As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/
Options
[Yakuza] & [Judgment] Thread. Yakuza 7 out and great. Now an RPG.
vagrant_winds
Overworked Mysterious Eldritch Horror Hunter XXRegistered User regular
Overworked Mysterious Eldritch Horror Hunter XXRegistered User regular
I never updated the OP for Judgement or Yakuza 7. But they're rad. Someone who's not lazy can do a new thread and I wouldn't mind.
---
Welcome to the brand new and updated Yakuza thread. And welcome to any and all newcomers. Yes, you can start with 0. Yes, it's a prequel band the start of the overall story. And welcome to the best damn video game series that Sega has ever released. It's about damn time you joined us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLD74kWXUKE
Trailers:
But don't just take our word for it:
Metacritic: 85 (Your one-stop review shop.)
The Jimquisition - 9.5/10 (Good review from newbie to the series.)
Polygon - 8/10
Eurogame - Recommended
Hell, even The Verge wrote about its praises.+
Yakuza 0 sets the stage for the entire series, taking place in December of 1988 during the decade of overindulgence where money flew. Here we see the beginnings of series lead Kazuma Kiryu and series rotating foil and ally Goro Majima in their early days as you play through a narrative that switches back and forth between their two cities and trials. For newcomers, it's the perfect introduction. For veterans, it's just another fantastic new game in the series we've all been in love with for over a decade.
For the uninitiated that still have their pinkies attached, the Yakuza series is the spiritual successor to Shenmue, mixed with the most brutal and visceral Streets of Rage style combat in 3D, taking place in huge city sets with ridiculous amounts of content and mini-games, set to the tune of over the top dramatic soap opera worthy Yakuza drama. Hostess will be dated. Tigers will be punched in the face. Armed gunman will be taken out with every single incidental weapon available as if you're in a Jackie Chan movie, only more painful and brutal. Manly friendships will be vindicated over sweat and blood. And men will scream about honor while shirtless fighting on the tallest roof in the city.
But the series is also filled to the brim with delightful humor. Outside the main story with its over the top drama and, main characters you want to cheer for, and truly detestable villains you love to hate... the series has some of the weirdest and wackiest sidequets and side stories you'll see in a video game series. Prepare to laugh as often as you cheer.
It's even been well reviewed by actual Yakuza.
Welcome to Like a Dragon. Enjoy your stay.
---
Welcome to the brand new and updated Yakuza thread. And welcome to any and all newcomers. Yes, you can start with 0. Yes, it's a prequel band the start of the overall story. And welcome to the best damn video game series that Sega has ever released. It's about damn time you joined us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLD74kWXUKETrailers:
E3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNF5olx8Pi4
Kiryu:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGYQVblzl_Y
Majima:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1G7WCTy_g8
Battle Styles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZtj7D-sVcE
Story (Japanese Trailer):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbIRWpfRaC8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNF5olx8Pi4Kiryu:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGYQVblzl_YMajima:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1G7WCTy_g8Battle Styles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZtj7D-sVcEStory (Japanese Trailer):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbIRWpfRaC8But don't just take our word for it:
Metacritic: 85 (Your one-stop review shop.)
The Jimquisition - 9.5/10 (Good review from newbie to the series.)
If Yakuza‘s always been this magnificent, I’ve got a lot of catching up to do and a lot of “friends” to chew out for not recommending it to me sooner.
Polygon - 8/10
I wasn't expecting to leave Yakuza 0 with a deep emotional connection to a character who shrieks and beats people with a baseball bat.
Eurogame - Recommended
Yakuza's greatest asset is its heart. Its tough side is counterbalanced by a disarming tenderness: its side quests are almost exclusively about helping others in need, and its narrative focuses on the honour of fighting for the people you love and the causes you believe in. And when action rather than compassion is required, it provides the context to let you break faces without feeling too guilty about it - pitting you against a bunch of hateful bastards, piling on even more reasons to hate them, and then letting you enjoy delivering justice in cathartically brutal fashion.
Hell, even The Verge wrote about its praises.+
The Verge wrote:They don’t make games like this anymore
Yakuza 0 sets the stage for the entire series, taking place in December of 1988 during the decade of overindulgence where money flew. Here we see the beginnings of series lead Kazuma Kiryu and series rotating foil and ally Goro Majima in their early days as you play through a narrative that switches back and forth between their two cities and trials. For newcomers, it's the perfect introduction. For veterans, it's just another fantastic new game in the series we've all been in love with for over a decade.
For the uninitiated that still have their pinkies attached, the Yakuza series is the spiritual successor to Shenmue, mixed with the most brutal and visceral Streets of Rage style combat in 3D, taking place in huge city sets with ridiculous amounts of content and mini-games, set to the tune of over the top dramatic soap opera worthy Yakuza drama. Hostess will be dated. Tigers will be punched in the face. Armed gunman will be taken out with every single incidental weapon available as if you're in a Jackie Chan movie, only more painful and brutal. Manly friendships will be vindicated over sweat and blood. And men will scream about honor while shirtless fighting on the tallest roof in the city.
But the series is also filled to the brim with delightful humor. Outside the main story with its over the top drama and, main characters you want to cheer for, and truly detestable villains you love to hate... the series has some of the weirdest and wackiest sidequets and side stories you'll see in a video game series. Prepare to laugh as often as you cheer.
It's even been well reviewed by actual Yakuza.
Welcome to Like a Dragon. Enjoy your stay.
// Steam: VWinds // PSN: vagrant_winds //
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
vagrant_winds on
+6
Posts
Did you enjoy Zero? Yakuza Kiwami comes out later this summer, a ground-up full remake of the origional Yakuza 1 for PS4 with all the gameplay improvements from the modern entries of the series (combat styles, etc) and loads of brand new content.
Then for us series veterans, Yakuza 6, the epic finale of the Kazuma Kiryu storyline comes out next year.
For newcomers, if you want to continue the series we recommend you play every single one of them because they're all great... but, every game has extensive (optional) recaps of every single game that came before them.
1-3 star Kiryu himself. 4-6 (and 0) turn into ensemble cast affairs with each character having different fighting styles and sidequests of their own.
--
As for spinoffs, they're all untranslated outside of Yakuza: Dead Souls/of the Dead, the hilarious third-person zombie shooter.
If you're crazy and wanted to import and play the unlocalized but fantastic historical samurai spinoffs of the series, there's translated cut-scenes, story synopses, and walkthroughs for them.
Kenzan (PS3)
Ishin (PS4/PS3)
The PSP games, which star a different protagonst, are being fan translated and won't be released anytime soon. However, they have a Japanese TV series adaption you can watch that's actually pretty good. Search for Yakuza: Black Panther if you're interested.
--
And with that, I leave you with the best (Majima) scene from the Yakuza (1) movie adaption.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
Time to dust off Dead Souls and finally play more than an hour of it.
And now that I've calmed down, here's a GIF of you melee'ing a bear in the nuts with the butt of your rifle in Yakuza 5.
Oh, and have some taxi races too.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
This IS the one where you can drift race taxis, hunt bears in the snow, and dance/sing in idol competitions, right?
edit: Guess so!
Fantastic news either way.
Clearing space on my 80 gig hard drive will be difficult
Fuck that. I will buy this and leave my PS3 on for the fucking, like, three days it'll take to download the whole thing. Don't even care.
I do have a BC PS3, so I can play the first five just fine, but I was still hoping for a more future-proof solution. I was also hoping they'd release Yakuza 1 and 2 HD; I've got both games on PS2 on the cheap, still haven't finished the first or started the second.
My point is this news isn't immediately relevant for me personally, since I still have Yakuza 1-4 to play through.
Blog||Tumblr|Steam|Twitter|FFXIV|Twitch|YouTube|Podcast|PSN|XBL|DarkZero
I have no space on my PS3.
Switch (JeffConser): SW-3353-5433-5137 Wii U: Skeldare - 3DS: 1848-1663-9345
PM Me if you add me!
Shitty Tumblr:lighthouse1138.tumblr.com
This seems to be what Sega is doing with their niche titles in the West. Honestly, if it means we get these releases at all I say do it.
Probably not. The entire series is technically on the PS3 in Japan (thanks to the HD versions of 1 and 2) and not a one of them has been ported to PS4 (or even stated to be) over there where it would happen first by about two years. After a few games release on PS4 (they did do Ishin on it, at least) from them, they /might/ look to port the series, but it's doubtful. And it'd be years down the road. And we'd have to fight for localization because Sega.
Also, as someone who loves Yakuza and Sleeping Dogs, they are very much different beasts. Yakuza is way more story-focused, but the battle systems share a few similarities, including context-sensitive special moves/finishers (HEAT moves in Yakuza and Sleeping Dogs' environmental attacks) and an array of weapons that can be picked up and used. Yakuza has more of a solid, visceral feel compared to Sleeping Dogs' more freeform, counter-focused style.
If you're really interested, track down a copy of 3 or 4 (4 is all-around better, but 3 features Kazuma fully, who you'll want to get acquainted with), go through the backstory in the theater from the main menu (it's /long/ though, be warned) and give it a whirl. It's a hell of a ride.
I was about to track down the 'Yakuza 3 Reviewed by 3 Yakuza' article, but it's already in the OP. Good job! It's a fascinating read!
I thought that was Wii U only?
If you played it by any chance, Akiba's Trip is the closest thing I can compare it to.
Blog||Tumblr|Steam|Twitter|FFXIV|Twitch|YouTube|Podcast|PSN|XBL|DarkZero
Nope. Released for PS3 first in November of 2012, hit Wii U in August of 2013.
The PS3 version of the HD collection did decently in Japan.
The WiiU version bombed hard. Like... wow. It sold slightly above zero copies.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
Yet I still remember a bunch of Nintendo fans getting carried away at the thought of the entire series switching over to Nintendo, as well as a number of current fans panicking at the idea of having to switch systems.
Personally, it struck me as one of those typical "experiments" that almost never pays off.
The install sequence for Yakuza 4 was pretty great, and the Yakuza 5 install sequence is better. It's kind of like a looping tv show intro.
It does a great job showing off the improved lighting tech in Y5 compared to Y4.
Here's the Y4 sequence for comparison:
I have to admit I like the cheesy rock in the Y4 video.
Blog||Tumblr|Steam|Twitter|FFXIV|Twitch|YouTube|Podcast|PSN|XBL|DarkZero
Always consider the latest localized Yakuza game to be the last Yakuza game we'll get.
Blog||Tumblr|Steam|Twitter|FFXIV|Twitch|YouTube|Podcast|PSN|XBL|DarkZero
Hmm... not sure if I'm interested in a prequel. And really, the less Majima the better. He's lost most of his charm.
We have checked this claim and found your opinion to be factually incorrect. Majima is one of the very best things about the Yakuza/Ryū ga Gotoku series.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
Maybe we'll get lucky and get this sometime?
There are no words to eloquently state how much I want this.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
Young Kaz and young Majima in 80's Kamurocho? I've gotta have it. I'll import and stumble through it blind and clueless if I have to.
So, medium chance. For once, it might actually depend on how it sells.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
Also 100% Yakuza 2... I had a system for that ultimate challenge batting cage mission.
I have that movie above fer crying out loud.
Overall, the game felt really polished. There were a lot of small improvements over 4 (I haven't played Ishin). The one exception would be the combat system, which I think is seriously in danger of collapsing under its own weight as they keep adding things to it. You'll spend a fair amount of time holding down the L2 button, which isn't very comfortable. The Another Drama missions were all really fun and interesting (although Haruna's did get a little repetitive).
The 100% trophy is probably easier to get than it's ever been. The difficulty for billiards, darts, and the batting center have been significantly lowered. Some of them are not all all difficulty but will take a fair amount of time. The arena is probably the worst in this regard; it takes about 30 matches to unlock the top tier fights and you have to do it with each character. The variation on the UFO catcher will probably be the most frustrating minigame, even if it is just a matter of time before you get it. Oh, and they added items that lower your health/sober you up so it's easier to order everything (at least I think those are new).
The only really downside is the story, especially towards the end. Now, I don't plots from this series to be at all realistic, but there were some real eye-rolling moments for me as implausible twists followed one after another. A cursory look around online found a lot of Japanese gamers feeling the same. I'd say it was the worst story of the five games, but I don't remember the specifics of 3 all that well, so that may have been worse.