spoiler[ Incest [/spoiler] thing. Still not a cool thing to do, since I thought it was done in a more comical manner and not a seriously graphic or sexual manner.
As for Shinada, I'd have loved to have him appear in 6 just as part of the Baseball mode. Seems like such a glaring omission (and 6 sure has a few of those!)
lucebuce12
Member
The Koi of Dojima
My local Tsutaya had a RGG6 demo on display for some reason. I played it for a few minutes and wow, the no loading makes a difference! I thought I wouldn't care about something like that, but it was a breath of fresh air even if the game is using the same setting again. I went to some cafe, went to the second floor and jumped out the window, pretty cool. It makes fights much more interesting too as you're not limited to a small area anymore.
Shadowman16
Member
Yeah. Doing stuff like that, or fighting in a convenience store, or fighting through the Millennium Tower seamlessly is something awesome to behold. I still feel like they could have done more with the Millennium Tower though (have some shops or something in there) but its still cool that you can just freely come and go as you please now.
I was just going by the mainline appearances and basing his absence on those, but yes he does also get a brilliant side story in Kenzan
Yeah, Akimoto was one of many cuts from Yakuza 3, for whatever reason a number of side stories were cut from the English release, many of which made no sense to omit them but I guess Akimoto got cut because of the while [spoiler[ Incest [/spoiler] thing. Still not a cool thing to do, since I thought it was done in a more comical manner and not a seriously graphic or sexual manner.
As for Shinada, I'd have loved to have him appear in 6 just as part of the Baseball mode. Seems like such a glaring omission (and 6 sure has a few of those!)
I thought only the hostess and the arcade quiz game were cut but sub-stories also?
I don't know how Nishiki should be called. But his tattoo (koi rising up to the top of a waterfall) is based on the old saying and it's related to dragons as well. Kois are very powerful fishes and can swim upsteam against the strong current river. A few have capable of swiming up even waterfalls. And if it manages to reach the top of a waterfall. It will transform into a dragon. Koi is a symbol of success here.
This is kinda irony, the circumstances Nisiki faced after 0, a small spoiler of 1 / kiwami
he turned to a man who just lived for his ambition to be a dragon.
I'm just missing Dead Souls (physical copy), Yakuza 5 (physical JP copy) - have both digitally. and the PSP games. I probably won't bother getting these unless I see them for real cheap. Very happy with my Yakuza collection now.
I need to continue my Kenzan game first. I'm about an hour in
Also my copy of Yakuza 0 hasn't come in yet, any day now. ;_;
Shadowman16
Member
I thought only the hostess and the arcade quiz game were cut but sub-stories also?
Yeah. Depending on how much you enjoy the side stuff and mini games in the series, there were a 10+ hours easy cut out of the English version of 3 which is quite nuts. I did a replay of 3 a couple of years back but used the Japanese version that time and the difference was nuts, most side stories seemed to be cut for no reason (as none of them bar the last Akimoto one had any questionable content). I'm not sure I can ever really replay the English version again, it feels like a shell of a game in comparison...
I'm just missing Dead Souls (physical copy), Yakuza 5 (physical JP copy) - have both digitally. and the PSP games. I probably won't bother getting these unless I see them for real cheap. Very happy with my Yakuza collection now.
I need to continue my Kenzan game first. I'm about an hour in
Also my copy of Yakuza 0 hasn't come in yet, any day now. ;_;
Chinese version?
I guess Yakuza 3's localization budegt was very low and they just cut those sub-stories becuase they didn't have enough money/time, not for censorship.
And I guess this is part of the reasons many think Y3 is their least favorite on neogaf? The contents are very scarce in the opening chpaters and only thing you can do is errand & fetch quests for Asagao?
Shadowman16
Member
Yeah, makes sense. That and I think Sega said something about certain things being taken out for cultural reasons? (certain things not appealing to Western audiences). Plus the slow start no doubt hurt its appeal for sure. I like the slow start very much personally, but I can certainly see how it wouldn't appeal to everyone.
3 is by far my favorite in the series because it's just so chill. I love slow starts too, and to me the whole dicking around a virtual Japanese city part of the series is a lot more fun than the actual Yakuza plots. It also helps that I lived in southern Japan (not Okinawa) and it just nails the setting.
I think this is mainly for the arcade quiz game (answer x answer). That quiz game is very hard even for Japanese. I can see that game won't work for non-native Japanese.
I love the transition from that tense ending of the second game to 3's calm and quiet normal life sim. Helping strangers on the streets of Okinawa while taking care of Kids in Asagao is so good.
Grim Patron
Member
I've had people ask me almost daily about yakuza 0 in India. It's been sold out for a while offline and online here lol. Good to see more people here enjoying it.
Edit: stock situation for india - http://gadgets.ndtv.com/games/news/...old-out-in-india-and-nobody-knows-why-1656986
Edit: stock situation for india - http://gadgets.ndtv.com/games/news/...old-out-in-india-and-nobody-knows-why-1656986
Yes I got the Chinese/Asian version, but the game voices and subs are in Japanese, the manual is in chinese - i hope its the same and nothing was cut.... It was US$7 cheaper at Play-asia so I was happy. They've also sold out of the chinese version now, and its just the best price Japanese version left. Must be people jumping on the bandwagon I guess.
Y3 starts slow but I really enjoyed the 2nd half. I'd put Yakuza 5 behind it as the worse title, but really I enjoyed all the mainline titles.
No one has to justify Yakuza 5 being their lowest ranking game. You only have to utter the word "Baba" and I understand you completely.
If Yakuza has a Poochie, it's definitely him.
cj_iwakura
Member
More and more I think I've decided it best to pretend the series ended with Y4, although Y5's opening prologue was very classy.
Grim Patron
Member
Does anyone have the Yakuza 0 guide / artbook (is there even one)?
I feel like going all in and importing 80s music collection, bubble single, etc.
I see some 10th anniv book and amazon jp has a 140 ish page (not complete probably) guide for Y0. Complete guide seems sold out.
I feel like going all in and importing 80s music collection, bubble single, etc.
I see some 10th anniv book and amazon jp has a 140 ish page (not complete probably) guide for Y0. Complete guide seems sold out.
I definitely enjoyed playing it, and by no means is it a bad game, but my perception of it lowers over time.
In terms of narrative, it's one huge side-step, and actually regresses character development in spots. Saejima's thing is utter nonsense, a rehash of 4, and a perfect illustration of why his arc worked previously - it actually concluded. 5 throws away almost all of that.
No amount of bear punching can make up for that.
Kiryu is pure fan service at this point, nothing makes sense, but I'm willing to let it slide because they're willing to have fun with it. I just get irritated that they introduced another potential romance sub-plot, and did the typical Japanese protagonist shtick of it going absolutely nowhere, and being utterly one-sided.
I really thought it was interesting that she was actually into Kiryu, and the idea that he would have to reconcile with the fact he'd been 'betrayed' by her. But nope, gonna go punch some dudes in a warehouse.
Akiyama. Jesus, way to continually squander your breakout character.
There's more, but you get the idea. Feels like a spin-off In a lot of ways.
Haha, I do too! The main point I was trying to make to make, is that the game is still really good, in spite of those flaws. In gameplay terms, it's really ambitious, and most of it actually works. Had more fun than I care to mention driving taxis!
These are the sentiments of someone who has (admittedly) kind of romanticised what the Yakuza stories are, and in turn, what I expect out of every new Yakuza entry.
IIRC, the Chinese version comes with a reference book of in-game dialogue. How is it?
If you buy the official Ryu ga Gotoku 0 80s greatest hits album, you can unlock a walkman (portable audio device) as an item in 0. You can listen to the music in this album when you equip the item in 0. I don't have this CD and don't know how this works though.
As for 5, it is kinda ultimate form of the series. They put everyghing of the sereis in one game. To be honest, I don't remember the main story much but luckily enough, I enjoyed all the another drama stuff, I even enjoyed Saejima's jail part. And Shinada's part is too good. It's one of the best sub plit in the entire series with the best support character. Nagoya is also a good map to explore in 5, unlike Nagoya in real ;P
Grim Patron
Member
Yea that will work on the JP game not the US /UK games which i own physically right now. I haven't really looked into that tracklist. is it from in game music or just other stuff?
I believe they are various licensed tracks that are not used in the game. If they are in game music, it's kinda pointless to listen to those tracks with in game walkman.
Grim Patron
Member
Weird that they did a physical CD for that but not the actual OST of 0 imo.
They had also cut out meeting Ayana Tsubaki in the localized version and most people didn't even know this.
Well the Japanese version came with a RGG0 Hotdog press edition, which had bios of characters and of the models who appeared in the game plus a guide to entertainment and food spots in Kamurocho and Sotenbori, the official ost has all the songs in it, so you can get it if you want Bubble and everything else.
Yeah Y5 does go off the rails but you have to give it up for the best Yakuza character of all, "Off screen bullet chan" you'll often never see her coming and when she does, she makes repeat entrances hehe.
As for on my end, I haven't gotten around to play Y0 properly yet since all of last month I was busy, and I have some free time but Nioh is out now, so I think after that I'll start and it should be quick since I know what to do already and hopefully I don't get side-tracked again so I can play Nier, so many games coming out that I wanna play.
Shadowman16
Member
Ah yes, forgot about the exclusion of her and the massage parlour in 3 (I knew they cut more than just Shogi/Mah Jong/Answer X Answer in terms of mini games...)
At this point if 2 ever gets remade (and translated) I'll switch my hopes to a proper English release of 3 to get released/remastered. It's right up there on my wants list right under Kenzan and Ishin getting translated.
There's this one deus ex machina scene near the end where I swear the characters barely even react to what's going on. It's like, oh yeah, here's another random appearance/act of god that makes no sense, whatever. Living that that world must be exhausting with all the random shit going on
I wanna say though, I like some of the characters and ideas in the game a lot, and I think with more skilled hands the end could have come together in a much better way. The game tries so hard to be epic but it bites off more than it's capable of handling.
Playing Yakuza 0 and finished chapter 1 today. The story so far is great.
I definitely like the Rush fighting style better than the basic (starting) one. But I'll work on all of them to get the CP for them.
That is something I should start working more on. I have basically gone from location to location so far in regards to the story, haven't really done anything on the side as of yet. Although haven't picked up any substories as of yet. Is it something that starts up during the story missions? Or do you need to speak to someone to start them up?
I just did the intro part of chapter 2, so I think I'm going to meander away from the main story for a bit and try to do some of the side stuff.
But really enjoying the game so far!
I find this comment a bit puzzling, I had though Yakuza games were known to have good storylines? I am enjoying the story of Yakuza 0 so far.
I definitely like the Rush fighting style better than the basic (starting) one. But I'll work on all of them to get the CP for them.
That is something I should start working more on. I have basically gone from location to location so far in regards to the story, haven't really done anything on the side as of yet. Although haven't picked up any substories as of yet. Is it something that starts up during the story missions? Or do you need to speak to someone to start them up?
I just did the intro part of chapter 2, so I think I'm going to meander away from the main story for a bit and try to do some of the side stuff.
But really enjoying the game so far!
I find this comment a bit puzzling, I had though Yakuza games were known to have good storylines? I am enjoying the story of Yakuza 0 so far.
Shadowman16
Member
Yakuza storylines vary from game to game. I enjoy pretty much all of the plot points in the series but there are definitely some bad points here and there. The earlier games definitely have the best plots, with some of the later games getting a bit too crazy in places (I liked 5''s story, it just got a bit convoluted toward the end as they tried to pull everyones stories together, and didn't quite manage it as well as intended).
4 has one pretty bad plot twist in it that seems somewhat unrealistic, 3's story I felt was great, but I can understand why people would hate it since its a slow burner.
Without giving anything away, I cannot wait for the opinions on one of Yakuza 6's plot twist, as it actually manages to top Yakuza 2's
. For people who have played 6, I'm talking about the bit at the end of the game where
.
What manages to win me over in terms of the series though is the characters. Even if the plots get a bit far fetched at times the characters in the stories are almost all excellent. So I actually end up caring about the characters in the plots, rather than zoning out in the cutscenes like 90% of any other games I play.
As for side missions in 0 (and the series in general) - some will be activated by talking to people, some will just start when you are walking around in a certain area and they will automatically trigger a conversation or scene to occur.
4 has one pretty bad plot twist in it that seems somewhat unrealistic, 3's story I felt was great, but I can understand why people would hate it since its a slow burner.
Without giving anything away, I cannot wait for the opinions on one of Yakuza 6's plot twist, as it actually manages to top Yakuza 2's
whole Osaka castle scene
A gigantic battleship developed during WW2 rises out from hiding in the Hiroshima bay area. Its a month later and I still don't get why that was such a national disgrace that had to be hidden on pains of death
What manages to win me over in terms of the series though is the characters. Even if the plots get a bit far fetched at times the characters in the stories are almost all excellent. So I actually end up caring about the characters in the plots, rather than zoning out in the cutscenes like 90% of any other games I play.
As for side missions in 0 (and the series in general) - some will be activated by talking to people, some will just start when you are walking around in a certain area and they will automatically trigger a conversation or scene to occur.
cj_iwakura
Member
I like it too, but let's be real, it ruined a perfect cap to a lot of characters' stories.