lachesis
Member
Ryu Ga Gotoku. Some might translate it as Like a Dragon or my import vendor calls it The Way of Dragon. It pretty much carries the whole theme of the noble, and uncompromising, and fierce nature of a dragon (Asian dragons are not fat, greedy lizards which lives in caves guarding their treasures, fyi 
).
The theme of the game, if I could sum it out in few words would be To live is to not to run away from your fate face it and fight like a man essentially like a dragon and it really does show in its presentation. I might add that the story, while very well written, its rather far from being fresh or anything new. To be perfectly honest, its a rather clichéd storyline. Youve read or seen a movie something like this before. Swap the characters with Japanese Yakuza, you get the general idea of how the story unfolds.
Main character Kiryu is put into jail for 10 years for a murder of his own boss, to protect friends he loved. When he came out his childhood girlfriend is gone missing, and his best buddy has became powerful Oya-bun, and is against him. In search of 100 billon yen (about 1 billion $), which has disappeared and for the girl who has the clue to the money, the fight begins against his own best child-hood friend from orphanage and, his own colleagues in his former group. The fate leads him to meet a 9 year old girl, Haruka, whom holds the key to the 100 billion yen and their journey begins as two strangers in very decadent and dangerous criminal world in Tokyo.
Thats a basic synopsis of the how the game begins. You will spend about 4 initial chapters till the real game begins and its a relatively very straight-forward until that point. You might be let down by the fact that it would be so linear in the beginning, that its more or less going to place A to place B, watch FMV/Real Time Cut scenes Fight briefly next chapter being too simplistic. It was, at least for me till I reached Chapter 4, when the whole new areas to explore and tons of sub-quests to complete, things to collect (which actually pays off with various items, not just for the heck of it).
The intricate detail of the living, breathing city is well implemented in this game especially showing decadent nightlife in Kamuro cho which is modeled after Kabuki Cho in Tokyo. Various pubs, nightclubs, gambling places, brothels are represented in this game, and Ive heard from people who actually spent a lot of time in Kabuki cho its actually quite similar in essence, and intrigued by it.
Story itself, while starting out rather even, if not slow-paced really picks up after Chapter 7, and it reaches its peak to the end and there are plenty of character development, somewhat like TV show Lost-esque flashbacks. Somewhat predictable ending was expected as I was reaching to the end, but there are some nice, not overdone plot twists here and there and what makes the game tick is how well the dialogues are done in most cases, especially between the fellow yakuza members. If you are thinking of importing the game with very little knowledge of Japanese, you will probably have one of the hardest time to understand whats going on. My Japanese comprehension isnt that good either but I was able to make out what they were saying in about 40-50 percent at time but knew what was going on thanks to the well-directed cut scenes especially the facial emotions of each character, is well done almost quite real. Kiryu, while hes a total bad-ass in fighting somehow carries such sorrow in his eyes even the slightest change in his eyes, I could tell his anger, disappointment, surprise and all. One of the best feature in this game is actual voice acting by main characters as well as the storyline and very well directed (mostly) cut scenes but by no means, the game falls any shorter to my expectation.
Finishing this game, actually moved me quite emotionally. Its one of the rare breed of games that you dont want it to end and the actual quest could be finished within 15-20 hours, if not earlier. However, its a emotional (sometimes downright corny or tear-jerking) roller coaster, and the pace of story itself is quite impeccable it knows when you slow-down and when to pick up. My impression of the game was Slow-steady start to building up till chapter 7, then it exploded in chapter 7-10 then slowing down a bit for a chapter or so, to the grande finale. I actually recommend not spending too much time like I have in side-quests but go through the game as is, and just do as much as youd like to just because the flow of story itself so enjoyable and breaking up the such good flow is not a good thing. You can always come back to the sub-quests after finishing the game, in Adventure Review mode which unlocks it afterwards. At least, please try to play through the game from Chapter 10-13 straight.
Actual gameplay is somewhat like Shenmue and GTA cross-over, but it has its own unique flavor to it. I know some people are actually disappointed because it wasnt similar enough to Shenmue, but I think this is actually pretty close to it especially Shenmue IIs disc3 where action and story, freedom really balanced out quite well. You cannot senselessly beat any by-standers like GTA but the fights are much much more frequent than in Shenmue. Also experience system is quick and easy, so you dont really have to micromanage anything game itself is a more cross-over of action BTU games from old days with more fleshed out level-ups and some RPG esque sidequests, very adult oriented, serious storyline and all. It has a lot of good things going on, and it does utilizes it quite well, without being too repetitive in the end. My final score in the end, I have fought and defeated more than 1200 people (you can probably get around and finish the game even in half that amount if youd like to) the battle still was intriguing. A lot of that has to be in the actual battle engine.
The battle engine itself isnt too new if you are a vet of Free Battle in Shenmue series asides some differences, there are a lot of similar things going on. Its actually pretty deep, and very fleshed out. Various counters you can learn, as well as actual combo. There are some foes who are almost immune to certain combos, yet weak against some while your basic street-fighting has to do with a lot of sway and hitting them in series of combos but there are quite a few variations which do require some thinking before attacking. As I mentioned before, there are quite a few different breed of fighter regular yakuza, brutes, boxers, muetai fighters, Kung-fu fighters, gunners, ones with stun-guns (quite annoying, actually), short word specialists, long katana specialists, and even some military commandos, ex-pro-wrestlers, etc. The list is so comprehensive and long, its a no wonder the battle itself is quite challenging intriguing.
The best part for the most actions are the ultra-violent Heat attacks utilizing the environment itself. When you connect your basic combos, you raise your Heat gauge and once it reaches certain point, you can do extra amount of damage, some are so powerful, it kills little guys instantly , and once you get down your basic maneuver down you will be constantly looking for a fresh way to waste your opponent. Whether it would be stomping the guys face when hes down, or throwing a bicycle on top of them and jump on it or choke your opponent with a steel bar and kicking him in the back, powerful sword combo, or good ol pummeling the guys face into a concrete wall nearby the possibilities are quite visually amusing and at the same time it makes you feel such a bad-ass which is a good feeling. Cherishing the good and punishing the bad kinda ironic for being a Yakuza but its old yet simple value has proven the test of the time. In the end, you become Kiryu himself, and sympathize with him.
Another reason I find this game quite special is.. that its one of the very few games in todays game worlds which adult mean some very gory or sexually explicit games that we often mix the meaning of adult itself. The story itself leaves such nuances and emotional movement which only adult or the ones who are mature enough to appreciate its full meaning. Sure, that it has its own share of eye-candies and violence and the act itself, storyline itself is nothing but normal or cliché but the underlying metaphors with the clash between the young, unspoiled mind to those of us who have seen the ugly human nature.. and not running away from it, truly takes something special, I believe.
Does this game re-defines the meaning of mature rated games? Not really as weve already seen games like MGS3 but this one is quite up there with less mind-boggling, manic plot twists but very straight forward. Their frank approach to a theme like this, without being too obvious I begin to appreciate the game even more, and I can honestly understand Bebpo, whove claimed this game being the GOTG and where hes coming from. Honestly not quite, but its damn close in my book but I dont even know what might be called as GOTG these days anyway. There are good games and bad games, and this game is one of those exceptional games like MGS3 and RE4 and thats all I can say.
Thanks for reading a long long review like this, and hope this game finds its way to the western world with proper localization. Good dubbing would be quite nice, if not a choice for dub/original with subtitles. Whatever they do, this game certainly deserved to be enjoyed by gamers in west. Sorry for poor grammar.
Here are my grades for the game, to sum it up.
Graphics: 8 a very mixed bag. Looks good and it does its job well and the framerate is pretty steady 30fps, with very occasional hick-ups. About half-second loading time between areas, some very awkward camera angles in street scenes which you cannot have first person view bothers me. However, as I said above, it does its job quite well to mimic the atmosphere of a decadent city nights.
Music: 7 To be honest, theres not much music at all. Your normal BGM would be the noise of the street. It makes you feel like you are in the city. No real annoying usual SEGA electronic guitar rocknrolls but many times, ambience. Also, somewhat anti-climatic ending song really bothered me much. I loved the song (most of you already know the song) but it wasnt just soulful enough. Japanese cant sing soul is what I thought in the end But, otherwise, its quite passable. Finally theres gotta be one catchy song in every Sega game Don Quixote (sp?) shop theme is one of them. (Remembering Jingle bell theme in Blue Stinger and that Tomato mart shop theme in Shenmue I know some of you will hate the song. )
Gameplay: 9 - Very good balance between action and story - plus some very fresh approach towards traditional beat-them-up games with Heat gauge, and various weapons. One of the highlight of the games fighting engine has to do with a lot of swaying a good thing and bad thing at the same time, as you will have to adjust yourself manually in most cases as the auto lock-on is quite loose and you will miss your punches a lot. As you become more used to it, you wont stand chance in later games. Also, some of the pre-battle loading times could be bothersome for some people - although the action itself will be a nice reward for the patient ones, so it allevates the pain of waiting with anticipation in my case.
Overall: 10 - Its one of the kind experience, and doesnt come by very often in my near 30 year gaming history. It has plenty of technical flaws and all but I enjoyed this game almost as any other master pieces like RE4 or MGS3 this year. It might not be in everyones taste being a strict, Japanese style of storytelling and all but I highly recommend to almost everyone as it has some good things going, very well.
lachesis
). The theme of the game, if I could sum it out in few words would be To live is to not to run away from your fate face it and fight like a man essentially like a dragon and it really does show in its presentation. I might add that the story, while very well written, its rather far from being fresh or anything new. To be perfectly honest, its a rather clichéd storyline. Youve read or seen a movie something like this before. Swap the characters with Japanese Yakuza, you get the general idea of how the story unfolds.
Main character Kiryu is put into jail for 10 years for a murder of his own boss, to protect friends he loved. When he came out his childhood girlfriend is gone missing, and his best buddy has became powerful Oya-bun, and is against him. In search of 100 billon yen (about 1 billion $), which has disappeared and for the girl who has the clue to the money, the fight begins against his own best child-hood friend from orphanage and, his own colleagues in his former group. The fate leads him to meet a 9 year old girl, Haruka, whom holds the key to the 100 billion yen and their journey begins as two strangers in very decadent and dangerous criminal world in Tokyo.
Thats a basic synopsis of the how the game begins. You will spend about 4 initial chapters till the real game begins and its a relatively very straight-forward until that point. You might be let down by the fact that it would be so linear in the beginning, that its more or less going to place A to place B, watch FMV/Real Time Cut scenes Fight briefly next chapter being too simplistic. It was, at least for me till I reached Chapter 4, when the whole new areas to explore and tons of sub-quests to complete, things to collect (which actually pays off with various items, not just for the heck of it).
The intricate detail of the living, breathing city is well implemented in this game especially showing decadent nightlife in Kamuro cho which is modeled after Kabuki Cho in Tokyo. Various pubs, nightclubs, gambling places, brothels are represented in this game, and Ive heard from people who actually spent a lot of time in Kabuki cho its actually quite similar in essence, and intrigued by it.
Story itself, while starting out rather even, if not slow-paced really picks up after Chapter 7, and it reaches its peak to the end and there are plenty of character development, somewhat like TV show Lost-esque flashbacks. Somewhat predictable ending was expected as I was reaching to the end, but there are some nice, not overdone plot twists here and there and what makes the game tick is how well the dialogues are done in most cases, especially between the fellow yakuza members. If you are thinking of importing the game with very little knowledge of Japanese, you will probably have one of the hardest time to understand whats going on. My Japanese comprehension isnt that good either but I was able to make out what they were saying in about 40-50 percent at time but knew what was going on thanks to the well-directed cut scenes especially the facial emotions of each character, is well done almost quite real. Kiryu, while hes a total bad-ass in fighting somehow carries such sorrow in his eyes even the slightest change in his eyes, I could tell his anger, disappointment, surprise and all. One of the best feature in this game is actual voice acting by main characters as well as the storyline and very well directed (mostly) cut scenes but by no means, the game falls any shorter to my expectation.
Finishing this game, actually moved me quite emotionally. Its one of the rare breed of games that you dont want it to end and the actual quest could be finished within 15-20 hours, if not earlier. However, its a emotional (sometimes downright corny or tear-jerking) roller coaster, and the pace of story itself is quite impeccable it knows when you slow-down and when to pick up. My impression of the game was Slow-steady start to building up till chapter 7, then it exploded in chapter 7-10 then slowing down a bit for a chapter or so, to the grande finale. I actually recommend not spending too much time like I have in side-quests but go through the game as is, and just do as much as youd like to just because the flow of story itself so enjoyable and breaking up the such good flow is not a good thing. You can always come back to the sub-quests after finishing the game, in Adventure Review mode which unlocks it afterwards. At least, please try to play through the game from Chapter 10-13 straight.
Actual gameplay is somewhat like Shenmue and GTA cross-over, but it has its own unique flavor to it. I know some people are actually disappointed because it wasnt similar enough to Shenmue, but I think this is actually pretty close to it especially Shenmue IIs disc3 where action and story, freedom really balanced out quite well. You cannot senselessly beat any by-standers like GTA but the fights are much much more frequent than in Shenmue. Also experience system is quick and easy, so you dont really have to micromanage anything game itself is a more cross-over of action BTU games from old days with more fleshed out level-ups and some RPG esque sidequests, very adult oriented, serious storyline and all. It has a lot of good things going on, and it does utilizes it quite well, without being too repetitive in the end. My final score in the end, I have fought and defeated more than 1200 people (you can probably get around and finish the game even in half that amount if youd like to) the battle still was intriguing. A lot of that has to be in the actual battle engine.
The battle engine itself isnt too new if you are a vet of Free Battle in Shenmue series asides some differences, there are a lot of similar things going on. Its actually pretty deep, and very fleshed out. Various counters you can learn, as well as actual combo. There are some foes who are almost immune to certain combos, yet weak against some while your basic street-fighting has to do with a lot of sway and hitting them in series of combos but there are quite a few variations which do require some thinking before attacking. As I mentioned before, there are quite a few different breed of fighter regular yakuza, brutes, boxers, muetai fighters, Kung-fu fighters, gunners, ones with stun-guns (quite annoying, actually), short word specialists, long katana specialists, and even some military commandos, ex-pro-wrestlers, etc. The list is so comprehensive and long, its a no wonder the battle itself is quite challenging intriguing.
The best part for the most actions are the ultra-violent Heat attacks utilizing the environment itself. When you connect your basic combos, you raise your Heat gauge and once it reaches certain point, you can do extra amount of damage, some are so powerful, it kills little guys instantly , and once you get down your basic maneuver down you will be constantly looking for a fresh way to waste your opponent. Whether it would be stomping the guys face when hes down, or throwing a bicycle on top of them and jump on it or choke your opponent with a steel bar and kicking him in the back, powerful sword combo, or good ol pummeling the guys face into a concrete wall nearby the possibilities are quite visually amusing and at the same time it makes you feel such a bad-ass which is a good feeling. Cherishing the good and punishing the bad kinda ironic for being a Yakuza but its old yet simple value has proven the test of the time. In the end, you become Kiryu himself, and sympathize with him.
Another reason I find this game quite special is.. that its one of the very few games in todays game worlds which adult mean some very gory or sexually explicit games that we often mix the meaning of adult itself. The story itself leaves such nuances and emotional movement which only adult or the ones who are mature enough to appreciate its full meaning. Sure, that it has its own share of eye-candies and violence and the act itself, storyline itself is nothing but normal or cliché but the underlying metaphors with the clash between the young, unspoiled mind to those of us who have seen the ugly human nature.. and not running away from it, truly takes something special, I believe.
Does this game re-defines the meaning of mature rated games? Not really as weve already seen games like MGS3 but this one is quite up there with less mind-boggling, manic plot twists but very straight forward. Their frank approach to a theme like this, without being too obvious I begin to appreciate the game even more, and I can honestly understand Bebpo, whove claimed this game being the GOTG and where hes coming from. Honestly not quite, but its damn close in my book but I dont even know what might be called as GOTG these days anyway. There are good games and bad games, and this game is one of those exceptional games like MGS3 and RE4 and thats all I can say.
Thanks for reading a long long review like this, and hope this game finds its way to the western world with proper localization. Good dubbing would be quite nice, if not a choice for dub/original with subtitles. Whatever they do, this game certainly deserved to be enjoyed by gamers in west. Sorry for poor grammar.
Here are my grades for the game, to sum it up.
Graphics: 8 a very mixed bag. Looks good and it does its job well and the framerate is pretty steady 30fps, with very occasional hick-ups. About half-second loading time between areas, some very awkward camera angles in street scenes which you cannot have first person view bothers me. However, as I said above, it does its job quite well to mimic the atmosphere of a decadent city nights.
Music: 7 To be honest, theres not much music at all. Your normal BGM would be the noise of the street. It makes you feel like you are in the city. No real annoying usual SEGA electronic guitar rocknrolls but many times, ambience. Also, somewhat anti-climatic ending song really bothered me much. I loved the song (most of you already know the song) but it wasnt just soulful enough. Japanese cant sing soul is what I thought in the end But, otherwise, its quite passable. Finally theres gotta be one catchy song in every Sega game Don Quixote (sp?) shop theme is one of them.
(Remembering Jingle bell theme in Blue Stinger and that Tomato mart shop theme in Shenmue I know some of you will hate the song. )Gameplay: 9 - Very good balance between action and story - plus some very fresh approach towards traditional beat-them-up games with Heat gauge, and various weapons. One of the highlight of the games fighting engine has to do with a lot of swaying a good thing and bad thing at the same time, as you will have to adjust yourself manually in most cases as the auto lock-on is quite loose and you will miss your punches a lot. As you become more used to it, you wont stand chance in later games. Also, some of the pre-battle loading times could be bothersome for some people - although the action itself will be a nice reward for the patient ones, so it allevates the pain of waiting with anticipation in my case.
Overall: 10 - Its one of the kind experience, and doesnt come by very often in my near 30 year gaming history. It has plenty of technical flaws and all but I enjoyed this game almost as any other master pieces like RE4 or MGS3 this year. It might not be in everyones taste being a strict, Japanese style of storytelling and all but I highly recommend to almost everyone as it has some good things going, very well.
lachesis
