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[Jimrpg]

Do any of available guides for Kenzan and Ishin include translated story dialogue or is their only purpose to tell you what to do to progress?

Feels weird that I've played every Yakuza release, even Dead Souls, but haven't been able to give these a shot despite having such cool premises... And well, there's the Black Panther games...

Yes the KHH guide briefs you on the story pretty well from what I recall for Kenzan. Completely playable and understandble for anyone without Japanese knowledge.

Okay so I went into a local store and looked for Yakuza 0. I was told it was out of stock for 2 weeks already. I figured I should just buy Kiwami since the sales person said demand was high for Kiwami as well.

My question is will it be detrimental to my experience if I start with Kiwami first? I'm willing to just shelf my Kiwami copy and wait for Zero to get stocks.

Definitely get 0, its a great game and feels more modern to me honestly.

Kiwami is a remake of a PS2 game and there are still some PS2 trappings there with gameplay and mission structure, but the combat has been updated and the story is just as good (if not better) than it was in the PS2 days.

 

[Mesharey]

Okay so I went into a local store and looked for Yakuza 0. I was told it was out of stock for 2 weeks already. I figured I should just buy Kiwami since the sales person said demand was high for Kiwami as well.

My question is will it be detrimental to my experience if I start with Kiwami first? I'm willing to just shelf my Kiwami copy and wait for Zero to get stocks.

Wait for 0 I say.

Kiwami is really good, but 0 is a better introduction for the series, I started with 0.

 

[GrayFoxPL]

Okay so I went into a local store and looked for Yakuza 0. I was told it was out of stock for 2 weeks already. I figured I should just buy Kiwami since the sales person said demand was high for Kiwami as well.

My question is will it be detrimental to my experience if I start with Kiwami first? I'm willing to just shelf my Kiwami copy and wait for Zero to get stocks.

Technically Zero is Y6. People advise playing Y0 first because it's chronologically first, I never get that. No one says to watch Star War prequels first for the sake the chronology. Big charm of Y0 is playing it after whole series and knowing how characters and story evolved.

If you don't want to play original, play Kiwami first. Prequel didn't exist before Y1, even if Kiwami came out later. You should follow the story in reverse way it was meant where you know the story of the 1 first and then get to know what happened before it.

 

[Holundrian]

Ok I'm doing haruka requests and holy shit I need to beat the expert ai in rotation(pool) that shit is super hard can't make more than 3 mistakes.

 

[Opa-Pa]

Technically Zero is Y6. People advise playing Y0 first because it's chronologically first, I never get that. No one says to watch Star War prequels first for the sake the chronology. Big charm of Y0 is playing it after whole series and knowing how characters and story evolved.

If you don't want to play original, play Kiwami first. Prequel didn't exist before Y1, even if Kiwami came out later. You should follow the story in reverse way it was meant where you know the story of the 1 first and then get to know what happened before it.

This logic would work better if Kiwami was made before 0, but Kiwami was treated as an actual sequel to 0 despite the original story obviously being conceived first. Kiwami relies on elements introduced in 0 for some new added story bits, and many new sub stories reference 0 as well.

Plus the story in the original Y1 is honestly kind of shit in retrospect, and 0 fixes many of its issues by familiarizing you with characters and concepts that are important in 1 but barely developed in the game.

Basically if you plan on playing the original Yakuza 1 on PS2, start with that, but if you don't, then definitely start with 0 instead.

Yes the KHH guide briefs you on the story pretty well from what I recall for Kenzan. Completely playable and understandble for anyone without Japanese knowledge.

Ah that's wonderful, thank you.

 

[lucebuce12]

Anybody got a guide for the Majima pocket race and the substory races? FUCKING Takuma-kun.

 

[Shadowman16]

Anybody got a guide for the Majima pocket race and the substory races? FUCKING Takuma-kun.

My friend is working through Pocket Racing stuff. He's been putting up Youtube guides for the Pocket Circuit GP's and should hopefully be getting to the Majima ones soonish:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqWCdqv-4qD-o54dKLnhqSQ/videos

This logic would work better if Kiwami was made before 0, but Kiwami was treated as an actual sequel to 0 despite the original story obviously being conceived first. Kiwami relies on elements introduced in 0 for some new added story bits, and many new sub stories reference 0 as well.

Plus the story in the original Y1 is honestly kind of shit in retrospect, and 0 fixes many of its issues by familiarizing you with characters and concepts that are important in 1 but barely developed in the game.

Basically if you plan on playing the original Yakuza 1 on PS2, start with that, but if you don't, then definitely start with 0 instead.



Ah that's wonderful, thank you.

I agree. Sure you may miss out on some neat little easter eggs by playing 0 first but its such a great starting position for newcomers. Plus the game being so damn solid only helps people get hooked on the series (as is evident by the many recent threads!). Kiwami is good, but I agree that its been tweaked to basically be a sequel to 0 (what with little nods to 0 here and there, plus Nishiki's extra character development in 0 only heightens his story in Kiwami).

Ok I'm doing haruka requests and holy shit I need to beat the expert ai in rotation(pool) that shit is super hard can't make more than 3 mistakes.

Yeah, I can feel your pain. This one caught me out for a while. I just did some solo pool (no AI) to get the angles of shots correct and after a few tries against the AI I got it. Hardest request for me by far. Well, bar the gambling stuff, but that was just random luck...

 

[myco666]

Anybody got a guide for the Majima pocket race and the substory races? FUCKING Takuma-kun.

This person has pretty good guides for all pocket circuit stuff.

 

[CannonFodder52]

Do any of available guides for Kenzan and Ishin include translated story dialogue or is their only purpose to tell you what to do to progress?

Feels weird that I've played every Yakuza release, even Dead Souls, but haven't been able to give these a shot despite having such cool premises... And well, there's the Black Panther games...

The KHH subs guy has extremely high effort productions. He has went ahead and subbed all cutscenes as well as subbing all conversations in the main plot. So if you have a second monitor, or another device that you can switch inputs to, you'd be getting a pretty good experience.

i'm going to try and squeeze in kenzan (and maybe dead souls) soon so I can put my PS3 away. But I've still got a few other games from this year to play - Horizon, Utawarerumono (both of them), Zelda and of course I just started Kiwami.
Always held off on Kenzan cause I was lazy to play it with a guide.

Yea, every time I try to start Kenzan I get sidetracked with new releases. I want to get through it this year though.

I'm using the KHHsubs guide to go through Kenzan. I'm not too far in, but I find I can't play for too long as switching between my tablet and the game kinda annoys me.

At least it's better than reading a GameFaqs text translation guide. Although I do get you, it does take you out of the experience a bit, to have to switch around devices constantly.

 

[myco666]

How do you active substory 45 Of Luck and Debt?

 

[CannonFodder52]

How do you active substory 45 Of Luck and Debt?

If it was Y0 the game would expect you to have friendship ranking with the bartender.

Just become a regular patron of the Shellac and the quest will show up.

 

[lucebuce12]

Just finished it. I'd already played Y1 but tbh I forgot quite a few things and playing this was certainly a good experience. My thoughts on where it stands with the rest of the series:

It was

Spoiler

definitely the weakest in terms of plot,setting and characterization. It really showed just how basic everything was, from the cutscenes to the story. Granted it was their first time making a game like this so I can't blame the devs too much but yeah, this is definitely an Uncharted situation where the first one tries to go for something fresh and a lot of little things stop it from being great. The sequel however fixes most of those issues and features a much better story and characters than

the first one.

Updated series ranking after now having played Kiwami:

Spoiler

Y2 = Y0 > Y4 > Y3 > Y5 > Y1

Also looking back at this game and Yakuza 0, it was kinda funny how

Spoiler

many of the story beats were repeated in Y0.

 

[GeeTeeCee]

One of these days I really need to figure out how to play Mahjong.

 

[lucebuce12]

One of these days I really need to figure out how to play Mahjong.

For me it's probably gonna be when Yakuza 6 drops.

 

[TheRazielim]

One of these days I really need to figure out how to play Mahjong.

Watch Akagi, it helps.

 

[Don Draper's Hat]

Any tips for making a lot of money?

I spent 1m on some sniper darts thinking I don't really need much money for anything. Two missions later and I need half a million. Bastards!

I've sold all my items at the pawn shop but that's only got me up to about 200,000. Casinos seem to be a waste of time because I can only win credits.

Is my only option to literally just walk around beating people up? Because that will take forever.

 

[Linkura]

Stayed up way too late playing this last night despite being tired. Day 2 of only doing sidequests. Still on the beginning of Chapter 4 story-wise and 12 hours on the clock. Game is super addicting... just like all the other Yakuza games. Glorious.

 

[hyp]

Any tips for making a lot of money?

I spent 1m on some sniper darts thinking I don't really need much money for anything. Two missions later and I need half a million. Bastards!

I've sold all my items at the pawn shop but that's only got me up to about 200,000. Casinos seem to be a waste of time because I can only win credits.

Is my only option to literally just walk around beating people up? Because that will take forever.

use all the riche nouveau perks/accessories to have them appear more frequently and go to town.

 

[Nocturnowl]

This masked fucker in the coliseum hits like a runaway freight train, the guys before him by comparison were like the lowest of street thugs.

 

[lucebuce12]

This masked fucker in the coliseum hits like a runaway freight train, the guys before him by comparison were like the lowest of street thugs.

The dude all in yellow and black? Because he uses Akiyama's (protagonist from Y4 and Y5) playstyle and he's fine.

Or Charon Martinez who is tall and shirtless and wears a mask with a bull on it? That guy is a dick. Just remember that you can always grab him and throw him and he doesn't throw you away. Also just keep quick dodging so that when he starts his attacks/strings, you're behind him. Always keep circling him. His attacks are very linear.

 

[Son Of Sparda]

Okay so I went into a local store and looked for Yakuza 0. I was told it was out of stock for 2 weeks already. I figured I should just buy Kiwami since the sales person said demand was high for Kiwami as well.

My question is will it be detrimental to my experience if I start with Kiwami first? I'm willing to just shelf my Kiwami copy and wait for Zero to get stocks.

Definitely wait for Zero.

Kiwami should be treated as a sequel to that game, since it really is.

 

[Opa-Pa]

Charon Martinez was my worst nightmare for a while haha. Then I amassed insane amounts of exp with Majima everywhere and maxed everything, so I was punching all these fools at the speed of light with Rush until they got dizzy lol, so satisfying.

Oh and masked Akiyama was a hilarious surprise haha. I think even his taunt is reused for him.

 

[Stuart444]

The dude all in yellow and black? Because he uses Akiyama's (protagonist from Y4 and Y5) playstyle and he's fine.

Or Charon Martinez who is tall and shirtless and wears a mask with a bull on it? That guy is a dick. Just remember that you can always grab him and throw him and he doesn't throw you away. Also just keep quick dodging so that when he starts his attacks/strings, you're behind him. Always keep circling him. His attacks are very linear.

I assumed he meant the guy in the final tournament where you can't grab him at all and he hits so hard. Shirtless, mask that looks like a gas mask or something, etc.

 

[lucebuce12]

I assumed he meant the guy in the final tournament where you can't grab him at all and he hits so hard. Shirtless, mask that looks like a gas mask or something, etc.

Yeah that guy was an asshole but I tiger dropped him to oblivion. You just gotta stay behind him and keep patient with how many attacks you dish out.

 

[lucebuce12]

Double post but this moment was so freaking hilarious lol. Kiryu DA GAWD.

SPOILERS FROM THE SECOND LAST CHAPTER.

 

[Opa-Pa]

Double post but this moment was so freaking hilarious lol. Kiryu DA GAWD.

SPOILERS FROM THE SECOND LAST CHAPTER.

I had somehow forgotten about this from the original and busted out laughing when it happened in Kiwami lmao.

That and the scene where you enter a building with Saya, kicking the door furiously and sending some guy flying with it in the most cartoony way thanks to the PS2 quality animation, holy shit. I love Kazuma.

 

[Papacheeks]

Can people explain why majima in this game has the haircut and look from the flash back scenes in 0?

Or is this pretty much the look he goes for going forward?

 

[Opa-Pa]

Can people explain why majima in this game has the haircut and look from the flash back scenes in 0?

Or is this pretty much the look he goes for going forward?

That's his look at the end of 0 as well, but yeah that's how he /wants/ to look. In 0 he's playing everyone's lapdog.

 

[lucebuce12]

Can people explain why majima in this game has the haircut and look from the flash back scenes in 0?

Or is this pretty much the look he goes for going forward?

Flashback scene? You mean the "future" scene?

This is what Majima looks like actually, and how he's looked like since the first game.

 

[Papacheeks]

Flashback scene? You mean the "future" scene?

This is what Majima looks like actually, and how he's looked like since the first game.

So in 0 when he was running the Cabernet Club he let his hair grow? Because the flash back scene was him getting tortured and losing his eye and he has the hair cut he has in Kiwami.

 

[bishopcruz]

Flashback scene? You mean the "future" scene?

This is what Majima looks like actually, and how he's looked like since the first game.

Nah, he also has that hairdo in the flashbacks with Shimano.

 

[lucebuce12]

So in 0 when he was running the Cabernet Club he let his hair grow? Because the flash back scene was him getting tortured and losing his eye and he has the hair cut he has in Kiwami.

Huh didn't remember that. Yeah that's always been his haircut.

Yakuza 4 had a flashback for majima that took place even before that and he had that haircut. I guess he just grew his hair out just to appear more "regular" to manage his club. But at the end of Y0, he cuts it the same way again.

 

[Don Draper's Hat]

use all the riche nouveau perks/accessories to have them appear more frequently and go to town.

The socks!

Still gonna take a very long time though.

 

[The Artisan]

So I heard this game is overall shorter than 0?

That's a shame but I hope it'll still feel long enough to be fulfilling

 

[lucebuce12]

So I heard this game is overall shorter than 0?

That's a shame but I hope it'll still feel long enough to be fulfilling

For 30$? Hell yeah it's fulfilling. And I ended the game at I think 39 hours with just a few substories remaining and all abilities/upgrades unlocked and like 63% completion.

 

[Stuart444]

So I've done more in Yakuza Kiwami than I've ever done in a Yakuza game before.

All lockers: Done
All cards that I can find: Done (there is like 3 or 4 cards left or something, but the Completion List is done for it at least)
All Colosseum stuff done at least once
Pocket Circuit: All races done and the pocket circuit substory.
Substory: 70/78

And more, over 50% on the completion list. And I'm on Chapter 8 just now, (near the end of the chapter) And at just over 54 hours done. (note: 10h of that was idle from leaving the game on when I go out)

Enjoying the game though it makes me want to go back to Zero since I got like 40ish (maybe) substories done and other side stuff I didn't do.

Won't get the platinum (cause fuck Karaoke at 900 on each song, also Baseball >.<) but I'm having fun with this

 

[jonjonaug]

So I heard this game is overall shorter than 0?

That's a shame but I hope it'll still feel long enough to be fulfilling

Shorter than 0 and a good deal of the design (engine, fighting styles, models) are just copied from 0, that's why it's 30 dollars instead of 60. "Shorter than 0" does not mean "short", I clocked about 40 hours into it clearing as many side stories as I could.

 

[Aenima]

So I heard this game is overall shorter than 0?

That's a shame but I hope it'll still feel long enough to be fulfilling

Kiwami is a remake of the 1st game. Its only natural that the last game in the series (Zero) would be longer and had more content that the 1st game in the series. Even so, this remake is a bit longer and has more content than the original game.

 

[Papacheeks]

Huh didn't remember that. Yeah that's always been his haircut.

Yakuza 4 had a flashback for majima that took place even before that and he had that haircut. I guess he just grew his hair out just to appear more "regular" to manage his club. But at the end of Y0, he cuts it the same way again.

Ah, ok.

Thanks. Not going to lie I prefer long hair Mojima.

 

[_Ryo_]

Why am I so had at karaoke and so good at UFO Catcher? 20 plays to reach 900+ on Tonight. :/

Catch woo family on first try.

 

[Nocturnowl]

The dude all in yellow and black? Because he uses Akiyama's (protagonist from Y4 and Y5) playstyle and he's fine.

Or Charon Martinez who is tall and shirtless and wears a mask with a bull on it? That guy is a dick. Just remember that you can always grab him and throw him and he doesn't throw you away. Also just keep quick dodging so that when he starts his attacks/strings, you're behind him. Always keep circling him. His attacks are very linear.

The second one.

But it turns out I can't be taught more moves right now from old geezer anyway so no rush to go get my revenge.

 

[Aenima]

Why am I so had at karaoke and so good at UFO Catcher? 20 plays to reach 900+ on Tonight. :/

Catch woo family on first try.

The button presses timing in Karaoke match the way they speak the words in the song, so once ur familiar with the song its gets easy. For backup songs, choose lively injections, it raises the dificulty but its easier to get 900+ points, i think in the normal dificuty u can only get a max of 900 points and for that u need to be perfect.

 

[Charlouie Jonesman]

I always felt the timing in Karaoke throughout the games I've played was really lenient, and Kiwami is no different. Easy CP to get.

The one minigame I can never get myself to like...it's not Mahjong, I'm sure it's adaption in the game is fine, I just can't be bothered to learn the game.

No, it's pool actually, I always feel like there's something wrong with the physics and the ball won't go into the hole just because it acts crazy like no ball ever would. Felt this way in 0, felt this way here as well.

 

[RiderKairuu]

Is MesuKing as much of a nightmare as that minigame in 0?

 

[Son Of Sparda]

Is MesuKing as much of a nightmare as that minigame in 0?

No. It's much better and actually doable in this game.

 

[lucebuce12]

Is MesuKing as much of a nightmare as that minigame in 0?

As Son of Sparda said, it's a hell of a lot better. I finished the entire questline involving that minigame, and the

Spoiler

Majima fights for it

and literally only lost one match.

 

[Holundrian]

Yeah, I can feel your pain. This one caught me out for a while. I just did some solo pool (no AI) to get the angles of shots correct and after a few tries against the AI I got it. Hardest request for me by far. Well, bar the gambling stuff, but that was just random luck...

I just managed to get this. Thank god I got super lucky and the ai kinda began failing(makes me wonder if they programmed it in to fail after x amount of tries or if the mistakes were due it making higher risk plays since I got lucky on the break shot and got instant 25 points) but when I beat it, it was way more manageable
----
And my heart just sank the request for karaoke part 2 is 950 points instead of just 900 my best at otometal is 910. x_X
Why do the yakuza devs do bullshit like this the last two requests are a complete joke compared to this. urgh

 

[Gai Murakumo]

Finished the main story last night. That final battle was quite nice but did not feel as epic as it could have been. I will mop up the side stuff later but for the most part I enjoyed Kiwami. I only played the original for a tiny bit back in the day so I cannot really compare other than the obvious (graphics and gameplay are much better). Yakuza 0 is the better game but I like the shorter story of this one. Playing Yakuza 0 before this game really helps the player understand a lot of the subtle callbacks and relationships that occur in Kiwami. Majima really steals the show and makes me smile everytime he shows up. I am so excited to see the Majima content in Kiwami 2.

 

[Shifty]

Is MesuKing as much of a nightmare as that minigame in 0?

It's much better. Instead of being pure RNG bullshit you face different opponents who have their own tells, so there's an element of figuring out what they're going to do next.

I've only done three parts of the substory so far but it feels fair.

 

[tiebreaker]

There is a substory where you have to play a crane game to get a bun-chan. But I couldn't find her in the machine. What gives?