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March 28, 2024, 07:42:13 PM

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Yakuza series

Started by Bhazor, August 02, 2018, 04:29:47 PM

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Pink Gregory

Four health bars is it now, Majima?

I'm on chapter 11 out of 13 and I've completed all the abilities grids, but I'm still grinding Majima everywhere and the Coliseum for all the Dragon style bits.  I really don't need to at this point, but I feel I'd be missing out.

Plus cheesing Majima with a few Rush style combos and that big Sumo slap move seems to work well enough.

Pink Gregory

Finally finished Yakuza Kiwami - 62 hours

Completed Majima Everywhere and the Komaki training, did all the Pocket Circuit I could stomach, don't think I missed anything I wanted to do.

Loved it but took over my life a bit.  Any boss with a gun can go in a pit because all it does is slow you down and interrupt all your combos without being that much of a threat in terms of damage.  Loved having the Komaki Tiger drop by the end, just cheesing (with about a 50% success rate mind) bosses with a big counter punch that eats health bars.

brat-sampson

Wow, man, Yakuza 5 is gonna take you like 300 hours :p

Pink Gregory

Quote from: brat-sampson on July 25, 2021, 12:46:22 PM
Wow, man, Yakuza 5 is gonna take you like 300 hours :p

Wondering when to fit Yakuza 0 in as well.  Hopefully they all stay up on game pass and I break both my legs or something. 

brat-sampson

Finally finished Y5!!

58 and a half hours, doing all the substories (apart from the final Amon fight, don't care) and all the side stories (well, not all of Haruka's, because I'm sorry but Haruka's side-story should NOT have had 48 fucking events...) All the Masters (but not all of Minimada) and get them all into Victory Road but did zero colosseum fights. Oh yeah, I think I spoke to one hostess one time. Just not into that bit.

Assorted thoughts:
Saejima was actually good and fun this time
The side-story games in the later half were both *laughably* simple. Hitting homeruns against people or having dance battles felt like being Godzilla in a boxing match.
I feel like the game in general was easier than previous ones. Even in the final chapter and bosses I wasn't having to chug health drinks like I often was in the other games. Having the final Restaurant ability on everyone certainly helped, but even so.
I mean the story is a bit of a mess because they are at the best of times, when they're being restrained, and this is, well, decidedly unrestrained.
I think I might have liked it the most out of 3/4/5 remastereds. It's just nuts. There's almost certainly too much of basically everything but like fucking hell they really went for it.

Now to play 6. Might speed the main story as from what I've read, the Big side content doesn't sound as interesting to me, but we shall see.

Thursday

Hooray! I truly love 5 for the incredible scale of it. It's a weeb's dream, because just about every single aspect of Japan is covered in it. Multiple different types of cities, lifestyles, food and cultures are all represented. Even if it's just for a daft minigame, people from all different walks of life that you would never normally see in a video game are included and treated with empathy.


letsgobrian

I think 5 is my favourite sequel in the series. It finds the best solution to the whole "how do we get Kiryu involved with the Tojo Clan again?" question that 3 & 4 struggle with. The sheer number of enemies it can throw at you is exhilarating. And Shinada gives you a much needed fresh pair of civilian eyes to look at the world of the franchise.

brat-sampson

Man, I'm *trying* to play through 6. I want to see out Kiryu's journey and it's setting up some interesting things slowly but... but I went back and progressed further in 7 and just... LaD is SO good. I'm more engaged in the characters, the story, the side-activities, the combat, the levelling of stats and relationships and personality and challenges and just everything... Man, LaD feels really special and sadly at only 5 or 6 hours in, 6 kinda doesn't so far :/

I mean, I *will* continue, and this could change, but that's my current state.

Pink Gregory

Maybe it's just that I'm easy to impress, but Kiwami 2's just being able to wander in and out of shops and restaurants with no loading screens is wonderful.

The Crumb

Quote from: Pink Gregory on August 05, 2021, 12:15:11 PM
Maybe it's just that I'm easy to impress, but Kiwami 2's just being able to wander in and out of shops and restaurants with no loading screens is wonderful.

Wait til a fight spills into a shop. The microwave heat action is pretty gnarly.

brat-sampson

Bam, 6 down! I liked the clan stuff well enough, didn't fuck with the baseball sim because fuck that, thought the fighting overall was maybe a bit weaker than previous titles, with fewer Heat moves etc, but it's probably worth it for the birth of the Glorious Dragon Engine visuals, shop interiors etc. The story really grew on me, even if it took longer to do so than say LAD. It was a fitting cap to the Kiryu Saga. SPOILERS:
Spoiler alert
I don't even hate the death fakeout that much.
[close]

Main Note: Please let the player back out of a Bar Chat minigame if they entered it by mistake. Currently you literally can't and just have to wait for the whole chat to play out.

What a fucking series, what a fucking guy.


Spiteface

Kazuma Kiryu. A REAL Man's Man.

Quote from: Pink Gregory on August 05, 2021, 12:15:11 PM
Maybe it's just that I'm easy to impress, but Kiwami 2's just being able to wander in and out of shops and restaurants with no loading screens is wonderful.

As someone who played the PS2 Yakuzas, it really IS that wonderful.

Pink Gregory

I am in love with the Majima Construction company anthem.

letsgobrian

Started on Lost Judgment tonight. If you enjoyed the
Spoiler alert
Powerpoint presentation on Alzheimer's
[close]
in Judgment you don't have to wait too long for
Spoiler alert
a lecture on what part of human brain chemistry causes bullying
[close]
in this instalment.

Pink Gregory

Just noticed in Sotenbori in daylight (Kiwami 2) how there are little shoots and leaves on the pollarded street trees along the river.  That's nice.

Spiteface

I'm currently playing Kiwami 2 again.

Fuck me, Kamurocho and Sotenbori look amazing in the Dragon Engine.

Also, taking pictures of Gravure models.

I plan to play 3, 4, 5 and 6 as well. 3-5 in particular as when I played the PS4 remasters last year I really wasn't in the best place personally, and rushed through them a bit purely doing the story.

I've yet to play 7 on account of it being a turn-based RPG thing. Will have to gat past that. Lost Judgment is also "on the list"

Pink Gregory

I'm playing on the OG xbox one so there's barely any antialiasing and it runs like treacle down a slide, but the design of the place is so exquisite that I barely notice.

Does seem to be much easier than Kiwami 1, very few encounters are giving me any trouble like the later ones in the previous game, but then it did feel like a chore just whittling down massive health bars; I would say that this is a bit closer to perfect but it's just about the other side of the balance

Hank Venture

Just bought a computer, never played any of the Yakuzas. Which ones should I play, and in which order? Given they are available on Steam or Epic.

Timothy

I would play them in order. Start with 0 (it's the best one until 7), play 0-7 and then play Judgement and Lost Judgement.

Pink Gregory

Kiwami 1 is a remake of the first game, and Yakuza 0 is a prequel which came out before it, so Kiwami 1 uses the same engine and mechanics as 0, but technically is the first game plot-wise.


Consignia

7 is also good place to start since it's largely a clean slate. (Except towards the end, when it leans a little to heavily on old canon. And it does somewhat spoil other games, but not really). If you aren't going explore the full oeuvre (which is understandable due to it's size) 0, Kiwami 1, or 7 are all good. Kiwami 1 being technically the best place to start, but somewhat dry in places compared to latter entries.

Thursday

It's always a tricky call, because 0 is a prequel which'll you enjoy more if you've played other games. But at the same time the nods to future characters in their earlier still play out fine if it's your first introduction to them, and 0 is the better story and game than Kiwami, so if someone started with Kiwami and thought "this is pretty average, I don't see what the big deal is." I'd understand really.

So basically Kiwami is technically the best place to start if you then go on to play the rest (From there going onto Kiwami 2 > 3 > 4 > 5 > 0 > 6 > 7
But at the same time, starting with 0 will probably give you a better first impression.

Waking Life

I would also advise not to underestimate the length of these games. Granted, I end up fucking about with side missions and games, but I've only played 0 and it was still a long undertaking. I'd genuinely like to do the others too, but I've only got one life left.

brat-sampson

Start with 0, it's a great entry point to decide if you like This Sort of Thing and if you like it, well, there's *plenty* more where that came from. By the time you're done with Kiwami 1 and 2 afterwards you'll either love the series enough to go through 3-5 + 6 or not. Either way, it's worth giving 7 a go unless you really bounced off 0 because it's a near-total refresh with new characters and turn-based combat.

Mister Six

Quote from: Pink Gregory on September 24, 2021, 10:47:43 AM
Kiwami 1 is a remake of the first game, and Yakuza 0 is a prequel which came out before it, so Kiwami 1 uses the same engine and mechanics as 0, but technically is the first game plot-wise.

Having played Kiwami 1 first and now playing 0, I think I would appreciate them a lot more going 0 then Kiwami 1.

So- 0, Kiwami 1, Kiwami 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 (aka Like a Dragon), Judgement, Lost Judgement.

Really hope we get Kiwami-esque remakes of the Yakuza samurai spin-offs. Hopefully the rise in popularity in the West will make that feasible.

Spiteface

Finished Kiwami 2. Onto 3. May go back to Kiwami 2 just to piss about running a cabaret club.

But in 3, I love how
Spoiler alert
after everything her and Kiryu went through, Sayama fucks off to America at the start of 3 and is never heard from again. Gotta love when a game in a series makes you care about something, only for the next one to render the entire thing pointless.
[close]

Pink Gregory

So Kiwami 2 sort of doesn't have much going for it by the end; but the fact that the last thing you get to do is wander around Kamurocho doing things with Haruka is a nice bit of pacing

Cold Meat Platter

Just got Yakuza 0 for PC for about 3 quid from Fanatical.
Had a look on the Steam forums, there's a thread titled 'Do I have to be Asian to play this game?'
Christ.

Anyway, looking forward to this, not my usual bag but the virtual tourism appeals. Had 3 on PS3 but couldn't get into it, hadn't played 1 or 2 and as such had no history with the dude and I've got an orphanage.

Thursday

Quote from: Cold Meat Platter on September 27, 2021, 05:12:46 PM
Just got Yakuza 0 for PC for about 3 quid from Fanatical.
Had a look on the Steam forums, there's a thread titled 'Do I have to be Asian to play this game?'
Christ.

Anyway, looking forward to this, not my usual bag but the virtual tourism appeals. Had 3 on PS3 but couldn't get into it, hadn't played 1 or 2 and as such had no history with the dude and I've got an orphanage.

Yeah this was my experience , tried 3 back in the day, but didn't really find myself interested in anything that was happening. 0 was what got me into it. Eventually going back to 3 was great, because this was all vaguely familiar, but now I cared about things.

It's not knowing the specific convoluted backstory that matters, it's how you feel about the characters.

Mister Six

Yeah, I tried the demo for 6 when it was released and clocked off after it invited me to talk to a bunch of characters to get their backstories. Looking forward to playing it properly about five years from now.

Just getting into 0's
Spoiler alert
Majima chapters. Interested to see if they can pull off his transformation into the wacky murder-cunt from Kiwami 1.
[close]
For now I'm just having fun tooling about, although Sotonbori seems disappointingly small compared with the first map. And I can't figure out how to bloody fish!