Yakuza 2...anyone?

bluecrabfive

Well, release of the game in the States is only a couple of weeks away but doesn't look to anticipated by most. Being on the PS2 and the first one selling poorly probably have a good bit to do with that though.

Personally, I loved the first one, played through it a couple of times which is rarity for me to say the least. Brought back good memories of Shenmue but I liked that the action was quite a bit more frequent then those tended to be. The story was good and I didn't think the voice acting was that bad either.

I wished it had more arcade game stuff like Shenmue, instead of just the batting cage, which while fun got a bit old after awhile. This is supposed to be just subbed instead of dubbed also.

Anybody looking forward to this beside me?

BigDes

Hell yeah. Yakuza 2 looks aces.

muninn

Cant wait. What I really loved about the game, besides great story and characters, was the setting. Which is why I am not too keen on the third installment, which looks more like a standard samurai RPG.
What is the realease date of Yakuza 2?

PunkBoy

Yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to this game. It's a shame that there's no English dub. There were some big names for the voice actors.

Sigh, this makes me wish for a new Shenmue.

bluecrabfive

The game is set to release on September 9th. Kind of weird that it didn't come out sooner as it has been out in Japan for a couple of years and its not dubbed or anything.

Haven't really seen much on Yakuza 3 but if it is set in the feudal Japan, than its probably based on the original orgin of the Yakuza. Could be cool I guess. At least it would be different that Dynasty/Samurai Warriors Xtreme part #102!

BigDes

I just hope you can still ram someones head into a wall, hit them with an oversized traffic cone and set fire to them.

Diarmuid

Hmm, I read somewhere that Yakuza 3 isn't Yakuza 3 at all, merely a spin-off, and there's another modern day Yakuza game in the works.
I've been looking forward to Yakuza 2 for a while now, really enjoyed the first game.

slash000

Also, this is only going to be $30, so it won't break the bank to buy it, either.

bluecrabfive

BigDes wrote: »

I just hope you can still ram someones head into a wall, hit them with an oversized traffic cone and set fire to them.

Ha! Yeah, the Heat battle mechanic and the weapons definitely put what could have been a stale brawler into a fun one. What I have read is that the meat of the game is essentially unchanged from the first, so I'm sure the fighting is pretty much the same.

Article (Play magazine a couple of months ago) also mentioned more mini games but not what they were. I hope you can explore and interact with things a little bit more than the first one. I would love to be able to collect trinkets like they did in Shenmue with the capsule toys and lottery!

Rex Dart

I loved the first Yakuza. It had fun gameplay, a great setting and a fantastic story. In some ways, I don't think the gameplay really matched the story, in that the combat was occasionally quite silly and reminded me quite a bit of Sega's old Dynamite Cop/Deka 3D beat-em-ups. Yet the random nature of the combat, combined with the incredibly lame excuses people had for picking fights with you ("Walking around like you're the shit... We'll teach you some respect!"), only added to the charm of the game. My favorite slow-motion fight finisher was throwing a bicycle at someone's face from across the street.

And actually, the third game in the Yakuza series, the one set in feudal Japan, is actually a spin-off rather than the true Yakuza 3. The third game in the main storyline was recently announced, however, for the PS3.

If more people had played this game, the "Sega hasn't made a good game since the Dreamcast" meme might be a little less common.

randombattle

Isn't this the Yakuza game where you fight a bear?

PunkBoy

I think I someone here mentioned that a while ago.

If I can dropkick a bear, then I'll be happy. I loved doing the dropkick in 1.

Also, I'm pretty sure Yakuza ranks up there for most amount of F-bombs dropped in the game.

muninn

Rex Dart wrote: »

I loved the first Yakuza. It had fun gameplay, a great setting and a fantastic story. In some ways, I don't think the gameplay really matched the story, in that the combat was occasionally quite silly and reminded me quite a bit of Sega's old Dynamite Cop/Deka 3D beat-em-ups. Yet the random nature of the combat, combined with the incredibly lame excuses people had for picking fights with you ("Walking around like you're the shit... We'll teach you some respect!"), only added to the charm of the game. My favorite slow-motion fight finisher was throwing a bicycle at someone's face from across the street.

And actually, the third game in the Yakuza series, the one set in feudal Japan, is actually a spin-off rather than the true Yakuza 3. The third game in the main storyline was recently announced, however, for the PS3.

If more people had played this game, the "Sega hasn't made a good game since the Dreamcast" meme might be a little less common.

Oh man, it would be fantastic if the PS3 Yakuza came to US. Chillin' in the japanese high class bars in Hi-Def would be so awesome.

PunkBoy

muninn wrote: »

Rex Dart wrote: »

I loved the first Yakuza. It had fun gameplay, a great setting and a fantastic story. In some ways, I don't think the gameplay really matched the story, in that the combat was occasionally quite silly and reminded me quite a bit of Sega's old Dynamite Cop/Deka 3D beat-em-ups. Yet the random nature of the combat, combined with the incredibly lame excuses people had for picking fights with you ("Walking around like you're the shit... We'll teach you some respect!"), only added to the charm of the game. My favorite slow-motion fight finisher was throwing a bicycle at someone's face from across the street.

And actually, the third game in the Yakuza series, the one set in feudal Japan, is actually a spin-off rather than the true Yakuza 3. The third game in the main storyline was recently announced, however, for the PS3.

If more people had played this game, the "Sega hasn't made a good game since the Dreamcast" meme might be a little less common.

Oh man, it would be fantastic if the PS3 Yakuza came to US. Chillin' in the japanese high class bars in Hi-Def would be so awesome.

I am excited about the spin off, though. Exploring feudal Japan, hitting on geishas. Reminds me of Way of the Samurai (which I heard was also fun).

randombattle

PunkBoy wrote: »

muninn wrote: »

Rex Dart wrote: »

I loved the first Yakuza. It had fun gameplay, a great setting and a fantastic story. In some ways, I don't think the gameplay really matched the story, in that the combat was occasionally quite silly and reminded me quite a bit of Sega's old Dynamite Cop/Deka 3D beat-em-ups. Yet the random nature of the combat, combined with the incredibly lame excuses people had for picking fights with you ("Walking around like you're the shit... We'll teach you some respect!"), only added to the charm of the game. My favorite slow-motion fight finisher was throwing a bicycle at someone's face from across the street.

And actually, the third game in the Yakuza series, the one set in feudal Japan, is actually a spin-off rather than the true Yakuza 3. The third game in the main storyline was recently announced, however, for the PS3.

If more people had played this game, the "Sega hasn't made a good game since the Dreamcast" meme might be a little less common.

Oh man, it would be fantastic if the PS3 Yakuza came to US. Chillin' in the japanese high class bars in Hi-Def would be so awesome.

I am excited about the spin off, though. Exploring feudal Japan, hitting on geishas. Reminds me of Way of the Samurai (which I heard was also fun).

You heard right.

bluecrabfive

PunkBoy wrote: »

I think I someone here mentioned that a while ago.

If I can dropkick a bear, then I'll be happy. I loved doing the dropkick in 1.

Also, I'm pretty sure Yakuza ranks up there for most amount of F-bombs dropped in the game.

Yeah, it was pretty over that top as far as quantity of profanity goes, almost Deadwood style, seemingly every third word was an F-bomb. Didn't bother me at but probably didn't fit the setting entirely; I know of some that thought it was trying way to hard to be *hard* on that front.

PunkBoy

randombattle wrote: »

PunkBoy wrote: »

muninn wrote: »

Rex Dart wrote: »

I loved the first Yakuza. It had fun gameplay, a great setting and a fantastic story. In some ways, I don't think the gameplay really matched the story, in that the combat was occasionally quite silly and reminded me quite a bit of Sega's old Dynamite Cop/Deka 3D beat-em-ups. Yet the random nature of the combat, combined with the incredibly lame excuses people had for picking fights with you ("Walking around like you're the shit... We'll teach you some respect!"), only added to the charm of the game. My favorite slow-motion fight finisher was throwing a bicycle at someone's face from across the street.

And actually, the third game in the Yakuza series, the one set in feudal Japan, is actually a spin-off rather than the true Yakuza 3. The third game in the main storyline was recently announced, however, for the PS3.

If more people had played this game, the "Sega hasn't made a good game since the Dreamcast" meme might be a little less common.

Oh man, it would be fantastic if the PS3 Yakuza came to US. Chillin' in the japanese high class bars in Hi-Def would be so awesome.

I am excited about the spin off, though. Exploring feudal Japan, hitting on geishas. Reminds me of Way of the Samurai (which I heard was also fun).

You heard right.

There was an excellent LP of one of the games (maybe 2) on Something Awful, that went through all the different paths with different characters. It ended with the heartwarming story of an African-American wanderer with an afro protecting a little girl. I loved that LP.

IceBurner

Friend of mine is into this. Describes it as very Shenmue (has the same creator if I'm not mistaken). We're both pretty sure that after Yakuza's disappointing sales, Yakuza 2 is only getting released because Yakuza 3 is on its way.

bluecrabfive

IceBurner wrote: »

Friend of mine is into this. Describes it as very Shenmue (has the same creator if I'm not mistaken). We're both pretty sure that after Yakuza's disappointing sales, Yakuza 2 is only getting released because Yakuza 3 is on its way.

Similar looking, same engine for sure but the styles are quite a different. Shenmue had a very heavy emphasis on adventure-ish exploration and questioning the town folk, like the Ryo's infamous "Do you know where I can find any sailors?". You could go totally away from the story and goof off at the arcade, on your Saturn at home (once you won one in the lottery), play the lottery, gamble, buy capsule toys, etc.

On the other hand, Yakuza seemed to me to be alot of action focused on building up your characters beat down skills with frequent random encounters from street thugs. There was an arcade where you could play that damn claw game and the batting cage like I mentioned earlier. Also there are host bars where you could waste money on escort types but it really wasn't very deep either.

Yu Suzuki did produce and direct Shenmue I & II but did not do Yazuka though.

BigDes

Yeah, Shenmue was about Avenging Your Father's Death, Yakuza was about beating the shit out of people just 'cause.

Rex Dart

BigDes wrote: »

Yeah, Shenmue was about Avenging Your Father's Death, Yakuza was about beating the shit out of people just 'cause.

I don't agree exactly. Yakuza did have a serious storyline behind it, but the tone was completely different. In Yakuza, Kazuma takes the fall for a crime he didn't commit in order to protect his friend, goes to prison, has former friends trying to kill him once he gets out, etc. ... It's a story centered around organized crime.

Shenmue's story centers around 18 year old Ryo Hazuki, whose father is killed by the leader of a Chinese organized crime syndicate. Eventually the story evolves to focus on organized crime almost as much as Yakuza's story does, but the key difference (to me) is that Shenmue focuses on the perspective of Ryo, who, while a promising martial artist, is very naive, and gets ripped off or conned more than once in the course of the story. He's (almost) a complete 180 from the hardened criminal character of Kazuma.

The more noticeable difference between the two games is not the story, but the tone. Shenmue is very focused on realism, in nearly every aspect of its design. As such, there aren't any random battles as in Yakuza, and the combat is all based on hand-to-hand, or non-lethal weaponry (with a few QTE exceptions). In Yakuza, you can get guns and swords, and (as in other beat-em-ups), the weapons only do only slightly more damage than physical attacks.

muninn

BigDes wrote: »

Yeah, Shenmue was about Avenging Your Father's Death, Yakuza was about beating the shit out of people just 'cause.

Well the story to Yakuza was pretty cool, I thought. It was supposedly written by some highly regarded japanese crime novelist. And I found the exploration to be pretty intrinsic to the game... there was a lot of cool stores and clubs and shit you could find if you looked around, with their little sub-plots and stories.

I played the demo of Yakuza3 and it didnt leave a fovrable impression on my. It seemed a bit bland....
But the head stomp move is still there so I am sure it cant be all that bad

geestack

Like others, I'm really hyped up for this game, even if it took like 2 years to get here. Here's hoping it does well enough to warrant the PS3 games to be released out here as well cause I definitely want to head out and drink with some cabaret girls in HD.

Aristophanes

I'm really pumped for this game too. I really liked the first game, and wanted more after this, so Yakuza 2 will be a must buy for me. Too bad Yakuza 3 is only on the PS3, cause it's still too expensive for me to warrent purchasing for Yakuza 3 alone.

Zombiemambo

I didn't play the original but organized crime is awesome and I want to be a part of it.


You never heard that. For the sake of your kneecaps, you never heard that.

PunkBoy

Holy shit, I'm playing through 1 again, and I pick up a pair of pliers in a street fight. Kazuma then proceeds to clip off the finger of an enemy as a special weapon finisher.

That was a great "What the fuck?!" moment.

Silpheed

Since this thread is filled with Yakuza players I might as well drop a few questions about it.

Do I ever get to change Kazuma's clothes or am I stuck with his standard suit?

What stats should I focus on in the beginning?

What's the point with the hostess bar? Does it unlock stuff once you butter up the hostesses enough, or what?

PunkBoy

Silpheed wrote: »

Since this thread is filled with Yakuza players I might as well drop a few questions about it.

Do I ever get to change Kazuma's clothes or am I stuck with his standard suit?

What stats should I focus on in the beginning?

What's the point with the hostess bar? Does it unlock stuff once you butter up the hostesses enough, or what?

There are certain points when your costume changes, but I don't think you can change it on your own.

I like to keep the stats even. It works for me.

I don't think there's a point to the hostess bar. It's just a side thing, I think.

Also, I forgot how badass Kazuma is.

geestack

Anyone pick this up yet? Got it on Thursday and haven't put it down yet. Feels like they improved the combat a lot in that the camera is now placed a little farther away from the action so you can see it. Plus, it's also fully rotatable, not sure if that was in the first one as I haven't played the first one in a while. It's a lot of fun and the story is as gripping as the first. Hopefully more people pick this one up so we have some chance of seeing the PS3 versions over here.

revolutionary bean

Got it pre-ordered from Play Asia... should be arriving at my door step on the 20th or so.

Btw, I've got a feeling that I'm gonna enjoy this game more than Fallout 3 when it comes out. Hopefully my premonition does not come true.

PunkBoy

Still playing Yakuza 1, but I'm planning on picking up 2 along with Force Unleashed.

"I had the urge to hit some balls today...I guess yours will have to do."

Kazuma is so awesome.

Rust

The original Yakuza had one of the absolute worst endgames I've ever played in the comparison to the rest. Plot and writing went to the shitter, fights turned up everywhere, and I kept having to run around the city for some reason I can't quite remember. The rest of it wasn't that bad.

I'll probably pick up the second once the price drops, since I got the first for a song. The cinematography was pretty impressive and the game knew how to put you through the wringer gameplay-wise. Damn Amon Jou.

PunkBoy

I don't recall the endgame being horrible. It was a little out there, but I remember it being enjoyable overall.

Rust

PunkBoy wrote: »

I don't recall the endgame being horrible. It was a little out there, but I remember it being enjoyable overall.

A villain that had been built up for the whole game turned out to be a squeaky-voiced "bwa ha ha! mine is an evil laugh!" douchebag and badass Yakuza-man Kazuma was filled with the warm fluffies for a little girl. Disbelief was not suspended.

The gameplay issues are mostly my fault, because I remember there being some errands I insisted on running that ended up with every enemy in the city chasing me constantly.

l_g

Rust wrote: »

PunkBoy wrote: »

I don't recall the endgame being horrible. It was a little out there, but I remember it being enjoyable overall.

A villain that had been built up for the whole game turned out to be a squeaky-voiced "bwa ha ha! mine is an evil laugh!" douchebag and badass Yakuza-man Kazuma was filled with the warm fluffies for a little girl. Disbelief was not suspended.

The gameplay issues are mostly my fault, because I remember there being some errands I insisted on running that ended up with every enemy in the city chasing me constantly.

Yeah that evil guy sucked.

But I do remember that it was for that final mission that I spent all my money on shotguns, which combined with the bulletproof vest meant that that entire last section was just a rampage, so I don't have such bad memories about the playing of it.

PunkBoy

Oh yeah, the bad guy sucked, but I don't find it hard to believe that Kazuma would care for a little girl. He may be a badass, but he's not an asshole.

Besides, the girl

is the daughter of the woman he loved

.

PunkBoy

What...the...fuck. I just beat up a bunch of guys in diapers. o_O

Diarmuid

PunkBoy wrote: »

What...the...fuck. I just beat up a bunch of guys in diapers. o_O

The same thing happened in my game last night, it was surreal. It was also the toughest fight so far for me.
Busting peoples heads with the rattle was pretty cool though.

Steev

I just ordered this game a week ago or so after seeing it featured on the 1up Show. It looked like a lot of fun. I've never played the first one, though, but I have a feeling it won't matter much.

geestack

In the intro to the game, there's an option to recap the events of the first one, so you can do that if you've never played it.

PunkBoy

Just beat two. Really good ending. I liked it a lot better that the first. Also, we should discuss this:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/41289.html