Yakuza series

[Mister Six]

This is Kiwami 1, right? If you have Heat built up, when a boss doubles over and starts to regain health, you can run up and tap triangle on PS4 (probably whatever the top button is on Xbox) to perform a super attack that will knock a chunk off their health and take them down quicker.

[bgmnts]

Yeah Kiwami 1.

To be honest, 20 minutes after posting, I was back in Kamurocho doing really stupid and fun sidequests, fighting Goro and playing MesuKing.

This is where the game wins for me.

[Mister Six]

Yeah, side quests are where it's at, really. At least in Kiwami 1, which has a weak main plot (it having been written 20 years ago, by a less experienced team, to be fair).

I found the plot of 0 absolutely gripping, though, and would highly recommend it. Maybe even just switch to 0 and restart Kiwami 1 later, as it does a lot to build up the characters and situations of the Kiwami 1 crew. But it depends how long you've been playing Kiwami 1 and how invested in it you are.

[bgmnts]

I think about 10 hours playtime so far so I think i'll go release date order rather than chronological.

It is fun though.

[Timothy]

Yeah, side quests are where it's at, really. At least in Kiwami 1, which has a weak main plot (it having been written 20 years ago, by a less experienced team, to be fair).

I found the plot of 0 absolutely gripping, though, and would highly recommend it. Maybe even just switch to 0 and restart Kiwami 1 later, as it does a lot to build up the characters and situations of the Kiwami 1 crew. But it depends how long you've been playing Kiwami 1 and how invested in it you are.

Yakuza 0 was absolutely awesome. It had one of the best stories of all Yakuza games. The best order to play these games is 0-7 imo because playing 0 before Kiwami I adds a lot of depth to Kiwami. :)

I bought Lost Judgment in the BF sale last week. Looking forward to play that game.

[Mister Six]

I think about 10 hours playtime so far so I think i'll go release date order rather than chronological.

It is fun though.

The thing is that Yakuza 0 came out before Kiwami 1, and Kiwami 1 isn't just a straight "fancy graphics" version of the PS2 original. They added a lot to Kiwami 1 to follow up on stuff introduced in 0.

In effect, Kiwami 1 is a sequel to Yakuza 0 more than Yakuza 0 is a prequel to Kiwami 1.

I wish I'd known that, because my enjoyment of Kiwami 1 would have been massively improved if I'd played 0 first, so if you can I really do recommend ducking out, doing 0 and then returning to Kiwami 1 down the line.

I bought Lost Judgment in the BF sale last week. Looking forward to play that game.

Have you played the first Judgement? I'm holding off on that and LJ until I get past Yakuza 6, as the combat in both (esp. LJ) is supposed to be better than in the Yakuza series.

[Pink Gregory]

Combat improves once you start unlocking moves, also not having heat moves available does mean you can't just finish a fight by stamping on someone's face.

Christ, make sure you unlock the finishing move for Beast style (you're playing Kiwami, right?) before you go to Tojo HQ

[bgmnts]

Okay I decided to stop Kiwami and get 0 on. Usually I would play a series in order of release but fuck it.

[Consignia]

Okay I decided to stop Kiwami and get 0 on. Usually I would play a series in order of release but fuck it.

In which case, Kiwami 1 comes after Zero ;). You don't want to play them in release order. The original PS2 ones whilst great at the time would be a lesson in frustration will all the Quality of Life things have been added since. Doing Kiwami 1+2, before 3+4+5 will set up you up for sadness as well.

[bgmnts]

Sorry yeah not release order but I meant obviously 1 and 2 came out before 0. I know they are remakes and stuff has been added in etc but yeah i wanted to do 1-6 then the prequel but I guess i'll just go chronologcially.

[Consignia]

Sorry, being a little pedantic there, but my general point I feel 0 is a fine starting point.

[Pink Gregory]

3 was a rough time because every street punk is a brick wall blocking machine and you can only save at phone boxes.

4 fixes at least the first problem.

[Mister Six]

Okay I decided to stop Kiwami and get 0 on. Usually I would play a series in order of release but fuck it.

Hooray! So it's 0, K1, K2, 3-5 remastered, 6 and then 7.

Judgment and its sequel Lost Judgment are set in the same "world", but are their own storyline. I'm saving them for after 6, because I hear the combat is a step up from the Yakuza series.

3 was a rough time because every street punk is a brick wall blocking machine and you can only save at phone boxes.

According to Reddit that's a bug in the remaster, to do with the increased frame rate. The recommendation is just to play on easy, which makes them slightly less likely to block. I'm more interested in the story than anything else anyway, so I'll just do that.

And you can only save at phone boxes in 0-K2, right? Oh, and between chapters, I suppose. Didn't bother me, anyway.

[bgmnts]

Okay obviously i've come across the game irl and it was unintelligible then, but is mahjong actually the most complicated card/board/tile game in existence?

[Pink Gregory]

Okay obviously i've come across the game irl and it was unintelligible then, but is mahjong actually the most complicated card/board/tile game in existence?

I think it just becomes about probabilities at a certain point, especially if you want to try and win with a concealed hand, although I suppose with Tsumo you don't have to wait for an opponent to discard.

Basically I think I vaguely understand the rules, but not enough to win a game.

[Pink Gregory]

And you can only save at phone boxes in 0-K2, right? Oh, and between chapters, I suppose. Didn't bother me, anyway.

I think in K2 you can save anywhere, I think I might be getting save anywhere confused with being able to pause cutscenes, which you definitely can't do in 3.

Got through 3 on hard without too much trouble, just have to rely on grabs and heat moves when they be blockin', and of course good ol' Komaki Tiger Drop.

[Osmium]

Okay obviously i've come across the game irl and it was unintelligible then, but is mahjong actually the most complicated card/board/tile game in existence?

If you have a spare three and half hours then this will get you started, kind of-
https://youtu.be/hlnC2rgIPrc

I managed to string some wins together in the last few games in the series and actually found myself really enjoying playing it. Simple hands (at least relative to the others) like tanyao and pinfu are the way to go. All it took is 15 years of trying to understand how to play it at the most basic level, just to forget and try and relearn with each Yakuza iteration. Which I will repeat again since I just started playing 7. I can't imagine how much more lost I would be trying to play it without a game prompting the moves.

[Mister Six]

God, I just didn't bother with that or any of the other Asian board games. I think bowling was the only side game I really got into, although I might take a proper crack at poker in Y2, because I did love playing that in RDR.

[bgmnts]

Well to be honest after Kiwami, 0 and some of 4 I've come to the realisation that the combat isn't that good. It's really clunky and stun locks and slow and I'm not into it, so the myriad of other stuff to do combined with just how stupid the game and the world is is what's getting me through.

[Pink Gregory]

it can be quite slow and methodical, granted that's quite an unusual fit for an action game

[Pink Gregory]

God, I just didn't bother with that or any of the other Asian board games. I think bowling was the only side game I really got into, although I might take a proper crack at poker in Y2, because I did love playing that in RDR.

yeah bollocks to ever putting time into Shogi; Chess against an AI is hard enough.

I quite liked the Hanafuda card games, but I would not be able to play it without being told what hands are what, what I can and can't pick up etc

[Mister Six]

I tried to use a phone Shogi app to play against the PS4, inputting the moves from one into the other and vice versa, but I struggle to read Chinese characters and after 10 minutes of this, I just thought, "What the fuck am I doing?" and got on with the game. I only wanted the CP to unlock the top-tier Legendary upgrades anyway, and the game was easy to complete on normal even without that. And doing New Game+ let's to redo all the story completion and some of the others, so I reckon it wouldn't be hard to open up the last upgrades if I wanted to play NG+ on hard.

[Moribunderast]

After playing (and loving) Judgment recently I have gotten MASSIVELY into this series again. Had played Yakuza 4 years ago and started Yakuza 0 but dropped off that. I've now started Yakuza 0 again (after briefly starting Kiwami but seeing recommendations in this thread to do 0 first) and I just love wandering around Kamurocho, finding weird quests, slowly pushing through the long, ridiculous but oddly compelling main storylines, etc.

The combat feels a bit clunky/simple having just played Judgment recently but I'm honestly mostly playing for the world and the missions as opposed to the actual fighting gameplay. During the Black Friday PS4 sales I've bought essentially every Yakuza game and Lost Judgment and I still have Fist Of The North Star on the hard-drive so that's probably a year's worth of game-time for me!

I do want to thank those who recommended starting with 0 before Kiwami, though. I'm only in Chapter 4 thus far but the Majima stuff especially is really good and will make him a more interesting character in Kiwami, even if I already found the weird bastard to be plenty interesting in my brief interactions during my time with Kiwami!

[Mister Six]

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did! I'm taking a bit of time off to play other stuff, but all I really want to do is bank Kiwami 2 back on and get on with Kiryu's story.

I would say avoid the Mr Shakedowns (the seven-foot freaks wandering around) until you've levelled up a bit - you'll unlock jobs for both characters that let you rake in cash, and that's when you'll find yourself beefing up enough to take them on. And once you can, they're an even better source of dosh.

[Moribunderast]

Yeah, I tried fighting Mr. Shakedown once (as I'd just used most of my cash to upgrade abilities so had not much to lose.) Had him almost beaten and then got one-shot killed despite having a nearly full health bar. Immediately said to myself "I'll put him on the backburner for a bit..."

[Mister Six]

Best tip is...

Spoiler alert

Once you've unlocked the weapon searches for Majima, find somewhere that offers shotguns, then an agent who has the zap gun on their list. Get two zap guns and a lot of health drinks just to be safe (the pharmacies have the better ones) then as soon as the fight begins, activate Rush/Breaker stance for speed and wield the zap gun. Run around until you have an opening then loose off 2 or 3 shots, rapid. Repeat that a few times and collect your winnings - just don't forget to spend the money on reloading the guns!

If you're determined to use close-combat weaponry, go for slashing items (a good samurai sword, the dual-ended lightsabre pole thing and Majima's metal cards all worked for me) as they cut through Shakedown's blocks, and use heat to do a heat action, kick him when he's down to regain heat, use a heat action etc etc. You can stunlock him for a bit that way. But zap guns are faster.

[close]

[Pink Gregory]

Been having a bit of a shit time recently and I genuinely think it's because I played Kiwami 1 and 2, then 3 and 4 remastered in about half a year, and then stopped on a forced break.

I miss Kiryu

[Mister Six]

You should definitely play 0 while K1 and 2 are fresh(ish) in your head.

[Pink Gregory]

I am thinking of where to place 0, but I'm not sure I'm ready to embark on what I've heard is a somewhat longer game than all of em thus far.

That being said it might be a good one to not hoof down all at once...

[bgmnts]

I'm 60 hours into 0 and I dont think i've even gone halfway through the story. I'm at that point where I just want it to end now but I still have all of Kiryu's stuff to do (I just finished Goro's main side thing in chapter 9 I think?). So maybe it's a tad too long.

The tonal shift in this series is very weird though, the main stuff is played very straight and it's all about honour and blah blah but then everything else is amazingly daft. If you were to only play the main story you'd assume the developers genuinely love the yakuza