Yakuza Community |OT| Complete Global Saturation

shadowman16 · Jul 4, 2019

Gen X said:
I posted n the Kiwami 2 thread last week but it seems any Yakuza talk gets done in here now. Didn't have much to say, just that I was impressed with the Dragon Engine coming from Kiwami 1 and that it reminded me of the jump from #4 to #5 on PS3. Obviously this Dragon Engine though is a massive change for the series.

This is my first time playing Yakuza 2, I've seen some complaints about the story but seeing as my first entry into the series was #3 then this will never be as bad as that, plus I knew nothing of the characters so it's been a bit hard to follow. Now I'm coming full circle and I'm realising the importance of some characters.

I do have one question with these Kiwami games though, as they were remade were there references put in to tie in with the later games? Reason I ask is I think in Kiwami 1 Date-San (?) mentions something about switching careers and asking what Kiryu would do and Taxi Driver was mentioned. I had a little chuckle as he ended up doing that in #5 but then I thought the team may have slipped that in the remake. Are they added a few nods the later games?

I don't remember that line myself, but wouldn't surprise me if it were added. There's a few side stories in 0 and Kiwami 2 that make fun of the future (0 especially with its fortune teller side story).

NoirSuede said:
I heard that in Yakuza 0 theres an equipment that lets you change styles faster, does it open up new combos?

There's a rainbow coloured suit that does shorten the time it takes to swap styles, but it doesn't give you new combos. I used that suit all through the game myself, as the quick switch was awesome. Kiwami further built on this by giving you many different ways to swap styles during certain actions (its one of the reasons I prefer Kiwami's combat to 0)

Gen X · Jul 4, 2019

I too enjoyed the 4 fighting styles, but why does the combat in Kiwami 2 feel so good and why is it the best yet? (my opinion haha)
Still got #6 to play after this, missus bought me the After Hours Edition for my birthday June last year and then having kids not putting discs back in cases there was a period there where either 0 or Kiwami were missing, Kiwami was missi g for so long I ended up buying a pre-owned copy to tie me over. Of course the missing disc turned up a few days later after being missing for 3 months. Smh. Lol.

Deleted member 29464 · Jul 4, 2019

How's the franchise and Judgement performing? I feel Judgement isn't very popular and was wondering if the franchise still does well in Asia. I wonder if Shin Yakuza will be more popular.

shadowman16 · Jul 5, 2019

Halfling said:
How's the franchise and Judgement performing? I feel Judgement isn't very popular and was wondering if the franchise still does well in Asia. I wonder if Shin Yakuza will be more popular.

Fine. probably. I don't really see how you see Judgment doing badly, I've seen plenty of hype and praise for it in the regular circles, plus Sega mentioned via a recent interview:

https://www.gamebase.com.tw/news/topic/99203693/

They mention that they plan to further expand the series in Asia, Europe and the USA. So its not exactly going anywhere.

Neo0mj · Jul 5, 2019

Beat Majima Saga in Kiwami 2. Wish it had a bigger budget to it but I had fun. Final boss wasn't good but I have to admit I really liked the intro and theme.

lunch · Jul 5, 2019

Just finished Yakuza 6; it's crazy that Kiryu's story is done with. Yakuza is probably the franchise I've stuck with for the longest. I started the first game in summer of '09, and so I've had a full decade with this series, and I can't think of anything else I've stuck with for so long, and it's been a literal system seller for the last two Playstation consoles for me. 2 and 4 are the pinnacle of the series, and 0 is my personal nadir (it's always a little weird to see people declare it the best; I wish I liked it more), but this has been a great series of games, and just looking back at how dire this series was around 2 and 3, it's astonishing that I've been able to see Kiryu's story all the way through.

Rutger · Jul 5, 2019

Just finished Yakuza 0, and already played through Kiwami some time back.

And I feel I really need to ask, am I missing something to the combat? Whenever I reach bosses it feels like they get to play a different game than I do. If I try to combo them past one hit they instantly put up their guard or even start their own string before my attack's recovery is done. Don't know if I missed something to work around things like that.

It's a shame reaching the final boss, loving the atmosphere, especially when he switches to that style...
And then I spend the whole fight running around in circles waiting for him to start an attack and get a quick one hit punish(because trying to attack on my own almost always has him avoid it), and then repeat for way too long.

At least when I have items and weapons I can easily use a bunch of heat actions, Majima with the Slugger style was much better equipped to fight around all that.

All that aside, I'm having a ton of fun with the rest of what the games have to offer. Looking forward to playing more of the series, just deciding if next should be Kiwami 2 or take a break from Kiryu and play Judgement.

shadowman16 · Jul 6, 2019

lunch said:
Just finished Yakuza 6; it's crazy that Kiryu's story is done with. Yakuza is probably the franchise I've stuck with for the longest. I started the first game in summer of '09, and so I've had a full decade with this series, and I can't think of anything else I've stuck with for so long, and it's been a literal system seller for the last two Playstation consoles for me. 2 and 4 are the pinnacle of the series, and 0 is my personal nadir (it's always a little weird to see people declare it the best; I wish I liked it more), but this has been a great series of games, and just looking back at how dire this series was around 2 and 3, it's astonishing that I've been able to see Kiryu's story all the way through.

I'm sort of with you on 0. I still think its one of the best in the series, I understand why other people like it so much, but I feel at some point its going to end up terribly over rated by parts of the fandom. One thing I can't stand seeing in recent threads here especially is the stupid opinion "its all down hill from 0" where newbies will spout that garbage while not even playing the other games in the series. Which I find pretty ironic as one complaint you can legit level against the series is that the games are all pretty similar to each other - so in my mind, if you like one, your probably going to like the others. So to see people dismissing games they've not even played (and not even taking into consideration certain Japan only games I'd rank above 0 as well - I think Ishin, Kenzan and Kurohyou 2 are all amazing games, but good luck getting a conversation going about them :( ) gets really annoying really fast. Anyway, enough of a rant for now.

Rutger said:
Just finished Yakuza 0, and already played through Kiwami some time back.

And I feel I really need to ask, am I missing something to the combat? Whenever I reach bosses it feels like they get to play a different game than I do. If I try to combo them past one hit they instantly put up their guard or even start their own string before my attack's recovery is done. Don't know if I missed something to work around things like that.

It's a shame reaching the final boss, loving the atmosphere, especially when he switches to that style...
And then I spend the whole fight running around in circles waiting for him to start an attack and get a quick one hit punish(because trying to attack on my own almost always has him avoid it), and then repeat for way too long.

At least when I have items and weapons I can easily use a bunch of heat actions, Majima with the Slugger style was much better equipped to fight around all that.

All that aside, I'm having a ton of fun with the rest of what the games have to offer. Looking forward to playing more of the series, just deciding if next should be Kiwami 2 or take a break from Kiryu and play Judgement.

Bosses I never had problems with, its all about dodging when they attack and then attacking from their blind spot (aka, attack them from behind right after they attack). Timed right you'll deliver a full combo and maybe even knock them down. Some bosses, like Lau in Yakuza 3 are pretty darn succeptable to grab attacks as well.
Also, this is the point you really want to have your counter (heat) moves unlocked - so you can be tiger dropping or Komaki countering enemies for extra damage and combo potential. That's what I've always done, its just a matter of learning enemy attacks and learning their attacks to learn where the sweet spots are for counter attacks - dodging the first hit of an attack is pointless because successive attacks will home in, you need to learn how many hits an combo has and identify the last hit, then counter/dodge and attack for the best damage.

Icepick_1878 · Jul 6, 2019

I feel similarly about Kiwami 2. I never played Y2 so when it was announced I got really excited. People were describing it as the best story in the series. I still liked the game but for me it just wasn't that good.

My opinions on past games tend to change a lot with time anyways. Y6 was good but I felt it had lots of missed opportunities. Now while playing Judgment I find myself reminiscing about the great moments it had quite often. And what a charming location(and it's people) Onomichi was...

lunch · Jul 6, 2019

Daigo said:
My opinions on past games tend to change a lot with time anyways. Y6 was good but I felt it had lots of missed opportunities. Now while playing Judgment I find myself reminiscing about the great moments it had quite often. And what a charming location(and it's people) Onomichi was...

I definitely get this. I loved Onomichi in 6 and took a ton of photos, but that shift in opinion maps pretty closely to how I feel about 3 now (which, incidentally, is the game 6 is the most reminiscent of) where I'm just pining for Okinawa even though at the time of 3's release, it was definitely the Yakuza game I was the most mixed on. Those one off Yakuza cities end up getting really built up in my mind; I really missed Sotenbori from 2, whereas post 5 and 0, I feel tired of it, and I'm now wishing I could return to 5's Fukuoka.

gachapin · Jul 6, 2019

made some progress in 5. 5's development was influenced by the big quakes Japan had? 5 actually has gloomy tone. I didn't mind it when I played it back then. Japan still had the aftereffects and dark atmosphere when 5 was out. But now I don't appreciate the tone 5 got :(

shadowman16 said:
I'm sort of with you on 0. I still think its one of the best in the series, I understand why other people like it so much, but I feel at some point its going to end up terribly over rated by parts of the fandom. One thing I can't stand seeing in recent threads here especially is the stupid opinion "its all down hill from 0" where newbies will spout that garbage while not even playing the other games in the series. Which I find pretty ironic as one complaint you can legit level against the series is that the games are all pretty similar to each other - so in my mind, if you like one, your probably going to like the others. So to see people dismissing games they've not even played (and not even taking into consideration certain Japan only games I'd rank above 0 as well - I think Ishin, Kenzan and Kurohyou 2 are all amazing games, but good luck getting a conversation going about them :( ) gets really annoying really fast. Anyway, enough of a rant for now.

I find it interesting that there are always someone who complain like compared to the other entries this one starts very slowly or pacing is really bad. You can find this type of post in almost all the yakuza threads even in everyone's beloved 0. I wonder which entries they are comparing to 8)

Rutger · Jul 6, 2019

shadowman16 said:
Bosses I never had problems with, its all about dodging when they attack and then attacking from their blind spot (aka, attack them from behind right after they attack). Timed right you'll deliver a full combo and maybe even knock them down. Some bosses, like Lau in Yakuza 3 are pretty darn succeptable to grab attacks as well.
Also, this is the point you really want to have your counter (heat) moves unlocked - so you can be tiger dropping or Komaki countering enemies for extra damage and combo potential. That's what I've always done, its just a matter of learning enemy attacks and learning their attacks to learn where the sweet spots are for counter attacks - dodging the first hit of an attack is pointless because successive attacks will home in, you need to learn how many hits an combo has and identify the last hit, then counter/dodge and attack for the best damage.

Yeah, that pretty much what I do.
But I pretty much never get full combos. Feels like I'm allowed to get in one quick hit and they can start blocking right after, leading me to play a hit and run game, which isn't hard, just tedious.

I guess my fighting game background wants the rules to what happens when an attack lands to be much more obvious. As it is I don't know when a combo will work, the hitstun seems variable.

CannonFodder52 · Jul 6, 2019

shadowman16 said:
... but I feel at some point its going to end up terribly over rated by parts of the fandom. One thing I can't stand seeing in recent threads here especially is the stupid opinion "its all down hill from 0" where newbies will spout that garbage while not even playing the other games in the series.

Yeah, this is pretty irritating. I think it's poisoning the well for some people who now already have their minds made up that everything is going to be worse, or that they've played the good game.

As you said the games are similar enough that any narrative, town, cast or antagonist can easily push you towards a preferred title.
Personally I love the low-key, small town vibes of Y3 and Y6, plus the family and parental themes of Y6 really resonated with me. That's enough to make those two some of my favorites in the series.
I would ideally like people to go into the series post Yakuza 0 thinking they could resonate with, or be most impacted by any of the following titles, instead of thinking they're just headed downhill.

thenexus6 · Jul 6, 2019

Rutger said:
Just finished Yakuza 0, and already played through Kiwami some time back.

And I feel I really need to ask, am I missing something to the combat? Whenever I reach bosses it feels like they get to play a different game than I do. If I try to combo them past one hit they instantly put up their guard or even start their own string before my attack's recovery is done. Don't know if I missed something to work around things like that.

It's a shame reaching the final boss, loving the atmosphere, especially when he switches to that style...
And then I spend the whole fight running around in circles waiting for him to start an attack and get a quick one hit punish(because trying to attack on my own almost always has him avoid it), and then repeat for way too long.

At least when I have items and weapons I can easily use a bunch of heat actions, Majima with the Slugger style was much better equipped to fight around all that.

All that aside, I'm having a ton of fun with the rest of what the games have to offer. Looking forward to playing more of the series, just deciding if next should be Kiwami 2 or take a break from Kiryu and play Judgement.

I am in a similar situation as you - finished Zero recently and just finished Kiwami. The combat was odd for me too. I find it strange there is no proper lock on, you just swing around hoping your punches connect with the enemies because your movement is so rigid.. they just dance around you most of the time. Also some things that really started to annoy me were 1) the pretty much unavoidable gun shot and knife hits that would knock you to the ground requiring a rapid button press to get up and 2) some of the bosses with the super health regeneration.. most of them have multi level health bars so all your progess is instantly lost when they go into this impenetrable regen state. It felt like just a way to drag out boss fights. I like beating up dudes, and some of the moves you pull off are crazy and fun, but I think the combat needs tidying up overall.

The story was mad, and over the top in Zero, but Kiwami felt way more toned down - howver I didn't mind that. Definitely made it easier to follow!

On terms of characters here are some of my thoughts:

Majima in Kiwami is a total zanny nut case, which is fine, but in Zero he's a totally different character. I don't understand why they made him so different in Zero? It's a prequel so they had the opportunity to set us up for his crazy persona but they didn't. I much prefer this Zero character - as I spend 30 hours with him as this slick, cool dude before this crazy nut case.

Another character which I had a little trouble getting to grips with was Nishiki. In Zero he's your total 100% bro, and in Kiwami (I know alot can happen in ten years) he's a total punk. The change was a little jarring to me.

I really like the games and will continue to play them all. I think I too will take a break for a while before returning for both Kiwami 2 and Judgement.

Rutger · Jul 6, 2019

thenexus6 said:
I am in a similar situation as you - finished Zero recently and just finished Kiwami. The combat was odd for me too. I find it strange there is no proper lock on, you just swing around hoping your punches connect with the enemies because your movement is so rigid.. they just dance around you most of the time. Also some things that really started to annoy me were 1) the pretty much unavoidable gun shot and knife hits that would knock you to the ground requiring a rapid button press to get up and 2) some of the bosses with the super health regeneration.. most of them have multi level health bars so all your progess is instantly lost when they go into this impenetrable regen state. It felt like just a way to drag out boss fights. I like beating up dudes, and some of the moves you pull off are crazy and fun, but I think the combat needs tidying up overall.

The story was mad, and over the top in Zero, but Kiwami felt way more toned down - howver I didn't mind that. Definitely made it easier to follow!

On terms of characters here are some of my thoughts:

Majima in Kiwami is a total zanny nut case, which is fine, but in Zero he's a totally different character. I don't understand why they made him so different in Zero? It's a prequel so they had the opportunity to set us up for his crazy persona but they didn't. I much prefer this Zero character - as I spend 30 hours with him as this slick, cool dude before this crazy nut case.

Another character which I had a little trouble getting to grips with was Nishiki. In Zero he's your total 100% bro, and in Kiwami (I know alot can happen in ten years) he's a total punk. The change was a little jarring to me.

I really like the games and will continue to play them all. I think I too will take a break for a while before returning for both Kiwami 2 and Judgement.

I rarely bothered with the lock on. Freely running around made it so much easier to avoid attacks and land punishes.
The health regain in Kiwami was annoying. We can stop it with a heat attack, but they still gain more back than I'd like before we can start it, and if we don't have heat built up/heat items...

With the story, I've often seen it recommended to start with 0 then play Kiwami, but I kind of liked that I went the other way around.

With Majima, it was surprising to see him much more serious, but knowing where he will go I could see how some of the characters rubbed off on him, and while he wasn't as he is in Kiwami at the end, I could see him going in that direction.

And it was nice to see a time when Kiryu and Nishiki were still close.

I guess I enjoyed the small nods to the future. Though I imagine there's a lot more that I didn't pick up on.

Chessguy1 · Jul 6, 2019

Kiryu figure comes out soon ($99.99) incase anyone is interested

https://store.asmustoys.com/product-KIRYU-KAZUMA-YAKU01A.htm

(official site)

https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/VariationDetails/93738

(good store to buy from for US buyers)

shadowman16 · Jul 7, 2019

gachapin said:
I find it interesting that there are always someone who complain like compared to the other entries this one starts very slowly or pacing is really bad. You can find this type of post in almost all the yakuza threads even in everyone's beloved 0. I wonder which entries they are comparing to 8)

Yup. I saw it in 0 with how they set up characters in the first chapter where it was very linear, 1 had it as well with it not really opening up until chapter 4? 3 of course goes without saying where some people found the pacing super slow etc. Even Judge Eyes has people complaining about how it has side cases in the main plot (seeing as two of those are excellent Kaito quests, I really don't mind). Heck, 5 has the same issue in places as well, but it doesn't make me hate the game or anything, its still one of the most fun entries for me to play.

CannonFodder52 said:
Yeah, this is pretty irritating. I think it's poisoning the well for some people who now already have their minds made up that everything is going to be worse, or that they've played the good game.

As you said the games are similar enough that any narrative, town, cast or antagonist can easily push you towards a preferred title.
Personally I love the low-key, small town vibes of Y3 and Y6, plus the family and parental themes of Y6 really resonated with me. That's enough to make those two some of my favorites in the series.
I would ideally like people to go into the series post Yakuza 0 thinking they could resonate with, or be most impacted by any of the following titles, instead of thinking they're just headed downhill.

Bingo. Plus you have people comparing everything to 0 asking why Yakuza 3 ( a game that is a good 10+ years old now) isn't as good as that newer shinier game. Maybe its because I play lots of retro games so I can appreciate the games at the time of their release, but it just seems silly to be comparing older games in the series to newer, of course the newer may have features/improvements the old ones lacked. Ah well, doesn't affect my enjoyment of the games, just makes me less likely to bother posting stuff in the non community Yakuza threads.

NattyBo · Jul 7, 2019

I'm enjoying the heck out of Judgment, the only recurring criticism I can really get behind is the tailing stuff. It's soooo boring to me. But otherwise it's been a blast that doesn't look like ending any time soon for me. Screw what anyone else says

gachapin · Jul 7, 2019

The tailing is more terrible in the ex mode. Based on my experience, it's rare to have an auto save point before them so you have to go way back to the last save point if you failed.

mudai · Jul 7, 2019

Still at the beginning of chapter 2 in Judgement. Sadly, I don't have much time to play right now and I'm mostly doing side activities, but I think I reached a point where I should advance the main story finally. I'm loving every second of it though. It's wonderful. That being said: You can tell the localization team had a blast with this one again. Just one name: Ass Catchum. Lol.

beezer · Jul 8, 2019

Compared to mainline Yakuza titles, how hard Judgment platinum is?

NattyBo · Jul 8, 2019

beezer said:
Compared to mainline Yakuza titles, how hard Judgment platinum is?

Depends entirely on how good or bad you are at Puyo Puyo and Drone racing, otherwise it's pretty much the same

Fitts · Jul 9, 2019

I'm glad I checked here since some relevant discussion is taking place.

I recently purchased Yakuza 0 and am about an hour and a half in. It's my first Yakuza game and I expected a 3D beat-em-up with some mini games and a good sense of humor. But man, it's just so slow paced at least in the early going. Way more exposition heavy than I expected and the way it's handled is kind of a turnoff. When I sit down to play a game, I want to play a game. I'm fine with story, but I'm one to read the subtitles and then click to the next line before the character is done speaking. There's some of that here, but there's a lot of more traditional cutscenes and the dreaded walk-and-talk. (complete with a hold button to follow mechanic — that's not how interactivity works, folks)

But I like where the combat is going. (minus having to unlock so much because I'll never grind for it) And I like the few humorous moments I've encountered even if the overarching story hasn't grabbed me in the slightest.

Is it just a really slow start? Do y'all cool people think this will click with me or is it just not my kind of game?

Holundrian · Jul 9, 2019

beezer said:
Compared to mainline Yakuza titles, how hard Judgment platinum is?

Mmmh maybe slightly easier than 0.
From the gut of how easy each title I played has been to plat so far 0/k1 > Judgment/5 > k2 > y6

shadowman16 · Jul 9, 2019

Fitts said:
Is it just a really slow start? Do y'all cool people think this will click with me or is it just not my kind of game?

The game starts slow and slowly opens up. Worth mentioning every Yakuza game opens slow, its a plot heavy game with lots of story, cutscenes, dialogue and text boxes. Its got great action to back it up, but don't expect to be punching people every 10 minutes else you'll be very disappointed, especially in the early chapters.

Holundrian said:
Mmmh maybe slightly easier than 0.
From the gut of how easy each title I played has been to plat so far 0/k1 > Judgment/5 > k2 > y6

I'd say JE is harder to do in terms of completion list than pretty much any game not called Ishin or FOTNS (well, HGG technically, as they made the trophy list easier outside of Japan for FOTNS...)
The drone stuff can be challenging if your not great at racing games and some of the arcade requirements can also test peoples skills. Only completion lists that really tested my skills aside from those two spin offs were Yakuza 3 and 4 - 4's is optional, while 3 has some real tough challenges to chew through. I look forward to seeing people complain about Mahjong once again if it gets localised, just because that Mahjong trophy is way harder than anything the games have thrown at you in newer games.

Now EX Hard mode wise, I'm guessing that's why you put Kiwami higher? Because that totally makes sense, its a tough bastard bit and has no save point forcing you to do the entire chapter again. So yeah, bastard hard. I don't remember 0 being that bad? But I forget the highway shootout on that difficulty wise probably because Kiwami overshadowed it!

Holundrian · Jul 9, 2019

shadowman16 said:
The game starts slow and slowly opens up. Worth mentioning every Yakuza game opens slow, its a plot heavy game with lots of story, cutscenes, dialogue and text boxes. Its got great action to back it up, but don't expect to be punching people every 10 minutes else you'll be very disappointed, especially in the early chapters.

I'd say JE is harder to do in terms of completion list than pretty much any game not called Ishin or FOTNS (well, HGG technically, as they made the trophy list easier outside of Japan for FOTNS...)
The drone stuff can be challenging if your not great at racing games and some of the arcade requirements can also test peoples skills. Only completion lists that really tested my skills aside from those two spin offs were Yakuza 3 and 4 - 4's is optional, while 3 has some real tough challenges to chew through. I look forward to seeing people complain about Mahjong once again if it gets localised, just because that Mahjong trophy is way harder than anything the games have thrown at you in newer games.

Now EX Hard mode wise, I'm guessing that's why you put Kiwami higher? Because that totally makes sense, its a tough bastard bit and has no save point forcing you to do the entire chapter again. So yeah, bastard hard. I don't remember 0 being that bad? But I forget the highway shootout on that difficulty wise probably because Kiwami overshadowed it!

Yeah K1 gets slightly higher for me because for single plat related tasks the legend car chase has been pretty much the worst for me. But aside from that I don't remember K1 being too bad.

Y0 is the one that asks the most endurance out of you I feel. On a task to task basis there is probably nothing that is the hardest compared to the rest of the series that I played but they all take a decent amount of time to acquire the skill to beat them.
Still remember the bad times of trying to get 5 million points in fantasy life. I think y5 was decently hard but in a way it was my first plat and by now I don't really have a single thing that I think was too bad about it. Really if I had to cite one thing it was probably grinding arena with shinada and akiyama which I don't think was all that challenging in the end but rather just unfun because of how the balance affected their movesets.

Judgment is weird drone races is probably the biggest gatekeeper and I def felt the despair but in the end I ended up going through them somewhat quickly. Looking at my profile I think my rankings somewhat correlate also to the time it took me to get the plats with 0 taking the longest. The exception is yakuza 5 which I'm consciously rating lower because it was the first so I had to get used to a lot of stuff that has gotten considerably easier with each title(like baseball).

Fitts · Jul 9, 2019

shadowman16 said:
The game starts slow and slowly opens up. Worth mentioning every Yakuza game opens slow, its a plot heavy game with lots of story, cutscenes, dialogue and text boxes. Its got great action to back it up, but don't expect to be punching people every 10 minutes else you'll be very disappointed, especially in the early chapters.

I'd say JE is harder to do in terms of completion list than pretty much any game not called Ishin or FOTNS (well, HGG technically, as they made the trophy list easier outside of Japan for FOTNS...)
The drone stuff can be challenging if your not great at racing games and some of the arcade requirements can also test peoples skills. Only completion lists that really tested my skills aside from those two spin offs were Yakuza 3 and 4 - 4's is optional, while 3 has some real tough challenges to chew through. I look forward to seeing people complain about Mahjong once again if it gets localised, just because that Mahjong trophy is way harder than anything the games have thrown at you in newer games.

Now EX Hard mode wise, I'm guessing that's why you put Kiwami higher? Because that totally makes sense, its a tough bastard bit and has no save point forcing you to do the entire chapter again. So yeah, bastard hard. I don't remember 0 being that bad? But I forget the highway shootout on that difficulty wise probably because Kiwami overshadowed it!

Your response is super appreciated.

Maybe I went in with the wrong mindset. I'll give the game a rest for a few days and then go back in with adjusted expectations.

shadowman16 · Jul 9, 2019

Holundrian said:
Yeah K1 gets slightly higher for me because for single plat related tasks the legend car chase has been pretty much the worst for me. But aside from that I don't remember K1 being too bad.

Y0 is the one that asks the most endurance out of you I feel. On a task to task basis there is probably nothing that is the hardest compared to the rest of the series that I played but they all take a decent amount of time to acquire the skill to beat them.
Still remember the bad times of trying to get 5 million points in fantasy life. I think y5 was decently hard but in a way it was my first plat and by now I don't really have a single thing that I think was too bad about it. Really if I had to cite one thing it was probably grinding arena with shinada and akiyama which I don't think was all that challenging in the end but rather just unfun because of how the balance affected their movesets.

Judgment is weird drone races is probably the biggest gatekeeper and I def felt the despair but in the end I ended up going through them somewhat quickly. Looking at my profile I think my rankings somewhat correlate also to the time it took me to get the plats with 0 taking the longest. The exception is yakuza 5 which I'm consciously rating lower because it was the first so I had to get used to a lot of stuff that has gotten considerably easier with each title(like baseball).

5 I wouldn't rate as hard trophy wise. Its just really long. Only stuff as you already mentioned that can cause a problem are the arena stuff for Akiyama especially (Shinada has a move that heals him, so just abuse that and you'll get there in the end).
As for Fantasy Zone, I feel that isn't really hard. I know people have issues with that and Outrun etc. but I've been playing Fantasy Zone lots on my 3DS this week and it really just boils down to getting the jet engine and seven way shot. Then just hold down R1 for rapid fire. Then its easy. You'll get the score around stage 4 I think, which itself is such an easy stage as all bases are along the bottom of the screen. You don't even need the jet engine, that just makes it easier to evade some normal enemies (bosses are actually easier without it).

Speaking of stuff getting easier - you raise an excellent point there (and might go a ways to explain my whole arcade point - I play these games weekly at times, so I'm not going to find getting Space Harriers target score hard at all, quite the opposite). For me its Pool that I found got easier - but then again 3 throws you in with those sharks in Tokyo Bay Harbor... Having to clear all the difficulties means you have no choice but to learn how to play the game proper and get the angles down, the AI will miss sometimes, but you can't rely on that. This then made doing it in 4 (totally optional) way easier and from there you have 5 and Kiwami especially much easier to clear its requirements because you've already got that solid foundation. Likewise my time with stuff like Miku and DJMax makes any of the Karaoke challenges a complete walk in the park, while that'd certainly not be the case for people trying to do Haruka's song in Kiwami!

NattyBo · Jul 9, 2019

Man I kinda hope they do a full on dub for Shin RGG, as much as I love the Japanese voices it is very refreshing to just be able to listen and look instead of read in some parts. I'm enjoying the hell out of this dub.

Side note: I hope they go with unfamous Japanese actors so that there's no problem with Karaoke. Wonder how they'd even handle that with a dub.

shadowman16 · Jul 9, 2019

Well Ichiban's VA is Nishiki, and he's donee Karaoke before in 0, and his female companion (whoever the heck it is) had singing as part of their audition. Plus the dude that handles all mini games loves Karaoke (its his pride and joy going by interviews) so I really don't see them skipping it again.

As for the dub... good luck to them. They either need a) songs rewritten so they work in English b) brand new songs entirely or c) just don't dub them. That'd be a logistical nightmare for sure, as I'd bet it'd be ultra difficult to get songs to work in both Japanese and English languages AND get good English VAs to do said songs justice. I don't envy the localisation team if they have to sort that mess out...

NattyBo · Jul 9, 2019

shadowman16 said:
Well Ichiban's VA is Nishiki, and he's donee Karaoke before in 0, and his female companion (whoever the heck it is) had singing as part of their audition. Plus the dude that handles all mini games loves Karaoke (its his pride and joy going by interviews) so I really don't see them skipping it again.

As for the dub... good luck to them. They either need a) songs rewritten so they work in English b) brand new songs entirely or c) just don't dub them. That'd be a logistical nightmare for sure, as I'd bet it'd be ultra difficult to get songs to work in both Japanese and English languages AND get good English VAs to do said songs justice. I don't envy the localisation team if they have to sort that mess out...

Yup. I wouldn't mind if they just kept the Karaoke in Japanese, even though it would be a bit world breaking. But eh no big loss if they don't dub, I'm not sure I'd play a mainline game in English, just for the world building aspect. Although maybe for side missions....

lemonade · Jul 9, 2019

The idea of a Majima dub terrifies me.

TakenBrx · Jul 9, 2019

any word on the remasters coming to the West?

NoirSuede · Jul 10, 2019

I just bought Yakuza 0 on Steam, and omg Kuze is just a cheap boss solely bc of 2 things:

1. Some of his attacks are just straight up unreactable, like his jab and leg sweep
2. Especially on phase 2, he can just randomly decide to ignore everything you do and sucker punch you with an armored attack.... even while you're hitting him.

While phase 1 is manageable with basic whiff punishment, the only way I've found to get past phase 2 is either hope that Rush style's dodge can get you behind him, or whiff punish him with Brawler's drop kick, which does almost no damage against him.
On my 1st run where I only had 2 Staminans I couldn't beat him, I had to reset and buy 20 before i could beat him

Are the other bosses also cheap armoring son of a beaches too?

shadowman16 · Jul 10, 2019

TakenBrx said:
any word on the remasters coming to the West?

Read the title of the thread...

Akumatica · Jul 10, 2019

Now that I beat Judgment and am plugging away at Black Panther 1 while hoping for news on the remasters (or Ishin). I have a wish list of what I'd like to see in Shin Yakuza.
+Multiple Cities.
+Fishing, Spear fishing, billiards, golf, bowling, darts, karaoke.
+Car races and hunting (i really enjoyed it) from 5.
+Old style batting cages.
+Keep VR Paradise, Drones, Kamuro of the Dead, gashapon machines, lock picking and no stamina while running from Judgment.
+Locker keys, equipment and weapons. Weapons dropped by enemies that can be picked up and kept.
+Cabaret clubs and Cabaret Management.
+Vending Machines (A must. I love them).
+Dojo training and masters.
+Learn new moves with your smart phone camera (Revelations).
+A stocked arcade with some Nagoshi directed games like Monkey Ball, Daytona 2, Planet Harriers, Scud Race or Spikeout.
+Coliseum.
+Lots of UFO catchers.
+Dance battles, either 0 or 5 style.
+Rizap training.
+Cat cafe.
+Bar chat like in 6 or Friends like in Judgment.
+Alternate clothing/costumes a player can wear the 1st time through.
+Troublr from 6, I don't know if the reappearing gang leaders in Judgment were it's replacement, but it was a downgrade.
+Black market dealers.
+Gravure photoshoot, live chat, videos or something else.

What I don't want-
-Clan battles or any type of tower defense or RTS mode.
-Slot cars.
-Lots of chases.
-Cool content that's DLC.

Basically with the 4th Dragon Engine game I want them to go all out in terms of content.

Shan · Jul 10, 2019

lemonade said:
The idea of a Majima dub terrifies me.

Should check the original Yakuza on PS2. Majima was voiced by Mark Hamil there!

Akumatica · Jul 10, 2019

Any idea what time this is happening or if there's a stream?

https://gematsu.com/2019/06/new-yak...kasuga-information-to-be-announced-on-july-10

sweetmini · Jul 10, 2019

Akumatica said:
Any idea what time this is happening or if there's a stream?

https://gematsu.com/2019/06/new-yak...kasuga-information-to-be-announced-on-july-10

The audition site is up for audition

https://ryu-ga-gotoku-audition.com/

Video (25 june):

It's grand prix day.

Shan · Jul 10, 2019

Akumatica said:
Any idea what time this is happening or if there's a stream?

https://gematsu.com/2019/06/new-yak...kasuga-information-to-be-announced-on-july-10

https://gematsu.com/2019/07/new-yak...-female-co-star-more-details-coming-august-29

it's literally nothing beside that, more infos on August 29th.

sweetmini · Jul 10, 2019

Shanaynay said:
https://gematsu.com/2019/07/new-yak...-female-co-star-more-details-coming-august-29

it's literally nothing beside that, more infos on August 29th.

You are faster than the audition site ahahaha :)
Thanks for the info.
Eri Kamataki won then.

Shan · Jul 10, 2019

sweetmini said:
You are faster than the audition site ahahaha :)
Thanks for the info.
Eri Kamataki won then.

Haha, Gematsu reported on it like 50 mins ago, seeing Akumatica's post reminded me to check!
Grats to Eri though. c: Kinda sucks they teased informations just to say "lol, August 29th". Oh well :P

Akumatica · Jul 10, 2019

Shanaynay said:
https://gematsu.com/2019/07/new-yak...-female-co-star-more-details-coming-august-29

it's literally nothing beside that, more infos on August 29th.

Thanks!

shadowman16 · Jul 10, 2019

Akumatica said:
Now that I beat Judgment and am plugging away at Black Panther 1 while hoping for news on the remasters (or Ishin). I have a wish list of what I'd like to see in Shin Yakuza.
lots of stuff
Basically with the 4th Dragon Engine game I want them to go all out in terms of content.

I mean, yeah I'd love to see lots of that included, but I don't think we are getting that much content. I'd expect an increase over Kiwami 2 and Judgment but I don't think its likely we are ever seeing another game Yakuza 5 sized again - dev time with the new engine takes longer, so getting 5 cities (or even 3 cities of modest size) doesn't seem feasible to me.
Mini game wise I think its likely much of what was in before will return aside from a few arcade games - because I want Space Harrier and Fantasy Zone out, and new arcade games in - I've been playing SH on my 3DS this week, and honestly with Sega having probably the most varied line up of arcade games ever, there's really no need to have games return again and again. Even in terms of Virtua Fighter - gimme a arcade perfect port of VF3 to make a change - but I guess it helps dev time to recycle some things to pad out content (and its not like I mind having the games appear multiple times, I just wish for more variety especially with stuff like Motor Raid which was never ported before).
Hoping Bowling and Pool come back, those have been gone for a while and are fun. They are kinda staples of the series and I hope to see at least one return.

Honestly, what I want to see is another unique combat style for Ichiban - he doesn't need to have multiple, he can be like Kiryu in 5 and just have one damn good style - it just needs to be fleshed out with plenty of moves and heat moves. I expect his fighting style to be more brutal, rougher compared to Kiryu's since he's a pretty violent brute at heart. Also, lots of weapons and interaction with the environment.

No voiced side stories except girlfriend stuff - I want more rather than less. Quality isn't an issue as previous games managed just fine.

Arena needs to be in. And seeing that it still exists in RGG Online, I see no reason to worry about it here.

Definitely a second city, a new place would be nice. A nice sized place with its own unique stuff to do.

Blend Hostess and girlfriend mechanics together - I prefer how girlfriends were handled in Judge Eyes, but want hostess clubs back because that's a staple of the series. So blend the two together somehow and I'll be happy.

Expand Kamurocho - gimme the underground mall back for starters. Make Kamurocho Hills a big shopping area finally, and maybe expand the city out a block or two further if possible. I know we are returning but I hope for more to do in the city.

Introduce proper mini game tutorials for Shogi. Because I still suck at playing :(

Shanaynay said:
Haha, Gematsu reported on it like 50 mins ago, seeing Akumatica's post reminded me to check!
Grats to Eri though. c: Kinda sucks they teased informations just to say "lol, August 29th". Oh well :P

But the info they teased was based on the actress that would be cast. I literally expected nothing else, I'm more surprised we are getting more info on August 29th, I'd have thought they'd just wait until TGS to show off more. Oh well, less time to wait then!

Shan · Jul 10, 2019

shadowman16 said:
I mean, yeah I'd love to see lots of that included, but I don't think we are getting that much content. I'd expect an increase over Kiwami 2 and Judgment but I don't think its likely we are ever seeing another game Yakuza 5 sized again - dev time with the new engine takes longer, so getting 5 cities (or even 3 cities of modest size) doesn't seem feasible to me.
Mini game wise I think its likely much of what was in before will return aside from a few arcade games - because I want Space Harrier and Fantasy Zone out, and new arcade games in - I've been playing SH on my 3DS this week, and honestly with Sega having probably the most varied line up of arcade games ever, there's really no need to have games return again and again. Even in terms of Virtua Fighter - gimme a arcade perfect port of VF3 to make a change - but I guess it helps dev time to recycle some things to pad out content (and its not like I mind having the games appear multiple times, I just wish for more variety especially with stuff like Motor Raid which was never ported before).
Hoping Bowling and Pool come back, those have been gone for a while and are fun. They are kinda staples of the series and I hope to see at least one return.

Honestly, what I want to see is another unique combat style for Ichiban - he doesn't need to have multiple, he can be like Kiryu in 5 and just have one damn good style - it just needs to be fleshed out with plenty of moves and heat moves. I expect his fighting style to be more brutal, rougher compared to Kiryu's since he's a pretty violent brute at heart. Also, lots of weapons and interaction with the environment.

No voiced side stories except girlfriend stuff - I want more rather than less. Quality isn't an issue as previous games managed just fine.

Arena needs to be in. And seeing that it still exists in RGG Online, I see no reason to worry about it here.

Definitely a second city, a new place would be nice. A nice sized place with its own unique stuff to do.

Blend Hostess and girlfriend mechanics together - I prefer how girlfriends were handled in Judge Eyes, but want hostess clubs back because that's a staple of the series. So blend the two together somehow and I'll be happy.

Expand Kamurocho - gimme the underground mall back for starters. Make Kamurocho Hills a big shopping area finally, and maybe expand the city out a block or two further if possible. I know we are returning but I hope for more to do in the city.

Introduce proper mini game tutorials for Shogi. Because I still suck at playing :(

But the info they teased was based on the actress that would be cast. I literally expected nothing else, I'm more surprised we are getting more info on August 29th, I'd have thought they'd just wait until TGS to show off more. Oh well, less time to wait then!

well the original headline talking about more infos on July 10th read as follow:
"New Yakuza game starring Ichiban Kasuga information to be announced on July 10
Including the reveal of the game's supporting actress."
Originally, I thought it would be infos on the game + the stuff about the actress, so it's my mistake.

shadowman16 · Jul 10, 2019

Shanaynay said:
well the original headline talking about more infos on July 10th read as follow:
"New Yakuza game starring Ichiban Kasuga information to be announced on July 10
Including the reveal of the game's supporting actress."
Originally, I thought it would be infos on the game + the stuff about the actress, so it's my mistake.

Sega's done this before. Also, I'm super pessimistic when it comes to this stuff just based on past "announcements". Since they mainly talked about the actress, I basically assumed that'd be all its about. I felt that any big news anyway is TGS fodder - depending on the release date I see us getting gameplay and story trailers, though if the game is a 2020 game, I see us just getting a small story trailer at TGS. I honestly don't expect much of anything to be shown in August either, just a small CG trailer maybe, either way, I won't get too hyped as I'm expecting any actual news to be held back until September.

Akumatica · Jul 10, 2019

shadowman16 said:
I mean, yeah I'd love to see lots of that included, but I don't think we are getting that much content. I'd expect an increase over Kiwami 2 and Judgment but I don't think its likely we are ever seeing another game Yakuza 5 sized again - dev time with the new engine takes longer, so getting 5 cities (or even 3 cities of modest size) doesn't seem feasible to me.
Mini game wise I think its likely much of what was in before will return aside from a few arcade games - because I want Space Harrier and Fantasy Zone out, and new arcade games in - I've been playing SH on my 3DS this week, and honestly with Sega having probably the most varied line up of arcade games ever, there's really no need to have games return again and again. Even in terms of Virtua Fighter - gimme a arcade perfect port of VF3 to make a change - but I guess it helps dev time to recycle some things to pad out content (and its not like I mind having the games appear multiple times, I just wish for more variety especially with stuff like Motor Raid which was never ported before).
Hoping Bowling and Pool come back, those have been gone for a while and are fun. They are kinda staples of the series and I hope to see at least one return.

Honestly, what I want to see is another unique combat style for Ichiban - he doesn't need to have multiple, he can be like Kiryu in 5 and just have one damn good style - it just needs to be fleshed out with plenty of moves and heat moves. I expect his fighting style to be more brutal, rougher compared to Kiryu's since he's a pretty violent brute at heart. Also, lots of weapons and interaction with the environment.

No voiced side stories except girlfriend stuff - I want more rather than less. Quality isn't an issue as previous games managed just fine.

Arena needs to be in. And seeing that it still exists in RGG Online, I see no reason to worry about it here.

Definitely a second city, a new place would be nice. A nice sized place with its own unique stuff to do.

Blend Hostess and girlfriend mechanics together - I prefer how girlfriends were handled in Judge Eyes, but want hostess clubs back because that's a staple of the series. So blend the two together somehow and I'll be happy.

Expand Kamurocho - gimme the underground mall back for starters. Make Kamurocho Hills a big shopping area finally, and maybe expand the city out a block or two further if possible. I know we are returning but I hope for more to do in the city.

Introduce proper mini game tutorials for Shogi. Because I still suck at playing :(

But the info they teased was based on the actress that would be cast. I literally expected nothing else, I'm more surprised we are getting more info on August 29th, I'd have thought they'd just wait until TGS to show off more. Oh well, less time to wait then!

-Agree on the side stories. Getting back to @100+ would be nice.
-Tokyo, Osaka (Osaka would be fun for more Drone racing) and 1 new city to the series would be nice and your idea for Kamurocho Hills sounds good. They already have Hiroshima in the Dragon Engine so I wonder if it will return.
-An additional fighting style that was strictly weapon based (nunchucks, staffs, swords etc.., with some Ishin influence you'd be much more knowledgable about) might be an idea.
-I loved seeing Virtua Fighter 3 in the arcade back in the day! Using the series and it's budget to port more of Sega's arcade games that never had a home console port and which might not be justified in their minds for a full on Sega Ages/M2 type conversion (with all the bells and whistles)would be a dream come true.
-Yeah, the underground is definitely something I hope returns.

shadowman16 · Jul 10, 2019

Akumatica said:
-Agree on the side stories. Getting back to @100+ would be nice.
-Tokyo, Osaka (Osaka would be fun for more Drone racing) and 1 new city to the series would be nice and your idea for Kamurocho Hills sounds good. They already have Hiroshima in the Dragon Engine so I wonder if it will return.
-An additional fighting style that was strictly weapon based (nunchucks, staffs, swords etc.., with some Ishin influence you'd be much more knowledgable about) might be an idea.
-I loved seeing Virtua Fighter 3 in the arcade back in the day! Using the series and it's budget to port more of Sega's arcade games that never had a home console port and which might not be justified in their minds for a full on Sega Ages/M2 type conversion (with all the bells and whistles)would be a dream come true.
-Yeah, the underground is definitely something I hope returns.

Osaka making a return for Shin totally makes sense just for plot terms because

it will have a heavy Omi presence after all

. I hope they flesh that city out as well - bring the park and lower section missing in Kiwami 2 back (so make it like 5's map) and then add an extra layer all round the outside as well to flesh it out further.
As for fighting styles, I like the way you think with that. Three possibility would be based around fighting styles in Ishin/Kenzan - make it like the Shinsengumi (sure I butchered that name) in Ishin - they already established that the fighting style actually was passed down to people at least as recent as 1988 - as the dude that runs the Dragon and Tiger shop in Sotenbori uses the exact same fighting stance in Sword training with Majima.

Alternatively they could do a Mushishi Miyomoto fighting training as his fighting texts exist in the present day Yakuza universe (Kiryu and Saejima use them to learn heat moves ripped from Kenzan in 3-5).

Left field choice - Use the Houzoin Staff fighting style - in Kenzan you had a talented dude by the name of Houzoin (spelling surely wrong) that appears as the boss of the story arena, and his descendant exists in Yakuza 3-4 at least fighting in the underground arena.

Or... just have Komaki teach you more stuff. That dude and Saigo pops up in RGG Online as trainers, so why not use them for further training.

gachapin · Jul 10, 2019

I just learned the actual VR place next to the theater square is closed a few months ago. The bowling alley is gone in 2014 and Mach Bowl was removed from the game in RGG6. So the VR won't be in the next game.

shadowman16 · Jul 10, 2019

I actually had no idea the VR place was even real. If Capcom opens a retro arcade in the same place does that mean Sega will do the right thing and put an arcade full of Capcom games in the next game... I can dream...

Hopefully they put a bowling alley back into the spot, I don't see a reason why they can't, I mean, hasn't the building where the Millennium Tower stands in Kamurocho not existed in real life for quite a while?

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