Thread 723639094

Is there even any point in playing past Yakuza 1 or Kiwami? If each game is more reddit and comedy focused than the last isnt it better to just stop here before the series degenerates into modern dnd-tier funhouse writing?

>>723639094 (OP)
>If each game is more reddit and comedy focused
Yakuza always had occasional comedic sidequests, what you're describing only started in Yakuza 7/8/Pirate. Even the zombie spinoff was taken seriously.

0 and 5 are kino

>>723639094 (OP)
>he doesn't like to laugh
That's something a reddit would say. Plus, the second you start the combat all tension is gone immediately.

>>723639513
Yakuza 5 is fucking torture to play.

>>723639094 (OP)
Yakuza 3 is meh, 4 and 5 have plots that are stupid but also pretty compelling. They're so-bad-it's-good tier. Like yeah Daigo bringing all the money to the top of the millenium tower in 5 was absolutely fucking retarded, but having money rain down during the final boss fights was fucking SICK.

>>723639094 (OP)
Its funny to talk about Yakuza on /v/ because all the so called "fans" apparently hate like 80% of the games

>>723642253
>Daigo bringing all the money to the top of the millenium tower in 5
that was in 4, in 5 he team up with the baseball player

Want to start these games, any physical releases for switch?

I'm curious which ones are "must plays"
I really liked Yakuza 0 & I think I played Kiwami 1...
I own Like a Dragon, but haven't played it yet. idk if I'll like the rpg fighting

>>723644758
It's actually a fun look at Japan's organized crime that's parallel to the real life happenings. 0, Kiwami 1 & 2 are a must I would say. The rest are good tho but you can get the gist from those 3 games. Ngl I really loved the business journey Ichiban goes on + the resort as well. There are gems in all of them.

I was on a big japfag kick for a while, trying to learn japanese and super obsessed with their culture, so I got all the games and planned to play them. Now IDGAF about Japan anymore, so playing Japan: The Game feels retarded, I guess because I over-saturated their culture like it was a commodity. Is it actually worth playing these games?

>>723646739
>failed at being a weeb
idk start listening to rap music and play those old DefJam games...they were pretty cool

>>723639094 (OP)
Play 0, play K2. Assume Kiryu dies at the end and drop the series. That's it

>>723642767
Sure, you have Game Key Cards for 0 DC and Kiwami 2, and then your physical for K1 is from LRG but is at least on the cart. Only way to actually have the games physically properly is on Playstation systems. Xbox has to jump through hoops with LRG for 0-6 and is not getting stuff like the 20th Anniversary Edition. It also didn't get 7G physically. Wii U only has 1&2 HD.

>>723648515
Playstation then, are they very long? Which one should i play first?

I know the story is a lmao so random meme fest, gameplay isn't the best, basedlord face on the cover is repulsive and as it's a gaiden game it may take less than 20 hours to finish, but should I get Pirate Majora on sale? I'd only buy and play it because it's the only Yakuza game I still haven't played and the latest one on the chronology.

Are there any mods for LJ to make the combat not be clunky dogshit

>>723650272
Release order starting from PS2 is the best way to do it with the restoration patch but it's harder to get into.
Modern order of 0, K1, K2, Remastered Collection, 6, Judgment, 7, LJ, 7G, 8, 8G is easier to get into but you're hopping all over the place in terms of gameplay mechanics, refinement of everything, story refinement, etc.
>are they very long?
Depends what you do. If you only touch the story each game is like 8-16 hours long outside of 7 and 8 which are about 30-50 hours long. If you do story + substories so you can fight Amon they're typically like 50-70 hours long. If you 100% they're usually 80-120 hours long with 7 and 8 being the exceptions that get to be 200+.

>>723653017
LJ is not clunky at all and if you think so you are out of your mind.

>>723639094 (OP)
None of these games are 'whacky' outside of side stories. Maybe it's localization fuckery.

>>723653017
The combat is the best it's ever been in LJ.
It's a MASSIVE improvement over the original.

>>723653490
>enemies constantly block
>heat actions take forever
>heat actions are useless when you can just use EX Mode and spam triangle instead
>4 styles to switch through with a single button
>styles feel like they could be combined
>super long recovery animations
I hate the combat in LJ. At least they got rid of the stupid mechanic from the first game where bosses have attacks with irrecoverable damage

>>723653490
Moose, I wanted to respond to what you said on an older thread, but the thread died, so I'll respond now.

>>722275184
>Its story is easily near the bottom of the entire series, what are you on about?
It's better thought out than 5 at the very least.
Bryce Eiji and Ebina were better antagonists than whoever the fuck the random last boss was in 5 (the fat guy as part of the comic duo low ranking skinny thug, low ranking fat thug combo).

>Ichiban's entire reason for going to Hawaii is pushed off to the side the instant it is resolved.
Ichiban already had an emotional resolution to that where he gave Arakawa's ashes to Akane and she cried, and he talked to his mother and thanked her for giving birth to him. The ending explains that she stayed with Palekana, where she was for the last several decades, surprise surprise. What else where you expecting? How does that count as "pushed off" in your mind?
>Once the split happens Ichiban solves nothing and accomplishes nothing.
Did you confuse Kiryu and Ichiban? Kiryu does nothing in Japan (aside from the ending note stuff reminiscing on the past games). He goes to Japan and suddenly the commie jew (means spider's web, it's komijuru in katakana, I played it in Japanese, and it sounds like "commie jew" with a "ru" added, plus the zainichi gooks in Japan IRL are mostly commie norks, so that's what I call them) bitch Sonhi shows up and reveals everything about Ebina and the Seiryu by virtue of her intelligence network. Then, all Kiryu does in the main story walk between the Seiryu offices a few times (oh and he's outed by Tatara channel repeatedly), before going to the millennium building to beat up Ebina.

>>723654881

On the other hand, Ichiban and his party actually get into a bunch of shenanigans with Yamai and his goons, and actually detrmine the actual location of Akane and Lani, and bring her back to the Daidouji, only for Chitose and Eiji's betrayal to fuck everything up and they lose Lani. Then the rest of it is pursuing Lani untll they actually succeed in rescuing her. And then finally they go back to Japan with Akane and Lani, mission accomplished.


>Everything about Eiji was handled so poorly that Ichiban forgiving him feels completely unearned and doesn't address how monstrous and psychopathic he was towards killing Ichiban and his friends even up until the reveal.
Eiji was handled well. He had a grudge against all Yakuza because Sawashiro got him fired when he was snooping around the Arakawa clan. He was also involved in Bleach Japan (tokyo branch manager), so it makes sense that he would use Tatara channel to fuck over all the former Yakuza. And it was sneaky and cunning, how he pretended to be Ichiban's friend even going so far as to fake being crippled just to be in the perfect position to double cross him. I was surprised by that twist, and Chitose being the vtuber. It was kino.
Ichiban forgives everyone and everything. In case you didn't catch it, he's a schizo with a 'hero' complex. That's been his character from the beginning.
That said, it was a bit excessive to have him getting beat by a mob to protect Eiji. Why would he be that infamous anyway? He was only outed for using Tatara channel to smear the former Yakuza unfairly, as far I know.

You know what I didn't like even more about the ending? Kiryu crying like a little bitch and saying sorry before passing out on top of Ebina. That shit was out of character, even if he did have cancer.

>>723639094 (OP)
1 is actually shit. Horrible writing. Tons of PS2 charm, I'll give them that.

0 is where it's at.

>>723654943

>The final bosses are completely flipped for who should be fighting who.
How so? In the 'castle' at the homeless camp, Kiryu explained to Kasuga that Ebina was his half brother, and that he would deal with him. Besides, it was always Kiryu opposing the Seiryu
and Kasuga contending with gangs and cultists in Hawaii. Once Lani was secured, the Daidouji had no reason to even care about Hawaii.

>The game completely forgets Wong Tou's son even exists from the moment he's introduced to the moment he is found. Even Chitose outright has to explain who he is because he has not been spoken of up until that point at all.
Does it matter? Wong Tou was dead and you already knew that Bryce had kidnapped his son. I fail to see the point you're making.
Did you want random cutscenes of a kid you never met crying in the warehouse at the cult's village every single chapter?

>Kiryu constantly tells people he is Kiryu and his friends constantly blurt out he's Kiryu or explain his backstory to people.
At that point, he's already been outed on Tatara channel, or it's Ending Drama content where he runs into people who knew him in Kamurocho.

>If you leave the Life Links to past chapter 11 I think it was they make no sense at all.
Valid point. Not that it really matters. It's optional content that you can do way before then.

>>723654765
>enemies constantly block
>super long recovery animations
Bro, you are not playing LJ or doing something very wrong. Enemies blocking is so negligible even on Legend and you have so many ways to break through their guards. The fat guys are the only ones that bounce block. You should be going into Crane or Snake (Forgot which) to instantly get attack speed upgrades and you're good to go.

>>723655247
I don't mean slow attack speed, sometimes when you're knocked down there's an animation you can't mash out of. It makes combat a slog sometimes

>>723639094 (OP)
if you want a serious yakuza game for serious gamers go play kurohyou, then ragequit when the enemies actually fight back and you can injure your own hands from hitting too many punks with them b/c you sound like a huge pussy

>>723654881
>It's better thought out than 5 at the very least.
5 at least worked as a whole and everyone regularly contributed to things and it felt like the story was moving somewhere. 8 is all setup until the split and meanders with Ichiban until Kiryu makes the major discoveries.
>What else where you expecting? How does that count as "pushed off" in your mind?
That she would actually be seen off by Ichiban on a flight to Hawaii with Lani. Having her and Lani, two major characters who Ichiban risked his life for and even brought to Japan to keep safe are rushed off screen and then only spoken of as a minor footnote in passing is poorly done especially when the entire trip to Hawaii revolved around her and Kiryu was obsessed about keeping Lani safe.
>Kiryu does nothing in Japan
He actively discovers the main plot of the story, what are you talking about? He's the one who discovers Ebina's main plot, he discovers Buraisu's main plot, he actively causes Bleach Japan to happen, he finally gets outed, and he goes to stop the major problem with the story which is Ebina. He also has an entire set of side content that develops him and other characters as characters while Ichiban's are just filler like Dondoko Island or Sujimon.
>On the other hand, Ichiban and his party actually get into a bunch of shenanigans...
You even prove my point. He goes after Lani, loses her, then had to go get her again. Two separate chapters are you running around all of Hawaii fighting mooks sent by Buraisu and then the last 20 minutes are something actually happening. Literally the only thing of importance is learning Chitose's backstory and that just explains the setup of why everyone is in Hawaii, it doesn't even pay off until literally the end of Ichiban's section and even then she shouldn't have been able to do anything in that ending unless Eiji, Ebina, and Buraisu are all braindead.

>>723652001
I still enjoyed my time with it despite knowing while playing that it was a mid tier entry in the series at best. The combat is pretty sloppy, but it's in a post-Lost Judgment world where Dragon Engine combat is still fun even when it's not polished like LJ's since you're not bounce blocking off of everything.
I'd say its biggest problem is that it feels like it was made as a pirate game first. It being the first Majima solo adventure has no bearing on how the game was made other than him being the closest thing they had to an existing character that could fill the role.

>>723639094 (OP)
Y0 > Y2 > Y1 > Y3

Y3 is the last one with real consequences and heavy relevant plot. Y4-5-6-7-8 are all memes. You only play them if you really like the series and want more.

>>723639094 (OP)
I didn't want to continue playing the series after Kiwami 2. I don't think Kiwami 2 was even bad or anything, I enjoyed it quite a bit. I just don't think I can take like 6 more games of Kiryu taking his shirt off, beating the shit out of a guy, and telling him he's wrong. The increasingly ridiculous soap opera scenes that don't make sense wouldn't really be that much fun either. I feel like the novelty of how ridiculous things can get sort of wears off after a while.

I think the series is definitely more for girls now that I think about it.

>>723639094 (OP)
>Is there even any point in playing past Yakuza 1 or Kiwami?
Yes.
Y1 is okay, but one of the weakest games.
Kiwami de-makes are all utter shit.

4 and 5 are some of the best games in the franchise. 7 is honestly a fun little spinoff.
0 was technically the sixth game, and the best to this day.

>>723656041
>5 at least worked as a whole and everyone regularly contributed to things and it felt like the story was moving somewhere.
This is possibly one of the most insane things I've read in all of Yakuza threads yet. After Kiryu's part nothing feels connected until the very end of Shinada's part. It's a slot to get through and it doesn't feel like it's going anywhere unless you learn about the plot twists before playing.

>>723654943
>Eiji was handled well.
Eiji as a character was handled fine. His backstory makes sense and his motivations make sense, I am specifically talking about everything past trying to poison everyone at Yamai's club and then him disappearing for multiple chapters until the epilogue.
>Ichiban forgives everyone and everything.
He doesn't forgive a lot of people in both 7 and 8, Tendo being one of them and Kume being another, and he wasn't exactly happy with Dwight at all. The problem is that Eiji from the start did not consider Ichiban his friend and spent literally all game trying to kill him with the express purpose of killing him and his friends. At no point were they friends yet Ichiban is not only willing to go to this guy who poisoned him and his friends twice, tried assassinating them multiple times, and (To Ichiban and co.) threw a pipebomb at them while laughing at the fact they'd explode into chunks with Lani and try and redeem him. It's completely unbelievable as even Ichiban has limits yet this apparently wasn't enough to piss him off.

Masato was at least someone he spent years looking after and being on good terms with even if Masato didn't see it that way.
>Kiryu crying like a little bitch and saying sorry before passing out on top of Ebina.
Agreed, it was extremely stupid.

>>723655015
>How so?
Ebina was the cause for basically everything that happened to Ichiban and is related to him on top of it. He is directly responsible for him losing his job, for the guy he tried helping find a job at Hello Work to quit and go die in Bryce's radiation cave, and his entire motive is literally counter to Ichiban's. He's Ichiban's polar opposite in terms of goals.
Bryce is actively trying to kill Lani and callously let a bunch of reforming Yakuza members get radiation poisoning. Lani is Kiryu's Haruka and the people who are dying to Bryce's plan are ultimately there because of Kiryu's actions in 7.

>>723639094 (OP)
>>723639527
>reddit

>>723656792
Akiyama Gaiden fucking when

>>723655015
>At that point, he's already been outed on Tatara channel
No he hasn't. He's regularly being called "Kiryu" in Hawaii, he's using his name in karaoke in Hawaii, he's even regularly being addressed by people he's opposing as "Kiryu". Yamai even knows who he is. Then when he goes to Yokohama Seonhee blabs to Kashiwagi that his name is Kiryu, Saeko has Kashiwagi tell her not to use that name, Kiryu is just going to the Seiryo Clan HQ as Kiryu, etc. After he goes to the clan then he's outed.

The only times he shows any restraint is in the Life Links of all things, and they did a piss poor job with the Life Links because they are optional meaning none of it makes sense if you do it at the end of the game. Even 9 and 10 make no sense because they should know he's alive at that point.

>>723656847
>After Kiryu's part nothing feels connected until the very end of Shinada's part.
Saejima's part after the hunting segment starts to connect it all together while Haruka's part directly has Majima be mentioned and when Akiyama arrives they both get pulled into the bigger picture. Shinada's the only one who takes until the ending of his part to actually connect and is the only one I felt was disjointed from anyone.

I do think 5's story is bad, make no mistake, but I think overall they handled it better than 8 barring the ending. No game has yet to top how retarded 5's ending is outside of maybe Kenzan and even with Kenzan you have a fairly solid last few minutes.

>>723639094 (OP)
Yakuza 0, 1, 2. Skip 3/4/5/6 and go straight to 7

>>723639356
>>723639094 (OP)
Having a protagonist who is optimistic in spite of everything instead of doomer autists/degenerates does not "Reddit" make.

>>723657524
This but go to Judgment instead

>>723640331
Did you get filtered by Saejima or Haruka because it's always one of those two. Come on, admit it.

>>723657386
Based on RGG's schedule, probably 2027 when Kiwami 4 comes out.

>>723657597
Is Judgement as good as Yakuza?

>>723657583
It was a largely serious crime drama, now it's Japanese Saints Row and they're asking fans if they want a Jack Black cameo. Yes it's Reddit-ified.

>>723657937
Both games have better stories than most of the games.
JE has some of the wort combat of the Dragon Engine due to how absurdly slow Yagami is and how bounce blocking happens on every other attack. On the other hand it's probably one of the best stories in the series in terms of how it was presented and how the mystery unfolded.
LJ has a divisive story that harps too much on one argument but is still solid, and the combat is the best of the Dragon Engine outside of 7G. It also has tons of side content and feels like 5 amounts of variety.

Judgment games are Yakuza games, they're not a different brand, they could be called Yakuza Gaiden: Judgment and Yakuza Gaiden: Lost Judgment and it would be correct.

>>723658151
Serious crime drama, full of secret Koreans and rubber bullets

>>723658285
Yes, both those things were portrayed seriously and not as jokes.

>>723658167
Kitakata-sensei was based. Kitakata-sensei literally did nothing wrong. Fuck Sawa sensei. Bitch got what she deserved anyway.

>>723657418
>5's story
They don't feel connected in the moment is the problem.
The patriarch rubber-assassinated in Saeijma's part is completely irrelevant at that point in the story, even though he was briefly mentioned by Daigo. The only immediate connection is Kurosawa picking up Saejima in the closing cutscene, and that just made me think I wasted time in Saejima's chapters for nothing and he was going to enter the story for real in the finale.
Akiyama's part doesn't feel connected to anything either. He gets caught up in the Kansai affairs while Haruka is doing what we already knew she was doing from Kiryu's part. Majima being mentioned doesn't do anything, Park wanted to see him for completely unrelated reasons. This could be a separate gaiden game, since it was made mostly to criticize the Osakan entertainment industry and the whole idol simp culture.

>>723658558
>He gets caught up in the Kansai affairs
It's been a while but weren't those affairs directly tied to the Omi and we're told that which is why Akiyama eventually follows the trail to Kiryu?
>Majima being mentioned doesn't do anything, Park wanted to see him for completely unrelated reasons.
Majima up until that point is implied to be dead and Park's note implies he's still around contradicting what Kiryu found out in his part. Her backstory on him is obviously used to explain her, but it still ties into the whole of the story.

I'm not going to pretend 5 is a great story here, I just thought outside of Saejima's Prison Break season 2 and then his midlife crisis phase in the woods it got to the point in Tsukimino. The patriarch himself was directly stated to be one of the families Majima and Daigo contacted and then the part ends on the Baba reveal which also ties him into the overall plot.

I get your issues with it though and it does feel fairly tenuous at times in how it connects to the main story.

>>723658151
>now it's Japanese Saints Row
Not now, from the start. The first Saints Row wasn't that wacky at all, the most unhinged parts of it were the result of playa being a psycho. The balance of humor and serious shit in SR2 is more or less where Yakuza was from 2 to pre-finale parts of 4, it even has a zombie apocalypse mode on the side. The soft reboot from 7 onwards is the SR4 moment of the franchise. The only stuff that doesn't compare to Saint's Row is the historical spinoffs.

>>723639094 (OP)
0 is the only game in the series worth playing

Can't wait for new players to experience true kino in K3.

>>723659307
>They double the length of the discussion just because they can.

>>723659307
Attach the Ounabara Vocational School minigame to this. Make it so you have to rewatch the whole thing if you fail. It would be kino.

>>723656792
>4 and 5 are some of the best games in the franchise.
Correction, about 50% of 4 and 40% of 5 aren't shit

>>723657937
I think it's better. First one is my favorite out of all the games. Super excited for Stranger than Heaven.

>>723644758
Yakuza 7 is top top top tier even with the mediocre combat.
One of the best JRPGs ever made and one of the very few where you are not a faggot teenage kid killing god.

>>723658285
Why does everyone seem to think that asshurt gooks plotting vengeance and infiltrating the institutions like jews are as comical and surreal as the rubber bullets? Zainichi Koreans are a serious problem in Japan, they're the local version of crypto-jews. After yakuza's decline, it's them and chinks running majority of organized crime.

>>723639094 (OP)
>can't criticize something
>just call everything reddit

>>723639094 (OP)
Kiwami 1 and 2 and zero
That's it . Dont bother with anything past that

Even yakuza dead cells is more fun than 3 4 5 6, like a yakuza and tht new pirate one

>>723652001
>I know the story is a lmao so random meme fest,
It has the most straightforward plot in the whole series despite the premise.

>>723656041
Again. Kiryu doesn't really 'uncover' anything. It's all revealed during Kiryu's part, but all Kiryu does is walk between the Seiryu offices a couple times because Seonhee told him to because spider web network says ebina and seiryu is suss, and ebina is probably Ichiban's brother. That's practically Seonhee and the plot revealing itself, whereas Ichiban had to actually actively work towards tracking down Akane / Lani. I guess the one thing Kiryu does of his own initiative is confront Sawashiro Jo because Ichiban strongly asserted his belief that Jo was genuine, in which case, Jo reveals he doesn't actually know all that much but he's on your side and asks you to go recruit the Tojo clan trio, which doesn't really add much to the story anyway.

>>723652001
>I know the story is a lmao so random meme fest
It's just a treasure hunting story. The amnesia is there to explain why he has a ship but that's basically it. Because of the amnesia you're playing the Majima shown in flashbacks in 4 for pretty much all of the game and it's a breath of fresh air because he's straight to the point and doesn't beat around the bush, but he's still fairly serious as a whole.
>gameplay isn't the best
Land gameplay is fine, it's just poorly balanced. Mad Dog as a style isn't worth looking at and Sea Dog is overpowered, but you can force some level of balance if you don't get any damage upgrades and ignore Shark Rings while playing on Professional. If you're on PC there's also a mod to remove attack buffs on rings.
Sea gameplay is worse than any AC game but it's still fine for what it is. The main problem is that they make you fight way too many tanky ships regularly which makes the Devil Flags side content really boring and monotonous after the first target, and there's very little actual choice for what weaponry you should be using so you have no real variety in what to do during combat.
>as it's a gaiden game it may take less than 20 hours to finish
Main story is like 15 hours, side content makes it anywhere from an extra 40-60 hours. 8G overall is longer than 7G, especially if you want to 100% it as it means 200 Aloha Links again.
>should I get Pirate Majora on sale
It's fine for $20-30. $40 is pushing it.

>>723660495
>It's all revealed during Kiryu's part
That's exactly what I am talking about. I don't mean Ichiban and Kiryu personally are doing things, I mean that during Kiryu's part you find the important parts of the story out and things actually progress in that part while in Ichiban's part the only things that happen are him running around like a headless chicken trying to rescue Lani and then the Chitose reveal.

>>723659859
It's funny because he mentions Kiwami, which turns Majima into an annoying redditor. Nothing like he was in the original Yakuza.

Should I wait for the director's cut of 0 or should I get the original Yakuza 0 now since it is cheap?

>>723662463
Director's cut has only the new scenes you can watch for free on youtube and the weird multiplayer mode which will be dead within a week of release.

I played jrpgs all my life but I’m so unmotivated to go past chapter 3 in Infinite Wealth.

>>723662463
The new cutscenes just ruin the story and the minor changes they made overall make the flow of scenes worse. There's no real reason to buy DC over the original.