[rvy]

Oh fucking please. I've played enough FPSes, WRPGs, and so on (and Japanese games, for that matter) to know this is a bunch of bullshit. You can't even apply that logic to the rest of the final boss fights in Yakuza 4 or the rest of the series I've played. It was a very unusual final fight to say the least.

Which is the point? Yakuza games don't have ridiculously cheap final boss battles. And this sure as hell was "typical Japanese game final boss battle" to me. Breeze through the entire game only to have the final boss battle fuck you in the ass. Which I'll admit was partly my fault because Tanimura didn't have enough booze to regain health, but having 20 SWAT guys chase you around a small arena, with a long-ranged asshole shooting you in the back is bad game design. I'm almost sure that when the knife SWAT guys got to me, I got hit 4 times before I hit the ground, after the animation was already triggered. There's no way to avoid that. It's frustrating to say the least

Sorry i STILL don't see the overusage of this plot device.

Cool beans. I do. And you already posted why in the spoiler.

In any case, loved the game. Yakuza 5 should totally be about Kiryu becoming the head of Tojo and having a son with Kaoru Sayama. Indeed. Dead Souls looks like a waste of money, they should localize Kenzan! instead.

[R_thanatos]

cool beans ? lol

I beat this fight on normal without booze ( on any character ) Tanimura fight is easy because you can side step when you heard "click" or at regular intervals.. it's easy ..there is nothing cheap about it i went at the finale with full inventory and i won with full inventory.. i'll say this clearly the only cheap fights in the game are amon brothers ..

but hey i guess cheapness can exist when the player lack "skills"... the gun is a combo breaker that can be avoided talk about "cheap" design.

And you already posted why in the spoiler.

So people dying is a plot device now.. i guess isn't that a given given the context of the game ?

[rvy]

Yeah, I lack skill. Sorry.

[MTMBStudios]

I had absolutely nothing on Tanimura for the final boss fight (no weapons, health items, anything) and I managed to beat him. Albeit in a rather boring way by doing throws over and over on the SWAT (he is invincible status or super armor status during the entire motion). After playing Yakuza 1 it made that fight look even lazier though (it is ripped pretty much directly from a fight near the end of that game).

[Mikhal]

I had absolutely nothing on Tanimura for the final boss fight (no weapons, health items, anything) and I managed to beat him. Albeit in a rather boring way by doing throws over and over on the SWAT (he is invincible status or super armor status during the entire motion). After playing Yakuza 1 it made that fight look even lazier though (it is ripped pretty much directly from a fight near the end of that game).

That's what I did also!

[R_thanatos]

Yeah, I lack skill. Sorry.

i don't want to be rude but that's the only explanation. Yakuza games gives you a lot of tools to just break it and be uber powerfull. You are allowed to use them because the game use them against you.
as i said Amon or the Late coliseum fights are Way more cheap and hard ...a sidestep counter master , that you can't grab or do more that 2 hits ( otherwise counter ) that heat charge on you every 15 second is cheap.. Especially when bombs are falling from the sky ..
That other fight is easy if you just pay attention or abuse any of the broken motions of the character.

I had absolutely nothing on Tanimura for the final boss fight (no weapons, health items, anything) and I managed to beat him. Albeit in a rather boring way by doing throws over and over on the SWAT (he is invincible status or super armor status during the entire motion). After playing Yakuza 1 it made that fight look even lazier though (it is ripped pretty much directly from a fight near the end of that game).

Are you talking about the counter ( L1 ) ? because i was under the impression that you couldn't grab him ( Circle ) unless the grab is upgraded of course ...
I have to admit that i didn't play Y1 ( started at 2 ) because the US dub just killed my ears ...

[hatmoza]

It took me until the second playthrough to realize that Tanimura has a unique approach. You simply can't go balls out like the other three players ... as Saejima would put it. The final battle really isn't that difficult if you understand the strengths of each player.

[MTMBStudios]

Are you talking about the counter ( L1 ) ? because i was under the impression that you couldn't grab him ( Circle ) unless the grab is upgraded of course ... I have to admit that i didn't play Y1 ( started at 2 ) because the US dub just killed my ears ...

You are able to grab then throw all of the SWAT guys (maybe not the Captain? I can't remember) and definitely the last boss himself. During the grab animation you are completely invincible for the most part. Once you grab then throw, everyone who touches the thrown body gets knocked over as well so you can do lots of HEAT finishes too. Once I got the enemies down to just the captain and the last boss I just did grab then triangle to safely knockdown the captain over and over until he was dead. Then the last boss alone is obviously a pushover.

In Yakuza 1 there is essentially the exact same boss (in the exact same spot if I recall) except there are only like 3-5 SWAT instead of like 20.

[R_thanatos]

You are able to grab then throw all of the SWAT guys (maybe not the Captain? I can't remember) and definitely the last boss himself. During the grab animation you are completely invincible for the most part. Once you grab then throw, everyone who touches the thrown body gets knocked over as well so you can do lots of HEAT finishes too. Once I got the enemies down to just the captain and the last boss I just did grab then triangle to safely knockdown the captain over and over until he was dead. Then the last boss alone is obviously a pushover. In Yakuza 1 there is essentially the exact same boss (in the exact same spot if I recall) except there are only like 3-5 SWAT instead of like 20.

i didn't manage to grab + throw the swat captain . Head of police with the gun , yes but not the big guy . I see that you do Circle + triangle ... is that because Circle , square , triangle is too slow ? or is it because it doesn't do what you intend ?

[MTMBStudios]

i didn't manage to grab + throw the swat captain . Head of police with the gun , yes but not the big guy . I see that you do Circle + triangle ... is that because Circle , square , triangle is too slow ? or is it because it doesn't do what you intend ?

Yeah but you can grab>throw the none-captain SWAT members and after you beat all of them, the Captain-SWAT guy + Last Boss is fairly trivial to deal with. I don't know if I tried Circle>Square>Triangle, I just did Circle>Triangle to quickly get him to the ground + damage him. I wasn't really trying to maximize damage or anything - I just wanted the fight to end because it is kind of bad. Yakuza fighting is honestly probably at it's best when it is a one-on-one boss.

The fight in Yakuza 1 was a neat little gimmick fight, reusing the fight and adding like 20 more swat members (some with knives that cause a knockdown instantly) is a pretty lazy and lame last boss. It probably should have been the first fight in the lineup or something just so that the game at least ended on a high note.

[DeVeAn]

Dropping in for my 2 cents. Finally got around to playing this. Been a fan since Day 1 and Love Kiryu Kazuma. I have spent 103 hours with this game and still need some of the trophies. Man what a fantastic game. Reminds me why I was so into games as a kid. The developers soul come through in the game and it shows.

Probably my game of the year for 2011. Every damn moment was pure enjoyment all 103 hours. Not one second did I feel like ugh this part again? Don't let this game pass by its a fucken GEM!

[Semblance]

Wrapped this up earlier. Pretty pleased overall. I still prefer 2 the most, but this is my second favorite in the series now. Some random thoughts on what I liked:

• Combat was better than it's ever been. Having four guys with their own fighting styles made a pretty big difference. Also, heat moves were just so brutal / cartoony, more so than ever before.
  
• All four characters were extremely likable. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about Saejima or Tanimaru initially, but I ended up loving them.
  
• Mostly fun substories. I did feel like a bit of an errand boy at times, but it wasn't enough to make me stop and just progress with the main story.
  
• Dine-and-dash master cracked me up. And what was with that animation of his? Where he leans forward, shuffles his shoulders, and wiggles his fingers? Please tell me I'm the only one who found that hysterical, heh.
  
• The rain effect looked great. Y4 isn't really a looker, yeah, but Kamurocho looked nice all soaked. Too bad they didn't use it more often.
  
• Saejima's ending made me smile. Guy was a boss, indeed.

That being said, some minor issues:

• It's pretty much just Kamarocho again. No Osaka, the prison didn't let you explore much, you only briefly visited the orphanage in Okinawa with nothing to do there. I realize Kamarocho is a big part of the series, but the world felt smaller this time around. More locales for Y5, plz Nagoshi.
  
• Difficulty was largely too easy. I felt when you first got to play as the last three characters, things were kinda balanced out, as you don't have a ton of health or moves. After a few easily-gained levels though, you just become a powerhouse capable of completely breaking people in half. The finale was pretty easy, surprisingly. The only time I struggled was up against the Amon fights. Admittedly, these did kick my ass and it took me a few times to figure things out, but this was all optional. I felt like there could have been a better balance in difficulty here.
  
• Rubber bullets? What the Christ.

Anyway, again, I'm definitely pleased with Yakuza 4. I was a huge fan of the first two, second especially, but slacked on the PS3 Yakuzas for whatever reason. I'm pretty disappointed with myself over not at least picking this one up last year. Not only because it's a fantastic game, but also because I wish I had voted for it during GAF's GOTY stuff. Would have made my top three, easily. Oh well.

But yeah, seriously? The dine-and-dash master? I love that guy.

[IrishNinja]

[*]The rain effect looked great. Y4 isn't really a looker, yeah, but Kamurocho looked nice all soaked. Too bad they didn't use it more often.

strongly agreed, i think i kept a save file of just that time with Aki. i was so impressed with the feel of the city, music too.

[Semblance]

I didn't think anyone would even reply lawl. But I'm glad!

Yeah, rain-soaked Kamurocho (why do I keep misspelling this) was just awesome, I should have kept a save too. I'm really excited to see 5. Supposedly there will be multiple cities next time, including Sapporo. Kiryu-chan stomping assholes out in the snow? Gimme dat.

[R_thanatos]

I agree ..

Rain was great ...
And i liked the change of gameplay within kamurocho during the story ( saejima forced to avoid the cops ) even if it become repetitive quite fast.

As for teh overall difficulty , that's also because :
1- already beat most of the powerfull guys before. ( joke)
2- you get new characters They mostly want you to experiment with those and they didn't put anything treatning as a result .. Even the guns challenges ( something usually annnoying ) didn't pose much of a challenge this time .. But despite all of this , the game feel great and you feel like a badass so i don't care much /

[Tizoc]

EDIT: NVM, figured out how to do all that ^_^;

[Endo Punk]

First Yakuza game and Im in love with the soundtrack. So good! The tunes/songs are nicely varied and entertaining and this game is pretty much the best example of a 3D brawler, feels very 90s like God Hand being an homage. Saejima is ma man, charging up is so satisfying, followed by Tanimura with his holds and parry. Also didn't expect to be engrossed in the story, maybe if a PS2 collection is released I'll go back and try Kiryu's story as I felt this game didn't really have much to do with him.

Yakuza 5 is going to be good especially with the major changes being implemented which from my understanding will be a first for the series.

[Black Republican]

getting through my backlog and finally gonna start this like a year after its purchase lol

only played Yakuza 3 though, but nice to hear this one is as good as Yakuza 2 which i havent played yet, maybe i should? the recap for the game looked really good

[cj_iwakura]

I'm at the finale, and while I want to know how this craziness ends, I kind of want to see more crazy sidestories too...and I only have like five of Kiryu's.

Pachinko.
What the hell? I have no idea what's going on.

Also, Kiryu? BEAST MODE.

[Crazymoogle]

Pachinko. What the hell? I have no idea what's going on.

That's okay. I put 1000 yen into Pachinko at a place around Kabukicho (the real life Kamurocho) and also had no idea what the hell was going on. ;)

[slaughterking]

I was reading up on Pachinko for the trophy and had some education through Kaiji and I'm still not 100% in the clear how it works.

[cj_iwakura]

Yep, I got rocked during Tanimura's final battle.

Was damn close though!

Went and did more sidequests, and item collecting.
(And, uh, dating.)

This time I'll win.

I love the progression of For Faith during the end fights,
and That Stroll leading up to it. Clear the streets, peasants!

[cj_iwakura]

Never posted my ending thoughts:

Was like 'wtf' at the pre-credit end.

True credit end had my heart a'flutter. Amazing stuff.

Can't WAIT for Saejima-Kiryu-Majima & Co. taking NAMES in Y5.

Has anyone done the post-game challenges? Yeesh, that 100 man beatdown is nuts.

I did all the speed ones though!

[R_thanatos]

i still need to finish some ultimate challenges ...the boat challenge is way harder then it should have been

[KuwabaraTheMan]

I just finished the game.

That ending was chilling. The story was not quite on par with 2, but it was still amazing, and I'm really hyped for 5 now.

[Sickboy007]

I decided to platinum this beast, wish me luck.

[Mistouze]

I decided to platinum this beast, wish me luck.

Good luck to you!

Btw, is the Tanimura boat challenge doable by a normal human being?

[Riposte]

Good luck to you! Btw, is the Tanimura boat challenge doable by a normal human being?

It is not too bad once you figure out the trick.

I forgot what that was though. lol

[Rated-Rsuperstar]

Finished up the story mode. The walk to Millennium tower could be the most badass moment I've come across in a game. Surprisingly the end fights were rather easy including Tanimura's. I had more trouble with that annoying prison guard and his stupid baton.

[MrCookiepants]

Just bought this. I haven't played this series outside demos for the PS2 games. Excited to try it!

[Zep]

Just bought this. I haven't played this series outside demos for the PS2 games. Excited to try it!

Take the advice I was given. Take your time and enjoy all the little things it offers.