Yakuza Series (Non-spoiler thread)

Fangu

Fangu

Great Old One
Okay I need to make a thread for this series because I'm on the train now and we all know how that goes


So like a lot of other people I was introduced to the Yakuza games by watching videos by Hollie at Playstation Access on YouTube. Yakuza has a reputation for being That Major game series that for some strange reason hasn't broken through in the West yet (but it's getting there.) After being a bit confused as to the order of the games and where to start (lol it's not even that complicated) I bought Yakuza 0 on PS4 and started playing it, completely blind. Had no idea who the characters were and if they'd even show up later in the series. And oh wow. Had I known about this game last year when it came out it might have beaten Horizon Zero Dawn for game of the year for me. It's so insanely engaging, insanely well done and INSANELY HUGE! 'Japanese GTA' doesn't really cover it, there's just so much... more to it. I finished it last night and I'm on hour 80 something, most of it from playing substories/ mini games. That's 80 hours in a relatively short amount of time. I've never played a game this intensely, never been as flabbergasted and impressed, never felt this drawn in by a game in a very long time. Valkyria Chronicles went straight to my heart, Horizon Zero Dawn had me marvel, Final Fantasy XII had me grind for hours, Super Mario Land on my Game Boy back in 1991 sucked me in like it was life itself. But Yakuza 0 just totally blew me away. It's just so... RICH! Is the only word I can use to describe it. Unendingly rich. Extreme value for money surely!

So I'm gonna play all of them because I have to. I'm gonna give a quick run down of the games for anyone else interested.

First of all, Yakuza is a Japanese beat'em up style mafia soap opera game series that for the most part aren't dubbed (I think just the very first game, the one titled 'Yakuza' on PS2 was dubbed, and luckily they gave that up) meaning the games, compared to other JP imports, come across as very Japanese, if that makes sense. There's a lot of cultural references that might fly over your head, some player might even find that frustrating at times (how the hell do I know what option to choose??) but I find this to be highly interesting and more importantly just as much if even more entertaining.

So the order of the games timeline wise (not release order) that people recommend you play them:

Yakuza 0 - PS4, set in 1988
Yakuza Kawami - PS4, a remake of Yakuza - PS2, set in 2005
Yakuza Kawami 2 - PS4, a remake of Yakuza 2 - PS2 & PS3, set in 2006
Yakuza 3 - PS3, disc only for NA/EUR. Available on PS4 as part of the Yakuza Collection.
Yakuza 4 - PS3, digital purchase available, for NA/EUR. Available on PS4 as part of the Yakuza Collection.
Yakuza 5 - PS3, digital purchase available, for NA/EUR. Available on PS4 as part of the Yakuza Collection February 2020.
Yakuza 6 - PS4

I have to say though, without mentioning any spoilers - starting with Yakuza Kawami (and doing Yakuza Kawami 2) and THEN doing 0 might establish the characters for you in a way that might have 0 make more sense.
I'm talking about the Mad Dog of Shimano of course, I knew nothing at all about the game going in and was thoroughly surprised with Majima's character towards the end. I might have appreciated that turn more knowing who Goro Majima is in the rest of the series, but hey.

I'm on to Yakuza Kawami next. Yakuza 3 is disc only for PS3 so I'll need to start my hunt for it - it's hard to come by a used copy in Norway so I might be looking at an expensive import from the UK. But what the hell. I'M PLaYING ALL OF tHEM


Please mark spoilers in this thread with a Spoiler tag describing game and/or context because surprises are cool ^_^
 
Last edited:
Interslicery

Interslicery

.....
I cried at the end of 0
When Majima refused to say anything, so she wouldn't recognize his voice.

It's an amazing game, and I'm only near the start of Kiwami, that I haven't played in awhile cause my eyes are doing weird things and I'd rather play it at full vision.
It has a perfect mix of silly, and serious. Kiryu is the manliest man that ever maned, and he's awesome. The mini games are ridiculously addictive (I was obsessed with the Cabaret minigame to the point that it made me think I wanted to do that for a living). The fighting is fun, and brutal. And the story is convoluted, but in the most coherent way possible. It's an extremely engaging story.

For anyone interested, this is the introduction to one of the main characters in the game. It's 15 min long, but it's a fantastic intro. It's also better, I think, if you know about the character, but its definitely not required.
He's basically The Joker. To the point that Mark Hamill voiced him when they translated the original game.
 
Fangu

Fangu

Great Old One
the manliest man that ever maned :lol:

The game made such an impression me I'm seriously coming down from some kind of high. I'm really excited to play Kawami next. Not sure if done with sidequests on 0 yet though... but when finishing the game I did really feel like I was done... you know. Especially due to the topic we're spoiler tagging and stuff.

Interslicery said:
He's basically The Joker. To
the point that Mark Hamill voiced him when they translated the original game.
Click to expand...
See... I had no idea about any of this. I'd never even see a picture of him with the short hair and that jacked, so when he showed up at the end I was like... eeeh do what you like Majima... but really? Because I'd so grown attached to the suit and the pony tail, and the restrained, polite personality. The way he chuckles when doing the customer service training with the girls. How he's slowly figuring out he's starting to fall for Makoto. I mean shit, he's obsessed with finding her favourite dish. Nothing screams being in love like obsessing over your girl getting the food she loves. Jesus. *Ahem* anyway. I never saw that little romance story coming until it was smack there in my face, and boy was it done well. So for Majima to just decide all of a sudden nah, he wasn't going to get the girl, he was going back to being a Yakuza, because...??? Yeah I mean I understand the 'set the one you love free' trope going on, and I guess the whole point is he found his freedom by unleashing (no longer in a cage... etc) and that he would hold on to that freedom no matter what, but I was still left with a sense of 'huh?' I mean people say his Mad Dog character is great too, but he does appear like sort of a split personality. idk. I love pony tail Cabaret Majima so much.

Interslicery said:
I cried at the end of 0
When Majima refused to say anything, so she wouldn't recognize his voice.
Click to expand...
I wanted to punch him in the face xD Poor Makoto wasn't even given a choice. It's kind of not really implied but I'd say she knew it was him, but if he's not gonna talk and not admit to it, what can she do. She was basically dumped right there. : ( I mean their relationship probably wouldn't work now that she's gone full civilian and stuff, but MY HEART

AAA

Aaa. Yeah I need to not think about this anymore X)

(Also I gotta say I love the payoff twist about her finally seeing his face, but not knowing it was him. We're waiting for that payoff for a good few hours, and it shows up eventually, but not as we imagined it would. I mean it's good storytelling, but yeah. Baw.
 
Interslicery

Interslicery

.....
It's been almost 2 years now since I've played it, so the details aren't as concrete as I'd like them to be, but how I took it was that he was emotionally broken. He couldn't take having to go through something similar to that again, or pull her back into that life. And I mean, as to his split personality nature, he does kinda love beating the shit out of people... lol Some of the faces he gives during heat actions are pretty psychotic. He is Yakuza, in his core. So it doesn't he me that way as much. It is definitely different though, I'll give you that.

And playing kiwami a bit, he is a fantastic character lol Enjoy the "Majma Everywhere System"! :P I did really like him in Zero, but in Kiwami, he's just so damn fun.
 
Fangu

Fangu

Great Old One
I'm getting excited for Kiwami nao! \o/ I just need to finish Valkyria Chronicles 4 first. Currently I'm on holiday so that won't be for at least a couple of weeks.

So, regarding the disco mini game... do you actually get more points the more steps you take? I have three songs left on hard and two of them I'm like... how the hell am I supposed to get a perfect score, even if I time my disco fevers right? But if I can squeeze more points in by doing random steps in between the mandatory ones... I might actually have a chance.

Did you hook a white shark yet? LOOOLL
 
Interslicery

Interslicery

.....
I need to get back to Kiwami.. The story had just started kicking off, and I wanna get to Kiwami 2, and Yakuza 6. Also, the Fist of the North Star game by them just came out, which people are saying is just Yakuza in FotNS.

Yeah, the more steps you take, the higher your score. Just be careful not to push it too much, and break your combo.

Now rock that dance floor!



I did lol I was not expecting that lol
 
Strangelove

Strangelove

AI Researcher
AKA
hitoshura
but are they going ever release the historical games outside of japan



i mean, i'm pretty sure they released the zombie one but never these?

i have the hd remasters for 1 and 2 (not the remakes/kiwami versions) but i've not gotten around to playing them even though i've liked the demos and such i've played. (also would like that fotns one too)
 
Fangu

Fangu

Great Old One
So I started Kiwami back in November but only played for a few hours not picking it up again because raisins but I started playing again like last week and now I'm 25+ into the game.

I'm loving it. It feels like a thorough sequel to zero (lol), the additions feel well placed, the battle system is good (I mostly use Brawler) and the main story and substories are realky good and don't feel dated at all. It's also a shorter game than zero (I think?) but then again zero felt like a juggernaut, so... also I like the Majima Everywhere system, it had me laughing out loud several times.

Kiwami 2 is after this... THEN WHAT DO I DO AAA

I'll leave you with this glory of a song

 
Strangelove

Strangelove

AI Researcher
AKA
hitoshura
i feel like i need to hurry and get a japanese copy of judge eyes/judgement now they are stopping sale of it because pierre taki was arrested for cocaine possession. is it going to become rare, am i going to have the money for it. i imagine it will get expensive on the secondary market now

good job i already have kingdom hearts 3 where taki plays olaf the comedy snowman sidekick in a kid’s film.
 
Strangelove

Strangelove

AI Researcher
AKA
hitoshura
judge eyes is now the first yazuka-related game i have actually bought. i played the demo and i was doing a bunch of side quests (maxing my friendship with various shopkeeps) until i realised, i'm not leaving myself much to do in the actual game at this rate. but now i own a copy and it will take a week or two to get to me because i'm too cheap to pay for good shipping.

yazuka 4 had an actor replaced for the ps4 version (he left showbiz after a gossip magazine said he used cocaine although he was never arrested, he cited invasion of privacy and betrayal of trust for his leaving), so are they going to replace pierre taki in a patch or something. will this original version be worth something in the future. will i own a historic piece of media.

also you can take selfies with cats so like. it's already a good game for that, can't wait to find more cats.
 
Fangu

Fangu

Great Old One
Aaahh thanks for reminding me about Judge Eyes. That mean I'll have a new game to play after finishing Kiwami 2 (I just started.) I did get Yakuza 4 for my PS3 but getting Yakuza 3 is a bit hard so I'm crossing fingers they'll (the localisation team) start working on Y3 for PS4 once done with Judge Eyes.

So I attemped finishing Kiwami 1 on Legacy but that damn car chase scene, lol. I knew it would take me a while but I can only manage 10 attempts in a day, so far I have... 10 attempts. lol. :P It wouldn't have been so bad if you could reload just the car scene but you have o replay the entire chapter, including the boss fight. That being said I've gotten really good at it now though. Bring knives, a couple of guns, heat potions and hit him in the head with urns. lol.

I had great fun with Kiwami 1 and being 2 hours into Kiwami 2 I know it'll be equally fun.
(Toylets?? Come on.)
Also I got 96 on my first attempt at karaoke \o/
 
Last edited:
Strangelove

Strangelove

AI Researcher
AKA
hitoshura
i was hoping if i got there just as it was announced (and used a site based outside of japan) then i might just manage to get an original copy before they unperson pierre taki, but alas. it was already selling at about 10,000 yen on auction sites (about 3,000). some 3rd party sellers on amazon jp are selling it for 8600 yen which isn't as bad but i don't know what the shipping would be and i was using yesasia because it has free shipping. and i had a $5 coupon.

crushing my dreams


the english release date at least still seems to be on track?

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1109077533121613827
 
Fangu

Fangu

Great Old One
Two days before mah birthday. Aw yiiis.

I'm currently overleveling in Yakuza Kiwami 2 because the side story system is excellent plus it's waaayyy too easy to level up once you figure out how to break the EXP system. I AM ADDICTED

AGAIN

Also, I need to look into getting a Yakuza 3 copy again but it's hard when you're set on boycotting Amazon :/
 
Fangu

Fangu

Great Old One
Mind blown

Kiryu is his last name, Kazuma is his first name
Majima is his last name, Goro is his first name

The second I was expecting, the first not so much.
Actually, this makes sense as Kazama refers to him has 'Kazuma', although this confuses me as I always thought Kazuma gives Kiryu his own name. lol. (Maybe he does? In a way? I don't know if Kazuma is a common Japanese name.)

Funny thing about 'Goro' is that it's actually the name of a Christmas cookie in Norway.

Also, looking this up I had something major in Yakuza 6 spoiled to me. Thanks, Google. X)

Also... I'm working on the completion list for Kiwami 2 nao.
I'm actually a bit happy about the Haruka minigame in this one because I'd never bothered getting into Batting, Golf, the card games, Toylets (which is bullshit -- err, bullpiss?), Virtual on (I love this one!!)... etc if it wasn't for that. Also having Haruka wear the Kamurocho jacket makes it so much more enjoyable because I LOVE THAT JACKET AND I WANT IT!
 
Fangu

Fangu

Great Old One
Or "uncompletionist list" as I have dubbed it, because I'm definitely not sure if it'll be complete :monster:

I actially managed to finish all of Haruka's requests (damn you Bingo Golf and Virtual on 2 (it's much harder on Normal!) and a couple of those Karaoke songs) and all the street bosses, but what I'm doing atm is the bouncer missions - hheeeeeellllll it's a test of stamina and patience... and then BOOM the difficulty level doubles and it finally gets interesting. I already died once to the first Amon, but then I punched him in the faec and he dead. Woo! So that's a bit of fun.

I also have a few of the Golf stuff left, but that's actually rather interesting now that I know when to hit X for precision on the golf meter, so that'll just be a fun grind. Same for the Batting center - I was dreading I actually have to finish the Advanced Home Run challenge, but from what I gather it's only there as a nice way to help you grind points, which you need for two of the battle skills (or is it Heat actions? Can't remember.)

I also managed to be an instinctive expert at Koi-Koi, but the only thing on the list is to get 1000 points. I got almost 5000 :P

What turns out to be the tedious stuff atm though (since leaving 10 000 000 easy bouncer missions) is the photo stuff with the two girls. I found the first two shoots amusing but then it got really boring because a) they're really REALLY awkward and 2) not really particularly interested in boobs (although I have to say, those models look stunning.) I wish they weren't real women though, I find that kind of stuff to be way more hilarious and interesting when they're (over the top) in game characters.

What I'm dreading though, apart from learning Mahjong, is the Clan stuff, because I've done just the one mandatory battle, and it's the kind of mini game I struggle getting into - although I guess now I just have to learn how to enjoy it.
Back to the grind...!
 
Last edited:
Fangu

Fangu

Great Old One
DSC_1799.JPG

YOU REALIZE THAT'S STILL ASSAULT, RIGHT

At some point I was feeling very uncomfortable about this particular storyline, more than regular on a Yakuza game (somehow I never do because they manage to play the most would-be-problematic thing right?) but was still willing to go along because hey, Yakuza, those games do a lot of stuff right so I won't mind a writer fuckup or twice.

And then comes this and you know

<3
 
Fangu

Fangu

Great Old One
Also I knew at the start of this storyline I would be aching beating up that boss guy, but now, NOW

I CAN'T WAIT FOR MY FISTS TO BE COVERED IN HIS LIVER PASTE
 
Fangu

Fangu

Great Old One
I just finished that soab and tbh that was the most satisfying Yakuza kill I ever did

Also my heart is really big for Rikiya atm
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom