LimitedTimeGamer
Member
I have the same problem, however i imported them and then followed ThePatrick's Yakuza 1 and 2 guides. They get you through the game with little to no problems.
(Except the hostess stuff since that isnt covered in any guide.)
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The Yakuza Series Starter Guide
- Thread starter Kralamoonard
- Start date
I have the same problem, however i imported them and then followed ThePatrick's Yakuza 1 and 2 guides. They get you through the game with little to no problems.
(Except the hostess stuff since that isnt covered in any guide.)
Still believe Yakuza 2 will always be favorite. Ryuji Goda was such a great adversary- I think 3 while considered a weaker entry in the series, definitely has one of the best supporting cast stories ever- Rikiya, god damn. I love the series with all my heart! I wish the HD ports actually got translated also, I mean just as a nicety. Still have my demo disc from the first game- this series is everything.
Son Of Sparda
Member
It's THE remake of the first game, yeah.
Go_Ly_Dow
Member
Definitely, love him!
Thanks for the thread.I was actually considering doing something similar for a while now but I'm just too lazy
I've said this before so I'll say it here as well.
If you have a PS3: Yakuza 4, then Yakuza 5 (if you enjoyed them enough then play Y3 as well)
If you only have PS4: Yakuza 0
To people who are PS4 users only, don't be intimidated by starting with 0. As the name suggests the story happens before all of other Yakuza games so you won't feel lost if you start with that game. And IMO, Y0 is the best Yakuza game to date.
Thanks, i want to see what its all about before trying to get into maybe the earlier ones, and 0 seems like the best bet.
If you can, do you know anything about Ishin? Where does that come in regards to storyline? Is it like an ancestor of the main guy or something?
I.....I either completely missed the Kiwami announcement or had totally forgotten about it, holy shit lol. Yeah in that case I hope we get that in the West; 2 still presents the same problem though unless that gets done as well.
Go_Ly_Dow
Member
I imagine there will be one on gamefaqs.
3 is easy to follow tho in terms of story and structure if that's your concern.
The game makes it pretty clear on where to go etc...
Goda is such a great villain. I fear they'll never be able to create anything like the Goda and Kiryu plot again until they make a true break from Kiryu. You need a new protagonist that can build his own story before a rival that great can rise again.
Given 2's massive fanbase, I assume they'll remake it between 6 and 7. It's certainly possible they won't, but it would be a big missed opportunity.
Infernostew
Member
Got it for $20 new when no one cared.yakuza 2 is so expensive
EVA UNIT 01
Member
Always wanted to play this series.
i dont think im willing to go back to ps2 but Yakuza 3 seems like a good spot to jump in.
i dont think im willing to go back to ps2 but Yakuza 3 seems like a good spot to jump in.
Kralamoonard
Member
Yep, I've edited the OP for clarification; I should have really put the last category as "Remasters and Remakes" rather than Remakes, since the HD Collections for the PS3 and Wii U in JP aren't remakes, so that was misleading on my part!
But yeah, Kiwami is a Yakuza 1 remake of the first Yakuza game releasing for the PS3 and PS4 next month in Japan.
AkelisRain
Member
I don't have a problem with graphics, I played through Yakuza 1 recently. I just don't have that kind of money, otherwise I would buy it.
Jawmuncher
Member
AkelisRain
Member
Got it for $20 new when no one cared.
:'( I envy you.
kuroneko0509
Member
Actually no Kiwami is still cross gen for ps3/ps4, but is the last game to use the Yakuza 5 engine. Yakuza 6 is the one built from the ground up for PS4
I totally get it. It sucks being a fan of a series with low print runs. Would love to pick up the GC and Wii Fire Emblems, but those secondary market prices are too rich for my blood.
Kralamoonard
Member
Ok my bad! Thanks for the clarification; I'll edit my post again before I mislead anymore people!
I'm happy people are correcting me though; in fact, I've added in an 'Additional Notes' section where people can add relevant information to answer anyone's queries or for clarifications sake.
matrix-cat
Member
Got Yakuza 4 from PS+ and never played it, but all the hype around Yakuza 5, 0 and the 6 trailer has convinced me to start it up tonight. Never played one before, but I always wanted to try them after loving Binary Domain a few years ago (same creator and team, right?). No idea what to expect beyond giant back tattoos and street brawling, but I'm looking forward to it
I love any Yakuza thread on GAF, good job OP. I have no doubt there are many aspects of Yakuza that would appeal to gaffers and despite the number of new threads and new followers lately, its still criminally underrated.
I suppose the pragmatist in me says it's still hard to see it as a mainstream type game like with Final Fantasy, Halo, MGS, Mario in the west, but I love that this series has just as many games as those franchises do. It just goes to show how much the fans love the series. It's kind of like Survivor the TV series for me, those fans will keep watching.
For those who are undecided about Yakuza, pretty much all of the mainline games are
1. It's a part virtual tourist game where you get to visit Japan (at least for us non-Japanese players),
2. Part brawler (like Streets of Rage)
3. Part crime drama (the story telling keeps getting better and better with each entry)
4. Part mini game collection (Bowling, Darts, Golf, Batting Cage, Karaoke, mahjong, shogi, arcade games and lots of other games etc)
It's an open world game, in that its not corridor based, between missions, you can visit shops, eat, buy goods, do mini games, do side quests. During missions, you get some story beats and most of the time you're asked to beat up minions and the boss. You can level up your main character and get new moves. One of the cool things when the first game came out was that you could pick up any prop off the street, be it a bike or street furniture or whatever and use it to pummel your opponents. You also have a heat gauge that when you fill up unleash devastating moves like stomping on someone's face complete with slow mo.
The Virtual tourist aspect is pretty cool too, the main area that appears in pretty much every game is Kamurocho modelled after Kabuki-cho in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Everything here feels incredibly life like. Game was amazing back in the PS2 days. Now there's just a lot more detail with everything. Walk into a convenience store and you'll see all the individual boxes, cans, drinks modelled beautifully. You can even go to the magazine rack and read comics and magazines. I do wish I could walk around and buy goods in most stores instead of selecting it from a list, though I get that a list is a lot easier.
The story in each mainline entry is what's different every time. There's a lot of questions in regards to where to start for a new player. Btw OP, you didn't even answer your own question. My answer is - if you have lots of time to invest, have all the hardware and you already know you want to play all of them and care about the story, start from the beginning Y1. Each mainline entry has a new story but with a lot of returning characters (though not every character). If you want the most complete experience play them all. If you are most interested in the gameplay, most of the games are largely the same gameplay wise (beat some dudes), so you could play the latest one first (either Y4 or Y5) and see if you like the game before going back and play the others. If time is really of the essence, then play Y5. Y4 is a terrific entry point into the series because its the first time in the series the player gets to use multiple characters (one at a time of course), and three of the four characters make a return in Y5. If you start with Y5, know that it has five "cities/areas" available, while most of the others have one or two areas available so it may feel a lot smaller in scope. The dev team spent twice as long on Y5 as the other games.
If you like mini games - you absolutely must play this game. It is god tier.
Fun Fact - Yakuza director/producer directed Daytona USA.
I suppose the pragmatist in me says it's still hard to see it as a mainstream type game like with Final Fantasy, Halo, MGS, Mario in the west, but I love that this series has just as many games as those franchises do. It just goes to show how much the fans love the series. It's kind of like Survivor the TV series for me, those fans will keep watching.
For those who are undecided about Yakuza, pretty much all of the mainline games are
1. It's a part virtual tourist game where you get to visit Japan (at least for us non-Japanese players),
2. Part brawler (like Streets of Rage)
3. Part crime drama (the story telling keeps getting better and better with each entry)
4. Part mini game collection (Bowling, Darts, Golf, Batting Cage, Karaoke, mahjong, shogi, arcade games and lots of other games etc)
It's an open world game, in that its not corridor based, between missions, you can visit shops, eat, buy goods, do mini games, do side quests. During missions, you get some story beats and most of the time you're asked to beat up minions and the boss. You can level up your main character and get new moves. One of the cool things when the first game came out was that you could pick up any prop off the street, be it a bike or street furniture or whatever and use it to pummel your opponents. You also have a heat gauge that when you fill up unleash devastating moves like stomping on someone's face complete with slow mo.
The Virtual tourist aspect is pretty cool too, the main area that appears in pretty much every game is Kamurocho modelled after Kabuki-cho in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Everything here feels incredibly life like. Game was amazing back in the PS2 days. Now there's just a lot more detail with everything. Walk into a convenience store and you'll see all the individual boxes, cans, drinks modelled beautifully. You can even go to the magazine rack and read comics and magazines. I do wish I could walk around and buy goods in most stores instead of selecting it from a list, though I get that a list is a lot easier.
The story in each mainline entry is what's different every time. There's a lot of questions in regards to where to start for a new player. Btw OP, you didn't even answer your own question
. My answer is - if you have lots of time to invest, have all the hardware and you already know you want to play all of them and care about the story, start from the beginning Y1. Each mainline entry has a new story but with a lot of returning characters (though not every character). If you want the most complete experience play them all. If you are most interested in the gameplay, most of the games are largely the same gameplay wise (beat some dudes), so you could play the latest one first (either Y4 or Y5) and see if you like the game before going back and play the others. If time is really of the essence, then play Y5. Y4 is a terrific entry point into the series because its the first time in the series the player gets to use multiple characters (one at a time of course), and three of the four characters make a return in Y5. If you start with Y5, know that it has five "cities/areas" available, while most of the others have one or two areas available so it may feel a lot smaller in scope. The dev team spent twice as long on Y5 as the other games. If you like mini games - you absolutely must play this game. It is god tier.
Fun Fact - Yakuza director/producer directed Daytona USA.
TheRazielim
Member
firehawk12
Subete no aware
The Patrick's guide, which was written for people playing Japanese, still works fairly well for the game. It's just that you'll have to pay attention to the missing sidequests and minigames.
Would it just be thousands of words on the history of Versus III and Crystalis Novalis or whatever the thing was originally called? lolGreat thread and quite obvious the series needs it with 0, 5 and 6 all in the spotlight at once.
Haha, I've always toyed with the idea of making a thread like this!
I imagine a thread like this for FF closer to FFXV's release would also be useful.
It's funny, I think it was one of the last PS2 games released. I remember picking it up for relatively cheap as well.Got it for $20 new when no one cared.
kuroneko0509
Member
I love any Yakuza thread on GAF, good job OP. I have no doubt there are many aspects of Yakuza that would appeal to gaffers and despite the number of new threads and new followers lately, its still criminally underrated.
I suppose the pragmatist in me says it's still hard to see it as a mainstream type game like with Final Fantasy, Halo, MGS, Mario in the west, but I love that this series has just as many games as those franchises do. It just goes to show how much the fans love the series. It's kind of like Survivor the TV series for me, those fans will keep watching.
For those who are undecided about Yakuza, pretty much all of the mainline games are
1. It's a part virtual tourist game where you get to visit Japan (at least for us non-Japanese players),
2. Part brawler (like Streets of Rage)
3. Part crime drama (the story telling keeps getting better and better with each entry)
4. Part mini game collection (Bowling, Darts, Golf, Batting Cage, Karaoke, mahjong, shogi, arcade games and lots of other games etc)
It's an open world game, in that its not corridor based, between missions, you can visit shops, eat, buy goods, do mini games, do side quests. During missions, you get some story beats and most of the time you're asked to beat up minions and the boss. You can level up your main character and get new moves. One of the cool things when the first game came out was that you could pick up any prop off the street, be it a bike or street furniture or whatever and use it to pummel your opponents. You also have a heat gauge that when you fill up unleash devastating moves like stomping on someone's face complete with slow mo.
The Virtual tourist aspect is pretty cool too, the main area that appears in pretty much every game is Kamurocho modelled after Kabuki-cho in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Everything here feels incredibly life like. Game was amazing back in the PS2 days. Now there's just a lot more detail with everything. Walk into a convenience store and you'll see all the individual boxes, cans, drinks modelled beautifully. You can even go to the magazine rack and read comics and magazines. I do wish I could walk around and buy goods in most stores instead of selecting it from a list, though I get that a list is a lot easier.
The story in each mainline entry is what's different every time. There's a lot of questions in regards to which one to play for. Btw OP, you didn't even answer your own question
If you like mini games - you absolutely must play this game. It is god tier.
Fun Fact - Yakuza director/producer directed Daytona USA.
Not just Daytona, but it's basically the Amusement Vision department of Sega (now repurposed into the Ryu ga Gotoku studio). So that also means Nagoshi was included charge of hits like Super Monkey Ball and F Zero GX/AX and whatnot.
Son Of Sparda
Member
You are very welcome. And yeah, my advice would be to start with Zero if you are not sure about the PS3 titles.
I have actually finished both Kenzan and Ishin. The actual stories of those games don't have anything to do with the cast and storyline of the main series. Gameplay wise they are still Yakuza titles with their own twists but when it comes to story they have nothing to do with mainline Yakuza titles whatsoever.
They are just historical games featuring the cast from Yakuza.
Yeah Y2 is a huge favourite (at least among the fans here) and it makes sense for them to remake the last non-HD game. And I'm guessing they'll keep remaking Y3, 4, 5 too seeing as it will be far enough down the line that not many people will have their PS3's out still.
Remaking Y2 also gives them a bit more breathing room to do Y7.
Haha yes, and those too!
Somebody tell Nagoshi to put Daytona (and make it online) (or Super Monkey Ball) in Yakuza!
Son Of Sparda
Member
Got Yakuza 4 from PS+ and never played it, but all the hype around Yakuza 5, 0 and the 6 trailer has convinced me to start it up tonight. Never played one before, but I always wanted to try them after loving Binary Domain a few years ago (same creator and team, right?). No idea what to expect beyond giant back tattoos and street brawling, but I'm looking forward to it
Yes.
Yakuza 4 starts things off with the best character in the series (IMO). Hope you like it
kuroneko0509
Member
Both Kenzan/Ishin are spin-off that use the Yazuka characters as virtual actors. So they take their likeness and voices but are totally different people from the mainline games. IE Ishin is about the Shinsengumi era and Kiryus likeness is used to portray Sakamoto Ryoma/ Hajime Saito of the Shinsengumi. So it's basically radical take with RGG gameplay on Japanese history. Kenzan was the same way with Kiryus likeness being used to portray the legendary Miyamoto Musashi.
I managed to find a disc of Yakuza 1 (along with a much of old PS1 JRPGs). No box or cover, just the disc. Had a lot of fun but now I'm wondering if I can just skip to 4 (which I had before, was on the backlog) or should I wait and buy 2 & 3. I know about the movies but I'd feel bad about skipping 2 & 3...
Kwansu Dudes
Member
I started from 4 and pre-ordered 5. Game is really good if you enjoy Yakuza/gangster crime stories with good combat, lots of side stuff and your usual japanese wackiness.
The only downside that really isn't a downside is that you'll have to read subtitles but that shouldn't be an issue.
Thanks for making the guide.
The only downside that really isn't a downside is that you'll have to read subtitles but that shouldn't be an issue.
Thanks for making the guide.
2 is the best in the series, but it's also super expensive as has been mentioned here. I could totally see skipping right to 4 onward and picking up 2+3 if they do end up remaking and localizing 2. It's the best game in the series, but it is expensive right now.
If people want to experience Yakuza but maybe find jumping into the main series continually building lore a bit daunting I'd highly recommend importing Ishin. It is probably my favorite game in the series and looks and runs beautifully on PS4 with a great self contained story and kick ass combat. KHH Subs have an incredibly detailed guide that make navigating the game straightforward and helps break down whats happening, where to go and contextual stuff English players might miss.
Sony really missed a beat by not having a localized Ishin as a PS4 launch window title. Would have filled out a lackluster line-up and got some eyeballs on the series again.
Sony really missed a beat by not having a localized Ishin as a PS4 launch window title. Would have filled out a lackluster line-up and got some eyeballs on the series again.
Son Of Sparda
Member
Skip to 4. If you liked it then play 5 (or do 3 then go for 5).
Perfect Cha0s
Member
My best advice to anyone looking to dive into these games is to not feel rushed to do the main story content. The mini games and side quests are great fun (and abundant!), and the writing is usually hilarious.
Jawmuncher
Member
Shame Nintendo didn't get treehouse to localize the yakuza 1&2 HD for wiiu.
The internal Sega team localizing the series has done an amazing job and I wouldn't want to see them taken off at this point. 1 needs a release with Japanese audio and english text, but I don't think 1 or 2 need to be completely re-localized.
HyperBitHero
Member
I made a video on the series about a year ago. I go over every entry in the series, including the japanese titles, in a sort of string of mini reviews of the whole series and explaining the appeal and why the series is so awesome and more people should play them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkN9oru-qCQ
It is my own sort of "started guide" and I'm sure a lot of people will find it useful to get a real look at the games in detail.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkN9oru-qCQ
It is my own sort of "started guide" and I'm sure a lot of people will find it useful to get a real look at the games in detail.
Nightengale
Member
1&2 HD bombed in Japan.
potatohead
Member
I need that god damn Yakuza Kiwami in my veins right now...
Should've only been PS3 anyway since all the fans were on PS consoles..... maybe it would've had a chance coming West like that too.
Nightengale
Member
Well, they probably wanted to figure out how to expand the market.
Western market didn't give a shit about Yakuza, so they didn't localise any of them post-DS until Sony drops fat cash on their faces.
1&2 HD was probably an experiment to see how much of an audience is there on Nintendo platforms, and apparently the performance of that game was enough for them to forfeit that idea.
So they tend tried to localise in Chinese and Korean, and unlike westerners and Nintendo owners in Japan, Asia wanted Yakuza.
potatohead
Member
I know I'm just sad that even owning a PS3 and WiiU there's no English/Western release of the HD editions....
I guess my only option is the Asian PS3 one? I forget which one now.
Just something I want to add to my Yakuza games collection, preferably would've been a Western release though.
At least we are getting this remake though that will hopefully make it here.
Warms the cockles of my heart to see so many Ryu Ga Gotoku threads (and have so much news!) recently.
I own all the games except Kenzen, which I sold after finishing -with the hopes of getting a digital version; and 0, which I sold last week after the English version was announced.
Just want to say that I played Kenzen with thePatrick's guide and had a great time. I'd definitely recommend both it and Ishin (I'm currently playing with KHH Subs) for anyone on the fence. I don't usually enjoy using guides, but Kenzen and Ishin guides are great and make the games very playable in my opinion. Just wish someone would take on the PSP games as well.
I own all the games except Kenzen, which I sold after finishing -with the hopes of getting a digital version; and 0, which I sold last week after the English version was announced.
Just want to say that I played Kenzen with thePatrick's guide and had a great time. I'd definitely recommend both it and Ishin (I'm currently playing with KHH Subs) for anyone on the fence. I don't usually enjoy using guides, but Kenzen and Ishin guides are great and make the games very playable in my opinion. Just wish someone would take on the PSP games as well.
mistuhcahlos
Member
This answered all of my questions. I'll start at Y4.
I started with Yakuza 3. It took a little bit of effort to get into it, but I went on to love it. Bought 4, couldn't get into it, revisited it digitally via PS+, and went on to love it, too. Pre-ordered 5 to show my support. I've only played the intro bit -- I've got other games I'm working on -- but I'm sure it's going to be great. Excellent series. Not much I don't like about it really.
I started with Yakuza 2 and have hooked on the series ever since. Yakuza 4 is my favorite in the series, mostly due to Shun Akiyama's character as well as the natural progression of introducing more playable characters other than Kiryu. Ryuji Goda from Yakuza 2 is still the series best villain, plus Yakuza 2 has tiger punching, so who can hate that!?!