Seeing as Hokuto comes out in 4 days it means any news after that will be Shin Ryu Ga Gotoku related.
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Yakuza Community |OT| Complete Global Saturation
- Thread starter Son of Sparda
- Start date
Yeah. Absolutely can't wait for Hokuto and more Shin news. Of course, there is the chance that they'll focus on hyping RGG Online some more. I reckon much like previous years it'll be radio silence with maybe a few little teases for the next few months with maybe another Yakuza event in August, but we'll definitely get something at Tokyo Game Show this year.
After finishing Y6 and doing some reflection I can kinda see why this game pissed off so many, even though personally I loved it. I kept expecting it to become a train wreck the closer I got to the end but (IMO) it never happened and I'm glad, because combat aside it's one of my favorites now.
Glad to hear that you (and others) really enjoyed 6. I had some issues with a couple of late game plot twists, but I still really enjoyed the game lots myself. I still don't quite understand all of the negativity the game gets, especially with the engine (which I felt was a real breath of fresh air over the last few games).
Honestly the combat isn't that bad, it just inherented some bad design flaws from other rpg open world type games that I think the y team was looking at when designing 6.
Like the first two rush speed boosts should have been part of the game by default. As did quickstep canceling, or if not then they didn't need to be buried under the utterly insane grind to unlock them and should have been cheap. The heat system is another casualty of this as well. Like I get what they were going for here, I do. It's not really that bad of an idea to use a super sayain type thing to abstract Kiryu's power a bit for balancing reasons. The problem comes in when the grind to upgrade your heat bar is so stupidly ridiculous (900 of every fucking stat for one orb? What the FUCK?!) that by the time you get it functionally to the point you can use it the way the game actually wants you to you're going to either be at the end game or well past mid game. This creates problems because in the meantime you've created "bad" playhabits that become ingrained and the og system as it was intended becomes merely theoretical as you use the upgrades to enhance the way you're already playing rather than revolutionize it. They'd played with the super sayain type thing before, but it always felt kind of half assed. Here they went all in but botched the execution.
Playing the Hokuto demo, which basically fixes every problem I have with this game's combat on the back end, makes it pretty clear they figured out the same thing I did lol and gives me hope for K2. Like a lot of what they did in 6 I actually like, it's just the execution isn't really there yet.
Like the first two rush speed boosts should have been part of the game by default. As did quickstep canceling, or if not then they didn't need to be buried under the utterly insane grind to unlock them and should have been cheap. The heat system is another casualty of this as well. Like I get what they were going for here, I do. It's not really that bad of an idea to use a super sayain type thing to abstract Kiryu's power a bit for balancing reasons. The problem comes in when the grind to upgrade your heat bar is so stupidly ridiculous (900 of every fucking stat for one orb? What the FUCK?!) that by the time you get it functionally to the point you can use it the way the game actually wants you to you're going to either be at the end game or well past mid game. This creates problems because in the meantime you've created "bad" playhabits that become ingrained and the og system as it was intended becomes merely theoretical as you use the upgrades to enhance the way you're already playing rather than revolutionize it. They'd played with the super sayain type thing before, but it always felt kind of half assed. Here they went all in but botched the execution.
Playing the Hokuto demo, which basically fixes every problem I have with this game's combat on the back end, makes it pretty clear they figured out the same thing I did lol and gives me hope for K2. Like a lot of what they did in 6 I actually like, it's just the execution isn't really there yet.
I remember having to grind a bit for the last few upgrades in 6. Though you can just buy the most expensive healing item at Rizap to get some quick and easy XP.
Kiwami 2 however is way easier to fully level up, I ended up maxing out Kiryu with 0 effort, just by playing the side content etc. If you aim for 100% in that game you'll easily have all the good stuff unlocked fairly quick. Its definitely preferable to 6's method of lite grinding later on in the game to get the last few powerups you want.
My only issue with the combat is missing the different combat styles from previous games but having played through Kiwami 2 and playing the 6 demo, I'm used to it now and don't mind it at all.
The presentations without loading screens and getting to go into buildings to fight is awesome though lol.
The presentations without loading screens and getting to go into buildings to fight is awesome though lol.
I mean the issue isn't the grind per se, but more what they stuck behind the grind. Like the idea for the heat mode was a good one, but it's so expensive to level initially that you end up dumping points into main stats and combat skills instead of it. This creates a feedback loop where you get used to having a crap heat system and thus start to ignore it, and thus invest even further into combat and stats. They should have knee capped the heat upgrades probably by about half and given them to you from the start. It's taken me to the back half of the game before I've leveled heat enough to consider the trade off of burning my orbs for super sayain/devil trigger/whatever to be even worth using, and this is an issue because base Kiryu without it is pretty neutered compared to previous games. Like what, over half the heat actions are locked behind it? At base level you get time for maybe one of them before you burn out and have wasted three orbs on a heat action that was essentially just as effective as a rego one that burns one orb. Once you get it leveled to 2nd or 3rd speed reduction it starts to get useful, but again by then you've learned to live without it anyways and it sort if becomes an afterthought.
Kiwami 2, more so than 6 does incorporate a bit of the different styles (well, a couple of moves from them). Once you max Kiryu's agility and swaying out, he's a more mobile brawler style (not quite rush speed, but pretty fast and mobile). In the ultimate heat state he grabs weapons when standing next to them like in Beast mode. Also one power up lets you charge up each attack in your combo again just like beast mode. Pity they didn't add more nods to the styles. I'd love to have a few more awesome heat counter moves from Rush style included, a throw counter move (from any of the styles) and a couple of beast styles more powerful grab (counter) attacks.
Strangely never had this issue though. My grind was just at the very end of the game for a couple of useless powers more than anything. I found that heat mode was more useful off the bat in 6 compared to Kiwami 2 as you had it unlocked way earlier and it could be activated way quicker without a full bar cost like Kiwami 2 required. I did spend quite a while doing side stuff though, not to mention random rights, random food combos and using certain gear to boost XP so that might well have contributed to me not seeing quite so much of a grind as you did?
Strangely never had this issue though. My grind was just at the very end of the game for a couple of useless powers more than anything. I found that heat mode was more useful off the bat in 6 compared to Kiwami 2 as you had it unlocked way earlier and it could be activated way quicker without a full bar cost like Kiwami 2 required. I did spend quite a while doing side stuff though, not to mention random rights, random food combos and using certain gear to boost XP so that might well have contributed to me not seeing quite so much of a grind as you did?
I agree that the speed boosts help the combat immensely which is why I always go for them first in every Yakuza. In this one though, you really need to invest in them even more so than usual because it's so easy to get swarmed as enemies provide no space to effectively move. I also have to agree that the requirement needed to upgrade the heat bar is ridiculous, because my character is pretty stacked at this point, and yet I still have only 3 circles. If I wasn't doing every side quest and substory, I'd probably beat the game without ever putting any points into it. With all that said, I still find the combat fun even if I like how it was handled in Y5 and Y0 better.
As for the rest of the game, I love it. I've already briefly gone into how good the side quests were in another thread, but the substories, like the bar and baseball ones, were really fun. The baseball quest in particular I really liked, because I am a big fan of the actual sport, so I felt like a real manager messing around with my lineup and creating a good bullpen behind my ace. I kind of wish it was a bit longer though, because I went through all of the missions fairly quickly, and so I wasn't able to use a lot of the players that I'm recruiting afterwards.
All in all, even though I'm only around halfway through the game, I'm immensely enjoying it. I have no idea how it's going to end, but at this point, I don't know why the Japanese audience didn't like Y6 that much, because I'm thinking that it's stellar. I particularly dig how many callbacks there are, because it feels very rewarding after going through all of the previous mainline games of the series.
As for the rest of the game, I love it. I've already briefly gone into how good the side quests were in another thread, but the substories, like the bar and baseball ones, were really fun. The baseball quest in particular I really liked, because I am a big fan of the actual sport, so I felt like a real manager messing around with my lineup and creating a good bullpen behind my ace. I kind of wish it was a bit longer though, because I went through all of the missions fairly quickly, and so I wasn't able to use a lot of the players that I'm recruiting afterwards.
All in all, even though I'm only around halfway through the game, I'm immensely enjoying it. I have no idea how it's going to end, but at this point, I don't know why the Japanese audience didn't like Y6 that much, because I'm thinking that it's stellar. I particularly dig how many callbacks there are, because it feels very rewarding after going through all of the previous mainline games of the series.
Playing the English version I've went the opposite way with the skill tree than in the jp version, maximizing all food and xp skills as soon as possible. It makes a pretty big difference. Got most of the skills already way earlier in the game.
I've also barely been upgrading the attack stat to try to keep the game from becoming way too easy.
I've also barely been upgrading the attack stat to try to keep the game from becoming way too easy.
I did that with Kiwami 2 as well. It was the last thing I powered up, trying to make the game as tough as possible, Didn't make much of a difference mind!
Ive been doing everything I've came across thus far. Beat the clan mode asap (had a blast!), but played around with pointing equally at the start before abandoning heat as the investment vs payoff just was not there. I maxed the heatmoves out about 4 hours into the game and just hit a brick wall in the form of how expensive the orb and speed upgrades were. Not to mention the benefit just isn't there vs leveling rush speed, tiger drop, parry, quickstep canceling, etc which taken altogether costs probably as much as two orbs do. Quickstep canceling is probably the best upgrade in the game, and costs about 50% less than an orb. Not to mention upgrading str is probably the easiest due to the steak house giving you like 100 str points per steak xD
Peerless Pole from Pawn shops and Quality Baits from grocery stores.
Yeah the endgame plot twists got a little carried away, but nothing on the level of 2 or 5 thankfully haha, that's a bad habit of the series that's so prevalent (in pretty much every entry except 0 I think?) that I've come to accept it as a staple of it by now.
I was mostly talking about the story though, I think a lot of people hated how the game
treated Kiryu, right? Obviously I find the ending soul crushing but I accept it, it feels fitting if very tragic.
As for the decrease in quantity of content, I understand the frustration but honestly, these games, especially 5 and 0 are so absurdly big that I feel set unrealistic standards for a "transitional" title as significant as 6, and I think even if it hadn't been rushed it'd have never satisfied everyone because expecting something similarly as big as 0 was simply unrealistic with a game like this. I prefer to see it as a pretty meaty game considering the quality of what's in there and how big the jump is from Kiwami to it.
Combat wise I pretty much agree with pa22word's breakdown of it, the gist being that while I think it's good, it's a big step down from how damn awesome it was in 0, the main problem being that in 0 personally I felt that you had enough tools to fight everyone in even ground and have fun before you even got access to beast style, whereas in Y6 you have to upgrade your character a lot and buy a bunch of skills to start having fun. The first few chapters had me constantly getting punished by enemies from behind after almost every combo string and it got so annoying, it took me back to the PS2 games, the evasive/defensive options simply aren't there without upgrades.
Thankfully the demo of K2 played much, MUCH better so I know they corrected these things.
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Ah. I checked all the convenience stores and didn't see any bait. Don Quixote too.
While you didn't outright state the ending, the way you framed this paragraph I feel is enough to draw a conclusion >_>
Sorry about that, I thought I was being vague enough, but nah it isn't enough, don't think much of it lol.
Yeah. I feel that some of the content complaints were a bit unfair. I mean, the game has a ton of content compared to most other games I played, and varied content at that. The arcade was amazing in this game, heck it'd have been amazing if all we'd gotten was VF5 FS and Puyo Puyo, but they gave us the 0 arcade games (with difficulty selects!) as well. Amazing stuff that. I do think though it depends on what you thought of stuff like baseball and clan creator, as if you hated either/both then your kinda stuck in terms of the big pieces of side content.
Plus you get trouble missions which served as some fun distractions (a few of which would serve great as side stories) etc.
Plus, like you say the game is a huge jump engine wise than previous games, especially stuff like the graphical enhancements and the move to fully voiced side stories etc. Its definitely the biggest leap in the series since Yakuza 3 and Kenzan moved to a new camera and engine so concessions were always going to be made, and I'm not all that sad about what got cut, as I still had tons of stuff to do (and anyway, most of the cut stuff is back in Kiwami 2 anyway!)
As for the story. For me its a mix of
the big Hiroshima secret reveal falling flat, and the choice of final boss. Neither really hit with me, and I'm a bit pissed off with the choice of final boss for Kiryu's final chapter. Someya was just a way, way better character. At the same time though, I loved the ending, the scene with Kiryu and Haruto both walking really hit me. Sold me 10000% on the ending, so I'm happy with it ultimately. Also glad neither Date or Haruka died, as I felt that'd be a cheap shock move. In fact, I'm amazed the body count wasn't way higher just for the sake of it!
And needless to say, I can't wait to see where they go with Ichiban in Shin RGG. I'm excited that they'll do something new in terms of combat fighting style and story. Hopefully some of the crazyness of Hokuto will rub off on them, as that combat system is amazing, I've only played the demo (lots) but I'm already super sold on it! (4 days to go!)
Yeah I also have to agree with people that the subtraction in overall content is fine here. The move to the new engine makes it worth it in the long haul even if we lose some stuff in the immediate short term.
Also the substory thing is sort of absurd to complain about imo as the budget must have increased 2x for them due to the VA. shadowman16 indicated they went back on this, and it's not surprising at all because I doubt the budget return on full VA was worth it in the end. It's also kind of pointless imo as most of the dialog in the substories is flavor text anyways and I mash through them once I read the subs just to get on my way. Honestly...I kind of miss the funny one word inserts as well. It feels weird having a Y substory and not getting any "NANI?!"s, "hmm..."s, or hyper exaggerated "IIE!!!!"s and "AH!"s. I feel while some get turned off by the lack of VA I enjoy it as it allows the zanier stuff to work better by not being vocalized, which just kind of highlights the absurdity of it in a mostly bad way. Kind of like how Superhero movies don't use the costumes 1:1, you know? I may be the odd one out here on this tho >.>
Also the substory thing is sort of absurd to complain about imo as the budget must have increased 2x for them due to the VA. shadowman16 indicated they went back on this, and it's not surprising at all because I doubt the budget return on full VA was worth it in the end. It's also kind of pointless imo as most of the dialog in the substories is flavor text anyways and I mash through them once I read the subs just to get on my way. Honestly...I kind of miss the funny one word inserts as well. It feels weird having a Y substory and not getting any "NANI?!"s, "hmm..."s, or hyper exaggerated "IIE!!!!"s and "AH!"s. I feel while some get turned off by the lack of VA I enjoy it as it allows the zanier stuff to work better by not being vocalized, which just kind of highlights the absurdity of it in a mostly bad way. Kind of like how Superhero movies don't use the costumes 1:1, you know? I may be the odd one out here on this tho >.>
This is sort of the problem. It's really cool at first! Then about 20 substories in I was just mashing through them because they elongated the process 10 fold. When the point of most substories is getting some flavor text and beating up 3-4 dudes and there's over 50 substories like that...I'd rather just have subs to quickly read.
I mean occasionally they do some cool stuff with it they couldn't before, like some phone shenanigans that wouldn't really work without va. Mostly though it's a nice but mostly pointless little addition that's not really doing anything but sucking resources I feel could be spent better elsewhere.
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My refusal to play Yakuza 6 and the lack of info about Kiwami 2 coming to the west has led to me going back to 0. I'm never going to try for the platinum (too intense) but I've now completely finished the cabaret and real estate story lines, got the gold statue (lol) and have pretty much done every substory EXCEPT the teltel boys club ones (cause Jesus Christ) and the Mr Shakedown ones. I think I'll do the last couple related to Platinum Hostesses, then call it a day on 0.
So, nowhere near 100% but for me personally the game will feel 'complete'.
I haven't gone back to Kiwami since beating the story, do you guys recommend going back to do all the substories there too?
So, nowhere near 100% but for me personally the game will feel 'complete'.
I haven't gone back to Kiwami since beating the story, do you guys recommend going back to do all the substories there too?
Totally worth it. Side stories are worth doing in any game in the series. Kiwami's seem to have aged the most out of any of the series, since many of them are very straight forward, but there are still several that are really good. Plus if you do finish them all you get to fight the secret boss.
I will say on this point, at least we have a choice and it's not forced without a button to skip the voicedness if you're a fast reader and don't care about hearing the VAs finish their sentences.
One thing I do find annoying is there is no manual continue for the text anymore, it just is on auto for this game. I liked being able to pause in between conversations (without having to hit the options button) and not miss anything. Now I need to make sure I am 100% focus. I liked how it was done in the other games better. Little complaint from my time spent so far with it.
https://gematsu.com/2017/08/yakuza-kiwami-2-announced-ps4
According to this gematsu post when it was announced it seems one of the discs is the Kiwami 1 and 2 soundtrack. The other 2 seem to be called "Kazuma Kiryu Famous "Kiwami" CD" and "Majima Goro Famous "Kiwami" CD" ,whatever that means. Otherwise I have no idea, as I don't have them myself. That is all I could seem to fine on it from my quick search. Hopefully someone else can give you a more definitive answer.
The soundtrack CD is a selection of tracks from the Kiwami and Kiwami 2 soundtracks. The character CDs, described as "Famous Sayings", are simply that: collections of Kiryu and Majima's best lines from the whole series.
If I remember correctly, the cabaret stuff I was able to do in chapter 1, the spear fishing in chapter 4, and the bar friends in chapter 5.
fuh...x.x
How in God's name did I miss all of that?! Where do you access them? I'm guessing the latter two are in Hiroshima, which I'm back into now. Is CC at club shine or whatever it's called?
Man, tell me about it, I just realized I beat the game without ever being introduced to bar friends or spear fishing D:
Like yeah I just wrote off CC because I thought it would eventually be introduced in the guys' club in Hiroshima sometime down the road. Same with spear fishing. No clue about bar friends as I looked for the name of the bar mentioned in the completion lists but didn't see it on either map.
Yeah, the latter two are in Hiroshima while the cabaret stuff is back at club shine, and all you have to do is literally walk in. For the spear fishing, you have to go to the docks during the day, and for the bar, you have to walk next to the club (starts with a "G" I think) at night and you'll get hit with a cutscene. The bar stuff I found on accident too, because I was wondering where that substory took place for the longest.
I looked it up properly, and the bar is called New Gaudi and it's on the right side of the map. It'll show up under the pink ps4 controller icon on your map.
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Thanks. I'm not really interested in the quotes CD so I won't go out of my way to get it. I'm looking for the "All-Time Best" karaoke CD though.
Lol master of disguise, our Kiryu is...
What Kiryu? I don't see Kiryu anywhere in that picture.
Hi guys, looking for some advice.
Just played my first Yakuza game (Kiwami on the PS4) and absolutely loved every second of the story. I thought it was a masterpiece. Unfortunately I see that 2 is on PS2 and 3,4 and 5 are on PS3. I don't have a PS3 and I'm in the UK so the games unfortunately aren't available on PS Now.
So my question is this - I have no desire to buy a PS3 again just to play these games, is my best (only?) option to play Zero, watch recaps of 2-5 on YouTube and then buy 6?
Thanks for any replies, I really do love this series so really want to play more. Just gutted I can't play 2-5 on PS4 I need to know what happens next!!
Just played my first Yakuza game (Kiwami on the PS4) and absolutely loved every second of the story. I thought it was a masterpiece. Unfortunately I see that 2 is on PS2 and 3,4 and 5 are on PS3. I don't have a PS3 and I'm in the UK so the games unfortunately aren't available on PS Now.
So my question is this - I have no desire to buy a PS3 again just to play these games, is my best (only?) option to play Zero, watch recaps of 2-5 on YouTube and then buy 6?
Thanks for any replies, I really do love this series so really want to play more. Just gutted I can't play 2-5 on PS4 I need to know what happens next!!
I've just bought 0. I'll watch recaps of 2-5, play 0 and then get 6 when it comes out if that makes sense to you guys?
Worth noting that 6 has a pretty good in game recap feature of 6 relevant info in the first chapter of the game, and the game itself (thus far) has shockingly little to do with the rest of the series. Id go so far as to say it's one of the most compartmentalized entries in the series, with most of the long term series Mainstays being awol here. There a ton of really nice nods to previous games, but that's mostly it. Thus far I'd say as long as you've played at least one Kiryu game featuring Haruka you'd be fine here, as understanding their relationship is pretty key to the plot.
This may all change on me in the final few chapters, but thus far I'd say even the samurai noncanon spin off game Yakuza Ishin had more to connect it to the other games than 6 does. I imagine this has something to do with its less than stellar reception in Japan, but that's just speculation on my part.
This may all change on me in the final few chapters, but thus far I'd say even the samurai noncanon spin off game Yakuza Ishin had more to connect it to the other games than 6 does. I imagine this has something to do with its less than stellar reception in Japan, but that's just speculation on my part.
If you've played Kiwami, you understand the core relationship that drives 6. You should just play 0 because it's that good, arguably has the best story in the series(definitely the tightest).