Yakuza

yeah, but you need a super beefy machine to get playable frame rates

btw Sega has said that if Y3 sells well enough they'll consider bringing over Yakuza Kenzan (the one set in like 1885), so everyone buy like eight copies

I hope "well enough" is like 10,000 copies, because that's the game I really want to play (and Yakuza 3 is sure not to sell much, come on, not at sixty dollars, not with this packed AAA March). Also based on missing tropies from the western release of Yakuza 3, it seems a lot more than just the hostess club stuff has been cut, but also the japanese games like mahjong and shogi (and more). Kind of a bummer in 2010...

Also based on missing tropies from the western release of Yakuza 3, it seems a lot more than just the hostess club stuff has been cut, but also the japanese games like mahjong and shogi (and more). Kind of a bummer in 2010...

okay, THAT is a bummer; the insanely-fleshed-out minigames added a lot of flavor to Y2 even if I never actually beat any of them. I still remember flipping through like 10+ pages of tiny-ass text explaining how to play mahjongg; it was more imposing than most of the fights.

still preordering it since beating people's asses in Y2 is impossibly fun, though.

while I don't agree w/sega's decision I can understand their rationale and I don't think this is the wrong-headed idiocy that the internet wd have you believe

tht being said the hostess club content is interwoven throughout the game, losing that loses you a significant proportion of the non-combat experience. how many small events that enriched yakuza have now been lost because the hostess club backbone has been removed?

the qn is how many side missions dependent on the hostess club content have we lost? it has a domino effect.

if yakuza was just a fighting game I wouldn't be interested.

hopefully they leave it on the disc and then patch a translation in later.

it totally affects different threads throughout the game tho so presumably they'll have to remove those and insert other scenes; don't see tht happening myself jc

http://kotaku.com/5478862/sega-you-are-once-again-making-a-giant-mistake

I agree with his point but as with most Ashcraft articles, the only thing I end up taking away from it is that Brian Ashcraft should be dropped from a great height

it seems mr. ashcraft has missed the subtext of sega's 'you wouldn't get it, sugar' explanation: pretty sure they just couldn't afford to translate all the game (and have said as much in a subsequent statement iirc) - they had to cut something and decided this was the most non-essential portion of the game

The couldn't afford it explanation reeks of bullshit - honestly, how could it cost more to translate a few hundred lines (or whatever) of text compared to paying a programmer to take out those sections of code and reprogram the game to work w/o those sections?

that makes sense, I guess, iunno, sick of reading about this and discussing it by now tbf ;_;

can't stop reading the GAF thread on this, against my better judgement. must. stop.

2 lazy to google relevance but translation is iirc really expensive whereas deleting shit not so much. i mean idk anything abt how/what/how much has been cut but i can see that being both a) cheaper and b) quicker

i dont think is like snes ear nintendo i just think its sega rushing/doing the trans on the cheap *shrug* in the would i rather wait for the ~right~ version of the game vs getting the game at all/soon im usually predisposed to go with the latter

I agree with his point but as with most Ashcraft articles, the only thing I end up taking away from it is that Brian Ashcraft should be dropped from a great height

he is like the worst writer ever. i know i've mentioned it before, but also 85% of his articles for kotaku are creepy thnigs about japanese soft-porn actresses, he reminds me of that shiroi basket shoes guy with the creepy flickr page.

Finally started Yakuza 2 last night (and played for a little over an hour - is it always that long between save points? I think in the first one you could save at phone booths?) I know they did it to save money, but the decision to stick with the Japanese language track was the best thing to happen with this game - it really adds to the atmosphere. I was also surprised to actually be into the story (so far)... that just happens so rarely with games it's sort of shocking. On the negative side, the way the camera works in these games still kind of annoys me, especially in those awkward moments when you take a few steps and it has to load a new angle or whatever. And I still feel like the brawling in 3d is just a little more clunky then it should be - game would benefit from a Demon's Souls style lock-on maybe. Anyhow, definitely looking forward to playing some more over the weekend.

yeah, the story is surprisingly engaging and well written

that whole game is just such a treat. definitely going to place in my top 3 when we get around to the PS2 poll.

Here's a new, long trailer for Yakuza 4 (out in March in Japan, I think?), mostly focusing on the side games you can play in the game...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNd9HlQ_OwY

In Yakuza 2, I dig how there are so many different shops and places you can go in and do all kinds of crazy stuff, even though a lot of that stuff isn't very compelling, like all the different restaurants with 20-30 item menus or the super basic UFO catcher games in the arcade. It's just cool it's there, it's some of what was missing from GTA IV. I did get to a mahjong parlor, but got too intimidated looking through the massive instructions to even try to play the game (though I'd like to learn some day). Definitely not bothered if it got cut from 3 for the English re-release. Played a little blackjack though in the weird bummy hangout place, which was fun. Gotta figure out how to get back there. Still can't quite get used to the layout of the areas and navigating around is annoying (especially compared to recent GTA games, which are obviously much bigger). Also don't like the quick time events - they come up so fast they always catch me by surprise and I almost always fail. I've gotten used to the brawling though.

You dudes are really whetting my appetite for this game! Well, the first one.

didn't realise resonance of fate was sega too; life in the ol' dog yet

Hello, how can I help you sir?
I need to hire some hard ass motherfuckers, some guy called Kazuma has really pissed me off!
I think we can accomodate you sir.
Are their asses hard?
The hardest sir...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGkQTUQq3vQ

"...i just can't believe this is happening.... this is disgusting. I don't even think they're looking at the comments I'm posting! Fans are exploding! To me it's a kick in the balls!"

kohta-cue

i have hard time believing that vid is real & true in its emotions

james can you post a pic of the plaque you made

j/k what's that kid's deal anyway?

sooooooo....

yup, how is it?

http://blog.hardcoregaming101.net/2010/02/yakuza-3-ruined-by-segas-stupidity.html

what a disaster for ps3

great but starts A LOT slower than Yakuza 2

missed opportunity not letting u play yakuza 2 as one of the mini-games

The most fun I've had doing chores for children ever.

yakuza 3 is massive, despite the cuts

this game is great but it doesn't half start v.slowly

and yeah I'd like to bonk a lady but I can hardly complain about cuts with only 2% complete after 5 hours played ^^;

Surprising news!

http://blogs.sega.com/europe/2010/06/08/iamkazuma/#more-2366

Huh! I guess 3 did all right over here.

good news

bring on the kenzan

We’d also like to confirm what we feel is important news for our fans: the Hostess Clubs will be returning in Yakuza 4!

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2010/06/11/yakuza-4-coming-exclusively-to-ps3-in-spring-2011/

I take full credit for this btw

but where's my parade

thanks cobo, appreciate it

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/08/10/yakuza-3-review.html

Of the three reviewers, only Kuroishi manages to play it all the way to the end. Two of the three are missing their pinkies — in the old days, when a yakuza or his subordinates screwed up, they chopped off pinkies as an act of atonement — and this seems to affect their gameplay.

Ironically, the sections that Shirokawa seemed to enjoy the most were cut out of the US version: mahjong, the sexual massage parlor, and the hostess clubs. After I explain to him what Sega cut from the US version, he said: アメリカ版を買った奴がかわいそうだ。セガＵＳＡが最低だね.(Translation: I feel sorry for the people who bought the American version. SEGA USA sucks.)

so the next Yakuza game is apparently going to be Yakuza + Left 4 Dead + Dead Rising and I want it

hahaha so desperate!

http://img.game.co.uk/images/content/SpecialEditions/Yakuza4.jpg

I never pre-order games at full price but I feel like I should make an exception for this. Played Yakuza 3 for hours, and still nowhere near doing all of it.

I broke down and got a British buddy to preorder one & mail it to me; for some reason GAME was being an ass and wouldn't let me place a preorder. all worth it for STEELBOOK~ though.

^^^ this just showed up! if anyone else in this stupid country gave a fuck about this magnificent series I would be a bragging-ass jamescobo right about now

It’s a little bit light feeling comparatively. But I’m not finished yet.

For all its wackiness, the two most hilarious things in Infinite Wealth for me are:

Kasuga sing shouting the instrumental melody line to Chi-chan's city pop song on karaoke

and

The little shot of Kasuga sitting down when you play mahjong with your crew, holding on the hopeful, oblivious grin of a guy who is def about to get completely fleeced.

i know it's reused from the previous game, but i love the animation that plays when kasuga fails a vocational school exam. such a likeable character, ichiban #1!

I'm playing them all in chronological order, to fill in the gaps in my knowledge and to refresh myself on who the fuck everyone is.

One thing about Kiwami 2 is Majima is basically being a gentrifier? Taking a park that belonged to the homeless and building some expensive apartments in there. Where did the homeless people go??

supercut of Kiryu soulfully saying the names of different characters after they've dropped some bombshell

Intercut with him growling the villainses names into the night sky when they've just done something villainous

All leading into a heartfelt karaoke performance

There is also this kind of thing where some important-to-the-plot location/ mysterious property developer etc is described to Kiryu for the first time and he very thoughtfully repeats it back so the player doesn't miss it

...Tachibana...Real Estate...? 🤔

Haha yes.

Having (re)played through the main series (currently at Like A Dragon), one thing I find very interesting is how consistently it is about mob justice, moral crusades, social media call outs without ever falling into anti-cancel culture screeds or reactionary beliefs - the victims of this stuff in Yakuza are sex workers or ex-criminals trying to make a honest living. I'm sure the cultural difference from the West plays a part but it's not like Japan hasn't had its metoo moments. Anyway kinda cool, there are occasional leftist attempts to point out that say ppl trying to ban drag queen storytime is cancel culture but usually in a "by your logic" way, this series just shows reactionaries using these tools and doesn't get into both sides-ism. I was really worried when I heard about the premise of Infinite Wealth and it turned out to be along these lines too.

I’d need to sit down and think about it across the games but the games have been progressive in their views in some ways and in others…not. But I do recall that they did talk about retooling some of the earlier games stuff re trans women and sex workers. I think the overall vibe of the series is that it’s the shadow world & iirc the yakuza in Japan have long been disproportionally comprised of people from various minority groups in the country. Not sure how true this is but it makes a lot of sense with how so many characters in the series are from minority backgrounds:

According to a 2006 speech by Mitsuhiro Suganuma, a former officer of the Public Security Intelligence Agency, around 60 percent of yakuza members come from burakumin, the descendants of a feudal outcast class and approximately 30 percent of them are Japanese-born Koreans, and only 10 percent are from non-burakumin Japanese and Chinese ethnic groups.

Similarly I really didn’t like that plot in the Kiwami remake where one of the girls you date is a lesbian and she wants to sleep with Kiryu to see if she likes men. To me I was like, ugh, are they really doing the “Just needs to meet the right man!” thing, but actually it was far more nuanced than that; they do sleep together but she was like, that was nice but I still like girls lol. It’s portrayed as her experimenting with a person she likes rather than falling into that trope, and it was a lot better for it.

Most of the police you meet are corrupt and the ones you meet who aren’t are openly marginalised by their colleagues; the government is on the take and doesn’t care about the concerns of ordinary people; the super rich will hurt anyone who gets in their way. In that world, how are you going to complain about or even care about Mama in the okama bar? We are all in the gutter together, the series seems to say. Oh, and if you own any land in Japan that might be valuable in any way you’re probably in danger lol.

OTM.

Certainly don't want to paint Yakuza as blanket progressive, it's just if you had subplots about social media hate campaigns in a piece of Western media the target would inevitably be someone accused of sexual offenses or being racist and the series never ever resorts to that (nb there may be some substories I haven't explored).

Similarly I really didn’t like that plot in the Kiwami remake where one of the girls you date is a lesbian and she wants to sleep with Kiryu to see if she likes men. To me I was like, ugh, are they really doing the “Just needs to meet the right man!” thing, but actually it was far more nuanced than that; they do sleep together but she was like, that was nice but I still like girls lol. It’s portrayed as her experimenting with a person she likes rather than falling into that trope, and it was a lot better for it.

lol that subplot was so strange - iirc Kiryu's final lecture to the girl was that she was too hung up on ideas of gender, too obsessed with women conforming to her ideas of what is female, and so she kinda went "ok you're right let's have sex since I'm trying not to care about gender so much". Which, go off pansexual king, but until Kiryu starts frequenting host clubs as a client that's all big talk and no action imo.

You can’t tell me Kiryu and Nishiki never slept together at least once and that’s as far as I’m going with that. I did like that the plot of Mine being in love with Daigo is not remotely played for laughs or gay panic though.

Majima pirate game

https://www.ign.com/articles/majima-focused-like-a-dragon-pirate-yakuza-in-hawaii-announced-at-rgg-summit-as-next-yakuza-game

MAJIMA PIRATE GAME

Every time I think “this sounds dumb” as a spin off game it’s gold so


MAJIMA PIRATE GAME

(Re)playing all the entries in such quick succession really drives home that Kiryu's biggest flaw is his inability to accept help, there's so many moments where he tricks an ally so that he can go fight the Big Bad alone. Meanwhile Kasuga has absolute and total trust in his allies and derives his strength from believing in the power of friendship. It's kind of a beautiful evolution for the franchise.