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The Yakuza Remastered Collection |OT| Fuma, Rubber, and Dreams Remastered
- Thread starter Aurc
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My copy should be dropping through the letterbox today. Can't wait to continue my Yakuza journey.
5 is low key the best Yakuza game in my opinion. 7 may top it when I play the localized version.
Never played a Yakuza game but always been interested due to my enjoyment of Shenmue back in the day and more recently Sleeping Dogs.
I take it this Remaster collection is the the best place to start?
I take it this Remaster collection is the the best place to start?
This dude knows what's up. Yakuza 5 was my favorite too, it's really outstanding, and it's mind-blowingly huge. It's a leviathan of a game.
No, I wouldn't say so. The Remastered Collection only contains 3, 4, and 5. You'll need to play Zero, Kiwami 1, and Kiwami 2 ahead of this Remastered Collection.
Absolutely brilliant.Majima Everywhere getting out of fucking hand
Is Yakuza 3 directly connected to 2? Like, does it pick up right where 2 left off?
I only ask because it's been quite a while since I finished Kiwami 2 and I'm a bit fuzzy on the events of that game.
I only ask because it's been quite a while since I finished Kiwami 2 and I'm a bit fuzzy on the events of that game.
You should play the first two games for the sake of getting settled with the established characters, yes.
The first 5 minutes features two prominent characters from Yakuza 2, one might say it spoils the ending of 2 a bit. The overall story in the game isn't connected but it does basically conclude the arc that was set up by the first two games, Kiryu's role as a father figure.
I think it's more anime/Japanese melodrama logic with regards to how the violence is portrayed, where the characters survive inexplicably fatal wounds. It happens in the story as well. It's probably grounded in how Nagoshi doesn't like portraying as something that is fun.
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This gets asked all the time, but there are plenty of threads answering it, in addition to the OP of the community thread.
Yup, there's a prequel, Yakuza 0. There's your starting point.
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Hope you enjoy it! From there, you would be doing the remakes of 1 and 2, and then this collection after that. I think these games are best played in chronological sequence, since you get to observe the growth of the main character and those that surround him.
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Seconded. Its when Kiryu feels his most refined combat wise, its got some of the best set pieces in the game, easily the joint best final boss fight gameplay wise (with Ishin). Plus all that content! 5 cities, 5 characters, so many fantastic mini games and some huge side content for everyone but Akiyama. 0 and 7 both have some pretty sizeable excellent side content, but nothing has toppled 5 for me in this regard. 5 also has both simaltaneously my favourite and least favourite arena - because the victory road stuff is a fantastic way to build a plot around the arena but having to grind so much in the arena to unlock everything was annoying (and doing it 4 times was nuts, the game should never have put Akiyama or Shinada in the main arena, just the victory road fights)
Should be up when the store usually updates, usually by 3pm ET, I think.
Very hot take: Yakuza 5 is extremely bloated and makes you wade through a lot of kinda boring side stuff just to progress in the main story. It's not a bad game by any means, but the pacing is way off. I wish there was a "I don't want to do this hunting minigame anymore" button.
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You don't have to do hunting for very long, though. That's just side content.
I agree that Yakuza 5 is bloated in general, however. They really should have omitted Shinada. I know he has his fans, but he's very shoehorned into the story.
HARD agree. Definitely feels like a case of "we have to one-up the 4 playable characters from the last game." His whole deal is... yeah, "shoehorned" is the right word.
Good points and bad points. Shinada doesn't have much to do with the plot, buts he's fantastic so I'll have no slander against his part ;) Hunting does have pacing issues though. Takes around an hour of tutorials to wade through before you get the free roam missions which is where the fun is.
Here to say that Shinada is great and his segment is one the major reasons I'm hyped for the Y5 revisit.
He's not a bad character, he's just... irrelevant.
He's no Tanimura :P
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Yeah. Shinada is
Just some guy that attended the same high school as Daigo... and they barely knew of each other, anyway.
This made it especially tedious for me. I was trying to beat 5 before 6 released, and it was getting really close. After making me learn Japanese traffic laws and teaching me how to hunt, they had the gall to drop this baseball degenerate who had basically nothing to do with the story on me?
Maybe now when I replay it without the urgency of an impending release, I'll be able to savour and enjoy it more.... maybe.
Oh wait, 7 is coming....
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Baseball degenerate. LMAO
Yeah, I feel you. He's got a good arc and all, but man... should've saved him for a spinoff. His part just bloats up the game.
Funnily enough I liked Shinada because it was a change of pace, same reason I liked Haruka's chapter. That and Shinada has Takasugi, which is reason alone for me preferring Shinada over parts of 4. That and I actually enjoyed the baseball stuff, and I especially liked the weird twists the story took. Plus everyone saying Shinada's irrelevant, I kinda disagree, well maybe not Shinada but his part of the story since
Its just a pity that they had to cut the licensed music from the English port again. Shinada has one boss fight and a really great scene at the end of his part that uses licensed music that really enhanced the scenes but those were unfortunately replaced :(
As for 4... I just wish it had more time in development. It feels like its the shortest game plot wise in the series - Akiyama and Saeijma are ok but Tanimura and Kiryu have chapters where no fights happen, only one cutscene, Kiryu himself is not much better than Shinada in 5 when it comes to why he's in the plot... he's just sorta... there. Good thing he gets the best long fight in the entire game. 4 is definitely a game that is enhanced via its side content, because it pads out bits of the characters backstory and just adds extra content that the main story is sorta lacking in a couple of places.
the huge part of 5's plot is about learning about the other Yakuza families in the different regions and the Nagoya Family is a mysterious organisation that ends up closely tied to the Omi and is sorta important to the main plot... I guess? Then again much like the end of 4, parts of 5 are definitely contrived and convoluted in such a way to bridge everything together.
Its just a pity that they had to cut the licensed music from the English port again. Shinada has one boss fight and a really great scene at the end of his part that uses licensed music that really enhanced the scenes but those were unfortunately replaced :(
As for 4... I just wish it had more time in development. It feels like its the shortest game plot wise in the series - Akiyama and Saeijma are ok but Tanimura and Kiryu have chapters where no fights happen, only one cutscene, Kiryu himself is not much better than Shinada in 5 when it comes to why he's in the plot... he's just sorta... there. Good thing he gets the best long fight in the entire game. 4 is definitely a game that is enhanced via its side content, because it pads out bits of the characters backstory and just adds extra content that the main story is sorta lacking in a couple of places.
His story is more interesting than the actual plot though so I didn't mind.
I'd say the first Yakuza is a better starting point as Yakuza 0 does a lot of callbacks to the other games much like Snake Eater. Yakuza 4 is also a decent start since the story revolves around new characters, essentially starting a new story arc after Yakuza 3.
North American PSN sure is taking it's sweet ass time....
EDIT: Finally https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/EP0177-CUSA15363_00-YAKUZA5HDEU00000
EDIT: Finally https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/EP0177-CUSA15363_00-YAKUZA5HDEU00000
On the official Playstation page for the collection it says it's PS4 Pro Enhanced.
I disagree with the first Yakuza being a better starting place than 0. The first Yakuza has aged like milk. It introduces a bunch of characters that don't do much, the plot is all over the place, the pacing is glacial. Honestly, as someone replaying the entire series on Legend (I'm about 2/3 through Kiwami 2), I might actually say to play Zero and then, unless you REALLY want to see the full thing, skip 1/Kiwami and just watch the cutscenes on Youtube or something.
Skipping 1 is silly... It introduces Haruka which is reason enough to play it. Not to mention it still has one of the best final bosses in the series (something the series after Yakuza 3 really struggles with) and aside from that one chapter that feels like filler (the deadbeat dads chapter) its a pretty speedy playthrough. Heck, the original Yakuza 1 (which still plays fine btw, aside from some camera and lockon issues, hardly gamebreaking) is the quickest 100% in the series. Again, like 4's I'd argue its problem is the opposite to glacial pacing but rather just not expanding enough on certain characters (something Kiwami rectifies... but then overdoes it with a bit too much Majima). Kiwami plays basically like a less refined 0 because it takes 0s excellent mechanics but doesn't really rebalance the design from 1's levels to compensate... that said, it really does enhance a few boss fights thanks to its superior combat (like Lau or Shimano 2 and even Arase benefits from the speedier movement of Rush style). Pity that Shimano 1 is two/three times as long as its previous boss fight, and that Majima's battles get a massive drop in difficulty compared to the original.
Its why if you can, instead of skipping 1, try and play both 1/2 and Kiwami 1/2 to see the differences between the two. 2 especially is an interesting case of both original and remake doing certain things better and worse than each other. But of course that means you need to track down a PS2/PS3/Wii U/emulate the originals on PC (and learn Japanese for the PS3/Wii U option) but its still worth doing if your a super fan of the series.
Its why if you can, instead of skipping 1, try and play both 1/2 and Kiwami 1/2 to see the differences between the two. 2 especially is an interesting case of both original and remake doing certain things better and worse than each other. But of course that means you need to track down a PS2/PS3/Wii U/emulate the originals on PC (and learn Japanese for the PS3/Wii U option) but its still worth doing if your a super fan of the series.