Yakuza / Hokuto Ga Gotoku Thread - No Regrets Edition

TGS is just around the corner and Yakuza Kiwami 2 and Hokuto Ga Gotoku are the big titles in Sega's line-up.
Meanwhile, Sega is giving regular updates on HGG, the latest confirming Raoh, Rihaku and two OCs plus another possible hint that Jagi might be coming down the road too.
Mandatory VA trivia:
Raoh (voiced by Masami Iwasaki) - Ryuji Goda
Rihaku (voiced by Kazuhiro Yamaji) - Makoto Date
Taruga (voiced by Yuichi Nakamura) - Han Jungi
Lira (voiced by Aya Hisakawa) - Tayu Yoshino (Kenzan)

gematsu.com/2017/09/hokuto-ga-gotoku-details-raoh-rihaku-taruga-lira


Finished Kiwami recently and taking a short break before picking Zero back up to wrap up some things. Which ones are you playing? Any particular hopes or expectations for Kiwami 2, HGG or something yet to come?

Other urls found in this thread:

gematsu.com/2017/09/tokyo-game-show-2017-live-stream-schedule#sega
gematsu.com/2017/09/hokuto-ga-gotoku-launches-february-22-japan
youtube.com/watch?v=6b_UdHD3Px0
youtube.com/watch?v=spsFVhhxpDs
gematsu.com/2017/09/hokuto-ga-gotoku-details-story-four-new-characters-play-spots
gematsu.com/2017/09/yakuza-kiwami-2-details-additional-majima-goro-scenario-story-characters-battle-system
nyaa.si/?f=0&c=0_0&q=hokuto no ken&s=seeders&o=desc
youtube.com/watch?v=Om8nCZNLnaI
youtube.com/watch?v=_YBdeyA4Qv8
youtube.com/watch?v=P0W-El1UxsI
uploaded.net/file/w1wae1il
gematsu.com/2017/10/yakuza-kiwami-2-details-new-nightlife-island-new-clan-creator-play-spots
yakuza.sega.com/experience
youtube.com/watch?v=hpaMlwYWvkg
gematsu.com/2017/10/yakuza-kiwami-2-demo-launches-late-november-japan
yakuza.sega.com/yakuza6/home.html
ryu-ga-gotoku.com/kiwami2/adventure/detail.html?page=soten
gematsu.com/2017/11/yakuza-kiwami-2-details-sotenbori-osaka
twitter.com/SFWRedditGifs

So will Houto Ga Gotoku/Fist of the Dragon/Fist of the Yakuza even see a western release

I think it's very likely. Judging by what was said in the announcement stream, they're finally aware these games have a significant fanbase in the West and even admitted Kiwami 2 is happening because of how Zero and Kiwami did in the West.

So the whole thing about it being a Yakuza game without having members of the Yakuza in it won't kill it like with Kenzan and Issin

It's under a new name, too, which will probably help the localization.


Them tall girls, man. Those legs.

It's not like they even need to put the Yakuza name in the title. Hokuto Musou released over here as Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage. They didn't even need to shoehorn the Warriors name in.

What is the new name in the west?

The stream schedules are up (all times JST):
gematsu.com/2017/09/tokyo-game-show-2017-live-stream-schedule#sega

Any chance Yakuza Online comes to the west? A Holla Forums family would be fun.

...

Not the west, but in Japan it's Hokuto Ga Gotoku, which means something like "Like a North Star", probably. They could get away with that.

I believe one of the main problems with Kenzan and Isshin is that they aren't "yakuza" games, but they are "Like a Dragon/Ryu Ga Gotoku" games. Which is one of the reasons why they couldn't bring them across; licensing issues.

doubtful

Sega did a small survey among Western fans to see if how much people are hyped for Kiwami 2, HGG and Online. I suppose they might if it got good enough feedback though I'd say people should be vocal about it. Just look at the time it took for them to acknowledge there's a Western fanbase.

is that the yakuza 0 engine or the yakuza 6 one?
it's too bad they'll never release the remastered version of vf5fs as a standalone

Yakuza 6 engine.
Meanwhile, HGG will be made with the older engine.

Seems like Sega is finally realizing that the western does indeed want Yakuza.
It took them long enough but Sega is slowly getting better.

Just get it, it's good enough to deserve your money.

I hope they improve the combat from 6 in Kiwami 2. 6's combat felt really odd in the demo.

I told myself I'd never buy a PS4 game at full price, not to mention it's 80 Canuckbucks and I'm fucking broke as shit. Plus I've only ever beaten the first Yakuza at this point so I've got some catching up to do before I need to actually own 0.

0 is a prequel, so you don't have to play any of the others first.

But I want to play them in release order, and I'm sure 0 is full of nods to all the games before it.

I hope it comes stateside within the same year as the jap release. I dont want to wait like I did for Yak 4 and 5.

then that's what they'll do here.
IT SHOULDNT be called Yakuza anyway, especially if it has nothing to do with a modern japanese setting. if it's set in not-mad max world, it shouldnt be called Yakuza as the Yakuza wouldnt even exist in that world as a concept anymore.

...

It is, but it's cleverly non-spoilery about it up until the ending (and even that doesn't spoil anything more than a typical movie trailer would.) Most of the nods to older/"future" games are subtle enough that you won't notice them if you're unfamiliar with the series, with the notable exception of when you have to babysit someone for awhile who the game makes explicitly clear will be a big deal when he grows up.

As a total newbie to the series, a good approach might be to start with Zero, play all the other games in sequence, then play Zero again and laugh at all the clever references you now get. The fortuneteller is especially fun.
In fact, if you plan on playing Kiwami instead of the PS2 Yakuza 1, you should DEFINITELY start with Zero as the plot has been tweaked to throw in a bunch of continuing threads from that game.

Who said I was a newbie? I said here that I've beaten Yakuza 1, Mark Hamill Majima and all. I've also played through about a third of Yakuza 2 on emulator, but I've got an actual copy of the game now, so I'm considering starting over.

...

And one giant elementary-schooler causing trouble in Sotenbori.

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply you were a newbie - rather that "for someone playing Yakuza for the first time, this would be a good order".

I just started playing Yakuza 2 again after beating Kiwami, it's interesting to note the differences - combat feels a LOT faster on the PS2 than it did in Zero/Kiwami, and it's funny that I now actually know my way around town. I remember getting lost all the time in the original game thanks to the derpy uncontrollable camera.


Yes, that was funny. Though I don't remember the game hitting you over the head quite as hard with "THIS GUY WILL BE IMPORTANT SOMEDAY".

Just played through Kiwami, it's pretty cool for a trip down memory lane, but the changes they made to the bosses was for the worse and the game is easier overall… except Jingu in Kiwami is… just holy shit, I think his fight is the toughest fight I've had in any Yakuza game, even playing against Shinada against Komaki and his grandson The COOL GUY SOSUKE in 5 was a walk in the park compared to this fucking shit. When I finally came to Nishiki I was disappointed at what a fucking pushover he is in Kiwami. I think I should take a break before attempting all of this again on legend.

He also bumps into Kiryu at the end of the fortune teller quest; I think that bit hints more than the Majima sub story.


B-King and the yakuza guy that follows him recycle Shinada's bare hand and knife strings but they're hardly relevant. A lot of the other bosses, like Hayashi and the gun nut seem to have their own things. Shimano's the worst of the lot given how important he is to the story.

As for the last duo, like I said in the previous thread - beat Jingu by the skin of my teeth and burned all the 10 Toughness Emperors I had with me. Thought I'd have to redo the whole thing since I was going up against Nishiki with half HP and then I beat his ass like a ginger stepchild.


Side note, how do you unlock the hostess videos? It's For completion purposes, of course.

I stocked up on those strongest Staminan bottles (I think it's either Spark or Royale), the extra heat they give paid off a lot since I could cheese it out a bit with easy to do heat moves. My friend had beaten the game before and he told me to buy it and gave me a warning to get a lot of good healing items for the finale, I legit thought they had buffed Nishiki and was hyped as fuck, a shame it was actually Jingu who is a massive pain in the ass instead.

Recently I got some Yakuza games in the bag: 0, 1, 3, 4, 5. Basically I need 2 and 6 to be done with the main series.

Later entries are plot time bombs: eventually, the plot explodes. Be it secret agents, or rubber bullets, or baseball champions: the separate plots will ultimately reconcile with a retarded twist and weaken the whole.

Yeah, the later plots do get quite ridiculous, 4 has so many backstabbings that my friend and I joke that that old police man backstabs himself when he kills himself out of guilt. I really wonder how much of a trainwreck 6 is since it's been out in Japan and it's apparently quite weak. The only footage I've seen of it myself is Kiryu attacking Akiyama for no real reason.

The first 2 games are a lot more contained and I guess that helps the story be more consistent. Even then, it's rife with twists and the hallmark of Yakuza stories, the "I actually knew you would betray me".
That said, I really like the story in Zero, even if it gets convoluted at times, it's fast paced and manages to be engaging with the way every character switch ends in a big cliffhanger.


Read a lot of criticisms of 6, especially the combat. Seems there's only one style, only weapons you can use are what you can pick up lying around and the frame rate is at 30fps. The big deal about 6 appears to be the city being much more explorable and that plays a part in combat.

Holy shit, Jingu is an utter cunt in Kiwami. I just finished the game today, really enjoyed it overall and have every intention to play through again on Legend but damn if that isn't the most annoying boss fight I've played in recent memory. It actually made me kind of thankful that Nishiki was so easy.

I think my favourite boss was Lau Ka Long.

I still need to do the hostess subquests and fight amon in kiwami, but i got burned out getting harukas trust to max rank. I would do legend mode but i don't want to do that shimano fight from scratch again that was horseshit

I just wanted Majima's ultimate style. Why does the Hostess game have to be so dull?

shoulda seen how it was for akiyama, his variant of it was far more time consuming

You should've seen how riveting the hostess maker minigame in 4 was, it was mobile game-tier torture.


I think I spent only 3 hours on that worthless minigame thanks to a guide and it still felt like I wasted a whole weekend's worth of time on it, can't even imagine what kind of unending torture it would've been if the guide didn't exist and I had to experiment and figure things out through trial and error. At least fighter maker for Saejima had you screaming at the TV while watching your apprentice getting his ass handed to him because his AI is too retarded to initiate an attack.

I remwmber 4. It was my first Yakuza gamem I skipped most of the minigame stuff and while the story was good, I felt like I missed out on things. Can't wait to replay it and skip that torture.

LKL had some pretty cool moves and that opening bit where they toss him the polearm (pudao?) is pretty badass. That said, I was too salty to appreciate it; the tracking on that standing split kick is ridiculous.
Majima Everywhere kinda takes some of the fun out of the Majima fights but the second fight with him is probably my favorite.

We got a lot of the same things screencapped.


I thought it was fun in short bursts. Definitely more of a game than Kiryu's that's really just a cash dispenser.

I need to get back to Zero. My problem with these games is that I tend to get burned out in my first playthrough and then leave a lot of the extra content untouched.

It's hell if you're a completionist like me, I mean on the bright side I actually became a really good shogi player, especially for a gaijin I imagine, but some of the minigames were the worst, what's even worse is if you don't do the hostess maker you miss out on hostesses and if you don't do the fighter maker you can't do tag team tournaments in the coliseum.

should I buy a PS4 or hold out for the mythical pc ports for this series that they hinted at?
all these titles are making me want to fold and buy a PS4 but I don't know how much use I'll get out of that console.

when in doubt buy it as cheap as possible, considering how yakuza is getting new attention in the west right now i bet sony is going to clutch the IP a little tighter than usual

No other titles catching your fancy? Bloodborne, Nioh, P5 (this one's also on PS3 tbh), Gravity Rush, the upcoming Dragon's Crown port and 13 Sentinels etc?
Then again, if you're a completionist, you probably won't have time for anything but the Yakuza games.

The talk about ports had me thinking Persona and Yakuza would be in front of that line but raises a fair point, though one provided Sony aren't complete dimwits.

I really like LKL's theme as well whenever I managed to hear it through all the UUUWA noises. I also liked how he had heat moves of his own that he could use on you, same with Majima and Hayashi (I think I remember others being able to do that as well but I can't remember who).

Agreed about Majima as well, I thought the way his second fight transitioned into the basement was really cool but by that point I'd spent so much time fighting him it kind of lost some of its impact. I still enjoyed the Majima Everywhere system because of how good the rewards for beating him are, though obviously once you get all of the moves for all the styles that aspect isn't there anymore. I don't know which system of levelling up I prefer between the return to using xp or using money as in 0. They've both got their ups and downs, but I stopped having a use for xp around chapter 8 or 9 in Kiwami whereas money never really stops being useful in 0.

Substories make for great out of context screenshots tbf.

(checked)

If you have already played the rest on PS3, just watch Zero and Kiwami on youtube.

Track's called 'Ogre Has Reborn' if you happen to be looking for it. For me, the shittiest bosses got my favorite tracks - Jingu and round 2 with Shimano.
Speaking of which, I might be in a minority but I prefer the Kiwami OST to the original. It's true the guitar gets a bit drowned out but some themes feel a bit more polished in their melody.

By Ch10 or something, already had the damn bar capped at 9999. Wish we could cash it in other things; maybe a jukebox or some silly extra.

That they do. Kiwami has tons of great moments but IMHO 0 is still king.

Sony TGS event in a couple of hours.
Eyes peeled for Kiwami 2. No mention of HGG but it might be a surprise.

if you were willing to live with a digital copy it was $39 on PSN last week. regardless, it's worth retail.

Hokuto ga Gotoku will launch for PlayStation 4 on February 22 in Japan for 8,390 yen, Sega announced at the 2017 PlayStation Press Conference in Japan.

A 12,301 yen “Century’s End Premium Edition” will include a “Premium Downloadable Content Set” with the following add-ons:

Change Kenshiro’s Appearance to that of Yakuza‘s Kazuma Kiryu – With this add-on, you can change the appearance of Kenshiro to that of Yakuza series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu. You can change the character model at any time. Some event scenes may not reflect the character model change.
Product Code for Additional Music “Ai wo Torimodosu!!” and “Tough Boy” – With this add-on, you can use the songs “Ai wo Torimodose!!” by Crystal King and “Tough Boy” by Tom Cat as in-game background music. You can change the background music at any time. Music can only be changed in some scenes.
“Nanto Gosha Sei” Set – An item set with equipment that has various efefcts and will allow you to proceed the game more advantageously.
Tetsuo Hara-illustrated PlayStation 4 custom theme and Fist of the North Star avatars – A PlayStation 4 custom theme with visual design illustrated by Tetsuo Hara and a Fist of the North Star PlayStation Network avatars set.

gematsu.com/2017/09/hokuto-ga-gotoku-launches-february-22-japan


So disappointed with the Vanillaware stuff. T_T

Hmph, whatever old man, I'm stronger than you and way more good-looking to boot!

"1v1 me and my grandpa and see what happens!" Pussy.

On the subject of Komaki, I asked before if the techniques were in Zero; now that I'm back at it, gave it a proper look (in the style specifics section of the detailed abilities menu) and they are. Kinda. In the misguided wisdom of Combofiend, the 'function' is there. All new very elaborate animations, pre-requisites and overall just not as good.

...

Glad they added the funeral outfit to premium adventure today, it looks really cool.


Thanks. Wish some tracks were easier to find, to my knowledge none of the substory tracks are on the OSTs for either 0 or Kiwami which is a shame (though it makes sense considering they're only a couple of seconds long and just keep looping over and over, I guess).
I actually agree, the Kiwami version of For Who's Sake in particular is a good example of that sort of thing. It sounds a lot more climactic this time around and it captures the emotion/tone of the fight better as well, I think. I do prefer the original version of Funk Goes On but the new one is okay too.
That'd be good. It'd maybe be nice if there were some items you could buy from Bob with xp too.
Yeah, they've both got a lot of really funny substories but nothing beats 0's 'punch the dishes' for me.


Damn that must be annoying. I remember on my first playthrough I wanted to record the intros to the final two bosses in 0 because they got me so hyped up, but it doesn't let you record footage or take screenshots during the final chapter in either 0 or Kiwami for whatever reason.

Majima's minigame is fun for a bit, but doing it repeatedly really wears on you. Kiryu can earn a billion dollars from his job just by doing nothing, but Majima can barely pull 100 million. It helps that his moves cost less, but it's still a kick to the dick to work that much and get so little.


This is gonna be so much fun. I just keep imagining how they can make Yakuza MORE over the top and this is the answer.

Vanillaware didn't show much stuff. But I'm glad 13 Sentinels is still on track. I just need to see more gameplay.

I really wish they did a Muramasa port though.

...

I fought you one on one old man, it was just a training session because I would've kicked your ass otherwise, old man. By the way gimme 30k yen so I can visit my grandpa. D-don't take this the wrong way old man it's not l-like I want my grandpa to acknowledge my skills or anything. Hell, I'm stronger than him and way more good-looking to boot!

Yen. Fuck off Sagawa.

That sucks. These people should at least be selective about it. To me the egregious offender is Atlus with P5 - the whole game is a blocked sequence.


Especially knowing there's no way I'm ever getting those last 40 points for the gold pistol.

lol


The DC port killed me. It's my own damn fault for setting the bar so high though. The announcement was leaked and I was already thinking we'd get new classes and levels and stuff, I mean, just look at the Muramasa DLC and the Odin Sphere remake - VW always traveled that extra mile so seeing a plain port was a major let down.
Also a bit concerned about what seemed a glimpse of 13S gameplay.

Ditto.


Anyway, went to dance my disappointments away and finally cleared the disco battles in Zero. It's a fun mini game but it's tough as nails and the AI is very merciful, I've noticed that the challengers' performance kept slightly decreasing with every rematch, particularly Ogita that was about 2000 points ahead in the first attempt but kept doing worse with each attempt (and I kinda sorta gud gud even if I'm still only playing on Easy ).

...

Remember when Kiryu beat the shit out of that rich gay guy?

Gays, trannies, cross-dressers, man whores, nogs, gooks, chinks, manlets etc. Kiryu's a hate crime machine.

Kiwami 2 confirmed for being the best game in the series

I sat down today and completed Majima's hostess minigame on Zero today. I'm finally over that hurdle. Now I can go back to enjoying this game.

New story trailer for Kiwami 2, no English though.

My own Zero accomplishment for the day was beating the Amon. It got me wondering - does anyone actually tries having a honest fight with these guys or just constantly goes for the best exploit? I tried fighting Jo but it felt impossible to even land 2 consecutive hits on him while he hit like a truck so I ended up using Mad Dog counter over and over.
Meanwhile, So was even worse. I couldn't find a way to deal with his magic cannon that shoots death rays and homing balls that can land directly behind him so after a lot of frustrating attempts, I looked up how people dealt with him; most just spammed weapon Heat Actions and one in particular did nothing but stick to him and spam Beast 4 hit string, get INFINITE POISE and keep spamming it. I couldn't believe that last one could work and thought the guy got lucky, tried it for myself - it works. What felt like the hardest fight in the game, ended up being the easiest. Go figure.


Anyway, BIG updates from TGS.
Clan Creator returns in Kiwami 2 (like JCC, it's probably one of the things that should have stayed in the previous game):
youtube.com/watch?v=6b_UdHD3Px0

3m of HGG gameplay: youtube.com/watch?v=spsFVhhxpDs

Big story and gameplay update for HGG and more characters confirmed. The usual VA trivia:
Souther (voiced by Hiroki Touchi) - Yuu Morinaga
Jagi (voiced by Hidenari Ugaki) - Goro Majima
Uighur (voiced by Naomi Kusumi) - Futoshi Shimano
Nadai (voiced by Masato Obara) - Junichi Sudo (Kiwami) + minor roles in 4 and 5

gematsu.com/2017/09/hokuto-ga-gotoku-details-story-four-new-characters-play-spots

Did they change Takashima? He's young looking in the original. Ditto for the guy with the red tie. No wonder I couldn't recognize anyone in the announcement screens.

Anyway, Kiwami 2 is getting a rather interesting mini game.

Yeah, for certain characters they're using the likeness of their VAs now. I dunno how to feel about it, but I doubt it'll impact much outside of visuals. I'm normally not a fan of using the likeness of VAs for characters in vidya but on the other hand the Yakuza studio's already got a history of doing it even before 0, so why would they stop now, I guess. I still think it works better for brand new characters like in 0 rather than changing the appearance of old characters, though.

Speaking of, fun bit of trivia: 3rd and 4th pics related are the same VA's likeness in Kenzan and Kiwami 2 respectively.

Another gameplay video. Gives a peek at Virtual-On and it looks like VF2 is also in the game.


I think the problem with using actors for characters' faces is that they might clash a bit with the characters that don't, like that bucktoothed goblin Dojima in Zero. Overall, they still implement it really well. At least in Zero, they all played their roles fantastically.
Speaking of Zero, it's kinda ironic that the one actor that doesn't get a fight scene is ripped IRL. Sagawa

Kawara's another I didn't immediately recognize but it's mostly a hair-do change, nothing as radical as the others.

STOP TRYING TO MAKE ME CREATE A HAPA, SEGA

Dunno. This one's bringing the funbags kiwami-sized.
(Can't really tell if it's Yuma Asami again though.)

GET THIS INTO YOUR FUCKING HEAD SEGA, THIS DICK IS FOR BREEDING WITH BIG-TITTED WHITE WOMEN ONLY
Fun fact, Yakuza 2 is the thing that introduced me to JAV, a friend of mine told me that he read in some of our gaming magazines that most character who have obviously better modeled faces were based on real people, whether it's just their likeness or both their name and likeness and Yuma Asami was the first character I decided to look up because she had big boobs

Hokuto ga Gotoku gameplay

Nice. Fuck Japanese censorship laws, though. These games are made for at least older teenagers, right? Why do they gotta cover up all the gore?

kiwami 2? when is that getting a western release? im currently playing kiwami

nice

JAVs got me wondering if the flatchested Japanese woman is a myth or if the industry managed to snag every single titty monster in the country. Seriously, so many of them are stacked to the ceiling.


Looks great but part of me will always have the disappointment we likely won't have playable Toki and/or Raoh. Might get Rei though, it looks like he'll be a AI partner.
Side note, all the major characters have been confirmed; wonder if Kiba Daioh, Mamiya, Juda, Amiba and the Colonel will be announced too.


I think it's a fair expectation. They said it's happening because of how well Zero and Kiwami did in the West. I wager it will be released here by the end of next year (at best) though.


I'll be a bit more critical of the Kiwami 2 music since I like 2's OST a lot.

Wait, Majima is playable here? Does he have his own story or something?

Yeah. He'll have his own scenario in Kiwami 2. They keep showing Zero scenes with Makoto which might mean she'll make a appearance or at least be a key driving point of his story. I hope they don't fuck it up because that story felt like it already had good closure, even if bittersweet.
I like Majima n'all but I'd honestly prefer a Ryuuji scenario. On that note, I wonder if making smaller stories with assorted characters would be a good idea.

yeah they've added a story about what majima was up to during the events of yakuza 2 before he got control of purgatory in it, i guess. I love playing as majima but in the first reveal trailer it had a picture and sound clip from makoto from zero and it would seem really heavy handed to just bring her back when zero wrapped her story up so well

majima showing up at the store was good, put taking photo booth pictures with haruka in post game and having him show up in the photos had me rolling

I'm surprised that the never tried to use a character based on Sugawara Bunta - he only died a few years ago so he could still do the voice at least. I mean the character he always protrayed WAS the legendary prototypical yakuza character.

Better than what we got in the US for the anime, where everyone bled carbonated milk.

Details on Majima's scenario are out along with some gameplay things - weapons, Komaki's return, new heat actions and "friendship heat actions" (these were in the original 2 already).
Premise for Majima's story:
February, 2006—.

Two months since the “10 Billion Yen Incident.”

Yukio Terada, who was nominated by Kazuma Kiryu, the Fourth Chairman of the Tojo Clan, and became the Fifth Chairman, promoted a policy to recruit new blood called the “Tojo Clan Reform” in order to rebuild the Tojo Clan on the economic front following the collapse of its foundations in the previous incident.
Progressively appoint those who can earn regardless of means, and eliminate those who cannot. And appoint the most hardworking person to “waka gashira,” the position of which is currently vacant.
Terada enforced measures for senior leadership, fearing the fall of authority, to push through with heavy restraints. As a result, Majima Family boss Goro Majima, who produced large profits in the buying and selling of real estate, and Uematsu Family boss Agoodbu Uematsu, a rising influence, competed for the position of waka gashira. In the meantime, the Majima Family offices were attacked by men who seem to be with the Uematsu family.
Single-handedly, Majima marches into the Uematsu family’s office. But within it was a scene even he couldn’t imagine—.

Personal note, I wonder how they'll work this into the plot given Majima left the clan by his own accord because of Terada surrounding himself with yes-men.

gematsu.com/2017/09/yakuza-kiwami-2-details-additional-majima-goro-scenario-story-characters-battle-system


Still need to get that one to happen.


Speaking of HnK, any place to watch the uncensored anime? Every version I found was that one.

bampu

So uh what's the substory that hit you in the feels the most? It can be from any game and I guess the side stories from 5 and 0 also work, just as long as it's not part of the main plot.
For me it's White Lie from 4, it's Kiryu's substory where a woman whose fiancé always lied to her died from cancer a year ago. However, when he told her he had cancer she couldn't believe it and she refuses to believe that this is the only thing he told her that wasn't a lie, so to cope she pretends that Kiryu is her late fiancé and after doing some things with her Kiryu convinces her that she shouldn't lie to herself regarding her fiancé's death anymore

shameless bump, I know

tiny head syndrome

nyaa.si/?f=0&c=0_0&q=hokuto no ken&s=seeders&o=desc

It's mostly just the zany ones that stay in my memory but for getting Heated in the feels, there's the doll girl story for Majima in Zero, Saejima's little match girl in 5 and one that I found really odd because it was probably meant to be on wacky side but I couldn't help but pity the poor girl which is one for Akiyama in 5 where he manages a idol for a day, the girl's agency forced a shtick on her where she has to act like she's from some fantasy kingdom and act like a retard all the time like purposefully getting quiz answers wrong; she hated it, the TV people constantly berated her etc.


Thanks familia.

Meanwhile, started Premium in Kiwami. Haruka wants me to go make a fortune in gambling to earn her trust. Yeah, not gonna happen. She's probably a incentive to platinum the game since I wager she'll hound Kiryu to play every single mini-game but I ain't doing that shit so I'm trying a different brand of frustration and started doing the Climax battles. The ones in Kiwami, even if frustratingly difficult at points, still feel easier than Zero's; managed to clear all of the first three and unlock the boss rush challenges. The last Proving Grounds challenge is rather interesting, to say the least.

Nah dude, that sidestory was definitely thought of as a hearstring tugger from the beginning, she chooses to sell matches like in the story because her late father read that story to her, and she wants to use the money to buy her mother some hand cream as a Christmas present since her hands are all rough from having to work 2 jobs to support the family. Also, in the end when Saejima finds her freezing on the ground and gives her something to eat, they go to the store so they can buy her mother some hand cream, and in the end the girl says that when Saejima gave her food and then went shopping with her that it felt like her late father was alive again, just for that day. It's making me tear up just thinking about it.

Little match girl is pure Heat to the feels; I meant Akiyama's story with the goofy idol (vid related).

But speaking of tearing up, did a Endless Rout with Kiryu in Zero and died exactly to the 100th guy. It just had to be the ninja flippin' faggot with the dagger and with a no throw rule to boot. Next time, I'm buying a set of rules for matches 90-100.
Also realized I've played through Zero with shitty gear. Only now in Premium with around 150h clocked in, I managed to craft the Dragon Mail. On that note, while I like the idea, the expeditions are extremely RNG heavy and the materials you do get are always very few. And with Majima not raking even a third of the cash Kiryu gets from his infinite ATM simulator, I get my funds by mugging Mr Shakedown (funny how that turned out). With Slugger's infinite weapon durability perk, a high tier weapon and the Calming Towel, Majima can destroy Shakedown in a couple of minutes.

Yakuza fury was a great yakuza game

Sorry, I misunderstood

kek

Is all good.
Speaking of misunderstandings, only now I realized the dumbasses put the wrong instruction for Majima's Harsh Lesson. It's a counter move but it's not done with Triangle as it says but with Circle. Alas, didn't miss out on much because for a would be Tiger Drop, the damage is pitiful and the Lv3 Heat requirement exceedingly high for the pay-off.
Maybe it's because while playing Kiwami on Hard gave a better appreciation of the system but I feel like I'm relearning Zero from scratch.

This is harder than anything else I've encountered ingame.

With Majima use the Mad Dog's counter attack.
With Kiryu, stick to the guy like crazy glue and spam the full Beast string. Keep the Heat at Lv3 for defense and poise boost. Same for phase 2 but swap to Rush to move around and avoid him when he grabs a invincibility potion.
But if you're trying to have a "honest" fight with them, yeah, Lord help you.

For Majima you can either do as said or be a shitter like me. If he's facing you, quickstep around him in Thug style and use the quickstep kick. If you're behind him, square x4 and triangle (doing the full combo in Thug style has too much lag and gives him a free hit). When he takes his knife out, switch to Mad Dog style, stick to the gate at the bottom of the arena and use the heat move whenever he gets close.

For Kiryu, keep using the Beast combo on him over and over with your heat up. When he puts the cannon away, keep running in circles around the arena in Brawler/Rush/Dragon until the helicopter drops an invincibility pill near you, then run into it and hit him all you want until it runs out (the invincibility lasts about 10 seconds or so, both for you and him).

Alternatively you can just bring a bunch of weapons and Staminan drinks and keep using their heat moves on them over and over. Super Spicy Knives do the most damage, I think.

"We must drive them out of Kamurocho." What did he mean by this?

One last shameless bump.
Just started a NG+ run on Zero. Some completion related things (mostly substories and business) are reset and I wonder if we can double dip those completion points and get that last perk/item without having to play the mini-games.

So it's a flashback?

New scenario by the manga author.
Practically all of the relevant characters have been confirmed besides, arguably, Juda and Mamiya.

Where in the timeline does it even fit? they should just do an alt timeline. Turn the kenshiroverse into a multiverse.

...

I've been replaying Yakuza 5 and I've got a question for you all regarding Takasugi… Why is he so perfect when it comes to being a likable asshole?

Judging by the story description they released, it looks like a retelling.
gematsu.com/2017/09/hokuto-ga-gotoku-details-story-four-new-characters-play-spots


He gives the impression he'll be Shinada's foil throughout the whole story but even then it all feels light hearted, especially every time he brings up how his kids are smarter or have more money than Shinada. And then, when shit hits the fan and Shinada finds himself being betrayed by people he thought were his friends (and more), Takasugi ends up being his true friend and all of the horrible shit he wanted Shinada to do was actually just a way to get him pumped up and fight back.
And there's that part where he's on the phone with a woman who put working on a bathhouse and she complains her jaw hurts. Then in a substory with that same girl, you learn the full details and it's something completely innocent.
Without him, Shinada's story would just be a neverending torrent of betrayal.

I remember the first time I played through Yakuza 5 I thought, "yeah, Takasugi will probably mellow out down the line because he only really wants his money back", since in the first 2 parts there's a lot of major betrayals against the player character by characters who were introduced as being on their side, that being Morinaga for Kiryu (what a nothingburger he turned out to be) and Baba for Saejima. However, I never expected him to end up being Shinada's biggest ally, going so far as him being Shinada's big fan from back in his baseball days. Also, my favourite scene with him is still the very first one, namely the moment he kicks Shinada so hard he flies out of his house and then throws his shoes after him so that he won't be late for his job.

Also, kind of ironic that even though he's a canon poorfag he needs the most investment out of any character to be good due to weapons. First time I played I had a tough time against Komaki and his cocky grandson because I relied too much on his hand-to-hand moves, but now that I kitted him out with badass weapons it went much better, his unique strings with weapons are really good and imo his one-handed blunt weapon and knife movesets are the best since they are really fast, not even Sosuke's autistic rage could even the odds, so the only character I had problems with was Akiyama still. Also, speaking of Akiyama is it just me or is that fag Ogita too good? He's the only boss who got me down to red health because he has that unblockable move and what's worse whenever I fucking hit him he didn't flinch, as if he has Herculean Spirit always on. Glad that motherfucker got his arm crushed and afterwards got killed by that ugly motherfucker Kanai.

ayo hol up *sucks teeth through lips* so Tetsuo Hara is rebooting the whole franchise in vidya form with the help of SEGA?

what? his technique has only ever been called Hokuto Shinken. What the heck is Isshi souden no Ansatsuken?

We have an update on the TGS trailers. Embedded is the extended HGG trailer and here's the links for the others:
Kiwami 2 Story: youtube.com/watch?v=Om8nCZNLnaI
Kiwami 2 Gameplay: youtube.com/watch?v=_YBdeyA4Qv8
Yakuza Online: youtube.com/watch?v=P0W-El1UxsI


You really need to invest on high end weapons for Shinada because the sturdy weapons take eons to kill even the lowliest peons. For the Breakthrough fight, I used a couple of Brickshitter Beers and the Shachihoko that are kinda like Blackjacks that can stun in 1-2 hits.
About Ogita, he only gave me trouble in Yakuza 0. Breakthrough and Amons notwithstanding, don't think any boss in 5 gave trouble.


Maybe not necessarily. The 1986 movie is also a retelling of the main story.


According to the HnK Wikia, Isshi Souden seems to be the basis of Hokuto Shinken.


Meanwhile, in my NG+ Zero adventures, I can confirm that you do double dip on completion points (Masters, some Battle stuff, almost all of Business and some mini-games like the telephone club). Guess I'm cheating my way to get that golden gun.
Also interesting that while Mr Shakedown's HP is reset because of story, his funds aren't. A couple of billions in two counter hooks.
I punched the plate.

Sturdy weapons are really good for training though, at least that's what I used them for. Though I dunno what kind of a sucker one has to be to craft the Extremely Sturdy versions, for example for the pipe you need Colorful Parasol which has 19 damage while the Extremely Sturdy pipe only has 8, while even before that for the Colorful Parasol you need Kamiyama's police baton which is one damage less, but it stuns on hit so it's way better. It's even worse for the extremely sturdy knife, you have to invest a dragon god short sword which has 20 attack and if you do all of Ayanokoji's training it gets ridiculously high durability, if I remember correctly it's over a 100, you can mod it into a modified dragon god short sword so it gets even stronger and it becomes insanely tough, I think its toughness is more than 250 with all the toughness improvements Shinada can get.

Never really bothered with attaining weapons in 5 and Kiwami since funds are a bit more tight. But I did go full autismo in Zero with Majima's crafting system; burned billions to get the best stuff. Good thing there's always a handy Mr Shakedown to donate to my cause. "No Majima. You are the Shakedowns."

Best master? I say yes.


A couple of random notes, from the new trailers.
Every time a batch of characters in HGG is announced, I mentioned the VAs and what role they played in RGG games; it's a bigger deal than I thought as this trailer does the same thing.
In the Kiwami 2 trailer, it looks like Kiryu will be managing Cabaret Sunshine.

Man, why couldnt we have gotten this a few years ago instead of that crappy Hokuto Musou. We'd have a sequel about the land of Asura by now.

You can make money easily in 5 through Saejima's hunting trips, it's insane how much money you can make if you focus on killing bears. Besides, weapons are only really useful on Shinada, Kiryu can just Tiger Drop everything, Saejima can just power through anything and Akiyama has that counter kick which is a weaker Tiger Drop, but it works exactly like it, so I used it all the time in the Coliseum.

I should get back to hunting. I have everything done except one challenge for Saejima to kill deers without leaving the spot and with about 4 shots.

Side note, watching the master revelations in Zero got me wondering - you think this series could use a extra that let you pick NPCs as skins or just the masters "locked" to their style? Just wanted to run around with Bacchus going "Hey boy!" before breakin' some asshole's leg with a elbow.

Strolling around town and hitting FP at several spots gave me a bigger appreciation of the work put into the game. It's interesting the amount of unique signs, ads, posters etc.

Has anyone here ever played one of those Yakuza PSP games?

Bump.
This thread has been going on long enough to just turn into a general HnK thread.
Especially now that the
poster is gone and that kind of nihilistic shit is no longer cool anyway.

Holy shit, Buronson's coming out of hiding for this?

It's a video game reboot of the whole franchise or so I hope.

< its a fucking mobile app

Amon fights are generally designed to be exploited. Amon doesn't play fair, and neither should you.

Haven't but apparently one of them as a character creator mode. Wonder why that never made it to the main series?


On that note, as I'm watching the anime, it's a wonder to see how back then, they could not only adapt the entire story, they could also shove in a season's worth of filler. At about Ep18 and Shin's still tossing out mooks by the hundred.
Why Yuria didn't bully the shit out of Shin is still beyond me. Just call him a fag until he's the one jumping off the balcony.

...

Wait just a second, you're telling me that you don't play as that guy in a black tracksuit in both of them?

I never paid much attention to the PSP titles. Besides being on PSP, the fact we have to play as some dipshit gangbanger with a nog hair do made it immediately unlikable.
I heard of it on a video (1:25 mark) about features worthy of a comeback in a possible Y7. Apparently it's a multiplayer co-op thing.

On that note, I've always wondered if a MAX Anarchy styled spin-off would be good for the series. Team battles, 16 people battle royales, etc. Maybe even a simpler thing as a extra mode that could also be played outside the main game.

Double post for a quick update - Kiwami 2 demo in Japan is confirmed for late November.
The JP release is slated for this December.

Speaking of Mine, has anyone noticed that a lot of high-level enemies later on used his moveset, either partially or fully? Like Valery Garrett and Raiden from the Coliseum and Jo Amon in his battle in Yakuza 4.

So, playing Kiwami.

Why are the hostesses in this one so fucking obnoxious? They are different from the ones in the original, there are less of them, and the choices are preachy about social issues.

First you have Rina to whine to you about how hard it is to be a lesbian in Japan.

Then you have Yui to complain to you about hostesses being hit on, because you know, guys are pigs ew gross they should know that hostesses are just there to take their money.

Then you have Majima in drag, which admittedly is far more interesting than the other two, and would be pretty funny if there wasn't already so much tranny shit in this game.

I agree wholeheartedly, the hostess minigame took a real fucking nosedive compared to the original, or hell every other game in the series. The original had 6 or more (can't remember exactly) and they weren't massive unlikable thundercunts like in Kiwami, there was always at least one that I liked. I'd rather drive to the nearest university right now and hit up some cunt with nose piercings right now.
Also I don't know what you're talking about, Majima in drag? That hot piece of ass is called Goromi.

It was so bad that I would have just skipped most of the hostess game if dates with them wasn't necessary for a date with pic related. Even the videos of the actresses in underwear didn't feel like any kind of a reward since the questline spent so much time making me want nothing to do with them.

I usually enjoyed the earlier hostess dating sim minigames. This was disappointing.

(heil'd)
They're assholes and you're basically "caged in" with them. Can't do anything outside the scripted story line and you can't leave early so if you can still fuck up that maxed affection bar. Also, Yui's a massive hypocrite.
But on the subject of hostesses, a couple of questions:
How do you unlock the videos?
Is it possible to repeat the Goromi event?


Meanwhile, in 0's Ch6, I thought NG+ would have me speed through but I'm still playing it as slow as always. Though this time I've got my OCD to blame. Can't resist all those completion points for the (re)taking.
And finally got 5 million on Out Run. Also 11 million on Space Harrier but I'm a bit better at that. On the subject of arcade ports, I'm kinda miffed they didn't put Golden Axe.

So far I haven't found a way to repeat any of the email Majima events that don't involve starting another playthrough.

That's a shame. I thought he'd reappear there if you entered the club if the "KIRYU-CHAN!" alarm ringed nearby (that thing seems to set every possible encounter in the immediate area) but didn't want to risk running into that insufferable dyke.

Speaking of Majima, the play log lists every possible encounter with him and in the "Hidden Majima" category, I'm still missing one out of three (the others are taxi trunk and traffic cone). Anyone got that last one?

Yeah, you are missing the manhole one, I found that one right in front of Millenium Tower.

Does that have a "Check" prompt?
Because I got a manhole event a few times near the entrance of Tenkaichi Street. I think that one's under "Suddenly Majima".

That one's different, I honestly don't remember the difference between the two since they're basically the same when you think about it, I think that one's special because I got the Hidden Majima manhole one in that manhole which is right in front of the entrance of Millenium Tower, which makes me think that it's most likely the only way to get that one, but I'm not 100% sure. I know for a fact that the manhole rattles like the trunk and cones did.

...

Trusty dubs wouldn't lie. I'll look into it.

Incidentally, while the changes are minor, I think Kiwami really polished Kiryu's skill set. There's so many ways to quick-switch styles and while at first I was a bit fanny flim-flammed about Beast not hitting as hard, it's tons more fun since it added charge for every single thing. The more streamlined Heat bar is better too IMO. Not of a fan of 0's 3 bar system, the 2nd bar just adds a bunch of needless restrictions and complications to do some moves, making the player hold back to access some moves feels kinda counter-productive.


Those and pool are something I never bother with. I'd like to figure pool out if not just to get that last video but it feels like it has no rhyme or reason to it. Not to mention the AI is absurd even at the easiest setting; fail to pocket any ball in the break shot and get ready to put down the pad as they pocket half the balls or all of them if you're playing anyone above beginner.

Hostess mini games suck because they're literally copied over from Yakuza 1 on the ps2. We didn't get those in the NA release so it makes sense why there's less to do than in later games. Kiwami is just a remake of the first game.

Except nothing you said is true. It is not a direct copy. The characters were changed and there are less of them.

Doesn't matter.
It wasnt even present in the english release until 4 got localized.

Is this some autistic form of damage control or are you just retarded?

Again, literally nothing you said is true.

In Kiwami, the Tiger Drop and such doesn't cost heat at all, so the idea is that he started the foundations, but without Komaki ends up being inefficient. Some of his moves are outright gone for the classic stuff in Kiwami.

Just buy a shogi and majhong book user. They make them in English, from there getting good is just finding someone good to play with (and frankly for a beginner Yakuza's engine is good enough).

The only game that had hostesses cut in the international release is 3.

Get help.

>>>/reddit/

Negro

I'm probably Hokuto no Ken's biggest fan in the world, I think it's the greatest narrative ever told, like unironically no other piece of literature comes close in my mind.
And I have to say that I think this HnK game is extremely disrespectful to the franchise, perhaps the most disrespect the franchise has ever received.
Something people fail to understand is there are absolutely zero intentionally humorous moments in HnK. Whatever """comedic""" scenes you imagine it to have are the product of budgetary issues such as switching up animators mid-episode and using amateur voice talent, or your failure to see past the high-fantasy martial arts (which are merely plot devices with the drama being the actual focus and drive of the series).
To take a grim dark, high stakes drama filled with passion and inspirational characters, and turn it into this ridiculous Jojo's Bizarre Adventure memefest, to take Kenshiro out of his setting and turn him into a bartender clown, to make his face so feminine… I mean that's what he is, they made Kenshiro a clown, he dances for your amusement, that's what they've lowered him to. He's supposed to be the second resurrection of Jesus Christ, for fuck's sake.

It's a serious anime everyone's too immature to look past its aged visuals and audio to appreciate and this makes me furious.

Even the shitty low-budget Musou games treated the property with the respect it deserves. I love them for that.

Look at these screenshots. SEGA wants you to believe this is somehow funny.

You obviously don't know shit about the Yakuza games
They have serious main stories, but the sidequests are virtually not canon because of how ridiculous they are

Yakuza does the same shit, but it's not always up it's ass and has levity only in it's sidequests, the whole joke being what would happen when a stoic badass gets drawn into situations that aren't normally portrayed.
Hokuto No Ken has had exposure, serious fucking sequel after sequel after spinoff after remaster exposure. And the actual creator of it is backing this one. Calm your autistic tits.
Also for the record Kiryu and Kenshiro are almost exactly the same in regards to character, the only roadbump being Yakuza 0, where he was young and a big dork behind the stoic nature.
For christ's sake the man runs an orphanage, protects the weak as a frequent hobby, his entire character is a modern day Kenshiro, with differences being the criminal element that he actually tries to retire from at every turn but keeps being pulled back in by people kidnapping his daughter.

Hokuto no Ken is not sacred, it's just a romantic piece. The anime will not be changed to suddenly have funny moments or some shit, and if you hate it so badly, don't buy it.

I'm buying it, knowing full well the style of the Yakuza series. Because honestly, a messiah story could use a little levity.

I'm rewatching the anime atm (currently on Ep49, first fight between Kenshiro and Raoh just finished) and while it might not have any intentionally humorous moments, most of the filler ranges from embarrassing to pants-on-head-retarded, the first chapter drags on for ages because you have to sit through Ken fighting hordes of villain-of-the-episode jobbers and then moves on to tanks, a helicopter squad, etc all the way to a cannon train. It's stupid. I'll take this retelling that keeps to the cast that actually matters and leaves all the silliness to the side. Besides, there's been official material with the characters being clowns (and it's probably dragging on for ages). And speaking of clowns, I don't know how you can say Musou treated the IP better, when they defaulted everyone's looks like they just joined the circus (if you want source material faithful costumes - cough up, goy!) and gave everyone made up Ougi that look completely asinine like Toki's helicopter Jesus beam or Heart Dobson'ing his hands because nobody in their studio can animate.

As the others said, you likely don't know how the Yakuza games handle drama. I'm not jumping at your throat to defend the Yakuza series or because I'm hyped for HGG. I say this as a fan of both series. Both have their ups and downs and a lot parallelisms.

Actually, I take that back. It has a good amount of them. They're not conventional, but they're there. Mostly gallows humor at the expense of mooks suffering the effects of Hokuto Shinken. Some of that is clearly played for laughs. Or the saw blade scene with Jagi's men that even made it to the movie. Also the gay dude in the Fang Clan.

The Amon fight in Kiwami is so good, probably my favourite rendition of his theme as well.

Reminder that Date is a big guy

Omae wa da

t. Dojima Sohei, patriarch of the manlet family

If I waited a minute before posting, I could have added something worthwhile to that shitpost. Here - Yakuza 6 OST

uploaded.net/file/w1wae1il

4 was the most shit

4 was awesome. What the fuck are you on?

i don't have a ps2. do i need to play 1 and 2 on ps2 to play 3 and on? i remember watching some gameplay of 4 and not understanding what the fuck was going on.

You can play them on PCSX 2 if you don't have a PS2, if you don't want to do that and just want to understand the story both Yakuza 3&4 have a reminisce option on the main menu where you look at cutscenes from the previous games and learn the plot that way.

4 had some poor moments like Daigo setting up Majima or the final boss being Jingu 2.0 but 3 goes balls to the wall stupid; right off the bat you get Kazama's twin brother who's a elite CIA nigger, the cast is easily the biggest assembly of unlikable assholes in any game of the series (as you'd expect from grown ass men bullying orphans) and the whole story is about a freakin' tourist resort/US military base in Okinawa. Also, I get they wanted to show Kiryu living the quiet life but it's just really dull having to deal with every minor problem the orphans are going through.
On the note of unlikable assholes, I can't shake the notion they deliberately put them all in the Nishikiyama family. From 1 to 3, the underlings and subsequent chairmen are easily the slimiest bunch in the clan. Probably deliberate to add to the tragedy of Nishiki's life.


Meanwhile, even if I kinda like Majima's mini-game in Zero, I forgot how tedious it actually gets when you need to play to progress through its story and even more so if you want to finish the hostess' stories. Even without the grind to level up the staff, it's about 7-8 sessions per rival.
On the plus side, I finally won a game of pool in this series during one of the date training sessions. Shame everyone at the bar didn't gangbang Ai Uehara afterwards but I'm sure there's a video of that if I look hard enough.

And how come Majima's staff don't wear these super slutty bodycons?

Also speaking of 3, don't forget that gay guy who had a massive hard-on for Dojima and is extremely yandere towards him, what's his name again?

Only one I recall who fits that bill is Mine, the main antagonist.


Side note, I think they really need to adjust the damage on the boss QTEs. I think it's too much. Felt that way with Kiwami in the final fight where the finisher QTE triggers when Nishiki has half a bar left and really noticed it yesterday while fighting Nishitani, was making the fight last by sticking to the basics but the QTEs practically shave half his of entire HP.
And speaking of Nishitani, only now I really noticed how much he is the OG Mad Dog. Even has a few of Majima's attack animations.

My dream would be a "what if" story, that conflates Nishiki and Majima into one character. Kiryu gets arrested and when he gets out, young suave Nishiki has become a crazy bastard to survive by himself.

I'd like a game where we play as Nishiki in the time Kiryu's gone

Isn't this the guy who got slapped in the face with a stack of yen by Oda in 0?


Yakuza 5 wouldn't be one of my favourites without Shinada's story and location.

I mean the entire plot is somewhat confusing and can be kinda dumb. But a lot the game itself just sticks out to me in a really good way. 5 different characters with different personalities, different locations in Japan, each one has a different job sans Akiyama. It was just really good.

I also really liked his unarmed fighting style. A lot of the times I used it other than using weapons because it felt far more fun to use.

I've never been excited for a demo before Yakuza 6. Wasn't let down, but I think I need the full game to experience what the combat grows into.

I remember when I first got into Yakuza I hated the combat, but liked the story and sidequests. Eventually as I got more and more skills and heat moves I started loving it. Now I love it from the basic moves come up. 6 felt totally different so that's why I want to experience it in full.


How is 6's OST compared to the others? I haven't even listened to it. I probably should

For some reason, I thought Kiwami was going to include that.


He does look similar.

I'm still on the fence about 6. On one hand, the open world tickles my exploration 'tism, Okita Anri tickles my pants, cat café sounds cute and some of the new Heat moves look savage as fuck but, on the other hand, story seems kinda blasé, clan creator mode looks like JCC tier horseshit, apparently a bit of Kamurocho is sealed off and there's no extra styles.

I'll admit that few tracks stuck with me during the first time I listened to it so if I went by that, I'd probably say it's one of the weakest in the series but I need to give it a more attentive second listen.

I don't mind the lack of styles. I just hope Kiryu's style is strong enough like in the previous games (5 and older) to keep it interesting.

I also don't mind the main story. Once it has all the trappings of Yakuza in general; the serious main story alongside the sillier, touching or endearing sidequests, with cathartic combat and brutal heat moves, I'll be fine.

I'm really looking forward to exploring Hiroshima too. Looks cozy as hell.

Is maxing friendships required to get the Amon fights in Zero? Already finished all the substories but still need to max friendship with both Moneybags. I hope it's not NG+ being screwy.

Is there any other game with Amon requirements as steep as this? Normally, every substory is just making a few choices and fighting 1 to 5 mooks and it's all done really fast but here you got the dance battles and Majima has to do like a million cabaret sessions to finish every hostess substory (which are basically 2m of dialogue).
Speaking of the cabaret club, just noticed the last guy, Tsukiyama, has one of the main boss themes for his fight. Well, the fucker's definitely harder than most of them. 4 HP bars, hyper armor, dodge-cancels, the works.

As far as I know you just need to do all the substories to unlock each Amon fight, don't think you need to max friendships as I managed to unlock both fights without befriending the bowling club woman as Kiryu.
I thought Majima's business bosses were decent enough in terms of difficulty, but none were as hard as Kiryu's fight with the Media King imo. He was pretty insane between all the goons knocking you over, high damage dealt and how often he dodged.

(checked)
Guess NG+ screwed it up. Don't think I'm missing anything, the only '?' in the substories is the very last one for both characters. Or do they pager in the finale? First time I fought them was in Premium because, at the time, I was completely stumped in the dance battles.
This game blows its substory load a bit too quickly, by Ch11 they're all done. Kiwami does a better job spreading them across the game.

He's a fuckin' monster. Karate move set, hits like a truck and his lackeys going Bruce Lee and beaner rasslin' makes the whole thing pretty annoying.
It does help that Kiryu has much more solid unarmed styles though. With Majima, I really needed to pull out the bat against Tsukiyama (the 1st bar counter is almost worth playing with no Heat).

Hitoshi and Riki are pretty much their characters IRL (ditto for Shingo - Sagawa - though he's not there) but it always surprises me how dorky and harmless IRL Shibusawa looks.
In any case, these dudes always look like they're having the time of their lives. I bet the wrap up parties must be the best in business. THIRTY FUCKIN' PORNSTARS I bet those chicks were probably glad they get to be on camera without taking dick for 3h once in their lives.

I think that's probably what it is, I remember reading somewhere that they only page you when you get to the final chapter. It works the same way in Kiwami, I'm pretty sure.
Yeah, that's true. I find the last two Climax Battles in Zero interesting to play because of that, since they let you play against bosses that weren't designed for Kiryu as Kiryu and vice versa for Majima.

It's just as well that you fight Sera as Majima in the story, I think he's among the hardest bosses in the game but you can mop the floor with him as Kiryu.
Same. He's a comedian or something right? I know Kuze and Awano's actors are both really big B-movie stars or something along those lines. I know that Mr Libido's modeled after his VA too but I don't know as much about him irl.
Probably true, I remember reading somewhere that the JAV industry's full of yakuza and some of the actresses are essentially slaves but I don't know how true that is

About the JAV… Yeah, they're debt slaves mostly, JAV is as controlled by yakuza in Japan as construction is, or to be more precise it's almost impossible to find a company that doesn't have yakuza connections, so much so that the government has had a crackdown on yakuza in the construction industry for quite a long time

Shit, that sounds pretty rough

Well it is well represented in the Yakuza games when I think about it, in every side story that involved that kind of thing every time a girl or woman was supposed to be forced into sex work before Yakuza Jesus Kiryu showed up and beat up the other yakuza dudes it was so that the girl can pay off debt, either her's or someone else's

I'll know soon enough. With all the substories, friendships, most mini-games and estate/cabaret stuff done, I feel like I'm now "free" to play the game now.
I'm also taking this opportunity to get 8 trophies that are story only (though I've no intention of Platinum'ing the game).

Need to spend some quality time with that mode. Still have a lot of battles to do. Surprisingly, the Mr Shakedown fights are the easiest.

Just stands there fishing for counters. He proto-Tiger Dropped his way into being the Third Chairman.

I wager there's some truth to it. Every game seems to have a substory or minor plotline about it. Debt, coercion or being conned into debt for the purpose of setting them into it. It's all presented in a way that's too plausible to not be true.
I imagine it's the case of some girls or women who do 3-5 videos, aren't particularly good looking or have average bodies. I don't know if acting awkward on camera is a factor because it might be part of their act, they can be bona fide sluts but still act like they're being torn in two when taking a dicking.
That said, I imagine there's some who are freely in it. Some of these chicks have appearances hitting the 4 digit count. I doubt anyone owes the mob that much.


Knowing that does make the premise of Zero and Majima's involvement in the business (construction of Kamurocho Hills) much more believable.
Though, they're all duking it out over a shitty billion when I got 150 billion with each character and Kiryu has a solid gold 10 billion statue in his office.

(checked)
The reason the yakuza has so much pull nowadays is entirely due to construction, namely they played a large role in the rebuilding of Japan after WWII ended. Though while it does sound really honourable keep in mind that they are organized crime so most of the time "construction" means getting some bums off the street and getting their asses to work for a shitty wage or as you might already expect, debt slavery.

(checked back at ya - double dubs combo!)
Bits I read about them, they seem to be accepted as a necessary evil. For the most part, it's white collar crimes and they keep unaffiliated petty criminals (usually the disorderly and/or violent type) at bay. Apparently, they also do some actual good like providing aid during in the aftermath of natural disasters.
Still, I highly doubt there's any IRL Kazama family. For any good they might do, I wager they lord themselves around tenfold and with no Kiryus to set them straight either.

There aren't a lot of Shintaros, you're right, but there are a lot of glow-in-the-dark CIA niggers like Joji unfortunately.

Is there an easy way to knock out all the phone club quest in 0? All the chicks sound exactally the same to me.

(checked)
There's 7 quests and 9 girls. 3 legit dates, 3 duds and 3 "sakuras" (club shills who don't show up).
Look at the bikini colors to hint you who they might be so if you already got the dud and legit of that color, hang up. Their voices are also somewhat distinguishable - the red legit date has a very sultry, breathy voice, the old bag has a very high pitched voice like a typical moe blob anime girl and the fat chick has a deep voice.
There's also something I noticed in this NG+ run I'm doing but I'm not fully certain if it was just a coincidence but the legit dates seem to have a bikini color that matches the color of the button pressed, it worked 3 outta 3 with Triangle - Green and Circle - Red. Others are more confusing, I think the blue bikini is legit or sakura and the white bikini is for the fat chick. Can say for certain the legit dates are NOT the quick QTE as some have stated.

I'm waiting for the yearly halloween sale on the PSN, to buy Dead Souls.

How the fuck did that happen

The Dojima family in the prequel looks more imposing than any scene of gathered Tojo leaders in the main series.

Is DS any good? Part of me wants to try it mostly because Ryuuji's playable but it's not the standard Yakuza gameplay.


Riki is a individual of significant stature. It's the one guy who doesn't fight that's quite the surprise.


Probably because the stakes are high for Kiryu. Framed for murder right off the bat and then a manhunt that never stops escalating. The Dojima family in Zero, while probably not in their prime because Kazama is out of the picture, is enjoying the fruits of said prime period.
Might also be the strongest the Tojo clan is shown in the series. 1 is chaos, 2 is near collapse, 3 and 4 are chaos again and 5 is another brink of collapse. 1 kills off every big name in the clan (Dojima, Sera, Shimano, Kazama and Nishiki); afterwards, Kiryu and Majima are the clan babysitters (Kiryu doing it for free) and then Daigo and Saejima are probably the only others worth their salt that aren't traitorous assholes.


Side note, the arena in Zero is kind of a bore. No unique rewards and gaining rank takes eons. Going from B to A took me about 16 replays of one course and I managed to speed it up thanks to the golden pistol. A rank only unlocks 1 of the last 2 locked courses so now I gotta dance that tango again to go from A to S. And then do the whole thing for Majima.

"Join Localization Producers Scott and Sam as they play the various Yakuza games. This video features game play from Yakuza 0."

I haven't watched it yet, but since they're localization producers, it might be interesting.

I finished watching it. It's a casual stream where they play the game (up until after the first Kuze fight), give tidbits about how they localized 0 and Kiwami, as well as how they're doing 6. How they communicate with the dev team on various projects (like on the interactive/animated comic, and getting subtitle slots for certain things that weren't there in first place, like "That's rad!").

Along with how they're attempting to fix some mistakes that the old localizers made. Like how the localizers of Yakuza 3 named Kiryu's orphanage "Sunshine" orphanage. The orphanage that Kiryu grew up in is "Sunflower". There's the "sun" connection, sure, but in the original Japanese, Kiryu's is supposed to be Asagao/Morning Glory Orphanage, with the connection being that they're both flowers.

So "Sunshine" is a weird name, especially now that Kiryu in 0 goes to Sotenbori and can see a cabaret club named "Sunshine", but has no relation to it.

They also say that Sony wasn't really the one that jumped in on their own volition to save the series in the west. SEGA was the one that approached Sony to help them. After 5 came out, SEGA then had no more relationship with Sony to help them localize the other games.

There's also some amusing stuff, like they tried to get replicas of the pins that Kiryu wears that say he's from the Dojima Family/Tojo Clan for the Collector's Edition. So when they asked the guys at SEGA, they were taken aback because "holy shit you want people to wear these pins that actual yakuza wear in public?"

T-thanks for looking out for me, Youtube.


I've noticed that with Kiwami. They dropped that retarded Kage name for the Florist and now use the proper mythological name for the underworld's river (Sanzo) instead of Styx.

That's interesting. The mistake isn't surprising given that 3 was still keeping the fuckups from the original like Kazama being renamed Fuuma (and the aforementioned Kage stayed all the way to 5).

I think that would get people in some serious trouble. Then again, if I'm not mistaken, they had some sort of contest and the winner got a tattoo like Kiryu's done on him.


Anyway, finally got to unlock the boss rush in Yakuza 0. Quite the surprise, I'd wager this is Legend difficulty given how hard they hit. Also surprised they took out the QTEs but I appreciate what that adds to the challenge; no more shaving off a whole bar for free.
The multiple attempts at some challenges got me a bit salty and it's time to talk some shit about the series - a lot of crap you can't skip and no retry options. This gets really egregious in some story challenges like PC and disco, you have to sit there skipping the talk line by line; the game tells you holding R1 and pressing X fastforwards but it doesn't because every time a character so much as moves an arm, you have to watch the animation play and if you lose, instead of getting a retry option, you have to sit there as the game rubs it in your face (which you can't fully skip either).

There's much more than that too, I just listed a few examples.

Overall it's just two hours of two guys who localized Kiwami and 0, and are localizing games, basically playing something they enjoy and talking to fans about the games and their localizations.

The guy that's playing says that he never heard of the Yakuza series before he started work on 0. And when he came into the office he got handed all the games and was told to go play them. He ended up loving them and beating all of them too.

It's a really cool video, I recommend watching it if you have the time.

I'm glad they're continuing this. Hope they do a full playthrough while pointing out details and stuff they did.

The little details like that are always nice.

Just noticed the embed bypasses the age restriction. Guess I'm watching these, after all.

Watching it now. They're talking about how they got flak for the save system in 0 and previous games (saving your game, then saving system data), but also reveal that 6 does away with that. Apparently it's all autosaving. I don't know how to feel about that. Also in Yakuza 6 all the substories are fully voiced.

Tachibana in Japanese has a very "measured, proper, specific, precise way of speaking." He doesn't speak as leisurely as other characters do. So the localizers had to figure out how to keep that in English, because it was part of his character.

Also the two of them are fans of Kashiwagi and want a prequel game starring him, showing how he got his scar.

When doing the Arakure Quest substory, they first tried to translate it as a reference to Smash Bros. When the producers checked it out, they noticed that the advertisement board in the game said "Arakure 3" and it looked like it's more of an RPG thing. That's when they realized it was referencing DQ3's release, so they decided to just localize it as Arakure 3, with the abbreviation Ara-Q3, because of how Japanese like to abbreviate some names.

In the Yanki sidequest, they weaved a little blurb into the dialogue explaining what Yankis are. They're finding it tough to do that in Yakuza 6 since everything is voiced, they have to line up the text with the spoken dialogue.

One of the localizers, Sam, lived in Onomichi, which is one of the locations in Yakuza 6. Apparently he was watching the other localizers like a hawk making sure they got the translations and stuff in Onomichi right.

Sam is also colorblind which makes the Puyo Puyo minigame in 6 hell for him.

They talk about the music they have to remove: when it comes to licensed music, they have trouble in the west because they have to play by Japanese rules. At times this can actually just outright prevent the game from releasing in the west. So what they do is remove it, then go to the dev team. The dev team then makes replacement music for the localization.

They don't have much information they can share on Kiwami 2 at the moment and the know about as much as the fans, but they say "look forward to it".

For Yakuza 6's "live chat", when they were localizing that, they had to go through the videos and segments multiple times to make sure they lined up. They actually had a meeting to say that "this one guy is doing that so he's going to have what looks like porn on his screen. Please don't report him to HR"

They complete the 2nd chapter of 0. Next time they're going to do Chapter 3, and talk about localizing Majima's dialogue, as well as Sotenbori/Dotonbori.

It's nice to see that they actually started liking the games after playing them, meaning that they actually care. But yeah, after I started learning Japanese I figured out that some of the localization choices were really baffling, though to be honest the two localization changes I liked were KILL THIS ARROGANT MOT HER FUC KER and BRING THAT SHIT KAZUMA!

Just done watching this one. Few bits I'd like to underline:
First of all, there's TWO FUCKIN' WHITE MALES, which explains why this series is so problematic.
The pager numbers basically make sentences. That was interesting to know.
Another interesting bit of trivia is that they've a professional calligrapher in the team.
The money wiring story was pretty funny, the bank read "yakuza" in the description and, naturally, assumed the worst.
They mentioned that the Dragon engine allows for the attack animations to slightly change in order to track a enemy's position. Sounds pretty high tech. Hope it's not Fox Engine 2: Untapped Potential Boogaloo.
Dude scored 98 on Judgment Shinpan. That's pretty fuckin' impressive.
They went over the differences between kyoudai/aniki, the dynamic between sworn brothers (basically one keeps the other in check), how aniki has a different meaning in the streets and among yakuza and their choice (which I agree with) to keep 'aniki' like the honorifics in 6.
Apparently the giant traffic cone is a inside joke that originated in a bug on the first game.
While discussing places where people can look up info to get on track, they acknowledge the wikia is trash which I wholly agree with.
One of them mentions he played all games in 3 months for work as well as read all reviews and watch all streams of Zero. Even as someone who likes the games, I can see it getting exhausting at some points.


Those dorks are already established in their heads it was Miss Tatsu that gave him the scar.
While a Kazama/Kashiwagi title has promise, part of thinks it won't happen because the legend is too big (Kazama is the Sparda or Julius Belmont of Yakuza) and unless it's really young versions of them, they'd be slaving under that shit-for-brains manlet, Dojima.

No idea, all I've gotten about it is that fans flipped out when the West picked up on it while ignoring the main series. "This isn't Yakuza!!!!!11" and so on. I guess it's a bit like the city parts of Binary Domain.

Was surprised to know that the Shakedowns have their VAs mugs.


Anywho, Sega updated their site with details on Kiwami 2's cabaret club and clan creator modes. Cabaret has "models" as rivals and the clan creator has wrestlers.
And I knew it, Yuki took over Sunshine.

gematsu.com/2017/10/yakuza-kiwami-2-details-new-nightlife-island-new-clan-creator-play-spots

I've been holding off on Kiwami since it's a remake of the first game (I liked the first game but it's not exactly my favourite)

But watching all the previews for Yakuza 6 and Kiwami 2 makes me want more Yakuza. I'm debating getting Kiwami just to scratch that itch.

I'm staring at it in the PS Store, wondering if to spend my last 30$ on it.


That's fantastic. Wish there was a clearer picture of her.

Fuck it. It's downloading. Can't ignore the itch.


Now that hurts a little bit.

Though it only has Kiryu, I think it made a lot of really good changes to the overall combat system as well the individual styles. Majima Everywhere is also a riot.

I think that's gotta be her.


Meanwhile, I'm almost done with my NG+ run of Zero. Played all the way to Shibusawa before calling it a night because fuck it! I want to play it again. Nishiki was harder here than in Kiwami and there's a trophy for letting Reina break a bottle on Majima's head.
This time I gave the final fight with Kuze the proper respect so no weapons, no bear hugs, no smashing things on his head and I only used one Heat action. He kicked my ass.
Afterwards, the game goes into blocked scene territory and that's when Amon sends his challenge (was a bit worried about that because I had the substories finished eons ago). I still need to beat the true optional boss though; Heartbreak Mermaid.
The fight with Awano is probably my favorite but his move set does feel a bit underdeveloped compared to Kuze; I love the look on Majima's face when you get the QTE right and Awano cracks a marble wall with a punch.
A little fun fact; the arena gimp in Kiwami (who's a fuckin' nightmare), uses Lao Gui's unarmed move set.

And that's the end of me doing Haruka's Whims.

Now that I'm playing Yakuza Kiwami for myself it's like "Ah, I'm playing Yakuza 1, and it looks so crisp and clean"

Fills me with emotions.

Zero has been my first venture into the series, andit's pretty amazing. If I want to play six when it comes out over here what other games must I play to catch up on the story?

Kiwami is good. I didn't like it as much as 0, but that's not to say that 0's better in every way. The combat in particular is a lot better in Kiwami I think. They made it so that you can seamlessly switch between styles after taunting, getting hit, hitting an enemy with a finishing blow or dodging, which might not sound like much but it really makes it feel so much smoother to play.

I also like the balancing changes they made to each of Kiryu's styles. Beast is still good without having the ridiculous damage it had in 0, so you can't just steamroll most things by doing square x3 + triangle over and over now. The extra dashes they added to Rush coupled with the increased Heat gain you get from dodging now is pretty nice too, since it makes evading more effective and gives you more incentive to do it. It takes quite a while to get Dragon to be good but it's fittingly rewarding in terms of damage and speed when you do. Brawler's mostly the same iirc. It's also nice that they adjusted certain moves to only be useable in climax heat, some moves in 0 (like the Rush counter where Kiryu smashes their knuckles and hits them with an uppercut) felt kind of strong for how little heat they needed.

An addition I'm less sure what to think of is Kiwami heat moves. They're very well animated and satisfying to use but sometimes it feels like they don't do enough damage for how lengthy they are and how brutal they look (apart from the Dragon one, the damage it does feels pretty appropriate). A lot of the time, I ended up just beating the bosses up as their health regenerated instead to try and prevent them from getting too much of it back, and that looks pretty odd visually since they don't budge.

Webms unrelated, just testing out the new file size limit

You can start with 4 because that one has a reminisce feature which shows you the story of the former 3 games. 3 has the same but only for the first 2 games obviously. But ideally, I'd tell you to play ALL the games of course.


The only thing I really didn't like which is obvious the Jingu fight which is nigh-impossible on Legend. I also didn't like the remixed music, the Nishiki remix especially killed my boner because the melancholy feeling of the original piece is 80% of the boss fight. I also see people bitching about Shimano being a shitty Mr. Shakedown, which is true, but he's ironically still harder in Kiwami because in the original you could just spam Kiryu's whole attack string and Shimano couldn't do shit. Also before I got Kiwami I just beat 5 for the millionth time and as soon as I got to Hayashi and saw his stance I said out loud "Don't tell me they gave him Baba's moves".

Play Yakuza Kiwami. It's a remake of the first game but it adds scenes that tie it into Zero.

You can probably wait for Kiwami 2 if you want to play 2 and can't go back to the PS2 version (you should try if you have a PS2 or can emulate). Although Kiwami 2 will also have scenes that tie into Zero.

If you just want a story brush up, see if you can get your hands on 5. Yakuza 5 also has a reminisce option so you can see the stories of 1 through 4. Though I would also recommend playing 4 because it introduces new characters that star in 5…

I would recommend playing all the games you can get your hands on in chronological order, because despite each one's flaws they're still pretty much Yakuza in foundation. Plus it's way more fun and you get closer to the series when you see the characters grow over several years. Like Haruka is around 9 years old in Yakuza 1/Kiwami, and she appears in each game a little older, until she's 20 in Yakuza 6.

Kiwami is more Yakuza and that makes it good. I might be a little iffy on the changes and additions (like the boss regenerating health thing), but in the end I know I'll really enjoy it.

I put my foot down the moment she bugged to play cho-han.
I get that she's a "incentive" to platinum the game but I find the games of chance a bit tedious; don't even feel bothered to get the "play every mini-game" trophy.


The localizers have been streaming Zero and they're shilling a wip site they've been working on that has relatively spoiler-free summaries of the past games plus character profiles.
yakuza.sega.com/experience


First thing I noticed was how weak Beast felt in comparison; no more one-shotting people with bear hugs. That said, it's tons more fun now that you can charge every single thing it does.

I much prefer this system overall. The 3 bar system adds some odd complications, like tying a lot of techniques to specific bars and if you go over, they become unavailable.


That is probably the majority but I respectfully disagree. That said, a option to listen to the original music should have been there.

That was my first disappointment and probably the biggest one. It's not just the recycling but the recycling of a bad move set; a mix of the sumo wrestling moves plus Saejima's would have been a lot smarter.
There's other stuff: B-King uses Shinada's unarmed moves, the yakuza guy afterwards uses Shinada's knife move set, Gary uses the roid raging tranny's move set and all sorts of move sets are in the arena (Kenpo guy with the needle uses Lee's, gimp uses Lao Gui's, a high tier lucha guy uses Akiyama's etc).


I think Kiwami could have had Majima as a playable character in Premium. He's there with his full move set and a shit ton of extra costumes. Just let people horse around with him, beating up mooks. Maybe even add Kiryu as a special enemy that acts like Mr Shakedown.

5's Reminisce option doesn't work that way, it only shows you 5's cutscenes that you've unlocked through playing the story. I have no idea why they changed it.
Don't get me wrong, I really liked it too, I think the boss regen thing is kind of a throwback to 2 and 3 which had a similar system, only there the bosses wouldn't regen and to do the climax heat moves the bosses would have to go down on their knees or you'd have to knock them down and then you'd have to mash to fill up the heat meter if it isn't full and then press triangle to FEEL THE HEAT!
Speaking of Kiwami 2, I wonder what some boss fights will be like in the new system, specifically the Da Silva fight and the fight with the two tigers. Also makes me hope Shindo won't get the Shimano treatment because his boss fight is my favorite in 2


To be fair, that's standard practice in Yakuza, a guy before in the thread pointed out how a lot of strong coliseum competitors had Mine's standard moveset, but with that crazy haymaker that Mine gets in one of his heat modes thrown in. The competitors who use the kung fu moveset have it copy/pasted from Lau Ka Long. There's also that guy who I think you only fight in the Victory Road qualifiers as Akiyama who seems to use Tanimura's moveset, but without the parry (thank fuck).

(checked)
I think they won't cut corners on it unless they'll re-use stuff from 6. Certainly feels like it will be a full price release anyway.
As for things I hope aren't radically changed, I hope embed related stays the same. Just the music (Crazy Ken Band - "Kuroi Kizuato No Buruusu") makes it one of my favorite scenes in the series.

Don't get me wrong, I don't particularly mind it since the arena is a extra. Again, I'm more miffed about the choices they made regarding Shimano.

Shit, I completely forgot.


Shit, man, I can't wait. I hope they improve 6's combat for Kiwami 2.

I made two wallpapers if anyone wants them will post the other one in a second, 8ch's being weird


Yeah, I went back to 0 to finish off the climax battles recently and I kept forgetting that I wasn't able to do that there, wew. It made me actually appreciate the nerf that some Beast moves got in Kiwami, when an enemy's on the ground in 0 and you grab them by the leg & throw them the damage you deal is pretty silly.
I agree. I like the concept of certain moves only being available if you're 'calm' or in the 2nd bar, but towards the end of the game when you have most of the upgrades, the amount of Heat you gained per hit made that a bit annoying to do sometimes (especially after a full Brawler/Thug combo).

On a semi-related note though, Yakuza 0 & Kiwami do the whole 'damage increases when your health falls below X%' thing way better than most. It's rarely ever worth the risk in most games, but in the case of these two it actually feels worth it because of the obscene damage Heat moves end up doing. Essence of Relentless Barrage or whatever it's called does something like two full health bars when your health bar's flashing red, it's great.

And here's the other.

That kick is so good. The moment I saw it I almost came in my pants.

That reminds me, I still want to "thank" the jackass who thought it was a good idea to leave the HUD during the revelations.

Those are perfectly fine (stronger counters or null deterioration), but it's the second Heat bar ones that irk me. I remember being stuck for eons in the Rolling Snake lesson.

Was thinking to myself "Isn't that the Tiger Blitzing?" so I went to look it up, it's the Rush combo, right? In Zero, it's simply a vs frightened enemy move. Anyway, while looking it up, found embed related. Really astonishes me the crap some people manage to find. Another I saw is that, apparently, you can double dip on the Legendary style roulette and basically become a walking one-shot machine.

Amazing, who would've known you could cheese Mr Shakedown by just doing the bat heat move and then spinning like a Jewish toy

I know the bat leaves him curling up like a baby but never thought about capitalizing on it like that; I just do about 4-5 prone attacks with the bat.

Finally finished this run of Zero. Hard mode and at 90.91% completion. Again, gotta say it's a fantastic finale with the way it provides closure to almost everything though it's very bittersweet, this game somehow really redefined the first when it comes to Kiryu and Nishiki. And, on the other end, the same bittersweet feeling kinda goes for Majima. Like many others, I'm apprehensive about Makoto's return in Kiwami 2 given how complete her story already is in Zero.
Also got me wondering if Kiryu ever brutalized anyone as hard as Shibusawa; he really beats his ass into the ground. Though, it seems Kiryu picked something up from Shibusawa when he mentions he won't try to copy Kazama but instead create his own style.
And rewatching the scene more attentively, I now get why the Omi people came for Sagawa but now I'm wondering if the guy that Shimano killed in order to avoid being screwed by Sera wasn't the actual Omi Chairman? After he smokes the guy, he turns to Majima and says something like "let Sera know I've nothing to do with the head of Omi HQ nor the Empty Lot".

Anyway, if any fellow Yuropoors are interested, Dead Souls is on sale at €3,99. If it's a disappointment, it will at least be a cheap one. Also getting SotN for €2,99.
The sale is mostly Halloween themed stuff as you'd expect. Mostly Castlevanias, REs and similar stuff. Catherine is for sale at €4,99 which I recommend if you've spare change.

...

Yeah it was a really cool throwback. That along with the revamped car chase and Tojo HQ fight in 0 made it seem like they were really proud of the series they've made. Reminds me of The Wonderful 101 in that regard, with all its references to & unlockables from other Platinum games and how they went as far as to include their logo as a plot device.


Same, I got a good screenshot of Kiryu's eye in his revelation cutscene but the big MONEY bar next to it ruins it.
Yeah, webm related. Crazy damage.
That's cool. I like how people are still finding new ways to beat Shakedown quickly, I tend to just go for easy damage with small Thug/Brawler combos and occasionally use a heat move if there are any objects nearby.

Speaking of Shakedown, this guy's videos of him are pretty fun to watch. Never knew how useful the bear hug was in 0.

For Kiryu I use Brawler almost exclusively. When not fishing for Counter Hooks, I run after him and do a light, heavy combo. If there's no objects, I try the back against the wall Heat.
For Majima, I use Slugger with some high end weapon and Calming Towel.


Wow. These things always make me feel like a dullard. Got almost 300 hours clocked in the game yet still so many things that eluded me. Besides the Beast grabs that I never dared try because Shakedown immediately punishes grab attempts, there's two very interesting bits with Dragon, namely the proto-Komaki Parry and scoring a heavy into grab during Shakedown's wake up animation.
I also need to fiddle with the Quick Change Clothes, to see if I can make some interesting things.

Also just learned while playing the finale that Majima can evade-cancel the recovery frames of the last hit in the light x4 > heavy Thug string.

The thing with Makoto is 20 years is a long time for a pansy-ass doctor to fuck up in some way shape or form. Another angle is that Makoto would be one way to tug on a Majima player's heart strings if she wound up wanting him dead for some reason considering she doesn't actually know Majima was her guardian angel sent to kill her.

THAT FEELS SO GOOD.

I forgot how good it feels. Zero didn't have Tiger drop, did it? I think I remember it having this weird counter thing that felt like it missed half the time.

(checked)
Yeah 0 didn't have the tiger drop because Kiryu didn't know Komaki yet so he had nobody to learn it from.

Is there a reliable way to find Majima? I need to beat up Officer and Zombie Majima again.

Also how do I get stuff like Dragon Speed Reborn if I don't get any new emails for it? I'm on rank S and Do I need to go back to those previous places like the hostess club or Pocket Circuit on my own?


Yeah. I remember hating that counter because even though it blew my heat, sometimes it would miss.

Part of me thinks she realized the guy she meets in the finale is him. She does know he lost an eye and that he's a yakuza. The trailer shows a scene at the clinic which I thought was a flashback recreation but he has the bowl cut so it's after the events of Zero. Kinda gives the impression she took over the clinic and they properly met later down the line.

(checked)
Zero has a 3rd bar counter that I still can't tell if it's a elbow or a one-inch punch that has to hit point blank or else it whiffs completely. Damage isn't worth it either. The parry is almost as damaging and a lot more lenient (only works vs arm attacks though).

Tiger Drop seems to have a phantom hit box that gives it a lot more range than it appears to have.
Speaking of which, Komaki is returning in Kiwami 2 and I'm betting there will be something about Tiger Dropping the tigers, either a trophy or some special dialogue with Komaki. I hope so, at least.


They usually hang around specific areas. Try entering and exiting places near Nakamichi St (Officer) and Senryo Av (Zombie) until the icon appears on the map. Sadly there's no guaranteed way he appears.
And try entering and exiting the convenience store by the Batting Cages; big odds of getting Officer there (I did it to get Idol which eventually appeared).

Keep playing Pocket Circuit with him until you get a email challenging you.


Anywho, have some bar music. Sometimes YT decides to take a break from suckin' fat llama dick and recommends the good stuff. Been bingin' in this sorta thing lately.

As I said before, I haven't tested things out 100% yet but I think that you can't repeat Majima Everywhere encounters which you got through email. The ones that aren't can be repeated, just check a FAQ to see where they appear.
Also speaking of counters blowing through heat in 0, I never understood why it did that since you could just spam the counter anyways, I know that I did that for Majima's Amon fight because his Legend style counter is actually kinda worth a damn compared to Kiryu's

I got Idol (which I also needed), but I'm still hunting down Officer and Zombie. It's a bit of a pain, really.

I went back to the Pocket Circuit arena and activated his second and third races. No indication that I had to go back there, I just went there to see if it worked.

Man his third race is a bitch.

Speaking of Tiger Dropping actual tigers. Kiryu actually asked Komeki if it would be useful against actual tigers. Komeki said that no one actually tried.

Not exactly new but don't think the details on the Gravure Photo mini-game was brought up here.

The popular gravure idols Hikaru Aoyama and Rina Hashimoto appear in the new “Gravure Photo Studio” play spot. The player takes on the role of a cameraman and can enjoy conversation with the idol while taking gravure photographs. If you keep the conversation going and skillfully bring out her charm, you may even be able to take that service shot.

Video is just a interview with the "models". And here's one with the hostess rivals - youtube.com/watch?v=hpaMlwYWvkg

That's the point. The talk is brought up (IIRC even Majima asks him that) and now there's a chance to put it to the test.

I keep getting idol Majimas and the occasional Zombie Majima. No Officer. This shit is getting to be frustrating.

Done! Entire Dragon style tree filled out.

Time to never change to other styles for the rest of the game and just tiger drop the shit out of everything.

Man I just hope K2 will be better remake than K1. Holy shit that kiwami mechanic is pure cancer, and the added Majima everywhere made the game super easy even on the harder difficulties and not to mention demystifying the character.
Would be nice at least make it better than the PS3hd port instead.

Kiwami 2 uses the Dragon Engine and fighting style from 6. I wonder how it'll turn out.

3rd video of the localization producers streaming 0 and chatting with fans.

Gonna give it a watch now and see what cool stuff they talk about.


I also finished Yakuza Kiwami last night. The new scenes they put in really added to it. Made the story more compelling overall.

Was still incredibly sad that it ended, though. It just made me want Yakuza 6 and Kiwami 2 even more.

I both hate and love this. I bought Kiwami just to scratch the Yakuza itch but it just made me want more.

Starts at 12:15. They're starting Chapter 3 (Majima's story)

During the 17 minute cutscene where the Osakan businessman is showing the Tokyo businessman the Cabaret Grand, the Tokyo businessman makes a quick hand gesture, tracing a diagonal line from the top of his cheek to the bottom (near his chin/lips) during the line:

"Aren't there a lot of you-know-what around here?"

The hand gesture (which symbolizes a scar) means "criminal"/"criminal element"/yakuza.

There are a lot of subtle things from the start of the cutscene, like the girls knowing exactly what they're doing. The moderately dressed girl sits next to the apprehensive Tokyo businessman, and they both butter him up while getting the Osakan businessman to spend more money, because they both know he's here to impress the Tokyo guy.

Sometimes "Drunkards" (or plural of another enemy type) show up on the screen when fighting a single enemy. That's because the game uses a single asset for every encounter of that type and in Japanese there's no distinction between singular and plural. They tried putting "Drunkard(s)" instead, but it just looked bad so they removed it.

During the battle in the middle of the cutscene, (where Majima has to dodge the guy and offers him hot towels and shit) they had to ask the dev team to put subtitle slots there. In the Japanese version those lines are just considered throwaway lines.

The two of them are split on Sagawa. Sam hates him and Scott loves him. Though Sam is more like it's a character he loves to hate. They both think he's an asshole, as well as some kind of tough love asshole father.

"Omi" is the old name for the Kansai region before prefectures. The "To" in "Tojo" basically means east. Japanese speakers already understand that Omi Alliance and Tojo Clan are two different entities from the time they're named, but English speakers can still be confused. They mention that some players think that Omi Alliance is part of the Tojo Clan, when in fact they're separate things, and in 1980s the Tojo clan was much tinier and weaker than Omi.

Apparently kids in Japan say "what?" in a funny way the same way people here say "nani?"

Komeki is not Komaki because he had to change his name briefly. They mention that people thought they screwed his name, but Komaki and Majima are both bad at names, so Komaki's idea of changing his name is changing a character. Komaki explains why he had to change his name but it's a quick and not very good explanation. Komaki actually has a very archaic way of speaking in Japanese, using a lot of old Japanese words.

They're excited to see Yuki return in Kiwami 2.

Majima's Thug style was "Fighting Master" in Japanese. Kiryu's Brawler style was called "Punk".

Each sign you can pick up while fighting has its own little nameplate, which makes it difficult for QA because they have to get into fights around every sign they can pick up, and pick them up.

Scott has a crazy theory that the Mr. Libidos in the game don't actually exist, they're just figments of Kiryu's and Majima's imagination brought about by sexual hangups. Because no one else sees or reacts to them, and they're both like "you have to cut loose".

Yakuza 6 has a "memories" option, which is different from the "reminisce" option in that it's all text describing what happened in the previous games and no video.

On the back of Fei Hu's shirt is the Chinese character for "fortune", but it's upside down. It's a pun for "fortune comes" and you can see it in restaurants.

They actually used the Chinese version of 0 when localizing, because most of the subtitle and asset work had already been done. They didn't translate it from Chinese, though. Apparently the Chinese version didn't translate what was on the images in the equipment/material search, they just had subtitles.

Also Long Hua's Japanese is "crazy" (as described by the two of them). Fei Hu is more fluent in the language.

They also say that some incredibly funny stuff happened with Lao Gui during the localization process, but won't go into details until he actually shows up.

You can walk around in 6 in first person view, and there's actually a trophy for that (but don't tell anyone).

They explain the Soy Sauce Face/Sauce Face thing. "Sauce" in Japanese is a specific kind of sauce, like a ketchup-based sauce you'd pour onto pork cutlets/tonkatsu. Soy sauce is like a thin sauce, and sauce sauce is like a thick sauce. In Japanese they have things like a "thin face" and a "thick face". In Japanese, a "thin face" means that the person has a non-distinct face/facial features that doesn't stand out. A thick face is the complete opposite, with striking facial features.

They talk about Nishitani for a bit because the chat wanted to know about "blood chub". Nishitani gets sexually aroused by violence, and his dialogue hints at it, so the way they get it across through the Osakan accent filter is by "blood chub".

They do the tax substory at the end. Japan didn't have sales tax in the 80s and after it was implemented it was gradually raised, so blame Majima for it.

Next stream is next Friday.

bump for making it to friday

Just watched it. You pretty much mentioned all the important details so I've nothing to add besides my surprise at noticing Kazuya Nakai played a role in the game and, apparently, every other game in the series. Always minor roles.
If only he spouted some nonsense Engrish, I'd have noticed him immediately.

Meanwhile, spent my first hour with Dead Souls. I'm terrible with shooters so my impressions may be very biased.
It feels very clumsy and the fact that you do a lot of engagements in corridors or small rooms amplifies that by a large margin. There's no quick turn option and the camera's aim shift goes to where you're facing and not where you're pointing the camera which means you'll need to put some extra distance if enemies are aggroed. You can strafe and shoot but I'm playing it like it's RE4 - stop, aim and headshot. So far, the first couple of chapters have been quick and linear, with a performance rank at the end. Judging by the gambling tokens I was offered, I think the game will "open up" later.
If anyone with experience in this game has any pointers to share, I'd appreciate it.

I love the differences in lighting between 0 and Kiwami.

Makes Kiwami feel more modern, as it should be.

Also Theater Square is pretty much a flat road in Yakuza 6.

So what's your guys' favorite Amon fight?
Mine's Ishin

Haruka's

I've never actually paid attention to the Amons enough to actually rank their fights, though. To be honest I never really try to beat so most of the games pass by with me never meeting their respective Amon(s).

Seeing as how I only have 4, 0, and Kiwami to compare, I'd probably say 4, but I'm also better at the game now so I'm not sure if it would be as hard if I played 4 again.

Its probably worth clarifying that I loved them all. Endgame challenge bosses are really fucking fun, especially when you have a game with some amount of depth, which these games do.

Which game has the best club girls? Other than Club Sunshine in 0.

I've never played a Yakuza game before, which one should I start with?

There are a few ways:

I've heard Yakuza 1 and 2 emulate well.

Does Yakuza 0 predate the entire series so far?

Yakuza 0 is a prequel game that was released this year in the west and takes place in 1988 yeah.

The other games take place mainly from 2005 onward.

I wouldn't mind going in full chronological order then. Is there much difference between Kiwami and Yakuza PS2, other than graphics? Would I miss out on anything if I just grabbed Kiwami?

Kiwami adds new scenes that flesh out some characters more than the original game on PS2, alongside adding sidequests and dialogue that reference 0.

I don't believe you'll be missing out on anything feature- or story-wise.

Gmaeplay-wise, Yakuza 1 aged a bit poorly. That and the load times for fights are very long. Since Kiwami 2 is in development and Yakuza 3 and onward are similar in gameplay to 0 and Kiwami, Kiwami is actually fine to play without having played the original PS2 version.

That and the first Yakuza had a pretty bad English dub, the only one in the series have one. The casting was actually decent, with Mark Hamill, Michael Madsen and so on. But it's still pretty bad.

Noa Amon. It just requires that you're good at the game. "Regular" Amons feel like a trial and error exercise to find the best exploit or test your Tiger Drops. Seems impossible to have a "honest" fight with them sliding away the moment you connect a jab and then hit you before your attack animation is over. That said, I enjoyed the fight with So for the sheer stupidity of the INFINITE POISE tactic.


Dunno about the plural but 5 has THE best girl.

Everything looks so incredibly different in Yakuza 6 so the point where I almost felt lost.

Also Kiryu is fucking brutal in Y6, holy shit.

All those screenshots and this video I took from the demo.

Also Yakuza Kiwami 2's demo will release late November in Japan.

gematsu.com/2017/10/yakuza-kiwami-2-demo-launches-late-november-japan

God-fucking-damn, all of those are way more brutal than the counterpart heat moves from previous games, especially the pole one.

The official website for Yakuza 6 is up
yakuza.sega.com/yakuza6/home.html

When you see taxis driving around in Yakuza 6, you can actually stop them to get a ride to another place. It's pretty neat.

Also I'm watching the Scott and Sam Yakuza 0 stream recording on twitch, since they haven't uploaded it to youtube yet. I'll link it when it is.

Sam isn't in it, but a guy named Derk is. Sam's a bigger guy in the company so he's absent because he has some business to take care of. But Derk is the localization editor for Yakuza 0. Yakuza 0 is actually the second game he's worked on in the company, and just like Scott he's had to play through all the games beforehand. He also worked on Yakuza Kiwami.

They say the translators struck gold with the "hot mug of piss" line that Majima gave. And Sagawa responds with "That tastes just about as good as you think."

The postcard substory with Dolce was a nightmare in QA.

When Japan is marketing a game to the Japanese, they attempt to boil down the themes of the games into single words. The words they use for Yakuza 0 were Money, Women and Violence. Yakuza 5's was Yume/Dream.

Also they talk about the Obatarian, and how she's basically a trope or stereotype of an old Osakan lady. "Obatarian" is a portmantaeu of Japanese and English; "Oba-san" and "Batallion".

Also most of the translators are Japanese people who learned English. And a few of them are like Sam who powered through learning Japanese. Sam is fantastic at Japanese, and he just rose through the ranks pretty quickly.

Apparently the Obatarian will return in Kiwami 2.Also they're not allowed to talk about Kiwami 2? But they seem to be making jokes about it. Derk hopes that the Bontan/Ryuji substory from 0 gets referenced in Kiwami 2.

Also Scott hates memes in localization, because they date the game. In 20 years time when someone is playing it, they won't get it. He usually goes through the games and finds them, then gets them changed. He says there's one that flew under the radar because he didn't know it was a meme, and it fit well into the game. It's when the Finance King says "Screw the rules, I have money!"

Scott and another translator had to work on the Yakuza 6 website on their own. Generally they don't do huge game websites/pages because people in the west don't care about them. They usually just visit once and then never again.

Scott reconfirms that Yakuza 6 has no cut content. Livechat is featured on the site, even. Derk sits next to the guy who's doing the live chat for Yakuza 6.

They didn't expect Nugget to be so popular. Apparently the translators gave it that name, because the series has a penchant for naming animals like… "doggie-kun" etc.

They re-emphasize that this team didn't do Yakuza 3, and they're focusing on fixing the mistakes and making sure to not cut anything.

For the crane game, the little box in the bottom right that says 300yen for 3 games, they had to get it restructured because in the Japanese version they only have space for 1 character.

"Breakers" were the name for Break Dancers in the early 80s. So that worked well for naming Majima's Breaker style.

They have trouble with bugs (as in, insects) in Japanese because they have so many names for them that they don't use in English, like the different species of cicada.

Scott and Sam talked about doing Yakuza 5 before Yakuza 6 came out. The chat's interested in watching a Yakuza 5 stream. They'll try to make it happen, but they're not sure how much of the game they'll be able to play before 6 releases.

Some streamers/players were dumb enough to think that the "bat tattoo" meant a "baseball bat tattoo".

Normally they'd use upper case letters for words to emphasize them, but in Yakuza 6 they have italics.

Majima says "Holy Shitballs" in what's supposed to be a serious scene (after the first fight with Lee, when the yakuza attempt to kidnap Makoto) and Scott regrets letting that pass.

They stop streaming at the start of the stealth section because they ran out of time. Derk probably won't be back, maybe until Kiwami, it'll be Sam next time.

How is the combat in the demo? Based off of what I've seen of 6/Kiwami 2 I think it looks really fun but I've read mixed things about it from people who've played the game.
In any case the soundtrack seems very good based off of the tracks I've heard so far.


wew

There's a compilation video in the topic:

(checked!)
The hero we need. But what about 'GOTTA GO FAST'?

Makoto bawwing her eyes out, stuttering "He-he j-j-j-just wou-wou-wouldn't sto-to-to-p t-t-t-t-talking about baseball!". Some really traumatic shit.

I've wondered if doing a patch for text is something they can't consider. Typos, better choices in translation, etc.

The combat from the demo is pretty fun. Your attacks feel weightier, with slightly more windup time (you can actually increase the speed of your attacks by leveling up that aspect). But at the same time they feel easier to deflect; like sometimes Kiryu does a big attack and he just bounces right off because the enemy's blocking. It probably gets upgraded (from what I've seen you can raise your base stats of HP, Attack Power, Defense, Speed, Heat alongside skills, heat moves and attacks) but since I can't read Japanese and since the demo didn't seem to let me upgrade anything beyond those base stats, I can't say for sure.

You can also choose how you want to upgrade your stats too, like prioritizing getting more HP over everything else, for example. There are different types of experience points that you get from fighting and eating (and you get a lot from eating this time around), and you spend a combination of those types of experience points to level up certain stats.

Kiryu's attack animations changes according to the target's position and location. The enemies reactions to your attacks makes it feel good as well. When you punch them in the stomach they stumble back and hold their stomach. If you smack them in the head they may stay on the ground and hold their heads.

There's ragdoll physics and the combat takes advantage of that, with Kiryu's attacks allowing you to swat away enemies with a sweeping kick, or trip enemies by kicking their legs out from under them. There seems to be more of an emphasis on dealing with more enemies at once because Kiryu has some really wide hitting attacks. His throw for example basically swings the enemy around in a circle.

The physics can also work against you. If you grab an enemy and swing them around standing next to say, a wall, the enemy gets knocked out of your hands when he hits the wall. If you get slapped with a hard blow, you get sent flying as well. Bigger enemies are tougher to knock down with punches and kicks.

Enemies can now pick up weapons off the ground, too. Like bikes or signs.

Battles feel quicker in general. Like you can get in and out of battle in a few seconds if you manage to damage a lot of enemies with one of those arcing attacks. When Kiryu gets knocked down he wastes no time in getting back up, so it flows better even if you get sent to the ground.

It's seamless as well, you meet enemies on the street, they run up to you, and battle immediately starts without you actually stopping. You could even book it and run away from them after combat has started. There aren't any walls of people blocking you. NPCs will stop and watch, though.

Another thing that makes it fun is that you can actually fight random guys indoors in places that would be previously safe zones. Like inside Poppo, where you just end up wrecking the store.

It's 30fps and that hurts it especially coming out of 0 and Kiwami. I'm not too bothered by it because 5 and below were 30 but it feels like something they should've tried sticking to after 0 and Kiwami.

I can judge a bit prematurely and say the combat isn't as good as 0's or Kiwami's, but it's still fun. It's crunchy, quick and rewarding despite the lower framerate and lack of different styles. And ragdolls can give unintended hilarity.


Scott says that fixing subtitles in cutscenes is much harder because they'd have to re-render the entire cutscene.

I think they did talk about Gotta Go Fast in one of the earlier videos. I have to go back and look for it. But I think they say it's fine because it gets the point across, it's not part of any dialogue or story scene, and you can understand it even if you're not familiar with the meme.

Also I shouldn't have watched this video
I saw Pocket Circuit Fighter and how old he's gotten and immediately got sad.

That shit is hilarious

Thanks user. I like the sound of all that, especially the seamlessness of going wherever you want during fights and enemies picking up objects. I noticed that if you enraged certain enemies in Kiwami they'd take knives out of their pockets, which I thought was really cool, so it's cool to hear that that's been expanded upon. I'm assuming that was probably a feature in 0 as well, but I can't remember any instances of it happening in it (at least not nearly as much as in Kiwami). Being able to fight in interiors is cool too, I've always liked the amount of interactivity with the environment Yakuza has and that adds a whole layer to it.

The return to 30fps is kind of a shame but I understand why they did it, given all the objects that fly around all over the place during combat.

On another note, this track's really great. Haven't listened to anything else from 6's OST yet though as I don't want to spoil too much for myself.

Something I'm curious about is if the upper part of Kamurocho is still locked in the full game. I've been "debating" if I'll get the game or not but I think I'll probably cave in. So far my 2018 in vidya will be full RGG Studio, quite a contrast with all the weeb goodness this year brought.
Pretty hyped for Kiwami 2 given the studio's track record of noticeable improvement once they've laid out foundations. I think Clan Creation is probably the only thing I'm apprehensive about given it's one of 6's weakest points.


If the gameplay trailer is of any indication, they're gonna up that ante in Kiwami 2, particularly with the friendship Heat actions.


That's 'Theory of Beauty' in the OST.
Somehow one of my favorites is from the deep sea fishing rail shooter. Yakuza OSTs can be odd like that with fantastic tracks put away on small fry side content.

Speaking of the series OSTs, it makes for superb workout music.

The Hotel District and Champion District are both still locked off in the full game (pic related, the dark grey areas are the ones that are unavailable). I don't mind the Hotel District so much as the Champion district. That little block of corridors always seemed to be pretty neat to me. It always seemed run down yet cozy, and a little bit shady. I really liked that mixture.

Still, I'm really looking forward to Onomichi, though. Small Japanese town on the coast? Rural setting with old architecture, small wooden houses and buildings and shrines, tight alleyways, walkways and the smell of the ocean? That's cozy as hell.

I feel like 6 suffered a bit because they didn't do a test game when making the jump to new tech. When making the jump from Yakuza 2 to 3, they made Kenzan in between, and 3's gameplay benefited from that. It also happened with PS4, when they made Ishin as the test game and I have no doubt that Yakuza 0 benefited (which in turn benefited Kiwami's gameplay).

They didn't make a test game with the Dragon Engine. They just jumped into making Yakuza 6 and called it Kiryu's final game. I've heard it's not great storywise and it's a poor sendoff, but the substories are good, and the combat is fun. So I don't mind the story being not great.

I'm looking forward to Kiwami 2 way more, though. I hold 2 in pretty high regard, and with the plot already set, they can focus on doing the new scenes with Majima (which I suspect will be good, since Nishiki's were good in Kiwami) and fixing up the gameplay.

And then after that it's Shin Ryu Ga Gotoku, with Kasuga Ichiban. I'm sure they'll improve the gameplay even more but I'm still not sure how to feel about it. I kinda wish Akiyama took over as the main character. But then we won't have any shirt off scenes with him. He has no tattoos. I also kinda wish we'd gotten a female protagonist. I know it's mostly a manly series, but I wouldn't mind seeing a Haruka-tier cutie tearing through guys. Hell, give her something similar to Tanimura's style, which focuses on parrying and holds more than brute strength, since Tanimura himself was smaller than the rest of the cast. It's a pipe dream brought on by that Youtube video of that Yakuza 5 hack, but I like it!

Boo! No starting fights in the street and carry them into the okama bar.
And yeah, Champion District has a odd sense of coziness about it. Shellac is probably my favorite bar in the series.

Kiryu's last big fight being with some dude who looks like a salaryman on steroids kinda sucks but then again, that's kinda been a problem for quite a while. Chronologically, Ryuuji's probably the last guy who managed to stand toe to toe with Kiryu. Mine was a orphan-bullying dipshit, Daigo needed a spanking in 4 and 5's end boss is just a guy who wants to 1v1 Kiryu and then gets monologued and beaten while Kiryu's nursing a bullet in his gut.

I hope they really upgrade Mad Dog. It's strong but has very little variety.

But that's just the mobile game, right? I wonder if they'll make a mainline sequel with Akiyama, Saejima and Majima carrying the story. Or maybe even Shinada.

In other circumstances I'd agree but I ended up liking the fact this series is all about manly men doing manly men things. Not to mention the tone story relevant stronk wammen - Kaoru - is kind of a jackass. For the so-called "Yakuza Eater" she gets her lights knocked out in one swing in two occasions and I find it silly that for a expert on organized crime, she never heard of the Jingweon.

Ryu Ga Gotoku Online is the mobile game, and Shin Ryu Ga Gotoku is apparently a new game? Anywhere I look it seems to be separate, but Ichiban is in both.

True. At the same time though it's kind of nice that they put so much effort into optional tracks that most players probably won't even hear. I really liked embed related, it and the other coliseum track in Kiwami were really nice surprises since I didn't really like the ones in 0 (they were still decent, they're just kind of weak compared to a lot of 0's other tracks).

This is a better example of a great track in an optional mission actually, I forgot that there are three mandatory arena bosses in Kiwami.

Does the "Shin" mean a reboot or a whole different story that might use some of established characters? Not really fond of Ichiban so far; costume is Kiryu's with the colors switched and the look seems, I guess, indecisive. You can always tell what the main characters will be like by looking at them, Kiryu's the straight man, Majima's the loose cannon, Shinada's the lovable loser, Akiyama is the suave relaxed guy, Saejima's the silent hulk etc etc. Ichiban seems to be walking the line between cool and wild without really committing to any. My modest two cents anyway.
Guess I'm still bitter we'll likely never get Ryuuji playable in a proper entry. I think his adolescence and early adult years could make for a pretty cool story and the kicker is that it would still remain to try to the title given Ryuuji's very much ryuu ga gotoku. :^)


You barely even get to enjoy it given how quick you can finish those fights. Also doesn't help that the music can get drowned out in the game; I think they should consider separate Music/SFX/Voice settings.
Here's another nice one you'll barely hear - the photo booth theme.


Meanwhile, Dead Souls is already providing some good laughs with its substories. One with a woman posting on Yakker that's she's running naked in the quarantine zone and Akiyama runs into about 6 other dudes trying to find her and when they do it's a guy. Akiyama's "Nothing phases you when you got tits in your brain." is a very memorable quote.
Then another with a group of people hiding and one is a horror movie buff saying they all fit horror movie clichés; the bit with the horny couple had me in stitches.
All that said, you have to REALLY like shooting zombies because I can see this get old quickly. It's also a VERY drab Kamurocho and I'm not even talking about the destroyed part, the regular part of the city is very grey and blue, feels completely lifeless compared to other games.

Side note, I tried the massage mini-game (apparently it's also in 4) and it's pretty funny in its attempt at subtlety but surprisingly tricky. The last part requires spinning both analogs like crazy but I barely put a dent on that. Anyone have any tips for that? poor Akiyama always leaves with such a disappointed look.

I think Shin means "New". I think Ichiban looks alright. I don't much like the hair but it may grow on me. And yeah, he may walk the line between cool and wild, judging by his design and attitude. This is something I don't mind but I hope he's likeable.

I believe he's voiced by Nishikiyama's VA. If he really is voiced by Nishiki, I hope the first major villain he faces is voiced by Kiryu.

It's not a reboot, but a new story. Apparently takes place in 2018. Where for some reason the police has aligned with the Omi Alliance and pretty much suppressed the Tojo clan. So Omi runs Kamurocho alongside the police.

It's weird because Ichiban is fucking 41 years old. Kiryu is 50 in 2018. I was expecting someone… younger? Someone in his 20s or 30s?

I've already mentally named him McFucknut. He looks retarded.

Yeah, I can see how he looks dumb to some people. I just wanna know what he's like, and what he fights like.

why cant they make the model look like the art?

If they just made his hair in the character model look messy like in the artwork and not nappy like a negro's he would already look much better.

They should and could do that.

So more things about Yakuza 6 that I've discovered through the demo and through googling around for translations.

When I was googling for the translation of the stats, I found one that was named "Speed", so I thought, hey, this probably gradually ups your movement speed. And due to the placebo effect or some shit it felt like it did.

Until I actually decided to compare how Kiryu fought with my upgraded "speed" stat (160) to a fresh run of the demo, where the stat is at 100. There's no difference. Kiryu attacks at the same speed regardless of how high the stat is.

I looked around and found this translation, that calls the "Speed" stat, "Evasion". Except even with that knowledge, and comparing the evades, I can't see the difference. Maybe he runs faster in battle? I don't know, but all other upgrades I can see or feel the effects. He gets more HP when you raise that strength stat. Or more attack power (now I can't get through a full combo string without taking down demo mooks in the middle of it) or take less damage, etc. It's the easiest stat to raise (requires just one type of experience points) but I can't tell what raising the Evasion stat does.

However…

There are stat requirements to unlock abilities for purchase. To get Tiger Drop for example, you need your Attack stat to be around 180. But you also need the amount of different experience points to purchase it.

There's also a Tiger Drop upgrade that makes the timing easier.

Also you can still upgrade your attack speed because there are combo speed upgrades, so maybe the Evasion stat helps with acquiring those.

You can also acquire skills to increase your experience, dashing (because you're forced to walk around normally and hold x to run. I don't know why they made this change).

Even skills to make you eat more and digest quicker. As well as increase the effects of drinks from vending machines.

Generally you'll have to balance out raising your base stats and purchasing abilities.


Yeah. Literally the only thing that bothers me about the design is his hair. I like floofy haired protagonists like Spike, but his hair looks nappy instead.

If you're fully drunk, Kiryu can't walk in a straight line. He veers to the right or left especially if you run. Though this goes away once your drunkenness drops one level. It goes up to 6 as far as I'm aware.

It's Bob Utsunomiya without the make-up. You heard it here first, folks! DEEP LORE

I feel compelled to 100% these games, but I hat mahjong and that batting game. The hell am I supposed to do?

Perservere. I have the completionist's curse and I hate, and I mean HATE, the pachinko and mahjong minigames (I honestly still don't exactly understand how pachinko works), but I perservere because I gotta have that 100% completion

I've been rushing through the story missions of Yakuza Dead Souls, currently at Goda's. The camera is a nightmare:

1. You don't have fully manual control, so it will keep turning as you move the character
2. Even worse, first person shooting will shift the camera relative to the direction your character is facing. And not the center of the fucking screen.

Still, it's fun to see Majima in action.

How about running speed outside of battle?

These games might have successfully beat my OCD into submission; I put a lot of effort into things I like or see I can get done but others like mahjong, shogi, most games of chance, pachinko and batting I won't even touch with a ten foot pole, not even for the "play everything once" trophy.
On the subject of batting, it's a shame they didn't recycle Shinada's game for Zero and Kiwami. That I thought was pretty fun.


I'm still on Ch4 with Akiyama, because I can never not take that substory bait and been doing Gary's training but I'm kinda half-assing that, it's kinda tedious when it comes to training partners and already in shooting range 2 one partner is S-ranking it like a murderbot and I'm expected to beat that score.

This has been irking me a lot. With no quick turn you'll have to account that extra time to turn and aim when running from zombies.

I don't think you can upgrade running/dash speed, but you can upgrade the length of time you can dash for.

Your default stamina is much longer than the default of 0 and Kiwami, but you'll still be using it a lot since you're stuck walking when you're just using the analogue stick.

I've discovered that enemies can and will kick objects at you to hit you.

And you can do the same as well.

Another example, where a guy chucked a scooter at me, but I only got away because I activated the sledgehammer heat action.

Whoa, that's actually pretty cool, I remember before that they could only pick weapons up and only certain weapons, I remember they were quite fond of bicycles for some reason.

So I watched HyperBitHero videos and now I'm hype for yakuza games. I've beaten the first one on ps2 emulator and now playing through the second one. Now can anyone tell me if there's a good place to order yakuza 3 disc that ships internationally (russia) and isn't too expensive? I saw it on play-asia for like 30 bux but its gone now and ebay seems to have it for like over 40 bux with expensive shipping. Any other places I can get it? I don't mind a used copy or something.

I suggest you either try looking at local (meaning Russian) shops which have shipping or look at a site which is kind of like the middleman in advertising for all kinds of goods, usually used. Where I'm from new copies are ~20USD while used copies go for anywhere between 12-18USD.

Yeah, they still pick up weapons a lot (bikes and signs, and other things they can get their hands on). But if there's a large but moveable object (scooters and bikes) between them and you, they tend to send it flying towards you.

I wonder if there'll be any upgrades to counter that.

How does this work? You press heavy attack near a object and the animation changes according to it?
In any case, it's interesting to see it expanded upon. In Zero/Kiwami, that's pretty much what I used the Circle attack for, though the real king is Akiyama because his basic string starts with a low kick, allowing to easily use everything to the point of brokenness, like KOing 3 people by kicking a traffic cone into them.
Anyway, if common thugs can punt motor bikes, I can only imagine the Hulk-tier shit Saejima would do.


Anyway, I may have jumped the gun about Yakuza 5 having the best non-0 hostesses because the first visit to Dead Souls' Jewel was easily the best hostess experience the series has offered so far. You get pampered by THREE of them, they light your cigarette, serve your drink, make nice small talk and don't shove their stupid problems don't your throat while making a grumpy cat impression. The sequence feels more streamlined and it's not fully voiced given there's two clubs with multiple hostesses to request but there's some extra fat (that was trimmed in 5 and Kiwami) like the aforementioned cigarette lighting, the waiter coming to swap ashtrays and these succubi asking for drinks halfway through the conversation. Yuna's a cutie patootie.

Yep! His default heavy attack thrusting kick. When he's near an object he can kick, his animation changes. It's like he's kicking a football.

It's much harder to kick small things like cones or small signs. Not even sure if it's possible. Also if bikes are flat against a wall, it's tougher to kick because Kiryu reacts to bumping against the wall rather than interacting with the bike. You can push the bike out of its position to kick it, but doing that risks destroying it anyway.

You can only do this heat move if this NPC is around when the combat starts.

They finally uploaded the latest stream to Youtube.

Here's the summary:

Male modeling playspot in Kiwami 2

ryu-ga-gotoku.com/kiwami2/adventure/detail.html?page=soten

Does she wander around a specific area or is it s NPC model that can be seen in multiple parts?


Summary covered almost every thing. Only stuff I'd underline would be:
The talk about localizers and translators working in them with the former not being necessarily bilingual with Scott pointing out that people fluent in both languages get much better paid jobs, usually in political/diplomatic circles like the UN.
They showed one of the errors that flew under the radar: the Sotenbori phone card collector will have "Kiryu" appear in his name box in one line.
That UFO Catcher bit was SHAMEFUR DISPRAY.
They had to go through Y2 again to get a feel of how to write Ryuji's lines. Also underline that sticking to the little guy but never admitting to it is part of his character. Again, when's the pre-Y2 Ryuji game?
Pic related.


Should we chimp out over "unrealistic beauty standards" ? :^)

She's an NPC model that appears seemingly randomly in Kamurocho, just walking around like pretty much any other NPC. When a fight starts she reacts like other NPCs and tries to run away.

Kind of was hoping it would actually come out in January.

Now THAT'S kawaii

Such are the shit cards we've been dealt. Kiwami 2 comes out in Japan this December with a demo coming late this month while we'll probably only get the game late 2018. And no word on Hokuto.

Anyway, new short update on Kiwami 2 detailing Sotenbori, mostly the new tie-in food places and some activities like the aforementioned modeling gig.
gematsu.com/2017/11/yakuza-kiwami-2-details-sotenbori-osaka


We hit the bump limit and I'd like to ask if there's interest in another topic once this gets washed away or if it's best to wait until there's something more substantial to discuss like the Kiwami 2 demo?

I think another thread is fine. There are people here who just started playing too. And this evening Sam and Scott are streaming again.

They started streaming on Youtube as well so it's quicker to upload now. I did manage to catch a small bit of the livestream while it was going on but didn't have time to sit and watch the whole thing.

Sam returns this week. However Scott will not be here next week. Sam threatens to play 2 hours of mahjong.

The Yakuza 6 localization is basically done at this point, and it's ready to go. The conversation afterwards seems telling though, with Sam responding to Scott sarcastically:

Scott (who focuses on Yakuza games solely): "I am just going to sit on my ass."
Sam: "'Cause there's no other games coming out."
Scott: "Nothing else to do."
Sam: "No other Yakuza games. They're all done. No Yakuza games. That's it. Six is the end."

They had fun doing the producer sidequest, because they say that even though the sidequest is about TV producers, it also seems to apply to video game producers. The "bling bling ca-ching" phrase that Papillion says was in the original Japanese text as well.

They go ahead and pick the wrong options (after the first dialogue option) for fun and localization stuff.

In Japanese, there was a word that meant "the thing you get rid of over time" or "the thing you shave away over time". They had to come up with a word that applied to every single choice on the table (the knife, the food, the eraser). That Japanese word became "erasable" after much deliberation. They connected the knife to the word by saying "this is how you erase someone".

They chose "Fetch a grocery clerk" for "grocer". They can't remember what "grocer" was. It's something about tilting the food.

They choose "taunt the dishes" for "jeer the props". They didn't attempt to explain that one.

They say that the car chase in Kiwami on Legend is really fucking hard. Even the testers said it was hard. If you get a game over, it sends you all the way back to the Lau Ka Long fight.

Sam hates Lau Ka Long. Sam was introduced to him in Yakuza 3, which was the one he played first, and died to him at least 5 times.

The scene in cafe alps where you have to choose the appropriate place to sit. They say that's a mostly Japanese thing. Where you have to sit in the proper place, and you can't get comfortable if waiting for a client and doing business. If you go to Japan and they're ushering you closer to the head of the table, that means they're showing you more respect.

Japanese have a very specific way of handling business cards. You have to hold the card facing the receiver, and if you're receiving a card, you don't put it away at once. You don't put it in your pocket, etc. You hold on to it or put it down next to you or something, and leave it visible until the person is gone.

Previous localizations wrote around/ignored honorifics. But they re-included them because there is an emphasis on them. For example: Oda in a conversation says "Kiryu-kun", using "-kun" in a way that shows that Oda is talking down to him. In almost every social situation in Japan there's a social pecking order, and the honorifics emphasize that.

Even some localizers are against honorifics because "it's using Japanese as a crutch".

They also have trouble translating "aniki" within the context because "bro" and similar words don't fit. Yakuza 6 uses "aniki" a hell of a lot, so they decided to just leave it in.

I kind of zoned out during the ensuing conversation. Twice. So I might have missed something there.

The summary of Yakuza 6 on the official website basically spoils the first hour of the game, which is about the length of the demo.

Sam encourages people to go download the demo off Japanese PSN.

They also say "The demo exists in one language. It might also exist in another language. No comment."

They were talking about the cabaret club owners, and how each club is named after a planet. In Japanese there isn't much of a distinction between a planet and a star, and the owners' names' reference that. Like the Japanese word for moon is Tsuki, and the guy who runs Club Moon is Tsukiyama.

The Japanese Telephone Club minigame is much harder than the English one. Instead of each target having a different line, each target had similar characters, or the exact same characters with one or two changed, and they were twisting and turning and going upside down and such, so it's much harder to recognize the correct answers.

The cutscenes in the middle of the telephone club minigame (where the girl is showing off her body and talking) originally didn't have any subtitles or slots for subtitles at all. They had to add that in. It was one of the last things that was done.

They say that the subquest involving young Daigo is somehow important in Yakuza 6. Not sure how.

So the thing with Kiryu's real estate business, when purchasing buildings, you were supposed to be able to read the signs to know what to buy. But the localization team knew the western players won't be able to do that. They tried to add stuff like markers that tells you which buildings you could interact with, but with the constraints it couldn't work out, and it was released as is.

The cutscene where Kiryu opens the suitcase filled with yen also lacked subtitles. So they had to put that in too.

The adjectives before items when receiving them (such as "You got a slightly battered Staminan X") is a localization thing too. Because the Japanese won't differentiate between a and an. If they were to just leave it as: "You got a". Then you'd have messages like "You got a orange". What they did was work around it by adding that adjective.

When a game starts getting localized depends on a lot of factors, including the developers, publishers etc. They're working to make it faster, though. Sometimes it's better to wait until after development because the text is finalized.

They end the stream after the Daigo quest.

It's absurd even on Hard. I tried to soldier on but caved in and lowered the difficulty. Going back to LKL sounds like a nightmare.

Personally, I'm glad they're amending that. Like they say, it's a huge deal to help those unfamiliar with how a lot of things go.

Besides Tsukiyama who's named after the moon god, I didn't know the other names were references as well.

This crossed my mind during my last run of Zero. I was playing the game and realized that with kanji with very subtle differences, just telling the right answer apart must be a challenge in itself.

This is one of the most annoying things in the game, both with Kiryu and Majima, you basically have to run two laps of every street with your body as glued to the walls as possible. Some are easy to figure but others take me ages to find.


I'll watch it when I have the time but thanks for the summary. I'll archive this topic so the next one can refer to the info here.