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Yakuza Appreciation: Dead Souls Out Now! Some Yakuza 5 info!
Gilder
Aw snapMacaroni PartyRegistered User regular
Aw snapMacaroni PartyRegistered User regular
Welcome to Yakuza motherfucker. You are about to enter a game of phenomenal ass kicking. A game where you will stomp on the face of your enemies, kick when they’re down, and fight dozens of enemies at once and beating them so badly they have no choice but to pay you off. The best part? You never start shit. They do, and you don’t take that crap.
Yakuza 1 was released for the PS2 on September 15th, 2006 in both the US and Europe. It’s known as Ryuu ga Gotoku, or “Like a Dragon”, in Japan and was released on December 8th 2005.
The story follows Kazuma Kiryu, the "Dragon of Dojima", a famous Yakuza member of the Dojima Family. Kazuma is friends with a man named Nishiki and a woman named Yumi. As all three of them grew up in the same orphanage, they’re essentially a family. When a godfather of the Dojima Family kidnaps Yumi to have his way with her however, Nishiki kills the man and rescues Yumi. Killing your own boss is a serious crime though, and to protect his family Kazuma takes the blame when the police arrive. After 10 years in prison, much has changed. 10 billion yen, or around $100 million, has been stolen from a family known as the Tojo Clan. Nishiki is head of his own family and is no longer the same man Kazuma once knew. Yumi has also gone missing. Most importantly though a girl names Haruka has appeared, looking for her mother Mizuki. She has a pendant said to be worth 10 billion yen and… an aunt Yumi? It’s up to Kazuma to discover just what has happened to his family, and to protect Haruka from the other Yakuza groups.
What exactly is the game though? Yakuza is what one might call a spiritual successor to Shenmue. There are side-missions to complete, hostesses to date, UFO Catcher machines to play, even more side-missions to complete, and lots of thugs to beat up. However while it may feel like Shenmue at times, there are key differences. The first is that there’s no real timer to complete things by. The game is divided into 13 chapters, and those are your time limits for quests and such. Second, the game is a brawler at heart. The combat system isn’t too deep, but it’s not supposed to be. Random fights aren’t too hard, but bosses can prove to be a challenge. The fighting system though is awesome as fuck. When you hit enemies enough you go into Heat mode and can do special moves with the triangle button. This includes grabbing people and smashing them into walls and kicking them in the chest when they fall, stomping on people’s faces, picking up a neon sign and smashing it over their head, and more. It’s incredibly satisfying and except for two optional battles, which are fucking impossible, the difficulty is perfect. It’s never too hard to be frustrating, but later mobs can be just hard enough that you can’t let down your guard.
Problems with the game: The lock-on for enemies can be really bad at times. If an enemy dodges you don’t re-adjust to look at them. This is very bad in harder fights.
The load times suck balls. They’re very long for random mobs when they don’t need to be. However the fights are so satisfying that you get over them quickly.
Batting cages. Suck a dick Sega.
Pros: Everything else. This game is fucking amazing, that’s why I made a thread about it. The best part for you? Nobody bought this game so it’s really cheap. It shouldn’t run more than $20 at a game store near you.
Note: The US boxart is ass. See the above image for Yakuza 1? It’s that picture, but his head is turned and it’s in black and white.
Oh shit son, there’s a sequel. Released in Japan on December 7th 2006, September 9th 2008 in the US and the 19th in Europe, Yakuza 2 is a face-rocker.
To avoid spoiling the story for Yakuza 1, here’s the short version of the story for Yakuza 2: Some time has passed and Kazuma is finally getting some peace and quiet. However tension is running high between the Tojo Clan and the Omi Family. If a war breaks out then it won’t be good for anyone. Kazuma is asked to help with the negotiations, but it’s not so simple. There’s a new threat towards a peaceful negotiation on the horizon: The Dragon of Kansai. Could a foreign power also be trying to spark a war?
Alright you fuckers listen up. Yakuza 1? Fuck that game, throw it in the trash. Yakuza 2 is all that game and more. 6 girls not enough for you? How about 10? Want to be a male host? Sure. UFO Catchers, batting cages, golf? It’s in too. Can you actually play Mahjong or Shogi? Well then you’re in luck too because they even included those. That’s right, you can play Shogi or Mahjong. Riichi motherfucker.
What about the battle system? The battle system has also improved greatly. Remember those special Heat actions? They’re back and better than ever. Want to throw a guy off a bridge? How about throw them into a glass display case for pastries? You can even punch a metal chandelier until your fists break it and it falls down to crush 5 yakuza goons. Don’t fuck with Kazuma.
In addition to the first city of Yakuza 1, Yakuza 2 also has you go to Japan’s southern equivalent for a whole new area. It’s not too big, but it’s a nice change of pace and is easier to navigate.
Problems with the game: The music isn’t as good as the first game I find. Note: As of this time, I have not beaten Yakuza 2. I may have yet to find amazing music.
There’s no English voiceover for this game. Yakuza 2 is entirely in Japanese. So get used to hearing it. This is mostly a problem with the hostesses, they’re pretty ear-grating.
Pros: Everything else. The loading time has greatly improved for one thing and they just improved on everything that worked.
Yakuza 2 can be found brand new for $30. Check your local Best Buy, you might be surprised.
BONUS VIDEO
The following is a video showing off some of what makes the first two games amazing. Be warned, this video does contain some spoilers for the first game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90KqIVFAt94
US Release for Yakuza 3: March 9, 2010
UK Release for yakuza 3: March 12, 2010
AUS/NZ/Pretty much everyone else: March 26
March 2010 motherfuckers!
Official Trailer
THRILL AT GOLF. MARVEL AT DARTS. SPILL AT KARAOKE. KILL AT BATTLES.
US Release for Yakuza KENZAN!:
This is Yakuza KENZAN!, a side story to Yakuza. As you can see, it takes place in feudal Japan. It also looks fucking amazing. Other pictures I've seen include Kazuma riding a horse. It was amazing and I dreamed of the game that night.
So there you go kids, let’s talk about Yakuza and how much they rock. This thread was really to inform people of the games they can actually play though, so that’s why I didn’t write much for the latest 2 games. By all means though look them up. Yakuza is a fantastic series that has been criminally overlooked. I wanted to help rectify that.
Also if you or anyone you know beat the last battle in the coliseum of Yakuza 1, then tell me and I will create a Hall of Fame for you or those people, because you or they are goddamn gods. I will also add you if you managed to get Haruka's freindship to SSS by hitting 20 home runs in a row. You are patriots.
Gilder on
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There has not been many games to have an awesome moment that I tell -everybody- about it, but Yakuza 2 had one of those moments.
Late-Game Spoiler:
I actually didn't mind the voice-overs for either game, with the English and the Japanese but Majima in the first, man. You gotta give it up for Mark Hamill VAs whenever they pop up.
You gotta finish 2, Gilder. It's fantastic.
Now to go start some new rituals to get Yakuza 3 localized.
Yakuza 2 is awesome and I hate everyone who didn't buy it and thus is depriving us of English Yakuza 3.
Do... Re... Mi... So... Fa.... Do... Re.... Do...
Forget it...
Also I should've mentioned, John DiMaggio is in Yakuza 1. Bender himself wants to kick your ass, and hearing John say things like Oyabun is just hilarious.
Ditto. I now have to learn Japanese before I die. Fuck you assholes who don't love fun.
They're making a Yakuza 4, and we probably won't get that either.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
They're strange games - I think Sega's partly holding back because the first two tanked so hard, and I hate the people who scream that they weren't marketed enough or Sega didn't put enough effort into localising them or whatever and it's all be magically okay if they showered K and 3 with money. Well, uh, no; the vast majority of people buying PS3 games in the West want GTA set in Japan, end of story, and Yakuza's anything but. Still, this is old school done right - for all they're dated, wilfully stupid and convoluted playing them is still just one glorious moment after another. The action, the brawling, the hysterically OTT machismo - and also, weirdly, the subtlety; the details, the wandering around and exploring, even the quiet bits in the story (#2 was fantastic until that ending, and K has a brilliant story start to finish).
God, if it wasn't half four in the morning here I'd start playing #3 again right now. Oh well.
Read my book. (It has a robot in it.)
I thought it was interesting, but I found it hard to get into. Seems you have to really be into Japanese culture to enjoy it.
I think some guy was demanding 3 million yen or something.
Whenever I get back to it I'll just have to start over. It doesn't seem like the kind of game you can just pick back up.
Giantbomb needs to do a Yakuza 2 endurance run with P4 nearly finished.
Maybe that will get more people to check out the franchise.
If I've just saved my game in between chapters, I should automatically continue with the story. Don't bring me back to the y/n save prompt and then ask me "ARE YOU SURE YOU DON'T WANT TO SAVE?!?!?!?" when I back out of it.
My Backloggery
Sega really needs to get their fingers out of the asses and either localise Yakuza 3/Kenzan in the US/Europe or give it/them to a smaller developer and help them out a bit. What have they got to lose with the latter option? Outside of Yakuza fans hatred?
No, no it would not.
Yakuza 1 & 2 are excellent and I want more, with HD graphics and such.
There is a point some way into the story where most people will want to consult a FAQ - you're being asked to do specific things which aren't immediately obvious - and you're not going to get more than about half of what's going on without reading up on it. But there are a lot of 'for your next objective, go here' prompts, tons of the subquests boil down to very simple objectives, and there's very little you can miss out on altogether (like the special moves, where you can go back and try and acquire them again).
It's still an importer's game; anyone with no patience for moon language is going to get pissed off with it. But it's one of the easier ones, certainly (much more so than Yakuza 3!) and if you have even the slightest interest in taking the plunge I'd recommend it. I've beaten 1, 2 and K and Kenzan is my favourite by far. Fighting system's even better, epic boss showdowns, still pretty macho, story's actually a really, really good piece of wild historical speculation and the world is gorgeous. GTA 4 is still the best virtual environment ever created IMO (though I didn't actually enjoy playing it much, oddly enough) but the Yakuza games come awfully close.
Read my book. (It has a robot in it.)
Gamer Tag: LeeWay0
PSN: Leeway0
Batman's fighting system is quite blatantly copied from Yakuza 2, so that should give you some practice beforehand.
Sony was lax with Yakuza 2 as the PS2 is in its last days and no longer the lead platform with the PS3 already out.
I think you misunderstood him. He wasn't talking about a US release with just english subtitles, he was talking about Sega including english subtitles in the Japanese release so we could import it.
Sweet. Sounds like a good lead in. :^:
Gamer Tag: LeeWay0
PSN: Leeway0
In that case, there would likely be a different TRC on the SCEI side for japanese releases instead of SCEA that would have prevented them from doing it. Sony's always beem pretty peculiar with their language requirements during certification.
I seriously doubt it. Nearly all the western games released in Japan are 90% in english, if not more. Why would they care if a japanese game included english subtitles? Besides that; Demon Souls, Aquanaut's Holiday and Afrika had english options in the Asian versions of the games and Sony was published all three.
SCEA and SCEI are different beasts. SCEA are picky pricks, SCEI generally seem to be really lenient. SCEE's in the middle, their bug testing process seems to be really picky (which is why we seem to get all our PSN games months after the US) but they seem to approve nearly everything else (at least as far as I'm aware anyway).
Anyway, the Japanese versions of Afrika, Aquanaut's and Demon's Souls do not have English subtitles, and there is no Asian version of Kenzan or Yakuza 3 so far. Some Asian versions don't have English subtitles either way. There is no obvious hard and fast rule, basically; Sega have plenty of good reasons to think both games wouldn't sell much outside of Japan; no version of anything originally released outside the West automatically gets English subtitles; wishing won't make it so. Sure, it sucks, yet all you can do is either man up and import or accept it. They're wilfully old-fashioned throwbacks to a golden age the mainstream couldn't give a shit about and no, they will not magically shift a million copies regardless of how much money Sega put into marketing them, or even if they released English subtitles as a PSN download for free.
Read my book. (It has a robot in it.)
But this is a Japanese game being released in Japan - why would they even put in English subs in the first place? It's not like a Western game that was brought in that was mainly English to begin with. Why would Sega spend the extra money to add in English subtitle functionality (meaning more QA time to check all of it and the extra chance of getting kicked from submission due to bugs), and which would cater to a very small % of the Japanese market in the first place? Sure, SCEI might allow them to do it, but they'd still have to test all of it for approval. I doubt Sega would bother with the added work and expense solely for the possibility of extra import sales they may end up getting.
In any case, let's not get hung up on the details - there's plenty of reasons why Sega wouldn't put in English subs, as well as them not localizing the titles to bring them outside of Japan. It's the ugly truth right now. Perhaps towards the end of the PS3 lifecycle when SCEA's not as strict on the dub requirement, Sega will think about bringing it over with just subtitles ala Yakuza 2.
Because cigarettes make you look cool. The schools were teaching you lies by saying they don't. They totally do.
I already know all that and it's irrelevant to the argument. The fact is that SCEI doesn't have restrictions on foreign subtitles and would let Sega include them if they wanted. Whether Sega did it or not is an entirely different matter altogether.
Personally, I think we're far more likely to get Yakuza 3/Kenzan through a small publisher (like XSEED, NIS or Ignition), who cater to niche audiences and yet still tend to do pretty decent localisations. Whether Sega would let them do it is entirely another matter but it's not like they have anything to lose (apart from their crap reputation over the last 7-8 years).
Eight Rooks: I'm not confusing anyone with anything. The three major SCE divisions are SCEI, SCEE and SCEA (as in, America). SCE Asia are a subsidiary of SCEI, just like SCE Australia and SCE New Zealand are subsidiaries of SCEE.
Errr, that's exactly what I said.
Oh, okay. I did wonder, but I thought I might be wrong. Fair enough.
Still, regardless, I'm guessing it's a fair amount of work for something which I assume Sega doesn't believe (I certainly don't) would lead to any vast increase in sales through the grey market. Demon's Souls and Aquanaut's Holiday are trivial in comparison, and Afrika was supposed to be getting a Western release before the recession made it look somewhat less appealing.
While I certainly wouldn't complain if a niche publisher did pick up either game (or 4, come to that), I'm also guessing the amount of work required has put some of them off. Still, I'm not saying it could never happen. Maybe try selling it as the next Persona? (Zomg wtf this gaem is so Japanese I must have it naow?) That series is equally daft and hidebound in many respects - hence the amount of gags the hiimdaisy comics get out of it - but Atlus seem to have done all right by it...
Read my book. (It has a robot in it.)
You did good. The second game also has an optional flashback sequence at the start to refresh you on the first game if you've forgotten the story or characters.
Christ, that graveyard scene's going to be pretty long come Yakuza 4...
Read my book. (It has a robot in it.)
Woot, I can't wait to play.. fill in my game drought. But I think in the end it's going to make me depressed because Kenzan Yakuza looks so good... and I'll never get to play.
Have you ever been to Japan? I'd say that cigarettes are underrepresented in this game. The arcades and pachinko parlors are not filled with smoke, wtf