Topic: Yakuza 6 and Yakuza Series on Gamepass

I'm about half way through the story of Kiwami 2 now. Its so much better than Kiwami 1 but probably still not as good as Zero...yet

I like the return of the cabaret club, probably the more fun of the subgames from 0. Generally the substories have been a lot better/funnier than Kiwami 1. I've done 30/76 sub stories so far and I'm about 20 hours in.

I've finished the cabaret club but I mainly did it this early because I needed some moneys. I've only done the opening mission of Majima construction but I look forward to giving it a bit more of a punt.

It's weird how much more modern it feels compared to both 0 and Kiwami 1. The ability to explore most places and even go up on rooftops. The fact that fights can go on further in terms of space and also can occasionally be escaped from once initiated. Not sure if the extra stuff makes it a bit more daunting but I'm still going to have a good crack at it.

Until I did the cabaret club I was finding money hard to come by. I'm seeing a dearth in experience points too but that may be because I keep avoiding fights.

Anyway, decent game so far!

@ralphdibny Great to see that you're continuing with the series!

Yeah Kiwami 2 looks and feels so much better coming from 0 and Kiwami 1 since it was remade with the new Dragon engine that was first used with 6. I guess it was a pretty nice coincidence that it was built with the new engine because it inadvertently made it look like the series was evolving with each entry, even though the Kiwami titles are old games.

But yeah, I think Kiwami 2 is definitely my third favourite game in the series after 6. The new engine just brings this series to a whole different level of immersion.

@LtSarge yeah it's definitely evolved a lot. Not sure if I feel like the frame rate is a bit less stable with all the other upgrades (I can be sensitive to that sort of thing). At first it was noticeable but I've gotten used to it now so it's been ok.

I think the cutscenes in 0 still look the best even if the game itself doesn't look better. Might just be because of how unique all the Dojima family lieutenants (or whatever their rank was) looked in that game.

Is 0 your favourite then? if 6 and Kiwami 2 are 2nd and 3rd respectively?

@ralphdibny Yeah 0 is my number one favourite. I actually didn't appreciate it that much when I played it for the first time but watching other people play it have made me like it more. It had so many great characters and such a phenomenal story that the later games sadly don't match up to, until you reach 6 that is. Not to mention the amazing variety in combat in terms of the styles and heat moves. The combat is going to feel repetitive from Kiwami 2 and onward due to the games dropping the four different styles that 0 and Kiwami 1 have.

Speaking of which, how are you finding the combat in Kiwami 2 compared to the previous games?

@LtSarge my partner has been about a bit for this playthrough of Kiwami 2 (we were apart due to the pandemic while I played the first two games). I was curious what she might think/expect this game to be like based on the title and how I'd described it. Thankfully I have surprised her as she has mainly seen the cabaret club nonsense and that half nudey photography minigame 😂. Best bits of the game though!!

I'm not big on combat/shooting in games anyway unless it's brief and in line with the story. So I do, at least initially, find the combat in all of the Yakuza games a bit dull. It gets a lot better once you progress and unlock more moves and stuff but i do already find it repetitive. I played through all that tedious Majima everywhere rubbish in Kiwami 1 for no real pay off. Thankfully his storyline is a lot less combat oriented in this one and is actually more of a storyline!

I may go back and play 0 again in future, maybe, possibly, not likely, not sure 😅. I sort of want to show my partner it, I think it's something she would like. Just not 100 hours of it though, but you can't have your meat without your potatoes, so to speak!

Edit: sorry I should clarify, I do like shooting games and combat games in certain instances like Doom etc. but almost every game of other genres incorporate the two in some way and most games don't do it well enough for it to be interesting. Like combat/shooting in Uncharted is the worse part of one of my favourite PS exclusives

There is also a lot of shooting and combat games and along with the incorporation of those mechanics into other genres, the whole thing gets a bit samey. It's just filler that makes games longer than they should be in many cases

Gosh, I've tried to make my opinion sound less scathing with that edit but I've probably made it sound even worse 😂

@ralphdibny It's been years since I played Kiwami 1 but I believe one of the reasons for doing Majima Everywhere as much as possible is to unlock Kiryu's Dragon style moves and make him master the style. If you recall from 0, the only styles were the speed, normal and heavy ones, while in Kiwami 1 you also have the Dragon style, which is Kiryu's signature style that he uses in all games from Kiwami 2 and onward. So I guess it's more of a superficial reward for going through Majima Everywhere as Majima will help you form your own unique style of fighting.

Yeah I see your point about combat/shooting, it's basically the same across most games. But as long as you find it fun then it's fine. After all, all games in a certain genre are pretty much the same. Turn-based RPGs are all the same, survival horror games are all the same and so on. However, certain games do it worse than others, such as Uncharted like you mentioned.

@LtSarge I think the Dragon of Dojima style is in 0 actually, you just unlock it right at the end so it's basically useless unless you do a NG+ run or premium adventure. Same with Majima's mad dog of Shimano style.

I think I kind of hoped it would have paid off in the Majima storyline as anyone in their right mind would have finished the main story long before they battled Majima to SSS rank (clearly I wasn't in my right mind 😂) or done the Komaki/coliseum substories (only did a few of those in the end).

I've heard it's ridiculously OP if you unlock all the moves though. I was taken back a bit by the lack of variety in Kiwami 2 but it does seem a bit easier to wrap my head around at least so that's good.

Hi Guys
I have never played a Yakuza game, other than an hour of one of them a couple of years ago.

I take it from the thread, that if I had to pick one to play, it is either 0 or 6 ??

@Caveman49 Definitely play the series in order starting from 0. 6 is my second favourite but you definitely shouldn't play the final game of this saga first.

I took some screenshots from the finale of Kiwami 2.... They are a bit NSFW though 😅. I accidentally triggered an amusing heat action during this emotional fight scene and then I triggered it a few more times so I could take screenshots. I haven't just posted the screenshots normally, I've put them as links so you don't have to be exposed to either spoilers or NSFW-ness unless you choose to click them...

One
Two
Three
Four

Anyway, good game in the end I thought! Million times better than the first Kiwami but still not as good as 0. Glad I played it!

@ralphdibny Congrats mate! And yeah, those pictures were quite naughty lol. It's too bad that I miss out on these hilarious heat moves because I never use weapons in the Yakuza games. I just feel like it's too cheap and mindless. I prefer learning new combos, so I'm basically always fighting with my fists.

Will you be playing Yakuza 3 next or are you going to take a break from the series now?

@LtSarge haha yeah, I wasn't sure as they were fully clothed but I thought I'd post it like that just in case 😅

I think Kiwami 2 definitely had funnier heat moves. There's one in the street where you push an enemy face first into a passerby's bosom.

I was literally doing fist fights with the usual heat moves throughout Zero, Kiwami and most of Kiwami 2 but I had such an abundance of weapons and Tauriners that I did the list few bosses really quickly with heat moves. I kept swapping weapons to check the different moves he does too. Obviously my final moves were with the "fluted pole"!

I weren't sure whether to start 3 or Psychonauts. I ended up starting 3 in the end because it's fairly short in comparison to 0,1+2 so hopefully I can wrap it up by early next week. Bit annoying that you can't pause the cut scenes in it though.

Also, looking at the series as a whole, bit annoying there is no Xbox one version of Judgment available! I mean, I suppose I could buy it on PS4 when it goes on sale in the future. We'll see I guess!

Are you playing Like A Dragon now? Or have you started Judgment or anything like that??

@ralphdibny Nah, I don't think I'll be starting Like A Dragon for a long time since it's such a different game and also much longer than the average Yakuza game. My next "Yakuza" title will have to be either Judgment or that Fist of the North Star game, but that won't be for quite some time either since I've played so much Yakuza this year already lol.

I'm actually going through my backlog now and the main game I'm playing on PS4 right now is Shadow of the Tomb Raider. This game is such a blast and I'm absolutely loving the open world aspect with side missions. I've said this before but I've always preferred the Tomb Raider games over the Uncharted ones due to how much more in-depth the gameplay is in TR.

@LtSarge ahh I loved Shadow of the Tomb Raider when I played it around Xmas last year! I just like the progression of the game, the collectibles, revisit-able areas. Reminded me a lot of the Insomniac Spiderman game in that respect. Really easy to 100% on Normal difficulty too and then run through the NG+ quickly on the hardest difficulty for the last few trophies and the platinum.

I thought the story and Lara herself were super dumb though. She has become a very unlikeable protagonist as the games have gone on which is quite annoying because the games that it's wrapped around have gotten much better. I much prefer the Uncharted games though as they are one of my favourite PS series' for various reasons.

That fist of the North Star was on sale a few weeks ago. I thought I'd skip it but maybe I'll see if I have a hankering for more Yakuza style gameplay down the line. I'll probably keep an eye out for Judgment on PS4 if it ever goes on sale too.

I was just looking into the PSP Yakuza games too, I think they are called Black Panther: Like A Dragon and Black Panther 2 (I forget the subtitle). Looks like there's a fan translation patch for the story of the first game but not the substories which is a shame. I'd definitely play them if the full game had a fan translation.

I'd love to play the period Yakuza games too but they are PS3 so even if there was a fan translation, it wouldn't know how to play them anyway. I can do PSP games though because I have a PSTV with the custom firmware on it for that sort of thing. I'm planning on doing the Valkyria Chronicles series in that way at some point as I think 2+3 were never officially localised but have decent fan translations.

@ralphdibny The thing that I don't like about Uncharted besides the gameplay is that the story goes by too fast that it's hard to digest what's happening, kinda like movies. And as you may already know, I don't really like movies, I much prefer TV shows. So that's why the recent Tomb Raider games have appealed to me more than Uncharted because there's more meat to their bones, not just in the gameplay department but also story. Especially in the case of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, since there are side missions and DLC dungeons where you get to know the characters more, just like in a TV show. That's why I'm absolutely loving the game so far.

In terms of Lara, I honestly prefer this version of her compared to the one-dimensional version of her from the 90s. Back then she was the big-breasted action hero badass that would literally fight dinosaurs. I don't really like that image of her, I prefer a more grounded portrayal. The fact that she's primarily an archeologist who has to learn to survive in the wilderness in order to fulfil that role is what makes her interesting to me. Also the fact that she has so much compassion and this is further accentuated when you do the side missions. It's like now she has so many different characteristics that define her and makes her interesting compared to how she was in the beginning of the series.

Going back to Yakuza, there was some talk from SEGA a while ago that they're looking into bringing the Yakuza Isshin (samurai games) to the West after seeing the success of Ghost of Tsushima. So we might get them sooner rather than later, especially given how popular the Yakuza series is now in the West. I'm definitely going to play them when they come out, even if they seem a bit dated like 3-5. Just getting to see all the characters that we love again is reason enough for me to get these games.

@LtSarge ahh that's fair enough, I think that's what I like about Uncharted! Balls to the wall comedy and action starring a lovable oaf and his snarky world weary mentor with an amazing international supporting cast. I love Chloe and Cutter for some reason. Still hoping Cutter makes a comeback from his brief appearance in Uncharted 3! I do understand that the games are not everyone's cup of tea though!

I'm not too fussed about the changes in Lara's character from the originals as I never really played the old games (apart from locking the butler in the freezer when I borrowed it off a friend). I think she's more or less ok in TR and Rise but she's really moany in Shadow. Her insecurities and world-on her-shoulders attitude just gets everyone into trouble, sometimes really badly. I just can't buy into it unfortunately. The supporting cast is great but Lara should take a day off lol. She knew taking that artifact in the beginning of the game would cause trouble, then she mopes around and blames herself for doing it, then she tries to fix it by herself to the detriment of everybody around her.

I dunno, great game but Lara being dumbed down for the sake of a plot just grated on me to no end! She doesn't really need to be a "hero" which is what Shadow makes her and that comes with a host of issues for me personally. I do get the compassion angle but it's more like a patronising ideologist with a warped worldview trying to tell strangers what to do instead of a caring friend or relative actually looking out for you.

Also back to Yakuza 😅, yeah that would be decent if they localised the period games! I've done about 30 substories in Yakuza 3 so far and I'm about to go to Kamurocho in chapter 4. 13 hours playtime so far.

I quite like the light hearted islander Yakuza in this game. It's a bit of a change of pace. I strongly suspect that it won't end well for them though once they get a taste of city Yakuza! But I guess I'll wait and see. It's good to have a new map to explore as well. I think Kiwami suffered from having half of the maps in 0. Sotenbori made a welcome return in Kiwami 2 but it's nice to get a third location for this game.

The game is a bit dated obviously and I'm back in with this frustrating inability to run away from fights, though I do manage to escape sometimes. Overall it's not terrible though. I still prefer it to Kiwami 1, probably because it's funnier.

@ralphdibny I actually quite enjoyed Yakuza 3 simply because of the change in scenery and the overall vibes. Like taking care of kids at an orphanage and being in a more warm setting definitely made the game more relaxing and enjoyable to experience compared to previous titles. But yeah, this is definitely where you'll first realise that these games are incredibly dated, lol. Should still be enjoyable nonetheless if you're really into Yakuza now!

I found this store sign in Yakuza 3 with a phone number that looks like playstation buttons. Not sure if it's supposed to be a cheat or something. I've tried inputting the equivalent button combination in but nothings happening. Just a bit weird they would make it PlayStation buttons instead of numbers.

Edit: I run the pic through Google translate and while the phone number is still gibberish, the sign translates to:

Real estate sales · borrowers · real estate management (yes) Resonance real estate

Although, according to the app, it's in Chinese 🤔

@ralphdibny Keep in mind that the Japanese language consists of letters from the Chinese alphabet but with their own indigenous meanings. So even though the letters on the sign are technically from the Chinese alphabet, it's still in Japanese.

Although if the meaning is the Chinese one then maybe the place is simply managed by Chinese people given how many immigrants there are in Japan.

@LtSarge ahh fair enough, I didn't know that!!

I was looking through the sub stories and comparing them to a list in the guide to see whats left that I'm not going to do (going to skip the tedious dates and the score based sports substories as usual) and I found these 4 substories that are all named after Star Wars films... (The Con Menace up until A New Con)

Weirdly A New Hope was originally just called Star Wars so either they've name checked that film twice, the substory is named after the TV show Clone Wars or they got the TV show/animated film mixed up with Attack of the Clones...