General RGG Discussion

Okay, so here are some news.
I watched a live interview on german Rocketbeans TV and they did a interview with
the localization producer Scrott Strichart for Gamescom. It was mostly about Like A Dragon
but Scott was also asked about Yakuza in general
and Scott answered that starting with the original Yakuza 5, 0 and 6
their only goal was to catch up with Japan in terms of releasing the main titles in the west
and closing the release time frame gap between Asia and the west.

So now with Like A Dragon they finally were able to hit that goal
but they needed all the ressources and manpower to do that.
He knows that some titles (spin offs) are still missing and they want to release them in the west,
the japanese team wants them to localize the missing games too BUT
they have to find a time windows where it fits.

And this is where it gets complicated because Scott said the next goal is
releasing the next RGG Studio game worldwide on the same day
or as close as possible. Which means they still have to close the 6 months or whatever
release time frame gap which is not a easy task with all the new added languages and english dub
and they want to add more dub languages if possible. So this will take all their manpower again.

Also they know that they released a lot of games in the past 5 years
and they have to watch the game market closely to analyze if players are getting bored or not and so on
and then decide whats the next step.

So games like Kenzan and Ishin are still possible, the japanese team even asked them
to do it but they simply were not able to do it because they needed all of the manpower
to release the main games and there was no space or time for anything else.
 
Tosh said:
Okay, so here are some news.
I watched a live interview on german Rocketbeans TV and they did a interview with
the localization producer Scrott Strichart for Gamescom. It was mostly about Like A Dragon
but Scott was also asked about Yakuza in general
and Scott answered that starting with the original Yakuza 5, 0 and 6
their only goal was to catch up with Japan in terms of releasing the main titles in the west
and closing the release time frame gap between Asia and the west.

So now with Like A Dragon they finally were able to hit that goal
but they needed all the ressources and manpower to do that.
He knows that some titles (spin offs) are still missing and they want to release them in the west,
the japanese team wants them to localize the missing games too BUT
they have to find a time windows where it fits.

And this is where it gets complicated because Scott said the next goal is
releasing the next RGG Studio game worldwide on the same day
or as close as possible. Which means they still have to close the 6 months or whatever
release time frame gap which is not a easy task with all the new added languages and english dub
and they want to add more dub languages if possible. So this will take all their manpower again.

Also they know that they released a lot of games in the past 5 years
and they have to watch the game market closely to analyze if players are getting bored or not and so on
and then decide whats the next step.

So games like Kenzan and Ishin are still possible, the japanese team even asked them
to do it but they simply were not able to do it because they needed all of the manpower
to release the main games and there was no space or time for anything else.
Click to expand...
Awesome find man. Pleased to hear this.
 
I have not played anything beyond the Japanese demo, and don’t know enough of the language to really judge, but he seems kind of like an opposite to Kiryu in a way, at least on the surface, both in design and generally having a sillier tone to reflect the game as a whole. But maybe someone who has gone through the Japanese version of the game could give a more accurate description.

A64A9A59-A5B3-4456-893C-BF371116DA0D.png
Honestly, I don’t mind after how well 6 ended. I have a lot of respect for legitimately laying a character to rest in a long running series with a heavy story focus. I can’t think of too many other examples but one other might be Metroid where it’s not *really* about the story, but it’s one of Nintendo’s more serious games and it is a bit ridiculous how many adventures Samus has been on without seeming to age much at all.
 
BruceWayne911 said:
So I heard that Kiryu is no longer the main character in Yakuza. Who is the protagonist? Is he or she a good fit moving forward?
Click to expand...

It is indeed, Ichiban and he is an awesome, super-lovable character. Kiryu will never be topped, IMO, but Ichiban is beyond good-enough.

He has a strong sense of honour like Kiryu and, like Kiryu, he values core human elements, such as friendship, love and family. He doesn't have an many chicks swooning over him and he isn't considered as much of a ladies man as Kiryu is, however that could be due to his socio-economic status lol.

While he is a good leader of men, he is not a leader like Kiryu; Kiryu led by example, with poignant words at the right time. Ichiban is a loudmouth, super-emotional guy that talks first and acts later (which gets him into more trouble), but gets the job done; basically, Kiryu gets roped into everything and he wants no part of it, but does what he needs to do. Ichiban goes looking for conflict and does what he needs to do.

Him being uneducated and obsessed with Dragon Quest, comes into play during the games a lot as well, namely that he doesn't know a lot of culture/colloquialisms and has a child-like aloofness a lot of the time, but he matures greatly from chapter 1 to the end.

That's a lot lol, sorry for the essay!
Tosh said:
And this is where it gets complicated because Scott said the next goal is
releasing the next RGG Studio game worldwide on the same day
or as close as possible. Which means they still have to close the 6 months or whatever
release time frame gap which is not a easy task with all the new added languages and english dub
and they want to add more dub languages if possible. So this will take all their manpower again.
Click to expand...

God, I hope not. Have they seen the way the West has acted towards the series since 0 came out? Sure, they buy and enjoy the game, but everything turns into a memefest or people don't appreciate the finer points of the games or the series on the whole.

Release the games like they have been doing forever (East first, West 6-10 months later) and keep it that way.
 
Truck_1_0_1_ said:
It is indeed, Ichiban and he is an awesome, super-lovable character. Kiryu will never be topped, IMO, but Ichiban is beyond good-enough.

He has a strong sense of honour like Kiryu and, like Kiryu, he values core human elements, such as friendship, love and family. He doesn't have an many chicks swooning over him and he isn't considered as much of a ladies man as Kiryu is, however that could be due to his socio-economic status lol.

While he is a good leader of men, he is not a leader like Kiryu; Kiryu led by example, with poignant words at the right time. Ichiban is a loudmouth, super-emotional guy that talks first and acts later (which gets him into more trouble), but gets the job done; basically, Kiryu gets roped into everything and he wants no part of it, but does what he needs to do. Ichiban goes looking for conflict and does what he needs to do.

Him being uneducated and obsessed with Dragon Quest, comes into play during the games a lot as well, namely that he doesn't know a lot of culture/colloquialisms and has a child-like aloofness a lot of the time, but he matures greatly from chapter 1 to the end.

That's a lot lol, sorry for the essay!


God, I hope not. Have they seen the way the West has acted towards the series since 0 came out? Sure, they buy and enjoy the game, but everything turns into a memefest or people don't appreciate the finer points of the games or the series on the whole.

Release the games like they have been doing forever (East first, West 6-10 months later) and keep it that way.
Click to expand...

Is combat difficult in Yakuza 7? That's one of the aspects about RPGs I don't like it can be to strategic. Is it a simple transition and does it retain its arcade over the top fun?
 
Truck_1_0_1_ said:
God, I hope not. Have they seen the way the West has acted towards the series since 0 came out? Sure, they buy and enjoy the game, but everything turns into a memefest or people don't appreciate the finer points of the games or the series on the whole.

Release the games like they have been doing forever (East first, West 6-10 months later) and keep it that way.
Click to expand...

Scott said that they saw a immediate player base and viewer boost because of the added english dub in Judgment
and it seems like there really is a big (english) market that has no interest in other languages.

So, if we like it or not, i think theres no way around it,
they will try to boost RGG Studio games as much as possible in the west.
English dub and the other text languages will probably be normal from now on
and Yakuza Like A Dragon already has way more ads and presence than Judgment, the remasters or Kiwami.
And sooner or later the release date in the west will be the same as the asian release date.
Sega already boosts the IP with RGG presents for big NA Twitch streamers and so on.

I think the times where Yakuza was some ultra underground fan thing for hardcore Japan fans are over.
Yakuza made it, they reached the normal market, its not about hardcore fans anymore.
And as always this will have some good and some bad side effects.
 
Last edited:
Truck_1_0_1_ said:
God, I hope not. Have they seen the way the West has acted towards the series since 0 came out? Sure, they buy and enjoy the game, but everything turns into a memefest or people don't appreciate the finer points of the games or the series on the whole.

Release the games like they have been doing forever (East first, West 6-10 months later) and keep it that way.
Click to expand...
I do not understand this point is like you are implying that not doing the localisation at point and make the game more available to everyone (myself included) is a bad thing. People from the east and west can be arseholes at any the time regardless of when it was released.

I hope to not live another year like when they tried to catch up and we had like 4 (I believe it was 4) yakuzas in a year. I has a bit of yakuza fatigue in that period of time since I am a completionist and having to do mahjong, blackjack and the like that often was tiring.
 
I mean its a good thing that we finally dont have to worry anymore if Yakuza 5, 0, 7 etc
will come to the west, we reached a point where this is not a question anymore.
Yakuza is even available on Steam and Xbox now and we have more supported languages than just english.
Also every new RGG Studio game will come to the west, most likely even without a waiting time
between Asia and NA / EU. Theres not much else we can ask for.

But i can see some bad side effects in the future, i'm not saying that it will happen
but popularity, fame, more worldwide players can lead to changes / consequences.

If the fan base in the west gets so big that it overshadows the asian fan base completely
there is a chance that they will start tweaking the games / formula / stories / dialogues / characters
to cater to even more players in the west.
The more popular this all gets, the higher the chance that people will complain about things or demand changes
because of the difference between cultures.

Until Yakuza 0 i never saw any controversial topics about these games. There were no news or big threads or anything.
The small hardcore fans were just happy that these games exist.
Now with the new popularity that came with 0, Kiwami, Judgment,
things like articles how bad women are being handled in the Yakuza games pop up.
Or how these "sexy" minigames are horrible and not funny,
why every storyline is just about hard men, how jokes like about Hana chan are not okay
or why is there "porn" in these games and so on.
Or for example i saw a lot of people in the HD Remaster videos / streams
who said that RGG should stop making scenes like with Haruka and Saejima in Yakuza 4.
I also already saw people who complained about the women in the player party in Yakuza 7
because their skills are just about being cute / girly etc.

If the popularity in the west rises even more with Like A Dragon and future games,
its only a matter of time until this stuff reaches a point where RGG / Sega has to act.
And then thats the big question - will RGG / Sega acknowledge these demands
because they dont want any trouble with their player base
or will they refuse to change anything.
Or what if Nagoshi is completely against any adjustments but he will retire eventually
and then what?

To me thats a problematic topic. I want to play a original japanese game.
I dont want to play a japanese game that was adjusted to culture standards of the west.
Because then its not a japanese game anymore.
Thats what i'm afraid of.
 
I can't believe I let 7 Yakuza games come out before giving this series a try. I absolutely love this series so far. Yakuza 0 was perfection and now that I'm playing Kiwami I'm still having fun. Since Kiwami takes place in Kamarocho I already know where damn near everything is. Smooth easy transition.

The only slight complaint I have so far about Yakuza is the random street fights. Sometimes I get burnt out whooping random asses in the streets every 10 seconds. You would think that word would spread the Japanese guy in the white business suit is not to be 🤬 with.
 
Last edited:
Tosh said:
I mean its a good thing that we finally dont have to worry anymore if Yakuza 5, 0, 7 etc
will come to the west, we reached a point where this is not a question anymore.
Yakuza is even available on Steam and Xbox now and we have more supported languages than just english.
Also every new RGG Studio game will come to the west, most likely even without a waiting time
between Asia and NA / EU. Theres not much else we can ask for.

But i can see some bad side effects in the future, i'm not saying that it will happen
but popularity, fame, more worldwide players can lead to changes / consequences.

If the fan base in the west gets so big that it overshadows the asian fan base completely
there is a chance that they will start tweaking the games / formula / stories / dialogues / characters
to cater to even more players in the west.
The more popular this all gets, the higher the chance that people will complain about things or demand changes
because of the difference between cultures.

Until Yakuza 0 i never saw any controversial topics about these games. There were no news or big threads or anything.
The small hardcore fans were just happy that these games exist.
Now with the new popularity that came with 0, Kiwami, Judgment,
things like articles how bad women are being handled in the Yakuza games pop up.
Or how these "sexy" minigames are horrible and not funny,
why every storyline is just about hard men, how jokes like about Hana chan are not okay
or why is there "porn" in these games and so on.
Or for example i saw a lot of people in the HD Remaster videos / streams
who said that RGG should stop making scenes like with Haruka and Saejima in Yakuza 4.
I also already saw people who complained about the women in the player party in Yakuza 7
because their skills are just about being cute / girly etc.

If the popularity in the west rises even more with Like A Dragon and future games,
its only a matter of time until this stuff reaches a point where RGG / Sega has to act.
And then thats the big question - will RGG / Sega acknowledge these demands
because they dont want any trouble with their player base
or will they refuse to change anything.
Or what if Nagoshi is completely against any adjustments but he will retire eventually
and then what?

To me thats a problematic topic. I want to play a original japanese game.
I dont want to play a japanese game that was adjusted to culture standards of the west.
Because then its not a japanese game anymore.
Thats what i'm afraid of.
Click to expand...

I agree thats why I like this series so far. This is a japanese game being presented to us westerners. If they start making concessions it will ruin the series IMO.
 
The random fights can get rather annoying depending on the specific game, I think especially more so in the older ones when there would be long loading screens. At the very least in 6 they can be over in a few seconds with near seamless transition.
 
Tosh said:
I mean its a good thing that we finally dont have to worry anymore if Yakuza 5, 0, 7 etc
will come to the west, we reached a point where this is not a question anymore.
Yakuza is even available on Steam and Xbox now and we have more supported languages than just english.
Also every new RGG Studio game will come to the west, most likely even without a waiting time
between Asia and NA / EU. Theres not much else we can ask for.

But i can see some bad side effects in the future, i'm not saying that it will happen
but popularity, fame, more worldwide players can lead to changes / consequences.

If the fan base in the west gets so big that it overshadows the asian fan base completely
there is a chance that they will start tweaking the games / formula / stories / dialogues / characters
to cater to even more players in the west.
The more popular this all gets, the higher the chance that people will complain about things or demand changes
because of the difference between cultures.

Until Yakuza 0 i never saw any controversial topics about these games. There were no news or big threads or anything.
The small hardcore fans were just happy that these games exist.
Now with the new popularity that came with 0, Kiwami, Judgment,
things like articles how bad women are being handled in the Yakuza games pop up.
Or how these "sexy" minigames are horrible and not funny,
why every storyline is just about hard men, how jokes like about Hana chan are not okay
or why is there "porn" in these games and so on.
Or for example i saw a lot of people in the HD Remaster videos / streams
who said that RGG should stop making scenes like with Haruka and Saejima in Yakuza 4.
I also already saw people who complained about the women in the player party in Yakuza 7
because their skills are just about being cute / girly etc.

If the popularity in the west rises even more with Like A Dragon and future games,
its only a matter of time until this stuff reaches a point where RGG / Sega has to act.
And then thats the big question - will RGG / Sega acknowledge these demands
because they dont want any trouble with their player base
or will they refuse to change anything.
Or what if Nagoshi is completely against any adjustments but he will retire eventually
and then what?

To me thats a problematic topic. I want to play a original japanese game.
I dont want to play a japanese game that was adjusted to culture standards of the west.
Because then its not a japanese game anymore.
Thats what i'm afraid of.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I can totally share you fears since I saw last week article in polygon criticizing the series for being a "story about masculinity but leaves women behind" which can be a valid point but I can not imagine how the series would turn up if Nagoshi just turned to follow all western feedback and views it could turn to something quite different to what I liked from the series.
 
Creward said:
"story about masculinity but leaves women behind" which can be a valid point
Click to expand...
Can it, though? I don't mean to be a shitlord, but the almost cartoonish hypermasculinity is a big part of the series' appeal to me. To me, it never looked like they were targeting men and women equally and just fucked up on appealing to women, but rather that it was always aimed squarely at those of us who are still dumb schoolboys at heart.
 
BruceWayne911 said:
Is combat difficult in Yakuza 7? That's one of the aspects about RPGs I don't like it can be to strategic. Is it a simple transition and does it retain its arcade over the top fun?
Click to expand...

Trust me, it's VERY easy to pick up (I never had to use a guide for it, it's that easy) and while you CAN make it a strategic-fest, with buffs and items and whatever, it's not mandatory.
Tosh said:
Scott said that they saw a immediate player base and viewer boost because of the added english dub in Judgment
and it seems like there really is a big (english) market that has no interest in other languages.

So, if we like it or not, i think theres no way around it,
they will try to boost RGG Studio games as much as possible in the west.
English dub and the other text languages will probably be normal from now on
and Yakuza Like A Dragon already has way more ads and presence than Judgment, the remasters or Kiwami.
And sooner or later the release date in the west will be the same as the asian release date.
Sega already boosts the IP with RGG presents for big NA Twitch streamers and so on.

I think the times where Yakuza was some ultra underground fan thing for hardcore Japan fans are over.
Yakuza made it, they reached the normal market, its not about hardcore fans anymore.
And as always this will have some good and some bad side effects.
Click to expand...

I agree; make it for the west.

But don't release it at the same time; make people wait and refine it. It's a selfish want, no doubt, but if it aint broke, don't fix it.

BruceWayne911 said:
I can't believe I let 7 Yakuza games come out before giving this series a try.
Click to expand...

You let 17 games come out before trying it, not 7 ;)

BloodyHeartland said:
I think Truck’s point is just that rushing localization may not always lead to the best outcome, especially if it interferes with actually developing the game itself.
Click to expand...

Winner.
 
Truck_1_0_1_ said:
Trust me, it's VERY easy to pick up (I never had to use a guide for it, it's that easy) and while you CAN make it a strategic-fest, with buffs and items and whatever, it's not mandatory.


I agree; make it for the west.

But don't release it at the same time; make people wait and refine it. It's a selfish want, no doubt, but if it aint broke, don't fix it.



You let 17 games come out before trying it, not 7 ;)



Winner.
Click to expand...

There are 10 other Yakuza games?
 
Let’s see if I can count it right...

Yakuza 1
Yakuza 2
Yakuza Kenzan
Yakuza 3
Yakuza 4
Yakuza Dead Souls
Yakuza 5
Yakuza Ishin
Yakuza Kiwami
Yakuza 0
Yakuza 6
Yakuza Kiwami 2
Yakuza 7
plus the 2 PSP games I don’t recall the names of

That accounts for 15 of them but that’s just off the top of my head. I guess there’s the ports of 3, 4, and 5on the PS4 now, as well as the original ports of 1 and 2 on the ps3(and a Nintendo system maybe?). I’m not sure what I’m missing.
 
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