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Yakuza Community Thread - FEEL THE HEAT!

Opa-Pa

Member
Yeah I was thinking the same. After 6 and whatever the next game is make it westside and we effectively "catch up", I imagine 6 months after the japanese release would make sense, provided Sega remains this enthusiastic about the series.
 

Jimrpg

Member
Yes the series is at a bit of a crossroads at the moment with WW sales.

I imagine they want to do something new with Yakuza, not really a spinoff because they seem to sell less, but something new to get everyone playing again. I haven't played 6, but it seems Kiryu won't be the main protagonist in the new game, so that's a start.

Would Akiyama bring all existing fans back? Somehow I don't think so.

It's probably going to be a brand new character, new story, new start. Maybe they won't even call it Yakuza...
 
I definitely don't need or want an English dub for the series, but after reading this I have to agree that it could possibly be the thing that gets a lot of new people on board with the series:
Scamco needs to start taking risks if they want to get any big gains with One Piece games.
Labeling this game as unprecedented and enormous while not including English audio just to save money sounds contradictory.

There's plenty of people in the fandom who don't buy OP games due to a lack of English voiceovers. And there's a bigger market of gamers outside the fandom who would be more swayed into buying these type of games if it has the option for English, because as much as consumers are becoming more accustomed to JP audio w/ subs, there's still that bigger market who would like to enjoy the game without worrying about reading subs.
I mean we often wonder why games like P5 or Nier: Automata have done so much better than Yakuza 0. Well, those games do have pretty good dubs.
 

Jimrpg

Member
I definitely don't need or want an English dub for the series, but after reading this I have to agree that it could possibly be the thing that gets a lot of new people on board with the series:

I mean we often wonder why games like P5 or Nier: Automata have done so much better than Yakuza 0. Well, those games do have pretty good dubs.

Yeah definitely. Despite many hardcore fans saying they like subs only, there's nothing lost by having an option for English or Japanese voices.

Also gonna have to say, I like the English dub of Yakuza 1, I might be one of the few that do. But was it that bad at the time it came out? What Japanese game had a better english dub? Western games like GTA were definitely better. But I think this is at the same or close to the level of the Final Fantasy X dub (the Tidus laugh automatically loses a few points) and is way better than a Dynasty Warriors game.
 

IrishNinja

Member
i'd never be against the option of a dub, but after the $ they spent on part 1 & the way it was received vs what they likely hoped at the time after all that investment, i just don't expect it. the localization alone can't be cheap, dubbing sounds like it'd just be another cost/risk to take.
 
From what I read in this thread (or another Yakuza thread, hard to keep up these days!) Sega only localise the subs/text in English (in Europe) so actually doing a proper localisation would be a start. A dub would be good for that subset of people that just must have one (Persona 5 was dubbed really well, so get Atlus on it) yet at the same time I couldn't imagine me ever playing it that way (it'd just feel weird). Then again I wonder if Sega would see the costing benefits of dubbing? As its a pretty hefty price to pay and its not exactly a series that rakes in the cash outside of Asia already, so it might do more harm than good?

As for a worldwide launch, not happening at the moment I think. I can see maybe the translated game launching within the same 12 month period now but even 6 months after the Japanese release seems a bit too optimistic for me!

Yeah definitely. Despite many hardcore fans saying they like subs only, there's nothing lost by having an option for English or Japanese voices.

Also gonna have to say, I like the English dub of Yakuza 1, I might be one of the few that do. But was it that bad at the time it came out? What Japanese game had a better english dub? Western games like GTA were definitely better. But I think this is at the same or close to the level of the Final Fantasy X dub (the Tidus laugh automatically loses a few points) and is way better than a Dynasty Warriors game.

You know, I'll actually stand up for the dubs on the DW games. I loved them, hammy and bad as they were. They cracked me up, I actually preferred the hilarious voice acting and butchering of the names to the Japanese voices and sub titles (I can't be reading sub titles in a DW game when I'm playing, I just end up missing so much).
 

Jimrpg

Member
You know, I'll actually stand up for the dubs on the DW games. I loved them, hammy and bad as they were. They cracked me up, I actually preferred the hilarious voice acting and butchering of the names to the Japanese voices and sub titles (I can't be reading sub titles in a DW game when I'm playing, I just end up missing so much).

Noooooooo!

But you're right, its so bad its good.
 

Honey Bunny

Member
Ideally should I play Zero or Kiwami first? I know zero is first chronologically but Kiwami is technically first in the release order.
 

LAM09

Member
It probably depends on numbers for Kiwami and 6. Zero's numbers were decent but not a breakout hit given the few sources we have on this (ZhugeEx tweet). But things could improve for Kiwami depending on if word of mouth gets around (and the lower price).

Koei Tecmo did a WW release on a pretty big game with Nioh, but that had a long development time 3-4 years vs Yakuza titles which seem to take 1-2 years. KT also spend a lot of time polishing up gameplay which might also give them time to work on the localization.

The other game to consider is of course Persona 5 where the English version came out 6 months after the Japanese game was done, but as fans have noted it wasn't the best localization possible most likely because they used more staff than normal which probably reduced the consistency somewhat.

At best I think Yakuza games will get down to about 6 months but I don't think it will be a simultaneous release unless they specifically held off the Japanese version, not that we'll know though. Would love it if that happened.

I guess that's the best we can hope for. The first Yakuza title had only a 9 month gap despite it having a dub. We can just hope Kiwami & 6 sales follow the same vein and hopefully do better with plenty new fans on board after 0.
 
Ideally should I play Zero or Kiwami first? I know zero is first chronologically but Kiwami is technically first in the release order.

Ideally, Zero first then Kiwami. And Kiwami is not first in the release order, Y1 is.

Y: Zero was made with the events of Y1 in mind, and Y:Kiwami was made incorporating elements of Y:Zero into the original's story.
 
Yeah, the dub might not be worth it for Yakuza 6 and other entries (since it's mid point of the story) but if the next Yakuza is truly a new start then they might be able to take another risk and try dubbing the series once more. But this time it has to be a good dub.

Also, they might be able to change the branding a little bit. They can keep Yakuza in title but have it be a small like pre-title thing, for instance

Yakuza:
The Actual Title
Subtitle*


*If the game has one
 

Menthuss

Member
Wow, I actually died in Yakuza 0. I think the last time I died in a Yakuza game was in 2.
I initially thought
Kuze
was an unwinnable bossfight since he had some really tough moves and occasionally caught me in a loop where he kept doing the leg sweep as I got up.

Managed to beat him on the 2nd try though.
Mr. Shakedown
got me as well. I was doing pretty well dodging through his attacks until I screwed up a dodge and took over half my health out in 1 hit. Then I found out his charge was unblockable and that was that.

I'm liking it a lot so far. The sharp visuals and high framerate are really nice additions.
 

Mentok

Banned
Couple of questions about Zero
1) Can someone explain mahjong a little more than the game does? I enjoy playing it, and get the basics, but at least 4 times I looked at a complete hand, but couldn't call "ron". I don't get why. Can I only call "ron" off a steal?
2) How important is it to do the cabaret club substory stuff? The minigame is pretty boring and I'm a little burnt after beating the 5 billionaires. Should I bother, or is there a way to speed it up?
 
Couple of questions about Zero
1) Can someone explain mahjong a little more than the game does? I enjoy playing it, and get the basics, but at least 4 times I looked at a complete hand, but couldn't call "ron". I don't get why. Can I only call "ron" off a steal?
2) How important is it to do the cabaret club substory stuff? The minigame is pretty boring and I'm a little burnt after beating the 5 billionaires. Should I bother, or is there a way to speed it up?

You get the same kind of reward for Majima as you do for Kiryu if you stick with the club stuff, but its completely optional unless your going for 100% completion so why not leave it until later?

Regarding Mahjong, I'm too tired to type out some notes now but out of interest are you stealing tiles from opponents at all? As that makes things much harder to get a winning hand (and for the most part, I found me getting far smaller payouts on victory).

A easy-ish winning hand is having 4 sets of 3 sequential tiles (so for example 1, 2 and 3. Or 5, 6 and 7. Or 3, 3, 3 etc.) You also need one matching pair of duplicate tiles, doesn't matter which ones. Disregard the wind tiles (the ones with weird symbols on them) unless you have 2-3 of the same tile to help give you a winning hand and then focus on getting tiles between the range of 2-8. Why are 1 and 9 bad? Because if you are building a sequence of tiles and already have 1 and 2 you will absolutely need 3 to complete that sequence. Now if your mainly working with tiles 2-8 and you have a partial sequence (lets say 2 and 3) you have more leeway - you either need a 1 or a 4. So your odds of getting the tile you need have now doubled.

As mentioned above, don't steal tiles. You can wait until your just one tile away from winning and press the square button? (I think its that button) and you should then get the option to declare Riichi. This mode basically speeds the game up and you'll automatically disregard all tiles until you get the tile you need, or one of your opponents disregards the tile you need (its ok to steal the final tile you need).

Also in the options you can turn on something called Red Dora - basically this means you get normal numbered tiles that have the number/symbol all in red. If you can make a sequence or pair with this tile you get an extra bonus when you win which is always a good thing!

Hope that makes some semblance of sense (it does in my mind!). It took me from Yakuza 4 to Yakuza Ishin for me to actually click with Mahjong, now I can't get enough of it in the Yakuza series!
 

Mentok

Banned
You get the same kind of reward for Majima as you do for Kiryu if you stick with the club stuff, but its completely optional unless your going for 100% completion so why not leave it until later?

Regarding Mahjong, I'm too tired to type out some notes now but out of interest are you stealing tiles from opponents at all? As that makes things much harder to get a winning hand (and for the most part, I found me getting far smaller payouts on victory).

A easy-ish winning hand is having 4 sets of 3 sequential tiles (so for example 1, 2 and 3. Or 5, 6 and 7. Or 3, 3, 3 etc.) You also need one matching pair of duplicate tiles, doesn't matter which ones. Disregard the wind tiles (the ones with weird symbols on them) unless you have 2-3 of the same tile to help give you a winning hand and then focus on getting tiles between the range of 2-8. Why are 1 and 9 bad? Because if you are building a sequence of tiles and already have 1 and 2 you will absolutely need 3 to complete that sequence. Now if your mainly working with tiles 2-8 and you have a partial sequence (lets say 2 and 3) you have more leeway - you either need a 1 or a 4. So your odds of getting the tile you need have now doubled.

As mentioned above, don't steal tiles. You can wait until your just one tile away from winning and press the square button? (I think its that button) and you should then get the option to declare Riichi. This mode basically speeds the game up and you'll automatically disregard all tiles until you get the tile you need, or one of your opponents disregards the tile you need (its ok to steal the final tile you need).

Also in the options you can turn on something called Red Dora - basically this means you get normal numbered tiles that have the number/symbol all in red. If you can make a sequence or pair with this tile you get an extra bonus when you win which is always a good thing!

Hope that makes some semblance of sense (it does in my mind!). It took me from Yakuza 4 to Yakuza Ishin for me to actually click with Mahjong, now I can't get enough of it in the Yakuza series!

Okay, yeah I figured it was similar to rummy, but good to know about the "don't steal tiles" thing. I was doing that often. I still don't understand how I could wind up with a winning hand, but the game never gave me the option to call Ron. That's what's really messing me up. Edit: I think it had to do with not having a yaku, and the game not really explaining well how necessary that is.

As for the minigame, yeah I think I'll just go back to it later if I feel like it. I mean I'd like to unlock the fighting styles, but I preferred Kiryu's minigame better. Less tedious.
 
So now that I have Persona 5 and Zelda finished, I've finally got round to (re)playing Yakuza 0, now in English.

Only up to chapter 2 so far but I'm loving it, as I expected. The translation seems to be pretty good so far, though a couple of the bits of dialogue used (in side stories mainly) doesn't seem like its a proper translation of how the characters would talk, kinda feels like a few liberties were taking when translating it into English for a modern audience). But the main story cutscenes have been translated wonderfully so far, and its nice to play it through in English as I'm picking up on a few little bits here and there that I missed on my first go round.

Mini game wise I'm not putting too much effort into them yet, as I'm planning on running through until I hit chapter 5 - that way I can start earning serious money and start leveling the fighting styles up to have more (heat) moves, though I've just got beast mode and that's got plenty of grab related moves I can utilise (plus I just love the quick weapon grab action, so glad that was kept in for heat mode in Yakuza 6).

I've had some luck with the mini games I have played though. Done a couple of rounds on Mahjong and already mostly done on the challenge list requirements, lucked out and got Ippatsu earlier which is great, and I managed to get some awesome strong hands yesterday that cleared some of the harder goals.

Shogi I'm still bad at but I'm learning it, very slowly. I'm mainly just replaying the first challenge over and over, as I can now consistently clear that without needing to use any guides or anything (and honestly its way more fun just playing it rather than using a guide to follow a set path).

But what has taken roughly 50% of my game time so far is Outrun. I spent quite a bit of time on it in Yakuza 6 but that has an easy mode which gives you a ton of time, so you'd have to be really bad to not finish it in 6! But after some really, really close calls I finally finished Outrun properly... the scene was set perfectly - the Club Sega girl had just set a new high score and challenged Kiryu to beat it. I then proceeded to finish the game completely! Pity that those scores aren't recorded and neither is the footage :(
Oh well, time to see if I can clear some more of the endings now.

I should have most of the game done by the time Kiwami has been released, though I doubt I'll get round to playing that for at least a couple of months at the earliest - I like to space my Yakuza runs out to avoid getting fatigued by the series. But on the other hand I love the characters and story of the first game so much...
 
So now that I have Persona 5 and Zelda finished, I've finally got round to (re)playing Yakuza 0, now in English.

Only up to chapter 2 so far but I'm loving it, as I expected. The translation seems to be pretty good so far, though a couple of the bits of dialogue used (in side stories mainly) doesn't seem like its a proper translation of how the characters would talk, kinda feels like a few liberties were taking when translating it into English for a modern audience). But the main story cutscenes have been translated wonderfully so far, and its nice to play it through in English as I'm picking up on a few little bits here and there that I missed on my first go round.

Mini game wise I'm not putting too much effort into them yet, as I'm planning on running through until I hit chapter 5 - that way I can start earning serious money and start leveling the fighting styles up to have more (heat) moves, though I've just got beast mode and that's got plenty of grab related moves I can utilise (plus I just love the quick weapon grab action, so glad that was kept in for heat mode in Yakuza 6).

I've had some luck with the mini games I have played though. Done a couple of rounds on Mahjong and already mostly done on the challenge list requirements, lucked out and got Ippatsu earlier which is great, and I managed to get some awesome strong hands yesterday that cleared some of the harder goals.

Shogi I'm still bad at but I'm learning it, very slowly. I'm mainly just replaying the first challenge over and over, as I can now consistently clear that without needing to use any guides or anything (and honestly its way more fun just playing it rather than using a guide to follow a set path).

But what has taken roughly 50% of my game time so far is Outrun. I spent quite a bit of time on it in Yakuza 6 but that has an easy mode which gives you a ton of time, so you'd have to be really bad to not finish it in 6! But after some really, really close calls I finally finished Outrun properly... the scene was set perfectly - the Club Sega girl had just set a new high score and challenged Kiryu to beat it. I then proceeded to finish the game completely! Pity that those scores aren't recorded and neither is the footage :(
Oh well, time to see if I can clear some more of the endings now.

I should have most of the game done by the time Kiwami has been released, though I doubt I'll get round to playing that for at least a couple of months at the earliest - I like to space my Yakuza runs out to avoid getting fatigued by the series. But on the other hand I love the characters and story of the first game so much...

shogi so hard =P
 

Jimrpg

Member
Do you guys think the rest of Neogaf would be interested in some Yakuza Avatars? Kiwami is going to be released soon - so I though it would be a good idea to get some new Avatars out there so everybody on Gaf can get excited about Yakuza:Kiwami. It seemed to work pretty well last time with Yakuza Zero, guess we have Son of Sparda to thank for that!

ZmbZbTs.jpg
MxFVRN7.jpg
FxSofmH.jpg
TupV49X.jpg
PMLotmx.jpg

If you guys think its a good idea I should be able to do these by the start of August.

As for custom avatars with the purple Yakuza Supporter banner - I suppose people who want to help out can do so in that thread too.

Oh and if you like these - can you hold off on claiming them until the avatar thread goes up.
 
Do you guys think the rest of Neogaf would be interested in some Yakuza Avatars? Kiwami is going to be released soon - so I though it would be a good idea to get some new Avatars out there so everybody on Gaf can get excited about Yakuza:Kiwami. It seemed to work pretty well last time with Yakuza Zero, guess we have Son of Sparda to thank for that!



If you guys think its a good idea I should be able to do these by the start of August.

As for custom avatars with the purple Yakuza Supporter banner - I suppose people who want to help out can do so in that thread too.

Oh and if you like these - can you hold off on claiming them until the avatar thread goes up.
Yes, this is an awesome idea. Let's do this!
this is awesome!
 
So now that I have Persona 5 and Zelda finished, I've finally got round to (re)playing Yakuza 0, now in English.

Only up to chapter 2 so far but I'm loving it, as I expected. The translation seems to be pretty good so far, though a couple of the bits of dialogue used (in side stories mainly) doesn't seem like its a proper translation of how the characters would talk, kinda feels like a few liberties were taking when translating it into English for a modern audience). But the main story cutscenes have been translated wonderfully so far, and its nice to play it through in English as I'm picking up on a few little bits here and there that I missed on my first go round.

Mini game wise I'm not putting too much effort into them yet, as I'm planning on running through until I hit chapter 5 - that way I can start earning serious money and start leveling the fighting styles up to have more (heat) moves, though I've just got beast mode and that's got plenty of grab related moves I can utilise (plus I just love the quick weapon grab action, so glad that was kept in for heat mode in Yakuza 6).

I've had some luck with the mini games I have played though. Done a couple of rounds on Mahjong and already mostly done on the challenge list requirements, lucked out and got Ippatsu earlier which is great, and I managed to get some awesome strong hands yesterday that cleared some of the harder goals.

Shogi I'm still bad at but I'm learning it, very slowly. I'm mainly just replaying the first challenge over and over, as I can now consistently clear that without needing to use any guides or anything (and honestly its way more fun just playing it rather than using a guide to follow a set path).

But what has taken roughly 50% of my game time so far is Outrun. I spent quite a bit of time on it in Yakuza 6 but that has an easy mode which gives you a ton of time, so you'd have to be really bad to not finish it in 6! But after some really, really close calls I finally finished Outrun properly... the scene was set perfectly - the Club Sega girl had just set a new high score and challenged Kiryu to beat it. I then proceeded to finish the game completely! Pity that those scores aren't recorded and neither is the footage :(
Oh well, time to see if I can clear some more of the endings now.

I should have most of the game done by the time Kiwami has been released, though I doubt I'll get round to playing that for at least a couple of months at the earliest - I like to space my Yakuza runs out to avoid getting fatigued by the series. But on the other hand I love the characters and story of the first game so much...
I cannot express how salty I am about the fact that you've managed to get Ippatsu just by playing a few rounds lol

But it's great to know that you've finally started to localized version of Zero. The translation is really good. Also, you said you've finished Persona 5. Would love to know your thoughts on that.
Do you guys think the rest of Neogaf would be interested in some Yakuza Avatars? Kiwami is going to be released soon - so I though it would be a good idea to get some new Avatars out there so everybody on Gaf can get excited about Yakuza:Kiwami. It seemed to work pretty well last time with Yakuza Zero, guess we have Son of Sparda to thank for that!



If you guys think its a good idea I should be able to do these by the start of August.

As for custom avatars with the purple Yakuza Supporter banner - I suppose people who want to help out can do so in that thread too.

Oh and if you like these - can you hold off on claiming them until the avatar thread goes up.
Those look great and I'm definitely interested.
 
I cannot express how salty I am about the fact that you've managed to get Ippatsu just by playing a few rounds lol

But it's great to know that you've finally started to localized version of Zero. The translation is really good. Also, you said you've finished Persona 5. Would love to know your thoughts on that.

Those look great and I'm definitely interested.

I must have immense luck on the game, as I couldn't believe how quickly I got that particular bonus, I was expecting it to take far longer. I knew I get it sooner or later though, since I love the mini game so much there was no way I won't be spending hours on this mini game alone.

Tonight I only advanced the story a tiny bit, but got into a ton of fights and pulled off a whole ton more new heat moves for the completion list - well technically you don't have to pull all the heat moves off, but I'm going for as many as I can anyway for old times sake! Gotta love how you can go into a heat move from pretty much any situation with the beast mode grab wise though, the wealth of options is delicious.

As for Persona 5. I loved it, I don't play many RPG's but this is one I'm glad I did play. Its insanely stylish, amazing soundtrack and the story rocked. I thought the end level after the
last palace
should have been over a few days, as doing it in one go was a real pain but it made sense story wise in the end. The ending was ace as well, I was pleased how everything was wrapped up, definitely a contender for game of the year for me.
 
I must have immense luck on the game, as I couldn't believe how quickly I got that particular bonus, I was expecting it to take far longer. I knew I get it sooner or later though, since I love the mini game so much there was no way I won't be spending hours on this mini game alone.

Tonight I only advanced the story a tiny bit, but got into a ton of fights and pulled off a whole ton more new heat moves for the completion list - well technically you don't have to pull all the heat moves off, but I'm going for as many as I can anyway for old times sake! Gotta love how you can go into a heat move from pretty much any situation with the beast mode grab wise though, the wealth of options is delicious.

As for Persona 5. I loved it, I don't play many RPG's but this is one I'm glad I did play. Its insanely stylish, amazing soundtrack and the story rocked. I thought the end level after the
last palace
should have been over a few days, as doing it in one go was a real pain but it made sense story wise in the end. The ending was ace as well, I was pleased how everything was wrapped up, definitely a contender for game of the year for me.
The Yakuza Gods are clearly on your side. Cause I literally spent over 15-20 hours playing Mahjong and I still couldn't get Ippatsu. That was the point that I decided to forget about getting the Platinum trophy lol

Beast is great! I initially didn't like it that much, but after buying the moves and investing in its abilities it becomes an extremely powerful style. Climax battles with Kiryu were a breeze thanks to Beast style.

I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed Persona 5. I liked it overall, but was disappointed due to my expectations from it and being annoyed by some of its design choices like the constant IM messages. But I can see how someone can totally love the game. And yeah, not playing many JRPGs really helps you appreciate the game more. I think you said that you've played it, but if you haven't done so, then I recommend playing Persona 4 as well. That's my personal favorite in the series, and I think you'll enjoy that as well.
 

Jimrpg

Member
Yes, this is an awesome idea. Let's do this!

Sweet. What do you guys think of the purple supporter banner? I'll leave it like that unless there are other colour suggestions? The cream/biege colour on the original was great, but I wanted to change it up for Kiwami.

I've got about 50 or so screenshots now from Yakuza Kiwami of most of the key characters, I didn't want to go too far into the game in case of spoilers.

I'll probably make some more avatars from characters in the other games like Akiyama, Saejima, Goda etc.
 

Jimrpg

Member
I like the purple but maybe make it a little lighter? I feel like the red text is a bit difficult to read in the current version.

Ah yes that's exactly what it was I should have just made it lighter - I couldn't put my finger on it. Thanks SOS!


I made two more with a lighter purple and I think the lighter of the two makes the red lettering stand out more.
 
Ah yes that's exactly what it was I should have just made it lighter - I couldn't put my finger on it. Thanks SOS!



I made two more with a lighter purple and I think the lighter of the two makes the red lettering stand out more.
Don't mention it. And you are the one doing the actual works, so thank you.

And yeah, these are much better.
 
The Yakuza Gods are clearly on your side. Cause I literally spent over 15-20 hours playing Mahjong and I still couldn't get Ippatsu. That was the point that I decided to forget about getting the Platinum trophy lol

Beast is great! I initially didn't like it that much, but after buying the moves and investing in its abilities it becomes an extremely powerful style. Climax battles with Kiryu were a breeze thanks to Beast style.

I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed Persona 5. I liked it overall, but was disappointed due to my expectations from it and being annoyed by some of its design choices like the constant IM messages. But I can see how someone can totally love the game. And yeah, not playing many JRPGs really helps you appreciate the game more. I think you said that you've played it, but if you haven't done so, then I recommend playing Persona 4 as well. That's my personal favorite in the series, and I think you'll enjoy that as well.

Not played P4 yet - 5 was my first Persona experience which probably helped me enjoy me the game even more, now I'm in love with the series and will definitely go back and at least play both 3 and 4 at some point once I've got my backlog in order a bit more!

I can't wait to have access to the later moves in the styles - I miss my parry attacks, I also really miss some of the heat moves you get from the upgrades (some of my favourites in the series). Plus I love the bear hug moves in Beast mode you can unlock, really makes you feel even more overpowered!
 

Jimrpg

Member
Not played P4 yet - 5 was my first Persona experience which probably helped me enjoy me the game even more, now I'm in love with the series and will definitely go back and at least play both 3 and 4 at some point once I've got my backlog in order a bit more!

I can't wait to have access to the later moves in the styles - I miss my parry attacks, I also really miss some of the heat moves you get from the upgrades (some of my favourites in the series). Plus I love the bear hug moves in Beast mode you can unlock, really makes you feel even more overpowered!

Wait what? A big Vita fan like yourself hasn't played P4?

From everything I've read 4 is universally praised.
 
Wait what? A big Vita fan like yourself hasn't played P4?

From everything I've read 4 is universally praised.

Yeah, my Vita backlog is insane (probably shouldn't have ended up with 350+ titles!). I'll get round to it, but right now I'm replaying Steamworld Heist and Shantae Half Genie Hero, then Tokyo Xanadu so it'll probably be a couple of months before I get to it. Vita has a deceptively large games catalogue which is great on one hand, but mad on the other as it means I've been playing my Vita for almost 5 years solid and I'm still nowhere near close to being done with all the digital/physical titles I have!

And to bring this back to Yakuza, I really wish the companion apps would have gotten some kind of physical release in the way of a mini game collection - Yakuza Mahjong, Darts, Pool, heck even slots and Pachinko, Karaoke, disco dancing and even some classic arcade titles would be ace to have on the go and easily accessible - and since I don't have a Japanese Vita account set up on either of my Vita's at the moment I don't have access to the apps currently :(
 
Not played P4 yet - 5 was my first Persona experience which probably helped me enjoy me the game even more, now I'm in love with the series and will definitely go back and at least play both 3 and 4 at some point once I've got my backlog in order a bit more!

I can't wait to have access to the later moves in the styles - I miss my parry attacks, I also really miss some of the heat moves you get from the upgrades (some of my favourites in the series). Plus I love the bear hug moves in Beast mode you can unlock, really makes you feel even more overpowered!
If P5 was your first Persona then I completely understand you falling in love with it. And yeah, you should definitely give P4G a try. If you liked the cast in P5 then you are gonna love the characters in P4.

My personal favorite move from Beast style is this one. I just love how sudden and impactful it is.
HCrbUue.gif
 
If P5 was your first Persona then I completely understand you falling in love with it. And yeah, you should definitely give P4G a try. If you liked the cast in P5 then you are gonna love the characters in P4.

My personal favorite move from Beast style is this one. I just love how sudden and impactful it is.
HCrbUue.gif


Playing around with Beast style and I'm reminded of why I love the combat - while it can be viewed as pretty shallow I think it has a nice layer of depth if you look at the variety of heat moves you can use. For beast style I've been playing around with the different normal moves and seeing which knock down the enemy and in what way - the standard grab to square attack is the perfect set up to grabbing the enemy by the legs which can lead to a whole host of heat moves from there. Or using the normal throw leads to you being able to pick him up (in a stunned state) and then combo/use certain heat moves from there... Not that you technically need to go through this much effort, most enemies are fairly weak, but I just love the variety of moves you get. Makes the combat way more fun for me as opposed to just spamming the same combo over and over.
 
Playing around with Beast style and I'm reminded of why I love the combat - while it can be viewed as pretty shallow I think it has a nice layer of depth if you look at the variety of heat moves you can use. For beast style I've been playing around with the different normal moves and seeing which knock down the enemy and in what way - the standard grab to square attack is the perfect set up to grabbing the enemy by the legs which can lead to a whole host of heat moves from there. Or using the normal throw leads to you being able to pick him up (in a stunned state) and then combo/use certain heat moves from there... Not that you technically need to go through this much effort, most enemies are fairly weak, but I just love the variety of moves you get. Makes the combat way more fun for me as opposed to just spamming the same combo over and over.
Yeah, I completely agree. The combat is very decent in Yakuza 0, but the problem like you mentioned is that the enemies are too weak for you to even think about using different moves. You can beat regular enemies pretty quickly and some of bosses just break your combo whenever they want to, so the combat never really has the time to shine through. That's one of the things that I'm hoping for them to fix with future Yakuza titles.
 
Yeah, more difficulty options would be nice. The series has some great moments, but its still a tad too easy for my liking. So more powerful enemies (health wise especially) would be greatly appreciated. We'll see what they do with whatever gets announced soon.
 

Jimrpg

Member
I kinda enjoyed experimenting and trying to find new heat moves so I enjoyed the combat in 0.

I think part of the problem is that the first combo you get (square, square, square) is too effective so people end up spamming it. You can pretty much complete the entire game doing that combo if you really wanted to.

Same thing with the different combat styles introduced in 0. The regular mode is far more efficient than the other two modes. The beast mode is a little slow in crowds so the player gets hit more often than not, and the other mode (forgot what it was called) is a little too weak.

Buying moves also isn't as necessary as other games as the initial moves that you get cover 99% of all use cases anyway. The most important upgrade I've found is the dodge.

Either way, I still enjoy it for what it is, I don't mind if they do a complete revamp of the combat system, but I see where complaints could be coming from.

Also the structure of the game has been largely the same since the PS2 days, ie the random battles and the usual wave after wave of enemies before a boss fight. I think there's some good variety in the battles before boss fights, there are enemies carrying weapons and guns that make the battle more interesting. The random battles on the street need more of that, and I think they could use the environment a bit more. In movies they have the bad guys chase the good guy down the street, in alleyways, up rooftops and at the same time engaging in fights. This would make a bit more use of the city too, kind of like how Sleeping Dogs was able to go from fights to car chases and gun battles seamlessly.
 

Gacha-pin

Member
http://ryu-ga-gotoku.com/ryugagotoku_studio2017/

So it just says they announce their new work and doesn't specify it is a video game. It could be a Ryu Ga Gotoku -the movie-!!!!!!! instead of RGG7 or whatever it's called.

Do you guys think the rest of Neogaf would be interested in some Yakuza Avatars? Kiwami is going to be released soon - so I though it would be a good idea to get some new Avatars out there so everybody on Gaf can get excited about Yakuza:Kiwami. It seemed to work pretty well last time with Yakuza Zero, guess we have Son of Sparda to thank for that!



If you guys think its a good idea I should be able to do these by the start of August.

As for custom avatars with the purple Yakuza Supporter banner - I suppose people who want to help out can do so in that thread too.

Oh and if you like these - can you hold off on claiming them until the avatar thread goes up.

Where are Akimoto and Mizuki avatars aka the most important characters in the first game. :mad:
 

Jimrpg

Member
Where are Akimoto and Mizuki avatars aka the most important characters in the first game. :mad:

LOL I'll try.

Happy to take any other requests, but its been 10 years since I played the first game so my memory with it isn't so crash hot.

Also I'm just taking screens from a youtube playthrough, and most of them don't do side missions so it may not be possible to get a photo if I can't find online easy enough.
 

Skulldead

Member
Need to vent a little : So i've finish Y5 yesterday, got like 88.29% of the game in 75 hours (missing coliseum, mini games and 1 hostess that i need to gather 5 million yen) but after that ending i think i'm done with this game.

There will be a little spoiler there and there, but this is the worst ending i saw in a yakuza game by a miles. Actually, no, everything was really good until the last revelation of the ultimate evil of all this plan,
Aizama , the guy that we saw like 10 minutes ,
the very first boss of the game that we kick is ass on 2 second with is friend, he is the evil guys behind all this ? you've got to be kidding me, when we walk on the tojo clan base i was like, man i don't know who this can be, the police girl from the second game ? who want to stop the yakuza in tokyo, i was trying to remember who was not death in previous game who could have done that.... then they show him, i was like, no please no, tell me this is a joke, or this is the bodyguard for the next guy... nop this the main villain of Y5 because he is the child of the other villain that was actually really good,
this is the most disappointing thing i ever encounter in any yakuza 5, i always thought they made a amazing job for any twist in the game, and how they have link game to each other. But they drop the ball so high with this one..... Tell me Y6 will correct that...

Next Y0 !
 

Jimrpg

Member
So i've done all the avatars now.

And I figured people are going to ask who everyone is - so I've done a character chart like the ones you find in J-Dramas.

Though I've played all the mainline games, I'm not that well versed in Yakuza lore, can anyone check this for mistakes? Comments welcome too.

EDIT: Removed semi spoilery character chart. See subsequent post for updated non-spoilery chart.

Hmm... just had a thought - is Kazama in or out of the Tojo Clan at the start of the game? In isn't he? But out of the Dojima family?
 
Only two things I can think of for that chart.

Kiryu should probably be OUTSIDE the Dojima Family and have the words (exiled) or something in order to show his current status. Or just add FORMER lieutenant of the Dojima Family.

Majima should have a direct connection to Kiryu saying "Wants to beat the shit out of".
 

Jimrpg

Member
Is Kiryu outside the Dojima family at the start of the game (ie before he goes to jail)?

I thought he was back in after the events of Yakuza 0?

I can definitely add a link between Majima and Kiryu (though i have to make do with a few straight arrows though.)
 
Well it's a bit unclear at what time you're basing this on since Kiryu is still a lieutenant but it says Nishiki murdered Dojima and Kiryu protects Haruka. I just assumed you were going for a time after Kiryu finds and starts protecting Haruka.

To answer your question, yes he is a member of the Dojima Family right up until he gets that expulsion letter while in prison.

And I don't think we need a arrow for Majima, I was just making a
n attempt at a
joke.
 

Jimrpg

Member
Yes its a bit weird, when everything is taking place... if anyone has suggestions, happy to hear them.

Ill leave a note at the bottom suggesting the character chart reflects relationships at the start of the game. Obviously with the exception of characters that Kiryu meets later like Haruka.
 
Are you sure you want to include
Jingu
in that diagram? I always felt his reveal was sorta a big plot point/potential spoiler for new players. Just my .2 cents on it. Otherwise it looks ace :)
 
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