Yakuza series

[Mister Six]

Cheers. I do want to unlock upgrades to the 4th fighting style for both lads, so I'll probably go back to it once I've got more in the bank.

Was anyone else a bit bothered by the resolution of the Pleasure King's story?[nb]I'm assuming everyone was bothered by the queerphobia throughout the game.[/nb] He's explicitly described as making girls "disappear" if they displease him, and it's implied he's selling them to sex traffickers. And then he

Spoiler alert

just becomes your pal and an ally of the touchy-feely (in a good way) Kazuma Management Company at the end.

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I know all the kings are supposed to be arseholes, but at least the others were just duffing people up and nicking their property.

Spoiler alert

Rewarding without even attempting to redeem an unrepentant sex trafficker

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put me right off that subplot.

Especially weird given Majima's plotline (at least, as of chapter 6 or whatever I'm on) has a sympathetic portrayal of a sex trafficking victim at its centre.

[Mister Six]

Can't get the hostess minigame music out of my head.

[Thursday]

Can't get the hostess minigame music out of my head.

YES!!!

And to the other point, yeah it is weird. But I think it's true of a lot of Japanese media where it's surprisingly progressive in some aspects and then weirdly even more backwards in others. (Persona games, being a big example I think.)

[letsgobrian]

Yakuza 3 Remastered removed a substory thread about an okama character, due to it being offensive and/or due to Kiryu coming across like a bigot, depending on who you believe. Certainly there's still a line in Y3's main story that felt off for how Kiryu is characterised elsewhere in the series.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Remember those cunts who used to go on about 'ludonarrative dissonance' in GTA and Uncharted. Get them playing Yakuza, break them.

[Thursday]

Game discourse wanker: Hmm I feel some games have a huge disconnect, between the story and what you do in the game:
Yakuza: Yeah it's great isn't it?

[Pink Gregory]

Yakuza 3 Remastered removed a substory thread about an okama character, due to it being offensive and/or due to Kiryu coming across like a bigot, depending on who you believe. Certainly there's still a line in Y3's main story that felt off for how Kiryu is characterised elsewhere in the series.

And yet there's a substory about the massuese at Love In Heart being a transwoman and apart from a few 'shocked' expressions played for laughs it's handled very well, for a game of its age anyway.

[Thursday]

Yakuza 3 Remastered removed a substory thread about an okama character, due to it being offensive and/or due to Kiryu coming across like a bigot, depending on who you believe. Certainly there's still a line in Y3's main story that felt off for how Kiryu is characterised elsewhere in the series.

I might have remembered it wrong, but there was also a substory that was reinstated in the remaster that was cut from the original where a kid from the orphanage has a crush on one of the girls, but she doesn't want to go out with him because he's black... I think the actual reason was edited in the original, but it might just be that I don't remember it, but I'd be surprised if I didn't.

[Pink Gregory]

I was quite impressed at how they really don't shy away from how much shit the kids in the Orphanage get, from both classmates and adults, for simply being orphans.

[brat-sampson]

Done! Man, yeah, Y7 is one of my favs for sure, the story and characters are next level. Ichiban Kasuga steps into Kiryu's shoes as a new protagonist with new motivations and just 100% knocks it out of the park. Masumi Arakawa is one of the best faces they've ever made, I love that man. After Y6, it was definitely time to give the series a shake up and yeah, I'll be there day 1 for whatever they do next with the series, for the first time ever. It's been a long year of playing 3-7 amongst other things, but boy, it's been fun. Cheers Game Pass, lol.

[Mister Six]

And yet there's a substory about the massuese at Love In Heart being a transwoman and apart from a few 'shocked' expressions played for laughs it's handled very well, for a game of its age anyway.

I wonder what the production process is with these games, to result in these oddly contradictory moments? They really crank 'em out, so is it just lots of team of people all throwing together ideas without a single pseudo-auteur figure overseeing them all for tonal/plot/character/ideological consistency?

The substories in 0 are a bit like this. I've only played Kiwami 1, so maybe I don't have a handle on the series, but I remember the substories in that all being pretty silly and harmless, but there are a couple of odd ones here that get pretty dark/skeevy, like the one that implies the bartender at Shellac

Spoiler alert

is running a human trafficking ring

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, or the one where a desperate prostitute

Spoiler alert

marries her abusive pimp and Kiryu laughs it off as they all share pizza

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.

Maybe it's just that I've forgotten how dark senses of humour can be in Asia.

[Thursday]

They aren't really cranked out quite as quick as it might seem - Kiwami 1 and 2, are remakes so less content to create for them, and part of the issue is they were on a big delay for years because of the gap between Japanese and Western releases as the game struggled to find a western audience, but since Y0 was a big hit, the turnaround became a lot quicker to the point that Lost Judgment is the first time there's been a simultaneous release.

[Mister Six]

They've put out one Yakuza or spinoff (Dead Souls, Judgement, the Japan-only samurai games) every one or two years since the first game in 2005. I'd call that cranking them out. It's not a criticism, though.

[Pink Gregory]

Just had the big exposition dump in the middle of 3 and much to my amazement I...didn't mind it?  Makes more sense for a character to go "Right, there's a load of stuff going on being hinted at that you don't know about, I'd better explain that to you." rather than loads of individual REVELATIONS (nani?!) being played out in exactly the same fashion.

[Mister Six]

Has anyone played the Fist of the North Star game? From what I gather, it's basically a Yakuza game with a FOTNS skin, right down to having Kiryu's voice actor playing the protagonist.

[Timothy]

Yeah, it's fun. A lot more violent and a completely different setting but still feels like a Yakuza game.

There's a demo for the game on PSN or Xbox Live.

[letsgobrian]

Has anyone played the Fist of the North Star game? From what I gather, it's basically a Yakuza game with a FOTNS skin, right down to having Kiryu's voice actor playing the protagonist.

It's not very good. It feels like a PS3 game. I'm guessing it's based on Yakuza 5's engine from the scale of the encounters and the driving. It sacrifices the lived in feel of the Yakuza game settings for a sprawling free roam that is pretty much all desert. There's some fun to be had initially, but it soon wore out its welcome.

[Pink Gregory]

Back in Okinawa in Y3.  I do actually really like that the game will force downtime on you to look after the Orphanage, and that they didn't crowbar in some management minigame into it.  Makes up for the

Spoiler alert

CIA/arms dealers/Joji Kazama

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business feeling very distant, though I suppose it's more of a story of Kiryu getting caught up in things beyond his control/related to his former life as a Yakuza.

Also occurs to me that this is probably the only time you will ever see Okinawa in a mainstream game (is Yakuza mainstream?) that's not as a bombed out series of beaches and jungle during WW2. 

[Mister Six]

"it's more of a story of Kiryu getting caught up in things beyond his control/related to his former life as a Yakuza"

Isn't that every Kiryu game?!

It's not very good. It feels like a PS3 game. I'm guessing it's based on Yakuza 5's engine from the scale of the encounters and the driving. It sacrifices the lived in feel of the Yakuza game settings for a sprawling free roam that is pretty much all desert. There's some fun to be had initially, but it soon wore out its welcome.

Aw, that's a shame. I'll still pick it up if I see it on discount, I reckon.

[Pink Gregory]

Come to think of it, that's quite true.

I think what I mean is that the

Spoiler alert

CIA/Arms Dealers/National Politics

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is further removed than the Tojo Clan/Omi Alliance/Jingweon Mafia was from his immediate life.  It's less to do with his being Yakuza, more that he now happens to own a valuable piece of land.

[letsgobrian]

Come to think of it, that's quite true.

I think what I mean is that the

Spoiler alert

CIA/Arms Dealers/National Politics

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is further removed than the Tojo Clan/Omi Alliance/Jingweon Mafia was from his immediate life.  It's less to do with his being Yakuza, more that he now happens to own a valuable piece of land.

I think that's a big reason why they introduced the new playable characters in 4 & 5. They could focus on Kamurocho/Sotenbori crime again without having to over-stretch the narrative to drag Kiryu in.

Yakuza 6 heads back towards Yakuza 3's territory, including a small town main setting, but they find a better home for those sort of stories in the Judgment games.

[Pink Gregory]

Done with Y3, onto Y4

Liked - Okinawa and the Orphanage (welcome change of scenery and pace), genuinely horrible bastard antagonists, and

Spoiler alert

Mine

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ends up being quite intimidating, though he isn't much more than a rerun of the motivations of Nishkiyama, he wants the same things anyway.

I found the combat system surprisingly robust, seeing as it's a bit of a step back from Kiwami 2; as many have apparently pointed out, yer blokes on the street do love to block, just block and block and block, never found it tedious though.

Coliseum definitely gets introduced too late to not have to grind it.

Liked less: Kiryu doesn't really develop from Y2; he's the same stoic good guy throughout, except he now cares for some kids.  It's a shame that Daigo spends most of Y2 and Y3 basically fridged, and one only very briefly sees the transition from weedy guy who gets his ass kicked multiple times by Ryuji Goda to Sixth Chairman of the Tojo Clan.

As for Y4, having played Kiwami 1 and 2 instead of the originals, it's surprising how similar, systems-wise, that Y4 is to Y3, although playing as Akiyama is a much needed freshener.  It's nice following someone who's a non-yakuza who more or less has a normal job, it doesn't make Kamurocho itself any different but how you experience it.

I will say, I know that Akiyama is supposed to be a *bit* sleazy, but the Hostess Club stuff, where no women are ever trafficked or abused honestly guv, sugoi, is started to feel a bit dissonant now.  Especially because he tells every woman who comes to him to go and find work in the red light district.  Maybe what I would prefer is a bit more interrogation of these themes, maybe with a protagonist who's supposed to be a bit less likeable?

What I am liking is the complete disregard of timescale.  Running around checking off multiple long substories in an afternoon, while someone waits on a rooftop about some extremely urgent matter.  It's utter disregard for urgency is somewhat refreshing.

[Mister Six]

FINALLY scored a Turkey in bowling, after finding a proper foolproof method (let me know if you're interested). The conclusion to that little storyline was hilarious in concept and execution, and Yakuza at its silliest. I love this game.

[Pink Gregory]

Yakuza 4 really packs a lot into a small space, doesn't it?

I've spent 4 games largely in Kamurocho and it feels markedly different for each of the 3 chaps, Saejima's bits feeling like a spin off game of his own at points.

It just feels like a game that has succeeded at exactly what it was trying to do.  Even had some actually tough fights, which are a bit of a rarity outside of the Coliseum at this point.

Admittedly I've had an easier time with Kiwami, Kiwami 2 and 3 all being in different engines, might have a different opinion of the iterative approach if I'd played the PS2 versions.

[Thursday]

4 seems the most "considered" in it's direction to me. I think of a scene at the beginning with Akiyama slowly stumbling around his office, going for a nap on the sofa, having to get up to answer the phone. The very slow pace of the scene felt like a marked difference compared to what had come before, like they were a lot more confident in that they were doing.

[Mister Six]

Got two zap guns for Majima and have perfected my Mr Shakedown hunting techniques. Pulling in 1-2 billion per hit, which is finally helping me snap up Majima's skills. Get in!

[Mister Six]

After buying all of Kiryu and Majima's upgrades except the higher-tier Legendary ones, I looked at the stuff I'd have to do to rack up the CP necessary to unlock the higher tier - learn how to play shogi, stop being shit at karaoke and dancing - and decided to fuck it off and just finish the game.

Good choice, TBH, as I wiped the floor with absolutely everyone in the utterly exhilarating last six or so chapters.

Majima striding away from Sagawa to go on a suicide mission to rescue Makoto was proper hairs-standing-up-on-neck stuff, and while it seemed to struggle a bit to get things in position for Yakuza 1 (Kiryu being even more of a big dumb idiot than usual and Majima wavering on exactly how crazy he's supposed to be) the ending was mostly great.

Going to give the series a bit of a rest for now, although I'm raring to play Yakuza Kiwami 2, which is up next. But I don't want them all to smoosh into one single amalgamated experience. And I really ought to take another swing at Grim Fandango.

[Pink Gregory]

Finished 4.  Fuckin' A, thought I'd be bored of playing as Kiryu by the end, but they did a good job of parcelling out different moves to each character, granted after a few upgrades Kiryu is a killing machine and that one Tanimura substory that gets you 3 million yen helped with wrapping up things.

No one felt neglected, it'd be easy to sideline Akiyama because he's technically the least connected, but he's a welcome presence throughout.

Could do with a break from 'aha but what if I turn my back on a guy but he has a gun?' business  and maybe even big shirtless fight on top of a skyscraper, but come on, it's tradition now.

Resolving to take a break between now and 5 but..

[Mister Six]

Great minds...

[bgmnts]

Still struggling with this. Had to walk around with a girl called Haruka or something and was bored as shit.

Then got into a mini boss fight and just finding the combat really slow and clunky and not enjoyable. Which sucks because I have 6 of the fuckers to go but I dont wanna slog through the whole thing. Hoping it gets better.