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[borghe]

soo.... picked up Yakuza 1 last night at gamestop. Very UNHAPPY with the fact that it's disc only... being how anal I am about that stuff.. but after my discount it was under $7 before tax, so whatever.................

wow. I am genuinely surprised a PS2 game ever looked this good. Last actual PS2 game I popped in was FFX, and this looks a TON better than that. It's certainly no PS360 game, but it's not just eye gougingly awful to look at either. 16:9 mode at least means that it works sort of ok on my PS3 (there are still small borders all the way around the screen though). the game also supports Dolby Digital, but from most reports I've seen around the net, PS3 doesn't usually pass through a PS2 Dolby 5.1 signal.

the voice work is beyond awful. just cheese. like an 80s asian dub But the story... man... fucking cinematic as hell... an hour into the game and I watch every cutscene with anticipation. Fantastic.

so far I would call it kind of like jRPG meets GTA-lite.. You roam around Tokyo like you would in a GTA. It's decent freedom to move around, but not quite as much freedom as even GTA:VC. Still, so far I've been more in awe of how everything is than any limitations. The city also seems WAY more populated than any PS2-era GTA. The rest seems kind of the jRPG... you go from area to area and you get into fights. Sometimes planned, sometimes random. the game "pulls you out" of the overworld, like a jRPG, and puts you in a battle where you now fight kind of like an action RPG.

Anyway, I'm glad I hunted down a copy of the first one, even though it is far from complete. Most seem to say you can start from 3 on PS3 simply because every game recaps all of the previous entries. But still.... to see the first game from the end of the PS2's days is pretty amazing. I was going in expecting a game looking like GTA3... instead I got a game that really only looks like a somewhat blurry first gen 360 game. Not bad.

I will be hunting down a COMPLETE copy of Yakuza 2 (and hopefully not be paying $60 for it), and probably eventually get a case and manual for this one somehow. Still, about two hours in and super psyched to get out of work and back to busting the heads of some rival punks!!

 

[Night_Trekker]

Yakuza 1 is a great game. I didn't understand the complaints about the voice acting (not to the extent people were complaining, I mean) until I started Yakuza 2, which actually benefits immensely from having no dubbing.

Anyway, enjoy it. I feel they really dropped the ball on the storyline about 3/4ths of the way through, but I thoroughly enjoyed the game, awful load times and all.

 

[Xater]

I think in the Yakuza 4 thread someone mentioned that you can buy Y4 and get Y3 for free in the US. That might be a deal you should consider.

Oh and yes these games work way better when they use the Japanese language. The only thing I still hat eis that they change to the western style naming of people. That can be really confusing when you actually listen to the Japanese.

 

[borghe]

ugghh.. ok, the load times are the only thing really bothering me right now. it's like "20 seconds of something really cool happening"....now loading......"45 seconds of something really cool happening"....now loading......."awesome fight"....now loading......

the voice acting is bad, but like I said, no worse than the dozens of bad 80s dubs I <3 for various anime, kung fu, and asian cinema from my youth (actually first watched in the 80s, when we really didn't have any great dubs coming out )

already got yakuza 3 and 4. that's what prompted this. I mean who starts playing a series on 3 or 4? C'MON!!

and yeah, the western style naming thing is pretty confusing in here so far... does that improve in the next game? if something does asian style names I can deal with that, and if it does western style I can deal with that, but it's like all of the splash screens and some of the writing do asian style names, and then the voice all does western style. very annoying and I noticed that immediately.

 

[Riposte]

One upside to the english VA is Majima being the Joker.

 

[Atolm]

I didn't like it at all tbh.

Looooooooooooong and stupid loading times. The worst about them is how poorly optimized they are; the game streams data every time the camera angle changes, like a classic Resident Evil. Wanna retry a battle? Loading. Wanna go back to a location in which you were two seconds ago? Game freezes for 2-3 secs. Seriously, either play it on PCSX2 or via HDD, don't ever try it on real hardware.

Combat feels very archaic imo, random encounters ala rpg didn't help me at all to love the game. The plot is ok, but one would expect a more realistic portrayal of Japanese mafia. Voice work isn't that bad, but certainly the Yakuza series benefits lot from original dubs.

Overall, I don't think the game is a hidden gem of the PS2 library as many say it is, but fortunately most of my complaints were adressed in Yakuza 2, which is a much better game.

 

[IndieJones]

Great game, and not really the spiritual successor to Shenmue that many people say it is. It felt more like a spiritual successor to SPIKEOUT.

The thing that stands out in my mind the most is the four second "crowd noise" clip that repeats throughout the entire game any time you're out on the street. It's unintentionally hilarious.

Oh, and the forced-stealth bit about half an hour into the game almost made me quit right then and there. Thankfully it's not repeated.

 

[Xater]

and yeah, the western style naming thing is pretty confusing in here so far... does that improve in the next game? if something does asian style names I can deal with that, and if it does western style I can deal with that, but it's like all of the splash screens and some of the writing do asian style names, and then the voice all does western style. very annoying and I noticed that immediately.

Sadly SEGA did not improve that part of the translation at all. That's why I complained about it. II have yet to play Y4, but in 3 they still used western naming conventions in the subs while everywhere else it was the original way. They really just should not change that in the subtitles. I am pretty sure the people who play these games can handle it.

 

[thorin]

The thing that stands out in my mind the most is the four second "crowd noise" clip that repeats throughout the entire game any time you're out on the street. It's unintentionally hilarious.

Yeah I was wondering what the hell that was. At first I thought it was some sort of chant, or that my drive was skipping.

 

[LiK]

Glad OP picked it up. It does have load issues and the English dub ain't the best but it didn't bother me after a while. But you'll find that its INTEGRAL to your enjoyment of the later games as many relationships are established and many side characters you meet will return in the later games and have a greater role.

Y2 is still the best but Y1 does a fantastic job of setting you up for all the sequels. So many goddamn callbacks and recurring characters will make you glad you played the first one. ENJOY!

 

[Midou]

Joker for Majima and Goofy for Date.. some of the main characters had some great voice actors, minor characters may not have been as good, but I thought it was fine overall. Kazuma's voice was good too.

I love this series, just got Yakuza 4, just love going around, buying food, kicking ass, playing baseball, kareoke, etc. The series improves with every title gameplay wise, though 2 and 3's plot did not seem nearly as good as 1, 4 seems to be heading into a good direction so far though.

 

[Peff]

I didn't like it at all tbh.

Looooooooooooong and stupid loading times. The worst about them is how poorly optimized they are; the game streams data every time the camera angle changes, like a classic Resident Evil. Wanna retry a battle? Loading. Wanna go back to a location in which you were two seconds ago? Game freezes for 2-3 secs. Seriously, either play it on PCSX2 or via HDD, don't ever try it on real hardware.

Combat feels very archaic imo, random encounters ala rpg didn't help me at all to love the game. The plot is ok, but one would expect a more realistic portrayal of Japanese mafia. Voice work isn't that bad, but certainly the Yakuza series benefits lot from original dubs.

Overall, I don't think the game is a hidden gem of the PS2 library as many say it is, but fortunately most of my complaints were adressed in Yakuza 2, which is a much better game.

Pretty much. If you know what you're doing you can spend 75% of the game without random encounters thanks to the sidequests, which helps a lot but the loading times are still grating. The fighting engine is also pretty unpolished, with the spotty HEAT detection and WHY DO YOU PUNCH THE AIR moments. 2 fixed the game so much they had to resort to adding Super Armor to keep it challenging. I did like back then but I'm not sure I'd recommend it to someone new to the series nowadays.

 

[UnluckyKate]

The english dub of Yakuza is beyond awesome. They even invented new way to use the F word

 

[Noisepurge]

Oh yeah keep your fingers crossed if you are playing this on a PS3, it sometimes freezes the game after the Funeral Mission. Reloading the save doesn't help.

I had to restart all over and play it on a PS2.

A great game and the sequel is ten times better!

 

[Xater]

Oh yeah keep your fingers crossed if you are playing this on a PS3, it sometimes freezes the game after the Funeral Mission. Reloading the save doesn't help.

I had to restart all over and play it on a PS2.

A great game and the sequel is ten times better!

There is a way around that problem, I just forgot what it was.

 

[LiK]

The english dub of Yakuza is beyond awesome. They even invented new way to use the F word

"Whatthefuck?" Makes me laugh everytime.

 

[borghe]

Luke Skywalker = Majima?????

MIND BLOWN

edit - holy crap... for at the time, they actually got a pretty sizable cast budget going on.. crazy..

Mark Hammil
Eliza Dushku
Michael Rosenbaum
Bill Farmer
Rachael Leigh Cook
Michael Madsen

 

[Raging Spaniard]

wow. I am genuinely surprised a PS2 game ever looked this good. Last actual PS2 game I popped in was FFX, and this looks a TON better than that.

Visually speaking, Final Fantasy XII beats the shit out of any PS2 game, Okami being a close second.

Just so you know

 

[polyh3dron]

Visually speaking, Final Fantasy XII beats the shit out of any PS2 game, Okami being a close second.

Just so you know

MGS2 and ZOE2 say hi

Just saying.

 

[LiK]

Luke Skywalker = Majima?????

MIND BLOWN

edit - holy crap... for at the time, they actually got a pretty sizable cast budget going on.. crazy..

Mark Hammil
Eliza Dushku
Michael Rosenbaum
Bill Farmer
Rachael Leigh Cook
Michael Madsen

Edit: Yea, English voice for Kazuma.was actually good. When you switch to Y2, its not very jarring with the tone of his voice.

 

[Raging Spaniard]

MGS2 and ZOE2 say hi

Just saying.

You know MG2 had a sequel, called MGS3 that .. looks better, right? And its on the PS2?

My two examples are still better looking.

 

[polyh3dron]

You know MG2 had a sequel, called MGS3 that .. looks better, right? And its on the PS2?

My two examples are still better looking.

MGS3 ran at an unstable 30FPS and wasn't as clean looking.

MGS2 and ZOE2 looked clean, ran at 60FPS and were beautiful IMO.

 

[Shiv47]

Yea, Madsen was actually good as Kazuma. When you switch to Y2, its not very jarring with the tone of his voice.

Madsen played one of the bosses as I recall, not Kazuma.

 

[Fimbulvetr]

Last actual PS2 game I popped in was FFX, and this looks a TON better than that.

Is FFX really the high standard worth beating?

 

[LiK]

Madsen played one of the bosses as I recall, not Kazuma.

Oops, my bad. Had a brain fart there. Yea, you're right. Been a while.

 

[Windom Earle]

Yes, the game still has ok graphics due to the nice art.

Fuck recaps, play them all! Especially 2 is required reading.

 

[Ramune]

Oh yeah keep your fingers crossed if you are playing this on a PS3, it sometimes freezes the game after the Funeral Mission. Reloading the save doesn't help.

I had to restart all over and play it on a PS2.

....unless you had the PS1/2 Memory Card reader for the PS3. Soon as that happened, I took the last save I had (also helps to save often), and popped it into my PS2 and resumed past that point. I think there's one other point way after the Funeral Mission, but I did beat it on my PS3.

 

[borghe]

....unless you had the PS1/2 Memory Card reader for the PS3. Soon as that happened, I took the last save I had (also helps to save often), and popped it into my PS2 and resumed past that point. I think there's one other point way after the Funeral Mission, but I did beat it on my PS3.

hmm.. so what's the way around it? I actually do have both a memory card for PS2 and a mem card reader, but 99.9% sure I don't have access to an actual ps2

edit - ok, it seems both lock ups (funeral and 7th chapter) only happen on non-EE PS3's (80GB US, 60GB PAL). Can anyone confirm that they had the problem on a 20/60GB US machine or not?

 

[Owensboro]

Oh yeah keep your fingers crossed if you are playing this on a PS3, it sometimes freezes the game after the Funeral Mission. Reloading the save doesn't help.

I had to restart all over and play it on a PS2.

A great game and the sequel is ten times better!

My game-ending freezes occurred in two places. The first was a Bum Fight that the game kept freezing on. I tried over and over for about a week to get past just that fight, and one time it finally chugged over it. The second one (and the one I couldn't get past) was in that club when Date is running down the stairs to catch....something (don't want to spoil it!).

I'm glad I was able to just watch the recap in 2. To bad it was to much info for me to understand it the first time! (had to watch it twice)

 

[LiK]

hmm.. so what's the way around it? I actually do have both a memory card for PS2 and a mem card reader, but 99.9% sure I don't have access to an actual ps2

I played Y1 on the 60GB PS3 and had no issues. Kinda weird to hear about it now. Good luck.

 

[borghe]

I played Y1 on the 60GB PS3 and had no issues. Kinda weird to hear about it now. Good luck.

see my update above. It seems the lockups were only on non-EE PS3s. The funeral lock up seems to have been fixed with a firmware update. The chapter 7 lock up seems to be there forever at this point. But neither of these are issues on the EE PS3s. So I should be safe (60GB US)

 

[LiK]

see my update above. It seems the lockups were only on non-EE PS3s. The funeral lock up seems to have been fixed with a firmware update. The chapter 7 lock up seems to be there forever at this point. But neither of these are issues on the EE PS3s. So I should be safe (60GB US)

Oic, yea, I have 60GB US system and had zero issues so you're safe.

 

[Kikujiro]

OP you did the right thing.

The loading times could be better, but at least it's better than Shenmue. Do as many sidequests as you can, they are essential to enjoy the Yakuza experience, some of them are plot releated while others are hilarious.

I loved the voice acting, so cheesy in a good way.

 

[LiK]

Haruka's English voice was thankfully good. English dubs can mess up kid voices so easily but she was very good.

 

[VeryGooster]

Has one of the most badass game OSTs ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3I76bb3Idg

 

[Brandon F]

Yakuza 4 got me itching to play the entire saga myself. I never beat the first game, and am currently watching some youtube videos to catch up on the story up to the point where I left off my 2006 savefile late into the game.

The loading was pretty unbearable at the time, especially when you are confronted with endless random street brawls as the game progresses. Thread has talked plenty of that problem though.

I also mentioned in the Y4 thread how this franchise locks out so much content if you make chapter progress. Locker keys, sidequests, etc... So easy to miss stuff if you progress. Japan never learns... Later games, it is said, will allow you to go back and do all that stuff post-game if you desire at least.

Only other thing I disliked about Y1 is that the middle chapters are excrutiatingly dull compared to the opening and closing hours. The missing 10 billion, the political Tojo clan drama, Nishiki, Yumi, etc... All suddenly put on the backburner as you rescue kittens, deal with awkward relationship and familial drama that pertains little to the overarching strife. Clearly an attempt to stretch the gametime, but it really wore on me motivation.

Still, when the game is focused, it is awesome. Can't wait to finally finish this off, and then eventually move onto Y2-4. Gonna really put 2011 releases aside for the next few months to push through this franchise.

 

[Acquiescence]

I hated the first game, pretty much solely because of the awful dub track. The Western actors didn't fit their characters and couldn't sell the melodramatic plot, which was key to enjoying the game. I completed it and hastily sold it afterwards. I decided to take a risk when the second one came out and purchased it day one - I haven't looked back since. I loved 2 and 3 to bits and now have installment 4 sitting on my shelf, waiting to be played as soon as I finish Dragon Age II.

Ahhh, what a difference some Japanese voice-acting can make. Whoever provides the voice for Kazuma is perfect; I literally cannot imagine anyone else playing the role apart from him.

 

[Red Blaster]

Kaz's english voice actor wasn't too bad and Mark Hamill hammed it up nicely but everyone else was turrible.

 

[hamchan]

Story of this game is so great.

 

[Noisepurge]

allright, you should be golden then with that US 60gb system

and yeah, the loadtimes are a pain comparing to modern games, but man, when you get to Yakuza 2, they are shorter! and you will really start to appreciate Yakuza 3 when the battles have seamless transitions!

 

[Brandon F]

allright, you should be golden then with that US 60gb system

and yeah, the loadtimes are a pain comparing to modern games, but man, when you get to Yakuza 2, they are shorter! and you will really start to appreciate Yakuza 3 when the battles have seamless transitions!

Seamless transitions sounds awesome! Y3 gives full camera control too right? No matter awkward fixed angle loading when exploring the city right?

 

[Peff]

Eh, they're seamless but it still takes time to load the rest of the enemies and audience and watching that makes it feel longer than the quick transitions in 2. But yes, you do have full camera control and even first-person camera, which now makes the keys harder to find too.

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

Luke Skywalker = Majima?????

MIND BLOWN

edit - holy crap... for at the time, they actually got a pretty sizable cast budget going on.. crazy..

Mark Hammil
Eliza Dushku
Michael Rosenbaum
Bill Farmer
Rachael Leigh Cook
Michael Madsen

What the...
Isnt that Goofy's voice actor?
Awesome :lol

 

[LiK]

Seamless transitions sounds awesome! Y3 gives full camera control too right? No matter awkward fixed angle loading when exploring the city right?

Y3 is seamless but it still needs to load up cuz you need to wait to get into fight mode but not bad. As for the camera? Its like playing Shenmue when you're exploring. Love the atmosphere.

 

[Brandon F]

Y3 is seamless but it still needs to load up cuz you need to wait to get into fight mode but not bad. As for the camera? Its like playing Shenmue when you're exploring. Love the atmosphere.

Urge to skip Y2 rising...Looking really forward to the current gen Yakuza releases. Damn this backlog.

 

[Dwayne]

Joker for Majima and Goofy for Date....

You mean SAM for SAM and MAX hit the Road for Date! Comes through quite strong too.

 

[LiK]

Urge to skip Y2 rising...Looking really forward to the current gen Yakuza releases. Damn this backlog.

Haha, don't skip! Y2 is amazing!

 

[BentMyWookiee]

Oh yeah keep your fingers crossed if you are playing this on a PS3, it sometimes freezes the game after the Funeral Mission. Reloading the save doesn't help.

I had to restart all over and play it on a PS2.

A great game and the sequel is ten times better!

This happened to me on the MGS bundle 80 gig PS3. I tried many times and it would always freeze after the Funeral Mission. So I restarted and played through on PS2 as well.

Yakuza 2 worked perfectly on my PS3 though.

 

[borghe]

yeah, fortunately it seems that this won't affect me. The funeral freeze was fixed on non-EE PS3s, but it seems there is a freeze in chapter 7 on non-EE units that basically make the game unbeatable (some have been able to get past it after enough times, some tried 10+ times and couldn't get past it)

but again, that's only on non-EE units. On EE units the game seems to work flawlessly (well, aside from no DD5.1..... grrr.....)

 

[SuperSonic1305]

wow. I am genuinely surprised a PS2 game ever looked this good. Last actual PS2 game I popped in was FFX, and this looks a TON better than that.

The last game you popped in was an early PS2 game and you're surprised that late PS2 games look better?