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March 28, 2024, 02:17:03 PM

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Yakuza series

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

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letsgobrian

I'd say the main thing that makes the Yakuza games long is the cutscenes.

In attempting to get all the main games played before 7, I played through 6 skipping most the cutscenes. I managed to get it done in about 16 hours (compared to the 90+ I spent on 5). And that was with most of the substories, maxing out all of Kiryu's abilities and almost completing the clan creator minigame.

Yakuza 3 in particular has a truly egregious example of a cutscene where 2 men sit in an office explaining the plot of the game for at least 15 minutes.

Thursday

Why would you play Yakuza games if you don't like the cutscenes?

Timothy

Yeah the story in the Yakuza games are great and for me one of the main reasons to play the game in the first place.

bgmnts

Quote from: Thursday on January 25, 2021, 12:42:15 AM
Kind of sounds like you'll find it too long, but I do find the games entertaining even though I'm bored of Western open world games.

Long on its own is fine, good even.

Spiteface

Quote from: letsgobrian on January 25, 2021, 12:00:04 PM
I'd say the main thing that makes the Yakuza games long is the cutscenes.

The worst bit to me is sometimes the final bit of the game goes on a bit too long. Judgment is also guilty of this. Needs at least one more save opportunity somewhere.

Mister Six

Yakuza Zero is now £3.99 on the UK PS4 store. It's $4.99 on the US store (as Yakuza 0, weirdly). Just snapped it up. Woo hoo!

Timothy

That is an absolute steal for that game. Best game in the series imo. It also has a great minigame which is almost a full game in itself. Enjoy!

Mister Six

Will do! Go to finish Kiwami 1 first though. Just met the toy car racing commentator, a conversation that had at least two big laughs. Love this game.

Jerzy Bondov

#68
Quote from: Mister Six on January 27, 2021, 01:24:50 PM
Will do! Go to finish Kiwami 1 first though. Just met the toy car racing commentator, a conversation that had at least two big laughs. Love this game.
What an absolute fucking lad. You need to play 0 and 6 to get his full story.
Spoiler alert
In 6 you can recruit him to leather gangsters for you
[close]
. My man.

Thursday

Mate, that's a major spoiler!!!

Consignia

Just had a bloody hell moment, but the time difference between 0 and 1 is almost the same as the time between 1 and present day (a year or so after 7, but yeah), and 1 was present day when it released.

Jerzy Bondov

Quote from: Thursday on January 27, 2021, 03:26:03 PM
Mate, that's a major spoiler!!!
You're right, I was too excited. Edited.

Mister Six

Just found out about all the spin-offs. Everyone seems to hate Dead Souls, but has anyone here played Judgement? Sounds pretty interesting. Not that I'll get to it any time soon...

Timothy

The story was pretty cool but the game has lotssss of annoying tailing missions. Eventually I just couldnt be bothered to finish it.

Consignia

Quote from: Consignia on January 27, 2021, 03:54:55 PM
Just had a bloody hell moment, but the time difference between 0 and 1 is almost the same as the time between 1 and present day (a year or so after 7, but yeah), and 1 was present day when it released.

That feeling when a fact sounds far more interesting in your head than said out loud.

Quote from: Mister Six on January 27, 2021, 09:30:05 PM
Everyone seems to hate Dead Souls,

Not without merit, the gameplay is shite. It does have some fun bits in it though; it's the time you get to play as Majima and go karaoking with him. Kiriyu's intro scene is pretty funny as well.

It is an amazingly bizarre game, you have to admire them putting a zombie survival horror into the middle of a game incluuding the usual side quests and mini-games. I could barely imagine another series taking such a mad swerve. Shame it's such a failure.

Osmium

The controls in Dead Souls were pretty bad or at least unconventional. It was enjoyable as a fan of the series but they released a much improved shooter a few years later with Binary Domain.

Judgment is excellent and on par with the best Yakuza entries. It was refreshing to play what is a Yakuza game in all but name but one that isn't tied down by being an actual part of the series.

They also did that Fist of the North Star game which again hits the same notes as the Yakuza games. Probably closer to Dead Souls in quality, it does become samey fast but I'm happy it exists nonetheless.

Timothy

Quote from: Osmium on January 28, 2021, 12:19:54 AM
Judgment is excellent and on par with the best Yakuza entries. It was refreshing to play what is a Yakuza game in all but name but one that isn't tied down by being an actual part of the series.

It was refreshing but it also missed a lot of charm of the Yakuza games imo. I expected to really enjoy it, with it being a detective game and all, but it just never flowed for me. Does it get better after a few hours?

brat-sampson

Yakuzai 3-5 remastereds just dropped onto Game Pass for those playing along that way.

bgmnts

So yeah should you go Kiwami 1 and 2, then 3,4,5 and 0? Or play it chronologically?

Consignia

Not sure, I think Kiwami 2 has some big spoilers for zero, but I haven't played the former yet. I think it's best to play in release order, but the Kiwamis both came out after 0, so it's something to bare in mind.

Timothy

Quote from: bgmnts on January 28, 2021, 05:12:15 PM
So yeah should you go Kiwami 1 and 2, then 3,4,5 and 0? Or play it chronologically?

I think the best order to play them is:

0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6

This keeps the story chronological.

Keep in the mind that 3, 4 and 5 are remastered and not remakes. They are quite outdated in terms of gameplay.


Mister Six

I'm going 1 - 0 - the rest. 0 was written as a prequel, so I think it'll probably serve me better to find out who the characters are "now" first, then see how they got there. But maybe that's bollocks.

bgmnts

Fuck me I'm itching to get balls deep in this mental Nihingo shite. I'm expecting fun. If I dont get fun I'm going to be tampin fumin ragin.


Spiteface

Quote from: Consignia on January 28, 2021, 05:30:50 PM
Not sure, I think Kiwami 2 has some big spoilers for zero, but I haven't played the former yet. I think it's best to play in release order, but the Kiwamis both came out after 0, so it's something to bare in mind.

When you play the Majima bits of Kiwami 2, there's some stuff that follows on from his bits in 0, yes. There's even some stuff that refers to Majima's past in the game itself.

I think that's vague enough for now.

But starting from 0, then both Kiwamis, then 3, 4, 5 and 6 is as good as any other order. But you can swap 0 and Kiwami 1 and it wouldn't matter too much. People like to work through the saga chronologically though.

letsgobrian

Whichever order you play some things won't quite work for you. 0 assumes you've played 1-5 (1,2 & 4 especially, but at one point it will quiz you on the events of all 5 games).

The changes made to 1 in Kiwami assumes you've played 0 (mainly evident in the substories) and as mentioned, the Majima section of Kiwami 2 is a direct sequel to 0.

I can't recall if Kiwami 2 has any allusions to 6 (its immediate predecessor) beyond game mechanisms and guest stars.

Timothy

Quote from: letsgobrian on January 29, 2021, 05:57:37 AM
Whichever order you play some things won't quite work for you. 0 assumes you've played 1-5 (1,2 & 4 especially, but at one point it will quiz you on the events of all 5 games).

The changes made to 1 in Kiwami assumes you've played 0 (mainly evident in the substories) and as mentioned, the Majima section of Kiwami 2 is a direct sequel to 0.

I can't recall if Kiwami 2 has any allusions to 6 (its immediate predecessor) beyond game mechanisms and guest stars.

If I remember correctly that quiz was part of a substory right? And everytime you give a wrong answer it doesn't really matter anyway. That whole substory was more of a easter egg in my memory. But maybe I'm not remembering this correctly.

letsgobrian

Quote from: Timothy on January 29, 2021, 08:42:14 AM
If I remember correctly that quiz was part of a substory right? And everytime you give a wrong answer it doesn't really matter anyway. That whole substory was more of a easter egg in my memory. But maybe I'm not remembering this correctly.

Yeah I don't recall either. I would assume you'd get a slightly worse reward, as I believe that was the general mechanism for the substories.

I do remember wondering how well it would make sense for people who'd not played the earlier installments.
Spoiler alert
Similarly the substories where you meet Ryuji Goda and Shinji Tanaka.
[close]
There's also the general feeling I had that Kiryu is the third wheel in 0's plot, which I'm not sure is the best way to first meet the series lead.

At least with 7 they've written it in a way they likely won't get into the mess of overlapping flashbacks that Yakuza 4 caused.
Spoiler alert
Unless they try to explain how Kashiwagi survived the CIA killing him in Yakuza 3.
[close]
.

Thursday

Quote from: Consignia on January 28, 2021, 05:30:50 PM
Not sure, I think Kiwami 2 has some big spoilers for zero, but I haven't played the former yet. I think it's best to play in release order, but the Kiwamis both came out after 0, so it's something to bare in mind.

I think that's just the Bonus Majima chapters. So you'd have to ignore them until you've played 0. Thing is first few chapters of that are fine apart from the last part of it which is a HUGE emotional payoff to 0.

I guess there's also the hostess club sidequest.

Kiwami 1 has a big substory that's a sequel to the pocket circuit story in 0. There might be a couple of other little things I'm forgetting.

So yeah just means there's not quite an optimal way to play it.

Starting from 0 is fine, but you won't appreciate some of the references to characters in games to come, but I don't think it's really that important.

Starting from Kiwami is fine, but that and Kiwami 2 will have a couple of non-essential bits that'll be a bit confusing if you've not played 0.



Jerzy Bondov

#89
I went 0, Kiwami, 6, Kiwami 2. Haven't played any more but obviously I missed a huge chunk of story between Kiwami and 6. Didn't really bother me though and I
Spoiler alert
shed a tear - of joy? of sadness? I'm not telling ;-) -
[close]
at the end of 6.