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/

Yakuza: Like a Thread

Mr. GMr. G Registered User regular
edited November 2020 in Social Entropy++
yakuza-series-banner-700x325.png
DEPICTION OF THE YAKUZA

Author's note: A heated discussion takes place as to whether the game is stereotyping the yakuza, which is resolved when Midoriyama points out that the stereotypes about the yakuza are more or less correct, with the exception of their alleged prowess in martial arts.

M: The corporate yakuza guys get a thumbs up for realism. Nice suit. Smart. Financially savvy. Obsessed with money. Sneaky and conniving. Ruthless.
S: There are a lot of guys whom I feel like I know. The dialogue is right too. They sound like yakuza.
K: Braggarts, bullies, and sweet-talkers. I agree — it feels like I know the guys on the screen.
M: Kiryu is the way yakuza used to be. We kept the streets clean. People liked us. We didn't bother ordinary citizens. We respected our bosses. Now, guys like that only exist in video games.
S: I don't know any ex-yakuza running orphanages.
K: There was one a few years ago. A good guy.
M: You sure it wasn't just a tax shelter?
K: Sure it was a tax shelter but he ran it like a legitimate thing. You know.

FASHION

Author's note: Kuroishi and Shirokawa are both wearing dark green suits, the former by Armani and the latter handmade in the posh Ginza district from local fabric. Midoriyama is wearing gray sweatpants and a faded sweatshirt emblazoned with a drawing of Doraemon.

M: What's the deal with Kiryu's scarlet red shirt? He's supposed to be a former boss of the Inagawakai--and he dresses like a chinpira (low level yakuza punk). He's a yakuza, not a host.
S: Except for Kiryu's crappy shirt, it's realistic. The top executive yakuza are all wearing good suits. They look like businessmen. The cabaret girls have incredible outfits.The hosts in the game are dressed like hosts. Somebody did his homework.
K: The lady cop, her outfit is perfect too. The boring black suit with the white blazer. That's what a woman yakuza cop dresses like.
M: Except for Kiryu's shirt, good. And his tattoo.
S: Not much of a tattoo.
K: Only on his back as far as I can tell. Maybe he ran out of enough money to get it finished.
The Yakuza series is what would happen if Shenmue was fun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xThhJ0zltU
Yakuza 0, the 2015 prequel to the entire series, is finally coming to America next week

Yakuza Kiwame is a PS4 remake of the first game, coming to America this summer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfabOXyWkJc
and Yakuza 6 is the latest entry in the series, to be released in America next year

It sure seems these games are dope as hell but I've never gotten to play one because they either didn't come out here, or were released only on the PS3 well after the launch of the PS4

Yakuza 0 will be my, and I assume many others', first taste at the series that has seemed super cool for a long time

6F32U1X.png
Mr. G on
«134567101

Posts

  • AtomicTofuAtomicTofu She's a straight-up supervillain, yo Registered User regular
    Speaking as someone who just finished Yakuza 5 a week ago, that game is absolutely still worth playing

  • Grey GhostGrey Ghost Registered User regular
    @Mr. G do you have a link to that whole article of Yakuza guys playing Yakuza
    I read it years ago and loved it

  • Grey GhostGrey Ghost Registered User regular
    Also I fell in love with this watching the GB quick look of 5 but 0 will be the first one I actually play

  • KnobKnob TURN THE BEAT BACK InternetModerator mod
    Holy fuck, 0 comes out next week?!

    I have not been paying attention

    Thank you, thread

  • blaze_zeroblaze_zero Registered User regular
    I'm still chugging through 5. Pretty much done with the first part of Kiryu's chapter. Zero looks really good, and I really want to play it soon.

  • Mr. GMr. G Registered User regular
    Grey Ghost wrote: »
    @Mr. G do you have a link to that whole article of Yakuza guys playing Yakuza
    I read it years ago and loved it

    https://www.google.com/amp/boingboing.net/2010/08/10/yakuza-3-review.html/amp

    6F32U1X.png
  • LasbrookLasbrook It takes a lot to make a stew When it comes to me and youRegistered User regular
    Between seeing 0 on UPF and Weed Lord Vegeta posting this:



    In the Giant Bomb thread I caved and ordered my first Yakuza game, I still remember @Mysst describing the game series at what had to have been a PAX South scouting trip by Khoo and the desire to play one has always been kinda lurking in the back of my mind since but this will be the first one I can actually play.

  • WeedLordVegetaWeedLordVegeta Registered User regular
    edited January 2017
    I've only played Yakuza 3

    But I beat the HELL out of it

    And continued to return to it just to run around in that world

    WeedLordVegeta on
  • Raijin QuickfootRaijin Quickfoot I'm your Huckleberry YOU'RE NO DAISYRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    I have never played a Yakuza game.

    I don't know why I haven't.

    I will be remedying this.

  • -SPI--SPI- Osaka, JapanRegistered User regular
    One of the many fantastic things about Yakuza 0 is that the Senior Clan Lieutenants are played by classic Yakuza Movie actors.

    bN3d1oK.jpg

    Riki Takeuchi, Hideo Nakano and Hitoshi Ozawa.

  • Grey GhostGrey Ghost Registered User regular
    Mr. G wrote: »
    Grey Ghost wrote: »
    @Mr. G do you have a link to that whole article of Yakuza guys playing Yakuza
    I read it years ago and loved it

    https://www.google.com/amp/boingboing.net/2010/08/10/yakuza-3-review.html/amp

    oh fuck, I forgot this was Jake Adelstein
    if anyone hasn't read Tokyo Vice, they should, because it's fascinating

  • HobnailHobnail Registered User regular
    There are some real fuckin good dude faces in these games

    Broke as fuck in the style of the times. Gratitude is all that can return on your generosity.

    https://www.paypal.me/hobnailtaylor
  • Grey GhostGrey Ghost Registered User regular
    FIGHT SCENES

    Author's note: Midoriyama gets very excited during the fighting sequences, standing up from the couch at points and actually lurching towards the screen. Kuroishi never loses his cool playing the game and keeps practicing combinations until he gets it right. Shirokawa curses under his breath, but whenever he wins he yells "Yatta!". They all agree that the combat is strictly fantasy material, with some exceptions.

    Look, I know these guys are all predatory scumbags
    but this is kind of adorable

  • Tommy2HandsTommy2Hands what is this where am i Registered User regular
    Yakuza 4 is probably one of the GOATs in my mind

    8j12qx8ma5j5.jpg
  • HobnailHobnail Registered User regular
    Oh come on, everybody likes organized crime

    Broke as fuck in the style of the times. Gratitude is all that can return on your generosity.

    https://www.paypal.me/hobnailtaylor
  • VeldrinVeldrin Sham bam bamina Registered User regular
    Whoa hey these games look rad as hell.

    Yakuza games have previously only ever drifted around the periphery of my attention, and also for some reason I always thought they were micro management sims???

  • vagrant_windsvagrant_winds Overworked Mysterious Eldritch Horror Hunter XX Registered User regular
    I really hope Zero increase this series' western fanbase greatly

    These games are fantastic and ya'll been missing out.

    // Steam: VWinds // PSN: vagrant_winds //
    // Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
  • DouglasDangerDouglasDanger PennsylvaniaRegistered User regular
    edited January 2017
    I bought one of those games for my PS2 within like a week of getting a PS3.

    I thought the combat was amazing, but the hostess thing was weird and off-putting

    DouglasDanger on
  • Mr. GMr. G Registered User regular
    I really hope Zero increase this series' western fanbase greatly

    These games are fantastic and ya'll been missing out.

    Actually putting them out in a timely fashion helps

    6F32U1X.png
  • -SPI--SPI- Osaka, JapanRegistered User regular
    I bought one of those games for my PS2 within like a week of getting a PS3.

    I thought the combat was amazing, but the hostess thing was weird and off-putting

    They completely overhauled the hostess stuff in 0. It's now an actually super fun arcade diner dash style minigame. It's fantastic, and much better than the strange half baked micromanagement and training stuff they put in previous games.

  • -SPI--SPI- Osaka, JapanRegistered User regular
    edited January 2017
    One of the fun things about Yakuza 0 vs other games in the series is it's focus on money.

    Yakuza 0 is set in the 80s, during Japan's economic bubble, so money plays a huge part in the game. Instead of it simply being a key part of the storyline or flavour they make huge amounts of money a core part of the game's systems. Money actually replaces experience points, you level up and unlock new skills with cash (and as an example of how absurd the wealth in the game is the late game upgrades cost up to a billion yen). Instead of gaining xp when you defeat an enemy you literally punch money out of them, coins and bank notes flying out of KO'd foes in a showering spray. In fact you earn such a ridiculous amount of money that the game highlights it at the end of chapters, comparing your current wealth to a number of different factors such as "yearly salary of the Japanese Prime Minister" or the cost of aircraft carriers etc.

    -SPI- on
  • MysstMysst King Monkey of Hedonism IslandRegistered User regular
    I bought one of those games for my PS2 within like a week of getting a PS3.

    I thought the combat was amazing, but the hostess thing was weird and off-putting

    I mean, it is weird and offputting

    BUT

    I helped a young man woo a hostess by dressing him American style. American style, in this case, being a 40 gallon hat and a giant sheepskin coat

    ikbUJdU.jpg
  • DouglasDangerDouglasDanger PennsylvaniaRegistered User regular
    OK
    If it's doing the bad guys exploding into money thing

  • Mr. GMr. G Registered User regular
    Are all of these games really about the same guy?

    Kinda crazy that they've had the same protagonist with a serialized story for over a decade now

    6F32U1X.png
  • masterofmetroidmasterofmetroid Have you ever looked at a world and seen it as a kind of challenge?Registered User regular
    There are like 5 other playable dudes but yeah, they gotta throw Kiryu in there

  • KnobKnob TURN THE BEAT BACK InternetModerator mod
    edited January 2017
    Not really, Kiryu is pushing 50 in Yakuza 5

    Plus, he's a very good character

    Knob on
  • AtomicTofuAtomicTofu She's a straight-up supervillain, yo Registered User regular
    Yakuza 6 is supposedly the end of Kazuma Kiryu's story (or so the producer claims)

  • miscellaneousinsanitymiscellaneousinsanity grass grows, birds fly, sun shines, and brother, i hurt peopleRegistered User regular
    i'm still bummed we never got a localised version of Kenzan, that's by far the one i was most interested in playing

    uc3ufTB.png
  • StiltsStilts Registered User regular
    i'm still bummed we never got a localised version of Kenzan, that's by far the one i was most interested in playing

    Yeah, I was REALLY interested in Kenzan, partly because there are basically no slow-paced open-world games set in that era.

    It's all copy-pasted musou stuff and abstracted turn-based strategy.

    IKknkhU.gif
  • OlivawOlivaw good name, isn't it? the foot of mt fujiRegistered User regular
    Stilts wrote: »
    i'm still bummed we never got a localised version of Kenzan, that's by far the one i was most interested in playing

    Yeah, I was REALLY interested in Kenzan, partly because there are basically no slow-paced open-world games set in that era.

    It's all copy-pasted musou stuff and abstracted turn-based strategy.

    Well I mean

    Way of the Samurai...

    signature-deffo.jpg
    PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
  • Indie WinterIndie Winter die Krähe Rudi Hurzlmeier (German, b. 1952)Registered User regular
    give

    me

    this

    game

    wY6K6Jb.gif
  • GatorGator An alligator in Scotland Registered User regular
    Best qtes in the entire industry

    If all qtes were like yakuza's, they would not rank alongside escort missions as the worst thing ever

  • MysstMysst King Monkey of Hedonism IslandRegistered User regular
    also you guys did anyone else accidentally wander into the stripclub? or more accurately, the community multipurpose auditorium on stripclub night?

    ikbUJdU.jpg
  • blaze_zeroblaze_zero Registered User regular
    The best part about Y0 is that, because of the focus on money, I don't have to beat up some guys, take an iron/bronze/silver/gold plate from them, go to the pawn shop, and then finally exchange for money.

    I get that money by beating faces in step 1. Glory to Y0.

  • LasbrookLasbrook It takes a lot to make a stew When it comes to me and youRegistered User regular
    https://youtu.be/egNanCh37YI

    Giant Bomb has put up their quick look of Yakuza 0 and boy this game is totally a Shenmue descendant.
    The first thing they do is go play some Space Harrier

  • vagrant_windsvagrant_winds Overworked Mysterious Eldritch Horror Hunter XX Registered User regular
    We've been telling people this for years.

    Yakuza is Shenmume, if Shenmue was good.

    // Steam: VWinds // PSN: vagrant_winds //
    // Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
  • masterofmetroidmasterofmetroid Have you ever looked at a world and seen it as a kind of challenge?Registered User regular
    Every good idea Shenmue ever had Yakuza does way better

  • DemonStaceyDemonStacey TTODewback's Daughter In love with the TaySwayRegistered User regular
    0 might be the first one I skip... I have issues with prequels... not sure if I can do it.

    Maybe after the next few months if I hit a game dryspell.

  • BathTubbBathTubb Registered User regular
    I have Yakuza 3, and 4 should I play those first or can I jump right into 0?

    Steam-BathTubb Xbox Live - Bathtubb
  • KnobKnob TURN THE BEAT BACK InternetModerator mod
    0 is a prequel, and Yakuza stories do a generally good job of being mostly self contained, and if there's something you're not sure of, the pause menu contains charcter bios, relationship matrices, plot summaries etc etc etc.

    Plus they like including every cutscenes from every Yakuza game in the hideout menu.

    You've got a lot of avenues for catching up if you feel lost.

This discussion has been closed.