IrishNinja
Member
preface: it's known as possibly the best Yakuza title made, and while there's always the outside chance we could see it localized in a future collection, given Sega's current financial status, it's highly unlikely. With Yakuza 5 (hopefully?) sometime in 2013, there's a lotta time between Dead Souls and the next release, so I thought it high time to give this one a go & wanted to make a thread for others thinking of doing the same!
Q) How are you playing this? Are you proficient in japanese?
A) I am actually quite horrible at it, and don't even recall much of the katakana/hidegama i studied years ago actually having a japanese roomate, so if you have any level of proficiency beyond anime super kawaii desu ne oni-channnn ja nai noooo kukuku~ you're ahead of me here.
the resources recommended by the late great Segata Sanshiro:
KHHsubs' subtitled walkthrough (Youtube) - Every step of the way you need to take to the game's completion: includes the routes, shops (when required), in-game dialogue, and major CG's of course. Be advised: there's no frills here, so any side-quests, special moves, items etc you may want, refer to Patrick's above guide or elsewhere!
KHHsubs: major cutscenes only, fansubbed - just as described. Pretty early on, he starts lumping multiple CG's across a chapter into one video, so if you're trying to avoid spoilers, pause when your scene's done!
ThePatrick's gamefaqs guide - quite thorough! Lots of fun historical stuff tied in, and he covers everything from combat to summarizing most scenes in the walkthrough.
Q) And how has this worked for you so far? Have you played many imports with guides before?
A) I've tried a bit of then-unreleased stuff in the day (FF V, Seiken Densetsu 3, some Kenshin game, etc) but never really got too far, as anyone knows it's not an ideal way to play any game, much less one text-heavy. Fortunately, I'm quite familiar with the Yakuza series, so the combat system, troupes, etc are pretty familiar.
I'm a a few hours in (just reached chapter 3) and it's going well! Honestly, I've no idea what random NPC's are saying, and it looks like there's a great deal of content to be explored here, so it's a shame I'm basically limited to what ThePatrick's guide covers, but i keep another window open for items and such to allow some exploration while still being able to return to the next story bit. Syncing cutscenes (YT fansubs on my laptop, natch!) has gotten easier too.
Q) It sounds like a lot've effort. Does it really seem worth it?
A) Again, i've had numerous gaffers known for good taste tell me this was their favorite of the series, and putting the cast of Yakuza over the story of Miyamoto Musashi, how awesome is that?! Honestly, the plot so far really hit the ground running, and I'm just as hooked as I recall those early flashbacks in Yakuza 2 had me. I can't wait to play more later today & see where it goes.
Also, besides my prior point on this being the only feasible way to play this great game...let's be honest, I don't like to acknowledge this, but there's always the chance that Yakuza 5 doesn't get localized, so part of me is doing this to prepare for that possibility as well.
Q) Does it play like the other Yakuzas?
A) Largely, yeah - there's coin lockers and all of that...combat-wise, it's pretty cool but there's obviously some changes with the weapons. Fortunately, Kazzy's better with a katana than he is with a gun, heh. The lock-on and physics really aren't bad compared to the series' earlier entries, and HEAT attacks are as satisfying as ever.
Q) Do I need to know anything else to play this?
A) Again, any japanese you know would obviously help, but I'm doing fine with those guides. Likewise, familiarity with both tokugawa period history (this isn't at all going for accuracy of course, but it's cool if you know Musashi stuff it references) and seeing your favorites from the Yakuza series is great too, but neither of these is required.
Q) Where can I find it?
A) I got my copy here @ GAF's buy/sell thread for like < $40 (thanks again, guy!), a cursory ebay check shows it can be bought & shipped for about the same. PS3's region free, so no concerns there! Just make sure the first thing you do is go to options, pick the last one and change the first 2 settings so your X and Y axis aren't inverted, unless you're one of those people.
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That's it for now. I'm a few hours in (just hit chapter 3!) and hope to get in more time tonight, I'll try to update the thread as i go with details of my progress - spoiler tagged appropriately, of course - for those interested, as a few people in the various Yakuza threads sounded interested. If you've got any questions, or better yet resources/stuff to add, lemme know!
AWESOME SHIT THAT JUST HAPPENED:
Majima lost his eye trying to protect kazzy-chan...haha, you remember MGS3 and Yakuza 4 when eye-cutting cutscenes had a lotta buildup so you kinda knew they were coming? Yeah, he's got both of em when you meet him this time! boy I bet it's gonna be this long dramatic speech before he NOPE sasaki wasn't fucking around...awesome scene.
