Yakuza Games Catch All

I’m in Chapter 6 now and the real estate minigame is oddly addicting, despite there not being much to it mechanically besides watching meters rise or fall. It’s nice to finally feel like I’m not hurting for money all the time. It reminds me of the Ezio Assassin’s Creed games where you’re upgrading the city to increase your income. I enjoyed that loop there as well.

The over-the-top goofiness is so endearing. Kiryu excitedly writing postcards to a radio DJ, or melodramatically picking up the phone when it rings, or when he exclaims “That’s rad!” when he sees a new fighting style is the best stuff in this game.

Does the Yakuza 0 Cabaret Club minigame get to a point where you can sort of automate it? I like getting to know the hostesses, and doing all the setup ahead of each shift. But frantically dealing with customers and managing each hostess' status isn't very fun. I guess I prefer the more hands-off approach of Kiryu's real estate minigame.

Don't know, personally. I didn't get too far into it. Oddly enough, I felt like it would make a great little phone game.

beanman101283 wrote:

Does the Yakuza 0 Cabaret Club minigame get to a point where you can sort of automate it? I like getting to know the hostesses, and doing all the setup ahead of each shift. But frantically dealing with customers and managing each hostess' status isn't very fun. I guess I prefer the more hands-off approach of Kiryu's real estate minigame.

Nope. It's pretty much the same game at the start that it is at the end. I was personally addicted to it (with complicated feelings about the commodification of women, etc.) but no real changes to the way it plays.

kazooka wrote:
beanman101283 wrote:

Does the Yakuza 0 Cabaret Club minigame get to a point where you can sort of automate it? I like getting to know the hostesses, and doing all the setup ahead of each shift. But frantically dealing with customers and managing each hostess' status isn't very fun. I guess I prefer the more hands-off approach of Kiryu's real estate minigame.

Nope. It's pretty much the same game at the start that it is at the end. I was personally addicted to it (with complicated feelings about the commodification of women, etc.) but no real changes to the way it plays.

After hiring a bunch of extra hostesses, something clicked today and the minigame pretty much made sense to me, tho don't ask me to explain it. I think the UI is just poorly done, but now that I can parse what's going on, I can react well to what's going on, and had a good time. Still don't quite know when to thank a customer vs give them a gift vs ask them to stay once they're session's up, but I still made some good money, so I'm not too worried about it.

Finished chapter 8, which seems like the halfway point of Yakuza 0? Still not sure why I'm taking so much time to get through this game, since every time I play I generally enjoy myself. But progress is progress I guess.

Because there's a lot of game to get through. Unless you decide to just burn through the story, you're going to spend a lot of time doing optional side content that adds to the game's length. Which is true of pretty much every Yakuza game. It's why I had to take a break before returning to Judgment last year. I played Yakuza 0 then Kiwami immediately and then jumped right into Judgment.

As long as you're enjoying it, just keep enjoying it and don't worry about how long it takes to complete.

It's not so much the length, it's that I've been playing it off and on since November. I typically mainline a single game until I'm done, with the occasional break here or there. A 60 hour game is something I finish in 2-4 weeks. With this one, I play for a day or two, take a couple/three weeks off, then come back.

Not really stressed about it, it's just a curious thing that something about this game keeps me coming back, but doesn't necessarily compel me to play non-stop until I'm done. And since I added Yakuza Kiwami 1 and 2 to my backlog, it has me wondering how long it'll take me to get through them.

[quote="beanman101283"][quote="kazooka"]

beanman101283 wrote:

Still don't quite know when to thank a customer vs give them a gift vs ask them to stay once they're session's up, but I still made some good money, so I'm not too worried about it.

Thanking the customer increases their satisfaction (unless they're upset with you). Giving a gift increases their satisfaction even more, even if they are upset with you. Extending the session is something you usually want to do, unless the customer is "underleveled" for the establishment you're running, in which case you want to get them out of there and replace them with someone else.

Minor annoyance. Was listening to the Bombcast today and one of them said HD remakes of 3 4 and 5 were now out. I got excited because it's been a while since I played 0 1 and 2 and I've been waiting to continue the story. Sadly a quick google revieled that they are only out for play station.

I think it's a good thing to let some time pass between playing the newer/more-reworked games and playing the remasters. It's kind of jarring to go from one generation back technology to four generations back but with slightly better textures. Also, Yakuza 3 starts a touch slow, so it took a real long time for me to come back to it and get that old Yakuza feeling.

Yakuza 3 is done. Hard to compare with the others, as it's from a completely different era, but I think the story is particularly nonsensical, and not in the fun way that the Yakuza games usually are. The controls are also kind of awful. Boss fights are just infuriating. Bosses block almost everything thrown their way, have a tendency to be combo-proof, and can change direction mid-air if you dodge around their attacks. On top of that, the controls just aren't very responsive, and Kiryu has a really obnoxious tendency to get stuck facing the wrong direction. There are other games from this era that didn't have these issues.

On the other hand, a guy suplexed a bull, so I feel like I've got my money's worth.

Also, I started up Yakuza 4 because obviously I bought the 3-4-5 bundle when it became available last fall, and man, there's a massive leap forward in terms of quality between 3 and 4. I thought it might be a generation change, like 3 was from the PS2 era or something, but no, 4 is just a lot better built, already a lot better written and just higher overall quality, even though I'm barely half an hour in.

The Yakuza marathon continues. Yakuza 4 is complete. Clearly superior to Yakuza 3, though I think Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza 0 are still the standouts so far. Kiryu feels a bit shoe-horned in on this one. It's clearly the story of the other three protagonists, who are all pretty good. Akiyama is the most interesting. "Billionaire ex-homeless dude who does zero-interest loans" is definitely a new one as far as video game protagonists go.

There is A LOT of hostess content in this one. Something like 12 different hostesses, each with their own little not-quite substories. This is not the entertaining mini-game from Yakuza 0 and Kiwami 2. It's sort of a bad visual novel sort of thing, with all the troublesome aspects of the previous minigames and none of the redeeming qualities. One of the gameplay features in this system asks you to choose which body part of the hostess to stare at to increase your relationship score. So, yeah, not great. You're clearly encouraged to participate in the hostess system, as it's one of the features of the completion matrix screen. If I were playing this from the start, I would probably skip it entirely. I dropped out of it with about 40% completion after realizing that the stories weren't very interesting, and that I was really not enjoying anything about it.

The massage mini-game is...not what you think it is. Come to think of it, the perv content in Yakuza 4 seems to be at a real peak.

One of the mini-games that feels like more of a replacement to the hostess system is the dojo system. One of the characters, Saejiwa, trains up a series of fighters to compete in the Coloseum. Each of these fights is an NPC coloseum bout that you have no control over. You equip the fighters with special moves and abilities and train up their stats and set them up with different fights until they can qualify as professionals. It's nothing particularly sophisticated, but it scratches the same itch that the hostess stuff did in Yakuza 0 and Kiwami 2. I wish they had developed this subsystem out in the same way; I think it would have been just as entertaining and a lot less weird for my wife to walk in on.

The one place where Yakuza 4 falls down a little bit from 3 is that events are a little less over the top. Yakuza 4 is fairly straightforward, and although there are some nice touches (Saejiwa quick-carving statues to gain heat abilities is a standout), it's mostly played pretty straight.

One thing that I will note is that the trans characters are portrayed very differently in this Yakuza. Trans characters have played a role throughout the series so far, but mostly as punchlines. Mama, the bartender at Earth Angel has been a presence in the series from the start, and seems to have been treated with more and more gravity with each release. In Yakuza 4, all the trans characters seem more plausible. I don't think any of them are portrayed super-well, but it feels like the series is starting to see them as actual human characters rather than stereotypes or "encounters". In particular, Tonimura has a real interesting substory with a trans-woman who is an ex-police detective. That character is treated with about as much respect as any other character in the series (albeit with a lot of initial "Whaaaaaaat?" reactions from other characters .Like I said, none of this is particularly great representation), and the whole subplot is a big part of Tonimura's entire backstory. I am suspicious that this is something the localization team implemented, as some of the later-released games take a step backwards, but maybe I can't tell what's been added in the rereleases. It feels like the series is starting to turn a corner on trans issues, but maybe I'm being way too optimistic.

One final thought: the Joe Amon battles at the end of the substories are no joke. Combat in Yakuza 4 is actually pretty easy, I thought. Whereas Yakuza 3 had a lot of just plain bad enemy mechanics, most of the fights in 4 are pretty tame unless you get pretty deep in the Colosseum fights. But the Amon battles are Yakuza 3 levels of cheap tactics. One guy has a sledgehammer that can knock out Saejima in three hits, and regenerates his health once you get him down to the last health bar. Walkthroughs on Youtube seem to suggest that you just buy a bunch of pistols and unload on him from a distance until he drops.

Overall a solid Yakuza, well above average.

Yakuza Rankings so far:
1. Yakuza 0
2. Yakuza Kiwami
3. Yakuza Kiwami 2
4. Yakuza 4
5. Yakuza 3

That's impressive that you've been marathoning them. I seem to be averaging one Yakuza game a year or so since I started playing them. I played through 3-6 in order. Next I'll probably go "back" to 0.

Speaking of which, I have the remasters coming so I'll soon have a the whole saga on one system. Remembering when I was happy 5 was going to at least get a digital-only release, it's pretty crazy where the series is at now in the west.

By the way, Yakuza Kiwami was confirmed to be releasing soon on Xbox Game Pass, which likely means we'll be seeing Kiwami 2 on there as well at some point.

Akiyama is my favorite part of 4. I didn't like him at first and chafed at the idea of playing as someone other than Kiryu, but I was proven oh so wrong.

Yeah, it was weird at first but I appreciated the way the cast was expanded in 4 and 5.

About halfway into Yakuza 5. Previous Yakuzas have been battlers with a bunch of mini-games and alternate modes. Yakuza 5 is a taxi driver/hunter/pop idol/? simulator with a bunch of battler mini-games.

Also, the Haruka tracks are weirdly great:

Yeah Yakuza 5 definitely feels experimental to some extent. With varying degrees of success.

Is there any word on Yakuza 7's western release date? The switch to turn based has me very interested, plus the trailer set up the story fantastically well.

I'm up to the finale of Yakuza 0! Finally. Starting at around chapter 10, I got pretty into the story. That's where it became clear how the Kiryu and Majima stories were intersecting, and they do such a good job with the cutscenes and writing. It's cheesy action movies stuff, but it's done really well. I've basically been mainlining the story since then, and next time I play I should have it wrapped up.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is reportedly coming to Steam.

Has there been any word on the recent remasters, or Yakuza 6, coming to PC?

Middcore wrote:

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is reportedly coming to Steam.

Damit. After playing 0, 1 and 2 I really wanted to contine the story in order and play 3.

It's now officially official that Yakuza: Like a Dragon is coming West. Still no date, though.

I put a few hours into Yakuza Kiwani last night. I wasn’t sure I was in the mood for another Yakuza so soon after 0, but I got sucked in pretty quickly. Up to chapter 4 already, and running around doing sub-stories. They seem notably less involved and weird in this one, which is disappointing. But the main story is still good, and overall this feels more polished than 0 did. I have a feeling fighting Majima over and over is gonna get old, but I guess we’ll see how it goes.

I expect we'll see more tomorrow at the Sony thing.

Yakuza Kiwami 2 is coming to Xbox One and Windows 10 on July 30th, and will be available on Game Pass the same day.

Guess I know what I'm playing in August.

I finished Yakuza Kiwami last night!

Overall enjoyed it a lot, though the story got a little thin by the end. Still plenty of delicious reveals and tragedy at the end, though. I'm glad I played Yakuza 0 first, as I don't think the story would have nearly as much impact otherwise.

I guess I didn't really take much time for side stuff like the game was expecting - Majima seemingly disappeared completely from the open world early on. I did every side story I encountered, but apparently missed a bunch as well.

I do wish Kiwami had more of the zany weirdness that permeated 0, but overall it's still a really entertaining game/series. I have Kiwami 2 downloaded, but I'm not sure yet if I want to jump straight to it. Of course I said the same thing about going from 0 to Kiwami, so we'll see.

F this game! Nothing told me I had to go to a phone booth to save my progress. There goes 2 hours I have to replay now ... Ugh!

beanman101283 wrote:

I guess I didn't really take much time for side stuff like the game was expecting - Majima seemingly disappeared completely from the open world early on. I did every side story I encountered, but apparently missed a bunch as well.

Sounds like you weren't paying attention to messages Majima's subordinate was sending you - there's a bunch of points in the skill tree where he goes away until you hit a certain event. (Some of it is story gated too.) Did you at least encounter Zombie Majima?

Still:
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